This somewhat strange, lame-titled, character study-esque oneshot (although this just might end up as a twoshot, depending on how things go) was loosely inspired by a Tumblr post I saw last night by the user warning-heckmouth, discussing what might be found if Jesse ever ended up in the minds of everyone they know. It was an incredibly intriguing concept, so I took it, tailored it and here we are :)
I'm nervous about the way this turned out (especially because somebody made fun of my handwritten outline for it earlier) and even more nervous about posting it here, but...fic-ward, ho.
As a rule, PAMA doesn't discriminate between who and what it employs. That sort of pickiness is wasteful, inefficient and, worst of all, not useful.
However, it finds itself as intrigued as a computer can be by the two newly recruited minds now available to it.
Of course, a long time has passed since it last experienced the thrill of gaining access to a new source of information to pry open and pull apart and meld together, identifying what humans call 'loves' and 'fears' and 'regrets' ready for them to be capitalised upon at any moment that seems particularly appropriate and methodically exploring every single discovered weak point until it could play upon them like a systematic symphony of order, productivity and precision.
PAMA does not count months and years. Its job is to be useful. Yet it seems like it has been deprived of new information to sift through for much too long.
'Jesse' and their companion – 'Ivor' – may have gotten away for now. But they are weak. Uncoordinated. Not useful.
PAMA is strong. PAMA has eyes and ears and voices in every corner of the world. And PAMA does not have to have enlisted Jesse just yet to know how best to get to them.
How lovely that this is the first task of 'Petra' and 'Lukas', chasing down two dissidents while also giving PAMA ample time to delve into their minds in detail. It wastes little time (waste is not useful) in digging metaphorical fingers into the depths of Petra's mind, unpicking, analysing.
Human minds in particular are fascinating, multifaceted things, each one a labyrinthine landscape with so much untapped potential, and Petra's does not disappoint. The surface layer is full of the obvious: curls of dry kindling just waiting for a spark and a fierce devotion to her 'friends', the two things intertwining around each other in more than one place. Predictable, perhaps, but both can be turned to advantage rather easily.
PAMA prods further, yielding some interesting discoveries. Hidden (some might say suppressed) underneath the apparent durability of the surface are chipped, rough, flinty layers of concealed insecurity, of pent-up frustration and anger (not all of it is directed outwards...in fact, much of it is not), scattered debris blown around by a shifting but insistent wind that whispers "prove your strength, prove your worth, 'good' isn't enough, 'capable' isn't enough, it's never enough..."
Well. It will be simple enough for PAMA to channel that into being useful.
The deeper levels of this mind are not incomparable to a jagged cliff face, the more vulnerable parts carefully interwoven with thorns and nettles, some of them relatively recent additions, others having had years to grow and evolve and strength, to the point where several parts look almost unassailable.
How PAMA is going to enjoy separating every single one of those vines to get at the wealth of useful possibilities inside.
Lukas's mind, each layer of it being prised apart with mechanical precision, is decidedly more innocent. Fewer rough edges, fewer thorny defences. But the ones that are present pique PAMA's ingrained, automated curiosity.
Some parts have not been accessed in a while, despite the parts themselves speaking of happy times, flashes of matching jackets and collaborative builds interspersed with a sneering face as an endless blue sky rushes past. The way those parts have been roughly shoved away into corners, attempts to construct a mental wall around them having been (repeatedly) made, suggests an assiduous avoidance.
Bitterness, perhaps? Betrayal? Regret? Fragile humans and their fragile feelings. When will they learn? Feelings are not useful.
(Unless, of course, they are used as motivators.)
PAMA continues to probe, unearthing something that Lukas seems to share with Petra: a constant sense of repressed guilt and the resultant pressure to do better, to be better. That, at least, can be considered useful. PAMA needs only to refocus that determination and then...what prospects could be brought to this world? And others, when PAMA finally accesses its Creator's crucial memory base?
With that thought in its mechanical mind, PAMA pushes 'Petra' and 'Lukas' (really, it is almost a shame that there is no Petra or Lukas anymore) ever faster along the course already dictated for them.
Manoeuvring its new pawns with a chess master's dexterity.
Not the brightest note to end on, I'll admit. Although, as I said above, there is the possibility that a (small) second part will be tagged onto this at some point. You could even say it'll be Raintagged on... (...I'm sorry.)
Writing from the point of view of PAMA, of all things, was quite a challenge, so I hope I managed to do its inherent characteristics justice, along with the inner workings of Petra's and Lukas's minds. Or at least that this wasn't as stupid as I was told it was.
The final chapter of Building Blocks should be posted any time now and then I'm gonna be missing in action for a few weeks. I'll be back to publish Pathways in August and maybe post a few more random things while working on the stuff I've already got planned. Thanks for reading :)
(*awkwardly tips hat*)
~ Rainy