"Ah. A tad hung-over, huh? That definitely doesn't help your memory." Arturo nodded understandingly, though he looked confused as Egon explained his situation. He was keenly aware the man was talking to him like he was stupid, but that was fine. He was often mistaken for a big dumb miner at first meeting, so Arturo was used to it.
"You're lost? Why don't you just use your implant map for directions?" He waited, a moment, before switching to Spanish to check something. "Te dieron la mapa en tu implante traductor, verdad?" He wasn't sure what possessed him to switch languages, but. It shouldn't make a difference.
They gave you the map in your translator implant, right?
“Mhm, yes. It was quite a party.” Egon listens, then pauses, caught off guard by the sudden switch to..a different language that Egon didn’t know.
He knew plenty of languages, but only one human language. Nothing he does can hide the confusion; the blank stare he gives into the window as he processes what just happened. An implant. This form has an implant, but not the one he speaks of. That will..trouble things. Perhaps I should have done more research, put a few more scans over this station before I entered.
He swallows dryly. “Um..yes…” he finally says, not quite certain what he’s responding to. He can only hope that was the right thing to say. “I think maybe…my implant is…” he pauses. “Malfunctioning. I’m very new and I don’t…know how to use things to their full extent just yet.” The way he speaks — slow, with frequent pauses, implies his search for the right words. Making up things as he goes along. He’s thankful that he has decent memory, that at least he won’t go back on all he’s said so far, but still.
Egon briefly flicks his eyes back towards Arturo again.
Arturo watched as Egon frantically tried to figure out how to answer a question he didn't understand, which should have been impossible. Translator implants were ubiquitous across Earth, Mars, Luna, and all the stations. You got one when you turned 14, which made the solar system so much of a smaller place. When you could talk to everyone with ease, things like culture and language began diappearing if you weren't careful. The waiting period of 14 years made sure a kid could learn his own language and speak it well, as well as understanding his heritage, before opening up the world to him with a universal translator.
The implants also had other functions, though. Data storage, communicating vital signs to scanners of all designs, and the one that made people most nervous- tracking. The implants could be used to track criminals and other unsavory characters with relative ease, if the law chose to find you.
Which is why they often got them removed. Egon seemed to have done the same thing. Whatever his business was on Ceres Station, it clearly wasn't of a legal nature. Sneaking around, trying to get to the power core, and having his implant removed were all clear signs of that.
So Arturo decided to play it carefully. Stay friendly. The intruder might be armed, might have friends, might have other resources. No point in angering him before he could get a handle on the situation.
Artemis was right there with him. "No translator… should we reprt him?" She would wait till he gave an answer. Arturo's mind didn't move as fast as an AI mind did, but it worked differently, and where other AI might assume they were thinking the same thing, Artemis knew better than to act without checking.
Arturo didn't answer her. He gave Egon a slow nod and a sympathetic smile. "Ah. That's really difficult to deal with, especially in a new place.If they tinkered with it to uplaod the map, it may be having connectivity issues. We can get that fixed." There was a pause as he thought. "New to your implant? Did you have it replaced or recently have some work down or something?" All viable options. It would be interesting to see what Egon said.
He began walked down towards the end of the long corridor, waving Egon with him. "It's all down this way. C'mon."
“I’m just new to it, that’s all,” Egon finally answered. For now, he is stuck in tagging along with this human. It would be somewhat beneficial to him — aside from all the questioning. The nature of this situation meant he’s working on very thin ice here. “..Yes, getting it fixed is probably a good idea. If everyone has one here, I will surely need a functioning implant.”
But where were they going? Egon didn’t have much choice but to follow Arturo. He nodded, slowly turning towards Art, his hands lightly clasped together. He moved to follow him.
I can only theorize what might happen. What if they scan me? They find an implant, but not of human design. Indeed, the implant Egon carried was for connection between this form and his original form. He wasn’t sure of the extent of human technology, but if they inspected his implant somehow, within a few hours at the least they might be able to determine the secondary signal — aka from where the connection originates. The stealth systems of his ship would prevent an exact location being determined so long as they maintained themselves. All they would know is ‘somewhere in the asteroid belt’; and that was him simply guessing on human technology. For all he knows, it could take them a few minutes to register all that if he were to somehow be scanned.
Then the matter of my biometrics. This form does not have fingerprints. It has a low heartbeat, low internal temperature, and dark, deoxygenated blood. Many Coalition ships had biometric scanners, especially ones with multi-species crews.
