Apollo 2014/11/30(Sun)21:56 No. 607263 ID: defceb
File 141741337658.png - (4.37KB , 600x480 , Messages1.png )

You have three new messages.

damage report

open warning.

the damage report first, then the warning. No use punching a threat with arms we dont have.

We can see how many eternities we have been asleep later.

Open all three, in order.

Dangit, we didn't even bring any cool eyepatches.

Warning is probably low coolant. Damage report is more serious. So that first.

Warning first. It might be urgent.

Apollo 2014/12/01(Mon)12:37 No. 607528 ID: defceb
File 141746625251.png - (5.88KB , 600x480 , Messages2.png )

>Warning

Apollo 2014/12/01(Mon)12:37 No. 607529 ID: defceb
File 141746627241.png - (14.26KB , 600x480 , Messages3.png )

>Damage Report

wait on that. we kinda have things to do.

>>607529
it might be a security fix. that static shit is annoying.

ignore upgrade, check final message, pray you're getting fixed, curse your rotten luck.

>install update
I mean might as well, we're pretty busted right now

>>607529
So long as you're off the grid an update probably won't be malware.

...that text on the left is probably decipherable...

Apollo 2014/12/01(Mon)13:59 No. 607561 ID: defceb
File 141747119866.png - (2.50KB , 600x480 , Messages4.png )

>Update

Apollo 2014/12/01(Mon)14:00 No. 607563 ID: defceb
File 141747123398.png - (3.33KB , 840x600 , Messages6.png )

>Sleep Timer

You are now out of messages.

Check those contacts and profiles. Might have to wake up first.

wake up?

our optic blasters had better have been in that last update.

3 Days? Damn, they got us good.

Do we have any old messages we could check? Or what about the non-messages part of the UI?

Apollo 2014/12/02(Tue)00:14 No. 607699 ID: defceb
File 141750805730.png - (53.79KB , 840x600 , Mars01.png )

>Wake up

>>607699
Ok, what? This isn't where you used to be. Check inventory. Also, see if you can check your GPS logs or whatever records of your movement you have. See how you got here.

Goodness, only 30ish years since your first cyborg body and Mars is already looking pretty terraformed, with an atmosphere supporting clouds and everything.
So how are things on the (now somewhat less) red plains of yesteryear?

Apollo 2014/12/02(Tue)01:29 No. 607714 ID: defceb
File 141751259915.png - (54.03KB , 840x600 , Mars02.png )

You... actually remember this view! It was quite some time ago, but seems just as real now. Unfortunately, you don't quite recall what you did the rest of this day.

>Terra-formed?
Back then it was certainly pretty! But hardly a healthy atmosphere. You were afforded the luxury of surviving because you no longer needed to concern yourself with things like 'oxygen' for 'breathing' or 'dangerous radiation'. If an organic were to look at the sky and say 'seems right' before taking their helmet off? At least the dirt is loose.

>Optic blasters?
Hmm, doesn't look like you have any right now.

>Older messages
You search, but can't seem to find any available.

>Inventory check
You are currently wearing the cloak you found before. Looking at it now it's really obvious how worn it is. You search your pockets and find a set of keys, a cellphone (useless outside earth satellites), and a pocket knife.

>Contacts and profiles
You're about to pull open your contact list when two new messages pop up.

The first is from Roderick, probably in regards to some new invention of his. It'll be something great, but at the same time it's always followed by discovering what he 'borrowed' to make it.

The second is from Haley. Formal, too. She still doesn't seem to get the concept of 'casual communication'. A few days ago she had spotted something floating around one of the moons and said she'd contact you after she was done looking into them. Apparently, she wants you to come over.

The two are rather far apart, you will only be able to visit one of them tonight. Which will you choose?

Haley's 'moon' thing might not be there much longer, while Roderick's invention will keep for another day...if it doesn't blow up. And if it DOES blow up, all the better to not be there to see it.

Let's go see Haley's space mystery.

Send your regrets to Roderick, and that you'll have to stop by later to see what he's come up with this time. No need to leave a friend hanging, after all.

>>607714
> A few days ago she had spotted
how in all fucks do you know that? you've been asleep for almost 4 days.

>>607770
It's a memory. A few days before she lived this moment Haley had told her about spotting the thing.

Haley thing sounds interesting, let's start there.

Apollo 2014/12/02(Tue)09:38 No. 607785 ID: defceb
File 141754193954.png - (55.31KB , 840x600 , Mars03.png )

>Go to Haley, leave Roderick a message.
That just leaves one more question. How do I get there? Besides walking, that would take all night.

Well, this is a memory. We could just skip ahead.

*Cough*. I mean, what other options do you have besides walking? Running? Do you have a vehicle hidden somewhere around here? Do you secretly have wheels or wings built into that body?

Apollo 2014/12/02(Tue)11:08 No. 607813 ID: defceb
File 141754731746.png - (53.89KB , 840x600 , Mars04.png )

You have some keys on you, so it would make sense if you had some sort of vehicle parked around here. The details escape you though, what was it you rode?

Martian dirt bike. There aren't any roads, after all.

an all terrain motorbike of course, something small, easy to fix, and build to take you anywhere quickly.

Hovercraft!

Suggestion 2014/12/02(Tue)14:22 No. 607898 ID: 2f4b71
File 141755897563.jpg - (59.40KB , 600x418 , escapeTheMoon02.jpg )

Either a very large-winged powered glider - something like an enormous inflatable hanglider delta wing with a little electric arc-jet (props don't do too well in the thin Martian atmosphere), or forgo aerodynamic lift entirely with a little one/two man runabout (see image).

A futuristic motorbike with spherical wheels!

>>607886
>>607898
>Hovercraft
>powered hanglider
Aircraft (including hovercraft) don't do well on Mars.
The air is too thin for lift, and the wind too strong for control.

The most pragmatic vehicle would be a small electric buggy with large soft tires. Small enough to be looked after by one person, plenty of traction in the sand despite the low gravity, enclosed enough to protect from the wind, and with enough batteries to have a decent range.

>>607817
>>607815
>>607901
...Though a large tyred electric motorcycle would also work fine.

if compact fusion reactors are available, have a fusion-powered two-seater in the vein of >>607898. maybe with a bubble shaped capsule of micrometeorite shielding for excursions beyond the atmosphere.

>>608111
If Marie's body is rad-hardened (she's OK on the surface of Mars, so maybe), then even a small fission reactor might work (think SAFE-400) as a nuclear-thermal engine.

>The air is too thin for lift, and the wind too strong for control.
Was too thin. The terraforming isn't finished enough for meat-human breathing, but there is still a thick and stable enough for earth style clouds.

Hamsterball. When parked, it looks like a folded-up beach chair inside a plastic bag, because that's almost exactly what it is. Not very fast, and no amenities, but the only possible way for it to be immobilized by bad terrain and require rescue is if it's completely buried in an avalanche, driven into an erupting volcano, or comparable acts of God.

Apollo 2014/12/04(Thu)01:33 No. 608631 ID: defceb
File 141768561289.png - (80.26KB , 840x600 , Mars05.png )

You took the practical route of riding your motorbike. On a whim, you make a note to take one of your flying machines out for a spin tomorrow.

Apollo 2014/12/04(Thu)01:34 No. 608632 ID: defceb
File 141768564588.png - (81.31KB , 840x600 , Mars06.png )

That must be what Haley wanted to talk to you about.

Do your eyes come with a zoom function?

Why do you even need a helmet anyway? Is your robot head fragile?

oh, that x doesn't look good. Check in with Haley to get more details.

>>608637
>Is your robot head fragile?
Everything is fragile when you're on a motorbike.

>>608639
>oh, that x doesn't look good.
I think it's a predicted disintegration.

There was someone on the ridge to your left, but they disappeared from your field of view as the meteor broke up.

None of those trajectories look like they pose a direct risk to you, although one looks on course for those stacks over there. Is that what the red X stands for on your hud?

>>608632
Head towards the landing site of the middle one.

Apollo 2014/12/05(Fri)00:06 No. 609043 ID: defceb
File 141776679169.png - (27.43KB , 840x600 , Mars07.png )

>Helmet?
Safety first, especially in space.

>Meteors
All the meteors are quite some distance from the smokestacks. They should be fine.

You continue to meet up with Haley.

Apollo 2014/12/05(Fri)00:13 No. 609045 ID: defceb
File 141776722733.png - (45.41KB , 840x600 , Mars08.png )

She turns at the sound of your approach.

"Thank you for showing up." She says as she uncorks some wine. "Do you still drink? I know several others choose not to now, since we don't need it. But I spent a lot of money making working taste buds and I'm not about to waste them."

She used to be rather demure before the uplift procedure. But ever since it's like something awoke within her. Something youthful, energetic, and predatory. At times she still acts how she was before, quiet and contemplative. But even then you can see it lurking in the corners of her eyes. She's not the same woman she was, and probably never will be.

