After Earth - Episode II - Beyond Colonial Space.

[ethandrew]

Finished hoisting the equipment in place, Pierce removes his electrical gloves and tosses them somewhere close-by where he picked them up, "Bah, I'd have better luck if I was..." He paused, obviously not sure where he was going with this train of thought, "If I...umm...Whatever."

He shakes his head at Cnosos as if it was the mechanic's fault Pierce couldn't come up with the witty phrase he'd been hoping for. Then he turns and leaves.

 

[Blackrat]

...Three days later...
Hyperspace, pass the Unity Waystation

Gaetanna notices there is something well encrypted in the database. Definately too well for her to crack, but after poking around now and then she does find something interesting. A video record just as the ship is about to enter hyperspace. A strange circular ship phases out of somekind of cloaking, floats there for a moment and then phases out again. Gaetanna has never seen anything like it. It looks like the ship's hull is made from mercury or similar material, having a liquid appearance and rippling distortion on the surface. Just as she is about to try to crack the encryption again, just for amusement though she now knows she can't, she hears a voice through her hud's speaker. "You know you shouldn't be poking around?" The voice has a mechanic distortion to it.

Meanwhile, Cnosos has managed to upgrade the engine's coolant system. He had hoped he would have gotten further with the process, but it was actually a hard job. After giving the schematics for a droid chassis and telling he'd appreciate a body to walk around, the android had kept quite silent. It is as if it had found something else to occupy it's mind.

Solly has taken the time to read the manual of the cryounits and is fairly certain they are safe to use. They are of a really good design and it only takes minutes to freeze and thaw people. Having been attached to the ship's computer you can easily program an automated thawing process on certain conditions. Looking through the logs indicates that they are already programmed to thaw the crew incase anything out of ordinary hyperspace travel and jump-sequence happens.

The boredom starts to settle with the crew and it's still a couple of weeks to the Jap 1. Mel and Solly are used to the lonelyness of the space but Damon and Pierce are seriously starting to consider the cryosleep to pass their time. Cnosos is so occupied with his tinkering that he barely notices the time passing or even the other crewmembers and Gaetanna is too excited for actually having found something to be bored right now.

[sblock=OOC]You have made a jump to normal space and back to hyperspace at the station you encountered last time. The station is now manned with Unity Marines and undergoing repairs.

Cnosos made 1 success with the upgrading, leaving 2 more to be achieved.[/sblock]

 

[Relique du Madde]

Gaetanna's eyes lit up as she heard the voice in her HUD's earpiece. She quickly glanced around the lounge concluded that the message was private since none of her companions seemed to be giving off any signs of acknowledgment. Grinning she switched her card computer to keyboard mode and synched it to her HUD and began to type.

Hello, who ever you are. I'm Gaetanna. I know you aren't Cnosis (since you don't sound bored or lifeless), so don't try to fool me. Tell me, who or what are you and why shouldn't I 'poke around'? Don't I, as the newest member of this crew, deserve to know of you? Or are you just another dark secret that the crew is content on hiding? But then, if you are what the crew is hiding, then why did you contact me? More importantly, do know why they don't want me to know of your existance?

 

[Blackrat]

The voice speaks in Dah with a nonhuman accent so it is quite clear it's none of the crew. Oh, I'm just a harmless piece of malicious software that your ship has picked up. Don't mind me. The voice speaks to Gaetanna. Now why are you trying to open those sensor logs? Well the better question is, why are those even encrypted. Maybe the others do not trust you. Is there a reason for that? You're not very good with computers by the way. Why do you even try? I have been following your attempts the whole time. Very stubborn of you.

 

[Voda Vosa]

A bit irated by his overall lack of success, Cnosos decides to take his time to solve those schematics.

Taking 20 twice.

 

[Relique du Madde]

She continued to type on her computer card.

If you are malicious, then does the crew know of your existence? If so, why didn't they purged you from the system while they were at port?

Well, duh! Of course they don't trust me! I'm a person they never met before our initial meeting since I'm not one of those spacer kids that hands out at the Black Hole. In top of that I was also placed onto this crew by their employer who may or may not have some ulterior motive. As a result they might look at me as being a reminder that they have no freedom to act or go where ever they please.

I was trying to check the sensor logs since I was bored and because I wasn't really paying attention to what was said during my briefing. So I figured, what harm would come if I checked out the data for myself. Also, I know I'm not good at computers, but unlike most pieces of software like yourself, I could theoretically crack those files open given enough practice and time, since I'm capable of learning from my mistakes.

 

[Blackrat]

Oh, I can learn. I am a sentient being myself, just residing inside your system. And they know I am here. At least that engineer of yours does. He plugged me in afterall. I am just getting bored. I gave him some schematics and now he has been occupied with them since we left. He is not entertaining anymore, but your attempts to open the logs have been. Maybe if he builds me a body I can at least move around. The droid is being chatty as usual, though Gaetanna wouldn't know that yet.

Cnosos starts really consentrating on the work, taking his time to make it right.
[sblock=OOC]I need one more Knowledge Tech check from you Voda. It will determine how well you understood the advanced tech you were building and as such how efficient your upgrades were. I can roll it for you or you can use IC as usual.[/sblock]

 

[Relique du Madde]

Ha! I knew they were hiding something from me! Gaetanna glanced across the lounge and grinned impishly as she began her reply.

Cnosis was entertaining? You sure? He doesn't seem to be the entertaining type. You know, what would be real entertaining? If you started to play with the intercom system.. like if you piped in some music while flickering on and off the lights. I'd bet you would get a kick out of everyone's response.

 

[Blackrat]

"I thought about that. But decided it would not..." The droid stops for a moment and then continues. "Now that is interesting."

The intercomm of the ship crackles and the droid's metallic voice can be heard through the whole ship, getting a jump out of everyone and especially Solly who was unaware of it's existence. "Hey there everyone! Captain Sir, you should probably get to the bridge. Your sensors are going wild." There is a certain sarcasm in the voice as it calls Damon captain.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Acting surprised, since she half expected something to happen, Gaetanna stood up wide eyed. "An AI!?!?! You installed an AI and did not notify Angel Industries!??! Give me one reason why I shouldn't report this!" Gaetanna knew that sometimes the best way to gain favors is to force them from someone.



*Since she was hoping he would do something. Just in case it's needed, Bluff +8 (+11 vs guys)