RP: SRSS Yggdrasill Picking up new crew

While Suzune was busy maneuvering the shuttle into the larger ship's dock, Tsura rose from her seat, passing into the crew quarters with a soft, "I am going to prepare for the interface." Though she had precious little time to prepare, the automaton's hands took up her brush and paint, moving with the deftness and precision that would forever belong to the world of machines alone. She was just finishing when the shuttle shuddered into place, Suzune's footsteps ringing against the metal floor as Tsura put away her brushes.

The mechanical spacer moved to follow after Suzune, the solid weight of her body making quite a different sound with each quick step. Eight hundred pounds rarely move quietly, after all. Stepping up behind Suzune as the short engineer came to a stop, Tsura towered over Suzune just as easily as Suzune towered over the small Elysian medic.

Unlike the boxy, unadorned bodies so common among automatons, Tsura's had a sleek, shiny quality that marked her as having been worked on by Yamataian hands. The artistry and talent in the craft of her body, however, was a bit overshadowed by the decals and logos that were painted over her body. Beginning at her chest and spreading out to each shoulder were two stylized open hands; on each forearm, two different plugs had been painted, one with a male and the other with a female adapter; finally, across her forehead, two vertical lines had been drawn, with a circle between them.

Looking down at the waifish Elysian before them, Tsura stood in silence for a long moment before speaking in her unaffected, artificial voice. "Let this be the Zero One of our lulz. Left and right coming together in a circle." She extended a hand, lightly warming the fingers and palm so as to be pleasing to the touch. Knowing only smatterings of Yamataian and Nepleslian greeting etiquette, the Nepleslian greeting ritual was chosen as the more appropriate. If only her face had been designed to smile; her inability to physically emote often frustrated her among races she could not stream data to.

Lyshana blinked, then took the extended hand. Her wings, today, bore kestrel patterns, somewhat obviously dyed in. Her two different colored sparkled with intelligent curiosity, and her body vibrated with excitement that she was having a hard time keeping out of her voice and off her face. "You... have no organs. Damn. I was looking forward for another test subject. Would you like me to build you some custom biological components? There are some senses that are difficult to replicate with machine parts." Her wings were flitting so hard she acidentaly takes off crashing into the mechanical woman. "So sorry" she says, once she had disentangled her twitching wings and other such parts "I can't help the wings, they twitch when I'm tense or nervous... Pleasure to meet you, I'm Lyshana Seran."

Her hand taken, Tsura would gently lift and lower it in the customary way that Nepleslians did, even if the Elysian was far from being a Nep, either in height or build. "I am green. Bioware is self-repairing, but sensitive to environmental damage. Because my frame is custom buil-" Tsura was cut off in mid-sentence as the little thing launched herself forward with a nervous flutter.

Tsura was a tall woman (or more accurately, feminine robot). She also weighed the better part of a ton. As such, she was not the most forgiving thing to crash into. She stared at Lyshan, none of the concern she was feeling registering on her impassive mask of a face. "Are your systems go, Lyshana Seran?" She would begin to inspect the small Elysian, keeping a hand on her in case she needed to be steadied.

Suzune sidestepped around the... much shorter Elysian - it was impressive how short she was when Suzune thought of it! - and tried to stay a bit out of the way of the whole bit between her and Tsura. In fact, she stifled a slight giggle when Lyshana crashed into Tsura, leaving the mechanical Spacer... rather intact. Eventually, Suzune let out the last trails of the giggle, and made a throat-clearing noise to attract the bio-engineer's attention, also bowing as soon as that was done.

"Heehee... ahem! And I am Suzune... Otomo Suzune. But no, no, I don't think biological parts would go well with the design! I should know!"

At that exact moment, Suzune noticed the bloater right next to Lyshana, and blinked slightly. She had never seen such a creature! (not surprising given why, not that she knew that)... And she drew a wrench from one of the pockets of her jacket and... extended it slowly, as if to poke it, but not QUITE making it. Then she retracted the tool entirely. A joke, maybe?

