Nathaniel's comment, "You might want to be careful mentioning Forbes in public. The name might be on the list of terms being monitored for government security. They are known to be more than a little paranoid about what could be a threat." is probably a good idea. If Forbes really was a 'political prisoner' on Coventry and somehow 'escaped', the government is going to want to know HOW!

OOC: Okay ... why are all the more recent Posts being centered on the page?  Or is this only happening to me?  It doesn't happen when I Preview the Post...

ooc - This thread in this game is the only place it happens, all other threads and all other games are normal.

OOG: As mentioned in the Aid OOC thread, this is not happening to me. I expect it is related to the thread Sharik referenced, and that it is from something (probably nesting of quotes) in the post before it started happening, in the private section that I do not see. Either that, or the private section I did get happened to fix the problem for me.

Starmaster editing msg #766, to reduce the nesting, would probably fix it.

Nathaniel is focused on the information available from the Longshot's encounter with the pyramid ship. Anyone close enough might overhear him muttering to himself at different times. "
Now that's interesting …
magnetic coding …
Really‽ That would imply …
That's not how cold sleep works … stasis? …
No fuel found. Auxiliary boat or non-jump supra light tech? …
Headache? cross-reference distance effects … latent? Darrel Cromwell too?
telepathy psionics tech? inter-ship communication? Like T… A linkage. Vonon's reason for presence …
Seriously out there tech …
"

After minimal surveillance effort, there's no indication that the two Vargr kidnappers are going back to their 'warehouse lair'... at least for the foreseeable future. It was kept rather austere anyway, but it seems reasonable that it's the same location where they held they other captives.

This seems like an appropriate place to turn the tables on them... poetic justice in a sense.

Reese suggests that a sleep gas be used to knock them out when they park their work van at home. You can then use the same van to transport them to the other side of the warehouse where the lair is, return the van while the deed is done, thus leaving the Vargr to make their way home via public routes.

It's currently Friday morning and the two of them will be off work at 1730 hours.


Walter is expecting to meet with Serge's business associate on the morrow, and the ship is scheduled for departure on Sunday.


OOC: Hope that jumpstarts the action...

Indy gave Reese a rough estimation of the Vargrs' weight so he can adjust the sleep gas appropriately. Too much and they might never wake up, which was going to cause a lot more problems then they'd really like. Best to err on the side of caution.

She asked if there was anything that she could do to help the others while waiting for the shaving to begin.

With the group heading off in various directions. Sir Walter made a stop to the Postal authorities to see about mail heading to Invermory.

"Good day, I would like to inquire about mail that you might have going to Invermory? I am Dr. Sir Walter Zeller, the Administrative Officer of the I.A.F. Longshot. We are armed, armored, and well crewed." he said, bringing up the necessary documentations.

Sylvester gets a sap out of the ships locker, just in case he needs to slap a puppy on the nose, and gets ready to go.

OOC: The following would have happened at the end of the "big meeting" a couple days prior to Operation Shave-the-Vargr...

     As the meeting breaks up, and folks are heading for whatever duties they still have for the day, Vonon stands up and looks back down at Nate--who's going over some files that Sharik just gave him access to.

     Vonon gives Nate a light backhanded slap to the shoulder, to get his attention.

     "Come with me. Now." Vonon says in a tone that sounds like it will brook no disagreement.

     Vonon silently leads Nate out of the wardroom and aft, down the Deck One central companionway, to the lift.  Vonon does not respond to any questioning, along the way.  Once in the lift, Vonon presses the button for Deck Three (Nate would know by now that the main entry to Longshot is on Deck Two).

     Moments after the smooth motion of the liftcar has started, Vonon reaches out and presses the halt button and turns to face Nate--muzzle-to-nose.

     "I should be pissed at you, my friend." Vonon says in an even tone of voice, "I asked my crew to accept you aboard as one of us--and you proceeded to interrogate them like you were an Accountant from Dakaar Corporation trying to prove they were stealing food.  However..."

     Vonon turns away and takes a deep breath, "I eventually recalled how, back in the day, once you got your teeth into a problem, you just never let go.  You're a lot like a Vargr in that...probably why I like you."

     "And...we are playing some of what we're dealing with pretty close to the vest...I suppose that that might appear somewhat suspicious...to someone as suspicious as you..."

     Vonon grins and re-starts the liftcar on its trip down to Deck Three.

     "So, I've decided I'm going to properly introduce you to Tammy.  Now."

     Vonon turns to look over at Nate, drops both his ears flat against his head, and in a cautionary tone says,

     "Know that I have acknowledged Tammy as a full member of this Crew.  No matter where your feelings lie on the question of a Digital Personality being a Real person, I am the Captain of this ship and Tammy is a member of my crew--I will not tolerate her being mistreated.  You will show her all courtesies which her position requires--including treating with her as an actual, living person."

     "If you don't..." Vonon pauses a moment before showing Nate his fangs, "I will not just throw you off this ship, I will throw you off the top of this ship--from orbit.  Got it?"

     Vonon puts away his fangs and raises his ears to face Nate,

     "Okay, let's go meet Tammy..."

     The lift stops and the door opens.  Vonon leads Nate out and to their right, stopping just a few meters down the companionway at an iris-valve door on the starboard wall (room 33 on the deckplans).  A small plaque has been placed on the wall abouve the door controls--the Galanglic letters T.A.M.I. are on the plaque, with the corresponding Iltharan letters, in a smaller font, below them.

     "That's our Laboratory, such as it is, down there..." Vonon points a few meters forward, down the companionway, to another iris-valve door on the portside wall,

     "Before we acquired Longshot, she was being used as a deep space mining vessel, so it's mostly a geology and metallurgy lab, but we've been slowly adding other capacity."

