Turn on the Bright Lights

[Kaili Talith]

The girl took two steps through the grand glass gates and quickly found herself in a sweat-drenched haven of technology. Had this been literally anywhere else she would have gagged and coughed, but around here it was just part of the atmosphere. From all around you could hear the beeps of droids and hisses from huge robotic arms as demo after demo was brought forth for everyone to see. From overhead there was a non-stop flow of music from the latest and hottest artists. This was technophobe hell, technofreak’s heaven. Kaili’s eyes peered towards the ceiling only to set themselves upon the name of the greatest event that she could ever think to visit:

The Annual Droid Convention & Emporium​

It was where culture collided with the obscure and formed a melting pot of visions and ideas for the near and distant future that few ‘normies’ would ever bat their eye at. Obviously the girl was perhaps romanticizing the idea of this particular convention pretty hardcore, but who could blame her? Anyone who was anyone attended this meeting of brains. Some to brag, others to steal, many others to hold press releases relating to new products that was to be released between now and next year’s convention. While Kaili would no doubt have loved to have displayed one of her droids on the floor this year it was still an endeavour that was far beyond the reach of the money in her pockets. Maybe next year, or in a few decades, but until then all she could do was enjoy the sights and keep breathing through her mouth.

Step for step she delved even deeper and deeper into the crowds until finally she was at the main floor itself. Whether by pure dumb luck or not, Kaili had somehow managed to find herself by a boot held by none other than Silk Holdings themselves. A quick, high-pitched whine of a chuckle managed to push its way through her throat and nose. Maybe if she was lucky she’d see Mara around, but considering who that girl was and the whole ‘work work work’ attitude that they didn’t really share between them, it was fair to assume that Kaili wouldn’t be seeing her friend on the floor at all.

For a good while she wandered rather aimlessly, but eventually something managed to catch her eye. An arm, but not just any kind of arm. A cybernetic arm. The company who made it was still a newcomer on the market, one of the skyrocketing success stories that you ever so rarely heard about these days. The arm in question was a sleek, white thing with built in defenses against almost anything a person would want to defend themselves against. Sure, Kaili had her qualms about having weaponry installed in something like an arm, but even she had to admire the way they had managed to almost hide that one away from the naked eye.

“No touching the glass!” A very frustrated Ithorian warned Kaili. The girl proceeded to grab a hold of her wrist and pull it in close. She wanted to touch that glass, her mind practically screamed for it, but even so she held herself back.

“Sorry.” She bowed her head at the Itorian who gave her a firm staredown in return. “I won’t touch it, I promise! ...Geez.”

[member="Anna Sachae"]

 

[Anna Sachae]

With a working knowledge of technology about six hundred years out of date, one of Anna's first priorities after returning to the galaxy was to find a tech expo. Naturally, she could have just picked up a magazine off the holonet and checked what looked new from there. She could have looked at numbers and specs and lists of equipment and parts loaded into each new piece of nonsense that had rolled out in the better part of a millennium, but none of that mattered to her. The only thing that mattered was the feel of steel on her fingers, the scent of iron dust in the air. As she entered a large, domed area and smelled the crackle of electricity and heard the whir of mechanical joints, she knew more about the current age than she could ever find out in an encyclopedia.

Pulling the cheap jacket she'd picked up earlier closer around her arms, Anna contained a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. This. This hadn't changed at all. No matter how much death and destruction and horror there was in the galaxy, the creative spark of the sentient mind could never be contained or squelched. This was life at its finest, not the chaos and disorder of all of the wars she could handle hearing about. Not the desperation and oppression in all of the flagging governments across the stars. Creation. The will to make something out of nothing, and to share that something with others. She allowed herself a quiet giggle.

The little Kuati woman wandered as far into the booths and isles as she could, avoiding all manner of droids and massive non-humanoids walking by her. It would have been painfully easy for her to be crushed like an insect if she didn't watch where they were going, but that was part of the fun of it. A cargo loading droid was a unique piece of art, capable of independent motion and action, but created with a single purpose in mind. It was selfless, which was a quality that Anna idolized above almost any other. She found herself almost more hypnotized by the help than by the actual exhibits, and in her distraction she bumped into a Quarren man roughly the size of a freaking gundark. The man gurgled something very unflattering in his native tongue, and Anna replied with an apologetic smile and a wave before scampering off somewhere out of reach.

Oooh! Cybernetics! Now here was something she could really sink her teeth into. The design of artificial intelligence was a tricky prospect that in many ways limited what even a good droid engineer could manage. Cybernetics, on the other hand, were meant to replace sentient body parts, not to fashion entirely new lifeforms. They were a form of healing, "repairing" a living being. She might have started as a starship technician, but Anna had found her passion in repairing people instead of ships quite early in her...well, ancient career, by now.

Her head cocked to one side as she ran her eyes over a sleek, white, Ithorian arm laying in a nearby display case. She caressed it with her gaze, noting every seam in the plastoid plating. This was designed to be natural, elegant, and functional. Like the droids around her, it was as much art as science. When she was done enjoying its look and feel, she approached the booth attendant with a broad smile on her face. "Excuse me. This seems like an extremely unobtrusive prosthetic. How does it handle neuro-mechanical feedback? If the connection to the patient's body is smooth enough, I could see this one being a very impressive replacement for a crippled pati- er...customer."

Right. They're merchants, not doctors. Well...he was an Ithorian, so maybe he was a doctor after all.
[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Kaili Talith]

Kaili blinked and looked over the shoulder at the woman who had approached the booth. The Ithorian on the other hand perked up in delight for a moment as she asked her questions. For a very brief second Kaili could swear that she noticed a slight skip to his step. For the first time in the last two hours he finally had the chance to approach someone that seemed at least mildly aware of what he was putting up for display. Unlike that other person. The Ithorian eyed Kaili once more with a stare most bitter before looking back at [member="Anna Sachae"] with a smile.

Or well, something that was as close to a smile as an Ithorian would get.

“Certainly, the X-23 was designed with the user in mind for every situation that you could imagine yourself in. It’s installed in a customer’s body with a built in Anatomic Neuro Matrix to guarantee that the user input is processed at the steadiest of speeds.” Something about him seemed to beam with pride. “Right now we’re looking at a mere hundred nanoseconds, but with the next model we are hoping to take our first step into picoseconds.”

Kaili perked her brow. “Is that even nece-”

“Absolutely.” The Ithorian salesman cut Kaili short. “You can never have too much processing power.”

The girl shrugged and nodded along. “True that, I guess.”

“I’m Doctor Udaaj Ron, ma’am.” The doctor introduced himself as his attention set on the Kuati woman once more. “I was part of the team responsible for this particular project. Judging by your question I can only assume that you know a thing or two about what it is we do.”

He sighed. “If not, well, it’s at least nice to meet someone who can pretend to understand it.” And then the glare from before returned to try and set fire to Kaili again. “Most people prefer to simply touch our display cases rather than seek our understanding.”

“I told you I wouldn’t!” The kid burst out.

“Uh-huh. Sure thing.” He retorted.

[member="Anna Sachae"]