trans_9 | [open] rebuilding what we can at the cost of what we can't do

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[open] rebuilding what we can at the cost of what we can't do

Sakura look a left turn between two disparate pieces of architecture, eyes sliding over them both without truly appreciating what they saw. An inventory of places that were problematic for being hiding spots, possible ambush zones, tactical advantages in territory ran though her mind, along with figures and numbers for things she kept track of to make sure her thoughts weren't allowed much time to wander.

As it was, they were still getting away from her, heavy with emotions and logical conclusions that played off loyalty and desire to protect all at once. It left her looking pensive as she walked through the city, making her way toward the Great Wall of a country she would never see.

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The only birds who tended to be around here were either named Allen, or Animorph. Possibly Celena, or that other dragon.

"Have you flown around in there at all?"

"Yeah, I do it in the City all the time. I mean, it's the fastest way to get places. Unless you're on the train, but that's kinda only for places that are close to the tracks. And the most interesting places to explore are away from the tracks, you know?"

You did know, right, Sakura?

She did! If her nod, more of an incline of her head, was the most agreeance she outwardly gave. "The tracks cover next to no part of this City," she agreed. "Not to mention the rest of the ship, if flying isn't as practical in other sections."

"Nah," Atom said, waving his hand. "You can still fly in the hallways if you're in a hurry. You just have to look out and make sure you don't run into anyone! But yeah, do you know who built the tracks? They are pretty handy."

"I think that was..." she trailed off, searching her memory. "Rock Light. He was around a while back. He's responsible for the amusement park nearby, the one that's all run by robots?"

He brightened. "Wow, really? He must have been busy while he was here. I went to that Amusement Park and it was really fun! There was a roller coaster and a ferris wheel and a magician show and everything! I was wondering if he made all those robots. I mean, there are robots that are roboticists, but most of the famous ones are human..."

"I wonder why that is." Sakura did, honestly, wonder why that was the case. "Are humans more likely to try and create things in their own image? I mean, look at the Gundams. If humans weren't building so many robots, would we have a greater functional variety? Do other species create robots that look like or take after them?"

"Well... I guess people are more likely to make stuff they find familiar. But it's more like... on my world, the most advanced robots are built with the most advanced AIs. The most human AIs. Robots just aren't as good at making humanlike AIs as a human would be. Probably."

With one major exception, of course.

"I haven't met any alien roboticists before. Maybe they might not even make robots at all."

"Why would robots necessarily want to make humanlike AI's?" Mind, Sakura's world didn't have robots of any kind. To her, robots were any mechanical construct, usually with some kind of artificial intelligence to guide their actions. Presumably. She was guessing based on fairly limited contact around here.

Did "artificial people" fall into this category as well?

"What would they make, if not robots?" An alien roboticist that didn't make alien robots? Would that be an alien engineer?

"I don't know. Because humans do?" Sheesh, he wasn't a roboticist -- how would he know?

"Uh... maybe... spaceships? Or cool bio-domes?" Come to think of it, Atom might not have met any aliens at all, besides N'tho. "Well, maybe not that big guy on the ship. He looks like he's more into spears and swords."

For some reason, his answer made her smile. "What makes an alien alien, in your mind? Is someone not from Earth an alien?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well, yeah, pretty much. Aliens all come from other planets, like Mars or outside the solar system."

Sakura held out her hand, offering for a handshake. "Then as an alien, can I say it's officially nice to meet yet another person from Earth? If I admit, we don't have anyone working on robotics where I'm from, or I might have a better answer to the questions I've been asking you."

Atom reached out to take her hand. "Well, I'm not so sure you're an alien, either. That would make Miss Vala one, too. But it's nice to meet you! I'm Atom. Tetsuwan Atom."

Ninja giving handshakes what even.

"Haruno Sakura. Miss Vala might be one. Alien at it's heart means someone who isn't quite like you, you know? People from outside my village were alien to me in a lot of ways, when I was younger. Sharing a species doesn't always mean sharing the same point of view."

If she smiles, and shakes her head. "Sorry, I don't mean to confuse the idea, and I think that's all I'm doing."

Atom made a face. "That's a different kind of alien. Not a space alien."

Although come to think of it, Vala did live in space.

"What do you mean, your village? What village did you live in?"

"A hidden one," she said, "The Village Hidden in the Leaves. Though if space is what you need to be an alien, and we're all in space, what does that make us all?"

"Still not aliens," said Atom, explaining patiently because clearly Sakura had never seen a sci-fi movie. "Aliens come from space. We're just traveling through it."

"Sounds like a pretty nice village. Or at least it has a nice name."

He's so very right about that. "Then an alien who's never left their planet isn't an alien, because they haven't learned to travel through space?"

Her thoughts briefly turned to Konoha, then turned away. She didn't like thinking about it. Not without private time to mourn? Yes, that was what she did, wasn't it. "It was beautiful. I guess most people say that about their homes, don't they? Or that there's something they miss, even if it was a living h... unpleasant place."

"Nope, they're still an alien."

Atom frowned a little. "Well, not everyone says their home is beautiful. Nice, maybe. Or cool. So you didn't like it there? How come?"

"Then aren't I still an alien? I'm not from Earth, or anything shaped like Earth."

By now she was more teasing than being serious. His question about liking her home caught her off guard.

"Oh, I did! I loved it there. There were problems, there's always problems, and it was being rebuilt most recently after... well, it was being rebuilt."

Too bad, Sakura! Atom was bored of talking about aliens.

"How come it had to be rebuilt? Was there an earthquake there? Or a war?" Both, honestly, seemed equally plausible to him. After all, you didn't call your home a living hell for nothing.

"War," she said after a moment, lips pressing into a thin line as she looked up and away. Alien architecture was a welcome distraction to remembering an act of war in a time before war had been called for.

If war could ever truly be called for.

"There was a place like that where I came from," Atom said. "It was a country called Persia. They started rebuilding after the war was over, but it'd take years before they could ever get back to where they were before." If, in fact, they could return to the conditions they'd experienced before the war. Much of Persia was still recovering economically... and of course, the mental effects of a conflict like that would take a long time to fade.

In any case, he was being a little disingenuous talking about it like it had happened in some other country, without affecting his own life -- because he'd been there, just as the conflict was ending, as part of the peacekeeping forces.

"Persia." She loved these names, saying them out loud. She couldn't manage Persia perfectly, and it showed even through the translation. Something with the r not sounding quite right. "War takes a toll. It's worse when there's not a lot of time between them, and the worst when you're living in a constant feudal state. Our whole world was like that not even ninety years ago."

Before the villages, when everyone suffered so much more for what the clans failed to provide. Too disjointed, all competing, and all grabbing for the most meager funds and promises of food and shelter just to survive. It wasn't a pleasant time in shinobi history, and Sakura was glad she hadn't been born during it.

One of many things she's glad about in retrospect. "On the bright side, countries rebuild. Towns come back. Trade re-establishes, and life goes on, one way or another."

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watch this have been covered already I DO WHAT I... FORGET ABOUT

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