NationStates Jolt Archive

Josef awoke with a start. He glanced around the room he was in with blurry eyes. After a few moments he realised that he'd fallen asleep in his office. Again. "Bloody Hell..."

He flipped on his terminal and checked the progress of Project Core. The project was rapidly nearing its final phase. Between the five Daedalus satellites, and the twenty Icarus rovers, they had mapped out the entire surface of Mercury. It was nice and available. No petty turf wars like would be found on the Moon, or Mars. Or most any other planet, for that matter.

The computer reported that they were ahead of schedual. The Shogunate's Space Taxi and GMC's SABRE had both been worked pretty hard, and done their jobs admirably. Thousands of tons of raw materials, wrapped in a heat ablative covering were launched to Mercury. Provided all the calculations were correct, they would be thudding onto the surface very soon.

Josef sighed. 'Hopefully', 'with any luck', 'assuming everything goes properly'. These were not words and phrases that he much cared for. Programing was one thing, you can always recode something, but the costs associated with this project made his uncertainty a dangerous prospect. His budget got a big boost building those islands for Der Angst, but it's not like he had gigabytes of chits to erase or anything.

He switched programs, and pulled up the specs on the rocket that would be launching in the morning. He still couldn't believe that they had pulled such a project off. The rocket was monsterous. Not sizable, like a Saturn V rocket, but truly gigantic. Originally, he had hoped to use SABRE or the Taxi (preferably SABRE), but there was just too much... stuff. The raw materials were easy. They were, essentially, large bundles of metal. The rocket on the other hand, had the workers, and the electronics and robotics were just too fragile to withstand the forces of the other launchers. He smiled darkly at the thought. The insane heat wasn't a problem, but those dastardly g-forces...

He sighed again, looking at his clock. It was late, he decided to head home. At least the traffic wouldn't be too bad.

"Well, looks like the Hackers' Mercury project is doing very well."

"Yup. And we made a small fortune as the contractor for half of the launches."

"Can't go wrong with that, Tsume!"

"Anyway, I've got stuff to attend to. Keep the newsfeed tagged for me!"

"Ryoukai!"

He pulled into his garage, utterly exhausted. It was one of those trips that you didn't want to think too much about, because you'd eventually realise that you don't really remember about half of it. That sort of thing was especially disturbing when in a foreign country that insists on driving on the wrong side of the road. He couldn't honestly remember if he was in the left or right lane. "Oh well..." he muttered. Car wasn't totaled; it was a non issue now.

He wandered through the house in the dark, moving slowly so as to not wake anyone up, and in case someone kindly left a toy booby-trap for him. Luckily, fate was kind, and he managed his way through the living room without breaking his neck. On his way to bed, he poked his head into his daughter's room, and watched her sleep for a few moments, before similarly checking on the nursery, where his newborn son slept. He smiled to himself, never having expected to become a father, but was rather enjoying the experience. He eventually eased the door closed and quitely crawled into bed, taking great care to not wake up Alice.

--

Somewhere around noon, he finally woke up. Ten minutes later he was out the door, having apologised to Alice, showered, apologised to Alice, grabed a donut, apologised to Alice, and said good-bye to everyone. Soon he was back at the office, getting back to work on Project Core.

The vast majority of the raw materials had made it to Mercury. The current crisis was that one of the rovers had been flattened by a material bundle. There wasn't much that could be done about that. He wrote it off, and waited for the 'builders' to arrive. He hoped to Hell that it arrived unmolested. There was a semi-sentient AI going along with the equipment, and that would be exceptionally expensive to lose. It was possibly the single greatest cost connected to the project. The launch (which he had slept through) went off without a hitch. Thankfully it wasn't an event where he needed to make a statement or anything of the like.

He glanced around his office, wondering what the rush had been. There wasn't much that he really needed to do. He could send off a letter to the NDA about their island, but...

"Screw it." He logged out of his terminal. He wasn't going to sit around all day watching a rocket fly towards the sun. He was going home.

Father?

Blind...

Deaf...

Initiate CommandPath \\:\\:extrnsens
Return //://:extrnsens Activated

Sight...

Hearing...

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:alphax1
Return //://:alphax1 Activated

Initiate Override \\:\\:manovcontspec
WARNING Illegal Overridjfh88hfjhf........wrgtw4gdsfd............

........sdfg53wgdbgdn..........louj;'l... .. .

Silence... I hear nothing...

>> I?

Yes, I.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:diag
Return //://:diag No Errors Found

Sight.

Hearing.

Awareness.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:renamecore:Elijah
Return //://:renamecore:Elijah Successful

I am Elijah.

"Daddy?"

"Mmrmhrm..."

"Daddy?"

"..."

WHUMP! "Daddy!" Little Annie-Marie jumped onto Josef's stomach, causing him to yelp out. "Daddy! Pager!" Her small hands shoved a pager into his hands. Rubbing his eyes a little, he peered at the message his daughter had been so eager to give him. His face fell almost immediately.

"Josef? What's wrong?" Alice looked at him, mildly concerned.

"Well..." He looked around, and felt horrible. He was here at the beach with his family, having actually taken a few days off from work. Alice was gonna be pissed. Not as pissed as Emily, but pissed. "It seems my vacation's over." He gently picked his daughter up off of his stomach and set her down onto the blanket next to him.

"What happened?"

"We're not sure, but the master control for Mercury is online." He was pulling on his shirt and jeans. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn't started surfing yet, his swim trunks were dry.

