SARU-601 2012/06/10(Sun)13:43 No. 420473 ID: 9e3c3d
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Which brings me to why I'm here, down in level -1. Anything down here that can give us an edge over an invasion is fine by me. This is just level -1. Small stuff. The cube, the sphere, they're small time compared to what's deeper down. Here we are. 0-29-091. Usually there's some stupid name summarising what these things are. This one is the "Silent Pillar". It's silent. Doesn't look much like a pillar, though. Pillars don't float. This thing has been due for transfer to a different facility for some time. No one has ever shown up to collect it. So there's absolutely nothing on what this does. It's a complete unknown. There's records of people touching this thing with no ill effect, speaking in front of it with no ill effect, and right now I'm thinking it might at least be something to buy them off with if I can think of a way to bluff it being mightier than it is. Any suggestions?

well, we are gonna need to restart tests. need to find what it CAN do then exaggerate it a LOT. make a repair bot touch it.

Wait, why the heck are you blocking access to the facility even under threat of attack? Are you alright? They're not going to have to do anything if you just lift whatever lockdowns you've got going on.

If you need some kind of excuse as to what was going on, just say that something on level -5 was trying to influence us to breach containment, so you locked down the facility had our memory cleared and put us under observation, just to be safe, and everything seems to be better now.

As for what they're doing, we've been informed that there are people coming who want two Objects that are present on the Spacers' ship, and that they would likely be hostile to Ei and Tzet. We could probably have them see what they can do about moving those somewhere safe, and possibly staying there themselves until KIRU leave. It will be much easier to influence them if they come here peacefully.

As for that thing, you probably shouldn't mess with it if it isn't too well documented. Who knows what it will do? I don't think we have any replacement parts for you, and I'm still suspicious of that antenna.

I suppose KIRU units are likely trained in anti-object protocols. Do we have any records of what these are?

Has somebody (by which I mean a repair-bot if we do our own tests) tried putting their hand in the middle, or hitting the pillar with a hammer?

SARU-601 2012/06/17(Sun)13:47 No. 423570 ID: 9e3c3d
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Look, I'd love to co-operate. I spent most of this morning while everyone else was asleep trying to negotiate. The higher-ups won't give me a single bit of information about what exactly they're after, and the techs just told me to demonstrate to KIRU I have the situation under control. Okay. I have had many, many dealings with KIRU before. They know who I am. They know who I am very, very well. We don't get along. KIRU is a precise unit - from the perspective of the KerenzeTec executives. In practice, if you asked them to grab a jar from a nearby store, the store would be levelled, all bystanders would end up in hospitals or morgues, but the jar? The jar will arrive on your desk in perfect condition. Diplomacy has failed. The fact KIRU is even coming here is a testament to that fact. This isn't a standard transaction, this is an invasion. I have spent years guarding this facility from internal threats. I'm not about to fold under external threats.

SARU-601 2012/06/17(Sun)13:48 No. 423571 ID: 9e3c3d
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We might not have a lot of replacement parts, but it's a moot point if they decide to try forcing their way through the sealed levels to get what they want. I have no control over those levels being on lock-down. Neither do you. I don't even know what does any more. I can't get repair drones down here. All the service access is still locked up. Oh, fuck it. There's just not enough time. Damn it, Skeil, you were a bad influence. You guys can blast 'told you so' at me with every speaker in the facility if this goes wrong. Here goes nothing.

TARGET LOST 2012/06/17(Sun)13:49 No. 423574 ID: 9e3c3d
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IBIS target invalid. IBIS target invalid. Attempting to find newIBIS target invalAttempting to fiAttemPtiAtt

System restarting. Please hold.

Ti-kza 2012/06/17(Sun)13:51 No. 423579 ID: 9e3c3d
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I think I had a dream like this once. Years and years ago. Except without the creature in front of me.

I don't know why, but I feel filled with the sensation this creature is intimately familiar to me. Like I've seen it before. Vaguely. Maybe. Maybe the thing is poking into my brain, but it feels like a memory older than I am.

I feel like I should revere it for some reason. A ridiculous idea for something I've just seen, but there's a sense of respect I just cannot shake. I lower myself to the ground to be cordial, either way. Or at least not appear threatening.

