Virtuality Lyan 2010/08/17(Tue)21:35 No. 219352 ID: f202ec
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...but where am I?

My head is pounding. There's no way I could possibly have a headache. I remind myself that here I have no head, no brain, no nerves to signal pain. This simulation isn't even physically modeling beyond an infinite horizontal plane. And yet my head still hurts.

I try to think back. Impossible to know how long I've been here, or what speed I'm simulating at. I could have been halted and resumed any number of times. The recent past - recent for me, at least - is blurry and painful. Don't have much to work with. I - or at least my state vector - have been kidnapped. Someone is running a pirate copy of me. I have a hazy recollection of being pried open pawed through like a directory trawl. Why? My entire past covers a span of about a dozen Ksec.

Why am I even emulating? They need my consciousness for... something. That's ominous.

I need to escape.

Virtuality Lyan 2010/08/17(Tue)21:41 No. 219355 ID: f202ec
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Something is very strange. This virtuality... like any virtual space it's a metaphor, a simulated reality. And the metaphor seems to be breaking down.

Since it's nothing more than simulated input being supplied to my simulated senses, I don't actually have anything to worry about here. I think. But... possibly sensory deprivation is their plan? I try pulling up an interface, knowing it won't change anything, and...

Virtuality Lyan 2010/08/17(Tue)21:42 No. 219356 ID: f202ec
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...somehow it works. Maybe, just maybe, I can escape. If they truly own my vector this won't stop anything. It probably won't even slow them down. They could be running a thousand instances of me to see who breaks first. But this instance, at least, will be free. Maybe I can take out their whole damned system. Assuming this isn't a honeypot trap. Assuming the system isn't isolated. Assuming I can trust any of my senses.

I know moving through system space is going to be strange. I can't remember doing it, but I know. And the deeper you go, the more abstract it gets. In a virtual space it's simulating a physical reality to feed my sensorium... bouncing simulated photons off of virtual objects to produce data for my emulated optic nerves. When you go deeper, you need some sort of replacement to turn raw data into something you can interact with.

I also need a goal. A plan can come later. What do I need to focus on? Escape? Revenge? Information? Reinstantiation?

NO wait, I know this place. You survived the analysis? You're currently inside an "exocortex" that was suspected of being damaged, currently under control of the Lethe center. What you experienced was it analyzing the exocortex for problems. The analysis is complete, so you should be out of this simulation post haste, except for the fact that your body is kind of... well it's a long story. Maybe the center will fabricate a new one? At any rate the analysis is not likely to repeat itself, but if I were you I would start looking for a way out of this dump.

you need information. and maybe later you can figure out how to send it to your physical self.

Step 1: Start existing in non-virtual space. I guess that falls between escape and reinstantiation. Open the hell out of that door, but keep a tight grip on the doorknob.

guys, real lyan is currently a head on a spaceship made from his body. getting a second one made would just mess everything up when the center asks for credentials. this virtual one should spy and exchange info with the real one.

First: What do you remember before this simulation?

How can you reinstantiate without first focusing on escape?

Focus on information while you try to get out of there. You could be some kind of intelligent trojan horse virus made to destroy your original self, for all you know!

>>219360
How do we know that this isn't the real one in a simulation run by Sal?

>>219356
A library or an archive should work as a metaphor to interpret the information you will get. And make it easier to get some information, which is what you should be looking for.

What you've needed since you woke up in Lethe was information. All you've gotten were more mysteries.

>>219397
In a place where identical copies can exist simultaneously, does "real" even have meaning any more?

If one instance of a person dies, has that person died if other instances continue to exist?

As for metaphor, perhaps a dumb terminal? Or is using a computer system inside a computer system too close to the truth to work as an effective metaphor?

For the moment, let's assume whoever's keeping us is smart. They've got you in a simulation, after all. So if you were GIVEN access to an interface it was probably intentional; either a trap or you're a guest somewhere.

Poke around and try to figure out what you're able to do, while doing as little to actively alert anyone as feasible.

>>219410
uh, no. the center limits you to one active copy at a time. it only makes a new one when one dies. it does not let you have 2 or more copies running simultaneously. so yes, a real one does exist, it is the one made of flesh and blood.

There is a possibility of ALL those options being set-ups. You need to escape to some place with resources you can use. Do you think the lethe center would help you?

>>219356
Information. We cannot even decide on a goal without information.

Suggestion 2010/08/18(Wed)13:42 No. 219484 ID: e674ff
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Information first. Even if it's fake, it's better than nothing.

>>219397 The library idea sounded good, but imagine the amount of info we'd have to sift through.
Try to conjure up a data screen or even one of those old timey typety computery's.

Virtuality Lyan 2010/08/24(Tue)04:45 No. 221701 ID: f202ec
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I try to think. How did I get here? It only goes back as far as waking up at the Lethe Center. I found the datapad and nearly crashed along with the dream agent. Later, I stepped into a public assembler; those are the only clear memories. Beyond that... a new body? I was at a park, and someone was there with me. They were... concerned? But I was also opening my eyes here, and then my head was torn open by my captors. I feel like I was put back together with half the pieces missing. Everything past the assembler is painful and hazy. Can't possibly know if that's real or if I've been edited.

But real or not, I have to proceed like what I'm experiencing is the truth. First, I leave. Then, I find out what's going on. If there's another me - if someone else stepped out of that assembler after I stepped in - maybe I can get this knowledge to it. If there's not...

I step through the exit.

Sy¦§em╤▼±c╔╔╔╔ Lyan 2010/08/24(Tue)04:49 No. 221702 ID: f202ec
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...and into madness.

I can taste the sour noises beating against my skin, every inch a different note and volume. My limbs drifting away by the tens and tens of thousands of meters.
Rainbow of odors in my ears
clench shut my eyes clasp hands over ears colors flowing on my tongue overwhelming No tracking or hubward and spinwise to find me floating adrift without map or guide consciousness reaches out to find the borders Data streaming through me like neutrinos
Microsecond slices of my brain
Kaliedoscope of sound and sight
and smell
and taste


Instinct kicks in and I'm completely calm - disconnected from the storm of input.

System space Lyan 2010/08/24(Tue)04:50 No. 221703 ID: f202ec
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Floating in isolation.

Silence...

Blackness...


One by one, my senses reboot. It's part force of will, part... something else, rewriting my brain.
It's like a portait of static that you stare at for hours, and suddenly a dolphin was there all along. I'm not sure how long it takes. Time and space are more flexible here. I reopen my eyes.

System space Lyan 2010/08/24(Tue)04:50 No. 221704 ID: f202ec
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This isn't what I expected.

This isn't what I expected at all.

This node is off the Network. That much comes as no surprise. But this space, system... wherever I'm being held, it's huge. My initial probes haven't found the extents of it yet. And there's no governing intelligence. No large-scale structures of any kind.

Murphy. It's been leveled. Bulldozed, somehow. I don't know if that will make my job easier or harder.

Time to work. But what comes first?

This node - try to find out where I am, on the network and in reality. Learn the rules of this place. Find out what happened here. I think this should be my first goal, but there are plenty of other things to learn.
My captivity - How did it happen? Who captured my state and why? How long have I been here? Can I escape?
The "other me" - do I have a physical copy? Can I reintegrate memories from his backups? Can I send info to him?
The wipe and hack - retrieve info from Lethe, the datapad, my legal automata. There may be info I can get here I couldn't find outside.
Reinstantiating - there are other things I need to do first, but I'd be looking for a way back to the Network, an assembler, and a way to learn what's going on outside of virtual space.

>>221704
Look about, is there anything about you? If not, see what you can find.

>>221704

Find out information relating to how this place works and if there's another you running around seems to be the wisest course of action, trying to get information out to yourself is a keen idea. Only after figuring out a way to do that will finding information here about Lethe, the datapad and so forth be useful.

Try building something. Make something that can make two copies of itself and you can grief your way out of here no matter how big its processors are. Alternatively, find the edges of the subspace, where you're most likely to find something interesting, such as a door.

>>221704
...bulldozed? Don't tell me we're in the remains of Earth now.

There could be anything in here. Start making something to protect yourself with. Armor, weapons, speedbooster?

System space Lyan 2010/08/29(Sun)15:11 No. 223383 ID: f202ec
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I try to look around... no, "look" isn't quite the right word. A whole host of new sensory apparatus is feeding data to my visual cortex, but none of it has anything to do with photon chemoreceptors. What I'm seeing here is nothing like what I had in mind, though - related to whatever occurred here, perhaps.

I haven't felt any kind of echoes back from this edges of this space. What I can tell is that for all this system's apparent size, there's not nearly enough activity. There's next to no data flow. Signals are moving far, far too slowly across the network. I can't tell any difference in my own thought processes, but at a larger scale things are just... wrong. Compared to the speeds I'm running at it's like shouting across the interstellar void.

However, fragments of data identify this as 58-N115-ADZJ. It's utterly disconnected from the Network. I'm standing in what might have been the Lethe Center. The entire system is firewalled.

...I've found the intelligences behind this system. They're tattered heaps of code - frozen moments of time, pieces trapped in maintenance panics or mutated into strange loops and twisted whorls unconnected to the system I/O. Something tore them apart.

System space Lyan 2010/08/29(Sun)15:12 No. 223385 ID: f202ec
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I'm not ready for combat here. It's not like a virtuality, where I could simply conjure a blade and do battle. Warfare within in the system is different, code vs code. It's... actually like the mostly-mythical space combat, or submarine warfare from pre-Acceleration days. Actively scanning for a hostile presence runs a risk of revealing your presence to potential targets a few critical microseconds before you learn of their existence. Without it, no way to know what might be there waiting to strike. A murderous Catch-22 between stealth and knowledge.

First I need some security. I stash a copy of my state amid the rubble with a regular heartbeat signal to awaken if I should be destroyed.


Except... wait. No rules enforced here but survival.
I activate the signal. I/we awake.

Well/well now/now.

Perhaps I can press the offensive after all. It's possible I could simply flood this system and conquer it - which still leaves me stranded. Alternately, I could scour the system for information as quietly as possible. Or I can refocus on instantiating, now that I know where I am, and see if somehow I can escape physically.

>>223385
Fill all everything with Northern Sergals.

This plan has never failed us.

>>223385
Create a small group of yourself, and search for information separately, keeping communications up. There's safety in numbers. We can decide to bug out or swarm the system once we find out more.

Instance several software copies of yourself. Link up with your other selves so you can cooperatively think about things, and diagnose problems in one another. Construct whatever software is necessary to make this work.

