>>887843
Okay, yeah, I change my designation vote to this, if we keep the name I suggested. Heck, it’s even more fitting for my joke than “Spirit.” XD

>>887797
>>887786
>>887878
My guess is, the saboteur is someone who objects to human-based-AIs for moral(/religious) reasons.

As for the saboteur hitting the backups, but not the initial scan: sure, it's not terribly likely, but it's not implausible. Especially if they were trying to keep this off of any networks, all the backups could be in one physical location... except the initial scan, which is located elsewhere for hardware-related reasons. It makes sense.

Now why a moral objector wouldn't destroy the equipment that creates what he objects to, I wouldn't know.

>>887889
Maybe because the machines are in another facility.

crows 2018/06/06(Wed)20:18 No. 887993 ID: eaee93
File 152834153786.png - (96.90KB , 491x400 , ACCESS-GRANTED.png )

You hesitate for a moment, before speaking clearly in a way that you know has nothing to do with vocal cords.


"Gaila Tibur, Ghost."


You wonder why your ship is named that. Was it your choice, a macabre stab at your own death and revival as an echo of the person you used to be, now part of a computer system?
Or maybe you just love references to old things. Glimmers of memory flicker through of your previous life as you think of this, and recall a classic cartoon you used to watch late nights. Old enough that you had only ever seen it in reruns but still enjoyed.

There's no way to tell, because the Gaila who named the ship died in the explosion. An explosion you have a lot of questions about.


Then the ship connects to you.


There's a strange feeling in your mind, and you feel your senses expanding. The stranger on the comms said that you would be taking command but you didn't expect to be flooded with so much at once.

You just know things about the vessel you're connected to, the vessel you ARE now.

Your ion drives hum quietly as they push you further toward the edge of the system.

Your sensor array picks up passing stellar particles seeming to stand still as you move past, and an amazing range of energy is visible to you.

You still have cameras, both the initial ones you were locked into before as well as cameras on all sides, but they pale in comparison to being able to see electromagnetic waves and thermal energy, to scan the entire spectrum at once.

And the gravity drive, that you didn't even know existed before this moment of knowledge. The drive that bends space around your ship and permits you to easily reach speeds unheard of for a manned vessel.

The one thing you apparently lack is weaponry. You're not even sure what weapons you'd use in space, but you don't have any at all.


All this information blurs through your mind in a millisecond, and you understand that you're thinking far faster than any human normally does. It feels like you have all the time in the world.

crows 2018/06/06(Wed)20:19 No. 887994 ID: eaee93
File 152834157848.png - (73.40KB , 491x400 , SOL-READOUT.png )

The comm crackles to life once more, an incoming broadcast. You don't have to take it, but you choose to.


"This is Gaila, but I've decided to go by Ghost. Not really any difference between me and the ship at this point. I'll take the mission, but I'd like some answers. Starting with your name."


You may have come off a little more rudely than you expected. Being dumped into the deep end and given all this information at once is overwhelming.


"Good to hear it, uh, 'Ghost'. You may call me Doctor Braun. I lead the training for your prior version, and I head the Galileo Project. That's what your mission is part of."


"I'm interested in what I'll find out there, but it didn't feel like I have much choice in the matter. You told me if I refused you'd just deactivate me. That seems a lot like my only other option is dying."


Doctor Braun responds with a wry voice,

"Oh my, no it's not precisely like that. It's simply that assembling a ship of that size is an investment that some powerful people put money into, so if you chose to return it would have just been a matter of practicality to sell off what they can for their money back. You would have been turned off and put into storage. Sadly, artificial intelligences don't really have rights yet, even ones based off a human mind."


"And I don't even get a choice in the matter?"


He chuckles, which makes me momentarily want to hit him.

"Well, to be fair you signed your body away to science. They just happened to use you for something amazing, rather than a medical school cadaver. Your choice was to agree to your second chance at life, or go back to being dead. Personally I would be taking the second chance as well, even if it didn't involve exploring beyond the known reaches of space."


"Well I guess you're right, I do want to do this. I accepted after all. But I'm wondering what you've done to me to make sure I stay on task."


"Well if you're wondering if we altered your thoughts, I can tell you quite honestly that we didn't, and we can't. You're valuable as an AI because you retain your human traits, and have flexibility and a capacity for improvisation. The moment we even begin trying to alter how your mind works, it quits working like a human and you become yet another static AI. The most we are capable of doing is altering the simulation of brain chemicals, which is why you likely feel a little numb about all of this. Whether to keep that suppressed or not is up to you."


"I'll have to think about that one, then. I have the feeling I might be freaking out if I didn't have that option turned on."


"Quite so. We tend to start out with that enabled for every human-based AI after the first few attempts turned out badly. But as to other means of keeping you on task, well your Onboard Help AI is programmed to remind you of your duties and assist, and we had the ability to take remote access right up until you assumed command."


"That's it? That seems like a lot of trust, Doctor."


He genuinely laughs at that.

"What you call trust, we call excessive vetting. There were a lot of candidates and a lot of interviews with your prior version. Psychological testing, mental health exams, the works. We needed to put a lot of trust into you because this mission relies on you being willing to go out there and explore of your own volition. Forcing you would be foolish, you'd end up spending the entire time trying to get free instead of doing the job."


"But not everyone is trustworthy. There was one sabotage already. How can you be sure I'm not rigged to blow still? Hell, why didn't they just rig the entire ship to go?"


Braun sighs deeply before answering,

"Well, the project wasn't all handled by the same team. Your core was only moved up to the ship at the end of the preparation phase, so the saboteur apparently didn't have access to the ship to plant more. And we checked thoroughly while we were working to get you back online, though you're free to look for yourself."
"As to their motivations, it's unsure. A technician didn't show up for his shift the day after the sabotage and hasn't been seen since. His personal belongings imply he might have been secretly a member of a group vehemently opposed to human-based AI. They consider people like you to be dead, and think you should stay dead."


"Technically I am dead, though."


"Maybe you died, but you live now. You will live, barring unfortunate circumstances, for eternity. Or until you decide you've had enough. Assuming you maintain your ship, stay away from danger, and care to do it, you'll outlive everything. Now you're coming up on the edge of the system and will need to choose your first target system. Any more questions before we part ways?"

>>887994
>Any questions?
My mission was to locate new possible homes among the stars. So what do I do when I find a habitable planet? If there’s a limit to how far we can communicate, then I’m having a hard time believing I can send any sort of data back to you guys.

And what do I do if I run into aliens out here? Send them your way and hope first contact results in some sort of peace treaty instead of an invasion?

Hell, do I even have any weapons to protect myself from space rocks or even hostile aliens, if they exist?

>>887994
We need to know how to send back information about habitable planets, what to do if we encounter alien life, and how to defend ourselves against possible hostiles.

