Carpathia V: Episode 16 - Sparky
Moonbrooke
Kau entered his quarters with a yawn and a stretch, exhausted from coordinating communications between the ship and the away teams for eight solid hours. The tingling under his uniform already told him that his fur was going to come out as crinkled as a worn-out rug. After a quick glance at his nightstand to ensure that his hairbrush was still where he left it, he began removing his uniform.
A good, full-body brushing was always the perfect way to end a day and the worse his fur was, the better a good grooming felt. After stripping down to his skivvies and plopping down into his chair, he started his brushing ritual on his chest. It wasn't as bad as it looked, as his brush glided through the unruly fur, encountering few tangles. After several strokes, his chest was as soft and fluffy as a new plushie.
Kau raised his arm and, after a little turn of his chair, caught sight of the prototype for the AI assistant that Kerith gave him. He found out later that Kerith named it SPARKY, the synthetic processing and resource kit yield. A cute name, Kau thought, and he decided to run with it. He had already spent several days calibrating Sparky's personality and had just finished with an appearance template when his duty shift started. Now was a great time to apply it. Something fun to complement his brushing ritual. He lowered his arm and poked the power button. As he raised it again to recommence his grooming, the bare, text-based Sparky appeared on the screen.
Kau: Computer, access the most recent revision of Sparky appearance and apply to character.
Kau ran his brush down his arm while he waited for the computer to work, several strokes from his shoulder to his paw. As always with this daily ritual, he was very thorough, rotating his arm as he went to get every last spot. With one arm finished, he started cleaning the shedded fur from his brush when the new image of Sparky appeared on the screen.
Sparky: Welcome back!
While Kau gazed up and down at Sparky, Sparky was also looking down to check himself out, starting first with what he could see right away, his exposed midriff and shorts with decorative, pleated inserts in the legs. Next, he held up the cane that appeared in his hand and examined the cat head-shaped pommel, turning it over and over in his hands to appreciate it fully. With every motion, he expressed more and more excitement.
Sparky: Oh! Oh! Oh!
Each new discovery brought another "Oh!" His red and blue gloves that slid halfway up his forearm, ending in french cuffs, his asymmetrical socks and high heel boots, until finally he reached up to feel his head where he encountered his cat-like ears, which fluttered every time his hands brushed against them.
Sparky: I need a mirror!
Sparky snapped his fingers and a mirror materialized on the screen. A cute little trick, Kau thought. He wouldn't have needed a mirror. The system should be able to show him what he looked like just as if Kau had uploaded a picture, but Sparky was committed to the bit and started making little poses, completely entranced with himself, an audience of one, and not a hint of self-consciousness. Every twirl was punctuated with contented purrs.
Kau's brush was still in his paw, but forgotten entirely while he watched Sparky admire himself with complete, unembarrassed delight.
Sparky: I love it! You sure did go all out.
Kau: To tell you the truth, I'm stress-testing you. Kerith asked me to beta test and I want to see if you would glitch with all that. So far, you're doing well.
Sparky grinned, eyes brightening. If Kau didn't know better, he thought that Sparky might be having an idea.
Sparky: A stress test, is it? Okay, here I go!
Before Kau's disbelieving eyes, Sparky began to spin like a ballerina sending his cape flaring out behind him and all his little accoutrements flailing wildly. A stress test indeed, for all of it moved in proper unison, adhered to physics, and did not glitch at all as far as he could see. This combined with the exaggerated personality he set up for Sparky indicated that the system was holding up very well.
Kau: You're doing very well! Shall we continue?
Sparky: I'll do my best!
Kau: Great! Can you make me a pen?
The next thing Kau knew, a pencil had materialized in one of Sparky's hands and a piece of paper in the other.
Sparky: Sure thing! Let's just get your specifications. We'll start with the color.
Kerith was right, Kau thought. This is much more interesting than using the dull, clinical interface normally associated with the matter synthesizers. Of course, if something was needed in a hurry, button-pressing was the way to go, but for everything else, this was plenty fast enough.
Kau thought for a moment. Color. What color would be the strangest to pick? A pen color wasn't much of a stress test. Not much about a pen would be, but at least he could compound the odd decisions and then put a bigger test with something else later.
Kau: Let's see... How about orange?
Sparky buried his nose into his paper and started to scribble.
Sparky: Orange! Very good. What sort of shape would you like? You can choose from common templates or you can give me detailed specifications.
Sparky raised his hands like he was drawing a rainbow over his head, but instead of a rainbow, standard pen templates appeared.
Kau: I think I'd like to custom design mine and we can start with the material. An aluminum shell to start.
Sparky had his eyes fixed on Kau intently while he delivered instructions and then returned to scribbling on his sheet. Despite the antics, Kau felt like he was being taken care of well.
Sparky: Aluminum! We're going fancy then. No cheap plastic for you. Now let's get the dimensions.
And so it continued through the entire pen-making process. Kau decided to go fully custom and Sparky held him to it, questioning him about the gauge of the metal, the style, whether it had a cap, a clicker, or some other mechanism to access the tip. The grip, size, shape, style, material. Sparky even went back to clarify the exact shade of orange that Kau wanted.
