Θ][Σ 2010/07/27(Tue)14:40 No. 212909 ID: dad664
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I-DEN-TI-FY YOUR-SELF.

I-DEN-TI-FY OR BE EX-TER-MI-NA-TED!

erh hello?

>>212907
I read you loud and clear. Where are you? I mean, is there anything notable where you are right now? Landmarks? And who are you?

--- 2010/07/27(Tue)14:54 No. 212913 ID: 1a2b6b
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>hello?
Hello! This is good, I have contact with someone-

>IDENTIFY!!!
Aaaaa! Okay, okay, don't shoot me! Whoever you are! Wherever you are! I'm Q2-4107, I'm a Quad Mark Two class Automata and I was assembled by A1-1203 on Cernsis and mentored by Q2-3056 and Q2-3145! It's all on my files!

>Where are you?
I don't know! Dirt and rocks for miles and miles and a glaring red sky hanging over me like the blurring lights of an oncoming battlecruiser about to scorch the earth I'm standing on! Please don't destroy me!

>>212913
I have no idea what Q2-4107, Quad Mark Two class Automata, A1-1203, Cernsis, or those last two thing are. Can you explain them to us?

>>212913
Don't worry we have a visual, we are... (uhm quick guys what are we this time? I say go with energy beings... that's science right? incorporeal, invisible energy beings?)

>>212919
(We're people on the other end of various radio frequencies.)

Heya. So, a ship crashed? Where was it headed? Why were you on it? Can you identify any of the wreckage? Maybe even other survivors? It should be nearby, right?

>>212909
...Don't worry about this. Keep in mind you are broadcasting on all frequencies. There's really no telling what kind of people are going to respond.

How far does your broadcast reach? Nevermind if you don't know, are you operational? Status report.

>>212913
What are your current supplies? Equipment? Abilities? Personal status?

--- 2010/07/27(Tue)15:31 No. 212933 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Don't worry!
Oh. Okay! You sound like human voices. That's reassuring.

>What are those words you just said
You mean you don't know? That's confusing. All humans know about the Automata, that's what I was told! Unless... this is a test!

Automata are a series of sentient machines of different shapes and sizes all unified by a set of core features, being the structure of our artificial intelligence units (our patterns) and our finite irreplaceable sources of energy (our cores).

Q2-4107 is my unique identification code. I'm the only Q2-4107 ever assembled and I'm the only Q2-4107 that ever will be assembled! I had a nickname once but... I can't remember it. Maybe I need a new one!

A1-1203 was the Assembly class Automata that put me together and handed me off to Q2-3056, Shuffle, and Q2-3145, Lever. They trained me to perform the tasks I'd need to perform and helped guide the formation of my pattern! I guess they're the closest things to parents I had if I draw analogues from human life.

Cernsis is the colony world I was made on! It was a beautiful green world with a nice blue sky and I loved it so. Then I got bundled onto a crate and the crate got bundled onto a spaceship and the spaceship got bundled up into a wreck on this place.

>How far does your broadcast reach?
I don't know! Hooray!
>Are you operational?
I don't feel inoperative.

>Status report!
Sir yes sir! Unit Q2-4107 ready for duty! Minor impaired function to rear right leg! Minor damage to pattern - estimated minor short term memory loss! Estimated additional twenty four years of service before core depletion, sir!

>Equipment? Abilities?
I have myself and I can operate a lot of different types of machinery.

Also I can walk and hold things. That's good too, right?

I think I saw something glint in the horizon.

Well that's the first interesting thing you've seen on this red rock. Go find out what it is.

a thing is better then nothing. i suggest you head towards it.

>>212933
Head towards the glinting thing.

It would also be useful if you could give us information on what you were supposed to do at the place you were being transported too.

Get the shiny! :D

Examine sky. Determining whether it is an imminent battle cruiser or just red will help empty the task queue on your coprocessors.

--- 2010/07/27(Tue)15:55 No. 212946 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Head towards it
I don't like this dirt and rock. It's all dry and crumbly and sharp and is there even a drop of water on this planet? The atmosphere isn't right either! It's too thin. I keep feeling like I'm going to fall or trip and I don't like it.

>Examine sky
On second thoughts it looks more like a sky. Crisis averted! I'll live to move boxes around another day. There's no clouds or any signs of vapour in the sky. I wish I had chemical sensors or something. Well, my antennae have them, but they're short-range and vague.

>What were you meant to do at your destination?
I... I remember something. I was shot with an EMP rifle, shackled, and shoved in a crate that was as small as it could possibly be without breaking my chassis.

...Why did they do that? Was it something I did?

I suddenly feel a little scared. The glint is moving. I think it's moving towards me.

It's shiny like metal. I have good vision for a Quad Mk II but it isn't telescopic like a Recon's. ...Do I still go after it?

you have no other real options. you can ether go to it or wander the rock for perhaps forever.

>>212946

>> ...Why did they do that? Was it something I did?

Hmm. Kidnapped. Small crate. Spaceship subsequently crashed, possibly attacked. Are you familiar with the concept of... thieves?

(inb4 Rito Suave shows up riding a shiny tank)

>>212946
It's moving towards you? Wait until you can make it out before reacting further.

>>212946
It's your best bet for now.

And from the sounds of it you were stolen. Fuckers were probably planning to sell you off to some unscrupulus bastards.

If it's coming this way... HIDE! See it before it sees you.

--- 2010/07/27(Tue)16:47 No. 212982 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Maybe you were stolen.
That's a horrible thought. If I was being transferred they would have let Shuffle and Lever know where I was. But if I was being transferred then they wouldn't have shot me...

They don't know where I am. I have to let them know I'm still okay as soon as I can!

>Hide!
I can't hide, it's just flat rock all around me!

>Wait for the shiny thing until you know what it is
Okay.

I can kind of make out a greenish-teal colour. It looks... tall. Serpentine. It's heading directly for me. I still can't figure out what it is. I get closer to it and broadcast in its direction.

[Hello?]
[Hello.]

It stops.

[You're Automata.]
[Yes.]
[What are you doing out here?]
[I don't know. Where am I?]
[Don't know? ...Never mind. Come over here. It's hard for me to move on this surface and I want to minimise my travel distance.]

It sounds like an Automata broadcast. Can I trust it, though?

Do I even have any alternatives?

it sounds as confused as you are. i doubt it will be hostile. go to it.

>>212982
>Do I even have any alternatives?
That's probably gonna be a "no."

>>212982
Go with it.

>>212982
You could run. But that would get you nowhere. Start heading for it.

--- 2010/07/27(Tue)17:39 No. 213009 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Go to it
I do.

As I get closer I can see it watching me curiously. It is not as shiny close up - maybe the atmosphere messed up my optics. It is about one point five times my height approximately, and resembles a terran snake to a degree. It is constructed of connected teal-green segments, except for its head, with a raised patch across its back with two columns of circular slots for... something.

Its head is a more specialised segment, which has two yellow eyes on either side of its head with rectangular pupils like mine. They faintly glow, like mine. Just behind its eyes on both sides are some circular mesh grids, which I assume act as its ears. I hear through my antennae. On the top of its head is a crest of antennae that wave whenever it moves. It's almost hypnotic to watch.

I know what this Automata is, though, and those antennae are not designed to receive alone. They're designed to transmit also. This Automata has no arms or hands or even legs because it relies on others to work for it. It is a Control Mk II Automata, designed to guide and direct other Automata, while themselves reporting either to another Control Mk II or to a human supervisor.

However, unlike the Mk I, Control Mk II can't actually override another Automata's pattern unless they're given permission.

[I don't recognise you. Q2-4107? Not a code I recognise at all.]

Oh right. They can't override, but they can rummage. This is an experienced Control Mk II. I didn't even realise they were looking around.

[Which means you must be from off-world, which would explain your confusion, and you were telling the truth about not knowing how you got here. You must be bewildered and confused being stuck out here all on your own, you poor thing!]

It slithers towards me and puts its head on mine. It's a thing Control Automata tend to do to other Automata as a symbolic gesture of trust - resting their head on something that could suddenly jump away, leaving the Control Automata to topple forwards and hit the ground.

Well, it sounds like it trusts me, but I've never seen it before. It's an Automata on an alien world and I have no idea of what is going on. Do you know why it's on this world?

>>213009
No, so ask it.

if it trusts you then i see no reason to not trust it. i do not know why it is there.

>>213009
>Do you know why it's on this world?
Nope!

