Super Robot Quest

"Jeffery! Just the man I wanted to see!"
"Really? I thought I annoyed you."
"That was because I was still performing my personal research. Today however, I am prepared to present a discovery of mine! If you would proceed to the Remote Control Cars, I will demonstrate for you!"
She then leads Jeffery over to the RC area, where a simple obstacle course is prepared.
"Now then,you should remember what I was talking about last time with my Paradigm shifting away from an understanding based upon observations of the servos to...I would describe it as an instinctual control based upon my control of my own natural arms?"
"Correct."
"THIS TIME However I've actually managed to maintain my original Paradigm, based upon my own experience as an automobile driver, the 'tiny driver', the naming for which you'll understand in a moment!"
Lucy put a hand on top of her head, and then intently lowered it until it was a bit over the RC car's top, before flipping her hand over and tilting it and waiting a few moments.
"And now that the eccentric ritual component of the tiny driver is seen to, now to complete it, this chair, so I can simulate the experience of being the driver."
"That's quite a bit of work you're putting into this thing, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's essential really, as you know, my prior attempt to form a paradigm was overwhelmed by the more intuitive paradigm of seeing the servo arm I was manipulating as simple some disembodied third arm. But if I had something to 'anchor' my perspective, I can maintain it. Now for the driving!"
She then sits down in the chair, and true to her words, holds her arms out, clearly holding an imaginary wheel, and lifting her right foot as if resting them on the pedals of a car. Lucy 'taps' the wheel three times, then drops an arm and grabs an imaginary lever and pulling it back.
"And now that it's in drive, here we go!"
The car starts and goes forward. Lucy for her part moves as if she's inside the car, driving it herself, the only real break in her acting being her eyes being trained on the car's position in the course, instead of looking forward. Otherwise she rotates the wheel and presses down on the pedals as a real driver would.
Notably, due to Lucy's acting, the RC's car's reactions seem perhaps somewhat slowed, but it does move through the course with clear deliberation in every move, weaving around the obstacles in the first part, moving through the tunnel with no problems, and managing speed properly over the hills.
Once she's completed a lap, Lucy adjusts what Jeffery has now figured out to be the gearshift, the car rolls to a stop, and then Lucy stands up, walks over to the car, and puts her hand right above the top of the RC, before raising it up to the top of her head and then doing a spin into a curtsy.
"And that's the 'tiny driver' paradigm. Now for the second paradigm. 'Possession.' If the Tiny driver operates based upon the experience of being a driver within the car, Possession draws it's roots from my experiences with the servo arms-of imagining the control of the car as manipulating my own body. This one understandably breaks down somewhat when dealing with a vehicle but it does have it's advantages compared to the 'tiny driver'."
Lucy then re-connects to the car, this time with no real preparation.
"Possession is simple. No need for ritual preparations to make it work. But this is where I start to truly begin to shine."
The car starts gently rolling forward...considerably slower then before.
"...Wait those cars just have three settings. Go, not go, and stop. We didn't bother setting you guys up with granular controls!"
"Exactly! Now let's rock!"
And then it zips off straight ahead. while it does widely arc around the first two obstacles, when it comes to the tunnel the car slams right into the wall, breaking apart on impact.
"...The trade off of possession is I don't always drive with needed precision to get around obstacles due to having to mind and manually control the engine output myself."
"I see...Well, that's an interesting difference but I think I like the 'tiny driver' better, given our ultimate goal, Miss Renais."
"Right...A psychic pilot for a Super Robot, capable of fighting the Kaiju...I know I'm not going to be able to float like Jake does. I can't control a tank army like Lieutenant Callaghan. I'm...Not going to get to be extra-special psychic Lucy outside of this testing facility. I'm too early for that. But what I can do, is do my part so that the next generation has that foundation to improve upon. And maybe, if I am particularly fortuitous... I'll get to watch my grandchildren play with the psychic powers all us volunteers came here hoping to find."