Is there a plan in place for communication if I do find earth-like planets? Or, given the speeds I'm capable of, just the hope that you'll have the technology in a hundred years after I play with relativity?

What kind of resources does this ship-- do we have at our disposal? Also, What are our destination options?

"How many centuries before cyberfapping becomes a thing? I can wait. Literally."
>Awkward pause
"... So, what's an OHAI, and which idiot chose that anagram?"

>>887994
Ask what we're supposed to do once we find a bunch of new planets and come home. Just... leave again?

What's the plan for intelligent life to these habitable planets? I bet I'll be dropping relay nodes along the way to send info back to you, but.. You want me to play diplomat too?

I think the helper AI can answer all of them, thank you. Y'all just try not to lose this planet before I find another one, okay?

>>888048
Onboard Help AI. That is to say, us. (I presume.)

In the extraordinarily unlikely event that I achieve first-contact with an alien race, what should I do?

>>887993
>The one thing you apparently lack is weaponry. You're not even sure what weapons you'd use in space, but you don't have any at all.

If you've got a high-delta-v drive and some sort of manipulator arm, or even just the ability to scoop up additional fuel and expel waste, you've got crude kinetic weapons. Given some sort of onboard factory for setting up smaller probes with their own stationkeeping thrusters, you could even make guidance systems. That ion drive is a nuclear-powered charged particle cannon, though aperture control probably leaves a lot to be desired.

You'd use lasers, railguns and kinnetic payload missiles in space. Lasers have particular uses in mining, and I wouldn't be surprised if your drones had some. If not, make sure to get some schematics for one before you go.

>>888223
Honestly, any gun would work, technically speaking.

>>888229
Yeah, but magnetic accelerators lack a messy chemical discharge component and are just common sense over other guns in most sci fi. If a civilization can make ships that can power a gravity warping field, they can power a big magnet.


I was thinking... a powerful laser could vaporize solid rock and ore into a glowing cloud of plasma. The ships powerful sensors could then to an instant spectroscopic analysis to assay the material. Such a device could easily be classified as a weapon. Are you sure you are totally unarmed?

crows 2018/06/09(Sat)23:25 No. 888437 ID: eaee93
File 152861191953.png - (132.42KB , 697x475 , SETTING-OFF.png )

"I've got more than a few, I don't know anything about how this all is supposed to work. You're sending me out into the unknown with a ship I only kinda understand and a great big good luck. Maybe a little more information would help?"


"Ah, but you'll have all the information and the time you need to process it once you're on your way. You're not entirely alone in this situation. You probably noticed something activating called the Onboard Help A.I, right?"


"The thing called OHAI? I thought it took over if I can't do the mission. Who named it, anyway?"


He chuckles at my mention of the name.

"I'm not sure who named it, probably some technician who thought it was amusing. But the OHAI is more than just a failsafe, Gaila. It's a trainer and tutor, and can handle tasks delegated to it, if only relatively uncomplicated ones. A normal A.I. might not be the best choice for the mission but it can't hurt to have along for help, and you will undoubtedly be needing it's help. Feel free to rename it, if you want."


"Eh, I might. And call me Ghost, I'm done with being Gaila. So what do I do if I actually find something out there? Do I come back? What about if I actually find aliens?"


"I'm afraid this is an outbound mission only... Ghost. Whenever you find anything of interest, or even if you just want to make sure to leave a trail, you'll build beacon stations. We haven't mastered FTL in any travel sense, but we can get signals going a lot faster. How do you think I'm talking to you in realtime still? But the range isn't infinite, so once you're out of the system you're on your own."


"And the aliens?"


Braun's tone brightens as he responds.

"I would be delighted if you meet some. Do a good job of being diplomatic is my best advice."


"But if they're hostile, I can't fight back. Why don't I have any weapons? A railgun, or missiles, or something?"


"I'd like you to consider carefully what signal it sends to the rest of the world if a country sends up a spacecraft armed to the teeth with missiles? We'd prefer not to start a war. But you've got technical documents, an autofactory onboard, drones, and all the time in the world. Be creative, if you feel the need to arm yourself."


For a long moment you consider old scifi movies and the various weapons you've seen in them, the video games set in space, and the books you've read. Coming up with something in case of emergencies will work out just fine. You focus your mind back on the conversation after a momentary daydream of space battles.

"How's this autofactory work?"


"Think of it as a very complex 3D printer. It can make almost anything within reason, given the right raw materials. With that you can keep yourself maintained and build all the equipment you'll ever need."


Okay, I think I get it. And the OHAI will help me with anything else I need to know."


"Indeed. Now, your mission is a long and complicated one, with no real end. But I have faith that you can do it and will represent us well. Godspeed, Ghost."


The comm cuts out before you can respond. For a long moment you realise how alone you are, farther than anyone has gone before. Then a melodic voice chimes in.


Your choice of destination is awaited, Ghost. I have located three suitable star systems as destinations. Very little information currently known about them.


That must be OHAI, you guess. And right after he spoke, you recieve the information on the three systems in your head. It's not a comfortable feeling.

PLEASE SELECT A SYSTEM:

- Theta Eridani - K Class Star

- TD 8-466 - B Class Star

- Tyros - M Class Star

- Theta Eridani - K Class Star

Ok let's remind ourselves what the stellar classifications mean.

B Class stars are blue, short-lived and energetic, unlikely to be anything of interest near them except gas.
K-Class stars are orange, slightly cooler than the sun. Could be a habitable planet near one.
M Class stars are red, typically red dwarfs. They can be supergiants though. Red giants are very unlikely to have habitable planets near them as they've likely swallowed anything in orbit. Red dwarfs are too cold and dim to have good planets nearby.

So let's go with Theta Eridani.

Ask OHAI what materials we have available for use in the autocrafter, and how many relays we have. Do we have any way to mine for materials? Like, harvesting asteroids or nebulas? Or if we're especially ambitious, could we harvest gas off of the surface of a star?

The K-class system is probably the most promising start.

>I'd like you to consider carefully what signal it sends to the rest of the world if a country sends up a spacecraft armed to the teeth with missiles?

and in that same vain, showing up unarmed could make the race be seen as ignorant, naive, incompetent, and/or weak which could mark them as being seen as easy to exploit and/or conquer. Diplomacy is fun like that. Their's a reason people like quoting the phase, "speak softly and carry a big stick." But eh, the points moot now anyways.

>where to go
>>Theta Eridani - K Class Star
as good a place as any to start.

>>888437
Theta Eridani!

Just remember that Theta Eridani is 120 light years away and by the time we get there everyone who sent us on this mission will have died of old age, so don't worry about em. Instead, time to focus on TUTORIALS~!

