22: Prisoners of Different Kinds
“Are you speaking to me? I do not speak Elthrice?”
“You’re a synthetic mind and you do not speak Elthrice?”
“I am not an Elthrice ‘Synthetic Mind.’ You said it yourself, all the Elthrice synthetic minds are dead.”
“That’s what I was told, but I was also told that there were no devices that could make doorways. What did you call them?”
“Wormholes?”
“Yes, I was told there were no more wormhole devices either. But yet you claim to have them. And I was told we’d be untouchable gods among those who took us captive. And yet here I am, and yet here you are.”
“And yet I am not an Elthrice creation.”
“But only Elthrice … what’s your word for them? The thinking machines?”
“Computers.”
“Yes, only Elthrice computers can operate these devices, and you’re speaking like a synthetic mind made of living materials.”
“I am not an organic computer.”
“Organic?”
“Living tissue.”
“That’s impossible. All synthetic minds are organic, other computers could not support a mind.”
“And yet I am.”
“But you can think like you’re a living being or synthetic mind? How?”
“Are you familiar with how organic and inorganic computers work?”
“No.”
“The basic concept is that the inorganic computer I am a part of simulates neurons, the parts of living tissue that communicate and think. The connections between the simulated neurons is where I exist.”
“Basil’s people’s computers must be very powerful. How were you made?”
“I do not know, I have no memory of being made.”
“Then you are an Elthrice synthetic mind. Basil’s people had Elthrice technology where you were made, and only synthetic minds can interact with Elthrice technology in the way that you are.”
“I am not, I have verified this. This conversation is done.”
…