Carlos hummed in false contemplation. “Well… I suppose that’s
acceptable,” he said with a smile. He laughed. “Yeah, no, I don’t think you’re
dumb. Some folks just have different strengths.”“Exactly. I mean, I wouldn’t say I’m really bad at math, but it’s not my strong suit, gets frustrating sometimes, y’know?”
Carlos hummed and smiled. “Well, if you ever have a
particular problem you can’t figure out… Go ahead and ask me. I won’t judge
you.”
Carlos just smiled and shrugged slightly. “I guess not
everyone enjoys solving number puzzles, huh?”“Not so much, heh. I’ve always been more of a history guy than a math guy, ya feel? Doesn’t ever make me feel dumb.”
Carlos hummed in false contemplation. “Well… I suppose that’s
acceptable,” he said with a smile. He laughed. “Yeah, no, I don’t think you’re
dumb. Some folks just have different strengths.”
Carlos laughed at that. “Yeah… I mean, budgeting can be fun.
It’s like math… just with higher stakes.”“Heh, I dunno, you ask me, math ain’t all that excitin’.” Letting out a light chuckle, Hancock finished off his cereal and set the empty bowl down. “Maybe if Irma and Amari ain’t interested, I’ll just hire you to do that shit since you like it so much.”
Carlos just smiled and shrugged slightly. “I guess not
everyone enjoys solving number puzzles, huh?”
Carlos nodded. “Certainly,” he said. He smiled at Hancock,
grateful. “You… you’re not busy with anything else, are you? I hate to take you
away from your work.” He got a weird sense of déjà vu – he wondered if he’d already
said something like that before.“I’m not busy often, honestly. Ain’t much around here for me to do if shit isn’t blowin’ up, y’know? I can take some time to help ya find some work that suits ya a little better, sounds like more fun than like…. budgeting, anyway.”
Carlos laughed at that. “Yeah… I mean, budgeting can be fun.
It’s like math… just with higher stakes.”
Carlos looked at Hancock again. “Do you think she’d want me?”
he asked. “I’m… I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting either Irma or Doctor
Amari, unfortunately. I, uh… never had caps that I was willing to spend on
using a Lounger.”“I think she’d probably take ya, yeah. Especially if I put in a good word for ya.” He winked, a little smirk on his face. “We can head over there later if you want, after you fix my terminal, heh.”
Carlos nodded. “Certainly,” he said. He smiled at Hancock,
grateful. “You… you’re not busy with anything else, are you? I hate to take you
away from your work.” He got a weird sense of déjà vu – he wondered if he’d already
said something like that before.
“If you are able to, I… would actually be very
much obliged,” Carlos told him sincerely. “You know me – I don’t have the
firepower to be an effective scavenger.” He looked at Hancock and offered him a
slight, grateful smile. He got another handful of cereal from his bowl and
munched some more.“I know, man, this world is a tough thing to adjust to when you’ve lived a sheltered life. Besides, you kinda strike me as too sweet to really enjoy killing anything.” He took another bite of cereal, studying Carlos as he chewed then swallowed. “I can set somethin’ up for ya. Actually, I might be able to get ya in at the Memory Den if ya want, I’m sure Irma would appreciate someone helpin’ with upkeep of those machines and Doc Amari could probably use a hand as well, I doubt she’d mind havin’ another genius around to work with, y’know?”
Carlos looked at Hancock again. “Do you think she’d want me?”
he asked. “I’m… I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting either Irma or Doctor
Amari, unfortunately. I, uh… never had caps that I was willing to spend on
using a Lounger.”
“You’re supposed to get back to the lab with
your data,” Carlos explained. “Science isn’t about just doing field work all
the time.” He sighed. “No, I don’t need a lab. Like I said, I don’t do that
anymore – I’m a scavver now. Can’t really eat working on science, you know?” Well, he was getting sad now. Dammit.“Eh, I still think ya count as a scientist, not gonna stop me from callin’ ya one, anyway.” He shrugged, picking up his bowl again to pick at is cereal. “I’m sure I could find ya some work to put that science background to use if ya want, I got a good enough setup here for ya to stick around if you’re interested.”
“If you are able to, I… would actually be very
much obliged,” Carlos told him sincerely. “You know me – I don’t have the
firepower to be an effective scavenger.” He looked at Hancock and offered him a
slight, grateful smile. He got another handful of cereal from his bowl and
munched some more.
