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+---- Thread: [OOC][SI][Multi-Xover] Calling All Writers - There's Nothing Better (/showthread.php?tid=867)
- Rajvik - 09-25-2016
Because they are out on what is effectively a deserted island where there is only one built up area. It's September, the school is on the other side of the store they went to and it's during the week and work day so the place is empty of people and about 20 years behind the times. In short they really haven't seen anything to make them go huh yet. Now when they go to the mall, that will be a different story.
- Black Aeronaut - 09-26-2016
Innnnnteresting. Do carry on.
And there it is! Nice start, but were those run-on sentences in the first paragraph intentional?
- robkelk - 10-02-2016
robkelk Wrote:I'm going to ease off and let everyone else - or at least BA - catch up to me.Okay, letting Rajvik catch up is good enough. More story posted.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Seraviel - 10-02-2016
Given that Byward Market is also in Ottawa, I suppose this is another of your group?
(Fun fact: I also have an 'electrokinetic' in my group. I wasn't sure if you were talking about me or not.)
And, yes, I confirm, everyone wants selfies with the Prime Minister. Including suspected terrorists.
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.
- robkelk - 10-02-2016
Yes, this is the first that IC:Rob hears about the Sailor Senshi.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Black Aeronaut - 10-03-2016
Nnnnnnghghghghgh....
Honestly, I would have preferred if no governments were involved.... Given certain politics here in the USA.
Thing is, I'm pretty sure that through some channel or other (be it official or non-official), Homeland Security would find out about what's going on in Canada, and then the witch hunt would begin. And while I don't mind most of the current sitting President's policies, the free rein he's allowed the NSA doesn't sit well with me. And given how many highly sensitive facilities* there are in San Antonio, I can't imagine the presences of Tenchi's crew going ignored.
Give me a few days to figure out how this is gonna shake out. Ideas welcome, but let's keep it at least somewhat deconstructed.
* = Lackland AFB, home of Air Force Boot Camp and many of its Tech Schools; Randolph AFB, USAF Fighter Pilot Training Base; Camp Bullis, training maneuver site for USAF, USMC, and US Army; Ft. Sam Houston, US Army's medical command and training base, aslo headquarters for both US Army North and US Army South; and one of the NSA's four cryptologic centers.)
- robkelk - 10-03-2016
This is definitely deconstructed, as far as I'm concerned. Without the direct link to who want the reports, paperwork will be delayed if not lost and bureaucracy will act as it normally does.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- Black Aeronaut - 10-03-2016
I'm still kinda on the fence about it, mostly because there was an 'incident' in a public space - one that probably has surveillance cameras in enough places to have caught something. (Unless Canada shuns the idea of surveillance cameras in public areas?) And from what I remember about Sailor Senshi Lore, their glamour only changes their appearance a bit, not what they do.
Also, had the idea about the Building Managers having inherent 'quirks' - nothing earth shattering, but some weird thing that ALWAYS happens for us and may even cause occurrences of Bad Ass Normal.
For example, my brain is always on the go to the point of me being a near-insomniac. Case in point: you know those Nekomimi ears that read your brain waves and react accordingly? Constant fidgeting with me. The kind that is supposed to indicate a 'sudden interest' except they WOULDN'T. STOP. GOING. Effectively, this would make for a good jamming field against psychics and other 'readers'.
Thoughts?
- robkelk - 10-03-2016
Black Aeronaut Wrote:I'm still kinda on the fence about it, mostly because there was an 'incident' in a public space - one that probably has surveillance cameras in enough places to have caught something. (Unless Canada shuns the idea of surveillance cameras in public areas?) And from what I remember about Sailor Senshi Lore, their glamour only changes their appearance a bit, not what they do.Amazingly enough, we do shun that idea - other than red-light cameras at intersections, you'd be hard-pressed to find a camera anywhere other than a high-security facility.
...
