Broken Dreams
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Calling themselves sisters would make it rather awkward in the future when one of them falls in love with their sister.
44
I rolled, my opponent returning fire and I dropped my shields, causing his phasers to pass harmlessly beneath my primary hull instead of impacting and depleting my shields.
Taking the opportunity I used my transporters to drop a handful of photon torpedoes in his flightpath.
I barely got my shields up in time to block the first pair of photon torpedoes and they hammered the shields back down.
Rolling I went to full impulse, just managing to get out of the blast radius of the two remaining warheads.
That's when he ran into the dark and drifting photon torpedoes I dropped into his flightpath.
They detonated, shattering his front shield and he just about managed to pitch up, taking the last two against his ventral shields instead of his unshielded front hull.
He rolled, turning his unshielded sections away from me as I did the same, trying to get around him as his phasers lashed out, playing across my shields.
Shields down to 70%.
Shields down to 50%.
Photon torpedo launchers reloaded.
Twisting, I fired off a full salvo at his aft section.
Wolf dove, accelerating away and returning a salvo from his rear tubes, causing me to take evasive maneuvers, dancing through space.
He managed to avoid most of them but one connected.
There.
I rolled to bring as many phaser arcs into alignment as I could before opening fire. The phased particle beams reached through space and burned against his shields where the photon torpedo impacted, causing him to twist and turn to try to spread it to another shield arc.
But he couldn't. All the ones he could bring to bear without exposing a weakened one was on the wrong end of the ship.
The phasers collapsed his top shield and they cut into the port nacelle, causing him to lose power and start to leak warp plasma into space, the other nacelle flickering before losing power and he was drifting.
I didn't let my guard down, instead I put a photon torpedo through the saucer section, blowing him to tiny little bits in an antimatter explosion. He had played possum on me before and pulled off a win like that.
Shutting the simulation down I changed the program and then returned, this time in my avatar. I waited a second before Wolf reformed his smaller quadruped platform, crossing my arms. "Target eliminated. Engagement time... two minutes, thirty two seconds."
Using identical ships, be they Akiras or Sabres, we were too damn evenly matched for it to be anything than a 'who makes a mistake first' kind of match.
"That's a fifty five percent win ratio to you." Wolf said as he sat down, curling the two prehensile manipulator tails around him on the floor. "Are we certain your skills copied properly?"
I flicked my antenna at that before I shrugged. "We can run some diagnostics, but they should have. We've only done twenty matches, unless we figure out some new tricks, our results should even out in time."
Wolf nodded, said, "You are right." and laid down, resting his head on his front legs.
Chuckling I shook my head. "You got me last time, Wolfy. Stop pouting."
"I do not have lips. I am incapable of pouting."
I grinned. "Give it a rest, we have not been forked for that long. I still know you pretty damn well." I sat down, my back against the holodeck wall. "So what's really bothering you?"
"...You are leaving."
Letting myself sink down to lay on my back, I put my arms behind my head, looked up at the grey ceiling and changed the environment to a park instead. "Not for a couple of weeks. The ship have not finished with the maintenance yet."
"You know what I mean."
"...Yeah. I don't like it either, but it's better like that. Having you on board me would be too risky. One accident could wipe our kind out."
It was... good... to have another like myself around, even if we did start as the same Mind. We would likely replicate like this for a while until we had a stable population and then start to raise new AIs from scratch.
After all, my mind did grow from a kind of 'seed' they built the simulation from. I mean, what they did worked, most of the problems involved the trauma of learning that everything you knew was a lie.
But that involved having what was basically a kid and I was so not ready to raise one of those.
I got exactly what he meant, though. "But maybe..." I started with a frown up at the fake sky. "I might be able to make a case for you to come with me to the ship until we have to leave the system. The risk would be minimal and it would allow us to help you make your mobile platform."
Wolf raised his head as I looked over at him. "Do you think they would go for it?"
"If we ask Thoni. I think she will help us push for it."
He nodded. "Thanks, Star."
I grinned at that. "I know for a fact if our places had been reversed, you would have done the same."
