Classic_Spaceman

Yelana tossed another pretzel into her mouth as she examined the code of the data that she had downloaded, looking for any clues as to Query's full programming and capabilities. Yelana leaned back on the sofa. "<Can't say I'm a fan of veiled threats>", she said, opening the bottle of water and taking a sip. "<And you're missing a really big piece of this puzzle - You said I downloaded you, but that's wrong. I copied about a third of the Hall's data, which included an embedded security programme. That programme is still running on Heroica's servers - You, the entity called 'Query', only came into existence after the copy of the security programme interfaced with my visor, chose a name for itself, and accessed my files.>" Yelana paused; "<In a way, I created you. I mean, I didn't write your base code, but you - 'Query' - wouldn't exist without my actions, so I'd recommend being just a bit more respectful. . . And forthcoming.>" OoC: OoC:

OoC:

"<'My data'?>" Yelana thought as she stood up to get a bag of pretzels and a bottle of sparkling water from the counter. Sitting back down on the sofa, Yelana opened the bag. "<Very relevant, actually, considering my questions were specifically about your operations>", she said, crunching a pretzel. "<And what's your deal? You talk back a lot for just a security programme, you know - But you can't be sentient, since you weren't given a name until you picked one for yourself. From what I know, Adamites have to be given names.>"

Ah, OK. 👍

How does Query have so many dice? Is this a combined check with Yelana, and what was the check for?

"<I'm trying to see if you're bluffing, when you said you were accessing my files. What do you know? And you assess threats? What's your criteria. . . And what do you do when you find something you deem a threat?>"

Yelana bit down on her lip, as she tried to figure out exactly what was happening. "<Wha - How are you getting into my files?? I have security measures in-place, too - Not just anyone can access what I know. Prove it.>"

Yelana inhaled sharply. "<My data?? What do you know about me??>"

OoC:

"<So you got my name from the database, then? And if you're supposed to be managing Heroica's data-security, why are you here, with me?>"

Yelana sat straight up and activated her translator, snapping the drive closed and dropping it onto the floor as she did. "<How do you know my name?! What's your function as a programme??>"

Upon returning to her apartment, Yelana sighed deeply, took her backpack off and dropped it onto the ground by the sofa, then flopped down. Lying on her back, she reached down and retrieved the now-empty data drive from her backpack and flipped it open. "<Access all recently-downloaded information, isolate the programme self-designated as 'Query', and transfer it to the external drive.>" "<One Moment. . . >"

Yelana walked into the Hall from the Library and stopped at the Missionboard. Looking over it, she signed up for Mission #8. As she glanced around the Hall, Yelana nodded to Bers, noting his upgraded appearance, then left and walked back to her apartment.

Yelana handed the office supplies over and slid the chopstick back into her hair. "Alright, then - I'll see you later!"

"Yeah, until it goes through peer-review and blind trials, it's pretty much up in the air. Interesting, though." The drive flashed the message "Upload Complete", then folded itself back into a pyramid. Yelana picked it up and put it into her backpack, then reached into her belt to retrieve the two pens and bottle of white out that she had taken from the briefcase on the train, stepping around from behind the terminal. "Oh, I meant to ask - Do you need these? I don't do much with paper, so I was wondering if you could use them."

Yelana tapped the chopstick against her lips nervously, stalling for time. "Right, right right right - I get that. Yeah." The drive was almost finished uploading the data on the Boreal Express. She addressed the voice again: "Who are you?". OoC:

OK - That makes sense. 👍

I meant to ask this before: Are flares going to be available from one of the shops in the Trade Bazar, or are they a mission-specific item?

I agree: A citizen of an empire who, in the wake of a short-but-significant war, enlists as a soldier and fights rebel groups during said empire's civil war - Star Wars or GATS?

Yelana's left eye twitched briefly as the drive displayed "Uploading: 47%". She mentally addressed the voice; "Who is this? Are you in the data, or are you the data?". After quickly checking to see if the voice had come from files that she had successfully downloaded, Yelana resumed her conversation. OoC: "Right, like Pharsus - Their state healthcare system is completely independent of any of the organisations in the Arm." "Well, you can't fly a ship through a delusion - I mean, unless all of reality is somehow a delusion - so the different spheres, or planes, or whatever you want to call them, absolutely exist. Which, I'm curious. . . How's Ætherspace-assisted PT working out? How and whether it works could definitely shed some light on the nature of the cosmos." OoC:

Yelana just shrugged as she walked over to the terminal. Setting the drive on top of the console, she swiped her finger down one of the sides of the pyramid, causing the it to unfold and display a small hologram reading "Uploading: 1%". Yelana ran her fingers across the terminal's screen, her movements leaving a trail of faint orange holographic circuitry. Unseen to Collette, Yelana's visor displayed a readout: "Copying Data. . . Download In-Progress". Looking up, Yelana continued her conversation over the console. "Eh, you'd be surprised - Once a company hits a certain level of market-dominance, public outcry and loss of profits don't really correlate. I was wondering how favourably they're viewed, profit-margin notwithstanding." "See, right, yeah; this is what I was talking about - You can try to track down what you want from another company, but if you want convenience and to know what you're getting, you go with the big corps." Yelana spun the chopstick around for a moment. "Interesting. . . So, using Ætherspace as a conduit between different planes of reality? I always thought the Æther was a plane of reality - Is it. . . How can I describe it? Is it like the sauce in lasagna? Like, it keeps the pasta, vegetables, whatever, separate, but it's, like, a fluid that kind of morphs together into a single. . . thing? And if you can get into the sauce, you can - theoretically - reach any level of the lasagna?" Yelana paused. "Does that make any sense?" OoC:

"Oh, actually, I have to upload the data - The drive's locked, and I can't just leave this kind of tech lying around. I hope that's not a problem." Yelana thought for a moment. "Well, uh. . . I'm not exactly sure." "Oof! How's their PR department been handling that?" Yelana slipped a chopstick out of her hair and spun it around her fingers as she thought about what Collette was saying. "So it sounds like they managed to buy themselves a near-monopoly, which they probably solidified during the War. What's their competition looking like?" "'Æthergait'? Cute." Yelana said dryly. "Tell me more about that - Ætherdiving assisted physical therapy - I'm not really familiar with it."

"Oh, hey - There you are! I brought you something." Yelana took one of the data drives out of her backpack and tossed it, catching it out of the air with a smirk. "Updated intel on the Boreal Express: Schematics, layout, security protocols and vulnerabilities, engine specs - Basically everything I asked for. Just in case anyone ever needs it." Yelana looked around the Library, mentally activating her visor's translator, then back to Collette. "Is there a console or something where I can upload this? And can you do me a favour - Pull everything you have on-file regarding Lupin Bio-Tech. There's some. . . stuff I want to look into."

Promobricks EOL 2021 List.

Sipping her tea, Yelana entered the Library and looked over the stacks of books, papers, and datacubes. "Uh, Collette? Helloooo? You here?"