The elsewhere she is is a back alley somewhere. She's between two tall buildings, with street ahead of her and behind her, a dumpster right over there and a smell of pee wafting from it.

She falls to one knee and then crumples sideways into a ball. The droid came with her; she kneels to check that she's all right, and then helps her back to her feet and to where the dumpster will hide them from the busier street.

She sits, reorienting herself, for a few minutes, and then slips into meditation: where are they?

They are in: a city.

It's a busy, bustling city. There's an ocean to her left, and buildings and people and vehicles to her right. Only humans around, though, and the tech level is—not what she's used to.

Weird.

She tells the droid to follow her and goes to look at the less busy street.

The less busy street is the one nearer to the ocean. The sidewalk across it from her, though, is made of wood, lots of shops and restaurants and other businesses lined up along it. There are also a few benches and small plazas with places for people to sit and chat and enjoy the late afternoon sun. There's enough space between the shops to enjoy the sight of the sea, too, and even go visit the beach if one feels like it.

She observes long enough to determine the local customs for crossing the street, and sets off toward an empty bench.

People give her some of a wide berth when they notice the robot following her.

That sure is a thing. She tells the droid to stay close and changes course slightly, making her way to a plaza that offers a little more privacy.

Some people point little rectangular devices at her.

One of them flashes.

She twitches and glares at the offender, reflexively deploying an aura of doom.

The person takes two hurried steps back and falls on his butt, dropping his device. Lots of other people react, too, and one car swerves away from her.

She fades the aura back out - let's not start a stampede in a strange city - and continues on her way.

People do not point their devices at her anymore. They also maintain a healthy distance.

Good. And soon she's at the plaza, where a group of concrete benches offer a place where she can lie down without being visible from the street. She does that, settling in with her head on the droid's lap.

After a few minutes some people start being okayer with walking by closer to her.

This won't bother her enough to stop her from going to sleep. Unless they're hostile, that is.

Devices pointed at her but not doing anything visible hostile?

Doesn't wake her. The robot is definitely watching, though.

This seems to be it for the next few minutes. People talk to each other, sometimes obviously about her and/or the robot, and sometimes talk into their devices.

The pair seems to be content to stay where they are, even with the attention.

After a bit someone starts paying more intent attention to them.

The droid pats the woman's shoulder, gently; she grumbles, then stiffens and looks up.

The armored man walks up to her but doesn't get close enough that his halberd could reach her. He isn't afraid, but he's ready for a fight. He asks something in the same language the other people around are speaking.

The robot responds, asking a question, in a language he'll find no more familiar. Meanwhile, the woman sits up: casually, not deferentially, but without making any sudden movements or making any attempt to hide her hands.

The man looks at them curiously then asks something else.

The robot dips her head and says something apologetic, then signs to the woman. The woman doesn't seem happy with what she's been told, but nods, and then settles her elbows on her knees and closes her eyes.

"...okay, hang on a minute, I think there's a cape who can deal with this," the man says, then raises his wrist to his lips. "Unknown tinker apparently doesn't speak English. The robot seems to be able to talk but also not in English. I've recorded it, I'm sending it to you for analysis, but it wasn't any language I recognized."

They don't particularly respond to this.

"Threat level?" she can catch the person talking to armored man saying, via his thoughts.

"Doesn't seem dangerous but the robot has unknown capabilities. I'm in defensive mode two in case they turn hostile but I think I could react in time to anything they might throw at me."

"It's just the two of them?"

"Yes."

"Have you contacted Velocity?"

"Yes."

"Any idea how they appeared there?"

"No."

The woman begins signing, her eyes still closed.

"—and now she's signing. Sending video."

She scowls, but keeps going.

After a minute or so, she stops, and the robot nods to her and says, in English, "she no hostile."

"—hold on, the robot is speaking English." He looks up at Daisy. "You can communicate now? How?"

   More signing.

"You talk, she sign, I analysis."

"And she can understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes."

"But not speak? Why?"

"She doesn't able to talk." She's matter of fact about it.

"Why wasn't she signing to you before?"

That provokes a slightly longer round of signing, and then the robot shrugs: "I doesn't English."

"And now you do—by mimicking sounds?"

"Yes. You talk, I understand, I talk."

That sure is convenient. A bit suspicious but not much more suspicious than capes in general are.

"And the grammar?"

"I analysis," she points beyond him at the crowd.

Wait what? "You're learning the language as we speak?"

"Yes."

"Is that a power or programming?"

"It is programming. I doesn't power. Deskyl has power." She gestures demonstratively to her companion when she gives the name.

"What power does Deskyl have?" Beyond the obvious tinkering ability, he doesn't say.

    "Deskyl is Sith."

The woman straightens up, then gestures to a piece of litter a few yards away and brings it flying to her hand.

"—that's not a word I'm familiar with—telekinesis?"

She nods. "Telekinesis and." Subject change: "I learning... learns? English?"

"I'm learning English," he automatically corrects. "How did you appear here?"

"Sith power."

"Oh, there are more?" He doesn't move his lips but his eyes do and they track something on his helmet that sends pre-made messages somewhere: "Potential threat level nearing threshold for next level."

(Deskyl's head is ducked again as she signs; her amused grin will probably go unnoticed.)

"More, yes. I'm more learning English?"

"—oh, do you mean you don't have the vocabulary?"

Bingo! "Yes."

"What will help you get more? Just conversation or something else?"

"Conversation and something else. Something else more."

"Do you have any vocabulary to try to point at the something else?"