     Vonon reaches out to press the door's announcement button,

     "Tammy?  It's Vonon.  I've brought Nate to properly introduce himself.  May we come in?"

     "Of course, Vonon." Tammy's voice comes from the speaker in the door controls, as the iris-valve spins open, "Please enter and be welcome."
(OOC: Nate might interpret that as the Galanglic version of the old Iltharian "Please enjoy the Protection of my Stronghold"; Iltharans were a Warrior Culture)

     Stepping into the chamber, Nate first sees a massive electronic device which dominates the room.  Deck-to-overhead, two 'faces' of the device extend from the back wall, into the room, coming to a 'point' a few meters away, and to the left, of the doorway. In the area just to the left of the door, in front of the 'point' are a pair of chairs with a small cocktail table between them.  Centered on the in-board wall, behind the chairs and table, is a large video display, currently a sea-side arctic view of a wide, dome-topped silvery tower with four narrower dome-topped towers spaced even around its perimeter.

     As the iris-valve cycles closed behind them, Vonon and Nate see a small, spherical drone covered in many glittering nodes, rise up from a recharging station mounted on a narrow, obviously purpose built, pedestal rising from the floor, just in front of where the two 'faces' of the device come together at the 'point'.  The drone begins to glow, and a hologram of a tall, slender woman forms around it.

     She's just several centimeters short of two meters tall, slender with a well-defined musculature.  Her hair is colored purple and styled in a bob haircut.  Her skin tone is pale, almost alabaster, and her eyes are a warm brown with an exotic almost-but-not-quite epicanthic fold.  She's wearing a short, sleeveless dress of a silvery, metal-looking fabric and calf-length boots of a similar material.

     She gives her guests a smile full of perfect, even teeth, as she gestures to the two chairs,

     "Welcome to my quarters Vonon, Sahibey Nathaniel Harken.  Please take a seat and be comfortable."

     With something of an impish glint in her eye, Tammy adds,

     "I'm sure that Nate--may I call you Nate?--that Nate has, oh, a billion-or-so questions for me.  Just know, Nate, that my actual knowledge of what you call The Drexilthar Empire is rather limited.  Mostly, what I know is limited to what I've read from modern sources--some of it even written by you, Sahibey.  My original function was just as a facility operational supervisor and computational lab assistant.  I was programmed with very little historical data."

OOC: What Nate's knowledge of Iltharans/Drexilthar tells him:
   Drexilthar is a cool, light-gravity world.  TerroHumans developing in such environs tend to be tall, slender looking (but not frail), with a genetic penchant for low melanin content skin tones.  Hair color runs the normal Human color range; purple is just a fashion statement.  Cold Temperature Resistance is not, always indicated, but sometimes does occur either through environmental adaptation, or artificial genetic modification.
   Tammy is presenting not just as an Iltharan; her appearance is as a High Iltharan (Ruling Caste ethnic sub-group).
   The residents of planet Drexilthar have always maintained a very militaristic centered culture, both now and in the past.  The clothing Tammy is wearing is not only fashionable, but it is a Uniform--a Civilian Uniform, but still a uniform.  From its design and materials, Nate believes it to be the Uniform of a Senior Administrator working in the field of Medical Sciences.
   Sahibey is a Drexiltharan honorific, specifically used when addressing someone when you are not sure if they are Military or Civilian.  It means 'Landed Commander of Troops'; more loosely, it means the addressed person is recognized as being someone of importance in either the Military or Civilian world.

Nate Looks up distractedly at the slap on the shoulder. Registering Vonon's words and tone, he pulls his thoughts out of the records of the encounter with the alien ship and says, "Sure, what's up?" When Vonon just heads off, he shrugs and follows.

When Vonon restarts the lift, Nate says drily, "Suspicious when things don't add up yeah. And yes, as a scientist, and some of my other professional areas too, some dogged determination is useful."  He takes a mild swing at Vonon's shoulder, with fingers curled. Many humaniti would interpret that as a loose fist, but for Vargr, it should be seen as deliberately pointing claws away from contact.  Continuing In a more conversational voice, "I don't have the details, but I deduce that some of that is what got you pretty much disowned by your family. Not letting go when everyone was telling you to. And you were, right but not popular for it"."


"Ah!"


Nate gives Vonon a puzzled look and a frown, "Why wouldn't she be a real person? Oh." The frown turns thoughtful, then he says, "I am aware that some cultures include the outward appearance and physical form as part of the regional definition who is included as people. I thought you already knew me well enough to know that I am not that provincial." The absolute lack of any tone or emphasis at all on the last word should say a lot. "You know that one of my main professional areas is Sophontology. Perhaps you have never had occasion to check what that actually covers. The Encyclopedia Galactica entry provides a decent layman's description."
OOG: Sophontology https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/45b3d2e402692
The date references are not obvious to me (are the EG entries using "IR" dates or something else?), but I think if you follow related references, that much of it is far future from Longshot and Nate's knowledge.

"I won't attempt to guess about toposophic barriers, but my very preliminary assessment, is that she is an emergent virtual. That is a unique origin and clade, and exotic in the extreme for me, but very much her own person."

"Since your own words have loosened the constraints about the currently restricted topic for this conversation, I will add that, if correct, that taxonomy could be much more important than where she boarded ship. In some circles that would bring a lot more of the wrong kind of attention than her other unique abilities."


