#tekwar 2

[ultralaser]

tbh this site could be super glitchy for me and i probably wouldnt even notice bc there's so many things since i came back where i'm just oh okay that's like that now

[spockvarietyhour]

Eugene Clark

[planetofsnarfs]

Sci-fi of the 90s was more miss than hit, with only Star Trek and The X-Files becoming major hits, but that didn’t stop networks from trying and failing to get new shows off the ground. Between SeaQuest DSV, Earth 2, Earth: Final Conflict, and even William Shatner’s TekWar came Space: Above and Beyond, which tried to do something different from all the rest: it was a military series. Centered on a group of fighter pilots, the prime directive of the series was to find bugs, kill bugs, and make it home in one piece.

Space: Above and Beyond started with a two-hour made-for-television movie as its pilot, explaining the destruction of a human colony at the hands of the bug-like Chigs, and the sudden enlistment of new fighter pilots, including our main crew, the 58th Squadron, dubbed, “The Wildcards.” Barely trained, the squadron is on the USS Saratoga, which was supposed to be bringing up the rear guard of Earth’s forces when they find themselves under attack and engaged in a major conflict. Outgunned and outmanned, The Wildcards manage to survive, but barely, and that sets the tone for the rest of the series.

[found-in-retro-game-mags]

William Shatner's TekWar

“Battle the TEK lords of the future... On your PC today.” (Fusion #2, Sept. 1995)

[olderthannetfic]

I watched Babylon 5 starting with the pilot film and all those goofy actor interviews that accompanied it. I loved the pilot and was sorry the further the show strayed from it. I was so pissed about Michael O'Hare leaving that I quit the show after season 1. Joke’s on me because, for once, it wasn’t executive meddling or even an actor getting too big for their britches and wanting to do film: O’Hare had serious mental health problems he asked be kept private until after his death. Fans finally found out the real story in 2013.

My fondest memories are of Susan Ivanova, who would be serious queer girl bait anyway, but who also turned out to be in a canon relationship with Talia Winters.

Post series, the pairing of rival diplomats Londo and G’Kar also saw some fannish interest. They were bickering rivals at the beginning of the show, but the subjects of epic, galactic tragedy by the end. Also, Londo has six prehensile penises, which he uses to cheat at cards.

I am not making this up.

Six prehensile penises.

Uses dick to cheat at cards.

Xeno fans take note: Babylon 5 really went all out on the worldbuilding, and that includes wacky alien junk--but also religions, philosophy, wonderful costumes, and the kind of arc plots that wouldn’t become the norm until at least a decade later. (Overall, I think the epicness of canon was of more interest to B5 fans than shipping was, much of the time, but these are posts about Escapade and slash, so...)

The show’s fandom was interesting because it was an early one to be hugely active online. This was an era when showrunners were intrigued by the possibilities of online engagement and some made themselves available in a way we wouldn’t see again until the Twitter era. JMS, the creator of B5, was all over the fan spaces, which meant that fanfic was often suppressed due to the then popular belief that to see it risked a lawsuit for the showrunner. I do not regard this as a positive thing myself, but it’s certainly interesting from a fandom history perspective.

I’ve never read any B5 fic myself, not knowing like 90% of the canon it would be based on, but I very much enjoyed the festivid by thingswithwings, available on AO3 here. It follows Londo and G’Kar’s epic arcs. Heavy stuff!

The pilot movie aired a couple of weeks after Escapade 1993, so it wasn’t until the next year that it got a panel. It would continue to be popular for the run of the show:

1994 - New SF/Adventure Shows, Open Discussion: Babylon 5, Viper, The New Knight Rider, Tek Wars, Time Trax, SeaQuest DSV. (Programmers are putting a bunch of new shows out there with a stunning variation in quality. Let's gab, shout, pimp for your favorite show.)

1995 - Resurgence of SF on TV (X-Files, Lois & Clark, Highlander, Babylon 5, TekWar, Earth 2, ST: Deep Space 9 & Voyager and gobs more. Where are they all coming from? Are they giving us what we want?)

