15 - Bright lights, fast cars, disease

[no_fastolfe]

Why is it always Earth?

Why is it always so crowded?

[Filtered to friends]
Who knows this place? What is expected besides rampant capitalism and hordes of people-- this I have noticed already.

Comments

[Filtered]

[truth_is_cold]

I have no idea where this is. Earth is decimated last I heard. But I have a map.

Where are you?

[hourglass_twin]

Perhaps so that we may be motivated to try and reform so we can return to our homes sooner.

[Filtered]

[no_fastolfe]

The Palms, ground floor. There is a largely un-populated wasteland of... machines of some sort, and it is dark, but at least it is safe. There are security of some sort here.

[no_fastolfe]

There are surely more efficient ways than this.

[hourglass_twin]

And since when did the Barge ever seem particularly efficient?

[no_fastolfe]

The admiral has never proved half-hearted in the cause of discomfiting us.

[hourglass_twin]

Hm. And perhaps it is only for our discomfort that we're forced to come here, and nothing more.

[Filtered]

[truth_is_cold]

Stay there. I'll let you know when I get there and I'll get us some contemporary clothing.

May I ask you a question. It's a genuine inquiry.

[no_fastolfe]

It was your hypothesis, after all.

[hourglass_twin]

And when I cannot support my hypothesis, I consider other possibilities.

[Filtered]

[no_fastolfe]

As my warden, I should think you are encouraged to ask anything you like. But if it is reasonable I see no reason not to answer.

[no_fastolfe]

Then, sir, 'why always Earth?' I await other possible motivations besides inconvenience.

[hourglass_twin]

Perhaps Earth is the loudest, most overcrowded, and most obnoxious planet out of all there were to be found. And the majority of the residents of the Barge are from there, and so could blend in more easily.

[no_fastolfe]

That I think very likely. But I am not an Earther and reserve the right to dislike the place.

[Filtered]

[truth_is_cold]

It's not something that would be included in your file.

I know you hate the crowds. I grew up with twenty siblings. I used to leave my room open regularly for people to enter if they needed. I found it quite comfortable to be around any number of people and still feel safely apart from them, no matter their proximity.

What bothers you about the crowds?

[hourglass_twin]

Nor am I. I am from Krynn, myself.

[Filtered]

[no_fastolfe]

Aurora, as you know, is a lightly populated planet, one with fewer humans than robots. There, I can choose solidude-- many square kilometers of solitude, if I like-- simply by staying within my estate. I can contact those I wish to contact instantaneously via trimensional viewing, or attend parties-- but in the company of robots, which we all have.

I am not large, comparative to Earth standard. Nor Auroran standard, for the quintessential Spacer is tall and clear-featured. Among the crowds of Earth, I am lost-- engulfed and voiceless. I have little defense and no context. I am subject to a constant physical danger.

It wears on me. Paris was terrifying, though Sherlock's imposing presence and knowledge of the place were a balm.

[no_fastolfe]

And I from Aurora; colonized by humans from Earth, yes, but more than twenty centuries ago now. Aurora is verdant, the climate controlled, the population kept to the hundreds of thousands. We never have such crowds or population centers as Earthers seem to delight in.

[Lemonface]

[Filtered]

[truth_is_cold]

I see. Therefore you become exhausted looking for potential threats even among the most innocuous of people. And the robots, while giving companionship, are unlike people because you don't have to concern yourself with them as a threat.

I am on my way. Do you have a preference for clothing style?

[hourglass_twin]

Krynn has crowds and marketplaces, but the noise is natural, and there are no cars or other such mechanisms that blare the way these do. And towns are surrounded by trees.

[no_fastolfe]

[There is a very, very faint wistful look.] On Aurora the architecture is designed in accordance with the landscape; integrated into it. The world can seem at times uninhabited, if you walk at the right hour through the most populous institution on the planet; you may never see another human or robot at less than a hundred meter's distance.

[hourglass_twin]

That sounds pleasant.

...robot? Like the sort of thing T-X is?

[Filtered]

[no_fastolfe]

Perhaps if I had been socialized in the customary way as a child, the company of my peers would not seem so strange. But strangers! To be alone in a crowd of strangers! No Auroran has experienced it, unless they have been to Earth. Even on my tour of the Spacer worlds my contacts were limited to one or two individuals who served as guides.

Robots are-- trusted. From my childhood I have known them as guardians and servants. Some... friends. I was never without Giskard until I left Fastolfe's household. A robot is strong enough to protect a human from any environmental hazard, and-- it is anthropomorphism to say that 'they love us', but it is not inaccurate to say that with individual robots and humans, between a human and their household staff, bonds of understanding are formed. There is a bilateral attachment beyond the functional, a mutual comfort. When I walk with Nadila she knows my habits and I her operation so smoothly that we need fear no misunderstanding; I am safe with her, perfectly safe, and she knows that I am not afraid. It would not be so great a stretch to contextualize it as a friendship, in the emotional support it affords.

[She seems to realize how much she's talking and she shuts up.]

[no_fastolfe]

An Ascenion robot is as dissimilar from the T-X as a warm incandescent light from a wildfire. Both sources of light and heat, but in their behavior and their purpose, light-years removed!

The are artificial intelligences and so is she, but there the resemblance ends.

[hourglass_twin]

...what are incandescent lights?

But I understand your statement. They are not as...unpredictable as she.