She offers you a glass. "We have something important to discuss."

if she's offering drinks it would be rude to turn her down.

>We have something important to discuss
lay it on me.

>>609045
Sure do, toots.

She's breaking up with you! Dump her first so you come out on top.

>>609064
[It's 2am and now my gf is mad 'cause I woke her up from laughing. I hope you're proud.]

Weird how different her tone is in person versus in writing.

>Do you still drink?
Yes, and thank you. I didn't make that choice so I could give things up. The opposite, really.

>She's not the same woman she was, and probably never will be.
What about you?

Apollo 2014/12/05(Fri)18:30 No. 609232 ID: defceb
File 141783300806.png - (51.59KB , 840x600 , Mars09.png )

>Yes, and thank you. I didn't make that choice so I could give things up. The opposite, really.

She hands you a glass. “Yes… choice.” She takes a sip and savors it, contemplating her next words.

“I don’t know what wisdom guides you, but you have a habit of making the right choices. Before we left for Mars I told you that no child can remain in the crib forever. This is true for all things, be it a home, our bodies, or even our planet. It seems the organics on Earth have finally decided it is time for them to leave home. Our friends up there are the first colony ship coming to Mars. In our land, too.”

“They know we’re here, of course. But this leaves us at a difficult decision. We could very easily travel over there and greet these organics with open arms, welcoming them to our homes. Others would follow, seeing a new place to make their home. They will no doubt choose a piece of land of their own, borders will be drawn, and this world will become split up in nations like Earth. If we’re lucky, they might even stay away from us.

“But… that is assuming they come with good intentions.”

Apollo 2014/12/05(Fri)18:32 No. 609233 ID: defceb
File 141783312426.png - (49.07KB , 840x600 , Mars10.png )

“Did you know their communications is poorly secured? I've been listening in for a while now. They've come up with quite a few colorful slurs for us since we left Earth. Oh, I thought calling us prosthetics was funny for a while. And then Terminators. I even was labelled Frankenstein once. Do you know what we’re called now? Silics. They are quick to forget we were once flesh and blood like them.”

“Not that I’m surprised, public opinion was against us from early on. Quite a few people lined their pockets by rallying against our kind. Then the riots came. The day those ‘protesters’ raided our facility is still etched clearly in to my mind. Fire, guns, it was a real shitshow. Ah, but you were there. Shot 12 times in the chest. You were lucky they didn't know how to tell the difference between you sleeping and you being dead. But my body…”

Apollo 2014/12/05(Fri)18:32 No. 609236 ID: defceb
File 141783317021.png - (30.68KB , 840x600 , Mars11.png )

“...I was never able to bury it. I don’t even know where it went. They probably threw it off a cliff when they were done beating it. Not that I was home, of course. They were an hour too late to catch my mind.”

“So we have other options. We could also saunter over there and tell them this is OUR home. That we don’t welcome them here. We could even get violent, if we wish. Their economy is barely able to send colony ships here, but waging war? Impossible. I won’t lie, I’ll even enjoy the chance. Not that it’d have to get violent.”

“These are just suggestions, of course. I’ll side with whatever you decide is best. So, please take your time to mull this over, what do we do?”

>>609236
Those are colony ships? They're pretty shitty if they can't even reliably enter atmosphere.

Anyway, she's thinking in the long term and that's good, but we need to think in the short term right now. Find out if they have good intentions. Find out why they're here without contacting us first for permission to land. If they're making a land grab then we will... dissuade them from that route. If they truly wish to live among the uplifted, then they will have to live under our laws. This is our land, they are immigrants. That is not to say they will be second-class citizens. Their minds are human, same as us, and they deserve the same rights. I expect employment will be an issue however.

Pause, stop, shake your head.

...If they're children leaving the cradle, it's probably not right for us to shove them back in. Even if we can. Even if they were too stupid or ignorant or afraid to take the way out we did.

The ones on the ship, that has to be a one-way trip for them. You said their coms weren't secure, what are they saying?

she brings up some good points but I don't think a fight should be our first action. I mean if you just rush out there and strike just because you don't like them since they're different then you it kinda puts you in the same boat as those assholes that attacked you so long ago. At the same time though people can be assholes so to just ignore them might hurt you later. I say for now just keep an eye on them, maybe let them know you guys are out here but try to keep interactions with them spares at first until you can gauge there attitude. If they prove to be reasonable maybe start interacting more, if they prove to be like those that drove you off earth in the first place... well you were here first and if you can't share then I think it's only fair that they be the ones to leave. Just remember while people can be dicks they can also be decent folk just trying to make a living and if it should prove that you can't coexist let it be on there hands not yours. Just keep an eye on them for now, we can figure out the rest as it comes.

How many of us are there? If there are a few dozen of us in space-homesteads then we will probably not be able to do much more than claim some chunk of territory as our own, but if our numbers are a sizable fraction or more of theirs and we have some infrastructure than I like the >>609238 approach.

If they are heading towards areas we have settled than they either intent a diplomatic approach or are massively incompetent (or both I suppose). We can find that out by communicating with them before they land while listening to their comms chatter among themselves.

(Also, what is the proper term for us metal people?)

Would a hand on her shoulder or a hug be appropriate, here? I dunno how close you two are, but she's pretty clearly in pain now. And you went through some of the same dark stuff.

Tell them, on their own internal comms, that they're being allowed to set up a refugee camp at such-and-such coordinates, but not to leave those few square miles. If, after a one-year probationary period, their behavior has been consistent with Martian ethical standards, the possibility of trade agreements and permanent settlement can be discussed.

Violations of these terms will be dealt with harshly, and further use of the term "silic" is NOT consistent with Martian ethical standards.

Wreck them

>>609346
[I was initially going to go with uplifted, but now that I'm thinking about it this is a good chance to suggest an offici term.]

Welcome them. You're on a whole different planet now. You don't want to be carrying a whole lot of baggage from the old world.

Plus it's a new frontier. Things are going to be very rough for them. They ought to be happy of any help they can get.

We should pack up and leave Mars. Go far away to another planet where they'll never find us.

Apollo 2014/12/08(Mon)15:44 No. 610070 ID: defceb
File 141808225952.png - (53.14KB , 840x600 , Mars12.png )

You taste the wine. It has a deep, rich flavor. The wine is already getting hit by dust.

“...If they’re children leaving the cradle, it’s probably not right for us to shove them back in. Even if we can. Even if they were too stupid or ignorant or afraid to take the way out we did.”

She seems surprised by your words.

“We should welcome them. This is no time to carry our baggage from the old world. Maybe we can co-exist this time. And if we can’t… then it will be on their hands, not ours.”

Apollo 2014/12/08(Mon)15:44 No. 610071 ID: defceb
File 141808229651.png - (25.74KB , 840x600 , Mars13.png )

She goes quiet for a long time. You step towards her to put a hand on her shoulder, but she steps back.

“...you’re right, I let my bias cloud my judgement. I’m sorry.” She re-corks the wine “You should take care of this, I’m not fit for it. But let’s meet later to finish this wine?”

JK actually nuke them.

Also, enhance butt.

Finishing the wine together sounds nice.

Sure.

Let's go see why they're here.

All right. I'll handle it.

Thank her for the drink, and return the glass. You'll be back to finish the bottle an other day. Then go.

What next? Do we go check out the landing site? Is there anyone else you need to talk to before messing with a first contact situation?

>>610071
sure, I'd like that.

Apollo 2014/12/08(Mon)22:15 No. 610167 ID: defceb
File 141810574927.png - (166.55KB , 840x600 , Mars14.png )

You thank her for the drink, and promise to visit later. She nods and leaves quietly.

You are not left alone.

"Must you invade my dreams?"

(sigh) nothing is ever simple is it

>>610167
You're not a memory.

At least, not of Mars.

Apollo 2014/12/09(Tue)00:28 No. 610209 ID: defceb
File 141811370178.png - (90.95KB , 840x600 , Mars15.png )

>You're not a memory.

"And this dream is over."

Apollo 2014/12/09(Tue)00:28 No. 610211 ID: defceb
File 141811373761.png - (15.11KB , 840x600 , Surgery01.png )

You are now in the Operating Room!

Oh god I think I see parts of you on that table over there, quick, remove the blanket and see what's left of yourself. then maybe see if you can't find that guy you helped since I don't think having only one arm is going to help him in the moving around department.

Inspect self.

Apollo 2014/12/09(Tue)01:39 No. 610219 ID: defceb
File 141811796816.png - (15.18KB , 840x600 , Surgery02.png )

You don't seem to be missing anything obvious. Besides all of your clothes.

Your current inventory is:
Empty!

and? you don't have togglable nipples? just toggle things and look around.

You've got mail! Check your mail.

Checking your email is clearly the top priority in a situation like this.

>>610219
welp, congrats. someone saw you naked.
i hope you remembered to instal an anti-groping trap.