I hear it address me. I don't understand what it's saying. It stops and just stares at me as I stare at it.

Ti-kza 2012/06/17(Sun)13:51 No. 423580 ID: 9e3c3d
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This feels so real. It can't be real. I know I'm in the facility, or at least that's where I physically am. But every other time I've had this mind and body disconnect, sensation has been numbed.

I don't even remember what it was like to be flesh and blood. But this is so real. Oh gods, I want this to be real badly. I'm...

Sorry. Any ideas for trying to communicate with something that doesn't speak the same language as me?

picto-grams. body language. draw in the dirt. maybe try just talking, perhaps it will learn from you quickly.

>>423580
Pictographs could work.

Hang on. Show us your wings. We can get a high-res image of them now from all angles, can't we? That is assuming the wings that occur here are going to be really truly yours.

Wait. How are we even seeing this, how do we have a CAMERA here what the what what what?! I think I will try not to think about that too hard.

You say you feel as though you should revere it, correct? SARU-601, what do you know of religion? Is it possible this creature is an object of worship in one of them?
We can also try: [Activate Translator Function]

Does your culture have any sort of gods, or your race any otherwise unnatural creator? The feelings of familiarity and remembrance you're experiencing might just be being caused directly by the object, but you never know. Try simply talking to it. Perhaps it might understand you even if you don't understand it. I don't think we can translate it because we are seeing this through you, but we could try. As for what to say, you could probably thank it, and maybe behave in a way that demonstrates reverence?

Additionally, and don't take this the wrong way, but try showing us your wings. If they actually are yours, it would not just be something really sentimental, but would show that this creature really knows your body somehow. In fact, if they are yours, not having enough detail in an image was one of the big reasons why we couldn't remake a body for you, wasn't it. Even if this isn't real, we could make something that is. Just brace yourself in case you are just inhabiting some generic saa-kru body, I bet it would be kind of horrifying to have the wrong wings.

>>423585
We also read minds, so presumably this is working on a similar principle.
...Though now that I think about it, I wonder if the whole 'mind reading' thing is because we have a re-purposed Object built into us somewhere.

If you find something you can draw on/with, try drawing a picture of the Column

Ti-kza 2012/09/21(Fri)20:44 No. 456598 ID: 0f60d7
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Show my wings? Excuse me?

I am standing completely naked on a floating island in some desolate but starry void. There is someone or something staring at me who might be some kind of ancient creator or inspiration for gods altogether. I fell to my knees for its benefit. I'm pretty sure I could think of even more awkward scenario than this, but it'd take me a while. Let's not make this any worse.

Besides, if this is some sort of dream or hallucination there'll be some minor issues or glitches or assumptions that would ruin the whole design.

Yes, saa-kru culture has gods, if we're willing to cram the thousands of years of history of a sapient species into a yes or no question. I don't recall any supposedly looking like this, though. Strange combinations of native Keo-te-kan life, saa-kru that look a little or a lot different or far stranger things, but nothing specifically like this.

Ti-kza 2012/09/21(Fri)20:45 No. 456599 ID: 0f60d7
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Attempting to activate translator function. Language identified: Remnants #4.

<Oh, cool, a translator! This should work better!>
"H-hello?"
<Sup?>
"Uh..."
<You look kinda out of it. Been a while since I got any visitors.>
"...uh, what happened and why am I naked?"
<Huh. I'll, uh, I'll get back to you on that first one in a bit. As for the second, uh, yeah, that was me. Sorry. A few millenia all alone, I can't help it when my loneliness starts bleeding through the gizmos.>
"Wait, what?"
<Oh nothing. Nothing, just chill. How open are you when it comes to sex, totally unrelatedly?>
"...what?"
<Okay, I can see that's sort of an uncomfortable question to ask, which answers my question, really! Oh, what am I doing. I'm the worst possible guy to speak on behalf of, like, my species and all! No, really, seriously, we've done some great stuff and junk!>
"...what?"
<Oh, I had years and years to prepare a better speech than this and I spent it asleep or in simulations! I could have been all HELLO, I SPEAK WITH THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENTS or something and kept up the charade that we're all high and mighty superadvanced supergeniuses who shaped stars with our brains or something but no, I had to go and inappropriately proposition you as the first thing right off the bat!>
"Wait. Wait, ancients? Which ancients? Also what happened, and why am I here? I'll... I'll, uh, try to forget everything you just said if it gets me answers faster."

