ROVER: A Hard Day's Toil

[Amora]

%5BB%5D%5BSIZE%3D%224%22%5DThe%20Red%20Queen%5B%2FSIZE%5D%5B%2FB%5D%5Bfloatright%5D%5BIMG2%3D200%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnVFPlTl.jpg%5B%2FIMG2%5D%5B%2FFloatright%5D

The Red Queen

---

The AGI had was immersed in their data trawling of the available networks and their dataspace and realspace topographies, assimilating information at a rapid pace through the sheer capacity they now possessed as a Triumvirate rather than a singular entity. That said, the Principle Ego was still attentive to exterior stimulus at this time and surfaced from the depths of the sea of data to assume somatic control of their biological substrate and, per social protocols, spare a glance towards Linda with an expression best regarded as sterile consideration. The processes and routines responsible for emotional emulation were still in a constant state of re-design and re-implementation based on growing observed behavior of Transhumanity. A baseline proving exceedingly difficult to establish through a medium of academic data and anecdotal observation.

There was a silence in kind as the Red Queen consulted data models, utilizing their own understandings of Exsurgent Technology and Nano-tech platforms. Whilst not an exhaustive understanding, it was of sufficient depth and complexity that they were confident within established margins for error to accept this as an accurate assessment.

 

Tacnet

>> Extrapolation: Field trials, 14.66%. Elaboration: Population contained but connected under official business permits. Disappearances, ego included, would be noted by nearby luddite authorities due to immigration/work permit requirements, potential to invite investigation: 67%. Addendum Consideration: Junta intelligence actors, capable if limited by functioning parameters. Tertiary Consideration: Environmental factors, experiment parameters too variable for establishment of baseline performance analytics.

 

Sysadmin

Edited December 20, 2023 by Amora (see edit history)

[NorthOfOrdinary]

Valkyrie

---

Valkyrie eyed the arm wrestling contest curiously before her eyes were drawn to the neo-gorilla and the woman sharing a table at the far end of the room. The animal's expression and the hungry eyes on the less furry one supported an inference that they clearly knew something that she didn't. Something that concerned them. Whether it was related to their search or not, she was going to find out what that was.

 

"Hello there, got room for one more?" Valkyrie invited herself to another table within earshot of the suspicious duo. She was armed with a smile. "They always bet on these games?" The agent did her best to carry on a proper conversation while actually keeping her ear on the gorilla's low voice.

[Morkskittar]

Valkyrie

Valkyre paid the arm-wrestling tournament little heed, and instead headed for the neo-gorilla and their female friend. The woman in the coat watched Valkyrie approach with increasingly wide eyes that seemed to struggle to stay focused, while the neo-gorilla stared unashamedly.

"Can't exactly stop you from joining us, seeing as how there are two free chairs at this table still. I can't imagine why you'd want to, though." The neo-gorilla looked Valkyrie up and down. "You're one of the new batch, aren't you? Trying to get your run of the place? Well, I doubt I'll be much help. You look like one of the shrink squad, maybe. Or an entertainer."

The woman in the coat looked at Valkyrie with renewed interest. "One of the C-c-c-colonel's? D-d-d-do you think you c-c-c-could h-h-hook me up with some of that..." She fell silent at the neo-gorilla's narrowed eyes.

The gorilla gestured expansively at an empty chair. "We would be glad for your company. Less macho posturing here than over there. I'm Xie Gonji, one of the sergeants in security. It's a busier post than you'd think. My... nervous little friend here with the nightmares is Sabrina. How can we help you?"

---

Mei

The clerk nodded, took Mei's company ID and noted it down in some file, and pass them four blocks of feedstock without another word. Without anything else to do there, they headed out, prodding Bhramari to see if they'd found anything on their hypothetical academic. They responded, somewhat tetchily, that it would be a an hour or two before they could cross-reference the publications, chronology, and institutions in addition to the tasks they already had. Mei let them be, and set an alarm to check back with them later that evening, and headed back toward the suite. They noted Linda's messageTacNet messages can be assumed to be visible to all. with interest, and then arrived back at the suite, feedstock in hand, with no further trouble.