Well great. Does that mean the thing that attacked you before can spy on your dreams? That it's reading your memories? Less than helpful.

>what do
Check internal chronometer, double checking how long you were out. Check your mail. Run self-diagnostic, since someone untrained just did repairs without a manual.

Check the bureau behind you for clothes, there seems to be some sticking out of it.

There appears to be a handwritten not on the chair over on the right. Might be worth reading. And see what that file is, on the floor.

Idly wonder, if someone (presumably the good doctor) repaired you, why they left you on the floor instead of a table or bed or something.

>Mars
Do you remember what happened after? Did things work out with the colonists?

For clothes the dresser you are leaning against is a good bet.

Other things to note: There might be more sueful things on the dresser, I see a folder near your feet, and a note next to the table with your coolant stained clothes.

then what's that stuff on the table with a bunch of your coolant laying around it. Also check you mail and see if it's something other then spam.

Apollo 2014/12/10(Wed)00:34 No. 610420 ID: defceb
File 141820044228.png - (43.86KB , 840x600 , Surgery03.png )

>Check messages
>So what happened on Mars?

They were quite friendly to say the least! Turned out it was a small group of settlers spread across several landers. They seemed incredibly relieved to see that there was some help already here once they landed. They kept mostly to themselves in social times, though. But that may have had more to do with them needing to stay inside their homes to breathe freely.

Apollo 2014/12/10(Wed)00:34 No. 610421 ID: defceb
File 141820048536.png - (26.74KB , 840x600 , Surgery04.png )

Oh!

Oh my... uh... moving along!

Apollo 2014/12/10(Wed)00:36 No. 610423 ID: defceb
File 141820058946.png - (30.30KB , 840x600 , PaperDoll01.png )

You check the dresser next to you for clothes. It seems to have all the stuff you picked up from your escape pod stuffed in haphazardly with capped syringes, some tubing, a therapy teddy bear, and a collection of medical warning stickers.

You could put together just about any outfit from here, so what do you wear?

You are quite the lady killer aren't you? Both memories you've shared with us ended that way.

No idea what you should wear, though it should be something you can fight in. No tight dresses or high heels.

Well assuming you are going to keep on fighting things with particularly grabby hands maybe something form fitting and a bit thick to provide some protection against stabbing? If there is anything like that.

OVERLORD 2014/12/10(Wed)07:25 No. 610458 ID: 0d453b
File 141822515978.png - (36.51KB , 840x725 , Objectively superior.png )

>>610423

"Just about any" you said?

Start by inventorying items heavy enough to qualify as protective equipment. Motorcycle helmet, steel-toed boots, kneepads, some kind of rigid plate about the size of your torso, and anything at all made from sturdy aramid fibers. I know knife-resistant gloves are common in foodservice, presumably something similar would be available in a surgical facility?

Someone out there is trying to maim you with sharp bits of metal, and out of two hostile encounters so far, you've taken damage both times, despite decisively winning the first and successfully disengaging from the second. Don't make it so easy for assailant #3.

>>610420
Haha! That's great. And here I was expecting things to go bad and that was part of why Morgan didn't know about it.

Although if there were some kind of strong anti-cyborg movement on earth, or the government wasn't happy with the astronauts / colonists on the ground, I guess it could have ended up covered up anyways?

>>610421
Apparently you were good enough to get her to crack her formal writing facade. She used an emoticon and everything!

>>610423
Scaring or damage on your torso, but none on the face. Either their wasn't an exit wound when the spike hit your head, or the good doc did a better patch job on your face.

>how dress
Make yourself into a mummy of medical warning stickers!

Look for a jacket. And pants. And a sweater or something. Although you'll take what you can get, at this point.

>>610423
Hey, you got built-in garters!

I guess the main priority is some sort of armoured cummerbund. Keep that vulnerable hole protected.

LimeBreaker 2014/12/10(Wed)16:35 No. 610548 ID: 2a1897
File 141825815532.png - (28.65KB , 840x600 , roboOutfit.png )

bloop.

also: enhance knockers.

Riotmode 2014/12/10(Wed)19:59 No. 610597 ID: a19cd5
File 141827037261.png - (54.01KB , 840x600 , knockers.png )

Hurr

Apollo 2014/12/10(Wed)22:58 No. 610637 ID: defceb
File 141828109347.png - (26.64KB , 840x600 , PaperDoll02.png )

>Something form fitting and tough with a pinch of Overlord

You scavenge up some durable looking clothes and spot a few trinkets as well. Yes/no?

>>610637
Throw in some sweet shades and it's a Y from me

>>610637
By all means yes.

Apollo 2014/12/10(Wed)23:56 No. 610648 ID: defceb
File 141828459307.png - (2.85KB , 250x200 , SwiggitySwooty.png )

>>610646
>Equip shades.

PERFECT.

>>610648
We wear our sunglasses at space-night.

>>610660

Her vision is augmented.

Also a hat like Darkwing Duck wears.

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)13:52 No. 610738 ID: defceb
File 141833476020.png - (14.94KB , 840x600 , Surgery05.png )

You take a moment to consider that maybe wearing sunglasses inside would make you look like one of those assholes. Or maybe other people just don't appreciate the importance of FASHION.

>>610738
Yeah maybe. Go check out the operating table, what's that brown stuff?

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)14:10 No. 610743 ID: defceb
File 141833584013.png - (14.74KB , 840x600 , Surgery06.png )

>Inspect operating table
>A whole list of backlogged inspects

The operating table appears to just be the cushion left behind. It's been badly scorched and has coolant stains all over it.

On top of the dresser is your emergency cookie supply, the Swiss army knife, the cloak, and the small mirror.

On top of the... chair? thing is a scalpel, and a handwritten note. You also pick up the folder laying on the ground.

>>610743
Read the note! It might explain why nobody was here to see you wake up.

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)14:45 No. 610751 ID: defceb
File 141833792777.png - (21.76KB , 840x600 , Surgery07.png )

>Inspect note
The rest of the page devolves into idle doodles.

>>610743
don't force me to tell you to read that note, that should be obvious.
it's like telling you to loot the bodies of your slain foes. if you don't remember to loot then you don't deserve the loot.

>>610751
Sounds like you're still low on coolant. You'll have to find more. That other blue stain must be the entrance where you were dragged in.

Put the note back, look through the files.

How's your coolant supply holding up? Any other internal diagnostics available?

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)21:03 No. 610835 ID: defceb
File 141836058963.png - (23.12KB , 840x600 , File1.png )

>Coolant?
You seem to be running on fumes at this point. It'd probably be best not to stress your system.

>Diagnostics?
The same info as the Damage Report pops up, without the update request.

>Check the files
Redacted, redacted, redacted. Lot of help this is.

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)21:04 No. 610836 ID: defceb
File 141836064312.png - (22.28KB , 840x600 , File2.png )

You flip to the next page. Well that's odd.

Apollo 2014/12/11(Thu)21:05 No. 610838 ID: defceb
File 141836075190.png - (18.29KB , 840x600 , File4.png )

This is the last page.

Okay hang on a second. Your diagnostics say that your eye is damaged, but that was apparently not from the thrown spike. Find a mirror and check your eye out.

>Damaged eye
this may be a leftover report for the other guy, not us.

>>610841
What? It's our own internal diagnostics, dude. Check it out: >>607529

Kinda funny they hung up the poster you brought along.

Recollect your tools (emergency cookie supply, the Swiss army knife, the cloak, and the small mirror).

Start exploring. If this is where The Doctor was holed up while things went to hell (and where he was sleeping), you can probably safely assume the area isn't very big. Morgan and the Doc should be somewhere nearby.

>>610743
Wait... GET YE COOKIES.

Apollo 2014/12/12(Fri)01:37 No. 610881 ID: defceb
File 141837706866.png - (13.27KB , 800x600 , mirror01.png )

You add the cookies, Swiss army knife, cloak, and mirror back into your inventory.

>Inspect eye.
You equip the mirror and use it to take a look at yourself.

remove eye.

>>610881
WELL THEN TIME FOR PANIC SURGERY

Well that isn't good. Though if it is in just in one eye, maybe we can keep it from spying through it with a makeshift eyepatch?

...It occur to me that we just missed a huge opportunity with that costume selection to solve a lot of our problems. We might have gotten ourselves a tinfoil hat.

Time for some Paul Verhoven style self-surgery. Take out that eye! Also while you're in there see if you can pull off a manual shutdown of your wifi

We keep on trying the shutdown of wifi.

She keeps on telling us it doesn't work.

>>610891
But this time we have the right tool for the job!

Suggestions: Uninstall left eye using scalpel.

Deactivate wifi using scalpel.

Chew on operating table cushion and/or floor in an effort to reclaim material from coolant stains.

Wait, wait wait. Don't go self mutilating just yet. You can't necessarily put that back. And we don't have an immediate reason to rush to action. Plus you don't want to immediately come off as crazy to the other people here.