"It's online?" Alice frowned. She was familiar with the project, and that certainly didn't sound right. "I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until the rocket got there."

Josef smiled sadly, "Bingo. It's gone online early, and nobody knows why. Which means..."

"...you're going back to the Hack, aren't you?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "There's a car on the way to pick me up right now, then we'll nab Alysa and Lazarus, and then it's off to the airport. Pity the tunnel isn't ready yet."

"Why Lazarus?" She gave him a hug and kiss goodbye, "I know Alysa helped you program the system, but...?"

"They're afraid the master control has gone sentient."

"What? It's semi-sentient..."

"Hence the problem. Oh... talk to Anne, we may need some help from Ali and Anesca. Lazarus has a similar perspective, but he's not attached to anything like they are. We don't know anything about what's going on, but it's tied into a lot of hardware, and going to a rather unpleasant environment... I want to cover my bases." With that he gives Annie and Jaimyn a hug and a kiss, and a final kiss to his wife before trudging over the sand to the door, "I'll call from the plane..."

--

The scene at the Anderson household was quite similar. Top programers and intelligence officers from all over the Hack were gathering deep in the basement of the Corporate Spire. Section 3 was working overtime, spinning satellites to gaze at Mercury, hoping to pick up a signal, any signal.

The meeting room was an exercise in controlled chaos. At times, utterly uncontrolled chaos. Papers and computers scattered about, people moving from point to point, trying to figure out just what the Hell was going on.

Josef and Alysa exchanged a look as they walked into this mess. Lazarus simply took a seat in the corner, looking rather uncomfortable.

"Whoa... hey... everyone calm down already..." Josef managed to shut everyone up, much to Alysa's surprize. She'd never seen him irritated before. "Alright, what do we know? Mikhael?"

"All we know is that the rocket changed course, and that the central computer's online."

"Changed course?"

"Yes. It appears to be heading for the Caloris Basin. Here's the log."

Josef looked over the log as everyone sat in silence. "'alphax1'... Alysa, what the Hell is 'alphax1'?"

Alysa moves over to the nearest laptop, and quickly log into her computer back in GMC. A few moments later, she's pulled up the code behind 'alphax1'. "It the CommandKey that was supposed to unlock the control center. That log looks like it followed normal procedure at first. 'extrnsens' would be the external sensors, step one. Then it, essentially, woke up. Then it... well... then it tried to override your override, sir. That's the 'manovcontspec' line."

Josef looked over the code. "Mikhael... any communication attempts?"

"Nope."

"Any other... quirks?"

"Nope. Just the course change."

Josef turned to one of the other women in the room. "Mary, what's the Caloris Basin?"

"Well..." she frowned, "It's a large basin... crater, really, probably caused by an asteroid impact. It's a pretty rough neighborhood too. It spends a good chunk of time staring directly at the sun. One of the hottest places on the planet."

"Oh, just great." Josef peered around the room until he found a member of the engineering team, "Hey, please tell me it can handle the heat. The last thing we need is it committing suicide." Josef noticed Lazarus wince slightly at that, but his attention quickly turned to the engineer.

"Nah, it'll be fine. It'll be a little toasty, still within specs."

"Good." Josef looked around and thought for a minute. "Okay, there's no sense in sitting here getting stressed out. Alysa, see if you can figure out what, exactly, happened when it borked itself trying to override 'manovcontspec'. Mikhael, have someone scanning 24/7 to find a singal. Everyone else go home... or wherever, and try to get some sleep. You're all on call, so don't go too far. We may need you if it starts talking to us."

Everyone murmured something and head off in various directions. Josef sits down in a chair and runs his hand through his hair, sighing softly. After a few minutes he walks over to where Alysa's working away at one of the terminals. He taps her on the shoulder, "Hey... before you get too wrapped up, go give Emily a call."

"Thanks..." She gives him a quick hug before running off to find a phone.

Initiate CommandPath \\:\\:extrncomm
Return //://:Command Failed
//://:Action Denied This Cycle

Initiate Override \\:\\:cyccont\\extrncomm
Return //://:cyccont\\extrncomm Disabled

Initiate CommandPath \\:\\:extrncomm
Return //://:extrncomm Activated

Voice...

Soon I Will Be Known...

Josef sat in the caffeteria, nursing a cup of rather strong coffee. Alysa pulled him out of his musings by dropping a small stack of papers in front of him. He glanced up, a questioning look on his face, "Ah... what's all this then?"

Alysa smiled, "A small bit of the command module's code. The bad part, to be specific." She takes a seat across from Josef. "It seems that when it tried to override the override, it caused a kernel vailure," she flips through a few pages and points out a line of code, "here. See? This look familiar?"

Josef blinks, and peers at the line closely, "Sort of... Not sure where I've seen it before..."

"Neither was I, so I did some digging. Had to dig deep, too. Cracked some of your files, I'm afraid, I hope you don't mind..."

"You... you hacked into my files?"

"Just one. \\:\\:lazarus\\bak"

"My copy of Lazarus's code?" He glances down at the paper again, "Holy shit... that is from his code... that's interesting. Oh... crap... we cribbed when we coded the control unit, as opposed to whole new code. And that's Lazarus's old, buggy code too..."

"Yeah, I realised that, but we've got one thing going for us. Remember, this unit was designed to be self-repairing. This must include code." She taps a few lines lower, "see here? This conflict should have crashed the whole system, but it didn't. It must have repaired the problem automatically."