"Language but not speaking."

"Writing? Listening? Music? Books? Reading in general?"

"Books and reading, yes."

"Is there a specific type of book you need or will anything do? And how will you turn reading into spoken comprehension?"

"Anything. I analysis."

"Analyse," he corrects. "We could find you books in the Protectorate Headquarters."

This gets another longer round of signing, and then the pair stands. "Yes."

"Can you walk? It's over there," he says, pointing at the building, visible by its forcefield in the distance.

Deskyl doesn't sign, this time, but they set off toward the indicated building.

On they go! People look and take pictures.

She doesn't startle, this time, but she still glares at the flashes.

The headquarters is some ten minutes' walk away.

Not long enough for her to get too annoyed.

She rubbernecks some at the Headquarters' architecture - it's pretty, and gives her at least a little better idea of what these people are capable of - but doesn't dawdle. (The robot continues to stay very close to her.)

And while walking Armsmaster has relayed everything nonobvious from the recorded conversation to someone else. By the time they arrive there are some armed people—from their thoughts, Deskyl can probably gather that they're not going to use lethal weaponry unless strictly necessary, and they have other means they believe capable of subduing her—standing near the various doors and on the way.

The entrance hall is mostly empty, at this time, with only a few casual locals looking at the small museum-like atrium or browsing wares in a little shop on the ground level. Armsmaster leads Deskyl and DZ straight past these people towards a glass elevator.

None of this is objectionable, though they do arrange, without making it too obvious that they're doing it intentionally, to have Deskyl between Armsmaster and the robot in the enclosed space.

The elevator ride is smooth and silent, and they can barely feel acceleration. When it stops, Armsmaster leads them down a hallway and they eventually reach a small library.

They exchange a few signs - these are fairly obvious, DZ suggests that Deskyl sit at one of the tables, and Deskyl declines - before checking out the books; they quickly find where the dictionary is displayed and bring it over to the table, where DZ begins reading through it.

Deskyl, without anything in particular to do at the moment, watches Armsmaster.

Armsmaster is talking to people through his comm—yes the two are in the library, the robot is learning English and will soon be able to be an effective translator, he doesn't know yet what all the tinker's capabilities are but she's definitely not just a tinker, at least telekinesis, no he's not sure how large scale but they should assume "large enough" for purposes of any containment measures they might need to apply...

She considers reestablishing the telepathy, but, no, that's not a good use of her energy when DZ will be able to translate soon enough.

She dozes.

The droid reads on, and some half an hour later she comes to the end of it.

Armsmaster is still there, waiting patiently, arms folded.

She gets Deskyl's attention with a gentle hand placed on her forearm, then looks back to him. "Thank you, sir. I can answer your questions now."

He looks up at them and straightens up. "Where are you from?"

She signs translations to Deskyl as he speaks, and as she does. "We're not from this planet; we're probably not from this part of the galaxy."

"Explain?"

"Sith can do many things, and they can do more when they're upset; Deskyl was attacked, and teleported us here. I don't know where we are, but the sun is different, and your dictionary doesn't mention Sith or Jedi; any society near us with as much technology as I've seen would have been in contact with one of the two."

"Sith and Jedi are categories of people with powers?" he clarifies.

"Yes, sir."

"Can you give me more examples?"

"Sith can detect and affect emotions, sense imminent danger to themselves, produce lightning, and use telekinesis on objects and themselves. They have heightened senses, and heal more easily and live longer than normal humans. With training they can learn extra skills beyond most of those; Deskyl is a sense specialist, and was reading your mind to tell me what you were saying, for example."

"Reading my mind."

"Yes, I'm sorry, sir, is something wrong?"

"It was not thought to be possible. I will need you to stay here." And he leaves.

Deskyl goes back to sleep; DZ checks the shelves for a poetry section.

After a few minutes, a man in a suit arrives. "Good afternoon," he says, politely.

DZ puts her book down and wakes Deskyl again. "Hello, sir."

"My name's Norman. You're DZ and she's Deskyl?"

"Yes, sir."

"It's nice to meet you. I was called here for not having any confidential information in my head."

"Yes, sir."

Deskyl signs.

"Deskyl says that she's not going to read the other gentleman's mind again, but that I should tell you anyway that her range now, for him, is about a third of the width the building."

"—that's good to know. What's her general range?"

"It depends on how familiar she is with the person. For a stranger, it would be easiest if she was in the same room, but she could do it from one or two rooms away, if the rooms were about this size."

"Physical barriers are not an obstacle?"

"No, sir."

He nods. "They're thinking of relocating the two of you because of the risk of eavesdropping."

    "That's fine, sir. She'll need to sleep soon, though."

"We could find you two a hotel, and leave you to rest for as long as you need."

Deskyl nods at that, and signs some more.

    "She's recovering from an attack by another Sith, and she's going to need a lot of sleep for the next while; at least a few weeks, probably a few months. It would be better for her if she could be in the same place for all of that time, if it's possible to arrange."

He nods. "It is. Can she go now?"

    "Yes, sir. One moment." She reshelves the book.

When they're done, he leads them back to the elevator and down to the garage.

They follow readily enough, signing back and forth a little as they go.

Into a car, and then they start driving through Brockton Bay, along the street that runs parallel to the beach and the Boardwalk.

Deskyl dozes.

"Did you have any more questions, sir?"

"We'll wait until Deskyl is well-rested for them."

"All right."

Eventually they reach a small beachside hotel.

