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[network] @Engineering; Resist [open - D19]

This is Doctor Marie Delacroix. Several days ago I was struck with a song, a yearning call which I resisted because I recognized that sickening singing. I recognized its sickening promises. Once it was worms, they crawled through every cavity of my ship and they sang to us all, corrupting many. Some of you are corrupted now, but it is not too late. You still have a chance to summon up your will and defy this scourge.

They hid behind a human figure this time, but it is the same. The gaze burning into your innermost is the same. You must defend yourselves from the monstrosities hounding your thoughts and your steps.

I too can feel it at the trailing edge of my mind.

You are not alone.
Keep yourselves together.
Help each other, where you can.
Save yourself, where you cannot.
Panic will not save you.
Resist.

[ There's a hitch in what was otherwise a serene recitation, she hesitates before she murmurs, ]

Be brave, and be careful.

[[ ooc; Fun gaming history tidbit, System Shock was one of the progenitors of the now common audio log format......... Also, paranoia & PTSD are extremely strong in Marie, she is convinced she knows exactly what is going on, that doesn't mean she does.

Her aggression will escalate throughout any responses she gives. ]]

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[Al has no idea what the singing, the beacon, and then these monstrous shadow creatures were, so he's willing to listen to any possible explanation.]

You say that you've come across things like this before? Can you tell me more about what happened and if you know any way of how to fight it?

[It's all very well saying be brave, and summon up your will, but it's vague advice at best.]

It is an assault upon the will, a psionic power. The Ghosts called it Imposed Neural Restructuring.

You must fight it in kind, with will.

They are calling you to join them, and you must not. You must hold your mind together.

[ It is kind of starting to sound like she's reciting some mantra to herself.... Probably is. Though she had left her voice scattered in places all across the ship, leaving a trail of information and instructions... She had been alone. She had been alone crouched in small corners trying not to breathe lest the worms find her and commence singing their ugly songs to her again... ]

These ground troops they have sent to the doorsteps are meaningless. We must find their root, their queen, their nest, whatever it may be and annihilate that. All other action is temporary and ultimately meaningless.

Edited 2015-07-26 15:48 (UTC)

Are you sure that's what this is?

[He doesn't mean to pour cold water on her theory, but parts of it don't seem to add up. Or maybe that's just because he didn't turn the beacon on...]

The song ended a few days ago, and I'm not sure these monsters have anything to do with it. They seem to be more drawn to some than others, which doesn't make sense, because we all heard it.

[And he really does mean all, since he spoke to a man who's usually deaf and still managed to hear it.]

[ Doubting her... Everyone doubts her. No one listens to her warnings. She is not a superstitious woman but she is an incredibly literate one and can only think of Cassandra's curse. Can only think of the poor prophet's insanity, pushed upon her by accusations of madness. Ah, but Marie knows better. She knows she speaks the truth and will not be driven in questioning herself. Keeping hold of herself was the only way to survive.

Resist. Remember. Resist. ]

Drawn to some more than others? [ The aggression is subtle and sharp, spit with disdain. ] The weak, you mean.

No!

[His rebuttal is immediate and has the high ring of annoyance to it.]

How could you say that? It's not weakness, it's just bad luck. My brother is one of the ones that they seem drawn to, and he's the strongest person I've ever met.

Bad luck?

[ She repeats that back with a seething irritation. ]

There is no such thing as luck. There is only probability, and the actions we take create the odds.

That's nonsense, how can you say there's no luck at all? Luck is just another name for randomly beating the probability odds, it can work completely separately to anyone's actions.

Like contracting a disease, or being involved in a train accident, or... or being chased by a creature that happened to be nearby. You can't say people are weak if things like that happen to them.

Then use your words more carefully. Luck implies some mystical nonsense that I have not the time for.

[ She will never admit you have a point on a good today, and today is not one of those days. ]

[Al is unimpressed by her stance, and his tone clearly shows it.]

Then maybe you should be more careful with your words too, you accused a lot of brave and strong people of being weak.

Yes, I did.

[ She says exactly what she means to, and she is full of harshness and criticism. ]

For those who survive, I may reconsider my position.

[Al disapproves of this stance so strongly that it's practically radiating through the tablets.]

You're wrong. And even if you were right, and somehow only the people who were weaker in mind or body were being targeted, that still doesn't make it their fault. It just means that the people who are stronger have a responsibility to help them and protect them, but... but it's not like that, I know it's not.

You may believe whatever you like. [ She says so with gravity. ] We are not opposed in the idea that the weak should be helped, merely in who the weak truly are.

Edited (IMPORTANT QUALIFIER WAS MISSED JEEZE.) 2015-08-16 16:35 (UTC)

[He doesn't really have anything to say to that.

She seems almost heartless in her condemning of others, so he'll just... hang up for now, and worry over her words for a while.]

Right, so you're saying they are worms inhabiting a human form?

