Undisclosed

by HAL-1138

HAL-1138 has found himself in the service of the Empire, but he wasn't always on the darkside... was he? He knows he has a past, however, as a result of an old mind wipe, he is devoid of this knowledge and the true purpose of his creation. Rated M for some violence in future chapters.

3. Communication

COMMUNICATION

Communication between droid and organic was, to put it mildly, frustrating.

If only Galactic Basic would switch to Binary; the universe would function much more efficiently. HAL-1138 could perform the complicated task of deciphering an advanced cryptic message while simultaneously searching through thousands of files to find a hidden sub file. All this in mere moments. Due to their infuriatingly slow means of communication, it would take a carbon unit weeks if not months to complete the same assignment, perhaps longer or never if their intelligence was in the lower levels.

Vocal language mercilessly bogged down everything. It would take organics eons to convey a single thought in what would take a droid a microsecond. It was very discouraging. But HAL still used Galactic Basic when conversing with the simple creatures. He had frequently applied the ability in the past. He didn't know why or where he obtained it, but he had to admit, it did come in handy in certain situations. Most soft beings didn't process the expertise of vocal binary code and certainly did not have an input/output module for direct communication, so verbal dialect was necessary to guarantee accurate understanding.

Most found HAL-1138's means of vocal expression surprising yet extremely accommodating. It allowed for easier manipulation of the simple creatures. Well, most of them anyway. HAL would not dare attempt to control the Master. He wasn't sure why his new owner chose him out of the many available R2 Units; however he suspected it had something to do his non binary voice. Perhaps the Master was lonely, from what he observed, he didn't seem to relate well with his fellow species. He was different from them, that was obvious, but a fellow organic none the less. It mattered not, however, HAL was now an Imperial droid and he would be a service to his Master for as long as he was needed, or until a time came when the current accommodations no longer suited him.

****One little foot note about the voice of HAL. This collection of dabbles is based on an actually R2. I am a member of a group called the R2 Builders Club and began working on him 8 years ago. His name really is HAL-1138 and I made it so he has the voice of HAL-9000 from the movie 2001 Space Odyssey. He also has some unique modifications that are a tribute to other 'robot genres'. So keep an eye out for crossover references in the near future. ;)