RP: Terraforming Ake [Terraforming Ake] P1 - Dust Bowl Children

Elijah, Then

"Yes, well that is nice that she got them. Good job. But it is as if I did surgery on someone and then said, that my job is over and did not care about post-operation care. It is simply unprofessional." Alice simply replied. She was done with her patient. "And here I thought that cats maybe arrogant bastards, but at least they were effective and professional. Looks like it is not true for all of them. Oh well. I will clean the wound of these other two and put them under so I can get in shower before dinner. And Franklin, thank you for watching over this place."

Sister Sara, Now

Alice walked in the conference room dressed in fresh pair of cargo pants and tank-top. She seemed a lot fresher now after she had a quick shower to clean herself. Her SSS uniform and duster were tossed straight into washer after the walk through the lake. Alice's short hair was also still a bit wet from the water she did not manage to dry off. Still she did not forget to wear her belt with pistol holstered at her side.

With her three pirate patients put under to not cause troubles and kept behind field she could go get dinner with the rest of the crew. She also instructed Elijah's AI to report any disturbances to her. Only thing that could make things safer would be Akemi watching over them, but Daziel wanted everyone at the dinner. So Alice sat next to Daziel, giving him a nod.

"Well, looks like everyone is doing better." Alice said to open up conversation. "Our three prisoners are asleep and I did not find any sort of tracking device or killswitch in them. Which does not mean that there is none. One of them, man called Greg seems to be more than just a regular grunt. I would direct any questions towards him. And now I have a question." Her finger pointed at Sylph. "Who is that?"

Elijah

Science had always held Seiji in rapture. As far as he was considered Science had become an immutable law of the cosmos. Mother nature, disease, aging - these things had all been put in their place by the great force known as Science, so to watch the doctor conduct her own form of it was something he enjoyed.

He was pulled out of some kind of trance by Franklin snapping.

Seiji considered the statement “I… Well… Yes, they did. I mean, it’s their jobs! Of course they did.” He was gathering steam. “I am sure they can and will keep doing so. Origin would not send us here without the best.” His last statement sounded a bit less confident then the ones that came before, but he plowed on none the less. “Hopefully they learned their lesson and that's the last we have seen of them.” Fortunate for his appetite, Seiji could not see what was happening on the Haunted House.


Sister Sara , Later


Seiji shuffled in a moment after Alice had asked her question. He was wearing a fresh Origin uniform, which was the only kind of clothes he brought to Ake. He had taken the time to clean himself up and looked a little more relaxed to be back to business as usual. When he saw the feast spread out for him, he gained a spring in his step. It had been some time since he last ate and with all the excitement he had not even thought to make himself a snack. He was quick to pick out the things on the menu that he could eat according to his diet, thankful that his choices were plentiful here - unlike most company meals he had had to take part of.

He stacked up his plate and sat down across from Daziel. Noticing that some people were not yet grabbing food, he did not dig in just yet. With all of this, though, he seemed in better spirits than he had been the rest of the trip. He was wearing a smile, not bothering to say anything; Alice had asked the question he wanted to and he was more than happy to not repeat it.

"A Computer Program that was accidently loaded into the computer under the guise of a computer card that looks similar to a KS Card. Used by Hackers, Spies to invade secure computer systems to bypass security systems by using the computer software already installed to make a full blown AI under the command of whomever holds the originating KS Card. Which fortunately is now under my control. At least this portion of the AI, which goes by the name of Sylphie." Sapphire spoke up after she had swallowed the food she was happily munching on.

She was looking content and pleased with herself as she was clean. Wearing a nice farmer's bibbed coveralls, T-shirt that didn't hide her physique. Hair loose and freshly brushed out. Her usual worn sneakers.

Akemi continued to enthusiastically munch away as she listened to the others. "I fuckin' love pasta and potatoes and I totally knew that KS card didn't have a gajillion credits on it." If anyone bothered to pay some attention to her appearance they'd notice her face and physique had become substantially more masculine or more accurately androgynous. "Why don't we torture our captives by letting them see us eat this food through a silent video feed while we stick 'em with boring rations? Do we have some emergency ration pills?"

Alice turned her head to Sapphire and frowned. "So if I understand it properly, then she is a rogue AI that snuck on our computers and now it is having dinner with us?" She smirked. "I do assume that you all tried your best to isolate her, so she does not have access to any important processes, like let's say sensors or comms. Am I only one who thinks that if she was on a pirate's KS card, she most likely works with those pirates? Oh well. Have a nice dinner everyone I guess. Oh and prisoners are asleep." Alice said to Akemi. "I have drugged them, since no one is watching them." Her eyes then tracked back to Sylph. "Except of course Elijah's AI who should be pinging me, should one of them regain conciousness, unless someone would terminate that process and maybe turned the fields around the prisoners. Like let's say... an invasive Ai, that snuck onto our computers."