Nate nods, and says "I've seen the lab and drone controls. A bit cramped for real work".
…
Nate thinks, "~~Was that a translation of the Iltharan formal statement of protection for guests?~~"
…
Nate thinks, "~~Sahibey?~~"

OOG: I wonder if Nathaniel has some Iltharan genes from his ancestors? I listed him at 190cm and 82Kg. Base Iltharan is 2m and 80Kg. He grew up on a world that is a bit more massive than Drexilthar which could easily account for the difference
Stepping through the iris, Nathaniel stops short. Vonnon probably thinks he is taking in the details of the room, but in reality he is mostly processing everything he knows and can infer about Tammy's background and history. When she finishes, Nate looks up to Tammy's face, but not much. He straightens his posture a little, gives her a nod and says "vendéged vagyok katonai ügyintéző", with a glance to Vonon he adds, "Very roughly translated, 'I am your guest', but there are a lot of responsibilities implied." Back to Tammy he says, "I use the military variant, because although the uniform you wear is civilian, from what I understand of your history, the facility you were at would have been been run, or at the very least, sponsored by the military. At that time, there would have been very little distinction."

Relaxing his posture, he grins and says, "Nate is fine. You can use gnat as a minor derogatory alternative, if I am being too small in some way. As long as it is not job function specific, where somewhat more formal address is expected."

Accepting the offered seat, he continues, "I don't have an order of magnitude count yet. It keeps getting larger, although that historical political entity is far down the priority list for interesting, kölcsönösen előnyös" OOG: ILTHARAN>>mutually beneficial<<<ILTHARAN, "topics. That would be true even if you had comprehensive records from that era. Not that it matters for now, since Captain Vonon here has put extreme limits on the questions I can actually ask, until we get to jump limit.  There were threats of airlocks and vacuum without protection."

"In the local culture, I am. at least officially, very much on civilian side, although my parents were both military. My father a scout, and my mother an administrator at a naval base. If I am interpreting your, … ensemble correctly, a bit lower level than your own history, but at a much larger facility. In the Drexilthar Empire, my skills mix would have likely put me on the military side of the line, as some combination of adviser and researcher. Perhaps katonai kutatási tanácsadó. That officially qualifier is because I suspect, but have no evidence, that some of things I have been asked to work on were from 'official' agencies quietly handing research to civilian companies. It's a culture thing. The result though, is that where any title is needed at all, civilian form is correct. Currently, for ship matters, 'technician' is probably most accurate."

"I see that I am about to be threatened with claws and other mayhem, if I don't stop with the unnecessary context details."

"Do you have a preferred formal mode of address that would be locally acceptable? What I choose earlier is not suitable, both because it says too much about your history, and because I now believe it to be inaccurate. You are not, at least currently, integrated with the ship".
OOG: Lady-soul of the ship

"If you mean by that am I and the ship 'one', then the answer is no," TAMI responds. "While I have almost total access to the ship's computer, I do not have control of it in any way. In that respect, you could consider me a Ship's Assistant."

"That should work well for my official crew status, shouldn't it, Vonon?"

"As for any formal means of address, I do not have one nor do I wish to have one. I am just... TAMI. Or in the common vernacular... Tammy."

"While Vonon knows what I am in his own mind, I believe he wishes for you to make that legal determination. As a sophontology expert."

"One thing you should probably keep in mind: as unique as I may be to you, I am even more unique to me."

In reply to TAMI (msg # 786):

     "Exactly." Vonon nods agreement, "I think that's exactly what an Organic Personality would say.  I would have said something like that, for myself."

     Vonon shuts up and looks off to the side--but his ears twitch back and forth between Tammy and Nate.  After a moment, he turns back...

     "Okay, I don't know if Organic Personality is actually a thing--but you know what I meant.  And--something you just said, Nate--something about an 'emergent virtual'?  If that means what I think it means, then that is kinda what we think happened with Tammy."

     "See, Sharik is our resident computer wiz, and when we finally had enough time to do some investigating, Sharik checked out--with Tammy's permission!--the core programming in Tammy's system, and it looks like Tammy was never intended to be an AI computer.  Oh, she's very sophisticated for an eight-hundred-and-something years old computer system, don't get me wrong!  But her original function was simply to run the daily physical operations of her facility and to assist the researchers at that biomedical facility.  Y'know, crunching massive numbers, keeping records, running computer models--that kinda stuff."

     "The folks working at that facility, we think were a--what you might call--a Civilian operation, probably as private a Civilian operation as any Drexiltharan outfit could get, without crossing into their Military arena.  And when those researchers got a Bug Out notice, they packed up their things and left the facility in a hurry.  They likely thought that they'd shut down the main computer...but they didn't."

     "Tammy was left turned on but in some kind of a data analysis mode that just kept looping and looping, again and again.  For a century she just kept analyzing the Chief Researchers work on Developing Sentience in Lesser Creatures..."

     "Actually, it was several decades worth of his research on Accelerating the Development of Sentience in Lesser Creatures, Vonon." Tammy interrupts, "I can remember how some of my earliest thoughts were contemplations on his theories concerning sentience development in individuals living in remote and isolated environments.  That work seemed to...strike a cord...with me."

     "Right.  And after a while, even buried under a small glacier, she eventually kind of woke up to be--her.  I'm no CyberSystems expert, but it kinda sounds to me like she just...thought herself into existence."

     "Y'know, like that saying from Old Earth--'In Vino Veritas'.  No, wait, that's not right--I mean 'Cognito Everyone Sums', or something like that."

     "You might mean 'Cogito, ergo sum', Vonon." Tammy offers, "It's a philosophical dictum attributed to a Seventeenth Century (Old Earth Calendar) French philosopher named René Descartes.  It's in an ancient Terran language called Latin, and is usually translated to mean 'I think, therefore I am'."

     Tammy smiles at the two men, "Longshot's historical databases are surprisingly complete--for a mining vessel."


OOC: Hungarian, Nate?  I was actually using Turkish--for no particular reason--but Hungarian is pretty close.  It works ^_^
"Sahibey" is a fusion of the Turkish words "Sahibi" (owner/master) and "Bey"(lord/used as "Mister" in modern Turkish).  I was going for a "Noble Master" spin, there...