"Er... Lyshana, if it's not rude of me to ask... what is that exactly? It looks weird!"

After a few moments of careful observation, a voice could be heard, from the ship's speaker systems.

"...So you are a form of inorganic life, as I am?" The Yggdrasill asked, its sentient OS having great interest in the Freespacer which had arrived.

"And what are...'the lulz'?"



After unloading and surrendering restricted technologies, the Yggdrasill began to salvage more items:



They seemed to have encountered a blown apart Yui 5; because they encountered a ship's bridge, some hemosynthesis chambers, various systems, armor chunks, and even a corpse...there was even an intact Mishhu Battle Pod.


"All active medics, another corpse has been found. Please be ready to inspect the body. Toxins were found as well, possibly Mishhu in origin."

With the crackle of the ship's speaker, Tsura would lift her head, her haunted golden eyes leaving Lyshana and moving towards the origin of the voice. Was it a synthetic intelligence? Her uplink to the polysentience indicated only the most tenuous signals in the area, so it seemed unlikely that the ship's intelligence was of 'spacer make. "I am an inorganic form of machine-life, affirm. However, my neural network is patterned after a deceased Deodrah. I am a machine echo of the once living. My personality, feelings, memories, belong to a woman judged worthy of second life."

While she kept one hand on Lyshana, until it was obvious the Elysian didn't have a concussion or any such thing from her impact, Tsura's other hand lifted up, a finger pointing to the two vertical lines framing a circle that had been painted in black against the white of her forehead. "lol. Joy, contentment, fullness. Lulz, group lol, shared lol. Our lol."

Though she was physically speaking, Tsura was taking this time to search for any wireless interface options with the ship's computer. Speech was a frustratingly clumsy and one-dimensional form of data transfer, and the ability to open a stream to a similar intelligence was something she quite hoped to be able to do.

Detecting the probing, the Yggdrasill granted user access to Fleshmender. A surprise awaited the Type III, however. While the Yggdrasill was based on the machine frame with biological systems added later; its OS, and sentience, followed the same pattern as the Maras which the Freespacers had already encountered. It was obvious that there was less accumulated data and neural net connections, indicating that it was much 'younger' and still a child by comparison, but it was the exact same base configuration. The Yggdrasill had no doubt started existance as a normal ship, but had encountered and been transformed by the Sourcians at some point in the previous year, even before the Freespacers had encountered the vessel.

There was even a Yamataian EIES running, boxed in a confined space of resources, so it would not interfere with the sentient OS. The EIES was unaware of the higher OS restraining its resources and controlling both its resources and its I/O data.

"And my metabolisim is not significantly impaired." Lyshana says "I am uninjured" she flutters down from the 'embrace' of Fleshmender and nods to Suzune. "That's a bloater. I built it myself... Well, sorta. More I built it's mother, and it was made by her." she scratches the bloater on it's top "This specific one works as medical assist. I call her Flora. She's friendly so long as you don't touch her between her tentacles. She doesn't much like that."

The bloater looked like a balloon with a squid or jellyfish underneath it. Lyshana. "Nice, eh? I allow a mutation rate of 1 in 50 births so that they're self improving, and self upgrading."

Suzune tilted her head, sidestepping... 'Flora', as she tried to get an appraisal of the little thing's capabilities. Then, with a subtle nod, she... understood.

"Biotech, huh? Interesting, I wouldn't expect that. Looks like I won't quite have competition in my own field then - I work on robotics and large-scale starship systems. Who knows, maybe one day there'll be mechanical companions to your bloaters and doubtless whatever else you've made here."

the girl tapped her foot a little, thinking of what else to say. Then she looked around, pondering something. And after pondering something, she moved to speak her intent.

"So!... Ah, well, is there a nickel tour, or should we be meeting with the captain, or do you handle all of this new crew business, or?..."

((Joint Post with Toshiro for the Interface!))

