Toxoglossa 2016/10/29(Sat)18:19 No. 756054 ID: b073ca
File 147779038461.png - (209.87KB , 800x441 , 8-2.png )

Hiro ushers you through the thick, steel door and closes it behind you. You hear various locks slide back into place and a slight hiss as it seals. Inside is a pretty cramped workspace, which has obviously been serving as a living space for longer than was intended. There's rather pungent funk to the air, and discarded energy drink cans and wrappers litter the area.

Taking up most of the space in the chamber are a pair of shipping containers, both of which are humming loudly. Various vents and pipes run through the room adn embed themselves in the containers, forming what you presume to be the heart of the COBALT system.

Hiro rubs the back of his head and groans.
>"Oh man, Diego... Is he, okay? He's not, like, drunk or anything is he?"

Stuff him in the locker.

>>756054
Drunk, no. Possessed by bees.

Ask Hunter to put Diego in handcuffs because you really have no idea what he's gonna do if/when he wakes up.

Then first thing's first. Ask Hiro what progress he's made. Then whenever he turns away, poke him to go inside his mind. You gotta get a lever.

He isn't drunk, he is... it's complicate.
We should take a look on what is going on with Diego, but since this will take some time it would be nice to turn Tch'arl on so Hiro will have something to do while you try to fix your mess. All you need is energy and refrigeration.

You... probably ought to explain to Hiro what's been going on. Like the whole "going inside people's minds" thing. It's kind of directly related to the shit he's dealing with, since the aliens that can do it are probably behind all this. You've got Hunter here to back you up on this, and Hiro's pretty sleep-deprived so he's probably a bit more suggestible than usual.

And it's important to explain what's happening before you dive back into Diego's mind to see exactly how messed up he is.

If we're explaining everything to Hiro it's probably a good idea to mention how the drone is part of Nate's mind network whatever and might be sharing his knowledge. So if Hiro has any information that would be dangerous to give to the Drone, he should not tell Nate.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/01(Tue)19:08 No. 756553 ID: b073ca
File 147805248555.png - (106.96KB , 600x563 , 8-3.png )

"He's not drunk..." You explain as Hunter drags Diego onto the worn couch. "He's..its... complicated..."

>"Complcated? Does it have anything to do with the 'alien ghost computer' mentioned earlier? Also, dude, don't be rude... care to introduce our guest?"

Hunter sighs and flashes her badge.
>"Paige Hunter, MPPD. I'm here regarding the missing satellite as well as the attacks on your co-workers. I'm not sure how much you know about the events today but Nate has reason to believe this computer can help."

Hiro looks as though he was hoping for a handshake or something and deflates a little, but perks up knowing he'll gets to show off a bit.
>"Hiro, Hiro Himura, I'm head of a special project and as you might imagine, based on the security, its pretty cool. Buuuuuut, as of right now, its still broken. I've managed to untangle some of this data, but...."
He goes back to his workstation and starts tabbing through windows of very incomplete looking images and files.
>"Its interesting that you mentioned aliens because ... the more I look at it, the more I believe it isn't terrestrial in origin. I was just telling myself how crazy it sounded when you guys showed up. "

You heft the CPU.
"Its not as crazy as it sounds, this.... has an alien AI living in it, who should be able to decode the message."

>"An alien AI? How do you know this?"

"We talked to it... its-"

>"Complicated, right....Its a nice case mod at least. I can hook it up to give us a look, what all do we need?"

I think we'll have to ask Doug about that. He had it hooked up, so call him.

when you found this thing was connected to the satellite, so the voltage should be less than what Midas use. It also need a good refrigeration system.
Other than that we will need to consult Tch'arl and Doug to find out how to connect to a interface Hiro can use.