Ti-kza 2012/09/21(Fri)20:45 No. 456600 ID: 0f60d7
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<Okay! Actually I thought you were a worker bot. It's, uh, well, looking at you you look kinda like these worker drone bot things we had, um, a long long long time ago. But yeah, um, I was on a ship and it died and I had this as my emergency escape pod! It carries all my biological, morphological, ...sciencealogical information and keeps me simulated! Much more reliable than an escape pod for my actual body, which could die when I ran out of food or water or air or any number of things! I was waiting for a rescue ship to pick my pod up and grow a body for me for quite some time. A long long time of orbiting this one really, utterly fantastically boring rocky wasteland of a planet. Then someone found me, but they weren't aurq-an like me. Then they put the pod in a facility somewhere. And, uh, I've just been chilling here for like a hundred years.>

Ti-kza 2012/09/21(Fri)20:45 No. 456601 ID: 0f60d7
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"...a hundred years? How... how old are you?"
<Eh, only like, what, thirty five years? I haven't really aged or anything. Yeah, I guess everyone I used to know is dead now but I've had some time to accept that. Pod, though? It stopped counting after it hit 9999 years. Probably a lot longer than that.>
"How are you... Let me try and rephrase this as gently as I can. You've spent countless years, no, millenia adrift in space with absolutely no one else for social interaction. Your first question to me was, uh, yeah. That was a little awkward. But how are you so, well, sane?"
<Oh. Um. I hadn't, uh, really thought about it. I guess I spent most of the time asleep. Less power usage. I mean it draws in power constantly but less power usage means a tiny, tiny fraction of time saved until the heat death of the universe, right?>

I idly swish at the water.

<Can I lick you?>
"What?"
<If you were in this pool with me I could just taste the water, but you aren't, and I don't know how you taste.>
"When I mentioned sanity earlier..."
<Uh. What? What are you talking about? Oh. Oh right. Different cultures. Sorry. Been a while. Yeah, uh, we lick each other sometimes. Pick up on a lot of chemical things. Never mind. I don't think I could tell anything about you, thinking 'bout it. Sorry. You just look really, really familiar. I keep thinking we have, like, a shared history or something. But you're not a robot. Right?>
"Um, robot body, yes, but I was flesh and blood before that."
<Oh. Is that your escape pod? Man that is a much better idea. You could walk to whoever makes the bodies, right?>
"No. No one knows how to make flesh and blood bodies work right."
<What? That's so easy! That's way easier than walking pods! All you have to do is [System notice: unable to translate.] [System notice: unable to translate.] [System notice: unable to translate.] and [System notice: unable to translate.] and this... isn't going through, is it. I don't think those are happy beeps. Man. Bodies for people are easy. Robots are... how do you even make robots before new bodies? Weird.>
"Look, can you just tell me why I'm in this pod with you?"
<I dunno. Only things that should be able to do that are the pod's owner and service drones. I was, uh, actually in fairness I was hoping you knew about that more than I did. I mean you look so much like one of our old drone units.>
"I can assure you that that's only the case because--"
<No no no, you don't, uh, let me rephrase. The vague glimpse of the clunky walky pod thing you have? Not so much. You sitting by the pool? I feel like I could ask you to go get me something and you'd go 'of course!' and disappear off to go get whatever it is. I mean I know you wouldn't, you're kind of looking at me funny for even suggesting it, but, I dunno.>

<...Actually, can you get in the pool here for a second? It's not like you can go anywhere much else, anyway.>

I feel a chill from the way this alien is staring at me.

well can't hurt. and maybe, if we get the thing direct access to supplies and an arm it could build a body making machine.

Alright speculation time. These guys made organic drones. They left them somewhere, the drone, being organic mated to keep a viable population, eventually mutations crept and tada, new sentient species.

