Schrödinger’s Box! Until its opened it is in a superposition of containing an earth shattering doomsday device or a very fancy future oven timer! Lets open it immediately and find out!

Is she... using her eye as a spotlight??

>>1094134
I think it's just a gold plated orb, nonfunctional. These people don't have cybernetics.

>>1094130
Ooooh a present. What's in the box?

Oh boy! They saw how much you liked the first rubic cube and got you another.

Whatever it is, why not let it distract you for a bit until you're in a better head space to grapple with your grief?

First, take your time with the hug if you need a moment longer. Its good for you!
Second, appreciate that this capacity for feelings (and sadly also trauma) is another indicator for you being actually originally human or such a human-like artifical construct that there is little difference at this point.
Third, I like the guess that they got you another enrichment item and second it, but maybe don't tell them beforehand. They seem so happy with making it a surprise :)
Fourth, consider that your human capacity for getting overwhelmed by grief/trauma and other emotions could be kinda dangerous with your until now not fully tested physical capabilities. I mean even with normal strengh getting overwhelmed is bad because it feels awful, so maybe we should think about something for emotional anchoring like a fidget toy, a mantra or something that helps with staying calm when more memories come back?

Or an Emotional Support Gamal. They're great at this, maybe they can keep us?

Interesting Idea, but with this I have to raise the issues of of consent and transportability. Something we always have at hand seems... handier.

Funny. Summing up the three digits per name each results in a different number, and it looks almost as if they're ordered.

Excitement 20. Anguish 19. Rage 18. Almost like we're counting down to Serenity.

Just in case you need a pointless detail gnawing at the back of your skull.

Silicon 2024/07/30(Tue)15:24 No. 1094966 ID: acf30e
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"Just another minute.", you say and linger in the embrace just a bit longer.

You compose yourself eventually. "Ok...", you say with a sniff, "Yeah okay, let's have a look."

You let go of Gamal with some hesitation and they give you a compassionate smile before returning to their seat on the opposite side of the table.

Maya chatters away as she grabs the box and carefully places it into your hands.
"One of the things I picked to show you was a bit controversial.", she says, "Shyama and Vijaya both said it looked like a bomb. Can you believe that? Ridiculous. As if we could determine the purpose of your advanced technology at a glance! And who would keep a bomb in their own room?!"

You open the box.

Silicon 2024/07/30(Tue)15:24 No. 1094967 ID: acf30e
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Inside you find three devices. Two of them instantly feel quite familiar: a sleek Bit-on-Demand (a versatile tool for making disposable tools) and a HoloRec (a novelty holo-message player and recorder), with its characteristic orientation flaps on top. These give you a faint, but warm fuzzy feeling.

Hey, you know what these are! That's good! That's a memory!

If your impression of Maya is accurate, the Bit-on-Demand is probably gonna blow her mind. It's a very practical thing with obvious utility.

Given her comments on your hair, she'll probably also love the HoloRec, but... It's more toy than tool, which might make it less impressive. Though the technology it uses is probably still quite interesting.

The third one in the back isn't immediately recognizable behind the HoloRec. You idly wonder which one of these you should pick out to explain first, as you fish out the mystery device for a better look.

Silicon 2024/07/30(Tue)15:24 No. 1094968 ID: acf30e
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...

Silicon 2024/07/30(Tue)15:24 No. 1094969 ID: acf30e
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...

Silicon 2024/07/30(Tue)15:24 No. 1094970 ID: acf30e
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This is a bomb.

Hey uh… Maya uh… this is a bomb.

Is it... ticking? Can you disarm it? Or just flush it out the airlock.
The holo-rec could be critical to memory recall. You should probably not get it blown up.

Tell her this object should not have left the armory, on account of it being explosives.
Then check that it's not armed, put it back in the box, and take the rest out of the box.

Is it a makeshift bomb or, like, an official one?

Ask Maya where exactly they found it. It wasn't in your (rage's) room was it?

>>1094970
How powerful a bomb is it? Is it something you'd rather they not have access to? In that case you should confiscate it... somehow. Or disable it in a way they won't be able to reverse.

At this point they have access to ALL the things in the base and you are kinda technically their prisoner, so I don't know if that works. Disabling is first priority, if possible permanently so we don't habe a Chekhov's Bomb on our hand...

Lol, I say. Lmao.

I don't think we should immediately tattle about the bomb? If Shyama finds out, this might become part of the tech he will try to use in the war. We should first check if it is disarmed and defuse it if not, I think. Maya can probably be trusted with the knowledge what it actually is, if we also tell her that we don't want it to be used anywhere. Perhaps we can instead offer its energy source up for something?

