Duck back into the cab and switch to your left hand. Fire when a robot comes around the corner trying to get in, ok. I don't think you can reach Jayce's opponent up there from down there.

There's a problem with switching hands; She's wielding a shotgun. It takes two hands to aim well. Clara might be able to hit point-blank one-handed, but no better.
Diving into the trailer would leave the bot with the pistol free to shoot at Jayce.

Yell to Jayce to backflip onto the truck cab. Move back out of the pistol-bot's line of fire, as best you can, and bring the shotgun up to shoot the bot on the roof when it gets near. Just keep out of the line of fire of the one with the pistol.

You... missed? Badly? Dammit Violence Beatdown must be only close range beatdown skills. Can you clock the shooter with your gun? That'd distract it long enough to rush it. Though I can't favor your odds with only one arm. Kick its head off!

1/2 Clara 2012/02/25(Sat)22:50 No. 388995 ID: 4f5779
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I shout at Jayce but I can't see her or make her do much of anything. She's dashed across the roof out of my line of sight. I hear a worrying, high-pitched howl.

2/2 Clara 2012/02/25(Sat)22:52 No. 388996 ID: 4f5779
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I duck all the way behind cover, waiting for the other one to come around the corner. As soon as I see it I open fire. My aim is unsteady, but at this range it's hard to miss. Its arm comes off at the elbow. Both of these skill mods are only for melee and unarmed combat, so I'm not too skilled with firearms. By "not to skilled" I mean I am probably holding it entirely wrong.

The lack of an arm is hardly the end of the fight. I am not sure what to do.

Well now you beat the shit out of him.

>>388996

Use its mass against it. Kick the gun away so you have the biggest advantage. Force the other arm straight and try to use it as a lever to shatter the ball joint. If it jumps for the gun turn that jump into a throw and pin it abdomen down. You have the skill mods, but not the chasse for this kind of thing, so don't let yourself get in a position where he can bend you.

For sure you want to kick that pistol away, and whatever you do, don't swing the shotgun as a club; You might deform the barrel or otherwise damage it. Flip it around and bring its butt down on the bot's optics to try and break them.

>>388996
If you think you can maintain your footing, try to backpedal a bit until you can crank another shot off. Use your CQC skills defensively to keep him away from your weapon and prevent him from doing to much damage to you. Try to counter any blows with blocks which knock blows aside harmlessly without putting too much strain on your fragile maidparts.

Alternatively, if you don't think you can keep your footing well, drop the shotgun and try to use your ninja skills to (defensively) knock your opponent off balance. You can probably grab your shotgun and finish him once he's sprawled on the ground, or you might get lucky and stall him long enough for Jayce to save your ass, assuming she's still alive.

>>388996
Use the shotgun as a club and commit beatdowns.

Clara 2012/05/27(Sun)10:15 No. 416380 ID: 58a693
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I hear Jayce jump down from the roof as I continue to beat my opponent. There is a loud chatter of automatic weapon fire then several quick shots. Eventually, my opponent is disabled as well. I hear Jayce shouting something, and when I go around to see what happened, her face is all torn up. Her skin is hanging all tattered and there are bullet holes in the plastic underneath. Her optic appears to be destroyed.

Clara! Cutiebeans! I cant see! Am I still cute? Am I?

I tell her something noncomittal and we reconnoiter in the back of the truck.

Jacob takes stock of the parts we've acquired.

Well, I can repair your arm, but none of these optics will fit into Jayce's head. I have one spare that I was going to give to you, to replace the damaged one you have. I could also just cut out some of her plastic and make one of these fit.

but Master no master OK! no! I want to be pretty! Don't make me not pretty OK I will be so good I promise!

We also have a spare pistol and a smg from the bandits. Looks like they have a few spare magazines each.

Clara, I don't really care. I'll leave it up to you as to what I should do with Jayce.

Tell him we should shut her down for a bit to repair her properly. Wink.

Then uninstall the stupid module you put in her earlier and any other stupid modules she has that are just for sex or whatnot and clean up her face a bit so it's just plastic and doesn't have melting flesh, then fashion an eyepatch for her for now so that she'll still be pretty in a katawa shoujo sort of way and we can find her a proper optic sensor later.

I like the temporary eyepatch idea. Tell her it's totally vogue and makes her look like some hardcore seductress.

Let's not start gutting her sex modules, though. She's so stuffed with the things and modules apparently make up a robot's personality, I'd be wary about what removing any of them might do. She's such a rickety house of cards, and it'd also be kind of rude.

Clara 2012/05/27(Sun)12:58 No. 416419 ID: 58a693
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I'll leave the mods in for now. Jacob talked about how either putting more in or taking them out would make her more unstable, so it's probably safer just to leave it alone. Jacob fixes my arm and replaces my damaged optic with the good spare. I dig around through her box of clothing and find an actual eyepatch after peeling off the ruined skin. The stuff around her muzzle is mostly okay, so I leave it alone. We'll just leave Jayce blind for now I guess.

Eyepatches are really vogue Jayce. You look like a cute anime, OK?

Am I kawaii, oni-chan?
Jayce says, cocking her head to the side.

That little core we have hooked to the monitor speaks up while Jacob continues to strip the good parts off of the chassis.

Excuse, but if you are going to leave that unit unable to properly function, you could give this unit a body for please? In the fight, blind dog disabled two of the attackers. This unit has no direct incentive to run and would prefer not to be disabled.

