A quiet snort from the far side of the room made him glance over his shoulder. A smile lit his face as Daishar stood from her rug bed and padded to his side, rubbing her cheeks against his knees as she circled him. “At least you’re still here, old girl. You wouldn’t leave me, would you?” One more rub of the frostsaber’s ears, and Tahl returned his attention to the device, Daishar’s happy chuffing keeping him company. As he reseated one last wire to a spare contact, the device suddenly began to shudder and whirr. Light filled the far end of the workshop as the lens on the end of the device began to pour brilliance on the sheet he’d hung up. “It’s running…and it’s not blowing up.”
He watched the device a few nervous minutes longer, listening as the noises of a machine’s initial run eventually settled into a soft-motor rhythm that indicated it was ready to work. With a grin, Tahl inserted the graphic he’d selected into the device’s slot. It was a photograph of his wolf Valiant, something he’d taken so that he could show Kemali and Daashi the animal’s progress on the chance that he encountered them while he was out and Valiant had opted to stay home and snooze before the fire. Carefully, he centered the image in the viewer, made one or two more small adjustments of knobs, and gently pressed the green button that would begin the transformation of two-dimensional data into three-dimensional projection.
When he noticed the smoke trickling out of one end of the machine a few minutes later, he didn’t have time to react. One heartbeat, two – and the device exploded, throwing the blood elf backwards towards his cat. As his head connected with the wall, Tahlian’s last thought was Oh please don’t let us wind up in another stasis field for the next five years…
”Unit operational. Sensors detect master user. Master user, provide designation, please.” Tahlian frowned in his sleep. He lived alone…there shouldn’t be anyone talking to him, not since he switched off his communicator after talking to Liran the night before. “What?”
”Master user operational. Master user, provide designation, please.” The voice was – not metallic – but almost synthesized. It reminded him of a male version of the voices the Titans had given their origination device systems and information banks. Carefully, the Farstrider blinked and sat up. When he realized he was not in his apartment in Silvermoon, he remembered what had happened. Carefully rubbing the back of his head, he looked around for Daishar. The great blue sabercat was crouched next to him, staring intently at something across the room, a low growl rumbling in her throat. When the blood elf turned to follow her gaze, his jaw dropped.
Standing near the remains of the table and the device was what appeared to be a holographic projection of a wolf. The smoking remains of the device told Tahlian well enough the machine was completely incapable of projecting anything at the moment – so where was the wolf coming from? ”Master user, provide designation, please. Classification of hostile and friendly units cannot be processed without master user designation input.”
Dazedly, Tahlian blinked at the hologram. “Designation? What do you mean?” The image seemed to flicker for a moment, giving the Farstrider the impression that it was being very patient with a being whose intelligence was somewhat questionable. ”Every unit has a designation. What is master user’s designation – what do other units call master user?”
“Oh…you mean what they call me? My name is Tahlian.” The hologram nodded at him thoughtfully, nose twitching as it padded forward a step or two. ”Master user designation Tahlian – biometrics stored in memory.” The creature’s head swung left as it focused on the frostsaber, whose tail was whipping back and forth dangerously on the workshop floor. ”Feline unit unknown – is unit friendly or hostile?”
“Friendly! She’s friendly. Ah…feline unit’s designation is Daishar. She belongs to me. Sort of.” Tahilan twined one hand in the great cat’s ruff, not wanting to see if the hologram had any offensive capabilities. ”Feline unit Daishar – friendly. Biometric data stored.” The wolf’s head swung back towards Tahlian. ”Request unit designation, Master User Tahlian.”
“For what unit?” If I’ve hit my head and I'm dreaming, this is one for the diaries. If it’s real…and that thing is independent of a projector…Gizmo is going to want to see this.
”This unit. What is the designation of self unit?” Tahlian gaped. A name. It has a sense of self and it wants a name…
“Let me…let me think on unit designation for a minute, please.”
”Agreed. Unit in wait mode. End of line.” The wolf-hologram lowered its haunches to the floor and sat, watching the blood elf expectantly.
So...Tahl has a ghost wolf - or in his case, a hologram.
The unit has requested a designation, and like Tahl, I have no idea what to name it. Something to the male end of things and, since Tahl is an engineer, likely tech-oriented would be great. I had considered perhaps yoinking a name from Tron or its sequel...but I don't want to fall afoul of naming rules.