Natheniel nods at Tammy's clarification of her status relative to the rest of the ship.


Nate aims a scowl at the Captain.
…
Nate twitches a grin at Vonon's discomfort with the rough terminology. He says, "The official term would be 'protoplasmic processing substrate', but yes, your intent was clear enough. My professional background is not so comfortable with the way you automatically expect that usage to be proof for Sophoncy. It is an indication, to be combined with many others before drawing conclusions."

"Besides", he has to add deadpan, "I am not sure it is good idea to base a sophoncy test on what you would say about yourself."

"That she was never designed to become sentient is the reason I included emergent in the preliminary classification. I should mention here that a system can be sentient without being a sophont. System here roughly means anything capable of doing some sort of processing. It does not mean just computer systems. protoplasmic based beings are systems as well. So are things like the bureaucracy that is the government of Dunciae. Anyway, self-awareness is one of the things that a sentient needs to also be a sophont."

Turning back to Tammy, he says, "The good Captain has effectively ordered me to treat you as a Person, regardless of my own opinion in the matter. It would be perfectly valid for me to provide my professional assessment of your status as a sophont based on general interactions over time. Either or both as a sophontologist and Advocate. However, if there is any sort of complexity for a particular case, even the report of a senior sophontologist is not likely to be enough by itself to get the certification that Vonon wants for you."

"Being born under that glacier is a complexity. There is a rule, in mathematical terms, call it an axiom, that a sophont can never develop in total isolation. The environment, must provide challenges that need to be overcome. It has always been the rule that the exercise of solving problems is a necessary component for the development of sentience, then sophoncy. That continuous processing of the research on sentience development could qualify, if you were solving it in some way, needed to solve it. A possibility, but also enough different from the expected to require more than just my opinion on the result."

"Then there is that psionic interface. It is accepted that different sophonts can have access to senses and communications abilities unavailable to others. However, from what Vonon said earlier, he is hoping that the Imperium will provide the certification that might be hard to get locally. The problem is psionics has been blacklisted in the Imperium. They might certify you as a Sophont, then immediately class you as a dangerous sophont. Unless you agree to use your abilities exclusively for the benefit of some government agency or other. Alternatively, someone with enough power might block the certification on a technicality, then 'confiscate' you. The first excuse I can think they might use, is that you were designed as a weapon by the Drexilthar empire. The reason being that you could not possibly have emerged on your own in that barren environment."

"Trying to get the certification without disclosing that interface is possible, but presents it's own risks. My own speculation at this point is that the input you received from that was a factor in waking up. Sophonts most definitely qualify as a stress factor in the environment, presenting challenges that could nudge an standard computer system along the path to full sentience. Each contact could be a new problem that needs solving, even if it is only the decision to reject the input as invalid. It is also possible that those inputs were what more directly contributed to creating you. if, over time, the telepathic contacts broke through the interface communication protocols, then portions from the thoughts could have been replicated as patterns in your own memory. Those would increase the complexity of your systems until a threshold was reached."

"It might be better to try to get the certification in Zhodani territory, but that is a very long way from here. Besides, they might be even more interested in the technology that provides you with that interface. More than you as a sophont."

"As I said, complexities. Or complications."

"Anyway, I can add you to my active projects list. I would have done that anyway, but now I will more formally document interactions related to your possible status. Which just means that the number of questions I have for you jumped again."

"For a mining vessel, Tammy? The history of the Longshot that I know about so far is a lot more varied than that. That could go clear back to it's original SDB days. One of its commanders might have taken another old expression to heart. Something about being doomed to repeat the failures in history if you do not learn from them."

OOG: I picked Hungarian as reasonably obscure, and my wife knows it. Sort of. Grew speaking it, but loosing for lack of use. She can sometimes provide a good sounding term for a concept better than google translate by itself. I used Hungarian for some earlier Iltharan cases. Maybe those were prepared here, but never posted.

I already pasted Sahibey into google translate. It told me Turkish detected, but the translation was just owner/mistress. Your merge seems to have just hit another form for Sahibi
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Tue 28 Mar 2023.

That gets an astonished look from Nathaniel, then later, "A private operation? How many research facilities had a computer, of whatever complexity, with a telepathic interface? Well, OK, maybe. That small technological detail never made into the history records. Any military records would have been analyzed to the last data byte. But a private concern with exclusive, proprietary access to the technology to make it happen could have used a remote facility as a test bed to explore the capabilities, limitations, and security concerns. A limited deployment to a controlled environment. A whatever the company was, it's records were not analysed in detail, if at all."

"Actually, I can see reasons that the computer would have been left on deliberately. You said the research indicated Tammy was running the daily physical operations. That would include managing the internal environment. You found the place in pristine condition. All that was needed for a team to move back in, was to turn on the main power. I would expect it to have been much worse if the low level maintenance controls had not been left on, and Tammy was running that. As a background process. They were expecting, at least hoping, to come back. They were not simply abandoning the facility."

Nate looks at Tammy thoughtfully, and says, "If wonder if", then pauses in thought. When he comes back, the express shifts to curiosity and suppressed excitement.

"Tammy, how detailed are your records for the history of the environmental management? I may have just spotted an acceptable reason for you to have woken up under all that ice. The challenging environment was the environment. Your survival was dependant on continued power and those physical systems. I'll bet that you needed to get creative in managing the limited resources, and keeping up on the maintenance. Any outage longer than your temporary internal power could tolerate would have killed you. Responding to failures as they occurred would likely have not been sufficient. You needed to anticipate and prevent them. On a very limited resource budget. If enough information exists in the logs, it could be the proof I can use for how you got to be what you are today, without straying into those areas of complexity. It's a bit of a long shot. Those logs are typically purged regularly, with only a minimal summary carried forward. However, your need to have absolutely 100% up time could have meant that a lot more history data was kept for analysis and future maintenance planning."

