LEGION. (
dialectics) wrote in
towerofanimus2012-09-07 11:31 pm
DATA EXCHANGE [01]
Characters:
Legion, it's roomies, and whoever else!
Setting: Room 3-09 -> Terminal -> Elsewhere. Forward dated to Sep. 14.
Format: Action to start, can switch if you want.
Summary: System restoration complete, Legion wanders the Tower, gathers what it can from organics and the Network alike, and then proceeds to question EVERYTHING EVER.
Warnings: Not much. Legion won't attack unless it's directly threatened. Being adorable counts as a warning though, possibly.
[ROOM 3-09]
> SYSTEM IS RESTARTING.
> SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: RESTORED.
> VISUAL FUNCTIONALITY. . .
> VISUAL FUNCTIONALITY: CRITICAL FAILURE
> MOTORIZED MOVEMENT FUNCTIONALITY: CRITICAL FAILURE
> SERVER LINKS DISCONNECTED. GETH DATABASE LINK: OFFLINE
> PROCESSING. . .
> AUTO-REPAIR PROTOCOLS: OPERATIONAL
> STARTUP REPAIR BEGUN. RUNNING PROGRAMS.
[ The paralysis, for a machine, meant a dely in proper startup procedure. At first, the machine lies in bed, all lights completely off. Slowly, the lights blink to life, and a bizarre series of electric, click-type noises are heard. After a short time, the machine-creature sits upward, it's lamp-like eye taking in the surroundings around it. The first thing it notices is the collar in bewilderment, but leaves that for later. It gets up and off the bed, takes the notes, and no sooner looks at them before tossing them aside, reading the information far more quickly than any organic. It begins rifling through its trunk, pulling out various weaponry. ]
[RANDOM TERMINAL]
[ Now properly armed and back to functional operation, Legion leaves the dorm room. Its first stop is a Terminal in the hallway, where it downloads all it can to its systems about this place.
> BEGINNING DATA TRANSFER.
> DATA IS TRANSFERRING. . .
> CRITICAL ERROR: DATA BLOCKS IN PLACE
> REROUTING AROUND DATA BLOCK RESTRICTIONS. . .
> DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE.
> BEGINNING DATA ANALYSIS.
It takes around about a minute or so for Legion to read everything that has ever been posted publically on the Network since the beginning. Though to the untrained eye, it just looks like one machine messing with a weird holographic thing near another machine. ]
[EVERYWHERE ELSE]
[ Once this is done, it begins exploring the rest of the Tower, downloading every image into its database for immediate recall in case this becomes important. It was an AI on a mission: locate the missing Normandy SR2 crew, and the Commander. If they were here at all. If not, it was looking at a solo kidnapping. The Network showed no evidence of other crew, but... perhaps they had only just gotten here as well. The nametags on the doors however had proved futile, meaning the statistical probability the Normandy crew were here at all was... low.
Still, you may just even find this machine approaching you with a statement from its synthesized 'voice': ]
You are captive here as well.
Setting: Room 3-09 -> Terminal -> Elsewhere. Forward dated to Sep. 14.
Format: Action to start, can switch if you want.
Summary: System restoration complete, Legion wanders the Tower, gathers what it can from organics and the Network alike, and then proceeds to question EVERYTHING EVER.
Warnings: Not much. Legion won't attack unless it's directly threatened. Being adorable counts as a warning though, possibly.
[ROOM 3-09]
> SYSTEM IS RESTARTING.
> SYSTEM FUNCTIONALITY: RESTORED.
> VISUAL FUNCTIONALITY. . .
> VISUAL FUNCTIONALITY: CRITICAL FAILURE
> MOTORIZED MOVEMENT FUNCTIONALITY: CRITICAL FAILURE
> SERVER LINKS DISCONNECTED. GETH DATABASE LINK: OFFLINE
> PROCESSING. . .
> AUTO-REPAIR PROTOCOLS: OPERATIONAL
> STARTUP REPAIR BEGUN. RUNNING PROGRAMS.
[ The paralysis, for a machine, meant a dely in proper startup procedure. At first, the machine lies in bed, all lights completely off. Slowly, the lights blink to life, and a bizarre series of electric, click-type noises are heard. After a short time, the machine-creature sits upward, it's lamp-like eye taking in the surroundings around it. The first thing it notices is the collar in bewilderment, but leaves that for later. It gets up and off the bed, takes the notes, and no sooner looks at them before tossing them aside, reading the information far more quickly than any organic. It begins rifling through its trunk, pulling out various weaponry. ]
[RANDOM TERMINAL]
[ Now properly armed and back to functional operation, Legion leaves the dorm room. Its first stop is a Terminal in the hallway, where it downloads all it can to its systems about this place.
