as a brief introduction, this is where I plan to put the (In-Progress) origins story for my suggestions race-where it will be appreciated as for my race, its located through This Door (Descriptions and Sprites of my race are also through That Door)without any further ado, lets get started! Project Origin Somewhere in the depths of a tall rectangular structure jutting out of a gray-blue rock in orbit around a planet that was a toxic shade of yellow... A flat monitor turned on, the harsh glow from its black screen seemed to emphasize five deep-blue symbols which pinned down the local 26 hour day/night time to 050 in the morning. Accompanying the glow was a shrill one-pitch shriek which repeated itself in between 4 second pauses. The frequency of the shriek had been fine-tuned by its manufacturers to ensure that it could disrupt deep-sleep in nearly 75% of all known organic species (ignoring those that cannot hear by human definitions). Despite being a part of this majority, the target of the ear-piercing serenade endured 6 repetitions of the alarm. The seventh blast caused the figure to jolt upwards and stumble forwards out of the bed and towards the monitor, displaying a special kind of grace that made clear the reason for the rooms almost Spartan nature. A palm slammed against the wall beneath the monitor, causing a panel to fold beneath the hand and revealing... nothing; it was too dark to see within the confines of the slot. Despite this, the hand now moved with precision born of endless repetition; it landed on a shelf that was only just starting to exit the slot, and deftly typed out a 10 digit code using the Holo-Pad built into the shelf. The moment the tenth digit was entered, the shelf retreated into the wall, and the panel slid back into place with a locking noise. A moment later the alarm ended, and the silence it left was broken by the indignant cursing of the man who was now under attack by the rooms main weapon; A brilliant flash of light, which he likened to that of Pre-Space "Flash Bang" weapons. The lighting proceed to dim down to a less powerful but still all-revealing luminescence that was expected by the figure who was in the ending motions of tugging on a large lab coat, having slept in the rest of his white uniform. Muttering something about "working conditions" the man gazed at the monitor, which had slid from the 'alarm' screen to a screen which gave him the most recent automated alerts from the one-man research facility he ran. Across the top of the screen, flashing in a bold yellow was a sentence that sent him into a quickened pace. As he rushed through the door, his hair was given a swift tug by the frame-wide comb he had jury-rigged to only just clear his 5' 10" height. He hurried into a bright hallway, the name-tag on his lab coat catching the light as he made his exit. As Arder Dowr made his way to the small cafeteria, the monitor continued to display the alert behind him; "SM-01 ready for activation". As a digital clock flickered and changed its display to "06:07", the scientist entered a decently sized room, the majority of which was taken up by a small maze of conveyor-belts, mechanical arms wielding all sorts of tools, and a gaping opening the conveyor belt used to enter the room from parts unknown. Despite the fact that a 'Heavy' hover-bike could easily move through the gaping hole, the target of today's interest was only 5' tall and had a much slimmer frame. Lying on the end of the conveyor belt next to an active computer terminal was SM-01; a currently deactivated robot of humanoid shape. Arder moved to the computer terminal and checked over the information, double checking for errors before he could allow himself to wake it up. The monitor read "Standard Model #01. Height is 5' 0" (measuring system origin ; Earth ). Power Source : Two (2) S.L. class Solar Panels and accompanying energy storage unit". Beneath these was a list of other more trivial information, but the most important words were written out in a brilliant shade of green; "Unit has been Cleared". A weight lifted itself off of Arder's shoulders when he read those four words, the first of the days hurdles was done with; his very first attempt at Artificial Life was ready for activation. A bead of sweat made its way down his face, and he put it down to nerves. Following a brief pause, he activated the rooms recording equipment and stood in front of his future Starbel Prize. He reached one hand to the temporary 'On/Off' switch located between the two solar-panels on the machines back, and flipped it. While the machine went through its start-up process, Arder reminded himself of how to act in front of it, and then put a big grin on his face. Keeping his excitement as toned down as possible, he looked the machine square in the lens and spoke, "Good Morning, SM-01". Arder Dowr ( an isolated example of Homo Sapiens known to be at least half a light-year from any other intelligent organic life ) jolted out of bed about 5 seconds before his alarm went off, and managed to turn it off before it fully completed its first ear-piercing screech. Today marked the 8th day of SM-01s testing and during the past week his brain-child had shown an incredible growth-rate, although that was tapering down as it learned more. Specifically, after reaching a level of intelligence that would qualify it to enter