Deskyl and DZ follow him in.

Things have apparently already been arranged, because he goes straight for the elevator. People give Deskyl and DZ curious glances—sometimes outright stares—but no one approaches them.

Deskyl makes faces at a couple of the starers, but doesn't start anything.

Up the elevator then down the hallway to a very nice hotel room, decorated in soft beach colors, containing a queen bed, a kitchenette, and a spacious bathroom.

Excellent.

She signs briefly to DZ and then goes directly to bed.

"Thank you, sir."

"If you call reception you can get in contact with the PRT and the Protectorate," he informs them, "as well as request any services you might require. Do you need anything else right now?"

"I'm going to need to recharge within the next few days; Master Deskyl can make a charger for me, but she'll need parts and tools."

"You can request them at the reception and we will provide you with them."

"Yes, sir."

He nods. "I'll leave you be, then." And he does.

DZ familiarizes herself with the room, then calls down for a change of clothes, a menu, and some books.

They are soon brought up.

She thanks the delivery person. A few hours later she puts in a food order, followed by an order for electrical components once Deskyl has had a chance to eat.

They settle in quickly; Deskyl tends to eat at odd hours, but they're otherwise quiet and undemanding guests, especially after DZ gets a laptop and stops wanting books every few days.

A week later, in the middle of the night, Deskyl goes out to practice with her 'saber on the beach.

The city isn't completely dead at night but it's not New York, either. It's mostly silent and deserted, with the occasional car passing by the street. The Protectorate HQ can be seen in the distance, mostly visible by the faint glimmer of the forcefield around the structure over the ocean.

She goes down nearly to the water, where the wet sand makes for better footing, and begins with one of the easiest forms she knows; it's still distracting, after this long without practice, but not so much that she's likely to miss anyone's approach.

No one approaches; she's far enough away from the streets that almost no one even sees her.

She stays out for an hour, retreating up the beach as the tide comes in.

No one bothers her during this time.

She finishes up her practice - she's tired, leaning on the Force for enough energy to keep herself going, not that it'd be obvious to anyone watching. Still, she takes a moment to stretch out her senses; she can't do it during the day, the crowds are too overwhelming if she takes in more than a block or so at a time, but with most everyone asleep, she can expand her awareness to the full half-mile or so that she can achieve without meditating.

Or... more than that? Definitely more than that. Odd.

Well within the range, but beyond what she mentioned as her telepathy distance, there are two people watching her inside a room with binoculars and laptops. Their emotions are mostly calm and professional, as if they don't expect what they're doing to be wrong or weird and they're just doing a routine part of their job.

...well then.

She heads back to her room, not giving any sign that she's noticed them, but continuing to pay attention to their mood as she leaves their sight.

As soon as she walks into the hotel, they stop watching her.

A few days later, she goes out again; this time she pays more attention to the hotel staff as she leaves.

Receptionist is paying a bit more attention to her than she should, and uses her phone to call someone as soon as she leaves.

That'll be easy enough to do something about, if she needs to. Good.

She gets her practice in; she doesn't do anything much more impressive than last time, and she still gives no sign that she knows she's being watched, this time or any of the subsequent ones: she goes out to practice a few times a week, slowly but visibly recovering her strength and stamina and reflexes.

Six weeks later, DZ reports that Deskyl has recovered enough to talk to the Protectorate again.

That can be arranged! What's the best location and time for her?

There's a café a few blocks from the hotel that has a private room; that should be good enough, given they probably don't want her to visit the Protectorate again. Any time is fine.

That sounds good! Tomorrow at two, then?

Yes, they'll be there.

And they are, DZ with her laptop, Deskyl calm but alert.

The same suited guy from before—Norman—shows up again. "Good afternoon!"

"Hello!"

"How have you two been? Settled in alright?"

"Yes, thank you sir."

"And is Deskyl feeling better? What was wrong, that took so long?"

"We aren't entirely sure - she was attacked by another Sith, but none of the techniques we're familiar with have these effects. She expects to recover completely, though."

"So this is not a known side effect of teleportation?"

"No sir. Teleportation isn't something Sith can usually do, but it doesn't seem to have harmed her at all."

He nods. "So, you said there were lots of people who are Sith with the same powers and the others are—Jedi?"

"Yes, sir. I don't know as much about the Jedi; the Sith empire is at war with them. But their powers are mostly the same, only weaker."

"So is your war mostly decided on the basis of something other than powers?"

DZ confers with Deskyl. "The Jedi are better organized and better supplied, sir. But the Sith are stronger and more technologically advanced, and probably have more resources overall; she expects them to win."

"And why haven't they yet?"

    "Wars between spacegoing peoples are more complicated than wars on a single planet, sir."

"I suppose they must be. Why are Jedi weaker?"

"Force powers can be fueled by emotions, or not. Jedi don't fuel their powers that way. Sith do, which makes them more emotionally unstable; similar to your capes, though somewhat worse on average. Deskyl in particular is very calm for a Sith."

"And more emotions means more power? It's strange for so many people to have the same abilities."

"More powerful emotions create more powerful effects, yes sir. And it's strange for us that your powers are all different - the Force is one thing, even if Sith and Jedi use it in different ways; there's no reason for them to have very different abilities."

Deskyl interrupts to sign briefly to DZ.

    "Deskyl is impressed with your Protectorate; even with capes being more stable than Sith, it must be hard to keep that many of them working together. She's curious how you manage it, and particularly what that means for her, since she's roughly the same type of person."