1996 - Babylon 5 (With all that's going on, is slash irrelevant?)

1997 - Babylon 5: Spider Queen or Cinderella (Is there more to the Delenn-Sheridan relationship than meets the eye? B5 is one of the best plotted shows on TV and JMS can be very guilty of misdirection. Are there some dark sides to our heroic characters that we haven't thought about? Do some of the dark characters have silver linings?)

1998 - Babylon 5: Narrative Truth and Chances for Slash (B5 gave us slash. But was it the slash we wanted? Or are we still bending a universe that prides itself on its own self-awareness?)

1999 - Homoerotic Subtext in Popular Action Adventure TV Show (This Celluloid Closet style academic paper examines the subtext in Babylon 5, The Sentinel, and Highlander the Series. Shows like Will and Grace think they're blazing a trail, but B5, TS and HL deliver the goodies (if you know what to look for.) Highlights and analysis of some of great slashy moments.)

B5 on Fanlore

Susan/Talia on Fanlore

B5 on Pink Rabbit Consortium

B5 on Passion & Perfection

B5 on AO3

B5 on FFN

[woppy-my-beloved]

Gifset 2 of Tina in the episode The Gate of the t.v. show TekWar

[diarrheaworldstarhiphop]

what did u think about Gio Pennachietti’s assessment of contemporary cultural marxist pro-abortion art on TekWars??

uh

i dont think it’s “marxist” but it’s definitely liberal identarianism

but yeah, it’s all upper class progressive networking shit. The contemporary art circuit was what my school tried to mold me into as a career path and I found it all bullshit. Shock art especially.

It was a common joke at my school that first year students at their end of year show would put “something to rot in the concourse gallery” as many incoming students found banal shock art a route to achieving an easy “A” grade.

To the abortion art topic of tekwars 2:

It’s less a political or “satanic” thing, rather a class oriented thing. Americans prefer a more exciting, spectacle laden explanation for phenomena over class discourse, whether it’s girl power triple-goddess bodily rights or a neo- uh, hermetic order of the golden dawn occult secret society spirit cooking shit. This is why it’s rationalized hardcore as a political thing, because of a strong resistance by Americans to acknowledge how class shapes their values.

Only the upward mobile middle class and rich go to great lengths to lionize and rationalize abortion. Many, even few children is a lowbrow pursuit not fit for someone seeking a professional/managerial Girlboss Lifestyle that would be immediately undermined by having kids.

Many Middle and upperclass women hate the thought of being reduced to human factories and are reared in a liberal capitalist environment that places huge emphasis on personal-professional success. You have young girls being raised by mothers who worked hard to come to par with mens’ success in the wind swell off the 2nd wave. They wish for their daughters to continue to do the same and thusly drill that expectation into them. Pregnancy, periods, etc are just a vicious reminder of how their own bodies are at war with their will and aspirations, of their biological “duty” and reduction to second “class” nature before men, unfettered by such a regular horror like spontaneous, often painful bloodletting. Abortion, and other contemporary yonic art arrives from that regular, clockwork experience that underpins womanhood. It’s a means for woman to own her own body and come to terms with the biological process and the abortions that, in the context of regularly flushing out eggs with gore, are not unique.

[thisisstarfleet]

Entry 38: TV Guide, 1993-2001

Several Star Trek covers from some milestones over the years:

Two DS9 covers - one from the series premiere, the other from about mid-season 2 (that one also has an article about TekWar EXTRA LOL)

TNG finale

30th anniversary full set

DS9 finale full set

ENT preview/premiere - this was 1 of 3 but I wasn’t living at home where my mom had the TVG subscription at the time so I didn’t know about it until it was too late to get the whole set.  This was also after they switched from stick-on labels which could be easily removed to printing the recipient address right on the cover, hence the phaser grip censor bar.