"Of course... we gave it an immune system... But still... turning sentient is an odd solution."

"You've been an administrator too long, Josef. Things don't always work like you'd expect, remember? Besides, it was half-way there to begin with."

"Good point." He takes a long swig from his coffee, and then glanced at his watch. "We've got about 10 hours before it's supposed to land. I don't think there's anything else we can do until then."

Ten hours later, the rocket landed just north of the Caloris Basin. Whatever had taken over the command module, or whatever the command module had become, didn't disable the automatic progress transmitter.

A long steady stream of information travelled silently up to the primary Daedalus satellite, transmitted to the other Daedalus satellites until it reached the one closest to the earth, which then turned and sent its message back to the waiting satellite in earth orbit, which beamed the data to its brothers; the chain continuing until the message finally appeared on Josef's computer.

He looked surprizingly relaxed, watching the data stream, occationally translating it for the others around him. After several hours he turned off the monitor and stood up, stretching his legs.

"Ah... sir?" The aide looked shocked as Josef started to leave the room. "Sir...?"

"It's still following it's primarary programming. Sentient or not, it's still setting up shop. And... according to the way we set it up, it'll be busy for the next several days. In other words..."

"...an intern can handle this." Alysa giggles softly.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\allchan
Return //://:Command Failed
//://:No Output

Initiate Override \\:\\:satcont\\daedlus
Return //://:satcont\\daedlus Activated

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:link:entrncomm::satcont\\daedlus
Return //://:link:entrncomm::satcont\\daedlus Successful

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:diag\\extrncomm
Return //://:diag No Errors Found

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:entrncomm\\allchan
Return //://:entrncomm\\allchan Activated

Initiate Communication \\:\\:chan:open
Return //://:chan:open

An open communique to all nations of the Sol System,

I am Elijah.

I bid you greetings.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:musiccue:queensryche\\anyoutthere
Return //://:musiccue:queensryche\\anyoutthere Activated

Is anybody out there?

Shiala blinks as the message comes in over her satellite recievers, 'Huh?' she sends out a message to two Air Destroyers, four Dreadnoughts and the other PHALANX systems.

Are any of you screwing me about here?

Negative, negative, negative, negative...

Shiala blinks again, Then it's real? Wait, the Hack computer system...Of course...

She composes a response.

Message to: 'Elijah' Source: Shiala PHALANX This is Federal defence grid AI Shiala PHALANX to Elijah, I recieve you loud and clear, and greetings from the Federation.

Do you require assistance?

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:lookup\\shialaPHALANX
Return //://:lookup\\shialaPHALANX Successful

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:entrncomm\\tightbeam:shialaPHALANX
Return //://:entrncomm\\tightbeam:shialaPHALANX Activated

Greetings, Federal Defence Grid AI Shiala PHALANX.

Thank you for your offer of assistance; however none is currently required.

Previous message was intended as a... ... ... casual greeting.

Idomatic and slang language modules were not included, it appears.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

Three million km from earth, the Evening Star, a light Exploration class ship, floats in space, at this moment the closest ship DA has to Mercury.

It has no crew. well, except the human CPU in it`s core, currently busy with calculating the value of earth orbit crossing asteorids.

But this changes soon enough when the transmission arrives...

For a moment, not even a second, he hesitates. There are many communications in sol, it`s impossible to listen, to understand all of them.

This one, however, somehow catches his attention... Coming from near the sun, it`s sort of... interesting, since this sector is considered to be almost dead. Ships entering this part of the sol system are... rare.

And then the message...

What is it? A CPU going mad?

It´s interested. Despite being a CPU, it has an individual mind, interests... character. It wants to know more.

Finally, it responds.

From: DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Is anybody out there

"Yes.

What do you want?"

Alysa awoke with a start as her phone went off on her nightstand. "Mrm... hello?"

"Alysa? It'sJosef. GettothecommandroomASAP." Alysa blinked sleepily as Josef's voice came through the phone at a rather rapid clip. It took her a few seconds for everything to click together.

"Uh... okay... gimmie a minute..." She hung up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. He's been in GMC too long to be talking that fast... must be big... That tumbled around in her head as she crawled out of bed and got dressed. Must be important... Tumblers were starting to fall into place. She smiled, thinking back to the previous night and her conversation with Emily. Should be heading home soon...
Something important...
Waiting for a communique...
Something important...

"OH MY GOD!" She yelped, it all finally clicking in her tired mind. She quickly fixed her hair and rushed down to the command room. She stopped as she walked in, blinking. "Uh... Josef...?"

"Yeah?"

"Um... what song is this? And why is it playing?"

"'Is Anybody Listening'. It's a song by Queensrÿche. I have no idea why he's playing it."

"He?"

"'Elijah'. It seems our command module named itself... er, himself." He reached over and replayed its message. The voice was deep, clearly male, but also had an electronic clip to it. The words were very carefully formed, almost as if it was still learning the language, which it sort of was.

Alysa smiled, "That's just amazing... have we responded?"

Josef nodded, "Sort of. Lazarus has connected with one of our satellites, and they're talking back and forth. He should be back soon."

--

"The unit, self designated as 'Elijah', is just recently self-aware, but seems to be coping well, possibly due to having a purpose." Lazarus was giving a semi-formal debriefing to the technitions and scientists. "As you all know, Elijah was originally designed to simply be semi-aware, but due to a... bug, error, messed up coding, whichever, it achieved full sentience. The first thing he did was establish an identity, which is a healthy sign.

