(Tia gives us an overview of the computer she uses on the base and it would be a disservice to call it user friendly. She relates on functions that take it to the next level as far as being aware of who is the operator. It certainly goes beyond anything the HAL 9000 was capable of in its representation.) 

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Russ: now is there a way you can set it up on the computer so that the computer could do all the figuring out for you at least in the same style as yours is doing?

Tia: no, for that you would need probably maybe…

Russ: a hundred gigs?

Tia: ohhhh, just for you to make use stop and pause and go is that alive and then realize that it’s not.

Russ: it’s alive.

Tia: you are talking probably about a hundred thousand gig.

John: a hundred thousand gig?

Tia: uh-huh, ours up here on the base has approximately two million gig in your terms.

Russ: yeah.

John: and what's state-of-the-art nowadays Russ? Ten?

Russ: 10.4, you can get more but it's so expensive.

Tia: uh-huh.

Russ: used to be a hundred megabytes of information was top of the line. Now it’s a thousand, now it's two thousand and four, she's talking two million.

Tia: uh-huh.

John: beyond our comprehension?

Tia: yeah.

Russ: no but it’s just a different language.

Tia: uh-huh well also the language written into the computer for it to be able to think for itself, to act for itself and so on is so far beyond your current technology that......it is so far beyond the current technology of my home planet that I have difficulty sometimes. I talk to the computer and it understands me when I talk English or Durondedunn, it understands exactly what I’m saying and it will answer and it will mimic if I’m going, "well, this.......no no no, let me do it this way" and the computer will go, "will you make up your mind please? I can’t stand here all day whilst you vacillate and wobble between what you're going to do and what you're not going to do".

John: and that computer gives you that feedback immediately?

Tia: uh-huh, it will behave as if it’s irritated or if you are in a mood that you need cheering up, it will tell you jokes, it will make you laugh, it will behave like somebody’s trying to cheer you up. It will behave like it’s playful, it will play practical jokes on you.

Russ: but it’s not aware.

Tia: I don’t think so.

Russ: hmm.

Tia: sometimes it seems like it is or at least the way that I talk to it and it talks back to me in the same way. In fact the other day, no it was before I went on my break, I got quite irritated and it told me to relax and calm down and I got annoyed with it saying, "will you shut up and let me just do my work?" and it said, "if you don’t relax and calm down, I’m not working". So we had an argument over whether or not the computer was going to work whilst I was throwing a temper tantrum.

John: you had an argument with the computer?

Tia: uh-huh, quite drawn out actually.

John: sorry. From our standpoint.......

Tia: uh-huh.

John: from a more practical standpoint, have you given Russ and Mark enough information to upgrade and to form this web and do the best we can with the capabilities available on this planet and this dimension?
 
Tia: oh there is a lot more that we can discuss but that is limited by energy endurance of Mark and also time on the recording device which is running short.

John: now, so I’m assuming that we are going to discuss this and this will be part of our discussion in the future.

Tia: oh yes, I will elaborate more at a later time but at the moment I have to do a little bit of research and translate from Durondedunn......well I have to translate from English to Durondedunn so I can comprehend it properly and then back to English so that I can explain it to you without getting all confused.

John: I understand but you do understand that my heavy is not in computers.

Tia: I understand.

John: I’m very computer ignorant but I think that my cooking and first aid and mountaineering background will come in handy.

Tia: yes I think it will but when we worked yesterday, Mark and myself on Russ' computer, we did manage to get the system up and running and we did manage to get everything taken care of. Even though it was responding real slowly, which still baffles me a little bit.

Russ: the turbo was off.

Tia: no it wasn’t.

Russ: oh it wasn't?

Tia: no.

Russ: oh Mark said it was.

Tia: Mark thought it was.

Russ: oh, hmm.

Tia: but it was still responding slowly, I got frustrated a couple of times with first of all the lag from up here to Mark because Mark was not typing as fast as I would like and he was asking me, "are you sure that’s what you want to say?" We were going backwards and forwards and it wasn't as quick and then the computer itself was being slow. I mean if I had got into Mark’s body and done what Kiri did which I can do, the headset works better on me than it does on Kiri actually, I would be able to link in and type real rapidly.

John: through Mark’s body?

Tia: uh-huh.

John: but Mark himself doesn't type that fast.

Tia: no, he uses…..

John: he does have some typing skills along with Russ.

Tia: his method on the keyboard is hunt and peck.

John: okay.

Tia: he's like a chicken. Me, I use two fingers.

John: is there......two hands you mean?

Tia: two hands, two fingers.

John: you said two fingers….

Tia: sorry.

John: and you’re moving all your fingers and your thumb.

Tia: uh-huh.

John: and you have four fingers and a thumb?

Tia: that’s correct, my fingers.......my hands look like your hands apart my fingers are little longer and slender and elegant.