smash_logs | Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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Oh! Hello. Mister Rhys, sir.

[His gaze shifted about in quick glances as he took in the interior of the room, stepping inside. He finally turned back to face Rhys, bowing respectfully.]

Sir. I heard that you weren't well. Are you feeling better?

[They haven't even met before, and yet he's aware of his plight! Rhys can't help but feel touched.] Yes! I think I'm getting there, anyway. It's very nice of you to ask.

Oh... um... thank you, sir. Oh! I'm sorry. My name is Pulse. I'm a new student here.

[He holds his hand out to Rhys.]

[And Rhys takes it! Then he shakes it.]

Good to meet you, Pulse! I'm glad you stopped by. Was there any particular reason beyond saying hi to me? You're not hurt, are you?

Hurt? Oh, no sir. I just... the academy requirements. I've never been immunized against human-- against... I mean... I came because I need to be vaccinated, sir.

[He blushed slightly.]

For... everything.

For... everything? Why, that's quite a lot of things. I could, erm. Start you out with some basics? There's no way I could give them to you all at once.

Oh, I... I understand, sir.

[He scratched at the side of his helmet. Human medicine wasn't particularly one of his areas of expertise. He honestly had no idea what to ask for... He really should have researched this before showing up, though, he had some pressing issues which had apparently gotten in the way.]

You know about this better than I do, so... I should let you take charge. Sir. The fact is that I have never had a shot in my life. What should I start with?

Well, let's see... [While he talks and mentally sifts through procedures, he wanders over to a file cabinet and hunts around for info on Pulse- hopefully it was updated in a timely manner!] I think a flu shot might be a good place to start, among others. The virus spreads around like wildfire, especially when it's cold outside like it is now.

[Oh, here we are! Rhys found the file. He's used to a different assortment of species dropping by for medical attention, so it doesn't shock him to find that Pulse is not completely human. But he's never heard of a C-Life before!]

Um, excuse me for asking, but... I've never heard of a "C-Life" before. Could you tell me about that?

[Oh, influenza! Pulse had heard of it before. Every year around this time, when he happened to be paying attention to what went on in the human world, he had seen numerous reports on flu epidemics practically flooding the worldwide Network. He had been only mildly curious about what it was and what it did, but his primary knowledge of illnesses only involved computer viruses, so he figured that if he remained in cyberspace, he wouldn't ever have to worry about getting sick from it. But then he didn't count on the series of events leading up to him having to emerge from the Network to combat the cyber-terrorist menace threatening to conquer the planet. Now that he was expected to appear in the real world for longer periods of time, he was finally going to have to do something protect himself from this human plague.]

I... I agree, sir.

[He perked up a little when Rhys questioned him about his species.]

Oh! My mom was a C-Life. My dad created her. She was... C-Life is short for "computer-generated life form." She was a type of program called "artificial intelligence", but she was very different from most other kinds of... of AI. From what I understand... she was the first one to have free will, to think for herself, to have feelings, and to... to love. But she was made entirely out of computer data, because she was a program.

But myself, I'm... I'm half-C-Life. My father was human. So, I'm half of what my mother was... a program... and the other half of me is human.

[He paused for a moment, looking toward the wall to his right, as though trying to recall something from memory.]

...People usually get confused when I mention that... so... I'll try to explain.

My digital half allows me to exist inside cyberspace, like a computer's memory space, or the Network. But while I'm in there, my body is mainly digital. I don't have to breathe, and if I get hurt, I don't bleed. I'm still half-human, but I exist as a digital being.

When I'm in the real world, like... right now, I'm in my physical body. This... [He prods the black surface of his forearm with the fingers of his opposite hand.] ...this is skin. This is, too... [He reaches up and presses his finger against his cheek, where there is more familiar-toned flesh.] ...though this is where most of my human heritage shows. This and... I guess, my eyes. In the real world, I also have blood... [If it happens to be listed in the file, it would say Type A.] ...also, I have to breathe here, so I know I have some kind of lungs.

