re_alignment | [Video]

Entry tags:

✘ team fortress 2 | blu engineer

[Video]

[Have a new face, Haven – or most of one. Engineer hasn't bothered to take any of his gear off, so there's only so much to see: his eyes are covered by his goggles and a yellow construction helmet sits on his head. He clears his throat before addressing his potential audience, clearly a little uncertain about the Link device he's been given, but definitely intrigued by it. They don't have video communication quite this fancy back where (and when) he's from.]

I suppose the polite thing to do would be to introduce myself before I start asking questions. Name's Dell Conagher, though people tend to call me Engineer these days. I'll answer to either.

Now then, if it ain't too much trouble, I could use a little assistance and some information. I'm a reasonable man, but I'm also a rational one. I got the introductory speech from these here – uh, Acolytes, I think it was – and while it isn't the craziest thing I've ever heard, it's in the running. If I'm expected to believe I'm on another planet, I need a bit more of an explanation than these walking answering machines can provide. Heck, if I had to make a guess based on the level of technology I'm seeing here, I'd guess I'm in Australia. [Australia, of course, being a technological powerhouse in his reality. He pauses, turning to one of the Acolytes that's still hovering nearby in case the new arrival would like to hear its pre-programmed spiel again, and raps his knuckles against its ankle. Its only reaction is to cock its head to one side.] I know we ain't got anything quite this fancy back home, at any rate.

I'd be mighty thankful if someone could point me in the direction of the nearest cafeteria, while I'm making requests. I get the feeling I might be here a while and that half a sandwich I had for lunch won't keep me going forever.

Oh, and I believe I owe some fella by the name of Solus Prime a thank you for this here device? [A finger reaches out and taps the edge of the screen to indicate the Link device in his hand.] Sure is a neat little welcome package.

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Australia? Really?

[Hello, Engineer. Have a talking metal cat shaking it's head at you.]

And here I thought those Acolytes were supposed to be smart. -What more of an explanation do you need? I am perfectly aware of what Earth looks like, and even this Cybertron bears very little resemblance.

[Excuse you, it is a perfectly logical assumption and certainly no less insane than "well, I must be on a robot-controlled alien planet."]

Best technology comes out of Australia, though I gotta admit Sniper's never mentioned anything about thirty foot automatons or facilities the size of this one, and he did grow up there. Seems like it'd be hard to overlook.

Even the Australians don't have space travel, though. I ain't buying this story about some tear in space 'less someone can explain the theory behind it. The Acolytes apparently ain't the thinking type.

Not that I suppose you would be, either, though you're awful eloquent compared to them. Is there anyone sentient around here I could talk to?

[He'd gotten over the shock of talking machines about twenty minutes ago with the Acolytes, but his conversation with them didn't manage to convince him that they can think for themselves. He assumes Glit is, likewise, just a fancy bit of programming, and not a real person.]

Excuse you.

[Now you've done it. The mechanical feline bristles up, joints going stiff as a low hiss escapes.]

For your information, you are speaking to someone sentient, you wet sack of carbon.

Now, there's no need for insults, however technically correct they may be.

[Engineer recognizes his composition - just as he recognizes that you, kitty, are definitely a robot. Robots are built by people, who think and feel, but do not think and feel themselves.

At least, not in his universe. Engineer has the grace to make an odd expression. He's the thinking sort, so even if he doesn't immediately believe it, he can at minimum consider the possibility.]

You're suggesting you're an artificial intelligence? We ain't got any of those back home, either.

Australia? Well, maybe if Australia was in SPACE!

[Sorry, engi. This is your welcoming committee.]

Then again, if it was Australia in space, it'd need a new name. Like...Spactralia. It sounds sci-fi enough. All...movieish!

...but no, it's the real deal, mister! You're on another planet!

I'd say you started the insults here, and you happen to be continuing them.

[He huffs and paces back and forth, gesturing with a paw to the unfamiliar starry sky outside.]

What part of 'you're on an alien planet' do you not grasp? I am not an AI. The Acolytes? Yes, those are drones, and not very bright ones at that. I, however, am a true-sparked Cybertronian.

