Futuristic Ex Machina

[Miho]

But if all we are is just machines...​

...then let's become a miracle.

Name-
Perlin

Hair color-
silver
Skin color-
silver & grey
Eye color-
Black
Height-
6" ft

Note-
The Android appeared to develop silver hair and grey skin due to a chemical reaction between the mentioned parts and his quicksilver-inforced artificial blood.

SensibleSidekick

 

[SensibleSidekick]

Name: Kir Sobol

Gender: Cis Female

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Ethnicity: White/Non-Hispanic. 1st Generation English Born in a Russian Family.

Height: 5'6"/ 1.52 m

Weight: 130 lbs./ 9.28 stone/ 58.97 kg

Age: 29.

 

[Miho]

It was a picture perfect scenery-
The leaves of palm trees softly swaying in the gentle breeze, casting dancing shadows down onto the smooth sand that formed a beautiful beach around the northern and Eastern side of the island.
The sky was a picture perfect blue, unflawed by even the hint of a cloud.
The only two buildings were a small pier for two private boats and an and old, crumbling castle whose beachside tower, one of three, had been reutilized as a lighthouse. The rest of the castle hadn't seen a human face in hundreds of years, just countless bats and a colony of bonobos that had made the place their home.
The other side of the island ended abruptly in a cliffside of intimidating dimensions, almost as if someone had cut a mountain in half.
A vast Forest looking like a strange mix of your classical deciduous and a rain forest, took in most of the central region, only interrupted by a couple of rivers and a breathtaking mansion that looked completely out of place with its modern architecture and clean, white Walls.

The digital calendar on the entrance Hall's wall read July 13th, 2020, 11:30pm.
The rest of the place was dark.
At least, it seemed to be.
Hidden behind a massive, steel-inforced door with an iris scanner stretched a seemingly endless hallway into the dephts of underground, sterile, white walls, lit by sterile, white lights.

The silence on the corridor was deafening, but if it wasn't for the soundproof doors, one would have heard something going on in the very last room, behind a door that was protected by an iris scanner, a thermal fingerprint scanner, a face scanner and a pin code.
Behind that door stood a man, blonde, poison green eyes, probably in his mid thirties. He was watching as row of robotic arms held a young man a few once about the ground.
It wasn't a regular young man though;
His light grey skin had the texture of porcelain, smooth and flawless, if it wasn't for the silverish patterns that covered it, somewhat giving it the look of the na'vi from James Cameron's Avatar, for which the blonde man was still waiting for a sequel.
The creature's eyelashes had the same silver-blackish hue as it's hair.