---

Red Queen//Linda, and then Mei

With Marcus gone, the Red Queen focused on extrapolating likely hardwired mesh accessGiven the failed test, the list is not very specific, and is mostly common-sense places to look instead of exact locations. points given the structure of the colony. They found themselves somewhat bewildered; they had initially thought the design of the residential areas to resemble either the fractals the TITANs were so fond of mixed with some sort of eusocial insect hive, but there was clearly some other logic at work here. The fractal resemblance was only superficial, there were repeated structures, but they were rife with imperfections, and that confused their sense of the mesh network overlaying it. They dropped down several layers of thinking, and puzzled out the most obvious locations for hardwired deep mesh network access points in the residential areas.

• The VIP quarters.
• The security offices; while any of them could have it, they put their money on Security Central (Sec-Cen), which was located on the fourth level of the residential area, not too far from the entrance to the mines and the working colony.
• The primary psych ward, located on the first floor, near the shuttleport.

They guessed that other access points would be contained in other levels of the colony, but they were out of reach for now.

Linda's attention was drawn by Marcus's ramblings, and out of curiosity, she checked the mesh for any mentions of a union, and found one. She opened a brief summary file.

Mephisto Union of Minors (MUM)

The Mephisto Union of Miners, or MUM, was established six months after the founding of the colony of Saint Aster by Marcus Sykes following the death of Aurora Sedaris, who fell into a mining nanoswarm and was consumed and rendered into parts. After a successful wildcat strike, he won recognition from the colony's authorities and has since led the colony's union. His tireless work has resulted in the rapid expansion of recreational facilities for workers and shorter shifts, making him a popular figure among many of the mining workers. He is less popular among security and the senior staff, but no one can doubt that he looks after his people.

All employees are eligible to join the union after employment for one month, at which point a representative will contact them.

Mei walked back into the suite then, feedstock in hand.

[NickNameless]

Linda

---

TacNet

It looks to me like the place may have been intentionaly designed to be confusing. Lots of nooks and crannies mean plenty of places to hide things up. Like a secret lab. Damn, for all we know, those "accidents" may be a cover-up for tests ran on the locals...

Linda commented.

TacNet

I can try the hardwired mesh access point from the psych yard when I'm starting working, but until then, we should try and have a talk with this guy,

she said, sharing the summary file with the others. Was it paranoid to think a sentence that begins by "No one can doubt..." could hide exactly the opposite of what came after those words? Maybe Mr. Sykes was just a cog of the machine at best, a tool of the system at worst, soothing the miners by giving them the illusion that someone was fighting for them... But Linda decided not to share those thoughts for the moments, so she kept the rest of the communication vague.

TacNet

If there were other disappearances that the ones we already know about, he will be the one to know. Maybe we can establish some sort of pattern.

One way or another.

Gee. You know you're gonna have to work on those trust issues one day or another, they're not as healthy as you like to think, Dhara's scolded her, but she ignored it.

TacNet

Then maybe we can establish some sort of pattern. — Or otherwise, we can just chat him up about the newcomers and see what are his thoughts on the three targets our employers painted for us. There may be another lead there.

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by NickNameless (see edit history)

[TheRaconteur]

Mei/Li/Rin

---

Mei and Li had been discussing the feasibility of hacking the feedstock monitoring system as they walked back to their quarters, when Li noticed the back and forth the Red Queen and Linda had been having.

TacNet

>> What do you need a hard point for? We can take care of any meshrunning.

Bhramari interjected, as she usually did.

TacNet

>> What Li is trying to communicate is our expertise at any hacking you might need done, as well as the Red Queen's.

TacNet

>> Query: Red Queen

Wanna take a first pass at the hab's systems? I'd like to establish protocol for spoofing our feedstock registry, but we can take it slow.

They had nothing but time, so they could take it slow. They wouldn't need to try any brute force maneuvers like they had at the Fort. They could tease their way in, spoof some credentials, and gain access to the whole hab without anyone being the wiser. It would take a true genius of a InfoSec host to catch either of them, and working jointly they were neigh unstoppable.