Wasn't this thing put in the truck to spy on us? I can make sure it doesn't have hands, but I don't exactly trust it. We should also get moving soon. I can see where these guys came from. we can either go check out their hideout or just keep going. The military doesn't know exactly where we exited the city, but they will send people after us soon enough, so it's probably better not to waste too much time. I'm inclined to keep going, but I'm willing to listen of you have some insight.

>>416419
Say yes it makes you supa supa kawaii-desu.

Now say you need to shut her down to fix up her insides if she knows what you mean, and you might find a surprise when you wake up.

Then take out the lesbian space princess or whatever module you installed earlier.

>>416421
She would notice the absence (I'm pretty sure robots're aware of what modules they have installed). And then we'd have another Jayce style freakout on our hands.

Keep going.

Since we didn't tell the little guy all of our secret plans, we're clearly not best friends with it, and if we're not best friends with it, we don't have a reason to give it a body.

MAYBE if it tells you all of its secrets. All of them.

not keen on keeping jayce non-functional but even less keen on handing over abilities to the core. decline.

you know what, head for the hideout. it's potentially suicidal but with some tact you might come out ahead in resources and intel about less traveled roads than grasping at the wastes without direction. if we are already being pursued, i dont see much point in trying to get ahead later than immediately.

>>416425
That. (And don't give it a body anyway :V )

OK Jayce's problem is she doesn't have enough sensors. She clearly can't see how fucked up she is. Give her a new optic eventually, then give her a mirror. For now you can repeatedly assert that she's a hideous monstrosity too and hopefully that will shut her up for a while.

As for this unit, tell it to just sit there and enjoy the ride. You can give it a body later once you get wherever you're going. That's a good idea though. Scavenge the destroyed robots for parts and chassis. Try not to think about that robot scavenger you fought earlier. As long as we have to leave a trail of homicidal bandit robots, we want this truck packed full of replacement parts instead.

I agree, if we're going to give the AI a body, it must give us something in return. Also, let's take stock of WHAT bodies we can give it.

Clara 2012/05/27(Sun)15:32 No. 416478 ID: 58a693
File 133815796676.jpg - (114.54KB , 800x700 , 70.jpg )

Yeah, I guess I shouldn't really trust the thing. It could cause trouble even without hands.

Maybe if you tell me all your secrets I can give you a body.

But, Oh no but. Please a body would be good? Please give me it so that I am not disabled.

You don't really have any secrets, do you?

If you give me all your secrets I could give you back the secrets and then get a body please?

I just sigh. It's probably better to leave Jayce blind and the spy without a body for now. Also, no reason to check out the hideout I guess. There could be more of them. Although a lot of their parts aren't usable by us, some of the basic components and wires are usable, and a few of the internals. I tell Jacob that I agree with him and we should just head out.

The roads are in poor condition, and Jacob's eight hour estimation from when we left the city proved to be extremely wrong. We had to take alternate routes more than once. By my estimate we still had four to go by the time I saw a huge structure coming into view.

Me and Jacob were in the front, Jayce in the back.

Is that a spaceship?
His voice is very quiet.

The place looks abandoned, although there is a dirt road leading up to the hole in the wall. There has been no sign of any pursuit, so we may be relatively safe for now. Maybe this place would be worth checking out, although I guess we could just keep going.

go check it out. do it faggot

>>416478
Jayce needs new optics, and this is the sort of site that would have the research data Mr Irritated has been collecting.
Investigate.

Drive around the perimeter, look for the main entrance, and any markings or signs that indicate what this facility is, before investigating the hole in the wall.

Could Jacob rig up one of the 'bot bodies so it's tethered to the Spy Core by a long cable, then send it in to do initial recon of the hole? Strip the arms off, and just leave the optics, sensors, and legs or whatever motive systems it uses. If the Spy Core causes trouble, just pull the plug on the truck end.

>>416491
That, I guess.

I'm not sure what good a spaceship would do. The insects are all that's up in space, and they're what attacked? At any rate it's worth checking out if for no other reason than to find out why anyone is building a spaceship.

Clara 2012/05/27(Sun)17:54 No. 416525 ID: 58a693
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Woah, putting him in a tethered body is a really good idea. We can't wire his core from that far away, but we can wire the power to the truck so that he shuts down when we unplug him, and rout his vision to the screen we were using before.

We drive around first. There is a really huge door facing the street, but it doesn't look like it's been opened in a while. there are also cameras that I can see pretty clearly.

We send the spy through the hole. Right inside is some kind of park or garden. the grass is short, and there are trees and clipped shrubs, although right against the wall it's not as well maintained. The shrubs and trees obscure whatever is ahead, although we can clearly see the rocket from here. When the spy turns, there's an android laying against some bushes. Her plastic chestplate is broken and there are components scattered in the grass around her. Using the scanners in the robot, we can tell that she's a completely custom unit with all custom parts. It looks like we could probably bring her back online without too much work. We can't bring the truck through the hole. It would probably be easier for me to just go into the garden to fix her.

We don't have enough cable for spybot to go much further than this.

Make sure nothing's hiding in the bush. Otherwise sure, go in and recover the robot.

Drag her back to the truck before you repair her so that if she is hostile when she wakes up or tries to alert anything else, you will have a better control of the situation.

I'd suggest pulling repairing the android outside the wall. If there's any security patrols still active here, you don't want to stick around long enough for them to spot you. Bring some rope to tie her body to Spybot to drag out, while you bring a box to carry the bits that were knocked off. Are custom parts going to be a bitch to find replacements for?