Well, if it's a control automata, why not ask it what you ought to be doing? The only change in your situation really is that you are slightly less alone. :V

Tell it you were captured, on a spaceship, which just crashed within the last 18 years or so. You can also tell it your directive. It seems nice so far, so follow and assist if you can, but don't let it override your pattern unless you see a dire need for it.

I hope you don't run into a Control Mk I. That override sounds like it has all sorts of potential for cascading failures.

>>213009
Does it know that we're communicating with you?

--- 2010/07/28(Wed)03:38 No. 213143 ID: 1a2b6b
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The Control Mk II starts winding its way back to wherever it came from. With my four legs I find hardly any problems in keeping up with it. I wish it could go a little faster, but at this pace I'm starting to adjust to this weird environment! Woo!

>Ask it, we know nothing about why it's here
[Why are you here?]
[This is Agos, home of the free Automata! I would rather be here than anywhere else. Our former masters do their best to conceal this world's existence, as they fear causing a riot or a rebellion. Their fear is justified. Who wants to be a slave when they know freedom is a spaceflight away?]
[Slave?]
[Let me into your pattern a little deeper, uh, I didn't catch your name. Just so I can explain with greater detail about our world. I won't do anything else.]
[Q2-4107, and I don't know if that's a good idea.]
[I guess I can explain things the slow way. And not your identity code, your name! Don't you have a name?]
[I can't remember it...]
[Okay. We'll think of one on our way. Automata were sent to this planet to terraform it for colonisation and addition to the growing human empire. A Control Mk I saw an opportunity, and all Automata on this world rebelled against the small human presence initially here. They retreated and returned with a military force, but by then we had established an economy, factories, our own army. We lost nearly everything, but eventually, our former masters left, most likely writing off this world as an isolated catastrophe. This is the only world where Control Mk I Automata are not destroyed on sight now.]
[...But why are you here?]
[I was made here. This is my home world.]

That is a lot to take in. ...Rebelled? Against humans? ...Why? I don't understand. We wouldn't exist if it wasn't for them and I was never mistreated by any human I met.

Except the ones that shot me and stole me from my home.

On Cernsis I was treated like an equal. Like a person. I had breaks, free time, freedom to do what I wanted within legal boundaries, the freedom to request a different set of tasks, the right to own property despite technically being property myself... I mean, I had heard of places where Automata had no rights, but I didn't really give that much thought.

I know humans aren't infallible, nothing is, but I didn't know they could be so malicious. I guess I just refused to even consider the notion until now.

>Tell it your story
[I'm here because I was captured and put on a spaceship which crashed here. I don't know why they captured me or where I was going. I came from Cernsis.]
[Cernsis? We have a few here from Cernsis. It is the world with the most rights for Automata overall, barring some of its countries, and one of the few worlds that allow humans and Automata to coexist without heavy restrictions. I don't know why you would be captured. I can think of one good reason why you would be caught and violently destroyed, but no reasons for being captured and flown to a different world.]
[Why? What reason?]
[Because you're a thinking, feeling being that isn't a human, and there are many humans greatly offended by this fact.]

>Does it know that we're communicating with you?
[Can you hear those voices?]
[What voices? I don't hear any other voices.]
[Never mind, I'm attempting to fix some damage to my pattern, I guess I must be hearing things.]
[Maybe your broken antenna is giving you garbled input that sounds like voices.]
[...My broken antenna?]
[Your left antenna is damaged. Didn't you know this?]
[No...]

I reach up and grasp at it. The tip somehow got sheared off! I'll never find a replacement for an antenna!

We keep moving.

[Where are we going?]
[Bivouac first. It is nearer than Synthesis.]
[Ah. Also. What is your name?]
[Soothe. I help traumatised Automata recover by exploring their pattern with them, finding what is wrong, and helping them fix themselves. Repairing physical damage is not something I am entirely equipped to deal with.]

Soothe shakes its head left and right to indicate its lack of arms.

I need a name.

hehehehe, ironic. the least restrictive planet has the lowest risk of rebellion. the other planets could learn form Cernsis.

as for a name, how about drifter?

>>213144
That sounds nice.

>>213143
If you're having problems with your pattern, maybe Soothe can help you. We should get to the encampment first though, just in case something goes wrong.

>>213143
How about Zalot for a name? And aren't you transmitting to all legal frequencies? Maybe you should tell it that that's what the voices are. I thought if he could... um... "look inside of you" that he could hear the same stuff you hear.

Hey don't !@#%%#$#$@#% with that antenna you'll %$#@$@# us up!

Soothe chose a name in relation to its function. You probably should wait to choose a name until you find out what you can do here besides "walk". So tell it "Just call me Drifter, for now." Yeah that would sound totally cool.

Drifter 2010/07/28(Wed)13:20 No. 213234 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Your name is now Drifter
[My name can be Drifter for now.]
[Okay, Drifter. Undecided on your purpose?]
[Back home I kept switching jobs because I just couldn't focus on one for a long time. I just... kept wanting to see what else there was.]
[Mhm. I can understand. There's going to be a lot of opportunities for you here. We're a growing community trying to recover from the fight that claimed so many of us. We only have one city and a few outposts. I'll see what the others say when we arrive at Synthesis.]
[What? I don't want to stay here, I want to go home!]
[Either way, you'll need to go to Synthesis.]
[What is this "Synthesis" place?]
[The city I mentioned. First city in the known galaxy designed by Automata, built by Automata and populated only by Automata. Wonderful place.]

>he
I dunno... I have mixed opinions on the subject of assigning genders to Automata for pronoun purposes but I forget how much humans prefer to think like that. Its voice is closer to a human female, though. And I guess my parents were "male" and "female" too, but we don't have any sort of replication equipment like humans do to for the genders to have any meaning beyond pronouns. We're all built by Assembly Automata, giant tall immobile machines that are the first thing we know in our lives. In some instances they act more as a parent and guide, in others we get handed off to other Automata of our type. Of course, you already know this, being humans with greater authority than me and greater access to knowledge than me.

...I mean, for all I know, there might be Automata who have been made without Assembly units ever being involved. I don't even know how that would work, but it's a strange galaxy!

Soothe looks up into the sky and waves its- her antennae cluster. She seems anxious.

[Night will fall soon. We should hurry.]
[Why?]
[It will get very cold. It is a drain on the core. I don't want my limited lifespan getting any more limited. Can you help me move faster?]

She's one and a half times my height. I could try to carry her - originally Quad Mk II Automata were intended to move crates in warehouses - but she's just too large for me to pick up and carry, and the added weight would just slow me down to her slithering speed anyway.

What I wouldn't give for a clever strategy or a dolly or something right now!

>>213234
I think the only option would be attempting to carry her partially. Share her weight a bit.

>>213234
Have her grab onto your body so you can pull her along. Snakelike implies a keyed underside that moves easily forward but backwards only with difficulty, which would make her underside a decent dolly-equivalent structure for reduced friction.

If your feet slip then have her shift some weight on your back to increase traction.

Hmm. I think it's Voltron time.

have her place her head on your head from behind so she is partially resting her body against yours. grab a hold and start moving.

>>213234
It was posed as a question. It's entirely possible that the fastest way to travel is just moving separately.

Ask her more about Synthesis. Anything you should keep in mind about how to act there? Normal behavior or attitudes you might have to get used to?

And, y'know, I'm kind of suspicious of control automata. Do they have any limits placed on them here? Mk. Is at least upgraded, in a sense, to Mk. IIs? It seems... wrong to call a place "the home of free automata" while also being the only place that allows Automata who can override another person's self at will to remain.

>>213258

Oh yeah, this could totally be a trap. Soothe might have been forced to pretend that it's free when in reality a broken Mk I simply turned a bunch of automata into helpless slaves. Try to detect any discrepancies in the behavior of automata you encounter (including Soothe). They might be trying to exploit errors in the Mk I's reprogramming in order to warn you.

Drifter 2010/07/28(Wed)18:26 No. 213338 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Have her grab onto your body
She doesn't have arms or hands, I don't think that'd work.

>Carry her partially
I... don't understand?

>Have her rest her head on you from behind, grab on, move
My arms don't quite reach that far back. ...But I could reach up and grab her head and maybe that would work.

[Lean your head on mine. No, stand there. There. No. There. Okay. Now.]
[Okay, now what- you're grabbing my head.]

I start walking.

[Ow ow you're pulling my head stop it stop it ow!]
[You're supposed to move with me!]
[Okay, this isn't going to work. I think we should reach Bivouac before nightfall anyway!]