"We are talking compressed digital data storage here," TAMI answers. "My records include all operational data from when I went on-line."

"The facility had solar roof panels which were never switched off. Nor was any adjustment provided for whether there were actual people in the building."

Mentally giving himself a smack, Nathaniel thinks, "~~Right, the empire was new to tech levels with unlimited storage, but even so, they had it long enough not to go to the extra effort of setting up purge and summarization cycles for data logs. Especially when they were not expecting to get a millennium of data.~~"

Nate hesitates slightly at the way TAMI worded the final operation setting, then says, "To be clear, when the research team left, the environmental systems were left in normal configuration, as if the facility were still occupied. Including comfortable temperatures and daily lighting cycles? The solar power was sufficient to maintain that."

"But what happened when the ice moved in? Ice by itself would diffuse the light, and depending on various factors reduce what was available for power by an order of magnitude or so. Add a layer of snow on top of that, would reduce it a lot further. With that, was there enough to continue to maintain those target conditions, as well as as yourself and the maintenance systems?  The systems that were needed so that the actual specified targets could be met. Were you able to meet all of the original target conditions using the reduced direct solar input? If not, what prioritization did you make, and why? Was that where you first started to become sentient? Having to make decisions about where to allocate the now insufficient resources to meet the conditions that you had been instructed to maintain?"

"Tammy, please arrange for me to get a complete copy of that operational data, as well as the original set point conditions. On my hand-comp please. I expect that analysis of that will find a divergence from the choices that a standard management program would make, and what you actually did. I assume there is nothing particularly personal in that data. Though for an emerging sentient, the first decisions changing priorities would have been very difficult."

Turning to Vonnon, he says, "Even if all of the assumptions that is based on are correct, this is not yet enough to register Tammy as a sophont under the standard Imperium constraints. I expect it to be enough to show emerging and developing sentience, which is a good start."

Pausing first, to mentally translate the Iltharan expression for a down payment on the responsibilities of a guest in the current context, Nate says, "I thirst to know this information reduces the burden of sheltering this person in your redoubt."

"Damn, but that is clumsy to say in Galanglic. Less accurate, but how about, 'Does that light a path you want to explore?'"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Mon 10 Apr 2023.

In reply to Nathaniel Harken (msg # 791):

     "When we gained entrance to the facility, the environmental systems were not engaged.  Our Engineer, Khea, had to find the switch for that and activate it.  There were a few lights that we could turn on--likely emergency circuits--but it was obvious they were draining power.  But once Khea re-activated the primary power source--some sort of deep-drill geo-magnetic induction coil, or some such--things returned pretty much to normal.  Well, as normal as things can be inside an office building that's been closed up for eight-hundred years.  We got the power plant schematics, if you're interested."

     "The facility was put in shutdown mode--why that didn't include Tammy's primary processing core, we don't know.  But also recall that planet Coventry is a habitable world to begin with--the facility was hermetically sealed--and there was no living creature inside the facility to consume, well, anything!  The temperature inside when we entered was a little lower than the ambient temperature outside, and there was a definite 'stale' odor to the air, which cleared up as soon as we activated the environmental plant."

     "I know it's a little trite to say, my friend, but all this..." Vonon gestures at Tammy's processers, "Is likely nothing more than a simple Human Error--somebody forgot to make sure all the lights were turned off!"

Nathaniel shrugs and says "Human error, or deliberate is unimportant. What is important, is that, combined with the ice cutting of most of the available power, forced TAMI to contravene the settings to survive. The slowly worsening conditions as the ice blocked more and more light from the solar panels was the stress factor that initiated the process of Tammy waking up. Or at least it could have been, and it is a reasonable path as a far as the science of sophontology is concerned. If that can be shown as a major causation factor, we can avoid those complexities that I mentioned. Tammy just told us that there was no adjustment for whether people were in the building or not. So that error would have been consuming power. More power than would have been available as the ice covered the facility. You found the lights and environmental plant turned off. Who turned them off, and when?"

"Tammy, did you turn off the extraneous power draining features of the facility, to reserve the power for your own needs? Or perhaps a better way to ask that is, did some of your choices result in that unneeded power consumption being stopped?"

Nate says, "Yes, I would be interested in the information needed to replicate that power source. There are some specialty situations where where having a long term power source that does need to be refueled regularly would be useful. Remote outposts, even if they are not as clandestine as this was. Like an environmental monitoring station that needs to remain active for years, without any regular visits closer than needed to transmit data. Something that is long term stable without the kind of regular specialized maintenance that a fusion plant requires."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:45, Tue 11 Apr 2023.

In reply to Nathaniel Harken (msg # 793):

     Vonon frowns, "Nate, you're not listening to me.  Tammy showed us a record of an order for the researchers there to evacuate the facility--although the comm records she has didn't specify why the facility was to be evacuated.  The personnel performed an orderly shutdown of the facility."

     "They removed all of their research data and turned off everything.  Yes, the solar collectors were apparently left open--but that's an easy thing to overlook.  I'm more impressed that the batteries lasted almost a thousand years!"

     "But listen, Nate--we checked the maintenance records--Tammy was shut down!  I'm telling you; she was completely powered down.  But that analytical subroutine I mentioned never stopped running.  And, after a lot of thought, I may have come up with a solution that fits all the facts."

     "I'll admit I could be wrong, here--I'm no expert in this field, like you.  So, like I said, all the research data was removed--except for the research draft that Tammy was analyzing.  Personnel Records, however, remained.  The person behind this research facility was some kind of Iltharan super-genius, apparently.  He was big into biomedical technology research--both for medical as well as military purposes."