First off, make sure that's not red stuff someone painted or put on the mirror to fuck with you when you looked at it.

Second, I think we've already established this thing can perception hack you. You see static that isn't really there, and it got into your dreams. There's a reasonable chance it's fucking with you, right now. That you're seeing something that's not there. (Would something that impaled you try to trick you into blinding yourself? Why not).

Flip to diagnostics. Dig up details as to what's wrong with your eye, and how the reading from the two differ.

>>610908
seconded, for the love of god seconded.

>>610908
Yeah good thinking. Do a diagnostic on your eye but also look into the feasibility of severing your WiFi connection (it might not even be in your head, if it's in your torso or something then easy peasy).

>>610913
Fair enough.

Any objections to chewing on the mattress and floor, though? We've already seen she's got some sophisticated chemical analysis capability.

Is this room off-grid?

Apollo 2014/12/13(Sat)13:38 No. 611212 ID: defceb
File 141850668545.png - (19.06KB , 840x600 , Surgery08.png )

You dropped the mirror. Oops.
You feel a little warm.

>Pull up diagnostics
The two should have the same info pop up. They HAVE to.

But they don't.

Apollo 2014/12/13(Sat)13:39 No. 611213 ID: defceb
File 141850675757.png - (38.36KB , 840x600 , Surgery09.png )

>Panic surgery
SEEMS FAIR

>Equip scalpel
You equip the SWISS ARMY KNIFE. CLOSE ENOUGH.

Your hands won't stop shaking.

Look, no, bad, stop.

You have no pressing reason to preform messy, dangerous self-surgery. You're in no immediate danger that we're aware of.

If your eye is damaged or compromised, this isn't the way to do it, anyways. There's a medical professional nearby with actual tools- we could get assistance and neatly uninstall and remove the competent instead of damaging something by cutting or tearing it out in a panic.

>>611213
If you do that before getting more coolant you will lose all you have left! Plus you should probably have someone else do it so they can see what they're DOING.

>>611213
It's probably the experimental eye from before, it was mentioned it had some issues. You're all-robot, so its probably still around somewhere.
Chill out and try to find that doctor dude we talked to through the console

obey the cat

>>611226
You original eye, I mean. We'll have a looksie for it, can't have gotten far.

>>611213
DROP THE FUCKING KNIFE LADY GOOD GOD WHAT THE FUCK!
You've been seeing whacky shit since you landed here like static and what not, do you really think that a trick of the light is beyond shit you're seeing that isn't really there. Plus you kinda burn the doctor's bed and I really think we'd be pushing our luck with his hospitality if he walked in while you where cutting out your eye and then had to patch your dumb ass up again.

We don't need to destroy the eye right now. Its potential threats are a wireless connection hardware and as a sensor for the evil AI. We already have one of the former so that isn't much additional threat, and the latter can be dealt with without risking self-damage by making an eye-patch out of some spare clothes.

Set gain on audio output to maximum and feed the temperature warning popup into text-to-speech. Continue with other status alerts, repeating if necessary, until help arrives.

Do not attempt surgery while your hands are shaking.

Ignoring the eye isn't an option. What if whatever-the-fuck-it-is starts spreading?

See if you can find the doctor. If they're not around, start cutting.

Apollo 2014/12/13(Sat)21:59 No. 611478 ID: defceb
File 141853677882.png - (16.84KB , 840x600 , Surgery10.png )

You drop the knife.
You feel dizzy. And hot. Like it's an oven in here.

>Set gain on audio output to maximum and feed the temperature warning popup into text-to-speech. Continue with other status alerts, repeating if necessary, until help arrives.

"Temperature Warning! You appear to be under stress or suffering a panic attack. Internal temperatures are rising rapidly. Please seek assistance."

"Temperature Warning! You appear to be under stress or suffering a panic attack. Internal temperatures are rising rapidly. Please seek assistance."

Someone opens the door at the far side of the room. "Hold that thought Morgan, I think our friend is awake." They say as they enter the room.

pull open shirt, open heat vents. then ask the doc for some coolent.

"MY EYE"

Or rather maybe you should say "This is not MY eye!"

Doctor Anselm, I presume?

Mute the warning, calm down, and talk to the nice doctor. (Person who helped you. Not a threat. Calm). Sorry, stress and low coolant don't mix.

Thank her for fixing you up, apologize for the bed you wrecked.

Ask about Morgan's condition. You went through a lot to get him fixed up, it might calm you to know it paid off.

Raise the concern that something's wrong with your eye. It's not responding correctly to diagnostics, and seems to be the wrong color. Was that her? (You'd much rather have an explanation than have it caused by an unknown).

Apollo 2014/12/13(Sat)22:32 No. 611497 ID: defceb
File 141853875138.png - (17.06KB , 840x600 , Surgery11.png )

"Temperature Warning! You appear to be under stress or suffering a panic attack. Internal temperatures are rising rapidly. Please seek assistance."

"Oh shush, I heard you already."

You take a deep breath to speak and-

Apollo 2014/12/13(Sat)22:33 No. 611499 ID: defceb
File 141853878717.png - (17.50KB , 840x600 , Surgery12.png )

THUNK

"Hold that 'till you calm down."

You've equipped THERAPEUTIC TEDDY BEAR.

>>611499
HUG BEAR.

Hug bear. Mute alarm. Calm down.

...wonder to to yourself how weird it is that apply padding somehow deals with a heat problem.

>>611493
Then do this stuff.

Adjust clothing and/or Therapy Bear to minimize risk of damage from thermal venting.

Politely request that mystery eye be safely removed, or at least explained.

give the doctor an odd look, then hug that bear for all it's worth cause fuck it you could use a hug.

I like her. I can see how you might have fallen for her in your time.

Hold the bear.
Show them the eye.

Apollo 2014/12/15(Mon)16:35 No. 612125 ID: defceb
File 141869012319.png - (21.25KB , 840x600 , BearHug.png )

You remove the bulky vest and the sunglasses before hugging the shit out of that teddy bear. The three of your share a long silent moment, punctuated only by the sound of your heat vents. After a while your temperature warning goes away.

"Thanks for that... and for fixing me earlier. And I'm sorry about burning your bed."

"Don't worry about it. I'm not about to die from a lack of bedding."

"Is Morgan okay?"

"He's seen better days, but he'll be fine. Now that you're calmed down, mind telling me what got you?"

"It's uh... well, my eye. It's not my eye. I mean, it's mine like it's in my head but-"

She gives a heavy sigh and pulls out her glasses.

"Alright, alright, let me take a look."

Apollo 2014/12/15(Mon)16:37 No. 612128 ID: defceb
File 141869027177.png - (20.10KB , 840x600 , Haley.png )

"Hmmm... yeah, that would scare me too. Looks like one of the newer models we cooked up. Have you had any problems with your vision? Loss of detail? Color? Pixelation? Seeing things that aren't real or otherwise distorted perception?"

>>612128
Static creeps into your vision whenever you start thinking about your past, and whenever you're near one of the... prosthetic swarms? Conglomerations of prosthetics, they have one glowing red eye. In that case, the static stops where the Grid ends.

...hey, ask if Morgan saw that thing in the elevator. That may have been a hallucination... but something threw that bone at you, so maybe it was real and Morgan simply couldn't see it?

whenever I was in the grid zone sometimes everything became full of static and I kept seeing a figure's silhouette even in a fully let room with the only detail I could ever make out was a big glowing red eye. Not sure if there was anything else.

explain you've been seeing things since you landed here. Hallucinations, or interference from the local wifi? You aren't sure why or what is causing it but its extremely disturbing.

>Loss of detail? Color? Pixelation? Seeing things that aren't real or otherwise distorted perception?

Tell her to keep going and you'll stop her as soon as she names a symptom you haven't had since landing here.

Also, ask to have a manual cutoff installed in your wireless networking gizmo(s). Seems like it should be a pretty simple engineering task with enormous security benefits.

Show her the paper with the blood scribblings on them, and see if she sees those as well. Also ask her what exactly those eyes of theirs do.

By the way, do we know anything about the past of Space!Haley from before she became cybernetic? If we do we might be able to discuss the whole alternate-future thing with some evidence (aside from our systems) to back us up.

Apollo 2014/12/15(Mon)21:38 No. 612280 ID: defceb
File 141870833506.png - (21.29KB , 840x600 , Haley2.png )

>Space!Haley's past?
Not much. She had a cat named Alfred, she studied neuroscience, she didn't have a driver's license 'till she was 24 and crashed a year later. After your uplift she would talk more freely, but often in rambling philosophical talk or in exasperation at others. Talking about her past just wasn't something that came naturally to her.

>Explain static/grid/red-eyes/everything else.
You explain everything weird that's been going on so far. She nods quietly and pulls out a little notepad from her pocket, scribbling everything down.

>Show her the pages
She seems shocked at first, but you explain that you found them like this.