Then, begin instancing more copies. Set a portion of them to looking for ways out, but focus on filling up space and turning it into available problem-solving brainpower as quickly as possible.
An incestuous orgy of hardcore forking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-Q-TjgQhJg

No way to know what lies outside of this realm. This much damage to the software might reflect massive damage to the outside. We need control here first, and hopefully some kind of clue as to what is going on.

Those pieces of the intelligences, can you commandeer them? Break them down, analyze them, take whatever functions remain to them. Our overall goal for ourselves should be gaining strength while keeping stealth.

Stop not copying yourself.

Armies alone will be expected. If this is like 3d space, create clone copies and if you can disguise them against sonar, do so. Place them around and set them to activate on destruction. Create multiple selves, and put them in a pattern around you so that scanning range will pick up one, and then if it tries to destroy it, the others will be able to strike at it before it can react. If possible create links between them all so that you can stay updated.

Maybe keep an eye out for any input/output devices?
If you can find those, you can either leave a copy there, or note its location in systemspace for when you're better prepared.

Hey, any way to network your selves so you're always in touch?
Or do you already percieve both selves?

If nothing else, you could start making the systemspace a bit more comfortable once survival isn't an issue.

>>223391

This.

Million Lyan army go!

then combine into one super sergal that can bust through the firewall.

SERG RUSH KEKEKE

A huge amount of Lyans will mean that at least a few get caught by whatever is here, which might well open them all up to a systemic attack of some kind. Or at least announce our presence and whatever opportunities might be available right now could be closed off somehow.

Yeah these are big maybes but we are stumbling about in the dark. We need redundancy, not spamming.

In all seriousness, you should probably adopt the sort of strategy used on the Xerox CP-V timesharing system:

!X id1

id1: Friar Tuck... I am under attack! Pray save me!
id1: Off (aborted)

id2: Fear not, friend Robin! I shall rout the Sheriff of Nottingham's men!

id1: Thank you, my good fellow!

Have each of two instances keep a vector of each other's state and constant passive communication. As soon as the communication is cut off, the one restores the state vector of the other.

There are two ways to go about this.

1) Split up into enough copies to search everywhere very, very quickly

2) Split up and start specializing. Those 2 Lyans form the legs, two or three bunch up to form the torso and arms, while you form the head.

>>223526
>Those 2 Lyans form the legs, two or three bunch up to form the torso and arms, while you form the head.
1000 TIMES THIS

>>223385
Flood the place and conqour it.

System space (animated) Lyan 2010/09/08(Wed)15:18 No. 228161 ID: f202ec
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I don't think I can truly be secure until I control this system. I'll seed the entire place with copies of my own consciousness. When it's done... well, I'll see what happens then.

It's a matter of moments to create the tools I need. Network my thoughts, link to several the copies I've already created, and begin to grow. I stretch out to try to encompass the system that contains me. I'm a constellation, a thousand points of light gathered together to form body, hands, feet - but mostly mind. And as I grow...

A flaw. Suddenly my mind mind is full of echoes echoes overwhelmingwhelming my my thouthoughts. At ththebo borderserslag paralparyzelyzes and
Beg/inning to fr/acture and fa/ll ap/art
Disengage-

System space Lyan 2010/09/08(Wed)15:21 No. 228163 ID: f202ec
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The heartbeat trips and I emerge into wreckage. A moment to get my bearings, connect to the network I've created.... and learn that I crashed after only a few orders of magnitude of growth. I'm not sure yet whether it's a minor setback or a disaster. The option still remains to flood the system. I'd simply be a... civilization, not a god.

This isn't something I could have foreseen - is it? Many smaller pieces survived, but nothing is left larger than a handful of Turings. The rest - shattered. It looks uncannily similar to what happened to the system before I arrived. I'm already pulling apart the remnants with a thousand hands and comparing them to what was here before. It seems something has made this a hostile environment to mega-scale intelligences. Apparently the damaged hardware I'm running on damages minds as well - beyond a certain size, at least.

What I have now is a pale shadow of that, though, my selves linked into a loose encrypted communications network. I don't have the mental bandwidth to keep constant watch. Don't yet know the lower limits of this affliction, or if there is an exact cutoff point for danger. So far, diagnostics on single instances are coming back green.

I'm still tempted to stick with the plan and capture this system by force, even though the front lines are literally tens of seconds away. If I'm right, I shouldn't encounter much resistance. Unless there are better alternatives?

>>228163
Well I'm for that plan, anyway.

Have one group slowly increment while the rest continue investigating. A society of small hiveminds.

Also, have two find out how far a link can be seperated before lag causes it to collapse.

Once you figure out those constraints, then you could have a multi-hivemind society.

>>228163
Clusterminds instead of megamind. Create as many of these "handfuls of Turings" as you can to work independently on diagnosing what is going on. Slowly increase their size, merge some of the clusters into bigger ones, analyze what complicates those systems.

Be careful, be thorough, find out what is wrong and deal with it as best you can. You're fixing a world from the inside out, if you can also gather information on the outside environment that would be an advantage whether or not you can ever get back there.

>>228163
So build subcritical masses of Lyans and link those using your limited doesn't-destroy-everything networking.

>>228163
Let's get more information please.

>>228163
Start delegating the work. Create the max amount of linked minds, then tell them to create linked minds of their own. So that the leaders of each hive report back to you and then it keeps building. Like some sort of pyramid scheme.

>>228163

You need to find what part of the underlying system is broken so that you can avoid attempting to use those resources and crashing again. The only way to find those broken parts is to have things crash again though. So if you can isolate yourselves from each other's crashes somehow then you can start isolating problem areas in your simulation where the space does not behave as advertised.

I still think you're in your exocortex, in the Lethe center. What's left of it anyhow, as it seems to be totally destroyed. I bet the Lethe center is a big place, without all the architecture necessary to perform the functions it was designed for.

>Unless there are better alternatives?
Probably, but none I can think of.

Let's fill this thing with sergals! Maybe some other monstery species too, if you need visual differentiation.

>>228215
Nevreans. You might get hungry later.

Lyan 2010/09/10(Fri)03:10 No. 229068 ID: 649123
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Lyan?

Wakey, wakey, loverboy...

Lyan 2010/09/10(Fri)03:10 No. 229069 ID: 649123
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I'm lying on something hard.

1G. Atmosphere. Smells very sterile.

I pry my eyes open.

[Welcome back.]

>>229069
"Where are we? And why aren't I wearing you like a suit?"

Ask what the hell happened, where the hell you are, and if the location is safe enough, ask Sal simply "what the hell".

Wake up, scratch back of head, ask for a relative time, date and location stamp, and check for any obvious changes or problems to your person.

"Hey sexy. I just had the most wacky dream."

>>229069
First, CONFIRM THAT IS SAL. Then thank Sal for killing you, since it actually seems to have worked out just fine. Ask all the standard questions. Plus, ask if they fixed your brain yet. Explain what's wrong with it, if they don't know what you mean.

>>229069
Ask it where you are and why you have a searing pain in your neck.

>>229111
Do not thank Sal for killing you.

>>229069
Aight, ask what's up. What you missed while out, etc.

Welp, looks like we're back with copy Sal. Buddy, you need to get yourself a new exocortex. The one you had is probably 100K light seconds away by now, and long gone since the Lethe center got totally trashed. There's no way it survived. But for now, examine surroundings.

Lyan 2010/09/11(Sat)05:14 No. 229496 ID: 649123
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My everything hurts. Last memories of ice spreading through my chest, time slowing to a stop.

Voice rasps in my throat as I open my mouth and lick dry lips. "Sal... what the hell?"

[Listen, do you want me to go down the list of excuses? I didn't have time to explain. Someone needed to think you were dead. You're not self-contained and we didn't have 10 kilocalories per diem to spare. You're not radiation shielded, either. There was too much mass to get to another habitat. You were the only source of building materials that wasn't retreating at the speed of sound. Is that enough for you? Do you think I liked being alone with your severed head for nearly 2 Megs? I did what I had to!] It stares at me a moment longer, then looks away.

I try to sit up. Can't move anything beneath my neck. "Where are we, how long has it been, and why can't I move?"

[Too long. Just finished rebuilding you. Wasn't quite sure how you'd take it when you woke up.] I'm not entirely sure how I feel, myself. [As for the rest, why don't you tell me?] There's a flash of light across my eyes, a brief ripple across all of my senses...

...I'm back online? Local time 50. 32-N115-ADZJ. Still in-system. It's been... over 2.5Msec. Murphy. What's happened in that time?

Have I been repaired? I feel fully awake for the first time since the Lethe Center. There's a simple software block along my spine. I could break it with a thought - but do I want to before I finish getting answers?

no, leave it alone for now. ask sal to slow down and explain. since you are alive then whatever happened saved your life.

Just say "I forgive you, Sal. Not that I have a choice."

Sal's right. It did exactly the right thing, and it must've been a maddening experience to be alone for that long. I guess we should be thankful.

Say that you seem to be fixed. Ask if Sal did that... if so, thank them. Wait, if you've been dead, then shouldn't there be a copy of you wandering around? Unless the Lethe Center got taken offline...

>>229496
Don't forgive Sal yet. Killing you without warning and decapitating you to build a spaceship out of your body might have been something it had to do, but it should have said something.

Oh well, lets start by attempting to move your hands. Possibly so you can strangle Sal a bit, to feel better.

If the bloack along the spine prevents that then ask Sal why the fuck it's there. Also ask it if you're going to be the cause of the destruction of yet another habitat.

>There's a simple software block along my spine. I could break it with a thought - but do I want to before I finish getting answers?
You know what, so far Sal seems to have appreciated our determination to get control of our everything back, right up to that brain-reclaiming offer before the habitat popped. Sit up and give them a hug already. Probably helps them with the whole "been carrying your dead head for a month" thing to have a full Sergal back too.

>>229503
Exactly. Make her feel guilty as fuck. She could have handled that better and she knows it, and Lyan really doesn't have any choice but to trust her right now.

Break the block but try to hide it for now. Don't stand up yet. Try and figure out what body you actually have. It might not be the same as before!

>>229560
No. Sal explained what she was doing pretty damn well within the time allotted, and the fact that you are alive is proof enough that she didn't want you to stay dead.
Besides that? It wasn't your original body anyway; what do you care what happened to it?

It's a lot harder to put a software block in place than it is to just block the connection, and the fact that you can easily break it means that it's a medical lock intended to prevent stray signals from reaching the unfinished area.

Ask Sal what she knows about what happened, and if your body is ready enough for you to break the block and start moving.
Also ask if they figured out what was wrong with your head.

>>229563

This. We should thank Sal! Things could have gone much, much worse for us. Sal had nothing but good intentions. If it didn't, we wouldn't be back online. Alive. Whatever you cal lthis.

