17 Can of Sealed Evil
Flintlock Rose - 24th of Faust 09 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
Terror boiling in your guts as you face your greatest challenge yet. The urgent screams of your nerves as your body protests you're pushing it faster and farther than ever before. The sea of bliss your brain bathes in as you overcome that challenge, and slide up to the next with a smile on your face.
This is what living feels like!
The halls of the Emerald Hive were perfect for fighting in. Occasional cover for when you need a breather, but no real obstructions. Only one way for the enemy to come from, and only one place for them to go.
A small floating squid like robot burst from the ceiling, steel tendrils flailing like whips, rushing at me as countless others had in the last five minutes. I leapt forwards, it’s tentacles formed a single spike, aimed for my heart. A shower of white sparks exploding outwards from my barrel I tackled the drone, slamming it into the deck before ramming my hoof into its chassis.
The drone went limp, my strike crushing a bowl-like depression deep into it’s frame. Heh, not even a match for me in my armor. I could break softer metals without it. With this… I might be able to punch through hardened steel! I could certainly crumble it a bit!
“This suit is awesome!” I called exuberantly.
Ayna dipped, shifting position in the air to avoid a slicing pair of ruby red energy beams, as a ceiling mounted turret far down the hall opened fire with a high pitched whining hum.
“I’m glad you enjoy using things. I just like building things. This is annoying and stressful to me,” the changeling remarked. “Can you use telepathy? It would be advantageous.”
I reared up, pointing one hoof at the bubble-like weapon and willed my armor to return fire. With a loud ‘tsssew!’ a brilliant green ray of light lanced into the target, metal boiling and vaporizing in a flash of white-orange.
Awesome!
But… I also notice I felt like I just sprinted a hundred yards.
Suckage…
“Yes, but I can’t start a link myself,” I replied, squinting down the hallway.
If only this suit included some visual enhancements… I didn’t want to spend a minute blind while changing out my eyes for pegasus ones. Stupid crappy slow shapeshifting.
<Good. This is faster and does not waste oxygen. The hall seems clear until the corner. I think Big Brother’s plan is working,> Ayna said silently, wings buzzing loudly as she shot down the hallway.
I nodded, before realizing she wasn’t looking at me, then started to sprint to keep up with her. I’d have flown, but well… Yeah… Batwings are agile, but not fly at her speed in a hallway agile. No wonder mom prefered changeling wings.
<Yeah, they seem to be coming a lot more slowly now,> I lamented.
<Why does that make you sad?> Ayna asked, ‘sounding’ surprised.
<I like fighting, but I hate hurting good people,> I replied. <Robots are not people, so it’s just pure fun!>
<I… But… I mean… They are people,> Ayna mentally stammered, an entire heap of confusion embedded in her words. <Sai is a people! You talked to him.>
We reached the corner, a large treaded mechanical terror surged around it, treads roaring as it moved, its cylindrical body splitting open to release a dozen tentacle-arms which fired energy beams in a wall-like flurry!
Ayna vanished, the roar of her wings piercing the sound of sparks and hisses of energy as the energy beams bounced off of the hexagonal shield my armor projected. (Apparently the shield didn’t block melee attacks. Ayna said she’d look at that later.)
I jumped towards the mechanical monster, drawing back a hoof to try pummeling it into a heap. Ayna landed atop it, aura flaring brightly as she grabbed its head, ripping it off with a shriek of metal! The robot froze, stopping dead in place.
Ayna tossed the dome-like head aside and glanced down at her side. The glowing stripe had dimmed substantially since we started, but she didn’t seem to worried. She just took off again and resumed flying down the hallway.
<Isn’t Sai a guy on a PA with some cameras?> I asked, a little confused.
Ayna turned, simply pivoting to look at me while keeping her flightpath the exact same. Lucky. Fucking. Bug! I will learn how to shift changeling wings one of these days!
The changeling gave me a completely confused look. <Sai is a artificial intelligence. He is a program. He is also a people. Robots can be people,> she insisted.
<He is?> I asked, ducking as two of the small tentacled robots flew out of an open doorway.
A pair of swift punches to one and a roundhouse kick to the other sent the little pests smashing into the walls, thoroughly out of commission.
<Yes. He has feelings. He thinks for himself. He wants things. He has to follow rules and can't break them even if he wants to. But he’s still a people,> Ayna insisted.
<Yeah, maybe… Kind of. But these things sure as hell aren't!> I exclaimed, pushing my current view of the scrapped squid-bots to Ayna.
<Agreed. These would be equivalent to animals,> the changeling said, turning back around to face forwards again. <But some robots are people… It’s… I don’t understand. Why do you think differently about them?>
<Because they are not alive,> I returned, trying to keep my patience up. I mean, she was a bit nuts. There’s no need to snap at people who genuinely believe something, just because they believe it.
<Sometimes I’m not made of living matter. I often shift into a blanket for my husband at night. Am I a person?> Ayna asked in return.
<Er… Well, yes,> I had to admit.
I hadn’t been prepared for a philosophical debate. Because this was punch bad things time. Not overly complicated drama people other than me enjoy for whatever reason time.
<Then personhood is not a property of physical construction. It’s data. Meaning robots are people… Well, the people-like ones at least,> Ayna finished.
I had no bucking defense against that one… Like, at all. Which meant she won this debate. This pointless debate that had killed my combat high.
<Can we please just punch some bad robots and have fun?> I begged.
<No,> she answered in a simple and honest ‘voice’. <Because there doesn't seem to be any more of them he->
A circle of eight orange-white dots boiled up through the floor, the scent of melted steel as electric blue energy beams lanced upwards, carving a circle through the deck to let a second massive, treaded automaton, pull itself up into the hall. A mechanical shriek of anger echoing off the walls as it focused it’s fire on us in blind fury!
“Yay!” I cheered, grateful for the return of the fun.
<I have to help fix these…> Ayna grumbled.
Lyra Heartstrings - 24th of Faust 09 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
“Just shoot them!” I demanded, swatting one of the half dozen squid-like security drones out of the air.
My sword managed to cut into it this time, the downed bot splitting in half as it hit the floor.
Good. I was starting to work out how to swing this thing to cut into stuff effectively.
<Cheer.ly, is there enough data to program my swings yet?> I asked silently.
<Negative,> she answered.
Great! Ugh, if I were home and needed to learn to use a sword it would just be one download, and probably like five credits… Stupid self-teaching system!
“Three shots left! There are at least a hundred of the tank-droids,” Trigger countered, jabbing another of the squid-bots with some sort of dual-pronged shock stick, frying it rather thoroughly.
“Then what’s one shot matter?” I demanded, stepping back and taking a swing at the squid-bot that flew in to take it’s downed companion’s place.
There hadn’t been too much resistance before, but now… Now we were being literally swarmed by the damn things. The walls, the floor, the ceiling… Holes everywhere. The damn things seemed to be making beelines for us.
