[ "you think you know." he does not thoughtshare this, he is just thinking it to himself. but okay. thought experiment... ]
Let's consider what a nanite is, or a nanomachine. It's a microscopic machine designed almost on a molecular level, so it can infiltrate a person's body.
[ there's a pause...and then he just. goes for it. ]
Consider, now, what an organic nanomachine can actually do. Let's say there's a person whose body is ingested with a certain kind of nanite. Depending on the functionality, the nanite can latch onto bacteria in the body, and it can create a protein complex called CRISPR-Cas β. This protein can cut, move, and attached DNA nucleotide sequences, to the point where it can even overwrite the DNA structure inside neurons. Essentially, if it attaches and moves, it can rewire your brain. It can make you see things, it can make you perform actions you don't mean to, and even repeat actions over and over again. In some extreme cases, it can even make a person see hallucinations, or jump from high places, or...try to break through to what they perceive to be "the real world."
Now let's say this nanite enters a body. And let's say it also has the ability to multiply in the body and make copies of itself, attaching to its host. If your brain is rewritten and your perception of what your true reality is altered because of this machine, can you really say you did something by your own choice when the choice is different than what you would've made initially?
No, because the nanite has modified your conscious perception of the world and thus it is no longer an accurate representation of things going on around you.
I don't know if my theory of what they would do to us was quite so specific, but rather focused on the fact that we don't know nearly enough about what they're capable of. Sharing sensation, emotions, yes, but what about the manipulation of those same senses?
It can lead people to be controlled, or perhaps even be imploded from the inside.
So in this case... it can lead to oddities in behavior, at the very least.
[ yeah he went a little too specific there but it was to prove a point. it's fine. he seems to think that at least they're in alignment with the same sort of ideas because he's nodding to what scien says and he seems to agree.
the real problem is they really don't know what this company is capable of. ]
...then I'll ask you. Do you think you've experienced any oddities in your own behavior now that you're here? Or even any in Dahut's? [ he's sure the answer will be no because he wouldn't think so but it's worth asking. ]
[ again, he hates that. and so he narrows his eyes for a moment to focus. that reaction is a pattern, now, that he's keeping track of. ]
No. Even if you think he was wrong, what did Dahut say? [ because he remembers the way dahut described his relationship with scien, and he thinks that someone having that level of understanding of another person can't have said something without a basis to why.
and again scien taught him one (1) bad habit in his time here and it's just asking without leaving room for arguing. ]
inconclusive data, then. and yet this is sending him down a line of thought he doesn't know if he really wants to share, mouth drawing into a thin line. ]
Sure. Even the most brilliant minds can come up with incorrect solutions. [ he just doesn't believe this was one of those times. ]
...were you able to look at his heart before you buried it? [ "do you, currently, think this was worth it?" ]
According to the senior crew, you'll be here until the end of the tour. At least that's a long enough time to think it over. Try to make something of it.
Breaking out, obviously. [ but what that really means is debatable while he is sitting here still 90% convinced he's talking to a scien that isn't the same scien he's spoken with before. ] Whatever it takes?
Wrong. There is nothing obvious about that statement, unless you mistake me for someone whose new dream is to probably be a mass murderer.
This body and mind are clearly failing, if I'm not able to navigate my own thoughts and logic anymore. The safer protocol, rather than waiting for another security malfunction, is killing me.
I'll give you all time to ask your questions for another week or so, but after that, I'm taking matters into my own hands.
[ again, what breaking out really means is debatable when he's pretty sure this isn't the same scien. there have been enough times that he's wanted to claw out of his own body and actually take control of things again. maybe that's why the brain last during the trial impacted him the way it did. being trapped in something, by your own design or not, is never a comfortable feeling.
so. he isn't surprised to hear what he says. but he figures there isn't a point in arguing that he had thought that might be his option when the unimpressed vibes are obvious. ]
I never said out of the cell. [ oh, never mind, he will refute it apparently. ] But a week's generous. You plan to answer everything asked of you?
[but it's funny when scien makes himself hard to understand in the first place so ignore him. he makes a vague handwaving gesture.]
Anything that could be useful to the rest of you. No answers about Reliver tech, but I also don't expect anyone emotionally to be capable of asking everything they want to know tonight. Those tend to make it harder to think, after all.
Well, you aren't wrong. [ about either of those. ] I think it doesn't hurt that it's hard to think of questions on the spot. I think all of the ones I'd ask aren't that important right now. [ a light frown. ] But it gives me a week to decide what to do from here.
Not particularly. The company's been around for a while, and all of the Senior Crew signed a contract just like the rest of us. Some of them have specific things they're looking for or goals they want to achieve. People to find. Stuff like that. Obviously this Senior Crew inherited their jobs from their predecessors, and Nut & Bolt's already sticking their fingers in other ventures, or at least considering it.
A contract offer lasts about two years before it's taken away, and not all of the tours are this long. Some are even as short as two weeks. And supposedly all of this stuff with the thoughts and emotions-sharing is because of cosmic interference and cosmoelectromagnetic waves. I asked why they couldn't just tune the nanites in to block it and it's because several of the waves are used for different systems, and they either can't or don't want to tune into each own to collect the data and detect the patterns.
[ there's a pause. ]
I think some of their memories might be a little scrambled, too, but take that as you will. I tried to talk to a few of them individually but things got busy especially around the lockdown.