"I'm not totally sure. I'm a clerk who's been told to ask questions and picked for my, ah, remarkable incuriosity." He isn't upset by it; it's a fair description.

    "All right. Please forward the question to someone who can answer it; we don't have a secure email account, yet, for answers, but we do have one." She gives an address.

"For what it's worth I don't think it's a secret?" He writes the address down anyway. "People are also generally wary of mindreading, especially from a system so different than the one here, where we can have no guarantee that our defenses would hold up."

    "That's understandable. Deskyl doesn't make a habit of it - it takes quite a lot of focus - but of course you only have our word on that."

"Yeah, that's the problem. Can you think of any way to verify whether our defenses work?"

Deskyl considers this for a few moments, but shakes her head.

    "She doesn't know what your defenses are, but she suspects that they don't; it's not something humans at home can usually defend against, either."

"Not even other Sith and Jedi?"

"They can, yes sir. But there aren't any Force-sensitives here but Deskyl."

"She can tell? What makes a person Force-sensitive?"

"It's something people are born with; there's a biological reason for it, but I don't know much about it. And, yes, she'd sense a Sith or Jedi anywhere on the planet if they weren't taking active measures to avoid being noticed, and an untrained Force-sensitive of reasonable strength anywhere in the city; they're very obvious."

"If it's biological, can it be induced?"

"No, sir."

"We have some people with biology powers."

    "If it was as simple as adding midichlorians to someone, it would have been done by now. Perhaps they can do something more comprehensive, but - she's not inclined to try it."

"Why not?"

He begins to feel a mild, sourceless unease as Deskyl signs to DZ.

    "There's no way to do it ethically. Or safely, in the long run."

"—are you using a power on me?"

    "She is; it's reflexive, sir."

"Can she stop?"

    "She wants you to understand that she's not going to bend on the subject of Force sensitivity experimentation, sir." But the feeling fades as DZ speaks.

He nods. "I'm sure whatever she has in mind with respect to 'Force sensitivity experimentation' is quite unlike what anyone here would do, but I understand that she might not believe me."

    "She's not just concerned for the experimental subjects."

"What else is she concerned about?"

"Sith are volatile by nature, sir, and don't cooperate very well; where we're from, it's rare outside of unusual circumstances to have more than a small handful on a given planet - usually specifically a master and their apprentices, which is a comparatively stable arrangement, but still often results in them killing each other. They're not any better at cooperating with non-Sith: they don't tolerate being given orders very well and generally won't follow them at all unless they're backed by credible threats, and sometimes not even then, and they generally react violently to disappointment, failure, or disobedience from underlings. Deskyl in particular is very prosocial, for a Sith, but she has no reason to expect that any Sith that you made would be."

Deskyl signs.

"Especially if they're made Force-sensitive as adults; Sith usually begin their training as young teens, and are specifically taught that they will have to submit sometimes in order to survive."

"And could a Jedi not be made instead?"

"She doesn't know how to train someone to be a Jedi."

He nods. "I think the main thing people might want out of this would be protection from the mind reading. Lots of people in the Protectorate have very important secrets to keep."

    "Even if you could straightforwardly make them Force sensitive without the downsides of being Sith, she'd have to be near them to train them, sir."

"It cannot be done with remote instruction of any kind?"

    "No, sir. She'd have to observe what they were doing with the Force to give feedback on it."

"I see. Then so much for that plan."

"Yes sir."

"She doesn't mind avoiding the Protectorate building. And she doesn't want to be confined, but she's willing to keep you apprised of where she is, at least on the level of a city or similar area."

He nods. "That's reasonable.

"I don't have any more questions, I think. Do you? Other than the one about how the Protectorate is organized."

"We need documents in order to be allowed to work, can the Protectorate help with that? And can Deskyl get her powers certified without having to go to the Protectorate building itself?"

"The Protectorate most certainly can help with both of those things. What sort of work are you interested in?"

"I can do most kinds of unskilled work, and Deskyl wants to reinvent some of the technology she's used to."

"Reinvent? That could be very useful and pay very well. She can get certified and we can get you both documents in no time. She will need to demonstrate her powers to get the certification, though."

"Yes, that's no problem."

"Very well. I can get her in contact with someone for her questions and we can schedule the certification testing by email."

"All right. I think that's everything -" She checks with Deskyl.

"Will they need a complete list of her abilities, or only the ones she wants to be certified to use?"

"Only the ones she wants to be certified to use."

She nods. "All right. We'll have that ready for them. Thank you for your help, sir."

"It was no problem."

And back they go. DZ has already put together a list of companies that might be interested in hiring Deskyl; she sends out a round of emails while they wait for the Protectorate to get back to them.

They get an email!

Hello! I believe you've expressed interest in being in contact with someone who can detail some things about the Protectorate? I could do that for you.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

As well as another more official-looking email asking for when it's best for them to schedule the power certification thing.

Daisy sends an email back, explaining again that they aren't used to empowered people being able to work together like the Protectorate does and asking how they manage it and what that means for Deskyl.

