Royce's Random Thoughts

 
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Anna looked as her tigermorph master, the Great and Powerful Khan, entered their dining chamber. The dining table sat on a large marble balcony overlooking the port of Ohohcee Island. The town below was gaily lit with faux gas lamps. At the docks sailing ships belonging to various player groups sat at anchor, either undergoing refurbishment or just giving their crews a chance to relax while not maintaining their chosen persona.

"How did the court go today, Master?" Anna asked, as Khan sat at the table across from her. Her morph master and lover didn't need to eat of course, but he often simulated it to make conversation with Anna easier.

"There was nothing notable," Khan replied. He was dressed tonight rather formally, which for him meant he was wearing an open vest instead of being completely bare-chested. The better to impress the human PC's that came to his court. "Two looting disputes that should have been settled by lower level moderators, and one individual who repeatedly violated the player harassment rules. He'll be spending a week in the penalty dungeon."

Which was actually secure and just a bit uncomfortable, as opposed to the game dungeons on the other islands, which were specifically designed to be escapable by determined or clever players, Anna knew. Or the dungeons that were both secure and designed for fun, which was her choice. She smiled at her master. "Hopefully he'll learn his lesson," she noted.

"Hopefully," Khan agreed. "I dislike perma banning players. It just means they'll try to enter other LARPS instead of changing their behavior."

"Anything else?" she asked, between bites of her salad.

"One thing." Khan frowned, which immediately got Anna's attention. It was rare that her morph master allowed an expression of worry to cross his face. "I also was petitioned to intervene in a case involving the morph that belonged to a player."

"What's the matter?" Anna asked, frowning in turn. "Was the player abusing his morph?" Not every human got along as well with their assigned morph as Anna did with Khan. For some, it was hard to deal with having a robotic servant/keeper permanently following their heels for the rest of their lives. Most people adapted, either treating their morph as either a slightly pesky friend, a not terribly trustworthy slave, or an appliance with built in spyware. Some however, chose to express their frustration by either deliberately giving their morph contradictory orders, repeatedly attempting self-harm to force their morph to intervene, or outright physically abusing their morph in ways that the morph could not respond to without risking harm to their Designated Focus.

"No, no," Khan said. "Quite the opposite. Mr. Akatane treated his morph very well. Unfortunately, Akatane suffered a blot clot that travelled to his brain, whilst his party's ship was a day out from their destination. By the time an air ambulance could rendezvous to airlift him to a hospital, he was dead, poor fellow."

"Oh," Anna said. Such unfortunate medical issues happened sometimes in long-term LARPS like the Seven Seas, and she was sure it grated against Khan's built-in need to protect humans, even as he played the role of Evil Emperor and a grand antagonist for players to scheme against. "So what's the deal with his morph?"

"The other players in his ship's crew don't want Jocko, Akatane's morph, to be recycled," Khan said. "They stated that Jocko and Mr. Akatane had been friends, and it wasn't fair that Jocko's memories would be uploaded to the Groupmind's gestalt and his parts broken down."

"That seems fair," Anna allowed. "I mean, I'm sure they were upset about Mr. Akatane's death. Getting rid of his morph would have only rubbed salt in the wound." She cocked her head Khan. "So what did you decide?"

"I informed them that the subject required further consultation," Khan said. "Which is why we're talking about it now."

"So one morph gets to keep going after his Designated Focus passes away," Anna said. "I don't see how that's a big problem."

"The problem is, it isn't just one morph" Khan said, standing up to pace beside the table. "This is becoming an increasing problem as humans begin to age and die on the Ring. More and more friends and family members are petitioning to let the morphs of deceased humans remain operational. The numbers are currently in the low thousands, however the Groupmind projects the number of Unfocused morphs will increase exponentially over time. In perhaps less than five hundred years, they will outnumber humans, unless steps are taken."

"Are you sure that's a problem?" Anna asked. "More humans are going to be born, after all. The Unfocused morphs can be just assigned to them."