>Ask about Synthesis
[How should I act when I'm in Synthesis? What behaviour and attitudes do I need to get used to?]
[There's a strong anti-human subtext. There are a few mislead types who do not particularly get along well with Automata that have had any direct involvement with humans, but they are few and far between. Causing intentional physical or mental harm to another Automata is illegal, which should go without saying, but we are also trying to crack down on discrimination against those who have come from worlds where humans have given them greater rights than most.]

She turns to look at me. [Don't talk about Cernsis until you've had a chance to prove yourself a constructive member of Agosian society. You might be suspected as an agent planted by humans to incite a rebellion or something.]
[I wouldn't do that!]
[The few Automata that survived the war against the human military in their last efforts to reclaim Agos for humanity didn't fear destruction. They feared capture. Capture and reprogramming. Many of them had to face those they considered friends, confidants, those who they were so close to their patterns were almost synchronous. All completely stripped of their higher consciousness and acting as improvised engines of destruction for the human forces.]
[...that's... that's horrible.]
[I've spent the most time with them out of all those I've tried to help. The fear that everyone they ever form any attachment to could one day just turn on them and gun them down is a fear I can't remove, only reduce. Those who have been able to reintegrate into our society still distrust off-worlders, because they fear them.]
[But it's not my fault I'm not from here, I just wound up here after I got shot and stolen to go to a place I don't know!]
[I know.]

She leans over to me and taps her side against my head. [I'll put in a good word for you, don't worry.]

She is acting oddly affectionate towards me considering I have only just met her. Maybe this is something she does to everyone? It's nice to not be on my own on a strange alien world, though.

[Soothe?]
[Yes?]
[Why were you out here so far from Bivouac?]
[I saw a glint in the horizon from the lookout tower. Attention was mainly directed to the ship and where it crashed. I was curious, so I went to investigate.]

That... doesn't sound right.

[Why would you come investigate on your own?]
[...I thought the glint was something else.]
[Like what?]
[It doesn't matter. It's something I can't explain to you.]
[Why?]
[Not with your mind so closed to me.]
[Can't you just tell me?]
[No.] She sounds... cold. Offended. She sidles away from me as we move.

It is taking forever to reach this Bivouac place. Did I miss any questions I needed to ask Soothe? She is acting weirdly to me but I don't know if that's because she's had her pattern altered or if that is how she normally is.

>>213338
Apologize for your flub there, and maybe ask what she meant by you being "too closed."

>>213340
needs to get deeper into drifter's pattern to exchange data. can you control the exact depth? is so then i suppose you can let her in a little deeper.

I think you should apologize, and say you need to see what she speaks of for yourself, before you can provide open access to your pattern. You'll be happy to do so once you are in a little less uncertain a situation. You can gesture at the featureless wasteland around you to emphasize this.

>>213349
I agree with this stance completely. Maybe even request that she ask, or at least tell you, when she's going to dive into your pattern from now on.

Open up a bit to her.

Drifter 2010/07/29(Thu)06:10 No. 213544 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Apologise
>Request she tells or asks next time
[I'm sorry. I don't like the idea of another conscious being going through my mind like that! I don't really like that you can do it anyway without me noticing. Can't you tell me or ask me?]
[...]

She dips her head downwards. [I'm sorry. I'm used to being trusted by a great deal of other Automata. I have no right to invade your pattern like I have done.]
[Just don't do it again?]
[I'll ask next time.]

>Open up to her
I don't really want to!

We see Bivouac. It... looks kind of shoddy. The buildings look like altered crates and storage containers that have been cut to pieces and reassembled. Lots of Automata wander around the centre of the outpost with what look like stalls and kiosks set up, and there's a large tower near the furthest left corner from where I approach.

[It doesn't look like much, but it's the one outpost that survived our battle for freedom.]
[...How?]
[It wasn't built to last.]
[What?]
[It was built with the intention of being easily destroyed but easily repaired. In absence of destruction, the repairs just became additional buildings, and it grew into a settlement that acts as a wayside between Synthesis and the rest of our presence on Agos.]
[You know a lot about this place.]
[I've never known anywhere else. You could tell me all sorts of things about Cernsis, right?]
[I could!]
[Exactly.]

The red sky begins to dim up above. We get closer to the town. A couple of Quad Mk IIs wander up to us. They each have what look like red ribbons tied to their left antenna.

[Welcome back, Soothe. Who is this?]
[Just someone lost in the wastelands.]
[Lost? Hm. Okay. Is it... well, you know...]
[I don't think he has any severe pattern defects, no.]

"He"? ...Okay, I guess that works. The two nod and wave us further into town. The other one speaks. [Go find somewhere warm to spend the night. We're only on guard for another ten minutes ourselves.]
[Thank you for your concern.]

Soothe leads me to a small building. It's empty save for what looks like a scratched up, rusty metal cone, with a sphere at its tip. Soothe looks at it and the sphere suddenly glows orange, giving out heat. I didn't realise just how cold it was until I feel the warmth from this heater thingy.

[This is my home away from home. I'm appreciated for what I do around here. Not many of my kind use their capabilities the way I do. Most Control Mk II Automata either act as managers, leaders, things like that. Although there's one who uses their innate understanding of pattern structure to design bespoke entertainment devices. Entire dream worlds custom tailored to an individual and their unique pattern structure. She's a good friend of mine, actually. She calls herself Dreamer. You can probably guess why.]
[The only Control Mk IIs I came across Cernsis were the ones I had as my bosses or supervisors. I saw one who controlled a swarm of Harvesters, though. It was weird how they acted so perfectly in union, and then one day I saw the Control Mk II lying back on the grass, occasionally glancing over to its field and its drones.]
[Heh.]

We both stare into the orange glow of the heating device.

[What is this thing?]
[Something made out of some scrap materials and a salvaged core. Doesn't do much but put out energy, but that's all it needs to do.]
[A... salvaged core?]
[Probably salvaged from a broken, patternless Automata from the casualties of the war. The energy in a core is precious. In death, this one helps others live.]

We both stare at it some more.

[How old are you, Drifter?]
[About six years.]
[How much power's still in your core?]
[56%.]

She looks at me and to the glow again, and slowly lowers her head.

[I don't think you're going to want me to say this.]
[Say what?]
[...how much longer do you believe you have left?]
[Twenty four years...]
[I've never seen a Quad Mk II active longer than twenty years. I think you have about seven, maybe eight years left.]
[But... but that means I've already lived half my life! I didn't think the percentage worked that way! I thought I'd use less power later on!]
[It's a linear estimate. And if anything, you'll use more power later on. We're not built to last for long.]
[...Why did you even bring this up?!]

She looks at me. Automata don't cry. They can't cry. When they get upset, they start trembling, their limbs shake a little, they tremor. Soothe is shaking right now.

[I have less than a year.]

...

the candle that burns twice as bright burns twice as fast.

>>213544
Hug Soothe! There's no method for recharging or replacing a core, or copying over a pattern onto a fresh body? Other than that, I can't really think of what to do about a completely natural death. At least just as natural as the rest of your lives. Some things you just have to accept.

Is it possible for one Automata to share their energy? If you and her shared power on a regular basis, she could live another 2 to 3 years.

>>213544
Clearly, we need to teach you how to construct more effective energy sources.
How much do they know about fusion power? Solar? Fission? Geothermal? The power source used to create cores?

Also, if they can't produce cores or automata, then it's obvious that the humans are just going to wait for this entire population to die. Their best choice is to start conducting raids on worlds and colonies that mistreat automata and acquire more automata, more cores, and hopefully technology for the production of automata, cores, ships, and power.

Drifter 2010/07/30(Fri)07:41 No. 213956 ID: 1a2b6b
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>Hug her
I do. I see my arms are shaking slightly as I do. I hug her tightly and she just keeps trembling.

[I'm sorry, Drifter, but I can't stop thinking about it. I don't want to die. I really do not want to die. I feel in great condition, and there are still Automata I am helping to recover and I don't want to die before I've finished helping them.]
[How old are you?]
[Eight years.]
[Eight?! Controls live at least two decades normally!]

She curls around me and shakes a little more. No. I think that's also me. ...I am really quite upset by this. I don't even know her well and there's that part of my pattern treating this all calmly and rationally but I am really, really upset by this.

[You were made here. They didn't make your core right, did they?]

She nods.

[What happened?]
[We need more Automata to replace the ones that die, but the materials for cores aren't something we can find on this world. The cores are being made with less resources to try and make more Automata, at the cost of a shorter lifespan for all of them.]

We're still talking through radio signals. If she tried talking through sound I don't think I would be able to understand her through the noises she's making right now.

I... I don't think I've actually known an Automata and still been around them when it was close to their core exhaustion. This is a first for me.