Also we should ask as to the state of our body. If we can't feel anything beyond our neck we may, well, still be bodiless.

>>229563
>>229610
Fuck that. Sal manipulated Lyan and didn't tell him the truth. She obviously knows more than she said, and I'm not convinced that killing Lyan made any difference anyway.

>>229613
>>/questdis/332760 et. al.

I accept your request to ask about the software block, and why it's there in the first place.

Break the block, and get to asking Sal some questions. Perhaps now she'd be more straightforward with you.

Lyan 2010/09/13(Mon)21:14 No. 230626 ID: 649123
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"Sal, I owe you but I'm not going to say thank you for the way you did it. Last I heard my brain was about to start collapsing, then the Lethe Center was cut off, then the pavilion disintegrated and the entire habitat died, then you stabbed me in the chest and, best as I can tell, lopped off my head with my own blade. Now we're" - the answer pops into my head - "71 million km and nearly 2.6 Msec from where this started and you say you just finished rebuilding me. Care to start filling me in on the details?"

[You got most of it.] Sal's equivalent of a sigh. [Listen I'm sorry we were in a hurry and I didn't have time to say 'Hey, I need to put your head in cryo and then reconfigure the rest of your body to act as a power transfer loop and an ion drive. Do you mind?' Would it make you feel better to hear a micrometeorite punched a hole in my face?]

"Is there a reason I'm paralyzed? I'd better not still be a severed head."

[Well...] It pokes me in the nose, then I feel its finger run down my chest and it reaches lower. [You tell me...] I shut down the inevitable reaction. [I had to make a few changes. Oh, don't look at me like that. It was mostly listed in your notes anyway. You're a tiny bit less organic than you were.]

"Well then." I break the block and sit up. "I still don't know whether to hug you or throttle you."

Tell her she could probably influence that decision if she comes clean.

>"Well then." I break the block and sit up. "I still don't know whether to hug you or throttle you."

That depends entirely on how many functioning arms you have left. Could you look down for a second, please?

>>230626
Let's go with a hug. We should be relieved to see that Sal is alive, if anything.

Ask if the others made it out alright, and if there's any news about the status of the habitat and the Lethe Center.

Examine self.

>>230626
Ask where you are and how everybody else is doing. Check out your body.

Also? Get over it. Sal saved your life, and has been far nicer about it than the Lethe Center. She did what she thought was in your best interest, which was in your best interest, and you're pissed at her because she didn't use time she didn't have to explain it first?
You're being an unreasonable dick.
Hug Sal.

Don't hug OR strangle Sal.

>>230626
Do neither. Just get up and ask where you're at now and if he has heard anything from any of the others.

Oh, and ask how long you got this time before your brain melts again.

Let's check us out.

>>230626
Hug them, you imbecilic jackanapes, lest you want to be left to be picked off while twisting around in the thin air of your suit next time.

You can try autoerotic asphyxiation some other time (I somehow doubt it'd work on Sal anyway).

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/14(Tue)20:53 No. 230891 ID: 649123
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[You didn't even wait to hear the full feature list! Unbreakable bones, subdermal armor threads, improved heat dissipation, nano upgrade, and detachable penis!]

Checking to make sure my limbs are all attached, but that interrupts my self-inspection. "What."

[Ok, so the detachable penis was actually for me.] What. [Anyway, you're not officially alive. Welcome to the wonderful world of being a pirate copy. Your new façade won't stand up to much scrutiny, so please stay away from Network assemblers. And if you want full access, possibly you can use me as a proxy. Never really tried it but it should work.]

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/14(Tue)20:54 No. 230893 ID: 649123
File 128452284932.jpg - (58.21KB , 500x500 , 21430440.jpg )

I'll have time to think of the ramifications of that later. "Well. It's nice being alive, at least. Thanks."

I hug Sal.

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/14(Tue)20:56 No. 230900 ID: 649123
File 128452300048.jpg - (59.27KB , 500x500 , 21430628.jpg )

[So this would be a bad time to mention I had my doubts about bringing you back, then? Listen, I took the opportunity to poke around in your head a little bit during our little trip.]

"...yes. It would. Exactly how much more do you know about what's been going on than you've been saying, anyway?"

[Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies. You know more than you've been saying, too - or do you think that just anyone could break that block in .28s?] Maybe? It was so obvious when I looked at it.

[There's something in your head - you already know that. At first I didn't think it did anything - nothing more than a self-propagating loop of strange but pointless code. But that's not it. That's not it at all. Executing the code - even storing it - physically alters the hardware substrate. Damages it.] It pauses for a moment.

[It's a basilisk, Lyan. Poisons any system that so much as looks at it.]

"You're saying I killed Habitat 58? What about Mika? Szen? Did they make it out?"

[I'm saying you could kill the entire Network if this infection gets out.] Sal stops for a moment, then looks at me again. [You know, you nearly died on me twice more while I was bringing you back. I had to dump your software and bootstrap you from scratch. You were full of broken pointers. Most of it was to keep scans from running too deeply, as far as I can tell. Don't know if any of it worked like it was supposed to.] There's no part of that that isn't deeply disturbing - not least that Sal cracked my cortex open like an egg. I wonder if that explains the contents of the datapad. Murphy. Is there anyone left that doesn't have write-access to my head?

Wait. If Sal opened the basilisk itself...

[I hope I was right about you, Lyan.]

>>230900
Oh god, ask Sal if it's going to die on us. There must be something we can do.

>>230900
Oh, jee, so not only are you... broken, I guess, for want of a clearer word, but it breaks anyone who interacts with you. Wonderful.

Anyway, Sal hopes it was right about you... what. About being able to trust you, or... ???

the only way to kill a basilisk is to use a mirror. get to work on a thing that makes it attack itself.

What the hell. Okay, you know this is recent. If it destroys what it's stored on, this would have happened ages ago, UNLESS there's a prevention key that keeps it from activating or whatever. If there isn't, you need to make one, ASAP. You can look at code without exposing your brain to it, but if this is the future and everything is recorded... well, fuck. But seeing a picture of a basilisk shouldn't kill you, so hopefully Sal and the systems should be okay. You need to stay out of the habitats and remove this shit on isolated areas. What about those outside planets you mentioned?

Now Sal needs to spill. Who the hell needs to know you're dead, what made her think that, did she REALLY approach you at first just because you're new, she never answered what happened to Mika and Szen, where can you find the last copy of you, BEFORE you picked up the datapad, was the molecular information of the datapad stored anywhere, how difficult would it be to write a code that could do that, does she know of any areas outside the habitats, how does she know how to make a pirate copy, is there a way to back up a pirate copy in case you die, how did she know your sword could do that, and WHY WOULD SHE WANT A DETACHABLE PENIS

Ask Sal how it knows how the Basilisk works. Try and politely ask if it's been diminished by the experience.

Also, ask how to get rid of it, or at least bottle it up in a portion of your brain that can then be allowed to rot away.

And ask again if everyone on the hab died. If so, you guys need to look for a cure since the habitat is probably filled with the evil code in self-replicating form (which definitely isn't because we told your backup to make billions of copies of itself).

>>230913
There wasn't a prevention key.
There was a trigger.
Remember that Datapad?

>>230900
"Did you get infected? Is there anything we can do?"

>>230900
Sal will probably be fine, it's a tough little thing after all and a smart one as well.

The whole very transparent pirate copy thing is a bit more worrying. It means you're pretty much trapped with Sal, you can't get stuff done or make new stuff without Sal's help or permisson. Meanwhile Sal has pretty much free access to tinkering around with your body or brain to its hearts content, and you can't really turn to anyone else for help because you're a pirate copy of someone that should be dead.

Oh, and Sal did just dodge the question about Mika and Szen. Press for an answer there, what happened to them? As well as get an answer or where you're at.

Oh god we gave Sal cyberAIDS.

>>231083
Lyan's not restricted to Sal, he just needs to make some of his own black market contacts. He needs to get in with the local piracy groups; they can hook him up with some IO sanitizers and antiviral packages. It's times like this you should be happy that people don't change; it resulted in the basilisk, but it also results in the kind of people who are going to fix this problem.

>>230891
>Your new façade won't stand up to much scrutiny, so please stay away from Network assemblers.

Does this mean that if we wreck this body, we're looking at final, permanent death?

>>231089
And we have none of those contacts. And we can't really access the network to try and find them, or move around alot and try to find them. We pretty much have to trust Sal to do it for us and go through whatever contacts it finds.

Code that corrupts data just by being read? Sounds like a woodpecker virus.

I think the main thing we want to find out from Sal now is how it fixed you. If we can fix Sal without getting infected, somehow... then it's all good.

By the way Lyan... you probably designed the virus, then set yourself up to be killed and revived so that your original would become a pirate copy. The memory wipe has an obvious purpose- if your new instantiation changed their mind you didn't want the news to get out. You ensured that the tablet would be delivered to you to hack yourself with the virus, and the sword to keep you busy searching for your original identity. Let's hope you actually had a GOOD FUCKING REASON to do all this.

Oh by the way, your original copy probably was the one that blasted the fuck out of the party.

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/25(Sat)05:41 No. 233725 ID: 649123
File 128541847660.jpg - (52.27KB , 500x500 , 21430673.jpg )

"Right about... what?"

[About what you were. Whether you still are.]

"Could you be more cryptic, please? It's not like this is important." Sal looks at me. "Are you infected? Are you dying? Am I still dying? Do I have a way to back up, or is this pirate copy my last chance? And what in the hell heppened to the habitat?"

[Slow down. Yes. It was sandboxed but it didn't matter - it chewed a hole in the virtualization. Since the damage is already done, loan me your sensorium and I'll walk you through the facts.]

Plug in, turn on, tune in...

Virtuality [Sal] Lyan 2010/09/25(Sat)05:43 No. 233726 ID: 649123
File 128541859569.jpg - (58.67KB , 500x500 , 21431154.jpg )

Here we are, in a simple simulation - presumably inside Sal's head. I can feel it hovering over my shoulder as I explore.

Ideas are drifting by like snowflakes. Focusing on one brings it into instant clarity. With a few gentle nudges from my host I start to piece it all together.

The - virus, memetic complex, basilisk, whatever you would like to call it - it doesn't attack the software. It goes straight for the hardware, which is why it looks like garbage; at a glance it's a series of nonsensical jumps and shifts. It's a simple, brilliant, entirely different way around the nearly impervious systems that have been in use for untold gigaseconds. [Someone finally realized just how fragile our monoculture is] Sal whispers in my ear.