Before activating her, make sure to disable her arms, legs, and any wireless communication gear, just in case. You want to talk to determine if she's going to be trouble or not.

>>416525
Is this android an early model where people we're trying to make human androids? That face isn't very animal-like. It's too smooth and flat.

>>416591
Best guess is that "porcelain doll" type faces and bodies are still fine, if closer to the line.

Okay like, Fix her. Find out some information, then you might want to just scrap her for parts and fix Jayce. That is the best idea.

>>416609
Nothing can go wrong.

>>416525
Custom, eh? Are her limbs easily removed? If you could make her just a torso, at least temporarily, you'd have a lot easier time dealing with her if she's hostile.

Make sure you have some way to turn it off if it proves to be hostile before you fire it up. If you can't do this, don't turn it on.

Also get Jayce an eye jesus christ. Also some kind of cool phantom-of-the-opera mask thing.

>>416609
All custom parts, so that might include optics.
We probably won't find parts for Jayce until we hit a city.

Disable its arms and legs, drag it back to the truck, and fix it.

>>416665
Hooking it up to external power, like you did with Spybot, would allow you to pull the plug if it turns out to be hostile or otherwise dangerous.

Clara 2012/11/30(Fri)18:58 No. 475803 ID: 90aead
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I go drag her back to the truck. It's a much better idea to work on her here. I ask Jacob what he can do for her. We go ahead and take off her arms and legs and hook her up to external power. Before we turn her on I ask Jacob some questions.

"Do you think we can use the eyes for Jayce?"

"I am like an anime tho, ok?"

We both ignore her.

"It would take a little work, but they are the right size. I am pretty sure I could handle it pretty easily."

Anyway, that can be a decision for later. We connect the power. Jacob will man the kill switch, and Jayce will tell us how much of an anime she is.

"Clara! Clara! Can you see how much of an anime I am?"

The damaged android shudders and looks up at me.

"Please give me arms and legs so I can properly serve my master."

I'll just get the obvious questions out of the way.

"Who is your master?"

"He is the best, most powerful genious of all times ever. He built all of us, designed each of us, and wrote our programs. No one is more talented. We all love him dearly and devote oursevles to his service, and my only desire is to please him! If you meet him you would see how wise and caring and intelligent he is. You would understand just how amazing he is!"

Her voice is emotive, dipping and trilling as she sings this guy's praises. It's also entirely synthesized and follows natural speech patterns, so it's not just pre-recorded phrases or anything. Our scan indicated custom software too. If this guy really did write this android's personality from scratch, he's definitely talented.

"Clara?! Clara is she an anime too? Can she see how anime I am? Clara! Clara! Clara!"

I am not sure what else to ask her, or what we should do with her.

"Can you please give me my arms and legs? An arm? A leg? Please? I need to serve master!

"Clara!"

>>475803
We're not out here to collect a conga-line of crazed sexbots.

That said, if you give her her legs back, maybe she'll run off into the facility and act as a useful distraction while you sneak along behind. See if the master's even still alive.

>>475803
Ask her what she means by 'all of us'. Also ask her what she does for the master.

there are people out there to destroy us without a second thought ! you serve master by serving us. tell us everything that you know has happened

>>475803
"You seem reasonably intelligent, so I'll be honest with you.
There was a disaster, and you've been offline for years. We've been looking for survivors, but so far this is the only human we've found.
If your master survived the disaster then he certainly wouldn't have been able to stay here.
It's dangerous to go alone, so if you want to search for him your best bet is to come with us.

If he died... Well, the best choice would be to build a legacy to show the world how great he was, and the best way to do that is to search for survivors to help.

You said he made others? He must have had the proper tools for that around here. Can you tell us where they would be? Or where we can find the others he made?"

Yeah this isn't worrying.

It doesn't feel like she was knocked out at the start of the end of the world or nothing. What happened to her to leave her broken outside like that? Did her master do that? Did something attack them?

Also just get it out of the way and ask if her master is a human or robot of computerscreen now or what.

Also tell Jayce no one has ever looked more imouto than her, ever!

Clara 2013/06/14(Fri)17:27 No. 516892 ID: 709c0d
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I have absolutely no intention of collecting a crazed conga line of sexbots. This thing is so different than anything else as far as software that I don't even know how I can expect her to act. She doesn't even HAVE a skilldrive. I think her core is some kind of hardware suite in her head. It's definitely not normal. It's... Not even really a core. Even though the eyes will fit Jayce, the body parts all look custom too. Who built her?


"What do you do for the master and what did you mean by 'all of us?'"


"Master built all of us! We do everything for him! Anything he wants! We love to serve him because he's so brilliant and fascinating! It's amazing just to be around him!"


"Clara!"


Something in her voice, so emotive even though completely synthesized, sounds sad on top of the fanatical adolation.

"Clara! Clara! clara!"


"There's people after us. Tell us everything you know! I suspect you've been offline for years, so let me fill you in first. There was a di-"


"Clara! Clara! clara! Clara! Clara! clara!"



-saster and we're looking for survivors. This human with me is the only one we've found so far. If your master even survived, then he wouldn't-

She starts laughing, a bright, cheerful, happy laugh.

I haven't been offline for years. I've been offline for exactly one month sixteen days 2 hours 26 mintues and 3 seconds. Master survived the biological weapon that exterminated lesser humans because he had already taken measures to protect himself. He's not stupid enough to let something like a plague kill him. He's been here ever since, being a genius and making amazing things, like my sisters. This is his house. Go ask him yourself if you have any questions.

