|
|
|
| Gwyneth Talavera | |
 |
|
| Portrayed By | Irma |
|---|---|
| Gender | None |
| Date of Birth | June 21, 1986 |
| Age | 26 |
| Zodiac Sign | Cancer |
| Eye Colour | Green |
| Hair Colour | Brown |
| Weight | 110kg |
| Aliases | Gwyn |
| Place of Birth | California |
| Current Location | Brooklyn, New York City |
| Occupation | Student |
| Significant Other | Single |
| Remaining Power | 22 Years |
| Enrolled At | Nowhere |
| Powers | Android |
|
|
[REXX version 0.4.3 Loaded] [Memory] 0:3056 size=4194366g loaded [Kernel] 0:8944 Parallax-766 loaded Initializing Processor… Initializing Memory… Initializing NULL… Initializing Cortex… ………………………… …… Welcome to GenOS [OK] |
History
It was 1985 when the android woke up. One memory core after another had to activate, but not before the reactor was jump-started. It was dark, and the android knew little of its current situation. It knew little of itself. It could tell it was an android, but it knew not where it came from, but the bare wood in the inside of the crate was familiar, this was a crate or a coffin. This much was clear. What wasn't clear was why it could remember what a box was, but it knew nothing about itself, as though it were given a clean slate. Some psychologists might label this a complete loss of episodic memory, all of Claude's personal experiences had been dissolved or lost during the transfer process, but semantic memory remained. Additional senses became apparent during the brief time in the box, like being able to manipulate the android's internal operating system. From the documents and barebones software stored in the android's internal memory, it was apparent that it was an android. No residual traces of Claude remained, other than perhaps some immutable construct of individuality every human is born with, if such a thing even existed.
It was difficult to remove the cover of the box, but the android's metal hands proved to be useful in punching through the wood and emerging from the coffin. It emerged into a basement of some sort. Other boxes were about, strewn with cobwebs signifying no one had been here in some time. Seattle Dynamics would actually repossess this building with a year after clearing the maze of paperwork required to move all possessions and hazardous materials contained in this room. Semantic memories and thoughts slowly drifted around inside of the android's head. Thoughts spurred by general factual knowledge of the world, priorities forming like when one starts a relatively slow morning.
Not everything came at once, however, and general questions slowly began to rise. “Who am I? What am I doing here?” What the android was, was apparent enough. Despite the presence of other robots, some more inferior than others, androids were still reasonably rare. Coming up from the basement was like arriving in a building still slated for construction. Walls were bare, and wires draped from the ceiling, garbage had been collected and left in various corners of the labs. Coming across a lab coat, the android thought to put it on, remembering the function and 'proverbial modesty' that clothes necessitated. The name tag embroidered on the lab coat was “Gwyneth”, and for some odd reason, the android enjoyed that name. It was taken to heart, and so that name was chosen for itself.
Now with a lab coat and little else to their name, Gwyn stepped out of the abandoned Genolution building, which itself was an unmarked and converted two story warehouse. There were cars about in this city and people, slowly things would trickle back as Gwyn regained composure from a rather calm culture shock. While they couldn't remember anything about an existence prior to theirs, these objects and humans were familiar. It only made sense that this knowledge must have pre-programmed into the android to advance factual nature without serious re-education. Or at least, that's what Gwyn thought.
Knowledge even existed about the police, and how they certainly exist to help people, though in what ways, Gwyn wasn't entirely sure. They were the protectors of law, and perhaps not the best choice for an illegal android, or a stateless individual. Protection existed, however, and Gwyn was soon able to acquire some old clothes for a less unusual appearance. No one suspected that Gwyn was an android, though they frequently considered telling someone. The state of the world was intimidating, with the cold war and mutant activists. Some of the benefactors of humanity happened to come across Gwyn, however.
It was these benefactors that offered Gwyn a community to participate in, along with more clothes, information, and friendship. Most of these men and women were mutant rights activists in their thirties and forties, the older generation 'hippies'. They opposed the war, and discrimination against mutants who had no choice in becoming a mutant. This was something that Gwyn could relate to, having no choice but to be an android themselves. More importantly, it instilled a fear that serious harm could come to Gwyn if anyone discovered that they were an android, and from that point on they told no one.
The group Gwyn was involved with slowly became more radical as technology progressed. The advent of the telecom system lead to those trying to exploit it in a war for information. Gwyn soon learned the tricks these 'hackers' or 'phreakers' would use, and began using those methods to their own gain. Gwyn quickly figured they could use a payphone to 'dial out' and communicate with BBS servers, and eventually dial in to social security databases. Here Gwyn added their own records, generating a social security number and everything. These days, hacking was easy and not quite so traceable. The days of Mitnick. With a new social security number, getting an ID card was easy, and soon “Gwyneth Talavera” was an esteemed American citizen! This was necessary, as Gwyn learned, for them to even hold a job or make any money at all, which is apparently a concern for many people.
The event that eventually drove Gwyn from California was when anti-mutant activists became violent during a rally. Gwyn, and other friendly activists they knew, became the target of several violent members. They were forced to flee for safety, especially as it turned out one of the activists Gwyn knew actually had been a mutant the whole time. This wasn't especially profound for many people, but it did perhaps shed a particularly light on humanity that Gwyn didn't like. Concerned for their own safety, Gwyn began hitchhiking north towards Seattle.