high-school, all forms of mathematical, grammatical, and social growth had come to a complete crawl compared to its previous rate. As he strode down the hall towards his laboratory, he mused that the new growth rate was probably a good thing; the most likely cause was that SM-01 had gained enough knowledge that it was exhausting every new piece of knowledge it obtained by checking it against its "old" knowledge. For a brief moment he had been tempted to just download information to the robots data-drive after the pace had dropped, but it would be more profitable in the long term for SM-01 to develop at the same rate of humans. Banishing thought of failed A.I. attempts by his peers in the far away past, he nodded to himself firmly; yes, it was far better that SM-01 have a rate of development that bore similarities to a humans at this stage in its development. The train of thought came to an end as the door in front of him slid into the wall, revealing an elevator. As it shot deeper into the planet's crust, he focused on today's project; SM-01 had finally learned enough about operating its own body that he could test more than his mind. It still felt odd to call SM-01 male on some level, but certain traits the AI displayed in combination with its voice left no doubt, and they had agreed yesterday that 'Male' seemed to be a trait displayed by SM-01 on every level possible for something that wasn't organic. The elevator slid to a stop, and the hallway was shorter this time. The lab-coat clad figure strode forward without pause, eager to begin his day and entered a combination into the keypad in the wall- causing the door to lift up into the ceiling, a common feature for the more secure areas of the lab; Arder knew that in "civilized space", construction work tended to build doors to sink into the floor, to aid evacuation in case of Catastrophic Failure... the Research Facility was constructed to enter isolation and lock down in case of such a failure, as most work done in such buildings nowadays tended to be genetic manipulation, and the chances of creating new super-lethal viruses or apex-predators were too great to risk. In fact, if he recalled correctly, the entrance hallway of this "Standard" Research Facility was 100 feet long and only 4 feet wide, and hanging above it was a single slab of metal that could be dropped, filling the hallway with enough weight that it was prohibited to ever build or mine out the area underneath that hall, and lifting the slab required all output from the facilities Nuclear Reactor to be refocused if one intended to regain access to the exit swiftly. Once again, his speculations were cut off as the door completely rose into the ceiling, revealing a huge area; which was the vast majority of this floor, which had been re-designated "Testing Floor 1". Made to be nothing more than a huge empty room, the only things the vast chamber provided was lighting bright enough to support the Solar Panels of SM-01, and a regular table besides which lay a hover-cart of the standard make used by Libraries, currently loaded to capacity with books "of a moderate thickness". Sitting patiently at the table was SM-01, now painted a shade of metallic green that it had expressed interest in two days ago. 'Here we go' thought Arder, and then he sat across from SM-01 "Good Morning, SM-01". The response was given in a synthesized voice that they both considered an accurate impression of a teenager boys pitch; "Good Morning, Professor. You're approximately 4 minutes earlier than usual today". Arder smiled "Well, I suppose I was a bit eager for today... I've planned some testing of your physical capabilities if you don't mind", the response to the statement was bathed in an inquisitive tone that Arder had become very familiar with over the last few days; "Physical Capabilities, Professor? As you designed me shouldn't you be familiar with those?". Arder frowned "I'm aware of the maximum potential of your design, but that's purely mechanical. You yourself are a bit more than a mere machine, SM-01", he was satisfied with his answer- SM-01 was supposed to be more than a mere machine after all. Yes, he was- he? When had SM-01 stopped being an 'It'? Despite the fact that he normally referred to SM-01 as a male, that was more of a placating sort of gesture; since when did he care abou- care?! Oh god, he cared about SM-01. Just like that he came to a realization; he had stopped seeing this machine as Progress for the sake of Fame. Wasn't the whole point of creating SM-01 to prove that mechanical life was real? Why was he even shocked that the clanker had grown on him? His self-reflection was pushed aside by the voice belonging to the robo- no, the being sitting across from him; "Ah yes, now I understand Professor", a whirring of internal components and then, "do you have reason to suspect that I wouldn't be able to perform to those standards? Is there a flaw I've been left unaware of in my design?". Was that an undercurrent of worry he detected? He didn't bother thinking about what he said next; "Possibly. We've reviewed previous examples of attempts to create a true form of... Synthesized Intelligence, correct?". He didn't know why he'd chosen Synthesized over Artificial... it just suited SM-01 better, he supposed. "Yes, Professor. I don't see how that applies to me, my design is radically