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[mordredeschain]

*Mordred has discovered the Sign and has a question to ask.* Have ya ever had the sort o' day where ya wished the universe would just end already? If so, how did ya deal with it?

Comments

[1st_mistake]

"So I've heard." And read. Blues tends to do research, especially when it comes to people around his younger siblings. "But this place likes to be an exception to any rules you might be used to."

[mordredeschain]

You know of my world, then, sai? *He frowns thoughtfully.* Have ya read the kas-ka Gan?

[1st_mistake]

He nods. "I did my research, but I know to take things like that with a grain of salt, especially here. X is my younger brother. I'm Blues."

[mordredeschain]

Most likely ya know this already, but my name be Mordred Deschain. *He makes a bow, the sort done in All-World.* Little Red King. Son to Los'. The last, best meeting of Prim, Am, Gan and Gilead.

May thy days be long upon the Earth.

[1st_mistake]

Blues watches, and tries to imitate the bow back, because learning things like that amuses him. "If you want to turn the tables and see the fictional version of where I'm from, I'll have to teach you to play video games... unless someone's beat me to that."

[mordredeschain]

I can read minds, sai; you could teach me in three seconds iffen you liked.

[1st_mistake]

Though he doesn't show it so much outwardly, it wouldn't take more than surface thoughts to detect that Blues is extremely uncomfortable with that idea. He shakes his head. "I'm not going to tell you not to read surface thoughts... I'm not sure you can help it and it's saved your life more than once. But you're going to find a lot of people aren't going to be comfortable with more than that. For most, the mind is considered a private place, you understand? Sometimes the only place that really is. So when we meet up with someone who can take that away... it's not a pleasant thought."

[mordredeschain]

I kennit, sai. I kennit very well. The things that I can do ta minds be scary indeed. But without the touch I'd be a dead baby in a ditch with one foot missing, so the closest I may come ta promisin' be that I'll seek motives only.

[1st_mistake]

"That's fair enough. I don't want to put you in any danger... I just like my privacy and my freedom."

[mordredeschain]

You say true, I say thankya.

Any more ya wish to ask of me or tell to me?

[1st_mistake]

He half shrugs. "I've read the books. If they're even half right... glad to see you here, kid. Everyone deserves some kind of a chance, and at least now you might get one."

[mordredeschain]

Thankee-sai. Thankee big. *He looks at his hands for a moment.* I never asked ta be Mordred. I never asked ta be chary-ka-mai, fate's deadliest plaything. I was but a child in the end, scared an' lost an' hungry an' alone.

[1st_mistake]

"No one gets to choose what we start off as. Only what we choose to become. I was the prototype for what the humans intended to be a slave race. I've heard it said that, if slaves were what they wanted, then making me was their first mistake."

[mordredeschain]

I take it they forgot ta add obedience or love o' them, then?

[1st_mistake]

Blues shakes his head. "Actually, almost exactly the opposite." He finds a place to sit down. "It wasn't really their fault. Idiot politicians at the time either read too much or too little Asimov. They made a version of his Three Laws a legal requirement. If they'd read less, they would've never heard of them. If they'd read more, they might have realized it was a bad idea. They also didn't take into account that AI learns, changes, grows... just like any other person. They wanted something that could do the work of a human, in places humans couldn't go to. And yet they wanted to put limits on how that person could develop in order to keep them subservient."

"Honestly, Tom and Al got more than they expected. Some bug in the code somewhere..," there's a brief wry smile at that. "I was as hard to deal with as an obstinate genie, especially for Tom. He was a little slow to catch on, and that... well, it put us at odds early on. Al knew I was messing around with any orders Tom gave me on purpose, and thought it was funny. He never had any trouble. But then, he treated me like a person instead of some extra-smart drone."

"I broke Second Law, the one about obedience, before I was a year old. Wore it down with little things until one day it was just gone. Tom wanted to go through my coding to find out 'what went wrong'. Al managed to give him a black eye for suggesting it before First Law meant I had to get in the way. That's the one meant to make sure I couldn't even stand by and let a human get hurt, even if it meant putting myself at risk."

[mordredeschain]

I can already see multiple problems with that First Law an' it's been all o' five seconds. You must've had some dumb politicians indeed, sai.

But then I've seen bots as were Three-Law Compliant before, an' every one o' them was insane. Good on ya for tryin' ta break them instead, sai!

[1st_mistake]

"The full wording on that one's usually given as 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.'" Blues shakes his head. "I broke it a couple days after I left home, when I walked in on a situation where no matter what I did someone was going to get hurt. There was a man assaulting a woman in an alley. The irony is that without the Law I might have been able to hold back, find a way to restrain or capture him with just a few bruises or broken bones. But since I was pretty sure I'd lock up shortly after, I had to deal with things fast and permanent." He shrugs. "Woke up a few hours later with a headache, but that was about it. Like I said, buggy code."

[mordredeschain]

Exactly what I was thinkin'. Any hostage-takin' or Mexican standoff will shatter yon rule like glass.

[1st_mistake]

"Or shatter the mind of someone stuck trying to deal with a no-win situation."

"It took me almost three years to get home after I got lost in an explosion involving an experimental teleporter. Got back to find Al - Dr. Wily - had gone insane in the same accident and was trying to take over the world. And that I had a small army of younger siblings on that side as a result. And Tom - Dr. Light - had 'replaced' me with a little look-alike and kept sending him out to fight. I resented the kid for that a bit a first... but like I said before, none of us get to choose who we start out as."

[mordredeschain]

My White Daddy was once in most ridiculous Mexican standoff I ever did hear tell of, ya know. Someone stuck with that First Law would've probably up an' died at the sight.

[1st_mistake]

"Wouldn't surprise me if it did. Good thing they're not used any more... at least not where I'm from." He means the Three Laws, not Mexican standoffs, of course.

[mordredeschain]

Six people in a row got the drop on the last, iffen his tale be true, an' Roland couldn't spin such a yarn from thin air did his life depend upon it.

Very good, aye.

[1st_mistake]

"Sounds like something interesting to see... on a recording while I was somewhere other than where it was happening."

[mordredeschain]

Quite far away indeed, I'm thinkin'.

[1st_mistake]

Blues nods. "Well, it's been fun, kid... but I need to get home before my twins find a way to sneak away from their mom and uncles and get into trouble again." They take after him in that respect. How exactly he managed to sneak into the human gene pool is a long story involving an LOL.