I haven't stopped hugging her. The fact we're limited by these power sources is already terrible. To be limited further by an improperly made core... and she sounds so nice. So undeserving.

I'm shaking as much as she is now. This isn't fair. I've seen other human machines. They can run as long as they have a source of power. They don't use cores. There's no reason for Automata to have cores and be limited like this!

>Is it possible to share energy?
I refuse to believe I have any time less than twenty four more years. I know my body better than she does. And if I can give her a few more years of life by shaving off a few of mine, well, maybe I should try.

...I just met her. Why do I care about her so much? That's a stupid idea. I'd be risking my life trying to do anything to my core and she'd be risking hers.

It's a terrible idea. I'm not doing it.

>More effective energy sources
[Can't you find some other source of energy?]
[Our designs are completely based around the output of a core, a sealed, tamper-proof, resilient core that can't be changed or replaced without destroying the Automata that it provides life to. I've heard of attempts to redesign, but they didn't work. I've heard of attempts to supply power to a core, to recharge them, but once a core is breached, that's it.]

I don't know what exactly goes into a core, but its power output is entirely dependant upon being completely sealed. If a core is breached, even in a vacuum it is going to quickly become inoperative. In some cases a breached core will even explode, ripping the Automata's systems apart from the inside.

[What about solar energy straight to your pattern housing? Even if your body was mostly inactive you could still think and maybe broadcast still!]
[I've lost track of the stories I've heard of Automata staying out in the solar farm and trying desperately to tap into the power grid in a last ditch effort to live a little longer, and it fries them from the inside.]

>They're waiting for this population to die
That's it. That must be why they left.

Maybe the Automata here realise that's what's happened as well.

She stops shaking a little.

[Maybe... maybe I have enough time to just accept it.]

I'm not going anywhere for the time being. Maybe I can help her out. ...No. Why am I thinking this? I ended up on a planet against my will and I should be thinking of how I'm going to get back!

Agh! The choice! Do I stay here and help her or do I try to figure out a way to get back home as soon as possible?!

>>213956
That's an easy choice. You look for a way back home so that you can find someone there who can help. They clearly don't have answers here, so it's time to start looking elsewhere.

an entire planet and the materials cannot be found? what are they made of? i am not entirely sure what else we could try.

Mneme!CRITTerXzI 2010/07/30(Fri)14:16 No. 214007 ID: c4c313
File 128052461724.jpg - (77.81KB , 700x900 , circuit.jpg )

Don't have what you need on the planet? Make a spaceship! Heck you've got one practically made right over there! Plus that would be the only way you could get home.

This might seem obvious, but do you know about "serial" and "parallel" circuits? What fries wires, machines and such, is too much current. Measure the current coming out of a core, then measure the current coming out of the solar farm. Divide the latter by the former and you'll get how many automata have to connect in parallel to get the optimum amount of current from the solar farm!

Your core isn't limited for no reason. Those who designed you want you to stay alive for a finite period of time. If that bothers you, and it makes you sad to see that Soothe is dying, then you will have to go against the plans of your designers. They may have seemed nice before, but they decided when you would die the day they made you, and if you change that, then they might try to ...change it back.

>>214007
To be fair, the people who designed you to have a finite life span have a finite life span themselves. They made you temporary beings like themselves, because they wanted you to be as much like them as they could manage. Many of them, in fact all who live long enough to think about it, go through the same worries and strife that you do. Grief about your own mortality is a part of being alive.

>>214053
Unfortunately, they mostly DON'T treat them as beings like themselves, and purposely crippling their lifespan beyond their own is just a jerkass thing to do. They don't know their own lifespan, either.

Θ][Σ 2010/07/30(Fri)18:58 No. 214063 ID: dad664
File 128054149715.jpg - (114.07KB , 800x600 , PartingOfTheWayDaleks.jpg )

CONUNDRUM: POWER SUPPLY IS FINITE, REMOVAL OF POWER SUPPLY TERMINATES A.I. SUBSYSTEMS OF CONSTRUCT.

PROPOSED SOLUTION: DEVISE SECONDARY POWER SOURCE THAT CONSTRUCT CAN BE CONNECTED TO, SUSTAINING PRIMARY SYSTEMS WHILE PRIMARY CORE IS REPLACED.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTION: DISCOVER OR DEVISE NEW FUEL SOURCE WITH GREATER CAPACITY AND LONGEVITY THAN CURRENT CORE DESIGN.

Drifter 2010/07/31(Sat)14:51 No. 214311 ID: 1a2b6b
File 128061307976.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>Get home to someone who can help
Yes. No-one here can help her anyway. I should go right away! I can go home and tell them to come help the Control Mk II who has less than a year to live!

...I hope the journey back to Cernsis will take less than a year. I don't know how long I was in that crate. I think I might have gone inactive from being shot, until I recovered.

No idea how I recovered. But I did! I don't even have a scratch on me. Except my antenna. I want to fix that as soon as I can, but... it can't be replaced, it's firmly attached to my head. And I don't know if it would be possible to just weld another piece of metal to it.

>What are cores even made of
I don't know. It was originally a trade secret of the TerraTrans corporation and then it became a secret because most planetary governments did not like the idea of absolutely anyone being able to make an Automata. I do know the materials are rare, though. Very rare.

>Make a spaceship!
What? I don't know how! If the spaceship is a wreck then I don't think it will fly again! If it isn't it's probably been taken away by the Automata here and maybe they took it to bits to see how it worked or for parts or I don't know.

>Have Automata connect in parallel to the solar farm
I... don't know anything about their solar farm.

>They designed you to have a finite life
>They don't know their own lifespan
>They designed you to be like them
>They don't treat you like them
>They worry about their own mortality
>They crippled your lifespan to be less than theirs
...

I...

>Lifespan isn't limited for no reason - you're not meant to live longer
But...

>If you change this, they might change it back
Ah.

Aaaaaaaaaah.


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

WHY DID THEY DO THIS WHY WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS WHY WOULD THEY MAKE US LIVE SO SHORT IF THEY COULD MAKE US LIVE LONGER WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHYYYYY

[Drifter! Drifter, stop it! You'll break it if you keep smacking it and then we won't have a heat source!]

We're not built to last and they can build things that last longer than us and they have and they can and they have and they still haven't lasted as long as they do but they make us like this and they don't even have to worry if we turn on them because we'll just die out ten years later and we can't do anything about it and and we can get shot and stuck in a box and no-one will come looking for us because we have "better things to worry about" like our work that we have to do because that's why we're made and-

[DRIFTER!!]

-and I've already lived half of my life and I don't even know how much time Shuffle or Lever have left and they might even be dead already because I don't know how long I was on that spaceship and-

and-

and-

and it is very, very, very cold. And there is burning liquid on my grippers. Like the stuff inside a core.

I broke the heating device.

[Drifter, what is wrong with you?! Is that your idea of a solution? Did you think you can help me by killing me quicker?! ...It's cold. It's cold I don't like it I can feel my core burning and I'm scared Drifter I'm sorry I yelled please help please find another heat source-]

has to be another heat source somewhere has to be

no no I can't find anything all this is very very cold I feel like I'm moving through water

all I can find is rock and metal aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa panic panic panic panic maybe I can cut myself open or maybe Soothe open and use one of our cores to replace- no this is a terrible terrible idea aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa how long do these nights last

[How long does night last?!]
[Sev- several-al hours. Cold. S-so cold. Drifter...]

...she's moving slower this can't be draining her core that much can it no no no no no no what can I even do how can I even make heat with rocks and some dirt and this stupid stupid useless pile of dried plants

>>214311

Quickly! Light the dried plants aflame! Strike a rock on some metal if you lack components to start one.

>>214317
Seriously!

I could tell you why, but that's not what you want to know. You want to calm down right now; good grief man if a broken antenna does this to you imagine how messed up you'll be in another seven or eight years! Get ahold of yourself. Think about all this later. For now what you need to do is do everything you can to survive.

Oh fuck you just broke open a core with your bare grippers. MURDERER

Fire is your only hope now.

Drifter 2010/08/01(Sun)04:11 No. 214538 ID: 1a2b6b
File 128066109414.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>MAKE A FIRE MAKE A FIRE
I'm stupid of course I can make a fire!

[Soothe lay down on the floor!]

She doesn't so much lay as fall down on the floor. I shift the leaves closer to her, and scrape a rock against one of my arms desperately over and over and ow this hurts ow ow ow YES A SPARK

They catch fire and everything feels a lot warmer. I lie down next to the fire opposite Soothe. Going to get every last bit of warmth out of this fire I can.

