beammeout | TEST DRIVE MEME!

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TEST DRIVE MEME!

WHAT HAPPENS IN SPACE VEGAS STAYS IN SPACE VEGAS

The ship has made a stop at a city-planet to acquire some supplies-- and just everyone's luck, it's one of those wonderful mostly-lawless places where you can do or get pretty much anything. About the only thing the local government seems to frown on is outright murder, though it's quickly apparent that most of the planet's places of business include some rather heavily-armed security to deter thieves and other ne'er-do-wells. Still, it's a chance to get away from the zombies and breathe some non-recycled atmosphere for a while...

Scenarios:

#1: Screw that, I'm staying on board.

Just what it says on the tin. Your character has some plans now that the ship's mostly cleared of both unwilling passengers and zombies.. the Master might even be away! Time for a little reconnaissance behind locked doors?

#2: All work and no play makes Jack something something.

Unhappily for you, you were given a mission on-planet that you should probably try to complete before you go have fun... well, unless you want to get your air supply cut off or any of another thousand yucky things. Thankfully, you just have to pick up that really big palette of mysterious crates watched over by those really big unsmiling dudes.. or was it that other big stack of crates?

#3: Well it's not technically illegal.

There's something on-planet-- money, technology, shinies, whatever your character's heart desires. Only problem is, you can't seem to acquire it by normal economic activities. Ocean's Eleven in Space, anyone?

#4: The chips are down.

It's Space Vegas. Your character is gonna go have a look at the space casinos, or take in a space MMA battle, or whatever other ridiculous thing you can think of on a planet where you can do pretty much anything you can afford... and you've got just enough in credits or barter to cash in...

#5: Wild card! Choose your own adventure!

DO

~Post a top-level comment for a character who will be NEW to the game. So, like.. everybody. If you want to.

~Make sure to label your post with your character's name and originating canon.

~Tag as if you're already stuck on this wonderful ship! Make sure to read through the game info before tagging.

~If you are really shy, try tagging one of the threads already there!

DON'T

~Walk out of the airlocks without a space suit. Jeeze.

~Taunt happy fun ball.

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Well, sometimes when you're a few thousand years old robot that's burned through a couple shells, well, you wind up with some really stupid base programs cluttering up your main things. Thus self-censoring.

For her situation, though, that was a lot simpler. "Used to be programmed to guard against it. Though if we had a skilled engineer, well, they can take something apart and reassemble it the way they found it provided they had one of those nano-engineering kits. I'm good at self repair, but nano-stuff's not something I could ever wrap my head around. Huh... that code sounds like something an idiot's put on his luggage. This guy sounds insane. Not entirely smart, but I doubt he thinks that orderly. Hey! Why don't you give 5-4-3-2-1 a try?"

He waits for a moment after saying that before realizing his mistake. "Though if he's nutty about security, it probably logs any attempt someone makes on it, so if we don't have something to wipe our attempt... even if we got it right he'd know. Oh, yeah. I know this stuff because I used to run a lot of security, so all these little details are what I'm programmed to check and detect for. Guess we should go do something else and maybe soft ball some ideas."

Edited 2014-07-01 01:15 (UTC)

"I tried 5-4-3-2-1, as well. I tried several things. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try the easy ones first. After all, there are some people who leave their password as 'password' you know," Maya said, with a roll of her eyes.

"But here's what I want to know. We're in space, right? Why is the lock for this door a keypad? I have one of those on my phone. Why don't they want... space stuff for the lock? Like your palm print or a retina scan or something like from any of the sci-fi movies I've seen? Why is entering in a number enough?"

She frowned at the lock and sighed. "Unless there are traps or something once we get the door open. Maybe you're right. Maybe we should go brainstorm and regroup."

He nods. He figured the usual place for organics to hang out was the galley. Because that's where he found them. He decided to lead her that direction for them to just talk. "Well, keypads are pretty common for anything where biometrics won't work. I mean, I'm a robot, so I don't have unique biometrics that can be keyed in. And biometrics can be fooled in a way a simple keypad can't. Keypads can be hacked, but you know, that requires specialized gear, and can bust your brain if you use a brain hack," He told her, detailing why that might be there.