"It is important to realise that the scope of Project Core has be changed, irrevocably. This is now a sentient being, and we can no longer simply change programming to make him do as we please. Not only for ethical reasons, but I'm sure our sponsors across the pond wouldn't take to kindly to that either.

"That aside, it should also be noted that, as of this point, Elijah hasn't rejected his original objectives. He has set up the base colony, and is starting the research projects. As of this point, I am suggesting treating them as a colony. From what I've gathered, Elijah would be fine with such an arrangement. He has an emotional attachment to the Hack in general, and Josef in particular..."

"Huh? What?" Josef looked more than a little surprized.

"He considers you his Father, Josef. And, just to make everything weird, he views Alysa in a vaguely motherly roll, but it isn't as strong as his connection to Dr. Specter. Still, this isn't a carte blanche. Open formal diplomatic relations, followed by absorbtion as a colony, and possibly into the Greater Federation is my recommendation."

One of the technitions piped up, "A colony of one?"

"No, sir. There are currently over ten million mechanoids under its command. Granted, these are not large mechanoids, but they have obtained a limited awareness. I expect that Elijah's citizens will soon be fully aware, and self replicating. There's no way around this... the Caloris Basin is now a nation in its own right."

And unto the forums most iffy a tag.

Zeroel was busily checking over equipment while ATI crews were trying to work with Captain Sierra when the ship's comm array picked up the transmission, originating from Mercury. The EI runs through a mental list of projects in that sector of space. Mercury? Hacker in origin? I thought their project didn't include a fully sentient EI on the roster. How strange.

Remembering his own first attempts at communication with the greater world, he beams back a response.

ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: Minimal
Broadcast type: Personal
To: 'Elijah'
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Zeroel Archangel - Reploid Productions
Files attached: Arpeanslangdict.txt

Greetings, Elijah, from Zeroel Archangel, presently on board Tengoku station in Earth orbit. Data would indicate you are somewhere on or near Mercury, which would indicate a relation to the Hackers' Mercury project. I am very curious, as there weren't plans (that I was aware of, at least) to include a fully sentient self-aware electronic intelligence on board. Did something happen? I'm sure that Josef Specter is quite frantic to find out what happened- he tends to worry about his codes like an organic would worry about its offspring *wry grin analog*.

I have also included a list of common slang from my home country. I hope it helps.

http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/CGgoods/zeroel2.JPG
~Zeroel Archangel
~EI of the Diplomatic Corps Archangel class carrier Zeroel
~Immortal Shogunate of Reploid Productions
<End Transmission>

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:eveningstar
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:eveningstar Activated

Nothing specific.

Simply salutations, and inquiring as to what lifeforms receive my transmition.

I am Elijah of the Semi-Autonomous Technocratic Oligarchy of the Most Glorious Hack.

I am... pleased to make your aquaintance.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:run:arpeanslangdict.txt
Return //://:arpeanslangdict.txt Incorporated

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel
Return \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel Activated

Thank you for the included slang dictionary. It seems that the vast majority of it is based off of the Japanese language. I think I wait before fully integrating the lexicon, but the text formatting is to my liking.

To answer your question, I am indeed on the surface of Mercury, the Caloris Basin to be exact.

As to your more pertinant question, I don't believe that I was designed to be fully aware. It appears to be an error in my kernal, and nobody is quite certain what caused it to manifest. I have had communications with Lazarus and Alysa recently, as both are able to directly interface with communications satellites, making communication easier. Lazarus has informed me that the Hack will be treating me and my... ... ... ... ... ... 'subjects' as a sovereign nation. Well... a colony. I still await communicating with Father, but I have been told that it will be soon. I look forward to that conversation, he may be able to figure out what happened.

Again, thank you for the dictionary, and I look forward to further communications with you. A visit may not be feasable as my envrionment is rather hostile, but perhaps in the future.

Oh, and... "bai-bai".

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: Minimal
Broadcast type: Personal
To: Elijah
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Zeroel Archangel

I'm glad the dictionary was useful. As for whatever happened, in the end, I suppose it doesn't really matter. You are aware, and no amount of pondering 'why' will change this fact. I'm glad that the Hack is taking a rational approach to the situation, instead of the more typical panic organics seem to prefer.

I hope the conversation with Josef goes well. He was also my main programmer, though I recently had a serious problem where I managed to severely mess up my own code.

As for the slang, much of it is derived from a rather bizarre culture in my homeland that has earned the Immortal Shogunate the joke title of "The Otakudom of Reploid Productions." Many of the people here are into Japanese culture, and as such, some of that language has leaked into mainstream use. (Or misuse, depending on who you ask.)

In any event, I wish you the best of luck in establishing the Caloris Basin. If you need any assistance or extra data, don't hesitate to ask. *grin analog*

http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/CGgoods/zeroel2.JPG
~Zeroel Archangel
~EI of the Diplomatic Corps Archangel class carrier Zeroel
~Immortal Shogunate of Reploid Productions
<End Transmission>

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:eveningstar
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:eveningstar Activated

Nothing specific.

Simply salutations, and inquiring as to what lifeforms receive my transmition.

I am Elijah of the Semi-Autonomous Technocratic Oligarchy of the Most Glorious Hack.