[shadowwingtronix]

Chapter By Chapter> TekWar chapters 1 & 2

BW Media Spotlight begins the Chapter By Chapter review of William Shatner's TekWar with chapters 1 & 2

Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club. Usually when I do a Chapter By Chapter…

[sirfrogsworth]

I woke up. I am better. My brain chemicals are... comfortable. 

I am still watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Which is actually pretty marvelous. I love the actress they chose. She has the spirit of Lauren Graham (Lorelei) and she fits into the 1950s time period perfectly. I love that these Netflix style shows have shortened seasons. The standard 22 episode broadcast TV model is probably too much. You have to create a ton of filler. The story tends to meander. You forget what happened 18 episodes before and you’re always like, “Wait, who is this guy?” But with 8-13 episode seasons they can really tighten the story. Make it seem like a single entity. Do callbacks from earlier episodes without you forgetting what the hell happened. And there is still plenty of time for character development. It’s like what the old “TV Miniseries” tried to do, but failed because they would never throw any money at those shows and the production value was always terrible. I remember a crazy miniseries by William Shatner called TekWars. It might have been good as a modern Netflix series. But they only spent 8 dollars on special effects and it was laughably bad. 

My only complaint about an 8 episode season is it’s almost over the second you start watching it. I’m already on the last episode and I’m positive all the things I want resolved are not going to happen. And once it is over I will have to wait a year and a half for season 2. You get so emotionally invested in these characters, as if they are your friends and family, and then they are ripped away and you can’t see them for 16 months. 

If you liked Gilmore Girls or if you like peering behind the scenes of standup comedy, I think you’ll love The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I feel like they really did their research and have a deep understanding of what it takes to be a comic. This might be a bit of a spoiler, but there is a scene about bombing. And how it is all part of the process. That you can’t be a comic and not bomb. It will happen again and again and until you work hard, tighten your act, and go through the process, you will experience a lot of crickets. Too many people think standup is just “tellin’ jokes” saying, “How hard could that be?” 

Super hard. It is a real job that requires effort and persistence. 

Anywho... I’m going to watch the last episode and probably cry when it’s over. 

[ultralaser]

now i’m in a thread of ppl on twitter who are ragging on terminator 2 for being bad and every criticism they cite is something that made me like it in 1991 and that tbh i think still holds up

i never imagined that ‘the most popular and successful movie that year is good’ wld be a controversial take but here we are

“everyone who likes it hasn’t watched it since 1991 or honestly compared it t1″ like bro first of all that’s a bunch of dismissive bullshit and second of all in 1991 i didn’t LIKE terminator one

i, actually, still don’t

we are allowed to like different things but this just feels like the bros raging about tlj for being bad for having a scene with rose and finn they didn’t like

like guys this movie was bigger than a hit, it INVENTED blockbusters (well, it at batman 89)

someone said ‘oh the kid is annoying and trying to make catch phrases happen’ like my guy HE DID, you are wildly underestimating the impact that film had on the culture at the time

[aion-rsa]

Link Tank: The Witcher Announces New Season 2 Cast Additions

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The Witcher has announced casting for a slew of new characters for Season 2, including a notable villain.

“Filming on The Witcher’s second season continues apace, as Netflix has hired several new cast members for the hit series based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy books, including one of the series’ bigger villains.”

Read more at Gizmodo.

William Shatner turned 90 years old yesterday. To celebrate, check out 90 fun facts about this Star Trek icon.

“Born March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, William Shatner has been an indelible part of popular culture for a good portion of a century. Though he’s most recognizable as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek film and television franchise, Shatner’s career has encompassed everything from the earliest days of television to spoken-word recordings to his own sci-fi book series (TekWar).”

Read more at Mental Floss.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gives two beloved MCU sidekicks the attention and character developments they deserve.

“Disney+’s newest series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with new episodes dropping on Fridays weekly, keeps things a little more earthbound, reminding us of the five years in which half the Universe’s population vanished, and the effect that had on the ones who disappeared when they returned.”