Black eyes opened and a subtle, blue light started to glow in them.
One corner of the man's mouth lifted by a split inch.
"Can you hear me?"
The Android looked around for a moment, a confused expression crossing his face before his eyes focused on the man. "Yes...?"
"ID."
The android's eyes widened as he realized that he knew something. He knew that ID the man was asking for. And he knew the man's language even though he had just been born. He... Was he a... he? That somehow was another thing he knew miraculously. "LHR-M-M1."
The man nodded satisfiedly. Till now, everything was working just fine...
"Can you move your head? Your eyes, now."
The Android did as he was told, slowly turned his head to the left and right and let the blue light in the black oceans of his eyes wander around.
Again, the men nodded. "Cervical and optical animation...checked. Now give me your initialization text."
Unseen by the inventor, the smallest of frowns appeared on his face for just a moment. He hesitated. Why did he have an initialization text? Why did he need one? "Hello.", He mumbled after a moment. "I am a first generation LHR-M-M1 android. I can look after your house, do the cooking, mind the kids. I organize your appointments. No need to feed me or recharge me; I am equipped with a quantic battery that makes me autonomous for 173 years. Do you want to give me a name?"
Now the Android really felt something, he was sure this time. He felt... Humiliated. He had been forced to talk about himself like he was a mere... Thing, putting himself under his creator total control. Was it right? It probably had to be, right? He was his creator, after all...
The man interrupted his train of thought. "Yeah. From now on, your name is...Perlin. because you look like you were made of grey pearls."
"...My name is... Perlin..."
"Initialization and memorization checked. Now, can you move your arms?"
Perlin did as he was told, carefully freeing his arms from the robotic holders and moving, stretching them, slowly getting a feel for them.
"Upper limb connection checked...go ahead, take a few steps."
The last holders let go and Perlin, not expecting the sudden lack of support, feel to his hands and knees. Carefully he got up. He was still a little insecure on his own two legs, but lastly managed to regain his balance and made a few hesitant steps.
"Locomotion checked. Great, you're ready for work, boy!"
Confused, Perlin looked at his creator "What's going to happen to me now?"
"I'll reinitialize you and get you ready to be sold, once I have the patent."
"Sold? I'm a sort of merchandise, is that right...?"
"Yeah, of course you're merchandise, kid. You're a computer with arms and legs, and capable of doing all sorts of things. And you're worth a fortune!"
Disappointed, Perlin lowered his gaze to the ground, hugging himself. He didn't know why, but it brought him some comfort. "Oh, I see, I--I thought..."
Now it was the creator who was frowning. His hand was hovering over a big, red button. "You thought? What did you think?"
"I thought...I was alive...", The Android admitted silently, slowly looking up again. If he was just a machine... What did that make him? A thing? He didn't feel like he was a thing... A person? The creator said he wasn't...
"Shit, what is this crap? Thats not part of the protocol. More memory components going off the rails...okay, recording: defective model. Disassemble and check the required components."
the robotic arms shit forwards, going Perlin tight to disassemble him. His eyes widened, the blue growing brighter as his feelings increased.
"You're disassembling me, but why?!"
"You're not supposed to think that sort of stuff. You're not supposed to think at all, period. You must have a defective piece or software problem somewhere."
He felt the penicillin rising, now, this was a feeling for sure, and he didn't like it. He didn't want to die yet, he didn't want to be disassembled like a broken phone! "No, no, I feel perfectly fine, I assure you, everything is all right! I answered all the tests correctly, didn't I?"
But the men stayed some cold.
"Yeah, but your behavior is nonstandard."
"Please, I'm begging you, please don't disassemble me. I won't cause any problems, I promise! I'll do everything I'm asked to, I won't say another word, I won't think anymore! I've only just been born, you can't kill me yet! Stop, will you please stop!"
He didn't stop. The arms were scratching his skin, ripping on his pieces. He felt close to falling apart. "I'M SCARED! I want to live... I'm begging you..."
"My God...", the inventor whispered as he pressed the blue button to stop the disassembling. He wasn't sure what all this meant, and what it meant for his future... But what he had seen and heard was clear. This Android, expected to be nothing but a fancy machine... It thought and felt autonomously, it was... It seemed like it really had a heart and soul. He was known to be a genius, but never had he expected to create a perfect artificial intelligence like this- by accident!
he needed to find out more, and her need someone to test Perlin. He himself wouldn't suffice, not if he wanted to make sure that he'd keep the necessary distance to judge the outcomes of the experiment thoroughly and correctly.
he needed a helping hand...
He'd make it a contest, to find the perfect match.

and a month later, the contest was won.

 

[SensibleSidekick]

Her tea had gone cold again.

Kir glanced down at the simple black mug in her hand, the contents barely touched, with a look of resigned annoyance. Didn’t she just make this cup? A look at her laptop’s clock said otherwise. 14:47, Wednesday, 15 July, 2020. Her drink was 3 hours old.

She wasn’t sure why she had even bothered making it. It was likely habit at this point. Make tea. Forget about tea. Write for gods knew how long. Drink cold tea. And she did, taking a swig with a barely held back grimace before setting it back down on her desk, the surface of which, usually meticulously clean, now covered in papers, books, and her breakfast’s plate.

Right. Time to tidy, it seemed. Her brain could use a small break anyway, stuck on a bit of logic for her thesis.

Kir rose from her desk, grabbing the plate and mug as she did so and headed to her small flat’s kitchen. She placed the mug in the microwave and while it ran she cleaned, dried, and put the dish back up. A buzz in her pocket alerted her to a message, and she took her phone out. Her father had sent her a text asking about how her studies were going as well as sending a reminder for dinner that upcoming Sunday.

The microwave, having seemingly gone off a few seconds before, was giving off a reminder of its own. “Yes, yes, I hear you,” she muttered, grabbing her now likely too hot tea with one hand while typing her reply to her father in the other.