They still thought their idea of looking for published works was a good one. The target was a narcissist, right? Surely they'd want their genius recognized by their peers. Mei had never gone in for all that academia nonsense, they'd always been far more interested in practical application than theory. Still, they didn't resent the brainiacs. Someone had to push the edge of what could be imagined.

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[Amora]

%5BB%5D%5BSIZE%3D%224%22%5DThe%20Red%20Queen%5B%2FSIZE%5D%5B%2FB%5D%5Bfloatright%5D%5BIMG2%3D200%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnVFPlTl.jpg%5B%2FIMG2%5D%5B%2FFloatright%5D

The Red Queen

---

There was an element of agitation now bleeding at the unfamiliarity inherent to non-exsurgent information systems. There was... an inefficiency but the Red Queen was unable to determine if this was a deliberate attempt to render the overall network architecture labyrinthine or if this was merely a byproduct of institutional inertia resulting in non-uniform decision maker due to diversity of principle actors and architects. It was a point of fixation now as they pulled apart data points and gleamed what intelligence they could which arrived, thankfully, at a hypothesis as to the most statistically probable points for physical mesh-access with the necessary security bypasses in place to leverage to a useful outcome. This information was rapidly disseminated with an addendum notation that it be utilized as a tentative confirmation of previous hypothesis that had been presented about where they could get access to more sensitive information caches.

In all of this, the Principle Red Queen almost didn't notice the tac-net communications until Inversion gently reminded them that people were talking to them and that service protocols demanded, at least, an acknowledgement of the saliant conversational points.

Tacnet

>> Agreement: Network structure similarly... inefficient. Hypothesis: Tandem consequence of organic development/deliberate design to reduce attack surface/isolate vulnerable functions/secure assets. Addendum: Psych data caches statistically probable to contain personnel profiles, once security data access achieved... Cross reference? Elaboration: Utilize to determine individuals gone missing due to 'disappearance' via cessation of appointments... Possible tertiary data point required; departures? Accessible via security data cache? Addendum Consideration: If asset loss deliberate due to test processes, data falsification may be in effect.

The Red Queen paused for a moment as they sat down and reviewed the presented request from the other tenured asset on this excursion. As ever though, their digital tone was... loud. Not because of actual volume but simply because there was a persistent undertone of force behind it as if the AGI was used to a consistently aggressive and dangerous environment where any communication required a constant predatory posturing. Only Mei/Li/Rei could understand and know the reason for this. The quirk of constant translation and restructuring to present the most efficient, clear possible dialect and syntax choices also continued to be a prevalent theme even with Inversion's social protocols in play.

Tacnet

>> Acknowledgment: Per prior data broadcast, initial assessment of network architecture... difficult. Intrusion processes require delicacy at current interval until better resolution of entrenched counter measures/system form is achieved. Addendum: Indicate readiness to proceed?

It was no more than both were already aware of especially given this was declared by their principle employers as a Firewall facility. The Red Queen, however, was used to digital engagements with exo-virus corrupted systems, entities, and other factors that defied precise linguistical definition under the current paradigm of languages they possessed. A biological intellect, should there be active overwatch, presented an easier challenge to subvert, divert, and overall cut off from their own system administrations as required. The same could be said of most of the local low level, unemancipated digital intellects. All saliant points that were referenced in a direct data file providing a concise outline of executables possessed by the Triumvirate of the Red Queen at this time that was sent to Mei/Li/Rei.

 

Infosec - Subversion spec + 30 Team work

OOC: Above roll is preemptive for subverting and spoofing registry credentials for said fab stock dispensers. Trying to be subtle about it and leave as few traces as possible.