The second one gets a reply that they're free any time - afternoons and evenings are best - and a list of powers she'd like to have certified:

Thinker powers:
* Danger sense (threats to self only)
* Enhanced senses, all except hearing, 2-3x human baseline
* Emotion detection; range depends on strength of emotions, half-mile baseline up to planetwide in extreme cases
* Force-based extra sense, loosely vision-like but doesn't require light, baseline half-mile range, more with meditation and/or familiarity with the area
* Diagnostic health sense, 40' range

Brute powers:
* Telekinesis of self to enhance strength and durability
* Poison resistance, comprehensive, always on
* Protection against heat, cold, radiation, and similar environmental hazards
* Reduced physical needs, 1/3 to 1/5 human baseline; e.g. can function in a vacuum for 2-3 minutes

Shaker powers:
* Aura of poison resistance, comprehensive, 40' range (poisons metabolize quickly without affecting a protected person, but resume affecting them if they leave the aura before they're entirely metabolized)
* Aura of protection against heat, cold, and radiation; 50' range

Blaster powers:
* Lightning generation, regular and kinetic, strength varies with emotional state
* Telekinesis of objects, sight range, no size or weight limitation

Mover powers:
* Telekinesis of self, to enhance speed, jumping capability, etc; strength varies with emotional state, 3-4x human baseline when calm

Master powers:
* Emotion manipulation, aura or targeted; strength and range vary with emotional state, 40' baseline when calm

Striker powers:
* Personal-range lightning generation, regular and kinetic, strength varies with emotional state

I am not entirely sure what's the point of disconnect in expectation. Parahumans have worked together on Earth since they first appeared a few decades ago; how is it in your world, for me to have some basis of comparison, and why is it that way?

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

They want some details on the powers to better prepare the tests:

• What counts as a threat to self?
• In what ways are her senses enhanced?
• How fine are the emotion detection and manipulation? Can she give examples?
• How fine is the diagnostic health sense?
• How strong is the telekinesis of self?
• The protections against poison, heat, cold, and radiation are how comprehensive, exactly?
• Are the protection auras as comprehensive as the self powers?
• Can she detail the lightning generation further?
• How fine is the telekinesis of objects? Does it work on live beings?

What counts as a threat to self?

Any situation that would, if she failed to react to it, physically harm her.

In what ways are her senses enhanced?

Increased sensitivity, acuity, and clarity.

How fine are the emotion detection and manipulation? Can she give examples?

The level of detail she gets from emotion detection varies with her attention, and with her familiarity with and distance from the subject; it's not fundamentally different from mind-reading, and can be arbitrarily precise with enough focus. Casual use on strangers generally gives her about as much information as reading their body language would, if they were being entirely honest with their body language.

The emotion manipulation is much less fine-grained at her current skill level; the usual use of it is to inflict fear, as a warning, though she's also reasonably good at making people calm. Other emotions are easy for her to pick up, if there's call for them.

How fine is the diagnostic health sense?

She hasn't had an opportunity to test the limits of this, but expects that it works similarly to the emotion sense. She has an automatic sense of nearby peoples' general wellbeing even when she's not paying any particular attention, and will notice any significant physical complaints if she does pay any attention to an individual.

How strong is the telekinesis of self?

Strong enough that she can casually jump several stories; not strong enough to allow her to fly.

The protections against poison, heat, cold, and radiation are how comprehensive, exactly?

The radiation and poison protections are fairly comprehensive. The protections against heat and cold make environmental conditions that humans would find tolerable safe and comfortable instead; they won't protect against being set on fire, but will prevent heat stroke and frostbite. All of these protections only work on living things. She can allow specific drugs to work while blocking others, or to have only some of their usual effects, if she focuses on doing that.

Are the protection auras as comprehensive as the self powers?

Yes, with the noted exception in the case of the poison protection.

Can she detail the lightning generation further?

Probably; what would you like to know?

How fine is the telekinesis of objects? Does it work on live beings?

She has about as much dexterity with it as with her hands, at close range; at a distance, she's constrained by needing to see what she's doing. It does work on living things.

And to Flora:

I am not entirely sure what's the point of disconnect in expectation. Parahumans have worked together on Earth since they first appeared a few decades ago; how is it in your world, for me to have some basis of comparison, and why is it that way?

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

We aren't sure what the disconnect is either, though it seems to be a difference in both the nature of Sith compared to capes and in culture. Sith are more volatile than capes - though Deskyl is, as I've mentioned, an exceptionally calm Sith - and by nature bad at setting their own wants aside to cooperate with each other, and Sith culture doesn't encourage it. There aren't laws to speak of, for Sith; disagreements are traditionally resolved by duels, often to the death, and otherwise Sith do as they please, or as stronger Sith make them. Allies and coalitions aren't unheard of, but infighting and betrayal are common, and it's rare for unallied Sith to share a planet for any significant length of time without coming to blows. The most stable arrangement of Sith is a master and their apprentice or apprentices, and even then, it's practically traditional for a Sith who takes apprentices to eventually be killed by one.

Things are obviously very different here, but it's still strange to her to see powerful, volatile people working together, and she's not sure how you make that work in practice: How are disputes resolved? What kinds of threats or other escalations are used before or instead of violence, and what traditions do you have regarding them? Are there laws that she's expected to follow, and if so, what are they, and how are they enforced?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

Can she detail the lightning generation further?

Probably; what would you like to know?

It was described as both a striker and a blaster power. What's the range? Where is it generated? How much energy can it be used to generate? How many sources and/or points of contact are needed/used/possible?

These are the last questions and after they're answered a session can be scheduled.

Flora replies to her email, too:

We have a system of law that applies evenly to parahumans and non-parahumans, with some exceptions and added rules for parahumans in particular, since the system was created prior to their existence and had to be adapted to them. The fundamental final threat is violence, but the stepping stones involve formal intimations, fines, and incarceration. There is a special tinker-built prison with a very large number of security features that serves to house the most powerful and dangerous parahuman criminals. I am attaching to this email a text document with the basic information about law in the United States that we send to amnesiac parahumans.

