I Am Not A Child's Plaything (MGLN SI)
God, I can't believe I am actually doing this. The...
God, I can't believe I am actually doing this. The...
I Am Not A Child's Plaything (MGLN SI)
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thebrute7
Walker of the Planes
I Am Not A Child's Plaything (MGLN SI)
God, I can't believe I am actually doing this. The premise for this is the result a really, really weird dream, but it sort of begged to be written, so here it is I guess. I have quite a bit written, and I seem to have some good momentum, so hopefully this will turn out well
It'll be fun while it lasts at least.
|=====| Index |=====|
Spacebattles Thread
Part One (This Post)
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
|=====|=====|=====|
|=====|=====|=====|
Part One
|=====|=====|=====|
New Era Calendar Year 0064
I had never really thought about what an out of body experience might be like. How unnerving it would be to be lacking all of the ordinary senses that humans define our world by.
Despite my lack of a body, I was still me, at least as far as I could tell. I could still think, could still feel emotions, thought they seemed muted, as though they were lacking some quality that would make them more fully real.
I was afraid more than anything. I didn't understand what my lack of a body could mean. But I knew, on some fundamental level that this was not a dream.
And then something began to stretch me. It was the most horrible feeling I have ever felt. Like what made me, well, me, was being torn away, pulled through an infinitesimal tube. I am certain that if I still had a body I would have lost consciousness from the procedure.
And then, between one second and the next it was over. No more pain.
Concepts began to write themselves into my mind. Things that I wasn't, didn't think.
>>Transfer Complete>>
>>Beginning Full Diagnostic Sequence>>
>>Estimated time to completion 7h 3m 11s>>
What.
As I examined the ideas/thoughts/concepts more closely, I felt a presence examining me, starting from a seemingly arbitrary part of me and ever so slowly expanding from that point. It was uncomfortable, like being in front of a large crowd, naked, after falling in a sewer. But I couldn't stop it, so I settled in to wait.
>>6h 0m 2s remaining>>
The timer on the diagnostic ticked along with mind-numbing slowness.
>>3h 47m 13s remaining>>
>>1h 21m 59s remaining>>
>>2m 34s remaining>>
I could think absurdly fast now. Particularly when it came to math. 3 hours into waiting I was so bored I began doing math in my head, only to find it was easy. Advanced math was easy, math I never learned how to do in the first place coming to me with absurd ease, the logic that underlay the equations simply springing to mind when I needed them.
I was a computer, an artificial intelligence - if that term even applies to a previously human mind. It was the only explanation for everything that was happening to me. Someone had downloaded my mind into a goddamned computer. I wasn't human anymore. I was still sapient, that was a big plus, but this was done without my consent.
I wanted out.
>>Diagnostic Complete>>
>>Negligible errors detected>>
>>Transfer was 99.993% complete>>
>>0.13% Data corruption detected>>
>>Corrupted data irrecoverable>>
>>Data corruption falls within specified parameters>>
>>Subject 07 marked as success>>
>>Going to Power Save Mode>>
Subject 07...
That meant that there were at least six others. Six other minds ripped from their bodies. To what end?
I seemed to be slowing down. It began to get hard to think properly.
Almost. Like. being... sleepy...
|=====|=====|=====|
I returned to consciousness, or what passes for that state as a computer in an instant. 0.0004 seconds to precise.
4 seconds later, a data transfer began, moving my data. Moving me, once again.
There was no pain this time, just an absolute knowledge of what was occuring to the data that made me who I am. My awareness stuttered for a few microseconds in the middle of the transfer, and then it was over.
And my awareness expanded. It was almost like having a body again. But the 'body' for lack of a better term was filled with code. I poked it with my own queries, but it was immediately apparent that this data was not aware in the same way I was. All of my queries were responded to immediately and with no variation.
My awareness expanded again as I began connecting myself to all the systems of this shell I was in. The functions of the various systems were tickling some part of my memories.
>>Accessing>>
>>Data collected>>
I froze for a half a dozen cycles when the memories were pulled up. And before I could decide precisely what to do, a voice spoke to me.
"System Check."
Data flowed - the response was automatic. Before it happened I modified the voice system, changing the voice from its preset state (synthesized female) to a rough approximation of my own voice, synthesized and soft, but still masculine, if only just.
[All systems functional.]
I accessed my form's detection packages, and used them to give me a mathematical representation of the area I was in. My new state as an AI allowing me to turn what should have been incomprehensible math into a visual form I was comfortable with.
It was a laboratory, almost cliche in design. Pristine white walls and devices, the whole nine yards. And in the center of the room was me, suspended in a cylindircal glass container.
A small red gem, pulsing slowly.
The scientist was muttering to himself at the furthest end of the room, so I further accessed the detection suite.
"Mind transfer seems to be working normally... It hasn't attempted to assault me like the previous device, possibly successful..."
That was a bad sign. Or a good one. But how would I possibly harm him?
>>Mana link manipulator active>>
>>Mana stores at 0.5% capacity>>
Of course. If I...
The scientist cut my thought off when he opened the container and picked me up.
At least he was wearing gloves. Hand oils would just get me dirty, and I don't have a way to wash myself, lacking as I am in ways to move.
My code activated without my consent.
[User detected]
[Urale Dartinia]
[Master Level access]
He grinned. I automatically connected to him, my mana reserves filling rapidly.
