ASISTance
I've actually begun to feel validated spending so much time at this ASIST. Danny has explained that the more I use it, the more adapted it will become to me. The thing will literally learn how to fulfill my needs. Danny says it needs a month or so of constant using to work out most of the bugs and then from then on, only fine tuning. So sitting here and recording my thoughts and adventures serves a purpose, other than the fact that I desperately missed being able to read or write anything.

My attempt at drawing some of my current shipmates has not been quite successful, but I think I've captured their essense. The ASIST kept moving things around, and I kept cursing it, but I'm hoping we've come to an understanding. My headache has pushed down into a distant throb.

I started with Toad, thinking he would be the easiest to draw. My first day on ship I almost mistook him for a piece of furniture. Basically the shape and color of a large mushroom, I thought he was some alien's idea of a footstool.

After getting over appearances, Toad is a rather nice guy... note the deliberate avoidance of a pun - fun guy - fungi. Anyway, since he's not bipedal, the ASIST actually pulls itself onto the floor and Toad sits on top of it, allowing the thousands of little phalanges around his base manipulate the controls. We've had a few conversations. Toad is very polite. He's actually some sort of prince of a country on his planet. It's typical for them to take a year or two of space exploration before they settle down into the responsibilities of their office.

Toad is always amiable, especially when he's had some Tacin powder, which as far as Danny can explain, is the closest thing Toad's species has to tequilla. That's when Toad begins to laugh and begs to play poker - an obsession that Danny taught him. With a set of digital cards, another of Danny's inventions, the three of us sat down for a game. Toad is a horrible poker player. The minute he has a hand that he likes, all the little tentacles at the bottom of his body go wild, wiggling back and forth. So far I've won a shuttle craft and the title of duchess on his home planet. I keep trying to explain that it wasn't really fair, but Toad insisted.

Danny just grinned, and said, "Anytime, your shortness, anytime." I asked Danny how he could get away with calling a prince "shortness" and he laughed. "It's the DATN's. They translate anything I want into whatever I want to say. In case you haven't noticed, his name really isn't Toad. It's His Royal Highness, Prince Echbachinashtaquyen of Hustelosholosho." Danny saw my confusion and laughed.

"It's like making your own dictionary. The DATN's automatically replace whatever you want to call them in English, with whatever is proper in their language. So when I called him Toad, he heard, 'your highness.' I named him toad because he looks like a mushroom. A toadstool. Didn't you notice?"

I tried to hide my sheepishness as Danny went into a fascinating lecture about DATN's and how I'd learn how to change them some day.
- posted by omouse @ 3/20/2004