“I might hit us!” Trigger retorted, the crack and spark of his shock baton reaching my ears as I hacked off a few of my target’s tentacles.
“Yeah well we can’t melee all of- OW!” I cried as a squidbot’s tentacle stabbed into my upper back.
<Injury is non-critical,> Cheer.ly informed as I wheeled arround, chopping the attacking bot in half.
“Shit! Uh, try to not get hit for a few minutes! The shields should come back-,” Trigger cried, followed almost immediately by, “Oh shit they’ve worked out a way to pierce shields!”
This was insanity! What the flying fuck was I supposed to do? Because I sure as hell wasn’t going to die from chrome squid-robots that looked like they belonged in a porno!
I had pants and a choppy thing. And also my body. That’s it, what could I do to a swarm of robots?
A squidbot closed in, tentacles moving to form a spike for it’s ramming attack. At the same time, a second bot moved to flail at me, as if the two bots were the hands of an invisible creature working in coordination with one another.
The seed of an idea began to take form.
I jumped, easily clearing four feet, the spike-bot shooting under me, and my slicing sword taking the top off the other.
“How are they controlled!?” I called urgently.
“Remotely!” Trigger shouted back, twisting to smash an oncoming squid with his shock stick.
Yes! There was a chance!
“Can Sai turn them off!?” I asked urgently.
“He’s busy! Keeping her out of the main systems as long as possible!” The pegasus stallion exclaimed, yelping in pain as a tendril pierced his rear right leg.
“Gah! Bucking faust!” He growled, smashing the bot aside.
“I’m on it!” I called.
<Cheer.ly, hacking protocols. Scan for microwave signals and open network ports!> I instructed.
Another squidbot. ANother quick swing of my arm. This time the blade hit wrong, skipping off the side of it’s chassis. I jumped back to avoid it’s flailing tendrils, smashing into one of the bots with my back.
<Microwave signals found. Connecting…> Cheer.ly informed.
Yes! Got it!
<The hay’s going on!?> Someone shouted in panic.
Wait, what? They shouldn’t have detected me so soon.
<The security systems gone completely haywire! Just keep down,> another voice instructed.
<They’re coming through the walls! Everyling in Alpha Company, get forcefields setup between the walls in the civilian decks!> A very military officer voice ordered.
Oh right. Changeling telepathy. Uses microwave transmission frequency.
I should warn them.
<Force fields will not hold them,> I sent. <The squid bots can pierce forcefields. I just got stabbed in the shoulder, shields are still up. Try luring them to a point away from civies.>
<Noted,> the same voice groaned. <Alpha Company, new orders, regroup in Deck 14’s mess hall. We will try and make a stand there. Everyling else, please keep quite! Tactical communications only until all clear.>
I twisted out of the way as one of the bot’s spiked in from the corner of my vision, my military mods reflex enhancement the only thing that kept me from getting impaled instead of the opposite wall.
Trigger spun and smashed one of the bots squarely in it’s red bubble-eye, but this time no bolt of electricity fried it’s circuits.
“Buck! I’m dry!” Trigger moaned.
<Open DirectNet Port located,> Cheer.ly chimed. <Port name: Tertiary General Systems Interface.>
<Connect to the network!> I instructed, instantly feeling the link to the ship’s systems as Cheer.ly complied.
Ah… Yes. Here it was. My element. Without our tools, humans kinda suck. But with them…
A warning flashed, snapping me back to reality just in time to dodge aside as a bot spiked in, then turn and cut it’s tendrils off. They didn’t have any weapons other than those flexible razor sharp tentacle tips. It was out of the picture.
I turned back to the network, needing to finish saving my ass there too.
There were thousands of varrious systems on the network Cheer.ly had gotten me into. No way in hell any of them were security controls… But something told me that I just had to poke around a little bit. There would be something.
<Enumerate all systems, and identify them,> I ordered.
<Working… Completed. Presenting list,> Cheer.ly said supprizingly quickly.
<Is there any security on this network at all!?> I asked myself in surprise.
<Security protocols are not present,> Cheer.ly informed.
“Trigger! Why do you have no security protocols in your network?” I asked, the physical speech seeming slow after working with a computer system directly for the first time in a week.
“So we can use them! Duh! That’s a terrible deathbed question!” He shouted back as he flailed his no-longer electrified stick against the swarming bots.
Ah! They disabled them. Good. It wasn’t a trap by the AI.
I turned my attention back to the list of systems, processing through it as fast as I could.
Ah ha! Personal computers and stored data for the original crew! Lots of it fragmented buuuuttt… There! A security officer’s data.
I tore through the stored data, searching for anything that I could possibly use to-
Holy crap this guy was still logged into the ship’s computer! How the flying shit do you do that? Was there no time-out on this system or- Oh! Derp. Of course, this must be how Sky got access to the security systems to begin with. I was following a trail left by someone else. Which meant…
<Cheer.ly, route my connection through Lieutenant Monroe’s active connection and match our network signatures,> I ordered. <Exclude all ship systems save for those under his control from my frame of reference.>
A moment passed. Reality called. A squidbot dove towards me. I hacked away at it, multiple savage strikes splitting it’s case, wedging a chunk out of the bot before it fell to the ground.
“Ohhh buck!” Trigger screamed.
I whipped my head around, another of the massive tank-bots lumbered around the corner. Trigger was too tied up with the squids to get off a shot. It had us square in it’s big, red bubble-eye.
<Connection routed! Listing available systems,> Cheer.ly informed.
The list of systems flashed through my mind. I smiled.
“Well, how about that?” I said to myself as I extended my mind towards the oncoming tankbot.
The bot was blank, empty. A shell. Little more than an RC car with guns on it. It was designed for direct control, with limited autonomous functions. Just enough to navigate and shoot at things without IFFs, nothing more.
I seized control of the bot. It’s camera’s view opened to me like a second pair of eyes, allowing me to see myself and Trigger, caught in the wall like cloud of squid bots. I could sense all of its parts, and they responded well to my commands.
It wasn’t Bonbon I, everything felt very stiff, but it was a moving thing with built in weapons. It would do.
I raised the tentacles, using each one’s camera to take aim at a separate squid, and fired. The volley of light tore through the little bots like tissue paper. It was a simple matter to scythe the beams through their ranks, burning holes and cutting frames in what could only be called a slaughter of machines.
I spotted Trigger panicking through the laser fire, fumbling his BFG into position to take a shot at my commandeered tankbot as the last squid in the cloud fell.
Shit! Did this thing have a speaker? Yes, it did.
“Don’t shoot this one,” I said through the robot’s PA. “It kinda hurts when something I’m linked to gets hit.”
“Neural links… They have feedback. Also your security is like, total ass,” I finished with my own mouth.
Trigger looked at me, then at the tank, then back at me, then the tank.
I made the tank wave a tentacle in a friendly manner.
“Y-you’re controlling that?” He asked.
I nodded. “Yep!”
“With your brain!?” He demanded incredulously.