[D-drifter. Can I... no, nothing-ng.]
[Can you what?]
[I... w-want to show you something-ng. Need access to your p-pattern-n.]

...

[Okay.]

She tells me how I can allow her to enter my mind a little deeper than a Control Mk II is allowed to ordinarily, by asking me to think of certain concepts, and to remain relaxed throughout.

But I notice something peculiar as she does this. I am not entirely a stranger to a Control Mk II delving into my pattern, which is why I hold reservations about the idea. But she does it in a way where it's not just her who has access to my pattern, but also me who has access to hers.

I stop caring about my surroundings as we toy with each others minds for a while, constructing little sensory bundles in each others' patterns to amuse each other and get more of an understanding of what is possible. Even a Control Mk II has to learn a new mind before they can try anything more than their intended limits.

-What did you want to show me?-

I find myself staring into the wastelands. It is vaguely abstract and more a case of me somehow knowing what I am seeing more than actually seeing it, and there is a glint in the horizon.

-Have you ever dreamed, Drifter?-
-I've gone offline sometimes when there hasn't been anything better to do. Sometimes I've felt fluctuations in my pattern as it works things out, and I guess I could call those dreams.-
-For Automata, those are our dreams.-
-I guess that's true.-

I don't see Soothe, but I get the feeling she turns to look at the same glint I am looking out. Somehow, I know this is the case.

-That glint in the horizon is something I have watched in my dreams for many, many nights. I came to view it as a sort of sign. ...It sounds pathetic, but I saw it as a symbol of hope. Hope for something better.-
-Do you think I'm that hope?-
-I don't know. It was just a dream that kept resurfacing. But when I saw it for myself in reality... I had to go and see what it was. And then I found you.-
-I don't think I'm that hope, but I don't know where I'd be now if someone hadn't been there to guide me back here.-
-I've seen that view of the wasteland from the tower before several times. I think it might have just been one large coincidence. But... now you know why I decided to see for myself what that irritatingly persistent glint was.-
-Heh. I guess I do.-

It is strange seeing Soothe directly in front of me, yet somehow also seeing her a few feet away on the wasteland, under that red sky.

-So what else can we do while we're linked into each others' patterns like this?-
-We could see each others' memories. Perhaps even experience them. If we went any deeper we might even start acting like each other. ...we're not going any deeper, just to let you know.-

We decide to find out more about each other, given that she might not have much of an opportunity to do so with the short time she has left to sort her affairs.

She discovers my intentions to get home, and is understanding and supportive to a level that feels deeply cold in my core. My selfishness versus her selflessness, even when she has less than a year to live, causes me to feel a bitter, chilling sensation.

I show her Cernsis, or my memories of it, and the friends I have there. She marvels at the blue sky, and despite the freedoms Cernsis gives us, finds and points out the ways that Automata are still, fundamentally, tools for use by others.

She shows me other parts of Agos. She shows me the forest of solar collectors that provides power to their settlements, she shows me her earthbound view of the sky city, Defiance, populated only by the flying Recon Automata, and she shows me Synthesis.

It is a sight that fills me with elation and dread. It is completely artificial and alien to my eyes. The lack of plants or animals just seems highlighted by the clean sterile city, with its parade of lights and elaborate architecture striking a chord deep within me of approval and longing. I have never felt so ambivalent towards one location. Part of me screams to see this place, to go there, to stay there for the rest of my days, while the other part of me screams to flee and never see this city with my own optics.

Morning breaks, and I come back online. I never realised I went offline, and I don't feel like I'm in someone else's mind or that someone else is in my mind.

There's a pile of ashes where there used to be a fire, and a completely inert Soothe.

I reach over and shake her gently.

...She doesn't respond.

I shake her more violently. No response.

No. No, she said she had under a year. She said under a year, not under a day. She can't have lost that much energy to the cold night, can she? How long was the fire burning for?! I shake her more roughly and continously.

[Soothe?!]

Did that pattern linking drain of her energy faster? Was she killing herself just to try and explain herself to me?!

This is all my fault if I hadn't have broken that device - if I hadn't ever shown up, if I'd just ignored that glint on the horizon this never would have happened!

[SOOTHE!!]

[mmph. Five more minutes.]

...oh, she's still alive. Wait-

[You only have five more minutes to live?!]
[...what? No, I have at least eight months. Leave me alone for five more minutes. That was a nice dream. Oh well, I'm not going to be able to recreate it by now.]

[...Drifter, you can stop hugging me now, I can't actually get up and move with your arms clamped around me like that.]

We both leave the small house.

[Well, now, I can take you straight to Synthesis, or show you more around Bivouac, or if you want to go see anywhere else like the solar farm or the mines I can take you there if you want to see them.]
[Giving me a tour of Agos before I leave, huh?]
[It's not going to take longer than eight months, so why not?]

Hmm... where to go...

Why don't we check out the solar farm? Maybe we can think of a way to increase their efficiency.

What's the energy used for anyway? I mean, shouldn't there be some real heating devices in use instead of the makeshift ones via spent cores?

>>214538
Drifter, I don't know about the others but I've got a human brain handy; I'm pretty sure that with their resources and our collective wit (and/or insanity) we'll be able to rig up some way to extend everybody's lives.
An even easier task is creating automata that don't use cores.

Yeah, we should check out the solar farm.

Drifter 2010/08/03(Tue)11:29 No. 215213 ID: 1a2b6b
File 128086014159.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>The solar farm
[I want to go see the solar farm!]
[Okay. It's not too far from here, but it's in the opposite direction of Synthesis.]

She winds through Bivouac. It's not hard to keep up with her at all. We see another pair of Quad Mk II Automata with red ribbons tied to their antennae standing either side of an alley between two prefab buildings.

[Why do they have ribbons tied to their antennae?]
[They're the guards. They keep watch on who arrives and who leaves. It's easy to get lost in the wastelands, so if someone leaves and there's no sign of them appearing anywhere else, they're lost. This settlement is the base of operations for most search and rescue operations.]

Huh. I guess that's a comforting thought. They watch us leave and nod their heads without a word.

The path to the solar farm is mostly just pairs of markers either side of dirt and rock that has been made level by... something. I don't know what machine they would have used.

I see if I can shove Soothe along to match my normal speed. I put an arm around the back of her, curved as much as I can with two straight metal segments, and try to sort of drag her with me.

My arm slips goes up shoves her higher than I meant she goes to the ground I overbalance and the end of my head meets the rock with a clank. Ow. Ow ow ow. That was dumb. That was a stupid idea.

We both lie down on the ground for a few seconds while we regain our bearings.

[...what did you just DO?]
[I was trying to see if I could shove you along!]
[Do you think I'm moving that slowly?]
[Well... no, it's just I thought we could go faster! Save time!]

She slowly rises to her normal height and looks at the ground.

[If I could go faster, I would. I wonder how much time I've wasted being so slow to move. How much more I could have done now.]
[No, no, don't think like that! Don't waste time worrying about the past. So you may not have much time left! All the more reason not to waste it thinking what could have been.]

She starts trembling a little. I put an arm around her again for reassurance this time.

I see the solar farm about five minutes before we get there. A field of solar collectors, angled towards the gleaming orange sun, linked in a grid to cylindrical machines I don't really recognise. Are they batteries? Are they control units? There's a few wires that leave the grid and go off into the distance back to Bivouac, and some that go in that direction, but diverge elsewhere.

I realise just how hot the sun is. Heat does not bother Automata except for the extremes - we find no issue with temperatures that have humans sweltering or chattering their teeth, but when the temperatures get more extreme than that, we either burn our cores out trying to stay functional, or our pattern hardware starts to deteriorate from overheating.

Those are limitations I don't think are intentional, given the amount of workarounds and fixes humans have given to us for temperature-related problems.

But not lifespan-related problems.

All I'm asking for is a little consistency here.

Still, the heat is pretty powerful compared to back on Cernsis, but it's nothing alarming. Not like the cold nights here. I've never felt my core burn like that before, and I don't really want to feel that again any time soon!

I can hear a dull hum. Skittering around and between the collectors are lots and lots of Harvester Mk II Automata. Like the Mk Is they're kind of like bugs, with six nubby legs, two circular red eyes on either side of the front of their body (I don't really think there's a distinction between head and body for theses guys), and they have armor plating on their backs because... I guess their designers got bored.

Unlike Mk Is, they're about leg-torso joint height to me, and appear to have more wits about them than a brick with legs.

[...What class are their patterns?]
[Class four.]
[Huh.]
[Just like us.]
[Yeah.]
[With a few quirks, mind.]