[scien finally pushes himself up to sitting here, tuned in enough to listen, even as his emotions continue to dwell around a contemplative state. he rests his head in his hands and closes his eyes, looking probably as if he's || this close to nodding off]
They're pretty useless, huh.
Scrambled memories, inability to fix basic technology that they should be trained on... seems like they got promoted past their level of competence.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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but there is that shudder of violence again, the echo of the feeling. and scien pauses.]
Why would I do something that I didn't choose?
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...do you want my actual hypothesis, or are you asking me rhetorically?
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Do not use me as an example, because I will refute you by saying that I chose everything that I did. Because I know, inherently, this to be true.
But then it becomes a matter of testimony versus logic, and one should clearly win.
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Let's consider what a nanite is, or a nanomachine. It's a microscopic machine designed almost on a molecular level, so it can infiltrate a person's body.
[ there's a pause...and then he just. goes for it. ]
Consider, now, what an organic nanomachine can actually do. Let's say there's a person whose body is ingested with a certain kind of nanite. Depending on the functionality, the nanite can latch onto bacteria in the body, and it can create a protein complex called CRISPR-Cas β. This protein can cut, move, and attached DNA nucleotide sequences, to the point where it can even overwrite the DNA structure inside neurons. Essentially, if it attaches and moves, it can rewire your brain. It can make you see things, it can make you perform actions you don't mean to, and even repeat actions over and over again. In some extreme cases, it can even make a person see hallucinations, or jump from high places, or...try to break through to what they perceive to be "the real world."
Now let's say this nanite enters a body. And let's say it also has the ability to multiply in the body and make copies of itself, attaching to its host. If your brain is rewritten and your perception of what your true reality is altered because of this machine, can you really say you did something by your own choice when the choice is different than what you would've made initially?
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I don't know if my theory of what they would do to us was quite so specific, but rather focused on the fact that we don't know nearly enough about what they're capable of. Sharing sensation, emotions, yes, but what about the manipulation of those same senses?
It can lead people to be controlled, or perhaps even be imploded from the inside.
So in this case... it can lead to oddities in behavior, at the very least.
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the real problem is they really don't know what this company is capable of. ]
...then I'll ask you. Do you think you've experienced any oddities in your own behavior now that you're here? Or even any in Dahut's? [ he's sure the answer will be no because he wouldn't think so but it's worth asking. ]
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In turn, he said— [a pause, and there is that echo of violence again.]
... well, he was wrong. Everything I chose to do was on my own.
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No. Even if you think he was wrong, what did Dahut say? [ because he remembers the way dahut described his relationship with scien, and he thinks that someone having that level of understanding of another person can't have said something without a basis to why.
and again scien taught him one (1) bad habit in his time here and it's just asking without leaving room for arguing. ]
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inconclusive data, then. and yet this is sending him down a line of thought he doesn't know if he really wants to share, mouth drawing into a thin line. ]
Sure. Even the most brilliant minds can come up with incorrect solutions. [ he just doesn't believe this was one of those times. ]
...were you able to look at his heart before you buried it? [ "do you, currently, think this was worth it?" ]
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I have to put it to use. Somehow.
[or else this will all be for nothing]
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According to the senior crew, you'll be here until the end of the tour. At least that's a long enough time to think it over. Try to make something of it.
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I'll share my notes with you if I find something worthwhile, but I'm going to remove myself from the ship before I end up causing any more harm.
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also, it's very concerning for shoma to hear this given how he lifts both eyebrows. ]
And how are you planning to do that...?
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How do you think?
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Breaking out, obviously. [ but what that really means is debatable while he is sitting here still 90% convinced he's talking to a scien that isn't the same scien he's spoken with before. ] Whatever it takes?
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Wrong. There is nothing obvious about that statement, unless you mistake me for someone whose new dream is to probably be a mass murderer.
This body and mind are clearly failing, if I'm not able to navigate my own thoughts and logic anymore. The safer protocol, rather than waiting for another security malfunction, is killing me.
I'll give you all time to ask your questions for another week or so, but after that, I'm taking matters into my own hands.
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so. he isn't surprised to hear what he says. but he figures there isn't a point in arguing that he had thought that might be his option when the unimpressed vibes are obvious. ]
I never said out of the cell. [ oh, never mind, he will refute it apparently. ] But a week's generous. You plan to answer everything asked of you?
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[but it's funny when scien makes himself hard to understand in the first place so ignore him. he makes a vague handwaving gesture.]
Anything that could be useful to the rest of you. No answers about Reliver tech, but I also don't expect anyone emotionally to be capable of asking everything they want to know tonight. Those tend to make it harder to think, after all.
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A contract offer lasts about two years before it's taken away, and not all of the tours are this long. Some are even as short as two weeks. And supposedly all of this stuff with the thoughts and emotions-sharing is because of cosmic interference and cosmoelectromagnetic waves. I asked why they couldn't just tune the nanites in to block it and it's because several of the waves are used for different systems, and they either can't or don't want to tune into each own to collect the data and detect the patterns.
[ there's a pause. ]
I think some of their memories might be a little scrambled, too, but take that as you will. I tried to talk to a few of them individually but things got busy especially around the lockdown.
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They're pretty useless, huh.
Scrambled memories, inability to fix basic technology that they should be trained on... seems like they got promoted past their level of competence.
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