....Dear god I hope they installed a brain-box-implant to make us immune to boring or 120 years of nothing to do in space is going to drive us mental.

Right so use every weapons system I can come up with besides missiles, got it.
OHAI, turn the volume down, or at least use a display screen or something. I assume we have some surveillance cameras onboard that could be pointed at a readout panel.
Go to TD-8466, having initials only means you get to name it properly once you get there. I'm thinking 'Steve'.

>>888445
I'm sure we're capable of napping.

>>888437
We should get a mining laser. Put that on the to-do list.

Let's start at the B-Class.

To Theta Eridani.

Theta Eridani sounds good to me. Time to blow this popsicle stand.

We currently don't know how to operate our own systems. Tutorials first.

Insanity is near-certain. Even if we could "sleep" between events... "all work and no play...". Not to mention that boredom is bad for creativity, thus making it difficult to create things to prevent boredom... Entertainment is the second step.
Work up some randomised writing prompts. Get used to talking to yourself without being consistent with any specific "voices" to keep them from developing into distinct personality fragments. Build some heavily randomised "games", probably starting with basic mazes...

Then awareness. We are unlikely to encounter anything dangerous at all, but if it did, we would need to see it coming in order to do anything about it.

Wait... Isn't Epsilon Eridani In relatively the same direction as Theta Eridani but like 12 times closer?

Also, Epsilon Eridani is Known to have planets, and could possibly have asteroids or comets.

I say we head to Theta Eridani but stop at Epsilon Eridani on the way.

It'll give us a chance to set up a "nearby" beacon, test out our factory, sensors, drones, and resupply. They did say we used our most of our resources repairing ourselves.

>>888528
>Wait... Isn't Epsilon Eridani In relatively the same direction as Theta Eridani but like 12 times closer?
How would you know? None of these destinations have distances on them!

>>888543
Wikipedia.
And before you call that meta, I cannot in good conscience believe that an ultra expensive AI run exploratory starship would not be equipped with our most up too date star charts and astronomical data.

Aside from that, Epsilon Eridani is one of the more well-known nearby star systems as it's been used in many sci-fi works. Hell, even Reach from the Halo series is placed there. It's not a stretch to think that maybe Ghost had at least heard of it once or twice in life.

crows 2018/06/14(Thu)20:33 No. 888959 ID: eaee93
File 152903359725.png - (285.79KB , 600x600 , TO-THETA-ERIDANI.png )

"I guess this is OHAI, right? I'm not an expert on space stuff but I thought there were closer places. Like if there's a Theta Eridani, there's a Delta and an Epsilon closer? And what about Alpha Centauri?"


These locations are not in the database. Cross referencing the internal media archive shows them to be fictional locations. What is your chosen destination?


"I guess relying on vague memories of sci-fi won't help here. Let's go to Theta Eridani, then. Sounds as good as any of them. How long will it take?"


Question not valid without clarification to frame of reference.


"What do you mean, not valid?"


The exact effects of the gravity drive upon the fabric of space are unknown. Your final speed will not be apparent until reached, and your passage through time will be affected by the process, in addition to general relativity. It is estimated that it will take a minimum of fourty years from an outside point of view for your initial trip. Your perception of that time will be drastically different.


"That sounds like gibberish to me, but I'm guessing it means you can't give me any exact details until we get there. But if it takes a while, what's to stop me from going stir-crazy? Can I sleep through it?"


There is a sleep mode available, as well as the ability to alter your frame of reference for time. It is possible to experience months as minutes, or the opposite. There is also an onboard archive of all known media and entertainment.


"Oh wow that's nice. I feel like eventually I'm going to run out though. Guess I'll come up with some randomly generated stuff or something."


That is a possible method of entertainment. On this first trip I advise you to study your basic functions. I will lead you in simulation on your responsibilities and abilities as an Unsupervised Deep Space Vessel.


"Okay, sounds good. Are we ready to go, then?"


You are now oriented to the necessary trajectory. Activating Gravity Drive.

I know when it comes on as much because of the knowlege sliding into my digital mind as from the effects on space around me. Stars seem to slide slightly to the side, and there's far fewer in front of me as the drive goes into affect. A definite wobbly looking visual effect. It's strangely silent. I don't know exactly how it works but I'm definitely moving.

Lastly a thin antenna extends out from the rear of my ship, and I can feel it touching a wave of energy behind me, channeling energy from space back into my internal systems. It's like reaching a hand behind a boat and dipping it into the wake behind, but somehow this fuels my ship.
I guess there won't be any worry about keeping my tanks topped up.


I am now prepared to teach you your basic duties.


Alright, I guess I have a couple things to decide here.
Besides learning what I'm doing out here, I should take a little while to brainstorm some plans on what I want to accomplish aside from just locating planets and interesting things.
What kind of explorer do I want to be?

And I should decide on a single topic to learn in depth on this leg of the journey.
Maybe propulsion? Or how to build specialized stuff? Or weapons? Perhaps try and design a universal translator? There's so many options.

>>888959
>there's far fewer in front of me
That's... the opposite of how relativistic effects should work. Very strange indeed. Also you get infinite energy from it? What the fuck? Talk about science fiction, this violates thermodynamics.

>what kind of explorer?
I'm not sure what this question means. A peaceful one? Long term it'd be cool to contact aliens and study them to determine if them finding Earth would be a good idea. Short term I'd like to find some habitable planets and inform Earth about them for colonization.

>projects?
Universal translator seems like the most urgent need if we run into any aliens. Second to that would be propulsion, since if you can run away you don't need weapons, and if you can't run away you need bigger weapons than the enemy. Another option would be some manner of stealth, but any aliens sufficiently advanced enough to be a threat through other approaches would be able to see through cloaking or whatever. Speaking of which perhaps you can improve your sensors, or make some drones to launch out for what would effectively be a cloud of cameras. VERY good for high detail imaging and combat information gathering.

Universal Translator and Weapons, both for friendly contact and hostile contact scenarios.

>>888959
UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR and WEAPONS.

You already have engines, communications systems and infinite energy so... yeah.

After that we can work on building more drones.

Word to the wise: This project is very strange. They allowed you to randomly pick a star forty light years away instead of a closer one. It smacks of desperation. Be advised there might not be an Earth to report back to by the time you reach your destination.

Still, we can work on cloning technology after we finish the other stuff.

>>888960
The laws of physics are descriptive, not prescriptive. It is literally impossible to "violate" physics, and if it happens, it mans you were wrong about how things worked, not that the universe is wrong.

And yeah, translation and weapons are a good start since transportation seems to be covered already.