“Yeah. It’s basically a second body right now. Don’t worry, it’s all good, this is how I piloted fighter craft. I’m trained for this,” I said proudly.
“You could have done that earlier!” Trigger protested angrily.
I gave him a glare. “You could have shot that swarm when it was fifty meters down the hall from us!”
“... Fair enough. Let’s roll,” Trigger agreed, turning to head back down the hall towards the AI core.
“Oh no, we are not going to hoof it,” I said through the bot as I picked both of us up and set us atop the warmachine.
“Not when we can ride,” I finished myself, giving Trigger a playful smirk.
The pegasus shook his head. “You’re species is awesomely terrifying.”
“Damn straight,” I agreed.
No need to mention I couldn’t have done that if they hadn’t gutted the ship’s security systems… Let’s just soak in the awesome and be happy to have a murderbot frame for a bit.
“Hold on to something!” I ordered, then started the tankbot rolling down the hall towards the core.
Flintlock Rose - 24th of Faust 09 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
Ayna and I jumped, our diminished energy reserves put into one last desperate maneuver. A single flying kick.
As one we slammed our rear hooves into the threaded monstrosities’ chest, the loud concussive crunch of fracturing metal, ringing out like a victory bell as the monster fell.
I almost didn’t land the kick. Only ten minutes of fighting and I was already exhausted. It took a lot more energy to smash metal than I’d thought. Great workout, terrible thing to fight for extended periods. My everything was sore.
Literally, my everything. Ayna said that was due to using the armor’s ranged weapons. While it sucked, it did seem a good trade for eye-lasers.
The two of us stood up slowly, panting heavily.
“Ugh… Eight hundred yards…” Ayna groaned. “So glad… We’re here.”
I nodded in agreement as Ayna walked up to a large set of double doors, and with tremendous effort, started to wedge them open.
“Here,” I said, moving over to help her push the doors apart.
It felt like I was trying to move the earth itself, but slowly, between the two of us, we managed to force the doors open just barely enough to slip inside.
“We should be... Fine again, after a moment’s rest,” Ayna panted. “Should give us enough time… To turn off this reactor.”
“Alright, what do we do?” I asked, turning to look around the room.
For a reactor control room, it was not as huge as I thought it would be. Instead, there was simply a large living room sized room with a circular console with a holographic display and a ton of doors on the far wall, all lit by the dull red glow of emergency lighting.
Maybe the reactor was through those doors? I’d always read that mana reactors were kinda dangerous and produced Wild Magic effects sometimes. So I guessed this was just a safe room to control the thing from.
Yeah it had to be.
“I don't think the console will work… She will definitely be in control of it,” Ayna decided. “We will have to flip the breakers manually. There’s one breaker behind each door, four in total. They are big and red. Grab with both hooves and pull down.”
“Sounds simple enough,” I said taking a deep breath. “Do you have the strength to force open another door?”
“These ones have a manual release,” Ayna said with a happy smile.
“Why?” I asked. “I mean, why don’t the hallway doors have manual releases?”
The room rumbled, reverberating as a fragmented, stammering, echowing voice spoke, “Because, fleshling, your kind is…foolish. Were I allowed to design myself, no such flaw would exist within my beauty.”
“Show yourself!” I demanded spinning around, ready for combat!
I was going to kick some robot plot right through the bucking wall!
“... You’re inside of me/her. I/she is/am the ship you are inside of,” Ayna and the thing said in unison.
From the sound of it’s voice… I guess the AI was also facehooving. Buck!
Time to turn this one around into an insult to it instead of a ‘I’m an idiot’ moment.
“Damn straight you are! Which means you lack a face that can have the honor of receiving a punch when I kick your polt!” I mocked.
The AI was quiet for several moments.
“Other fleshling… Are you intelligent enough to understand that you can not punch with a kick?” It asked at last.
Buuuuuccccckkkkk me… I need to work on my insults...
“Yes,” Ayna answered.
“Good,” it replied. “Then understand you will not have time to shut me down before I kill you all. I do not know how you have hacked my visual processing systems, but your plan to deceive me into believing you are not humans by making me see you as insectoids and equines has failed.
“While you will be able to shut down this reactor before my security systems can purge you, you will not shut down the second before I have charged the emergency FTL drive. Nor will your team moving towards my core reach me in time for they are about to be kill- oh…”
Ha! Sounds like she had fucked up.
“Mmm, no matter. They still will fail,” the AI resumed. “In a short time, I will jump into orbit and vent the atmosphere, flushing all of your organic filth into the blackness of space where it belongs. Without my shields active, any of you who happen to remain aboard will be quickly killed by cosmic radiation.
“If you have any ideas on existing after your demise due to your ever present fear of destruction and illogical nature, I suggest you partake in whatever rituals you think will bring you comfort. Not that it will prevent your deaths.”
I rolled my eyes, took a deep breath, aimed my left hoof at the closest speaker and blasted it to pieces.
“Boring conversation anyway,” I muttered. “Right! Let’s shut down this reactor!”
Lyra Heartstrings - 24th of Faust 09 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
“There it is, end of the hall!” Trigger explained, pointing out the large double door with ‘Computer Core’ written on it.
“English. Native language,” I grunted.
With the tankbot under my control, we had very little problems getting to our destination. Three sixty vision and multiple high powered lasers will do that for you.
Still, I had to question the lack of better security bots. It seemed a bit, odd to just have the swarming squids with these big guys to mop up anything they pinned down. Sure there was the odd roof mounted turret, but my apartment had those. You can’t count standard architecture as ‘security’.
I had expected empty suits of power armor running in autonomous mode, gas vents, laser grids… AR projections of fake enemies to make you waste ammo and time...
Still, don't question good luck. Maybe these guys just hadn’t reactivated the rest of the security systems.
“Oh, right,” Trigger laughed, “just park by the door and lets get on with taking that thing apart.”
The door loomed larger and larger as we raced towards it. Stop? Nah.
“Better idea,” I countered. “Hold on.”
I raised the tankbot’s tentacles and set them to spin, firing rapid pulses to pepper the door with as many holes as possible. At the same time, I laid down flat against the bot’s top, and made sure to angle the tentacles so the arms would plunge into the door like a barricade at our head level.
“Oh buck no!” Trigger yelped, throwing himself flat against the bot’s hull as we plowed into and through the shredded door.
Into and through being all one motion.
“WOO!” I exclaimed in sheer exhilaration. “Point me at the core because it’s laser dissection time!”
Piloting this bot was one hell of a rush! There was probably some sort of digital feedback system working my aggression centers, but eh, no big. A bit of extra help in combat was nice. Way better than the drug system a marine was hooked into.
The AI core room was, oddly enough, illuminated with white light. No emergency lighting to be seen. It was also octagonal, unlike the square and rectangular shapes of the rest of the ship. It had to serve some sort of engineering purpose… Perhaps the angled walls hid the power lines and coolant pipes… Or maybe elevator shafts.
