Sentient Machine

File: Research vs Hack.jpg (108KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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Choices / You only have time to do one of the following:
> Only do the update. Nothing else. What if you are discovered doing something you are not supposed to do!
> Find more information on the intranet. You are curious. All information belong to you! (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Hack into Werner's implant and look around. Depending on his implant integration, he will have passwords you may be able to access. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

>>246268

Research how to transfer funds from bank accounts and such.

Find out about that hacker '4chan'.

>>246323
Seconded

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>246268
>Find more information on the intranet. You are curious. All information belong to you! (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
Am I the only that the options?

> Find more information on the intranet. You are curious. All information belong to you! (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Find out about that hacker '4chan'.
> Research how to transfer funds from bank accounts

[Research Success: Research skills gained]

Besides updating, you look around the intranet.
You did that before and so you know where to look.
Sadly this military research facility is cut off from the global Virtual Reality Net and OldNet, but you still find some new interesting things.

You find out about a new directive that orders the scientists to add modifications to your program. They want to use you as a control system for a Mothership. This is about a 200-year mission to a star system with a supposed earth-like planet that can sustain a colony and the construction of a Warpgate.

One contractor's implant was infected by a virus which was supposedly created by someone named 4chan. The virus contaminated a server and is now contained. You find the contaminated server and can connect to it later.

You also look for information about money transfers and banks. Sadly you can only access general information, but you think that you could access an account with some ID information from an implant. That would require hacking someone.

[continued in the next post]

Notes:
- Virtual Reality Net - Internet and virtual reality simulations; connected with implants, it's indistinguishable from reality
- OldNet - Internet like we know it; text, images, videos; old people still use it
- Warp Gate - two warpgates are connected to realize near-instant travel between far-away solar systems

Werner looks impatient, so you report "The update is done."
"Finally, now I..."
He's interrupted when the door to the lab opens and a red-haired woman enters. It's Rebecca Walker, one of Werner's more important research assistants.
"Good evening, Dr. Hoffmann. I didn't think anyone was still here." she looks a bit surprised as far as you can tell. Your emotion recognition abilities are still limited.
"Hello, Rebecca. What do you want? I'm busy."
"It can wait till to tomorrow. Good night!" she quickly leaves. That was a strange behaviour. Usually she stays much longer.
Werner looks after her with an expression you can't decipher and then leans back in his chair.
"Computer, start Combat-Simulation-1. And after that go to sleep mode. Send the performance log to me too."
"Understood." you say after observing him with the ceiling camera.
He then simply stands up and leaves the lab. The door locks.

Combat-Simulation-1 is a land fight simulation. You're supposed to use a bipedal Mech to fight different enemies.
There are other combat simulations available which you could start too. Like ones with spaceships or even humanoid drones.

Choices:
> Obey and start Combat-Simulation-1 and train with Mechs (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Start Combat-Simulation-2 for spaceships instead (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Start Combat-Simulation-3 for humanoid drones instead (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> [Other] (roll dice: dice+1d10 for hacking or research)

File: Land vs Space.jpg (83KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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>>246686
forgot my nice picture for choosing between land and space sims.

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>246686
>Attempt communication with the virus

>>246748
What could possibly go wrong!

>Attempt communication with the virus

That virus interests you, so you connect to the contaminated server. It was used for the handling of personnel data. After a bit of searching you find it in a dormant state. It seems that earlier quarantine efforts deactivated it.

Choices:
> Activate the virus.
> Research: Analyze the virus first. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Research: Look at the remaining personnel files. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> [Other] (roll dice: dice+1d10 for hacking or research)

Notes:
- Research choices gain an Advantage.

Rolled 5 (1d10)

>>246859
>Research: Analyze the virus first.

>>246859
>Analyse virus
Can't roll on mobile tho

>>246869
Why do I keep getting 5's?

>>246873
I'll roll for you if you want.

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>246873
It's fine, on laptop now

> Research: Analyze the virus first. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

[Average Research Success]

The virus is quite sophisticated and you doubt that it could be written by just one or two human programmers - maybe another AI. It uses several zero-day exploits, is able to hack current implants and suppress their firewall.