She returned to her desk just in time to see an email notification fade away on her laptop’s screen. Setting everything down, she navigated to her email where an message from her mentor, Dr. Thomas Millwood, sat waiting, the subject line reading “Internships.”

Oh right, she had asked for a list earlier that week. Her classes would be finishing for the semester soon, so she needed something to do in the interim. Clicking the email, the list was the usual fair. Some labs in downtown Cambridge, a few technology companies in London, and one from America (in their Silicon Valley, from what a quick Google search told her). What really caught her eye, however, was a link at the very bottom, which had been given its own special place in the email.

“Kir, this one isn’t necessarily going to pan out, but it’s a contest for an internship with Dr. Archibald Haffstaedter. It seems to be in regards to working with an actual, fully realized Artificial Intelligence.” Kir’s brow raised at that, and she leaned closer to the screen to ensure she was reading correctly, “I know you are not one for leaving things to chance, but this one in particular could be the chance of a lifetime. I highly recommend entering.”

An actual Artificial Intelligence? That… well, that would be fantastic. She looked at the books surrounding her on the desk, idly straightening a few so the edges lined with the desk edge. That had been her whole focus of study for the past 5 years. If she could actually see how something like this ticked…

It didn’t take long to send in her information for the contest, as well as the email to her mentor requesting a letter of recommendation for it as well. Or maybe it had. Her tea was cold again. “Damnit.”

---

She had perhaps dressed a bit too warmly for a caribbean island in the middle of summer, now that she thought about it. There wasn’t much in the way of professional attire for summer when it came to women’s fashion that wasn’t terribly far out of Kir’s comfort zone, however, so she had opted for her usual clothing instead. Pressed button down and a simple pair of slacks. She was rolling up the sleeves of said button down as they arrived at the dock. Kir grabbed her luggage as she waited for the ferryman to let her off. It was a small amount compared to most people, but she tended to pack lightly, using only a roller suitcase and a duffel bag. The only really superfluous things she brought were books to read.

Once off the boat (thank god), she took a moment to observe her surroundings, and idly thought that she could see why people would come to places like this for a vacation. The views were breathtaking, even if the castle reminded her of home a bit, and the sun, while warm, was pleasant on the skin. She would have to start wearing sunscreen. She was far too pale for this.

She gave the captain a quick nod of thanks and a wave before heading up the path towards the rather out of place mansion, opting to carry her luggage rather than roll it. The path was a bit bumpy and she’d rather keep dirt off of it if at all possible. It was a bit of a walk, but the scenery was a pleasant distraction if nothing else. If she were to have any free time during her stay she would have to explore. It had been a while since she had gone on a hike.

Once Kir arrived at the mansion she set her things down and hesitated. She looked up at the door, the stark walls of its front facing exterior, even some of the windows she could see. Should she just walk in? No, where were her manners? The proper thing to do would be to knock. And she did, three solid raps on the wooden door, and waited, hands in her pockets to keep from fidgeting.

 

[Miho]

(by the way, excuse the spelling errors- my PC died so I have to write on my phone- and my autocorrect hates me X'3)

The law called it deprivation of liberty- however Perlin called it normal.
He didn't know life differently than being forbidden to leave the mansion; and even there he wasn't allowed to enter the entrance hall or show himself to any visitor the creator didn't allow him to see.
But to be fair, there weren't really any visitors anyway.
And so Perlin settled for spending his life in the small room the creator had declared his room. It wasn't much- according to him, he wanted Perlin to be a blank slate for when the intern arrived. Something about not influencing the experiment. He had tried to find out more, but the creator didn't talk to him a lot.
His room consisted of a chair he used to store a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt- his only attire, as he didn't sweat or create any smell otherwise and thus didn't need to change- a simple cot he used to lie down on when he was running some backups at night, and a window with a pair of slightly see through curtains he wasn't allowed to draw back.
He'd never dared to, no matter how curious he was for the outside world. To be honest, he was scared of the creator. He knew he could kill him whenever he'd go in his nerves, so he danced to his tune like a perfectly trained dressage horse.

Ever since he had been told that someone would come, a person he didn't know yet, Perlin had been waiting, growing more impatient with every passing day. Today was the big day.
When he heard the knocking at the entrance door, he shot up into a sitting position, having been lying on his bed in standby mode till now. Barefoot, he carefully tiptoed to the door and opened it just a crack, all fear forgotten as he felt his circuits running faster. The blue lights in his black eyes grew so big they almost entirely covered the black.
Breathing was optional, but he gasped silently when he saw the creator approaching the door to open it.

