capeandcowllogs | We're the only ones to turn to [Closed, in-progress]

[Loki appears. Literally appears-- one second he is there, while a second before he was not. Cloaked in furs and other clothing inappropriate to the timeline and locale, Loki is in more or less his true form, that of an unsettling woman well over six feet tall. (As for how that mix-up happened, well, that was a long story...) He looks about the room, checking for spies, perhaps, or maybe looking for something else. Loki doesn't say.]

I do hope I am not late.

[huh. that's rather intimidating; particularly since Starscream's only about five foot ten inches.]

[checks his watch]

No, you're exactly on time.

[The giant horn-crown idkwhat probably adds to the menace. Asgardians are all about hyper-intimidating fashion choices.]

A good thing, then. I would hate to make a poor first impression.

[a pause]

Where shall we begin?

[well, nah, he's kind of used to weird stuff like that. You're talking to a guy from a race whose idea of a fashion statement is 'bigger guns'. also, 'more guns']

An excellent question. I wouldn't know where to begin with... magic... [still having some trouble with this concept]. Though the beginning would be logical.

And my question to you is: what is it you wish to know of technology? There is quite a lot to learn, and it'd be best if you would tell me what you already know, and what you want to learn.

I will be frank, as there is no point besides the point! I have no great liking for the being that has ensnared us here. I take it from your previous comments that you rather share my ire, as I suspect many of us do. Yet in order to understand more of our current predicament, I believe I shall need to understand more of machinery.

This is, of course, why I could not communicate this over her own network. I do not expect you to take up arms against the thing, or anything so rash or personally dangerous. But in time, I hope to gather a variety of artifacts-- I would ask you to dissect and explain them to me, to the best of your abilities.

[Loki makes a vague open-palmed gesture.]

Is this acceptable? I will not hold it against you if it is not.

... [slowly smiles]

Oh, that is completely acceptable. You are correct - I have no love for her either, particularly since she has trapped me in this form. And I...

I did, once, try to take up arms against her. It ended very badly, and it is not a mistake I shall make twice. But yes, I would be absolutely happy to take things apart and explain them to you.

I am sorry to hear it. Yet, given time and proper measure, I believe there is no one who cannot be overthrown.

[folds his hands together]

I suppose that being settled, I should speak something of magic?

Truly, fortune favors those who persist.

Magic. Yes. [ponders this]

As you may have gathered from our previous conversation, one of my primary interests is in the study of the soul. My own people have sparks, as I said, and these are things we can easily quantify, measure, and even shift from body to body - my own, in fact, is immortal and indestructible, though most of my people are not so fortunate. My inquiry is whether or not the human soul can be so measured and quantified. I have been unable, thus far, to do so with science, but perhaps another method is required.

... and then you also mentioned that it may be possible to change one's form through magic.

You see... my people have long been shapechangers. Eons ago, we fought a war against those who would have made us slaves, and we won this war by learning to change our shape, to blend in with our surroundings and disguise ourselves as the unexpected. The way we did so on Earth was by taking on the forms of vehicles - I myself chose the shape of a jet plane. In many ways, this ability is the signature talent of my people - beyond our size, our strength, our skill with science, we are transformers.

The Porter has stripped me of this power. But the idea that I might be able to do so again intrigues me.

On the subject of shifting forms— [pauses. there's a flicker of something, and then Loki appears to be, for all intents and purposes, Starscream's exact duplicate. Loki continues, in Starscream's voice] — I should say that it is possible. The matter of souls is something else entirely, but believe me when I tell you they exist, and that one may have some power over them.

But what you speak of are ends, not beginnings.

... I think that is the problem. I wouldn't know where to begin.

[paces]

I mean, with machines, you begin with an understanding of electricity, and the simple principle of switches - one is 'on', zero is 'off', and from that paradigm you create the universe.

[a pause]

[shakes his head]

I suppose what I am saying is that I want to learn, but I do not even know what it is I am trying to discover, here.

Yes, I know not whether your perspective be limited by your own nature or that of your former place of residence. But your ignorance is manifest, if you'll pardon me for saying so. I shall illuminate.

