...And We Will Have Snow

Chapter 8-4: Drones and Avatars

Newt put his lenses on and activated his drone. When he did he saw her drone walking toward him. Sedna saw that Newt's drone avatar was wearing a gray flight suit. Hers was still dressed in the same shirt and jeans, pretty much her favorite outfit.

They left the apartment together and walked their drones to the lobby entrance. As they reached the main concourse on the dining and lounging level, Sedna was amazed at the variety of people they saw, both drones and natural. She had never been in a place like this before. The high tech atmosphere, the sheer number of active drones walking about, was a new experience for her. She was accustomed to being one of the very few drones in most places she went. She began to comment to Newt on her observations.

"You know, aside from the few brazenly ostentatious avatars, it's hard to tell drones from people."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It can be confusing, at least to a casual observer. But there are some obvious clues."

"You mean if you're not wearing lenses drones look like drones."

"And people look like people. But that's almost too obvious. Even if you are wearing lenses, you can peek over the tops."

"But if you're driving a drone, like we are, it's not so easy."

"Right. Drones don't need lenses, they are lenses; auxiliary remote viewing lenses."

"And they automatically pick up and project the avatars for you. But you can turn off the AR, peek over the top so to speak, if you remember how. I hardly ever do."

"Same here. But if your drone sees someone apparently not wearing lenses, what are they? Other drones, or people wearing lenses and projecting that they aren't?"

"That's where it starts to get confusing. Avatars don't need lenses, they're projections from lenses. So when you see a normal-looking avatar, it could be a real person."

"Yeah, hard to tell unless there's a bit of transmission flicker or a bright light shines through the projected part."

"And drone operators do, as a rule, have to wear lenses, to give them feedback from the drone. Normally they'll be somewhere safe, like we are, focused on the drone's input to the lenses they're wearing. But they could be out near their drone, projecting only through the drone with no body avatar. Then you could see that they're wearing lenses."

"Sure, but what are the chances?"

"True."

"It's only people who need lenses, so they can interact in the AR world. Drones are just drones if you can't see the avatar they're projecting."

Sedna nodded thoughtfully. "But why so many drones here?"

"NASA always has a lot of remote visitors, and many of them will have reasons to walk around, interacting more widely than they could in an AR enabled meeting room."

"Of course! It's easy to forget that meetings often don't require a drone presence, a simple AR avatar may be preferred."

"But as your example demonstrates, there are many things a drone can do that a human operator can't. Simply put, it affords mobility of viewpoint."

"And I suppose it's not just me who prefers my own personal drone to a guest drone."

"Right. A personal drone can be customized, physically augmented in various ways."

"Like pockets!" Sedna patted a panel on her carbon fiber thigh.

"Anyway, not to miss out, most human residents here have grown accustomed to wearing lenses so they can identify drones that would otherwise be facelessly anonymous."

"Including you?"

"Including me."

Sedna was beginning to get excited about the possibilities, something she had explored only functionally.

"So with that choice comes the option of 'dressing' in an avatar? Adorning your human presence that way in preference to normal attire?"

Newt nodded his avatar head. The gesture made Sedna realize that this conversation, which they were actually having back in the room, on the bed, was being projected to their avatars so they would appear to be talking together as they walked.

Newt said, "Yes. And with this system of 'dressing up' by means of an avatar comes the temptation, resisted by few, of 'dressing down' in person."

"So a person walking through this space without lenses will see, along with some drones, people in casual dress wearing lenses?"

"Very casual. Try it and see."

Sedna turned off the VR overlay on what her drone was seeing, and saw that many of the actual people were wearing jeans, or even sweats. These people were often accompanied by drones, obviously visitors, who one would not normally dress this way to meet. All she could say was "Wow, Newt! I had no idea. Those three guys over there in sharp-looking business suits? Two of them are actually wearing sweats. And from the look of them they couldn't look sharp in a business suit if they tried! " Newt chuckled.

"There's also a custom developing of removing your lenses when in casual conversation with a friend."

"Unless you're also operating a drone, like we're doing now."

Newt's avatar nodded its head again. This time Sedna observed that he did that in the room as well. The avatar was echoing his actual gestures. She well knew that the human operator needed only to hint at a gesture, and the avatar software would pick it up and relay it to the drone in the manner intended. She had never been this intimate with both a drone and its operator before.

Sedna turned her VR back on. "So in a facility like NASA's here, a drone's visual sensors will pick up this mix of other drones presenting an avatar, people wearing lenses and presenting an avatar, or people not wearing lenses and appearing as their natural selves."

"Right. The 'naturals' can usually be assumed to be local residents, especially if they are casually dressed. Those like you who are visiting in person will normally not dress so casually."

Back on the bed Sedna blushed. She tried to keep that from showing on her avatar. Her secret intention was to get a lot more casual in person with Newt.