Read more at Thrillist.

Twitter SEO Jack Dorsey just sold his first tweet for $2.9 million. The proceeds will be donated to charity.

“Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet for more than $2.9 million to Malaysian-based buyer Sina Estavi, who compared the purchase to owning an original da Vinci. ‘This is not just a tweet,’ Estavi, head of blockchain service CryptoLand and software firm Bridge Oracle, said on Monday. ‘I think years later people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting.'”

Read more at PCMag.

The release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League highlights why Joss Whedon is a terrible director.

“The release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League isn’t just a triumph for Snyder’s vision almost four years after its theatrical release; it’s also an implicit condemnation of Joss Whedon, who completed — and substantially altered — the movie after Snyder originally left the project.”

Read more at Inverse.

Baby Kermit, from the Muppet Babies Play Date on Disney Junior, is the latest green baby puppet the internet is obsessed with.

“The internet being obsessed with Baby Kermit is proof that wholesome bits of the internet, that warm your heart, still exist in 2021. But where did this obsession come from and why does Baby Kermit look absolutely adorable? Disney Junior is the answer.”

Read more at The Mary Sue.

The post Link Tank: The Witcher Announces New Season 2 Cast Additions appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3vVtaV5

[feelingcreature]

MST3K- Penumbra

In the extended wake of Joel’s actions in Soultaker,  Mike and Crow discuss the nature of robots and humans. Takes place mid Season 10, around 1006. 

        Mike turned the page of his book. It wasn’t all that interesting- just some generic bestseller-type spy novel- but it passed the time. He checked the clock on his bedside table. 2:00 AM (not that the hour mattered much in space) and not even close to falling asleep. Frustrating, but not unusual. At this point, it happened so often he didn’t bother fighting it; just let his insomnia do its thing. He knew he’d regret it later, when the bots dragged him out of bed at 6 o’clock to come see the statue they’d built out of toast or something, but there was really nothing for it. Knowing he should sleep didn't make it any more likely to happen.

         He sighed and turned back to his book. He was trying to get into the tepid romance between the grizzled cop-on-the-edge protagonist and the Chinese dancer who would obviously turn out to be a spy, when he heard the telltale beep and soft fwoosh of his door opening. He looked up from his book, but didn’t see anyone. Mike sat up and leaned forward to get a better view, but whoever it was (the options were admittedly limited) seemed to be hiding.

        “Hello?” he called. No response, but he heard metallic clicking against the floor, like small, shuffling feet. That narrowed it down. Only one other pair of feet on this ship besides his. “Crow?” he guessed. “Is that you?”

         More shuffling, then Crow peeked his head into the doorway.

        “...You still awake?” he said.

        Mike put his book down. “Yeah, I’m still awake. What’s up?”

      Crow moved a bit farther into view, claws resting hesitantly on the doorframe. “Are you sure? I don’t want to bug you if you’re going to sleep.”

       Mike made a mental note of Crow’s unusual courtesy. Normally, he’d just come in and interrupt anything whenever he felt like it. This was rudimentary politeness at best, but for Crow that was significant. It meant he had something on his mind, but hadn’t quite committed to discussing it yet. Part of him probably hoped that Mike actually wasn’t available so he didn’t have to. But, best not to let him ignore the problem any longer, if it bothered him enough to keep him up late like this.

           “Yeah, I wasn’t gonna be asleep anytime soon,” Mike said. “You wanna come in?”

       Crow walked into the room without answering. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, then went over and picked up the Rubik’s cube off Mike’s shelf. He immediately started twisting, ruining the little progress Mike had made on it, but Mike let it lie. Crow had never been able sit still. Especially recently, he needed distracting almost all the time, or he started to channel his excess energy in...less positive directions. Mike much preferred he do something constructive, even if it meant a slight inconvenience. He’d never been able to solve the stupid thing anyway, so Crow might as well play with it.

