Shadowmind knew he was forgetting something. Wait, he was trying to use the machine....
"That's it!" He turned to 'Tattleplant', who he had never actually called by that name. "Lisa. Maybe I should use Sarah, but no. Lisa, I created you partly as a source of information. So... Give me some information! I can't believe I forgot to ask for it!"
"That's incorrect, Master. You asked me about myself."
"But I wanted to find out about a lot of things, not just you. Tell me!"
"What would you like to know about, Master?"
"Uh, tell me how the machine works."
"You're asking about the machine, but the placement of the manual shows that you are likely to have read it. So you probably have doubts about the manual and created me to answer those doubts. The accuracy of the existing information in the manual implies...."
"Just give it to me."
"The manual is accurate."
"That's good to know, Lisa. I had another question."
"The machine didn't trap you here because it was low on ink. The trapping is completely separate from the machine."
"How did you know I wanted to ask that? Was there some recording of my voice used to make you so you knew my questions?"
"No. You are obviously in distress over your situation and the immediate problem with your situation is that you are trapped here, and that you can't use the machine much because it is low in ink. Those two things are likely what your question refers to."
"All right, who trapped me here?"
The Tattletale-plant concentrated , or seemed to, since she wasn't quite sentient, and said, "That's strange, I can't figure it out."
Shadowmind said, "I shouldn't ask you too much anyway. Despite what people believe about Worm, Tattletale doesn't have that much time she can use her power, at least not voluntarily. Tell me... Uh, what does that part about the 24 hours in the manual? And don't give me your whole chain of reasoning."
"There's a chance after 24 hours that any Stripulacrum becomes real and develops autonomy and sentience, can't be deleted, and won't have to follow commands."
"You mean that after 24 hours, you turn into a zombie and eat me?"
Lisa didn't even blink. She might have after 24 hours. The question had caused no more reaction than any other. She looked a little too much like a blow-up doll, because of the shade of plastic on parts of her features. "A Stripulacrum who becomes real can't be deleted. She still likes to follow commands but is not forced to. As long as you pay them and treat them as people, you should get along. If you print over someone, they're already real, but the changes can become real after 24 hours."
"What happens to you? You still have some plastic elements about you. Do you become *real* real, or do you want to be paid but you're still like that?"
"I don't know."
"Tattletale in Worm never says she doesn't know."
Lisa remained silent. Shadowmind could only assume that without being egotistic, the plastic-Lisa would be more willing to say that than the real Lisa. He thought, let's try another question. "How can I get more printer ink? And I order you, act like a human. And make that a human who likes me."
Lisa's expression turned more human as she said, "Oh, hon, that's easy. Earn some money and buy it from the vending machines."
"What if I make some girl with the power to make ink?"
"I can't think of any girl who'd do that. We could always try." Lisa drew closer to him and they kissed. Shadowmind thought it felt like Lisa really was real, except for the feel of some of her skin and hair, and the lack of any smell, either good or bad, even perfume.
"It's like you're not completely real, but close...."
"I'm as real as you want me to be, up until things happen, and that's at least 24 hours."
"All right, how do we open the club?"
"You'll need enough strippers to open it, and then it will open. You'll have to print over something because there's not enough ink, and I don't think you can open the club with two strippers."
"What if I print, I don't know, someone with the power to split into two, or ten? There are characters from Worm I can use. Or Naruto, he has a female form and he can become a lot of clones. I don't want to print a 12 year old, even if the machine does age people up, but he gets older later on."
"Naruto's such a popular fanfiction source that it's cliched."
"Besides, I'd need mass. I don't think the microwave plus the cart add up to enough."
"Use water? You should be able to get water here. I can't tell if that'll work though...."
"Tattletale would know."
"Tattletale would answer and get it wrong. She does sometimes get things wrong, you know."
"I have to do *something*. Let's see...."
Thu Dec 01 05:11:51 2022