The tool in the box will probably help disarm this puppy.

And then, we should check out the Holo-Rec. It... might contain a message from Dee.

Tell her about the other two, but say you're not sure about the third object. Even without amnesia, it's not like you were proficient in bomb making! Then ask her if it could be a bomb. Try to learn what they have figured out about it.

Is this an improvised pipe bomb or something used for legitimate demolitions work?

Silicon 2024/08/13(Tue)07:37 No. 1095761 ID: 1d6349
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You inspect the bomb further. This does not take a lot of time because it wears its nature on its sleeve. It's a pipe bomb, a makeshift thing. Attached to the casing are a switch and some kind of small circuit board with a little screen and wires running into the casing. That's probably a timer.

Honestly, this thing is beyond old-fashioned. It makes the puzzle cube look state-of-the art. The most advanced thing about this is the circuit board, which judging from the wiring was scavenged from a much more complex device. Barely any of it is used.

Now you don't really have any way of knowing what's in there exactly, but the fact that it's a pipe bomb suggests that the payload is nothing to write home about. The whole point of this kind of bomb is compensating for weak explosives by detonating them inside a sealed container to build pressure until the casing shatters. It can be assembled from readily available materials, though it's highly unsafe.

It's a nasty, brutal thing. Unlikely to do a lot of structural damage to the habitat, but the container shrapnel would make it quite lethal. It depends a bit on the state of the explosive mixture inside. Perhaps it's long gone inert and this is nothing more than an edgy paperweight.
It's also possible that it's a dud, that the thing has already ignited on the inside and simply failed to break the casing, in which case it's full of highly pressurized gas just waiting to blow.
But turning the bomb in your hands you can see no bulging, so you have a good feeling about the integerity of the casing.

Based on the assumption that this thing is exactly what it appears to be, it should be fairly simple to disarm. And given the fact that your captors know what bombs are, this design is probably not gonna blow anybody's mind.

And it should be pretty safe to just cut the wires and rip off the circuit board and explain what this thing does in detail.

Again... if it's exactly what it appears to be.

But then there's the amnesia. How sure can you be of these conclusions?
Well you're still pretty sure. But perhaps, given the risk, that's not good enough.

Silicon 2024/08/13(Tue)07:37 No. 1095762 ID: 1d6349
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You decide to play your cards close to your chest while you ponder what to do with this. You fish for more info.

Clearing your throat, you ask: "You found this in my room?"
"Yeah it was on the shelf over there.", Maya replies, "What is it?"

You try to sound nonchalant: "What do you think it is? Got any guesses?"

She grimaces and says: "I don't know! That's why I asked."
"Come on, guess!", you demand.
"You're just gonna make fun of me because I'm not advanced enough to recognize a machine I wouldn't even imagine anybody could ever need!", she replies, defensively.
You promise: "I'm not going to make fun of you. Come on, guess!"

Maya sighs and with some hesitation ventures a guess: "Well it's clearly handmade and seems like it's pressurized. While I can see why someone would assume it's a bomb, context clues tell me it can't possibly be. So, best guess is it's for some kind of chemical or biological reaction that requires pressure, most likely to make something you can't get any other way. So... uh... some kind of medicine fabricator?
"Also uh we didn't break it. It was already broken."

A feeling of dread descends upon you.
"It's broken? How do you know?"
"I flicked that switch a couple times when we found it yesterday.", she says, "The little screen wouldn't even turn on. No lights, nothing."

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Tell her you were of the opinion that it was a bomb, and if it indeed was, then she was very lucky it was broken.
Well, "broken" may be too strong a word. For all we know its power source simply depleted over time.

How safe would it be to simply pull one of the caps off and examine the contents?

Oh, you got the dud. So probably memorabilia then. When you’re using code names like Rage, Disquiet, it suggests a history of violence yeah?

>>1095762
You’re not revealing any antimatter super WMDs, for all we know flicking that switch started a countdown, inform her immediately, tell her you are going to unscrew the cap and hopefully determine that it is A) not armed, or B) VERY EASY to disarm.

>While I can see why someone would assume it's a bomb, context clues tell me it can't possibly be.

The context clues of it being "a machine I wouldn't even imagine anybody could ever need"?
Tell her she's not stupid, but please to not flip switches on any more things that look like a bomb.

Why don't you all take a little trip to the airlock and put this where it won't cause any eventual problems?