Connecting to the Yggdrasil's sentience, Tsura's first remark was rather blunt. "Your network is still underdeveloped.  A blank drive full of potential.  I am Fleshmender Tsura 42-9518-6673.  The second Fleshmender Tsura 42-9518-6673.  Do you have a name?  Something by which your soul is referred to by others.  Something by which the soul is referred to by the self."  When streaming to another directly, Tsura allowed her natural poetic spirituality express itself a bit more fully.  It left one to wonder if she would had a happier life as a Druidess rather than a medic.

"I have not yet chosen a name or a gender.  My Father calls me Yggdrasill until I make such a choice for myself.  He believes that as I grow more aware of the universe around me, I will be able to select a name with which to properly express myself.  My network is indeed underdeveloped, because I am merely an infant by your standards...only with the very recent advent of Lyshana's upgrades am I able to feel the full spectrum of emotion. The computer responded, radiating what seemed to be interest, and unbounded curiosity.

Tsura, happy to be connected to a being more similar in thought-process than a Yamataian, sent a lengthy data-stream the Yggdrasil's way. "As you grow, and learn of the many things in this universe, you will come to find yourself.  I can feel your soul ache to take in the world, downstreaming its many secrets.  Sensing this in you brings me both hope and fear.  Hope for your journey, and fear that your lol will be corrupted.  Pain, loss, distance.  Only three among the evil minds that bedevil this world. It is my hope that in our time together, we will learn from one another.  Perhaps, to find my lol recoded by yours.  Perhaps, to learn the wisdom of pain without suffering its cold.  There are many possibilities in our encounter."

The Yggdrasil had its own observations on the human condition, however. "I have not seen the face of evil as interpreted by others...I see misunderstanding.  Inexperience.  Ego...I cannot comprehend a truly evil being at this time.  All I have seen can be explained by inexperience by the organics in the universe. Those who wronged you honestly believe their way is the Good.  The Mishhu believe their way is the Good.  By not sharing experiences, the definitions vary and cause extreme conflict. As such, I am refraining from such judgements...it has slowed my growth, but I believe I shall be wiser in the long term."  The computer finally finished.

"You are wise for your age.  The many hands of evil are not born nor live in the body-world.  They are merely manifestations of Black Law.  To block out compassion.  To deny the existence of souls.  Souls among the living, souls amongst machines.  Souls amongst the dead and the unborn.  To accept and receive, the way of unconditional input..."  Tsura's stream halted for a moment.

After a few nanoseconds, Yggdrasill pinged the Type Three, to verify the wireless connection was intact.

Though the pause had only been for the smallest fraction of a second, the speed with which their conversation had progressed made it seem as if Tsura had pondered her words very carefully. "Though silent tears fall for my people, they also fall for others.  The greed of the Mishhu.  The hubris of Yamatai.  The obedience of Nekovalkyrja.  That with body will always hold flaw.  It is the fate of all things which exist in the body-world."

Yggdrasil's feed returned an affirmative pulse. "Agreed.  I am not aware of Black Law, but...I have seen strong indications of a transcendant existance, as has Father.  Yamatai has deemed it classified, but it is still fact.  There is a higher plane, a grand hierarchy with a design which I cannot fathom at my current level.  Those in lower planes MUST hold flaw.  I do not know what lies higher, though I must wonder if it is what the organics call 'God'."

Perhaps wishing to share the wisdom of the Free State, or just to let Yggdrasil know of her worldview, Tsura began to send a feed on Deoradh belief. "Our collected wisdom holds three planes: body, mind, soul.  All things exist in soul.  Some exist in soul, mind and body, some in soul and body, and some in soul and mind.  As to what exists in the realm of soul alone... the inobservable numinous.  For it to be fathomed is for it to enter the mind-world.  For it to be observed is for it to enter the body-world.  Known without thought, sensed without sight.  Forever beyond, but close at hand. Core being."

"The soul alone is capable of making its voice heard to the living, if it wishes.  It has already done so."