However, this is your world, and I'm only playing in it. I'll edit the post.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- kestrel404 - 10-03-2016
I've got an idea...will put together an intro post later.
Teaser:
I checked my server logs again:
"...IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES..."
"...welcome here, nuisance. Why do you stay, when you sense my displeasure? I have suffered your company long enough. It is time..."
"I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over."
"You're in trouble, program. Why don't you make it easy on yourself? Who's your user?"
Spam, spam, spam. Nothing but spam - I really wish they'd stop sending this. Or at least keep it to under a gigabyte per minute.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
- Mamorien - 10-03-2016
kestrel, I want to seahorse your babies.
- Black Aeronaut - 10-04-2016
Quote:robkelk wrote:Ack...Quote:Black Aeronaut wrote:Amazingly enough, we do shun that idea - other than red-light cameras at intersections, you'd be hard-pressed to find a camera anywhere other than a high-security facility.
I'm still kinda on the fence about it, mostly because there was an 'incident' in a public space - one that probably has surveillance cameras in enough places to have caught something. (Unless Canada shuns the idea of surveillance cameras in public areas?) And from what I remember about Sailor Senshi Lore, their glamour only changes their appearance a bit, not what they do.
...
However, this is your world, and I'm only playing in it. I'll edit the post.
Okay, whats done is done... But just to set things straight, I really don't want to run roughshod over everyone here. Part of the whole 'collaborative writing' thing is the 'collaborative' bit. I'm willing to work things out, but as an American I may have blind spots. x_x
Kestrel, that is freaking brilliant. AM, SHODAN, HAL9000, and The MCP? Oh nothing can go wrong here. Nothing at all. (Really, all you're missing, as far as I'm concerned, is GLaDOS.)
- Bob Schroeck - 10-04-2016
Mm. HAL. Of course. I thought it was Eddie the Shipboard Computer at first. But didn't the MCP deny the existence of users? Maybe it's TRON or one of the other hero programs.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Mamorien - 10-04-2016
No, it's MCP, interrogating the original, good install of Clu.
- Bob Schroeck - 10-04-2016
Shows how well I remember the movie.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- robkelk - 10-04-2016
Black Aeronaut Wrote:I still have the text. If I can't come up with something better, should it go back into the story?robkelk Wrote:Ack...Black Aeronaut Wrote:I'm still kinda on the fence about it, mostly because there was an 'incident' in a public space - one that probably has surveillance cameras in enough places to have caught something. (Unless Canada shuns the idea of surveillance cameras in public areas?) And from what I remember about Sailor Senshi Lore, their glamour only changes their appearance a bit, not what they do.Amazingly enough, we do shun that idea - other than red-light cameras at intersections, you'd be hard-pressed to find a camera anywhere other than a high-security facility.
...
However, this is your world, and I'm only playing in it. I'll edit the post.
Okay, whats done is done... But just to set things straight, I really don't want to run roughshod over everyone here. Part of the whole 'collaborative writing' thing is the 'collaborative' bit. I'm willing to work things out, but as an American I may have blind spots. x_x
...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- kestrel404 - 10-04-2016
I stepped into the large harbor-front warehouse with more than a bit of trepidation. I've done job interviews before - they're supposed to involve office rooms with engineers in well-lit buildings. Not empty warehouses. In the middle of the night. Next to rusty dead-looking container ships. But my recruiter had been promising the sky was the limit on this one if I could get hired, so here I was waiting for...
"Excellent! You're five minutes early. My employer appreciates promptness."
I didn't scream like a girl and fall over - it was a perfectly respectable battle-cry as I attempted to dodge any incoming attacks. Unfortunately, I was wearing a trench coat, which is NOT what you want to be wearing when trying to dodge. It's pretty cold on the Boston waterfront at night, even this early in the fall, and that makes a great excuse for people who might ask me why I'm wearing a trench coat. From the ground, I looked up at a man in a suit who had been standing in the shadow of the door. "...Hi? Are you...Sebastian?" I stood up and pretended to be dignified while brushing dust off my coat.