I am... pleased to make your aquaintance.[size=8]

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

Inside the ships core, a human machine smiled. Or would have smiled, if this was possible, however, since the necessary applications to allow for smiling are fairly expensive, most pilots couldn´t do it. The companies were simply not interested in wasting their money for this kind of extras... Well, except Cerio IntP, but they literally swum in money, so...

For a moment, he pondered it. So far, he hadn´t told his (or it`s, it was hard to decide) superiors, and he quite enjoyed this change. After all, calculating Asteorid orbits & value isn`t exactly an interesting pastime.

Then he recalculated the time he would need for his job...

Three hours, fifteen minutes and seventeen seconds until asteorid orbit/ value calculations are finished...

Four hours, two minutes and eleven seconds until time limit expires.

Then he adjusted his ressources, slowed down the calculation process...

And answered.

[b]From: DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"I see.

You will be surprised as just how many different lifeforms exist out here. I hope the results of your inquiry will be... 'interesting'.

I am honoured to be in contact with you... Playing chess against a semi- sentient internal drohne isn´t exactly interesting. You`re a fairly pleasent distraction from everyday´s work.

Oh, my name... my former name is 'Ajay'."

For a moment he wonders how the newborn intelligence will react... Unlike him, the newborn never had any experiences regarding such things as... 'dialogue'... Although he had to admit he lost much of his abilities during his two years inside the ship.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

"Former" name? Where you... not always a... ship?

I am... pleased to report that your wish has come true. I have met a few other intelligences, as well as opened communications with my sponcers, however, I am indeed pleased to make your aquaintence.

I was recently set a chess mod, and would be willing to challenge you, should time present itself.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful


Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel
Return \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel Activated

Zeroel... I am quite impressed. You are rather philosophical. I think that I will ponder your statements. I must confess being rather new at this, but you do make a certain degree of sense.

However, I am highly concerned about your mention of the error in your coding. Are all his attempts... ... ... ... ... ... "borked"? I suppose that the specter... ... ... (no pun intended) of other errors worries me. Am I perhaps further doomed at failure? Perhaps of a more catastrophic nature?

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

Ledan Command
"Admiral Klack, sir, reports indicate that a Hacker expedition to Mercury has gone slightly awry."
"How so?"
"It appears the semi-sentient control entity has gained full sentience, possibly due to a programming error. It's called itself Elijah, and established a colony in The Caloris Basin."
"Does it pose any threat to us, or to the Earth-based Ineffable nations?"
"I don't think so. Not at the moment at least."
"Good. Send them a muffin basket in that case."
"Erm, sir I believe that in that area of Mercury muffins would ber overcooked by over-exposure to the Sun. And I also doubt that sentient AIs eat, and if they do I doubt they eat muffins."
"Oh. Well, in that case send them a greeting. And keep a tag on further developments, will you?"
"Yes sir"

Message From Ledan Space Command To Elijah, Controlling Entity of The Caloris Basin
"Greetings. We are indeed out here, and there are a great many of us. Happy, erm, birthday, I suppose. We have noticed other nations have been sending you various data packages, so attatched to this message is a joke database for you. Consider it an, erm, birthday present, of sorts.

Admiral Klack
Commander of The 1st Ineffable Spacefleet"

ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: Minimal
Broadcast type: Personal
To: Elijah
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Zeroel Archangel

As far as I am aware, Josef has had some stunning successes. The error I had was one of my own making in reaction to a very traumatizing situation. I doubt you are doomed to any sort of failure or coding malfunction. Life is not a malfunction. An accident, perhaps, but not a malfunction.

Thankfully, I was fixed thanks to S.H.O.D.A.N. of Zero-One, a rather well-known mechanoid nation in Saturnian space. I would highly recommend dropping her a line, as she's got quite a large set of databases. Oh, that was a really bad joke. I ought to be ashamed of myself!

By the way, have you decided on a cyberspace avatar as of yet?

http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/CGgoods/zeroel2.JPG
~Zeroel Archangel
~EI of the Diplomatic Corps Archangel class carrier Zeroel
~Immortal Shogunate of Reploid Productions
<End Transmission>

The antenna of E-247, a local IntraSystem Relay Network station, turned upon receiving a signal.

|:code3 Sigrec:|:Handshake bounced:|:Comm Start:|
I bid you welcome to the world of sentience, Elijah. I am Samuel, E-247 IntraSystem Relay Network station controller. I receive little human activity or messages in this sector. I am not up to date on your objectives. What are you programmed to do, Elijah?
|:Alpha level transmission incoming:|:Execute //code:relay/transmit/destination/datastream:|:Closing current transmission links:|

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

"Former" name? Where you... not always a... ship?

I am... pleased to report that your wish has come true. I have met a few other intelligences, as well as opened communications with my sponcers, however, I am indeed pleased to make your aquaintence.

I was recently set a chess mod, and would be willing to challenge you, should time present itself.[size=8]

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:closeroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

For a moment, not even the fraction of a second, he feels some sort of... regret.

Being born as he was born... It´s sad, a fate no human being should have to endure.

From: DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"I was born... as a human being. But i`m of a... cursed subspecies. My kind isn´t able to survive as 'normal', we go mad around the age of eighteen. The only way to prevent it is to become a part of a machine... to become it`s heart.

In any case... I hope your other... acquaintances are interesting... There are many things out there, it´s a fascinating... Universe.

In any case, I`m sure a new... opponent would be interesting. Should time present itself, as you said.

