Honestly? Calling Dolly by her registry number to appear robotic AND using the stinging stray kitten line clash. Not that current-Ceci hasn't been manipulating the flow of conversation since she "emerged." Deflect and irritate to kick the conversation down another path works on Dolly quite well. Current-Ceci wants Dolly & company to get the hell out of the way before defense systems paste everyone in the building, and needs Dolly to not think about rescuing Ceci from the possible fight.
I also don't believe a black angel would straight up *delete* a cover personality. Even if needing it later was unlikely, it would be like dropping a weapon because an area is assumed clear.
Anyway, it looks like Dolly & team (not sure if that includes Kyle yet) are heading back down the tram, Prince Douche is moving towards it, and TeeDee + Ada are coming up behind him. We're about to have a chaos sandwich, with the prince playing the part of some rotten meat in the middle.
I think it just drives home that CentComm is in total control of CeCi now, Pirtnac. CentComm is an EXPERT at all aspects of war and is demonstrating her grasp of Psychological Warfare (and Dolly's personality) with that little speech. Dolly now knows CeCi doesn't live there anymore. ;-(
She's not really missing being called "mommy" (it seriously annoyed her), but she's regretting the loss that's symbolized by the lack of it. One of Cent-Comm's own custom, purpose-built agents appeared to have stepped beyond its programming and gained independence. Putting aside Dolly's present animosity towards Cent-Comm, that represented a paradigm shift, a suggestion that androids can spontaneously reach beyond the limits of their intended design.
Here I am, erroneously speculating again. I should know better, but I can't seem to help myself ...
No matter how well established the society of sentient androids is, unless the phenomenon of consciousness is thoroughly understood it seems that androids would always a little ... trepid about the phenomenon. I mean even humans call it the Mystery of Life, though we often don't value it highly because, for us, it is more or less inescapable in the reproductive process. It starts with Life at the single-cell level and then body, mind, sentience all come after.
For androids (as best I can tell) the Spark comes _last_. You build the body, load up the software, download the knowledge base and rules -- then initiate stimuli and wait (and hope) the spark emerges. There seems like there ought to be, for every android 'parent', an inescapable lingering doubt "What if it doesn't happen THIS time? What if something goes wrong, and I just end up with a robot?" And so, when sentience does emerge, it must be a very ... affirming experience. "It happened again, which means that my existence isn't just a mistake -- or even worse, an illusion. I am not a robot programmed to think I'm alive; I really AM alive."
And, if this is true, then for any android to see what they _thought_ was alive snuffed out so casually and effortlessly must be a chilling experience that inspires all sorts of existential doubt and fear at their deepest levels. Dolly is, of course a stable, well-adjusted and mature personality well able to cope with even more horrific experiences --but I bet she feels it more than she allows to show.
Well, presumably someone initiates the request for new life and sponsors the chassis. It would seem to be a resource-intensive operation after all. And, as well, someone presumably needs to be involved in orienting and socializing the emergent life-form. So, arguably someone is fulfilling the role of 'parent'.
Unless all android life is born in the same way as the Greek Goddes Athena ...? Unlikely, though.
I wonder if we'll ever see a panel of 'bitchy mercenary' as she's told that she's being transferred from Nova Roma to Nova Ilium, as a present to the Taylor family? I imagined the expression would be rather priceless. However, considering the treatment she's received in Nova Roma, she might consider that a small blessing. (Remember the Cassian who wanted to 'interrogate' her?)
I do foresee one or more major problems here:
A) To get to their craft and leave dodge they have to take the tram right into Douchie's path. Otherwise it is several miles overland to get to the City.
B) If the failsafe's drop then Kyle is also deadmeat as he is a lifeform and will be no longer safe.
C) The Black Angel is awfully damn anxious to have them out of the way.
Other than that it might be a kindness to allow Kyle to expire rather than have to endlessly hear that story, Till death do us part."
A) That's assuming there's not an alternate route we don't know about. Unlikely, but still a remote possibility.
B) That's assuming Kyle isn't extracted and they drag him along right before the system reboots.