          He watched Crow fiddle with the cube- looking it over, making a few turns, looking it over again. Mike found his silence unsettling. He used to chatter incessantly, stream-of-consciousness style, when he didn’t know how to start a conversation. Lately he got unusually quiet, instead. A quiet Crow used to mean a scheming Crow every time, but these days it often just meant heavy thoughts were rattling around his head. He’d always been a complex, emotional little bot, but in the past couple of years, he’d become increasingly prone to moodiness. Of course, he had reasons to be moody right now. Throughout Mike’s years on the Satellite, a bot or two would occasionally show up in the middle of the night with some random discussion topic, but they usually visited more out of boredom than necessity. This talk probably wouldn’t be so lighthearted. Mike knew what it would be about. The same thing everything was about now.

         Almost a month and a half had passed since Joel’s return-fiasco. They were all still recovering to some degree- even Mike- but the whole thing had hit Crow the hardest. His rage had mostly subsided by now; at least he'd moved it to boil under the surface, where it caused less outward damage. But Mike knew he was still hurting worse than any of them, and more than he knew how to explain. He was getting better, but slowly, and his behavior was often still erratic. Mike tried to keep a handle on it, but he couldn’t help but worry about him.

         Crow, still playing with the Rubik’s cube, made a sound like clearing his throat. He opened his mouth his mouth to speak, then shut it again without saying anything.

         “Crow?” Mike prompted. “Was there some reason you came in here? Something you wanted to talk about, or…?”

       Crow peered at Mike for a moment. He looked back at the cube in his claws and made another twist. “Well…yeah,” he finally said.

         Mike nodded. “Why don’t you come over here and sit down?” That was what Crow wanted, but Mike knew the bot wouldn't suggest it himself. Way too sissy. He secretly liked to cuddle, but he’d never admit it in a million years, especially not if you used the word “cuddle”.

         Crow trotted over in silence, cube still in hand, and climbed up onto the bed, while Mike scooted towards the wall to make room for him. Crow settled himself against the pillow, and looked over the upside-down book on Mike’s knee.

         “What are you reading?” he asked.

         “Oh. Just some police/spy/thriller thing,” Mike said, picking the book up.

         “Hm. Thrilling?”

       Mike shrugged. “Nah, not really. I’ve read too many like it before. I already know everything that’s gonna happen. So it’s better than, say, TekWar, but that doesn’t really count for much.”

       Crow snickered and kept playing with the Rubik’s cube.

         Mike waited for Crow to speak. He never knew exactly what to do with him. Sometimes he needed a push to get him started, but if you pushed too hard, he’d get defensive, and then you’d never get anything out of him. What counted as too hard a push was highly variable and tough to gauge.

          Mike decided on the gentlest push possible. He nudged Crow with his elbow, and the little robot looked up at him, neon eyes glowing slightly in the dim lamplight.

         “So…?” Mike asked.

         Crow turned the Rubik’s cube, now a hopeless jumble, around in his claws. He took a deep breath in preparation, but let it out as a muffled sigh, instead. ��I was just thinking about…I don’t know...” he began. He set the toy down on his lap and stared at the wall in front of him.

         “Do you think we have souls?” he said abruptly, turning his head to look at Mike.

         Mike leaned forward in surprise. He didn’t know what he’d expected Crow to ask, but it wasn't that. “We? Like, anyone?” he asked.

         “No, I mean us robots. Me and Servo, and Gypsy and Cambot,” Crow said, picking up the cube again.

         Mike leaned back against the pillow and gazed up at the ceiling. “You know, I’ve never really thought about it,” he admitted.

        He’d spent more time than he could measure thinking about how the bots worked, and he’d thought a lot about souls at different times in his life. He’d just never put the idea of robot souls in their own category. He’d honestly never questioned their, humanity, for lack of a better word. From the day he met them, he’d considered them fully-fledged people. He’d never had any reason not to. But maybe that wasn’t exactly what Crow was asking.

