Measurements Taken

Wobble turned, watching the Betta Tester float around in its tank as Hugo took measurements of her tail and fins. Wobble didn’t really understand why there had to be new measurements for each angle, but she’s also not the one taking the measurements, and it’s not like she really has anywhere to be today besides here, so turning another 30 degrees to the left and slowly raising and lowering their tail then swishing it side to side when asked as if this were a mechanical check-up it is.

Well, she does actually have somewhere else to be today, technically, but that’s not for another couple hours and Wibble is ridiculously late half the time anyway, they can manage to wait a couple minutes for their sibling if Wobble happens to be a little tardy because she needed to explain more in-depth about how exactly she was built to withstand the pressure that is put upon everything at the bottom of the very deep pool that is the sea of Aerthir-32.

Oh woops, she’d zoned out. Hugo’s asking a question. How different is navigating underwater from navigating on land? Well, one is more three dimensional and the other is mostly a flat surface with some bumps. The water gives more resistance, but also more freedom. Oh, Hugo meant how she physically moves through water compared to land.

“Movement is awkward either way, but in water it’s basically how any merbot moves, tail flapping but with purpose. On land it’s just like walking with three pairs of legs, except the legs are slightly too short so I’m also trying not to just be dragging myself across the ground. Being damaged is more dangerous when you’re regularly entering deep liquid”

“Movement is awkward?”

“If you’re going to build an aquatic amicabot, it’s probably better to give them legs with fins, or just accept that a tail typically won’t allow them easy movement on land. Having arms on a segmented tail is actually not that great. It’s good for my purpose, but unless you need this new bot to also gather things from the bottom of the ocean, you’re better off taking design ideas from literally any other aquatic bot’s construction”

Hugo looked thoughtful at that. Good. Wobble was built for the specific purpose of being a gatherer, so that’s what her body is designed to be most efficient for. This meant compromises were made towards other functions: she can’t hear as well as most others, that is not needed underwater where it’s too difficult to determine which direction sound is coming from anyway. She isn’t very fast, her arms actually hindering most movement away from the ocean floor. She’s not meant to be on land a lot, only needing to drop off any gathered materials before submerging again.

But here she is, now just sitting on the stool she had previously been moving in circles on top of- well, sitting as well as she could, anyway. She was more just standing using the three pairs of arms on her tail as usual, but since it’s a chair she’s standing on, it may as well be described as sitting. She’s a gatherer, not a… literature… person. She forgets what that profession is called. A literarian? Literator? Academic or whatever? Her point is that she’s not qualified to define how adjectives should be used, and she’s getting lost in a train of thought that does not at all pertain to what is actually happening in front of her again. Forcing herself to actually pay attention and listen to the words outside her digital mind rather than the several more chapters worth of thoughts she could have about what counts as sitting or standing when you don’t even have legs, she answered all of Hugo’s questions as well as she could: Yes, seeing in the dark or having some sort of sonar ability is necessary, the sun and the bottom of the ocean don’t get along, if you want to reach a meaningful depth in the ocean you need to at least have a light to not just be blind. Yes she has a waterproof coating, it protects her casing from getting worn down quickly. Openings are not okay, you don’t want saltwater, or any water really, entering the body. She actually has no idea what material her ribbon is made of, but it is permanently attached. It stays on because it is attached with industrial strength water-proof adhesive to a bolt in her shoulder. I guess you can go ahead and feel it even though that’s a little weird. Yes tentacles are a viable option, Wibble exists and seems to be doing just fine. Sure you can probably also measure them if you can get them to stay still. Sure, hair probably won’t be practical, but it shouldn’t ruin anything if you use a good material for it. Stop phrasing your questions like statements, I’m the expert here. Actually why are you making an aquatic bot anyway, you’re partially made of fire.

After a debate on how the unique materials used to make some amicabot’s bodies can potentially affect them both physically and socially, and a couple more questions regarding proper waterproofing and underwater travel, Wobble excuses herself to meet with her sibling.

She was, in fact, about half an hour late. But Wibble was even more late as they arrived ten minutes after Wobble, so it didn’t matter much anyway.