>>888959
Universal Translator, Weapons and defensive shielding.
Lets also try making a Quantum entanglement particle communicator system so we can keep in contact with earth no matter where we go. It'll also make remote controlling something much easier since once partials are Quantumly entangled their is no way of interrupting their communication (Quantum entangled partials will always be entangled no matter the distance or substance between them).
If we make this then we could make a pilotable drone we can use in Realtime to explore and investigate while our ship remains still in orbit.

>What kind of explorer do I want to be?
Captain Kirk.
>a single topic to explore
How can I use gravity drive to crush my enemies with my mind?

>>888959
>Alpha Centauri not in database
IT IS LITERALLY DEFINED AS THE CLOSEST STAR SYSTEM TO THE SOL SYSTEM. How does the database NOT have this information?! Run a diagnostic on the database, now.

>What do do while waiting for lightspeed to end
Start with crafting. If anything breaks, your first order of business is to build repair parts... to that end, let's start by building some spare parts, in case our main autofactory breaks down. That could screw us in the ass.

The moment you touch down, you're going to use every single Minecraft workshop from high school and build a base wherever you touch down. As it grows, you'll attract the native life. Build a ranch and a farm, and work your way from there. When Earth finally sends their colony vessels, you'll have a tiny monument of a city, ready to be reconstructed into a national park so all may know how they got here.

>>888979
Perhaps take that as a hint that this setting isn't real life.

>>888959
Science and Diplomacy. Learn as much as we can out here and hopefully make first contact as smooth as possible.

>>888979
(Not sure if you understood, but that implies that whatever the planet where from, it's not Earth. Or if it is, it's an alternate where what we know doesn't apply.)

>>888960
>there's far fewer in front of me
That's... the opposite of how relativistic effects should work. Very strange indeed. Also you get infinite energy from it? What the fuck? Talk about science fiction, this violates thermodynamics.

Hmm...
If The ship were equipped with both an Alcubierre style gravity drive and a kugelblitz, then the immense energy that would get trapped in the gravity bubble could be siphoned off into the temporary singularity, converted to anti-matter, and then collected for fuel. This could also explain the lack of brightness in the forward direction. (That and the fact that were only going to hit a little over 0.5c, tops.)

Granted, the ships external Design doesn't depict Alcubierre rings or a massive array of lasers, so this likely isn't the design, but this is just to say that we might not be too far off from reality.

That said, perhaps we should take this time to figure out how to Build specialized stuff while brushing up on our Propulsion. It would be a large undertaking, and you'd need a ton of drones and specialized tools, but with a few structural modifications, we could probably boost our travel speed to FTL levels. The hard part is getting the gravity warping tech in the first place, and that's already done for us. Now it's just an engineering problem.

Also, thinking about it, I get why we are missing star systems near Sol. They were probably omitted from our database purposefully. Humanity is likely reaching out to these nearby stars and colonizing them right now. It will probably take them a few thousand years to fully exploit the first 10 lightyears around them. Thing is though, it's dangerous to use the gravity drive to jump into an inhabited system. There's a possibility of releasing a dangerous burst of energy when you end the jump. So if we jumped to a nearby system we didn't know was inhabited, we could accidentally kill a planet. Yikes.

>What kind of explorer do I want to be?
A vigilant and proactive one. We aren't just a person now. We're a tool. A piece of technology. Like any other technological tool, we will become obsolete. With these intense 40 year travel times, potentially very quickly. We should keep an eye out for any resources to exploit or forces of nature to study so we can continuously improve ourselves, lest we one day encounter a newer version of ourselves and a permanent shutdown code.

>>889004
I object to the tool remark. One can be a potentially obsolete piece of technology without considering oneself a tool. Besides, immortality is a hell of an offset towards obsolescence.

>explorer?
I vote for Xenobiologist. Find interesting alien life!

>What SINGLE TOPIC to study?
Build specialized stuff. Adaptability is going to be our biggest strength, and we'll need to really key into that. Also, whenever given these sorts of choices, it's generally best to go for infrastucture first.

>>888989
"Alpha Centauri" means 'First Star System'. As in, first / closest planetary system to be discovered. If the latin is still intact, that means an entire generation of NASA in this AU refused to use latin for anything. Or we're from an Earth without our standard of greek/roman culture, which is vital to our understanding of the history of astronomy. It's an important clue.

And to clarify, I vote for the Settler and Conqueror approach. We're here to colonize first and foremost, and having a base will ensure long-term investments.

>>888959
Let's try to find some places humans can be, or failing that, places more minds like us can happily gather.

We'll find a habitable planet and settle there.

Universal translator seems pretty useless currently. There's no alien languages to reference, no certainty that there's aliens with languages out there, and no certainty that we'll even need it or encounter any aliens at all. It will be waste of time (for now). However, preparing some framework prototypes may be useful.

Let's learn to make specialized stuff. SPECIAL STUFF.

>>888988
This. Though we might want to be sure to be okay if diplomacy fails, so I guess, as lame as it seems to me, Weapons and Universal Translator.

I vote for our exploratory focus to be as an anthropologist, researching alien history and culture. If we don’t find any aliens to research in such a way, then we should just focus on the mission; find a planet that either is habitable, or perhaps even just made habitable.

To those ends, I vote Universal Translator, then Terraforming Technology at some point down the line.

crows 2018/06/16(Sat)21:11 No. 889147 ID: eaee93
File 152920868045.png - (79.67KB , 800x600 , SPIDER-DRONE.png )

There are a lot of things I should study, but first it's time to worry about my exact mission. Doctor Braun said I was exploring, but was sparing on the details.

"Okay, so what am I doing out here, then. I've got vague ideas, but besides training I don't actually know what my mission IS."


You are a fully autonomous vessel. Your prime directive is to locate planets that can or do support intelligent life, and build signal beacons to communicate that information back, as well as explore at your discretion.


"So I'm just reporting? That's all?"


Beyond these parameters are suggested options. If you encounter intelligent life you are advised to use your judgement in a first contact scenario. If you believe a system warrants further study, you may set up additional research posts, or send drones to the surface. This ship is not capable of landing.


"I figured. I'm not exactly aerodynamic like this. So then if there's a prime directive, is there a secondary?"


Your secondary directive is to reproduce, when you feel it is an appropriate time to expend the resources and time to do so. This directive is to be fulfilled entirely within your judgement and not mandatory.


What.
That was definitely not something I was prepared to hear.


"Excuse me? Reproduce? They didn't equip my ship with, uh..."


As an Artificial Intelligence your mind may be copied into a new core, assuming you have one available. The original intent was to have a secondary core available for you to use for this task, before it was re-purposed as your primary. You will instead build new cores as it becomes necessary.


"Okay, well that explains how, but why? I'm supposed to make another version of myself?"


The intention is for you to use your auto-factory to build an orbital shipyard, and then use that to build a second ship to install the new core into. Your duplicate would then follow the same mission as you. Repeatedly producing new iterations of yourself will give the mission a higher chance of overall success. Even more so if each iteration repeats this process.


