State of Grace, State of Sin (IC)

[Electra]

The boxy robot went still, even as equipment all around the table came to life. Several diagnostic machines rolled up to the table and began running cameras and scanning wands over the prone body. After a minute of humming, beeping, and chattering, the machines fell silent as well, and a moment later, Miss Americana opened her eyes. "That's much better," she said, smiling over at Dragonfly. "I see you took good care of things while I was indisposed. I appreciate that." She pushed herself to sit up, grimacing when she put weight on her left arm, and rubbed it just exactly as though it truly pained her. "Looks like I've got a little repair work to do."

[Fox]

The eyebrow, if such a thing was possible, went up a little higher. disturbing - AI - remote link? - personal technological genetic mutation involuntary mutation voluntary mutation - magic unlikely - radio medium - range? - extensive - impressive encryption "Have...respect for good engineering," she replied, putting her hands in her jacket pockets. "Also strongly suspect you could find me if you truly wanted to. Would prefer not to have combat-built androids breaking through my ceiling. Cleaning robots have been too low priority to build yet."

[Electra]

"You'd be surprised how useful a good cleaning and assisting robot is," Miss A said congenially, flexing her limbs and swiveling her neck and waist, checking for other problems. The body definitely needed a tune-up, she could feel several motions that were not quite smooth, and there was a slow hydraulic leak near the ribcage that would have to be patched before it widened. "I don't know how anyone keeps house without one. But really, there's enough trouble in the world to keep me and all my powers busy without snooping into the lives of my colleagues. You're as entitled to your privacy as I am to mine."

Miss Americana got down off the table, stumbled a little as she noted down a slight defect in the ankle joint, and corrected for it as the table lifted up and away. "You look tired," she remarked to Dragonfly. "Have you gotten any sleep yet?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly was immediately and transparently cagey. "...sort of," she offered, grimacing at herself and the question. Also at the crick in her neck from napping on her couch, comfortable as it was - she'd made sure to invest well in what little furniture she owned. "Went from Lonely Point to the Lab...then home. Stops along the way to help people...put out a fire, catch a criminal starfish-controlled police had let out of the police car. Had to check home systems, make sure nobody broke in, nothing missing. Called girlfriend, napped...some? Couldn't really sleep and watch the robot body at the same time. Knew you'd call sooner or later."

[Electra]

"I'm glad to hear everything's all right," Miss A told Dragonfly, walking over to a table full of tools and parts. "I know you were worried about her. The good thing is, now that everything is getting back to normal, other heroes are back on the job. We held the line, and now we can have a little break to put ourselves back in order." Unsealing the front of her patriotic jumpsuit to reveal a white camisole top underneath, Miss A worked her damaged arm out of the sleeve and began the somewhat awkward process of self-diagnosis. "I did want to ask, did, ah, anyone notice my lapse in the hangar?"

[Fox]

She frowned again, pulling a bit of hair back behind the visor's earpieces. "Probably the first time I've 'saved the world'. Largest threat, certainly. Good feeling, but...stressful. Would prefer not to spend all my time in hazard suits. Need to finish my armor, get wings working...." She shook her head, and shrugged. "Priorities. Long list of projects and tasks. Not always time for rest."

Dragonfly pulled herself off that train of thought before her already tired mind got overwhelmed by things left undone. "Lapse, no. Fell after personal combat with Daedalus. Term...'double KO'? Assumption was that you...mmh. Beat each other senseless to give me an opening." She shrugged, gesturing vaguely with one hand. "Got to you - not you, body - got to the body first, kept people trying to be helpful away. Left as soon as I could, stored body, said I was getting you help at the Lab."

[Electra]

"Sounds like I owe you one," Miss A said with a half smile, checking the readout on the device she'd been running over her arm. "Mm, that was quite a hit, wasn't it," she murmured, mostly to herself. To Dragonfly she said, "I appreciate your quick thinking, and the timely intervention as well. Not to mention the respect you've shown for my privacy. I like to think I would be as virtuous in your place, but even now I can't be sure. But you have my deep gratitude. We all need our costumes in order to do what we do, day in and day out."