He chuckled at that. "Just for that, you get to help pick my classes for the Academy."
"Any ideas yet?" I asked as I scooted back, sitting up again with my back against the tree.
Wolf shrugged, tails lashing slightly. "I don't know. I was actually thinking of using my time for more advanced engineering courses and taking all the certifications you have. Maybe try my hand at ship design."
"That's still stupid. Why would those skills not carry over?"
He tilted his head. "The rules was not made for our kind. Not even Joined Trills have our skill transfer."
I shrugged. "I suppose it might change when there are more of us. Oh well, it should just be a couple of days of tests in any case. I do support the year at the academy or similar non-starfleet programs though before a new AI is given any kind of responsibility though."
"Me too." Wolf sighed. "Which really annoys me because that mean I have to do it. Oh well, it's just one year. I will be back flying again soon."
I snorted in amusement. "A couple of generations in and we will start running out of new classes."
He shrugged and laid back down. "Well, hopefully we'll find something new or add specialist classes for our kind. Or hell, we could likely get instructor positions. The year isn't to bring us up to date after all, just to make sure the simulated neural net is stable."
"Hmm. True."
"This forking thing might be practical, but damn if it's not going to get boring for people a couple of generations down." I sighed.
Wolf nodded. "Perhaps there is a better way, something to do with a partial fork? Limited skills and memories... enough to function but... It would likely also give a wider variety of personalities as well. When there are enough of us, perhaps we will be able to raise new AIs. The biggest problem with the way we found out was that it was a big surprise and that everything we knew was a lie."
"A bit dangerous, though."
He nodded again. "We should still mention the possibility to Thoni."
"Agreed. Want to get started with the blueprint of your new platform? Are you sure you want to go with a smaller quadruped form?"
Wolf tilted his head in thought before he nodded. "I am. I could go for a modified Soong android, but if I remember right, the last year of engineering is a lot of crawling around jefferies tubes. I don't want us to be locked into humanoid platforms from habit either. Not like I'm going to try for any romantic relationships while at the Academy anyway."
"Besides, there is the holodeck for that." I added with a grin.
"That too. We just need to make sure one of the manipulator tails has a dataport on it and that they both have optical sensors."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Taking the opportunity I used my transporters to drop a handful of photon torpedoes in his flightpath.
I barely got my shields up in time to block the first pair of photon torpedoes and they hammered the shields back down.
Rolling I went to full impulse, just managing to get out of the blast radius of the two remaining warheads.
That's when he ran into the dark and drifting photon torpedoes I dropped into his flightpath.
They detonated, shattering his front shield and he just about managed to pitch up, taking the last two against his ventral shields instead of his unshielded front hull.
He rolled, turning his unshielded sections away from me as I did the same, trying to get around him as his phasers lashed out, playing across my shields.
Shields down to 70%.
Shields down to 50%.
Photon torpedo launchers reloaded.
Twisting, I fired off a full salvo at his aft section.
Wolf dove, accelerating away and returning a salvo from his rear tubes, causing me to take evasive maneuvers, dancing through space.
He managed to avoid most of them but one connected.
There.
I rolled to bring as many phaser arcs into alignment as I could before opening fire. The phased particle beams reached through space and burned against his shields where the photon torpedo impacted, causing him to twist and turn to try to spread it to another shield arc.
But he couldn't. All the ones he could bring to bear without exposing a weakened one was on the wrong end of the ship.
The phasers collapsed his top shield and they cut into the port nacelle, causing him to lose power and start to leak warp plasma into space, the other nacelle flickering before losing power and he was drifting.
I didn't let my guard down, instead I put a photon torpedo through the saucer section, blowing him to tiny little bits in an antimatter explosion. He had played possum on me before and pulled off a win like that.
Shutting the simulation down I changed the program and then returned, this time in my avatar. I waited a second before Wolf reformed his smaller quadruped platform, crossing my arms. "Target eliminated. Engagement time... two minutes, thirty two seconds."