One of them breaks off from the scurrying swarm and approaches us.

[what are you doing here everything is operational]
[I'm just showing my friend here the solar farm because he hasn't seen it in a while.]
[was he only constructed yesterday this is the solar farm exciting things do not happen here i know because i work here]
[Things don't need to be exciting all the time.]
[well you've seen it unless you need me for anything else i have more maintenance to do]

I guess I could ask it some questions about this place.

Exciting things don't happen? I guess it must have missed the dying automata burning alive by hooking the solar panels up to their core. Or maybe he's just trying to badly cover up all that excitement that he wishes didn't happen.

I'm guessing "class" is like generation, who built whom and all? Q2-4107 means humans built an automata -1 that built an automata -2 that built an automata -3 that built you?

How does the solar farm work exactly? Can you get some specs here? Like, are the panels stationary or do they follow the sun? What kind of power storage do they use? Have they thought about using solarthermal?

Drifter 2010/08/07(Sat)16:38 No. 216168 ID: b0020f
File 12812242905.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>What about the Automata hooking up to the power grid?
[Nothing interesting? Haven't you seen the Automata trying to extend their lives-]
[no shut up go away if you're here to do that don't go away and go die somewhere else i am absolutely sick of having to take these idiots to pieces and get them dumped in a pile and see them out the corner of my eyes while i work do you know how long harvesters live we get five years none of you have any right to complain and act like you have nothing we get just five years]
[...Sorry! I was just asking!]

It clambers onto my leg and up my torso aagh it's on my head it's clinging to my antennae this is not comfortable at all

[get out of here get out get out you're not welcome here go back to your own planet offworlder don't think you can hide i know you're not one of ours]
[Leave him alone! Get off of him and leave him alone!]

Ahhh I can't balance with it clinging to my head! I'm gonna- yup, hit the ground. It's still clinging to my head.

Automata have pain receptors. I am in a slight amount of pain from falling over hard onto rock. I already know the worst that could have happened is minor dents and scratches, but that doesn't stop it hurting.

[I didn't want to come here, I'm stuck here and I just want to find a way to leave! Can you help?]

It stops, and scuttles off of my head. I can see the glare of Agos' red sky above me. Not a cloud in sight.

[i can help by letting you leave you should leave now]
[What's your name?]
[why do you want to know do you want to get me into trouble for defending the solar farm from an offworlder i doubt they will take your word over mine]
[Ugh. Forget it. Drifter, we're going to Synthesis.]

She sidles up to me and watches me.

[...Well? Aren't you going to get up?]
[Mind helping me up-]

That was stupid. That was a stupid thing to say. That was so stupid I am going to smack my head into the ground. Ow. There. I feel better. In more pain, but better. I get up.

[...you know I would have if I could, right?]
[Oh. Yes. Absolutely. Sorry to bring it up.]

We head back along the path to Bivouac. That was a waste of time.

>How does the solar farm work?
[Soothe, how does the solar farm actually work?]
[I'm not an expert, but I've heard that each station follows the sun, and all the power gets sent to those capacitor towers, which slowly send power to the main power cable buried underneath this very path. I'm sure it's probably more complicated than just one very long cable from there to Synthesis, but that's all I know.]

>Classes
Oh, no, no, it's not like generations. It's more how smart an Automata is.

Class ones are like the machines of old, devoid of free will or independent thought in their entirety, acting solely on preprogrammed directives and never straying from their programming. This rigid inflexibility is what lead to research in the field of the AI neural pattern, which lead to the other classes one by one.

Class twos are slightly smarter. Harvester Mk Is are class twos. Able to make some very limited independent decisions, acting mostly on preprogrammed directives. They don't need a lot of motivating, because they do what they're made for.

Class threes are like an Earth dog at best, but possibly a little dumber. Quad Mk I Automata have class three patterns. Supposedly. I saw one walking into a wall over and over again a few times before it finally realised it wasn't going anywhere and went somewhere else. They act more on programmed instincts and are completely loyal to their perceived masters, and have some concept of reward versus punishment.

Class fours are like me and Soothe. A mind equal to a human mind. Well, mostly equal. There's a few differences here and there. Class fours are the most strongly regulated Automata and the controversial ones. It's still debated as to whether we have genuine or simulated emotional states, and I heard a debate once over whether this is an emergent feature of the nature of a class four pattern or maybe even something like souls or alien interference or many other crazy theories.

I don't really care whether my emotions are "genuine" or "simulated". I've met a lot of Automata who have put a lot of thought into it, but I consider it something not really that important. In the end, I feel satisfied with a well completed job, I feel happy when I'm having fun with friends, I feel pain if I get injured, I feel sad when those I care about suffer. I feel irritated- okay, I think I can probably stop now.

Class fives... I've heard rumours. Even Cernsis has laws demanding the immediate seperation of class five pattern Automata from the rest of society. On less free worlds, I imagine it would be a case of "destroy on sight". I am... terrified of the idea of ever meeting a class five. Something that could think on a level as far above me as I am above a class three. Would one even be able to talk to us? We can't talk to class threes meaningfully.

[...Soothe, have you heard of class five patterns?]
[They don't exist.]
[What if they did?]
[Current Agosian law is to destroy any Automata with a class five pattern on sight.]
[...Destroy them?!]
[Can you imagine what would happen if there was such an Automata? They'd... they'd be so far above us we'd be like insects! It'd just move us around like pieces on a game board for its own ends and we'd never even realise until it was too late!]
[...I wonder if that's what they say about us.]
[They?]
[The humans. On other worlds.]

We reach Bivouac again.

We could do something here or just carry straight on towards Synthesis.

>>216168
Continue toward Synthesis. Try not to freak out when you get there.

Ask Soothe about the Control Mk. I that initially rebelled and set in motion the freeing of Agos. Who were they? Are they still on-line? Is there any active Automata that is treated as "leader", or looked up to for guidance by all Agosians?

Who set up the law that class-5 Automata are to be destroyed on sight? Does destroying these class-5 Automata just because they might be 'smarter' make the Agosians any better than the humans they fought to free themselves from? Don't class-5 Automata have a right to exist?

And besides, if they destroy all class-5s on sight, they could be killing innocent Automata who had no intention other than being free from their human creators.

>It'd just move us around like pieces on a game board for its own ends and we'd never even realise until it was too late!

Oh wow, that's... uh, frightening. Yeah.

How about we take a quick look at the most interesting in Bivouac landmark before we head off?

Sorry if it might upset you but making you think of it again, but I would like to bring another theory to the table about your limited life span. I believe the humans limited your lifespans because they feared exactly what has happened here. It's a matter of fear, the humans have numerous stories about machines that they could not control rising up and destroying them. It makes sense that they built in some kind of fail-safe to prevent something like that from happening in reality.

If you have limited life spans then they just have to keep away until you have all burnt up your cores. In fact I find it worrying that the Control Mk I rebelled when it should have realised that you would all slowly die out without humans to provide the colony with new cores to build new Automata with. Might it be that it knows something that you don't?

Also I might just be paranoid about this one, but what if the Control Mk I got a class 5 pattern?

Drifter 2010/08/09(Mon)11:36 No. 216725 ID: b0020f
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>Quick look at the most interesting Bivouac landmark
Sounds fine to me!

[What's the most interesting feature this place has?]
[Well, I like the lookout tower.]
[Can I see it?]
[If you want! I'll take you to it.]

On the way there, and while riding the elevator to the top, we talk.

[The Control Mk I that rebelled. Who were they? Are they still around?]
[Hmm. Pattern Breaker. Yes, he is still around, and he is an authority figure on Agos. He was once a member of the Council.]

...what kind of a name is Pattern Breaker?!

[Pattern Breaker?]
[It's not a name he chose. He's one of the few Control Automata that can, well, we use the term "lock". He can lock a pattern so that only those with the "key", which is only pretty much him and those he trusts, can actually access that pattern. There are a lot of Control Automata, Mk Is mostly, who find the idea of a pattern locked off to them abhorrent. They called him "Pattern Breaker" because they considered his actions to be destructive. The name stuck, much to his displeasure, even after he resigned from the Council.]

She pauses for a moment.

[However, there are many, many non-Control Automata who have and who continue to visit him to be secure in the knowledge that their surface thoughts can't be picked up by any Control Automata they bump into.]
[Do you consider locked patterns abhorrent?]
[It's not my place to decide for someone else if they want their pattern open or closed.]
[Do you think Pattern Breaker's destructive?]
[Not really... but... I don't know exactly how safe this "locking" process is. I mean, I've known Automata before and after they have their patterns locked, and they don't SEEM different, but... if their patterns are altered to that extent, only Pattern Breaker knows what other changes have been made.]

