Going Swimmingly

[palmerthing]

 *Palmer has found a lake today and is giving it an uncertain kind of look. Not only is such a large outdoor feature a bit unexpected when there appears to be nothing in particular dividing it from the couches and chairs in the main area of the nexus, not only would he probably start turning into something aquatic on automatic as soon as he tried swimming, but he's fairly sure that he saw Gollum from The Lord of the Rings swimming in there and that's just too much weirdness for him. Not that he has any room to talk, but he's not up for that meeting yet. So he sits on the beach and watches the waves. Hopefully there won't be any merfolk or cartoon fish, one fantasy character at a time is bad enough.*

Comments

[palmerthing]

I appreciate it. *An eyebrow raise.* 'Witless'?

[save_us_alice]

Yes, apparently her real name -- Nurse Priscilla "Pris" Witless. She was a night nurse on my ward for a while who liked to torment me on occasion. She got fired before I left Rutledge, though -- got caught drinking on the job one too many times.

[palmerthing]

Pris Witless. Pris Witless. Someone must have really hated her, although by the sound of things it was deserved.

[save_us_alice]

Someone must have hated her whole family to curse them with THAT name, though I'm not sure what possessed her parents to name her "Pris." Maybe it was a family name. . .and yes, she was a rather rough and nasty-tempered drunk. I'm very glad I'll likely never see her again.

[palmerthing]

*He shakes his head.* Fuckin' unbelievable, man. But yeah, I'd glad you won't too.

[save_us_alice]

Trust me, there's very little that's truly unbelievable across the multiverse. And thanks. Pretty much the entire staff of that place can go hang -- the vast majority of them treated the mad with the exact opposite of tender loving care.

[palmerthing]

I suppose what's impossible depends on where you are, hmm?

[save_us_alice]

Very much so. Marty and Doc told me of meeting giant transforming robots when THEY first came here, that could be humanoids or planes. That sounds reasonably unlikely, doesn't it?

[palmerthing]

Highly unlikely even.

[save_us_alice]

And yet -- it happened. Hell, one of them reintroducing Marty to Doc is how they found each other back here after they were initially separated. So I'm very glad they do exist.

[palmerthing]

Sounds helpful, yeah. Shame I haven't met one yet. If nothing else robots would be useful for me, I can't infect them.

[save_us_alice]

I think there's still some people of the robot persuasion wandering around here somewhere. . .just it's difficult to know where and when you might bump into them. Hopefully not literally, though as you say, they'd be the safest people FOR you to bump into.

[palmerthing]

Do they count as life forms, do you suppose? Silicon-based? Is there really a difference?

[save_us_alice]

Of course they count as life-forms -- just not necessarily organic ones. Metal and steel instead of flesh and bone, that's all. Of course, my Hatter these days is more machine than man, and my father-in-law's a cyborg as well, so it's pretty easy for me to see the mechanical as a person.

[palmerthing]

Did they evolve, though? Is that even required for being a life-form? Fuck, man, philosophy is hard.

[save_us_alice]

I -- hmmm. I would say all robots are built, but -- is that true of every universe? How does a world populated by transforming robots even come about? [frowns thoughtfully] It probably depends on the universe. . .but I don't know if evolution is required for being a life-form. Mind you, I don't know what IS required -- jellyfish don't even have brains, and we consider them life.

[palmerthing]

I think life is generally defined as 'I know it when I see it.' Trying to come up with a better definition is . . . difficult.

[save_us_alice]

As we're well proving. . .though there's probably a joke in there about that also being the general definition of pornography.

[palmerthing]

It seems to be the definition of a surprising number of things.

[save_us_alice]

Hmmm. Probably because so much of life is really subjective? And it's hard to define these things because no two people think exactly the same way?

[palmerthing]

Somethin' like that, man. *He shrugs. Trying to figure this stuff out is fun, but also difficult.*

[save_us_alice]

[Alice shrugs back] Life is complicated and messy -- why shouldn't its definition be the same?

[palmerthing]

Good point, good point.

[save_us_alice]

[looking at Chester, still stained with ice cream] And trust me, life is never messier than when you're dealing with a small child.

[palmerthing]

So it seems. *He looks thoughtful for a moment.* Although in a way I'm younger than he is, so . . .