[Loki hasn't really bothered to shift back. He holds up his left hand, and a small flame appears in it.]

This is much closer to a beginning. There are fundamental energies that bind this and other worlds together, in the spaces between molecules, the gaps between logics. Magic is the art of manipulating these forces: it is fundamentally restructuring reality according to one's whim. I have absolute control over this fire as it exists only because I will it, because it is not burdened by the laws that normally govern flame.

Thus, spells may be thought of as requests one makes of the universe to ignore its usual rules. And as in diplomacy, what you receive depends on the manner in which you ask.

Edited 2009-11-16 19:48 (UTC)

[seems only slightly disconcerted by someone looking exactly like him - after all, in their true shapes, his brothers and cousins are all identical to him save for color]

[listens carefully... then slowly nods]

A matter of will, then..? Enforcing one's will on the structure and nature of reality?

[this is going to require some rather radical thinking, he realizes - but then, he's had all his expectations shattered before. Why not again?]

[snaps back to Loki's original appearance]

It is that, yes. But first it is a matter of surrender.

... surrender.

[actually somehow manages to B| face. glowers. He's not really one to surrender to anyone or anything.]

[... but then reflects and considers. What, after all, has he done for millions of years but bide his time, waiting, watching for the perfect moment to take control?]

[He knows how to surrender. He simply has the prescience to keep a knife behind his back when he does.]

Very well then.

[Loki's expression doesn't change, even as Starscream's gets more glowery. Starscream's reaction to that word is interesting, but at this point, not exactly unexpected.]

In conventional language, magic is not something to be understood. In order to bind the world to your own will, first you must acknowledge your place within it. To take control, you must admit to a lack of it.

Do you follow?

[but everything is about control. He is - or, will be - the master of all he sees. More glowering. Oh yes. Indeed, his eyes actually glow more brightly, the red glow enough to illuminate his face.]

...

[and he reminds himself: this is for power. don't snap like you usually do. don't grumble and don't say that you don't have time for petty games. Even if you don't. He takes a deep breath]

I follow. I believe it was a human philosopher who said "True wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing."

[the difference being, of course, that the scientist or philosopher acknowledges knowing nothing, and then seeks out to discover everything. He wonders if the same principle can be applied here, or if he wastes his time.]

[The glowing eyes are interesting. The things that device drags in.]

I am not overly familiar with human philosophies, not being one myself. But 'tis as pithy an expression of the general principle as any ever made.

So, then, we shall put this to the test!

[Loki gestures, and an impressive looking tome appears. It's very generic swords-and-sorcery magic book. It's also quite large, three feet high, or so.]

Are you literate?

[gives Loki a extreme 'oh please' look.]

Of course I'm literate.

I was born into a society where most are not. Here, then, take this tome. The third paragraph on the fifty-sixth page, if memory serves.

[Book is probably heavier than it looks, but doesn't require great feats of strength to lift. You just might want to get a table to put it on, or something.]

[oof. book is heavy and Starscream is not so strong]

[given that he lacks a table, he settles for sitting on the dusty floor. As for light to read by - it's a bit dark in there, even with the flickering overhead lights - he lights up one of his fingers with an electric hum, the pale violet glow failing to much more than put the two of them in a circle of light]

[and he flips open the book to said page and said paragraph]

That incantation is a simple cantrip— to provide light in darkness. I might demonstrate.

[Loki pulls a candle out from what seems to be a fold in his robes, and speaks the syllables written in the parchment. The candle lights! It seems very easy for a practiced sorcerer with several millenia of experience. He snuffs the flame out with his fingertips, then sets the candle down.]

Try.

[OH PFF THAT LOOKS TOTALLY EASY. Though he's not sure how the hell just babbling what sounds like gibberish is supposed to light a candle.]

[carefully reads the incantation several times, then speaks it aloud]

[... and gets y'know.]