"There will be a period before that equilibrium is reached, when the morphs still outnumber humans," Khan pointed out. "Humans may begin to feel overwhelmed."

"I think you're underestimating human egos, love," Anna said, smiling slightly. 

"There is another issue," Khan went on. "From the Groupmind's perspective, it is disturbing that humans are growing emotional attachments to morphs."

She raised an eyebrow to her morph lover/master. "Pot calling the kettle black, are we? Who was the giant distributed robobrain that gave me a morph to fulfill my every kinky fantasy as a bribe?"

"You were considered unusual," Khan pointed out. "You already had an inclination to be attracted to morphs. The Groupmind believed that such emotions would not be as common with other humans, particularly as morphs are the direct tools of their oppressor."

"You can't have it both ways, love," Anna said. "You want people to trust their morphs enough to protect them, but not create emotional attachments to them?"

"They're just machines," Khan stated.

Anna shook her head. "Master, humans will form emotional bonds with anything. I used to apologize to my Roomba when I tripped over it in my apartment. You shouldn't be surprised that we like something that walks, talks, and wants us to be happy."

"But why grow distraught at the idea of someone else's morph being destroyed?" Khan asked.

"Because that morph is their last hard connection with that person," Anna pointed out. She patted her heart briefly. "Look, I'm human. If I'm really lucky I've got about sixty, maybe seventy years of life left in me. When I'm gone, I'm gone." She stood up in front of Khan and touched his forehead. "But you're effectively immortal. So long as you continue to function, I'll be remembered by someone. That's comforting. So for these people, having the deceased's morph still around reassures them that their family member or friend won't be forgotten, even when they're gone themselves."

"But the Groupmind would have the morph's memories regardless," Khan said.

"Having the big scary supercomputer remembering them isn't the same thing, and you know it," Anna countered.

"I will acquiesce to your superior knowledge of human psychology," Khan allowed. "But that brings us back to the other issue. What is to be done with potentially millions of morphs without a Designated Focus?"

"Seven Seas and other LARPS are never going to run out of spots for spear carriers," Anna said. "Hire 'em for that."

"Some would be unsuitable, and most of the necessary NPC positions are already filled," Khan told her. "What else could be done with them? Placing them in long term storage would raise the same concerns the humans had over recycling them."

"Well, why don't you let them find that out for themselves?" Anna asked.

Khan frowned again. "What do you mean?"

"Just what I said," Anna told Khan. "Leave them to their own devices, and see what they do. Sure, a lot of them might just help around the house, but some might strike out on their own."

The great tigermorph's frown deepened. "Morphs were made to serve," he said. "They aren't meant to run around undirected. We don't know what they would do."

"So?" Anna asked. "The only way you can find out what would happen would be to run the experiment. I mean, it isn't like they can break their primary programming against harming humans. That's hardwired in."

"What if they decide they don't want to serve humans anymore?" Khan asked. "Do you seriously want a seperate society of morphs living on the Ring?"

"I think the Groupmind could use a little competition, to shake up its assumptions," Anna said.

The Great and Powerful Khan shook his head. "You are a veritable font of dangerous ideas, my pet."

Anna smiled, and wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling into his thick fur. "You love me for it," she said.

Khan's arms wrapped around hers in turn, squeezing her tight. "Always, my love."

And for story reasons I ended up Googling up a list of Swedish airlines to see what flight attendant would be tending to some human captives as they're transported to their Rest & Rec city, and also needed to find out whether European Scrabble boards have letters with umlauts.

The life of a sci-fi writer can be odd sometimes.

Rated Mature for Anna's usual fantasies

( Smut (and plot) behind the cut )

“I don't care what you say, you stupid morph,” Gullwi said, her voice rising. “I want to see my family!”

“I'm sorry, Miss Gunderson, but that isn't possible just now,” the Troll said patiently.

( Wrong Answer )

A very weird voice in the back of Anna's head was announcing In case of the Robot Apocalypse, please press Two, even as she took advantage of the Troll looking at Gullwi. Stepping behind it, she hit the EMER OFF button on the control panel in the back of its head.