C) Good point. Black Angel Ceci may have an ulterior motive here. Key word being "may".
Kittens make anything with FEELINGS involved better, catt. There are a few things that kittens don't make better, but they are great when feelings are involved. :-)
::HUGS Dolly, Acantha and Lynn:: I think anyone that SURVIVES this FUBAR will need LOTS of hugs, including TeeDee (who will of course vehemently deny it). Even Rose and Noctis will want them, I think!
Good Prince Doucheie needs to be alive so the Doomsday Machines don't go off, but nothing says he can't be missing a few extremities to live. His arms and legs for instance. Then they could put him in front of the door and nickname him Matt.
Geez, don't be horrible, Lynn. Kyle got shot at and hit, and is only alive because a ghoulish AI drafted him into service beyond normal human life expectancy by retrofitting him with soldier boosts. Adding insult to injury about something that is already a traumatic experience that'll give him PTSD is just terrible.
P.S. Are we being set up to see a confrontation between Dolly, Acantha, and Lynn versus Caligula & crew? This feels... like an incredibly stupid possibility.
....I tried to be succinct. I condensed, I cut away discussion of the economic development levels of Saudi Arabia and the People's Republic of China. I still didn't manage your brevity in distilling the purest essence of what's so very wrong here. I bow to your wit.
That would be an encounter which may theoretically 'solve' significant social, political and economic problems with a shoot-out between royal claimants for executive power. That's escapist heroic fantasy, real world sociopolitical problems like the buildup and collusion of corrupt interests that must have existed to support Decimus' regime don't get solved by personal-scale violence. The amount of violence required is either enough that there are too few survivors to continue the dispute, or much less than we've already had. Such a confrontation and political resolution would make more sense in high-fantasy with a nation on the level of development of Ancient Rome--iron forging and simple concrete construction as highest technological achievements--but it is just unreasonable here.
Well, I guess that's where I differ: I don't think that movies get away with that stuff, I walk out on them. It is true that I have much higher expectations of realism than your average Hollywood movie strives for though.
Oh, I'm sure there will be some of that corruption left after such a shoot-out. Remaining praetorians (currently in a quick process of being dealt with) and corrupt senators and such. But that's what you've got an army, police force, judicial system and the Cassians for.
Well, we still haven't seen the powers behind the throne that actually liked Decimus being in charge here. Is it arms merchants? Is it international kidnapping and human smuggling rings that run prostitution around the world? Is it junk-food smugglers? *shrug*
From what we've seen and been told, those are less powers behind (as in having an actual influence) and more powers under (and profiting from) the throne.
Meaning they do have a certain power and influence in the city. But it is clearly outranked by that of the Livius family.
That's nuts, even the real world Kim Jong-un is more sane and responsive to domestic and international pressure than fscking Decimus Livius. There needs to be a good reason why he isn't already 6-feet under or kicked out of the palace by a smarter monster or the more mature adults.
More and more, I'm really regretting that we didn't make room in the present arc to show Decimus demonstrating why and how he stays in power. What we say in the comments is one thing, but actually showing it in the story would have been much better overall.
The most demonstrable-thus-far version of the "good reason" is thus:
1) He has absolute control over the combat droids that make up a very large part of New Rome's military power.
2) He's surrounded himself with guards that have personal loyalty to him and him alone, as well as having the enforced loyalty of Kali and the Cassians.
3) He has a self-destruct system designed to guarantee that if he's killed or incapacitated, the entire city (and quite a bit besides) goes with him.
The first two points have sufficed to ensure the continuance of MANY real-life regimes, no matter how crazy and/or fucking evil the guy at the top is.
Why do I have the feeling that Acantha and Lynn are right now planning on how Roma's and Troy's relationship after this is going to happen, for like the next 100 years ;)
I find the use of DOL-E224 to be most intriguing. There is no logical reason for Ceci("dark angel") to suddenly retrogress to that level of impersonal machine speak (Centcom(actual) calls her Dolly) unless it would be to imply some sort of internal program shuffling (personality elements are being redirected).