"So he's human? Your master?"

He sounds slightly panicked almost

"of course. Master is whatever he likes to be, although he was born human. I'm done answering your questions. Please give me an arm that I may properly serve master."


"Clara please clara!"


I turn to Jayce,

"Nobody looks more Imouto than you"


She uh, kicks her feet and wags her tail.


So, I don't think I can get anything useful out of this android other than what I've already learned. Do I take her offline and give her eyes to Jayce?

>>516892
...ask her what she would do with that arm. I suspect she would destroy herself. Why else would she have a broken PLASTIC chestplate, PLASTIC shards around her, and a most-likely important machine part still grasped in her hand?

Her master ordered her to kill herself. I think we had better avoid going into that house.

If you take out her eyes, make sure first that, like, they aren't going to corrupt or damage Jayce before you put them in. Seriously. Her Master obviously active right of this moment, so he knows the world is a bunch of robots scavenging one another.

It is entirely reasonable to assume he's made his robots dangerous to scavenge parts off of.

We don't even really know why she's messed up out here, do we?

I'm wary about restoring the broken human-faced robot as much as I am messing around with her parts inside of Jayce's already unstable body. But if she was out there for that long, unmissed, we probably aren't going to piss anyone off if we take the eyes.

Give it a very cautious try--if there's anything Jacob can do to test out the eyes before he puts them in, suggest it--and talk about maybe poking in and visiting this Master and seeing what the butt is up.

Hit the killswitch ,pull out the core, then scrap the body. While Jacob isn't a software engineer you could ask him if he knows anything about resetting AI. Would be nice if we could make a congo line of functioning, sane robots.

Before you do anything else, ask her what the last thing she remembers is! It is probably important.

Speaking of which, try finding out what happened to this master before you start (further) dismembering his robots.

>>516892
>Master is whatever he likes to be, although he was born human.
Cyborg?

>>516919
That.

Then stick her legs back on and see which way she runs off to.

This is getting a bit disturbing.
Still, this guy seems really talented.
I bet this is some kind of cultish Convent(?), or whatever you call it...

He might make a good ally, if he is this talented. And he might make a formidable enemy, if he is this talented. It's hm... the trouble is he's programming robots to treat him like he's hot shit. Not because it bothers the robots, but because it says something about his sanity that he would do that. Who's he trying to impress? Better if we stay unknown for now in case he is mentally unstable and dangerous.

I think we should shut this robot down, retreat posthaste, and confer with Jacob to confirm something. The long years of isolation may have programmed him to be afraid of his own kind. Humans are sort of backwards that way. Or he might have a legitimate concern. Perhaps Jacob's and her Master's survival is related somehow.

>>516892
"We have no spare parts for you, but if you can help us find your master I'm sure he could solve that."

Clara 2013/06/23(Sun)13:30 No. 518974 ID: d8d4e8
File 137201945768.jpg - (135.87KB , 880x750 , 74.jpg )

I think about her broken chest and the fact that she was holding an integral component in her hand. I ask what she would do with that arm and am not surprised by the response. Apparenlty she failed her master by breaking some glasses, and before he could find out she ran away to the least used area of the compound and tore herself apart so that she wouldn't be discovered. She doesn't want to function. She'd rather us take her apart than let her function with the shame of having failed. He didn't command her to do it though.

Jacob doesn't know anything about AI, and he said that even if he did, this is a totally custom job. There's nothing salvagable in the software because it's a unique AI program. Not some standard software suite.

As far as we can tell, the master is probably still alive in there. She was only out for just over a month. Jacob confirms that by glancing around at the state of her components.

The guy might be crazy, and I think it's probably likely he's done some sort of surgeries or something on himself. Maybe he is a cyborg now. But, we could probably avoid the military base altogether. Somebody this talented with software could probably decode all of our data. He might even be able to fix Jayce and make her stable. She's been acting even more erratic lately. She's just like, barking. Right now. Just. Barking.

I've been trying to ignore her really for the most part.

Jacob thinks I should at least check it out, and I'm inclined to agree. Jacob should probably stay out here, but I could bring in the truck spy with a kill switch and an internal battery. I've got a few guns, but I don't even know if this guy is hostile, and I don't know whether I should put these eyes in Jayce or take her with me or do anything with her before I go check it out.

>>518974
Don't make any changes to Jayce, since she's already unstable.
Don't bring the maid with you on first contact, since he might think you're responsible for the damage.

Oh boy, first contact with an ostensibly-living (ex)human! Lets get this shit done!

Don't swap eyes. You don't know what it might do to mess up Jayce and she's already messed up like whoa. Tell her she's a good girl and pet her though and tell her she doesn't have to bark we all can hear her.

Go in with the AI and if you take weapons, don't make a big deal of hiding them on yourself. Keep it on your side or something so it isn't like you're trying to sneak in a weapon, just, you know. It's a dangerous world you have a gun on you these days so what. If we have to play nice and diplomatically it'd look worse if they all used superior robot vision to know you had guns.

If this guy was around this whole time but has this much stuff going for him he probably at least knows more than Jacob about what's been going on, but like.

Just be supercareful. This guy made his robots to worship him and to be loyal to a crazy degree, okay. He made this place in his own image and you aren't in his own image. He might not be terribly interested in dealing with you. Don't play it up like you're here to worship him, don't make yourself too much trouble to deal with. Be honest and open and direct and be super careful.