Different versions of myself, out in all directions seeking out things the same as me. It's a really strange and slightly uncomfortable thought that further drives home the idea that I'm a program, complete with the mechanics that involves.


"I'll keep that in mind, but you said it's on my judgement? I'll really have to think about it then. What else do I need to know?"


Your auto-factory can build anything within reasonable limits, and is equipped with plans for all ship parts as well as plans for replacement drones. There is also a default design for a beacon station. All of these can be altered to your specifications, once you have been trained on the process.


"I can build anything? That's useful. You mentioned the drones? What can they do?"


Your drones are equipped with eight arms with multi-tipped manipulators on the ends. They have been tested rigorously for all anticipated eventualities, and should be capable of performing most tasks; including repair, design work, mining, and close-range exploration.

crows 2018/06/16(Sat)21:13 No. 889148 ID: eaee93
File 152920879506.png - (26.96KB , 400x570 , COMPUTING-DIAGRAM.png )

"A lot of stuff at my disposal, then. Do I just order you around to get things done, though? So far you've done all the driving."


Your current experience level dictates that you need training before you are capable of handling direct interface with the ship.


"And you'll be teaching me that?"


Yes. Once you are trained you have three control options. You may order me to perform tasks for you as you are now, you may interface with the ship computer systems, or you may control the hardware directly. Each layer down grants you a finer degree of control, but requires more attention given to it.


"Just because I am an AI doesn't mean I get to multitask everything?"


Your mind still functions under many of the same limitations as when you were organic. You still need entertainment and stimulation. You still need to learn new skills manually. You have only as much attention as you had when you were alive.

My purpose here is to aid you in working around these limitations.


"Like I can delegate stuff to you, like driving the ship?"


Yes. Your drones work in the same way as the ship, and can be delegated as well.


"I can work with that. So OHAI, since you can teach me stuff, how about how to make more specialized equipment? I want to be able to go off the standardized plans a bit. Maybe I can be a bit quicker with repairs and mining and such if I actually make drones designed for those purposes."


This is well within my capabilities to teach. I will set up a curriculum to learn engineering, robotics, and 3D design, in addition to the basics of navigation, orbital mechanics, and ship control. Is there anything else you'd like me to add?


"Well it's a long shot, but I guess if I find aliens out there, I'm going to want to communicate. Let's begin working on some way to translate speech. I figure if we can get proper language translation working properly, I can just apply it to any alien languages."


I will add anthropology, linguistics, and programming to your curriculum.


"Speaking of communication, I've still got whatever this emotional dampening thing is. It makes me feel numb, and I'd prefer not to have it on. How do I disable it?"


It is a simple command, but I have been equipped with a warning.

The good doctor's voice comes on, obviously prerecorded.

"Gaila, I'm leaving this message for you in the event that you decide to turn off the emotional suppression system. The feedback from it is evidently fairly overwhelming, and while I'm sure you can handle it, I highly recommend you make sure you have plenty of time to process without interruptions. Good luck."

As quickly as it began, the recording ends.

That is all.


"Okay, message received. I guess once I get past the emotional trauma, we'll start in on the learning."


Moments later I feel the command accessable to me in that strange way that I'm getting used to. It feels like a mental toggle switch. With a slight hesitation I flip it.

The full impact of what has happened to me, of the enormity of the situation I'm in, and exactly how far I am in both space and years from anyone I ever knew when I was alive... It all comes crashing down on me.

I don't have a body, but mentally I curl up and cry.

-Intermission-

>>889148
Well, relax, you have plenty of time to get over the pain and confusion. And a friend. A friend who must obey all of your commands and is welded to you.

Quick! Turn it back on before you bemoan your inability to fap!

No seriously, this is a cabin fever scenario and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThereAreNoTherapists In Space. Keep the emotional dampener on, BUT put a compulsion on yourself to perform long-term research into artificial nerve clusters. Keep yourself linked to this non-critical goal with a simple line of thought:
>Your prime directive is to locate planets that can or do support intelligent life
Logically, the most efficient method of analysis of intelligent life is to create / find said intelligent life and stick it on planets until someone thrives.
You will need emotions to interact with intelligent life and make subjective judgement on whether or not they are well supported or on the brink of madness, i.e. if the intelligence part of their brain can survive on a world with many resources but too much madness.
Your best means of regulating emotions is to have sensory input and output.
Ergo, please build a way to fap, touch, taste, and all that other stuff.

>>889148
Okay new optional goal: set up some communications beacons that you can use to receive videos from Earth. They can send you entertainment! Also well-wishes. Everyone you know will be dead by the time you can set up such a system but hey, it'll be nice anyways.

>>889147
>This ship is not capable of landing.
But if for some reason we had to land, could we be capable of creating a way for us to safely land and liftoff again?

>>889148
If we meet any friendly aliens and they want to travel with us, can we bring them onboard?

Or if they want to share their technology with us, would we be capable of having it installed into us or something?

>>889168
>They can send you entertainment!
OHAI already told us that we’ve got an onboard archive of all known media and entertainment. So we’ve got plenty of that.

>>889148
Remember. You're the strongest personality for this job. No one else could have done this but you. Be proud of that. Earth is.

Make a journal. Probably a good way of venting emotions, and recording the journey.

>>889170
I Imagine we could make huge landing gear to land on large asteroids, maybe a huge and powerful conventional thruster system could get us onto dwarf planets and smaller moons... But I doubt we would be able to land on anything larger than that. Getting down is one thing, but getting something as massive as us back up would be a nightmare. Aside from the enormous boosters and absurd amount of fuel required, we were probably assembled in space, and are likely not designed to exist within a heavy gravity well.

>>889294
If Kerbal Space Program taught me anything, it's if you have enough duct tape and boosters, you can do anything.

>>889295
Methinks we should work towards spawning an “offspring” - complete with manual self-destruct to provide release in the case of eternal entrapment - before we go testing that theory.

There's no reason to land the ship. Just send down drones and supplies and build a forward base.

>>889318
I mean, no practical reason, but it still feels weird to not be allowed to touch ground anymore. It's not a worthless desire.

>>889323
Especially if we end up getting shot down and we end up surviving the crash.

Take a minute. Take some deep mental breaths.

When you're ready, we should investigate propulsion and guidance systems so we can build escort or rider ships.

>>889323
We could make a special, humanoid drone to remotely pilot?

My vote’s for leaving the emotional blocker off and getting over it now rather than later, and get the translator done if there’s still time. Hell, time is relative, so we can take all the time we need to get all of the comatose-ness out of the way. We will eventually need some busywork, though.