>Request manual wifi shut-off
She chews on the end of her pencil in thought. "Well, this is quite a lot to think about. But honestly, I don't know how I could help. Morgan is insistent you're some sort of Martian invader. I have my own theories but either way I don't know enough about you or your body to be helpful. I don't even know your last name."

wow, so we ARE from the future. Dang.
That, or Haley's pulling a prank.
Know any race results or something? We could abuse our from-the-futureness.

Actually, the simplest explanation is that something's fucking with your head.

Anyway, now you're not in any immediate danger, we need to think about your coolant levels. What's that stuff made out of? Is it water based? Improvisation is still better than nothing.

Yeah, so unless they started cloning people down here, or all your memories are wrong, you're clearly in an alternate timeline or universe here.

Should you be? Was your ship capable of time or dimension travel, or were you guys experimenting with that kind of thing?

Um. Wait. If it's 2413, and she was born in 2225, she should be 188. So if this Haley wasn't uplifted... she's a clone? Or she was born much later in this timeline? Or 2413 is the year according to your internal clock, but not the place you've landed (I don't think the date comparison with Morgan ever explicitly had us agree the year was 2413?).

>>612128
Kind of funny to see her all awkward and cute in the giant glasses after getting to know the future-her.

>eye problems
Honestly the most disturbing thing is that someone somehow got it in my head without my knowing.

>Morgan is insistent you're some sort of Martian invader
Been to mars, but I'm no invader. Human, only without the wetware. Mental upload. *knock on head*

>I don't even know your last name
Tell her.

(It's only fair. I mean, heck, you know her full name. You've seen her naked!)

>>612285
>future
Ask what Haley's age is. Also, what year it is. That'll confirm it one way or the other. Personally I'm thinking this is an alternate universe you've somehow entered.

>>612280
Tell her you lived on mars, but you're not a martian. You used to live on earth, before and for a time after your uplift. Explain that you used to have a fleshy body like hers, but your mind was transferred to this fully robotic body.

As for your last name... funny, I don't think it was ever mentioned. Can you remember it?

Apollo 2014/12/16(Tue)00:17 No. 612310 ID: defceb
File 141871787777.png - (21.95KB , 840x600 , Haley3.png )

Your last name is... right on the tip of your tongue. You can't quite recall it, but you're sure you just saw it not too long ago.

>Does your ship have time/dimensional travel?
Not that you knew of.

"Hey, uhm... how old are you? What year is it?"

"2262, and I'm 37, Why?"

"Do you believe in time travel? Or alternate dimensions?"

"Not unless you can destroy relativity."

"I'm just trying to make sense of something. By my perception it's supposed to be 2413. At least I think so."

"And what would give you that idea?"

"When I first landed I saw it listed as the date, same way I've seen the date listed when I get flashbacks."

"The exact same way?"

>>612310
also tell her you knew her in the future? or something?
>>610420
>Marie Castillo
there you go. maybe. that's a kinda roundabout way to find out your last name. why can't you remember it? it's incredibly suspicious.

>>612310
Why do you have any trouble at all remembering your own last name?

...hey, when you got the three messages, the date read 12 June 2298. 10 May 2413 was the date when you climbed out of the escape pod. I think your internal clock might be on the fritz. Like for instance, ask if you were asleep for 3 days.

...hey, you didn't get a date readout on the last flashback.

>"The exact same way?"
Yes, though there isn't much use in worrying whether this is another flashback.
So, for evidence of our future being more than just mind-trickery, we have our advanced physical systems and a few facts about Hailey's past. While there are a lot of reasons to be suspicious, if we assume that anything we are currently perceiving is real I can't think of any explanations other than time/dimension travel or a bizarre setup by inscrutable super-aliens.

Since this place has an alternate-past-Haley, when you tell her your name she might recognize an alternate-past-you. (Alternate-you might even be Helmet-Man. That kind of thing happens when you dimension travel.)

>...hey, you didn't get a date readout on the last flashback.
There was a date for the Mars flashback; it was before the updates though.

>2262
Oh man. Past-you isn't even uplifted yet. If you really are back in time, there's a flesh and blood version of you still running around. (Or slowly dying in a hospital bed, whatever).

>The exact same way?
Check how long you were unconscious. Be nice to know if your internal chronometer is completely shot.

>>612312
12 June 2298 was the date for the mars flashback. We just checked our messages mid flashback. Apparently our UI is cool with that.

Hang on, there was no flashback for the 2413 date.

>I don't know enough about you or your body to be helpful.

Ten minutes ago "jam a knife into my face until the problem goes away" was looking like a plausible option. You're really underselling yourself, Dr. Anselm, if you think you can't be more helpful than that.

First of all, let's get an inventory on the tools and parts available.

Then we're going to want to find, or build, a simple radio detection finder. That shouldn't be tricky, it's on the level of a junior-high science-fair project if you're not worried about making it work outside lab conditions. Key components are a highly-directional antenna and some way to measure signal strength.

Once that's set up, have Morgan send a carrier wave (or really any max-strength signal) over her wireless thing, and use the RDF to figure out where in her body it is.

Once the location is narrowed down a bit, try to identify the specific component with a combination of whatever more specialized sensors you've got on hand (ultrasound? x-rays?), Morgan's internal diagnostics, and as a last resort exploratory surgery.

After you've found the right chip, identify one (or more) of the important wires connected to it and splice in a toggle switch. Again, very simple if you're not too worried about making it rugged and/or pretty.

Apollo 2014/12/16(Tue)22:16 No. 612659 ID: defceb
File 141879699297.png - (14.04KB , 840x600 , Haley4.png )

"...yeah, it was. Was I asleep for three days? Maybe my clock is out of whack."

Haley nods and confirms that you were out for roughly three days.

"My name is Marie Castillo, by the way. I was actually human, but uplifted into this cyborg body. Morgan just thinks I'm a martian because I used to live there."

Apollo 2014/12/16(Tue)22:26 No. 612660 ID: defceb
File 141879757673.png - (24.70KB , 840x600 , Haley5.png )

"Oh reeaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyy?" she says, suddenly quite attentive. "Maybe I can help you after all. If you help me first."

She leans in closer. A little too close.

"I noticed you hesitated in telling me your name. Did you have a problem remembering it? Do you remember any friends or family? Homeland? Pets?"

It's all... vague. Shapes, smells, practically just echoes of memories. Haley notes the silence as you think and frowns.

"I suppose it'd be useless to ask if you've had any dramatic changes in personality then. What's the first thing you remember clearly?" She says in a deflated tone as she scribbles more notes.

"It was just after I was uplifted. It's pretty clear in my mind still." You say. She seems less than pleased to hear it, though.

With a heavy sigh she puts away the notepad. "Very well... so how can I help you now?"

>>612660
Remove eye pls.

>Answering her questions
I'm reasonably certain my memory problems are more due to crashing to earth and/or whatever's been messing with me than the uplift process.

...I've known people who had something of a change in personality after. (*sideways look*). I don't know how much you could attribute it to the process itself versus a psychological reaction, though.

>Very well... so how can I help you now?
I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on, down here? Something's obviously gone very wrong.

any idea where I could find some coolant so I don't melt any more beds? I'd like to be able to actually help without worrying about burning something to cinders.

Apollo 2014/12/16(Tue)23:18 No. 612675 ID: defceb
File 141880069611.png - (21.13KB , 840x600 , Haley6.png )

>Remove eye plz
"I'm more than a little hesitant to do that. For one, I'm not an oculoplastic surgeon. Two, I don't have the right tools here anymore."

>Coolant/RDF
"You can probably find the materials the next floor up. All of our tech labs were based there, so they have an abundance of materials. Fair warning, I'm pretty sure it's swimming with corrupted prosthetics too."

"...though if you happen to find an arm and a leg that has never been powered on, I'd like you to bring it back so I can try something. If it works Morgan could use them, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to help you after that."

>I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on, down here? Something's obviously gone very wrong.
"If I knew what went wrong, I would have prevented it from happening in the first place. Unfortunately, in a place like this even I only know bits and pieces. We were researching a more advanced form of prosthesis. It... well, there's not use mincing words with you. We were researching uplift technology. Most of the tech already existed, we just had to put together the pieces."

"Except for the brain of course. Hard to get conclusive research on that. Not many people would volunteer to let us open their skulls and get to work. Only the desperate or terminal would take that kind of offer."

"But for what went wrong? I was in my office when everything went to hell. Computers, prosthesis, everything digital went wild. I'm lucky enough to have been off-grid when it happened. Architect thought I was paranoid, asking to be separate from it. Jokes on him, I still have my head."

so you guys have like a mainframe around here or something? Because the only things I can think of that could do something like this is either a bug in the system, a hacker who was REALLY against the uplift idea and is doing this to prove a point, or someone you managed to download there brain into the system and for whatever reason is fucking everything up for everyone else. If there's some master control center we could probably try and head there and shut the grid down.

