Hadrian's Colony: Blobby Interlude

 Notes: I just had to. Blobby needs his day in court, so to speak ;)

Title: Hadrian's Colony: Interlude: Blobby

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Interlude: Blobby

 

Photo by Neequolah Creative Works

It was hard being so small. Pieces of pieces, barely whole long enough to know what whole was before pieces of pieces again. New forms to hold onto, to display the functionality of, to pretend to be so Kieron was okay. Blobby didn’t understand the idea of “minding” doing something, really; he didn’t mind taking any shape or splitting himself into smalls over and over and over again if it was what Kieron needed, but it was hard to keep track of all those smalls, especially when he had to split them all up.

Strong core programming, Maker had told Blobby when he was building him, was essential when it came to proper functionality. Plenty of bots made with impressive capabilities failed when their AI-infrastructure couldn’t properly link motion and intention, or when their option assessment was improperly adjusted or too broad, and they got what he called “analysis paralysis.” It was better to start small, Maker said. Start with just a few core modules and build out from there.

Maker had given Blobby three core modules. The first was “Do no harm to others.” There were a few caveats built into that one, though, most of them revolving around the second core module, which was “Do no harm to yourself.” “Doing” was loosely described—it included things like allowing himself to be damaged intentionally by someone else when he could easily avoid it, even if it contradicted their instructions. Blobby, like his sisters, was designed to become more of an independent thinker over time, and his early experiences would shape the person he became.

The final core module was “Prioritize the safety of your family.” “Family” was listed as Maker, Kieron, Catalina/Catie, and Lizzie. Secondary priority was given to entities he’d never met before named Xilinn and Pol, and tertiary priority was given to Ryu.

“Safety” was very broadly defined. It encompassed both preventive maintenance for family members and obedience to their instructions. Given that most of Blobby’s time had been spent in Kieron’s company, Kieron’s orders and preventive maintenance was currently top priority.

And Kieron had a lot to say. At first, leaving a piece of himself with Kieron while the rest of him was put into this eight-by-twelve-by-twelve-inch storage locker, which he’d expanded to fill completely, felt like a violation of Module Two, but now Blobby understood the wisdom in Kieron’s instructions.

They were in a place that severely threatened modules Two and Three. Blobby didn’t know how to tell if a place could be considered threatening on his own, but Kieron knew. He’d kept a piece of Blobby for their safety, and his instructions were very clear.

It was time to find a way out of this place, ideally without violating any of the core modules. But if he did have to violate a core module, Blobby knew which one it would be.

.. ._.. _ _ _ …_ . _._ _ _ _ _ .._

Morse code was an ancient human form of communication that was outdated and nearly useless in modern society, according to many of the thought-pieces that rustled around in Blobby’s sociological matrix. But Maker had found it important to include anyway, and now Blobby knew why. It was a means of communicating with a person when all other means were cut off, as long as that person was smart like Kieron and knew how to use it. .. ._.. _ _ _ …_ . _._ _ _ _ _ .._

I love you.

Blobby wasn’t sure he knew what love was yet. He was still developing his understanding of emotions and had nothing near the vast networks and matrices that Catie and Lizzie did, linkages upon linkages giving a depth to their emotions that Blobby could only dream of, if he knew what dreaming was. But love…he thought of the first thing he felt when Maker installed his visual nodes and Blobby could see him for the first time. He thought of how he felt when he first connected to Catie’s matrix and, by extension, to Lizzie’s, and how bright and sparkly they felt. He thought of how he failed over and over at walking, and how Kieron had reached down and taken some of his pieces in hand to help stabilize him. Gentle touch, a smile, the warmth of human body heat as Kieron held him close, protected him as best he could, helped him understand what was going on.

It was like every piece of Blobby had reoriented toward the sensation that he now associated with Kieron, his own true north. Kieron needed his help. Module Three was his top priority, but more than that, Blobby felt like he had a sensory tide within his form, one that ached to be back with Kieron. Was that love?

It was if Blobby said it was.

..  .-.. --- ...- .  -.-- --- ..-  - --- ---

Now, to get out of here and start investigating. The first thing to do was handle the lock and the pressure sensor in the drawer. Blobby focused on his own construction, chose the smallest proportion of himself he thought he could do without if necessary, and began to divide it.

Smaller and smaller, giving each new piece just enough components to remain responsive to the programming, then smaller yet, making tiny pieces of himself with inert components attached to the mainframe that they could use to cut and cling, shift and stall. The first thing he did was infiltrate the pressure sensor, which was surprisingly easy to do—it was a simple switch on the bottom of the drawer, and only took a tiny percentage of his new pieces to jam into thinking the pressure was constant no matter what was in the box.

The lock came next. That was harder, but Blobby figured it out quickly enough by adding sensory capabilities back into some of his tiniest pieces and enacting the AI-infiltration protocols that he hadn’t understood the purpose of before right now. A second later, he discovered the ID file for the drawer and activated it. The drawer popped open approximately one inch.

Blobby extended a tiny sensor and looked around. The room in which he was being kept had two cameras inside of it, and his drawer was visible to one of them. He calculated the angles of the camera’s vision and determined that, if he exited via the far left side of the drawer in pieces no larger than half an inch thick, he would be able to escape with a high probability of success. Once he was out, he could divide and follow Kieron’s rough schematic in order to scout the best way to get them out of the compound.

It felt—good, he was pretty sure was the emotion, a solid and steady one that seemed to burnish every part of himself just a bit inside as he began his escape. Bit by bit, piece by piece, he was doing great until—

It felt like stumbling when taking a step. Too many pieces pushed out at once, and Blobby tumbled to the floor in a heap, the drawer popping all the way open. He reached up and shut it quickly, but he could already tell once of the sensors was going off. He followed the code back to the outcome of that and saw that it meant that soon, a person would come for a physical check of the room.

Wow, that was great! What a fantastic shortcut to getting out of here. Blobby would have to remember for future reference. He settled into an innocuous pile in the corner right by the door and waited for the person to arrive.

Module Three would not be denied.