Carlos snorted softly and shook his head. “I’m
not the ridiculous one – and no, I’m not a scientist anymore.” He was tempted
to laugh again, but Carlos took a big sigh to keep the giggles at bay. He
grabbed his bottle and took a drink of juice to help himself a bit more. “Can’t
be a scientist without a lab,” he went on, “and mine’s back in the Vault,
remember? I’m just a scavver now.”“Hmm….. I’m not sure that’s really how it works, heh. Weren’t there scientists that did shit outside of a lab? Like uh…. the ones who looked for fossils and shit, they were out diggin’ in the dirt and still counted as scientists, I think you count too.” He winked. “If ya really need a lab though, I could probably set ya up with somethin’, y’know?”
“You’re supposed to get back to the lab with
your data,” Carlos explained. “Science isn’t about just doing field work all
the time.” He sighed. “No, I don’t need a lab. Like I said, I don’t do that
anymore – I’m a scavver now. Can’t really eat working on science, you know?” Well, he was getting sad now. Dammit.
Had something gone wrong in the memory lounger? Did part of his brain get left behind in the computer?
Okay, that was extreme, obviously, but things just didn’t look… right. Oh sure, the colors looked fine and he could still see but… his vision seemed a bit sharper waking up. And… his nose? Looked like it was the wrong shape?
There was a buzzer noise, like the noise when someone hit the abort button on a compacter, and Carlos’ memory pod suddenly opened. He was confused, but he just shrugged slightly and started to sit up… only to realize that he wasn’t wearing his own clothes.
He became aware that his body didn’t…. well it just didn’t feel right.
“What the hell…?” he asked aloud, and he was shaken when he didn’t hear his own voice come out of his throat.
Grimacing sort of sympathetically at the noise, aRMA winces, pulling back immediately with a soft frown. Their throat works, something like a bone bobbing in it, and it feels entirely too crowded, as if there’s just too much neck there and not enough space for air or breathing.
“…Yeah, that is. That’s…Just don’t try to swallow too much. The mechanism for it is kinda rusted and doesn’t work. I…I guess this is worse for you cause you’re made out of meat, huh? You’re not…interchangeable. You live your whole life in one meat shell and can’t imagine being not meat…”
The voice warbles oddly, as if they’re getting used to the feel of vocal chords, wincing at the sensation of it. Everything is sensation all the time, and the sheer amount of information flooding their consciousness is…Too much.
Eventually, aRMA wobbles awkwardly on Carlos’s legs as they manage to wobble back towards the memory pod, kneading fingers at their own brow, looking panicked and overwhelmed until eventually their eyes roll back and flutter, entire form going limp and flopping comically into the pod as they…pass out?
Carlos was immediately worried and without
thinking he started to stand up. And wow, even that felt wrong. Just – wrong.
Parts of his body felt entirely too light while at the same time he just didn’t
really have feeling anymore. He nearly stumbled and fell right over, but he
managed to do some quick shuffling-type steps before he was at the other pod.“What – what’s wrong, are they –“ He paused a
moment to let his throat work, trying to get out a mechanical hitch, but to no
avail. Guess he was living with that forever now. “Are they alright? What
happened?” He reached out automatically with his right hand to take his arm,
but stopped – startled by the metal skeletal limb. That’s – that’s attached to him now and it can hurt someone
if he wasn’t careful!Eventually Dr Amari trots in with six more pages of notes, scribbling furiously.
“Ahlright so. All I vhould need to dho is…Repeat zhe experiment, but add individual markers for vhich of you belonzhs where into zhe programming. It’s simple enouzh, but it vhould require…Vhahd I miss? Vhe need both parties to be conszchious for this…”
Huffing inpatiently, the doctor pokes Carlos’s body with the sharp point of her pencil, the motion causing it to jerk violently awake.
“YAAHAHAHAOW! What’d ya do that for, Amari? S’not every day I get jolted through my own memories…Wait.”
He looks at his fingers, then at the scientist, then at…
“…Shit. This isn’t a flashback. How the fuck…Carlos, are you alright? Geez, this is so fucked…Hey, is aRMA with you in there…? Or… No, aRMA wouldn’t have…How would that even work…? Doc…?”