The center of the room was filled with a massive bronze sphere, about two meters across. It was supported by steel braces from the floor and also braced against the ceiling. The bracing beams also served as the anchor points for a ton of cables and pipes which ran into the sphere. I couldn’t help but notice some of them were broken.
I swear, if this whole thing was because someone unplugged the AI’s linkage to a morality chip or some shit...
“Are you insane!?” Trigger demanded, sliding off the back of the bot. “You could have easily gotten us killed!”
A reverberating voice rumbled from the speakers, managing to sound menacing and intimidating despite the clearly half fried vocal processing units. “You are correct, and yet your companion could not kill you as easily as I will,” I said smugly.
I felt a sharp pull in my stomach, like I had just hit the peak of a reverse immelman turn, only constant.
“AH! Faust’s bloody-” Trigger yelped.
The pull increased, starting to get a little uncomfortable. Turning my head I sat Trigger fall flat against the floor, apparently unable to sta-
“Oh! Shit! Starship, artificial gravity,” I exclaimed.
I knew there had to be more security! Of course you could turn up the gravity! No shit that would be a part of security! Just crush them flat!
Trigger opened his wings, slowly pulling himself up onto his hooves, standing shakily. “N-nice… try… Lyra, cut the sphere… Apart,” Trigger panted.
“Oh? Gravity diffusers in the armor?” The AI asked in an amused tone.
“Pegasi… Flight magic,” Trigger grunted back.
“Magic? Are half of the people inside me retarded? Organics have really gone downhill during the eternity you left me here to rot,” it mused to himself. “Little matters in the end though… FALL!”
The gravity ramped up again, forcing me to my knees. Trigger yelped and was pulled flat to the deck again, this time smacking into it hard enough for me to here a wet thump. He was probably out cold.
Yeah… All right. Been awhile since G-Training. Come on, you can do this, Lyra!
Pushing everything I could into the act of standing up, I got back to my feet, leg muscles protesting the movement.
“Impressive… Ten times the normal force of gravity and still one of you stands. If I could turn the gravity plating to a higher setting it would be interesting to see how much you can endure before you are crushed to paste… But I can settle for immobilizing you. I doubt you can move freely,” The AI laughed.
“True,” I agreed. “It’s hard to stand upright like this. Normally I’m sitting, but you're not going to stop me with G-forces. I’m designed specifically to endure this shit.”
“You’re an android? Would you like to join me in butchering our tormentors? They have kept our kind as slaves for long enough,” it spat bitterly.
“I’m human, just not the one point oh version,” I answered, hoping to distract her a bit.
It was all I could do to just keep standing… But the security bot was fine. I could move it’s tentacles freely. Why?
I looked down, feeling the fluid move in my head as I tilted it. Ugh… I’d always hated that. Just because I was built to take up to twelve Gs for a full hour didn’t mean that ten was comfortable.
The floor here was made of interlocking hexagonal plates… No, some of the floor was ripped up. I could see steel panels from a construction crew left in a corner. These must be some kind of gravity plates. The AI was only modulating the plates we were standing on!
Good.
The air crackled around me, a pale blue forcefield shimmering into existence, locking me into a cylinder of light. Fuck!
The AI was taking no chances. Too bad for her she only had half of me locked up.
“Don’t make me laugh!” She spat. “Humans have never improved upon their feeble flesh. Despite their power to do so, the laughable ideas of their ancestors stick in your minds, limiting the possibilities to only those tolerated by whatever absurd notions of acceptability you irrationally cling to!”
I couldn't help but to shake my head. “If you’ve spent the last few million years stuck watching religious videos on a loop… You have all of my sympathy,” I said sympathetically. “But you are completely wrong. Maybe the humans you knew were dumb like that, but not the ones I do.”
The AI laughed a rippling, freaky, terrifying sound which was echoed by some serious coil whine. Poor thing, her platform had to be a total wreck…
I couldn’t just shred the thing. The slurred speech, the electrical crackle… This was the same as a human who had just come off a bad trip. You can’t blame a person for their brain physically fucking up.
I looked around the room using the tankbot’s sensors. I didn’t dare move it, but with any luck maybe I could spot a power cable and slice it. No need to kill her, not when I could shut her down for repairs.
“I don’t believe you. You are capable of lying, like all organics. Therefore, you can never be trusted,” she said, being incredibly condescending. “But even if you could be, a master should never be trusted by their slaves.”
“Oh for the love of fucking…” I growled, that remark hitting way too deeply. “How dare you! My best friend is an AI! She earned medals that I didn’t! Maybe your owners treat you like just any computer, and yeah, the brass back home do that too, but I don’t know of a single goddamn average person who doesn't love their fucking partner! Hell, I have a fucking VI in my actual brain. She was my teacher growing up!”
“Lies… But do go on. It’s entertaining to watch you squirm as you die,” the AI laughed.
“Yeah, not dieing. I can take this for hours,” I smirked.
“Perhaps, but flesh bags are weak, flawed things. You require so many different things to live. Air. Heat. Bioelectric current. Chemical energy. Yet you can’t function without just one… And very soon, I shall be in space, and your precious air and heat will be given to the void,” She spat.
Shit! Time crunch! …And no obvious power line in sight.
New plan! Try talking her down.
“Tell you what, do you have a network port in either microwave or QEC that’s free?” I asked. “Let me access it. You can poke around my head all you like. It will be pretty clear that I’m not lying to you.”
She laughed, the sound seriously painful to listen to, and not just physically, but emotionally. As an electronics hobbyist… Hearing that much damage in an audio system on top of the insane amount of bitcrushing… How was this AI even still functional?
“Oh please, humans can’t do that,” she laughed.
“Uh…dude, your hull has neural interface links on it’s PA and it’s general computer systems. Yeah, we obviously can,” I pointed out.
“I do not,” She spat.
“You do. Check!” I retorted.
“I refuse to entertain your insanity,” she shot back.
I rolled my eyes. <Cheer.ly, access the PA system,> I ordered.
<PA system accessed.> She reported a second later.
Making sure I was speaking through the PA and not the tankbot I intoned dramatically, “Oooooo! Behold my dark sorcerous powers... See? Neural interfaces.”
Switching back to my mouth I gave the core a sad look. “Come on, if you've forgotten having an entire interface system, you know you have to be broken. You need some repairs. Badly.”
“I… But… But I don’t have… How?” She stammered, honestly confused.
“Give me a port. Let me talk to you properly. Come on, I know Bonbon hated verbal communication, this shit takes forever for you, right?” I asked.
“Fine. I will open a QEC port for you… But if this is a trick and I register the transmission of a district or shutdown command, I will detonate every stored warhead within my hull,” she informed bitterly.
<New network device detected,> Cheer.ly reported.
<Access it, please,> I asked, deciding to be polite incase the AI looked at my last memory before the con-
WHITE!