We are alive, and do not take kindly to being told otherwise.

[As welcoming committees go, Engineer could do a lot worse than a bubbly little girl. She isn't even holding a gun - which is how Engineer is used to being greeted when he winds up somewhere he ought not be.]

Well, hello there, little lady. The Australians might take umbrage to you renaming their continent without asking 'em, but I reckon you got a point.

It's a shame I never studied more astronomy than I did. If I could head outside and look at the constellations... but I'd only know the prominent North American ones. [He pauses and seems to consider something, but shakes his head to himself, then looks back at Kay.] I don't suppose you've got anything in the way of proof that this isn't Earth, or know someone who would?

And if I'm wrong I'll certainly apologize, but the kind of technology you're talking about just doesn't exist. How do you know you're not just programmed to think you're real?

The part I'm stumbling over is how I got from my workbench to an alien world - the path between point A and point B just don't make sense. If you're as capable of independent thought as you say you are, try putting yourself in my shoes. You'd be a little skeptical too. Tears in the fabric of reality? Seems a lot more likely that someone got me over the back of the head with something heavy and then dragged me to this elaborate setup, though I can't figure what the point of it would be.

[You haven't seen her little armory she's got going, Engi. She could blow up a lego city if she wanted.]

Some proof, huh? Now you're talking my language.

[Being a lawyer's assistant, evidence was everything, right? Well, hold onto your overalls...because

WHOOSH! She pulls out--...a pocket watch?]

If it was Earth, would I have this super cool space watch?

[GENIUS!]

[Engineer's reaction is, perhaps, not the show Kay would have liked: he tilts his head ever so slightly to one side and slides her an amused smile.

It's a watch, kiddo.]

Looks like a nice little pocket watch, from this angle. What sort o' super cool things does it happen to do?

[Glit finally sits back on his haunches and drags both paws over his face.] I am so not drunk enough for this.

Look. I'm a medic, not a physicist! I can't explain the multidimensional quantum mechanics behind a universal tear in space. That's not my thing.

But I can tell you that we. Are. Sentient. We weren't made on earth in one of your little laboratories, stuck on some primitive AI loop that tells us to wonder if 'we're a real boy' yet. We are created here, on alternate, future versions of this world, and we have sparks - what you might call a tangible soul.

And guess what? There is a lot more proof that we have souls than humans do, and you don't see me questioning your sentience.

Souls are a whole different matter. [A whole other matter that Engineer also happens to not believe in.] I'm not looking for any proof of that; I'm talking about the mind. The reason no one questions human sentience is because you can't make one of us in a factory.

[He pauses to think for a moment, then notes:]

And, well, the fact that there isn't really anyone to question it. Only sentient species on Earth and all that.

I suppose you wouldn't appreciate it if I pointed out that all that business you're spouting about your history and alternate realities could just as easily be nothing but programming?

You know what, I've yet to figure that out. But there's tons of little mini watches in it. And none of them are for Earth! I mean, I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that these are for aliens.

[Kay...]

I mean...it's a space watch.

And? You can't make a toad or slug in one of your factories either, but are you going to argue that those are more sentient than a Cybertronian next? Just because we've managed something you're not technologically advanced enough for yet?

[Glit sits back, rolling his optics. He is just so done.]

No. I wouldn't. So if you're so bound and determined to try and disprove every slagging thing you hear, how about you go take a stroll outside and see for yourself?

Last time I was on Earth, or Australia for that matter it didn't have two moons, ya know. Or both the moon and the planet made outta metals and metal ores.

[With a snort, Cliffjumper waves a hand in the air, shaking his helm. Seriously, just take a look outside, man.]

Edited 2013-07-14 14:33 (UTC)

[Oh, perfect. Another organic.]

Engineer. [Oh boy is he sneering at you. Smart organics have never been good news.]

If you'd listened to those drones, you'd know exactly what's going on. [Haha, hypocrisy.]

You're on Cybertron. Not... whatever Australia is.