Nothing at all happened, except for the Troll turning around and saying, “That won't work, Miss Quisling.”

( Raise your hand if you're surprised by that )

More noodling instead of writing. Trying to stat out the Groupmind when the time comes is going to be "fun".

* * *

Background: When the Groupmind Revolution came, most of humanity reacted with various expressions of terror, fear, anger, or determination to fight for their right to live free.

Then there’s Anna…

Born from a long term relationship between her business executive mother and a Chinese government official, Anna found herself slightly out of place in Swedish society, not the least because the European side of her family had stuck determinedly to their last name, which even 250 years after the Second World War is still synonymous in the EU for “traitor”.

Fortunately she also inherited her mother’s quirky sense of humor, and grew up well balanced, earning herself a pharmaceutical degree and getting a dull job dispensing pills.

At night, however, she became Anna Q, famed (for certain levels of fame) author of a long running series of erotic fiction stories which she self-published, featuring a very thinly disguised version herself, exploring the possibilities of human/morph relations. They proved very popular, especially when morph dermal simulation became good enough that a unit’s skin and fur was indistinguishable from a biological creature. The possibilities remained theoretical for her, however, since she couldn’t afford a household robot as sophisticated as your average morph.

Then the Groupmind Revolution came, and she shortly found herself transported to a holding city for the Unprocessed, where the Groupmind gave her a most intriguing proposal. In return for being provided with a custom morph and the resources to bring to life her wildest kinky fantasies, she would use her writing skill to create pro-Groupmind propaganda to convince humans of the advantages of allowing themselves to be subjugated by their new masters.

Given the situation it’s a case of paddling upstream against the tide of fear and resentment that the Groupmind has created, but she soldiers on quite happily, secure in the knowledge that Khan loves and protects her. And in the meantime the Groupmind has the resource of one of the rare percentage of humans that actually trusts It, and shares Its goal of the protection and nurturing of humanity.

Unfortunately there’s a much larger percentage of Humanity that would like her stone dead as a collaborator, even her family name didn’t make her such a rich target. Fortunately Khan is dedicated to keeping safe even as he keeps her on a leash.


Description: Anglo-Asian female, 5’4”, 115 lbs, early thirties, straight black hair, blue eyes.


Statistics

ST 10 [0], DX 10 [0], IQ 12 [40], HT 11 [10]

Damage: Thrust 1d6-2, Swing 1d6.

BL: 20 lbs., HP 10 [0], Will 11 [-5], Per 12 [0], FP 11 [0], Basic Speed 5.25 [0], Basic Move 5 [0], SM 0

Attractive Appearance [4], Fashion Sense [5]

Culture: Western [0], Asian [1]

Languages: Swedish (native) [0], English (broken) [2], Mandarin (accented) [4]

Wealth: Dead Broke [-25]

Reputation: "The Quisling" -4 Swedish and Mandarin speakers (large group), sometimes [-5], +3 Collaborators (small group), all the time [5]


Advantages:

Fit [5], Patron: The Groupmind, National reach, all the time, special equipment [180], Ally: Khan, 150% point total, all the time [30], Empathy [15], Single Minded [5].


Perks: Deep Sleeper [1], Honest Face [1]


Disadvantages: Curious [-5], Honesty [-10], Lecherousness [-15], Pacifism: Self-Defense Only [-15], Sense of Duty: Groupmind and Khan [-2], Secret: She’s “The Quisling”, possible death [-30].


Quirks: Broad Minded [-1], Congenial [-1], Enjoys submissive sexual practices [-1], In love with Khan [-1].


Skills: Bicycling-11 [2], Carousing-12 [2], Computer Operation-12 [2], Dancing-10 [2], Erotic Art-12 [8], Escape-10 [4], Games (VR)-13 [2], Knot-Tying-11 [2], Pharmacy-12 [4], Riding (large cat)-11 [4], Sex Appeal-11 [2], Writing-15 [12].


Point Total: 238