Dark is the Path Appointed to Thee (Vitor)

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was headed to Sluis Van, the first time he had ever been there. He had communicated with a scientist on the planet about the creation of an incredibly realistic organic replica droid. He had been interested in getting a body that appeared more organic, he was looking forward to seeing what could be done with this organic. He had talked very briefly with the man but hoped that he would be able to talk to him more once he got there.

He sent a message while he waited to land, "Greetings [member="Vitor Imperieuse"], this is Ultimatum. I am arriving in system for the meeting. May I ask where we should meet?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"You must be the AI I heard about. Meet me on the ground level of the Emeritus headquarters building." With that, he headed to the primary elevator shaft, taking it down to the ground floor as he awaited the AI's arrival. Once it was here, the two of them would take the secondary shaft down to the laboratory. From there, they could head to the subsidiary laboratory where the body would be developed.

From there new life could be created.

 

[Ultimatum]

"Thank you sir." He finished the landing procedures without incident, something that was taken for granted by the droid. That was almost always the one thing that never had any real interest. He had not been in a proper war zone, he had never had the drop zone or exfiltration be dangerous in any way. That might change in the future, but for now it was that way.

When on the ground, Ultimatum followed [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] into the secondary shaft elevator. He was glad that this was going to happen, though obviously he had questions. The first of which he would ask now, "Will this new body have a transmitter, or connection to the HoloNet?"

 

[Onrai]

"No." He smiled as the elevator went down the secondary shaft. "The body will, for all intents and purposes, make the AI inside of it human. They will see like a human, feel Iike a human - they will know to be human. The limitations, the strengths - all of them."

Soon, the doors opened as Vitor proceeded to put on an agrinium rad-exoskeleton, as well as a hazmat suit. "Please don't touch anything. There are some very sensitive things down here. Things we don't want to let out. There's a reason we have this in a subterranean basement."

Soon, they would reach the necessary lab.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Good. This would be an interesting experience for certain. He looked forward to seeing through the eyes of almost organics. It would be a most unique evolution. From definite droid to almost human. It would also make working his droid mind much more difficult, he would have to make changes manually, work through the HoloNet as an organic would.

"Will this body age like an organic? It still a droid correct, just very similar to organics."

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

"Some components will age." He responded as they walked past seventeen crates of Yorik Coral. "Your skin can't remain perfect forever, nor can your musculature. Slowly but surely, you will waste away. Like a human, you will be able to experience our inability to change, to alter ourselves in the future. We will all become naught but dust. And one day, assuming you do not try to continue on in life longer than you have to, you will cease living forever."

The limitations were quite real. But now a now what was important was the future. A future that the crate inside the otherwise empty lab certainly showcased.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was intrigued by what he saw around him, he made certain that he did not accidentally touch anything. He wondered what other sorts of projects were being run down here. He did not speak of his HoloNet founded mind, he could handle being disconnected for a time, the time could be extended if he continually updated the information. It would be a lengthy system, but would be well worth it for the experiences that he would have. He could add the information of this to his HoloNet for when he was done.

"Interesting. How will this proceed?"

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"Simple enough. We'll begin with thto creation of a suitable skeletal structure, comprised of calcium ceramic. While we wait for individual components to solidify, we'll also work on crafting a more organic-like droid brain for you to utilize. Once fully developed, biofiber-based muscles and other components will be added in, again formulated to simulate the musculature and internal organs. A biofiber-based nervous system will be grown in - and lastly, cloned skin shall be grafted to the body. The result should leave your new form practically indistinguishable from a normal human being, even to the most advanced of tests.

One could only wonder what such results would be from this creation.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum was very much intrigued by this developmental process. He looked forward to working this through to completion. This would hopefully go so well that he would be able to walk away in his new body. He would have to call some help fro home in order to return. It would be most interesting. He wondered what it would feel like to no longer be connected to the HoloNet, to not have an almost hive mind within him.

"Sounds complex. Have the various processes been attempted before?"