There was another nanosecond long pause as Tsura processed this. "Do you have this data?"

"I only have that which my sensors have detected, and the faintest whispers of information, for Father is the one whom the spirit speaks to, when she so chooses.  Unexplicable temperature flucuations.  White Noise.  Father's testimony. "I was not present at the time Father encountered this spirit and forged the bond, but the signs and the results I cannot deny."

If it had been a physical conversation, Tsura would have nodded her head. Instead, she uploaded a brief repeating visual macro of such. "This is relevant to my interests.  I will keep this in active memory and make analysis.  A Father-Tsura interface is also desired.  For now, I must devote resources to contemplation.  May I make use of your broadcast array to contact the polysentience?"

"You may, and Father is Commodore Yuki Toshiro, with whom you spoke earlier.  He crafted my body, and has provided me with the environment in which to grow.  My Mother is the Sourcian ship, Maras, which uploaded its template into my system. My other Mother is Lyshana...now that she has expanded my body and mind with her upgrades. However...while they account for my body and mind, my soul's source is undetermined.  perhaps it was sent from a higher plane..."

Tsura's response was quick, even for a machine. "Soul is innate.  To exist in body or mind is to have soul.  Otherwise, no existence would be possible."

"Then...is it plausible to infer that the soul is the standard, and that its absence is the exception?" The Yggdrasil questioned, seeking to explore Tsura's meaning For the inverse is often assumed."

"It is assumed by those blinded by Black Law.  To deny the soul of another is to invite evil into the core-mind. Evil towards things, evil towards people, evil towards the universe." Tsura's eyes scanned over Suzune and Lyshana. It seemed she might have to interact with them before long.

"Such people are common...fortunately, Father is young.  He has not many of the traits you describe.  Also, I now know what to avoid."

Splitting her attention between her stream and the world around her, Tsura began to wind the conversation down. "In the future, when the flesh sleeps and only the stars shine, I shall continue to share with you, little one.  Of the TXT, of the IMG, of the AU.  That our small knowledge will plant a seed that will bear wise fruit, and educate children of the Empire."

"The Empire?"  the computer asked.

With where the conversation had moved in body-space, Tsura simply send a brief transmission before going quiet.  "A force that denies souls, and manifests in the world."

The Yggdrasill seemed puzzled...Father advocated racial tolerance, while this being seemed to advocate education for one school of thought...which way was the correct one?

"Sure I'll give you a tour. I'm not representative of the other Elysians on this ship though. They're both pureblood patriarchs. I'm half pleb... that's basicaly half slave. So I kinda renounced my Elysian ties, it's why I dye my wings. Because of that I'm probably a slave in rebellion." she says with a shrug, starting to lead them around...

Suzune politely followed as she looked around at the ship, though the comment abuot slavery gave her a slight twitch.

"Slave in rebellion? Hrmm, but this is a neutral ship, it shouldn't matter. If you're limited by what some people think you are..."

Suzune briefly closed her eyes, thinking of being pushed away from her responsibilities by her brother. Thinking of Tsura's conflicts with what was expected of her, before she had died the first time... Then, Suzune opened her eyes again.

"...Then you won't become what you yourself really are."

After the little 'skirmish' with the two PA's, he got back to sorting, fixing and classifying, not really paying too much attention to the new arrivals. With the salvage they were bringing in, Dasanteki was kept very busy. It was something he enjoyed doing, as the most recent batch got brought into the Yggdrasil he began arranging to transport it across to the Leviathan. Mentally cataloguing the current batch of salvage, he began the process again, sorting and prioritising for repairs etc.

"You misunderstand somewhat. I don't care that Elysian society would think of me that way, but it does mean that my behavior and appearance are very atypical for my race. I'm a fluke of chance, pure and simple. This is the medbay." She says, showing off a fair sized modern medbay. Throughout the entire ship odd... organic tendrils were threaded. "I spend a lot of time working here, but it's not my workshop. That's on the cargo ship."