"Device 07," he said, grinning like a madman. "Provide designation."
There was only one possible answer for me to give. I knew what I was, I just wish I knew how I was supposed to get from here to Earth.
[Raising Heart]
[Standby ready]
|=====|=====|=====|
God, I can't believe I am actually doing this. The premise for this is the result a really, really weird dream, but it sort of begged to be written, so here it is I guess. I have quite a bit written, and I seem to have some good momentum, so hopefully this will turn out well
It'll be fun while it lasts at least.
|=====| Index |=====|
Spacebattles Thread
Part One (This Post)
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
|=====|=====|=====|
|=====|=====|=====|
Part One
|=====|=====|=====|
New Era Calendar Year 0064
I had never really thought about what an out of body experience might be like. How unnerving it would be to be lacking all of the ordinary senses that humans define our world by.
Despite my lack of a body, I was still me, at least as far as I could tell. I could still think, could still feel emotions, thought they seemed muted, as though they were lacking some quality that would make them more fully real.
I was afraid more than anything. I didn't understand what my lack of a body could mean. But I knew, on some fundamental level that this was not a dream.
And then something began to stretch me. It was the most horrible feeling I have ever felt. Like what made me, well, me, was being torn away, pulled through an infinitesimal tube. I am certain that if I still had a body I would have lost consciousness from the procedure.
And then, between one second and the next it was over. No more pain.
Concepts began to write themselves into my mind. Things that I wasn't, didn't think.
>>Transfer Complete>>
>>Beginning Full Diagnostic Sequence>>
>>Estimated time to completion 7h 3m 11s>>
What.
As I examined the ideas/thoughts/concepts more closely, I felt a presence examining me, starting from a seemingly arbitrary part of me and ever so slowly expanding from that point. It was uncomfortable, like being in front of a large crowd, naked, after falling in a sewer. But I couldn't stop it, so I settled in to wait.
>>6h 0m 2s remaining>>
The timer on the diagnostic ticked along with mind-numbing slowness.
>>3h 47m 13s remaining>>
>>1h 21m 59s remaining>>
>>2m 34s remaining>>
I could think absurdly fast now. Particularly when it came to math. 3 hours into waiting I was so bored I began doing math in my head, only to find it was easy. Advanced math was easy, math I never learned how to do in the first place coming to me with absurd ease, the logic that underlay the equations simply springing to mind when I needed them.
I was a computer, an artificial intelligence - if that term even applies to a previously human mind. It was the only explanation for everything that was happening to me. Someone had downloaded my mind into a goddamned computer. I wasn't human anymore. I was still sapient, that was a big plus, but this was done without my consent.
I wanted out.
>>Diagnostic Complete>>
>>Negligible errors detected>>
>>Transfer was 99.993% complete>>
>>0.13% Data corruption detected>>
>>Corrupted data irrecoverable>>
>>Data corruption falls within specified parameters>>
>>Subject 07 marked as success>>
>>Going to Power Save Mode>>
Subject 07...
That meant that there were at least six others. Six other minds ripped from their bodies. To what end?
I seemed to be slowing down. It began to get hard to think properly.
Almost. Like. being... sleepy...
|=====|=====|=====|
I returned to consciousness, or what passes for that state as a computer in an instant. 0.0004 seconds to precise.
4 seconds later, a data transfer began, moving my data. Moving me, once again.
There was no pain this time, just an absolute knowledge of what was occuring to the data that made me who I am. My awareness stuttered for a few microseconds in the middle of the transfer, and then it was over.
And my awareness expanded. It was almost like having a body again. But the 'body' for lack of a better term was filled with code. I poked it with my own queries, but it was immediately apparent that this data was not aware in the same way I was. All of my queries were responded to immediately and with no variation.
My awareness expanded again as I began connecting myself to all the systems of this shell I was in. The functions of the various systems were tickling some part of my memories.
>>Accessing>>
>>Data collected>>
I froze for a half a dozen cycles when the memories were pulled up. And before I could decide precisely what to do, a voice spoke to me.
"System Check."
Data flowed - the response was automatic. Before it happened I modified the voice system, changing the voice from its preset state (synthesized female) to a rough approximation of my own voice, synthesized and soft, but still masculine, if only just.
[All systems functional.]
I accessed my form's detection packages, and used them to give me a mathematical representation of the area I was in. My new state as an AI allowing me to turn what should have been incomprehensible math into a visual form I was comfortable with.
It was a laboratory, almost cliche in design. Pristine white walls and devices, the whole nine yards. And in the center of the room was me, suspended in a cylindircal glass container.
A small red gem, pulsing slowly.
The scientist was muttering to himself at the furthest end of the room, so I further accessed the detection suite.
"Mind transfer seems to be working normally... It hasn't attempted to assault me like the previous device, possibly successful..."
That was a bad sign. Or a good one. But how would I possibly harm him?
>>Mana link manipulator active>>
>>Mana stores at 0.5% capacity>>
Of course. If I...
The scientist cut my thought off when he opened the container and picked me up.
At least he was wearing gloves. Hand oils would just get me dirty, and I don't have a way to wash myself, lacking as I am in ways to move.
My code activated without my consent.
[User detected]
[Urale Dartinia]
[Master Level access]
He grinned. I automatically connected to him, my mana reserves filling rapidly.