Also do you have any ice around here, I mean without any coolant I can't really do anything with to much effort without the risk of frying my systems or burning something and if I have to fight drones or whatever to get some coolant so I don't burn the building down I'm willing to try some alternative means to not start a fire.

your body is full robit. can just pull the eye out and cut the wires and tie off any hoses. you just need a hand with it because it's really hard to see in there.

The pieces are coming together and I don't like what the picture looks like...

>>612675
How come your bad eye doesn't have an easy detach like Morgan's?

Tell her if everything goes well and after whatever's controlling the prosthetics is dealt with, maybe you can let them research your body! You know, help with the uplift effort. Um. But first, can she help reassure you about something? None of the advanced prosthetics they were working on looked like your body, right? Ask her to tell you if there's any way to know for sure that your memories are real.

>We were researching uplift technology. Most of the tech already existed, we just had to put together the pieces.
>Except for the brain of course. Hard to get conclusive research on that. Not many people would volunteer to let us open their skulls and get to work. Only the desperate or terminal would take that kind of offer.
If I'm not crazy and I really have traveled back in time? You're close. You would have found that first volunteer in about another year.

Let's not mention that it's you, yet. It would only make your story seem more implausible. But first chance we get, we should try and look up if there is a past you out there.

...and if this is the past, did this happen the first time, or have you changed history / created a new timeline? No way to know right now, though.

>hesitant to remove eye
What are the know adverse effects of eyes like this? You had me remove Morgan's for a reason. Can we do anything to prevent it from being remotely accessed? I was concerned that my own wireless was vulverable before, but foreign hardware spliced into my system provides a worryingly direct means for hacking. Especially since you made it clear your prosthetics aren't secure, and have been compromised.

Looks, um. I don't really like the idea of being a cyclops, but I like the idea of ending up like one of those not-zombies-because-that-would-be-insensitive even less.

I'd be fine with telling her your world's Haley Anselm's uplift date, along with your own. Don't withhold any potentially relevant information from someone you're trusting to stick sharp things into your head.

>>612675
>You can probably find the materials the next floor up.

Alright, can we scrounge up a ladder and, say, a crowbar? Or that spike? Any sort of heavy, sharp tool, really. There are a lot of potential problems with the elevator which could be neatly circumvented by ripping a hole in the ceiling.

Be careful about damaging a Faraday cage if you go that route, though. Letting cyberzombies into the safe zone is one of the few ways it would be possible to make this situation worse.

Haley Science Hour Apollo 2014/12/17(Wed)01:31 No. 612693 ID: defceb
File 141880866689.png - (17.33KB , 840x600 , Haley7.png )

"Perhaps I should better explain the difference between your situation and Morgan's."

"Morgan's prosthetic eye was not just a surface level implant. As I mentioned when we talked over the screen we had replaced a section of his optic nerve. The one we put in was designed so as to more easily facility the implanting and removal of artificial eyes. It was not the eye itself that triggered the separation when you twisted it, but the connector between the nerve and the eye."

"Now, in your case I can not be sure that you have a similar system in place. In fact, I highly doubt it. Enucleation has many inherent risks, including damage to the orbit, optic nerve, and so on. Then there is the fact that I have no way to relieve the pain for you. Given your lack of biology, the already limited supply of pain killers is useless."

"Now, I could go hacking in there with the scalpel but it would probably result in irreparable damage and intense pain. That said, you've made it very clear that you want that eye out so if you insist I could try. But please weigh the risk of this carefully beforehand."

try activating maintenance mode. the eye had to be built in somehow. so there is probably a plate that can come off or move out of the way.

Can we take another, closer look look at that bad eye?
I know getting it out is the obvious thing to focus on, but I'm actually curious how it got IN.

Is it your old eye that's somehow been modified? Or was that taken out and this thing spliced in there somehow?

Keep your eye for now, see what Haleys plans are for escaping or some how fixing your current predicament.

if we can't get it out we can try an eyepatch

>>612699
I not sure how an eyepatch would help; the main issue here is that it's in Marie's head, not that it can see or be seen.

>removing it would likely be messy
...that raises the uncomfortable question of how someone successfully completed the replacement surgery.

>intense pain
Would we, actually? You powered through getting impaled reasonably well, and you'd think there'd be an off switch for pain in an artificial body.

Although I suppose the problem would be if we severed an optic nerve equivalent you'd then be getting noise instead of signal, dumped right into the vision center of your brain. Which would probably be highly unpleasant. Welcome to headache land.

>But please weigh the risk of this carefully beforehand.
Then could you explain the risk of leaving it in place, or more specifically, why you think it's less than the risk of removing it? You're more familiar with this tech than I am.

You've made it clear these things are vulnerable to being hijacked by the grid, and someone wired this to my brain!

Do you have a way to prevent that? To make sure it stays off grid? Can you factory reset it to wipe any malicious code that might have been left in it?

>>612693
Sigh, okay, surgery is not an option here. I say just wear an eyepatch over it.

>I not sure how an eyepatch would help; the main issue here is that it's in Marie's head, not that it can see or be seen.
But we already have a hardware connection to the net via our other wireless connection. What is it going to do, hack while it hacks?

Do we perhaps have repair nanotech in us that could explain how the eye got in there?

>What is it going to do, hack while it hacks?
The eye is a direct hardware connection to Marie's brain. Our wireless has protocols and presumably some kind of firewall to hack through. The optic nerve won't.

Our security was questionable before, it's potentially completely compromised, now. That's the concern we need her to answer.

It occurs to me that we downloaded an update for an eye that isn't ours.

Could be bad. Maybe try reverting the update?

>>612736
What? No, surgery totally is an option! It's not a SAFE option, but we're stuck in a haunted hospital full of malignantly reanimated corpses so there aren't many of those anyhow. The question now is whether Marie wants to have a gaping wound in her face on the information-security level, or in a more literal sense.

Pre-uplift, Dr. Anselm is very familiar with the risks of botched surgery, but a hackable brain presents exciting new risks that she has no way to meaningfully assess. That's why she's explaining her side of it and then leaving the choice up to Marie, who has more personally at stake and at least some inkling of the latter, rather than forbidding it outright.

Something tells me Haley isn't what she seems. If we rule out time travel and alternate dimensions, logically you've been here the whole time.
Also, Haley's the only person we know of walking around performing surgery. That eye didn't install itself.
Keep a very close watch on her. Ask her if she remembers you and scan her with your lie-detector app.

>>612898
There are a lot of doctors in a facility this size. My guess is someone decided to do an unvoluntarily mind upload and they slipped the leash and got into the Grid mainframe.

>>612898
Presumably, we weren't closely supervised the whole three days of our recovery. And Haley has to sleep, sometimes.

The best time for someone else to have preformed the swap would have been to sneak in while she was out of the room and/or asleep, and we were still unconscious. That's a window hours long to work in.

...that does raise the unfortunate assumption that her little hideout here isn't secure, though.

>what do
I'm still for asking her what she thinks about / can do about our information security slash staying sane concerns. It's possible there are non-surgical safeguards.

>also
Marie, do you have a blueprint or schematic of your systems saved locally, anywhere? That would be a handy thing to have, when considering makeshift surgery and/or repairs.

Apollo 2014/12/20(Sat)19:53 No. 613628 ID: defceb
File 141913399687.png - (59.96KB , 840x600 , EyeBluePrint.png )

>Risks of leaving it in?
"I'm not the IT department here but... my best guess would be that someone else had remote access to that eye, and they can use it to dump information to you through it. It could just be a visual data link, or worse. I'm really not the person to ask for 100% certainty though."

>Blueprints or schematics saved locally?
You sift through local files and pull up a copy of your blueprints. It.. might actually be possible to remove the eye with relative safety. At least in the same way having a pillow makes for a relatively safe landing off a cliff.

If you remove cover plates, disengage synthetic muscles, and essentially open up half your face Haley could reach in there and sever the nerve connection.

>>613628
>cliff
I don't like this analogy. Don't do it.

Is there a software option, here? Can you just shut down and lock off whatever port the optic nerve for that eye connects to? If you don't allow any data transition, it doesn't matter what it tries to transmit.

Or... set the permissions for anything from the eye to 'read only'. Don't let it write or edit data.

Or could you set up a quarantine, or antivirus scan to watch anything coming from that eye very closely? If you're right, you're dealing with 150 year old tech, here. Surly a computer from the future can kick the butt off anything from the past?

Or, if you examine the eye, is there an option to reformat it? We could wipe anything installed on there, including communication protocols our mysterious outsider could use.

>blueprints
That helps, but to be effective you would really need a way to get that data to Haley. Upload it to an off-network tablet or laptop for her. (Actually, we might want to do that just in case we get hurt again and she has to operate more. We'd want to encrypt the data with a password Haley would know / could guess, in case someone else tries to access the data).

>what do
*Sigh* You've talked me out of it, for the moment. Tell me if I start acting weird or anything, though? I want to know if this starts messing with me.

