Mackey Chandler

Raw snippet Family Law 9

About half way done. Circumstances are slowing me down but I am still writing. I just spent a couple of days in the hospital with flu. It’s no joke at 78 years old. Coming home to resume being a caretaker doesn’t help speed recovery either. Thank goodness I have a good housekeeper three days a week now.

I’m thinking “A Stranger at the Door” as a possible title. Here’s the snippet:

“I’d like your opinion on something,” Tom requested.

“With all the web at your disposal and unlimited funding to search, that’s mighty complimentary,” Tish said.

“I wish the web had more facts and fewer opinions,” Tom said. “All these opinions from people I don’t know are often conflicting and suspect. You are a known quality I trust.”

“As I said. That’s very nice of you. I’ll try to help,” Tish promised.

“Does it bother you that I’m just a voice?” Tom asked.

“Well, you don’t have a body. Showing some of your hardware in a video call would be kind of pointless. If you projected a fake image and people found out after the fact that it was a façade, they might feel tricked. If you try to deceive, and you aren’t incredibly good at faking a person, they will figure it out. It may take them a while to feel that something is off about you before they figure it out. The delay won’t make them feel better about it. Besides, are you going to present an avatar as a Human, Derf, or Badger? Can you really fake all the gestures and mannerisms of each race?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’d come off as someone with neurological problems or plain old mental illness. Worse, the person who made me aware she’d be more comfortable if I had an image to talk to was the Kir ambassador. With a sample of one Cat, the best I could do would be to mirror her expressions and gestures. I don’t think that would be well received.”

“You think right. That would be creepy. Better to present yourself as a Human. You have the largest sample of them to study and mimic. She’s been around Humans long enough now that she knows what normal actions and appearance to expect.”

“You don’t feel it’s inherently deceitful to have an avatar if I announce up front that I’m a machine intelligence?” Tom asked.

“Not if you don’t try to hide it. It might improve your communications if you get really good at it. But ask Lee and maybe Gordon. We’re still learning what things we agree on and disagree on between the species. All of us use certain tilts of the head or eye rolling, as well as more subtle gestures. I’ve come to shake my head yes and no like Humans, so some of our body language is converging. Just how straight you sit can convey an amazing amount of information. It would be a major study if you want to know everything that a Derf can say with his ears.”

“I will inquire of them,” Tom promised. “May I present prototype avatars for your critique?”

“Sure, that might actually be fun. Just be aware that with Humans, their clothing sends a message too.”

“To indicate social class?” Tom asked.

“Yes, and economic class, which is not the same thing. Also, if you ring up a Human in the middle of the night and he’s in a robe, it may indicate it was an unwelcome interruption of his sleep. The same robe in the morning may say you interrupted his shower and dressing. I’m glad I have fur and usually avoid clothing.”

“Thank you, Tish. That gives me a start point to work on it,” Tom said.

“I had one other thought,” Tish said. “I would not use a template of a real person. Not even one who is dead and can’t object it your impersonation.”

“I hadn’t thought to do that, but Humans use fakes of dead celebrities in ads, and of dead entertainers in videos exactly that way.”

“Yes, and even some Humans find that objectionable. Badgers haven’t started doing that, even though we have the tech available from Humans. We don’t mindlessly copy everything from them. Just the good stuff, like honey and nuclear weapons.”

Tom decided that was much too dangerous to comment on, so he stayed silent. He didn’t need to say goodbye to Tish, because he was always there listening and ready to reply.

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