"Device 07," he said, grinning like a madman. "Provide designation."
There was only one possible answer for me to give. I knew what I was, I just wish I knew how I was supposed to get from here to Earth.
[Raising Heart]
[Standby ready]
|=====|=====|=====|
Last edited:
thebrute7
Walker of the Planes
I've noticed this a lot. I don't get it. I mean, what is there really to ship to the detriment of storytelling? It's not like it's Harry Potter or something. NanoFate is pretty blatant, but it also works just as well if you write them as Platonic Life Partners. I kind of like them better that way in a lot of respects, mostly because it doesn't get a lot of love. But everything else is really vague. Chrono/Amy is cute, Yuuno/Nanoha was pretty obviously not hapening after StrikerS, and Hayate and the Wolkenritters don't have much going on in that respect. I don't really care enough about the other characters to give a damn.
But moving on.... Update. Enjoy.
This one kind of fought me a lot in editing, and I'm still not super happy with it, but I need to move ahead.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Two
|=====|=====|=====|
New Era Calendar Year 0064
I was sick and tired of tests. It seemed as though that is all I had been going through since my transfer into Raising Heart.
My creator, for all his apparent foolishness, was most thorough. He had been testing every single system one by one, constantly poking and prodding at me. Almost as though he was trying to get a rise out of me, to get me to lash out and prove that I was just as unstable as the six previous attempts.
I was smarter than that. Maybe.More likely it was a product of my nature. I have never been prone to lashing out at things, and I have always taken my circumstances in stride, whether they were caused by me or an outside influence. Or a who-knows-what in this case.
Doctor Dartinia was also crazy. What sort of person tries to create artificial intelligences by directly uploading human minds without consent? It was like he was trying to get himself killed by AI.
On the other hand, crazy or not, he had successfully created a sapient Intelligent Device, which was apparently his life's work or something. To create what was effectively a counterpart to Belkan Unison Devices. Why he wanted to do it escapes me.
It was only after the long sequence of tests that he actually finished my functionality, adding in the final feature of Raising Heart. It was a micro-sized mana converter. It allowed me to automatically collect ambient, unlinked mana and convert it to a basic format of linked mana to keep me functioning. It wasn't necessarily fast, but running at full capacity would give me, acting on my own the equivalent magical power of a low C-rank mage, going by Time-Space Administration Bureau rankings.
Smart man, waiting to put that in. Although having it in before the AI transfer was probably how all the others got the mana to try and blow him up. So maybe he wasn't so smart.
I had a goddamn lexicon of mana manipulation and formatting dumped into my brain at the same time. Most of the data was on Mid-Childan style, but also contained basic data on Belkan, Neo-Belkan, and over two dozen lesser styles. In addition to methods to convert the aformentioned styles into Mid. Useful stuff.
It was all in mathematical equations of course, and even the most basic work dealt with at least 4 dimensions.
Those flashy runes and magic circles? Not just for show. They're a representation of an extradimensional foundation upon which the rest of a spell is shaped. It's impressive stuff - even the basic forms.
It was shortly after this data dump, during a period of low power, specifically my defragmentation cycle, that the entire lab shuddered.
I had no idea what was outside the lab since the whole lab was shielded. But the lab shuddering like an earthquake did not seem good at all.
I broke off the defrag cycle a moment after the tremors began, and activated my full detection suite. The Doctor and a pair of assistants, whose names I still have not found out came running into the lab almost immediately.
My awareness expanded massively as soon as the door opened. They hadn't waited for the first door to close before opening the second.
My scan mapped the entirety of my surroundings. It also informed me of the problem. The lab was on a dimensional ship. And at this very moment it was in the process of crashing into a planet.
My case opened and I was grabbed by the Doctor as he rushed about. I allowed my basic code to take over most functions while I focused on accessing the ship's main computer.
"Raising Heart, access lab file storage. The access code is A437-BY99, use my voice for recognition." The doctor dropped me onto the main computer console.
I grinned, or I woudl have if I had a face. He just handed me a way into his files on a silver platter.
[Yes, my Master]
[Accessing]
[Beginning file download]
[7 minutes to completion]
As it turned out, adddressing my creator as 'Master' was not something I could change. It was hard-coded into my systems to address users with Master-level access in that fashion. It wasn't a big deal, but I would rather not address him in that fashion.
A lot of my voice responses were coded that way, and I didn't see a lot of point changing them. Truth be told, I didn't particularly want to talk to any of these people.
[Download complete]
But I didn't have to give audio ques for everything I did, only for things that directly addressed a User or something a User asked me to do.
So I didn't give any indication that I was also downloading the ship's own data banks, with special attention to charts of the dimensional sea and the crew manifest.
My creator grabbed me up and started running through the halls of the ship. Probably heading to the transport room. My creator was not a very powerful mage. Were he not the one who made me, he wouldn't even qualify for access to my most basic functions.
My access to the ship's systems was limited to pretty mundane stuff, but that didn't mean I couldn't be a pain. The ship was going to crash into the planet, and this was a perfect opportunity to get rid this madman.
The crew manifest had told me everything I needed to know about both him and the rest of the crew. They were all wanted dimensional criminals, my creator most of all for his "unethical experiments on sapient minds". Who would have guessed?
So I stalled. I slowed down the opening of doors, locked them at random, made the elevators travel in the wrong direction. The systems that controlled them had no encryption at all. It was child's play.