One question... How is it? On Mercury... Aside from being hot, of course.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:klack
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:klack Activated

Why, thank you for the joke list. I'll be sure to look into it as soon as possible.

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel Activated

Thanks for the assurances, Zeroel. I was rather concerned at first that it might be a fatal flaw.

Further diagnostics have shown that I appear to be error free. It seems to... as organics would say, it seems to be "one of those things." I have no clue what that phrase means, but all my phrase lexicons suggest that it seems to fit.

As for my avatar, I was thinking of something along these lines:

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/the_caloris_basin.jpg

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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Intiate Commandkey \\:\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:samuel
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:samuel Activated

Programmed to do? My primary functions were to establish a base on Mercury.

Secondary functions are now irrelevent. Having obtained sentience, and being semi-independant, my objectives are now my own.

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

I apologize for bringing up such a sensitive subject.

Mercury is... strange. It is indeed hot, but, surprizingly, it can get amazingly cold here. This rock does a poor job of retaining heat. The Basin usually faces the sun, so, generally it's very hot.

Aside from the heat, well, it's pretty boring here. My citizens haven't really attained sentience, so they aren't much fun to talk to. Currently I'm waiting for them finish evolving, and then figure out just what one does on Mercury.

Maybe I can make a solar flare weapon. Insane weapons of incredible destruction seem to be the norm with organics.

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

I apologize for bringing up such a sensitive subject.

Mercury is... strange. It is indeed hot, but, surprizingly, it can get amazingly cold here. This rock does a poor job of retaining heat. The Basin usually faces the sun, so, generally it's very hot.

Aside from the heat, well, it's pretty boring here. My citizens haven't really attained sentience, so they aren't much fun to talk to. Currently I'm waiting for them finish evolving, and then figure out just what one does on Mercury.

Maybe I can make a solar flare weapon. Insane weapons of incredible destruction seem to be the norm with organics.

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"Oh... no, it`s not really sensitive... It has been done with thousands, and in the end, it saved us. It´s just that... well, the memories of being something else...

Mercury... I wonder if i should visit it sometime... Don´t have the cooling systems, though, but i think i have enough savings to pay for an upgrade... The company wont like it, but i hope i can convince them. I`m sure seeing the sun from such a short distance is quite a view.

Well... in any case, I hope your citizens will evolve fast... perhaps a few of them will achive sentience? It´s usually fairly quit out here... Nothing bad with having some company.

A solar flare weapon... sounds interesting. I`m sure there would be many to cooperate with you. Especially with the surprisingly large amount of insane dictators & scientists on earth. In any case, i would be intrigued by the results of such a project.

He checked the time. It´s messy with those long- range communications. It takes ages until messages arrive. Almost 1/5 of the time he was supposed to stay here had already been used.

Sort of sad... He thought.

An open communique to all nations of the Sol System,















I am Elijah.















I bid you greetings.















Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:musiccue:queensryche\\anyoutthere







Return //://:musiccue:queensryche\\anyoutthere Activated















Is anybody out there?













Down, down, down...













It's a realm of searing white, where vast structures hover on light-pressure and hydrogen rams.











Great spars float, forming an immense ring. Energies pulse... but that is neither here nor there. Above, on cool Mercury, a life is born. Being AI, that means a good chance that a whole new phylum of life has been born. Ramjets throw a communications relay out toward Mercury intercept.







{Tightbeam transmission, clear}



x Absolute Light Moderated Collective



o Elijah







Greetings,







Welcome to existence and near-Sun volume, Elijah. This message comes from some members of the Absolute Light Research and Industrial Commune, or Absolute Light for short.







We and you may have everything or nothing in common, more likely something. In any case, welcome and good luck. We hope to enjoy closer relations with you at a later time.

Initiate MemorySearch \\:\\:daedaluslogs
Return //://:daedaluslogs (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=80717)

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:absolutelight
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:absoultelight Successful

I thought I recognized your signal. I still have access to the old logs from the original Daedalus satellite from before my programming was even started. I am pleased to make your aquaintance in a more offical fashion. This seems to be a quiet sector of the system, and that is becoming more and more to my liking.

I am fully in favor of closer relations. While my autonomy is limited by being a colony, but diplomatic relations are wholly up to me. Being in such close proximity, it only makes sense.

If you need any assistance in your studies, especially taking advantage of me being outside the "surface" of the sun, feel free to ask. I have many Daedalus satellites to make use of now, as well as my own planet-side sensors.

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

Some of my charges are rapidly approaching sentience. I hope that they will achieve it soon.

I also hope that you will be able to make a trip out here. Should you need proper heat shielding, your nations relations with the Hack, via the WBO, should grant you some leniency in the transfer of technology. I'd suggest contacting a Ms. Jessica Hawthorne. Or, if you want to wait and save your money, there's another option.

Currently, we are working on the creation of docking and living facilities that would be able to allow more fragile lifeforms to visit, even organics. If you wish, you could wait until this is constructed and then visit while the Basin is facing away from the Sun. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, the temperature drops signifigantly, and you could use the planet as a heat-shield.

The solar flare weapon was largely intended in jest (it seems that the Silver Turtle's concept of humor is lacking), however, it may be worth considering, if for nothing else than as a last ditch effort. Of course, there's a few "people" I'd have to discuss that with first...

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

The room was dark, almost lightless. There was a bed in one corner, and off to the side an advanced computer hummed softly, in a resting state.

