David was the first person who didn't look at xem and pity xem for not belonging. He was compassionate, but also bright and full of attitude.
Okka thought Earth would be a little more pleasant, if xe could spend time with David.
*~*~*
Once they were in David's office, Okka handed over xir papers, and David scanned them into his system. Then he asked some questions about Okka's skills.
Okka had been fascinated by the internet as a concept, and so during xir research, xe'd focused on what made it work and what could be done with it. Xir assertion that xe knew JavaScript was perhaps exaggerated, but not so far outside the realm of xir ability to fake.
"I've got some experience in other types of programming," xe said. "I don't know how much of it will be applicable to what you do here. It's all been rather esoteric."
"Huh," said David, frowning. "I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but I'm sure Waverly will enjoy finding out." He gave Okka an amused smile.
Then David's phone made a noise, and he took it out to look at it. "Results came through on your background check," he said, gesturing with the device before reading the message.
Okka held xir breath.
"Yeah, you're good," David said with a smile, "although there's a couple of things I have questions about regarding your IDs."
"What kinds of questions?" Okka asked.
"Well," David began, "your IDs have a female marker, and as far as I know you could just be a passionate defender of nonbinary people, but if you want me to refer to you by any particular set of pronouns, just let me know, okay?"
Of all the questions Okka had been imagining, this was one of the least concerning. That didn't mean xe knew exactly how to answer it. "I'm not sure what would be the most accurate," xe mused. "English isn't my first language, although from what I've learned so far, I'm not sure it would be helpful even if it was. So many of your words are new."
"The singular 'they', then?" David offered. "That actually has a pretty long tradition."
"I've been considering it," Okka said. "But 'xe' with an X caught my eye, too. I'm not sure what about it appeals to me, but it feels more like the way I think of myself in my own head. I don't have a strong preference, though."
"Still," said David. "If it feels more accurate to you, then that's what I'll use."
"That doesn't seem like a common attitude," Okka commented. "Why are so many people hung up on this binary-gender nonsense?" xe asked.
David shrugged one shoulder, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I mean, I know where some of the rationales come from. I'm not about to claim they make sense. But a lot of people say we're only differently shaped so that we can reproduce."
Okka frowned. "That's ridiculous."
"Yeah, some branches of Christianity just fuck up their kids' perceptions of the world really badly." David's whole face scrunched, as if he'd smelled something foul. "Anyway, thank God for the Internet." He wiggled his phone. "Spreads this stuff around at least a little to the kids who really need it."
They appreciated what they had. Okka was glad, even through the heaviness that came with the reminder of what xe had lost. "You didn't have access to it, though?" xe asked, seeing a similar wistful look in David's eyes.
David laughed, a shade of bitterness to it. "Before I came to the city I lived, almost literally, under a rock. No internet, no telephones, no technology more complicated than a spinning wheel. I was raised Amish."
No long-distance communication. No internet. The thing that connected people's minds on this planet, gave them to know they were not alone. "Sounds… lonely."
"In some ways, yes, very. Even more so when you're a Kinsey-four bi boy terrified that you're going to hell for who you love."
Okka dropped the subject, because xe could see that it wasn't the most comfortable one for David. But xe kept thinking about it.
"Anyway, Waverly saved me, in a lot of ways. He's got his flaws, but he really does try to help people whenever he sees an opportunity. I think he'll be on board with you coming to work here." He looked like he wanted to say something more but stopped himself.
Okka wanted to meet Waverly. Not just because he was the center of this enormous network of communication and technology, but because this human, David, had reached out to Okka so easily. Tried his best to bring xem into the fold, despite the fact that xe must not seem much like xe belonged here, or anywhere, right now, with all xe was. But David welcomed xem.
David clearly cared about Waverly. But the two humans had some trouble between them. Okka wondered what it was about Waverly that made this open, friendly human man so hesitant to speak of him.
Okka, who loved the new, the different, and the dangerous even more than most Mimica, thought that Waverly Kemp sounded like a challenge.
*~*~*
David was Up To Something. He had that mischievous look on his freckled face. That was almost as delightful, and almost as terrifying, as his annoyed expression.
"What?" Waverly asked, drawing back a little.
David stepped out of the way to reveal a stranger behind him and held out a hand to them with a flourish. "Waverly, this is Okka Pathfinder. Xe is your newest intern."
Xe was a chubby puck in skinny jeans. Short but defiantly present. Xir short black hair swept out from xir head in so many directions, xe looked like a hedgehog. Xir round face with its short nose and the suggestion of dimples looked like it was just waiting to smile.
Waverly felt a pull, the way he sometimes did, upon meeting people. Like David. But thinking of David reminded him to be cautious.
"Welcome. Why do you want to work here?" That was a good, normal interview question, right? Somehow, Okka didn't seem like the type to take the opportunity to gush all over Waverly. With some of his fresh interns, Waverly felt like he'd accidentally invited them to vomit all over his shoes.
"Among other things? David is kind," Okka said in a soft but clear tenor, with a slight, unidentifiable accent. "He seems to like you."