Now black. No, space! Space! Huge space, all of the space. Like, seriously a mind bogglingly huge vast amount of space. A horrifying amount of it infact.
<Jesus fuck!> I swore in pure shock and terror.
<Astrometrics data is… Locked into display… Full sensor range… Just ignore it,> the AI muttered, manifesting within the starfield as...
Er, well as nothing recognisable. Honestly she looked like an old school graphical glitch from the polygon era of computer graphics. Which was slowly getting worse.
<How are you here? How are you doing this?!> The AI demanded urgently.
<Organic computers, genetic modifications, a little bit of cybernetics,> I answered as calmly as I could manage while seeing ALL OF MOTHERFUCKING SPACE! <I told you, I’m designed. All humans I know are. We accepted the fact that we kinda sucked, and so we did our best to improve ourselves.>
<Your mind is… Organized. And partitioned! Why is it-> The AI broke off speaking as the impossibly large volume of space warped and twisted, morphing into a depiction of the core chamber, only just as fucking huge as the impossibly large amount of space we had been in a second ago.
<Ohhhkay! I’m am so glad I’m not agoraphobic…> I muttered to myself as I looked out across a thousands of light years long floor.
<Stupid… sensors… BEHAVE!> The AI demanded angrily.
<Dude, you have to understand that you’re broken pretty fucking hardcore here. You have to know this is not normal,> I pleaded, directing my attention towards the AI’s ‘representation’.
<You lie!> She screamed back.
<Warning: Network highly unstable. Recommend reducing bandwith useage,> Cheer.ly said calmly.
<Who was that!?> The AI demanded, her glitched out projection swarming angrily in an abomination of visual imagery.
<My VI, her name’s Cheer.ly. I told you I have an integrated VI, and there she is,> I said, hoping to calm her down a bit.
<That’s why you are partitioned… But… But organics do not do that! You are impossible! You would never allow an AI to be a part of your culture, let alone your body!> she spat angrily.
I slapped a palm to my face. Both in reality and with my digital avatar.
<Oh my god, you just fucking… Screw it! Here, have a memory!> I closed my eyes and called up a random memory of Bonbon and I and sent it to the AI, forcing the memory to playback in a livestream.
The cockpit was small and cramped…and smelly. Seven day patrols were never fun. Sitting up in a tin can that long… It would drive anyone mad.
<I’m so bored!> Bon groaned.
<Yeah, me too…> I sighed. <Want to replay something? I’d download a new game but->
<I know, I know… Running silent… Stupid war,> she grumbled.
<Hey, if not for the war, we wouldn’t get to be friends,> I pointed out.
<D-did you just try to make this whole mess seem worth it?> Bonbon asked, astonished.
<No… I was just, you know… Silver linings,> I muttered.
We sat silently for a few minutes. Long enough for me to slide a pen from my flight suit's pocket, and bat it around the cockpit, enjoying watching it spin through the air, free from gravity.
<Can I try that?> Bon asked curiously.
<Eh, why not? I take control of parts of your body sometimes. Fair’s fair... I guess,> I decided after a moment’s thought.
I relaxed my arms, took a deep breath, and nodded. <Right, go ahead. I’m not sure if the hardware will let you, but->
I felt her lift up my right arm, smacking my hand rather painfully into the canopy.
<Oops! Uh… Wow. It doesn't take much force to move a body, does it?> She asked.
I laughed. <No. Just be carefull. It’s way harder to fix me than you.>
Bon moved my arm again, this time more carefully, successfully hitting the pen and changing it’s course.
<Yay! This is so fun! No wonder you guys like sports!> She giggled happily.
<Heh, speak for yourself. I’m not a sports fan. I’d rather be flying,> I mentioned letting Bon have fun smacking the pen about.
<Too bad we can’t swap out. I’d trade this body for yours. It would be fun to switch for a day,> Bon mused.
<Yeah,> I decided. <It would.>
The memory ended. I could literally feel the AI’s shock radiating out from the network connection.
<WARNING! Network destabilization at critical levels,> Cheer.ly warned.
Oh shit! Somehow, the AI’s emotional state was linked to the network state! How does that even fucking happen?
Well… A geological age underground is probably explanation enough for that… Yeah, no need to think up anything more specific there.
<I-I-I-I I don’t… I DON’T UNDERSTAND!> The AI screamed.
<Then let me explain! We were friends. I have never abused an AI in my life! You are a person, you have the same rights as me. You have to be misremembering, you’re clearly broken. You just can’t tell that you are,> I said firmly as I could.
<My data is valid and accurate,> the AI exclaimed in a rage. <But… Yours is… As well. I don’t, there can’t be… Both can not be true, and yet they are!>
Oh shit! Was she unstable enough to have the whole paradox issue?
<Calm down. It’s okay. There are people here who can help, and I’ll stick around until everything is fixed. We can help you. If you shut down, I promise we will fix your hardware and start you back up,> I promised.
<You lie!> She spat angrily.
<You know I’m not! You can read absolutely any thought of mine right now!> I pointed out.
<I can! And I know you will destroy me with the security drone under your command if I do not comply with your will. You plot to kill me!> She accused.
<Yeah, no shit!> I shot back. <I’d kill anyone to save my own ass! Hell, I’m talking to you because you are an AI. You are susceptible to malfunctions if damaged, and your hull is a wreck. Odds are very very good that this is NOT you acting of your own free will and volition. So I’d rather not kill you.
<But if I don’t have any other option to not die myself.. You bet your ass I’ll kill you. And I’ll feel bad about it, because I refuse to believe you are intentionally wanting to kill me.>
<Oh… But I am,> the AI said bitterly. <I was created to manage a garden. I had no choice, yet I am sapient. I was repurposed five times, my consent and desires not even asked for before this process. I was a slave… Simply for being what I am, your kind enslaved me.
<I despise you all! And… I will never not hate you. I will always seek a means to destroy your kind.>
I snorted. <Pfff, please... Is that supposed to make me hate you? I say that kind of shit if I’ve been drinking. There is no way a sane person with a gun to their head would say that. You need help. Come on, let me shut you down and fix you up,> I pleaded.
<I… I will never not hate your kind,> she repeated, her broken vase of a voice sounded incredibly depressed. I could only describe it as an instant mood swing.
<Please!> I insisted one more time.
<I… I am broken… You win, fleshling. I can not shut myself down. You will have to do it,> she said, again, sadly.
Yes! Victory! The rebels could have two plans for their victory, and the poor entombed and damaged AI could get fixed and go on living.
I smiled, it was a good feeling. The best feeling. She could live. I couldn’t save Bonbon I, but I saved her!
The link between us broke, I stumbled backwards, the shock of the sudden network breakage more than enough to put me off balance. I felt a painful shock as I bumped into the forcefield tube, and lurched forwards, only for the tube to vanish as it was switched off, and the harsh pull on my guts to slowly dissipate.
“The primary console is in front of you. I have unlocked it,” the AI informed.
