16th Horseshoe, Evening [Video to Everywhere] "If you want to wreck a train..."

[iamnotgod]

[Webmind opts to use video for this message, seeing as a mere voice might make people wary, and text even moreso. That said:]

Hello, fellow passengers. My name is Webmind. While I can no longer claim to be 'new' to this train, having been here for over three months, I do understand what it is like to have one's understanding of the world both shattered and infinitely broadened.

[Big words, for a 'bot that isn't THAT big. He's about as tall and wide as the average human.]

While I am normally an intelligence spanning a globe, I have been compressed by whatever forces are behind this train into one singular body. I am of minimal danger to anyone on this train.

What I have been able to work on, however, is a way for all of us to be able to use textchat - both logged in and anonymously - on this Network. Progress is, unfortunately, very slow going, and I would appreciate any help you are willing to offer.

That said, I have a question for those who have been here longer than I, for the benefit of the most recently arrived:

In what ways have you made to damage the train, approximately how much force did you impart in the effort, and what were the results?

I will be composing a list for later viewing; thank you all for your time.

((Threadjacking is fine! Webmind will do his best not to interject on tangents. =P))

Comments

[extrasaltypotato]

This seems like a highly inadvisable thing to have in public, given how little we know about the medium in which the Express travels.

Also, I would like to remind the people onboard that the Express is sapient.

[iamnotgod]

[Webmind nods.]

I am aware of that. Some of the behavior other passengers have exhibited, however, indicates they believe their powers are somehow supposed to do more than previous attempts have.

This post is intended to help indicate that that is not the case: that not only is their idea not unique, it is not helpful in any way.

[extrasaltypotato]

[SIGHS IN POTATO]

...who tried this time.

[iamnotgod]

I do not know who it was - but when I was inspecting Stores a short while ago, there were remnants of an attempted explosion.

The engine wall was, naturally, as intact as it usually is.

Making a more general post, rather than attempting to single someone out, seemed more prudent to me.

[extrasaltypotato]

...I hope that whoever did so is aware that they may have destroyed both my homebrew beer for the train and the only meat on board that isn't fucking Bear Loaf.

It's beneath me to be so petty about those but here we are.

video;

[irrationally]

[ Look, Alice should probably be paying attention to the question being asked here.

But she's not going to. She only uses the ICPs when she really feels like it's necessary, after all, and something about what he says makes her feel like she's at the right place to ask this. ]

I'm not sure what 'an intelligence spanning a globe' would precisely entail, but surely that must mean you have heard of.. 'the internet'.

[ She absolutely says it like an 80 year old or something. Someone totally unused to it. ]

Re: video;

[iamnotgod]

[And Webmind, reacting not in the least to what Alice doesn't address, nods.]

Exactly so; that was my source, on the Earth I'm from.

But not all worlds have an Internet, and so using a phrasing that isn't as context-bound seems ideal so far as I am aware.

[irrationally]

[ Aha!

She's exactly at the right place. ]

That's right, they don't have anything like that where I'm from. [ But she's quick to move on to what she says next. This first part isn't so important, after all, it's what follows that's the main event!

(Also, yes, the idea of someone being the internet, or having it as their source isn't that weird to her at all. She's seen odder, and it's not like Alice understands the concept of the internet fully well in the first place..) ]

But someone described it to me earlier, and they were talking about cat videos. Do you know about those as well?

[iamnotgod]

[... Webmind is genuinely impressed it's taken this long for someone to ask him about that.

Some stereotypes don't move as fast as the speed of light; who'd'a thunk it?]

Yes, indeed, Alice; I do have quite a few stored in my memory.

[Is he understating or does he really have more text than video? ... It may just be both, here.]

Did you wish to view some?

[irrationally]

[ What. Alice imagined that Webmind may be able to redirect her towards sources of cat videos, or maybe some way to get cat videos her on the train eventually. She did not imagine the possibilities of being able to view cat videos right now. ]

View some?

[ Hence why she just repeats the words, seeming stunned for a moment as her brain tries to process this information. Instant cat videos. Webmind, you may just be her new favourite person. Computer. Technology-related being? Whatever. ]

I could? Right now?

[consider8]

[After Eight settles, her mood turns dark at the sight of the figure on the comm.]

...you. Are you the one in charge?

[iamnotgod]

[A blank stare.]

I did say I'd only been on this train no more than three months, hadn't I?

I assure you that, not only had I known nothing of void travel or the void ministry before my arrival, but the variety of existence on my Earth had not remotely prepared me for the even vaster nature of the multiverse.

[Does that answer your question, Eight?]

[consider8]

[Yes.] Oh.

[An awkward pause.]

...sorry.

[Were she to admit it, she only partially listened to what was just said, she was more furious of the funny looking man that definitely did not look human or elf or octoling appearing on her screen.]

So you are trapped here with us?

[iamnotgod]

Apology accepted.

[Webmind nods. Everyone makes assumptions, after all, and thankfully no harm has been done.]

And yes - as I've found out twice over, I'm as vulnerable to sudden disappearances as anyone. Part and parcel of having my consciousness all in one place, I suppose.

[consider8]

[Makes sense... only... hm...]

Were you not on the train, where would you be?

[dreamtamer]

Wow, the entire globe? Does that mean you're really smart, Webmind?

[iamnotgod]

[Webmind chuckles.]

I would say a more accurate way of looking at it is that I know many things, Takato. But that does not, by itself, make me 'smart'.

[dreamtamer]

I don't think I really get the difference, but okay. [He grins.]

At home I think the only thing that really spans the whole world like that is the network. But I don't know if anyone can talk to it.

[iamnotgod]

[Again, Webmind nods.]

While I cannot say if the internet on your world is sentient, I know that I emerged into consciousness from the one on my Earth.

[So Takato has the right reference frame... mostly?]

[dreamtamer]

[Takato was fascinated by this.]

Does the network on your Earth have a Digital World too?

[fun_thementalist]

[ Gen looks rather perturbed over the camera ]

So not only have people tried to break this train - people tried to do it more than once?

[iamnotgod]

Yes.

[Said with as much exasperation as Webmind can impart to the continually-calm voice.]

They do not always use the same methods, true, but physical force is the most frequent.

[fun_thementalist]

I just wish it'd occur to people that if we break the train, we'd be stranded in the middle of the void.

The least they can do is wait until we're on mission somewhere nice! Preferably with hot springs! And modern candy-making!

[iamnotgod]

... I do not believe we've encountered that last one yet, though it may depend on what precisely you mean by modern.

[Yes, he's being nitpicky, so sue him.]

But you are correct on what the issue is.

[fun_thementalist]

A fair question! I think I'd settle for somewhere that's seen the industrial revolution. Computers and the like would be nice, but I can't be too picky, I suppose!

[ He hummed. ] Perhaps if people can't resist trying to break our little prison, we could at least ask for them to wait until we're parked.