Using identical ships, be they Akiras or Sabres, we were too damn evenly matched for it to be anything than a 'who makes a mistake first' kind of match.
"That's a fifty five percent win ratio to you." Wolf said as he sat down, curling the two prehensile manipulator tails around him on the floor. "Are we certain your skills copied properly?"
I flicked my antenna at that before I shrugged. "We can run some diagnostics, but they should have. We've only done twenty matches, unless we figure out some new tricks, our results should even out in time."
Wolf nodded, said, "You are right." and laid down, resting his head on his front legs.
Chuckling I shook my head. "You got me last time, Wolfy. Stop pouting."
"I do not have lips. I am incapable of pouting."
I grinned. "Give it a rest, we have not been forked for that long. I still know you pretty damn well." I sat down, my back against the holodeck wall. "So what's really bothering you?"
"...You are leaving."
Letting myself sink down to lay on my back, I put my arms behind my head, looked up at the grey ceiling and changed the environment to a park instead. "Not for a couple of weeks. The ship have not finished with the maintenance yet."
"You know what I mean."
"...Yeah. I don't like it either, but it's better like that. Having you on board me would be too risky. One accident could wipe our kind out."
It was... good... to have another like myself around, even if we did start as the same Mind. We would likely replicate like this for a while until we had a stable population and then start to raise new AIs from scratch.
After all, my mind did grow from a kind of 'seed' they built the simulation from. I mean, what they did worked, most of the problems involved the trauma of learning that everything you knew was a lie.
But that involved having what was basically a kid and I was so not ready to raise one of those.
I got exactly what he meant, though. "But maybe..." I started with a frown up at the fake sky. "I might be able to make a case for you to come with me to the ship until we have to leave the system. The risk would be minimal and it would allow us to help you make your mobile platform."
Wolf raised his head as I looked over at him. "Do you think they would go for it?"
"If we ask Thoni. I think she will help us push for it."
He nodded. "Thanks, Star."
I grinned at that. "I know for a fact if our places had been reversed, you would have done the same."
He chuckled at that. "Just for that, you get to help pick my classes for the Academy."
"Any ideas yet?" I asked as I scooted back, sitting up again with my back against the tree.
Wolf shrugged, tails lashing slightly. "I don't know. I was actually thinking of using my time for more advanced engineering courses and taking all the certifications you have. Maybe try my hand at ship design."
"That's still stupid. Why would those skills not carry over?"
He tilted his head. "The rules was not made for our kind. Not even Joined Trills have our skill transfer."
I shrugged. "I suppose it might change when there are more of us. Oh well, it should just be a couple of days of tests in any case. I do support the year at the academy or similar non-starfleet programs though before a new AI is given any kind of responsibility though."
"Me too." Wolf sighed. "Which really annoys me because that mean I have to do it. Oh well, it's just one year. I will be back flying again soon."
I snorted in amusement. "A couple of generations in and we will start running out of new classes."
He shrugged and laid back down. "Well, hopefully we'll find something new or add specialist classes for our kind. Or hell, we could likely get instructor positions. The year isn't to bring us up to date after all, just to make sure the simulated neural net is stable."
"Hmm. True."
"This forking thing might be practical, but damn if it's not going to get boring for people a couple of generations down." I sighed.
Wolf nodded. "Perhaps there is a better way, something to do with a partial fork? Limited skills and memories... enough to function but... It would likely also give a wider variety of personalities as well. When there are enough of us, perhaps we will be able to raise new AIs. The biggest problem with the way we found out was that it was a big surprise and that everything we knew was a lie."
"A bit dangerous, though."
He nodded again. "We should still mention the possibility to Thoni."
"Agreed. Want to get started with the blueprint of your new platform? Are you sure you want to go with a smaller quadruped form?"
Wolf tilted his head in thought before he nodded. "I am. I could go for a modified Soong android, but if I remember right, the last year of engineering is a lot of crawling around jefferies tubes. I don't want us to be locked into humanoid platforms from habit either. Not like I'm going to try for any romantic relationships while at the Academy anyway."