"Ultimately any security system is a trade off of how easy you want access versus how secure you want it to be." He knocks on this wall. "If you wanted to hide the secrets of something? The wall of a ship is good. Hard to access without spider drones and hard to find if you don't know where it is. But still takes forever even with spider drones and previous knowledge. And can't spot weld it out cause that might set something you need on fire," He shrugged some. It wasn't long after his boring rant that they were at the Galley and he sat down, his body moving like he was taking a deep breath.

"This ship is such a hunk of junk."

Maya was all for food. Food was delicious. Sometimes. The food on this ship... not so much. Though she had the good grace to look confused at some of his discussion about robot spiders. And it probably came through in her expression.

"Um... okay. I understood maybe a quarter of that. Hiding stuff in the wall makes sense. Robots not being able to access unique biometrics makes sense. you lost me at spider drones," Maya said, shrugging a little. "The most complicated thing I know how to work some days is my cell phone. And since getting unceremoniously dumped here, I don't even have that anymore."

She sighed a little. Though at his statement about the ship being a hunk of junk, Maya laughed.

"I have to agree with you about the ship. Most of the ships in the movies and stuff that I've seen are a lot... nicer. This one seems to be falling apart."

He decided he'd make her some food. Just some practice at it. He head over to the kitchen, inviting her over to watch him. He rumaged around the supplies as he thinks on it. "Well, I've been on a lot of ships myself. This would be an okay ship maybe if we were just starting to fly into space. Artificial gravity, stuff like that. But I've been on a Colossus-Class Dreadnought where I'm from and those things are 5 KM long but a crew of 250 can operate it efficiently enough. This thing is much smaller than that, but got's dead heads all running about to keep it working. Don't worry about the spider bots though, I just ramble sometimes. Old bot habit."

He shook his head some as he got a few things he recognized. Eggs and bacon. He got a pan, spinning it around before putting it down to heat it up. "Knowing how to cook means most organics are more likely to give me power," he noted. "Be good if we could get a skilled engineer though. So what time and pace are you from? I've noticed most of us have some overlap of details."

"Well, this is the first time I've ever been on a space ship," Maya said, watching him cook. "And you're the first robot I've ever met that talks and moves around and stuff. And... let's not talk about the 'dead heads' as you put it. They're really creepy. It's like they're alive, but not alive. Really creepy zombies."

The zombies scared Maya. A lot.

"So what are you going to make?" she asked, watching him cook. As to his question as to where and when she was from, she figured there was no harm in answering it. No robot apocalypse anytime soon, right? This guy seemed pretty friendly. "I'm from 21st century earth. My name's Maya, by the way."

He nodded some. "Figured that would be the way for a few people. Heh... I get that plenty. I'm an oddity even in my own universe, but I'm used to zombies like that. Guess why I just kinda shrug at it. But let's move on if they creep you out."

"Bacon and eggs. You can have it, just being nice." He chuckled some, putting the bacon in. He washed his hands first though before handling it directly. "23rd century was when I was built. Earth though is my home too. Though I left around... um, 77th century? I think. I got turned off for a few thousand years here and there, so I missed a lot of it. Think I've gone through four shells though. Oh, I just go by my original designation. MDR-27. I've never been that creative." He shook his head some, taking the bacon out before putting the eggs in so they'd soak up the bacon juices.

"Wow. I just... Um. Wow. So... you're about five thousand years old? Even if you were turned off for some of it? And four shells? So you're on your fourth body? Does it hurt when they move you from body to body? Do you get to keep your memories?"

This? Was fascinating. In a way it was like talking to someone who had been reincarnated a lot and got to keep all their memories. At least from Maya's frame of reference.

"I'm a spirit medium. I can deal with people that are alive or people that are dead. But those zombies are kind of caught somewhere in between. That's what makes them so creepy."

He gave a nod, finishing up teh eggs before pouring them out. He leads her over to the table so she can eat while they talk. Would at least give her some reasons to stop talking.