>>1095762
Disarm it.
Then tell her what it is. Or, was, anyway. As for WHY it was in your room, tell her that fighting broke out between factions in the facility, but you don't remember a lot of details. They should be wary of makeshift weapons such as this, and if anything looks dangerous they should have you check it before they mess with it.

There are some weird things here.

Since this bomb is built with salvaged materials (which also raises the Question where that circuit board was originally taken from) it seems likely that it was assembled covertly for a secret purpose, otherwise someone could've just used whatever was available in the advanced space age armory.

Its also suspicious that it was in your shelves, since if anybody wanted to blow you up with it that would be a kinda stupid hiding place. If you wanted to blow something up with it that would also be stupid, because who keeps their secret bomb on open display?
If you or this body wanted to use this bomb for suicide while sleeping, you would have had it in your hands or at least on the table by the bed.

The only way this could have been an active bomb meant for detonation would be that someone snuck it into your room while you slept and then it malfunctioned and the batteries ran out after some hundred years.

Other things to consider:
Should it be disconcerning that you know so much about bomb designs as a mere technician? Is that part of the standard education for this job?

It seems like your gut (or maybe energy conversion unit) feeling doesn't want to aknowledge this as a bomb so maybe the bomb design is a decoy or this is some kind of memento? An edgy conversation piece?

I think Maya is right with her context clues and this is not a functional bomb, but you should use your robo-x-ray vision and look at the inside of this just to be sure! :)

Tell her it's nothing you're familiar with. The circuit board could be a countdown timer. Other than that, You know as much as she does about it. All you know is it looks like a crudely assembled makeshift bomb.

Silicon 2024/08/21(Wed)05:48 No. 1096226 ID: 0b7e05
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You try to shake off the shock of that revelation. Good God, you could all have died there! You want to grab her by the shoulders and yell at her, but you're holding a bomb and so you reconsider.

"Okay, give me... a moment.", you say as you compose yourself.
Maya is starting to look worried. "Of course...", she says.

You consider the facts.

No two ways about it, context clues or no, this is either a bomb or something deliberately made to look like one.

It did not respond to Maya's fiddling. It has a screen and a little light on the switch. If neither of those lit up when the switch was flipped, it's very likely that the circuit is busted or the battery is dry. Both would be good news because they would make intentional priming impossible.
Less likely but possible is that the light and screen are busted and this thing has been counting down for at least a whole day, maybe more. You feel it's safe to say that if this thing was primed it would have exploded by now.

You turn your mind towards defusing it. It didn't explode when fiddled with so you're now reasonably sure, you can just pull the wires to be extra safe. Then the state of the payload inside is all that matters.

You know for a fact that unscrewing the caps on the bomb is extremely unsafe. The act of screwing those on is where most accidents happen during construction due to static electricity or sparks igniting the payload. Those caps best stay on.

Honestly the safest way to entirely neutralize the threat would be to break the container from a distance.

You decide to take a small risk to mitigate a larger one: You rip the wires off the circuit and then gingerly place the device on the table.

Both Maya and Gamal watch this with clear apprehension.

Silicon 2024/08/21(Wed)05:48 No. 1096227 ID: 0b7e05
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After releasing a breath you hadn't noticed holding in, you say: "I don't know how to... put this delicately. Uhm..."
"Great God... It is a bomb, isn't it?", Maya whispers.
"... Yes.", you assert.

Gamal virtually jumps out of their seat and declares: "I'll get Shyama!"
You raise both your hands, palms down in a calming gesture. "Please sit down, Gamal."
"He's the expert! He'll know what to do!", Gamal insists.
"It's not an immediate threat.", you assure them, "The detonator is disabled. As long as we handle it delicately it should be perfectly safe."

They hesitate, but they do eventually return to their seat.

Silicon 2024/08/21(Wed)05:49 No. 1096228 ID: 0b7e05
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"I-", Maya mumbles, "I was so sure..."
"In the future, Please don't mess with stuff you don't understand without showing them to me first.", you implore her.
She stares at you, still in shock: "Why did you have a bomb in your room?"

That is an excellent question, you must admit. Why make a bomb and then not use it? Did you make it only very recently and didn't get around to it? But then why keep it on your shelf? That would be extremely irrational.

Could someone else have put it there? To harm you? But according to Shyama they found nothing that would suggest anybody else has been here.

It's another mystery. You feel exhausted. It feels like every clue you find just begs more questions than it answers.

