Re: The Disposable Enquiry [Round 1: Kyyhkynen]
08-22-2011, 11:54 PM
A curious aperture-eye followed the Inquirer for but a second â?? then there was a moment in the running masses, a change in their impetus, and Coriander was swept away on a crowd of humanity â?? going here, there â?? nowhere, down alleys, avenues and arbors, boulevards and boardwalks, corridors and courtyards. As the dust cleared, he found himself in a small plaza paved with grimy cobblestones, lying on an unpainted wooden bench. Beside the bench stood a sputtering fountain, having run forlornly dry from a crack in its side. Behind some buildings not far away, the arrowâ??s titanic shaft protruded rudely into the sky, its peak caressing the clouds and its shadow grieving the ground. The world tilted, slid and faltered â?? pebbles skittering across the stones â?? then righted itself with the sickening sound of splintering sinew, the cracking screech of a constructâ??s decreation. The day was overcast.
The day was overcast. Coriander brought his eye to gaze at the cloudy sky, his sight focusing and refocusing automatically at the undulative grey of a dreary, broken heaven. It unsettled him to see the weather so undecided, so indefinite.
[Itâ??s a lack of control,] he mused, [neither human nor robot have found a way to control the climate yet. Managing humans is a comfortable job by comparison.]
From his vantage point beside the fountain, Coriander spun his eye unseeingly around the battered plaza, looking at abandoned store facades and seeing the park that the company had spent crucial funds on for human comfort. It exuded the Aperture spirit from every facet of its construction: the depressingly small space, the guide-rails cutting into the sky above, the buildings on all four sides â?? and all without a trace of greenery.
It looked as if a robot had designed the park. It looked as if a robot had tried to think like a human trying to think like a robot in order to design the park. It looked as if a robot had brought a human to a drawing board, asked him to design a park for human comfort, and had completely redesigned the result afterwards. This was all true.
He had never been much for parks, but he didnâ??t have any duties to attend to. He...didnâ??t have any duties to attend to. That was odd. He normally didnâ??t go a minute without some matter needing his attention, and the world had been silent for nine nine nine nine nine nine nine What was oddest, however, was how deserted the plaza was. Coriander stared around the deserted space again, frantically processing the Inquirerâ??s speech and introductions. Had that been real? What was real? He remembered, with a start, not to wax philosophical. [I will wax philosophical, and the world will wane awayâ?¦ - Anonymous] It made him uncomfortably uncertain what world he lived in.
â??Because a world without staff would be horrifying, wouldnâ??t it, Julia?â?
â??Yes it would, sir. I canâ??t imagine a world without Aperture.â? Julia sat beside him on the freshly painted bench, one hand in her lap, the other lightly holding his top handle. Together they watched the fountain gurgle and the water was gone, had never been, as a giant staple buried itself in the crack and shattered the stonework to shards.
â??I say, my fellow Aperture Science employee â?? I saw you carried off such and suchlike, and thought it would be wise to follow in case I could be of aid. You seemed somewhat distracted when I arrived, and so I thought it would be wise to attract your attention in the only way I could, wot wot.â?
For a moment, Coriander was confused. He normally never interacted with stationery â?? but here he was, interacting with stationeryâ?¦thus, this couldnâ??t be normal, could it? He wasnâ??t sure if this was real or not, but [When something seems abnormal, give it a poke. â??Anonymous] he would play along, to see if there were clues-
â??Greetings ASMAIFACâ?¦your registration number is not listed in my local database. Iâ?¦oh, if this isnâ??t real formality wonâ??t matter anywayâ?¦hi there. Whatâ??s your name? I mean, what can I call you?â?
The day was overcast. Coriander brought his eye to gaze at the cloudy sky, his sight focusing and refocusing automatically at the undulative grey of a dreary, broken heaven. It unsettled him to see the weather so undecided, so indefinite.
[Itâ??s a lack of control,] he mused, [neither human nor robot have found a way to control the climate yet. Managing humans is a comfortable job by comparison.]
From his vantage point beside the fountain, Coriander spun his eye unseeingly around the battered plaza, looking at abandoned store facades and seeing the park that the company had spent crucial funds on for human comfort. It exuded the Aperture spirit from every facet of its construction: the depressingly small space, the guide-rails cutting into the sky above, the buildings on all four sides â?? and all without a trace of greenery.
It looked as if a robot had designed the park. It looked as if a robot had tried to think like a human trying to think like a robot in order to design the park. It looked as if a robot had brought a human to a drawing board, asked him to design a park for human comfort, and had completely redesigned the result afterwards. This was all true.
He had never been much for parks, but he didnâ??t have any duties to attend to. He...didnâ??t have any duties to attend to. That was odd. He normally didnâ??t go a minute without some matter needing his attention, and the world had been silent for nine nine nine nine nine nine nine What was oddest, however, was how deserted the plaza was. Coriander stared around the deserted space again, frantically processing the Inquirerâ??s speech and introductions. Had that been real? What was real? He remembered, with a start, not to wax philosophical. [I will wax philosophical, and the world will wane awayâ?¦ - Anonymous] It made him uncomfortably uncertain what world he lived in.
â??Because a world without staff would be horrifying, wouldnâ??t it, Julia?â?
â??Yes it would, sir. I canâ??t imagine a world without Aperture.â? Julia sat beside him on the freshly painted bench, one hand in her lap, the other lightly holding his top handle. Together they watched the fountain gurgle and the water was gone, had never been, as a giant staple buried itself in the crack and shattered the stonework to shards.
â??I say, my fellow Aperture Science employee â?? I saw you carried off such and suchlike, and thought it would be wise to follow in case I could be of aid. You seemed somewhat distracted when I arrived, and so I thought it would be wise to attract your attention in the only way I could, wot wot.â?
For a moment, Coriander was confused. He normally never interacted with stationery â?? but here he was, interacting with stationeryâ?¦thus, this couldnâ??t be normal, could it? He wasnâ??t sure if this was real or not, but [When something seems abnormal, give it a poke. â??Anonymous] he would play along, to see if there were clues-
â??Greetings ASMAIFACâ?¦your registration number is not listed in my local database. Iâ?¦oh, if this isnâ??t real formality wonâ??t matter anywayâ?¦hi there. Whatâ??s your name? I mean, what can I call you?â?
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So very British / But then again | People are machines Machines are people | Oh hai there | There's no time
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Superhero 1920s noir | Multigenre Half-Life | Changing the future | Command line interface
Tu ventire felix? | Clockwork for eternity | Explosions in spacetime