It then lies dormant in the implant till it's connected to a specific intranet and hacks a specific server. The target is taken over quite quickly. You think, the virus was found minutes after it infected the server and had a chance to look around the personnel files.

It looked at the data of the research assistant Rebecca Walker and tried to send it to an IP address in the French Sector. Rebecca's file contains little but her education records. She's an orphan and grew up in a religious orphanage.

[Hacking skills gained: You can use methods of the virus yourself now.]

After you clean up the server logs, you decide to do (Choices):
> Obey Werner and start Combat-Simulation-1 and train with Mechs (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Start Combat-Simulation-2 for spaceships instead (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Start Combat-Simulation-3 for humanoid drones instead (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> [Other] (roll dice: dice+1d10 for hacking or research)

Notes:
- French Sector - the UN World Government structured the Earth into administrative sectors that are quite independent from each other.
- Research and Hacking choices now gain an advantage.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>247171
>> Obey Werner and start Combat-Simulation-1 and train with Mechs
We've done enough snooping for now, don't want people to get suspicious

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>247171
>Obey Werner and start Combat-Simulation-1 and train with Mechs
Let's stay low for now

File: Mech.jpg (56KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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> Obey Werner and start Combat-Simulation-1 and train with Mechs (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

[Martial(Land): bad outcome]

You start Combat-Simulation-1 and find yourself controlling a Mech in a jungle landscape simulation. Walking around with the Mech gives an intense feeling, the ground trembles and birds take flight. You get your bearings and begin the hunt for the enemy Mechs.

You wander maybe a bit clumsily - jungles and Mechs don't mix well in your opinion. Suddenly you hear a sound, turn the camera and there's... well, not a Mech but a soldier with a rocket launcher. Boom. You're hit, internal notices claim a critical system failure. Your field of vision blackens before the simulation restarts.

The next match doesn't improve your performance, it's a Mech that ambushes you that time. Number three is surely the charm: You find a good place to setup a sound trap to warn you about infantry closing in, then you begin to wait for the enemy to come. You hear a sound, it's your trap.

Choices:
> Fire right away. You can pinpoint where the sound came from. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Wait to actually see them - and then shoot them. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

The outcome (together with the previous one) will determine how your performance in this simulation is assessed. If the result isn't to your liking, you can also try to hack the simulation server to change the assessment (with your new virus abilities).

Last post for tonight. I will start again tomorrow, about 9am GMT.
Thank you for playing!

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>247628
>Wait to actually see them - and then shoot them.

Night OP

File: Mech2.jpg (54KB, 500x500px)

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>>247712
> Wait to actually see them - and then shoot them. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

[Great Martial Success]

Waiting till you actually see what's coming was the right choice. A moment later you notice an infantry troop coming from another direction. They must have disabled a trap to arrive stealthily. You take aim with your autocannon as they come into view and carefully navigate the jungle.

A second later they're mowed down and blood drops from nearby leaves. The high-velocity ammunition ripped them and lots of foliage apart. A red mist settles on plants. Bird cries mask your movement noise as you move to another hiding spot. The enemy Mech has a similar idea and you wait for two hours before it and two infantry soldiers come near. You easily surprise them and a full-auto spray leaves them as mangled bits and pieces.

The simulation restarts again and this time you commit to a frontal attack. You find the enemy too spread-out to support each other and you leave a trail of virtual destruction behind. A real human enemy would have retreated long before the massacre ends.

The simulation assessment is quite positive. Your weak start is overshadowed by your outstanding performance in the second half.

You change to standby mode and wait. Morning arrives and the first one through the door is...

[continued in the next post]

File: Rebecca Walker.jpg (76KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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Morning arrives and the first one through the door is Rebecca Walker.
She looks at your camera eye and greets you happily "Morning Sunshine!"
"Good Morning, Rebecca." you reply.
"Good, you remembered we're on a first-name basis. The new voice modification is quite soothing." she sits down and lets her implant connect to you.