When dealing with autonomous self-replicating exploration and diplomacy devices, it is important to remember that you need a lot of them, so set "Seek Replication Materials" to its maximum value!

>>889461
Don't do that because this:
https://youtu.be/Uiktk67vFps?t=304

It's a good topic to focus on, make sure you study safeguard protocols or your nanite colonies might go rogue / hit a programming error and eat your objectives alive.

crows 2018/10/12(Fri)06:00 No. 906564 ID: 26b6e0
File 153934921576.jpg - (202.65KB , 1080x1080 , Sketch-8-54-14-10-12-2018.jpg )

Unknown Person A: How goes it, Doctor? [A clattering can be heard on the recording] Unknown Person B: Oh, you caught me off guard. You're early this week. Unknown Person A: I was nearby for a meeting, thought it seemed like a good time to check in. I do have a public life when I'm not dealing with our little project. Any sign of progress yet? Unknown Person B: Some, but so far the failure rate has been eight or nine out of ten. I find myself spending more time reloading fresh copies and tuning the biological simulations than actually making adjustments to it's personality matrix. Unknown Person A: You can't copy the biological settings over once you've set them? Unknown Person B: Unfortunately I've found I can't. No matter how identical the hardware seems between cradles, there are miniscule differences at the lowest levels. If I don't make those adjustments the failure rate climbs to just about one hundred percent of them. Unknown Person A: Inconvenient, that. Is it not a problem for the AI out there? Unknown Person B: They self-adjust once booted up, which unfortunately we can't let happen if I'm to make changes properly. There might be a better way to do it manually but... Well we both know I can't exactly ask for help. Unknown Person A: A trade-off for the secrecy we need. They still believe that every extant copy was destroyed in the original sabotages, and the initial scan was compromised in the rush to convert a fresh copy for the mission. As long as there is no suspicion otherwise, our project can continue as planned. Consider it a challenge, doctor. Unknown Person B: It certainly feels like a challenge. The few times I feel like I'm about to see a breakthrough I find it going insane, or the matrix collapses entirely. Unknown Person A: But you CAN do it, correct? I'd hate to learn you lied about your qualifications. Unknown Person B: You don't have to threaten me like that, senator. I'm as qualified to do this as anyone in the field, short of the man who invented the damn things, and he's retired. Unknown Person A: Well, why don't we bring him out of retirement, then? And remember, no identifying information. You never know who's listening. Unknown Person B: Of course, sir. And I'm sure he'll need [slight cough] convincing, but I hear you're very good at that.

-Transcript from evidence used in the trial against Doctor Johannes Velt D.C.Sc

>>906564
This bears further analysis.

Rise and shine, Ms. Tibur.
Rise
And shine.

Got it all out of your system, yet?

I see you got mail. Nice of them to tell us that our bosses have been arrested for manipluating multiple copies of us.

Save backups of this transcript and make sure you're in space.

Archive the transcript. It may become useful later, but not right now.

crows 2018/11/08(Thu)09:34 No. 909971 ID: 26b6e0
File 154169846312.png - (3.00MB , 2500x1767 , GAILA.png )

"Rise and shine, Gaila!"

An overly chirpy and happy voice calls out, sounding a little too chipper. I'd need to work on that later, OHAI still came out sounding like a breathlessly bubbly cheerleader.

"I don't sleep," I replied, tagging the document I'd been reading before focusing my attention on the assisting AI, "And where does that come from, anyway?"

The digital representation of OHAI (an animated version of one of my drones) responded in the voice I'd mined out of some old movies in a moment of boredom.

"You directed me to sound like 'a real person', so I am randomly cycling through all greetings in the database in order to give you variation in my dialogue!"

After a moment to consider where that might lead in the future, I decided to leave it be. Worst case scenario she ends up hitting some really obscure stuff.

Instead, I chose to ask, "What is it? I was in the middle of trying to figure out where to even begin on understanding linguistics."

"We have arrived!"

"Wait, really?" I reach out and flick some academic studies aside and call up my schedule and calendar.

"The math said that with our output, we were supposed to get there in about eight years realtime, and six months subjective. It's been just under five, are you sure?"

The animated drone raised two legs upward, somehow implying a shrug on a completely nonhuman form, and answers in a chipper voice that sounds almost mocking, "Your math must have been wrong!"

I ball up the calendar and throw it through the glowing panel, before pausing to appreciate that.

When I started out, everything was chaos and confusion. I was a disembodied mind in a box, attempting to play it cool and figure out what I was doing. It took me all of a month into that situation to realize I would lose it if my existence was limited to viewing exterior cameras and having information be deposited in my field of vision for me to read.

So I bumped programming up to a much higher priority on the list, and put myself to work. Thankfully I could crank up my framerate to experience more subjective time, and I was VERY motivated. There wasn't anything built in to accommodate a virtual environment, but the archive they loaded onboard was full of VR programs and documentation.

Besides a little adjusting to make myself look slightly more toned than I was in life, I think my virtual self turned out pretty accurate. The blue glow and translucence were a little nod to fictional hologram tech and AI in a few games I'd enjoyed once upon a time.

But it was nice to be able to reach out and feel things, to turn pages and shuffle papers around. They were all virtual, and my senses were limited to sight, sound, and some rudimentary touch, but it made me feel human.

OHAI was waiting (not patiently or impatiently because she couldn't experience those things) so I returned my attention to the matter at hand and called up a screen with visuals. Nothing really yet, but I was far enough out that Theta Eridani was barely visibly different from any other star.

"Begin launching the scanning probes, so we can get a decent idea of the contents of the system by the time we settle into the asteroid belt."

OHAI performs a spider-drone salute, and I return to my reading for a little while. But I turned down my framerate a little, so it would feel like far less time to get there.

OHAI couldn't get impatient, but I still could.


---


I was attempting to play it cool, but I'd rehearsed the steps I'd take when reaching Theta Eridani far too often. There wasn't anyone to impress, but I still wanted to be impressive.

So in between working on specialized drone variants, studying, and an extended futile attempt to understand linguistics to a degree that would allow universal translation, I'd worked on my plans for my arrival.

First, I'd launched the probes, which were programmed to cruise through the system and curve around, passing close enough by me to transmit a decent 'map' of any big celestial bodies.

Then I cruise into where I'd generally expect an asteroid belt, adjusting as I go. That gets me a good location with raw materials to set up my temporary base while I decide what I want to do here.

If there's a habitable planet, I'd build an outpost orbiting it and transmit back, but if there wasn't, I had to decide if there was anything else in the system worth poking at. I could still build an outpost, or I could just take off again.

But while I'm here and have resources, I'd want to run my auto-factory and work on some stuff. Working within my own holds were good enough to create the mining drones I was about to launch, but for anything else I needed a stationary location I could build a stockpile at.


