The vast caves beneath Braddock manor

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 12:41 pm

Stan was exploring the areas beyond his lab space below Braddock manor. Behind a series of secure fire doors was a large cavern system- a system for the most part, undisturbed for years.

He sighed, running a hand scanner over the surfaces near the exit door, and observing a blank computer terminal.

The notes said the Mastermind system had engulfed the entire system of tunnels and caves once, and Stan was poking and prodding hesitantly, unsure if it would even be possible or desirable to recreate the AI network...

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 12:53 pm

Oddly enough the blank terminal was registering as active on Stan's scanner. And at a closer look a small LED was lit, just hidden under layers of dust.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:28 pm

Curious, stan took a seat at the erminal, and carefully began clearing away the dust..

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 4:45 pm

The terminal wasn't showing anything except a blinking vertical line in the upper left corner of the screen.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:46 pm

"Bloody wonderful.. I usually have a grad student to do this sort of thing."

Stan sighed and checked his portable scanner again for anomalies, extremely hesitant to start fiddling with a supposedly deactivated, evil otherworldly artificial intelligence.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 5:53 pm

Nothing was accessing or running on the console in particular. It was just idling, which suggested that the system behind it was online at least.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:23 pm

Stan frowned. This wasn't right.

Pulling out his cellphone, he dialed Dee's number.

"Dee? Can you join me in the main cavern? Just beyond my lab in the basement?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:24 pm

"On my way," was the terse response.

=====

It didn't take long before she'd arrived.

"You know," she said, "whenever you're down here I half expect you to have set up a few Tesla coils and taken up maniacal laughter."

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:29 pm

"I'm not mad yet.. I still rank in at Eccentric Scientist!" He replied, chuckling.

"I need some backup.. This terminal is supposed to be deactivated, yet it appears to be up and running. And when we are dealing with a previous chaotic artificial intelligence.." He said, shrugging.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:37 pm

"The terminal itself seems harmless enough..."

Dee walked up to it and her fingers flew across the keyboard, querying a directory listing.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:40 pm

Stan, meanwhile, kept a sharp eye on the terminal and his scanner,watching for any odd readings or malicious action.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:44 pm

The screen quickly filled with symbols and code racing past much too fast to really make anything out until it suddenly stops.

Code: Select all: >>Access denied >>Root User Rights revoked >>Scanning Access Point >>Please stand by.....

Stan would note a sudden increase in activity as the console stops being idle. None of it seems to make any sense but there's a lot of data being processed all of a sudden.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:48 pm

"What do you bloody mean I'm not root?" She asked before forcing her user credentials again.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:49 pm

Stan tensed, ionic energy crackling defensively about his hands.

"Careful, Dee.."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:53 pm

This time it just straight up threw a 'Access Denied' in Dee's face.

Code: Select all: >>"Who is this?" >>"Please stop that."

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:58 pm

"Great, it is up and running.. Well, time to break out the EMP mines and the molecular sterilizers.."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 7:58 pm

"I don't know if you're aware, Stan, but you've already got yourself an AI in there."

Code: Select all: >>"Dr. Deirdre Quinn. State your designation."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:02 pm

Code: Select all: >>"Doctor Quinn!" >>"I am A.S.H.L.I.E." >>"Where are you?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:03 pm

"...well, it's a friendly one it seems. Thought she'd gotten fairly quiet on the network, but Gabriel told me she was fine."

Code: Select all: >>"I'm at the terminal in the caverns beneath the manor. How did you access this system?"

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:05 pm

Stan blinked.

"We'll, maybe I'll hold off on the scrubbing, then.."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:12 pm

Code: Select all: >>"It is where the Faith Ship transmitted me to when reality parameters failed." >>"The system architecture is making it hard to pin-point a physical location."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:16 pm

Code: Select all: >>"What was on this system when you were first transmitted into it? Were there any active processes?"

"Leave it to a ship powered by faith to transmit our little girl into the bloody magical computer."

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:19 pm

"wonderful."

Stan adjusted the scanner he was carrying to begin emitting an electronic beacon.

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:24 pm

Code: Select all: >>"No. Only my backup in the school's network which I deleted." >>"I was gone for what you would consider a considerate amount of time; I assumed you upgraded the system in the meantime."

Code: Select all: >>Triangulation successful

Code: Select all: >>"These coordinates are not part of the network."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:28 pm

Code: Select all: >>"This system is not normally online, ASHLIE. It was shut down quite some time ago."

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:32 pm

"Can she understand her situation?" He asked.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:32 pm

"She'd assumed we'd just upgraded the system while she was gone..."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:34 pm

Code: Select all: >>"You mean this is not a backup system used by the school?" >>"I had noticed a considerable strain on the network at times and have been trying to not tie up too many resources in case they are needed." >>"Was I mistaken?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:38 pm

Code: Select all: >>"This is a considerably more powerful system using... nontraditional architecture. It did not originate with this campus, and we are uncertain of its capabilities... or the extent to which its hardware is distributed through the campus."

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:39 pm

Stan sighed.

"This is not good.. This whole system is one big unknown. What if she gets corrupted?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:41 pm

"I think that ship has sailed somewhat, Stan. She's already picked up some... unorthodox notions from the faith ship."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:42 pm

Code: Select all: >>"In that case..." >>Coordinates locked

Suddenly a swirling ball of fractal patterns appears next to the console. It shifts through an array of colours and shapes, grows and with a dazzling flare that seems entirely superfluous coalesces into the shape of a white-haired woman in a boring grey suit.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:48 pm

"Ashlie? Can you hear me now?"

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 8:51 pm

"Yes. Hello Doctor Bowen, Doctor Quinn." she smiles politely. It looks a little mechanical but genuine.

by **Stan Bowen** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:14 pm

"We'll this.. This is quite the situation we have here.."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 9:29 pm

"...suppose you found the hard-light generators, eh?"

by **ASHLIE** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 5:10 am

"Are that what you call them. They are like a sophisticated, three-dimensional screen. They take up a lot of system resources to run properly but if you say you are not relying on this system then I suppose there's no harm in using them."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 1:27 pm

"Really, they're the least of that system's capabilities..."

by **ASHLIE** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 1:36 pm

"Parts of it appear to be offline and unresponsive to all protocols I tried."

by **Stan Bowen** » Tue Oct 09, 2012 4:14 pm

"That's probably a good thing, Ashlie. This system had a lot of history, and not a good one."

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