Alice's paranoia was hitting it pretty hard at the moment. When she came in, she was pretty hungry, but at the moment any thought of food was simply gone. People at the table just sat there enjoying a lovely dinner with a rogue Ai and no one gave a shit. Well if this team needed someone to give a shit about thing, then it had to be Alice. Though as she saw it, if the things would progress this way anymore, the doctor would need the same pills for blood pressure as Franklin.

Thwap!

That was the noisy sound made by Daziel's book when he closed the valley made by his hand and snapped the thing shut, a mild frustration working into his smile. With a sigh, he spread his smile around the table and scooped up the tiny volumetric sorceress in one hand.

"Doctor Mason." He greeted Alice, pressing his book onto the table before tilting his head around to see everyone sitting on the opposite side of the table from her, "Everybody else."

Next, he placed Sylphie on top of his book as if it were a small stage for her to perform on. Once there, she yawned at him and twisted a fist against one of her eyes, before tumbling over onto her rump and crossing her legs, facing away from him to the people beyond.

"This," He explained, sparing a look for each individual at the table, "Is a virtual AI assistant program named 'Sylph'. I have examined its functions in their entirety and will now relate them to you all. This AI may look and act like a person with thoughts and feelings, but let me assure you that its entire purpose is to assist in the maintenance of vessels and keep a technician company. It has no loyalties. Its entire programming consists of accessing remote databases to look up component schematics and present them to a technician, then use of a vessel's volumetric projection suite to create this most adorable of visages so as to carry around tools and such while making conversation with the technician in question. It is a machine, and like all machines exists only to do what it is told."

"So that's all you think of me, Tall-Dark-And-Eloquent, just a machine?" Pouted the little witch, crossing her arms and peering over her shoulder with a quivering lip.

"As you can see," Daziel went on, running an affectionate hand along the back of the tiny shoulders-- which caused the tiny sprite to lean in and coo with a slight blush rising across her cheeks, "The conversational abilities are quite complex, but I assure you I've examined every square inch of this program and it's routines."

This statement drew an even redder blush from the tiny witch, who quickly placed her hands over her breasts and between her legs, as if naked and warding off stares. Clearly, this had been an intimate moment for her. Aside from Daziel, only other girls had ever seen her code.

"Let me assure you then, my dears," Daziel finished, still petting the little creature and now looking down at her with an amused grin, fascinated with this toy that someone had made themselves, "That there is absolutely nothing to worry about, and that we're in fact quite lucky as we've drawn from her memory some very exact information about that black ship which attacked us earlier today-- dreadful. I was wanting to wait until Miss Mako and Mister Franklin arrived before explaining this to you all, but I can see that you're all so very eager to work and learn. How commendable."

From his corner of the table, Niel raised a hand, pointing to the little sorceress with the other. "Okay, so I have a question."

Daziel shot a pointing finger back at him. "Mister Strellan."

Niel eyed the little thing, then moved his pointing finger to one of the platters further over, "Would it kill someone if I had the thing bring me one of those tuna steaks? I'm really just hungry over here."

Akemi stood up and headed for the tuna steak. "I'll bring you whatever you want," she cheerfully answered, clearly in a giving mood after having gotten what she wanted from Sapphire. She also saw serving Niel as an opportunity to show off how she received it. "Anything else you'd like?" the overly self-satisfied Neko asked as she enticingly waved a hand over the selection of food before her.

Sapphire nodded in agreement with Daziel. Even if she didn't have that mental link to the computers, she knew how to read programming code. It just needed to be translated from binary which fooled her at the beginning and her natural greed in having wealth.

"I've done my best to limited Sylphie to Sister Sara, unless Daziel overridden my authorization to allow her to the other ships." Letting Alice know subtly that if the prisoners escaped, it would on Daziel's head not hers. Pausing in between bites of food of her meal which was 3/4 consumed. "Compliments to the chef, by the way."

"So what were you going to spend all that money on if that card really had a ton on it?" Akemi asked turning to Sapphire and then to the rest of crew. "What would you guys spend a million plus credits on and how are we going to go about splitting the goods we find down here? Is Origin going to stake claim on everything we find or can we keep certain things to ourselves?"

The talk of the AI interested Yori so she listened to the situation nodding, she suspected maybe that was the source of the earlier hacking on the power armors, but if it was designed only to assist a technician with work it was unlikely. She would have to see what schematics she could draw from the program later, maybe there were some interesting blue prints inside.

Yori frowned a moment when Akemi was quicker to offer assistance than her, but it wasn't that big of a deal. She decided though if everyone was eating she should serve herself some food as well, getting a bit of everything except the cake for now.

"I would think that anything relating to the mission would have to be reported first, and then Origin can decide if it's something they need to keep custody of. As for millions of credits...I would probably invest it...maybe start a new branch of Origin with it." She spoke softly as she started to eat, starting with the potato.

