cape_kore | 001 :: Veronica Mars

Entry tags:

001 :: Veronica Mars :: [video]

So here's an interesting thing. I distinctly remember eating some stuff last night because I'm a growing girl and that's what growing girls do, and when I woke up this morning, it's back. Which means someone was in my place last night, and yes, my doors and windows were locked. Not because I don't trust any of you. But I definitely don't trust some of you. [She kids. Except not really.]

And whoever went into my bedroom last night, it makes me sad that you didn't leave a note. So how about you speak up and we get to know each other?

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You know. Where you dance like a robot.

[It takes some doing, but Veronica tries to twist her wrist enough to show him, holding her other arm out stiffly and swinging her hand back and forth.]

A less advanced one, I guess.

[He watches, puzzled.]

I see. The dance simulates the motions of a robot suffering from some sort of joint breakdown. Am I correct?

You got any robot database where you can look at early robots?

It's supposed to simulate those. If it's suffering a joint breakdown, it can't really dance that well, right?

I have seen some primitive robots. Earth's robots are very primitive in comparison to Spacer robots. Presumably very primitive robots would have some very mechanical movements.

[He won't pretend he understands, because he doesn't, but he has to trust to human judgement when it comes to dancing.]

Oh. [Spacer robots come with built-in superiority complexes, she sees.]

Can you dance at all?

[It's not a superiority complex if it's just the truth. Daneel considers this question carefully.]

I've never had opportunity to dance, but I'm familiar with the steps of a few. I'm sure I could perform them.

Let's see it, champ.

[Really, what these kids need is a party. Veronica is pretty sure they can't be arrested for underage drinking here, and she is staying right next to the bar.]

If the opportunity for dancing arises, I will show you.

[And that's a promise. Whether it means solo dancing or taking her for a spin around the dance floor, well, he doesn't care too much.]

Great. Because I'm thinking of making an opportunity.

Do you have a built in music player, by any chance?

No, that's not something I'm equipped with. I was intended to be as human as possible.

Um. Can I ask why? I mean, why have a robot that looks so... human?

There were several intentions, I believe, behind my creation. The first was that my creators were encouraging the idea of what they called C/Fe, a society of fully integrated humans and robots, with the best of both. The second was that Dr. Fastolfe, at least, was curious about human psychology, and I was intended to be a tool towards better understanding that.

[There's more to it, he's sure. He suspects he'll never know all the reasons.]

That, and it's sometimes useful to have a robot go unremarked where a robot should not be allowed to be.

[Veronica frowns.] A new society with only the best of humans and robots, you say?

Where were the other humans supposed to go?

[He blinks, several times, trying to work out where this conversation went wrong. He didn't mean that at all.]

I believe there's been a misunderstanding. The idea of such a society didn't include the excluding of anyone else. There are things humans can do well that robots cannot, and vice versa. I believe they envisioned a society wherein our respective skills would serve the greater whole.

[Daneel hesitates, and shakes his head.]

The idea was abandoned as unworkable. Myself, I've come to the conclusion that it would not have been beneficial. It seems to me that humanity stagnates when too heavily reliant upon robots.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeah, because it almost sounded like genocide or something.

So... um. Are you from my future or something? [Because if genocide is in her future, she wants to know.]

[Daneel is momentarily drawn aback by this idea. Genocide. Oh, no. The idea that he would have been part of planning genocide is horrifying. He speaks deliberately, slowly.]

Genocide was never part of it. Quite the opposite. Dr. Fastolfe, I know, hoped it would lead to better things for Earth. No one was to die as part of it.

[He shakes his head, obviously unsettled.]

I don't know if I'm from your future or not. I don't understand how these things work.

Yeah, I'm a bit out of my league here, too. But I'm glad it came down to cool table and not school shooting.

So... Ever been kidnapped before, I guess?

[Because seriously, what sort of chit-chat is she supposed to have with a robot?]

I have had someone attempt to take illegal possession of me. I have never been successfully kidnapped, no.

[He considers this a moment.]

It's unpleasant. I am glad, however, that I am apparently not to be deactivated and disassembled.

[Her lips thin.]

Uh, yeah. Getting deactivated and disassembled... Doesn't sound pleasant.

You ever watch the Jetsons?

I haven't. It's an entertainment of some sort?

[So he guesses from context, anyway. He's never heard of it.]

It's a cartoon set far in the future, and they have robots everywhere and everything. The other cartoon was the Flinstones. They lived in the past and had dinosaurs.

... Do you guys even have TV where you're from?

I've heard of television. It's an outdated medium, mostly replaced by trimensional viewing. Many programs are available on hyperwave.

[He even was in one. Or rather, an actor playing him was in one. He considers.]

It's my understanding that dinosaurs and humans did not coexist.