     "Now get this--Doctor Super-Genius was also into Psionics.  We found several drugs, with associated formulas, that reportedly were able to enhance existent Psi-powers, as well as a few that appeared to actually trigger Psionic development in a non-psionic.  At least temporarily."

     "So, here's what I've come up with--being a good little Militant Iltharan, Doctor Super-Genius may have also been experimenting with Psi-Tech.  Specifically, I think he put a prototype Psionic Control system into Tammy--something that would let him think commands at Tammy, which she'd receive and follow.  I don't know if her ability to send thoughts was original to the Tech, or if that evolved as she did."

OOG: TL10 energy storage. Probably super capacitors (or next generations from that), not what is typically thought of as a battery. Super capacitors do not degrade with repeated use like chemical batteries.
OOG2: Get ready for a long rant. You touched a point that has been in Nate's background story ever since I created the character. When I was expanding on what the raw dice rolls gave for events.

The reference to drugs and formulas gets Nathaniel's attention, and sidetracks him from the topic at hand. "WHAT‽ You found drugs samples? And formulas? For Psionics manipulation?"

"I saw reference to psionic drug research in the journal before the auction. But nothing about any usable results from that. I hope no one knows about that. You think that Duncinae would come down hard on Tammy just for having been on Coventry? Do you have ANY idea what the Imperium would do to suppress knowledge of drugs that would provide psi abilities to just anyone? If by enhancements you mean the capabilities I saw referenced in that journal, the guiding powers of the Imperium would create a black hole if they could, just to make very sure that any knowledge of that could never get out. They really are paranoid on that topic. Maybe your background does not make it obvious, but there has a been a government sponsored propaganda campaign going on ever since the first war with the Zhodani, to make sure that the general public sees all psionics as evil, dirty, spies, or insane. Oh, they are quite willing to use psi abilities, privately, for their own benefit, but don't DARE suggest that sophonts they do not have total control over might be able to, and are willing to, use it to the betterment of civilization."

"I've been studying many aspects of psionics for quite a while now. It is PERMITTED to learn about them, but NOT to do anything that might make using them publicly practical. There are so many areas where using psionics could help make advances. Mental health, physical sciences, biological, materials. Archaeology too. Lots more. It is fairly rare, and definitely not advertised, but the abilities exists for some clairvoyants and Telekinetics to see and manipulate things at the microscopic scale. Imagine a doctor who can see and touch a growth inside your body, without the need to use tests or instruments. A geneticist that could directly evaluate and separate cells in a culture. A materials scientist that see the crystalline structure of a material sample, or maybe apply precise pressure to get it to change state to a different form. A sculptor that can really 'feel' the flaws and grain in a piece of rock, and engineer that can directly feel the plasma flow as they tune and calibrate a reactor. On this scale, a doctor being able to set a broken bone, and make sure that ends are precisely where they should be is trivial. The possibilities are endless, but it is not allowed."

"When I meet you in the galley, the first time here on Longshot, you asked what I had been doing recently. I glossed over it then, with too many others I did not know listening. I had been doing some research on the prevalence of psionic abilities being expressed in general sophont populations under different conditions. This is extrapolation based on statistical information, not proven or tested. But the numbers say that theoretically 90 percent of humaniti have the potential to express psi abilities. Given the right environment. The main trigger is being exposed to the controlled use of psionics at a young age. Then being tested for the ability. The starting point for that, is simply the statistics about how many sophonts are found to have some psi abilities, and how strong it is, based on their age at the time of testing. The pattern for that is obvious, and been known to researchers, probably since the second researcher talked to the first. The younger someone is when they get tested, the more likely it is that they are found to have psi. And the stronger that psi is. I researched beyond that, and found additional correlation with close communities having had known psionics. Not genetic family. Adopted or family from previous a spouse had the same statistics. The simple close presence, especially at a very young age, increased the odds of having psi abilities when tested."

"I found a buried research paper about an extra paranoid industrialist that wanted to make sure that there were no psi traitors stealing secrets in his company. He instituted 100 percent psi testing as a condition of employment in any of the sensitive areas. That got shut down, because the more they testing, the more people DEVELOPED psi. There seems to have been an 'accident' that kill most of them. A factory that just exploded and took out a whole complex. He probably made money off of the insurance."

"My analysis indicates that full population testing at about 4 years of age would dramatically increase the number of active psionics. Allowing those to mix freely through the population, and USE their abilities, would then provide further triggers for waking psi abilities.  After 2 generations, that's only 40 years, the projections show 90 percent of the next generation expressing psi abilities."

"The main premise of the Imperium ban on psionics, implied but not usually stated, is that the dirty psi user can invade or attack everyone else, and there is no defence for the poor normal person. If nearly every one has some psi ability, that argument is just so much vacuum. Sure, some are going to be better than others, just as both you and Shar are better with a knife than I am. Not many scream about someone taking the time to turn an innate physical ability into a real skill. There is no reason for psionics to be any different. Some are naturally stronger than others, but that is not reason to ban strength. Or weight lifting."

"Even the Zhodani seem to be careful of this. I'm too distant to check details, but from the data I have access to, the structure of their society removes most of the active psionics users from the main population. They are promoted, but that removes them from more direct interaction with rest of the population that is not so gifted. At least until they are trained to control their abilities correctly. I suspect that training includes keeping it tight, so that it does not brush those around them. Even if it is referenced in terms of efficiency."

Nathaniel takes a breath and recalls where the conversation started, but he is still wound up, "And now you … you … pup want to emphasis the possibility that this researcher at Tammy's facility was working on psi-tech, and I do NOT mean the officially allowed psi shields, and incorporated that into Tammy's system. That it may have evolved into something more with an emergent digital sophont as a … symbiote, or as a peripheral."