>>756555
Oh right, I guess... maybe we can contact them via the network? I don't know how that works. Maybe Nate has to go to his safe place first, or maybe he can just concentrate while awake to contact them.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/04(Fri)18:51 No. 756967 ID: b073ca
File 147831067887.png - (85.67KB , 478x600 , 8-4.png )

You take a closer look at the case: aside from the strange glowing object, it looks like it was assembled from earth technology. You recognize several disassembled cell phones as well as a fairly heavy duty power supply and several standard computer ports.
"Whoever put it together had some kind of transformer hooked up to it, so it probably needs a pretty significant amount of power."

>"Anything else?"

"Er... hang on..."
You close your eyes and concentrate, though you don't really know how this works.
"Tch'arl? Are you there?"

There's a feeling as if someone just spoke to you and you were remembering it.
>[Interrogative: Yes/ Nathan Springer/// How can self assist///]

"If we were to hook you up to an Earth computer, do you think you could use it?"

>[Selfmass believes so/// Am learning much through Parallel network/ self finds many interesting parallels with your system of engineering and that of Maar/// Interrogative: Has Nathan found source of Memorycascade storage///]

"I think so, but we just need to find out how to hook you up. Will you be alright?"

>[Inconclusive/// May take several attempts to negotiate with computer network/// Memorycascade will facilitate translation once added to network///]
You feel as if there is a moment of hesitation..
>[Operation of this magnitude will require significant processing power/// May increase temperature to____dangerous levels///]

Toxoglossa 2016/11/04(Fri)18:54 No. 756968 ID: b073ca
File 147831089413.png - (227.46KB , 600x600 , 8-5.png )

You open your eyes again.
"Cold, it needs to be cold."

Hiro goes to the door of one of the shipping containers and lifts the handle.
>"Brother, I think I've got you covered."
A cloud of condensation rolls over your feet as the door creaks open. Inside a tangle of pipes, thick with frost, converge into an area that seems absurdly small. An enormous amount of energy is being spent maintaining the temperature here, and the walls of the container are thick with insulation. At the center, behind thick panes of glass and surrounded by an icy blue glow, lies the heart of COBALT.

>>756968
Nice. I wonder why it's glowing?

...maybe it's time to try an experiment. Can you contact the DRONE? Or heck, try talking to Diego that way, to find out how he's doing.

>>756980
Yes to trying to network-talk to Diego.

We trust Tch'arl but Hiro will probable have concerns about connecting it directly to Cobalt.
Can Tch'arl interact like a user? Maybe we could give it the screen input and a keyboard output, enter it's mind and help it write a program to interact with this relatively simple data. It could be easier than making poor Tch'arl decipher alien computer language on it's own.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/10(Thu)16:42 No. 757753 ID: b073ca
File 147882496825.png - (135.25KB , 600x494 , 8-6.png )

"What's with that glow?"

>"Oh... I just thought it looked cool, but we use liquid nitrogen to keep the central chip at like a hundred degrees Kelvin. The other container is mostly control systems and monitoring for this bad boy here. I gotta tell you, it feels really cool to finally show somebody this..."

Hunter scrutinizes the glowing core.
>"This is like something out of Akira.... What does it do?"

Hiro looks torn between showing off and revealing information to the police.
>"It does math, an enormous amount of math incredibly fast. That's basically all we know how to do with it. But we've set it up so people can lease its processing power from Apex, at least until yesterday. We received some kind of transmission which is taking up all of its available processing power, which really shouldn't be possible. "

>"So... like a quantum computer or something?"

Hiro shoots you a look and Hunter shrugs.
>"You have any idea how much detective work is digital now? We have to know this kind of stuff."

Toxoglossa 2016/11/10(Thu)16:42 No. 757754 ID: b073ca
File 147882497368.png - (114.22KB , 477x600 , 8-7.png )

You set the computer down inside the container and watch the frost creep up the sides of the case.
"Hiro are you sure you want to hook this thing up to your system?"

He scoffs.
>"Oh hellll no. If you say you have an AI, I'd like to see it in action first. Can we talk to it?"