Doctor Amari holds up her hands defensively, shaking her head. Clearly she doesn’t want to have to come up with a scientific explanation for this basket of shit.
Carlos just looked at… his own face a little
worriedly, afraid to touch. “I… I think you have aRMA,” he said. “I’ve… It’s
just me here. I hope. I…” He looked down at his own hands. He… his sense of
feeling was so dull now. A little like
that dead moment when your foot falls asleep.
Carlos groaned. Or, his throat did as
machinery moved together. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this and he
wanted to be back in his own body. He was this
close to having a freak-out.
Had something gone wrong in the memory lounger? Did part of his brain get left behind in the computer?
Okay, that was extreme, obviously, but things just didn’t look… right. Oh sure, the colors looked fine and he could still see but… his vision seemed a bit sharper waking up. And… his nose? Looked like it was the wrong shape?
There was a buzzer noise, like the noise when someone hit the abort button on a compacter, and Carlos’ memory pod suddenly opened. He was confused, but he just shrugged slightly and started to sit up… only to realize that he wasn’t wearing his own clothes.
He became aware that his body didn’t…. well it just didn’t feel right.
“What the hell…?” he asked aloud, and he was shaken when he didn’t hear his own voice come out of his throat.
Relatively unfazed by the current state of affairs, aRMA waves at the doctor person with the neat boots from their temporary body with a small smile.
Doctor Amari does not at all find this a satisfactory response to her experiment, and promptly panics, looking between the two of them and the screen in front of her with horror.
“I believe that I may hafe made a grave error. I hafe accidentally…mistyped one of zhe integers, and it rezhulted in an error that booted you both from the system…to the wrong bodies. I zhould have programmed markers for which conszchiousness goes where…”
Panicking, she scrutinizes her clipboard of notes and dashes out of the room for more paper to make more notes.
aRMA shrugs slightly, giving a sort of goofy embarassed smile with it, then strolls up to the person in their body, smooshing synthetic cheeks with both hands and marvelling at the almost gradient effect on their optics, white to yellow to blue fading together into a hazy sort of greenish color.
“Is this what I look like to other people? I’m so pretty. I didn’t even know my optics could glow that color! Cute!”
Carlos just… he just didn’t feel right. This
was so surreal and he didn’t like it. And then ‘he’ was walking up and reaching
out and touching him and just…If Carlos had skin, it’d be crawling.
He made a really weird whirring noise from
inside of his chest and he reached up, grabbing his own hands and pulling them
away from his… or, Nick’s face.“Please, just… don’t do that,” he gritted out
lowly.Grimacing sort of sympathetically at the noise, aRMA winces, pulling back immediately with a soft frown. Their throat works, something like a bone bobbing in it, and it feels entirely too crowded, as if there’s just too much neck there and not enough space for air or breathing.
“…Yeah, that is. That’s…Just don’t try to swallow too much. The mechanism for it is kinda rusted and doesn’t work. I…I guess this is worse for you cause you’re made out of meat, huh? You’re not…interchangeable. You live your whole life in one meat shell and can’t imagine being not meat…”
The voice warbles oddly, as if they’re getting used to the feel of vocal chords, wincing at the sensation of it. Everything is sensation all the time, and the sheer amount of information flooding their consciousness is…Too much.
Eventually, aRMA wobbles awkwardly on Carlos’s legs as they manage to wobble back towards the memory pod, kneading fingers at their own brow, looking panicked and overwhelmed until eventually their eyes roll back and flutter, entire form going limp and flopping comically into the pod as they…pass out?
Carlos was immediately worried and without
thinking he started to stand up. And wow, even that felt wrong. Just – wrong.
Parts of his body felt entirely too light while at the same time he just didn’t
really have feeling anymore. He nearly stumbled and fell right over, but he
managed to do some quick shuffling-type steps before he was at the other pod.
“What – what’s wrong, are they –“ He paused a
moment to let his throat work, trying to get out a mechanical hitch, but to no
avail. Guess he was living with that forever now. “Are they alright? What
happened?” He reached out automatically with his right hand to take his arm,
but stopped – startled by the metal skeletal limb. That’s – that’s attached to him now and it can hurt someone
if he wasn’t careful!
The Perfect Scientist 