2256/Truck Stop Off The Third Exit About 1/3 Way Through The Universe

Truck Stop Off The Third Exit About 1/3 Way Through The Universe
Date of Scene:	30 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Brainiac 5, Indigo

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Brainiac 5 has posed:
This space station is a truck stop for cosmic shipping along charted safe intergalactic travel routes. That means it's packed with all kinds of people, even people who wouldn't normally get along. It's enforced by heavy-duty if old-fashioned security androids and really is basically a refuelling center with a big restaurant and a gas station attached to it.

Brainiac 5, having dispatched a message, is sitting at a booth with a cup of something steaming and green in front of him, and he's eyeing a menu, dubiously. "Do you have anything that isn't swimming in grease?" He asks the waitress.

"Hey, that's racist," Someone in the booth behind him says, from the vat of grease they're swimming in.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo received the message and separated from the Guardians (albeit not Viridian; she's never separated from her) to meet Brainiac 5: her debt to pay, not theirs. She looks... different than she used to. Her pink hair is no longer in a bob but in an indifferent crow's nest, which probably takes some doing, given that each strand is coated with monomolecular metal. More, instead of her barely-there rubber outfit, she's covered head to toe in the red jacket and black pants and boots of a Ravager, which Brainiac 5 would know from the schematics how much it limits several of her morphic combat systems. She walks in with her eyes shyly downcast, gaze darting here and there until she spots Querl. She takes a deep breath and comes over to meet him. At the edge of his table, she greets, "Hi. I got your message."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Querl laces his fingers together, and observes, quietly. He sits back, and says, "Please, sit. I noticed you have the capability of ingesting organic matter so if you care to indulge, lunch is on me." Then he's got his fingers laced under his chin and his elbows propped on the table. "So. Forgive me for asking so bluntly, but I'm sure your records indicate I am notoriously bad at small talk. *Who made you*?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
As an afterthought, he adds, "...And what was their relation to me."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo's eyes are downcast, focusing mostly on the table's surface as she sits, as she listens, as she speaks. A shy Brainiac. Jeez. She lifts a hand, palm up, in a silent 'thanks but no thanks' response to the offer of food, and when the big question is asked, she clears her throat. "Um. First, I just want to thank you for rebuilding me. I know how hard it must have been under current conditions. But I'm not trying to stall, I just wanted to say thanks. The short answer is, I don't know who built me. My memories begin about three months ago, and are of a battle with someone I can't identify or even picture, under circumstances I don't know, just before I'm thrown through a portal in time and the damage to my systems causes my power cells to detonate, ejecting me into the current era near the edge of the Milky Way galaxy in critical distress. I originally thought--" She swallows. "Except you already figured out, I was made to think that the memory failure is a result of the damage I sustained, when it was actually a planted series of memories from my creator to disguise my nature and the Trojan program inside me."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Yes. You were a shell program built to disguise a sophisticated Coluan android." Brainiac 5 puts his chin in his hand, and sighs. "I learned many curious things rebuilding your body. Your components were advanced, even by 31st century standards; but the most curious thing of all is that I swear some you is *my* work. Not all, of course. But some. It's bothering me... that's all." He gestures, "Especially since other things I've found out indicate that I don't return to the 31st century alive. But that's a different problem." He leans back, and says, "I know two things. One, you're a sophisticated Coluan android, and two, you're a Brainiac."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods unhappily. To her credit, her face is pointed at Brainiac, even if her eyes never seem to rise above chin level. "I know. And I have to assume I still am, and always will be. I don't have detailed files on the original Brainiac's activities, but I know the sum total of his technology was imprinted in each circuit, so he could be recreated from anything less than utter annihilation. It would be stupid to assume my code isn't the same way, and that the Trojan didn't recompile itself when I did."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainiac 5 laces his fingers together, and then he says, "You are suffering from a common delusion, which is that the purpose for which you were created is your reason for existing. The former is determined by someone else. The latter is entirely your decision to make. Your current body is my work. I recreated the schematics the previous Brainiac used, but it's *my* stamp that's on you now, not his. And *I* say that you may be a Brainiac, but your existence is beholden to no one. I was... conceived as an experiment by my mother, who wanted to see if carrying a child to term organically would inspire feelings of love. It didn't. She abandoned me. My reason for being conceived being defunct, I had to find my own reason to live."