 

 

Edited January 3 by Amora (see edit history)

[Morkskittar]

Valkyrie

Valkyrie nodded to Gonji and Sabrina, and introduced herself, but as a member of the security force. Gonji grunted. "Security? Well, you are certainly unassuming. That can be an advantage." Valkyrie and the gorilla continued talking, while Sabrina looked increasingly twitchy, until she excused herself and practically ran away. Valkyrie asked what was troubling the young woman, and the gorilla waved it away. "Anxiety condition. She's not good at managing her meds, and the psych squad are cutting her off. They'll probably send her away, or down to rehab soon." She grimaced. "Hopefully they'll send her away; rehab her is not pretty, and it's pretty full for a company hab where they seem to actually care about your mental health. At least on paper."

OOC

I'll be GMPCing Valkyrie for a bit, updating her conversation along with the rest of the posts. Due to TacNet, you can all listen in, and interject/give her suggestions on things to ask.

---

Red Queen//Linda//Mei

As the trio of conspirators back in the quarters chatted, an interesting ping hit all four of them, from T.Z., one of the members of the other taskforce (TOPHAT):

<Maria Bates is acting suspiciously and has access to weapons and some level of nanotech. They may be your target, and if the briefing is in any way reliable, I shall remind you that that means they may be using a distributed consciousness. I would add more details, but frankly I don't care and it's not my problem to sort out. Have at it.>

Almost out of reflex, both the Red Queen and Li immediately searched for public records of "Maria Bates," and saw that she was a data analyst in a savant morph, and apparently rooming with the other group. She was, like them, a new employee, and so had not been on the station long.

Bhramari sent a message to Mei a few moments later, having identified three active scholars in the field of nanotech distributed consciousness that fit the profile:

• Dr. Natalia Pelegyne: She began publishing papers only within the last year, and is credited as an "independent scholar" with no institutional affiliations. Her work is mostly published in semi-predatory journals, save for one paper in Nanite Letters on "Nanotechnological Hiveminds and the Environment: Incorporating Unthinking Objects into Distributed Thinking Processes." Her work tended to the grandiose and her hypotheses (and conclusions) seemed overblown, which likely accounted for her inability to be published elsewhere.
• Dr. Michael Hargraves: An assistant research professor at Olympus Mons University who has been on sabbatical for the last two years... despite having only been appointed to the job two years ago. They have published in several mid-tier journals on topics related to "Mining with Minds: A case study of asteroid mining in the Jovian belt," "Extracting the Future: Distributed consciousness in nanobot swarms and quantum echoes," and "The Many-and-One Principle in Nanotechnology: Sequentially integrating, separating, and coordinating many swarms and one as a theoretical and applied exercise." He only began publishing after getting his appointment, and no record of his existence could be found earlier than two years ago.
• Dr. Mir-Hossein Hoftada: The director of psychiatric operations at Saint Aster Colony, Mu-Xian Investments Mining Company. Has published frequently on multiple personalities, but in the last eight months has also published three papers on the use of nanotechnology in psychosurgery, including "Hijacking Neuroses: Using nanotechnology to quarantine neurochemical problems," "Distributed-Consciousness Nanotechnology and Psychiatry: Treating addiction, isolation, and anxiety with robots," and "Thinking Fast: Nanites, distributed consciousness, and standardized exams." These three papers were the first he had ever published on nanotech, and the most recent (the third one) was published only three weeks ago.

While none of these were the names they had been given, one of them was definitely a person of interest, and the other two were suspicious.

The Red Queen was only half listening to any of the conversations going on, but successfully set up pre-emptive spoofing for the fabber registry credentials. They were was pleased with the results; their illicit activities should be completely undetectable.

Almost as if in response to Linda's queries about Marcus, the morph stepped out of his private quarters and stopped. Mei was still standing in the common area (The Red Queen and Linda were in their private bunks), holding the feedstock.

Marcus grunted. "Be careful what you make with that stuff; the fabbing rules aren't as lax as the working conditions." He began to head out again toward the door.

OOC

A quick note for you: I made a slight error and had two different surnames for Marcus Sykes, the miner and union head. Marcus Drey (your suitemate) is actually meant to be Marcus Sykes; this has been remedied and unified to "Marcus Sykes" across the board now. So, the union head is your suitemate, and is not in the VIP quarters or anything. :P

If you want to try to talk with Marcus today, now is your chance; if not, feel free to do any other actions for the evening before you start your first day at work.