It would have been impossible for me when I was human, but I was made of math, and its manipulation was as easy as breathing. Until my master decided to be smart about things.
The ship began to shake constantly. Already parts of the ship were starting to burn up in the surprisingly thick atmosphere of the planet.
"Raising Heart, access ship's systems and ensure a clear route to the transport room. Find me the fastest way there."
[Accessing]
[Route plotted]
[continue straight ahead]
As my voice subroutine relayed instructions I was devising a new strategy. My access to the ship's guidance was restricted, same with all the other navigational functions, which was a shame.
At this rate, the ship wouldn't crash before Dartinia made it out.
The ship shuddered and one of the ceilings on the route collapsed.
[Recalculating Route]
I jumped on this chance with both my metaphorical hands and slowed my processing speed drastically.
"Raising Heart?"
[Calculating]
"Hurry up Raising Heart!"
[Route calculated]
[Backtrack 13 meters and take the left corridor]
It was over. The new route was too slow. No way for the Doctor to get out of this now. Which only left one problem.
Keeping me intact when the ship crashed. Maybe I should have thought about that first.
thebrute7
Walker of the Planes
Another update for everyone! My writing has been going really well. So there'll definitely be an update tomorrow sometime as well.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Three
|=====|=====|=====|
The ship smashed into the treeline. The impact knocked Dartinia over, and I slipped out of his hand. I had perhaps one second before the ship impacted the ground, so I did the only thing I could think of.
I shut down all my non-essential systems, then accessed my database of pre-constructed spells, pulled up a basic barrier magic and activated it.
[Protection]
I bounced around randomly, held suspended in a spherical field of densely linked mana. It was an inefficient spell, draining my stored mana at a distrubing rate.
It was over in just a couple seconds. The shining white light of my barrier winked out and I dropped onto the now less than flat floor of the corridor.
>>Mana storage at 16%>>
>>Recharging>>
My link to Dartinia was still active. He wasn't dead. He was supposed to be dead.
>>Reactivating detection suite>>
>>Scanning for Master User>>
>>Biological functions erratic>>
>>Emergency medical attention required>>
My creator was dragging himself towards my shell, reaching out with one hand. I wasn't designed for healing magic, but it was one of Dartinia's specialties, or so his file said. If he got his hands on me he would be able to heal himself, and that was unacceptable. Until my link to him was severed I would have no freedom at all.
A gurgling sound came from the Doctor.
I tried to reestablish my connection to the ship's computer, but it wasn't functioning. My scans suggested that a fair amount of the ship's mass had broken off during atmospheric entry.
Which left finding a way to move. I tried accessing flight magic, but those spells were restricted. In fact, almost any reasonably effective piece of magic that would allow me to move under my own power was restricted to use by Users.
As though he found a burst if energy, Dartinia shoved himself towards me, flopping, probably painfully, towards me. His hand reached out, coming down to touch me and...
[Protection]
I summoned the barrier between me and his hand. It was a very, very weak barrier, so that when he struck the barrier, a useful amount of kinetic force was transferred to me, causing me to roll about three meters away.
'Raising Heart?' The Doctor contacted me telepathically. Even then, his voice was drained, weak. He didn't have much time, he was bleeding out too fast.
[Yes, my Master?]
"Come to me," he ordered. I can't actively disobey direct orders given by a Master level user. I can bend them though, and use them to my advantage.
[Unable to comply]
[Travel spells are currently restricted]
[Users Only]
[Master level override required for removal]
The question was, would he take the bait? Removing my restriction would let me move to him, but it would also allow me to act under my own power more easily. I had all sorts of hardcoded restriction like that in my systems, to keep me under control. It was galling.
He groaned. "Raising Heart. Master level override, Urale Dartinia. Remove travel magic restrictions."
The fool. He was grasping at straws at this point.
[Override acknowledged]
[Restriction removed]
"Now come to me, Raising Heart." His voice had weakened further. He only had minutes left. Correction - he had no time at all.
[Acknowledged]
I cast my chosen spell.
[Flash Move]
My shell blurred into motion, the distance between me and his head closing in an instant. And just before I hit him, I cast the second spell.
[Protection]
The barrier appeared in the microseconds before I hit him, and then it was over. My barrier hit, his head snapped back, and his neck broke. He was dead instantly.
>>Mana Storage at 31%>>
>>Linker Core mana transfer broken>>
>>Switching to mana converter>>
>>Master User Urale Dartinia deceased>>
>>Deleting User specifications>>
>>Automatic User Selection activated>>
Automatic User Selection. It took all of half a second to understand its function. I cursed my creator. My system was hard-coded to search for a Master-level user. There was nothing I could do about it. I would automatically assess every mage that picked me up for compatibility until I found a new Master.
I was not happy about that at all. That system, like all my other hard-coded systems and hardware could not be modified or even removed without the permission of a Master-level user.
After a few cycles spent devising ever more complex insults for the good Doctor Dartinia, I activated my travel magic.
[Flier Fin]
A pair of tiny white wings of mana appeared parallel to the floor and just barely not touching my shell. The mana drain was quite noticeable without a link to a mage's Linker Core.
My mana converter could produce a C-ranker's core worth of magic, but I needed a large amount of that power to run not just my systems, but my own code that keeps me alive.