Yeah, I'll probably put a third entry in of Lucy working with some of the other toys. I have a fun little capstone to finish off her story, though admittedly I kind of screwed up-I imagined Lucy moving freely with a non-plugged in helmet here, thinking the design allowed for that, rather then some sort of techno-throne with a helmet-connection to the rest of the thing.

1527, 26 May, A.D. 2070
'The Lair', Engineering Bay

You were honestly joking when you quipped about this place feeling more like a supervillain's lair than an institute of higher learning. But the more you find, the more you think it's not entirely out of place. Whoever owned this university before clearly was up to something he wanted hidden.

So the questions remain: who the hell was this fellow, and what was his end goal? You're still mulling over that question even as you arrive at the underground 'lair.'

You also take a valuable and critical moment of your time to slap a palm against your face as you see a cheerful sign plastered above the entrance.


For God's sake, Wilde. Some nearby Soldiers, seeing your reaction, quietly have the sign taken down as you walk into the room.

---

The impression of a supervillain lair only increases when you see the remodeled server banks. A few steps below you, rows of refurbished servers line the walls and some of the walkways, all blinking and buzzing with that strange electronic nothingness that surrounds this sort of machinery. Sparks of electricity from cables not fully refurbished fly and hiss in the ceiling every so often, adding a strange otherworldliness to the otherwise solidly-lit area. Technicians in red work suits walk up and down, conferring with each other over this readout or that command line that appears on screens mounted to workstations, and generally getting in each others' way while somehow remaining productive.

And standing above them all is Ignatov, typing away furiously at the rather massive workstation on the dais above the servers. As you walk up to him, you muse that this almost reminds you of the bridge of a science fiction ship of the line. You think about making a purpose-built version of it when the Super Robot is finally ready, something to help Captain Sasaki monitor the flow of battle.

Not just because you think the idea is cool. Of course not. You would not appropriate taxpayer money for such a frivolous thing.

Coughing at your own thoughts, you also attract the good doctor's attention. "Major," his voice rumbles as he turns his attention back to the station. "You are just in time."

Not everyone could make it to this event. Wilde and Henry are still deep in the Biology labs digging out whatever else the previous tenants had left behind. Sasaki was conducting analyses of the potential spies out there, and often worked best alone and focused.

The only other staff member here, surprisingly, was Sam. You just accepted that he was here and moved on. Sam would do what he always did.

"I'll admit I don't get computers all that much," Sam says as he looks over the rows of machines stuffed into the room, "Just enough to get them working, just enough to fit them into the science. But I usually get experts for that sort of thing."

"Then it is good that I am a co-worker, yes?" Ignatov grunts as he jabs at the Enter key with a sense of finality. "There." The normally placid screen of the OS - as it would have appeared forty years ago or so - immediately went berserk with pop-ups and command prompts, but Ignatov didn't seem alarmed. "I have reactivated the server, and am slowly integrating it into a localized supercomputer network. Its reach only extends to this floor and the refurbished servers you acquired for me. If it is a malicious sort of code, all we lose are older pieces of equipment."

"You really think we could lose everything that quickly?" Sam asks, eyebrow raised. "I thought viruses got self-contained these days."

You shake your head. "Ignatov asked me to get these specifically," you note. "Not the first time comms has asked me to find this sort of thing." Jabbing a thumb towards the servers, you say, "Something to do with older operating systems being really finicky?"

"Close," Ignatov says. "Modern operating systems are leagues beyond the early twenty-first century's. And we still complain about them, so clearly we haven't done everything right. The ones from the earliest days were apparently like an ecosystem than an information network. They clearly messed up much more than we ever did."

"So why set all this up then?" Sam asks. "If you think it's going to break free of the main computer and all."

"As a test of sorts. I want to see how it functions in a controlled environment."

You nod. "How soon until we-?"