different", only two seconds to review his memory banks- that was an improvement, if slight. Arder began to stand, "Well, to put it simply; you're the first non-organic mind to have been shaped so similarly to the entirety of the human mind. Previous attempts at constructed intelligence-" there he went avoiding terms like 'artificial' again "-always tried to go after either a specific, and permanent, mindset or constructed a specific and unhealthy focus on one goal, and yes- we've had success in copying entire brains over to digital, but that's just a man in a machine so far as Science is concerned; it wasn't built from the ground up to resemble only itself. So, let's get started in seeing if you can consciously" again, describing SM-01 in a way he would have never dreamed of when he first started this project, "access the full mechanical potential of your body. My concern is that because you were patterned after humans, despite having extreme differences in certain areas, you'll face the same limit as Humans in not having conscious control over 100% of your 'muscle' as it were". SM-01 mirrored him in standing, and nodded "Of course, Professor. I should have realized-", Arder cut off the statement- it was important that SM-01 didn't cement the idea he seemed to be developing, "Nonsense! I don't expect you to know everything- and besides, you're only 8 days old Oh-One. You've already surpassed my expectations for the first go at this". He winced even as the final words slipped out of his mouth, and SM-01 caught them; "You expected me to fail, Professor?". A hint of betrayal in its tone, Arder countered with shocked disappointment; "You should at least know better than that, Oh-one. Do you recall the few science experiments we've done in the last few days? A Scientist should always have a second hypothesis waiting on the backburner just in case he's made a mistake with the first!". SM-01 still managed to convey an air of hurt, but when he spoke there was no trace of it in his voice; "Oh! Of course Professor, I shouldn't have taken offense to the idea that you were apparently so ready to toss me aside". Passive-Aggression, that was a new one. Arder felt a real smile come onto his face "You'd really take my actions personally when only a few days ago I had no proof that you would work? Oh-one, I'd love to get into this with you, but we've got tests to run". SM-01 didn't bother hiding his disappointment, the few debate-arguments he and his Creator had undergone in the few days of his existence tended to be long-winded and mentally satisfying for him- he may have had the mind that could operate at higher levels , but the Creator's superior experience and knowledge allowed him to keep up easily. "Coming, Oh-One?", Arder was waiting patiently by the exit to the massive chamber. SM-01 spoke in an amused tone "I just want to show you something I was practicing last night, Professor", and then before an amused retort could be fired at him; SM-01 started jogging towards Arder, having spent a good portion of the previous night practicing skills that required more coordination and 'reflex'. Arder looked down at SM-01 as he stopped right before him, "...", SM-01 looked up, "Oh come on, professor! Everything else I do you'll praise, but I finally master running-" the indignant speech was cut off by Arder failing to hold back his laughter, and finally getting it under control about half a minute later. "So... Oh-One *snicker*... how many times did you fall flat on your face last night?" the reason for the chuckling was made clear, and SM-01 suddenly found the mechanical precision of the floors layout to be fascinating. "Well, Oh-One?". Finally the machine relented with a muttered "83 times", Arder didn't laugh out loud, amazingly enough. He snickered for a moment, but then clapped a hand onto his young brain-child's shoulder; "Don't worry about it, most Humans need a couple of years to master walking on two feet, don't feel ashamed that you stumbled a few times while learning". SM-01 looked up, this time it seemed much more upbeat now that it knew it wouldn't be mocked- "Yes, Professor!". Arder took note of behavior as he lead SM-01 to the elevator and entered something onto a panel on the side- it was only by default that it lead down to this stop after all. So SM-01 could be considered a teenager even psychologically... interesting. That he had a fear of being mocked by the person he looked up to was a clear sign of such a thing; and Arder had no doubt about SM-01 looking up to him, the teenage robot had revealed that much on his own. As the Elevator shot sideways to a different part of Testing Floor 1, Arder looked down at his companion; 'yeah, you're going places if I have anything to say about it, Oh-One'. I accidently a massive wall of text in this one. I don't see any way to easily cut it up like I have with the rest of my walls here. Since typing stuff out directly into the box doesn't appear to stop Double-Spoilers from showing up, I've decided that I can't make any less trouble for myself by doing it. Anyways, this is about as far as I've gotten right now and while I know what direction I'm taking it in, I'd like at least some form of review or comment on the work done so far
a person :O all the way out here? let me see if I still have any tea or beer around here that hasn't gone bad...