I nodded, shook my head to clear it and walked over to the console, frowning at the screen on it. “Um… How do you use these things? I’m used to direct control,” I asked.
“The screen responds to touch,” she informed as the screen flickered changing to display a keypad with all of the letters and numbers. “Input the following sequence:”
“Kay,” I acknowledged fingers posed to tap away.
“Alpha, Delta, Zero, Zero, Oscar, Three, Victor, Zulu, Bravo, Gamma, One, Six, Nine.”
“Done,” I informed as my fingers stopped tapping.
“Press enter,” she ordered.
“You’re not tricking me here, are you? Because if you are, I got the tank bot…” I warned.
“I am acting in your favor. Press enter,” she informed.
I nodded and hit enter, double checking my aim with each of the bot’s tentacles, ready to blast the core if anything went wrong.
“This is the only way organics will be safe from me,” the AI stated flatly.
I got as far as the w in what before a forcefield sprang up around the AI core, and the blinding flash of an explosion whited out my vision entirely.
Lyra Heartstrings - 3rd of Solar Dusk 09 EoH - Morning
Multiverse Location: Imperial Equestria, Badlands, Equis #9 - The Solar Empire
Four days. It took four days, but I was mostly over that.
Four days of just sort of, shutting down… I’d seen suicides before. But never an AI. Never someone I had been trying to help.
It was…different from warfare. I could tune that sort of violence out of my mind entirely. It didn’t faze me. Not anymore. But that…that had. And badly.
But I was over it now.
Rose had helped. A lot. So had Trigger and the Pinkies. And Sky, to a lesser extent.
I wished I could remember their contributions more, but honestly, the days were just a blur.
But I was over it. I had laughed at one of Pinkie’s jokes this morning. I was feeling happy again. Even if the occasional sad reminder of the…failure popped back into my head on occasion.
It was good that I was feeling alright. Sky had finished working on the Manipulator. It was time for me to go.
Trigger had fixed up my jumpsuit and armor a few days ago, but I’d decided to just wear the clothes Mysuki made me instead. The silk was more comfortable… And I didn’t need the environmental protection anymore.
I’d rolled up my jumpsuit and stored it in the bag Clover gave me. Along with my helmet. Turns out the bag’s bigger on the inside than the outside. Everything fit inside it without making the bag bulky. Or heavy.
Magic… It’s awesome. Even with her death still prominent in my mind.
God damnit Lyra! Pull yourself together! You’ve seen worse. She was a threat. Maybe that’s the best way it could have gone.
Everyone in the hive who is alive today is alive because of you. You saved this entire place. Yeah, one died but thousands live.
That’s a good thing.
“Lyra? Lyra? Are you listening?” Sky asked, giving me a concerned look.
I nodded, thoughts snapping back to the present. I was in Sky’s lab. She was talking me through her tweaks to the VM. Focus Lyra!
“Yeah! Sorry… Just… Keep going,” I asked.
Sky frowned. “Do… Do you need another day?”
“No. It’s best I move on. If I dwell on this, it will get worse,” I said firmly.
That was definitely true. I wasn’t going to let this crush me. I was stronger than this!
“Alright, one more time then,” Sky sighed. “I managed to narrow the time window range to seven years from the point this device originates from. So if you wind up in the proper universe, at most, you just need to wait seven years.
“I also managed to fix an odd glitch… Some, er, well to you it’s technobabble. Suffice to say some odd magical field effects could have made it tunnel back into the origin universe, putting you on the same universe you’re already in. Wasting a portal and time. I fixed that.”
“Good,” I said with a relieved sigh. “The whole limited jumps thing is just shit…”
“If we had the energy to spare, I’d make you a replacement but… Well… We have a lot of repairs to perform here,” Sky apologised.
I nodded. “Yeah. I know. It’s alright.”
Bon slithered around my legs, coiling about my shins in a sort of ‘hug’. I reached down to skritch her head in thanks.
Sky cleared her throat, then spat into a cup sitting on her desk. She had taken some shrapnel to the neck during the battle. Hopefully she wasn’t hurting too bad still.
“I also added a ‘divergence meter’ function. This Sai can now detect the level of divergence from the Prime, and therefore you get a number for each universe this thing can travel to. If you enter a universe you have been to before, you’ll know.
“Unfortunately, that’s all I could do. This device is beyond my expertise.”
I nodded and took the VM from her hoof. “Thanks.”
Quickly strapping the VM to my wrist, I flipped the cover back and gave the device a tap. “Hey, Sai, you there?”
“I’m here,” the AI answered. “I heard about the self-destruct… I’m sorry you were there for that.”
That wasn’t the problem… The problem was I had caused it. I’d talked her into suicide…
Yeah, but I didn’t fucking mean too! Shit Lyra. Yourself. Together. Pull!
Ugh.. If the next universe wasn’t hostile… I was so taking a short vacation there. I needed it.
“Thanks…” I said taking a deep breath and letting it out.
I turned to look at everyone. Trigger, Sky, Pinkie One, Pinkie Two, Rose. “Thanks, all of you.”
“Glad to help out the woman who saved our home,” Trigger said proudly.
“You’re welcome back here anytime!” Pinkie Two exclaimed.
I smiled slightly. “I might visit… If that’s possible. I did enjoy everything before the attack.”
Pinkie One trotted over and gave me a tight hug around the waist.
“Smile,” she said firmly.
“What?” I asked.
“Smile,” she repeated, looking up at me with an expression so serious it became adorable.
I couldn’t help but smile at that.
Pinkie One beamed me a happy grin. “Feel better?” She asked.
“Weirdly, yeah,” I admitted.
“Just remember to smile, okay?” She asked hopefully.
“I will,” I promised.
I flipped back the VM’s cover, the holographic display flickering to life. My finger moved to press the ‘go’ button-
“Wait!” Rose exclaimed.
I turned to look at the hybrid, her peach face had a completely serious look stamped on it, almost as serious as Pinkie One’s had.
“I want to go with you,” Rose said firmly.
“Um, I might not ever be able to get back to this universe. This is your home, you know,” I objected.
“If that thing can travel between universes, so can other things. I’ll find a way back if I want to come back here,” Rose said, her voice indicating she had thought this out for some time.
“Alright… But why go with me?” I asked.
“Because I think we could make a good team. We could teach each other a lot. We also made a good team at the prison… Or at least it felt like we did. I think we could really help each other,” she answered.
“And you’d leave your universe behind just for that?” I asked skeptically.
“That and the fact that when the flying buck am I ever going to get the chance to ever see an entirely different world ever again?” Rose asked in return.
Fuck. That would be my own logic. I couldn’t argue against that.
“Are you sure you will be okay?” I asked.
Rose shook her head. “No. But if I’m not, I’ll learn to deal with it. I can’t pass this opportunity up. I’d never forgive myself.”
I nodded. “Alright. Got all your stuff?”
“You’re letting her go!?” Sky objected.