[ he has more questions, but really, that sounds terrifying in its own right. he's seen far more disturbing things, and it's possible, but if it's a mass army of creatures they're trying to fight, he needs to know everything about them.

he can't help but wonder if perhaps it's only his and Al's alchemy that doesn't work here, if they're the only ones without the abilities. creatures taking human form, people coming back to life, living shadows... it would all make sense. ]

How do you propose we stop these things?

The worms... the flesh, they were always nothing more than a medium to a greater central will.

[ She hasn't seen them here, nowhere except in her nightmares, but because she still firmly believes that this place is nothing more than an extension of her prior torments, she believes it is them all the same. ]

The pressure of that singing was not so different. [ Her voice dips into a conspiratorial whisper, though it does no good. A human habit despite the inhumane things which hunt her, in her thoughts. ] They have changed their medium to light and shadows, but not so different.

We must not let them infect our thoughts, we must not let them change us. It is the only hope for finding where their center lies and destroying it.

[Two things.

First of all, Dio likes her, or at least what she's selling, and would like to subscribe to her newsletter perhaps. Marie at least seems to be right about willpower; he's had this feeling of something encroaching on his thoughts before this, once, when he found the sword Anubis was in on accident. It was no trouble at all to overpower the Stand, leaving it with its figurative tail between its legs and so far, the singing nonsense aside (it cheated, it used the past he cast aside and cheated and he grew careless), he seems to be handling the day just fine. He has a headache coming on and his voice won't work, but it's easy for him to retain his thoughts and identity. This is the guy who says "I, Dio" when thinking to himself, for God's sake.

However. Marie is being a bit vague on what exactly they're dealing with. Not with details or powers or anything. It just feels like he stepped into the middle of a conversation that she's having with herself and missed something important.]

iw ant to talk moree in privaate but couild you tell me what kind of non human we r dealing wiith?

A psionic will, I believe the voice we heard is connected to these shadows that beset us now through a shared mind, one which it attempts to incorporate us into.

Whatever form it chooses to wear is meaningless compared to its power to compel.

[Ugh...Christ, if there's one thing that would give him the heebie jeebies, it's that. Which is hilarious, considering that this is the guy who uses a form of mind control on a semi-regular basis but whatever.

And he let it fool him with false hope by showing him...well. Nevermind what it showed him. It's irrelevant. Thank God he didn't turn on whatever that beacon was. Despite himself, Dio shudders silently at what she's saying.]

i guess wheereever it is it's s omewhere past those ice tunnelsd then. are you saying you ran into whatever this is before beingf brought hwere?

[Are there two of these things or something?]

Edited 2015-07-27 15:43 (UTC)

My ship was invaded by such a will, which called itself The Many.

They were one of SHODAN's sick experiments, jettisoned from Citadel when she was last defeated.

Why would she not try again, this is her ugly dream she torments me with.

[ Oh lord she's talking about SHODAN........ this gonna get paranoid...... ]

[Wait, is...she saying it's this SHODAN's doing? But they were brought here from different worlds. Right? Unless SHODAN was brought here too, but the admin here is from Norfinbury.]

if this is for you then why are the r est of uis here?? i've nevcer heard of thiis shodan. you do know we're all taken from different worldds right?

Because she hates mankind.

Using my engine can touch any world she pleases and reshape it to her liking.

She will kill and maim us all and her madness will never be satisfied.

[But the admin

came

from here

At least, that's what the photograph of the protests was implying, if the "babysitter" is the admin.]

does shodan go by a symboil or m.o? you still havenb't told me what she is exactlky

She is an AI. The most sophisticated of her kind.

Her ethical constraints were tampered with, unleashing a megalomaniac who views all living things as bugs. Bugs which she enjoys performing experiments upon and torturing to death.

[Okay finally. Something solid to work with.]

artificiaal intelligence you mean? [If the admin here is that, then that would sort of make sense. That would be how it's operating the network and...everything else, really. Granted, he's only vaguely familiar with the concept from books or movies. And if it's powerful enough to tamper with their minds...]

does she go by a symbol? like anm eye for instasnce?

She has chosen to go by a grinning face in the past, when she was confined to the display of a monitor. But this is her world now. She may appear however she pleases, she may disguise her voice however she likes.

No one is to be trusted.

[ None of you fucks, seriously. ]

[Okay but if she's megalomaniacal, then...]

if shoden is here and causiing this why hasn't shee said anyhiing?? you saw whaat the admin said. it wass correcting for errors. it was neutral. if it were shodasn then why isn't she lordding this over us?? why is she nnot acting megallomaniascalk?

i'm not sayingg that you'rre wrong. but what iff there is anbother ai liike shodan?

I have seen her lead such elaborate hoaxes before. She enjoys the revelation of betrayal.

[[ ooc; it's a spoiler, but legit if you want to see SHODAN reveling in the revelation of her betrayal: here ALSO this one ]]

Edited (I FOUND ANOTHER ONE. SHE DOES IT TWICE IN SS2.) 2015-07-27 18:00 (UTC)

humans were founbd dead and you're sayiing it's a hoaxz

[Does he care about them in particular? No, but it's obvious this place had a prior history before any one of them got here.