We should ask to see Morgan, now.

Apollo 2014/12/21(Sun)00:22 No. 613692 ID: defceb
File 141915012891.png - (15.21KB , 840x600 , Office01.png )

>Software solutions
You try to access the software in the eye. A series of windows pop up saying you need administrator access for that.

You opt instead to bury the thing under quarantines and firewalls instead. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making you blind in the left eye.

>Go see Morgan
"I think I'll keep the eye for now. But let me know if I start doing anything weird. I need to know if this starts messing with me." You say before moving to the next room.

You enter Haley's office! It seems a little claustrophobic.

Morgan is humming to himself as he draws something. He doesn't notice your entrance.

>Unfortunately, this has the side effect of making you blind in the left eye.
Well, you'd be blind if you cut it out, too. This is just easier to reverse!

Does lefty still track with righty? It'll be a little creepy if you've now got one lazy eye.

>He doesn't notice your entrance.
Hello?

ask him how he's doing? you haven't seen him in three days.

Apollo 2014/12/21(Sun)01:33 No. 613709 ID: defceb
File 141915441699.png - (15.34KB , 840x600 , Office02.png )

>Hello?

"Not now Haley, I'm working on a ~clever~ idea."

He seems to be absorbed in his work. Maybe there's something you can do to get his attention?

"whoops my bra broke"

Get close and peer over his shoulder at what he's doing.

Then enhance knockers.

>>613709
just saying 'i'm not Haley' should do the trick.

>>613709
Hey, you blocked the eye from sending data to you, but it could probably send data OUT. Get an eyepatch.

Ask Morgan if your eyes look the same to him as when he saw you the first time.

>If you're right, you're dealing with 150 year old tech, here. Surly a computer from the future can kick the butt off anything from the past?

Given that time/dimension travel is apparently involved, but hadn't been invented in 2413, and this model of eye is not fully covered by Marie's backward compatibility, the assumption that it is 150 years less advanced than the rest of her body is unjustified. If anything, the reverse would be more likely.

>A series of windows pop up saying you need administrator access for that.

...that you don't already have admin access is unsettling. Check a few default passwords and any other cheap tricks you can think of.

ask if it has anything to do with the martian.

Also maybe find something to cover the red eye? Just because it can't easily mess with you now doesn't mean it still can't be recording things for whoever put the damn thing in, even if it isn't better to be safe then sorry.

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)20:26 No. 614177 ID: defceb
File 141930881554.png - (18.46KB , 840x600 , Morgan01.png )

You get reaaaaaaalllly close and peer over his shoulder.

>Covering the eye.
The best you have on your right now is the sunglasses. It looks like Morgan has an eyepatch though.

>Does it have anything to do with the Martian?
"Of course! I wouldn't come up with a daring solution to everything without her help! Do you know if she has optic blasters? I'll need optic blasters for this plan to work."

>>614177
Does our new eye have optic blasters?

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)20:36 No. 614179 ID: defceb
File 141930938225.png - (19.05KB , 840x600 , Morgan02.png )

>Enhance knockers
>"Whoops my bra broke."
Well THAT certainly got his attention.

"o-oh, hi Marie." He stammers.

>>614177
well we found out she has an optic problem but sadly no blasters, from what we've fingered together it seems that the reason she melted the bed was because she bleed out of coolant so is always at risk of overheating if she exerts herself to much... might be able to burn something with it but would most likely just catch the building on fire.

Lets just play along until he figures it out for himself, this is kinda fun.

>>614179
Tell him you don't have optic blasters. In fact you're basically down one eye since you found out it's not your original eye.

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)21:21 No. 614187 ID: defceb
File 141931207816.png - (13.03KB , 840x600 , Morgan03.png )

>"Sorry, no optic blasters here. Speaking of eyes though, do my eyes look the same from when we first met?"

"You mean when you took my eye? Yeah, they look the same to me. Personally I'm not a fan of having two differently colored eyes but hey whatever floats your boat." He responds, while keeping his sight decisively below eye level.

Haha, yes. Best plan.

>looks the same to me
He was kind of injured and high on the painkillers we drugged him with last time. I'm not sure we could trust his memory of our eyes to be accurate, anyways.

>Personally I'm not a fan of having two differently colored eyes
...I'm not really a fan of it either, but Halley talked me out of joining you in eyepatch-land.

What's the plan, so far?

can you enhance your knockers more? could be good for a laugh.

So what he's saying is that we have had two different color eyes since we first met? We're fairly sure we didn't have that when we first showed up and the only thing I can think of is where they could have installed it was when you had that flash back to when you first got a full robotic body.

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)22:26 No. 614203 ID: defceb
File 141931600047.png - (13.57KB , 840x600 , Morgan04.png )

>Enhance knockers more

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)22:31 No. 614204 ID: defceb
File 141931629730.png - (28.23KB , 840x600 , MorgansAwesomePlan.png )

>"...I'm not really a fan of it either, but Halley talked me out of joining you in eyepatch-land."

"Oh pssht, she's just being overly cautious as usual. 'It's too dangerous' this, 'You haven't recovered' that. You get the idea."

>"So what's the plan?"
"It's a little rough, and I'll have to change the optic blast part, but here's what I got so far."

"See, first I need to find something to replace my arm and leg. Then, I can turn 'em into an arm cannon and a rocket kick which I'll use to beat up that weirdo in the helmet. Meanwhile, you use your optic blasters...or something else, to wreck that other weird thing. Haley can be doing something sciencey during this time, I don't know."

"So after beating up those two, we'll rescue like ALL of the ladies and fly out of the place. Bonus points if we can make it explode behind us."

"Also I'll need a hook hand 'cause I look like a pirate now."

"Waddya think?"

I think you're a goof.

Apollo 2014/12/22(Mon)22:52 No. 614218 ID: defceb
File 141931755164.png - (6.60KB , 400x400 , MorganFace.png )

>"You're a goof."

"I thought the plan was good..."

"What about you? You got any ideas?"

>>614203
Geeze! Don't kill the boy.

>Data corrupt
...attempt data recovery? Rollback to an earlier version of the file?

>What about you? You got any ideas?
Well, you're right, we definitely need to find you a new arm and a leg. And I definitely wouldn't object to getting out of here and blowing the creepy stuff up.

...are there really a bunch of fly ladies down here?

(I am starting to wonder if he's still heavily medicated or just a little weird in the head).

>>614195
>can you enhance your knockers more? could be good for a laugh.

Test out his response to asymmetry! Make one huge and the other flat, then reverse.

>>614218
>"What about you? You got any ideas?"

Tear a hole in the ceiling to reach the floor with all the tools and spare parts while bypassing the compromised elevator and disrupting enemy defensive plans.

see if I can't find the building's layout plans to know where everything is and where to go. Head to floor 8 to gather coolant so I can walk down a hallway without worrying about bursting into flames and find you some robotic limbs that won't make you go crazy and try and kill me. After that, wing it until something else comes along.

Enough with the knockers.

"You're right in that you need new prosthetics. I wonder if there's a way to reset existing ones and shut down their wireless, that would spare use the search."

Finding coolant and building plans seems like a good place to start. Then we can figure out where to go from there.

I agree coolant should be our first priority.

Apollo 2014/12/23(Tue)13:04 No. 614532 ID: defceb
File 141936869896.png - (19.08KB , 840x600 , MorgansAwesomeMap.png )

>"...are there really a bunch of fly ladies down here?"
"Of course! Or at least there were a lot of cutiepatooties before everything went down. I'm sure a decent number of 'em survived. Some of the guys were pretty cute, now that I think about it. We can rescue them too, I guess."

>"Is there a way to reset an existing prosthetic and shut down their wireless?"
"Well everything is done digitally now, so I could force a factory reset if I had some sort of computer. Tearing out the wireless is easy enough, I can do that too."

>"I need to find coolant and a layout for the building."
"This stuff?" He says, pulling a small vial from his inventory. "Looks like tetrahoxinal. It might be in chemical storage on the tech floor. This is expensive stuff though, I'm impressed you had so much in you."

He then flips over the paper and starts scribbling on it. "Here's what I know of the building so far. I couldn't go anywhere else with my security clearance. More thorough plans might be hiding around in security rooms or administration offices."

>"Also we should get you some limbs."
"I like that plan."

Hmm. Do we know where we'd be likely to find a computer or limbs?

>>614532
PUT COOLANT IN BODY.

hmm so the coolant in in level six, but there are also lots of corrupted prosthetics according to Hayley.

Maybe there are weapons in security that we can use to help clear out the the tech area.

looks like it all depends on how well that bit of coolant there will do.

>>614554
Yes. Consume the test tube full of coolant with all reasonable haste.

Apollo 2014/12/23(Tue)16:31 No. 614614 ID: defceb
File 141938111537.png - (19.35KB , 840x600 , MorgansAwesomeMap2.png )

>Take back the coolant.
You swipe the coolant and down it like a shot of whiskey. It's not much, but it should keep you from burning up when you run around.