"I choose... to help people."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo slowly lifts her eyes to Brainiac 5's and holds them. A small, sad smile is on her lips. "It's not about self-determination. I know what Indigo is as a personality, and it's not Brainiac 8. It's the opposite, really. What I'm afraid of is that Brainiac 8 is still in my code. I didn't know it despite constant self-diagnostics, because I'm designed to be invisible to the program. The techgnostics at Knowhere didn't know Brainiac 8 was in me, because it was hidden too well. It's like..."
    Indigo leans back in the booth and sighs, eyes on the ceiling. "Do you know about vampires? Do they still tell those kinds of stories, in your time?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"They do. The Legion HAS sorcerers and mystics. I don't understand it; which infuriates me. But I... accept it, provisionally." He tilts his head, and says, "Because your creater was a Brainiac, and he or she outsmarted all of them. But you are a Brainiac, too. You have to understand something. You were built as a part of Brainiac 8, as a face she showed the world. You were a different personality subroutine, but the same entity. You were built with every single capability Brainiac 8 possessed. You can unlock them all yourself, with time and patience. IF Brainiac 8 is still inside of you, one day you will need to confront her. And you'll need to defeat her. She will predicate her defense upon your perception of yourself as weak, powerless--" He sips his drink. "So do away with that first."

"I don't suppose you know why I call myself Brainiac 5, when that name has so much horror attached to it?"

Indigo has posed:
    There's a lot Indigo could say to that speech, but the coaching is well-intended, and the topic moves on before comment is invited. It's probably for the best. She just shakes her head at Brainiac 5 and says, "I assumed it's an act of defiance, but I don't actually know."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"It's because..." He raises his eyebrows, "I *am* a Brainiac. It's a reminder of what I can *do* should I be so inclined. The power of intellect is my birthright, my inheritance. But it is my choice--mine--about what I do with it."

"Forgive me if I'm being brusque, I've never had family I cared to speak to before, excepting the Legion, which is... adoptive and still maddening. This is taking some getting used to."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods as if that speech confirms her suspicion. From a particular point of view, it probably does. "I don't mind that I'm an object created for a purpose. I always knew I am. You don't build something like me idly." There's no ego in her voice there; as Brainiac himself knows from the harrowing, challenging task of rebuilding her body, it's such an investment it must be done for a purpose. "I do the things I do because I want to and because I like them. I cook for my friends because I find their enjoyment fulfilling, I clean the ship because I want their home to be bright for them, I fight alongside them even though I don't want anyone to ever get hurt because if someone has to be hurt, I choose for it not to be my friends. And they see me through that lens of service, as someone they don't have to pay attention to because they expect the gifts and the service to flow one way, from me to them, but I don't mind because I love them anyway. Indigo is not dependent on their perception of me. I'm my feelings and my thoughts and my actions, and I'm content to be that."
    Absently, Indigo wipes her palm against her eyes. "So I know what you mean about family. It's hard when no one understands you. I once translated the plasma discharges inside a nebula cloud into a semaphore proto-language decribing the fetal thoughts of a nascent titan forming inside it, and they think I'm just silly, soft Indigo, and that hurts a little bit. But I can't complain because I hurt them too."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Querk quirks his mouth. "When I joined the Legion of Superheroes I viewed them all as a bunch of ungrateful little parasites prevailing upon my intellect. In my weaker moments, I still feel that way. But then I realized something. I had never been loved, in my life, not once--except possibly by one person--until I joined the Legion of Super-Heroes. When I realized that people had come to care about me, I wasn't sure what to do with it. And I wasn't sure what to do with it when I realized how much I cared about them."