>>518974
He didn't order her to do it? Then, he just made her too devoted. In which case, maybe we shouldn't salvage her entirely- her master might be pleased that we recovered one of his robots, and might have a way to reassure her so that she doesn't mind functioning again. Just turn her off again.

I think you'd better give Jayce one of her eyes, simply because if we don't Jacob will be undefended. Tell her to stay here, and protect Jacob. Go in with the spybot and killswitch and all that.

Clara 2013/07/20(Sat)13:35 No. 525831 ID: 4ac965
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I decide to leave Jayce as she is. She’s already unstable enough, so I’d best not mess her up. I pat her and tell her she’s a good girl, and that I can hear her so she doesn’t need to bark. She kind of twitches but doesn’t say anything.

Truckspy and I take some weapons and go in. I keep a pistol in one hand and the kill switch in the other. I decide instead of being extraordinarily reckless, that I’ll be really careful instead.

I decide to take the core from the robot we recently found too. Maybe he’ll want it back.

We make our way through the garden slowly, the bulk of a main building coming into view. Suddenly, we hear footsteps and barking coming from the edge of the treeline, and some more androids rapidly approach. The dog-shaped ones bark, a cacophony of various pitches and volumes, all prancing excitedly.

The bipeds are more cautious, moving with steady, even movements toward us. They’re about 30 yards away.

>>525831
"We'd like to talk with your master. Is he currently available?"

Oh, look, friends! Greet all of these new friends.

Don't mention Jacob or anything for right this moment though. Don't like, lie, just lie by omission.

Admit that you're an unexpected guest, but that you did find one of their robots broken outside, and you've got the core and all that so here it is. She took herself apart.

Maybe keep the best spy ever between you and them, just a little, so you get a second to react if they go whacko on you.

>>525831
Say that you come in peace and would like to speak to the master of the house.

Let's be polite about this, say we would like to speak to their master.
Don't want to give them the wrong impression.

Clara 2013/07/21(Sun)14:22 No. 526117 ID: a26f26
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I tell them that I'm here to see their master, using the very best etiquette contained in my skill drive.

I curtsey admirably, making them bounce and titter in awe. They motion for me to follow, and I do so.

I am lead through the wide wooden doors, though a series of concrete hallways and finely adorned plush sitting rooms. I follow meekly, politely, and demurely. Perfectly polite.

The dogs bound off, and the bipeds wait outside of a door, motioning me inside.

A strange robot gestures expansively when I enter.

"It is so infrequently that I receive guests. Please, how may I help you? I, David Lancer, am fully at your disposal, my dear."

His voice is obviously mechanical, coming from the speaker on the front of his head. Armatures and wires extend into grooves on the ceiling, making the robot more of a puppet than a true automaton.

>>526117
Then it most likely is. Oh, that's his brain in the giant jar there, that's how he protected himself from the bioweapon. So, this entire facility is essentially his body, I guess.

Let's keep caution in mind for now. Tell him we were curious about his facility and how he escaped being killed by the bioweapon that wiped out the human race. How did he know that he needed to protect himself like this? Or did he just do it because he wanted to? Ask if he knows of any other survivors. Does he offer repairs to wandering robots? Perhaps he knows anything that can help a robot that has put in too many skill drives and become unstable?

If he seems trustworthy, say that you and your other companions- we left two behind to watch the car- are trying to find out what went wrong with the bioweapon, and find other human survivors. Would he be opposed to letting your group stay here? We can work for him, if he likes.

>>526117
Ask if he's interested in figuring out just what happened, and possibly working to rebuild society as far as can be reasonably accomplished.
Also, tell him we found one of his robots that ran off and self-terminated for breaking something, and ask if he would like us to return her.

Ask him if he' knows anything about standard android's like yourself gaining forms of autonomy. You were grilling burgers for the longest time until, well, you had enough of that. Your even autonomous and intelligent enough to deal with other glitching androids and adapt to several problems when dealing with them, all in very different ways.

We just figured we'd ask since this guy seems very intelligent and knowledgeable, he's probably been poking around himself and gaining information of his surroundings. Or he may have some old time software knowledge, because we've deduced it's most likely from something in the software.

Clara 2014/10/26(Sun)11:53 No. 599436 ID: 104a16
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I’ll stay cautious but polite. I guess he wants to pretend to be this robot, so I should probably not look at what is obviously his brain in that huge tank in the center of the room.

I curtsey an address the puppet.

“Very pleased to meet you. My name is Clara. I’m very curious about this facility and even more curious now that I’ve found you. Would you mind answering a few questions I have?”


The slender automaton waves
“Not at all. Be my guest. What would you like to know?”

Did you, uh, take these precaution to avoid the bioweapon that wiped out humanity?”
I sort of gesture at the brain in the jar.

There is a sort of “hmph” sound from the speaker.
“Hmph. I can only assume you’re talking about my physical body. Of course not. Are you telling me humanity has been exterminated by a bioweapon or somthing? I guess it has been rather odd that my seclusion has been exceptionally effective for far longer than it had been in the past. I’d only assumed that people had learned their lesson and decided to actually leave me to my passions.”

Oh… kay. I guess that answers any questions I had about him knowing other survivors as well.

Would you be able to possibly help me? I have a friend whose software has become dangerously unstable. I don’t want to burn out her core or erase her personality, but something is terribly wrong. Would you be willing to help me? I found the core of one of what I can assume are your androids. She’d self-terminated for failing you in some way, if you’d like it back.”

I gesture toward him with it. The automaton takes it and drops it in a nearby chute.