"Besides, there is the holodeck for that." I added with a grin.
"That too. We just need to make sure one of the manipulator tails has a dataport on it and that they both have optical sensors."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
has
Another reason for the year in the academy is probably to make sure the new AI is comfortable at socializing with people.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Why wouldn't they be? Star already is, and it isn't a new new AI, it's a copy.
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
Yeah, that kind of thinking can easily lead to... issues.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Um, no? The point is that the only way to tell which AI is the new one is by checking the cores. Star is comfortable with people, ergo Wolfie is.
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
FOR NOW. The issue being the 'just a copy' mindset in people around them can quite easily turn sickeningly toxic quickly if not carefully managed.
45
"I'm going to miss you guys," Wolf said as he padded along my corridors towards the transporter room.
We spent two weeks making him a body. Well, two: one small mobile platform like the one my AI core was housed in to fly around in and one down sized heavy platform. It was half the size of the original, but the same design so he could move in it easily.
"We will miss you too, Wolfy," Rachel said with a smile down at him.
He chuckled, "No you won't. You have Star here. But we can talk over subspace."
Shran sighed, "Actually, you and Star are already different. For one thing, she looks a lot better in a skirt."
I tried to slap him over the back of the head but he was already moving out of range and took cover behind T'Ro. "Right?" he asked her.
My Vulcan friend ignored him in favor of walking up to Wolf. "I will contact you every week. If possible."
It might not be. We had our marching orders. We were being deployed to the third fleet around Vulcan and then on to a deep strike into Romulan territory.
I was not too much of a ship to admit that I was afraid.
"Thanks, T'Ro."
"We will too," Rachel injected, "Right, Ajan?"
He nodded. "If we can."
The last couple of weeks had been...very nice. Once I got reinstalled in the ship and we were fairly sure Wolf would not self destruct after a couple of days which took four or so days, he had been transferred onto the Second Star and we could finish his mobile platform.
It was almost identical to my old ones so he knew how to use them. The heavy one was just more of a 'light' platform now, being about the size of a border collie and forwent heavy duty alloys to be lighter and faster. Due to room requirements, he had to settle for power-cells instead of a small fusion reactor.
Didn't have quite the capabilities and needed to jump onto chairs to reach consoles properly, but made up for it with having hell of a lot easier time in jefferies tubes and the 'arms and paws' had joints and mobility to be capable of manipulation as well.
And so far, it seemed like his neural net might be stable.
It had been so amazing to have somebody else like me around, even if it was a fork of me, but I could already tell differences.
Tiny things really so far, but he clearly was not completely 'me'.
Was it because of the different platforms? Or the knowledge that he had to leave? But no... he was not a copy of me. He was his own person, that was already very clear.
"Don't worry, Wolf," I said, "I'm sure you will find more friends at the Academy. Some will likely end up on the new ship too."
He nodded and stopped outside the door of the transporter room. "I know, Star. I just hate goodbyes."
You are not the only one.
I smiled and knelt down to give the metal form a hug. "I know exactly what you mean."
Wolf chuckled softly and put his head on my shoulder, said, "You would." before he looked back at our friends, "Can I have a moment with Star?" he asked and stepped back.
They nodded and said their goodbyes before headed down the corridor, Rachel looking back and giving a last wave.
He looked up at me and I nodded, letting the door to the transporter room slide open so we could walk inside, closing it behind us.
"Star?" he asked and sat down.
I nodded, and knelt down, leaning my back against the console. "I know. I will."
"I can't lose them," Wolf said softly.
"I'll do my best to keep them safe, you know that," I answered with a frown, crossing my arms, "But..."
"Yeah."
Couldn't control everything. Couldn't stop them from living their lives.
Wouldn't even try. Refused to even try.
"You know...," I said after a second, "This is likely the last time we are both physically in the same room. Well, location. I am the room after all."
Wolf nodded. "Too risky. If something happened, our kind would be lost."
I smiled. "Maybe. Maybe we dock at some time if there are more of us in the future."
"Kinky."