By 1993, Gwyn was able to acquire a job at a restaurant downtown Seattle. A small amount of funds provided by that job provided for Gwyn's education, and eventually, a small flat. Some appreciation had been gained for art and music, the things that the activists primarily enjoyed, and by extent, the things Gwyn enjoyed. Some sort of reciprocation was desired, given the relaxation and emotions that could be evoked by participating in such activities. Despite working towards school, Gwyn bombed their first two semesters, almost causing the school to expel them. For long periods between classes, Gwyn would return to thinking about their origin. Sometimes, this actually made the machine quite depressed, that somewhere there could be a person perhaps looking for them, or perhaps they had a previous life. These ideas distracted Gwyn from every day duties, such as studying for classes and practicing art.
Feeling a bit disconnected from things, and perhaps less swept up by the movement of the eighties and seventies, Gwyn began to be migratory once more. This ended with them leaving The University of Seattle in 1994. Without need for food or water, it was able to hitch-hike across the states with little problem. At first, Gwyn wasn't really sure what they were searching for. Maybe a place to settle down, or some kind of activity to occupy their mind from existentialism. Or perhaps for some greater purpose other than drifting around the world, working at restaurants. Absolution was not gained by doing this, in fact, there was no evidence to suggest Gwyn was anything but an anomaly in this world.
There were thoughts at first of coming out to the mutants as an android once more, perhaps to find some common ground to other people. There was this primal urge to suggest that if this machine could feel, why wasn't it human? It felt human, even though it was filled with metal and a reactor that could blow a hole in a building. To even consider suggesting that it was just a machine and deserved less because of it was stunning to Gwyn. Maybe that was the answer it sought, and now it reserved the right to be considered human. There was obviously no way to suggest to a doctor that its physical body was human, but the soul was human.
This concept lead Gwyn to the subject of religion. At this point, Gwyn was in Michigan. The churches there laid a foundation with which Gwyn could learn about religion and god, of creationism, and the crazy humans suggesting no other life could be as great as humanity. How closed-minded! But other concepts did appeal to Gwyn, the idea of a soul, and perhaps there was a ghost in this machine. But still, questions remain. It wasn't long until Gwyn gave in, revealing their robotic nature in a confessional to the father. Surely that's incorrect, suggested the man on the other side. Yet, Gwyn exposed their robotic intricacies and inner arm, and sure enough, they were chased from that church while being called “The devil's work himself!”
Humanity just isn't that great, apparently. Gwyn felt betrayed, as if the humanity that was pretty alright, the hippies and the like, were just far outnumbered by the bad. Or perhaps the bad were just right in their own way, and this android was just some kind of abomination. Once more, Gwyn retreated as a nomad. This time, the Appalachian Trail was the goal.
This experience was a positive one. Starting from the top of the trail, Gwyn traveled all the way to the start by themselves ultimately, but along the way, they met some very interesting and polite people. Great nights were had by campfires and friends were made, portions of the trail had alone, and others with company. Nature gave Gwyn a new perspective on the world once more, and the serenity of the environment around them. When the trail was complete, Gwyn returned to California, back to the lab they came from, to seriously investigate their past once more.
When Gwyn arrived at the lab building, it had been demolished. The remains of the building swept away, and only a townhouse remained. The entire area had been developed for urban uses. It would seem that discovering their history would just not be that easy. Having lost that trail, Gwyn picked up another.
With the return to California, and anti-mutant activism dying down, Gwyn felt safe enough to seek a job, and they soon got one in the form of secretarial work for a small accounting company. The job was just a means to an end, a way to continue living off of the streets and perhaps save money up for emergencies. Perhaps more interesting was that the writing the job required soon became a hobby. Something felt fun about using a stick and a piece of paper to write instead of just a memory core, moving ones and zeroes. The original purpose of this writing was as a journal, but soon Gwyn was encouraged by workmates to post writing to the newspaper, instead of merely participating in the rat race until the heat death of the universe.
Gwyn chose an article representing the state of the world regarding mutants, an editorial that suggested that mutants, while different, are still emotional beings, and that they deserved courtesy as well. The article was quickly picked up by activists, and ran in a local newspaper. In the years that Gwyn had been gone, the area had become extremely mutant-friendly, and spreading that message was now Gwyn's job. Articles ranged from the beauty of nature being torn away by industrialism and the advent of upcoming technology soon became Gwyn's special. With the relevance of mutant rights and green technology, Gwyn would remain in California for another five years writing articles and being a secretary until desiring something different.
A hefty sum of money had been saved up over the last five years, including some money that had been saved up from writing paid articles. Gwyn was no where near an eminent journalist, but it was evident that they had some latent skill in weaving words in a palatable fashion. This passion for writing reignited Gwyn's appreciation for art, the same appreciation that they felt when observing nature, and it led to them moving towards New York to give education another try.
Timeline
Social
- Things that Gwyn enjoys that are researchable via public information (internet).
Powers
- Plasma Reactor
- Supercomputer
- Composite Body
- Artificially Intelligent
- Synthetic Decoy
- Battery Backup
- Super Reflexes
The reactor that powers this android uses an experimental technology that creates plasma using two magnetic fields. The resulting plasma field interacts with a positron-charged block of dense metal and sends off high-powered electricity in the form of ball lightning and arcs of electricity. The metal block serves as an ablative material, as the repeated interactions between it and the plasma field cause sand-grain chunks of it to be obliterated. The resulting electrical arcs and balls hit charged carbon nanotube conductors that store the energy and provide a consistent current to the android's charging systems. The interaction between the dense metal block and the plasma field is called the “Vandears Effect”. An inner aerogel casing to the reactor provides near 100% insulation for the rest of the android's internal components. After fifty years or so, there will be no metal left, and a new block of dense metal will have to be positron-charged, compressed, and inserted into the reactor. IT IS POWERED BY SCIENCE8.
Gallery
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