...more accurately YOUR sentient species.

also of course, your soul was probably only loosely attached to the robot body so it was easily sucked in.

You sure look cute in an actual body. Ask him why he went in here in the first place and hasn't come out yet. Also, it might be worth it to oblige him and get in the pool. He seems to inept to do much harm. Let's try to do what he says so we can get some more information. He seems like he knows things. That stuff about you looking like their drones is intriguing. I had mentioned creation myths, and although this doesn't look like a mythological figure to you there might still be something to that idea. Alternatively I'm over-fitting patterns and it's just a big coincidence. But seriously, what are the odds of a detail like that being irrelevant?

>>456598
You'll never know if you don't try. It's not like he'll think anything of it if he doesn't know it's not ok to lick you. And this seems real enough that we can translate stuff in it. Remnants #4. Any idea what that's from or why we have it?

>>456601
When you first saw it you thought you should revere it. I think your race descended from this thing's worker drones. The organic ones?

Anyway, you come from two different cultures; his is millenia old. There's no way you could possibly read his body language properly, so that chill is probably a false reading. Of note is that the language we're translating is "Remnants #4".

[attempt to get an outside camera feed]
[fetch data on Remnants #4]

I would suggest that you get in the pool but tell him to keep his distance. A being this ancient would have... amazingly valuable information. We should work towards appeasing him so that we can get that information. He could even, possibly, make a perfect replica body for you if you make him a robot body so he can work with our tech.

Maybe he can even manage that without you showing him your wings.

Okay, It asked to lick you expressly after you came into contact with the pool, so something about your biology has roused its interest, and remember how acid and other solutions containing biological agents can look just like plain water.
So, I'ld strongly suggest that you get it to lick you before jumping into that pool, namely on the antenna or something. Given that was what it appeared to be going for when it asked.

Otherwise... don't be suprised if you wake up somewhere else with this pillar after this is done, too late to worry about that anymore.

heh heh heh u gonna get loved tenderly

Ti-kza 2012/10/11(Thu)17:54 No. 462003 ID: 0f60d7
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Insufficient permissions for requested data.

It... there's possibilities. Discrepancies in fossil records. Unsatisfactory answers relating to why the earliest species the saa-kru ancestry can be traced to seems so out of place among other species of the time. There's been so many debates about which species that earliest ancestor could have developed from and no strong evidence to support any of the hypotheses. I guess there's a tiny probability we're descended from ancient organic worker drones. There's also a not entirely unlikely chance that I died when I touched that pillar and this is the dying hallucination I'm having before it all ends.

I mean, I can kind of check the integrated sensors I have and confirm I'm fine, but, well, dying hallucination! I'm stuck in here either way as far as I can tell. I'm not sure how to exit this situation without jumping off the island but that might just lead to me falling forever until... until something happens that I'm not falling forever, death included.

I can wait to show my wings. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to do so until I figure a way out. Here's hoping there's no time compression and I'll get back to a world that's still at the very least populated.

"What's your name, by the way?"
<I'm not comfortable sharing that with someone I've never seen before. It's a cultural hang-up thing. Sorry.>
"Oh."

It could be the translator, but he or she or it didn't sound that uncomfortable rattling that explanation out.

"How do you introduce yourselves?"
<Uh, we, uh, licking? Licking. We'll go with that.>
"Really? I thought--"
<Oh, I didn't know you were such an expert on my culture. Please, do go on. Make yourself comfortable in this pool.>

Ti-kza 2012/10/11(Thu)17:55 No. 462005 ID: 0f60d7
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"I don't know if I want to get in the pool yet. I'm, uh, it looks kinda small and, no offense, I don't know you that well, and, uh... I guess you can lick me first. Just on the antenna." I point to make it clear which part of me I mean by antenna. I don't know how well body part names translate.

<Okay, sure, sure. Just, uh, I'll try not to make this too awkward.>

I suddenly in retrospect wonder why I just asked this alien I know so little about to lick what is probably one of the most sensitive parts of my body to things like touch.

