Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round Two: Ryburg Ritz]

Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round Two: Ryburg Ritz]
#61
Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round One: The Pacific Spire]
Originally posted on MSPA by dynamicEquilibrium.

In a stairwell choked with debris and covered in dust, the last of the freed survivors hobbled away. Only three figures remained: one serene and sparkling, one stiff and gleaming, and one frankly rather grubby. Simiel was dutifully picking up various scattered bits of Jean from around the room when she paused to say, "There is one other thing that I wish to determine before we leave. How did all of those people become trapped? Their situation had no resemblance to a natural collapse or malfunction of the building."

Jean cocked what amounted to her head to the side and strained to remember. "Well, I'm not sure, really. I think something's wrong with the elevator so that it could only put people on one floor, and they mentioned something about other people blocking the stairs off on purpose? Maybe it was a weird joke."

"That is a very odd thing to do. I have been told that the behavior of lifeforms can be logically and universally predicted, but from my perspective it is simply chaos. I wonder why the mysterious creature who put us here is so devoted to the study of people's actions when they are so unpredictable. If one has the intelligence of a Core, then study is unnecessary, but if one does not, the pursuit seems futile."

Blacklight smiled to herself as she watched. These two were positively adorable sometimes. "People can be easier to understand than you think. The key to human action is an even mixture of method and madness. I fancy that may be why you find us so hard to understand, but those of us with an inside view can draw some very accurate conclusions."

"If your assessment is accurate then that is a likely reason. What I understand as 'method' and 'madness' do not mix, ever. Perhaps it is the data provided by so many new interactions, or perhaps this derives from certain statements made by that mysterious creature earlier, but I have been thinking excessively on the problems of human behavior. It would be better for me to defer to your expertise in this area and devote myself to easier commands." The machine nodded politely at Ms. Blacklight. "Now, how exactly is the elevator broken?"

As Jean chattered excitedly about all the complaints that the trapped office workers had voiced over the preceding hours, Blacklight took another look at a certain deep blue gem of hers and stroked it with one long finger. "I'm afraid you've already opened Pandora's Box, dear, or at least had it opened for you," she whispered. "Your 'excessive thinking' doesn't show any signs of letting up soon."

Just then, Jean gave a shout. "I remember it now! The angry man earlier said that somebody 'broke physics'. That's why the elevator went wrong, physics isn't working anymore."

Simiel stiffened and declaimed, "There is no meaningful sense in which the quality of being broken can be applied to the discipline of physics. Please explain again."

"My dear, you should have said 'does not compute'." Blacklight grinned and winked.

"Why?"

"Because I would have found the stereotype incredibly funny. I agree, though, that perhaps we should not trust in hearsay. Let's go take a look, shall we? Whatever's going on seems to be centered somewhere above us, and thanks to the collapsed stairs, we'll need a way to climb."

This was a satisfactory instruction. Simiel searched through the wreckage until she found a sufficiently long piece of stairway railing. "I will lift you to the next floor with the end of this pole, then climb after you. Please hold onto the end tightly." Blacklight got a secure hold on a protruding shard of metal while Jean wrapped herself clumsily around the end of the pole, and then they swung unnervingly upwards. The pole bent and groaned with strain as it completed the peak of its arc, but the combined weight of a human and a laundry golem was thankfully insufficient to break it. Leaving the pole propped against the shattered end of the stairs above, Simiel cut into the concrete wall with the pointed ends of her fingers and hoisted her not-inconsiderable weight off the ground. A few seconds later, she rolled over the lip of the broken-off stairs and resumed her normal stiff standing posture.

"What a very direct solution. You're quite a bit stronger than you look." It was easy to forget just how strong Simiel was. When this eventually turned into a battle to the death, it would be important to have both the robot and Doctor Von Wissenschaft on her side. Ms. Blacklight made a mental note to find Alberich and try to come up with a way to keep him tractable.

"I am, however, not as strong as I thought." Simiel was staring blankly at her left wrist as she talked. "Supporting my own weight pulled some actuators in my lower arm segment out of position. I should be able to climb without footholds under normal circumstances, but my metal was below specifications." Turmagandra was extremely sterile, but Simiel must have corroded slightly over the period if time when she was inactive. It was difficult to manage one's systems without the presence of maintenance robots. The movements of her left hand would be somewhat impaired now, and the problem was difficult to fix without access to advanced metalcrafting tools.

"Oh no! Does it hurt? I hope you didn't hurt yourself too badly." Jean fluffily grasped the member in question, but she couldn't see anything wrong with it.

"Machines do not experience pain. I simply must prioritize finding a way to repair myself." Jean's concern was clearly misplaced. Simiel herself had been wondering whether or not she was a person ever since the Sociologist had claimed that she was, but this made it obvious. Certain criteria for personhood included Simiel while others excluded her, but a person definitely needed the ability to experience sensations directly, rather than being informed of them via data. People could feel pain and machines could not. This should have been definitive, but Simiel still had the sense that some relevant information on the question was missing. Resolving her own identity would have to take high priority, along with self-repair, investigating the Sociologist, investigating the anomalies in the elevator... so many high-level tasks were rapidly growing difficult to juggle. For now she supposed it was best to continue following Jean and Ms. Blacklight. They had similar priorities, at least.

"Alright, good! It would be really sad if you got hurt by being so helpful."

"Luckily for you, this building is packed with scientists. I recommend we find one who can lend you the tools you need and tell us about what's happening in the elevator shaft. Perhaps we will find Alberich and our other compatriots farther ahead as well. I have a hunch that big changes are starting to take shape around the strangeness with the elevator, and people are likely to be pulled along with them"
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Re: Journal of Sociology [S!6] - [Round One: The Pacific Spire] - by GBCE - 12-05-2012, 12:57 AM