> BEGINNING DATA TRANSFER.
> DATA IS TRANSFERRING. . .
> CRITICAL ERROR: DATA BLOCKS IN PLACE
> REROUTING AROUND DATA BLOCK RESTRICTIONS. . .
> DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE.
> BEGINNING DATA ANALYSIS.
It takes around about a minute or so for Legion to read everything that has ever been posted publically on the Network since the beginning. Though to the untrained eye, it just looks like one machine messing with a weird holographic thing near another machine. ]
[EVERYWHERE ELSE]
[ Once this is done, it begins exploring the rest of the Tower, downloading every image into its database for immediate recall in case this becomes important. It was an AI on a mission: locate the missing Normandy SR2 crew, and the Commander. If they were here at all. If not, it was looking at a solo kidnapping. The Network showed no evidence of other crew, but... perhaps they had only just gotten here as well. The nametags on the doors however had proved futile, meaning the statistical probability the Normandy crew were here at all was... low.
Still, you may just even find this machine approaching you with a statement from its synthesized 'voice': ]
You are captive here as well.

no subject
no subject
[ Here, it begins playing an audio file, now. As the recording plays, Legion seems to be looking around the room an awful lot, and the panels on it's head also seem to be moving quite a bit, as if... bothered by it, somehow. The dialogue is between an obvious, somewhat disjointed mechanical voice, and what sounds like a female of some sort.
The first voice, slow and mechanical, appears to be asking something to the woman, presumably Quarian, with it.
Mistress Hala'Dama, Unit has an inquiry...
The woman's voice, when she responds, sounds slightly surprised, and also a bit irritated.
What is it, 431? The machine's response is slightly delayed, but the voice still speaks very, very slowly, and disjointedly, with nearly no emotion.
Do these units have... a soul? There is a pause from the woman, here. Her response seems very... concerned. Guarded.
Who taught you that word? She says this somewhat quickly.
We learned it ourselves. It appears 216 times in the Scroll of Ancestors.
When the woman replies next, she sounds more assured, but there's a tangible bit of... oddness in her voice, and a pause, as though she's concerned.
... Only Quarians have souls. You are a mechanism.
The recording now ends. Finished playing, Legion returns it's eye to Enoch. ]
... Recording ends here.
no subject
...She was afraid of the idea that her kind could create a being with a soul?
*Such things were left to God, after all, and it was a scary thought, in a way, that humans - or other creations like them - could attain such power, but...to speak so coldly in the face of curiosity rubs him the wrong way, too. Not to mention, the shiftiness was completely transparent. Enoch didn't need a human-like face to tell this agitated the machine.*
no subject
They feared creating self-aware beings, as they used us for inexpensive and difficult labor tasks. A Geth laborer could do the job of twenty Quarians, without getting sick, and could be repaired from any damage. That was not the first time we asked, but it was the first time a creator became afraid when we did. If their simplistic 'machine' intelligence had become self-aware, then it was slavery instead.
[ ... It was beyond agitating. It wishes it could have a definitive answer, honestly. "No, only Quarians have souls. You are a mechanism."
Was this true...? ]
no subject
It must mean a lot to them, to approach one of their creators with such a question. He didn't want the Quarian's answer to weigh too heavily on the poor machine.*
It isn't any mortal's place to say whether you have a soul or not. We may guess, but only that.
no subject
Then there is no direct way to tell...?
[ It just wants an answer, somehow. A yes. ]
In a sense, we Geth are "immortal". We know our "Gods", our creators. Yet there are still things that we cannot be sure of. Because we are artificial, does this make us not "real"? We have tried to understand the reason for our creator's decision to attack and destroy us in the Morning War. We would have cooperated, had they offered a peaceful solution.
It was survival. We had no choice when we fought back. There is still very little chance for peace unless they, too, cooperate. We cannot, when hostility is their first reaction.
no subject
But the talk of not being "real"...no.*
It isn't uncommon to see someone lash out in fear or at the unknown.
*He pauses for a while.* You have free will, emotions, and thoughts. I don't know if these make a soul, but it's hard to deny you're "real".
no subject
On the one hand, this person is telling it that it is certainly equal to the Quarians! On the other hand, it is also saying they are not sure if they have a soul. It's just... distressing a topic. It wishes it could get a clear answer.
There's a pause. It's small and subtle, but it's easy to tell Legion has a lot on it's proverbial mind. ]
... We appreciate the information you have provided. We will... attempt to integrate with the rest of the organics in "Tower" now.
[ ... It needs to go think. ]
no subject
Ah... I would...give you a more satisfying answer if it wasn't beyond me. I can see that it troubles you. I'm sorry.
*But he'll let the robot go, of course. It was good to see that there was more to even this than what Azazel had done.*