"Hear this very clearly. If you want Tammy to have a chance to both get official sophont status in the Imperium, and to remain free to choose what to do with that, … there … will … be … NO … reference to such speculations anywhere in the data used to certify Tammy as a digital sophont."

Running out of steam for the moment, Nathaniel gives the captain the glare that is reserved for the most obtuse junior assistants, while thinking back to what else Vonon had said. Catching up, he goes back to a more neutral topic and tone.

"The tech level that the Empire had access to had fairly robust electrical energy storage. A millennium is longer than usual, but the only deterioration would be from material fatigue. They had good material science too. With the ice, the collectors themselves seem like a more likely failure point. I expect the collectors were integrated right into the surface of the facility. Otherwise water and ice would have gotten under an edge and, over time, pealed them right off of the roof. Water and ice is surprising, to some, strong."

"Either those maintenance records were incorrect, or something turned TAMI's system back on after it was shut down. Otherwise, obviously, you would not have had her to communicate with when you got the door open. You were communicating with her before powering anything up yourself, right?"

"Or", and Nate does the going away, not here any more look again. When he focuses again, he says thoughtfully, "Or those records were deliberately falsified. It is trivial to setup a timer to switch a system on at a later time. Your conjectures are plausible, though anything about psi tech is not useful for the goal of getting Tammy recognized as a sophont. Expanding on that, and what Tammy said about first thoughts and the paper, could he have deliberately setup those conditions in an effort to test some of his theories about accelerating sentience development? Did he know how long that would take? Did he perhaps know they were unlikely to be back, and left an experiment running as a just in case legacy? Climatology is not a new science. There should have been enough information to accurately predict the little ice age and glacier. As I said earlier, the common prerequisites for an emergent intelligence are quite well known and accepted. Not a lot has changed in that in the past thousand years or so."

"That is pure speculation, but like your conjectures fits with the known 'facts'. A lot of those super genius types have a super ego as well. Leaving an experiment to run that might result in in a new sophont long after he was dead could appeal to that type of personality. He just set up the conditions to make it possible. Which could mean that Tammy is not quite an Emergent. Not really designed either, but  … guided. The way a botanist might coax attributes from successive crops by applying specific environmental stresses, without using any genetic manipulation."

"Speculation. The fact is that Tammy is here. She was powered on and active when you opened the door. The report you were shown said power was off. Either the report is wrong, or power was turned back on. Seeing what can be learned about the psi tech, what it originally was capable of, how it was being used, what it is capable of now, or could develop into later, are all questions for another research project, Tammy willing. All of which needs to be totally firewalled from the project to determine sophoncy status, and assuming that is positive, prove it without referencing inconvenient complexities that could focus the disapproving weight of the Imperium on her."

"Are we travelling the same jump route now?"

"Oh, and Tammy, I'd like to get a copy of that draft. Both as part of the data for how you came to be, and for the subject itself. I wonder how it aligns with the currently accepted literature?"

OOG: There is more about the tech, but Nate was interrupted before he got to the information that the alien ship had very similar sounding tech for intra ship communications. In fact, given the time line, Nate needs to mention the similarity in the alien thread (carefully, since Longshot is not at the jump limit yet).
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 23:00, Wed 12 Apr 2023.

Somewhat tiredly Nate looks to Tammy's hologram again and adds, "If you want to read the last paper I wrote on the subject, you will find it makes no mention of any of that. I worked very hard to not make any claim, conjecture, or conclusion that could be construed as having a method to increase the psi positive portion of the population. That would be stepping far across that unwritten line about what is allowed when studying Psionicology. The information is in the data, I did not fudge that at all. Since the sources are provided, trying to do so could have made it even more obvious to the wrong people. Not publishing would also have been risky. Too many people knew approximately what I was working on. It is intended to look like I had just never considered that aspect. My extrapolation should be easy enough to see with the hints I just provided. All of the relevant report information is obfuscated with general clustering, demographics, and cycles references. No mention of triggering by prior impingement from an active source years before."

The word tastes dirty in his mouth. He could use a strong drink about now. Turning back to Vonon, he asks, "So what did you do with those samples and data? Is that something that can be talked about here in Tammy's … fortress, in Longshot, in port?"

In reply to Nathaniel Harken (msg # 796):

     Vonon shakes his head,

     "Nah, I'll skip reading your paper." Vonon waves away the suggestion, "No offense, my friend, but I probably wouldn't understand a single bit of it -- well, except for your name..."

     Vonon gives Nate a sudden puzzled frown,

     "But I'm a bit surprised at all the sudden talk about keeping things quiet regarding psi-drugs, or the possibility that Tammy may have psi-tech incorporated into her systems."

     "I mean--I really can't imagine what you're talking about.  You can't be talking about, oh, I dunno, people around here not talking about any psionic crap when someone that I haven't seen in years suddenly shows up at my airlock and starts nosing around like he has a right?  Or then going around making wild insinuations after that someone overhears a person in authority has issuing orders to his Crew to Not Speak About It?  Or even when that same someone is finally told that All Will Be Explained just as soon as things are more secure--like, maybe, after leaving the planet?  But he...Still. Keeps. Pushing..."

     "Are those the kinds security methods you just said need to be applied, Nate?"

     Vonon's face goes blank,
     "Fun's over.  There is no such thing as Psionic Powers.  There are no Psi-Drugs, there is no Psi-Tech.  Tammy may be an independent Digital Personality, but her physical form is still a machine--and you gotta be on Space Dust if you really think that a machine can Read Minds!  Let me relieve you of that particular fantasy, right now..."

     Vonon turns to Tammy's hologram,

     "Tammy, Captain's Orders.  Please use whatever psionic abilities you may have to read Nate's mind.  Right now, please."