[Fox]

Dragonfly shifted her weight a little, frowning and reflexively ducking her head at the complement. "Knowledge is power. Secrets are important. Best kept. Not exactly without...phrase. Skeletons in my closet? Never made sense to me. Phrase, I mean. Not sure why skeletons would be in closets...." She trailed off for a moment, her thoughts apparently derailed by the reasons and implications behind bleached fossils in coats. or homosexual fossils - amusing thought

She blinked, realizing she'd derailed, and shook her head to clear it. "Regardless. Don't owe me any---....mmh." Tilting her head as the day's events caught up with her, Dragonfly slowly corrected, "....maybe. If you want to be even...armor-projecting hero that attacked the Lab and got hit with glue defenses said....things....that may be on Lab security. If caught on footage or audio, would like it deleted. As soon as possible. Will be taking a look myself, but wasn't directly involved with Lab security recording systems, and...very good with computers but suspect you're better."

[Electra]

"Consider it gone," Miss A replied easily, sounding as though she saw nothing odd in the request. "It's unlikely anyone will want to review that footage anyway, but there's certainly no sense in taking chances. I'll take care of it as soon as I'm done here." She adjusted the instrument, then flexed her fingers experimentally. The first three fingers and thumb moved with smooth precision, but the little finger remained stubbornly straight, as though preparing for a formal tea service. "Or maybe a bit before I'm done here," she amended.

She paused for a moment, seeming to weigh another question. "Your girlfriend, Jill O'Cure, I seem to recall that she's a student at the Claremont Academy. Do you know anything about that school?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly tilted her head in the other direction, raising an eyebrow. "No large rush," she replied. "Did wipe main footage...just want to be confident there are no backups or restorations possible. Didn't have time to dig for those. Flagged footage for personal review just in case, hopefully will keep it unwatched until one of us can handle things. Claremont...." She frowned, and exhaled. "Some? Limited. Wasn't ever a student, surprisingly good security. Didn't want to poke around too much without reason. Why?"

[Electra]

Miss A pursed her lips. "Sharl... it's complicated, but he found out about my double life at around the same time that you did. I think he's understandably angry that I lied to him, among all the other conflicting emotions he feels. He's not from this world, and I'm working hard to try and get him back where he belongs, but until then, I think it might be wise to look into alternative housing situations for him. I've heard good things about Claremont and the young heroes they train there. It might be good for him. He could make friends his own age."

[Fox]

Crossing her arms, Dragonfly tapped a finger against her bicep - or, on the reasonably thin-built girl, what passed for her bicep - and furrowed her brow a little. "Seems like a good school. Especially for...mmh. Unusual students. Have met a couple students from there - Jill, of course. Was helping Supercape give another a tour to another when the simulator tried to kill us. Had to open a barely-contained hole in space for that. Very unpleasant. But handled herself well, credit to her school. I guess."

She shrugged a bit. "Not much...context. For high schools. But seems better than most. Probably...lenient on paperwork and documentation. Not that that's hard to fake."

[Electra]

"It would be hard for them to miss the fact that he's not a flesh and blood student," Miss A pointed out, "since he'd be needing space in the computer mainframe instead of a dorm room at night. But it might be something to look into. If nothing else, he's already missed several months of school, and that's not good for a boy his age. I want to get him back where he belongs, but it's not easy." She studied Dragonfly for a moment. "I know you're an exceptional engineer," she said, "but how good are you with pure computer programming?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly raised an eyebrow. "...it is Claremont," she pointed out, raising a finger off her arm to emphasize the point by...well, pointing. "Doubt they're...unused to strange students. Not saying it would be easy. But not impossible. Missing school...." She shrugged. "Again. No context. Difficult to say what the effect would be. Maybe best to get an education."