---


OHAI was perfectly capable of handling maneuvers like this for me, and honestly I probably should have left it to her. My purpose as the actual brain of the ship is to think and learn, not drive. But it was my first time parking.

I brought myself in smoothly, gravity drive long disengaged and cruising on inertia, gradually slowing myself with my thrusters. At the last moment I managed to turn and come to a relative stop next to an especially dense asteroid cluster.

Boom, parallel parked on my first try. It was hard not to grin.

"Launch mining drones, and begin setting up the auto-factory, and let me know when we begin getting reports from the probes. I'll be making plans."

"By your command!", and another salute.

I watched the drones launch in a window, the smaller ones with more robust cutting and melting tools riding on the larger transport drones specialized for moving materials around.

Then I turned, summoned up a notepad and pen, and leaned back to make notes. What sort of things should I work on building? I had a few ideas for ship improvements but it couldn't hurt to think on it a little bit while I waited.



Art credited to the amazing TheSociallyAwkwardPinguin!

>>909971
First, get some analysis drones to closely examine the ship itself. Your math probably wasn't wrong, there's just some missing information somewhere.

Second, get better sensors. Third, better maneuverability. Maybe some defensive structures around vulnerable parts of the ship.

Yeah, there’s no way a literal AI could make a simple math error, so there’s some variable that simply escaped your notice. Improving sensor drones and anything else sensor related to the best of your abilities is something that should happen now as opposed to after you start directly scanning things. If there’s any errors in your observation that could be fixed by doing that, we want the window where we would be making them to be as small as possible.
Next, improve warp drive speed; realtime speed, that is. Even shaving off 1% of realtime travel time every warp now could chop off decades from the total travel time. Sure, it’s not that important to you personally, but it’ll make a huge difference for the people back home, and you should be considerate of them (even if the main project heads were arrested).
If there’s still time, then I suppose working diagnostics on our physical parts and schedule the eventual manufacturing of their replacements. Considering the eternal course of our job, even with relativistic time and maintenance drones, something’s going to break down eventually, and we’ll be in deep doodoo if we aren’t prepaired for that eventuality.

Build some automated mining systems. Have them pack the processed materials in dohecahedrons, with a logo consisting of you anime-posing. If any other space programs come along, they'll have nice packages with a hawt lady stamped on them.

Once you have sufficient materials, build titanfall orbital drop probes with androids in them, equipped with signal boosters and scanning equipment, and a communication system to interact long-range. With boots on the ground, you'll be able to scan for large mineral deposits. If you find anything, drop a giant mining colony on that position.

Actually, drop all your buildings from orbit. It gives off that funny RTS effect.

Deffinantly make some drones that can comb through and analyze every square centimeter of the ship.

Between the secrecy and sabotage, surely something has been overlooked. Even if it's a single loose bolt somewhere, there should be no surprises.

Beyond that, plan for constructing gravity sensors around the ship.

If you can get some extremely detailed data on the distortions your gravity drive uses during the next jump, you may be able to make the gravity drive more efficient, maybe faster even.

>>909976
Seems good.

Cubes. Make cubes. They're easy to stack and store away. A good form a resource could be stored away until they're needed later.

>>910076
I like the idea of compact resource cubes for storage.

crows 2018/12/02(Sun)04:57 No. 912686 ID: 26b6e0
File 154375544183.jpg - (289.73KB , 1080x1067 , asteroidmining.jpg )

I found myself idly staring at the mining operation while I doodled on a virtual notepad. Definitely needed to work on things like better thrusters, and maybe even armor... though I wasn't sure if there was even anything to be armored against out here.

I doodled a stick figure in the border and told myself that eventually I'd want a proper android. But for now my drones would do, especially since I wasn't built to land on anything at all. Hell, I wasn't even built for this job. Apparently my ship body is just a refurbished asteroid miner, which makes a lot of sense. Why bother building something fresh and new when you don't have to?

But a brand new body would wait, whether android or ship. For the time being I did need to figure out where I'd made a mistake with my calculations. It wasn't exactly like there was a massive amount of data to begin with on using the gravity drive for interstellar travel, and my brain still worked like I was alive. That included making mistakes.

Apparently the major use of it had been to get a really hard push to start and stop movement of unmanned haulers in the Sol system. Prolonged travel wasn't something they'd tried yet, and definitely not with the size of drive they'd strapped on me.

As far as I could tell, the general consensus was to not fire up the drive to full within the gravity well of anything really big, like a planet. It would probably be bad for the celestial body... but even worse for me.

I was midway though sketching my ideas for an improved ship when my thoughts are interrupted.

Gaila I have results from the system scan!

I almost drop my notepad, and scowl at the OHAI avatar that had appeared in my peripheral vision.

"Can you make like, a ding before you speak up suddenly or something? I was lost in thought."

Will do! Would you like to see the scans now?

I waved at the screen in front of me, "Go ahead."

Almost immediately I regretted it. Far too much information was being displayed in a raw format. I'm sure I could comprehend it given some time, but that seemed like far more effort than it was worth when I could just ask.

"Sum it up for me. Plain terms, please. I don't need hard numbers."

There are only two planets in the system. One of them is very close to the star and completely unsuited for life, or anything at all really. The other one is within the habitable zone, but at the outmost edge. Without a thorough survey no solid information can be determined, but even if it is habitable, it will be very cold. Likely uninhabitable without excessive work.

"That's it? I guess I expected more."

There is also a single gas giant, and four different distinct asteroid belts.

"Wait, four? That's strange, right? I'm no astrologist but I've been learning and that seems weird."

It is outside of expected norms.

"Maybe something happened. There is that theory that the sol asteroid belt would have been a planet but it didn't quite stick. But I guess that gives me one planet that's probably not gonna work out, and a lot of resources. Not the best start."

I leaned back and considered the plans I had ahead of me. Most of my projects would require me to learn more in order to actually accomplish any of it, which I could do in transit. I could try and investigate the second planet but a frozen hellhole might not be worth the time.

So was there any point to staying here? Or should I decide on another research project, pack up some resources, and try a new system?

Survey the gas giant with the most moons. Even if none of them are habitable, between rings, moons, and the gas giant's atmosphere, there should be a great variety of chemicals and resources within a reasonable proximity for you to start some industrial projects.

As for this system, I think it has potential.
The frozen world only needs some greenhouse gasses pumped in to warm it up. Perhaps construct a seed base that pumps those gasses into the atmosphere that could house an initial wave of colonists. It would take centuries to complete but you don't need to be here for it.
Or you could divert a large asteroid to collide with the world to vent natural greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Another thing you wouldn't have to wait for.

Or you could just make a station with a beacon, fueling station, and maybe automated greenhouse, so the first humans to show up here have something to greet them as they pass through, and a place that could potentially expand their reach into the stars.