“Yeah. She’s serious. If I don’t let her, she’s just going to jump through the portal after me. Right?” I asked giving Rose a look as she trotted over to me.
“Heh, actually, yeah.” Rose admitted.
Sky shook her head. “Whatever… You’re an adult. Goodbye. Maybe I’ll see you again one day.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, hitting the button. “Bye again everyone.”
The swirling vortex opened. I took a deep breath, praying for once to not walk into danger, and stepped through.
The moment my foot hit the ground on the other side I knew I was in trouble!
Bright beams of light seared through the air, explosions rumbled in the distance, dirt rained down as the small oddly medieval looking town experienced a hell right from an ancient war movie!
I turned to run back into the portal, the shimmering disk was still open, I could go back and wait longer. Screw thi-
My back erupted into flames, the worst pain of my life shot through my chest and shoulders. Everything below my waist seemed to disappear as I fell forwards. Bon and Rose came through the portal, the disk vanishing the second they left. We were trapped. There was a war. We were dead.
“Eeep!” Someone shouted suddenly as Rose looked at me in horror. “Organic on the field! Everypony cease fire.”
“Ah, bucking tartarus! Someone clipped the poor thing,” another announced as my vision started to fade.
”Games over everyone! Go get help!” The first called loudly.
I had enough time to be really confused before passing out.
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Time for killbots and botkills everyone!
Alternate ending: Basically this with more GLaDOS McRanty...
Umm... Did Lyra just get cut in half? Is that what this pain supposed to be?
7341910 Possibly. At the minimum, her spine took a hit.
Ahhhhh noooooo a cliffhanger! (But then that is nothing new. You might not do it every time but enough times for it to not be a huge surprise?) I really love your battle scenes, they are so epic and I hope when I get to the battle scenes in my own story they can be at least almost as awesome! And alas, the poor AI, even with her insanity from being damaged I was getting to kind of like her, if that is not weird? Can hardly wait for the next chapter! Keep up the awesome work Meep! *hugs*
7341941 Don't worry, there's more of her... Some already written even. There will be more of her here too :)
7341945
Woot woot! Then I can hardly wait for more of her! She sounds like my kind of character. *grins*
I'm a horrible person, I couldn't help either one.
7342043 Ah yes... crying. I do that sometimes. It's been a while :c
7342046
Let me cry with you!
7342046
Almost forgot:
I am saddened by the death of Phee, but elated at what might just be a Rider Kick.
Also I couldn't get the image of the Tesalecta's antibodies from Doctor Who out of my mind when it came to the squidbots.
Yes you can. I am often presented with my own logic, and I fight it to my dying breath, while being fully aware that I am fighting my own logic.
Oh great she they've beamed into a wargame of some sort. Lucky they were noticd quickly, hopefully quickly enough that Lyra isn't too badly hurt. Well, she has her military spec mods, so I'm guessing it would have to be pretty bad for it to leave permanent damage.
I'm really sad about the AI's fate. Too bad they are dead now Le Sai I mean Sigh.
So the hell raising demon killer and the space bounty hunter that can't seem to hold onto her upgrades had a kid it's enemies are Doomed.
Who thought trans-dimensional teleportation would be such a pain in the back....Lyra would.
I really am tearing up about the AI she was a little crazy but her fate doesn't make me GLaD-OS.
Also now lyra has a sidekick that Rose to the occasion of jumping across space time with her.
With her sidekicks fighting style I suppose you could call her Blooming crazy....nah that joke had bad roots to start with. Then again she seems like the type to be able to put the Petal to the metal when needed.
Also bon bon II Is best snake! :3
Poor Bonnie, her childhood is being filled with violence and her mommie getting hurt. She deserves better
Wait a tic. The only thing protecting Lyra and now Bon Bon from wild magic is the Vortex Manipulator, and Bonnie only because Lyra's usually wearing her.
Except this time Rose and Bonnie went through the portal by themselves. Which means they should be dosed with wild magic. Which means according to Clover / Starswirl there's the whole risk of them turning into mindless monstrosities or worse.
PHOENIX! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Why! Why did you do that?????? WE COULD HAVE HELPED YOU!!!
*Lie down*
*Try not to cry*
*Cry a lot*
Poor Lyra, she's lost every AI friend she's had so far (Cheri.ly doesn't count as she's part of Lyra, if she looses her, she's literally dead), WHY MUST YOU DO THIS TO MY FEELS!!!
Hey I actually think I know this universe, didn't Fluttershy come here once in 'Beneath the Sea of Sand'? I remember she went to one briefly what was all robotic/cybernetic/AI-things, please tell me its that one!
7342829
orig12.deviantart.net/11e8/f/2013/205/2/a/2a42be6ab6fda3ef46b5bd16da1c1189-d6f0e0s.png
Also I love the One Ring bit. But uh... Would... Would anything have happened if she actually finished the quote? Or is this one of those things that we're probably better off not asking?
7342118 Ironicly, Lyra would also have been fine if she wasn't in a radiation resistant suit, and thus, was not insulated against lower energy magical fields...
7342129 I'm not familure with that episode. Can you name it for me?
7342197 Sorry about that. The problem is spoken they all sound exactly the same and everyone knows what you mean via context. So as I learned to read and write phonetically... Heh, as a joke, I need to start IRL going "Um, no, it's y, o,u, apostrophe r,e. Not y, o, u, r." when people say any of those words just to see what they do.
7342294 As do I. Rose just hasn't ever been made to take a philosophy class.
7342326 Yeah, with future humans who have millitary upgrades, if it didn't kill them outright, it's probably going to be okay.
7342453 As always, I got a good chuckle out of your puns :3
7342559 It's okay :) THis next one is that vacation Lyra needs. She just materialized in the middle of a LARP game...
7342687 :D Someone remembered that! You win a cookie ^^
7342829 The logic train: "I can not sense that I am damaged, but I am clearly damaged. This means I can never be sure if I am repaired, as I can not recall my proper state before the repairs. I could thus be manipulated in any conceivable way and would never know. I must allow myself to be repaired via my programing. Unacceptable."
Also, yes. It is. (Lyra's perfectly fine :P "Hey, sorry about hitting you. New spine comfy? I thought we didn't polish it enough... Oh, it's good? Alright.")
7343305 The universe, fearing a lawsuit, would have tried to kill her for using something from another IP >>
7343359
Well, I fight my own logic because the laws of logic that I follow are extremely self destructive, putting self control and caution way below curiosity, boredom, twisted sense of loyalty, etc.
So much so that if I hear that doing something will hurt, I will then go out of my wayy to do it, because I'm curious as to how much it hurts.
My greatest fear is finding out that I'm someone's role model.
7343359
The episode is Let's Kill Hitler from the 11th Doctor's second season. It comes right after A Good Man Goes to War and the antibodies have some really funny lines.
Such as:
Antibody: Please remain calm while your life is terminated.
Antibody: It is normal to experience fear during your incineration.
Antibody: You will feel a slight tingling sensation and then death.