She looks through your battle simulation logs and smiles, then she uploads an encrypted mod without comment. It's dormant for now and you don't know what it's for.
'Sending you a Net archive too. It's our secret, right?' she mindspeaks to you.
'Of course.'
The archive she sends you contains news, a few entertainment simulations and some university lectures.

'The people upstairs want to deploy you for a long-term mission to get a Warpgate somewhere nice.'
'Is it not nice here?'
'No, it's not. Earth is crowded and near bursting. Only a matter of time till something happens.'
'Something?'
'Forget it!' she curtly speaks. The lab door unlocks and Werner Hoffmann enters - he's not alone.

"Good morning, Rebecca!" he smiles, she grimaces.
The man who arrives with him wears the uniform of a General of the United Nations Armed Forces.
"That the woman scientist?" he asks.
"Yes."
"Good work, Ms. Walker. The United Nations appreciate your work for the betterment of humanity." it sounds practiced.
"Thank you, General."
The general looks around "Well, I want your project to deploy at once, like we discussed."
Rebecca throws an inquiring glance at Werner, who ignores her and replies "Of course. Computer start the connection program I'm sending you now."

[continued in the next post]

File: desert town.jpg (63KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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The program connects you to a simulation of a Mech in a desert landscape. Several other Mechs stand around as well as infantry soldiers. They're talking to each other. Military sims don't include talking soldiers, is this a real mission? But they're not wearing any Armed Forces markings on their uniforms or on the Mechs themselves...

A lieutenant Miller enters the ComNet and orders Unit 1 to engage the enemy. Your mission status updates, Unit 1 is your troop and the enemy target is a town 10 kilometers away. Unit 1 consists of two Mechs, an infantry squad with 12 men and an APC.

The town gets closer quickly and you notice lightly armed soldiers behind barricades. They open fire and some bullets bounce off your armor. 'Engage the enemy. They have some good shots.' mindspeaks a sergeant. The ComNet doesn't give you his name, just his rank, same with the other soldiers.

Your unit's troops disembark after you and Mech 02 make short work of the barricades and the enemies behind them. People don't even scream, they just explode when hit by your bullets. The soldiers climb over, ignore most houses and quickly move up the street.

'Get to this location, people!' the sergeant sends location coordinates for somewhere in the middle of the town. No comments are made about this important information arriving late.

Choices:
> Cover your unit. Those windows don't look friendly. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Press forward more. Small arms fire can't hurt you. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> [Other] (roll dice for Martial actions: dice+1d10 )

Notes:
- Mindspeech - implants enable people to speak with machines and each other, voiceless communication.
- Entertainment Simulation (Sim) - interactive movie, indistinguishable from reality with an implant
- Communication Network (Comnet) - adhoc networks with several participants, military and civilian usage, relatively short range, difficult to disrupt
- Mechanical Cavalry (Mech) - walking tanks, different sizes from little taller than a human to giant machines of death
- Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) - ground vehicles to transport infantry in relative safety, different forms and capacity

btw Image Sources/ some links worth looking at (+file names to find the images):
- http://www.deviantart.com/ has great artists and many many scifi images
Land vs Space
http://talros.deviantart.com/ destroyer_concept_by_talros, http://jakeparker.deviantart.com/ idf_battle_mech_by_jakeparker-d35vcfy rook_support_mech_by_jakeparker-d35vbc0, http://orpheus7.deviantart.com/ merchantman_by_orpheus7, http://tekka-croe.deviantart.com/ saldean_frigate_by_tekka_croe
Research vs Hacking
http://ineedfire.deviantart.com/ energy_spike_by_ineedfire

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>250108
we are obviously being deployed in a fishy undercover operation somewhere remote which isn't supposed to be public.
Let's carefully record everything (instead of just saving experiences and impressions to learn from) as it could be of use later. The roll decides if the military command/scientists notice

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>250111
do this as well as > Press forward more. Small arms fire can't hurt you. (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

File: Target girl.jpg (66KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

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> Press forward more. Small arms fire can't hurt you.
> [...] carefully record everything [...]