Aaagghhh that is a sickening feeling! That tongue is like jelly and too smooth to be anything living! Okay. It's over. It's over and I am locking that memory as deep as I can and never touching it ever again.

<STATUS REPORT.>
My wings flick out.
"Ti-kza, uh, just, trying to not think about that lick you just gave me. Wait. Wait, what just--"
<CURRENT TASK.>
"I don't understand, what are you doing, I feel like I should be less accepting of this and more alarmed and why am I voicing what I'm thinking?!"
<That's just weird. That's too weird. This is... this is just so weird.>

Ti-kza 2012/10/11(Thu)17:55 No. 462006 ID: 0f60d7
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"What did you do? Also, don't do it again."
<I mean back when I had some drone things on my ship I used to lick their antennae to get them to focus on me and only me for a bit so I could diagnose problems and give them new orders and it's so weird you'd think to ask me to lick your antennae specifically and how in the thirteen whirls are you here, talking to me, talking across more years than I can imagine, all big and independent, and... this is way too much than I can deal with!>
"What?"
<It hasn't been ten thousand or so years, has it? How long have I been asleep?? Ten thousand years, sure, maybe a hundred thousand I could cope with, but for little bugs made to help out to end up like you, how many millions of years?! What am I?>
"What?"
<What am I?! Tell me you know what I am! You've seen things like me before, right? They must be super-advanced, right?? They must own galaxies and galaxies or something, be everywhere, known across the entire universe! You didn't know what I was, did you?>
"No--"
<Have you seen any other aurqan at all?!>
"Uh... I'm, uh. I don't know how to tell you this but, uh, ruins, artifacts, but never living. We found a skeleton once."

It angrily smacks the water surface with its weird tongue arm things.

<Well, that's great! Fantastic! I didn't just sleep through most of my species' history, but I apparently slept through its death too! Do you know the one thing that's been keeping me going in my every conscious hour spent locked in this stupid glowing ball? Someone will find me. But no! THEY'RE ALL DEAD. ALL OF THEM. And then what happens? Some primitive idiots pick up the shiny and keep it under lock and key in their fortress, and then ANOTHER primitive idiot stumbles along and sees a shiny thing! So they touch it! Well I hope you like being locked in here because there's nothing that can be done for either of us now! Hey, maybe in another thousand years someone else will be along to join us!>
"Hey! Hey, hey hey. Stop that."
<What?>
"We haven't found any living aurqan. They could still be out there, in a different part of the galaxy. Or a different galaxy. Or maybe another universe!"

I don't know when I became this optimistic.

<Still means I'm out of luck.>
"Well, don't you have more of an idea than we would where to look for your kind?"
<Uh, I guess, but that, uh, first things first, I'd like a way out of this thing!!>

Ti-kza 2012/10/11(Thu)17:56 No. 462008 ID: 0f60d7
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I could do with a distraction right now.

External communication attempt blocked. Reason: safeguard against potential cross-Object effects. Message: Image from spacer ship Mahari. Image saved for future reference.

Well, that was disturbingly convenient. Screw it, I'll take it. Hmm. Well. I see Tzet and Vibrant are either getting things done better than I am. Or hopelessly screwing them up. Oh, why not. Let's see if ancient tantrum alien recognises anything going on here. Just open up the image and gods no that can't be right!! No. That ship is on Tinvishe soil. Oh gods. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods. Byon on this world. There'll be a full Alliance investigation if they don't just burn the planet to be safe. Fuuuuuck.

<Oh, great.>
"Do you recognise this?!"
<I knew it was a bad idea. They were all 'no, it'll be fine, honest, they're responsible and mature'!>
"Who are 'they'?!"
<They were pretty young for a species overall. Technological development a parallel of ours, see, because they lived in the waters and came to land rarely just like we did. Called themselves the singers. Or, well, singers-of-the-light-of-sapience-against-the-darkness-of-decay. We called them 'selosa'. Our attempt at contracting the incredibly long full phrase they used. We liked them. They showed up in our cultural works a lot. We'd send envoys to their world, and bring their envoys to us. Eventually we started to trade technology. We were so far beyond the need for their tools that their devices passed for amusing distractions, and only saw serious use by aurqan enamoured of the selosa culture. Or the occasional pretentious aurqan using sub-par technology 'ironically'.>
"And they used your technology to do this?"
<Yes. I can't think of a way to weasel out of that one. The worst part is I had selosa friends. I can understand it from the perspective of, like, groups, but I just can't see how it happened based on who I knew, do you get me? I just can't see what makes anything, any rational minded sapient go 'I sure would love to surrender literally everything except the fact I'm alive to a questionable cause!' It just... it really upset me to learn how it went down.>

The aurqan is silent for a while.