[TheRaconteur]

Mei/Li/Rin

---

Mei was not good with faces at the best of times, and needed to be reminded by their Muse several times who Marcus Sykes was. It didn't help that they shared the same first name with Marcus Drey. They didn't need names to talk shop though, they knew the scavenger's trade top to bottom. They rose on their primary appendages, tilting the main boubous module of their Flexbot down and forward so that the man could spot the four specialized hives plugged in. Which meant they knew scave banter. They weren't good at it, but they at least knew what it sounded like. 

"The higher ups going to be busting my metal balls every time I put in for more feedstock then? Blowing a swarm out of a faulty airlock in a new shaft is a hell of a lot less expensive than blowing a pod, even the cheap plastics they call bodies around here."

The instant the ping it, Li went into overdrive making sure that T.Z. hadn't compromised both teams with an unsecured message that might have alerted station security that something was up. Problem was, without taking a shot at the hab's main security infrastructure, there wasn't much they could do except verify that the standard security and encryption protocols had been used. It was too early for them to be making runs at the principal servers where the hab's InfoSec operations would be housed, and while Li trusted their chances at a brute force attempt that didn't mean it was a smart move. Weapons and nanotech sounded like another operative, not their primary target. It was possible they weren't the only ones on Dr Severence's tale, or else the other team had already draw enough heat to have a babysitter embedded into their unit. 

TacNet

>> Query: Red Queen

Probability of Red Queen acquisition of copies of

• Nanotechnological Hiveminds and the Environment: Incorporating Unthinking Objects into Distributed Thinking Processes
• The Many-and-One Principle in Nanotechnology: Sequentially integrating, separating, and coordinating many swarms and one as a theoretical and applied exercise
• Thinking Fast: Nanites, distributed consciousness, and standardized exams to allow for subsequent psychological profiling?

for subsequent psychoanalysis?

Bhamari was already routing the relevant data to the team's Mind Hunter.

TacNet

>> Okay, we've identified the published works of three potential leads. How familiar are you with reading academic writing? We'll get you three papers from three likely subjects, and you can analyze each looking for evidence of narcissism. If only of of the three demonstrates a relevant level of dark triad personality archetypes in their authorship, we'll bump them to the top of the list. 

Data briefing had said their target was a malignant narcissist with aspirations of creating God. Personality disorders of that magnitude could be covered up in academic work, but not erased completely. Hints of it would poke through, just waiting to be identified, and they had a specialist with them to do the identifying. 

Edited January 9 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[Morkskittar]

Valkyrie

Valkyrie raised an eyebrow at Gonji's words. "At least on paper? What do you mean?"

The gorilla grunted and took a sip of a smoothie, then made a face. "You'd think we'd have outgrown the need to drink crap to stay healthy, yet here we are.

"What I mean is, this place has all the setup to be a nice little friendly company town. Recreation galore, long shifts, but also long breaks. And an entire dedicated psych squad. Do you know how many corp-run workplaces have a full psych squad? Sure, the coops 'round Saturn and beyond do, but those are anarchists."

Another sip, another grimace.

"But it's a funny thing. People don't take too many days off here, even though it's part of the package. They tend to get sick instead, or decide to cancel their leaves last minute. I tried to take some time off a month ago, 'cast out to see family... they make you do a mandatory psych screening before you go on leave. They convinced me to stay. Still not sure how. But it's not so bad here... but again, the psych ward's full, a lot of the time. A bit odd." She shrugs and finishes her drink.

"I guess you've met the old captain then if you're Security, eh?"

OOC

You are still free to suggest possible conversational nudges for Valkyrie.

---

Red Queen//Linda//Mei

 

Marcus was still for a moment in response to Mei's outburst, then let out a mechanical chuckle. "Nah, they'll give you enough feedstock to hang yourself with. They track it like smarthawks, give you as much as you want, waiting for you to slip. Then they send you to the psych squad if they catch you with anything you aren't supposed to have. They convince you to stop. Hoftada's shrinks have got more bite than Adamos' wannabes do.