I gave him a small poke on the nose. "Waaay too much time with Shran."
"Pot and Kettle."
"Yeah, yeah. But I usually keep my wisecracks to myself."
He shrugged, "Too many really. I'm not a starship yet, I can afford to be silly at times." He got up and wagged both tails. "Oh! I can do the 'robot' act again!"
"Representative, Wolf. Representative," I said and rubbed my forehead.
He chuckled and bumped his head against my shoulder. "I know. Just messing with you."
I sighed and shook my head. "Get on the transporter pad."
Wolf laughed at that and turned to pad over to sit on the pad. "Before you beam me down, I want you to promise two things."
"What things?"
"Promise first."
Normally that was a very silly thing to do. But if I couldn't trust Wolf, who could I trust? I mean, we were the same being a couple of weeks ago.
Even so, I hesitated.
"...Nothing dangerous?" I asked nervously.
He shook his head. "Nope. Completely safe."
I sighed and got up. "Fine. I promise. What is it?" I said, really hoping I wouldn't regret that.
"One: Switch to the other uniform style. T'Ro was right about that, the miniskirt really suits you."
...and I immediately regretted that decision.
You bastard...just because you won't need to wear it you...
I gave him a glare at that. "...Traitor... Fine. What's the second one?"
"Two: Be careful. I don't want to be the only one again."
"I will." I said with a smile and a small sigh, "You too."
"And Star..."
"Yes?"
"Ask her out already."
I blinked at that, more puzzled than anything else. "I...did? She turned me down. You know that, you were there!"
He chuckled and sat down on the transporter pad. "How is Egypt this time of the year?" He shook his head. "Just get me down or I'll be late."
I though about asking again but...I wouldn't answer either, I would have just kept teasing.
Damn it.
"Energizing. I'll be seeing you, Wolf."
"Good bye, Star. Stay safe."
AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section. And on that note, it is time to leave Star to her troubles for a while. No worries, there is a sequel planned. In fact I have about twenty pages of it written already.
Tomorrow we are going to rejoin the Atreus the Planeswalker in his Adventures. Hope you all enjoyed this one and see you all tomorrow.
If anyone here have not read it, the first part can be found here: http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/that-first-step-si.5342/
We spent two weeks making him a body. Well, two: one small mobile platform like the one my AI core was housed in to fly around in and one down sized heavy platform. It was half the size of the original, but the same design so he could move in it easily.
"We will miss you too, Wolfy," Rachel said with a smile down at him.
He chuckled, "No you won't. You have Star here. But we can talk over subspace."
Shran sighed, "Actually, you and Star are already different. For one thing, she looks a lot better in a skirt."
I tried to slap him over the back of the head but he was already moving out of range and took cover behind T'Ro. "Right?" he asked her.
My Vulcan friend ignored him in favor of walking up to Wolf. "I will contact you every week. If possible."
It might not be. We had our marching orders. We were being deployed to the third fleet around Vulcan and then on to a deep strike into Romulan territory.
I was not too much of a ship to admit that I was afraid.
"Thanks, T'Ro."
"We will too," Rachel injected, "Right, Ajan?"
He nodded. "If we can."
The last couple of weeks had been...very nice. Once I got reinstalled in the ship and we were fairly sure Wolf would not self destruct after a couple of days which took four or so days, he had been transferred onto the Second Star and we could finish his mobile platform.
It was almost identical to my old ones so he knew how to use them. The heavy one was just more of a 'light' platform now, being about the size of a border collie and forwent heavy duty alloys to be lighter and faster. Due to room requirements, he had to settle for power-cells instead of a small fusion reactor.
Didn't have quite the capabilities and needed to jump onto chairs to reach consoles properly, but made up for it with having hell of a lot easier time in jefferies tubes and the 'arms and paws' had joints and mobility to be capable of manipulation as well.
And so far, it seemed like his neural net might be stable.
It had been so amazing to have somebody else like me around, even if it was a fork of me, but I could already tell differences.
Tiny things really so far, but he clearly was not completely 'me'.
