“That’s…wait how much is...” Senjen briefly froze up. That was a lot of money, more than enough to tempt nearly anyone. It wasn’t as impressive as it sounded once he checked it against the exchange rate to his homeworld’s currency, but it was still quite a lot. He had an idea of how he could hide the data he was transporting, and he nearly jumped on the offer right then and there, but going through her offer a few times in his head, he realized something unsettling. The reason she said an OS image would not work was because the scan needed his personality matrix...because it used the personality matrix to function. The inner functioning of the personality matrix was not completely understood, even by the Utaysi themselves. It was very difficult to modify non-destructively, much like an organic brain. Even if the scan was just reading data and not modifying it, the idea of a program breaching through and interacting with it directly was frankly terrifying.
“Sorry, this is a lot...that is a lot...it’s just...scanning my frame’s OS is one thing. That’s like doing a scan of one of your neural implants. Invasive, but safe. But you said the scan touches the personality matrix? Uses it, even? That’s more like brain surgery. Well, not quite, but...you get the idea. You’re offering a lot, but I don’t know if you understand how terrifying that is. Or...maybe you do, and that’s why the number is so high.” This time, Senjen forgot to inhibit his body’s reactions. Even as a mechanical being, Utaysi frames had plenty of parts on their outer shell that could actuate purely for non-verbal expression, similarly to their organic progenitors. He was nervous, indecisive, and it showed.
Senjen lowered his head somewhat. “I...I can’t do it. If it were just my frame, I’d agree in a metaphorical heartbeat, but having a scan poking around in my ‘brain’ is just too much. I’m sorry, I wish you luck, but I have to decline.”
“Sorry, this is a lot...that is a lot...it’s just...scanning my frame’s OS is one thing. That’s like doing a scan of one of your neural implants. Invasive, but safe. But you said the scan touches the personality matrix? Uses it, even? That’s more like brain surgery. Well, not quite, but...you get the idea. You’re offering a lot, but I don’t know if you understand how terrifying that is. Or...maybe you do, and that’s why the number is so high.” This time, Senjen forgot to inhibit his body’s reactions. Even as a mechanical being, Utaysi frames had plenty of parts on their outer shell that could actuate purely for non-verbal expression, similarly to their organic progenitors. He was nervous, indecisive, and it showed.
Senjen lowered his head somewhat. “I...I can’t do it. If it were just my frame, I’d agree in a metaphorical heartbeat, but having a scan poking around in my ‘brain’ is just too much. I’m sorry, I wish you luck, but I have to decline.”