Chantry Sanctioned Swears

[okayimin]

[ The view from the mirror is mostly blurred trees as shaking hands fumble with it and a furious voice rants. ]

-expect me to believe this isn't some Fade nonsense. Of all the Stone deaf, sunblind, nugfucked shit-

[ The rant dies down to muttering, some creative profanities still audible. When the mirror is finally turned the right way, it shows a young woman (Dwarven to those who would recognize). She's wearing a nun's habit and wimple, though the reds and whites are a bit dull from dust and blood. A large s-shaped brand covers her left cheek. There are dark circles under her eyes. And she is clearly furious. ]

Right! I don't know what you lot are up to now, but I've had my fill of it. We're in the middle of a blasted war, if you haven't noticed. I'm very sure there are others who would be happy to indulge in this kind of magic-y surface dream business, however. I. Am. Busy.

[ She gestures with her free hand for emphasis. There's a bone saw in it. ]

If what those. Whatever they were that brought me here. Demons or spirits or what have you- Whatever they were, I was told there are others here. If that's the case, my name is Sister Sara, I'm a sawbones by trade. I'm hoping you lot are in better shape than the crew I just got yanked from, seeing as how these Fade creatures didn't even do the decent and bring my bag with me. I ain't sanctioned for it, but if we're in a pinch, I'll do your last rites. Don't reckon the Maker is too picky about who says the proper words in situations like this, so long as they get said. And if there's any of my company that happened to fall through with me, tell Sister Eloisa she can go to the fucking pit if she thinks for one minute-!

[ The rant and the recording will be abruptly cut short. Sawbones, resolutely marching away from the magical tugging feeling, is finally teleported to camp in all her bloody, exhausted fury.

The bone saw, however, has been lost to the forest. ]

Comments

[the_hit_list]

I know. I’m itching for a keyboard. An earpiece. I think I’m losing my blue light tan. I’d almost be glad to see a typewriter.

[ They are in hell right now. There are allegedly demons and everything. ]

But you’re an AI? And you’re functioning. If both are true, then there has to be something to run you.

[steelandtemper]

I can't look at my own datachip, at least not without an external camera to hook into.

[the_hit_list]

I doubt you’d consent to having anyone else check out your equipment.

[ Tim could manage it, but it would be equivalent to cracking open Red Tornado and examining his CPU. Rude. Explicit and free consent needed, and even then… ]

[steelandtemper]

Heh. Even if I said yes, you'd be out of luck unless your eyes can resolve on the quantum scale.

[Halo datachips need equally high-tech gear to troubleshoot.]

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim understands the general implications of this, although he’s drastically underthinking her scale. ]

You’re on a quantum computer? That’s why your speech is so fluid and natural. How many qubits is your Rig?

[ The thrill of conversing with a fully articulate AI has loosened his tongue, and in Tim’s time the 100 quint barrier was in place. A 400 qubit computer was believed to have cosmological implications. ]

My father owns a tech company so I’ve picked up a bit here and there.

[steelandtemper]

[Qubits? That's...extremely retro.]

We don't really measure in qubits, any more than you'd measure an old-fashioned semiconductor computer in binary bits.

[Apparently the answer is "so many it's a useless unit of measurement."]

[the_hit_list]

[ Time for more important questions, because that’s absolutely bleeding cutting edge to Tim. ]

What year were you brought online?

[ Not built or made. Tim thinks this sounds less objectionable to something more autonomous. ]

[steelandtemper]

[brb checking halopedia]

2549.

[One of the few things about Cortana that's not classified.]

[the_hit_list]

2549?!

[ That’s halfway to the Legion of Superheroes era, and this is essentially nerd-Christmas. He’s gotten occasional snippets of what tech will eventually be. ]

Does contemporary thinking have any qualms about advancing other peoples through information exchange?

[ Please tell him everything, Cortana. ]

[steelandtemper]

[Takes her a second to work that one out. She's not a nerd, Tim. She's never heard of the Prime Directive.]

It's never come up. We've never met a non-hostile alien species.

[the_hit_list]

I promise I am a non-hostile person.

[ He’ll defend himself, but that’s not the same as being an invasive hostile surely. ]

What comes after qubits in terms of computing power?

[steelandtemper]

[To her that is such a weird question.]

Nothing? It's not like anyone really needs to know outside of theoretical work.

[Basically in Halo computers are so powerful they pretty much don't bother measuring them.]

[the_hit_list]

[ But … he likes theories… ]

How can you not need to know what the specifications of a computer are?