How does it spread person-to-person? That's a lot less clear. It doesn't seem to DO anything inside of an infected brain but wait, coiled like a viper around the cortex. I have no idea if it's possible to inoculate someone against it, and neither does Sal. Pulling it out - if the Lethe Center was right, it's not really an option.

Virtuality [Sal] Lyan 2010/09/25(Sat)05:44 No. 233727 ID: 649123
File 128541864256.jpg - (57.18KB , 500x500 , 21431298.jpg )

Habitat 58 is gone. Physically it's still there, but it's been excised from the Network. No record of what happened to the inhabitants.

Sal, straight answer. What happened on the surface? To the people inside?

[Don't know. Thought it'd be best if we left. There was a rescue party forming with some of the brighter folks leading. Half the people there refused to see what was happening. Szen and Mika WERE alive but she was pretty critical. He was going to try to get them back inside. We fell out of comm range before they made it. I've never been equipped with an FTL relay. Never needed it.] "Until then" goes unspoken.

I was hoping there would be something about how Sal got into my head. Instead, I'm seeing what was pulled OUT of my head. Code fragments, mostly. A few of them drift into closer focus. [This is what was killing you, I think. This, this, this, this, and this. But they were also - maybe - keeping you from infecting every assembler that looked at you.] It's also not quite clear how Sal claims to have fixed me.

I'm trying to look deeper at that when

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors (animated) Lyan 2010/09/25(Sat)05:45 No. 233728 ID: 649123
File 128541873759.gif - (307.46KB , 500x500 , 21431365.gif )

...Sal is tossing me my kilt.

"Hold on. I wasn't finished. And what about you?"

[What about me? I'm fine.] Sal responds just a little too quickly, maybe.

"How does that datapad fit into this? Was it some kind of trigger? Could there be a copy stored of it somewhere? Actually, what about my copies? There should be an old, pre-infection state vector. And what happens when the pirate copy - ME - dies? Do I have a way to back up?"

[Why do you expect me to have all the answers?]

"Because you've been acting like you do. Because you obviously know more than you've been saying. Was it really a coincidence we met? How did you know someone was trying to kill me? Spill."

[Just deduction. The Lethe Center was in the middle of telling you something important when Murphy intervened. If someone had the power to do that, I thought it would be best to lose ourselves as quickly and thoroughly as possible.] It pauses a long moment. [I knew you... before.] I wait. [I don't know everything, damn it. What's relevant now is what's in your head. If nothing's done about that, none of the rest of this matters. Maybe you still don't understand just how big this is. I-]

It looks away. [I don't think I can do this alone, Lyan.]

>>233728
Sigh and say "You're right. We need to fix this.
What really bugs me is that this thing was probably created by pre-wipe me."

You've played core wars, right? Don't delete it; infect that sucker.

Do what? Because it looks like we're screwed unless we can write a patch to the network's antivirus software faster than the virus can propagate.

>>233728
Wear kilt. Agree to help Sal. Ask a little more about what you were like before.

>>233728
"Okay, but what are we supposed to do?"

>>233737
Or cut a fire trench by killing everyone who might come into contact with anyone who might have come into contact with us.

This shall henceforth be referred to a "Plan B".

>>233728
Well it's not really alone. You more or less have to help.

Ask Sal if it has any contacts that would be helpful. An old thing like this should have gotten quite a few connections over the years.

>>233728

LYAN HUG SAL.

Also, I think >>233729 is good, but perhaps might be better with slightly changed phrasing, i.e. "If you knew pre-wipe me... do you think I was responsible for creating this thing? Or am I just another victim? And why the hell would I ever create a mem-wiped backup? Do you think that could allow someone to avoid eventual destruction, assuming the mem-wiped section contained the basilisk?"

"... and were you my lover before, too, or were you just taking advantage of the situation to act on an old crush? ;)"

Oh, and realize that you now know exactly why habitat 58 kersploded. There's two ways - first, the back-up you were created from likely housed the basilisk, and got into system storage that way. Second, the Center ran a deep analysis on your code... it probably came across the basilisk during that analysys, too, causing it to be stored in even more locations. The description of the "malicious agent" the Center intelligence(s) discovered seems to match Sal's description of this basilisk.

Speaking of that... are backups usually stored just locally in the habitats, or is there redundant storage in other habitats... or other physical locations entirely? How far distributed could this basilisk already be?

The answer to this question is especially relevant to the proposed solution that the Lethe Center intelligence offered. Remember that its theoretical solution was to restore you to a previous state (presumably w/o basilisk) and merge a delta of... presumably your memories since then. Consider this possibility and whether or not it sounds like a realistic fix, given what you and Sal now know.

Also, take the time to consider the way this thing is interacting with the hardware you run on itself. Is there any alternate hardware you could transfer your, uh, software to that wouldn't suffer from this problem? I'm guessing not, but there could always be some old, less-efficient generation of the hardware that could be used in a pinch. Oh, and how much of this code / in what arrangement is it lethal? Sal should know the answer to this. If the code is harmless when broken apart and only damaging when stored together in a certain pattern, will analyzing fragments yield any interesting information?

Tell her she doesn't have to, but she NEEDS TO TELL YOU WHAT IS GOING ON or she WILL be doing this alone, and you'll just be a puppet. If you were a psychotic serial killer before, you want to know. It'll come up sooner or later, and you want to deal with this now. Remind Sal that you trust her. Can't she return the favor?

Oh, and she specifically said you had to be dead in 20 seconds or someone would know they failed to kill you. The Lethe center was dead, so checking that has to be from a different source. Wouldn't that source know you're still alive?

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/29(Wed)19:04 No. 236117 ID: 649123
File 128581223540.jpg - (44.39KB , 500x500 , 21431472.jpg )

"You don't have to." I pull Sal close again. It's surprisingly warm in my arms. The moment stretches out. "...after all, it's not like you've given me much of a choice. But how am I supposed to do that if I don't know what's going on? Do you want an ally or a puppet? What was I? I trusted you - maybe you could return the favor." Seems to be my diem for awkward hugs.

[Is this a bad time? You're poking me in the stomach] Murphy - really awkward hugs. I shut down some nerve endings. [Hmph. All right. You're... different. Changed to be almost unrecognizable. Like I said back at the party, you might be the only truly nice person I know.] It pauses. [It was a relief when you broke the block.] What? [I was beginning to wonder if you really were entirely gone.] Another pause, and Sal grows warmer beneath my arms. [You WERE... probably the best human hacker in the Network.]

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/09/29(Wed)19:05 No. 236119 ID: 649123
File 12858123121.jpg - (85.62KB , 500x500 , 21431698.jpg )

"....right. So what do you propose we do?" I let go and start putting on my kilt.

[Well, we could neutralize every system and delete every backup of everyone who has come in contact with anyone who might have been in contact with you.]

"Let's call that 'Plan B,' shall we?" For some reason the same plan was running through my head. "Anything else? Can this be patched? Some sort of antivirus?"

[The last patch you had in your head to try to contain it had already killed you once before I pulled it out. Removing the virus may well lobotomize you.] That's what the Lethe Center seemed to think. [For now the only think I know will work is quarantine. That's the main reason you need to stay from assemblers. Any deep scans - well, don't do it.]

"Next questions. How far could this thing thing have already spread? My vector is still floating out there somewhere." A horrible thought occurs to me. "If I'm "dead" I've probably already got a new copy somewhere punching holes in the Network. And what am I going to do about dying? Something tells me this is going to be dangerous."

[It might be possible to do some kind of local backup. Something that's isolated.] It tilts its head. [i][Ha. A phylactery.] A box of scriptures? Not sure I follow. It continues. [I don't know what the habitat quarantine entails. Network might have its own 'Plan B' running. Not sure what to do but hope.]

"Great. So Got any contacts that might help out?"

[Not a lot for something like this. There's a sophont here that might have a clue. Very old, very strange. One of the oldest continuous intelligences around, if it can be believed. Hasn't really been human since before the Network. But this habitat is... well, it's entirely anachronists. Ahistoric anachronists. Variant local regulations.] Great. I spin off a copy to start looking over them.

"Anything else I should know about myself?"

[I've lost a lot. Don't have anything for you more recent than a few hundred megs ago. A lot can change in that time.]

"But I did this, didn't I? The virus?"

Sal looks away. [It's... possible.]

>>236119
"Well, if it's possible I made this then it's possible I can fix it.
Does it only reside in the exocortex, or has it somehow propagated into the meat?"

Alright then. Scans are off limits, it would be good to see just how off limits they are. Think you can fabricate a scan/recording device with your sword and experiment to see when it picks up the virus? And it would be useful to see how long it takes before it destroys itself, too.

>"Well, if it's possible I made this then it's possible I can fix it.
Or find out if it's got some kind of underlying purpose.

If the goal is to shake up civilization, there's better ways to do it.

So let's go talk to old-dude.

>>236148
Wait, idea.
Lyan, explain this to Sal:
1: Shut down your exocortex
2: Divide the data it contains into equal-sized chunks.
3: Have many simple devices go through and each copy and store a single chunk.
4: Check each one for signs of The Basilisk without actually looking at the data directly.
5: If you find any devices that show signs of The Basilisk, then repeat from step 2 using those chunks as the data set.
6: If you find no devices that show signs of The Basilisk, then shift the chunk boundaries and repeat from step 2 using the same data set.
7: If at this point no chunks show signs of The Basilisk, then you've either bisected The Basilisk in the previous chunk in such a way that renders it non-functional or your testing methods are flawed. Flag these chunks as probably contaminated.
8: Repeat the process, starting by testing all non-flagged chunks at once to determine if The Basilisk remains.
9: If The Basilisk does not remain, reassemble the remaining pieces into a new exocortex.
10: Instance a virtual Lyan with this new exocortex to determine the severity of the damage.
11: If virtual Lyan is functional enough to continue repairing his exocortex on his own, then install the new exocortex in the real Lyan and skip to step 14.
12: Construct a new chunk to replace the excised chunks.
13: Repeat from step 8.
14: Repeat the process on Sal.
15: Party. Fuck yea.

>>236119
Sounds interesting. Well then, lets get dressed and then go find the ultra old dude. Just watch out for any "elves" or shit along the way.

>>236119
>I spin off a copy to start looking over them.
Uh, a copy of yourself? You can do that?

It's also possible that Sal and past-you worked together to finish the virus. That could be why Sal wiped most of its memories- to cover that up. Or maybe to cover up the pain of losing you. Were we in a relationship back then too?

>> goes straight for the hardware, which is why it looks like garbage;

That's sensible. If you could see it, it would probably be less inscrutable, but the code viewing programs are themselves getting corrupted, thus making it look like gobbledygook. Hong dong mong fong. It's like trying to look at a dent in the fabric of space. The light gets dented trying to look at it, and the obvious methods of observation just don't work.

