Inbox: Mask or Menace

[megabytes]

"You've reached the comms device of Megaman.EXE. I'm not available at the moment, so please leave a message and I will respond as soon as I am able! Thank you!"

Comments

[microbrobotics]

Then maybe there's something else. I dunno. Maybe school isn't right for him. I hated school ...

[megabytes]

I don't know what else there could be. Schooling up through ninth grade is mandatory, so he can't just stop going. Besides, he wants to be a scientist, like dad and gramps. He'll at least have to get into a college of technology to do that.

[microbrobotics]

... You're worried about him, huh.

[megabytes]

Of course I am. He's my brother.

[He finally sits down, slumping to the grid with his legs crossed.]

He's so smart, Hiro, I just...I don't know what to do.

[microbrobotics]

[ Hiro thinks for a moment ... then summons up a puff of data beneath Megaman so he can be nice and comfy too. ]

You should talk to Tadashi. He got me on the right track somehow.

[megabytes]

[He blinks in surprise when that data cushion pops up. It's not something he would've thought about.

It's...kind of nice, that Hiro did it for him.]

...okay. I will.

Um...anything else you want to know? [He'd like to know more about Tadashi, but he feels like he really doesn't have the right to ask right now.]

[microbrobotics]

[ He's all about making a comfortable living space in here, okay. Plus he's really considering designing viruses that look like Baymax, so this is practice. ]

About Lan? About doing navi stuff?

[megabytes]

[For the love of all that is good in this world do not tell Megaman you want to make viruses of any kind, it will not end well. Or at least wait until after he meets his first Popup.]

All right then, which one do you want to do first? Unless you think you can handle talking and data processing at the same time?

[microbrobotics]

I think I could handle a little of both. If it's simple.

[megabytes]

Well...how about going through different data types? Then you'll be able to recognize them without having to mess with them first.

[microbrobotics]

Okay, yeah. Lay it on me.

[megabytes]

You got it!

[He's just gonna grab Hiro by the hand and start hauling him over to data storage. Time for some hands-on learning!]

[microbrobotics]

[ Aww yes, his favorite. Hiro gladly tags along. ]

What's this one do?

[megabytes]

This? [He stops them next to the data stack Hiro picked - a pale sherbert green, riddled with odd-shaped chunks of smoky grey.] These types don't really "do" anything. Most of them won't - they're storage types. This one's mostly image files.

[This time Megaman deliberately sends a ping with the context-communication data for this particular file type, and for image files in general. Hiro might recognize them from his foray into Megaman's core; they're some of the many, many types that "smelled" of love and contentment and a myriad of other pleasant emotions.]

These parts are some kind of text storage format. [He points to the grey patches, pinging yet another context data type as he does. This one's just the general text data reference, and smells of curiosity and purple.] You really need to defragment your storage, by the way.

[microbrobotics]

[ The pings startle him, but - he kind of gets what Megaman's trying to say here. That ping = image types. And the other ping = text types. Okay. He never was very good at languages at school, but programming was different ... Maybe if he thinks of it like learning a programming language, he can figure it out. ]

Is that why they - uh - smell? Or do they always do that.

[megabytes]

[It's as good an approach as any. Communication between navis is a bit like Lojban dialed up to 11 and fused with every programming language known to man - logical and unambiguous and insanely precise.]

Well, data always has an identifying signature, if that's what you mean. We're always pulling information from the system environment, so that's how we can tell what's present without having to go and visually inspect everything. Is that how it comes across for you? Smell?

[microbrobotics]

Yeah, smell. Like ... I dunno, it's hard to describe? It doesn't smell like anything I ever smelled before.

[ It's really cool. Hiro kind of likes it the way better than people languages - none of that bullshit "exception" nonsense so far. Just precision. God, he wants to learn more of it. He wants to use it but isn't sure how to make the right ... well, noises. For lack of a better term. He furrows his brow for a moment as he tries to make a ping back. Something tells him if he could ping about the "smell" he'd get it just right. ]

[megabytes]

[Got it in one. Megaman starts a bit at the ping and just stares at Hiro in surprise for a moment before breaking out into a grin. Then he's pinging right back: that same context data again, and another one that isn't immediately identifiable. There's no "scent" for this one, or any other sensation for that matter.]

I'm not surprised. I haven't smelled anything so far that's reminded me of data, and navis don't really have a sense of smell anyway. Not the human kind, at least.

[microbrobotics]

So it must be me trying to parse something new.

[ Oh boy, more pinging. He hesitantly repeats the new "noise", unsure of what it means. Data type??? Gosh he's not sure how to ask questions yet. ]

-- How do I request a ping?

[megabytes]

[Okay, he can't help laughing a bit at that ping-question combo. Either Hiro figured that one out somehow or he got hilariously lucky.]

That depends on what kind you want. Asking [And there's that mystery ping bouncing right back at you.] usually works.

[microbrobotics]

[ Oh. His expression brights as realization hits him. He repeats it again, mimicking Megaman until he thinks he has the "sound" of it right. Gosh it's nice to be doing this in dataspace where he can feel exactly how far off he is and has a good sense of what adjustments to make. ]

Like that? [ ? ]

[megabytes]

Exactly!

[This is rapidly deviating from the intended lesson, and Megaman honestly does not care one bit. It's been far too long since he's had a proper conversation with someone other than Magicman. He misses it.

He sends another, longer ping this time: query, then two new types of context data, all given just enough spacing to make it obvious where one ends and the next begins. Like the navi equivalent of enunciating.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Hmm. He can figure this out, he's sure of it. He repeats the first new type, points at the data he thinks it refers to (audio?), then repeats the query tone more confidently. All without speaking a single normal "word." ]

[megabytes]

[He is so happy right now, he can't possibly smile any brighter. He shakes his head in response to Hiro's ping, then repeats that type

reaches out

and gently taps Hiro on the chest.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Oh. Gosh. That makes something well up deep inside him, hearing himself referred to in this new language for the first time. Or maybe it's just the equivalent of "you"? Or operator? He repeats the tone and queries, gesturing to himself again. ]