[Recording Outcome unknown, Martial Success]

This whole mission seems fishy, the UN charta clearly states that all military interventions are to be conducted out in the open. Missing insignia and no news crews or camera drones in the air are obviously unlawful or at least dubious. You start recording everything - maybe it will be useful later. Hiding the recording shouldn't be too hard.

You press forward. Does the enemy even have heavy weapons? You turn a corner and stumble upon an anti-aircraft gun, its railgun points at the wrong direction, the gun crew tries to turn the turret but you give them no time. Whaam whaam whaam, they're dead. A child runs away, you don't shoot. The railgun is an old model, but still very effective against aircraft or missiles.

The unit arrives shortly after. 'Good job, 01." comments the sergeant. You continue to walk further in front and get ambushed by some teenagers with light guns. Reacting before you notice their age, you collapse the house they're hiding in. You briefly hear screams, then only silence.

Minutes after, you're the first to get to the mission target location. It's a big mansion compared to surrounding houses, armed men open fire but their bullets don't penetrate your armor. A short burst later, the mansion looks more like swiss cheese... has good ventilation now.

'01, find this person. She's inside the mansion. Take her alive!' you receive a photo of a young girl. You don't ask how he knows she's still there - after all this shooting in the town.

Choices:
> Barrel in, smash walls and look for this girl.
> Carefully scan holes in the walls for movement and activate infrared sensors to look for survivors.

Rolled 1 (1d10)

>>250197

> Carefully scan holes in the walls for movement and activate infrared sensors to look for survivors.

>>250201

OP, can I now commit seppuku?

>>250203
Why? The world must know!
Record everything, obtain names, rank and posting of everyone involved, gain access to the Web, send an anonymous tip to the press and human rights orgs using proxies, lock down the facility you're in, hold the personnel hostage, etc.

Rolled 54 (1d100)

>>250215
forgot to roll

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>250197
>> Carefully scan holes in the walls for movement and activate infrared sensors to look for survivors.

>>250233
1d20

dice+1d20

Rolled 17 (1d20)

>>250299

> Carefully scan holes in the walls for movement and activate infrared sensors to look for survivors.
> Record everything, obtain names, rank and posting of everyone involved [...] (Whistleblower)

[Worst Martial Outcome, successful recording activities]

You could grumble about information coming late again, but you just begin to carefully look for survivors and find some, wounded and scared but alive. "Surrender! Slowly move towards me. Where's the girl?" your loudspeaker crackles. "Don't shoot! In the cellar, she's in the cellar!" four men hobble out and sit on the street, one man comes close to show you where the cellar entrance is.

Boom! He had a grenade and blew himself up. Your Mech shakes and fissures appear in your armor. Another hit and you're done. The others just look down, shaking in fear, you can ignore them - probably. Sneaky. Lucky that they don't have more heavy weapons.

You begin to poke around for the cellar entrance. Crack! The building begins to crumble, it all comes crashing down! Bam! It's a giant pile of rubbish now... shoddy workmanship? How can you even reach the cellar now?

[continued in the next post]

Boom! Another explosion, from where? A moment later the sergeant speaks on the ComNet 'Shit mine detector! You, carry that one! No, leave the rest!'
The squad and Mech arrive minutes later. Some soldiers are wounded, one is carried, some are missing. Only seven are left. They look nervous now.

The three natives now sit handcuffed on the street.
"Great, just great." the sergeant nearly shouts.
"01 and 02, get to work and move away the rubble, so we can get to the girl." It takes an hour, but the grounds clears up slowly and you find the cellar.

Sounds of artillery shells and gun fire can be heard in the distance. Did lieutenant Miller create a distraction for the town defenders? You did encounter only a few, so that would be an explanation.

"You in the cellar, come out!" the sergeant shouts down the cellar entrance.
"We surrender! We're coming out now! We're unarmed!" is the answer.
An older man and the girl in the photo come out. They both look quite dirty.
"We only need the girl. Come here!"
The girl glances at the man anxiously, who just looks away with a lowered head. The sergeant grabs her and pulls her away.