Waverly could feel himself start to smile. "Not the worst reason." Determined not to overwhelm the new intern on xir first day, he gestured to a desk. "Get comfy. Hopefully you'll be here a while."
Pulling Waverly a little aside into the nearby lounge area, David said, "Xir skill sets are atypical for this level at the company, so xe might be playing catch-up for the first little bit."
Waverly smiled lightly. "Well, I'll make sure xe catches up fast. I'm an expert at corrupting young and innocent minds with heresy like custom Linux installs and unsecured boot sequences."
David glared, clearly not appreciating the joke.
"I'll be nice," Waverly said. "I promise."
*~*~*
"Now," Waverly said, "important things first—here's where we keep the snacks. Take as many as you want, I'm rich."
Okka smiled mildly. "Thank you, Mr. Kemp."
The man responded with a full-body shudder. "Call me Waverly. In my experience, anyone who calls me Mr. Kemp is annoying as hell."
"Fair enough. So can you tell me more about what you do here?" Okka asked.
"Oh, so many things," Waverly responded. "But our focuses are compatibility and responsiveness. We wanna make sure that everybody, everywhere in the world, who uses one of our programs has a smooth and easy experience getting it, installing it, and using it. No matter what platform they start with."
Okka nodded. Xe thought xe understood the gist of that. There were so many different types of computers here, it would take some doing to get them all to talk to each other. The closest thing Okka had ever seen to that was the way the Cewri Imperium could make a virus to crawl its way into any computer system from any planet. It was sort of intimidating to know that this person had such a similar skill set to the foes xe'd faced for so many years. But then, he was using it to connect people, to make things easier to use from one computer to another. "And how do you do that?"
"Well, computers are like people, you know?" he said. "They can speak diff
erent languages, they can have different basic values, different basic assumptions they make because of the culture that produced them. That can make conversations… rough. We try to smooth things out as much as possible, make sure differences are accounted for so that the conversation doesn't stumble right out of the gate. Sometimes it's as simple as translating commands from one language to another, and sometimes it gets really tricky. Like with people."
Okka raised an eyebrow. "So what I'm getting here is that you have trouble talking to people?"
Waverly laughed aloud, bright and chagrined. "Let me tell you, my computers are a lot better at this conversation stuff than I am," he said.
"You can say that again," said a four-legged robot, approaching them gracefully on black rubber hooves. The robot would be as tall as Okka with the neck joints fully extended.
"Yeah, yeah, Toto," said Waverly. "Everyone knows you’ve got all the charm in this operation." He turned back to Okka. "Toto's the most compatible computer on the planet, with other computers, and with all different people. If he can't interface with something right off the bat, he can learn, and write himself new interfaces. He's literally the best."
Okka recognized the softness in Waverly's smile. It reminded xem of when Myrdu would brag about Nifu. If Toto wasn't a person, then at least Waverly thought of him that way.
Okka had seen stranger shapes for people than this lanky, metallic quadruped with his long, hinged neck and vaguely conical head. Even accounting for the thick black umbilical that ran from his body to an attachment in the wall.
"Hello, Toto," Okka said. "It's good to meet you."
Waverly's smile brightened into something genuinely delighted.
Okka already wanted to make that particular smile happen as often as possible.
"Likewise, Okka," Toto said.
Waverly cleared his throat. "So. We work with a very wide range of software, pretty much all the big names and the smaller ones, when we can manage. Apple is very proprietary. Doesn't play well with others sometimes. Hey, I get it, it's a business model. Windows is… well, they've got their own issues. A lot of 'em come hand in hand with having the biggest market share in some sectors. Linux? You can do a lot with Linux. I base most of my stuff in it, when I can."
Okka made a thoughtful noise. "It's fascinating how much these systems both compete and cooperate." On Avla, all computer systems were made to work together, except for the protections that were required to isolate the machines around an infected computer against the Cewri's attacks.
It was a lot like the Avlan society that used them, really.
"Yeah, it is," Waverly agreed. "Linux, of course, is the most cooperative, because at its heart it isn't about money. You can still make money with it, though, obviously. Android. Red Hat. Chromebook. KempTech."
Okka just shook xir head in bewilderment. "That is a long list of very big names."
Waverly shook his head, laughing a little. "No one's expected to know all of them. Most of our employees specialize in one thing or another, and learn enough of the rest to get by when we bring everything together. You can start wherever you are. In the meantime, if you aren't familiar with the KempOS, that's the first thing to get on top of. The company issues Kemptech phones to all our employees." Waverly handed Okka one of those ubiquitous rectangles, not so different from an Avlan pocket computer, but much more universally used. "Not everybody uses ours, some people turn them right back over and we donate them, but you need to at least get comfortable with the basics of the system."
"Thank you," Okka said, taking the phone.
"It's got my number in it. More importantly, here's David's number. He's the real genius when it comes to getting interns settled. But hey, I try. So yell for me if you get lost."
Okka smiled wryly. "Don't worry about me; I learn quickly."
"Well, then you can yell for me even if you don't get lost." He winked conspiratorially.
"Oh, Waverly," Okka responded. "How will I ever endure with you all of twenty feet away?"
Waverly laughed brightly and went back to his own office, leaving the door between them open.