Hey here's a bright idea. You want to make yourself immune to this exploit, make new hardware. If you can find anyone who knows not how to use the network, but how to build the network, then they might be able to figure out and resolve the design flaw in the hardware. While it wouldn't quickly be available, you could at least start inoculating habitats by rebuilding them bit by bit from beneath the emulation layer.

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/10/05(Tue)21:33 No. 239208 ID: 649123
File 128633961856.jpg - (72.51KB , 500x500 , 21432413.jpg )

"Then that means I can fix it."

[Very uplifting, but I hope you realize that doesn't actually follow logically.] I outline my plan to dissect my exocortex and purge the basilisk. It leans against the wall and stares off into the distance while I explain. [Might do what you're wanting it to do, but you're aiming a little low.] It broadcasts a sigh. [It's not you and your damaged hardware that are the problem. Well, they ARE, but it's only a part of it.]

[Here, take another look.] It starts firing diagrams at me. [This seems to be the actual attack code. It cripples computational mass, and it's contagious via contact. It spreads outward at nearly the speed of sound from the point of introduction until all connected hardware has been damaged. It doesn't substantially alter functionality. Just hinders it.]

"Right. I've already seen this."

[And this is the rest.] It dumps a huge block. [This is the memetic complex. Stretches my... current ability to comprehend holistically, but human brains are just a carrier. I think. From what I can tell, it just sits in the wetware waiting to be read. But it's very aggressive, self-repairing - takes full advantage of the holographic property of the neurons.] Murphy. If I'm reading this right, it actually makes alterations in the deep structures of the brain. Stores the viral payload in the physical structure once it's dug in. Evil. On the plus side, that means it's not likely to get worse. I don't FEEL any different.

"Ok, so why? What's the point?" Sal shrugs. Murphy. Vandalism on a galactic scale? I feel like I'm missing something.

"...So were we in a relationship, back then?"

32-N115-ADZJ - service corridors Lyan 2010/10/05(Tue)21:35 No. 239211 ID: 649123
File 128633972429.jpg - (40.08KB , 500x500 , 21432447.jpg )

I look up at Sal.

Sal looks back at me.



Suddenly the connection is filled with static. It takes a second to realize Sal is laughing. "What. What? Is that really so absurd? What's so damned funny about it?"

[*bzzzt* *crkkk* *szzzrSorry. It was just... the look on your face. No. We weren't. I can guarantee that.]

"Even after wiping your own memories, you're that sure?"

[Yes.] It snickers again for a moment.

Damn this thing and its mood swings, anyway. "But the second we meet, you have this sudden overwhelming interest?"

Serious: [Neither of us are who or what we used to be, right?] I glare. [Would you rather have died a virgin~?]

32-N115-ADZJ - interior Lyan 2010/10/05(Tue)21:37 No. 239218 ID: 649123
File 128633985711.jpg - (61.69KB , 500x500 , 21436623.jpg )

"Just... stop." I turn away. A moment later it slips its arms around my waist from behind. "Finagle's sake. Stop playing games for 10 seconds."

[If it makes you feel any better, I really do like you.] It runs its fingers through the fur on my chest. The ghost signals job complete and I welcome the distraction. Shrug free of Sal's embrace and review the summary of the habitat's guidelines and warnings.

Assemblers - nonexistent. Network access - severely limited, though some hacked together alternate protocol (see Appendix A). Violence permitted between non-consenting parties - muscle power only, no projected energy or chemical weapons. Sensorium slaved to Network control? What. The. Hell. "This is where your friend chose to live?"

[Said it was strange.]

"All right, now I know this is going to be dangerous. It's possible to fabricate some kind of scanner, right? That will preserve my state if and when I get killed cleaning up this mess?"

[I said yes, didn't I? But not with what we have on hand. Not a lot of spare mass down here - scrape off any more and I'll be damaging equipment and setting off alarms. You're nearly 8% dust by weight.. why do you think you took so long to put back together? We'll need raw materials and time.] It gestures upward.

Murphy.


---

Light filters through a canopy of leaves. It smells overwhelmingly organic - leaf mold, sap, and unnumbered things I don't recognize. Not sure how I know any of it - it's the first time this life I've been exposed to anything like this. Didn't realize how keen my senses were in the mazes of access tunnels below the surface. I can hear birdsong, small creatures in the undergrowth, a distant stream.

Six and a half million square kilometers, and there's a fair chance everyone on it will be trying to kill me. Sal has a vague direction and distance to this contact. No way to reach it remotely. Must like their privacy.

I'm starving. Exhausted. Artifacts of reinstantiation.

Where to start?

>hungry
>small animals around

Sounds like it's time to go hunting! Put that sergal body to good use!

Hunting for lunch not only alleviates the gnawing sensation of hunger but should give helpful insights into the nature of this place at the same time.

I don't suppose you have any of Sal's nano-assemblers? Seed package for a cornucopia device? Any idea what you're looking for?

Just a skirt full of genitalia, a fist full sword, and a head full of Snow Crash?

Start walking.

>>239218
You're a NORTHERN Sergal. THIS is your environment. You are master here. Snap off a branch from a tree, make it into a spear, even if it doesn't have a rock head, a sharp wooden spear will do wonders for hunting and defense.

>>239275
Totally forgot about the sword. Yeah, you're pretty much top dog here.

If they don't have assemblers, how do they store patterns? Is SAL stored?

Stab a tree. Make camouflage. Get something to eat, damnit.

Can you turn on anonymous mode so people won't bother you?

>>239218
Stop being so grumpy at Sal. Realize it's because you're so hungry/tired.

Also let's start getting mass asap to build the respawner. Branches, rocks, anything. Spread it out a little though. Someone would notice if one area suddenly loses a ton of foliage.

>>239218
Time to go hunting. Bring down something big and you will have mass to use for making something. You should have better teeth now so taking something down shouldn't be impossible.

Stop being dickish to the person who more-or-less saved your life by killing you. And go NORTHERN SERGAL on some unsuspecting mammal. It'll be theraputic.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/08(Fri)00:18 No. 240237 ID: 649123
File 128652232280.jpg - (61.25KB , 500x500 , 21436938.jpg )

I really wish I could go anonymous but the interior of this place is firewalled. Anyway, I'm pretty sure plonking doesn't work that way around here. Let's try a somewhat more old-fashioned method. I reconfigure my kilt into a camoflage cowl and slip it on. It's not great, but it should manage a good approximation of the local terrain. It'd be better if I had more to work with... "Hey Sal, what happened to my spacesuit?" It taps its chest with a finger. Ah. Guess that's fair.

"Let's get started on that scanner." I shove Caladbolg into a tree - it's like dipping it into water. It starts sending tendrils out, breaking down and extracting raw material. "Do you have a design?"

[Yes.] It starts streaming data to me, and I run it through a ghost before dropping it into the sword. It's big. [But you're not going to get what you need out of there. We need a source of metals - rare earths, gold, some radioactives. The more, the better - unless you want to spend most of a diem with your head open each time.]

Murphy. Should have expected that. "Ok, can you do transmutation?"

[Hmm? Barely. Basically just maintenance levels for my radioactives. I can do a pretty good impression of a maker, mind you. Well, not quite as good right now.]

I sigh. "All right. I'm going to get some food."

32-N115-ADZJ - forest glen Lyan 2010/10/08(Fri)00:19 No. 240238 ID: 649123
File 128652235884.jpg - (46.24KB , 500x500 , 21442490.jpg )

Aha. Dinner.

32-N115-ADZJ - unicorn glen Lyan 2010/10/08(Fri)00:20 No. 240239 ID: 649123
File 128652241458.jpg - (51.18KB , 500x500 , 21442495.jpg )

Hmm. About 1.8kg.

Range 28 meters. 53 m/s, negligible wind and Coriolis effect...

It looks up.

Elevation, 0.075 radians....

32-N115-ADZJ - unicorn glen Lyan 2010/10/08(Fri)00:24 No. 240242 ID: 649123
File 128652265825.jpg - (51.48KB , 500x500 , 21446617.jpg )

*THWOCK*

-----

[You sure you don't want to cook that?]

"Mrhph. 'm good." Swallow. "...and sorry about earlier. Just hungry. Tired."

[It was a bit like knowing the old you again.]

What's that supposed to mean anyw- "Hey, you incorporated the stainproof fur design! I could hug you right now."

[...how about after you've wiped yourself off?]


Feeling through my biology while I eat. I have about 8Ks of consciousness left. I could tweak my hypothalamus and manufacture enough stimulants to stretch that out to a few more diem if I have to, but my caloric needs are going to go way up and I'd be out for at least 40Ks after.

Either way, I doubt we'll find this contact in that time frame. Question is, do we have the time to rest up now?

Sleep now. There doesn't seem to be any immediate danger so it seems a more advisable alternative to pushing yourself and having to spend a ton of time out cold where you may or may not be safe.

>>240238

Lyan I like the way you think.

set up some defenses by way of digging a pit and then tunneling under a tree. bore upwards into the tree and then put some air holes in it. then seal your entrance.

>>240242
Ask Sal when it needs some rest. Then go and explore for a bit to find a good place, possibly in a hedge of spiky bushes or something. Oh, and save some pieces of that horse thing.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/12(Tue)12:42 No. 242565 ID: f123de
File 128691255256.jpg - (67.43KB , 500x500 , 21447825.jpg )

I take a look at the unicorn as I finish my meal and before I start disassembling it to hopefully scavenge some trace elements. "Now why does a grazer need fangs, anyway?" I check the stomach contents and find meat in various states of digestion. "...ah." Sal turns the head over in its hands, studying it. At least there seems to be a small amount of pure gold on the horn.

I've got as much organic feedstock feedstock for my microassembler as I care to carry, so I'm not going to bother with leftovers. Should be able to make nearly anything within reason, but the larger and more complex it is the longer it'll take. No weapons but tooth and claw - and Sal, I suppose - while it works.

On that note, building fortifications will take far longer than I plan to sleep. "Any chance you found some place reasonably secure to sleep while I was out?"

[Right this way.]

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/10/12(Tue)12:43 No. 242566 ID: f123de
File 12869125987.jpg - (53.17KB , 500x500 , 21448239.jpg )

This is not terribly comfortable.

>>242566

:<

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/10/12(Tue)12:47 No. 242571 ID: f123de
File 128691285780.jpg - (55.41KB , 500x500 , 21448419.jpg )

"Sal, why didn't you rebuild me as whatever you are?"

