#companion-core

[poisonedpolitics]

"Hello and welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center! After filling out your paperwork and submitting it to staff I’ll be happy to show you some of the features of our facility and then to your own private Relaxation Chamber which will be your room of residence until another core will lead you to your testing chamber."The bright eyed core rolls along the rail and stops in front of you “my name is Aldwin, I am a Companion Sphere and I will be your escort and informant"

As advanced as the Capitol was, it was nothing like this. Capitol scientists have only just begun working with artificial intelligence, and have hardly mastered it, with the people in District Three only doing slightly better. This was remarkable. This little robot here in front of him—it almost seemed like it had personality even! But that was impossible. It wasn’t alive. It probably just had a set of defined traits, unchanging. If he learned anything from the few Psych classes he took in college, it was that that’s not how human personality worked. For humans it was much more subjective, mold-able. Snow was interested in finding out more about this establishment: and maybe taking some of the information home."My secretary has already filled out all of my paperwork, I’d advise your staff to check their emails," Snow informed the, oddly cute, little ball, in a authoratative but polite manner.

[attacusleadweight-blog]

"Hello and welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center! After filling out your paperwork and submitting it to staff I’ll be happy to show you some of the features of our facility and then to your own private Relaxation Chamber which will be your room of residence until another core will lead you to your testing chamber."The bright eyed core rolls along the rail and stops in front of you “my name is Aldwin, I am a Companion Sphere and I will be your escort and informant"

Jack’s face remained placid as he inspected the core. Pink robotic spheres speaking to him was not the oddest of things that had happened, but it was still novel enough to make him pause. The few robotic machinations he’d run into were not sentient at all— simply guns strapped to swivel chairs or bulky video cameras. He supposed it could just be a prerecorded message, or some sort of radio transmission. Until he could figure out more about this “Aldwin” bloke, Jack resolved to stay silent. 

But what the hell was an Aperture science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center? The look he gave Aldwin was purely quizzical. This looked like a particularly clean part of Rapture, in its warm hues and ugly shag carpet and art deco paintings. This didn’t look like anything Ryan would build, or Fontaine. Who ran this place? Well, at least he had his short wave radio and his EVE hypos, in case something went wrong. Electro Bolt could handle these robots too, right?

[companion-core-blog]

Aldwin had rolled back an inch as the blue eyed core screeched to a halt, whoops, he probably should have spoken up earlier. Oh well, too late now. The AI chuckled “Close enough” he noted as Wheatley attempted a name, he really didn’t mind what people called him, names were only a word after all.

"Oh working, yes of course" he nodded his optic "You have such important work Mr. Wheatley, very important!" the core agreed "Secret work? Wow, that’s incredible, confidential, oh you’re very important to have secret work. Very important" 

Aldwin glanced back a bit, if Wheatley had secret work to do he was probably in a hurry and so he began rolling backwards, there would be a fork somewhere up there he could branch off to Wheats could get past him.

"The tour? Just finished, no more today, not till tomorrow. They tried a new scent today actually, lavender instead of almonds, seems popular so maybe it’ll last"

[bluewheatfields]

Aldwin's immediate acceptance of his improvised fibbing certainly caught his attention, warranting an intrigued perk of his upper handle as well as settling his often flighty attention solely upon the other core. Shutters clinked once, blinking away his surprise, and he fell almost immediately into a role best described as hamming it up.

"Oh, wow, yeah. Whew. Let me tell you. So many... many people, you know, relying on me. Incredible I have a second like this, yeah? Take a moment to smell the roses. Figurative roses. Took a round past the ecology department a while back-- distinct lack of roses to smell from what I could see. Sent a notice about that. Still waiting on that verdict..." Wheatley enthusiastically fell into dialogue, taking a certain pleasure from the attention. He didn't fail to notice that the other core had begun to move, likewise starting up his gummy motors so they could mutually make progress from this awkward traffic jam.

"Here's a question. Always wondered this. Where exactly do you go? With these tours, that is. Ever thought about spicing it up? Taking a swing past manufacturing? Could be a bit more exciting. Some hands on experience."

[bluewheatfields]

The pink eyed core rolled along the railing humming to himself when he caught sight of another core, a familiar face after a while of not seeing anyone in the oversized facility "Hello Mr. Wheatley!" Aldwin called as he rotated on the rail "Where are you zipping off to?"

With a penchant for never getting on well with fellow cores, particularly fellow cores with vastly better and more interesting jobs than him, Wheatley’s preoccupied navigation down the singular strip of rail nearly bumbled him straight into the other robot. Clumsy brakes squealed, high-pitched and poorly executed, as he stuttered to a stop with a small cringe of his handles at the voice. Right. This was that companion bloke, wasn’t it. Bright blazing pink, hard to miss, really.

"Ah. Hello-ooo—” Wheatley dragged the syllable, wracking his poorly organized database with a flurry of demanding data as he scrabbled to remember the name of the companion core. “— Allen? Possibly? Hello. Me? Oh. Just the- the usual. Working, heh…” He chuckled as his optic darted aside in poorly veiled deceit. Avoiding work was much more accurate. “Busy schedule, I have. Chock full of- of very important busy things. Would love to chat about it, sincerely, but it’s, uh…. it’s classified! Yes. Classified. Hush-hush work, absolutely secret. Black tie affair.”

He briskly made a sound akin to clearing his throat, straining against his connector as he made a feeble effort to see past Aldwin. “Not doing that, um, that tour thing? You know, the one that ends in that room that smells like almonds and everybody falls asleep?”

[heuristicalgorithmic]

"Hello and welcome to the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center! After filling out your paperwork and submitting it to staff I’ll be happy to show you some of the features of our facility and then to your own private Relaxation Chamber which will be your room of residence until another core will lead you to your testing chamber."The bright eyed core rolls along the rail and stops in front of you “my name is Aldwin, I am a Companion Sphere and I will be your escort and informant"

Hal regarded the core's words with a nod of his head. "Hello, Aldwin. My name is Hal." He brought his hands behind his back and shifted around nervously, although not as nervous as he was initially, the core's demeanor giving him a slight sense of ease.