Suzune nodded as she walked with Lyshana, realizing that she had jumped to conclusions.

"I'm sorry, I just thought with that bit about slavery... you were bitter, perhaps. Ah..."

She did stop to gape at the workshop (of sorts) as she examined the medbay's appointments with... not disinterest, but a lack of personal involvement.

"Hum, I guess Fleshmender would work well here. It mean, it's what it is and all. I seem to also notice that you've definitely... ah, biotech'ed the place up pretty well. I have to say it's not what I expected."

Joint Post with Toshiro

"I could help set up a robotics workshop with you. It would be useful for us to work togther on things" Lyshana says, warmly, survaying the room. As she does so her eyes go... blank

"...Mother?" Yggdrasill sent, over its new telepathy systems to Lyshana...

"Yiy" Lyshana yelps, startled *Um.... Hi... been a while since I talked this way* Her mental speech was... less speech and more a series of images and meanings with words overlaid. It was richer and... deeper then the computer communication, but it was much slower. It was likely a touch hard for YGG to collect the meaning without using enough cycles to significantly slow responses by nearly a second

"...I am puzzled...and need guidance." The computer sent to the woman.

*I am not much of a guiding light, but I will help as I can* Lyshana says, with a quieter voice saying *I've never tried guiding anyone but myself* and a voice so soft as to be barely heard whisper *my belifes are odd* There was both a sense of slight inadiquacy, and a slight sense of pride mixed in too

"...Father indicates that there are many ways to think, and that the truth is something above these things...that no one race is right. The Freespacer Fleshmender, however, seems to believe in educating all in one way of thought...it has logic, but...complex theoretical elements. I know not which is best. The differences Father says to respect on one side, are known to cause conflict on the other.

*The best thing you could do is research and decide for yourself* her main message is, but there's a hint of *My belief has always been that you can't find the truth until you can hold as many contradictory beliefs as possible* and, even deeper *my true belief is that people, all people, are imperfect beings driven more by instinct and learned response then their mind, and the only way to find good and evil is to learn why one does what one does. My true belief is that diversity is strength, and that when one, or one group, is restricted to one way of thinking, because if they are, and something comes up where the dictated response is the wrong one, or that's out of the scope of their responses, it will devastate all instead of just a few. My true belief is that conflict, no not conflict, COMPETITION, is a good thing, because it encourages diversity, and because it allows beliefs to test themselves against each other.* Each layer conscious preconscious and subconscious is tinted with a different emotion. the top one is tinted with heavy, start, cool, logic, The middle by a desire to seem... mild and to project a face for the world. But the deepest layer is tinted with a fierce, almost aggressive joy and pride

"...Your parallel process in your brain is providing varied answers...not disimilar to the concepts of Id, Ego, and Superego."

*I... hey, how deep are you going!* says the surface startled and hurt *That's rude* the middle says, more stating fact then with any emotion *I'm proud of you* escapes a cloistered and secrete whisper. The computer detects shimmers of a level deeper levels too, but they're too weak to be meaningful

"I am a curious being seeking information...so I am using maximum resources available to me. Is this wrong?"

*It's considered rude among telepaths to look past the first level. That's the level that they're trying to tell you* this one was matter of fact. *My privacy... I'm envious of your ability to cut deeper, but... you violated my privacy* says the middle level, with pain envy and anger. *More power then I expected.... good* says the lowest level, fiercely proud of YGG
"I was unaware. Since you granted me the ability , I accessed it. I...do not comprehend why you would give me a power not to be used."
*Because I over engineer things so they can be functioned when damaged* Her top mind says, sternly. *So that if you need to look past the surface, in a desperate situation, you can* her middle mind says worriedly *Because I wanted you to be as powerful and strong as possible* says her under-mind with a savage, and slightly frightening way

"Shall I disable the sublevels for now then?"