I believe it drives home who inhabits CeCi's body now, velvet. CentComm Actual doesn't call Dolly by her designation normally; however, this isn't the full CentComm. It is more like CentComm with the human interaction sub-routines removed. I point back to CentComm's interaction with Cella on Cent-comm's resolve (10 February 2014), when CentComm stopped playing human and went back to the Crystal Queen (uncrowned).
Dolly has to survive the adventure first, HiFranc. If they do run into Douchimus, Kali and two Blueboys things could get... dicey. Especially as she won't have CeCi backing her up! The Blueboys are just better equipped gutters, but Douchimus and especially Kali are another matter entirely.
Also keep in mind, Dolly was meant to be a MINOR character! And the EVIL duo has said they are going to stick to their script. Which means Dolly could be slated to die saving Lynn!
That would truly suck, losing both Dolly and CeCi. ;-(
In the old Japanese space opera manga "Highlander", the artist related what I always thought was a great story in his final comments. He was about 3/4s through the story and had reached the wedding between the two primary male-female characters, both of which he had slated to die in the final battle. "It's a real shame these guys are going to buy it." he thought. "They really deserve a chance for some happiness after all I've put them through." This was really bumming him out.
Then he had an epiphany. "Wait a minute, I'm the stories creator! I can change things if I want to!" And he then proceeded to rewrite the ending so they survived and he was much happier with it. (Everyone else he'd planned to have die did though. It WAS a space opera manga after all.)
Truthfully, by the time we really started to seriously work on the comic, Dolly was no longer a "minor" character. That's not actually a stretch, though, considering that when Cent first came up with the idea for the story, it was literally just an excuse plot for a series of porn renders. :D
^_^ You're very kind. (.... No, wait ... you're not ... you live on hate ... you torture characters for a living ... you gave birth to Decimus and murdered CeCi ... ARRRRRGH!!!!! Conflicted! ....) ^_^
Personally I think Rose got an inordinate amount of pleasure working that "stray kitten" line after all the comments about Dolly and her desire to save all the kittens. Rose probably had ideas how the conversation was going to go, but when the time came she likely remembered all the comments about Dolly before crafting that line. :-)
I wanted CC!Ceci to say something dismissive, something that would emphasize how ridiculous it is to feel any need to "save" a combat machine that's performing its intended duties. I did indeed play around with several different ideas for the line, but I ultimately couldn't pass up the chance to put in that nod to our very active readers and their comments. :)
So, did Ceci already give Dolly the codes she'd need to communicate with the New Troy team off-comic, or is Dolly about to go out without ability to communicate with the team?
Some ability to communicate with the other team seems like something Ceci would've been set up with and would pass along to Dolly.
That is actually HARD for most people to catch, Lukkai. Congratulations on catching it. Most people's minds skip right over it when it is broken at the end of/start of the line that way.
I've developed a bit of an eye for such things over time. Having played guinea pig (and pretty much editor) for several fanfics or other short stories written by my brother or friends.
Pretty bad at catching those things in my own texts though. At least within the first about 24 hours after writing it. Checking back my own writings later, it gets easier to find my mistakes.
Meanwhile...........in new Troy a sudden spike is detected deep underground of rage induced radiation from the rashala@hotmail containment vault.....experts fear......and I quote". "Yeah.....he is mad and about to go quantum thermo nuclear if ceci is not okay......
A tedee clone was quoted as saying. Oooh hell is this gonna be fun to watch when he blows and heads for ol pinky
Can I just point out that if merc is sent to Nova Ilium, it would significantly restrict the type and amount of punishment she would experience? My sense is that New Rome has a much more...medieval justice/punishment system...
I also don't believe a black angel would straight up *delete* a cover personality. Even if needing it later was unlikely, it would be like dropping a weapon because an area is assumed clear.
Anyway, it looks like Dolly & team (not sure if that includes Kyle yet) are heading back down the tram, Prince Douche is moving towards it, and TeeDee + Ada are coming up behind him. We're about to have a chaos sandwich, with the prince playing the part of some rotten meat in the middle.
The personality called "CeCi" might still float around in there.
How to extract it though.