Humans may not know of the Coalition, but some scientists theorized it would only be a matter of time before humanity embarked beyond Sol. And then, by proxy, would begin to learn of life beyond what they knew. It would only be natural such an advanced species would develop that sort of monitoring technology. His mind flicked back towards the topic of implants — human implants. Of course they have scanners. They have implants. Surely they must have scanners. Oh, Matriarch — what will they find?
He remained very quiet, dwelling on his thoughts as he trailed behind Art.
"Of course, of course." Arturo agreed with Egon's statements, even though they seemed very off. "We'll get you figured out and accustomed to how things work, don't worry."
They walked down the corridor, at the end of which was a set of doors that split off to crew quarters, the dining commons, and the engineering monitoring area. There were scanners on each doorway, but the dining commons had the most basic one. It would check for weapons, note the presence of implants, and that was about it.
Arturo stepped through it, and there was a soft beep as the little AI that ran the simple scanner nodded him through on the small viewscreen. "You're good to go."
Arturo turned to Egon and waved him through. "C'mon in, just a basic scan."
The AI was named Scat, and he took his job pretty seriously. He'd noted the tools on Arturo's person that could maybe be turned to weapons if needed, and the implant in the usual spot- near the ear.
The new guy seemed nervous. Scat knew he was new because he didn't recognize him. He could also tell from here, without scanning the guy, that he was worried about something.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Surely you've been scanned by things all over the ship already?"
((Gotta say I love the worldbuilding you’re also doing in this RP. part of the reason why I didn’t specify too much in the original post, because I like to see how people will build into the world that’s been set up))
An artificial body could have the potential to bypass all of these things — if only he’d spent more time planning. He inwardly cursed himself; Vaer had gotten cocky with all his latest successes.
And now, Egon was paying for it.
He hovered in place, just sort of looking at the scanner. When backed into a corner, Vaer was not one to take flight, but fight instead. This was different. Trapped in a human body, so fragile compared to what his true form is. He could of course disconnect from this form, but he’d rather not leave this body here for humans to study. One way or another, Egon would get off this station with what he needed.
He blinks, shaken out of his thoughts by the voice of the AI. “Oh. Yes, I’ve been scanned.” No. not here. “Was just thinking about some people.” He lies.
If he ran, that would look rather suspicious. If he disconnected and returned to Vaer - that would also be rather odd, though it would just look as though Egon passed out. No. Will not leave this body here. That would get me in trouble.
Either way, Egon knew that he was about to be found out. Hesitantly, he dips his head forwards slightly, and walks — through the scanner.
Heart-rate. 45 BPM.
25°C or 77°F body temperature.
Implant of unknown origin detected.
That was the information transmitted through the scanner just from Egon stepping through. He remained still and deathly silent as he waited.
(OH GOOD. Honestly I was worried it was too much or too specific :D )
Scat watched the scan, and when the info popped up, his little digital eyes popped wide open. He looked up at Arturo, and then at Egon, and then at the vitals again.
"Uh, are you feeling alright? This seems way out of normal parameters."
Arturo leaned over and got a look at the vitals. He steeled his face, and made sure not to react too much.
What is going on…
He thought about whatever tech Egon might be using to try to do whatever it was he was trying to do. Whatever it was, it had scrambled the scanner. Unless the guy was super sick, that couldn't be right.
He had looked hesitant as he stepped through the scanner, so… he'd known this was coming, likely.
Artemis saw the stats, and drew a lightning quick conclusion.
"Android." The single word chilled Arturo's blood just a little. If Egon was an AI who had broken humanity's version of interstellar law and built itself a semi-biomechanical body, then he was a threat, both on a legal level and on a physical one. Androids had been banned for many good reasons, and Egon's threat level had just gone up if that was the case.
…. Play it careful.
"Yeah, are you feeling ok? Or is that maybe your implant malfunctioning again? Sometimes if they're glitching they can throw bad vitals up. We could easily check that if you're not feeling well."
Scat immediately seemed to relax a bit. "Oh, your implant has been having trouble, huh? That would do it."
“..That..” That was a better reaction than I could have expected. “..yes, that’s correct, I think. Malfunctioning implant. Is it…common? For implants to malfunction to this extent?” Egon had asked, partially out of curiosity. He had seemed to relax a bit once he was past the scanner, though still seemed a bit shifty.
“I’m feeling quite well, though. Like you said, I think it’s just an implant malfunction.” And that was the truth — the former, at least. Aside from the anxiety he had been facing during this entire situation, Egon could consider himself to be feeling in tip top shape. As far as anyone was concerned, for an artificial form designed in less than 25 hours, this form was quite well made. Aside from certain aspects, which couldn’t be helped now. “Where to now?”