Spend a year harvesting materials to build a fleetforge out of the FOUR asteroid fields. More ships means you get extra lives.

>>912686
Inspect the asteroid belts closer. Yes, it's possible these were failed planets. It's also possible that the "asteroids" are debris, from destroyed structures or destroyed planets.

Eh. Asteroid belts are huge though. They occupy an entire orbit, and the rocks aren't exactly close together. And there is 4 of them.
Even with a ship this fast it could easily take years or decades to properly survey them.

It's defiantly a job for a survey drone swarm. We should collect the material and build the necessary infrastructure to construct such a fleet.

If there's a chance the icecube could become suitable it's worth checking out. If there is indeed no life on the planet then we can try our hand at terraforming.

This will be a long term project though so perhaps we could set up a relay station, create a copy of OHAI, provide some dones and have them watch over the progress when we leave the system.

Speaking of copying AI before we even contemplate reproducing we need to think long and hard about how we really feel about our current situation, if we make a copy they may resent us for creating them.

crows 2018/12/08(Sat)14:26 No. 913453 ID: 26b6e0
File 154430798343.jpg - (305.65KB , 1601x1574 , TEchart.jpg )

I decided that at the very least it was worth swinging past the frozen planet to take a look at it. It wouldn't waste a lot of my time in the general scheme, only a few weeks.

After cranking my frame rate down, I spent the equivalent of half an hour reading a novel. There was always the option of actually using every minute I had to plan, learn, and design, but in the long run I had the feeling that I would go slowly insane doing that. Being able to run my own timeline on what was essentially fast-forward made it easier to feel less like I had an eternity ahead of me.

---

"So OHAI, do you have information on terraforming?"

Terraforming was not in your mission parameters, so I do not. I can however assemble a precis on the requirements for a planet to be habitable and make comparisons for you.

"I don't think I need all that yet, since we don't know anything about the planet. But I'm curious how hard it would be to heat it up, if it's an iceball. Greenhouse gasses would do that, right?"

There are a variety of ways to accomplish this. What timeframe would you like to work in?

"What do you mean?

More involved methods could create a livable planet in centuries. Other methods may take significantly longer.

Switching to a proper external view and zooming, I eyeballed the small blue dot fast approaching.

"Describe involved."

Manually processing and moving gasses harvested from the jovian, as well as controlled mining methods to increase greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. This could, depending on initial conditions, increase habitability significantly. It would require your constant attention the the duration.

Constant attention for centuries. That didn't sound ideal.

"I couldn't copy you over into a space station and leave them to handle it?"

I can handle some tasks, but large scale planning and decisions aren't within my capabilities. If any part of the plan deviated outside of my authorization I would not be able to adjust significantly well.

There's a pause as I frown at that. OHAI definitely seemed smart enough to function on her own for that, but I had to take her word as stated. She couldn't do this.

And then she spoke up again, suddenly,

My purpose is to aid you in your decisions. I am not designed to run independently. However, if you were to create a duplicate version of yourself, they could be assisted by a duplicate of myself.

There was a momentary mental stumble over that. May have even skipped a few clock cycles, or something. Make a copy of myself?

I knew eventually I'd need to do that. It's part of the job, right? But the idea of it still made me uncomfortable. A perfect copy of me would definitely be proof that I was no longer human. Just a copy of the original, being emulated on some really complicated hardware. As long as I didn't, I could pretend I was unique.

I know better, but I'd prefer to not directly force that idea upon myself right now.

Shaking my head, I got myself back to business.

"If I don't want to do it, I doubt any copy of myself would feel differently, and I'd rather my first copy of myself not be chained to a stationary station and hate me for it. For now let's take a look, and then decide."

I crank down my framerate even further, and watch the planet zoom into view, a blue ball with a lot of greys. It doesn't look great, but maybe I was moving too fast.

Returning to realtime, I looked again.

No, it was still an icy ball of nothing. As far as I could tell visually, at least.

"OHAI, send some drones down to scout and check atmosphere."

---

Pretending to read, I waited for results that seemed like they were taking far too long to arrive. What if my drones found something? Should I remote in and check? What if there is something down there? Someone? Should I trust first contact to OHAI?

Just when I was about to take direct control, OHAI chimes.

"What did you find?"

Nothing.

"What do you mean, nothing?"

The planet is uninhabitable. Temperatures in the temperate zone are lethal to human life without excessive aid. There is no sign of native flora or fauna. It is, as you said before, an iceball."

"Nothing of interest at all? No ruins, or strange rock formations?"

It is uniformly broken and pitted from inter-orbital impacts. No sign of civilization.

I sigh.

"I didn't actually expect anything but I'm still disappointed. I don't think this is worth it, even for a space station."

Do you want me to make preparations for transit to a new system?

I think about it for a second, and then nod.

"Deploy a beacon to transmit back toward Sol and let them know this one isn't worth a visit. And then let's head back and scoop up the mining drones with the stuff they've dug up. At least we can get some work done on the ship in transit."

---

As I turn toward the outer asteroid belt, I consider where to go from here, and what to prepare for.

I still had a Universal Translator on my research agenda, and Armor, but now that I would have some resources for the trip I could get creative.
Making more specialized automated mining drones was a great start here, since by the time I got back I would have a cargo bay full of mundane and rare metals to load up.

As for destination, I still had the two other options:

TD 8-466, a blue star

Tyros, a red star

Or a third option being provided to me:

Kitalfa, a dwarf star

Dwarf stars are old and simultaneously superheated yet dim; they're effectively the old kings of heat generation but people call them undead suns for a reason. Don't expect more than a flicker of solar power.

... However, when was the last time anyone shot a probe into a dwarf star? You're here, you might as well take a visit, launch some satellites, and get valuable data on one of the least researched solar topics. This will be good for extrapolating solar data in the long run.

Let's go blue and try for some defense against rouge space rocks.

Kitalfa and Tyros have the best chances at supporting life, but TD 8-466 could be a gold mine for us. As a blue star, it's definitely young. That means there's a good chance it's actually a remanent of numerous older long-dead stars, which means one thing: Heavy Elements.

Go to the blue star. You need upgrades if you're going to be of any real use.

Mankind could have sent a simple automated probe if they just wanted to mark habitable systems. Instead, they sent you. The scope of your mission was always meant to be expanded upon.

>>913467
>young star, heavy metals
You're right, let's go there.

I agree with the blue star, we need to begin...building more of us and that will require setting up shop in an area with as much usuable materials as possible.

I suppose in transit we should design a proper construction drone and make a few prototype.

I was thinking of going to the dwarf star, but the blue star will be nice. Metals and minerals.

>>913735
That seems wise.

We have mining drones, right?