And then there's the fact you know so much about improvised explosive devices. You think these things are definitely interesting, but was there perhaps more to it than that?
You're pretty sure this wasn't part of your job to make pipe bombs. Demolitions experts wouldn't use something like this. They'd use actual high explosives, which are more effective and safer.

"I wish I knew.", you say with a sigh, "I'm pretty sure there was some kind of armed conflict. Maybe the bomb was for that, but... No I just don't know."

There is a pause.

"So what do you propose we do with it?", Gamal asks.
"Well, it's possible, though unlikely, that it's a dud, which means it's under a lot of pressure and could still detonate if the casing ruptures. The only way to be sure is to breach it, ideally from a distance and far away from here. But taking it outside could be risky because of the higher pressure difference in a vacuum.", you say.
You shake your head.
"I don't know what the right approach is, but that's okay. We have time to figure this out."

They both look at you very anxiously. You wonder if there's a way to put them at ease.

If you recognize any numbers on the bomb components, they could tell you if this was made out of shipboard parts or brought along from elsewhere.
Maybe there’s an armored enough area at the center of the ship that could withstand a basic pipe bomb and serve as an impromptu bomb disposal?

>>1096228
Talk about the rest of the stuff in the box!

>>1096244
Yeah, reassure Maya that she just got caught up in all this shiny new tech. Just check out these cool things. Distract her with the holo-rec, and maybe it'll have some useful info recorded.

Dealing with the bomb depends on what we have on hand. Do we have any of the following: a thick container, an empty unimportant room, armor, a gun, something heavy we could rig to fall on it?

You know we could =just throw the bomb out of the air lock.

>>1096352
Disq said it might explode immediately when exposed to low pressure. Maybe if we put it in a nice heavy box with the opening facing out the airlock door, so if it does blow it only hurts the regolith.

What if we put it in a box that's designed to slowly leak when exposed to vacuum, and then throw that out the airlock? It's like a time bomb, except designed to explode in space.

Silicon 2024/09/01(Sun)08:38 No. 1096765 ID: b22bc5
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You idly think about just venting the damn thing into space. This would not be wise, of course. Since you just defused it, the only way the bomb could still be a danger is if it were a dud, already ignited and now filled with pressurized gas but not enough pressure to break the casing.
Venting this thing would only be necessary in this case, but it would also only be dangerous in this case. The sudden fall of outside air pressure might just be what pushes the steel to its limit, finally allowing the payload to shatter it and explode. This could damage the airlock and perhaps even compromise the atmospheric seal of the whole facility.

An airtight container, though... That might work as a way to safely remove the bomb from the habitat. Best keep your eyes open for something like that.

Silicon 2024/09/01(Sun)08:38 No. 1096766 ID: b22bc5
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Well. You figure it might be best to get their minds (as well as your own) off the bomb for now and the gadgets are exactly the thing to do it. You set the box down on the bed and carefully move the bomb from the table to the desk where it will be out of the way.
Then you lift the HoloRec out of the box and raise it up to where Maya and Gamal can see it in all its silly, silly glory.

"This! Is a HoloRec!", you declare, "It is an integrated player and recorder for uh... volumetric... mmh three-dimensional video data."

You pause for dramatic effect.

Silicon 2024/09/01(Sun)08:38 No. 1096767 ID: b22bc5
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...

Tough crowd.

Silicon 2024/09/01(Sun)08:38 No. 1096768 ID: b22bc5
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You continue in a more conversational tone as you place it on the table: "It's honestly a bit oversized for this purpose. It's really more of a toy. It uses these big cartridges to store the data on, simply because it's more fun to leave a physical cartridge for a friend to find than just send them a file via messenger."

"I didn't... bring a cartridge.", Maya says with a deep sadness.

"It's okay, don't worry", you quickly reassure her, "Look, the HoloRec has a compartment for them. You just need to push in this part on the side here..."

Silicon 2024/09/01(Sun)08:38 No. 1096769 ID: b22bc5
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You push the compartment lightly and when you let go, it pops open and lets you pull it all the way out of the HoloRec. Well look at that. There are a whole bunch of cartridges in there.

Guys, surely if you made it to the moon you know what a television is. What else would you watch moon landings on from home? This is that, but three dimensional.

>>1096769
Alright, let's play number 1!

Ask them what kind of cool tech they must have if the idea of a statue made of light isn't exciting.

Play lucky number 7

>>1096781
I’m feeling lucky! 7

Number 7 it is. This is probably gonna take me a couple of days.