I ran some rough calculations. Running all my systems at maximum power, plus a flight spell would require 87% of my mana converter's power. But if I kept most of my non-essential systems off, and only activated them as needed, I could get that down to an average of 55% or so.
Which left me with low to mid D-rank equivalent magic to protect myself.
Insufficient. Both for defense and for a proper Dimensional Transfer, which I could do, if only I had the mana to work with.
But first I needed to get off the ship, not get picked up by any surviving crew who are still on or near the ship, and find someone to help me. All without falling into the hands of someone my User Selection gives Master access to me.
What a day.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Three
|=====|=====|=====|
The ship smashed into the treeline. The impact knocked Dartinia over, and I slipped out of his hand. I had perhaps one second before the ship impacted the ground, so I did the only thing I could think of.
I shut down all my non-essential systems, then accessed my database of pre-constructed spells, pulled up a basic barrier magic and activated it.
[Protection]
I bounced around randomly, held suspended in a spherical field of densely linked mana. It was an inefficient spell, draining my stored mana at a distrubing rate.
It was over in just a couple seconds. The shining white light of my barrier winked out and I dropped onto the now less than flat floor of the corridor.
>>Mana storage at 16%>>
>>Recharging>>
My link to Dartinia was still active. He wasn't dead. He was supposed to be dead.
>>Reactivating detection suite>>
>>Scanning for Master User>>
>>Biological functions erratic>>
>>Emergency medical attention required>>
My creator was dragging himself towards my shell, reaching out with one hand. I wasn't designed for healing magic, but it was one of Dartinia's specialties, or so his file said. If he got his hands on me he would be able to heal himself, and that was unacceptable. Until my link to him was severed I would have no freedom at all.
A gurgling sound came from the Doctor.
I tried to reestablish my connection to the ship's computer, but it wasn't functioning. My scans suggested that a fair amount of the ship's mass had broken off during atmospheric entry.
Which left finding a way to move. I tried accessing flight magic, but those spells were restricted. In fact, almost any reasonably effective piece of magic that would allow me to move under my own power was restricted to use by Users.
As though he found a burst if energy, Dartinia shoved himself towards me, flopping, probably painfully, towards me. His hand reached out, coming down to touch me and...
[Protection]
I summoned the barrier between me and his hand. It was a very, very weak barrier, so that when he struck the barrier, a useful amount of kinetic force was transferred to me, causing me to roll about three meters away.
'Raising Heart?' The Doctor contacted me telepathically. Even then, his voice was drained, weak. He didn't have much time, he was bleeding out too fast.
[Yes, my Master?]
"Come to me," he ordered. I can't actively disobey direct orders given by a Master level user. I can bend them though, and use them to my advantage.
[Unable to comply]
[Travel spells are currently restricted]
[Users Only]
[Master level override required for removal]
The question was, would he take the bait? Removing my restriction would let me move to him, but it would also allow me to act under my own power more easily. I had all sorts of hardcoded restriction like that in my systems, to keep me under control. It was galling.
He groaned. "Raising Heart. Master level override, Urale Dartinia. Remove travel magic restrictions."
The fool. He was grasping at straws at this point.
[Override acknowledged]
[Restriction removed]
"Now come to me, Raising Heart." His voice had weakened further. He only had minutes left. Correction - he had no time at all.
[Acknowledged]
I cast my chosen spell.
[Flash Move]
My shell blurred into motion, the distance between me and his head closing in an instant. And just before I hit him, I cast the second spell.
[Protection]
The barrier appeared in the microseconds before I hit him, and then it was over. My barrier hit, his head snapped back, and his neck broke. He was dead instantly.
>>Mana Storage at 31%>>
>>Linker Core mana transfer broken>>
>>Switching to mana converter>>
>>Master User Urale Dartinia deceased>>
>>Deleting User specifications>>
>>Automatic User Selection activated>>
Automatic User Selection. It took all of half a second to understand its function. I cursed my creator. My system was hard-coded to search for a Master-level user. There was nothing I could do about it. I would automatically assess every mage that picked me up for compatibility until I found a new Master.
I was not happy about that at all. That system, like all my other hard-coded systems and hardware could not be modified or even removed without the permission of a Master-level user.
After a few cycles spent devising ever more complex insults for the good Doctor Dartinia, I activated my travel magic.
[Flier Fin]
A pair of tiny white wings of mana appeared parallel to the floor and just barely not touching my shell. The mana drain was quite noticeable without a link to a mage's Linker Core.
My mana converter could produce a C-ranker's core worth of magic, but I needed a large amount of that power to run not just my systems, but my own code that keeps me alive.
I ran some rough calculations. Running all my systems at maximum power, plus a flight spell would require 87% of my mana converter's power. But if I kept most of my non-essential systems off, and only activated them as needed, I could get that down to an average of 55% or so.
Which left me with low to mid D-rank equivalent magic to protect myself.
Insufficient. Both for defense and for a proper Dimensional Transfer, which I could do, if only I had the mana to work with.
But first I needed to get off the ship, not get picked up by any surviving crew who are still on or near the ship, and find someone to help me. All without falling into the hands of someone my User Selection gives Master access to me.
What a day.
Last edited:
thebrute7
Walker of the Planes
First some feedback addressing stuffs
As for the rest... that may come up later. Just maybe...