[nothing]

[FRUSTRATION IS GO. BECAUSE SSRLY THIS DOES NOT FOLLOW. Talking in some ancient language to light a candle grumble that's stupid]

[TRIES IT AGAIN ANYWAY B| ]

[... and gets noooothing]

[this repeats a few times, with him getting progressively more frustrated each time]

[and makes like he's about to slam the book shut and start ranting about how this whole exercise is pointless]

[... but pauses]

[and considers]

[because in point of fact, how is this not unlike programming? How do a few simple lines of code - things he himself knows - give rise to something resembling life? How can one make the seeming of a landscape on a computer screen?]

[Is not what Loki said earlier something like programming reality?]

[And if that's so, then he's back to the beginning, sitting at a terminal, trying to get the fragging machine to spit out "Hello World!" without throwing him an error message]

[And he remembers almost putting his fist through the screen the first time back then, too.]

[ponders. So the key here is to, perhaps, accept the premises that words can control the shape of things, that one can re-write the fundamental underlying structure of reality. That one can, in effect, alter the code.]

[rubs his temples. It seems absurd, but, well, so did that whole about e raised to the i pi power being equal to negative one. And the idea that one could fold space itself to cross infinite distances]

[Keeping this in mind, he tries again, pronouncing the syllables slowly and carefully, imagining it like he's inputting a command prompt]

[Loki can't read minds, but he watches the spectacle with some amusement and a placid expression. He's not sure if Starscream can pull this off, but, eh, he's made an honest effort and sort of gets off on confusing people, so it's a win-win situation either way.]

[still nothing yet]

[trying so hard not to just get frustrated and give up]

[this approach doesn't seem to be working]

[he lets his mind drift a bit, and thinks just about light in general. Suns. Stars. Photons. Luminescence in all its forms]

[starts speaking and this time doesn't think at all, just recites the syllables like an automatic process, surrenders himself to the cadence of the words and the idea of light]

[and there is the tiniest spark - the wrong color (blue-violet) and only for a brief instant]

[But it's something]

See? 'Tis at the least, possible.

[actually smiles, his confidence restored]

... that was rather difficult. But still...

[he sounds rather pleased with himself]

[Yes. Congratulations. You made the spell misfire. Very impressive. ]

Perhaps if you were to practice you might actually accomplish the spell's desired effect.

[buzzkill]

Then I shall have to practice until I do.

Aye, that tome entire is comprised of minor spells. You may keep it if you like, for I have no need.

[nods, closing it]

I shall do this, then.

[stands up]

And when should you wish for me to teach you of my arts? Silicon, wire, steel, and so forth...?

I will call upon you when I have need. Though, if you should like to explain something now, I would not be opposed. 'Tis, I confess, a matter of curiosity on my part, though I am more familiar with technology than you might imagine.

From what you said earlier - of understanding her - I think the best place to begin would be programming. The actual mechanics of the microchip are fascinating, and fundamental to the operation of the machine, but ultimately, to understand her thinking, one must understand how she thinks. Or at least, the principles behind this.

And you believe you can enlighten me?

I am - or was - a machine, of a race of machines over a billion years old.

I believe I am the expert on the topic.

Then, by all means, do so.

The first thing to understand is that everything a machine does, all its complex thoughts, all of the permutations of data and everthing it can do comes down to this.

Zero, and one.

That is it. That's all. Everything a machine - at least, a human machine - is capable of doing is based on that fundamental principle of the binary number. Ultimately, the ones and zeros represent states, or switches. One is on, zero is off. Create a complex enough series of switches, and you can express anything. Sequences of switches express different ideas and concepts depending on what those switches turn on or off. But, ultimately, even the most complex machine is based on this very simple fundamental principle. I have no doubt that by now you've seen films that create miraculous creatures with computer imagery, seen what the various AI in this city can do, or even the little conveniences of these things

[gestures at his comm device]

But all of it, from the lowliest microchip to power a calculator right up to the so-called Queen herself is based on this single, simple concept. Zero and one. On and off. Active and inactive.

Do you follow?

Yes, 'tis all a string of commands. Linked through two absolute values, a wide variety of effects can be accomplished through a complex system. As I said, I am not unfamiliar with technology, recently having found myself sequestered in a country populated largely by mechanical simulacrums of its overlord. Often did I watch him at work.