The rest of me, what's covering me... [He gestures toward the armor on his head and shoulders.] ...this is a protective exoskeleton. I'm still not completely certain as to why I have it, but my best guess is... It's because I spent more time in the digital world than in the real world when I was growing up, so my digital half had more of a say in how I developed. [He shrugged.] ...It makes sense to me, anyway.

Though... the armor does make it hard for me to get x-rays. It blocks out everything, so it all looks white when the film gets developed. So besides what I've told you, I don't know anything else about what I look like on the inside. Except... [He holds up one index finger.] I'm pretty sure that I have a digestive system, only... it's not complete, not yet. I still can't eat food. I always... it makes me feel sick.

[He fell silent after that, indicating that he thought he was done.]

[As though he had been holding his breath the entire time, Rhys emptied his lungs and sucked in a small amount of air, a faint gasp's worth.] That's... incredible! Your heritage, your upbringing... and your abilities, too! I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to live inside a computer. Why, the thought never even crossed my mind. [His smile morphed into one with a tad more chagrin.] It's too bad you can't eat, though... Then again, maybe it's a blessing in disguise. Actually, I can relate, in a way. Most foods make me feel sick, so I can't eat much. But unlike you, I still need the nutrition. You're so lucky...

[Pulse exhaled, then stood up suddenly, his eyes dilating somewhat. He began to look slightly panicked, jerking his head to the side to look around the room, as though he had forgotten where he was for the moment. He quickly turned his attention back to Rhys and dipped his head in a respectful nod, almost as though he were greeting him again.]

Ah... Yes, sir. ...I guess. Wait. No. I'm sorry.

[He nodded again.]

It must be difficult... When it's something you really need, sir.

[And just then, Rhys too took on a startled position, realizing the impact of what he said. He held up a quick hand reassuringly.]

Oh, I didn't mean to make you pity me! I was just impressed with your condition, is all. I won't deny that mine's a bit of a burden, but whenever it bears down on me, I like to remember that everyone else has their own to shoulder. Some people probably have it much worse than me...

Edited 2013-04-28 20:28 (UTC)

Oh... Well...

[It took him a short while to remember what he had been doing previously.]

I have a feeling, if what I've been going through, with the changes in my body... The thing is, my human half has been gradually manifesting itself... if that makes sense. Like I was initially more like a program, a wholly digital being... and as I got older, I began to change to resemble a human. From what I've seen, I believe, eventually I may have to do more human things, such as eating human food.

I don't really have much else... I never had any medical records up to now, at least, nothing substantial. There might have been some records of when I was born, but a lot of that was lost when the computer they were stored on was hacked into, years ago.

[Rhys listened to him speak with interest.]

Oh, that's a shame. It's neat that you can be so adaptive, though. But, I wonder... The more human you get, do you have to compromise some of your more program-y aspects?

[He's not sure what those might be, but nonetheless he's curious.]

Hmm.

[He had to think about that for a moment. He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers, which he had only had for a few years, since his body last experienced an "update". Was there something he had lost in becoming more human over time?]

Well, I began to look more like a human... and less like a virtual object, I suppose. I've lost a lot of simplicity to my body and form... I'm not totally sure if there was anything else. What's gone... is gone, I guess. I never really thought about it before.

Hmm... but you can still hop into cyberspace, right? When you're there, you don't have to worry about having a physical, human-like body, because you don't need it there. But since you can also live out here with us, it makes sense that your body starts to change according to your environment. I don't think you're losing anything by adjusting.

Huh... I've never thought of it that way. You're right, though, none of my physical human traits manifest themselves in digital space. When I'm there, my body only obeys the laws of code. I'm curious now, though... if I only started becoming human when I began exploring real-world space...

[He closed his eyes and tried to think, but he couldn't remember much about his childhood. He was very young when he substantiated himself for the first time; he was still in his original stage after gaining consciousness, no longer an "egg" shape but resembling a "spiked softball with eyes", as one of the humans who worked in the lab described it. Didn't he have his father's DNA all along, though? Or was his development only triggered when he entered the realm where humans lived? What might have happened if he had never jumped through that screen?]

