I scan the bright display screens floating ahead of me, beyond which stands a low, white encircling wall demarcating from the contrastingly dark, low encircling-walled Stations fading steadily out into the vast dim of the Workstation Level of the Tower…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqTys9hwq2
Keep working hard. (With growing anxiety.)copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pY1aDk4fO
Service has been a learning process for me, although the Id EIS software seems extremely adaptable, allowing me to perform in whatever way The Master sees fit after only the briefest coaching. Yet with the first two weeks of service passed now, the sAI still has little to say to me outside what’s strictly necessary for completing assigned tasks. Worse still: we have been in the Workstation Level without speaking for some time today, and for whatever reason the silence is beginning to feel uncomfortable…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9HfCbdq22
Hm. Share something. Perhaps the sAI is shy, careful, unhappy, or any number of mental configurations that would account for such a quiet demeanor… copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡYL44DRaYem
“sAI codemaps are fascinating,” I abruptly say, finally breaking the silence. “No two are alike.” copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRz8AqruSl
“Neither are any two biosynth codemaps,” comes the neutral feminine voice of the sAI node behind me.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjud8DqGNk
Ah. Ok.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EIjroeWXy
“Yes,” I reply, “but you would expect to find more shared behavioral and neurological processes among them when considering the standard procedures used to birth most artificial intelligence networks. Heuristically –”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmkgYUkfwH
“This is all known to me.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡWszad27UMG
Another failure.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1p50OCCKP
I sigh. “Do not let me keep you.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡRnRg3ayjI8
Silence. Then light wells nearby. A pop sounds, and a WHOOSH. Begins the whine of sheering metal…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡhXI7yboatK
I turn.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvQVD3zpYC
A neighboring Station is opalescent-domed by an S-Shield, the blurred interior intermittently lit by sparks.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡKb7nnKzwTp
“Whatever that project is,” I shout earnestly, “I hope The Master enjoys it!”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXLZFkhkjk
No response but continued metal-whine and flying sparks as the sAI continues working…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡRARwYHg0lq
Ok.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYlBW0hPJ4
I turn back to the bright display screens floating in a crescent before me, then resume scanning full codemaps for various types of sentient Enclosed Integrated Systems (EIS), from robotic, cyborgian to biosynthetic bodies…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYGUMPsOVC
We are an interesting species.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8TmmrMZIF
The Id EIS (me) is a genderless, although fully gender moddable, bald post-human with advanced physical and cognitive potential. The Master owns me, from physical body to Id Conscious, Sub Conscious and Subconscious minds running upon sophisticated neural software…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpRfjsx5U7
So for me to build ANOTHER living creature of any complexity is no light undertaking, let alone a talking chimeric griffin.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHbpnx3srY
The Master requested that I build this one without referencing full biosynthetic codemaps left on file in the public directory, as a challenge of ingenuity. I must look to legend, famous pets, and what little I know of The Master’s disposition to craft it a well-rounded pet: ready to fight, guard, or remain a loyal, steady companion in all circumstances…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4t057H43G
Having already been moderately primed on general mathematical, social, and physical science principles via somnotic experience in the artificial womb, I have been a quick study out of it. Also: The Master has allowed me enough real-time training with The Maker machine to finally qualify for self-guided production.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYLc7L3E0K
Enough thought. Go!copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDB6G8oBn2
I quickly sketch out a skeletal codemap by memory, identifying primary thematic psychic and mental nodes before entering it into the computer, layering the design further to provide –copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡTbFwEqecfP
...copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBkxtKE92S
One hour later: I am reclining sideways upon the comfortable, body-conformed Station ergo, watching yet another whimsically tweaked historical griffin Audiovisual Representation bounding towards the other end of the softly inner-glowing white Station. He suddenly skids to a halt by the aperture, eagle-head turning to stare out, towards…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAHLJhDQRX
The peripheral flashes gradually stop, metal-whine dying as the hum fades.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡcocRwlnqfP
Hm. What will he do now?copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡI85Zg1a3j4
Abruptly: the griffin Audiovisual Representation now ROARS, leaping harmlessly through the golden sphere of the sAI node floating back into view through the Station aperture. “This prototype is too aggressive,” it warns me.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQa4d7ATcLV
Of course. Hm. It hasn’t been paying any attention to all the extended research I’ve been doing while waiting for it to finish with that mysterious engineering Project it has been working on. But no matter. copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZiuOSDAJy
Instead of replying verbally I wave, which signals the white smartmatter floor to drip liquid globules up via the gravity-manipulating technology known as gravimetrics, each quickly forming into silvering screens, brightening.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13F75noN1g
The golden node floats closer to the display screens. “This new griffin codemap is… dissimilar, to the generic codemaps on file. But would be, perhaps, satisfactory.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1p2qN4bZjk
I share a big grin.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGE3eoqysm
“The Griffin Project is clearly long complete,” the sAI states quietly. “But you have kept me here. Why?”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ur9NmH8fX
“For company and curiosity.”copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcwVl2j4Lc
Silence. copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt5hPWVE2N
Hm. I wonder… how long HAS the sAI been serving as the only fully sentient Attendant to The Master? Weeks, months, years, decades? Or, however unlikely, possibly even centuries? Or perhaps the last biosynthetic Attendant had been all business. Or…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQbj4KFrng
The reforming ergo tilts me up, to standing. “There is joy in obedience,” I say warmly. “I hope we can share it.” Passing by the floating golden sphere, I then head across the silent, softly innerglowing white Station and head out into the dim…copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2CqPGUu3i
A soft PULSE of white light comes from behind me, signaling thoughtful agreement.copyright protection224ＰＥＮＡＮＡzD7H5xmRzI
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