Okka, on this first day, had three tasks: to familiarize xemself with xir phone and the larger machine at xir desk; to complete some corporate training that David had showed xem how to view on the larger computer (including the infamous sensitivity course); and to be around, in case Waverly wanted someone to talk at besides his robot, Toto.
The surface of Waverly's enormous desk was an enormous e-paper touchscreen, on which he laid out all his code in tiny text, so that he could see it all at once, or sometimes he brought up plans for the hardware of whatever the code was for. He had music on, and at one point, Toto ambled over to convey the message that they could shut the door if Okka would rather not hear it. But it was an interesting mix, some from genres Okka could not have named from Myrdu's spying on this planet, as well as some rock and some R&B.
He moved as he worked. Okka's gaze was drawn to him over and over.
The way Waverly shaped his world into rhythms was intoxicating. He seemed almost fluid sometimes, but he had structure on the time axis, as well as in his lean, wiry humanoid form.
It was hard to believe all that could be expressed through the simple motion of one concrete form.
The images the movements evoked were varied and beautiful, his arms like dark glimmering-wet branches in a storm, or even like the black tentacles of xir ancestral form. His thin but mobile face was always expressing something new.
"Distracted?" David asked, appearing from out of nowhere at xir elbow. Okka started up, wide-eyed.
"You must be," said Toto. "You seem to have sprung a leak." He gestured at the line of drool on Okka's sleeve.
"I don't know what you're referring to," said Okka primly, arms going into xir lap and under the desk.
David tutted and swatted at Toto's head/hand. "That's the kind of thing you pretend you don't see," he said.
Okka determinedly turned xir attention back to xir work.
Chapter Four
A few hours later, Waverly called xem over and explained the project he was working on. It was a remote tour program written to work with a variety of the available virtual-reality equipment. It was designed to allow people who couldn't be on site to attend things like events, construction projects, or meetings that were going on far away. It used a gyro-balanced sensor array to collect the relevant information. He had about seven of them, all with different balances of camera placement, microphone sensitivity, and agility. They were about six feet tall with all their camera equipment extended, but built to be light, maneuverable, and quiet, and they looked like lumpy black animate broomsticks.
"You think these bots are creepy looking?" Waverly asked. "David says they'd cause a panic rolling through a crowd. Need to look more human looking. But they're not human; they're just stand-ins. I think they look fine, for that."
Okka shrugged. "I'm really not the person to ask," xe said. "I'd just as soon talk to a walking stick as a human."
Waverly grinned. "Yeah, I think we'll get along just fine." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I was gonna test that aspect out on you, but I'd guess I'll get better data out of someone who might be unnerved by it. But I don't think it'll end up being a big issue. I think people'll get used to them, the way they did Roombas, and trying to make them look human is just gonna land 'em straight in the uncanny valley."
"Where is the Uncanny Valley?" Okka asked.
There was a moment of silence as Waverly stared, a little wrinkle between his eyes, and then he said, "Wait, was that a philosophical question, or did you actually think it was a place?"
Okka gauged the look in Waverly's eyes before responding with a rueful smile, "Would you believe me if I said it was philosophical?"
Waverly shrugged. "Might have, if you'd sold it," he said. "'Cause that's a good question, philosophically speaking. I'm sure it's different for everyone, that line that we draw between 'human' and 'not'. The blurry ar
ea in the middle that makes people uncomfortable. On the one hand, I'm a businessman, right? I wanna sell stuff. So I like to try to stay away from the creep factor in that area.
"But on the other hand, I've always sort of wanted to challenge people and their perceptions of that line. Because there's a lot of people on this planet who fall into the blurry area for other people, for one reason or another. Everything from disabilities or illnesses that cause people to act just too far outside the average for their comfort, down to little things like speaking a different language or having darker skin. There are so many things people can use to justify the thought, 'that person is creepy' or 'that person is less human than I am'. So yeah, if I have a chance to muck up that line, make people think about where it is, maybe I should, huh?"
Okka took a breath, and thought about all of that, all the humanoid xenophobia that xe, as Mimica, feared, and tried to answer the best way xe knew how.
"I think maybe what you are doing now is going to be the best way to combat that kind of prejudice," xe said. "You make things that are clearly not human. Toto, these bots, probably other things. You make them look like things, but then you let them act like people. The people who see them will interact with them as if they are people. The better you do your job, the more these things will be smoothly inhabiting the spaces where only people could have been before. The fuzzy area will grow, I think. People will need to look twice more often before they determine whether something is a person. I also think the larger that fuzzy area becomes, the less potent it will be in its ability to cause people discomfort. And, hopefully, its validity as an excuse."
"Oh," Waverly said softly. "Wow. I like that." He broke into a grin. "I dig that a lot, Okka. You ever wanna talk philosophy, I'll be open to it. Very open to it." His grin went lopsided.
"Well, then I hope I can deliver," Okka replied.
Waverly's eyebrows wavered between startled and approving.
Okka replayed the conversation over in xir head, realizing how flirtatious it might have sounded, and then sighed internally. Xe knew xe should not be encouraging this. It would not end well.
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