"I suppose so....do you have a monitor and keyboard you can spare?"
He digs around by the couch for a dusty mouse and keyboard and detaches one of his monitors from his desk. Once everything is plugged in the computer flickers to life and there is a burst of noise from somewhere in the PC. A blinking prompt appears on the screen .

>>757754
"Hey, it's nate. Can you see all this?"

Start with the basics.

Hello (other) world.

>>757754
This should be fairly simple. You can translate what you type for Tch'arl via the Parallel network, if he has trouble parsing it.

Try "Hello. This is Nathan." for starters. Or if you want to be fancy you could use Tch'arl's grammar. Selfname etc.

>>757758
It would be great if Nate introduced himself in Tch'arl's grammar and it responded in casual English. I doubt our friend Carl has that sense of humor though. Or... a sense of humor in general?

But yeah, introductions all around. Get Tch'arl and Hiro acquainted. And maybe once Hiro's distracted chatting with the AI we can jump into his head.

>>757753
>This is like something out of Akira....
Ha! Hunter is an anime nerd! Looks like she has something in common with Nate!

>>757754
Hey, look! It's the little alien space bug! That's a good sign, right? It means Tch'arl is online.....I hope.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/12(Sat)15:14 No. 758045 ID: b073ca
File 147899243908.png - (102.70KB , 600x420 , 8-8.png )

You kneel down in front of the machine and type in.
Tch'arl are you there? Can you read this? This is Nathan

It takes a few second for anything to happen, at which point some text garbage pops up on screen.
>㧾Ւǧᡅ㹟_㣗㏊𤏾㎽⽺ᡅ
The text deletes itself slowly and starts retyping
> Helo Nathan/// Selfnoun Tcharl here/// Is this corect/// are you receving///

Yes, you are coming through fine. My friend Hiro is here and wants to talk to you about the message from Maar

>Helo Hiro/// Selfnoun Tcharl 352/// Purpose: masfold technician/// Enter query///

Hiro squats down next to you.
>"The fuck is it talking about: masfold technician?"

"Its like a teleportation engineer. Tcha'rl seems to be made from the memories of a real alien rather than a pure AI."
You scoot over and Hiro takes the reins at the keyboard.


Hey this is Hiro. purpose: programmer. So first question: what the fuck is this message thing? Its taking up all our available processing power

>It is Mar memorycascade/// Sent from homeworld to safegaurd planetary masfold/// asist in starmover construct///

What do you mean memorycascade?

Toxoglossa 2016/11/12(Sat)15:14 No. 758046 ID: b073ca
File 147899245018.png - (259.57KB , 524x600 , 8-9.png )

>It is Mar/// It is al of us///

>>758046
WHAT

Ask Tch'arl what would happen if you tried touching it. Would you be able to connect to its parallel and form a network with it? Considering the drone is part of your network already, would that be a good idea? Or would the drone immediately complete the starmover using parts from Mar and activate it? In the latter case I suppose that means we need to make sure the drone doesn't get down here.

Maybe you should just try to get the final piece from Hiro before you do anything risky with the memorycascade.

>>758046

I think ... he means we're either running a huge-ass simulation, or that COBALT is presently operating on a "snapshot" of Maar in much the same way Tch'arl is a sequence of memories of an actual alien entity.

Backing up the planet before doing a physical server move, clever. Sadly we know from Tcha'rl that a memory copy running in emulation is not the same as the original being (and that the Maar also know this), so convincing the Maar that completing and hosting their backup is an acceptable alternative to the mass fold without them attempting the mass fold is unlikely.

Damn. There's a virtual planet existing inside COBALT.

Holy shit they pulled a SOMA!

>>758058
If we have to take this aggressively, does it matter?
Does the copied Maar know it's a backup?

When did Tch'arl say that?

Anyway, we should try and look around Hiro's mind for a lever as soon as we can get him up to speed.
Btw be careful, we haven't seen the Maar probe recently and there's a nonzero chance it could be the unconscious Diego.