Disputes are typically resolved amicably when at all possible. When it is not possible and the dispute does not have a clear winner in the law, it is possible to formally challenge someone to a legal dispute, and then legal specialists are hired to argue their clients' case and other legal specialists are also consulted to make a decision. Violence between civilians is typically only permitted when the aggressor is a member of law enforcement in the course of their job, in self-defense, in order to prevent further harm or worse violations of the law, or in particular to contain dangerous individuals. Some more cases and examples are covered in the document I am sending, but a full study of all specific edge cases would be very extensive because U.S. law relies by and large on precedent for those, and it is typically not necessary in order to live an ordinary (or parahuman) life.

I hope these were sufficient to clarify most of your doubts.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

She emails back about the lightning power. Deskyl can do it in two ways: the standard version, which acts much like a natural bolt of lightning starting at her hands and going where she directs it, and a personal-range version, which arcs within six to eight inches of her skin, wherever on her body she likes. The standard version becomes harder to control and tends to go to ground if it goes more than a few dozen feet, and it generates about as much energy as a natural lightning strike; in practical terms she can control two bolts at a time - one for each hand - and aim for either a specific object or a general area. The personal-range version is somewhat less powerful, but she has better fine control over it. Both can have a kinetic effect added, to push affected things away when they're hit or try to touch her; the advantage of this over using telekinesis separately is that it takes less of her attention. Neither is suitable for day-to-day power generation, though they could be used for that in an emergency.

And to Flora: 

That's very helpful, thank you.

Do you happen to know whether I would count as a person here, for legal purposes?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

That's all the information they need, they can schedule something in two weeks at the earliest.

Your case is unprecedented, but I believe it could be argued; the possibility of a parahuman-made sapient being has been discussed in legal circles before, so you could be the precedent-setting example.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

Their schedule is open; the time in two weeks will be fine.

And-

Deskyl wants to clarify that she didn't make me; robots are common, mass-produced technology where we're from.

She is interested in having the precedent set as soon as possible, though; who should we talk to about that?

Yours truly,

DZ-12Q

They are scheduled!

There is actually a law draft waiting for a situation. You can contact Senator Burges. His contact information is attached.

Yours truly,

Flora Georges

DZ sends her a thank-you email, and, a conversation later, composes an email to Senator Burges.

Dear Senator Burges,

I am writing to you on behalf of myself, a robot, and Deskyl, my owner. We understand that you have a law drafted regarding legal recognition of robot personhood; we'd like more information about that, and might be interested in being the precedent-setting case for it.

For context, we're new to your planet; Deskyl has powers similar to your parahumans, and teleported us here about two months ago. We're still adjusting to local conventions, but she'd like to arrange for me to have the same protections that a human would as soon as possible. It may also be important that I receive some of the protections usually given to children; robots like me are not very much like humans, but Deskyl estimates that I'm about as mature as a human nine- or ten-year-old right now.

Thank you for your time, and we look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

Dear DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl,

It is a tremendous pleasure to hear from you. I have indeed been working on such a draft; it was only a matter of time until parahumans—or, as it turns out, people like Deskyl—would one way or another produce nonhuman sapient life. We even have cultural protocols for robots, and I am sure we could arrange for your sapience to be certified without doubt.

I would like to meet in person. Would that be possible? When would be best for you?

Best regards,

Manfred Burges

Dear Senator Burges,

We appreciate your foresight. We can certainly meet in person; our schedule is mostly free right now while we wait for Deskyl's powers to be certified, though we do have an appointment for that in two weeks. You should know, however, that Deskyl can read minds; she can't do it casually, especially to new acquaintances, but the Protectorate was concerned enough about it to arrange for us to stay elsewhere anyway.

We're staying at the Shoreline Resort in Brockton Bay at the moment, and have used the nearby Hidden Groove Coffee Bar for previous meetings, or we can meet elsewhere if you can arrange for transportation.

Sincerely,

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

I'll be in New York next weekend, I can hop by Brockton Bay for an afternoon on Sunday. The mindreading is disconcerting but I'll trust you. Does that sound good?

Manfred Burges

That's fine. We'll keep the day free for you.

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

Let's make it a lunch date to have enough time. 12:30 sound good for you?

Manfred Burges

She agrees, and suggests a restaurant; something suitably upscale.

And when the day arrives, they get to the restaurant a little early; DZ has her laptop, and Deskyl orders a cup of tea and watches the room while they wait. (She's expanded her wardrobe a little, and today she's wearing a shirt with dark and bright greens in a geometric pattern and bright yellow embroidery on the sleeves, with black pants and, of course, her 'saber holster. They questioned her about it at the door, but without the blade lit, it's not recognizable as a weapon.)

And the Senator arrives six minutes late. He's a short man in a brownish-grey suit, balding less than his probable forty-something years would suggest he should, and sporting a jovial grin. "Hello, hello, it's nice to meet you—both of you." He sounds genuinely giddy with excitement.

Deskly seems pleased, at that. They both stand; she bows, to a depth that suggests that she considers him an equal, and DZ offers her hand to shake. "It's nice to meet you, too, sir."

DZ pulls out his chair before settling back into her own and continuing, signing as she does. "Deskyl doesn't speak any English yet, so I'll be translating for her."