         He glanced back over at the bot. He was still staring at the Rubik’s cube, but he'd stopped adjusting it. Tense, waiting for an answer.

         “Well,” Mike began, looking back up to the ceiling and hoping he was grasping for the correct idea. “In Latin, the word for soul is anima. That’s the root word for animate, which is like, anything alive, right? And you’re definitely alive, although maybe not by scientific standards.”

       Crow tilted his head. “According to science, we’re not alive?” he asked, with the touch of a scoff in his voice.

         Mike shook his head. “Yeah, you have to meet all these requirements to be classified as a living organism. You guys meet some of them, like you respond to stimuli, obviously, and you kind of have a metabolism. But you’re not biological anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.” In fact, why had he even brought that up?

        “So we’re living, but we’re not organisms,” Crow said, nodding slowly.

         Mike gave a noncommittal gesture. “Something like that, yeah.”

       Crow started twisting the Rubik’s cube again. “But that’s not the same thing as a soul,” he said. “A cabbage is an organism; that doesn’t mean it has a soul.”

       “Hm. You know, Aristotle talked about this thing, about three different kinds of souls," Mike said, not entirely sure where he going with this train of thought. "There's plants, which just grow and reproduce, and animals, which do that, plus they can sense and act in their environment. And humans- well, people- do all that, and also have the ability to think and reason. You guys definitely have that.”

       “Yeah, but a computer can think, and that doesn’t have a soul. Does it?”

       “Well, can it really, though?” Mike asked, still examining the ceiling panels. “A computer brain work a lot faster than a person’s brain, but can it really think, like reason and abstract?”

       “We have computer brains, and we do that,” Crow said softly, clicking half of the orange face into place on the cube.

         “Well, yeah, but you’re more than just computers.”

       Crow looked up at Mike. “So you don’t think we’re just machines?” he asked.

         Mike raised an eyebrow at him. “You guys? Definitely not.”

       Crow looked down at his knees. “So do you think we have souls?” he asked again, with an odd edge to his voice that Mike couldn’t identify.

         Mike watched him for a moment. “Yeah,” he said finally. “Yeah, I do. In fact, I'm sure of it." He didn’t even know why he was sure, but he was.

        Crow turned and stared intently into Mike's face, as if testing his sincerity. Mike studied the bot’s ping-pong ball eyes. They should just look ridiculous, yet somehow they managed to convey more than some people could express even with words. He realized suddenly why Crow had sounded so apprehensive a moment ago- he’d been afraid that Mike would say no.

         The robot finally turned back to his Rubik’s cube. “That’s what I thought, too,” he said. “But, you know, I just…wondered.”

       Mike nodded and stared off at the wall. There was something else, what was it that he'd read, something really relevant, which had explained so concisely what he wanted to say... aha, right. “In Carl Jung's writing, he talked about the soul basically being the personality. If that's true, well, who’s got more personality than you guys?” he said, turning to Crow with a smile.

         Crow looked at him and managed an almost-but-not-quite-smile. It faded as he turned his attention back to the toy in his hands.

        They sat in silence for a moment, except for the sound of Crow clicking away at the Rubik’s cube. Other bits of thoughts bounced around Mike’s head, not quite forming into anything coherent. After a while, Crow spoke again.

         “You know, the reason I was wondering about it…” He paused. “A long time ago, I asked Joel the same question, but he never really gave me a straight answer.”

       Ah. That would explain it. Even if Joel had given him a real answer then, Mike doubted it would be good enough for Crow now. Ever since Joel had ditched them so nonchalantly, anything he’d ever said or done was called into question, in Crow’s eyes. Not that Mike could blame him. If Joel didn’t mean any of that stuff about family and love and sticking together anymore, who’s to say he ever meant it in the first place? If he “didn’t really want to” be with his bots now, maybe he never really had at all.

