Specor's Hub is the primary administrative level of the city, and as such people can be seen moving about at all hours, during which the lights are kept on. Administrative offices are built into the arcology structure itself, in some cases being 'buildings' that spawn several stories in height.
The height of the hubs is approximately 500 feet, in an attempt to make the city feel less cramped.
The Svajone Coalition Research Institute, or SCRI, takes up significant portions of a couple of the lower levels of the city. One room is set aside as a 'quiet' separate area from one of the library style areas of SCRI. Her also awaits a human male in his mid-40s with a button down shirt and dress slacks on.
The soft scuttling of multiple metallic limbs heralds Leucohyle's arrival; well, that and the rapid-fire fluting murmuring coming from the little clone. Some people drop their work and come when summoned. Others simply come, and continue working on the way. Leu is continuing to work, throwing herself into research with the enthusiasm of a brain that has found a fascinating subject and isn't letting go. Text and images scroll across the lenses of her holospectacles, sometimes matching and sometimes -not- matching what's going by on the datapad in the crook of her arm. Somehow, despite not looking up, she manages to avoid colliding with people or objects in the way. With a chorus of electronic chirps, her entourage announces that she has reached her destination. She keeps reading.
Tango is less collected and quiet, for while he's a Positronic, and can perform complex operations, he is still very much a child in a sense; programmed to grow and learn just as a normal child would, albeit he learns at a much quicker rate, "Miss LeuLeu! Who are we meeting again? Do you have a picture I can add to my personelle files? Can I ride one of the limbics?"
"I assume you are one of the people Minister Chirc has investigating her pet project." the human male says. "I'm Christopher." he says by way of introduction. "Historical artifact analyst. I saw several of the Nodina artifacts as they were delivered. Truth is, they came in at such a rapid pace we're still cataloguing all of them."
"I am not certain. I do not have a picture, and and yes, Iota is in fact rideable even if your emitter is set to 'solid,'" Leu responds to the positronic, her eyes drifting out of focus as one of the back hatches on the Conveyance robot pops open. She blinks a few times, and looks at Christoper. There is a brief pause, and then she says to Tango, in all seriousness, "His name is Christopher." One of the walnut-sized Observational bots scuttles to the man's feet, turns its lensed underbelly towards him, and utters an electronic chirp. "I've got a picture," Leu pipes, "Would you like me to t-transmit it?" Another few blinks, and she finally turns to the human. "Er yes, I'm Leucohyle Amalia Hall, genetic-offspring-of-Doctor-Alastair-Rhys-Callum-Hall and I am most certainly here to investigate the Longinus project." She clears her throat, tinily. "It is nice to meet you Mister-Christopher."
"Yes please, Miss LeuLeu." Tango concedes, already moving to try and find Iota for a ride. He's distracted, or rather brought back to attention when the name is delivered, "Christorpher..." He blanks for a moment as well, "I'm afraid I require a last name. I already have a file with only the singular name Christopher." Looking to the man in question, Tango raises his hand straight up into the air first, as if wishing to ask a question, then back down to offer it to shake, "I'm Tango! I'm the positronic AI for the Mare Tranquillis station." He looks back up to Leucohyle, "Should I say my last name is Ryoleli?"
"She really did mean it when she said she was seeking outside help, I see." Christopher muses. He does go to shake Tango's hand, at least. "My full name is Christopher Moch." then he motions to a couple tablets in the room, "These are connected to the databases we have here at SCRI, they should allow you general access to related material on the Longinus Project. I was told you were trying to figure out what the name meant, right?" he pauses briefly then adds, "I know most of the time the name means something Terran. Or Martian. I was never particularly interested in such history. Have either of you made any progress?"
"Yes, Tango, it it will make you more relatable to organics and and provide information with regards to your background," Leu replies, initially not offering her hand to shake; however, after cautiously observing the exchange between Christopher and Tango she seems to realize that 'oh, right, this is a thing,' and tucks away her own tablet in order to offer the gentleman her own pale, circuit-traced hand. "Well," she pipes. "I've not found anything additional with regards to this 'Longinus' clue, as the name has -numerous- meanings dependent upon the culture and time-frame of of origin, found nothing useful -locally-, but I have narrowed down the likely time and place of the referenced 'temporal dilation' and and also I've started compiling information with regards to to the assorted genetic enhancements made to the er, to the Nodina, as they're called." She blinks three times, and cants her head to the side. "Were you operating under the assumption that perhaps Minister Chirc was being facetious or whimsical when she indicated she was seeking outside assistance?"