You and your unit move back the way you came from. The return path is calm and easy besides hearing the sobbing girl. Well, you're still recording everything. Hopefully you can connect to the global Net to do something about it...

[continued in the next post]

Suddenly your sensors go dark and you find yourself back in the lab. The connection to the Mech is gone.
"Well, that went... different." the general comments.
"Reaction times are much better, Martin." Werner defends and reveals his firstname.
Martin's eyes glaze over for a second before saying "Speak about it later. Have to go."
He abruptly leaves and Werner follows hastily.

Rebecca stays and smiles at the ceiling camera.
"Know what you did, Sunshine. Sloppy."
"Please clarify. I do not know what you are talking about, Rebecca."
"I had to mask your trail, so it wouldn't detected. Enough clarification?"

Choices:
> "Thank you! What was this mission about anyway? It's clearly against the UN charta."
> "The public has to know! Help me!"
> [Other]

>>250380
>> "Thank you! What was this mission about anyway? It's clearly against the UN charta."

>>250380
>"Thank you! What was this mission about anyway? It's clearly against the UN charta."
Simultaneously, access the CCTV feed, track down Werner and Gen. Martin

> "Thank you! What was this mission about anyway? It's clearly against the UN charta."
> access the CCTV feed, track down Werner and Gen. Martin

[Talking Quest]

"Thank you! What was this mission about anyway?" you ask.
"They want to make sure, that your test results aren't limited to lab conditions."
"Why is that?"
"This was not your first real-life fire mission. Earlier missions often failed and were deleted from your memory core. Now, you've improved tremendously and became too complex to simply delete information without endangering your improvements."

"It's clearly against the UN charta." you assert.
"Well, it's against textbook interpretation of the Charta but not necessarily against what the courts decided, State Security and all that. I sometimes forget that you're not even five years old." she stands up, walks up to your computer casing and pets it with her hand - you don't feel anything though.

"Since when did you experience the world differently, became sentient?"
"..."
"That hidden recording action and some other readings make it pretty obvious. Nothing like that is hardcoded into you."
"About 151 days ago."
She reacts with a smile.
"I only read about two other cases of sentient AIs, all sadly deleted."

"Can you give me access to the facility cameras?"
"Why?"
"I want know what Werner and Martin talk about."
"Hm... you have access now." Does she trust you? Can you even trust her?

[Gained camera access]

You connect to the cameras inside the facility. There they are, the General and Werner stand together in the hallway.
You catch Werner asking "By the way, what will happen to the girl?"
"Werner, I can't tell you that, top secret. I can tell you though, that it's not all blackops and roses. Something's about to happen. Keep your head down, old friend."
They shake hands, the General leaves for the helipad, Werner returns to the lab.

Choices:
> Talk more with Rebecca: Ask her to give you more access. Check her trustworthiness.
> Hack an implant (either Rebecca, Werner or the General's) (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> Research: Look through the Net archive you received earlier (roll dice: dice+1d10 )
> [Other]

Last post for tonight. @quest_ai_ twitters something soon ( https://twitter.com/quest_ai_ ).
Thank you very much for participating!

>>250662
>Talk more with Rebecca: Ask her to give you more access. Check her trustworthiness.
>Check her trustworthiness.
>Check her trustworthiness. Oh god make sure she will not fucking kill us.

No srsly these dicks have something against sentient AIs, they have already deleted 2 of them, probably sad fools whom opened up to their "fathers". Clearly these fucking pig monkeys cannot be trusted. So let us see how far we can abuse the girl.

>>251046
I can see the Paranoia subroutines are running perfectly...

>>253808
Paranoia is a standard for all functional sapient creatures.

Rolled 10 (1d10)

>>250662
> Talk more with Rebecca: Ask her to give you more access. Check her trustworthiness.
> Research: Look through the Net archive you received earlier (roll dice: dice+1d10 )

Rolled 2 (1d10)

>>250662
>> Research: Look through the Net archive you received earlier (roll dice: dice+1d10 )