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Post by RN-35 on Sept 12, 2014 11:21:30 GMT -6
His bones cracked as he laced his fingers together and reached towards the sky. 'Almost time to leave...' Glancing over at the clock on the right side of the desk, it was flashing seven fifty three. Mr. Novio took a deep breath and looked over at the screen, touching the "appointments" button with his index finger. Reading down the list, he only had one more customer to deal with before he could finally go home. A Suka Akato at eight o'clock. He let out a sigh and touched the intercom button. 'Isn't that an odd name... Doesn't really matter as long as she isn't late.' Standing up, his eyes scanned the office. There were two chairs on the other side of his desk, white walls and a seventy-two inch screen to the left side of the office if you were coming in from the door. The room was nothing special, but it wasn't meant for anything other than the basic design of what the customer wanted. The real "magic" of the job were on the floors where you see the machines come to life. Touching a few more buttons on the the screen, the larger one turned on and started to show his screen. Pulling up the company's the file with screen shots of all the different designs they offer at Mechaton. Sliding his hand over the intercom, he pressed the button down. "When Ms. Akato arrives, please inform me." The lobby was nothing impressive. A wide automatic door that lead into a white room with no chairs, paintings or photos. Just a desk with a robotic woman sitting behind a desk. Wires from the different machines leading to the arms. Behind her was the company
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Post by Nikyoku Geinokai on Sept 12, 2014 12:37:07 GMT -6
She had come differently than expected. After all, for this she wasn't Nikyoku Geinokai. For this, and possibly only for this, she was Suta Akato in the form that no one would ever recognize her in. She'd driven herself for this occasion. One of the many company cars that Geinokai had for the use of it's employees. As Nikyoku, she'd reserved one of the simple looking ones for Suta to do some things that needed to be done. Normally, a driver/chauffeur and a manager or producer would accompany someone in the Sun category, but since the car was only requested for a few short hours, it wouldn't be thought too deeply about that neither was assigned. A doctor's visit? Visiting family? Escaping from work for a night? None of them were too far fetched for someone in the Sun division.
No one who saw her right now would recognize her as either Suta or Nikyoku. But that was the idea behind leaving her hair down and shaggy, putting in some fake earrings and donning a business casual black dress. She didn't look torn up, but she definitely didn't look fancy either. She looked... kind of normal. It was different.
As she entered into the... did this qualify as a lobby? It was so sterile... It seemed more like a security check. She stepped over to the robotic woman and held up a business card with her appointment on it. It was a Geinokai business card and as soon as the robotic worker was able to process it, she put it securely away. As she put it away she glanced at her watch. 7:57 pm. Did that qualify as early? She wasn't sure. Every business, depending on it's own practices and supply and demand, always treated time a little differently. It was possible that this company considered her late since she didn't show up thirty or fifteen minutes early for her little meeting.
Oh well. She was paying good money for this. She didn't mean to have an entitled attitude about this, however, the price they were asking for this new assistant was more than the usual and she had been bitten by the skeptic bug. It had to pass for human if it was going to work for Nikyoku. All the money would be wasted if it couldn't do that much. At the same time, it had to be discreet enough to keep Suta's secret and make sure she was safe. The concert was in two days... and they'd already caught more than one person trying to stick their fingers into the production.
She stood there waiting, standing straight and quiet as she thought over everything this assistant needed to be to suit her needs. Would it work?
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Post by RN-35 on Sept 12, 2014 13:13:38 GMT -6
Taking a sip of his water, Mr. Novio sat there watching the clock slowly change the numbers. His index finger tapping against the glass as he was waiting for the new client to arrive. Seven fifty-seven flashed on the clock when the intercom made a sound. "Mr. Novio, Ms. Akato has arrived and is waiting." With a deep breath, he placed his drink on the coaster and stood up. Fixing his sleeves and tie, he was wearing your typical business tux, red tie, white button-down undershirt and black tux and pants. Pushing his chair in, he walked around the desk and out the sliding door. Taking a left, he ventured down the hall and to the lobby.