"Tango Ryoleli!" Declares the androgynous looking positronic as he gives Christopher's hand a good shake, "It's very nice to meet you Mister Christopher Moch." He moves back to let Leucohyle get with the hand shaking, then adds, "I'm still somewhat in the process of assimilating all the information files that Miss LeuLeu had to give me. I'm afraid I took a small break in order to visit Uncle Varal, though I learned some interesting things about human interactions during that time. I believe it's called 'sexual tension'." His eyes widen and he's quick to throw his hands up and gesture a bit, "I don't mean between you and Miss LeuLeu, though."
"I assumed she meant outside of SCRI. As in more Nodina." Christopher explains. "Just as well though, there's were those of us who came before the Nodina, and there has been some tension." then he looks at Tango as it explains 'sexual tension.' "I suppose I should ask if there is any materials specifically you want access to. We have several historic artifacts, a few historic items we thought were related to cults... I mean that in the technical sense of the word, of course. Genetic samples, if you really want those. Tax valuation data in some cases, even." a pause, "So what would you like?"
Leucohyle spends a few moments looking at Tango. One blink, two blinks, three blinks. "Well of course not," she assures the positronic. "I've little interest in interpersonal tensions, sexual or otherwise." Sniff. She cants her head to Christopher. "W-well I can assure you as a genetically modified organism I have no illogical biases against your people." She perks up. "Items? Oh -yes-, by all means I would very much like to be able to analyze some of your cultural artefacts. The physical items of a society's history often holds untold amounts of data." There is a very slight crinkling of her unblemished little nose. "I'm I'm afraid genetic samples would not do -me- much good. F-Father, along with the entirety of Hall Research Laboratories, has unfortunately disappeared along with Comorro Station."
"I would like all of it, please!" Tango declares, looking a bit excitable at being able to assimilate new databases into his own, "I believe I have several of Doctor Hall's discourses on biomedical applications as well as an entire series on genetic variation and engineering. Mother told me specifically that Alastair Hall was the best biomedical engineer in the galaxy and to study his techniques and research in the event of an emergency where medical personelle was not available."
"How about we start with some early generation Nodina electronics." Christopher suggests for Leu. "It seems like you may be proficient with working with those." then he goes to a tablet and pushes a few buttons, "And a genome for the Nodina, and a few scattered genomes for various other humans. Have some 21st, 31st, and 41st genomes of most of the major human ethnicities it looks like, if you have preferences."
Leucohyle looks absolutely chuffed. "Oh that would be -delightful-. Yes, yes, your assessment is correct, electronics is most certainly one of my primary fields of expertise do you have any sort of erm, workshop or etcetera that I might, what's the turn of phrase, 'hole up in'? My primary laboratory is among the missing and and my secondary workshop is on my vessel which I can understand you may not just wish to fill with your important historical artifacts and wish me on my merry way." Pause. "As it were." Another pause, before she replies to Tango, this time addressing him after the human. "Your mother is is absolutely correct."
"I believe I require 21st genomes. Doctor Hall's research is very thorough about 31st and 41st. What scattered types of humans are you referring to? What subset would the Nodina fall under?" Responds Tango, hands coming to clasp behind his back as he rocks to and fro on his feet, "Electrical engineering is not a part of my database, though I would like to aquire more knowledge with Miss LeuLeu's help in that field. Mother is not very good at it and would not bestow what she knew for fear I would learn bad habits. She does it merely as a part-time hobby and readily admits she's not very good at it."
"I will have some electronics sent to a clean room so you may examine them, then." Christopher says to Leu. "As for classifying the Nodina into the tree of species, there has been quite a bit of debate about where they fit in. Some want them classified with the Specialist genome due to the fact they were created, others with Lunite genome since they're descendents of created humans. The psi-negativity also leads to the argument that they should be classed as closely related to the Laters. People spend way too much time arguing over that one if you ask me." he grumbles at the end.
Leucohyle utters a soft 'huff'. "Yes," she murmurs, with obvious distaste. "I I am -frequently- classified as a Specialist despite the fact that I am completely autonomous, was programmed with no predetermined purpose, and my telomeres are nigh-on immeasurably lengthy. I'm as much a Sivadian as Father is; just because there wasn't some sort of uterinal nonsense involved, it it does not make me any less of an offspring. Bloody societal predilection towards classification. Things -can- exist that 'society' hasn't named yet, for Maslow's sake." She blinks a few times, and then clears her throat, delicately. "Ahem. Right. Well if we deconstruct the genome I I -suppose- we can find the nearest genetic 'relation,' as as it were."