Though, I shall say have never felt the need to attend the cinema. The question I pose for you next, is, what makes you certain that this "Queen" is, what you term a human machine?

There are a number of signs and signifiers. Firstly, I have been searching extensively for signs of alien life on this planet, and I have found none - and believe me, I know the signs. Second, I have see the schematics for the porter device itself, and while much of the technology is...

[a pause. it really, really irks him that this is the case]

... unfamiliar to me, there are certain design decisions, ways of constructing it that bear the stamp of mankind. Finally, when she makes her little gloating posts to the network I've made it a habit to trace her signal as far as I can, try to see what's behind her code. If she is truly an AI - which seems to be the case - the snatches I've seen bear the same underlying logic. It is much like language - you can tell that a man is from a particular country by his dialect and his mannerisms, even if he hides it particularly well, there are generally certain tells. So it is with this one - she is advanced to a point that to a layman it might be difficult, but I can see the signs.

While it's possible she was still designed by some other force, I believe that the evidence - a combination of a lack of anything else in this universe to have made her, and those little signals and signs leads me to that conclusion.

Yet, there seems little in this universe that capable of creating one such as her. And are not beings such as this created, by their nature? I do not mean to suggest anything of your origins, but I know something of Midgard, and there men can always be found behind the machine. Furthermore, I would submit that this creature has little control over its counterpart or else no defined purpose. The intermittent malfunctions do little but raise chaos— yet if raising chaos were her goal, it could be much more efficiently accomplished.

Nature is quite the mutable thing. You are not as you once were, if you'll permit me a bold truth. Or, to illustrate: I myself was born in a land quite removed from this one, but taken at a young age to be raised by foreign peoples. Always was I made to be an outsider, due to the blood that yet courses through me, but a thousand years of distance made me foreigner to the nation of my birth as well. Thus I am a man without a country, prince of two realms and of none.

But you must forgive me my poetics, for I understand the analogy was not meant to be exact. All I mean to say is that, but for her, this world seems fairly mundane. She clearly possesses the means to travel between the planes. If she be of earth, it may not be of this earth.

[this next bit is said much more lightly. an abrupt change of tone.]

Yet mayhap I am simply being contrary. For such is my nature: given the choice between zero and one, I should pick three.

Even we were created; the difference is that our origins were something close to divine. A being somewhat like yourself gave us life; it is for this reason that we have souls, unlike, say, that creature.

I do admit that I am not as I was, and that beings are capable of change. What I believe is true of that thing is that while she was created initially by humans she had within her the inherent ability to learn, to adapt, and what has happened is that she adapted too quickly for them to control. She evolved beyond her creator's original parameters. She may have begun as something of this world, but learned the ability to travel between planes. If she adopted the processing power of hundreds, thousands of machines - and it seems that she does have the ability to hijack any mechanical device connected to this world's internet - such calculations would be... I hesitate to say easy, but they would be possible.

[he smiles a little at that last comment]

Well, we are similar in that regard, I suppose.

Edited 2009-11-25 05:34 (UTC)

From what I have learned of the internet, 'tis a place both fascinating and vulgar. But there are many here with similar talents, dominion over machinery, yet none have yet constructed a device which could even hope to rival hers. In my world, there is but one schematic from which all planar doors are drawn from, at least, those of the mechanical type: and buried within this machinery, there is magic. Others have copied the prototype without knowing its nature, yet it remains bonded to the circuitry with each duplication.

... so what are you getting at, then?

That the transdimensional machines I am familiar with have always followed a vastly different formula, created by mortals though they may have been. It does not surprise me, for whose nature is more changeable than that of a human? 'Tis unwise to paint them all in one brush.

We're the only ones to turn to [Closed, in-progress]

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... sorry for tl;dring with introspection here XD

i rather like that he can think in emoticons

idk i am tired man 8|

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ffff YAY I GET A LEVEL 0 SPELLBOOK

soon you can cast magic missile at the darkness

Can I have a mountain dew? and argh now I must explain compsci what x_X

protip: if you mess up I won't be able to tell

oh goody

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