         “Well, I guess maybe giving straight answers isn’t really his thing,” Mike said, keeping his voice level. Getting riled up would only get Crow started, too, and neither of them needed that.

        “Yeah. I guess so. Dickweed,” Crow said bitterly, twisting the cube with sudden violence.

         “Jag-off,” Mike agreed, giving up on neutrality.

         “Bastard,” Crow added.

        “Douchebag.”

       “Dickweed.”

       “Hey, you used that one already,” Mike noted with a laugh.

         “I know, but it’s doubly true,” Crow said.

         Mike watched Crow play with the puzzle (which had become a total mess again). “Hey, Crow?” he said, after a minute or so. “Things will get better. I know you’re still angry, and everything... is how it is, but it will get better. It just takes time. Maybe a lot of time.”

       Crow tilted his head to one side, and then then the other. “I know that, I guess,” he said. “But don’t expect me to forgive him or anything,” he added hotly, twisting the cube so hard it threatened to break apart. “If we ever get back to Earth, I don’t wanna see him or talk to him or be anywhere near him. At all, ever,” he finished, and looked up at Mike, as if daring him to challenge that statement.

         “Okay, Crow,” Mike said, holding up his hands in a sign of surrender. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t wanna do.”

       Mike sighed internally. If they ever did get back down to Earth, what to do about Joel would be Crow’s decision, not his. He suspected the bot might not feel this way forever, but for now, best to leave it alone. Besides, Mike wasn’t too enthusiastic about the idea of seeing Joel, either. He’d be perfectly fine with it if their paths never happened to cross again. But eventually there might come a time when Crow did want to try to reconcile. After all, Joel had been the most important part of Crow’s life for more than half the bot’s existence. And if that time did come, well, that would be Crow’s decision, too.

         Mike wasn’t sure how he felt about that, though. Joel had proven himself to be an acute a-hole, nothing like the sweet, mellow guy Mike had thought he’d come to know through watching old experiments. But the other bots, especially Gypsy, were certain Joel used to be a wonderful person, so maybe he could be again. Maybe callously abandoning his robot children while trying to manipulate them into believing it was for their own good was the kind of one-time awful decision that would never be repeated. Not that it would lessen the damage he’d done, but maybe he could redeem himself. Mike sighed again, out loud this time. Only time would tell, he supposed. That is if they ever got back to Earth, and ran into the guy again, neither of which were remotely guaranteed.

         “Hey, Mike,” Crow spoke up, pulling Mike out of his (frankly depressing) thoughts. “What was with all that stuff from before? Latin and Aristotle and Carl Jung? Is that what you do all day- study nerdy academics?” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

         Mike chuckled a little. “Hey, there’s only so much to do when you’re trapped in space,” he said with a shrug. He certainly hadn’t known any that stuff before being stuck in a big empty satellite for five years. Guess that was one for his very short mental list of good things he’d gotten out of all this.

         “Well, there’s gotta be something less boring than that,” Crow said, carefully clicking a square around the cube.

          Mike laughed again. If Crow was teasing him, it meant he'd returned to equilibrium. “Nah, I can never get too bored with you guys around, even if I wanted to.”

        He put his arm around the little robot’s shoulders. Crow leaned into him just a tiny bit, close enough to touch his side, but far enough away that he could still insist he wasn't really cuddling. Mike held back a grin. The lengths to which Crow would go to prove he was a tough, hardened individual who was too cool for feelings always amused him. Mike knew better, of course, but there was no point poking holes in his façade, if it made him feel safer to have it. Mike pulled the bot a little closer and gave him a playful shake. Crow wriggled a bit in a futile attempt to look bothered by the affection, but quickly gave up and settled for scrutinizing the cube and not looking at Mike.

         Mike picked up the book off his lap, but after staring at it blankly for about 10 seconds, he realized he didn’t actually want to read it. As he closed it, Crow pushed something into his hand. Mike looked down- it was the now-solved Rubik’s cube.

         “Thanks, I think,” Mike said with a laugh.