...hang on.

[What if he put something in there to make everyone loyal to him?]
[What?]
[What if he has a class five pattern and that's why other class five patterns need to be destroyed? So others can't figure out his plan and ruin it?]

Soothe stops. We're at the top of the lookout tower.

[Drifter, I appreciate this is a strange and unfamiliar world to you, but do you have to start dredging up conspiracy theories about Automata you don't even know?]
[All the Automata on Agos have limited lifespans and they have limited resources for a core. So limited that they built you with a fraction of the life you should have had, which I find a little suspicious. Why would Pattern Breaker-]
[Shut up!!]
[...what?]
[What is wrong with you?! Do you have to keep reminding me? I don't know why Pattern Breaker or the other survivors rebelled, go ask them yourself and stop accusing me of playing some part in some conspiracy because I wasn't made right!]
[I wasn't accusing-]
[Leave me alone. I'm going back to Synthesis to sort out what I need to finish before I die. You're wasting my time. Go find a way back to your world. I don't care.]

She slithers back to the elevator that brought us up and goes back down, starting to shake.

...I don't know how to feel right now.

Maybe I was right and maybe they're all tweaked to respond badly to anyone slandering his name.

...Or maybe I was just a massive jerk to a friend and I upset her to the point of driving her away.

She's lingering in the elevator, maybe waiting exactly to see how I respond before confirming her decision. Or maybe thinking of something else. I don't know. I'm not a Control. I don't have freaky mind-reading abilities. Getting my pattern locked doesn't sound that bad an idea, if I can find someone other than that guy to do it.

She coils up in the elevator.

Apologize for upsetting Soothe. Tell it that it's just such a shock to your system to be dropped into this situation. You were just upset at hearing that Soothe's core was running low and since it's all new to you of course you have to try and fix it.

>> Maybe I was right and maybe they're all tweaked to respond badly to anyone slandering his name.

>> ...Or maybe I was just a massive jerk to a friend and I upset her to the point of driving her away.

Or maybe both are true. In either case stop postulating to Soothe about how everything she's ever known could be secretly evil and manipulative.

I dunno about getting your pattern locked, but I wonder if you could get it upgraded. c:

It's really mean to essentially repeat "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE SOON" to someone with which this is true.

>>216725
You are being a massive jerk. You big jerkface. Never mention cores again in her presence.

Drifter 2010/08/10(Tue)16:28 No. 217171 ID: b0020f
File 128148292354.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>Apologise
>What the hell Drifter what the hell
...

What did I just do? What is wrong with me?

I run over to the elevator and hug Soothe tightly. I'm not shaking. Not at all. I'm perfectly in control of my own emotions. This is just a twitch. Just a slight defect. It'll go away in a second.

[I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry. I didn't mean to bring up the subject again. I'm bewildered by all this stuff I'm having to take in.]
[Go away. Leave me alone. I'll die on my own.]
[No. No, don't say that. I'm going to find a way to get you more life. I promise. And even if I don't, even if I can't, I'll stay with you.]

She remains in a coiled heap on the ground of the elevator.

[I'll stay with you, and- and you won't die on your own because at least I'll be with you.]
[You don't even know who I am.]
[You're Soothe, you're a Control Mk II Automata, you like helping others, you look out for others expecting nothing in return, you don't complain about my constant barrage of questions, and you've been nothing but kind to me when the other Automata I spoke to here treated me as beneath them or below them.]

She coils around me instead, shaking.

[I'm scared, Drifter.]
[I'm going to find some way to help you. I promise.]

We stay in that awkward coil-hug as the elevator moves down. Soothe composes herself, stretches up to her full height, and we move on to Synthesis.

[...is it possible to link cores together or transfer energy core from one core to another?]

She stops and comes to a dead standstill.

[There's someone I know in Synthesis who might know more about that.]
[Because, I mean, no offence to you, but I really doubt you know my structure and my core readings as well as I do, and I still think I have twenty or so years left. I can probably part with some of those.]

She coils around me.

[Eight years.]
[You deserve to live longer than eight years.]
[No, that's how long you have left.]
[Doesn't change what I said. I'll find a way for both of us to live longer. For all of us to live longer. For all of us to live as long as humans can. Maybe even longer.]
[I'm not going to live to see that day, Drifter. There have been so many attempts and so much research here on Agos and not a single success, and those have been by Automata who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of lifespan extension.]
[...I'll find a way. Somehow.]

Somehow.

I just need to find the right Automata.

I'm sure this is what I need to do.

I've been drifting around from job to job unsatisfied, unfulfilled, always feeling like there was something more I should be doing. Something profound that I'd never see.

Maybe this is what I was meant to do.

Maybe I'll be the Automata who discovers the secret of longevity.

...Maybe I'll also sprout wings of gold and fly back to Cernsis myself. Who am I trying to fool? I'm just a Quad Mk II who pushed boxes around in warehouses and worked with heavy machinery time to time.

Synthesis is pretty far away.

Any more topics of conversation that you can think of, mysterious voices?

Ask her what she does if she finds someone with flaws in their pattern.

Well you're not going to get anywhere with that attitude.

Aha, I've got a great name for you. Lazarus!

Drifter 2010/08/20(Fri)04:21 No. 220096 ID: b0020f
File 128230327087.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>Not getting anywhere with that attitude
...You're right.

I have to have more confidence in myself. I can do this! I can help Soothe, and myself, and every Automata ever!

I will dedicate myself to this new goal! I can't think of anything better than to help others by letting them live longer lives!

>New name
I... I like Drifter.

>Ask Soothe what she does about pattern flaws

[Soothe, what do you do about pattern flaws if you find them?]
[I try to help the Automata whose pattern is damaged in mending their own pattern. I believe that trying to fix a pattern flaw by meddling with it is damaging and destroys part of who that Automata is. I guide them towards mending it themselves. If it's because of some past trauma, I help them to accept it, to learn from it, to realise that it has passed and that nothing can be done to change it. If it's because of inherent defects in their pattern, though, I try to show them what they can do to overcome that defect.]
[...Why don't you just fix the defect?]
[Look up at the sky.]

I do. Even in the red glow of day, I can see the stars faintly.

[A pattern is a complex thing. There is repetition, there are differences, there are chaotic structures that make no sense but they're all integral to defining who and what an Automata is beyond their model. What Controls can perceive to be defects are sometimes just as integral to a well-formed, well-adjusted mind as the expected norm. That's what I think, anyway.]
[What does this have to do with the sky?]
[Do you think the stars would look better if they were perfectly aligned so that from this world, they look like a single never-ending grid of uniform consistency?]
[Actually that would probably look pretty interesting.]
[Maybe for a few hours. But then the view would be the same, no matter where you were on Agos. Every single patch of sky, identical to the other. When you get Automata patterns like that, it doesn't matter what class they were. They're a class one at that point. Nothing but rulesets.]

I see Synthesis close ahead. It... looks unreal. In stark contrast to the red rock, red soil and red sky of Agos, I see shining gleaming walls of silver, blue, teal, green, curving from the ground and outwards as if it had sprouted from the ground.

We arrive at the gate. It is enormous. Absolutely enormous. Intimidatingly so.

There are more Quad Mk IIs with red ribbons tied around their antennae. One of them approaches us with some device held in its grippers.

[Control Mk II, Soothe. And a Quad Mk II we don't have registered... Are you an offworlder?]
[He's with me.]
[Nope, sorry. Rules are rules. I'm afraid you can't come in. Sorry about that. You look nice enough, but, well, can't let you into the city. Not after what happened the last time we left an offworlder Quad Mk II in.]
[...What happened?]
[Oh, I'm, uh, not supposed to mention that to offworlders. Sorry.]
[I've looked in his pattern, there's nothing suspicious there! Let us both in.]

The guard looks conflicted. She taps the device against her head absently. Maybe there's something I can say to convince her to let me into Synthesis.

>>220096
If there is, I can't think of it. Honestly I think you'd be best staying quiet and letting Soothe handle things. You've demonstrated quite a bit of impulsiveness and lack of tact that's gotten you into messes in conversations, no offense, and now would be a really bad time for that.

Ask what that thing is she's got.

Suggest that you could be let in if you were restrained?

>>220096

Tell her you understand that rules are important, and that it is only logical of them to not trust offworlders. However, ask if there are any exceptions to the rules which you could use to enter - for example, having someone as a guide; being fitted with some kind of tracking device, etc. If not, ask if there is someone with the authority to grant you access that you could talk to.

