Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Travellers (Semi-Open RP between Tara and Catrin)

The AI nodded, "You may."

At the first touch, the hologram would have give only a slight resistance, but as she pushed harder the pressure against her hand increased and it made very little progress into the hologram, "The forcefields will push back against your hand with exactly equal force, so that as you push harder the forcefields will push back harder as well. Theoretically this hologram could withstand being charged at by a Vikar Beast, a very large herbivore from a low-gravity planet, which is about the same size as this ship... as you can imagine that is a great deal of force, even in low gravity environments." The AI shrugged, "Though in reality, I think being hit with such force might overload the field projectors."

Catrin pushed and pushed and feeling the force come back to her was unusual, but interesting as well. After the AI's explanation, she pulled her hand back, nodded and smiled, slightly mischievously. “Would you mind if I tried giving you a hug? As an experiment, of course,” she added hastily.

"If you wish, Miss Catrin." The AI said, "Although I cannot see what useful data you would derive from doing so." A slight smile twitched on the hologram's lips, "I think I might decide to surprise Mistress with this hologram of mine. She does enjoy novel experiences after all."

Catrin smirked. “Well, that's up to you. You're right, she does enjoy novel experiences... but I'm not sure how she'll view a change like this after the three hundred years or so that you've been together.” She cleared her throat. “Well... I'm curious. I just want to know what it feels like. How pleasant or unpleasant tactile input is is important to us organics, after all,” she informed him with a wink and without waiting for his answer, went about hugging him.

She tried wrapping both her hands around him and, since he was taller than her, rest her face on his chest, all the while trying to figure out if this was pleasant or not. It seemed like if she was partially immersed in him, which was probably the weirdest part.

The AI seemed to be amused by the whole situation, "Indeed." The forcefields that gave the hologram its solid feel firmed slightly, so that she didn't sink into the hologram, "Is that any better, Miss Catrin?" He asked, "I assumed that sinking into the hologram might be a disconcerting experience for you."

Catrin gave him a squeeze. “Yes, much better.” She let go of him and took a step back. “Not disconcerting, but unusual. I'm not used to sinking into objects that start giving resistance afterwards.” She gave him a wide smile. “See, but it was useful. You calibrated the force field. Did you feel anything, by the way?”

"I have not emplaced any sensors within the hologram, and in ay case the hologram is simply an object with which you can interact to make things easier, so that you can talk to a 'person' rather than a random wall or ceiling or whatever, so the hologram is more of a representation of me, rather than myself in actuality, so the closest I could get to 'feeling' what the hologram does is by scanning your interactions with it using my internal sensors, or by placing remote sensors inside the hologram to gather input directly." It then chuckled, "Or to put it more succinctly; no, I didn't feel anything."

Catrin pouted at him but then she chuckled. “What a lovely answer. But, you did enjoy making the hologram look nicer. How do you feel about its expanded interaction possibilities? Also, would you be able to, for instance, move objects around now?”

The hologram smiled, "Well, it'll make interaction easier, and maybe a little more personal. Besides, I think Tara could stand to see someone of her own kind a little more often, even if I am just a holographic representation of the ship's AI." He chuckled, "Maybe it'll get her to be a little less awkward around males of her species." He then grinned, "As for moving things about, I certainly can, though since I control virtually every function on this ship, including the storage areas and the ship's hull itself, I think moving things with the hologram will be more inefficient."

Catrin laughed when he mentioned making Tara less awkward around males. “Seriously? She's awkward around males?” She shrugged when he mentioned it would be inefficient. “Well, I haven't really seen anything that could be used to transport things around here, that's how it occurred to me. Also, now you could probably wrestle with unwelcome visitors. That could be fun.”

She smirked. “Although I suppose these kinds of energy fields were always available to you, so this isn't exactly a new defense system. And you could also have used them to move things around. Hm. You're right, easier interaction and making Tara more... comfortable, at least in the long run, is what this is about.”

The AI nodded, smiling, "Mistress Tara has always been of a... scholarly persuasion, even when she was young, or so I gather, when it comes to field research she's as stubborn, determined and, dare I say it, bold enough to get whatever data she wants, but when it comes to social interaction beyond her researches... well, she tuns into something of a shy bookish sort of girl. She's quite out of her depth with such things and in the three centuries I've known her I've never heard mention of any romantic partners, nor has she ever had any males come to the ship, unless they were work colleagues." The hologram shrugged, "I hope that maybe by using this hologram I can help her with it."