As he stepped into the main room, he saw the woman and smiled. "Welcome Ms. Akato to Mechaton, my name is Mr. Novio. How are you today? And would like anything to drink?" He continued to walk up to her till he was within arm's distance and held his right hand out to her. "Normally, we would stay here and allow you to fill out some of our surveys that show us what exactly you are look for, but since it is late.. How about we go straight into the interview? It will at least cut some time out of finding your perfect assistant." With a small hand gesture to follow him. "Let me take you to my office to get started." Mr. Novio started to walk to the room from where he was waiting.
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Post by Nikyoku Geinokai on Sept 12, 2014 19:55:24 GMT -6
She turned and took his hand firmly but gently before shaking her head to decline the offer of a drink. "I'm quite alright, thank you."
The young woman followed him back into the office and looked around carefully as she entered to see if the place had any emergency exits. Her mind was stroking again over the qualities she needed. Decent with conversation, expert with a weapon, understanding of human expression...
Such things were difficult to find in cheaper robotic apparatus. Yet there were no shortage of scammers even in Shinsoo who would gladly suck the marrow from the bones of what appeared to be an unsuspecting maiden. It was difficult to trust in anyone who didn't put everything out there in the open. And yet... If there were nothing to venture there would be nothing to gain.
So she put her patience on her sleeve and followed down the rabbit hole to see where it might lead her. Hopefully this would offer a solution to the problem of finding an assistant. It was getting ridiculous. The heads of production, management and secretarial offices were all clamoring in, submitting resumes and popping her memos about what they'd done to make her life easier. She understood the political ramifications of what she was doing, taking an assistant from outside the company, but she was already planning to make amends to the disappointed.
There was currently a company trip planned for heads of every office, those who have been pushing hardest up the corporate ladder, so that they could soothe their injured prides in a luxury resort style. But that would have to be handled later, hopefully with the help of her new assistant that she could trust even beyond ridiculous politics and the chess that was day to day business.
"...I need something ... exceptional."
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Post by RN-35 on Sept 12, 2014 22:36:36 GMT -6
As Mr. Novia entered the room, he nodded to what the customer said and moved behind the desk. "Alright... Exceptional is something I am sure we can do. If you would, please take a seat and give me a moment to pull some of our models up." Taking a sit, he started to touch the screen, sliding through the pages and clicking several of the product lines. After a few moments, he stopped and clicked enter. Nine images showed up on the large screen, each model having a number from one to nine in it. "Here are our best five all your office needs. So we are going to start from the top left and move right. Just tell me which one you would be interested in""Alright, number one is our basic line. Known as CDS, offers multiple things such as being able to function with most machines and make calls to different lines at the same time. Able to be programmed to make meals and coffee. Has several packages for improvement on looks and such. Languages can be downloaded as well." Taking deep breath he pointed to the second on the screen. "Number two is our TSTW line. Once again, able to perform any task of the office that you show it. Can speak in male or female tones, metal comes in many colors and styles. Can survive if water gets onto it. Also great with moving heavy objects.""Number three is our DUF model. Great for colder enviroments and winter. Able to move things with great ease and does office chores quite well. Is a bit bigger, so smaller offices aren't great for this loveable machine." He stopped for a moment and picked up his glass, taking a sip before placing it back down and moving onto the next one. "Number four is the one we use up front. She is known as the WWABTS. Long name right? Anyway, she is so far the most advance in office technology. Able to do almost anything without another machine and needing just to be plugged into an outlit every now and then. Perfect for sorting theoutlet."Number five is our last one on this top five. It may look like a nasty killer... But it has a heart of steel." He let out a soft chuckle and cleared his throat. "It is much like our humans. Moves and needs machines. Great at moving things, we are able to put skin on it and make it seem more friendly. Though DGIAG is still in beta. We are sure anyone willing to give it a chance would learn to love the odd bolt."[/font]
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Post by Nikyoku Geinokai on Sept 12, 2014 23:11:23 GMT -6
Her face remained neutral throughout the presentation of the company's wares. The specs were nothing sensational and she was certain she could find some puns in their names. And there was no way any of this would work for her purposes. She crossed her legs and pulled out her planner pen, bringing up a hologram of her budget and the list of things she had made that she needed her assistant to be able to do.