...Heh... There's a lot that I still don't know about myself... No one's ever studied me or anything else like me, then again, I'm the only one of my kind that I know of.

Well, I think it will be a very exciting type of journey, getting to learn more about yourself. Though they may not be going down the same path as you, I bet a lot of people are on the same type of journey.

Oh... Yes, sir, I agree!

[He smiled.]

I've already found that there are a lot of other half-humans here... I feel like I could learn a lot from them.

[Hearing this made Rhys happy, and it showed.]

Yes! They've made my world expand so much wider just by talking with all the different kinds of people here. Everyone has such interesting stories to tell. Mm, I'll be right back... We should probably get down to knocking that shot off that list of yours!

[At this point, Rhys decided to mosey on over and get the shot ready. He left momentarily, then came back with the syringe and other sanitary and dressing materials.]

This might pinch a little, but it's nothing to be afraid of. It will be over in a second, I promise. Are you ready?

Oh...

[Oh, right. For a moment he had almost forgotten why he came here.

He watched Rhys leave, feeling a little more confident from how Rhys seemed to radiate an aura of kindness and trust. However, his expression fell a little when he saw the needle.]

Uhm...

[Well, how else was it supposed to get under his skin? He was used to having anti-virus scans done with beams of energy piercing down through his body, but of course that was when he was inside a computer, being vaccinated for maladies of the digital kind. This was naturally going to involve some invasion of his physical body, which in itself was going to involve some degree of pain, and there wasn't any way Rhys could switch off his nervous system the way Riche was able to. He was just going to have to deal with it the way all the normal people had to deal with it.

He stood up a little straighter, trying to think of something he could possibly relate the pain to, in order to distract himself from the needle itself; he realized then that there wasn't much, since pain typically came with fighting and fighting meant going all out and destroying his enemies, fragging their code and dissolving them into clouds of static... That wasn't pleasant. He tried to think of something else. Veil beating the living daylights out of him. No, that wasn't going to do it either. He finally remembered one time he was holed up in a niche he had dug out somewhere in the open Network, struggling to expand the interior of the niche since he had just Updated in his sleep and had awoken to the feeling of a discarded file jabbing him in his new arm.]

...Ready, sir.

[He looked away, trying to focus on the sensation he remembered from that experience.]

Just try and focus your mind elsewhere, if it helps.

[Rhys dabbed his arm to clean it before administering the shot, keeping calm and steady throughout the procedure. He hesitated at first, noting Pulse's large, rounded shoulders that took up a great portion of his upper arm, but found a next best spot to inject just below. It went by quickly, just as he promised.]

There. Oh, by the way, what's your favorite color?

[Pulse, being hypersensitive at times, couldn't avoid feeling the needle, but still he didn't flinch. He did start to feel a little strange afterward, which didn't become very apparent to him until he turned to answer Rhys's question, hitting him right in mid-statement.]

Peen...... k...

[His eyes appeared to fall out of focus, dilating noticeably; he staggered slightly, like someone who had just experienced a concussion. His gaze shifting downwards, he began mumbling to no one in particular.]

But why... Is that it?... Oh... That explains...

[Falling silent, his eyes rolled back into his head as his eyelids slid closed, and he collapsed on the floor, appearing to have fallen into a deep sleep.]

[Rhys scrambled to catch him a moment too late, crying out in astonishment at the unexpected reaction. He got to his hands and knees and nudged the unconscious C-Life with his hand and spoke to see if he would respond.]

Pulse! Are you okay?

[Did he miss something? Maybe he should have taken more care about his condition? He tried so hard to keep a cool head, but the weight of potential consequences was a formidable force. Nonetheless, he didn't give in to his worries and tried to focus on Pulse. While he waited for a response, he got in closer to check and see if his vitality was still in good shape.]

Snerk.

[Pulse twitched slightly after a short while, his eyes opening a little. Aside from that, he did not move.]

...Is this the floor?

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