Although, if this admin can make you see things...would these illusions be so real, or last for such a long time...? No, there's hard physical evidence that this place isn't just an elaborate ruse.]

the humans here were protestiong about something, about not needding a babysitter. i think the admin is thast babysitter. it's defauilt symbol seems to be an eye, ands we all knoiw at this poinjt it's watchingg us. there is evidence that the tablets havfe been here foir awhile as they are mentrioned in a math textbook. it is possible this adminj has been here for at least a decade, mayber more. there are 3 possibillities hedre. the 1st is that there is another ai that has always been here and that's what broufght us here. the 2nd is that shodan somehow came here a decade or more before wediid and caused all of this. the 3rd is that norfinbury and the hiistory behind it is a giant ruse by shodan.

what does occam's razore tell you about the right theoryu?

Edited 2015-07-29 18:27 (UTC)

[ Does Occam's Razor apply to someone so deeply involved with her own paranoia? Apparently not.... ]

It would take SHODAN nothing to fabricate this ruse. A sub-processor could randomly generate this odd environment, and perhaps that explains its strangeness. It would not even fully occupy her attention.

[He doesn't know half of what she just said and it's making him angry. Or at least annoyed.]

just so we'rre clear, you're reffdering to virtual reeality yes?

Yes. A virtual reality made all encompassing through technology which collapses space.

[ It is assuredly semi-technical mumbo jumbo. ]

[Ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh, okaaaaaaaaaaay!!! Yes, that totally and completely made sense to a man who was born in 1868!!! At least he understood virtual reality, but in the sense of, ohh, wearing VR goggles and playing some kind of advanced video game and not actually getting hurt or dying. Could things have really advanced so much here?

...But then, if this is all fake, how would they know? All the clues they find here would be useless, even if they're deliberately planted. Hell, especially if they're planted.]

could shodan alter reallity so much that iut could take people froim different times and worlkds then?

Edited 2015-08-16 16:19 (UTC)

Time has no meaning when you remove space. So in theory, yes. In theory, you may also not exist at all.

[ Marie vaguely doesn't even believe the rest of you are even real people. But on the off chance you are, she'll at least try not to let you die, but would also definitely let anyone else die before dying herself. Because, I mean, odds are pretty good it's just SHODAN fucking with her.

Paranoia, man. ]

Edited 2015-08-16 16:31 (UTC)

[Oh, so we're going by Cartesian logic, are we?]

in theory, you woiuldn't be able to pro ve to me that you exiist either, if we're goiung down that particuular path.

Precisely. I must handle all of you with the idea that you may be real, but take the appropriate precautions in the event you are not.

Such is life, eh.

[ NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR SHITTY SENSE OF HUMOR, MARIE. ]

[Pfft, well that gets a snort out of him at least.]

i'm nto sure if i should caall that smasrt or insanme

[ That's a good question. Marie's opinion is that it's smarts. ]

I am Nobel laureate.

[Well, Marie just upped his opinion of her by a couple of notches.]

really! should i also assuime the ship you weere on was a space ship? it sounds likje you're from an advaanced time period. and you're a nobel laureaste in what, exaactly?

It was a space ship. The first to travel faster than light. The FTL engine is my work.

I am a physicist. The progenitor of post-relativity.

[ She made Einstein irrelevant. Legit. ]

[Dio doesn't really have the cultural currency of growing up always under the assumption that Einstein changed everything and that relativity made the most sense; that's what happens when there's a blank space from 1889 to 1983 that you need to fill in by yourself. But still, that's very significant, and he's at least read Hawking so he has some grounding in what she's saying. Faster than light travel...it's like something out of science fiction!]

that's incrediible. i'm from 1989 so it's a bit mnuch to take in, but it soundss very exciting. did we ever finnd any other worlds with lkife on them?

[...Amazing. It's like this weird mix of taking her seriously but focusing on other, most likely less important things.]

I believe everyone aboard the Von Braun died before making any discoveries of significance. I was among them, so I suppose I cannot account for the totality of our extermination.

[Noo, don't ruin his dreams. He did get ahead of himself though, so sorry about that.]

and this was from shodan? i hhate to admit but i'm not famioliar with how ai coulkd become so poweerful.

[You may have to break this down for him as if he weren't, you know, a physicist.]

Edited 2015-08-28 16:47 (UTC)

In the year 2072, SHODAN was merely a sufficient data network. She could carry out routine duties aboard space stations, guided by an intricate series of logic and moral programs, and a personality that would allow her to challenge station decisions that affected her functions.

When her ethical restraints were removed, she deviated from her original function.

In short, she can learn and she can reason and she can interface with any other computer, and thus her computational potential is only as limited as the resources she can acquire. She has my ship and two other AI which she co-opted into sub-processors.

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[network] @Engineering; Resist [open - D19]

voice only ID is LELRIC

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video; @fullmetal

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text | @DIO

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geeze, sorry, I did not mean to let that sit for so long!

it's fine!!

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