003; [voice]

[interspace]

So, who knows anything about AI and/or fixing some seriously delicate hardware? Both, even. Got a buddy of mine who fries like an egg in sunlight here and I'm hoping to get him up and running like the good ol' days. My nest egg seems to have disappeared from the last time I was here, but... I'll do whatever I can to pay you back for your time. Errands and stuff.

Seriously, I would really just appreciate getting ALFRED back. It's weird not having him around. You know?

Who the heck's Alfred?

You've seen her cool glasses? That's him!

Comments

voice;

[codes]

You're back. [ There's no way she sounds as if she's indoors. ]

[interspace]

Oh, hey, you're still here.

Yup, I'm back. Just kind of... happened.

[codes]

[ What does she mean by STILL HERE geez it's not like she has any choice!!! ]

When?

Do we need to throw a 'welcome back' party? I've never seen people just come back.

Kind of weird.

[interspace]

[ And it's not like Misha had any choice in leaving, either!! ]

Tell me about it. Just trying to make the best of it right now, and... that includes getting ALFRED back up. A party can wait.

[codes]

Yeah, yeah. You kind of left in the middle of our previous work.

[ Thankfully she keeps backups of everything. ] I salvaged what I could before your stuff started to get tossed out. Not that I had any interest in setting up an AI myself.

They're terribly problematic.

[interspace]

[ A put-on sigh. ]

Yeah, and you wouldn't be alone in thinking that. Think you'd be able to start back up what we had before?

[codes]

Likely.

[ A sigh from herself. ] Save for one problem.

I'm not in the city right now.

[interspace]

Where are you? Thelma and I could come pick you up if that's your issue.

[codes]

A date.

[ Howling with laughter. ] No, no. That's not it at all.

I was asked to do a favor and I'm upholding myself to that. It shouldn't be longer than a week.

[interspace]

[ Misha chuckles. ]

Sure, I'll leave you to your romantic getaway, then. I'm in a different room now, but it still might be easier to drop by your place whenever you get back. Sound good?

[codes]

He's going to die if he hears you call it that.

[ Rin herself seems to be enjoying the attention nonetheless. ] Yeah, yeah. I still have the same place.

Can you believe it? I haven't even bothered to deal with this cresting thing in all this time--but they get really awesome apartments. Maybe I ought to just so I can move on up in the world.

[interspace]

That just sounds like an invitation to keep on going.

Cresting thing... That's right. I remember all that going on around the time I left. It kept happening? Damn, maybe I should see if I can get my hands on one if I can get a suite with it.

[codes]

Yeah, apparently it happens to a number of people.

[ Kind of sucks it hasn't happened to her yet, but she's not exactly throwing herself into danger. ]

City looks like shit right now too. Missed the excitement.

[interspace]

I've seen the city, yeah. Almost glad to have missed it. I soothe myself by remembering it'll probably happen all over again next month and then I don't feel nearly so bad.

[codes]

He did flee from the battle. Wonder why--it isn't as if we were strong enough to take him down.

I caused a fair bit of trouble myself.

[interspace]

Maybe he wasn't looking for a fight. It's the first thing I think of when that kind of stuff goes down.

What sort?

[the_lion_roller]

Oho man, too bad Aviva isn't here. She's amazing with technology.

[But she's not here and neither is Koki, so that's kind of not a help at all.]

You know, my brother is pretty good with hardware too, especially delicate, detail-oriented stuff. Maybe he could take a look at it?

[He hasn't seen any other tech work here though besides what seemed to be originally from the city, but that's no reason not to try.]

[interspace]

Well then, you've got me wishing she were here. I mean, if Hank doesn't beat her to it.

Hey, the more the merrier. If he's up for it, he can definitely take a look at the workings... long as he doesn't break anything up, either.

[the_lion_roller]

Hah, nah, no worries there. Chris is real careful with technology.

[...Maybe it's a good thing Aviva isn't around to over-hear that.]

I'll let him know. We've been trying to get some devices we had on us from home up and running again but no luck. Who knows? Maybe we can get both up and running?

[He's pretty optimistic about this.]

[interspace]

If you say so. I'll still be supervising just in case.

You think so? What kind of devices?

[the_lion_roller]

Sounds great!

[This is excellent. With all of them working together, the problem of technology from home not working might finally be solved.]

Oho, well, two of them are our creature pods. They're a little bit like the D-Terminals here, only with a lot more features. My brother and I'd use 'em to communicate with each other and our crew during our creature adventures, but they can also project videos and create holograms.

[interspace]

[ Don't get your hopes up too high, Martin. Misha is smart, but she isn't smart enough to actually help get sophisticated technology up and running again after a mysterious, world-induced meltdown. ]

Creature adventures?

[the_lion_roller]

Yeah-heh, that's what we call the excursions me and my brother take into the various habitats creatures live in so that we can learn as much as we can about 'em. Tropical rainforests, the African Savannah, the bottom of the ocean...h'we've traveled all over the world!

[They have the best job.]

[interspace]

It's very descriptive, in that case. Some kind of zoologists?

[the_lion_roller]

H'one of us, yeah. I'm a zoologist. My brother, Chris, is a biologist.

[Who decided to take a really unique direction with their degrees.]