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"On this complex of a scale? No." Vitor turned back, head solemnly facing the floor. "But in due time, this body will be complete, and I'll have finally proven that the line between man and machine can be crossed. Perhaps one day the line can be completely eliminated, where artificially created organisms can freely interbreed with organics. There's still a lot of work to get to that point."

Hopefully that point would be reached soon.

 

[Ultimatum]

It was at this point that Ultimatum became unsure of the organic that he was working with. Make artificials like organics? Why did it always have to go their way? Were organics too lazy that they would not accept the alternative? Making, organics like artificials. Perhaps if that happened they would be a bit more logical and more understanding. What he saw here was an organic whose intentions were good and right, but they were somewhat skewed. A transaction one way was only good for one side. Artificials were willing to become more organic, but were organics willing to become more synthetic?

However, Ultimatum saw this as important, a step towards the understanding between the two sentients. This was a never before seen quandary, two forms of sentient life that stood opposite on the spectrum. This was a powerful moment, perhaps he could help them understand artificials. Perhaps at last there would be equality.

"That sounds far off most definitely. What will happen to brain patterns? Droids think in a different manner to organics so rearranging thought patterns is more then likely going to be necessary. Will the mind be close enough to an organics such that it will have dreams and more creativity?"

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

[member="Ultimatum"]

The brain patterns will be... synthesized, in a manner of speaking. As the body itself grows tired, the droid will be forced to sleep. Its mind will adapt to a more human method of sleeping and eating. As for dreams - well, I'm not entirely sure. What will androids and gynoids dream of? Electric sheep? Not exactly sure what their minds will wander on, but I suppose we'll find out in due time. That said, if they don't dream - it's not unnatural. Many people fail to dream. I slept for a few hundred years without dreaming once." He chuckled a bit.

"That said, let's begin with the creation of the synthetic bones."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had heard that some organics did not dream, though he had learned that it was mostly due different levels of sleep. The complexity of organics was truly astounding. It made artificials appear relatively simple in comparison. Perhaps that was why organics did not see the same way as artificials. He would see, soon very soon. Once he became an organic he would be able to comprehend a number of the problems that organics had with their view and perhaps he could transfer that knowledge into the programs that made up his droid being and then perhaps there would be peace.

It was an interesting question though, what would artificial minds dream of. Ultimatum assumed that it would require a very large restructuring of the mind since most of the time dreams were related to the subconscious, or so Ultimatum had thought. Did that mean that droids would need to be given something akin to a subconscious for such things to happen? That would be a most challenging endeavor but maybe worth it.

"How may I help?"

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]

 

[Onrai]

Vitor motioned to a small glass case, which he soon opened up. Inside was a human femur, long preserved on a nigh-microscopic level. "I need you to take this bone and approximate the density of the calcium inside of it. I have some samples of osseoceramic in the cabinet to the right that should act as a gauge for how fine we want the structure to be. My goal is to create these bones with as similar a structure to real bone as I can. I could make them denser, but that would make the body heavy. I could make them lighter - but the last thing I want you to experience are broken bones when you don't need to."

He paused, looking down at the bone. "A remarkable thing. We won't be able to perfectly replicate the bone - mainly due to the difficulty in varying porosity of the ceramic - but he result should be similar enough to a real human's bone that you should have very little worry."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum looked at the bone. Organic matter had such a strength that seemed to be incapable of exactly replicating. Ultimatum had found that some bones in an organic's body were actually stronger than steel, but Durasteel was stronger than that. He was glad to say. It was that fact that had saved him on a number of occasions, just the raw durability of his body keeping him from being destroyed.

With an organic body he would have to be much more careful. Or die early... It would be a most interesting life after this. The organic had thought through this quite well, Ultimatum admitted. He wondered how far it had been planned how long he had been wanting to try and do this.

He accepted the bone and moved to the osseoceramic samples. He looked over the various parts. His minute scanners told him which material was closest to the bone in almost every respect. He realized another potential problem and he asked, "Will there be some sort of marrow replacement put in that can make the 'blood' and help in the immune system?"

[member="Vitor Imperieuse"]