"When were you last accessed before the last ten minutes?"  Hey, it seems like a good question.

The archive answers Echo first, "I am an archive of the history, societies, technology and DNA of the world of Mobius."

It then answers Joe, "I was last accessed ten years ago."

Maverick is watching in curiosity.

Echo gives a low whistle at the 'last accessed 10 years ago' bit.

"The rest makes sense, I guess."

"But DNA?"

"What middle school needs a DNA database of the whole world?"

"Was this computer system donated to the school by a college or something?"

"Archive.  Where were you before you were installed here?"

  Joe assumes a 10 year old or more computer can only field so many questions at once... Well okay, he assumes a 10 year old computer is capable of whatever the **** it wants in this setting.  But it also means less things for the GM to deal with at once if he holds off on further questions.

  So for the moment, he looks for any signs of power cables from where he is standing.

Archive does not answer for a few seconds. Then says, "No middle school needs a DNA database of the whole world. This computer system was created by an organization known as M.E.L.E.P."

Archive then says, "I was built here."

A few seconds to wait for a computer is an eternity to Echo.  So they impersonate the computer's voice and repeat, "Processing...  Processing..." till they get an answer.

Now it's their turn to think for a few seconds.  How did a computer over 10 years old do a better job of comprehending his questions than a modern computer?  The library computer would have answered, "Your question has no answer.  Please re-phrase," or something like that, not, "I was built here."  Why would someone build an advanced A.I. database with DNA records in the basement of a middle school?

"Wow."

"Good answers."

"So are you an A.I.?"

"What does MELEP stand for?"

  Joe busies himself viewing even more of the wide spread of hard drive labels to see if anything in particular stands out.  Though he doubts anyone is going to have labeled one 'Top Secret Conspiracies' or the like.

The hard drives are labeled consistent with what the computer has been saying. Pretty much, the entire room is the computer's hard drive as all the shelves are directly connected to the main computer.

The computer answers, "I am a basic A.I., not having the ability to feel emotion or learn and self-improve such as Princess Sally's personal computer Nicole." it then continues, "M.E.L.E.P. stands for Mobius Extinction Level Event Preparation."

Echo sweatdrops, taken aback by the answer.

"Nichole?"

"I don't remember her mentioning being friends with a computer."

"Maybe they're not friends?"

"Isn't it strange this computer knows about that?"

"Was accessed 10 years ago.  Whomever did, must have known about the young princess having a person for a computer."

"Heh... gives new meaning to 'personal computer.'"

"But who would be expecting extinction so much that they'd go to all this effort?"

"... 10 years ago.  I guess they're not so worried of late?"

  Pffft, extinction level events are near misses like, ALL THE TIME in an adventure setting.

  "What is the current most likely extinction level event, and how recent is the data you would use to make that calculation?"  Assuming the USSR would turn the cold war hot is a likely answer from an ancient computer not up on current events... But then, this computer was at least more up to date than THAT.

"Current most likely extinction level event is Destroyer; a meteor approximately 30 kilometers in diameter. It is estimated to hit Mobius in the year 3289."

Maverick glances over. "I'll be 77 years old by then, but then, that means it is in my lifetime."

Fun toy: http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth/
This message was last edited by the player at 04:57, Thu 19 May 2016.

Echo doesn't know what to make of the prediction of future doom.

"'Most likely' doesn't always mean it'll happen with 100% certainty," Marco says to assure himself.

"So uh...  how likely is this doomsday event?"

"One in a million?"

"Could be that the next most likely thing is one in 2 million."

They look over to Mav.  "You sure were fast with that math."

  "If they assume a date of impact, then they likely assume it is 100% with their current information." Wait, no, you're supposed to tell the kids 'Nope it will totally miss' Joe.

Maverick glances over to Marco and Polo, smiling at their catching his math skill. "...thanks."

The computer answers, "The meteor event is currently the most likely Mobius Extinction Level Event because it is 100% certain to hit Mobius. If you like, I can list the less likely events for you, with number two being a 95% certainty."

"You're welcome."

Echo gulps.  Super smart computer says 100% chance for the end of the world with other highly likely disasters lined up.

"Yeesh."

"How can we survive?"

"Maybe we should tell Princess Sally."

"...Not that she'd be any less helpless than the rest of us."

  "Well, it it's accurate that's plenty of time to come up with something. Decades until meteor is probably one of the more subdued problems the world has had to put up with even in recent years."

Maverick says to Echo, "What makes you say that? She's the daughter of King Maximilian Acorn, the ruler of Mobius. And she's best friends with Sonic the Hedgehog, who's a superhero of our time. Yes. I think telling Sally is a good idea. Besides... Mister Joe is right: That future problem is subdued compared to stuff that happened recently and Sonic took care of it."

Mav's little boy is showing. Naive hero worship of Sonic. Trust in the nearby adult's words........ he just happens to be right to idolize Sonic and trust Joe.

Echo isn't so convinced that 100% certain extinction is "subdued" by any stretch of the imagination.

"There aren't any loop-de-loops to deep space."

"Sonic's great for dealing with evil robot problems."

"Meteors not so much."

"And even if we manage to make a super-weapon accurate enough to hit a chili dog moving a zillion miles an hour on another world, it'll have to also be strong enough to flatten a city from across a solar system."

"And a weapon like that'll be sure to kick off another war..."

Is optimistic cynicism a thing?  "...which makes me think it's already being built by someone."

"Yeah.  We should tell Sally."

"No sense in letting a little thing like a race war get in the way of survival."

  "Well, unless your stupid enough to go 'but it will kill them TOO! Awesome!'.  Which sadly someone probably will think."

Maverick says, "Unless there are other questions, we should report this to the Princess. You know... if the rain has died down."

Echo nods.  "Yeah.  Let's go."

"Maybe we can reach her by phone."

"Don't worry about the rain, though."

"I can teleport us from one shelter to the next."

  "While Sally might be fine with it herself, we should probably call first instead of show up unannounced in royal buildings."  Maybe when they are older, and more confident in not getting shot for doing that sort of thing.

A phone call is made. The royal secretary answers and when they hear what the kids have to say, they assure the kids that it will be looked into. There is clearly no immediacy in their tone.

On the one hand, lack of concern might mean the adult doesn't believe the kids and is just brushing them off.  On the other, if Joe's any indication, adults are so jaded that extinction only rates a "Meh.  Subdued." kind of response.

Echo looks to the others, defeated.  "I guess that's all we can do without showing up unannounced in royal buildings.

"Maybe if we simply announce that we'll be coming over, it'll be ok?  I wunna make sure Sally and Angel both know about this."

  Extinction level events start to blur together, after a while.   "You could do that, at least for once there is the luxury of waiting for a more convenient moment if you wanted to.  But I figure you'd rather get this done sooner."