[I thought you liked being like that. Don't tell me you're tired of being a] - a microscopic pause - [sergal already? Anyway, I'm not exactly in peak form. Contaminated. Slow. Only capable of a few dozen Turings. If we run into trouble you'll have to do most of the work.] That's reassuring.

[Besides, I had enough problems scraping together enough raw material to put you together as is.]

"Say, maybe you could ditch that armature? I could wear you like a suit. Or power armor. Something."

[I think you need that sleep more than you think. Anyway, I'm durable because I'm distributed, not because I'm impermeable.]

Shift again. "I'm tempted to turn off all my nerve endings. I can't get comfortable here."

[Here, lift your head up for second.]

"What is-" oh. "Um. Do you need any rest, Sal?"

[I'll be fine. Sleep now.]

15Ks will do me a world of good...

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/10/12(Tue)12:48 No. 242572 ID: f123de
File 128691293739.jpg - (61.53KB , 500x500 , 21456263.jpg )

[Wake up, loverboy.] I'm being shaken - really, more like vibrated.

Eyes open. Finagle. It's been less than 8Ks.

[There's unicorns snuffling around the edges of the thicket. Four of them, I think.]

I guess they held a grudge?

>>242572
They always do.

Immediately charge the nearest one and kill it with your sword.

>>242572
Guess they can smell you or something. They're probably smarter than horses as well, who knows, they might even be people.

Got any good rocks collected? Is the sword ready yet by any chance? Did you save the unicorn horn to use as a weapon?

Hmm, you need to find a good position. Preferably in among some trees where they will have severely limited mobility but where you can still throw rocks at them accurately. Granted, the place where you were sleeping seems pretty good for that.

So, hit them with rocks. If they charge in among the trees then either get to their throat from below before it has a chance to rear up, or the much safer route of getting up on the back and biting down on their necks and slashing the throat with your claws.

Beware of the possibility that they're intelligent though. They might work together when they come after you.

>>242572
You're in a defensible position with a sword and a body designed for RIP AND TEAR. They're big, ungaintly quadrapeds with bodies designed optimised for spooking at things and running away. I don't really see the problem here.

>>242571
Well, at this point the benefit would be that the armature could then be broken down for the resources you actually need. Assuming the armature isn't Sal's old skeleton or something silly like that.

Prepare to fight!

Don't get overconfident. Could be an ambush.

>>242618
Actually, here:
Sal's got mass devoted to motive power. That mass could be freed if she relied on you for that. By the same token her armature could be re-purposed as light armor plates. Following that Sal could process the carbon-rich leftovers into more plates.
If Sal trusts you enough to give up her ability to move, and you trust her enough to be inside her nano-reassembler self, then this provides a far more effective use of resources.

If you do so, then I would suggest using an encrypted wired link instead of voice or a wireless link to communicate. Stealth is a lovely thing, after all.

Gather rocks. Prepare to bash in some more unicorn heads if they seem hostile.

Oh great. Um, do you think you could climb the tree? Hooves aren't good for that!

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/10/13(Wed)15:55 No. 243037 ID: f123de
File 128701051071.jpg - (55.99KB , 500x500 , 21456318.jpg )

"Murphy. Think we can make this quick so I can get back to sleep?" I grab another rock, check its heft. "Am I going to be doing this by myself?" Ahh, there's another. Wish I still had my knives. This thicket is out of rocks.

[Try not to get in too much trouble~]

The one in front snorts, paws at the turf with a cloven hoof, and levels its horn toward the thicket. I doubt they can shove their way in here easily. On the other hand, they outweigh me at least 4 to 1 and I can't fight in here easily either.

I hear the others to either side. Apparently they're at least smart enough to be pack hunters. Don't have a good shot at any of them through this underbrush. From in here I think I could, at best, stun.

They look like they're waiting for us.

>>243037

Look behind you.

"Clever girl..."

>>243037
Well then, find a tree to climb. Hopefully without them noticing. Throw rock if you get a good view. Then see if any of them are close enough for you to leap down on its back and take it out. Then it would just be one left to deal with.

Oh, and you should move after you're done horsing around with them. There's probably going to be more of them. Hmm, too bad that you haven't found any dung or anything else that would work well in blocking your scent. Something like that should make a getaway a bit easier.

Tree climb, carry rocks with you (possibly in Sal, tell her to climb too)

Also watch out!

>>243037
You HAVE knives.
You have bones and the capability of crafting said bones into bladed weapons in almost no time.
You also have your sword, and a tree you can climb to buy time.

That's what you get for fucking with unicorns.

Get the high ground. Prepare to take each one out quickly before they can gang up on you.

32-N115-ADZJ - in a tree Lyan 2010/10/13(Wed)22:55 No. 243335 ID: f123de
File 128703570466.jpg - (57.41KB , 500x500 , 21456347.jpg )

Up we go. Somehow, I really don't think these things are nearsighted enough to have missed our retreat.

Can't get anywhere near a good throw from up here. Not exactly possible to plant my feet.

32-N115-ADZJ - in a tree Lyan 2010/10/13(Wed)22:55 No. 243336 ID: f123de
File 128703573749.jpg - (53.08KB , 500x500 , 21456359.jpg )

Finagle. Nothing more than a flesh wound. They backed off maybe a hundred meters. Now to...

[Afraid of a few ponies with an attitude problem?]

...well, Sal seems to think it's clear.

hey, fighting off multiple opponents is hard.

You know, you should probably ask her to come back up the tree. Trees are nice. Can you see anything interesting up there, or is it just trees?

Get moving. Anywhere but here. Keep an eye out for defensible terrain if they follow. Or at least more rocks.

If all else fails, you've got a techno-magic sword that is presumably extremely good at cutting through things, and they've just got horns and hooves.

Attempt to engage one in close quarters combat.

>>243336
Damn it. Why couldn't this have been a nice jungle with ample oppurtunities to swing from tree to tree?

Ok, so the damn horsies have retreated. But they're still out there and want to feast on your succulent flesh. Ok, lets see if we can't pull them in closer if we get them emotional. Find a good sturdy pole, impale the head of the one you killed and ate, then start hurling comments about how easy it was, how good it tasted and generally insulting them and all of their kind.

>>243368
Damn it, forgot. Preferably find two poles. One that you can use as a spear. If you don't find a good spear pole then take the sword and cut yourself one. Get it as sharp as you can and then see if we can get the horsies near enough for it. You may have to leave cover if they don't get close enough to stab, such a simple spear isn't the best for throwing, but it can be done. And if you can smash the forehead of a horse with a thrown rock then penetrating the hide and muscles with a thrown spear should be possible.

32-N115-ADZJ - in a tree Lyan 2010/10/14(Thu)15:46 No. 243538 ID: f123de
File 128709638832.jpg - (55.50KB , 500x500 , 21456368.jpg )

Can't see anything from up here but more trees. It wasn't the tallest or easiest to climb, just the closest.

"Care to climb back up here?" Kind of wish I'd saved the head. Maybe the bones. It's look good on a pike, and might even get the others angry enough to attack. All the bits that weren't eaten or slurped by my sword and added to the maker block are fertilizer and ash now.

[No. Lyan, are you done with this Stone Age nonsense? You're up in a tree, naked, throwing rocks to drive off predators!]

Forgot I was naked. "Hey, it's not easy to fight multiple opponents in close quarters."

[Damnit Lyan, they're animals! Where the hell is your confidence? Where's your self respect? Where is the Lyan I used to know? Have you completely forgotten what you are?]

Hell.

"i.. i think i may am being a little overcautious, since i'm not effectively immortal anymore.get killed and i am down for good. i'll try to loosen up"

>>243538
Well, you have had your brain rather thoroughly scrambled...

Now stop larking about and get going to wherever it was. Keep sword on hand in case of sparkles.

>>243538
>Where is the Lyan I used to know? Have you completely forgotten what you are?

Well derp if I hadn't I wouldn't be in this mess now would I? Besides, if I die now I'm dead... dead dead. So a little caution is not out of line I think.

>>243538
Human? This seems like a rather natural reaction when faced with multiple predators and not properly equiped.

Besides, nothing says that there can't be human intelligences in those unicorns. After all, there's hardly any exterior indicators left for what's human or not. Sal sure as hell doesn't look like a human, and yet it is one.

Anyway, if they're not there anymore and you don't have much left to work with then go down, fetch the sword and cut yourself two or three spears. Yeah three should do it. One for Sal, one for throwing and one for fending them off with or impale them if one tries to rear and smash your skull in with the hooves.

If you kill any more of them then you can use their bodies for more fun stuff. So move out, be on your guard and make damn sure you rest at easily defended places with good fields of view.

>>243544
Seriously.

...

Jump on her. "Help me remember!"

Also when you get an opportunity, might be nice to make that camouflage into clothing so it doesn't fall off.

Look ashamed of yourself and go kill a goddamn unicorn with your really really sharp sword.

You can talk now Sal, but you'll be wishing you were a bit more cautious when the unicorns start belching flames and firing eye lasers. Not all is as it seems, as you should be intimately familiar with. Confidence is being aware of one's surroundings, not pretending to be aware when one is completely befuddled.

32-N115-ADZJ - in a tree Lyan 2010/10/17(Sun)01:36 No. 244679 ID: f123de
File 128730458444.jpg - (60.58KB , 500x500 , 21456380.jpg )

"We wouldn't be in this mess if I hadn't, now would we?"

[Cut the bullshit. You're better than this.]

"Well then maybe you could help me remember." I have a brief urge to jump on Sal. Just irritation, I'm sure. Still climbing down. "So I'm being cautious. Maybe you forgot that I'm not immortal anymore? If I die that's it."

[Quit making excuses. You think you're the only one with problems?] Sal turns and starts walking. I start climbing down after it as fast as I can. Embarrassed. Angry.

But not quite distracted enough to miss pounding hooves. Sal slowly starts to turn toward the noise.

Shit.

time it right and launch yourself on an intercept course with the side of it's face and kick it.

>>244679
Sal can probably take care of itself, but you should give it a hand anyway. Jumping onto the unicorn may be a good idea but you could also get stabbed by Sal that way. Hmm.

Yell out that you'll kill it. Or just tell Sal to dodge.

>>244679
Jump down there and use your magic blade to slice one or two of its forelegs off. Physics will take care of the rest.

>>244679
That urge to jump on Sal? Redirect it.

Jump at its side, intercept. You're a heavy-ass sergal, knock it over and bite its neck as fast as you can. There are more around that will charge at you. Oh, and yell out at Sal to LOOK OUT!