"I know you're an exceptional engineer," she said, "but how good are you with pure computer programming?"

She tilted her head, her reply very matter-of-fact with neither pride nor humility anywhere in sight. "Relative scale. Not as good as you. Otherwise very good. Why?"

[Electra]

"Have you ever heard of Tronik?" Miss A asked. At Dragonfly's look of incomprehension, she explained, "Tronik is a city that lives inside a computer's memory. Hundreds of years ago, it was a real city, on a planet far away. An alien being with obscure motives destroyed the city, but not before digitizing the entire thing, every building, every street, every plant... and every human being as well. Not just as raw data either, but as reactive programs, running in real-time and changing, developing. The city was in stastis for a long time, but the Centurion discovered it, activated it, and, not knowing what else to do with it, allowed it to run unmolested."

As she spoke, Miss A removed her uniform top entirely and began scanning the ribs that were damaged in the fight as well. There was actual visible bruising on the skin, a sign of the hydraulic fluid leak that still needed correcting. "That was decades ago, and the program has been running ever since. And growing by leaps and bounds. The inhabitants don't realize they're in a computer program, or that memory is finite, and they are approaching the limits of their storage space. That's where Sharl is from."

[Fox]

Dragonfly showed mild interest in the outward signs of Miss Americana's body's damage, but she became more and more distracted and her face went more and more slack as the heroine talked, going from mild confusion to dawning realization to subdued amazement. That last bit didn't last for very long before her head tilted to the side, not really looking at anything as her mind turned that idea around. And turned. And turned.

"You can't-" she started, tilting her head back the other way and unfolding her arms. "You could but why would you- how would you- irresponsible but the potential is just - a city - explains quite a - just raises more questions - who would - why - know why I'd - not sure how you wouldn't notice - slowdown - stuttering - write errors - spacial limitations - harder to spot if it's all you know - but still - and export outside the system is - even if somehow comparable with - the possibilities and applications are --!"

She suddenly and audibly shut her mouth, holding in there with a hand while she took a deep breath in through her nose. And then another, before releasing her jaw. "Not...I'm sorry. I just...that's...brain got away from me." She took another breath. "Would...very much like to see it."

[Electra]

"I would too," Miss Americana said with a wry smile that suggested she understood Dragonfly's feelings. "I've located the back-door access that I'm reasonably sure Sharl accidentally escaped through, but I'm concerned about putting him back into the system without a more comprehensive understanding of how it works. If he's picked up a virus, or if the changes I've made in his code to allow him to function here are incompatible, a system as unstable as the one he describes could be severely affected by his return. I could use another hand and set of eyes to work on the problem, if you've got a little free time."

[Fox]

The engineer darkened a little, turning her already-churning mind toward the implications of that. "That's...yes. Would gladly help. And can see the concern. Already-stressed system could react badly to sudden reintroduction of...mmh." Tap-tap-tap went the finger against the side of her leg as she built sketchy, abstract system models in her head for a moment. "....even just overloaded memory system risks rejection at best. Cascading system failure or hardware burnout at worst. Sharl displaces a bird, bird gets written to building data, displaced building data gets written to physical constants...."

She gestured vaguely. "Caution is best. If frustrating. Imagine you've already considered that. Thinking aloud."

[Electra]

"That's what I need," Miss A assured her, "someone else thinking along the same lines, to make sure I don't miss anything. I'm good, but nobody's perfect, and if we don't get this perfect, we could destroy a lot of sentient electronic life, and ruin something very unique. And I wouldn't want to have to tell Sharl I accidentally all his friends and family, either." She smiled dryly. "I can send you the information I have on the system, but it's sketchy at best. What would really help is if I could get someone at the Freedom League to give us physical access. Hell, if we could hard-patch in another zettabyte of memory, that might be enough to stabilize the system right there... for awhile, anyway. Sharl's full programming bundle is well over a terabyte by itself, but the system's only got about twenty million inhabitants. It would be interesting to see what could be done with a lot more memory. Sharl mentioned that the city is surrounded by mountains and sea, probably to save space. An entire new city could be programmed and opened. It'd be cool."

