Alright. We are back. We are ready.
And there have been quite the number of likebombers noticed here and there during the hiatus, so as is tradition I'll try to update on Friday
@Ambrosine,
@Smeee,
@ashadowalker,
@MobiusC,
@28th00,
@Crescent Glaive,
@gloriousyak,
@Subrosian_Smithy,
@udkudk,
@Romantic_Kaiju,
@Epro987654,
@RedKnite,
@Wings-Of-Change,
@SwampyCat,
@dudson,
@NotegemeL,
@Grimy,
@ZobbleStone, @Unnamed25,
@Sajito,
@Pavalos,
@Ashran,
@Archivist Grim,
@CivilReader,
@Cheetored20
And yes, there are actually more, but apparently free users can only tag 25 people per post.
-------------
-------------
"Hello? Is this an emergency?" Alto asked when he picked up.
"No." Ozma said. "Has anything happened during the shooting? Did anything happen to Grace?"
There was a pause on the other side of the line. "Grace went catatonic mid-word. Shooting with Sheryl stopped for the day." Alto said. "Did you know about that?"
"Some one gave me a tip." Ozma said. "What time did she collapse?"
"About nine in the morning." Alto said.
Which was just about when I got the email. So I will definitely need to take this seriously.
"Alright." Ozma said. "We'll have a meeting tomorrow
-------------------
"A lunch meeting?" Mikel asked.
"Yes." Ozma said. "We're meeting with the person who sent me the tip. I don't know who we're looking for."
"That would be me." A voice from behind them said. All three of them whirled around to look at the woman behind them.
She was tall, had red eyes, and had put her purple hair in a long braid down to her waist. Ozma was pretty sure she just left it like that for months at a time, given how much a pain it would be to handle it.
She was wearing a grey tank top, purple pants, and a white jacket tied around her waist. Ozma squinted at her a moment.
"I am Lindy Ezros. Pleased to meet you face-to-face, Ozma Lee." She held out a hand. Ozma took it and gave it a quick shake.
"Ah, yes." Ozma said vaguely. "Anyway, we getting lunch?"
"I suppose I could stop you, but do continue." Lindy replied.
Mikel and Alto gave her weird looks, but that was the end of conversation until they reached the restaurant. After being seated, Lindy left the menu lying on the table.
"So, what's this about?" Mikel asked Lindy.
"Sharon Apple version two, except this one can puppet people around and made some backups." Lindy replied blandly. "And it was planning to enslave everything in the entire universe, including humanity and the Vajra."
"Are you serious?" Alto asked.
"Yes." Lindy said, too blandly for the situation. "Fortunately, I know how to analyze software AIs so I could take it apart and see what made it tick. This one was created by researchers on Macross Galaxy to assist in cybernetics research."
"He was made on purpose?' Ozma asked.
"Yes, a3x.exe was made on purpose." Lindy replied. "Given the appropriate level of paranoia about AI, it would have had to be made on purpose. Still, it's no longer a problem. I took it apart and found all its backups. The problem is that it tossed the vajra at humanity because it was trying to use the swarm as a weapon of fear, aided by misinformation."
"I can't take this seriously if you aren't." Ozma said.
"I am taking this seriously." Lindy replied. "But since it no longer exists, except as a few quarantined files, it's not worth worrying about. The current concern is establishing a peace with the Vajra."
"You're worried about making peace with those bugs, instead of Sharon Apple version two?" Alto interrupted
"Yes." Lindy replied evenly, staring directly at Alto as he leaned forward. "Also, you should probably decide what to eat."
This ended the conversation for moment. Ozma ordered some kind of sandwich, and he didn't really notice what Alto or Mikel ordered, but Lindy didn't order anything. The waitress just smiled and nodded and went "Ah" like she knew what it meant.
Once the waitress left and they weren't being overheard, Ozma leaned in towards Lindy.
"You want to make peace?" He asked.
"Yes." Lindy said. "However, I am unable to communicate with the Vajra and convince it to open communications with you."
"Do you mean me as in myself, or Frontier?" He asked, sitting up.
"I mean all of humanity." Lindy said dryly. "Anyway, it will likely be up to Frontier to decide how to approach the Vajra."
"Yes, but what about this AI? Are you sure it's gone?" Mikel asked.
"Yes, it's completely gone." Lindy said. "The Exiles encountered a race called the Furlings. We learned from their mistakes, and copied their solutions. Again, I was able to dissect it and figure out where all of its backups were. Then I destroyed them."
"Before lunch?" Mikel asked.
Ozma glanced at him. He hadn't even considered that. But if it was creating backups and spreading them around, then she would have had to travel between each of the sites and destroy them.
"No, I located each backup beforehand, and used drones to launch a simultaneous strike. Standard assassination method for anything, really." Lindy said.
"Really?" Ozma said. "Wouldn't it be easier to make it delete itself?"
"It was a software-based AI that reached its singularity." Lindy responded. "Trying to fight it on processors it controlled would have the height of idiocy, giving it information about my own computational systems and doing no damage. Now, can we please discuss the Vajra?"
"What about the Office of Internal Affairs?" Ozma delayed. "Did you hear anything about that?"
"As expected, they are still reviewing protocol before actually beginning the investigation." Lindy said. "None of them had actually had to investigate something like this before."
"What are you talking about?" Alto asked.
"The AI had contacted a member of the Frontier government and was using them as a catspaw to manipulate Frontier." Lindy explained. "I provided a complete list of all evidence of their plans and their contact with the AI. Arrest and firing is an acceptable level for the actions they have already executed. Assassination would be a rather steep price for stupidity and ambition stopped before it got out of control, and it would complicate our relations."
Ozma glanced at Mikel, who was also hiding a grimace. Alto was not hiding his facial expression.
"Anyway, Vajra. Ozma, you've reviewed the data packet I sent, including the parts about the Vajra. Have you put any thought into how to achieve peace?" Lindy continued.
"Not in the slightest." Ozma shrugged. "I couldn't understand a percent of the jargon in those papers. Why can't you just go and talk to the Vajra yourself?"
"Not only am I not able to, it would probably lead to further problems down the line." Lindy said.
"And why aren't you able to talk to them, while we can?" Mikel asked.
"If you're not going to bother reading the documentation I'm not going to bother explaining." Lindy replied, with just the tiniest hint of a smile.
"Are we going to accomplish anything during this meeting at all?" Ozma sighed.
"Probably not." Lindy said. "So, I will take my leave. Please contact me if you have something worth discussing." With that, she stood and left.
Their food arrived a few minutes later.
"So." Ozma said, spoon halfway to his mouth. "How are we going to break it to Sheryl that 'Grace' was a puppet?"
"We don't." Alto said.
"Lindy could have been lying." Mikel added. "If she was watching the filming, and knew about a condition Grace had, then she could have been waiting for something like this."
"Or we could wait to hear from the hospital." Ozma said. "But I suppose they would be the ones that would have to tell Sheryl anyway."