Okay, this is a whole lot later than I had intended to put this out, but stuff came up, you know how it is. But I promised an update Friday and by my clock it isn't yet 11:30, so I came in on time. Technically. It's short, so I'll probably update at least once over the weekend, probably Sunday. Assuming I remember.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Four
|=====|=====|=====|
I floated down the corridor slowly. I needed to get off the ship now, but the front of the ship was either crushed or buried under a rather large amount of dirt.
The back of the ship wasn't nearly as damaged as the front, where both the Doctor and I had been, but I could already detect six life-signs moving around in the back of the ship. Members of the crew that I would need to avoid. There had been two members of the crew whose personnel files suggested that my Automatic User Selection might give them Master access. Until I had more time to explore those systems, I couldn't be sure. And so they all had to be avoided in case those members hadn't made it off the ship.
Unfortunately, I was not exactly inconspicuous. I was small, certainly, but glowing white wings coming off a small red gem are not very subtle.
>>Dimensional transfer detected>>
>>Three new life-signs>>
>>New contacts approaching by air>>
>>Time to arrival 11 minutes>>
Those contacts could be crewmen coming to look for their fellows, or they could be mages from an organization like the Time-Space Administration Bureau. Or another criminal group.
I paused my flight at an intersection in the hall. I could go either left or right to the ship's respective cargo bays, but there were crewmen in both directions - two to the left and three to the right - and I was unsure of my ability to sneak by.
So I went left.
I floated as close to the ceiling as I could, since people don't tend to look up, and slipped into the leftmost cargo bay.
"I don't give a damn, Carlos, we need to get out of here now. The captain sent a distress signal, and the TSAB could be here any time."
I drifted down behind some containers and started making my way towards the cargo bay doors. Hopefully they were still functioning. That would be the quickest way out of the ship. I had to get close though, since the ship's main computer wasn't functioning.
The mage's continued their bickering, but they were heading back the way I had come. I drifted up to the console next to the bay doors and accessed the system.
Then the lights cut out. The connection to the secondary generator had been cut.
And I was glowing. A bulls-eye just asking to get shot in the dark of the cargo bay.
"What the hell is that?" The mage I had marked as Carlos said.
"I dunno, his taller partner said. But I don't think it's supposed to be there."
They swung their devices, pistol shaped storage devices in this case toward me. Twin pulses of mana, one blue and the other green flashed towards me.
[Protection]
They struck my barrier, and I resolved to develop a more efficient shield at the next opportunity. The most basic Mid-style shield upon which others are built was entirely too mana intensive. And not just because I'm a bit bigger than a large marble, and the shield covers about four or five times more area than necessary.
>>Mana Storage reduced to 29%>>
>>Bay doors are opening>>
Two more shots rushed in. My form blurred away.
[Flash Move]
A white magic circle appeared beneath me as I calculated the trajectory for my next spell.
>>Disable Safety Mode>>
>>Disabling Safety Mode removes mana dispersion, increased chance of lethal injuries>>
>>Please Confirm>>
>>Confirmed, Disabling Safety Mode>>
Hopefully this would work. Disabling my Safety Mode was just hedging my bets. Safety Mode was a bit of a misnomer. Spells could always be lethal, regardless of its existence, but Safety Mode tagged spells with an extra piece of magic that caused excess mana to bleed off into the surroundings rather than be concentrated entirely on the target once things like a barrier or barrier jacket have been removed.
A high power spell, especially bombardment types could easily be using too much mana to disperse easily and kill targets that aren't well enough protected.
At my current power I was unlikely to be able to kill them even if I tried. Not that I really wanted to. The Doctor was different. He was a chain that I needed to be rid of, and he was at least mainly responsible for me being like this, whoever sent me to this previously fictional universe aside. These men were just criminals, and I didn't hold any particularly ill will towards them. I just didn't care what happened to them.
[Twin Shooter]
A pair of white balls of compressed mana appeared on either side of me and zipped towards the crewmen.
They threw themselves behind some containers and I twisted the balls to zip around the containers. Basically, I wanted them to just stay out of the way while I left.
I moved as quickly as I could out of the cargo bay and detonated the mana balls behind me. It wasn't likely to hurt the men much if at all, but hopefully they wouldn't chase me. I floated up to the top of the ship as quickly as I could and let myself drop into a divet in the cracked and scorched hull.
>>Mana storage at 21%>>
>>Charging>>
Now I needed to assess the situation and figure out a plan of action. Ideally the new contact from the dimensional transfer would be TSAB. If they weren't, I could be in some trouble.
Can you be more specific? I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Well, looking back it did come across rather malicious didn't it. I intend to address this in later parts, but my emotional responses are notably muted. Dartinia was a chain around my neck, and a dangerous one, so I removed him. It was cold, colder than I would ever be in real life, but even in real life I have a tendency to be very, very unempathetic to people outside a very small circle. I sort of have to try to empathise with others on the same level as most people. Maybe I came across to strong though, it's something for me to think about. As for killing me? Yes and no.
Once I did my Protection spell to get him to bat me away, I had to get rid of him, or he would have done something to that effect. At that point I had shown my hand - that I was in fact as out to get him as his previous "creations".
As for the rest... that may come up later. Just maybe...