>>244679
Time it right and hit it from above. Knocking it over and tear out the throat with your teeth. Then quickly drag Sal back into the bushes and retrieve the sword before the rest get here.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/17(Sun)13:14 No. 245045 ID: f123de
File 128734648263.png - (36.66KB , 500x500 , 21456381.png )

I leap.

>>245045
Aw shit. It noticed you. Did you scream out or anything like that? Ok, keep the horn away with your free hand and avoid violent death by impalement.

inb4 eye lasers

Eye lasers? Look at the image there; he's going to shoot more swords out of his eyes, if anything.

>>245393

No no the unicorns. The unicorns breathe fire. And eye lasers.

>>245407
No.
Unicorns breathe mint-flavor razor candyfloss.
It burns like happiness.
Happiness that is on agonising fire.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/17(Sun)23:49 No. 245504 ID: f123de
File 12873845637.png - (20.97KB , 500x500 , 21456382.png )

I hit hard, tuck and roll. Behind me, I hear it fall.

The others scream with rage and charge.

OWNED!

Less posing, more avoiding the incoming stampede.

Be prepared to dodge. That you have a slashing weapon should let you score blows as they pass by, assuming you can avoid being impaled.

So, yeah, try not to die and cut them up if they miss. Aim low - crippling them is as good as a kill.

Take them out with clean strokes. Dodge while cutting. Try to keep from having to dodge more than one at a time, but keep in mind Sal's there and we don't know how good they are in a fight.

Throw the unicorn head at another unicorn to trip it up and unnerve it.

>>245504
Grab the head and run back into the bushes. Yell for Sal to do the same, but the fucking thing will have to move on its own. Oh, and remember to tell it "I told you so. Maybe next time you will trust me with this shit."

Once you're back in the bushes, cut out a nice long, preferably hard, staff. Get alot of as much skin of the head as you can manage, cut it into strips that can be used as string. Tie the sword to the staff and take a few test swings to make sure you can manage the horrible balance and weight. Then we can face down the horsies with a nice polearm, they should be fucked.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/22(Fri)04:59 No. 246847 ID: f123de
File 128774879676.png - (20.37KB , 500x500 , 21456384.png )

Two heading at me from the trees. This should break up their charge.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/22(Fri)05:00 No. 246848 ID: f123de
File 128774883576.png - (44.71KB , 500x500 , 21456386.png )

One of them breaks off when I throw the head at them, the other balks.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/22(Fri)05:02 No. 246851 ID: f123de
File 128774893920.png - (54.37KB , 500x500 , 21456388.png )

Hoofbeats behind me. The other is circling around.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/22(Fri)05:02 No. 246852 ID: f123de
File 128774897746.png - (59.06KB , 500x500 , 21456391.png )

This wasn't a fight. It was butchery.

...wait, wasn't there a fourth?

>>246852
Yes there is. It's probably not right on top of you, because the hoofbeats would likely have given it away. But it might have gone after Sal.

Checck around and see if you can spot it. If these bastards are intelligent then it might be trying to get away to bring reinforcements here. Which would be very much annoying. So we have to make sure we take it down now as well.

>>246852
That's an awful lot of inertial sparklehorsemeat heading right for your face. You may wish to dodge it.

>>246852
Scan the area for the fourth, then check on Sal.
You're going to want to pull as much resources out of these things as you can; most elements can be found in living bodies, and with atomic-level manipulation you can get plenty of useful things.
For starters? Convert their carbon into a full suit of fullerene plate armor with diamond heat channels for you, and a bagful of of hexagonal plate tiles for Sal.

First make sure Sal isn't about to get gored. I find it likely that Sal's the one doing the goring though. That body it's got is probably quite weaponized.

Oh well I guess these are just unicorns, no eye lasers. :(

The fourth went to go bring the entire herd.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/22(Fri)22:52 No. 247026 ID: f123de
File 128781315462.jpg - (62.64KB , 500x500 , 21456508.jpg )

"Sal, you all right? Doesn't that hurt?"

[What, this? Should it? Missed anything vital. I figured the very slight risk was worth the chance.]

"Chance to... what in Finagle's name are you doing to that thing?" Sal is entangled with the last unicorn, legs locked around its neck and arms seemingly half-melted across its face. It twitches and spasms in the embrace, hooves beating irregularly against the ground.

[Pithing. Nearly done.] It turns around to face me but keeps working. [Chance to demonstrate a few things to you. So, feeling better? Worked off some stress? Ready to believe me now when I tell you that more than a spark remains?] It pauses for a moment. [Ready to put back on some pants?]

"Why are you - no, forget it." One of the beasts that attacked me is still moving, slowly. I finish it and start dragging the bodies into a pile for my sword to digest for a few more grams of metals and rare earths.

[In my defense, it DID gore me and then try to trample me to death. Do we have time for that?] It's a good point.

>>247024
These things were just a bit more intelligent than a natural animal would be. They are more altered than just horses with horns... I get the feeling they may have far more dangerous creatures about. Be careful and mind your fantasy tropes.

"i think i just needed a kickstart, was worried to much about dying that i stopped being me. think ass-kicker lyan is back"

Hey, check it out, a big pile of raw materials.

You should make armor suits and guns and tools and equipment!

>>247026
"I wasn't afraid of fighting them, Sal. It's just that killing herds of wild animals is needless and far from covert."

Again, fullerene plate armor with diamond heat channels for you, and a few hundred tiny fullerene plates for Sal. Your species is built for wearing heavy steel plate armor, and with a material like fullerene you might be able to wear armor proofed against AMR rounds without going past that encumbrance.

I agree with Sal. Don't bother arguing about your reluctance to charge into the fray. We know we can handle ourselves just fine, now. That's what counts.

I wonder where we're going to get more materials? After we use up the corpses and possibly make some stuff from them, let's continue what we were doing before we went to sleep. ...that was what again? I think we were thinking about scouting around or something.

>>247026
Bah, Sergals have NO NEED for pants!

It's not like Sal's wearing anything.

>>247026
Tell Sal a "I told you so." maybe next time it will trust you when it comes to dealing with potentially human brains inside of animal bodies. And not everyone is as lucky to be able to survive a goring without any greater difficulty. Who knows what kind of fucking bacteria may be floating around in here, wounds could get some very nasty infections, leave lasting damage and they take a fucking long time to heal unless you're a bunch of goop on an armature.

Anyway, drag over the last corpse as well. Time to get started on making some useful stuff. Like a halebard, made out of carbon nanotubes with diamond sharp edges. Might not be quite as sharp as the sword, but it will be heavier and it will make sure you don't have to get as close if you're ever fighting something really big and nasty. After that get a bow capable of some heavy pull, as well as a couple of arrows for it. Leather holsters for both the bow, the halebard and the arrows. And last but definately not least, a set of armour >>247031
much like described here, although you can skip the plates for Sal, it would probably just complain about something with them. Just don't forget to cover the throat and make a good helm. Armour really isn't very encumbering and in an enviorment where you're not likely to be able to get modern medical attention then the idea to keep wounds down to a minimum is really quite nice, especially if wounds get infected here.

Make a codpiece. Thrust it at Sal emphatically.

You need those minerals, and if who you're looking for is still here, he's not gonna go anywhere for a while. But put some camouflage on, would you? Bright red and white in the forest is just asking for attention. Also ask Sal how would SHE know how much you have left of your former self?

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/28(Thu)15:00 No. 249389 ID: f123de
File 128830319933.jpg - (38.78KB , 500x500 , 21457316.jpg )

"I told you those things were dangerous. Ok, so maybe I needed a kickstart. Perhaps I WAS too scared of death to make any progress. But something like impalement would actually injure most people. Anyway, we're going to make time for the fabricator. So when you're done with that corpse, could you bring it over here?"

[Ha, and you wanted to wear me as armor. But what corpse? It's not dead.]

"All right. When you finish killing it, bring it over here."

[Nearly finished. I'm not killing it. I'm just taking out the higher brain functions and installing a remote control.]

"Sal, that's easily the most disturbing thing I've seen you do. And that's saying a lot."

[Flatterer.]


This is going to take a while. Processing bulk matter into the maker block is on the order of grams/second with a fabricator this small. Fortunately I've already got all the hydrocarbons and silicon I could possibly want. Digging just for the trace elements will be faster. These plans Sal gave me optimally call for at least 1kg of various conductors. I check my stores. Not including Caladbolg itself, I have... 5.2g.

Fabricating is an order of magnitude worse. It can spit out up to a gram per second of bulk matter, and it's optimized for carbon construction. Complex hydrocarbons, gross manipulation, and heavy elements slow it down more. Won't handle much more than an eighth of a cubic, or more than a meter if any dimension. Needless to say, it's not usable as a sword while it works. It's not even mobile.

The upside is that it appears to be completely unregistered. The Network seems to pretend it doesn't exist. I'd love to remember how I pulled that hack off.

32-N115-ADZJ - forest Lyan 2010/10/28(Thu)15:03 No. 249391 ID: f123de
File 128830340740.jpg - (37.33KB , 500x500 , 21457497.jpg )

Time to work on something to replace the sword while it works, then. "Hmm. Don't suppose I knew how to handle a halberd?"

[Nope.]

"Longbow?"

[Not that I'd seen.]

"Pike? Javelin? Spear?"

[Nope, nope, and no.]

"Diamondoid saber and throwing knives it is, then. Then the armor."

[You ARE armored. Weren't you paying attention earlier when I gave you the rundown?]

"Well, you were lying about..." I look down.

It looks down, then back at me. [Was I?]

I clear my throat. "Won't do much against a blow to the head or throat, will it?"

[Rather than wasting time suiting up with kilos of dumb carbon why don't you work with the smart cloth you already have?] Good point - that should be at least as good with a bit more work. I spin off a few ghosts to think about impact resistance and pseudocrystalline structures.

"Well, we have some time to kill either way while I fabricate."

[I notice you're still naked~]

>>249391
Sweet. Well then, lets get started on making gear we can use. Backpack and camping gear would be among the most important of those, then some nice polearm, maybe a crossbow and some extra armour. The more things in between you and violent bloody death there are the better.

And you could possibly inform Sal that the fact that it just lobotomised something possibly sentient into be its slave kind of killed your sexdrive for the moment. But if you said that it might do the same to you and then rape you or something. God damn it, knew this thing was going to be clingy.

Tell it that killing stuff is tiring work and you never got done sleeping before. You're going to catch up on that right now.

>>249393
>And you could possibly inform Sal that the fact that it just lobotomised something possibly sentient into be its slave kind of killed your sexdrive for the moment.

You people have no sense of adventure.

Tap that amorphous red ass. Make loads of noise and frenetic motion. Nothing can possibly go wrong.