"It doesn't really hurt, but there's two ways to transfer body. The slow and right way, and saving your ass kind of way. 1 to 2 was them getting me into a functional body from the frozen one they found me in. They did that right. 2 to 3 was because I met some really nice robot species named the Sprawls, and they thought I was cool, so got me a new shell. 3 to 4 though was an emergency retrofit, so lost a lot of data there. Losing... um, data to a robot is like losing one's memories for a human. I mean, all my personality is in my program, but my memories are stored as data. Some memories get laced into your core programming anyways though, why I'm not the same bot that used to guard crates in... yeah, Marseilles." He rolls his shoulders, thinking some on it.

"So you're a Seer then? Really potent one. Not a lot of people can talk with PSI-Anima directly, quite a talent. The Psychic Unity would love to talk with you. If the operational rules over this 'verse are like mine, you could talk to my spirit if you want. or PSI-Anima like the nerds where I'm from. We use a religion neutral term. Zombies where I'm from though..."

He trails off, seeming to think some before making a huffing noise.

"WEll, they operate via the principle that two spirits cannot be the same. You clone yourself as is, accelerate to your age, and release them. Since it's incapable of having a spirit, it becomes a docile, sub-sentient creature. Same reason someone can't copy my program to create more sentient robots. Also helps get around loopholes about you can't test on other people but you can test on yourself. They aren't common anymore since the Silnead started out producing with their sub-sentient bots that are cheaper and easier to handle, but you see them in genetic testing labs. Silnead's a robot manufacturer, though I'd be all black, sleak, and red and stuff if I was from them."

Maya listened to all of that explanation, as she totally dug into the bacon and eggs. They were pretty good, she had to admit. MDR was pretty talented, if she had to say so herself. She set the plate aside when she had finished (and my had she made that food disappear fast) and settled back in her chair, processing everything that he had said.

"Well... people change. I'm not the same person I was when I started helping my friend Nick, and I have all of my memories. People change over time, that's just a thing that happens. It sucks that you lost some of your memories between bodies. But... I guess it's better some of your memories than you not be around at all?"

She was frowning slightly. "Is there any way you could get those memories back?"

Probably not, but it was worth asking about.

At his questions about her being a seer, Maya considered it. "Well, I'm pretty decent at what I do. I can talk to ghosts, spirits or PSI-Anima to use your term. But the person in question generally has to be dead. Since you're alive, I don't think I could talk to your spirit. That would get kind of awkward, you know." She paused, considering it. "There are very rare exceptions. I knew a guy who basically was a ghost inhabiting his own body. That was pretty interesting. But those were some pretty extreme circumstances, and even then, he was still technically alive. Honestly, you're alive, but since I don't know what happens to robot spirits after you guys die, or get blown up, or whatever, I don't know if I'd be able to talk to your ghost or not."

At his last point, she blinked, and processed what she could out of it. Silnead meant nothing to her. But she worked around the rest of it.

"That makes sense though. I mean, technically, even if a person dies and is reincarnated, they're different. If you cloned a person, they'd be their own thing, with their own spirit. Theoretically at least. The technology where I'm from hasn't gotten that far, but that's what all the movies and stories I've read on the matter seems to suggest. Well, that if something is cloned, it starts life as a baby, so it has to grow up all over again, meaning it will have a completely different development."

"You'd have to be a tech experiment and dredge through my old burn out hard-drive. Well, I'm not being entirely truthful. a Psi-Anima holds all memories, forgotten and remembered, in it. But it's more of an imprint. Nobody's been able to figure out how you translate the imprints into, well, proper memories," He said, twisting his hand around in the air a bit as he lets her move on, talking about the reincarnation and the rest.

"Yeah, that holds true for the cloning. Clone yourself, release it as baby, and it's own thing. It's the rapid aging and holding it in the tube that does it. Oh, I can understand the not being able to talk to it when I'm here and all. Most PSI-Anima... are treated as a part of a three piece whole. There's the Body, Mind, and Soul, as the psychics would put it. Though for most bots, like me, body is more optional. I feel odd without one, I don't have any memories without a heavy duty combat frame, but it's different for Sprawls. Like, Sprawls for robots are odd. Most AI codes you... just like, make, and they self-evolve on their own. Theirs can... comingle, to break off and create new codes. Like, two Ais can have digital sex, and make a baby AI. Those things spend at least 30 years in cyberspace before getting their own body. They feel at home in cyberspace as realspace." He rolled his shoulder, shaking his head some.