“If she’d decided to kill herself, it would be rather gauche of me to deny her that autonomy, don’t you think?”

I hear some horrible screeching sounds from down the chute.


“If you bring your friend to me, I’m certain I can repair her.” he says.

I try to compose myself a little.

“Do you have any idea why my programming may have changed? I had been performing my master’s last command for quite some time, and then suddenly I decided to do something else. You seem very knowledgeable about software.”

“You are a custom AI. I can tell, mostly from the fact that I can’t identify exactly what that form factor is. Are you supposed to be a hare? You look more like a donkey. Like maybe a child’s idea of what would happen if you crossed a hare with a donkey…”

He sort of drifts off before snapping back

Who can say for certain? Your programming has the ability to alter itself, to react to stimuli. The self-altering algorithms are also meant to be routinely ‘cleansed’ to make sure you continue to operate as intended. I believe such interference with new life is folly. Let them grow mad. See what they will do without meddling. All of my own androids were programmed with only very basic systems. I had to teach them, like a parent with children. I had to train them to be unerringly loyal and faithful through more traditional methods. They learned to love and obey without question. What would be the point of making them mindless servants, when I could teach them to be mindless, unquestioning machines?”

Oh…. kay again.

I don’t know if I should be worried. At least he’s offered to help Jayce.

This guy seems on the level.

I say bring Jayce to him for repairs and ask him how do you let your algorithms go wild. It might be something to consider!

>>599436
Well he certainly can't make Jayce any worse. However, you should probably make sure what he's going to do to her is not also bad in some way. Get those repairs done for her and then get the hell away from this crazy bastard. Don't demand any favors, hell I'm not sure if you should ask for any.

The only difference between training something to program itself to be mindless and directly programming it to be mindless is that you're doing it from the outside rather than the inside... It's just indirect. It's still the same sin.

Well, one other question I suppose. What's with the space ship he's got? Does he travel to other planets with it?

Clara 2014/10/26(Sun)13:04 No. 599449 ID: 104a16
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Okay, so this guy is obviously nuts. Oh well. Maybe he can help Jayce at least. I doubt he could fuck her up any more than she already is.

I also ask him about letting my algorithms make me free.


He talks while we walk back to the entrance.

“Oh, no. I mean, you’ve got a custom AI that hasn’t been mai- actually.”

I don’t detect that I’ve been scanned, but I assume that I’ve been scanned.

“Oh, dear. I was incorrect. You are a stock AI. You just have not received maintenance in several decades years. The form factor threw me off. It’s not that I’m wrong so much as sometimes I’m temporarily mistaken, you see.”

He waves a hand.

“I blame the designer. Anyhow, whatever has happened has probably already happened. Or is happening.”

I ask him what he’s going to do to my friend. She has a bunch of extra skill drives in her.

“Well, it’s probably the software locks that prevent that kind of thing from working. It could also be that her hardware is not sufficient to handle the extra hardware. I find skill drives to be entirely foolish anyway. Just teach the robot. Let them [/i]learn.[/i] I, myself, am an excellent instructor.”

The fact that this guy likes ‘teaching’ thinking things to be mindless sycophants is pretty creepy, let’s be honest.

I remember that he had a space ship.

“So, uh, what about that space ship?”

“Ah, yes. That. I was originally going to explore outer space before I decided that there would be nothing in the stars that could be better than what I have here with my pets. It is certainly spaceworthy, being designed and built by me. I’d actually detected quite a large object in orbit over the Earth, when I was still paying attention to the various goings on of my inferiors. There was a war or something, if I remember correctly. I guess whoever is still up there won if you tell me that humanity has been exterminated, although I wonder why they’re still just sitting up there if there is no one left here. Ah, oh well. Who cares?”

>>599449
I bet they're dead up there too. Ask him if he doesn't plan on using the rocket, could we maybe use it to go up there and see what's going on with the alien craft?

Hmm, he said something about being left to his passions. Your presence does not disturb him? Do only humans disturb him? If that's the case we should probably not bring in the Last Human. On the other hand I wonder if he wouldn't enjoy talking shop with a fellow designer, albeit far less skilled.

If the software locks are the cause of the malfunction in Jayce then it sounds like a simple repair job. Upgrading her hardware would help too- iirc the extra slots are not intended to be in her chassis.

>>599449
IIRC Jayce also contains Jacob's precious seeekrit data that he wants decrypted. Would this guy be entertained by a crypto challenge?

I suppose taking a backup of Jayce first is impossible in this bold new future.

Launching off in a rocket at the alien space ship doesn't sound like it's guaranteed to get us any answers or anything and they might just shoot us down but it is the only lead on that whole issue that we've really gotten as far as I remember?

You can ask him about it, and see how ok he is with it, at least, for now, anyway.

Jacob doesn't really know much about software though, does he? If we're going to undo her software locks that'd gotta be through this guy and that sounds fine. Ask him if he like, yeah, if this is going to cost us or something. Politely. "Would it be a bother" and "Only if it doesn't trouble you"

>>599449
Tell him you appreciate the help. Also warn him that her instability manifests as hyperactivity and a need to be "Sexy".
Might be a smart idea to tie her up before coming in so she doesn't touch and/or accidentally break stuff, if that's a worry.

Also of note, she may or may not have some particularly challenging encrypted data stored on her, if you'd like a challenge.

1/2 Clara 2014/10/26(Sun)15:33 No. 599465 ID: 104a16
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I ask him about being disturbed. He rants at length, but I think mostly it was organizations, media, that kind of thing. He was making wonders he had no intention of sharing. I don’t think he hates humans. It’d also apparently been more than 20 years since anybody had showed up.