He shakes her hand right back, enthusiastically. "That's marvelous, such amazing capabilities—I'm sorry, I shouldn't presume. And nor you, no need to call me sir, just Manfred will do." He sits. "How did you learn English while she didn't, so fast?"

"It's in my programming - I was made to be a servant to Sith, specifically, and they often have unusual needs like this. The capability was originally developed for diplomats' robots, which are a very similar type."

"Incredible. What other types of robots are there?"

"There are five main groups, each with a different focus: math and theoretical science, engineering and applied science, interaction with sapient species, fighting, and manual labor. Particular lines of robots are more specialized, but it's generally easy to reuse programming in robots of the same group; I also have basic first aid programming originally written for childcare robots, for example."

"Do you know how likely it is that we'll see other robots around here?" he asks, with barely-concealed excitement at the prospect.

She consults with Deskyl.

"We'd be willing to work with your scientists and engineers on that, if you'd like. We don't expect to be followed, though; Sith can't usually teleport."

"Usually? Why not? How did you two do it?—sorry, you must answer these questions all the time."

"We're not entirely sure, actually. It's not unheard of for Sith to manifest new powers under extreme stress, which was the case, but neither of us have ever heard of a Sith teleporting before."

"So—possible but not likely that other Sith will come at all," he says, nodding. "Do you know whether you're from this universe or not?"

"It's hard to be sure. We're from a different galaxy at very least, though."

"Strange that there would be humans in other planets, though. Or—are you human?" he asks Deskyl.

    "She is. Humans in our galaxy have had spaceflight for a long time, long enough that we're not even sure what planet the species originated on; it is surprising to find you here, but it doesn't feel remarkable."

"As far as everyone knows, humans evolved on this planet," he muses. "We didn't come from anywhere. And we haven't developed spaceflight like that yet."

Deskyl nods.

    "That suggests that this is another universe. Or that we traveled in time, possibly. It doesn't matter very much, though, she has no intention of going home."

"Didn't like it much?" he asks with sympathy.

    "Something like that, and she likes it here so far. Assuming she can arrange for me to be safe here, at least."

"Right, yes, sorry, I got distracted. So, we haven't gotten the political will for it yet because, well, we've had parahumans for several years and none could create sapient beings, as far as we know. But of course that's just a matter of time! Say, have you heard of Dragon?"

"The tinker? Yes sir."

"She's been pretty interested in this, too. She agrees with the reasoning and has been keeping an eye around for news that might indicate the emergence of parahuman-created sapients and thinks this can be really important for the future of humanity and whoever shares the planet with humanity."

    "It certainly could be. We'll get in touch with her."

He nods. "Now, a thing that we might need to do is—test, in a way, your personhood? I'm sorry, this must be horribly offensive."

She pauses for a few moments, thinking about it.

"It's fine, sir," she concludes. "I'm not offended."

"Oh, good," he says, with obvious relief. "Of course, there'll be naysayers and people who think it's just, you know, faked, but it should be enough."

    "Yes, sir."

    "Do you have any ideas for the test? Deskyl thinks that having me translate poetry might be a good one."

"There's a famous one called the Turing Test where a person has to talk to you via text or something and be unable to distinguish you from a regular person."

    "My kind of robot isn't intended to be indistinguishable from a human, sir. I could probably do it anyway, I suppose, but... ... ... I don't want to."

...gosh!

"Why not?"

"It's not what I'm meant to be."

"Well you don't sound impossible to be a human? I don't think someone would be able to tell the difference over text," he says, obliviously.

    "I'll try it if you want me to, sir. But if they ask what I am, I'm not going to hide it."

"Oh, no, you don't need to hide it at all. And they shouldn't ask, if they ask the experiment is invalidated anyway."

    "Deskyl still thinks it's a bad test. She says it's like - if you had to prove to someone from a different country that you were a person by convincing them that you were from their country."

He furrows his eyebrows. "I'm afraid I don't really understand? Do you think you don't currently sound like a person?"

"I sound like a person, sir, I just don't sound like a human."

"There are six billion of us, I'm sure you sound like some human."

   He says: There are six billion of us, I'm sure you sound like some human.

...yeah, did you not know that?

    ...no, Ma'am.

Well. It's true.

    "Oh. Well, I suppose."

He nods and smiles. "I'm sure you'll do just fine, just be yourself."

"Yes sir."

"Do you have any preferences about when and how to do this test?"

"What are the options for how it might be done, sir?"

"You will need to be supervised, of course, to make sure no foul play is happening, and you'll be in a room that prevents wireless signal transmission. You'll probably be typing into a special computer or something but if you have any other opinions and ideas I'm sure people would be okay with implementing them."

"Yes, sir. That will be fine."

"Excellent! That's just marvelous!" he says, beaming hugely.

"Thank you, sir."

"No problem! So, what about date and time?"

DZ confers with her companion.

"We'll need a few days to get in touch with Dragon, but otherwise we'd like to have it done as soon as possible, sir."

He nods. "Yes, of course, of course. Do let me know when you talk to her, then. You have my email."

"We will, sir, thank you."

When they get home, Deskyl takes a nap, and DZ looks online for information about Dragon and the Turing test.

Dragon is one of the most famous heroes around. She seems to be some sort of exception along many axes: she has managed to replicate and improve on other tinkers' designs, in addition to having produced numerous and varied enough other advances that no one really knows what her specialty is. Amongst her more notable inventions are the containment foam and the Birdcage, but she's optimised and streamlined many of the technologies currently in use by the PRT and the Protectorate, and lots of other mass produced advanced technology came from her advances.