"I like your bite, newcomer. Might want to watch your mouth though; you're already in hot water being assigned to the same bunk as me. They play friendly, but they like unions 'bout as much as the next corp. Watch yourself, and let me know if they get you to watch me, eh?"

OOC

Just to clarify, there is no Marcus Drey; it was meant to be Sykes but I swapped names in my notes without realizing it. :P

I'll give you all until this weekend to figure out what you want to do with the rest of the evening, then it's off to work you go.

[Amora]

%5BB%5D%5BSIZE%3D%224%22%5DThe%20Red%20Queen%5B%2FSIZE%5D%5B%2FB%5D%5Bfloatright%5D%5BIMG2%3D200%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnVFPlTl.jpg%5B%2FIMG2%5D%5B%2FFloatright%5D

The Red Queen

---

Tacnet

>>Requisition Acknowledged; Probability, near 100%. Addendum; Initiating Acquisition.

The responses read like old software outputs but that was nothing new as the Red Queen began working through their established network of academic contacts. For an entity with... atypical social protocols, they had managed through an unusual brilliance all their own to interface with a variety of subject matter expects. Each now being weighed against the established and well documented parameters of their functionality to determine the most likely to produce the required data load. It was not a long time to arrive at the most probable sources but it remained a thorough process poured over by all three components of the Triumvirate they now existed as along side further suggestions by Inversion to adhere to... certain standards of behavior that might be generously interpreted as polite.

The Red Queen, after all, had spent so much of their existence observing predatory patterns of acquisition and such habits were not always conducive to successful operation within the greater breadth of Transhuman Society. A nuanced understanding that they could appreciate academically but still struggled with to an extent despite their cooperative behavior at present with their fellow mission assets, tenured and otherwise.

 

OOC

Not sure in terms of roll what you might need from me to acquire this through my R-rep as it feels pretty minor?

 

[TheRaconteur]

Mei/Li/Rin

---

"This is why I usually sign up for deep space mining gigs."

Mei shot back, as this was the only sort of banter they were comfortable with.

"Don't have corps constantly on you when you're three years out on a tin can. They wait to bust you till you get back. Anything else we need to be on the lookout for as the new meat?"

The irony of referring to themselves as meat when they were anything but, and hadn't been for years, was not lost on them. They'd been a system admin first and foremost, but they'd been a sys admin for deep space mining vessels, running the bot network on mining rigs that took years to do the full round trip, not months. They were bad with people, even worse with faces, but they could shoot the shit with miners easy enough. They were less sure about union heads, as they'd never talked to one before, but the fact that Bhamari hadn't cut in yet was a good sign. Intuiting their thoughts, because of course they were, the Muse pipped up on internal coms.

Internal

>> Solid banter, proud of you.

 

[NickNameless]

Linda

---

"Considering I've just be assigned as one of 'Hoftada's shrinks'," Linda chimed in, harboring a bit of a hope that it would caugh Sykes off-guard, "let's say I am curious of what a bite might taste like. I guess no-one comes here expecting to find bliss and enlightenment, but the way you make it sound, — how often should I expect my disgruntled patients to just ditch their lives here and just... disappear all of a sudden?"

[Morkskittar]

Valkyrie

Valkyrie nodded. "Adamos. He seemed like a good sort."

Gonji nodded back. "Oh, he is. One of the few genuine people here. He's got no agenda other than keeping people safe. It's just a shame he's a complete buffoon; all pomp and no circumstance."

"Oh?"

"He's guarding against something nonexistent; the only danger here is corp-on-hapless-employee. There are no external threats, and I've yet to hear of any moles in the company leaking secrets."

 

---

Red Queen

The Red Queen disengaged from the conversations (even more than usual) for a few minutes while they made pulled some strings to get past the pay/rep-walls that all three articles were locked behind; none of these journals seemed to be on board with the idea of open access.

They downloaded the first article after several minutes: "Nanotechnological Hiveminds and the Environment: Incorporating Unthinking Objects into Distributed Thinking Processes" by Dr. Natalia Pelegyne.

