Fixer-Uppers [most of the day]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was poking at his datapad and cursing under his breath. "Just load the stupid page," he muttered.

"Page not found!" the computer chirped at him.

"It's a news page! It was there an hour ago!"

"Page not found!"

"Look harder!"

"Page not found!"

If Ben wasn't so sure of his firewalls, he'd think his computer was possessed.

Fixer-Uppers is open. And uninformed.

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender had just been coming in with some food, but...

"Are you yelling at your computer?"

He would have said 'You know it doesn't talk back', but he'd gotten over that idea months ago.

[momslilassassin]

There was very little point in denying it. "Yes," Ben replied, frowning. "It's being a pain."

[endsthegame]

"Do you have a voice-based interface?" Ender asked, putting the food down on the counter.

[momslilassassin]

"Not that I remember installing," Ben admitted.

[endsthegame]

Ender shot him a look. "Then yelling might not be the best solution," he said, leaning over to eye the pad.

[momslilassassin]

"It makes me feel a little better," Ben said with a rueful smile, deciding not to mention that he was half-convinced it was listening to him.

[endsthegame]

Ender reached over to press the 'refresh' button manually from his upside-down position.

The page loaded.

He glanced up and raised an eyebrow.

[momslilassassin]

"Oh, sure, now it works," Ben grumbled.

[endsthegame]

"Less shouting," Ender advised. "It might be getting resentful."

[momslilassassin]

Ben sighed. "If it starts having a personality like Threepio, I should probably give up now."

[endsthegame]

"Is that common?" Ender wondered, "Devices sprouting personalities?"

It would explain a lot about Jane.

[momslilassassin]

"At home, yes," Ben said, nodding. "If they don't have their memories wiped, they get a little...idiosyncratic. Dad's StealthX can only be serviced by Artoo any more because their systems are so interconnected." He smiled. "I don't think Artoo's ever been wiped."

[endsthegame]

"So it's like they adapt themselves to the person who uses them?" Ender asked. "I've never heard about anything like it back home."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, only the smarter ones," Ben said. "The mouse droids tend to not have that level of adaptability. Most of the protocol droids don't worry like Threepio does, or they all would have been decommissioned and sold for scrap generations ago."

[endsthegame]

"Interesting," Ender said, leaning back and snagging a sandwich from the bag he'd brought. "I've been having some brushes with customisable software lately, when I went back to Eros. But no droids."

[momslilassassin]

"Well, I'd say you could take apart Threepio to learn more--Uncle Han certainly wouldn't mind--but he's not here to mess with, unfortunately, and my droid's not finished. Maybe Jaina's R2 unit?"

He paused. "What kind of customizable software?"

[endsthegame]

"Apparently the IF has been investing my trust fund," Ender said, "So some advertisement tracked me down and offered me some customizable banking software. It just seems to mean 'snarky', so far."

[momslilassassin]

Ben snorted. "Maybe it's been talking to my spam pop-ups," he said. "They were mean last week. Why would banking software need to be entertaining?"

[endsthegame]

Ender shrugged. "Maybe people got bored of the old banking software, and this is more economically viable," he said. "It just made me curious."

[momslilassassin]

"Maybe," Ben agreed. "How much stuff do you have to manage, anyway?"

Jedi don't get paid, so Ben's idea of finances were sadly limited.

[endsthegame]

"I have a reasonable trust fund spread out over several investments. Apparently the IF started putting it there a little over a year ago. It's not a huge amount of money, but it's growing pretty fast," Ender replied, "And that's why I need to make sure I've got it handled."

[momslilassassin]

"With your snarky fake banker," Ben said, nodding. "Interesting."

[endsthegame]

"You say that like I'm a droid, and you want to crack me open," Ender said, sounding amused.

[momslilassassin]

"I think it would end badly if I come after you with a hydrospanner," Ben teased.

[endsthegame]

"Most likely," Ender agreed, "But I'd rather not speculate on the end results, if it's all the same."