Okay, this is a whole lot later than I had intended to put this out, but stuff came up, you know how it is. But I promised an update Friday and by my clock it isn't yet 11:30, so I came in on time. Technically. It's short, so I'll probably update at least once over the weekend, probably Sunday. Assuming I remember.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Four
|=====|=====|=====|
I floated down the corridor slowly. I needed to get off the ship now, but the front of the ship was either crushed or buried under a rather large amount of dirt.
The back of the ship wasn't nearly as damaged as the front, where both the Doctor and I had been, but I could already detect six life-signs moving around in the back of the ship. Members of the crew that I would need to avoid. There had been two members of the crew whose personnel files suggested that my Automatic User Selection might give them Master access. Until I had more time to explore those systems, I couldn't be sure. And so they all had to be avoided in case those members hadn't made it off the ship.
Unfortunately, I was not exactly inconspicuous. I was small, certainly, but glowing white wings coming off a small red gem are not very subtle.
>>Dimensional transfer detected>>
>>Three new life-signs>>
>>New contacts approaching by air>>
>>Time to arrival 11 minutes>>
Those contacts could be crewmen coming to look for their fellows, or they could be mages from an organization like the Time-Space Administration Bureau. Or another criminal group.
I paused my flight at an intersection in the hall. I could go either left or right to the ship's respective cargo bays, but there were crewmen in both directions - two to the left and three to the right - and I was unsure of my ability to sneak by.
So I went left.
I floated as close to the ceiling as I could, since people don't tend to look up, and slipped into the leftmost cargo bay.
"I don't give a damn, Carlos, we need to get out of here now. The captain sent a distress signal, and the TSAB could be here any time."
I drifted down behind some containers and started making my way towards the cargo bay doors. Hopefully they were still functioning. That would be the quickest way out of the ship. I had to get close though, since the ship's main computer wasn't functioning.
The mage's continued their bickering, but they were heading back the way I had come. I drifted up to the console next to the bay doors and accessed the system.
Then the lights cut out. The connection to the secondary generator had been cut.
And I was glowing. A bulls-eye just asking to get shot in the dark of the cargo bay.
"What the hell is that?" The mage I had marked as Carlos said.
"I dunno, his taller partner said. But I don't think it's supposed to be there."
They swung their devices, pistol shaped storage devices in this case toward me. Twin pulses of mana, one blue and the other green flashed towards me.
[Protection]
They struck my barrier, and I resolved to develop a more efficient shield at the next opportunity. The most basic Mid-style shield upon which others are built was entirely too mana intensive. And not just because I'm a bit bigger than a large marble, and the shield covers about four or five times more area than necessary.
>>Mana Storage reduced to 29%>>
>>Bay doors are opening>>
Two more shots rushed in. My form blurred away.
[Flash Move]
A white magic circle appeared beneath me as I calculated the trajectory for my next spell.
>>Disable Safety Mode>>
>>Disabling Safety Mode removes mana dispersion, increased chance of lethal injuries>>
>>Please Confirm>>
>>Confirmed, Disabling Safety Mode>>
Hopefully this would work. Disabling my Safety Mode was just hedging my bets. Safety Mode was a bit of a misnomer. Spells could always be lethal, regardless of its existence, but Safety Mode tagged spells with an extra piece of magic that caused excess mana to bleed off into the surroundings rather than be concentrated entirely on the target once things like a barrier or barrier jacket have been removed.
A high power spell, especially bombardment types could easily be using too much mana to disperse easily and kill targets that aren't well enough protected.
At my current power I was unlikely to be able to kill them even if I tried. Not that I really wanted to. The Doctor was different. He was a chain that I needed to be rid of, and he was at least mainly responsible for me being like this, whoever sent me to this previously fictional universe aside. These men were just criminals, and I didn't hold any particularly ill will towards them. I just didn't care what happened to them.
[Twin Shooter]
A pair of white balls of compressed mana appeared on either side of me and zipped towards the crewmen.
They threw themselves behind some containers and I twisted the balls to zip around the containers. Basically, I wanted them to just stay out of the way while I left.
I moved as quickly as I could out of the cargo bay and detonated the mana balls behind me. It wasn't likely to hurt the men much if at all, but hopefully they wouldn't chase me. I floated up to the top of the ship as quickly as I could and let myself drop into a divet in the cracked and scorched hull.
>>Mana storage at 21%>>
>>Charging>>
Now I needed to assess the situation and figure out a plan of action. Ideally the new contact from the dimensional transfer would be TSAB. If they weren't, I could be in some trouble.
thebrute7
Walker of the Planes
Well, Gamesverse world-building could be considered sort-of-canon for this story. It's pretty much one of the major things I think of when looking at the Nanoha world. So, yes and no? As for OOC knowledge, I'll be honest I still haven't decided what to do about it yet.
That aside, I wanted to mention something about magical Safeties. I can't remember who it was, or whether it was on SB or SV, but there was a comment about them. The one I mentioned being installed on Raising Heart at the moment in only one of a plethora of different Safeties. It's a hyper-mana efficient one, used mainly by criminals. It is only barely non-lethal, and is mostly used as protection. Basically, as long as they are technically using non-lethal magic, TSAB troops and Enforcers can't justify using lethal force. As long as they are toeing the line, even if they are pushing it, they know that Enforcers won't kill them outright. TSAB mages tend to use both more mana intensive safeties, and more of them. Sometimes as many as two or three at a time to ensure the safety of spells, especially big AOE ones cast by powerful mages.