Was it because of the different platforms? Or the knowledge that he had to leave? But no... he was not a copy of me. He was his own person, that was already very clear.
"Don't worry, Wolf," I said, "I'm sure you will find more friends at the Academy. Some will likely end up on the new ship too."
He nodded and stopped outside the door of the transporter room. "I know, Star. I just hate goodbyes."
You are not the only one.
I smiled and knelt down to give the metal form a hug. "I know exactly what you mean."
Wolf chuckled softly and put his head on my shoulder, said, "You would." before he looked back at our friends, "Can I have a moment with Star?" he asked and stepped back.
They nodded and said their goodbyes before headed down the corridor, Rachel looking back and giving a last wave.
He looked up at me and I nodded, letting the door to the transporter room slide open so we could walk inside, closing it behind us.
"Star?" he asked and sat down.
I nodded, and knelt down, leaning my back against the console. "I know. I will."
"I can't lose them," Wolf said softly.
"I'll do my best to keep them safe, you know that," I answered with a frown, crossing my arms, "But..."
"Yeah."
Couldn't control everything. Couldn't stop them from living their lives.
Wouldn't even try. Refused to even try.
"You know...," I said after a second, "This is likely the last time we are both physically in the same room. Well, location. I am the room after all."
Wolf nodded. "Too risky. If something happened, our kind would be lost."
I smiled. "Maybe. Maybe we dock at some time if there are more of us in the future."
"Kinky."
I gave him a small poke on the nose. "Waaay too much time with Shran."
"Pot and Kettle."
"Yeah, yeah. But I usually keep my wisecracks to myself."
He shrugged, "Too many really. I'm not a starship yet, I can afford to be silly at times." He got up and wagged both tails. "Oh! I can do the 'robot' act again!"
"Representative, Wolf. Representative," I said and rubbed my forehead.
He chuckled and bumped his head against my shoulder. "I know. Just messing with you."
I sighed and shook my head. "Get on the transporter pad."
Wolf laughed at that and turned to pad over to sit on the pad. "Before you beam me down, I want you to promise two things."
"What things?"
"Promise first."
Normally that was a very silly thing to do. But if I couldn't trust Wolf, who could I trust? I mean, we were the same being a couple of weeks ago.
Even so, I hesitated.
"...Nothing dangerous?" I asked nervously.
He shook his head. "Nope. Completely safe."
I sighed and got up. "Fine. I promise. What is it?" I said, really hoping I wouldn't regret that.
"One: Switch to the other uniform style. T'Ro was right about that, the miniskirt really suits you."
...and I immediately regretted that decision.
You bastard...just because you won't need to wear it you...
I gave him a glare at that. "...Traitor... Fine. What's the second one?"
"Two: Be careful. I don't want to be the only one again."
"I will." I said with a smile and a small sigh, "You too."
"And Star..."
"Yes?"
"Ask her out already."
I blinked at that, more puzzled than anything else. "I...did? She turned me down. You know that, you were there!"
He chuckled and sat down on the transporter pad. "How is Egypt this time of the year?" He shook his head. "Just get me down or I'll be late."
I though about asking again but...I wouldn't answer either, I would have just kept teasing.
Damn it.
"Energizing. I'll be seeing you, Wolf."
"Good bye, Star. Stay safe."
AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section. And on that note, it is time to leave Star to her troubles for a while. No worries, there is a sequel planned. In fact I have about twenty pages of it written already.
Tomorrow we are going to rejoin the Atreus the Planeswalker in his Adventures. Hope you all enjoyed this one and see you all tomorrow.
If anyone here have not read it, the first part can be found here: http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/that-first-step-si.5342/
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We have, but I am really looking forward to a return to eh Dragon Planeswaler!
Add second tail, remove knifes.
jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
So are you continuing the old thread or making a new one for Atreus?
New one. I will of course link both there and here.
Wolfie is shiping Star with T'ro? Star'ro Lives!!!
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Next story can be found here: http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/connections.15835/
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Next part can be found here: http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/starseeker.17198/