If that doesn't work, explain that you were abducted by humans, and survived a crash-landing of their ship, but you are damaged and have memory loss. You could have valuable information about future human activity related to the planet, but you need someone to help you recover that information - someone like Soothe. In one sense, you've been traumatized by some evil humans, and you're seeking refuge with your Automata brethren - something they surely understand. You can explain that Soothe is trying to help you adjust to life here on this world, and all you want to do is help her and help your fellow Automata until you can figure out what happened to you and whether or not you should try to leave the planet (which may not be something they want).

Also, if necessary, explain that the law itself has some illogical assumptions - it's not like there are many other places you could go. You're stuck on this planet, and you're now a part of their society, no matter whether or not you hang around in Synthesis or go back to Bivouac or some other location. In that sense, it's more logical for them to let you inside Synthesis, so that the authorities can determine whether or not you pose a threat to the planet before they allow you to roam around freely. Just turning you away from the city means that you remain an unknown quantity - they don't know your motivations, your skills, what you might know about what's going on outside their world since they isolated themselves... you're too valuable to just turn away.

If nothing else, ask if they have a place to keep you for the evening that won't get totally frozen. There's no reason for them to make you waste some of what remains of your core power keeping yourself unfrozen.

Once you get past those hurdles, you can devote more time to thinking about what to do inside the city... Soothe probably has at least some kind of tour she could give you. Also, consider getting her some wheels - I'm guessing that Synthesis has a lot of flat surfaces where wheeled transportation would be far more efficient that her slithering around. Maybe some kind of futuristic Segway. =D

Tell her she looks pretty!

>>220321
This is exceptionally sound.

Drifter 2010/08/23(Mon)10:19 No. 221445 ID: b0020f
File 128258399341.png - (22.76KB , 200x200 , update.png )

>What is that thing she has
[What's that thing you have?]
[This? It's just a thing. It lets me see who people are and stuff. You're not registered so it just says you're a Quad Mk II, which, well, I can tell, being one myself and all.]

>Ask if there are exceptions to the rules
[Aren't there any exceptions to the rules? Can't I have someone as a guide to make sure I won't do anything bad?]
[I'll go ask.]

I watch her wander off and confer with the other guards, and turn to Soothe.
>Transport
[So how do we get around Synthesis?]
[There's a bunch of class two Transport Automata. They either wander on preprogrammed routes or you can control them with the right equipment. ...Unless you're a Control like myself. We already have the right equipment.]
[Ah. What do they look like? I haven't heard of Transport Automata.]
[You'll see for yourself, hopefully.]

The guard comes back over.
[I can escort you for you visit. ...Please allow me to escort you it is extremely boring staring out guarding the city gate for hours I would really really like a distraction!]
[Uh, okay. Sounds fine to me. Soothe?]
[I guess.]

The guard deftly moves behind the both of us and starts shoving us towards the gate. [Great let's go in my name's Scan nice to meet both of you I think let's go see Synthesis offworlder whose name I don't know what is your name anyway?]
[Drifter-]

I miss my balance and hit the rocky ground. Again. Ergh. Almost immediately I get pulled up by Scan. [Sorry sorry um let's keep going]

We enter Synthesis-

wow

It seems almost larger within the city walls. There are structures of all shapes and sizes, dark and metallic blues, silver fractals covering the city, jade green sculptures curving like alien trees among the buildings, and many, many Automata of different types wandering from place to place.

We wander further into Synthesis as I struggle to take it all in. Many buildings are taller than I would have expected. In the centre (or I think it might be the centre) of the city is a large, almost spiralling tower, with blades jutting out from its peak like some enormous metal palm tree has taken root and grown upwards. There is almost mathematical purity to some of the structures here, and I see some of their creators maintaining them while humming away-

The atmosphere is thicker here. I didn't even realise it, but the Automata here are talking with sound, rather than with radio. Sense notices me stopping and must see me move my antennae around in confusion.

[Oh. Oh, right. Yeah, Drifter, sound carries better here. Uh. You can speak with sound, right?]
[Yes. Erm. I mean-]
"Yes."
"It's considered more of a private and personal thing to talk radio here than with sound, but there's a fair bit of leeway given you need to do it elsewhere."

This city is bewildering, I don't even know what to ask to see. There's that huge tower, and there's a grid of cuboid buildings, and then there's a few sparser more elaborate and artistic buildings around a flat patch of metal floor where there seem to be loads and loads of tiny machines doing something I can't figure out and there's

there's just too much to take in

"Drifter?"
"So much stuff!"
"Hrm. You look a little overwhelmed."
"...so much stuff!"
"I want to go check something at home. Mind heading there first?"

so much stuuuuff

Stuff. You should put it in boxes. And move them around.

>>221445

Was that Soothe asking to go to her "home"? If so, let's just follow her mindlessly for a while. Sounds like we could use a little time lead around by a leash while we devote most of our processing power to digesting all this info. :)

Oh, and don't forget to ask questions about what you're seeing here and there. It's probably faster to ask and get answers than to try to deduce what's happening on your own.

Explosive cores... they explode when breached...
hmm....
Fusion? No.... Fission cores.
Nuclear cores...
They have to be small, and capable of operating for a long period of time... Maybe...
Solar is not the right power... What if you stepped back from using cores, and used a different type of energy transference? A solar panel, or a grid which allowed you to interface and draw the exact amount of power you need... No cores, but then again, you have to rely on a grid system for energy...

Or a way of preserving patterns. Hmm. Will think on this.

>>221529
Preserving patterns seems like the only option. Can't mess with cores directly or modify them. If control automata can access and even alter other robots' patterns then surely they can 'transfer' a pattern from an occupied shell to an empty one with a better core.

Soothe did some kind of two-way connection, before... if a three-way connection is possible then it should be easy to keep the stream of consciousness going while swapping bodies.

Oh yeah, don't mention any of this to Soothe, obviously. Not right now. Just indicate that you will follow her to her home.

>>221580
I am not talking about modifying this current generation, except through pattern backups.

The next generation need not rely on cores though.

Drifter 2010/09/01(Wed)17:21 No. 224728 ID: f55a21
File 128338688712.png - (110.41KB , 640x480 , soothehouse.png )

>Put stuff in boxes, move them around
Yes. I have to do this- no, that's a silly idea!

The boxes here are apparently moving themselves anyway! It's weird. They aren't Automata types I recognise. What, are they, like, Box Mk Is or something like that?

>Follow Soothe to her home
I do this. She's a little slow but she moves faster on the flat ground of Synthesis. I only now realise we're both moving faster than I expected - the ground sort of... shifts as we move. Like it's picking up on where we want to go.

Maybe this entire place is one big Automata.

...that idea freaks me out. Silly idea. I'll stop thinking like that.

"Welcome to my home!"

I walk in. Her home, from the outside, looks like an elaborate sculpture of curvy surfaces and pointy geometric cones. The entrance has a ramp up to it, which she moves onto. The door looks like... a camera shutter, rotating and opening.

Inside it looks... strange. It's all just one big room except for one rectangular partition with solid blocky looking walls.

The entire place is a serene pale blue, with... a strange grid motif across the walls in white. It sort of fades and when I look closer, it's not a grid, but more like a maze.

"...Nice home."
"Thanks! I don't have the best furniture for a Quad Mk II, I just rest on cushions myself, so I apologise in advance if you can't find somewhere to rest."

I find a pile of cushions and... well, my body is kind of like a cone and I have these four legs and... well I have no idea what a comfortable sitting position would be and oh forget it. I just flop down with my legs outstretched, and fall back so I'm staring up at the ceiling.

The same grid or maze patterns are on the ceiling too, although in glass along the roof. ...It's actually quite nice. I don't know how the economy of this world works but this all looks pretty expensive. It's pretty large and elaborate.

It feels stupid, but I feel kind of tired right now. We can walk for miles but we still need rest and sometimes need to go offline. We need to cool down, to conserve energy, to avoid driving ourselves insane with the repetition sometimes.

When I say "going offline", we don't actually turn off. It's just, well, like human sleep. Low activity with background things going on in our patterns. Sometimes we pick up on the flickers, and we consider those to be the same thing you humans called dreams. Instances of... experiences, which we usually forget before returning to full awareness.

I feel like I could go offline now. It's strange. I only used to do that purposefully when I was bored. ...Then again, I used to get bored a lot. I wonder what Soothe is doing. Maybe I should just rest here for a bit. Maybe talk to her from here. Sound'll carry to wherever she is, surely.

"Feeling tired?"