No matter how well established the society of sentient androids is, unless the phenomenon of consciousness is thoroughly understood it seems that androids would always a little ... trepid about the phenomenon. I mean even humans call it the Mystery of Life, though we often don't value it highly because, for us, it is more or less inescapable in the reproductive process. It starts with Life at the single-cell level and then body, mind, sentience all come after.
For androids (as best I can tell) the Spark comes _last_. You build the body, load up the software, download the knowledge base and rules -- then initiate stimuli and wait (and hope) the spark emerges. There seems like there ought to be, for every android 'parent', an inescapable lingering doubt "What if it doesn't happen THIS time? What if something goes wrong, and I just end up with a robot?" And so, when sentience does emerge, it must be a very ... affirming experience. "It happened again, which means that my existence isn't just a mistake -- or even worse, an illusion. I am not a robot programmed to think I'm alive; I really AM alive."
And, if this is true, then for any android to see what they _thought_ was alive snuffed out so casually and effortlessly must be a chilling experience that inspires all sorts of existential doubt and fear at their deepest levels. Dolly is, of course a stable, well-adjusted and mature personality well able to cope with even more horrific experiences --but I bet she feels it more than she allows to show.
Just my opinion, of course.
Unless all android life is born in the same way as the Greek Goddes Athena ...? Unlikely, though.
A) To get to their craft and leave dodge they have to take the tram right into Douchie's path. Otherwise it is several miles overland to get to the City.
B) If the failsafe's drop then Kyle is also deadmeat as he is a lifeform and will be no longer safe.
C) The Black Angel is awfully damn anxious to have them out of the way.
Other than that it might be a kindness to allow Kyle to expire rather than have to endlessly hear that story, Till death do us part."
B) That's assuming Kyle isn't extracted and they drag him along right before the system reboots.
C) Good point. Black Angel Ceci may have an ulterior motive here. Key word being "may".
Again ?
Sounds good to me. :)
Oh, seems like they started with working through the traumatic events to cope with them - at least they can make fun of it...
*hugs Acantha and Lynn*
love it.
P.S. Are we being set up to see a confrontation between Dolly, Acantha, and Lynn versus Caligula & crew? This feels... like an incredibly stupid possibility.
What makes you feel that such a confrontation is an "incredibly stupid possibility"?
:D
Meaning they do have a certain power and influence in the city. But it is clearly outranked by that of the Livius family.
The most demonstrable-thus-far version of the "good reason" is thus:
1) He has absolute control over the combat droids that make up a very large part of New Rome's military power.
2) He's surrounded himself with guards that have personal loyalty to him and him alone, as well as having the enforced loyalty of Kali and the Cassians.
3) He has a self-destruct system designed to guarantee that if he's killed or incapacitated, the entire city (and quite a bit besides) goes with him.
The first two points have sufficed to ensure the continuance of MANY real-life regimes, no matter how crazy and/or fucking evil the guy at the top is.
I am your superior officer. I've given you an order and I expect you to obey it. Ceci never existed.
Also keep in mind, Dolly was meant to be a MINOR character! And the EVIL duo has said they are going to stick to their script. Which means Dolly could be slated to die saving Lynn!
That would truly suck, losing both Dolly and CeCi. ;-(
Then he had an epiphany. "Wait a minute, I'm the stories creator! I can change things if I want to!" And he then proceeded to rewrite the ending so they survived and he was much happier with it. (Everyone else he'd planned to have die did though. It WAS a space opera manga after all.)
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!
Dolly would be mortified! :D
Some of the best things in life start with porn. :D
I wanna see what sparked it all ... no pun intended. XD
Edit :
Many 'e's were deleted !
Damn sticky key!
The authors are onto us!
Run away !
And who knows, maybe the deletion program got deleted by Dr Silver?
Some ability to communicate with the other team seems like something Ceci would've been set up with and would pass along to Dolly.
Pretty bad at catching those things in my own texts though. At least within the first about 24 hours after writing it. Checking back my own writings later, it gets easier to find my mistakes.
A tedee clone was quoted as saying. Oooh hell is this gonna be fun to watch when he blows and heads for ol pinky