>>758158
The probe has already bisected several tons of industrial steel today like it was butter. After moving said steel as if by magic. I the fringe odds that it might be Diego are the least of our worries. The bigger question is why hasn't it just gone straight for this room from the start?

As for Cobolt hosting a copy of Mar... how does one go about 3D printing a planet? Then again, maybe that's why they need Earth. The real Mar is a burnt husk by now, after all.

>>758661
>The real Mar is a burnt husk by now, after all.
No, but it will be in the future. They're being proactive.

>>758656
>As for Cobolt hosting a copy of Mar... how does one go about 3D printing a planet? Then again, maybe that's why they need Earth. The real Mar is a burnt husk by now, after all.
If I remember correctly, their plan was to use the Axle to transpose Mar and Earth with each other. And we don't know how long it's been since the Probe departed Mar or how long they could hold out on their world. And with the power of the Axle to seemingly transpose objects over interstellar distance instantaneously, Mar could have dropped the Probe on Earth relatively recently. We'd have to ask T'charl how long it's been since it left Mar and how long Mar could hold out before succumbing to its star, converted into Earth time units, of course.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/15(Tue)17:48 No. 758892 ID: b073ca
File 147926091963.png - (77.94KB , 498x600 , 8-10.png )

Hiro sputters.
>"Wha- is this, like, some kind of ARG? What does it mean 'all of us?'"

"Uh, I don't know how to put this... It sounds like COBALT is stuck because its trying to run an emulation of their entire population."

>"But... what? That's insane! We're generations of quantum computing away from anything like that!"

"But they aren't apparently..."

>"No way, Nate. Sending a data packet like that? It could take years to reach its destination! And imagine the packet loss over distance like that! Your signal would degrade into nothingness after a couple of light years!"

You hesitate. The distance and timeframe required for the message to reach you is something that hadn't occurred to you. The closest candidates for Maar's solar system are hundreds of light years away. Assuming it was limited by the speed of light, the message would have had to been sent several centuries ago. How long has the probe been on Earth then? Why send their entire population? Does Maar even still exist?

Hunter leans back against the door of the container and pulls her jacket closer.
>"Why don't you ask em?"

Toxoglossa 2016/11/15(Tue)17:48 No. 758893 ID: b073ca
File 147926092860.png - (98.13KB , 489x600 , 8-11.png )

Tch'arl, how far away from Earth is Maar? How long ago was the memorycascade sent?

The computer is eerily silent as it works things out.
> Earth/Mar share similar rotational period/// Memorycascade traveldistance elapse 1.13x8^3 rotational periods/// Apologies/ Unsure of notation/// Some of these inputs unfamiliar to self///

Hiro smiles so wide it threatens to take the top of his head off.
>"Did that motherfucker just use base 8 scientific notation? Duuuuude, I don't care if this is an ARG or a prank or whatever, this box just became my new best friend. "

>>758893
>this box just became my new best friend.
That's not what your face is saying. Buy it dinner first, then you can try and get it into bed.

>>758897
YES. We must tease Hiro about roboflirting. This is the best possible option.

Assuming "1.13" is in base 8, 1.13x8^3 is exactly 600 years. Assuming they haven't violated relativity and found a way to get information to travel faster than the speed of light, that'd put them 600 light years away or less.

...sounds like Kepler 22b?

>>758902
I'll leave the math and science to the nerds among us.

+1 to teasing Hiro

Since this project started half millennium ago a lot may have changed in Maar. Technology and culture don't stop for so long. Maar may no longer be a place Tch'arl can recognize.

Also, share your idea with the group of switching Mar with Mars instead. It's a distance from the sun that's still capable of sustaining life if the planet is, right?

>>758902

If it were in base 8, it would have still said "1.13 x 10^3" since "8" is written "10" in base 8. You're not far off in either case. He does say "rotational periods" though, which I read as days. Might want to ask for clarification before we jump to conclusions. They could be using the Axle to break the universal speed limit.

Regardless, replacing Mars with Maar is just too good not to try. Lets just do that.