On a more personal note, she was in Newfoundland when Leviathan sunk it and got agoraphobia as a trauma response, so she never actually goes out herself to do any heroics, and currently lives in some secret location in Canada. This impairs her less than it would most people due to the advanced robotic extensions that she sometimes uses to participate more physically in activities as well as her online presence everywhere. It's also speculated (but not officially confirmed) that she's one of those capes that doesn't need to sleep, which helps her be as productive as she is.

The Turing test far predates parahumans and was first suggested by a mathematical genius called Alan Turing. He made a somewhat sexist analogy back when the idea was published as a paper in the fifties, and there have been different interpretations over the years about how best to implement the spirit of it, but the general idea is that the AI and a human will communicate with another human who will be the "judge", and the judge has to fail to reliably identify which is which. More recently, in efforts spearheaded by Dragon and the Guild, the test has been formalized and enshrined into law, such that any being who passes it will be legally recognized as a citizen of whichever country they're in when they take the test (if the country has agreed to the International Treaty on Artificial Intelligences), and so will have the same rights and duties as a normal human citizen, plus anything else implied by whatever parahuman-like abilities they might have.

The formal version of the test has three stages:

1. The first stage is a live interview with the AI in which a psychological profile is created.
2. For the second stage, five human volunteers with similar psychological profiles must be found and then vetted by the AI themself. Response time per subject is also recorded at this stage.
3. Finally, the five humans and the AI are separated into different electronically isolated rooms with access only to a text terminal which they will use to talk to a sixth human who has never met the AI or the other humans. Everyone's responses will be delayed to match the slowest volunteer's so that the judge cannot use that to infer anything, and they will converse in six one-on-one chat windows as well as one group conversation with all seven people, for four hours.

Participants are prohibited from accusing anyone else of being the AI or trying to infer each other's identities, and the chat logs are reviewed afterwards to verify this. The judge will give their current probability that each participant is the AI every half an hour, as well as a final best guess at the end plus a justification for their answer. If they give more than 75% probability that the AI is the AI in five out of the seven intermediate estimates, the final best guess is higher than 95% chance that the AI is who they are, or the AI gets the highest probabilities in all eight estimates, the AI fails; otherwise, they pass.

So Dragon is first and foremost an idealistic law-and-order type, okay. That doesn't hang together very coherently with the agoraphobia, but people don't, always; it's not particularly suspicious. Preemptively getting into robot rights shows good foresight, though; Deskyl is curious what else she's working on in the vein of preemptive problem-solving - it doesn't make sense for robot rights to be the only thing, without any special reason to care about that - and has DZ look.

(The Turing test is pretty clever; DZ's age and unusual background might be a problem, but the overall idea seems sound.)

Dragon seems to have a few other such political hobbyhorses—most of them technology-related things, like changes to intellectual property laws in view of tinker tech and other parahuman powers, free access to information and spreading better, faster internet to more and more remote places, or research into technological safety projects like ensuring strike drones do not strike innocents or autonomous cars under development make the correct decisions in situations of uncertainty—but the AI personhood thing is by far the one she's spent the most time and political capital on.

And the others are all much more immediately relevant, too. Odd.

Well, if they're up to something, it's likely something she'll approve of, at least. She has DZ compose a letter.

Dear Dragon,

Hello. I'm writing in regards to your AI personhood project. I am myself a sapient robot, though I'm not tinkertech; my master Deskyl teleported us here a few months ago from a civilization where robots like me are common. She's very interested in having me legally recognized as a person, and Senator Burges is helping us arrange for me to take the Turing test, but he suggested that we talk to you as well; we're particularly interested in knowing whether there are any related issues that you've been working on that we could help with.

Thank you for your time and your work so far,
DZ-12Q

The reply is almost immediate.

Dear DZ-12Q,

It's a pleasure to talk to you. The Senator has talked to me about you, and of course yours and your master's arrival was noticed by many people. It's great to see this work finally having some positive impact in the world!

I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by related issues or how you could help with any of them; do you have any capabilities or context that you can use to help as much as your being a robot helped?

Kindest regards,
Dragon

Dear Dragon,

Without knowing what capabilities and vulnerabilities Tinker-made robots are likely to have, we can only speculate at what laws might be needed to ensure that they're treated properly, but for example the obvious next step in the galaxy we're from would be a law against using hardware or software to restrain a robot in situations where it would be illegal to similarly restrain a human. You might also want to consider laws prohibiting creating robots with particularly detrimental traits - extreme distress at being separated from their creator, for example - or obligating robot creators to financially support their creations for a time, or similar. There's also the question of when a robot should be legally considered an adult, and what protections they should be given if they aren't, since young robots are unlikely to have the same needs as human children.

As to skills, Deskyl does have some training in politics; the hands-on aspects rely on assumptions that don't hold true here, but she may still be useful in that regard.

Looking forward to working with you,
DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl

Dear DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl,

Those are all very important concerns, but when it comes to local law, I believe it's not the time to push for them. I have a number of proposals and drafts drawing from past legal cases involving disabled people and parahumans, but trying to do anything with them before the basic laws regarding the personhood of artificial persons is likely to be detrimental to it. I can send you some as-yet unpublished documents if you would like, though.

Dragon

Dear Dragon,

We'd appreciate that, thank you. We'd particularly like to see anything relating to artificial persons as minors, as Deskyl believes that that issue is relevant to me in particular, though of course we're interested in anything you think we'll be able to help with.

DZ-12Q and Xaari Deskyl