"Classification is important for organizational purposes. Well organized information is easier to find efficiently and use effectively." Tango relates, sounding a bit less childish in that moment, "Is there a specific reasin why it's insulting to be related to a specialist?" He doesn't seem to care whether there was a uterinal process involved or not, he's just interested in the reaction and the why behind it.
Christopher keeps working at his terminal. "I read about them a few times. They were genetically modified humans designed for slave labor with built in obsolescence." he explains. "I don't get it, myself. It seems like a machine would have worked just as well for anything they had a Specialist do." a pause, and a tilting of the screen towards Tango, "And here are the basic genome sequences we have available."
"If you've got Father's notes, you you can see precisely what is -wrong- with Specialists, in-his-own-words, young Tango," Leu pipes, wearing a very disapproving rabbit sort of expression. "And and classification is -fine-; however, in most societies there is this unfortunate habit of of classifying things only within the parameters of pre-existing terminology. Instead of saying, all right, we've got half of our binomial, Homo-i.e.-Human, let us determine the other half, they've got to make it into something that they're familiar with. Mind you there -may- be an an applicable genomic relaton but we'd need a fully sequenced genome to er, to do comparison-studies with." She pauses, briefly, as her breath catches up with all of the words. "If you've got that, er there's a rather high probability that young Tango here could er, extrapolate the nearest genetically related human subset. Or tell you that there isn't one and you should use your own. Ahem."
"I know what's fundamentally wrong with them yes, but I am trying understand the emotional reaction associated with such a comparison rather than assumption of ignorance and bias, which invalidates the comparison entirely." Tango falls silent for a moment as he looks over the sequences, some slight delay occuring between his mainframe database and the improved emitter that's projecting him, "In the majority of ethnicities-" He points at the screen, "-psionic potential shows significantly at an approximate 5-10% rate beginning around the 36th century. Nodina however show with a tweaked psionic potential 100% of the time. Due to this information I believe the Nodina should be classified as their own subset."
"Hopefully one day that debate will be solved." Christopher says. "At least there is an argument that they are their own subset." a pause, "And your electronics should be ready. They are rather primitive, but the clean room is set up a level below us, if you want to see them." he says to Leu.
Leucohyle looks at Tango for a few moments, sinking into thought. "Ah! Well I I think I can explain that in sort of a metaphorical word play... imagine if someone, upon meeting you, stated that because you were an electronic intelligence you therefore possessed precisely the same precision, design, and value as a voice-guided mapping program," she offers, and then looks back at Christopher. "Oh -absolutely-. However er my my rest period is beginning in seven minutes and fifteen sixteen seventeen seconds... I need to perform my mnemonic backup. But p-perhaps at our next appointment? Also I'll retrieve my clean-room accoutrements and have my tools sanitised. If if you don't mind. Do you have tea? I I can bring my own tea if you haven't." She fiddles her fingers together.
Tango still doesn't seem to get it, "That would be a mere display of inaccuracy and ignorance on their part, by which I would proceed to ignore them. The opinion of one who clearly doesn't know what they're speaking of doesn't affect my abilities or value. Is this why some computer systems are portrayed as 'going rogue' in certain films? Were they assigned an arbitrary emotional response?" At the mention of rest, Tango's more severe address is discarded once more for the child-like persona, "Can I ride Iota while you're in your rest cycle?"
"I... think I understood that." Christopher says to Leu. "Very well. I will send you my contact information and I will arrange for a room to be ready for you when you are available." then he pauses again, before lowering his voice, "I hope whatever you are trying to do, you got somewhere with it tonight."
Leucohyle raises a sparse eyebrow. "Well yes, we've sorted some genomic patterns, acquired database access, and and I've some lovely artefacts to to look forward to analysing on the morrow. Does that er, qualify as 'somewhere'? I certainly think it does but I find that my perceptions of time valuation tend to differ from most organics'." Pause. "Well I I suppose you can ride Iota, young Tango, but he's he's just going to patrol the Temperantia whilst I'm resting so you may experience a state of limited incoming stimulus."
"I can continue to assimilate and organize the new data i've aquired while I ride around on Iota. I believe I would like to think further upon the classification of various subsets of humans and how there came to be so many, while consulting Doctor Hall's research upon the matter of specialists once more." Tango offers to Leu, thereafter giving a smile to Christopher, "Thank you for the new stimulus, and data. My rest cycle is not schedule for another fourteen hours, so I will assist in examination of artifacts once Miss LeuLeu has completed hers."