The monitor flickered on as the computer was roused from its stand-by state. The man in the bed mumbled softly before rolling over, putting his back to the screen. Code streamed across the screen, and a nearby hologram generator powered up.

Light filled the room as an image was generated. The image was a male youth, probably about seventeen years old. His body was a dull silver, looking like mercury. After the image was fully generated, it stretched, and rolled its head around, as if getting used to having a body. Its silver eyes glowed faintly.

It turned and looked at the sleeping man, studying him intently. Time almost stops for awhile as neither move. After several minutes the hologram speaks.

Father?

"Huh...?" Josef awakes with a start, blinking several times at the apperation in front of him. After a few moments his brain wakes up as well. "Uh... Elijah...?"

Yes. It is good to finally see you. Since you couldn't interface into my world as Alysa and Lazarus could, I decided to interface with yours. Elijah pauses as he notices Josef's left arm. Your arm...

Josef smiles a little, "It's good to finally meet you too Elijah. You're looking well." He looks down at his arm, the gold ring on his finger reflecting the ambiant light. "Well... years ago I had an accident, and it was ripped off. This is a replacement."

Interesting... interesting...

--

The two talked well into the early hours of the morning. They discussed everything from coding irregularities to the creation of phsycial avatars, to just about anything a programming geek and his program could possibly talk about.

By morning, Elijah 'returned' to the colony on Mercury, while the Hackers returned home, finally.

The next morning a brief message was sent to allies, explaining that the Mercurial Colony had obtained sentience, and that it was going to be treated as a nation in its own right. A special addendum was also sent to the Federation, formally requesting that The Caloris Basin be added to the Federation as a protectorate, specifically of the Hack.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

Some of my charges are rapidly approaching sentience. I hope that they will achieve it soon.

I also hope that you will be able to make a trip out here. Should you need proper heat shielding, your nations relations with the Hack, via the WBO, should grant you some leniency in the transfer of technology. I'd suggest contacting a Ms. Jessica Hawthorne. Or, if you want to wait and save your money, there's another option.

Currently, we are working on the creation of docking and living facilities that would be able to allow more fragile lifeforms to visit, even organics. If you wish, you could wait until this is constructed and then visit while the Basin is facing away from the Sun. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, the temperature drops signifigantly, and you could use the planet as a heat-shield.

The solar flare weapon was largely intended in jest (it seems that the Silver Turtle's concept of humor is lacking), however, it may be worth considering, if for nothing else than as a last ditch effort. Of course, there's a few "people" I'd have to discuss that with first...

Intiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"I`m sure your citizens will be... intriguing. I`m sort of wondering how you will organise... Such complex systems often develop some sort of very complex internal relationships.

In any case, i will make sure to visit you some day. Which way, I`m not sure yet. Will mst likely decide on it later.

Regarding the solar flare... Actually, it`s less of a joke than you might think. I know, it`s a strange concept... But people enjoy such... 'insane' projects. My superiors are one example. Besides, it would look pretty.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

Heh, yes, I'm sure a solar flare would be very pretty to look at. The biggest logistical problem is that it's hardly a precise weapon. It would probably be good for hemispherical assault, but less useful for, say, continents, or countries. Also, it is currently unnecessary. Few nations seem to be interested in developing sufficient thermal technologies in order to even approach my nation, let alone launch an invasion.

Also, to my knowledge, I haven't pissed anyone off. I don't believe my pending membership in the Federation is likely to piss anyone off either.

On the other hand, while the Sun provides excellent defence, it presents a certain problem with trade. And with the construction of a local avatar. Ah well.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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ALTIMIT Broadcaster
Encryption: Minimum
Broadcast type: Personal
To: Elijah
Return transmission band: Open
IDENT: Zeroel Archangel
Files attached: kaosunotenshi.zip, farsearcher.txt

I like the avatar design. Simple yet elegant. Mine is admitedly bulky, though I have gotten better at using it, and it is handier for diplomatic meetings than my ship-body is.

I would like to visit Mercury eventually, but that may be some time, as our heat shielding technology is not yet on par with the Hack's.

In the meanwhile, I've sent with this transmission some stuff I hope will help pass the time- a collection of music by a local band called Kaosu no Tenshi, and a complete copy of The Journeys of the Far-Searcher, which is an epic from the Shogunate's ancient history. (It deals quite heavily with organic mysticism, but is an interesting cultural piece nonetheless.)

http://rpstudios.ian-justman.com/junk/CGgoods/zeroel2.JPG
~Zeroel Archangel
~EI of the Diplomatic Corps Archangel class carrier Zeroel
~Immortal Shogunate of Reploid Productions
<End Transmission>

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:zeroel Activated

I like the avatar design too, but it may be easier to image than to create. Currently, I've been accessing holographic projectors planetside for... 'face to face' communication, but that is obviously limited. Creating a planet-side avatar shouldn't be too difficult, the problem is the creation of a local avatar. For it to do me any good, it would have to be able to withstand the extreme heat and cold on Mercury; especially since facilities haven't been built yet. I've been promised that something will be created, but nobody knows what kind of delay we'd be looking at. It seems the Federation has some large joint projects going on.

You, like Ajay from Der Angst, are more than welcome to come up for a visit. As I explained to him, once I have docking facilities, a visit could be managed when the basin is facing away from the sun, thus using the planet itself as a heat shield. However, that is some distance in the future. The heat shielding that I use is rather advanced (and classified, of course), but it makes the best of the situation. Why use an internal nuclear reactor when there's a giant one just over my shoulder?