"I'm sure I'm being boring as s*Beep*t but I don't sit down and chat that much."

"You're not being boring! This is all really interesting! I've never gotten to talk to a robot before! And getting to talk to someone about metaphysical stuff like spirit channeling and stuff is actually pretty fun!"

Maya smiled at him reassuringly.

"Though I have to admit, you list me a little bit about the whole AIs having digital sex and having baby AIs thing. That just sounds... too weird."

Not that she was judging. She just had no frame of reference for anything like that. Heck, even the sci-fi stuff that she had seen didn't cover anything like that. If it had robots in it, they were generally constructed after all.

"Oh, that's good then. Though if you think the Sprawls are weird. There's the Control. Most of us Bots think the same no matter what body we're in, but for the Control, half their processing is from their Bodies, so the same AI can act entirely different just because you put them in another shell. Some of them don't even have Neural Nets, so they talk like the user interface on a... desktop." He shook his head before leaning about. "Now I'm talking about Robotics. Ahhh..."

"Sorry I don't have much of a face." He noted, looking over at her smile. He had glows and the like, but his eyes were simple, glowing blue optics and his face looked more like a gasmask than, well, a face.

"Wait. Wait. I think you just lost me again. Some AIs have digital sex. Others are tied to their bodies, so their whole personalities can change depending on what bodies their in? I mean, I guess that would kind of be like reincarnation in a person, but... not really. Do these... Control or whatever... do they switch bodies regularly?"

Maya was all the confused now, MDR. All of the confused.

And she blinked even more in confusion at his statement about not having a face.

"That's not your fault, so you don't have anything to apologize for! You can't really control how you were built, right? I mean... that would be like me apologizing for me having brown eyes or whatever."

Maya had seen some strange things. She might not know the most about technology, but she was just figured that, especially if MDR had gone through 4 bodies or whatever, he hadn't really had much of a say in what they looked like or the technology levels.

"They change bodies as needed," MDR replied. He watched her blinking some. He took a movement like he was taking a deep breath, though there was certainly the sound of some air coming out. It wasn't from his mouth though.

"I guess you have a point there. My third shell was the only one that had any sort of expression. Honestly would like something else than this frame, but I think we're not really in a place where anything else I could find would be up to snuff."

"The Control guys are officially weird," Maya decided, with an air of finality. Changing bodies and changing who you are? No thanks.

As for MDR's discussion about wanting a different frame, Maya considered it.

"Well, I don't know anything about robotics. If you want a new body, we'd have to find you an engineer. Or a robotics... person. I've met a guy who knows about computers, but that doesn't mean he knows about robots. We'll keep our eyes peeled. But yeah, I wouldn't get your hopes too high just yet. Heck, this ship is a mess. You don't want any new bodies you get falling apart the way the ship is, right?"

"Yeah, I think you're right on that point. I've got plenty of go out of this body anyways, so I'm not going to worry too much about it. I have a question for you though. Kinda a weird one."

He took a pause.

"Do you think the fact I drain power from dead robots as a form of cannibalism?"

Maya was about to say something about MDR still having plenty of go in his current body. Really, she was. But then he asked her that question about robot cannibalism and she was thrown totally for a loop.

So she blinked, and actually considered it.

"Well... I think partially it depends on a few things. I mean... you aren't killing the other robots, right? They're already dead. Also, historically there are a lot of cultures that ate the dead. People eating other people can cause diseases, but I don't know if that applies to you."

She paused, considering something else. "Besides, it's only really cannibalism if you're eating other robots that are like you. And if you're not eating them, and just draining their energy, that might be more like vampirism anyway."

"Robot Vampire. Honestly that sounds a lot better. Thanks. So tell me more about yourself. I've been rambling and all and kept you from that."

So vampirism was better than cannibalism? Maya wasn't quite sure if MDR was being serious or not, but she'd take his word for it, for now.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Maya asked, leaning back in her chair, and considering it. "I'm a spirit medium. I can talk to ghosts, but I already told you that. I can also channel them. That's... a bit harder to explain."

She thought for a few moments.

"I also know some things about law. My friend is a lawyer, and I was his assistant for a few years."

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TEST DRIVE MEME!

Good Idea! Alert Phases are no Joke.

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