Catrin smiled. “Ah, hidden motives. Very well.” She wondered if there was a possibility of Tara actually falling for the AI, but then she shrugged it off. No need to tell him that, mentioning that he looked sexy was enough – it made him quite confused, or so it seemed.

She smiled some more. “Now it feels really strange to think of you as 'AI', but never mind that. Are you satisfied with your look? Would you like to try out something else?”

The hologram made a show of examining himself, despite the fact that the AI it represented could obviously use the ship's internal sensors to look at it from all possible angles at once and in a dizzying array of ways, "I am content with it for now." The AI said, "I can always change something later if I so desire." It gave her a genuine, warm smile, "My thanks, Miss Catrin, I've been meaning to do this for some time now, and your help has been most appreciated."

Catrin smirked when he obviously exaggerated looking himself over, and gave him a bow when he thanked her. “It was a pleasure to help,” she said formally before beaming at him. “And it was fun.”

She looked over her shoulder towards the workstation, and then back at him. “I'd like to go back to studying Tara's immensely valuable archives, if you don't need anything else.”

"Of course, I shall leave you to your studies, then. I would suggest concentrating on the Terelains, as you are obviously travelling with one and on one of their craft, there is also a good chance we'll return to the Kingdom. You might read a little on he Humans, since we'll be passing through their territory on the way back, and maybe a little on the Sithrimni, if we decide to visit them." He gave her a smile, "And fell free to inquire about anything not on the database."

With that said, and if she didn't ask him anything else, the AI would switch off the hologram so that he could redirect some of his attention elsewhere, to other matters aboard the ship.

She tilted her head. “So you're giving me privacy in using the database, and not tracking what I'm accessing? I've already gone through most of Terelain history and a lot of their culture, and I'm just finishing an article on their bloodlines.” She gave him a rather disconcerting smile. “But thank you for recommending where to go next, and for your offer of assistance.” She smiled at him again, this time normally, before he disappeared, and spent the next 3 or 4 hours studying, unless someone interrupted her. She covered a history of Humans and also a bit of the Sithrimni before getting up and stretching.

A few minutes after she had finished with the holodisplay, it vanished and the chair sank back into the floor, and a few minutes after that Tara walked into the room, stretching languidly, she wore only her torc, a tail ring and her silver pendant, "Mm... much better, a few more naps like that and I'll be back on standard ship-time again." She smiled at Catrin, "I hope you've been able to amuse yourself whilst I've been asleep. I asked the AI, but he's been a bit recalcitrant about what he's been up to."

Catrin spent the few minutes thinking about what she read, and she smiled at Tara when she came in. “It seems like you had a good rest.” She nodded in response to Tara's question. “Oh yes, the AI made it very clear that I'll never again have a chance to access such wonderfully compiled and neutral information about everything I might need, so I spent most of the time going through your database. He was right about the lack of bias – your work is truly extraordinary.” She smiled again, determined not to mention anything about the AI's new hologram.

Tara's smile virtually glowed with pride at her praise, "Thank you, that means a lot coming from a universe-traveler such as yourself." She chuckled, "Though I'm sure you'll be able to find archives just as good, if not better somewhere out there. Hell, the Royal Archives on Aerin have records, even recordings, of most of modern galactic history, and to be fair my people are only biased towards themselves, so apart from a little arrogance and condescension the records will be pretty much accurate."

Behind her, silently, the AI formed his new and improved hologram, he had a mischievous smile on his face and winked at Catrin, "Ahem."

Tara whirled around and, as soon as she spotted the hologram she jumped, her eyes widening in shock, "What the- how the- what are you doing on my ship!? How did you even get on board? We're in the middle of-" She stopped herself, her eyes narrowing, "Wait a second..."

The hologram chuckled, "Miss Catrin was helping me in improving my holographic interface."

Tara's tail twitched in agitation, "Why you! Why'd you scare me like that?"

"I thought it might amuse you, Mistress. What do you think of my new appearance?" The AI asked, showing off his tail and finger rings and torc.

"I...um...I..." Tara sighed, "You look very nice, for a computer anyway. You chose a rather...um.. attractive...uh... body."