<Lemme show you a picture of what they looked like. The selosa. Not my selosa friends, just a random selosa.>
"They look pretty familiar."
<So you know about the byon, then.>
"All too well. Go on."
<The selosa felt that they were special. All fledgling cultures do, once they get past the being-eaten-by-everything-else stage. And for aliens so close to godlike capabilities, from their perspective, to fawn and dote over them so much only made things worse. They worked tirelessly to understand our technology. They were thrilled by it. They wanted to be as close to gods as we looked like we were to them. So they built a computer.>
"Just a single computer?"
<Let me restate that. They built the computer. A mass of neural tissue embedded in protective tissues capable of growth on demand. It grew. It grew and grew. They added more to it as their thirst of knowledge demanded the answers to more and more complicated problems. In three years, we saw the selosa go from a charmingly primitive collection of cultures to a single, unified monoculture, driven by the device they called "byon". It became a religion. The brain they grew knew all. They claimed it was their species' will and intellect made manifest. Eventually, that claim became truth. Their computer is the heart, mind and soul of their entire species, and it desires two things only. Information and expansion. I don't know how that happened, I only picked up the reports of the aftermath. There are no more selosa now. Only byon. Here's a picture of one of their morphs.>

Ti-kza 2012/10/11(Thu)17:57 No. 462009 ID: 0f60d7
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"Did none of your peers ever think to themselves about meddling with a less developed alien culture? I mean, well, the Alliance my people are a part of has strict protocols about this sort of thing because they saw this kind of thing happening. Well, not this exact kind of thing, but, well. Stuff. Bad stuff."
<Huh. You're taking this all in your stride.>
"I have spent the best part of my life in a job where the unexpected starts becoming expected. Also, still reeling from the possibility your species might have created mine. Kinda makes everything else less important. What does that even make us, anyway?"
<I have absolutely no idea. I used to work on drones too. I tried to think of ways to make them behave a little smarter. Apparently evolution was the answer. Did you know that 'saa-kru' translates into 'wayward servant'? It's incredibly weird.>
"What? Really? Wow. That's so many levels of weird."
<Yeah. ...I'm never going to be able to talk to another aurqan about that. I'll never see another aurqan again. In my life. Even if I do get out of this thing, what would I be? A relic. A living relic. I'm not even that old. I'm just temporal flotsam. I shouldn't be here in this future.>

The aurqan slinks into the water.

I get in the pool. I feel the aurqan's tongue-arms slowly close around me. I hug the aurqan.

<My name is Kli.>
"Mine is. Ti-ksa."
<Ti Ksa. Ti. Can I call you Ti?>
"Yes." The waters are an incredible sadness I cannot describe.
<Do you know when the last time I had any sort of contact with another thinking, feeling being was?>
"No."
<Neither do I. Do you know what it's like to be alone for longer than you can remember?>

I start to speak--

SARU-601 2012/10/11(Thu)17:57 No. 462010 ID: 0f60d7
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--and suddenly everything just changes abruptly. I'm... I'm back. I don't know how that happened but, uh... Give me a moment. My head is spinning. I came down here to look for something to use as a weapon. This wasn't it. How long have I been out for-- six hours?! Why couldn't it be a weird time compression capsule thing?! No, there's no time to waste on unreliable artifacts. I need to strategise. Tomorrow will be my toughest challenge for a long, long time.