>>758893
Yeah Hiro that's why COBALT is talking in base 8 too. They have four fingers on each hand so their number system is base 8.

>Mar with Mars
That might result in the planet getting too cold... but in the worst case scenario they could just evacuate to earth with rockets, surely?

>>758925
It would get colder, yeah, it wouldn't be ideal. Which is probably why they chose Earth first when they were unaware there was a sapient species there. Earth is a more ideal choice.

Did he just squirt water out of his? He's literally gushing right now.

We need to know how long ago they started this relocation project and how long ago the found the Axel, cause when you can fuck around with gravity you can fuck around with time and space.

>>758933
Just siphon some of the excess greenhouse gasses out of Earth's atmosphere to compensate. If that's not enough, tap Venus. We're talking about throwing around planetary masses at interstellar distances, so a little bit of in-system atmosphere tweaking ought to be comparatively easy.

>>758909
>>758921
>>758925
>>758993
Guys, y'all are forgetting that Mar chose Earth to swap with 'cause it was very close to the mass and size of Mar as well as in the right orbit around the right kind of star. That nearly identical mass and size is probably so the planets can be swapped without an unacceptable risk of damaging Mar. Mars is one tenth the mass of Earth and half the diameter, so it'd be right out. Venus is 0.8 the mass and 0.95 the diameter, so it might be a possibility. And given the situation Mar was in they'd likely handle the heat and radiation of being closer to Sol than being farther away from it.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/17(Thu)18:33 No. 759501 ID: b073ca
File 147943641889.png - (142.17KB , 516x600 , 8-12.png )

"Dang, Hiro, why don't you buy it dinner first?"

>"Naw dude, you have to move fast, close the deal..."

"If I knew you were that easy, I'd have talked mathy to you ages ago."

His laugh bounces around the enclosed space
>"Hah! I'm flattered but if that were an option Diego would have jumped at the chance years ago."

"So are you going to hook it up?"

>"Fuck yeah dude, I just... am not sure how yet. Let me take a look at it."
Hiro slides the PC closer to himself and examines the case.
>"Jeeze, what the fuck, this thing is a mess. Nate, who put this together?"
He busies himself with trying to see what kind of ports he might be able to work from, mumbling in a way that suggests that he's not really paying attention.

Poke an urchin.

>>759504

Do we really want to go into his head right now? I mean, we could wait and rest since we just barely go out of Hunter's head.

Or, we could go into Diego's head instead to see if we can fix him.

I vote for going into Diego's head!

>>759520
Actually, this instead.

We need to work on getting pieces for our mechanism, but Diego is in a strange situation right now. I think knowing what's going on there is important to.

I'll just point out that we can go into Diego's head at any time. We might not have a better chance to go into Hiro's.

>>759543
But if we wait too long, then Diego's mind might be permanently broken and then he'll never wake up.

>>759590
We're just going to have to trust the wasps on that.

Wait until he's not holding the PC sideways first.

In my opinion, I think if we go into Diego's head, we have an opportunity to regain trust with the Wasps (I think we eventually concluded they were right, didn't we?) and possibly help fix Diego faster.

So maybe that.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/20(Sun)14:21 No. 760408 ID: b073ca
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"If you're going to work on setting that up, I guess I'll check on Diego..."
You step out of the shipping container and try to warm yourself up and approach Diego's unconscious body. He's breathing easily, but you can't help but wonder what your wasps are doing in there, and what Doug might have done to him.
You wring your hands together before nervously extending a finger and poking his hand.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/20(Sun)14:21 No. 760409 ID: b073ca
File 147968051015.png - (106.46KB , 600x600 , 8-14.png )

The world irises out of view and you find yourself standing in the dark again. The walls are deeply scarred in a way that makes you think that you're standing where Diego's giant block once stood.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/20(Sun)14:21 No. 760410 ID: b073ca
File 147968051555.png - (153.29KB , 600x516 , 8-15.png )

You step into the glaring light and take a look outside. Things seem to have changed since your last visit.