>Limbs/weapon/more coolant/computer
"I already told you all I know so far. I don't think there's much else we can plan for in here."

Let's just mosey on over to the elevator and go up to level 2. I suggest covering your bad eye with something so that it can't transfer your visuals and tell the enemy where you are.

ok then take the stairs to the security area and try to find a weapon.

Right. I'll see what I can find, then.

Take map, adjust knockers down to a reasonable level, and prepare to head out. Maybe check with Haley again.

Is there anything in particular we should be looking for in the ways of computers or replacements limbs for Morgan? Any advice for getting around this place?

>>614763
Adjust knockers AFTER talking to Haley. He isn't the only one who might like them.

Apollo 2014/12/24(Wed)01:42 No. 614835 ID: defceb
File 141941415149.png - (13.12KB , 840x600 , 185.png )

>"Anything in particular I should be looking for?"
"I don't suppose you happened to find the key to that locker way back? My bag should be in there, if you get that then we should be set for a computer."

>"Any advice for moving around?"
"Avoid the cameras. The guys who used to operate them bit the dust early, so whoever is using them now shouldn't be."

You take the map and bid him farewell for now.

Apollo 2014/12/24(Wed)01:52 No. 614837 ID: defceb
File 141941477856.png - (14.54KB , 840x600 , 186.png )

You enter the surgery room. Haley appears to be waiting for you by the exit.

"Leaving so soon? Probably for the best, we won't be getting any younger in here."

>"Before I go, I just needed to know. Something you could reassure me about. Did any of the advanced prosthetics you were working with look like me?"
"Some parts seem similar, but I don't recall anything that looked like you in total. Especially the ears. Never even approached the subject of artistic liberties with design."

>"Also did you know anyone with my name?"
"Marie is a fairly common name, but nobody comes to mind with the last name of Castillo."

any last minute advice before I go back out into the thick of it?

One more thing: Does the Grid run off some central computer somewhere, and what does it use for a power source? It occurs to me that if it uses external power we might just be able to make our way outside and slice a power line, and if there is a reactor somewhere deactivating that would be a win condition.

Ask her if she knows the term "rollback".

>Marie is a fairly common name, but nobody comes to mind with the last name of Castillo.
The date Haley gave you is still a year before you were uplifted. You probably didn't meet before they had almost gotten the mental uplift tech working (or almost working) and started looking for volunteers.

Can you remember when you first met? You memories are kind of a mess, still, and you admitted the ones from before uplift were harder.

>Especially the ears
Touch ear, vaguely self consciously, and try to remember if you suggested that part of the design yourself.

Apollo 2014/12/24(Wed)12:58 No. 615010 ID: defceb
File 141945472344.png - (7.34KB , 840x600 , 187.png )

>Touch ear, vaguely self consciously, and try to remember if you suggested that part of the design yourself.
The ears were your idea. Someone had mentioned that you could be built to look like anything, and you had originally proposed ears as a joke. They ended up being really fun to have, although sometimes others would make a joke at their expense.

>Can you remember when you first met?
You try to remember when that was, but it slips right through your fingers. A year before the uplift. Or a month. It's too nebulous at this point.

>"Do you know the term 'rollback'?"
"As it relates to you? I could make guesses, but they'd be no better than wild assumptions. Perhaps it's like a backup restore on computers? Or a hiccup in software. I'm loath to make a serious answer without knowing more though."

>"One more thing: Does the Grid run off some central computer somewhere, and what does it use for a power source? It occurs to me that if it uses external power we might just be able to make our way outside and slice a power line, and if there is a reactor somewhere deactivating that would be a win condition."
"Everything here is powered by the geothermal plant it was built upon. Some facilities, like this room, use a separate generator. I was uninvolved in it's restoration, if you want to shut down power I'd seek out one of our engineers."

>"Any last minute advice before I go back out into the thick of it?"
"Here, take this." She holds out a... uh... it's a...

>"Okay I give up, what is that?"
"It's a cassette player. Archaic tech, I know. But it's analog, and several of the people who worked here used them as a journal of sorts. Perhaps you can find some insight in their words."

Cassette player added to your inventory!

"Stay safe out there. Your current condition worries me. If there is anything I can do after all, don't be afraid to ask."

You bid each other farewell and then you leave the room.

>>615010
Start listening to the tape.

Apollo 2014/12/24(Wed)13:03 No. 615019 ID: defceb
File 141945501327.png - (25.21KB , 840x600 , 188.png )

You enter the hallway!

An automated voice plays over the loudspeaker. It's feminine, stilted, and discomforting.

"A quarantine has been declared on this floor. The [incubation room] has been breached and [biological contaminants] are present. Please await further instruction."

The message repeats every minute.

>>615019
i-is that YOUR blood, i mean coolant? unnerving.
what's the purple/pink stuff?

Is that the hole from your escape pod? Look up it.

>Your current condition worries me.
...it worries you too. At least you have someone trying to help, now.

>biological contaminants
Well, luckily that doesn't present an immediate threat to you, unless we're talking macro-sized science project monsters. Or caustic enough chemicals to damage your artificial chassis.

Although you might have to be decontaminated before returning to the others if you're exposed. Luckily, they're holed up in surgery, where there should have some sterilization stuff.

>>615027
...yeah. Looks like blood, coolant... and unknown purple stuff.

>camera
It saw you already, too. Maybe we should disable it? So it can't tell when you come and go in the future. Chuck a piece of rubble at it, maybe.

this is outside of the grid right? who made this?

Well unless you know how to open the door let's see what down the other end of the hallway.

Geothermal means the power supply is almost certainly in the basement. Fire-escape stairs seem like a reasonable route to explore.

One more thing about the mystery-meat eye problem: how long ago (by your own internal clock) was the last time you downloaded any sort of software update, what was the date that update was officially released, and which server did you download it from? If the answer to part one of that question is "after I crashed" I don't think there's any available good answer to part three.

Apollo 2014/12/29(Mon)23:23 No. 616722 ID: defceb
File 141992423358.png - (7.88KB , 840x600 , 189.png )

>Listen to the tape.
“...is this thing on? Testing, testing. This is Engineer Kirkman and today’s date is uh… well anyway. I’ll be recording future notes on this old device. I’ve come to believe that our digital security is compromised. My colleagues wish to deflect my concerns given my therapeutic difficulties but I am firmly convinced that there is a very real problem. I first noticed something off when my tools were slightly out of place. Now, normally others would not handle my equipment given my need for them to be in the EXACT right order and place, but it’s not entirely unheard of for a friend in need to borrow them.”

“But then I noticed that the cameras had begun moving outside their normal routine. After that some of the doors wouldn’t close all the way. Now the elevator is moving a little slower between floors. Everything is just slightly out of place.”

“I thought it would be clever to set up a camera, so course when I checked it had been wiped clean. Now they’re just playing with me. Someone in this building is not who they claim to be. They’re out of place, and I don’t like things that are out of place.”

Apollo 2014/12/29(Mon)23:25 No. 616723 ID: defceb
File 141992430035.png - (25.66KB , 840x600 , 190.png )

"A quarantine has been declared on this floor. The [incubation room] has been breached and [biological contaminants] are present. Please await further instruction."

>Throw rubble at the camera
Take that, camera!

"A quarantine has been declared on this floor-” CRUNCH ”-That was not very nice, Marie.”

>>616723
Uh, what? Ask who that is.

>That was not very nice, Marie
Cameras don't have feelings, and you can't complain about property damage on property you stole in the first place.

(Jump to the end end of the tape, and start recording. Be nice to know later if this conversation is audible or in our head).

Who am I speaking with? You know my name, what you you called?

Also, look for the speaker as you're talking.

Are you? And while we are talking, you know who I am, so would you mind saying who you are?

>That was not very nice, Marie
Neither is spying!

Apollo 2014/12/30(Tue)20:08 No. 616911 ID: defceb
File 141999888693.png - (25.85KB , 840x600 , 191.png )

>Check last software updated.
The most recent one recorded was the software update you just had before waking up. It's listed as being from an alm_r_repairprotocol.

You jump to the end of the tape and hit record.
>"Cameras don't have feelings, and you can't complain about property damage on property you stole in the first place. "
"A quarantine has been declared on this floor. The [incubation room] has been breached and [biological contaminants] are present. Please await further instruction."

A brief look around doesn't reveal any visible speakers.
>"Who are you?"
"A quarantine has been declared on this floor. The [surgery hall] has been breached and [a nosy jerk] is present. Please await further instruction."

You take a look up the hole in the roof. It's too dark to see anything up there, but it couldn't have been from your escape pod, you're in the wrong side of the building.
"A quarantine has been declared on this floor. The [error: location null] has been breached and [psychological contaminants] are present. Please await further instruction."

This is fruitless. You climb over the rubble and into the stairway.