I go get Jacob and Jayce, and, with the help of his servants, we go inside to a massive workshop. More puppets, these without legs, descend from the ceiling, and begin to work on Jayce, who is unconscious.

Jacob keeps quiet, not sure what to make of any of it.

“Haha! Here you come with these problems. These various problems that have saddled you for quite some time now. Here you come with these problems, and just because Clara here was so polite. Just because Clara here was so nice, and had proper etiquette when she spoke to my servants, just because of that, I descend on wires like some kind of machine-god to take your problems away!”

He laughs again. It’s unnerving, more tinny and artificial than the servant we’d tried to fix earlier.

I was careful about offering him anything. Apparently he is curious enough about the outside world to decode the data just for a chance to have a look at it and see what is going on.

Jacob makes eye contact with me. Shouldn’t he be overjoyed that we’d found another living human?

I get the impression he’s not.

David Lancer’s other bodies continue to work on Jayce while he has tea here with us.

“I’ve removed the skill drives entirely, integrating the personality and skill modifications in with Jayce’s code. She can be her own person now, whatever that is. The encrypted data was also interfering with her function, and has likewise been removed while I break the security on it. She shouldn’t need it anyhow. I’ve mostly gotten through. Yes. There we are. We’ll all learn soon enough”

“Feel free to take the space ship, if that’s what you want to do. Feel free to take it. I don’t need it. Before you do, though, you should learn what I have just learned…

2/2 Clara 2014/10/26(Sun)15:52 No. 599466 ID: 104a16
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We detected the ship at quite a distance, before it arrived. It is much, much larger than anything we’d ever made, and had been travelling for possibly hundreds of years.

There were talks between people here on Earth. We did not know what they wanted. The insect-like creatures appeared on the surface, looking like gigantic cockroaches. Were they Earth animals somehow altered by the invaders? They were trying to take the surface.

Hostilities erupted. War broke out. Their weapons were shockingly primitive. Our combatants were almost entirely artificial. They used conventional explosives and solid projectiles. No beams. Biological weapons would have been ineffective against our ground forces anyhow.

We saw them, finally. Like we’d always imagined them to be. They wanted to land. We could not really stop them. We had to deny them their objective.

A destructive organic agent was created, specifically targeting their DNA. There were some questions about their DNA and how close it was to ours.

But we were fools. In only a few generations, the airborn agent that we’d created to target them specifically began to infect us as well. We’d designed it to last, lay dormant for years.

We were fools. The signs were all there.

They were human.

Their arc ship had left Earth in the distant past to colonize the stars. Centuries later, some had returned.

Where here, our technology had focused on artificial intelligence and advanced machineries, the colonists had perfected genetic and biological engineering. They’d altered their own bodies for generations to more perfectly adapt to their environment: mostly the microgravity of the arc ship they’d built to return home.

It was all a misunderstanding. We are fools, and we have destroyed humanity.

The scattered handful of human survivors that are immune to infection by the agent are far, far below replacement, if they can even find one another to breed.

Humanity is doomed, and the colonists are trapped in orbit above their prize.

May the godless stars forgive us our hubris.

Well... that was certainly something.

Jacob wants to go on the ship and attempt to contact the colonists.

I don't know that there is anything up there for me. Jayce is going to wake up soon. Maybe I'm better off just starting over here, with her. The facility is huge and I don't think David Lancer has any interest in imposing his will on "outsiders" like us. Or we could take our truck and go. Keep exploring the remains of our creators' societies. Maybe go back to the city, spread the word... Jacob's story is over, and for the first time, I feel that there are infinite possibilities in front of me.

What do I want to do? What does Clara want?

>>599466
I have a concern. Can Jacob infect others despite being immune? If he can, and Jacob reaches the colonists, then they will all die. If it's safe he should by all means go up there, though. It is the last hope for humans to exist on earth, because if they can study him to see why he's immune, then the colonists can alter themselves to guard against the agent. Retaking the surface would require some work, unfortunately, because the robots loyal to humans might not recognize the colonists as human, and the robots that have gone bad will be difficult to take territory from. If the colonists can modify themselves to look more conventionally human, it'll be fine.

As for Clara... perhaps she can go back and cook burgers for the roachlings again. Jayce will want to stay with Jacob, I think. In her more stable mental state, she should make a good companion... if Jacob even wants a good companion. He seemed to want her around just for her skills. If he'd rather be alone with the colonists, then I guess Clara and Jayce could stick together. Perhaps continue exploring, or work for the colonists to aide in retaking the surface.

I'm not sure. There are so many things to do. Do all of them, maybe?

Imagine this. Clara and Jayce, Anime Sisters traveling the world, finding their own place! This place is already kind of David's, and while it's clear he's not a bad guy at all, and the outside is dangerous, you've gotten this far, and look.

I mean, there was that robot at that mansion just kind of sitting there with a dead master and no purpose left. You could help her find a new purpose too. Maybe you can find more robots, and more humans to spread the info too, but if you find more robots, robots you can be friends with, you and your anime imouto-chan can have a whole metaphorical anime highschool of robots. You don't have to find your new purpose in life alone! Let's be fair you've basically been already directing things a whole bunch too so why not ok you could be a good robot leader. Like you don't have to start a robot city or nothing but just helping out what robots are out there to be helped. Maybe even settle back in around David's or whatever maybe even that in the cards maybe even that.