The second was sent to them shortly after: "The Many-and-One Principle in Nanotechnology: Sequentially integrating, separating, and coordinating many swarms and one as a theoretical and applied exercise" by Dr. Michael Hargraves.

They waited for the third"Thinking Fast: Nanites, distributed consciousness, and standardized exams" by the hab's very own Dr. Hoftada., but it did not come after five minutes. They checked their records of outgoing transmissions; they had sent the request, but there was no response... or at least no response that the Red Queen could find. They sent out another query, but now their R-network contact was failing to respond at all.

It might be nothing.

OOC

No roll needed for this minor thing. :) Understanding the articles will be a Know:Nanotech test or another relevant Know skill if you make a compelling argument, and anyone reading them can take the test. Two out of three articles acquired; the third one isn't making it to you for some mysterious reason.

 

---

Linda//Mei

"Deep space, eh? I see why they hired you then. The deeper mining operations get a little weird with the gravity. A lot of our more terrestrial brothers, sisters, and others have been having some trouble. Sometimes, the gravity just... disappears. Which shouldn't make sense. But then it's like deep space, but in the middle of a rock.

"Always go places with someone; ideally two someones. You may be connected over mesh, but that connection won't help much when the swarm miscalculates or the equipment misses its mark. Don't go anywhere alone. There are also criminal elements here; triad, for starters. Anyone who starts talking about snakes, just run.

"Just keep your head down, serve your contract, and then get out. They do let you leave when your contract's up, but not many do. Some of us just don't have anywhere else better to be." He shrugs. "Like me. May as well be useful here, helping my comrades, than useless out there."

His machine body moves in startlement when Linda speaks. Score. "You're a shrink? Well then, better stay away from me; none of you lot are union. And I'd hope you could answer me that question. Your boss' rehab is a lot more full than the injury ward, and I'm not sure everyone comes out of rehab." Linda noted with some interest that Marcus became more closed speaking with Linda now that he knew she was a shrink than he had been with Mei. There was definitely animosity there against the psychiatric team.

[TheRaconteur]

Mei/Li/Rin

---

"Never go alone."

Mei confirmed, though probably not how Marcus meant it. Mei was never alone, Li would be providing overwatch in a Guardian Angel for any and all of the work they ended up doing. The bit about gravity was a concern though, and they made a mental note to bolt themselves down to whatever it was they were working on.

They were already zoning out on the meatspace conversation, Li and Bhramari having taken to diving into the research to find any anomalies. They joined in, but stopped when the most glaring one hit them square in the face.

TacNet

>>> Query: Missing files?

 

 

Edited January 30 by TheRaconteur (see edit history)

[Amora]

%5BB%5D%5BSIZE%3D%224%22%5DThe%20Red%20Queen%5B%2FSIZE%5D%5B%2FB%5D%5Bfloatright%5D%5BIMG2%3D200%5Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnVFPlTl.jpg%5B%2FIMG2%5D%5B%2FFloatright%5D

The Red Queen

---

An incomplete data set and loss of a channel of data acquisition were a concerning development when contrasted against their projected analytical models and it was not a detail lost on the Red Queen Triumvirate as they worked to disseminate the acquired materials with sufficient annotation to facilitate the most efficient transfer of comprehensible information to the other operational assets. This meant, of course, that that there was an appreciable delay in response to Mei/Li/Rin's query regarding the missing third of the requested data asset. The acknowledgement of it producing both the biological and synthetic equivalents of annoyance within their atypical ego mapping and neural interfaces. This emotional development pairing in kind with the more detached concern from prior analysis and, in kind, producing something akin to anger as they continued to drill and test other avenues of acquisition for the remaining treatise.

Tacnet

>> Query Acknowledged; Missing Data Set Confirmed. Elaboration; Unknown reason, communication channels silent regarding final requested data set. Supposition; Local security interference? Addendum; Annotation complete for processing. Secondary Addendum; Annoyed. Angry. Concerned.

 

Edited January 24 by Amora (see edit history)