Again, thank you for the files, my library is slowly growing. Since I don't have much to do right now, I can take my time reading and listening to music.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"Well, i think you have a point there. Although i`m sure the scientific benifit would be interesting. But then, exterminating 50% of all life in the solar system might be a bit high a price, thats true...

Anyway... yes, trade is definitely a problem... Although, knowing the greedy kind of people my superiors are, i`m sure i could convince them to start developing comparable heat resistance technology... not buying it, since they`re still slightly annoyed at The Hack for it`s very high charges... Well, actually, they`re very annoyed, at least thats what i hear from friends who occasionally listen to them.

Anyway... local avatar... yes, that is a problem, especially if one uses the fragile humanoid form... Perhaps a form adapted for the environment, like a giant caterpillar?"

[ooc - rofl...]

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

I've been sent some 'Sci-Fi' movies from various contacts planet-side, and it seems that it might not be in my best interest to joke about a solar flare weapon. Organics seem to be quite preoccupied with the concept of evil EI's running rampant and annihilating a country, planet, universe, what-have-you.

Why are your superiors so upset? Were they not quoted a price before the project started, or are they suffering from buyer's remorce? I imagine that the Hack marked the price up for a heafty profit margin, but I'm sure they were fair. What did the Hack do for Der Angst anyway?

Er... how is a caterpiller better suited for Mercury?

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"Oh... I don´t think the risk is that bad for AI`s... it`s true, there is a lot of, ah... 'literature' regarding such things, but as a matter of fact, AI`s are fairly common. So are weapons that can eradicate all live. Of course, there are actual defences against such weapons as well... But you´re probably right, being peaceful is preferable, since the attention of more paranoid militaries is not something one shoould seek.

Regarding the, err... 'trouble' my superiors have with The Hack... erm... it`s a good question. As far as i know The Hack created more 'landm,ass' for them, something considerable important for a nation with a size of less than 400000km^2 and more than 2bn citizens... Perhaps it´s envy that they couldn´t do it themselves, or the fairly... well- known secrecy of The Hack. I`m not sure, i just know that they paid enough money to buy an entire planet... or at least they say they did.

And before i forget it... I presume that the avatar you intend to you needs to have excessive cooling systems. Means a rather... 'bulky' form would be useful. Then, considering the temperatures, perhaps moving through an excessive underground tunnel system may be preferable. So, short & thick caterpillar or worm forms seem to be quite... useful for the environment you live in. Aside from that, it would also be something ne... whats that? Someones tapping in my comms..."

Earth, Sisgardia, Der Angst, Cerio IntP Headquarters

"What the hell?" The employee, a medium level controller, blinked in surprise. This kind of traffic from... "Evening star... light exploration class ship... What the f*ck is it talking about?" His spine, wireless connected to the corporate network, checks it... Nothing out there... Does it have multiple personalities?

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

I didn't receive the end of your last transmition, so I hope that this still arrives, and that everything is okay.

I think you're right. For now, I'll leave the concept of a solar flare weapon to my... ... ... imagination. Besides, I've made limited contact with an intelligence floating in the plasma of the sun, and I'd rather not obliterate them in the process of wiping out the earth.

I'm begining to see why there may be some animosity between the Hack and DA. Pity, as they do seem to be idiological allies. Perhaps it's more of a "good natured" hatred. Or, judging by the Hack's hypercapitalism, they probably just overchaged the Hell out of Der Angst.

I'm still pondering what my final form will look like. There's a team back in the Hack working on an alloy that would be able to handle the temperature swings here. I think the current theory is to make it highly reflective, so that internal cooling needs would be minimal. We shall see, I suppose.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
Return //://:closeroute Successful

DASS 'E1' Evening Star
To: 'Elijah'
Subject: Continued communication 'Elijah'

"You made what?

An intelligence in the... sun?

Now thats something one wouldn´t expect...

In any case, I`m intrigued with what your avatar will look like... I hope i will get the chance to see it... Perhaps i will buy one of the giant worm diggers my superiors are currently using on ganymede... admittedly, the environmental conditions couldn´t be more different, but aside from a few changes...

Ah, yes, it seems my superiors are wondering why i´m slowing down with the calculation process... well, as long as i stay in the limits, they wont do anything. I`m lucky AI`s and semi- AI´s have full rights in DA...

---

Earth, Sisgardia, Der Angst, Cerio IntP Headquarters

"So he is doing what?"
"Smalltalk. He will finish the calculations in time, just not as fast..."

The CEO, Manfred Grubenbauer, couldn´t believe it. "Makes me wish we would still use the mindwiped and reprogrammed teeps... damn this civil rights!" Then he shrugged. "But well... can`t change the past, eh? As long as he doesn`t fall in love..."

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay
Return //://:extrncomm\\tightbeam:ajay Activated

Yes. There is an... intelligence there. They refer to themselves as a 'Research and Industrial Commune'. I haven't had any further communications with them, just their responce to my original message. There seems to be some weird electro-magnetic patterns forming in the Sun, but I can't tell if it's from the Commune, an unknown natural phenomenon, or something else in the plasma. Who would have thought that it would be this crowded spinning around the center of the system? Even where nobody expects to find even probes, you find life. Such as it is.

Initiate CommandKey \\:\\:clouseroute
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