#tb:luna

[threelaws]

placidity. [closed]

@isaaccecilbryant​

“I’m not quite sure why anyone would want to come here voluntarily...”

Luna sat on the bench in the B. Garden., looking curiously at her new blue-haired companion. Just what was he doing here, at this stage?

Almost forty-eight hours had passed since the completion of the AB Project, with its intended targets having successfully completed their necessary journey to the past. Based on the artificial day/night cycle, it would be close to three in the morning, now.  Everyone else was asleep, save for Zero Sr., gripped by insomnia, walking aimlessly around the upper floor.

On this lower level, only two people were awake in the shelter: its newest inhabitant, Isaac, and one of its oldest, Luna. GTF-DM-L-016.

“Well, I’m sure you have a great many questions. And I’ll try to answer them as best I can. I don’t know everything, I just know what I know.”

[threelaws]

Is there an emotion or characteristic you wish people had more of?

“I once thought that what separated humanity from wild animals was our compassion, our willingness to work together, our ability to make rational choices to find the best outcome that benefits the most people.

Perhaps... I was mistaken.

It might still lie there, tucked away in our hearts, the compassion to help each other out. But so many people willingly repress that sensation, bury it until it’s no longer detectable, and go through life making sure they get what’s theirs and no one else does.

Life doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. The philosophy of egoistic altruism states that the better off other people are, the more likely that you’ll be better off, too. But it’s not a philosophy that seems to be popular at the moment.”

[threelaws]

@cataleyatakahashi

It had been spring for several weeks, now, but the calendar finally passing the Spring Equinox gave Luna an excuse to drive out to the botanical gardens once more. There was nowhere she could be further removed from the tedium of lab work and compressed air than here, walking by the lakeside, admiring the stillness of it all.

And yet... perhaps the gardens were too quiet today, though. What was the purpose of nature if there was no one to appreciate it? After several minutes of solitude, Luna spotted a young woman admiring the lavender flowers of a water hyacinth, and she couldn’t help but chime in.

“It’s eichhornia azurea, I believe. A rooted water hyacinth, by its colloquial  name. Less common than eichhornia crassipes, but equally as beautiful, or at least I believe it to be. Did you know that they’re both listed as invasive species in different parts of the world? It’s remarkable... how something with such delicate flowers could be such a hazard to the ecosystems where it’s not native...”

She folded her hands. “I do apologize if I begin to ramble. I have a fascination with plants like these.”

[threelaws]

25 for luna!

25. Do you think Free Will exists? If not, why?

“Maybe. Or, maybe not. It’s not really my place to say whether or not it exists or not, because I’m not able to view other timelines. I’ve been told about what happens, but there’s no way for me to see for myself, so I can’t judge.

One thing I know for certain, however. I’m just plastic and metal, nothing more. By design, I can’t truly have free will. Every possible action I can take was coded into my circuitry. Every sense of mental acuity I have was given to me by two people, the man who coded me, and the woman who gave me instructions. Were I to deviate too far from any of what I was meant to do... I would be deactivated within minutes.

Even if I weren’t given instructions, I still have the Three Laws to uphold. And if I were to stop upholding those... there really would be no purpose for me. None at all.” 

[threelaws]

4 for the good roboto girl

4. Many ancient cultures idolized the Earth as a living entity (Gaia). Many people now still compare the tides and other patterns to the Earth breathing. Do you think Gaia exists?

“Yes. Yes, I do.

Keep in mind, I’ve never stepped foot on Earth. I’ve never seen the ocean. I’ve never seen snow. I’ve never felt a breeze that wasn’t artificially created.

Even so… there’s still something so different about the B. Garden. So peaceful, so serene, so full of life inside a lifeless facility… it makes me believe there has to be some part of Gaia that’s existing, right there, in that room.

Maybe it’s just a figment of my imagination, but… I really want to believe Gaia still exists, three hundred and eighty four thousand miles away from her homeland.”

[threelaws]

1?

There are two absolutes: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Which would you find more terrifying?

“...I think being alone would be infinitely more terrifying.

The observable universe is 93 billion light-years across, or in a more standard measurement, 8.8 times 10 to the power of 26 meters across. If there really wasn’t a single other habitable world where life of some kind could form, then...

...

...it makes the ruin of the Earth all the more poignant. There’s no way to turn back the clock, and there wouldn’t be anywhere left for humanity to go.”