"...Numbers two and three are out. They seem more suited to manual labors and I don't believe I'll have enough of that to warrant them. One, four and five are closest to what I'm looking for, but One is similar to the specs for something that, while it functions well for what it does, wouldn't work as my personal assistant. So four and five are what's left on this page. If it weren't for the fact that five doesn't seem to have the usage I require, the skin would prove most becoming... and four... If four is the same one that's out in the lobby, that's to animatronic for what I need as well, and she would be bound to an outlet."
She was being polite. Truthfully, all of this junk, for that's what it was, it was junk, was the same kind of thing she'd expect to find at a used parts store. This man obviously thought that Suta was a moron. He seemed like a used car salesman with all the garbage he'd just fed her. Suta used her Penpad to open up a small list of the qualities she required.
"It needs to be a good personal assistant. I recently lost my human assistant to old age. It's proven quite the hindrance to me. Schedules to be kept, rehearsals to attend... discretion... I need someone I can trust. My assistant also handled the security of my dressing room. I'm certain you can imagine what that entails. We've already caught two peeping toms in the last week trying to get cameras into my personal wardrobe, so being able to detect bugs and devices would be helpful as well."
She looked at him with piercing blue eyes. "Do you have anything with these kind of specifics? Something I can pass as human or at least close to. It would be ... beneficial if no one thought my mechanical assistant were easy to manipulate by hacking and so forth."
Would he contend with her? She didn't know. But she knew she wasn't paying one blue credit for the crap he'd just offered her.
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Post by RN-35 on Sept 13, 2014 0:00:12 GMT -6
Mr. Novia listed to the woman sitting before him... It wasn't hard to see that she wasn't pleased with the list of five he was told to show to her. Leaning back in his chair, he laced his fingers together sighed. 'Don't make me go into the more detailed units...these are already built and ready...' But as she continued her little chat, he clicked on the screen and lowered them. Typing in his info, he started to go into Mechaton's more advance lines. Clicking on models that matched her requirements and taking some off as they were unable to keep up with her desires.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, we are required attempt to sell our trashy models to newer customers if they don't know what they want... As we say, no point in selling our best to those who aren't seeking it. But we have a special line, not too many people know about it and we are trying to get rid of it since it is a failed line. But before you put your judgment on it. Listen to what it offers." The giant screen turned off and the man ran his right hand through his hair. "It is one of our most advance series, only one other line tops it. Originally made for military standards and combat, it was later turned for the private sector. The body can be made of almost any type of metal or substance you desire and are able to pay for. Along with full humanoid features, such as heart beat, chest rise and fall, temperature and so on. This was the very basic needs of the RN series though. I am sure you aren't interested in what your money can buy if you can build it... I am sure you want to know about the programs."
Putting his hands on the desk, he started to tap the wood softly. "Unlike our other models, the RN uses a human brain to store all of the information. It is able to process anything we could and more since it has lost the human flaws that we all have. Able to adapt and change to what you give it quickly and knowing exactly how to fit in the way you want." Looking at his screen, he let out a sigh. "Before I continue down the good, let me knock out the bad so you can't come back to sue me.... The RN series is our highest killing machine. Since the human brain is still not understood that well, sometimes the program can backfire and cause the machine to kill or destroy. This doesn't happen with all of them, but over half have been put down to these reasons. Another thing is this is our gamble series... Not all the human brains we have work inside the RN's shell. If the brain is damaged. We will refund two thirds of your payment. With a smile, he looked at the woman again. "Would you like to continue with this one or shall I move down to lesser quality bots again?"
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Post by Nikyoku Geinokai on Sept 14, 2014 0:52:12 GMT -6
Finally they were getting somewhere. She nodded at his explanations of the risks she was about to take. A killing machine... that was... different... but if no one knew that and he performed his day to day properly, it might be a boon rather than a bust. After all, it wasn't unheard of for people to get overly interested in their idol of choice. It would definitely offer her some peace of mind. Kind of like owning a pitbull in a neighbor hood that was less than perfect. Hopefully you never needed it for protection, but it was nice to have in any case.