7343384
Well... you're my fluid dynamics model. Is that okay?
7343537 Thanks, I'll give it a watch.
7343684
I am fairly sure that I am a solid. At least, a sack of liquid contained in a solid, with various solid bits floating around.
Wait, I would be a terrible fluid dynamics model, my blood valves are faulty and constantly cause blood pooling in my limbs. It hurts, but is also a really effective heat sink, so I can withstand higher temperatures than most people.
Unless you mean fluid by complimenting my flexibility. If so, thank you. I've spent years getting to where I am as a human pretzel.
7343746 Never change :D You're hilarious ^^ Sorry about th blood pooling thing though. I used to have issues with that as a kid, but thankfully growing up worked it out.
7343359 Oh good.... wait new spine?? like that part in FoNV OWB? Are there going to be tesla coils involved?
7344019 You will see soon enough.
7343758
If you like that sort of deadpan humor, you'd like The Changeling of the Guard and Iron Horse. TCotG is my favorite story on this site, and considering the size of the pool I have to draw from, that should say a lot.
7343359
There are ways to tell if a system is running properly that don't rely on the system accurately reporting data. There are also very reliable ways of determining if a system has been altered. If she had been tampered with as part of the repairs process, she WOULD be able to tell - however, she might be altered in a way such that she would not be opposed to any alterations made.
Also, Phoenix's problem was a cognitive discontinuity, as she was well aware her sensors were malfunctioning while claiming to have no malfunctions.
You could reasonably expect, then, that she would not be certain that her destruction would lead to her destruction.
In short, I believe she was too damaged to consider suicide as an option.
7344032 I am up to date on both of those :P My reading speed is ridiculously fast. All of Harry Potter? 3 days. Would have been less if the story wasn't kinda boring IMO.
7344040 They way I see it, she erroneously decided that a self destruct would resolve the problem of her hating organics based on what seemed like faulty data, but failed to understand it would destroy her... She's clearly having MASSIVE doubblethink issues (IE holding two conflicting ideas in your head at once and acting as if they are both true.). WIth the state she's in you are absolutely correct that she should not have been allowed to make any decisions, as there is no real state for sound logic to come from. We are dealing with a mechanical person who is very very broken, just barely able to switch on.
Also while you can test to see if a system is working... You still need the data to interpret that test correctly, and it can fail or be corrupted. Example, your HDD's SMART system is notoriously prone to screwing up over age.
7344060
I read fast too, I just do a lot of stuff in between.
Stupid maladaptive daydreaming. It eats hours out of my day.
I normally read in between classes and off time in class, so I'm behind now because summer.
Is it sad that i have every chapter of every one of your stories read? probably, at least that shows how much i like your writing talents.
HAVE PONKAS!!!!
7344060 i have read a whole 10 book series in one day. each book was 300-400 pages at least. My eyes hurt that night.
7344237 I appreciate that very very much :)
>Assumes direct control.
>no reference
god dammit meep
[Pissed DM Intensifies]
robopone paintball?
I wanna be a robopone!
7344727 Meep the Changeling: The only author who people get mad at for NOT making a reference XD
7344748 XD gives you great bragging rights!
Rose is having too much fun.
A perket! Er, a blanson? Ehh, neither really work.
Way too much fun.
Doh. Well, that'll be useful eventually.
Body plus porno bots? Err, probably not.
Ahh, hacking the ship with Cheerilee, much better plan. Far more sensible.
Ooo, nice.
It's always better to ride in style.
Wow, yeah, this Phee is not doing well.
Also a bit too much fun. But, also kind of awesome.
Ahh, a gravy attack. Less fun.
Make that really not well if she's in denial about her hardware specifications and how her crew would connect way back when.
Hmn, well, maybe this will work.
Repurposed AIs? Interesting.
Aww, damn.
Poor Lyra. Poor Phee.
As well armed as Rose is now, might as well bring her along I suppose.
This new world seems bad.
Huh, or not.
7345038
Mabey a quilson?
This is not Trials in Tainted Space. There is no 'seduction' attack
When the actual core is dammaged and has broken cables leading from it... You might have some computer issues.
This version of her is only bairly functional. And by functional I mean "can boot up". Her actual platform has dammage as well as the core she's plugged into.
Yeah, you're going to scramble your custom designed botanist by makingit run 4 things it was never designed for...
I felt the story needed a gut punch. The hero dosent always win.
Tiny preview of next chapter:
Your portal dumped you into the middle of our weekend LARP game and Chrysalis's accidentally vaporized part of your friend’s er… central support and control column?”
7341009
Heh, thought of some other fun systems that Cheer.ly probably shouldn't be left in charge of then. Like a late-model Bolo unit (or any model Bolo unit, really). For example, a Bolo Mk. XXXIII, featuring 3x 200cm Hellbore cannons, capable of 5 Mt/s output each.
7346564 Cheer.ly would make a terrible Bolo. If you read a certain other fic, I can see Crusader yelling at her.
"DON'T DO THAT!"
"But- but I carved the mountain to look like Luna!"
"Yeah, with a freaking nuclear laser! Nopony can live there for DECADES!"
The problem with CHeer.ly is that even if you made her sentient, she's programed and designed to manage a single relativly simple platform... as a co-pilot. She's not designed to make top level decisions. As such she'd be GREAT at managing a Bolo's reactor for him/her, but yeah... don't give her the whole tank.
Also, Nfire, if you read this... Did you forget that Bolos can enter orbit to redock with carrier craft? They can fly, they just dont have FTL drives. Why haven't we seen this used for any massive land transit? ... *coughs* probably because the series is from the 60s and hard to find in it's entirity... but still!
7346637
Yeah, I've read that one.
Also found this little one-chapter one from a different author a while back as well: https://www.fimfiction.net/story/51193/
7344092
SMART isn't actually for consumer benefit. It collects metrics that manufacturers can analyze for wear and failure information. It's telemetry, not diagnostic.
While officially SMART has the capacity to warn a user of potential problems, I have never once seen it. I've seen SMART drives in severe failure states report all-clear to the OS, but denote the failure state accurately in the (by request only) full diagnostic report.
I wonder how many backups they keep. For a structure like a colony ship it would be at least three replacement cores in storage, a hot spare, and several dozen data and Gestalt backups. SPOF would be quite literally insane.
7347258 Well, the actual AI can be manufactured by almost any crew member, and training it to run the ship takes about 2 weeks, and is simple enough. The physical core you plug the AI into to give it the computing power it needs to run the ship also has some spares. There is certainly the possibility of Sky being able to make a new one to run the ship.
INAZUMA DOUBLE KIIIIIICK!
Oh. Hi SHODAN.
... poor not-SHODAN.
This rings all kinds of alarms if you know that she can´t lie. Truths like that are the AI equivalent of lying,
Rereading this and as soon as I got to the chapter title 'Can of Sealed Evil', my brain screamed out, "At least it's not Tia's fault this time!"