           “You’re welcome,” Crow said. He shifted slightly from side to side. “Well, I guess I better let you get to sleep…” he said, trailing off..

         “You can stay in here, if you want,” Mike could tell Crow didn’t want to leave- he still felt a little unsure- but again, the possibility of looking like a sissy made him too afraid to ask.

         “Okay!” Crow said enthusiastically. Too enthusiastically, he must have decided, because he added “You know, since I’m here already.”

         Mike nodded. “Right.”

         He removed his arm from around Crow and reached over to his bedside table. He set down the book and the Rubik’s cube and switched off the lamp, while Crow moved his pillow from sitting to sleeping position and flopped down onto it. Mike pulled the blanket up over both of them as he laid back, facing the ceiling. He hadn’t been tired at all before, but now for some reason he was exhausted. Crow scootched over a bit closer and Mike put his arm around him again. His robots really were fascinating creatures. Sure, sometimes he wanted to strangle them, but he couldn’t imagine his life without them anymore. More than anything, he just couldn’t comprehend how Joel could have given them up.

         Mike turned his head to look at Crow. He’d already slipped fully into sleep mode, “closed” eyes and all. That was lot faster than usual- probably wanted to be out before anyone noticed he was snuggling. Or maybe he was just extra tired. Too much philosophy for one evening. Mike turned back and stared up into the dark, listening to the rhythmic whirring emanating from the bot’s torso- almost like the steady breathing of a sleeping human. Every once in awhile there was even a little jitter in the tone, like a snore.

         Where had all the little nuances come from, the things that made them so much more than just machines, like he’d told Crow earlier? Surely Joel hadn’t programmed them in. They weren’t designed; they were natural. All their quirks and idiosyncrasies, all their thoughts, all their feelings- they couldn’t just be bits of data running around in few circuit boards. They were real. What kind of computer flew into a grief-fueled, property-destroying rage because its image of the person it always loved most had been shattered? What kind of computer stayed up late at night contemplating its own soul, and needed to seek reassurance from a friend? What kind of computer would be curled up next to him under the covers because it didn’t want to sleep alone?

         Mike pulled Crow a little closer to his side. The bots must have souls. They were so full of life and excitement- isn’t that what having a soul was supposed to be? They possessed astonishing capacity for both brilliance and stupidity, and vast amounts of creativity, which they used for both. They experienced happiness and misery and everything in-between. They might be a lot closer to miserable right now, but they could, and in all likelihood would, be happy again someday. That was the human experience, the human condition, and the human potential. They didn’t have human bodies, but that didn’t matter. They might be the most human beings Mike had ever known. There was a sad reflection on the state of society and humanity in there somewhere, but Mike’s brain began to protest being used for deep thinking so late at night. He’d have to save those thoughts for later.

         He rolled over onto his side and wrapped his other arm around Crow, who shifted a little and settled against Mike’s chest. He didn’t usually let Mike hug him like this. Tom was pretty open to physical affection, but Crow resisted most of the time. Mike wished he’d give him more opportunities like this to show how much he cared about him. He loved them. He just didn’t know how to say it most of the time.

         Mike considered removing the gold net that was poking into his neck, but thought better of it. He’d learned the hard way a few weeks ago, after trying to do so, that it reminded Crow too strongly of somebody else who used to do the same thing. If he woke up without it, it might bring back more memories that he didn’t want to recall. Mike could deal with the mild discomfort.

He tightened his arms around the robot and felt Crow’s processor humming against his own heart. One and the same, he thought, and closed his eyes.

(A penumbra is the part of a shadow that’s not as dark. In an eclipse, it’s the area that is partially darkened, but closer to the light.)

[lucanus-notebooks]

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[muetzeofficial176]

I just watched TekWar Special 2 "TekLords"

[ultralaser]

i reset all my phone alerts to warcraft 2 wav files and now whenever i get a text message i hear a happy ork sailor saying 'ahoy!'