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“This is a vase” the smooth monotone voice droned. It was mechanical, unemotional, as if it originated from places as cold as the surface of the space ship. Dat Williams shuffled in his chair, easing the blood flow through his legs, and finding comfort in moving. The room was a cacophony for the eyes; planes and surfaces met and a million angles and with a thousand different textures, the product of dynamic industrial manufacturing. The air smelled of mechanical grease, was hot and sticky, and coupled the air with a silver or steel flavor that found his tongue. He waited for a response while the computer processed what Dat had said.
“Yes I see.” In the wall before Dat, a single mechanical eye contracted, seizing together to form a narrow circle in front of its optic sensor.
“The flowers go in the vase.” The eye dilated, fraught with fascination; Dat considered whether it was titillated by its’ own curiosity.
The computer had a new fascination with the names of things. Names it already knew; all these words and objects it already knew. But in this, it seemed perception was the key.
2.
Dat looked at the window; its panes reflected a semi-transparent version of himself and the walls. The image was just clear enough to reveal ghosts but there were none – there are no ghosts but Dat wishes there are. He could see his eyes focusing in the pane of glass. So used to habit, Dat did not look beyond. Beyond had grown tiresome, seeing beyond had become familiar.
“What are you looking at?” the computer interrupted his reverie.
Dat caught himself, self-conscious, and focused his eyes beyond. He saw the brilliance and the beauty of the stars. Even at a million light-years, and many more lifetimes, the stars’ gigantic enormity challenged his sense self, meaning and value. He knew he was nothing in the light of those titans. He felt his face flush and breath deepen with sublime wonder. But the feeling ceased; the beauty was muted and felt infantile in the moment that Dat saw past the stars to the velvet black of empty space which ensnared all. It was all that he saw every time he looked to see beyond the limits of his space ship. Empty space is cold and serpentine, and also serene.
“Those are stars.” The black empty space is where he is. “I don’t recognize any of them.”
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3.
Pornography, it made Dat embarrassed. He watched it on the view screen, smirking, holding his head up in his hand. He tapped at the keyboard.
“What are you watching?” the voice intruded in, pushing Dat to the side, his shoulders tightening in. He felt his mouth agape with displeasure.
It was unintelligible to the computer’s eye on the wall. The eye extended from the wall, protruding on a long metallic tentacle. The lead looking eyeball moved to and fro, to look from different angles. None helped, and all meaning was impossible.
Dat canceled the program. Dat was greatly agitated and said some things about the need for privacy.
4.
Later in the dark – beeps emanate from the computer dictated processes in the room Dat had sat in. Lights flicked on and one eye on a metal stalk hovered in front of the view screen.
The screen flickered on and the recently viewed movies played. It was incomprehensible. The computer did not understand at all what the human saw, and that
“Yes I see.” In the wall before Dat, a single mechanical eye contracted, seizing together to form a narrow circle in front of its optic sensor.
“The flowers go in the vase.” The eye dilated, fraught with fascination; Dat considered whether it was titillated by its’ own curiosity.
The computer had a new fascination with the names of things. Names it already knew; all these words and objects it already knew. But in this, it seemed perception was the key.
2.
Dat looked at the window; its panes reflected a semi-transparent version of himself and the walls. The image was just clear enough to reveal ghosts but there were none – there are no ghosts but Dat wishes there are. He could see his eyes focusing in the pane of glass. So used to habit, Dat did not look beyond. Beyond had grown tiresome, seeing beyond had become familiar.
“What are you looking at?” the computer interrupted his reverie.
Dat caught himself, self-conscious, and focused his eyes beyond. He saw the brilliance and the beauty of the stars. Even at a million light-years, and many more lifetimes, the stars’ gigantic enormity challenged his sense self, meaning and value. He knew he was nothing in the light of those titans. He felt his face flush and breath deepen with sublime wonder. But the feeling ceased; the beauty was muted and felt infantile in the moment that Dat saw past the stars to the velvet black of empty space which ensnared all. It was all that he saw every time he looked to see beyond the limits of his space ship. Empty space is cold and serpentine, and also serene.
“Those are stars.” The black empty space is where he is. “I don’t recognize any of them.”
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3.
Pornography, it made Dat embarrassed. He watched it on the view screen, smirking, holding his head up in his hand. He tapped at the keyboard.
“What are you watching?” the voice intruded in, pushing Dat to the side, his shoulders tightening in. He felt his mouth agape with displeasure.
It was unintelligible to the computer’s eye on the wall. The eye extended from the wall, protruding on a long metallic tentacle. The lead looking eyeball moved to and fro, to look from different angles. None helped, and all meaning was impossible.
Dat canceled the program. Dat was greatly agitated and said some things about the need for privacy.
4.
Later in the dark – beeps emanate from the computer dictated processes in the room Dat had sat in. Lights flicked on and one eye on a metal stalk hovered in front of the view screen.
The screen flickered on and the recently viewed movies played. It was incomprehensible. The computer did not understand at all what the human saw, and that