(Untitled)

[gone_byebye]

The door opens briefly to a view of a New York City alley, and Ray ducks in, followed closely by a stylized robotic dog about the size of a Rhodesian Ridgeback. For once, neither he nor his companion are covered in slime.

It's been a good day.

Comments

[wizard_kit]

Kit Rodriguez is just staring.

And then he hops up, doesn't pay attention to Ray at all, and says in the Speech that the canid robot can understand, "Hey there, boy!"

Ray might just hear weird sounds.

Probably not nothing, because even someone as Force-sensitive as an eggplant isn't blind to the Speech when he's smart.

[gone_byebye]

Ray looks over, blinking. The robot, for its part, spins sharply to face in Kit's direction. "Hello! Hello!"

It, ah.... is not the most intelligent robot ever.

German Shepherd sort of brainpower, maybe.

[wizard_kit]

Even in the Speech, things still have their own sort of biases. Kit and Carmela's DVD player, for example, still sounds like Japanese, it just happens to be in the Speech as well.

He reaches out to pat the robot on the head, and only then smiles shyly at Ray. "Sorry. I just had to come talk to your dog, he's incredible."

[gone_byebye]

Ray laughs. "It's okay. He used to be a hunter-seeker for a dystopian future government, until one of their enforcers brought him here and gave him to me. I had him reprogrammed. His name's Francis. Mine's Ray."

[wizard_kit]

"Kit Rodriguez. And it worked, he doesn't seem violent at all. I love dogs and technology, so you've got my new best friend next to you there." Kit is not just smiling, he's still beaming.

"Good to meet you, Francis."

[gone_byebye]

Francis wriggles his butt and whurfs again in a cheerfully metallic hi hi hi! sort of way. Who're you? I don't know you. Who're you?"

Ray jus tsettles back on a nearby stool and beams.

[wizard_kit]

"I'm Kit. I'd offer you a treat if I knew if you ate," the boy adds apologetically.

[gone_byebye]

Ate? says the dog quizzically, cocking its head. what?

[wizard_kit]

Kit laughs.

"Never mind."

"What does he run on?" Kit asks Ray.

[gone_byebye]

"Internal power source. The Librians have some interesting power cell technologies. He recharges nightly in his kennel, although I had to rebuild one. The enforcer who gave him to me didn't have time to stop and grab the kennel parts on the way here, given that Francis was planning on killing him at the time."

[wizard_kit]

Kit blinks, and looks at Francis.

Tries to imagine this.

"... I don't see him killing anyone, somehow."

[gone_byebye]

"Understand that he originally had a morphine injector in his nose and hooked titanium razors where a normal dog's claws should be," Ray says. "Do you happen to know the Earth novel Fahrenheit 451? Like the Hound. Only meaner."