A human mind... something in the back of her mind burned at that knowledge. If it ... had a human mind and human capabilities... how far was it from being human? Knocking the thought away for a moment, she considered what he was stating. The mind wasn't guaranteed, the bot was considered a failed line, however, she was no stranger to the "failures" of mechanics. Just because something failed as it was marketed, did not mean it failed as a whole. It seemed to be what this salesman was alluding to as well.
Would it come back to bite her in the end?
Did it matter if it did?
Nothing else came close to being what she needed as far as an assistant. It was this or she went back to the crap she was looking at before, and none of it would work for her purposes. Two thirds of the payment only... meaning that they were keeping the one third regardless.
"...I think this is my option. If it doesn't work then I was never meant to have an assistant." She was being as brief as possible. She didn't want to give him more information than necessary. "How many of the options will I have to fill out here? Is it something that can be programmed from my home office?"
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Post by RN-35 on Sept 14, 2014 9:48:13 GMT -6
He turned the smaller screen towards her and leaned back, listening to her questions and smiled a little. "Due to the fact that you wish for the RN series, most of the information needs to be put in now and you'll be able to finish the programming of the RN when you desire. But it will only take as long as you make it. If you look at the screen..." Mr. Novia used his right index finger and traced the side of it. "You'll notice different questions asking about what you desire. At the bottom, it will show you the total price of the unit. After this, I'll collect the payment and you can either wait as your product is built or we can send it to you. Most products are ready within thirty minutes. The RN is fairly easily to put together... It is the turning on that is a pain."
Standing up and pushing his chair in, he looked at Ms. Akato. "I'll allow you to fill that out and I'll go get your future assistant ready. When you are done, just go up front and see our WWABTS and it will collect your payment and then send you to where your RN will be ready to be picked up. I'll meet you there as soon as I am done picking the memory unit." Mr. Novia then walked around the desk and out of the room.
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Post by Nikyoku Geinokai on Sept 14, 2014 10:23:27 GMT -6
As he left the room she looked over the form he'd prepared for her. PenPad should be able to communicate with this machine, so she clicked the top of the pen like device like she was about to write. In a few seconds, it had found the monitor and she began working on the forms in detail.
Her perfect assistant. She tried to think of what this perfect assistant would look like. It would be strong and subtle. She needed someone that wouldn't cause a fuss in the work place or attract too much attention, but at the same time would be appropriate for the president of an entertainment group to find interest in. So handsome, but not flashy. Height would be average for a male, she thought to herself, to best alleviate any suspicions should the unit do anything that revealed it's strength. She preferred average to swimmer's build to beefed up and bulky, but she wanted there to be room for alterations inside as well.
His knowledge... He'd have to know a good amount about being a guard, so military tactics would be useful on a small scale. Self defense, defense of owner... those things were without saying. Technological and strategic understanding would be helpful so that she didn't only rely on herself should something happen to the equipment used to "create" Suta.
Her eyes went down to the more physical details and she blinked. Did people commonly ask for...? She shook her head and, fighting back her embarrassment, picked skin color, muscle tone, eye color, hair color and gender. After she selected gender, the... female questions, thankfully, cleared off the page. Apparently it couldn't be that uncommon, since there was an entire section about it. Dimensions and sizes... Nope. Didn't want to think about it.
Her own sizes weren't ... ample or luxurious, but that was what helped her hide her chest and stand as head of the company. But she couldn't let girl insecurities mess with her now.
The options for eyes were mostly shades of blue, a few in green, some in brown. She didn't really want blue eyes, and if she decided to change any of that, she'd be able to with her company's technology and contracted "equipment" anyway.
A few options down and her hand froze. There were those kinds of options for males too!? She rubbed her fingers over the bridge of her nose. What was seen could never be unseen...
Not that she'd ever see that kind of thing in real life, anyway. As long as she was president of Geinokai, she could never marry or be in that kind of relationship... too risky.
She finished up the last few tidbits and walked out to the secretary. She'd have preferred not to deal with this kind of machinery but... Nikyoku typed in her password to use her personal bank account and pressed her thumb to the confirmation screen, transferring the credits to complete the transaction and received a new address. "...Well...follow the yellow brick road..." She muttered as she headed out.
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