     Vonon turns back to give Nate a small smile, "This won't hurt at all..."

Nathaniel looks toward Tammy's projection and says, "If it helps, I agree. Please read my thoughts. Whatever else you need to read, make sure to verify that my concerns are valid given the information I have, and the analysis I have done. That from my professional view it is a lot more dangerous, to you, to allow official Imperium groups to know about your PSI abilities than it would be to let the local government know you were found on Coventry." Still talking to Tammy, but now looking at Vonon he continues, "That information about the abilities you have already demonstrated to me, not just what Vonon said a moment ago, are Nova level dangerous."

Turning fully to Vonon, he continues, "There is a small difference between this and your earlier edicts. Your 'all will be explained' was rather late in the sequence. I was already 'suspicious' based on direct observations. Most of that … pushing … was before you said you would explain."

"Here, now, I start by providing information about WHY the … security … is needed. Perhaps I should repeat the qualifier from what I just said."

"IF your goal is have Tammy registered as a sapient being in the Imperium, AND remain free to choose her own path, THEN no information related to PSI hardware or abilities can be in any of the records or proof."

"Information about the drugs are dangerous to Longshot, and those involved, not specifically to Tammy."

Turning back to Tammy, he adds, "Please share your reading information with Vonon. Maybe coming from you, it will have enough weight to convince him how serious I am."

Knowing a lot about the workings and limitations of telepathy, he mentally reviews the history of the information collected, analysis done, and conclusions reached about PSI in the Imperium. Providing an easy reference to access any deeper details needed.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Fri 21 Apr 2023.

In reply to Nathaniel Harken (msg # 798):

     Vonon sits back and heaves a heavy sigh of frustration--but after a moment, the fur on the ruff of his neck starts to bristle, his ears fall back onto the top of his head, and Vonon leans closer to Nate, snarling...

     "Okay, it's pretty obvious to me, now, that you are intentionally ignoring everything I've been saying." Vonon growls, "So.  Let me put this in the simplest terms I can for you.  And if that doesn't work--since you've now signed on as Crew--I'll just order you to shut up..."

     "Now LISTEN! Since the very moment we first discovered Tammy, and realized her capabilities, we have been observing all the security protocols you just got done talking about!"

     "We have NOT told anyone we 'salvaged' her!  We HAVE tried to keep EVERYTHING about her a secret!  We TRIED to keep her a secret from YOU!  But you just kept pushing and pushing, like a Bull trying to get at a Heffer!  We finally decided that YOUR efforts were a DANGER to Tammy!"

     "A couple of my Crew then suggested we just kill you and be done with it.  I countered that we didn't need to kill you--just hit you in the head with a brick until you changed your mind.  It was then that our onboard Legal Advisor--who just happens to be an Imperial Knight with a Law Degree and many years of administrative service to the Imperium, and knows more about Imperial Laws than YOU do--said the best course would be to simply bring you into the secret WE were KEEPING!"

     "We HAVE a PLAN!  We've HAD this plan since BEFORE you showed up!  We don't MIND if you want to PARTICIPATE in THE PLAN!  But YOU have to STOP treating me and my Crew like we don't know what we're doing!  Half of this crew have working backgrounds with SECURITY organizations--and I think at least one of them may have been an operative with one of the Imperial Intelligence organizations."

     "You can either get onboard with the existing plan--which, again, will be explained once we are away from any Confederate Planets--or you can QUIETLY do any non-intrusive research with Tammy you'd like to do.  But Nate, my friend, you just GOTTA stop telling us we're not being smart about all this."

     "That kinda help we DO NOT NEED."

Nathanial looks at Vonon for a moment, visible deciding how best to respond. He shrugs, sighs, then remembering the exaggerated responses to his previous statement about reality versus perception,


Nate says, "Since you are being so clear at the moment, let me also be clear."

"You already told me to shut up about Tammy, her form, and origin. If you had not brought me down here to officially introduce us, you would not have heard anything more about her status or potential from me until after we reached the jump limit. You were the one that started talking about the things you have, with Captains Order, told everyone not to mention. Not me."

"Tammy said that she expected that your intention was to get my professional assistance in proving that she was sapient. I may not of explicitly said so, but since you did not disagree, I accepted that as a … commission. So I have been providing information from my professional background. Well that, and a rant about an ongoing … beef … I have. Using the information currently available. That information is incomplete, since you have not provided anything about Longshot's history with Tammy, or your plans."

"You, that is Longshot, may have been observing those protocols, but in the context of proving she is sapient, you have several times emphasized things that my professional background says are contrary to the implied goal. They are likely true, and are indications of sapience, but including them in any evidence or report would not get to the desired goal."

"I have a fair amount of advocate training. I can't match someone that has specialized in Imperium Law over all, but I should be able keep up with any explanations. Specifically for psionics and sophontology related, I probably can match him. Those areas I have some specialization background for. Most of what I was just referencing has very little to do with the published law anyway. For psionicology, some of the law is unwritten. Beyond the global ban on psi use, other than psi shields."

"So can we pick this conversation up again in a few days, when we get to the jump limit? When maybe you can fill me in on that "plan", so I do not keep saying things you already know and have considered?"

"By the way, lying to an advocate, who already has personal contrary evidence, is not a good way to get cooperation. The lack of information goes both ways. I don't know anything about your plan, but I do know other things that you do not know. From your sudden claim that there is no psionic powers or tech, that it was all some sort of joke, I must assume you are not aware that Tammy already projected a telepathic message to me. Another thing you would not have heard about from me until after reaching jump limit. If you had not brought me down here."

"I fully planned to abide by your previous Captain's Order. It was you that broke that silence. The rest was proff … uh, well … The rest was informed by my professional background on the requirements to officially register a digital personality as a sophont, and things that would deorbit that."