What are your favorite sensations in your human bodies? Are there any sensations you hate?
When I was housed solely in Thunderbird Five, I had some of the “senses” that my mobile platform possesses today. I could see with the cameras on the station, microphones picked up audio responses, and essentially “feel” the ship around me. As an AI however, I had no need for taste or smell.
It may not seem like it, but my mobile platform is constantly undergoing revisions and alterations. When it was initialized, my impact sensors could really only recognize three things- contact, lack of contact and strong contact (which gives a reading of pain.) Since then, with Brains’ help, the programming on my impact sensors has gotten to be very precise. I can now recognize several hundred different textures, though not all come with a preference.
However, there are a few to which I have assigned preferences. Soft textures like fleece, silk or plush fabrics are nice. Wool clothing is scratchy and chafes my sensors unpleasantly. I am very unfond of rough textures such as sandpaper because they can damage me. I also have a fondness for stuffed animals because they squish and the soft filling is slightly unpredictable in its movements.
I still have not assigned preferences to scents, though I can recognize even more than touch. It hasn’t been something I was particularly worried about, though Fermat keeps insisting that I can’t go through life treating all smells as equal. Taste is a newer function, and one that I’ve been having a great deal of fun experimenting with. There are few tastes that I have assigned as “unpleasant,” though most of them tend to be sour. The admittedly few times I’ve had Indian food with Brains and/or Fermat, I’ve quite enjoyed the spicy flavors.
I’m also exceptionally fond of sweets, particularly chocolate. It’s amazing how incredibly complex the flavor is.