Akemi's super special obnoxio-matic detector suddenly went off as she caught Yori's frown out of the corner of her eye. Here was perhaps a prime opportunity to be a little shit. "Got a thing for Niel? I don't. All I wanna do is diddle Sapphire morning, noon and night. Now that I've found my replacement for the barmaids I was so wrongly deprived of I'm content. Of course if things don't work out between you and him I could always take care of you. In the meantime I wouldn't mind trying to help you get with him."

Yori got rather flustered when she heard Akemi's message in her mind and blushed noticeably. She did notice it was telepathic and not vocal however and managed to calm herself enough to send closed line telepathy back instead of speaking aloud. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. Niel is a friend and fellow technician, there isn't anything like that going on." Even with mental telepathy though her was still frantic and shaky.

"Your loss I guess," was all Akemi had to say to that. She thought about trying to coax something out of her again, but she decided she'd rather extremely vaguely fantasize about exciting adventures on the unexplored planet even though they'd probably largely only find a whole lot of nothing during their stay. But then a thought occurred to her. "Hey Niel, just thought you should know, I have it on good authority Yori has absolutely no romantic interest in you and merely sees you as a friend and coworker. She probably only frowned when I offered to serve you before she could because she wanted to poison you or spit in your food or something. Be careful around her."

"You'll thank me later when he's giving you a full diagnostic," she sent to the technician. "Maybe you'll even invite me to help."

Yori was rather startled by what Akemi said and ended up retorting without even thinking about what she was saying. "I wouldn't! And I do like him! I mean I don't hate him!" She paused after those words escaped her mouth and was totally red, petrified with embarrassment. Her brain sped through information as speeds comparable to light but the inexperienced technician could only come up with one solution."Ineedtobeexcussedforamoment." Her words came out without pause and then she stood up and bowed and tried to leave to clear her head.

Akemi smiled triumphantly, put down her plate for Niel and crossed her arms after sliding her hands up and down together in a theatrical cleaning motion. "She totally wants a hot load of code man. You and me, we could give it to her together. I wanna corrupt all her systems and make a mess of her files. I'm a regular mewmew matchmaker man."

"I understand," Alice simply replied to Daziel. "Though, as far as I am concerned I will still be wary. Also as per Yamataian law, which I think Origin is still under, the AI is a person. Though she might not have rights until she is five years old, we are still in need of taking her as such. Not a machine." Alice simply explained and sighed. Though she lost the taste, she knew she had to eat, so she grabbed one of the sandwiches. Starting to eat, she looked at the exchange between Akemi and Niel and was pretty puzzled. She shook her head and frowned at Akemi, as Yori charged out.

"I will be back," Alice simply said, put her sandwich on a plate and ran off after Yori.

When she caught up, she put a hand on the girls shoulder. "Are you all right?" She asked simply. Though as a doctor, she should mainly be looking after physical health of the crew, she certainly wanted to be there for them in all possible cases. Even when they would feel down. Luckily there was no worry about that with Akemi.

Sapphire snickers softly as Akemi turned her attention to Yori and Niel. She was second guessing herself on whether she should've opted out when she had a chance and put up with her parents domination or having to live with a sex crazed Shifter Neko.

She just focused on her finishing her meal. Even though she did enjoy the time spent sharing a shower with Akemi. ~~ oh well.... we'll see whot the future holds. ~~

With a sigh, Daziel rooted Sylph from his book and pried it open again, letting the dinner go on unmolested by the topics of business and treasure for as long as Mako and Franklin had yet to arrive. And now, of course, he had to wait on Alice and Yori as well. Off-handedly, he finally answered Akemi's question about the book, though at this point it may have served more to distract her from the crew-seperating points she was making at the dinner table. "I don't recommend this one, honestly, darling. It's rather foul and depreciating towards men. I say, it's a rather sexist point of view."

Niel, on the other hand, swallowed his food and backed his wheelchair from the table. Daziel shot him a quick glance, really not wanting anyone else to leave. Niel's response to this was a sarcastic, "Glad everybody is asking me what I think of the girl and taking my well-measured responses into mind instead of just assuming that I'm gonna straight-up take advantage of her. Sure is nice I haven't got would-be matchmakers stirring the pot. Really lovin' this crew dynamic, boss. Rate it highly, you're doing an amazing job on your first day fucking up something new."

Akemi just laughed. "Oh come on, I'm like the guy in the movies that a couple mutually hates and brings together by that shared hate. You're following the formula right now. How would you be taking advantage of her anyway?"

Yori was outside Sister Sara, leaded against the hull trying to settle herself down after blurting out something so embarrassing. She had thought her socialization was going well but now she didn't know what to think after such a situation. However, before she could get too down on herself Alice showed up beside her, startling her a bit. She took a step back in surprise and looked at her. "D-Doctor...umm yes I'm doing fine nothing is broken or anything like that."