>>760410
Alright. Looks like the wasps have been busy. Roll up your sleeves (not literally), and get to looking. Step quickly, but lightly, and if you run across your old 'friends', let's try to keep things semi-amicable and see what the hell they're actually doing in here. Maybe we can come to some kind of accord.

>>760410
Call out to your wasps, say you're here to help in any way you can. If they don't respond, think up a flying vehicle of some kind. A silent one. We don't want to attract bees if any are in here.

>>760410
Those are honeycombs, because Diego is turning into a bee or something. Nate's wasps are paper wasps.

>>760420
Him and his wasps aren't synced anymore. They're futzing up something in Diego's head for some reason.

>>760424
We should still be able to contact them if they're here.

You make quite a mess with his head. Maybe there is still hope to fix it.

Some sort of flying device will be needed to navigate the space between those chambers. Do you think da Vince's helicopter would work here?

Maybe they are trying to make him their new hive/host cause they couldn't control you.
We should to find the Beetles i mean his beetle guardian in case we have to stop the wasps.

Well, honeycombs are pretty sturdy, maybe they've built them to support his psyche. Some change is to be expected, but that'd have happened from any damage he recieved in the first place.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/23(Wed)19:31 No. 761023 ID: b073ca
File 147995826190.png - (69.65KB , 600x600 , 8-16.png )

You rummage around in your imagination for something to help you navigate the landscape a little easier.
Eh, you suppose it'll work. Cautiously you board the board....

Toxoglossa 2016/11/23(Wed)19:31 No. 761024 ID: b073ca
File 147995826644.png - (136.45KB , 600x521 , 8-17.png )

It cruises through the landscape, noting that the new features seem to be made of a papery substance. You suspect that the wasps are turning Diego into a hive much like they did with your body, though you can't figure out why. You've yet to see anything living, though you get the creeping sensation of being watched. There are sounds in the shadows like cockroaches scuttling away from the kitchen light.

>>761024
Well whatever is here is hiding from you... if you can't find anything else try going down to one of those openings and explaining that you are here to help with Diego.

If Diego is a prisoner he is probable inside the hive structures. Start siding with optimism: look for him inside his concrete boxes.

He's in your Network, right? See if you can 'feel' him.

they will not listen to you if you tell them to leave. but you may be able to sway them towards not murdering him.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/24(Thu)15:09 No. 761208 ID: b073ca
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You nudge your board down and it glides towards an opening. The darkened corridor blocked by large round shapes. As your eyes adjust you find that they are the discarded empty husks of Diego's guardians.

"Hello?"

Something in the pile shifts and stands up.

>>761208
Oh shit get away from it! It has multiple reasons to be hostile.

Tell it you want to help stop what your wasps are doing controlling Diego.

>>761210
I don't mind empty promises but I don't think we should actually do anything before we find out what the wasps and bees have been doing in here.

Alright, don't get closer, but don't back off either unless it does any sudden move.

Try to talk to it, see if it responds, try to stablish that it is in fact, Diego's custiodian, and if possible don't make much noice, we don't know if there are wasps or bees around. In fact... prepare for the possibility of a wasp coming out of that possible soon to be empty husk.

"What happened to this place?"

Back off.
Very likely it could have a wasp inside.

Toxoglossa 2016/11/29(Tue)10:03 No. 762288 ID: b073ca
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"Its okay, its okay! What happened here?"

>You. You brought them here. We have been replaced. Usurped. They continue to grow.

You keep your distance, trying to stay calm
"Let me fix things! I want to stop them too! Where's Diego? What have they done to him?"

>He is in a chamber. Not far.

The hulking creature shambles towards the opening and you hastily get out of its way. It unfurls its wings and they fitfully buzz to life before it launches itself into the air.

>>762288
Follow it.

they are probably incubators for larva. parasitic wasps and all that. but if diego's core mind is intact they can be put back together.

Follow the beetle.

Follow that bug!