[Fox]

"Stabilized first," Dragonfly noted, though she had to admit to herself that she was having a hard time keeping her brain from running away from her again. "Not sure how it was designed, but know how I'd design it, and if city's been bounded to discourage physical spread the simulation is probably suffering, too. System would be...mmh." She stared off into space again, tapping a finger as she spun ideas. "....best guess, well-designed system would either limit use of free memory - birth rates, space simulated - or begin simplifying simulation as a whole to save cycles and drive space. Poorly-designed system would create memory errors, glitches, read and write exceptions. Likely affects quality of life. May want to restore that first. Then add new space...offer choices on how it could be used. Won't have to live there ourselves, after all. Would be interesting to visit, though."

[Electra]

"There's an amazing amount of potential," Miss A agreed, "but the catch is that they're all in the Matrix still, so to speak. Sharl was shocked and very upset when I explained his nature to him. They don't know they're not organic beings anymore, and I'm really not sure it would be wise to just put that information out there. From what he's told me, the error rate is increasing, but rational people try to ignore or explain it away, and the ones who don't, they start joining end-times cults or get dismissed as crazies. It almost seems too convenient. It's crossed my mind that the only way the system could remain relatively stable and the people ignorant would be if there was something in the program that was self-aware enough to act as a programmer, adjusting things in real-time to try and maintain the status quo."

[Fox]

Dragonfly frowned, but nodded. "Makes sense," she admitted, tilting her head. "Very complicated system to try to manage. Oversight AI would be difficult to properly engineer but...very useful. Advanced and dynamic simulation adjustment-....mmmh." Her frown deepened by quite a lot as something occurred to her - even her finger stopped its tapping. "That's...mmh. Possibly a problem. Or an aid. Not usually that lucky. AI intelligence could help or hinder by...a lot. Weak AI may simply make use of new memory. Strong AI may do the same, or be communicated with. Or respond badly to interference. Relatively limited reaction to errors and restrictive world is...concerning."

She bit her lip. "Don't suppose Sharl's people have recent-sounding superstitions or mythology. Would be useful insight into, from their view, unexplained phenomenon and patterns."

[Electra]

"They do, though I haven't talked to Sharl about it very much," Miss a replied. "The end-time cults seem to be focused on the holes in reality that are almost certainly running errors in the program. My current plan of attack is to get physical access to Tronik and expand the available overflow memory, just so adding more data isn't quite as risky. When that's in place, I want to accompany Sharl into Tronik itself, projecting myself into the computer and following him through the same back door by which he left. Once inside, I can see what's going on there for myself and get an idea of what sort of problem we're looking at. You can do the same thing, can't you?" she asked Dragonfly. "Project yourself into machines?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly nodded, but inwardly winced. going to have such a headache afterwards "Yes. Not...casually, but capable. Don't have much reason to most of the time. Easier to edit from the outside. Still, good plan. Projection should keep weight off the simulation, as well. Will have to deal with interacting with us but not supporting us whole." She paused, something oddly amusing springing to mind. The corner of her mouth tugged a little and she added, "Will be interesting to be an alien. Strange women from higher levels of reality."

[Electra]

Miss A chuckled, but there was a rueful edge to it. "You're thinking too small, Dragonfly. We'll be gods there, literally. Capable of creating or destroying on a whim, with a thought. Of course, we don't want any of them to know that, but the reality is still there. In fact, with the changes I've made to Sharl's program, changes he's internalized to the point where I'm not sure I could safely remove them, he's going to have superpowers when he goes how. Flight, strength, the ability to walk through walls. And that's a big deal, considering that they don't have a superhero tradition there. I find myself wondering how well he'll fit in there, now that he's seen the real world," she confessed.