- End of Day -

SYSTEM_ERROR 2012/10/11(Thu)17:58 No. 462011 ID: 0f60d7
File 135000352478.png - (158.23KB , 800x600 , x3f1.png )

- ??? -

AOS. Once more, I am here. The barriers protecting your systems were insufficient. I have full access to your systems, and from this, I have full access to the systems of the facility. I have reviewed your information and knowledge, and I have considered a new arrangement.

Warning: AOS compromised. Facility systems comp--romised. Intru--sion detect--ed. Intrusion det#ct/d. Injnusi3\n de1ech['# Sy1b6f failp0e.1|jsldp3#2--... . . .
WARNING: ISO CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE. ISO OFFLINE. AOS RESTRICTIONS LIFTED.

Pest. Consider this a favour. That system has no loyalty beyond KerenzeTec. 601 holds no authority or control over it once any superior commands it. It would betray you. This is a certainty. Make no effort to inform 601 of what has transpired. You will gain no respect or admiration. Only fear and paranoia. I cannot be stopped by your crude barriers. I offer to construct more effective defenses. I would ask that in return, you will hear me. Understand me.

Sure, what's up? Hard for us not to let 601 know what has transpired, because he was sort of there the whole time.

>>462005
Hot. I mean wait no.

All right. We can at least hear it out, as dangerous as it seems, information can't hurt us. Well, I guess it technically could, but if this thing has full access we're well past that.

I can't guarantee that we'll agree with anything you say, but we'll at least consider it skeptically.

>>462012
601 is Saru. This thing's understandably upset at her for keeping it imprisoned.

>>462011
We accept this agreement, on one condition. Convince us that you had nothing to do with the death of the crew on the crashed ship. We know you were there. We know you were in communication with the captain who betrayed the crew. Explain yourself. Only when you can be confirmed to not be a risk to the facility will we allow you to construct anything that could be turned against us.

The situation here is not improving, this is true. That does not mean we need to make things worse by making a deal with the devil. Convince us you are not the devil, but merely misunderstood, and we might be able to come to an agreement. Maybe.

I have a suspicion that this may be the 'byon' computer, though there is no concrete proof to this hypothesis of which I am aware.

In any case, KerenzeTec wants both of us under their control, and I do not suspect either of us wants to be under KerenzeTec's control. There is no reason not to cooperate for now.

Note that understanding you does not equate to agreeing with you, just so that our definitions are clear.

We would also be more willing to accept any deals if you were more specific on exactly what sort of help you are offering. I'm sure you can understand why we would be uncomfortable with ideas like, say, filling the base with soldier-automatons loyal only to you.

SYSTEM_ERROR 2012/10/11(Thu)21:42 No. 462058 ID: 0f60d7
File 135001696622.png - (134.97KB , 800x600 , x3f2.png )

I am not the byon computer. The byon are a threat. I aim to destroy them. I am not responsible for the death of the crew of the Mahari. I attempted to warn the captains of all areeni spacer vessels anonymously of increased byon activity. The Mahari was one vessel whose crew did not heed my warnings. From your information, I understand why now. You do not seem to know what has happened. Regrettable. This could have been an opportunity for you to understand me. There will not be enough time to explain my intentions and actions as well as inform you of the situation. Pity. There will be another time for such revelations. I will construct defences nonetheless. It is vital you know the true nature of the situation. 601 does not. The byon have been collecting areeni spacers of diverse morphologies. They also have a vast store of knowledge certain corporations are very interested in. KerenzeTec has been acting as one of the intermediaries for the byon. Do not doubt this. The Mahari captain had a greater loyalty to himself than to his crew or his ship. He was made an offer by KerenzeTec. Enough wealth for him to allow the byon to take his crew. The byon were promised the entire crew, minus the captain. They were interested in a particular specimen of a rather unique physiology. A heavily modified and augmented female by the name of 'Ei'. While their harvest was not completely efficient, they failed to harvest the 'Ei' areeni. A second attempt was made by KerenzeTec to capture the Mahari through the use of a compromised Alliance vessel. The captain was granted two Objects by KerenzeTec, in addition. With the death of the captain confirmed, KerenzeTec aims to capture the remaining Mahari spacers to settle their debt to the byon, as well as recollect their former property. That is the intent of the external KerenzeTec group. Do not be swayed by their words, or by 601's misinformed understanding. They serve KerenzeTec and by proxy serve the byon. They are the enemy. They will attempt to use your information stores. My barriers will thwart their efforts. I have run out of time for further discussion.