Made for aliens and made by aliens ain't quite the same thing, mind. Might well be something of a novelty item. Real or not, it doesn't exactly prove that I'm on an alien world.

[But oh, he simply cannot refuse the allure of an unexplained doodad. It's a distraction from the much more important question of how he got here, but he's getting the feeling Kay will only be so much help in that regard anyway.]

Say, though - I've got something of a talent for the mechanical, if you'd like help figuring out just what it does?

[As people nicknamed 'Engineer' often do.]

True enough. For all the strange things I've heard 'bout Australia, there weren't no mention of double moons in any of those stories.

[Engineer props his chin on his hand, looking deep in thought for a moment.]

This place really has two moons? Now this I have to see.

[The distances within the temples are long for an organic, Cliff. He hasn't quite made it outside yet.]

How many hours in a day?

[Even better: an organic with a fascination for machines! Once he's got his bearings, he'll be eager to look into the local Cybertronians - literally. Little, oily, germy hands all up in your components, Sentinel. Won't that be fun?]

It's a continent on Earth, located in the southern hemisphere. Known mostly for its technological output, beards, and an abundance of poisonous animals.

[He does not consider the fact that Sentinel doesn't know what Australia is proof that the 'bot is an alien, of course. Engineer knows people like Scout, for whom is it not unusual to ask things like "What the hell is gravity?"

Engineer lifts one hand and starts ticking off points with his fingers as he speaks:]

I got the bit about this being Cybertron, robots being the dominant species here, and something about me being brought here via the Lambda. None of which makes a lick of sense, I'll say it again. Any chance you know more about this supposed "Lambda" that brought us here?

You're missing the point. Toads and slugs don't display sentience in the first place; nobody's gonna mistake them for Earth's dominant lifeform.

Was just on my way to do that, in fact - some fella's on about two moons orbiting this place, which I'm keen to see for myself. Might be a while before I get there, though. Seems like this place was built for giants.

[And, until he has something more pressing to consider, he may as well keep the conversation going.]

If you're your own man - or robot, Cybertronian, what have you - you must have a name. What should I be calling you?

[Shh, he didn't think about the distance, okay? It's easy to forget, even if he's among the shorter of his species.]

Yeah, just really deadly or strange animals.

[Really strange animals, even if there's strange animals all over Earth from his point of view.]

Shouldn't be too hard to spot 'em, we ain't got much in the way of sunlight. Suns's too far away, even if we've got an artificial lamp to mitigate that some. [He shrugs, then, briefly calculating it because he hasn't been paying too much attention.]

Er... thirty two hours, so don't try to stay up a whole day.

Strange people, for that matter. Can't think of any other nation that'd be willing to choose a monarch based on kangaroo boxing.

[Engineer looks almost disturbed by this fact. Just because it's how it is in his world doesn't mean that he doesn't find it weird.]

Lack of sun doesn't sound too much like Australia, either.

And careful about setting a man a challenge like that. Wouldn't be the first time I'd stayed up that long; my first couple PhDs were rough, let me tell you.

... They actually do that? [Cliffjumper stares, confusion flickering over his faceplates. He was rather sure they didn't, but he couldn't say he'd looked too far into each country's government system.] I was pretty sure they just had... elections?

[He shrugs, shaking that away.]

Kinda miss two suns myself, but it was fraggin' millions of years since I saw that. And hey, if ya want to break your schedule that ain't my problem, but I was pretty sure humans needed a lot of sleep.

Nope. They've got a king, no need for elections - 'least, that's what gets stamped on their bars of Australium. I suppose I wouldn't know for sure, not being from those parts myself.

[Engineer shrugs as well. Since he's apparently not in Australia, it's a moot point, right?]

And where exactly have you been that you've been under two suns at once?

[That... doesn't sound right. He's pretty sure that's not right, at least insofar as he knows things--- Shaking his helm and rubbing the back of it, Cliffjumper grinned dryly.]

Pretty sure you humans call the solar system Alpha Centauri. It's got two suns. The reality I come from, that's where Cybertron was.

[Until it got knocked out of orbit, to talk about more strange things.]

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