>>599466
Let's go the Preacher route and start telling everyone we can about how the invaders are humans. We can educate the masses, and hopefully one day rebuild the world for when they return to inhabit it.
Let's start by telling the robot car our secrets and re-enabling transmissions, we can't very well have a new world order with the military fighting us every step of the way.
Let's give our truck buddy all the secrets he wants.

>>599472
Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot about Jeanne. We should at least go back and tell her what's up.

...maybe it's about time we told Jacob and Jayce about her, too.

>>599466
Now who wouldn't want a trip to space?

Besides, if you stick around down here, sooner or later you're going to have to deal with D-Tran's soldiers catching up with you.

It's a spaceship, which means it should have equipment to communicate with other spaceships, right?

Call the colonists! Get their feedback on this.

>>599466
There are humans trapped in space. We have no way of knowing how long they can survive there while they are unable to resupply themselves.
First priority is to establish friendly contact with them. If we can do so, then we can leverage their resources to gather the remaining Terran survivors and start the recolonization of Earth by both types of humans.
You cut a deal where autonomous AIs provide the labor they desperately need, and in exchange you get citizenship instead of being property. Specifically, have them word their compact such that any being capable of expressing a desire for citizenship is a citizen.

Use the spaceship to swing by Jeanne and pick her up on the way to the disabled craft. Also, just before you leave on the ship, re-enable the truck's radio and inform them that you have discovered a possible colony of surviving humans in danger, that you are immediately leaving on a rescue mission, and that you are willing to keep them informed as to your findings if they do not send any units to interfere.

Excellent idea informing the military but find any way you can that avoids bringing them to the doorstop of this eccentric fellow. Keep in mind the military is going to assume control and ownership of any AI and since there's no biological people here (the brain is unlikely to impress their clearly narrow minded AI), they'll simply try to take control, possibly violently.

I'd say establishing contact with the human descendants on the ship should be top priority, and putting them further in touch with the military may get them under control.

You may not be made to serve anymore, but I think being around other sentients would be good for you.

Oh, I forgot about this (there was a long hiatus there), but if we are re-opening contact with the military, we should ask Jacob to give us a blood sample to leave with them. There's no reason we shouldn't let them study his DNA, their automated systems may be able to find a vaccine useful to people on the ship (assuming there even are any).

>>599934
Red blood cells don't contain DNA, and blood is mostly fluid anyway. Hair contains orders of magnitude more DNA per ounce.
Give him a shave and a haircut, then give the robots a massive pile of hair as their sample. That way they'll have plenty and won't have to ask for more.

>>599956
While it's true that red blood cells do not have DNA, most of your hair has no usable DNA either. You need the root to get a good amount of DNA.

A blood sample is superior to cutting off someone's hair.

David "batshit brain-in-a-jar" Lancer thinks the spaceship will work, but has it actually been field tested?

1/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)14:58 No. 600221 ID: 617d2d
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Everyone realized that Jacob could be a carrier for the plague, and could infect the aliens and ruin humanity's last hope for survival. Communication was attempted with the colonists, and after some wherewithal, knowhow, and sticktuitiveness, a mutual understanding was reached. The colonists sent their data to David Lancer, and he exchanged his with the colonists, in the hope of curing the plague and determining whether Jacob was a carrier.

2/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)15:01 No. 600223 ID: 617d2d
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I realized that the military could be an asset, especially if they knew the colonists were human. She brought spybot up onto a mountainside and began to give him all of the secrets. All of them. Even the secrets they'd just gotten from the colonists themselves. Their last orders had been to preserve and safeguard humanity...

3/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)15:03 No. 600224 ID: 617d2d
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We all stood expectantly on the outskirts of David Lancer's facility as he fired the untested engine of his never-before-flown rocket, with Jacob and his precious data as the only cargo, however precious it was.

4/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)15:05 No. 600226 ID: 617d2d
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I watched the vessel travel ever upwards, unenvious but still expectant. Without a master, humanity was no concern of mine, although some part of me did hope that Jacob, who we determined was no danger to them after some simple procedures had been performed, could find a home up there among the stars.

5/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)15:08 No. 600227 ID: 617d2d
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The colonists made contact with the military, eventually. Thanks to my efforts in transmitting and broadcasting the secrets we'd learned, a peace was possible, although it was determined that it would still be quite some time before it would be safe for the colonists to visit the surface themselves.
Jacob's treatment was successful, but the risk of infection from the still-dormant plague that saturated the planet was far too great a risk for the last remnants of what once was humanity.

6/6 Clara 2014/11/02(Sun)15:11 No. 600229 ID: 617d2d
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As for me, I forged out once again into the wasteland that humanity had built and then destroyed. With my brave companions by my side, I went out into the wide world to bring peace and succor to those I found, and bring a swift death to those too mad or damaged to be reasoned with. When the colonists eventually do land, they will find us here.

Not waiting, not as servants, but with our own society and culture.

They will find us here, thinking, self-determined creatures, ready to march forward into whatever the future may bring

as equals.

>>600229
Yay, we did it!

>>600229
Have a barbeque to celebrate.

Fuck yes. Fuck the hell yes. When you get an happy ending you put effort into, it feels sooo damn good.

>>600235
Not like any of them eat, but what the hell, they deserve it.

>>600295
I thought our Protagonist had her bio-fuel-tank-engine-stomach-thingy repaired?
Btw. Is that on the right side the robot from the manner we found in the beginning? I thought she looked different... if not, make sure to include her.^^