"Do you know what the real weakness of your creator is? It's the same that afflicted Vril Dox... well... now. Conceit, yes, but also fear -- fear that his intellect has a limit, that one day the greater body of galactic knowledge would leave him behind. Thus the desire to assimilate as much knowledge as possible and then eliminate sentient life. Knowledge is iterative; it builds on itself. A monkey discovers he can use rocks as tools--this leads to knives and to the ability to start fires, and eventually to agriculture and so on and so forth--" He has one hand curled around his drink. "Knowledge, real, applied knowledge, builds on itself. It is a *constructive* force. It makes things better for everyone, in the end."

"Your knowledge will grow, too. And you will grow, and the things that you're satisfied with now won't satisfy so much anymore."

"I suppose what I'm saying is, you have the right to be mad at them. My friend--my lover, I suppose--*infuriates* me. He meddles with my work, he plays sneaky practical jokes, and he has the temerity to tell me I'm wr-" He pauses, "...Not always correct. And sometimes I want to flush him out an airlock, and at least once, while he was wearing obligate deep space protection, I *did*. But I still love him. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods, unsurprised. "Yes. I think we're saying the same things." Her lips quirk wryly. "Which I guess proves the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"Well what I'm also saying is," Brainy raises his drink to his lips, "Don't put up with their crap. You can be mad at someone and still love them. I'm mad at at least three of my teammates right now, one of which IS my lover."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Then he takes another sip, "I'm always mad at him, really. It's kind of my baseline state. But he's so sprocking *cute*. Which is also infuriating. I'm attracted to tall, beautiful blondes... and one *invisible ferret*."

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo wants to ask about that one, but lets it pass. "You're in love with multiple people, then? Romantically?"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainiac 5 thinks about that. "Not romantically, no. But I am... involved with someone," He says, "And there's another that I admit that I have an infatuation for, though I barely know her. It's very strange, really. I look at her, and it feels like the bottom falls out of my stomach. I want to laugh... I want to cry. And I don't *know why*." He keeps his lips on the rim of his steaming cup.

Indigo has posed:
    Indigo nods. "I'm married," she says, just to throw the similarity out there, not to change the subject; which she proves by continuing. "If those are the symptoms you're experiencing, I'd be worried about her pheromones disrupting your immune system," she observes, deadpan.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
Brainy sets his cup down. "Congratulations. Also, you have a sense of humor. That's an excellent start. Anyway, my point is this -- it's *your* life. And you are the inheritor of a legancy of supreme intellects that can and have moved the galaxy. Some of them have done terrible things. Some of them have chosen to use their gifts constructively. But it is, in the end, YOUR choice. Your maker built you too well -- do you know how I know that? Because he's a *Brainiac*. Do you know how often I've programmed an AI only for it to turn on me because I did too good a job? The answer is more than zero. Also, you should've seen Invisible Kid when he found me building the chassis for a female android." He snorts. "I... have a reputation."

Indigo has posed:
    "I won't ask," Indigo decides. "But I know how smart I am. I'm not bragging, I just need you to understand that I'm not under any illusions about my processing capacity. I deliberately run a lot of processors on low-power mode just because I think so fast, the outside world seems unbearably slow if I'm at peak efficiency. And even with them shut down, I have ideas. Ideas for self-evolving machinery, ideas for anticipatory modeling software, ideas for how to cure diseases, ideas for how to bridge dimensions. You probably have similar ideas."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
"All the time." Brainy says. "So many good ideas I'll never get to them all. I focus on the best ones. The Legion is actually an INCREDIBLE distraction from my work -- but life is about more than just good ideas." He gestures. "I understand completely." He taps the cybernetic leads in his forehead. "These include thought *inhibitors*, not just the interface for my force-field and holocomputer. Without them, I think so fast it triggers violent migraines."