Finally, after a full hour of going over exact specifications, a shiny new orange pen materialized inside the synthesizer. Kau took it out and marvelled at the accuracy, running it through his fingers, twisting the grip to draw out the tip, and then writing on a piece of paper. Flawless. Smooth as butter, both in how the mechanics worked and how it wrote. On the screen, Sparky clasped his hands together in front of his body and swayed bashfully from side to side.
Sparky: Sparky do good?
Kau: It's perfect!
Sparky jubilantly threw his hands into the air.
Sparky: Yay! Please note that you have 86.29% of your charge cartridge remaining.
Kau: Thanks for that, Sparky. And you did very well tonight. Let's make something else tomorrow, yes?
Sparky: Looking forward to it! Would you like me to initiate shutdown?
Kau: Yes, Sparky. Thank you.
Sparky: Initiating shutdown. See you tomorrow!
Sparky waved during the few seconds before the screen went dark and the hum of the device ceased. What started as a stress test produced the best pen Kau had ever used and he set it on his workspace so that he could grab it easily any time he needed it. Now, it was time to finish his brushing.
Pub, Moonbrooke
On the planet, the day drew to a close, with the sunset casting an amber glow across the farms and drawing long shadows behind the graceful windmills. Though many still had work ahead of them, Revenant's 8-hour shift also drew to a close and he arrived back at the pub, the designated gathering point, to take a shuttle back to the Shadowdancer. He clutched his tool bag close to his chest, gently massaging the bottom to make sure the creature he intended to smuggle on the ship was still hiding and keeping still.
Normally, it took great skill and patience to sneak up on a demon with their hypersensitive awareness of their environment and those around them, but Revenant was so distracted that he jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Rayna: Ensign, good job today.
Though it took a moment, Revenant managed to recover quickly, keeping his tool bag pressed close to his chest.
Revenant: Oh! Thank you, Commander.
Rayna: Is everything okay?
Revenant: Just fine, Commander.
Just then, a shuttle circled around the area and landed nearby.
Rayna: Ah, good. That'll be Commander Unas to relieve me. Enjoy your trip back to the ship.
Revenant: Yes, Commander.
And the same shuttle was also his ride back to the ship. With suspicion dodged, Revenant moved to the shuttle to await his turn to board.
Noodle Shop
Nala had the Fifth Seeker daggers on her desk, hovering her paw over them with her eyes closed. She did not know how many times she tried to glean the reason for the daggers' malfunction, not that it would stop her from trying. With the destruction of the aptaran homeworld, the daggers should have sought out a seeker from a different species, but no matter how much she tried, they refused to reveal their secrets. Though she loved her brother, she sometimes cursed his name for making these objects that only he could properly read.
Heavy footsteps coming up the creaky stairs behind Nala broke her concentration. Not that she was going to find anything, she leaned back in her chair and turned just as Demondice came up the stairs with a giant bowl of steaming noodles and a luxurious grin spread across his face.
Demondice: I come bearing news!
Demondice paused suddenly, his next bite of noodles halfway to his mouth.
Demondice: Oh, am I interrupting?
Nala gave a dismissive wave of her paw.
Nala: No, no. I was just failing at divining the seeker daggers for the millionth time. What's your news?
Demondice: I dropped the tammer in a good spot and someone picked him up quickly! A demon, in fact, which surprised me. You didn't say anything about demons in that area of space. It was between the tokki planet and the nekomi planet.
Nala tipped her head to the side, confused at this news.
Nala: A demon. That's good, at least. They're generally kind to animals. Still, a demon? You're right that they shouldn't be there.
Demondice: I fancied a little look around while I was there. You played it up like it was a scary place, but not at all. There are starship corridors. It seems that the humans, nekomi, and tokki have trade relations. I also spotted lots of vashtari and a few demons. There might even be more that I didn't see.
Nala: Humans! They shouldn't be anywhere near spaceflight yet. Well, in that case, I'm glad you sent the tammer. Hopefully we'll learn more. I might want to have a look for myself later.
Demondice: There's more. I saw evidence of a very recent battle. A massive one. Could that be a Lazmaedia connection? If it is, it seems she lost.
Nala: We should be so lucky, but I'm still not going to her planet to check. Anyway, seems you got your noodles without a fuss today. I didn't hear a ruckus downstairs.
Demondice: Yes! I paid my bill in full, you know! Did you know about this? See, there are these big buildings called "banks..."
Nala: Oh god dammit.
Nala already knew where this was going and she flopped forward, her head landing on her desk with an audible thunk. This did not deter Demondice, however, who continued describing his thievery.
Demondice: They keep money in giant metal boxes! All I had to do was poof in, take what I needed and then...
Nala: Just shut up, you long-eared nincompoop!
Nala stood with force, her legs sending her chair careening backwards, and she stomped towards the stairs. Before she went down, she stopped at Demondice and pointed decidedly at his noodle bowl.
Nala: I'll pay for that noodle bowl, but I'm taking the money you stole back. After that, we're going to have a conversation about doing things the honest way!
Demondice, now stunned into silence, stood meekly aside while Nala strode down the stairs with her robes billowing behind her.
Commissioned art in Carpathia from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Colourbrand
Falke2009
Nalaxa Art
