Limitations

By Cybra

A/N: Set during “The Boy in the Computer” when Aelita and Jeremy are in the tower regenerating their life points. Specifically, when they’re having their little discussion on the senses. The dialogue is actually from the original fic.

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko belongs to the French. All definitions used here are from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

What was…touch?

He couldn’t understand the gesture of her placing her palm against his. Was it like when he placed his hand against the screens in the towers to gain access to the system? Did she wish to obtain access to his private memory banks? How and for what purpose?

He mentally reached for his link to the internet, hunting for the strange word she had used. Surprisingly, there was a wide range of definitions, so he narrowed it down based upon her action with her hand.

To put your hands or fingers onto.

‘Thanks for the help,’ he thought sarcastically. There had to be some other meaning that she’d intended.

Aelita looked up into his eyes, clearly seeking something. “You can’t even feel that, can you?”

Ah. It was a way of receiving input. He reached for the link again.

The sense that enables you to be aware of things and what they are like when you put your hands and fingers on them.

Humans could receive sensory input through their hands? Their hands could do more than simply grasp things? With dizzying speed, he discovered that those same hands could determine temperature, weight difference, and texture among other things.

But his hands…they felt nothing.

A depressing thought, and he was forced to shake his head in response to her query.

“But you feel pain when the lasers hit you. We don’t. When Ulrich got hit earlier, he said he yelled since he was more surprised than anything. It was more of a dull ache.” She looked down at their joined hands. “What senses do you have?”

He watched her. Clearly, there was more to her question than met the eye. He lacked touch. Did that mean he lacked…more? Just how complex were these creatures that he mimicked? “I have full auditory and visual capabilities.”

“That’s all?”

“What else is there?”

‘Tell me,’ he thought greedily. ‘Tell me what I’m missing, please.’

“Well, there’s touch for one thing. And taste and smell.”

“Humans have…five senses?”

Five senses. Five sources of blessed input. Five sources of data constantly streaming in to process. Oh, how glorious that must be!

He looked down at their palms, sliding his fingers down against hers to wrap around her hand. He wanted to feel it. He wanted to feel the texture of her skin. He wanted to sense the pressure his fingers placed upon her hand. Just being able to see it wasn’t enough anymore.

“You must’ve noticed when you shapeshifted into your animal forms.”

“My canine forms do have the capability to detect the monsters’ code with their noses, but it’s more of an extension of sight,” he said absently.

“Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. The computer must be compensating for the actual sense.”

So smell was tied to the nose. He would have to look more into smell and taste later when the clock wasn’t ticking. That and research touch. To be able to test all three first-hand…!

He looked up to see her looking down at their hands, her face becoming a shade of red. Curious. What did this mean? “Why is your face all red?”

“Um…I…”

He paused as the supercomputer alerted him to their fully-restored life points. He sighed. And he had just obtained some fascinating new data! “I’m sorry, Aelita, but we’ll have to finish our conversation later. Our life points have finished regenerating. We must be on our way before XANA gathers enough strength to activate more towers and wreck more havoc on your world.”

Her cheeks slowly resumed their normal color as she nodded. “Let’s go get the others.”