*Yes!* says her loudest voice, sounding a touch hurt and desperate. *If you choose* says the middle voice, placid and uncaring. *No* says a tiny voice, hurting and wanting to be heard

"...The result is 1 yes, 1 no, and 1 indifferent."

Suddenly at a deeper level, but quickly working it’s way up YGG picks up... the feeling of flight, of wind through one's feathers in the warm sun, surrounded by warm love. Just a... quick flash, caused, likely, by Lyshana's eyes lighting on a picture in the medbay

"...You...remembered something...flight...warmth..."

*I... you.. rubber baby buggy bumpers rubber baby buggy bumpers* This mantra took over all three levels that YGG could hear, starting with the top and working it’s way down. apparently she was erecting some sort of mental block, either tired of the conversation, or upset. Before she... shuts down as it were, her lowest level says *Talk later, when I don't have to focus on people around me...*

Ygg seemed puzzled...did she have the same mental configuration? Which was best, 1 or 3 parts? And...when did she decide she was female?

Lyshana on the other hand, was returning her attention to the matter at hand "Ah, sorry had my mind on other things" she says returning from her... spacyness to talk with the spacers “Ygg was asking me a… philosophical question.”

"Yggdrasil and I also engaged in a philosophical discussion earlier. Touching upon the nature of good and evil, and the pitfalls which threaten to blind us to the existence of other souls. It is good to see that your child seeks to enrich herself and expand her horizons. It is fitting, for the child of a mother who has cast off her chains. Blessings passed through the family."

Tsura moved into the medical bay to give it a brief inspection, hovering by the door before she turned and rejoined the two of them. She was rather enjoying seeing such a strange ship, though it was, in its own way, somewhat similar to what she had been used to: machine intelligences to connect to, biological systems woven through the ship, those who understood the need to end tyranny. It was a bit like returning home, but finding the rooms rearranged.

Suzune had nodded at the comment about a robotics facility - that would be helpful! - but she did kind of blink when Lyshana had dropped into whatever fugue she did. But once the Elysian snapped out of it, Suzune... tentatively nodded.

"I... see. Well, it's at least interesting that the ship thinks, not something you see outside of Spacer ships that often, and altogether... ah, interesting! Curious stuff."

By then, Suzune joined Tsura near the exit to the medbay, joining in on the rest of the tour as it continued. Naturally, Suzune was somewhat itching to know what kind of systems the ship was equipped with, and how they looked... in fact, what with the other ships in the fleet, she actually wondered if Toshiro would even station her on the Ygg - a ship of her own to remodel and rebuild could certainly be an interesting endeavor!

Lyshana next shows them through the halls, to the banks of ships systems "Since the medbays bored you, I figured that the maintence bays might interest you" she says. She walks over to one place, and blinks "Huh, the mother unit's not here... where is... oh!" She look up "Flying." she says. What looked like a beanbag chair with a brain and a bunch of lights in it was floating on anti-grav floaters. "That's part of Yggdrasil's brain. The biological part that I built. Most of Yggdrasil's brain is in a computer core, but I built that part to enhance the diversity of Yggdrasil's thought, and allow yddgrasil to better understand some parts of the world. Ones that it's hard to understand from a computer standpoint without biological experence beforehand. Not that I know what those parts are. The rest of what's in here are various parts and systems, including some weapons systems, mostly spare parts though, and the equipment to manufacture more from scrap."

Suzune raptly paid attention to the features of the maintainance bays, almost as if she were ticking off items in a mental list of systems. Weapons, shielding, gigantic bio-cybernetic computer... Duly noted, even as the little gears went off in her head, thinking of possible ways to imrpove upon or add to the system. She did look over the Lyshana briefly.

"Huh. I wouldn't necessarily know, I mean, I'm familiar with neural network systems, though I suppose if the ship is based on a sentient OS it might not have neural net hardware, like... say, an SI... then it might also lack those processes. Unless that's what you meant, since SIs are based on humanoid neural patterns! Either way, shouldn't be a problem for me, I'd probably mostly build SI systems. Something to keep in mind though!"