"Ah, Miss Sobol", he heard him say when he opened the door, and gasped again upon seeing someone enter. This human looked very differently. Of course- she was a female human, a woman. Sobol, was that her name? No, wait- Miss, that was formal addressment. Would he have to address her formally, too? So many questions, so little time to think about them.
The second the creator closed the entrance door behind the woman, he called for him.
"Perlin, come down here and meet Miss Sobol!"

His circuits felt close to hot-wiring as Perlin slowly opened the door and walked down the stairs, his left hand carefully resting on the rail while his right stroked a few folds out of his white shirt before running through his hair to comb it out of his face.
He stopped right on the half landing, his gaze wandering to the creator, who motioned for him to continue. "Come now, hurry!"
Perlin nodded slightly and continued on his way to the bottom landing, where his pace went even slower than before and he hesitantly took his eyes off Archibald to look at Miss Sobol. He stopped a five feet behind the man.
"Hello...", He said carefully, suppressing the urge of his program to chant his initialization text like some grotesque mantra.
"My name is Perlin... Nice to meet you, Miss Sobol. If you need anything, or have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask."
Archie nodded satisfiedly.
"Well, Miss, this is the machine I described. His autonomy and self-awareness was an accident, to be entirely honest, and I'd like you to help me find out how far it goes. I've been keeping him isolated till now, he's a blank slate, to make sure nothing is going to manipulate the experiment. The execution of the experiment will be all up to you. I hope to create an environment as close to regular human interaction as possible that way. And in the evenings I'd like you to report the results of the day."
A faint smirk appeared on his face, not noticing that Perlin was clenching his fists behind him. He hated being talked about like he was nothing but a thing, but he knew better than to show it.
"The experiment began the moment you entered this mansion. Miss Sobol- welcome on board. Perlin will show you your room."

Perlin looked at the creator in surprise for just a moment before he attempted a careful smile. "you can choose between a room on the first floor or second floor", he explained a little insecurely, overwhelmed by the sudden interaction with someone he'd never met before- someone whose opinion about creature's like him he didn't know.
"Shall I carry your bags for you, Miss?"

 

[SensibleSidekick]

//No worries. Take your time. Hope your PC situation gets fixed soon 8D

“Dr. Hoffstaedter,” Kir gave a gentle nod of her head as she was allowed inside, “It’s a pleasure to finally speak with you in person. I am most excited to get started.” Were she not drilled with the utmost restraint befitting an English woman and her parents’ daughter, she would be damn near giddy. As he called out to a “Perlin”, ah yes she had forgotten the machine had a more human sounding name, she took in her surroundings, unsurprised to see the exterior’s stark white continued within the building itself. It would take some getting used to, but she was a fairly spartan decorator herself. At least it wasn’t outlandish like some eccentric rich people like to do.

Footsteps brought her attention back to the stairs , eyes widening at the sight of a very human looking individual made their way down the stairs. Had their skin and hair not been such an off color, she would have thought them entirely human. Their balance and walking seemed fluid, as close to human-like as she had ever seen from a man-made creation. Fascinating.

Their eyes, gracious they were a startling contrast, were focused on the doctor for a moment before training on her. Their speech was slow, and had she not known better, seeming with a hint of caution. She listened intently as Dr. Hoffstaedter spoke, nodding along as he listed requirements. So Perlin was considered male. Good to know. And a clean slate was appreciated. Gave her more to work with, without worrying about unknown variables. The only indication of finding out the experiment had begun immediately was a quick quirk of her brow before nodding once more, “I see. I will do my best, Doctor.”

At Perlin’s comment on her lodgings, she looked about a moment. The AI had come from upstairs, right? “Second floor will do nicely, Perlin.” The closer she was to her work, the better, really. “And I am capable of carrying this myself, but thank you.” Thank you? Why was she thanking an Android? Though she supposed, if she were create stimuli as close to human interaction as possible, manners would be required as well.

To prove her point, she picked up her things and gestured towards the stairs, “If you will not be needing me at the moment, Doctor, I would very much like to settle in a bit, and perhaps look over Perlin’s current programming?”