You never get to finish asking your question, as the screen immediately goes utterly still. Then in an instant, all the windows and command prompts disappear, followed very shortly by the operating system also practically disintegrating from view. You hear cries of alarm and shock from the workers below you as the sequence is repeated all along the server lines.

"...older operating systems, huh?" Sam says quietly. He actually looks impressed.

You turn quickly to Ignatov. "You ripped out all broadcasting?" you ask.

"Cable only," he assures you, though his gaze remains locked onto the screen. "Whatever is enabling this course of events is not leaving without my say-so." He attempts to insert a few command prompts, including key combinations that appear utterly meaningless to you, before peering over the dais. Rapidfire Russian is echoed back and forth between Ignatov and the workers.

Whatever they were attempting to communicate, he manages to miss the first new change. You see a series of flashing words flow across the screen at blinding speed. "Doctor," you say even as the words seem to be even changing languages on the fly.

Ignatov turns back towards the screen. To his credit, he does not gape or stand still in shock like you and Sam. He immediately begins re-entering command prompts, all the while issuing orders rapidly to his team through a radio. Sam looks like he's tempted to ask what's going on, but you hold up a hand and forestall that. You'd rather not have Ignatov be distracted by...whatever this was.

"This is similar to an older malicious code language from the Unification Wars," Ignatov says abruptly. Still not tearing his attention away from the screen, he adds, "But it's all wrong. It's not attempting to seize control of the system at all. It's...trying to interface with it, but it's as if it has no idea what to do."

"I've had those kinds of mornings," Sam says. "You wake up, you have no idea what's going on, and you just kind of flail around until you smack someone in the face."

"I'd hate to have your mornings," you say dryly. Before you can say anything else, however, the shifting language all disappears.

Only to be replaced with one word:

There is a pause, before the word disappears, and is replaced with:

You, Ignatov and Sam can do nothing but stare. "What," you demand.

"I...am unsure of what to say," Ignatov admits.

"How about saying hello back?" Sam asks mildly. You both stare at him. "What?"

For lack of another option, you simply shrug and nod at Ignatov. He begins typing.

"...ask some questions," you say quietly. Ignatov looks at you inquiringly. "You're the expert. You know what and how to ask."


"...fascinating," Ignatov manages to say. Looking at additional prompts along the other monitors below, he raises an eyebrow. "Whatever this is, it is already integrating into the wider system." He pauses to listen to the radio as it crackles. "...and attempting to create a run time command script from nothing..."

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Dormant Artificial Intelligence Discovered
AI Supercomputer Actions Unlocked

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0850, 2 June, A.D. 2070
Commandant's Office

"I am impressed," Sasaki flatly says as you all gather around the conference table.

"Hm?" You look up.

Sasaki has an admittedly wry look to her face. "Lieutenant Wilde and Sergeant Henry have created a prototype that may well revolutionize vehicle technology as we know it."

"Charmed, Ma'am!" Wilde says with a goofy grin on his face. Henry just shrugs, nonchalant about the world around him as usual.

"Sam has discovered and established the rules on Extra Sensory Perception, long dismissed as a myth or hoax, and will soon begin analyzing the kaiju."

"Just some good ol' fashioned science and Union know-how," Sam says with a satisfied look to his face.

"Doctor Ignatov has discovered what is possibly a new sentient being, all in the former possessions of someone performing questionable experiments prior to Unification."

"It is something of a handful," Ignatov admits, nursing a cup of tea. He does not look like he's slept much. "But mark my words, this has incredible potential."

Though you're fairly certain he's talking about the AI you discovered...he could just as well be talking about the rejuvenative powers of caffeine.

Sasaki then looks at you. "Our achievements seem somewhat mundane in comparison."

"Says you," you snort as you pull out your notes. You are also indulging in the rejuvenative power of caffeine. "We have to manage them all."

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RP INCOME: 8 RP

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Defense Force Actions

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Engineering Actions

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Science Actions

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