Amvi peered down his glasses at the terminal screen, paging through the default library of Quales encoded into the Soluma. It was slated to be used in a new draconic limb in Abominable's next five-year release plan.
His brows furrowed. He turned to the man sitting at the workbench next to him, Pell. Amvi had only worked at Abominable for a few years. Pell was a long-hauler with decades (plural!) of experience. He knew the Old Lore, from all the way back when these libraries were first encoded by WorldBiotic.
"Hey Pell, why is there canine Qualia here? It's got quite the memory footprint, but it doesn't seem like something that would be easily overlooked."
Pell grumbled something. Perhaps he was upset at having his concentration broken. Perhaps he needed to clear his throat. Probably both. "Harrumph... what? What's that?"
"Why is there canine Qualia in the Qualia library?"
"Hmmm. Oh! That would be George."
"Who's George."
"He was...." Pell dragged the moment out as he recalled the facts. "He was the lead researcher's dog. For his time, George was an especially intelligent specimen of Mensahund. If there was a trick a dog could do, he learned it by the time he was an adult, and everything he learned beyond that is everything dogs still strive to be even to this day. The George library is the single-most complete and detailed quadrupedal library to date."
"Well, that's super-cool, but this limb is meant to replace your arm. It's not a quadrupedal mod, can we remove it.
Pell shook his head, lips drawn taut as though Amvi's question was sacrelige. "Naw, can't do that. For what it gives us in terms of adoption of fine motor skills, there's no library with nearly as good a footprint. What it gives us is not extra."
"It just... seems silly to use a quadrupedal library on a bipedal augment."
Pell scoffed. "You'll come to see with time. George is everywhere. He made a mighty fine library. I see you have a nose aug... the piercing in your nose is the controller? Is that the nasal detection aug?"
Amvi nodded. He kept it low at most times, especially while at work. It was wonderful for smelling his garden, awful for picking up on his coworker's farts.
"And have you ever had a dream where you were walking contentedly alongside a balding man through lush, dark woods."
Amvi gasped, a smile spreading across his face. "Is that one of George's reveries?!" He cried out in boyish delight. "My nasal aug has the George library in its driver?"
Pell's scowl broke into a smile and he nodded. "Like I said, George was a very good boy.
George is the very best boy.