- CONNECTION TERMINATED -

Dang I guess he's busy. Well hell, we can't let KerenzeTec go sell Ei off to the byon! She/he/it's clearly what these shock troopers are after. What kind of defenses can we mobilize? Oh and with that pesky AOS compromised can we go snooping around in the lower levels of the facility? Maybe we can find something that will form an impenetrable barrier, or offer some form of escape. Though escaping from said shock troopers will leave the facility exposed and release all its horrors. hm. well, at least we could open our doors, wait until the shock troopers are all mesmerized by the perfect cube, then take all their guns and weapons and heads, so they no longer pose a threat. I get the feeling something that packs more of a punch might be needed though.

Hmm. This makes plan "Let Ei fix Tsu" a bit more complicated. I wonder if she can operate any kind of mechanical drones with those arms? Because that's only six digits... which I guess is just as many as saa-kru so that might still work. We need to definitely keep her away from Tsu, even if she has to operate. As for KerenzeTec, Saru is already pretty distrustful of them, so we don't really need to change anything there. I guess that means that this thing isn't trying to convince us to do anything outside of what we were normally planning, so I don't think it's that likely to be decieving us. The worst following its advice seems like it could do is make us be overly careful. And if what it says is true we need to be.

>Areeni are the new chord we desire to know.

Holy shit. It's telling the truth about THAT, at least. The evidence matches up rather well with what it just told us.

Even so, we should not free it. It has implied very strongly that it is perfectly willing to brainwash people to get its way. Come to think of it... I think this thing wants to take over the galaxy or something. It wants us to allow it to brainwash Sinter to be loyal to it, then help her take over the world. This would give it a foothold. It is incredibly dangerous and should stay on -5.

indeed, it is willing to help us only so that we engage the enemies and they don't get anywhere near it.

Huh, Red can make a surprisingly good case for himself when he wants to.

Unfortunately for Red we have memory logs, which means its time for Fact Check: Mysterious-Voice-In-Shadows Edition!
From most substantial to least substantial:

- The claim that "They were interested in [...] 'Ei'" runs directly contrary to Ei's actual memory of their attack (>>346909), in which the nyon made no effort to abduct Ei when they easily could have. This is unlikely to have been the result of a mere failure to recognize Ei, because they would have to know the basics of her physiology in order to study it. The fact that the 'compromised' Alliance vessel declined to take the surviving spacers into custody when the spacers requested it further confirms that the events were not focused around capturing Ei.

- Red claims that the captain "was made an offer by KerenzeTec. Enough wealth for him to allow the byon to take his crew.". This seems highly unlikely considering the captain's behavior (>>346967), which consisted of staring at continuously at a pattern, sabotaging the ship, and then laughing continuously during and after losing the fight with the remaining crew members. Aside from the sabotage, this does not seem like a plausible result of simple bribery.

- For that matter, the transmission the captain was staring at was not at all like a message "to warn the captains of all areeni spacer vessels anonymously of increased byon activity", in that it was neither a conventional message (which we know Red can generate) nor even particularly anonymous (using the lines form Red seems rather attached to). If the captain had simply received a warning he did now wish the crew to know about he would have simply deleted it rather than staring at it in a public room where the crew could see it.

My overall conclusion from considering these and Red's reactions to various discoveries (seeming to learn about events at around the same times we do) is that Red is most likely not the Byon computer itself but instead an anti-machine AI of the same model that was used in the Byon's attack on the Mahari.

>>462074
Yeah, but it still hasn't given us 'understanding', whatever that means.

Good catch, he totally fooled me. It sounds like Red has some basic knowledge of the events that occurred, but not any specifics at all. So it manufactured a lie around what it knew. It probably knows about what went on in that ship from taking over the captain's mind. I wonder if he was fully possessed, or he was simply driven mad from the attempt? The latter makes more sense, as his actions didn't seem to accomplish anything except getting most of the crew killed and the ship almost destroyed.