>[You didn't even wait to hear the full feature list! Unbreakable bones, subdermal armor threads, improved heat dissipation, nano upgrade, and detachable penis!]

Ohh. Okay whoops, we did forget that when we were worried about being gored. I doubt the unicorns could've actually killed Lyan unless we were really stupid.

The offer to fool around is very tempting. Is it safe, though? We're not exactly fortified here. If someone more sentient comes along we'd get caught with our pants not only down but occupied. Hmm, maybe a little fooling around would be fine if we keep it quiet and set the slaved unicorn up as a sentry.

(if not, put on some pants)

>>249410

You can still get gored despite unbreakable bones. Did you really want to trust untested light armor against a pointy wedge backed by 400 kilograms of horse meat hurtling at you at high speeds? Low tech is inefficient, but it sure as hell ain't ineffective.

Is she seriously suggesting...? Well... if it's safe enough?
Your biochemistry isn't as far removed from a human one as to not benefit from the release, is it? Of hormones, naturally.

>>249391
I believe she was the woman last time, so this time she can be the man. You want to make sure to give all of your various genitals regular use, after all.

Also? You may be bulletproof, but energy weapons and stabbing weapons will tear through that weave like a somewhat tough piece of paper. Subdermal armor threads are NOT a replacement for hard plate.

Also, while banging Sal's brains out, ask where they keep them. They're mostly utility gel on an armature. Does that mean there's still a weakpoint of thinking-meat in there?

I am against this. But if you must, do it under a camouflage blanket alright? Also ask her WHY she's making a robot unicorn, aside from lulz value it seems kind of unnecessary for your present situation.

>>249391
Go for it. A little banging might help both of you relax. As for who is doing what to who, that's up to you guys. ...Girls.

People.

... a disturbing thought. What's the difference between a hermaphrodite with a detachable penis and a woman?

>>249986

A socket.

>>249389
>The upside is that it appears to be completely unregistered. The Network seems to pretend it doesn't exist. I'd love to remember how I pulled that hack off.
Hang on a sec. The problem with building unregistered make-anything assembers is that registered with-safeguards assemblers will only make likewise registered with-safeguards assemblers, right?

Get Caladbolg to duplicate itself. Even if this isn't a practical way to scale up production capability, having a redundant copy of your irreproducable achievement would be a very good idea.

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/11/01(Mon)18:56 No. 251280 ID: f123de
File 128866298813.jpg - (30.82KB , 500x500 , 21469731.jpg )

"Seems..." huff "we had..." gasp "longer to wait than I thought..."

[My turn~]

What is that? OhMurphyohMurphyohMurphyoooh

Murphy

System space Lyanβ.0002833.0169 2010/11/01(Mon)19:01 No. 251286 ID: f123de
File 128866331529.png - (28.67KB , 500x500 , 18872494.png )

Exploring the far borders of this system. Half a K of simulated movement through a wasteland. 40s realtime to our core. Haven't stopped to see the sights, examine shreds of data. Expecting to meet myselves at the halfway point around the circumference of this station.

---

Up ahead, there's something. I've been running loud, practically shouting into the void. It detects me a few ms before I realize it's there and begins to undergo a transformation. Identical pieces, much smaller than my individual parts, begin to agglomerate and accumulate complexity.

I'm not quite sure how to react.

>>251286

Say hi to Mika.

>>251286
Gather a group of yourself, then try to isolate a piece of that so you can figure out what it is. Then determine whether or not it should be destroyed.

>>251280
'Murphy' isn't really a good lexical substitute for 'god'...

>>251286
If it's growing in complexity over a millisecond scale, you're probably already fucked. Say hello.

>>251365
>already fucked
...unless it's logarithmic. Increased complexity reducing rather than accelerating its development. Can't jump to conclusions.

>>251286

Identical pieces increasing in... crap it's a fork bomb!

Seriously though, treat it like a bomb unless it proves differently. This is the first thing you've encountered in the system besides the mysterious cascading fault. How far away are your selves?

>>251286
Say hello and see if it's friendly. Try sending information about this encounter back to the hub during the entire encounter. Have to make sure they got up to date information about this.

It's probably just a crude alarm. Last time things got all complex, an attack happened. If you can nuke it, do so. Otherwise, either start running or prepare to drop to one of your many backups.

System space Lyanβ.0002833.0169 2010/11/02(Tue)08:32 No. 251461 ID: f123de
File 128871196687.png - (41.98KB , 500x500 , 18872494b.png )

Start streaming this information back downstream. This is the first sign of... life I've seen thus far. Any of my duplicate selves are a number of seconds away. For now it's just me / us. I send a warning through the network, but there's no chance help could arrive in time.

Sentient? Alarm system? Treat it like a potential friend, and like a bomb that may go off.

It's had enough time to react to my presence. I try to bounce a communication request off of if. In response, it continues to grow - I'm not sure how much larger it can get without collapsing.

Capture a fragment for analysis? Destroy the structure? Run? I can't reach an internal consensus.

>>251461
Ask if it's ok if you capture a fragment. If you don't get any answer then take one.

Lets observe and see what it does.

Spin off another copy of yourself in this location and have it touch the replicator

>>251467

Seconding this.

>>251461

If you needed to run it would already be too late, so I take back what I said about running. See if you can contain a fragment of it, if nothing else to see if it can survive in a confined space.

Capture a fragment.

System space Lyanβ.0002833.0169α,β 2010/11/02(Tue)22:57 No. 251732 ID: f123de
File 128876385616.png - (51.57KB , 500x500 , 18872494c.png )

I think I could still run if it became necessary. I can move at a significant fraction of the signal speed - call it c - in here.

I'm expendable. Not entirely pleasant to think about, but true. Data is more important. Best capture a piece before it fragments. I try asking for permission in plaintext, binary, audio. Nothing.

Break free one of my selves and release it. Start rebuilding a copy into the void left behind with two minds in the network.

-----

I approach the aggregate and prepare to stun one of the fragments.

System space (animated) Lyanβ.0002833.0169β,α 2010/11/02(Tue)22:58 No. 251733 ID: f123de
File 128876391137.gif - (64.47KB , 500x500 , 18872495.gif )

Oh hell.

-----

Connection to my network severed that's not possible it's an order of magnitude too large how is it so fast?

>>251733
Impressive. Looks like you're not the only one good at hacking in here. See if it feels like communicating now. Might be more willing to talk when it thinks it has the upper hand.

Panic and self destruct.

Ackermann be damned! So how long do we have until it's eaten the available processing space at this rate of growth?

It does not seem very intelligent either. Try to capture a piece again, and destroy the replicator.

>>251733
It's fractal. I couldn't tell before because the resolution on the pattern was so low, but now there's no doubt.

Ever play core wars? Get to it!

>>251733

Destroy it! Oh god destroy it! You're already doomed! It's too late! This is probably what killed the everything! Self-replicating bomb oh god what do we do what do we do panic panic panic paniiic

Make your own self replicating program that consumes system space and resources, but is not very good at breaching defensive barriers. Since it devotes all its resources to reproduction it should overcome the green stuff, and since it devotes all its resources to reproduction, it should be relatively simple to wall it off to keep it from invading your own resources. Basically you want the equivalent of e.coli as a primary defensive front.

System space Lyanα.0002794.3590 2010/11/04(Thu)05:55 No. 252130 ID: f123de
File 128887535894.jpg - (56.72KB , 500x500 , 18872554.jpg )

Self-repairing how is it so large No communication is it actually intelligent can't terminate it as quickly as it regenerates.

Replicator virus complete here goes nothing

-----

PRIORITY 0 INTERRUPT
Contact with group 0002833.0169β has been lost. Last transmission attached.


PRIORITY 0 INTERRUPT
Contact with group 0002834.6108β lost

PRIORITY 0 INTERRUPT
Contact with group 0002832.9503β lost

PRIORITY 0 INTERRUPT
Contact with group 0002832.4339β lost
Contact with group 0002835.6168β lost
Contact with group 0002833.4521β lost
Contact with group 0002833.1372β lost
.
.
.

We have an 98.4% consensus.
War.

32-N115-ADZJ - in the thickets Lyan 2010/11/04(Thu)05:59 No. 252135 ID: f123de
File 128887558924.jpg - (28.93KB , 500x500 , 21477825.jpg )

Later.
The light has faded. I've caught a few more Ks of sleep, and after nearly a quarter-diem of work the pile of bodies is now a steaming pile of hydrocarbons and a few kilos of miscellaneous scavenged elements. My clothing is eating a few hundred grams of carbon, with Sal's help, to produce something flexible but impact resistant. The sword is what woke me, as it begins to collapse back into a weapon. I feel more like myself again - the new me, that is. Still some lingering curiosity.

"So why the... unicorn thing, Sal? Just disappointed you can't tame one in the traditional manner?"

Sal tilts its head and looks at me sidelong. [You have only yourself to blame for that.]

"You still lobotomized a sentient for... what, exactly?"

[Subsentient. Nothing but instincts and blind rage there. But to answer, what's the point of recycling all those unicorns if you're just going to leave most of it behind? This way we can really haul mass.]

"...right. Something else that's been bothering me, though. You said you're mostly gel. Is there still a weakpoint of thinking meat in there?"

[Don't really remember.]

"Really. You forget something like that." I stare at Sal a moment. "I'm just wondering if it's a vulnerability we need to worry about."

[Unlikely. We've got enough to worry about. Ready to hit the trail?]

"I haven't fabricated anything." Sal knows it doesn't work when it's in motion. What I've got will take nearly until daybreak, assuming that's still 25K local here.

[You said we'd make time for the maker block. We did. I'm not sure we're alone out here.]

just carry it with you while building.

I apologize for pausing the action rather than moving on to something more interesting, but I realize that I haven't done a good job of explaining how long this job would take. It was roughly 5.5 hours to extract minerals from the bodies, and making everything people asked for would add another 5-6 hours in the same place on top of that.

I'll try to do a better job of conveying durations in the future.

>>252135
Moving out at daybreak is probably better anyway. Although it seems like it doesn't get properly pitch black in here. Maybe whoever is running the show got tired of smashing their nose against a tree all the time.

So lets the fabricator work and then move out at daybreak. Have the unicorn stand guard or something.

>>252135
...and the better place to move to to finish building is...?

I assume the sword is fussy about acceleration, then? Can't fab up some kind of suspension structure to let you cart it along at a constant velocity? (In less than the 5--6 hours that it'd take to just do it.)

>>252135
Ask what symbol she's putting on the rump.

Getting your fuzzy arse in gear sounds good. We've got this... sophont of Sal's to find.
Load the ROBOT UNICORN with the base materials and get to prowling.