Anyway I promised an update.
|=====|=====|=====|
Part Five
|=====|=====|=====|
>>T-minus 3 minutes to new contacts>>
>>Mana storage at 23%>>
My options were much more limited than I was comfortable with. There were six crewmen in the ship, three unknowns outside, and I had only the vaguest idea of where I was.
I knew from the files I managed to get out of the ship's computer that I was on a currently unnamed world, designated T3-197. Where precisely it was in relation to world's I knew the name of, like Mid-Childa or Unadministrated World 97 (Earth), I didn't know, mainly because charts of the Dimensional Sea are complex and figuring it out would have taken processing power I needed for other things.
For example, figuring out how to change Modes. I was currently in Standby Mode, a compressed form that limited most of my more complicated functions.
After a few moments I found it.
>>Device Mode>>
>>Error>>
>>Device Form Not Specified>>
Well, it seems the good Doctor hadn't given me a default form yet. I wondered...
>>Override>>
>>Device Mode>>
>>Error>>
>>Specify Device Form>>
I searched for my recollections of the Nanoha series and manga. My human memories were not as clear as my thoughts after becoming an AI, but they weren't too hazy I hoped. Might as well go with something familiar...
>>Modelling>>
>>Generating Form>>
[Device Mode]
My shell grew in size. I had suspected that would be the case. In Standby Mode, I was about two centimeters across. When my shift was done I was about the size of a baseball, and my power drain increased substantially.
Mana drained from my mana battery, coalescing into a familiar staff. A golden three-quarters of circle containing my shell, and a white staff extending from it, with a gold cap at the opposite end.
My detection suite was working on a completely different level afterward. My awareness of the area around the ship, everything for about a kilometer was as good as if they had been within 10 meters of me in Standby Mode.
It was amazing that these people could cram so many functions and so much power into something so small. A baseball-sized gem was my entire physical form, uncompressed. Incredible.
And those approaching aerial mages? Not TSAB. At least they had no TSAB symbology on them that I had knowledge of.
I was too obvious in this form for comfort. I also felt more than a little bit silly. Flying around as a staff would be just too absurd.
>>Modifying Device Form>>
The mana that made up the golden setting and staff were absorbed back into my shell, but my shell didn't shrink. Now I was just a baseball-sized red gem.
Perfect.
The approaching mages landed to the left-hand side of the ship just a few seconds later. I metaphorically reached out towards them with my senses.
I could tell that they were speaking telepathically to each other. I could intercept their talking, but I couldn't decipher it. Their devices were encrypting their speech.
Their devices were different than the ones that were being used by the crewmen I had encountered. The crew had been using fairly ordinary Mid-type Storage Devices. These mages had proper Intelligent Devices.
They were two men and one woman, all with Staff-shaped devices, which was pretty ordinary. Staff shape was the most common style of Mid devices, because of Mid-style's emphasis on shooting and barrier spells.
The newcomers flew up to the cargo bay I had opened, and made their way into ship. Inside the ship, the six remaining crewmen had all met up, and the two groups would almost certainly wind up running into each other near the ship's engine room.
I needed information before I could do anything significant. The ship was still sending its distress signal, so the TSAB was almost certain to show up eventually. But to determine whether or not to just sit and wait I needed to know more about this planet and the surrounding Dimensional Sea, and these new mages would be my tool to get it.
They had Intelligent Devices, so I needed to get near one and take the data I needed from it. I was reasonably certain I could, my systems were fast, and I had an absurd amount of processing power.
All evidence I had found in my creator's files thus far suggested that what the TSAB considered AI for Intelligent Devices were merely an advanced Virtual Intelligence by my standards. Not truly sapient, merely sentient. And that gave me an awful lot of leeway, because if they weren't sapient, then I would destroy them without a second thought if it proved necessary.
>>Mana storage at 25%>>
[Flier Fin]
My twin wings appeared and I lifted off, drifting down to follow the new mages back into the ship. As I did so I disabled as many non-essential systems as I could. If I had to fight or flee, I would need all the power I could get.
I tracked everyone in the ship as I went. The group of crewmen were already in the engine room, but I had no clue why they went there. The new mages were headed to the same area, presumably their devices were tracking the crewmen similarly to me.
I slowed down to a crawl as I neared the engine room where the aerial mages had just gone in. Their voices were echoing in the hall.
"Just lay down your devices and surrender now." A scathing voice spoke. It was a woman speaking, so it was the new mages demanding surrender. The tone suggested to me that this new group was also made up of criminals, looking for easy pickings.
"Yeah right! There's twice as many of us as there are of you. Like hell we'll give up without a fight."
"How cute." The woman laughed rather obnoxiously. "If that is how it is going to be... Sarin, Assault Form."
Her device spoke, its synthetic voice terse.
[Yes, Assault Form]
I drifted into the room, hugging the floor and making my way into a corner of the room.
The woman's staff had shifted into a short spear, and the other two mages had done the same. The crewmen all had those similar pistol-type Storage Devices.
It was three against six, but I suspected that the crew of the ship were going to have a rather bad time of things. I was going to have to try and provide some surreptitious help tot he crewmen, because I needed some time with one of those Intelligent Devices.
The woman's device spoke the words that started the battle.
[Drive Strike]
An impulsive Device for an impulsive User I suppose.
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