Shuttle/Docking Bay [1]

[deep_space_final]

This is your standard shuttlebay and/or docking station. Going somewhere? Coming from somewhere? Here's where you can come and go, leave your ships, and the like.

This is an open post. It will be replaced when it reaches a certain limit. Until then, create threads for any plot you want!

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[finefinefinefinefine]

Martin likes to do his studies in the docking bay sometimes. The hum of machinery, the echoing conversations, the sounds of work. It's all very productive. Good place to sit and absorb ship schematics and statistics. That is, if nobody bothers him.

It takes him a second to even realize the voice is speaking to him. He only looks up after catching a glimpse of the man in his peripheral vision.

And then he realizes he has no idea what the question was.

"Sorry?"

His eyes flick to the silver being revealed under the skin... maybe not exactly a man, then.

[csm_101]

He still has a lot of programming to do when it comes to human interactions. Case in point, when the man he approached turns and says sorry but holds the tone of a question, T-800 does not understand.

"What." Which could also be a question and technically it is but his vocal processor does not have the same range of function that mankind possesses.

He wants to understand man, honestly. His curiosity just doesn't read in his expression or voice. Maybe he will clarify. "I do not understand why you are sorry."

[finefinefinefinefine]

"I -- didn't hear the question." Martin's voice halts partway through the sentence, but (he thinks) nobody could blame him. The man (cyborg?) has at least six inches of height on him, and a great deal more shoulders. But he attempts to square what shoulders he has, stand up a little straighter. "Could you repeat it?"

[csm_101]

Does he have any idea how intimidating and out of place he might be? Nope. The re-adjust body language doesn't register as anything particularly worth noting. His preinstalled assessments of human body language extends only to mission relevant. It's a work in progress like much of his human-machine related interpersonal skills to which he has few (but more than he had at least).

For a microsecond, T-800 considers the response and questions how that is a logical reaction but stows it away in the event it might be useful to apply. The uniform looks dated and foreign. He cannot find a match in his database.

"What year is it."

[finefinefinefinefine]

...oh. Easy enough.

"On the station--" Martin looks down at his notes. Still adjusting to some aspects of this. "--Year Prime-7."

Elsewhere, it gets rather more complicated, and Martin has the feeling they're about to get into that. But you've got to start somewhere.

[csm_101]

Year Prime-7. That does not register with anything uploaded into his data banks. He takes it, logs it, and continues his queries. No, what time is it elsewhere is not important to him. He needs to know the situation right now, right here, not anywhere else. First.

"Do you know John Connor?"

[finefinefinefinefine]

People -- the newly-arrived, the ones who just wake up here rather than landing -- often ask about their friends and loved ones. Having been one of them once upon a time, Martin has more sympathy for that question than most. But the cyborg is still standing over him with all that jaw and with no sort of inflection in his tone. Harder to say what the intent is behind the question under the circumstances.

"Is... he on the crew roster?" No, probably not, stupid. Take Two: "Is he your maintenance operator?"

[csm_101]

If you want someone dead or want to ensure someone doesn't die, he's your borg. If you want an engaging conversation, well... it will get awkward fast. It gets more awkward now that his CPU has been turned to from read-only to write. Now his programming wants him to learn and with a structure like him and a voice that barely passes as human, well.

But there is no mistaking that he isn't human and that he has no clue how to react like a human should or would react. Work in progress. Safe to say, though, that if he meant harm it would have been done by now.

"A maintenance operator is not required. I am fully automated and programmed for self repair," he clarifies. "John Connor is the leader of the Resistance in the war against the Machines and is the last hope for mankind. I must ensure his survival. I require data to re-adjust my mission parameters."

[finefinefinefinefine]

"Oh!" Ooooh. Now it's falling into place. New arrival, definitely. Martin adjusts his stance, becoming instinctively more relaxed as he also adjusts the binder and electronic clipboard in his arms. "Data. Data I can do. What d'you need to know?"

[csm_101]

"General information pertaining to time and place of current coordinates. The time-sphere is only capable of one way travel. I cannot determine the method of my appearance."