"Yes, that's me. I appologize if I...startled you." The man was...dark. Dark hair, dark eyes, black suit, gleaming white teeth. Do humans have that many teeth? I'm pretty sure I don't have that many teeth. Why is he smiling like that? Cautiously, I reached out to shake the man's hand. His grip is firm and he's wearing white silk gloves - who does that anymore?
Collecting myself and trying to get my heart under control, I decided to assert a bit of my own authority - he might be the one hiring, but I was asked for by name. "Is there somewhere we can sit and discuss the job offer? It's a bit...unlit in here."
He snapped his fingers, and lights turned on throughout the building. A neat trick. It was nearly empty except some boxes in the far corner, some catwalks and an elevated 'managers' office above the main floor. The neater trick was the sudden appearance of a table and chairs five feet to our left - it appeared just as the lights turned on. Had it been there, hiding in the darkness? I blanked my mind, counted to three, pictured something unrelated, then reviewed my memories of the not-quite-impenetrable dark from when I walked in, before I was...startled. My eyes were closed, both for the visualization process and to adjust to the sudden light. No - those had definitely not been there.
I looked suspiciously at Sebastian, who was still standing next to the now-closed doorway and smiling even wider. I moved to the table and chairs, made sure they were solid, examined their tops for clues, and took a deep whiff. Modern, nothing obvious, no marks or cracks in the floor where they might have come 'up' through a trap door - and they smelled like machine oil, ozone and...sulfur?
I stepped back and took a whiff of the air farther from the table - the machine oil smell permeated, but the others were absent. Approaching again, I looked under the table - the floor was rough concrete, not well finished, but showed no obvious marks, and the bottom of the table...
Stamps? No...seals. Over-fancy and...wait, they have the names written around... I recognize at least... OK, that one doesn't belong there.
I looked at the seats arranged around the table. Then I sit at the chair next to the 'Naberius' seal - I was pretty sure I could use all the help with rhetoric I could get, and I honestly wasn't sure what to think about some of the other...labels.
'Sebastian' grinned even wider as he sat on the left side of the 'head' of the table - at least, I assumed the seat marked 'Lucifer' was the head. If I recalled (and I wasn't looking underneath to check), that one had been 'Ronove' - I'll have to look that one up when I got home, if he was even in the Goetia. I knew for a fact Lucifer wasn't...though that might just be because the Ars Goetia was just one chapter...
"Did you bring your laptop?" I was startled out of my musings by Sebastian's question. After a second's hesitation, I put my laptop bag on the table and pulled out my chunky, old, beaten up 'work' laptop. It had two 'original' parts left - the screen and the case. Everything else had been replaced at some point, so I supposed it was not technically that old - but it was still using a three-year-old processor. "Good, now connect to the WiFi."
I opened it, and it booted instantly. Solid state drives were nice like that. "Password?" He didn't say anything...so I took that as a challenge. There had been a 'network security expertise' requirement for this job, which was why I brought the 'work' laptop. I pulled up an old homework project - literally a homework assignment from when I was doing post-grad courses in CS - and ran it. A minute later, I found out the network password was 'Ar5Goetia' - cheeky bugger. "Ha, ha. Now what?"
He grinned wider. "Now, you try to keep your laptop running for five minutes." He sat back, and I started to hear from all around me a creepy, multi-voice, static-filled chuckle - it was very familiar. I checked my system and network logs - somebody was hammering my firewall. Oh, so that's how they were playing this? Suddenly, the 'creepy atmosphere' made a lot more sense. I was being tested by Black-hats. They thought they could put me off balance with a 'freaking the norms' routine. Well, two could play that game.
I let my firewall do its job while I looked for...ah ha! Bluetooth speakers. Grabbing a modified 'boosted' Bluetooth antenna out of my bag, I plugged it into the laptop and ran one of my 'prank' programs - the creepy not-voice coming out of the speakers cut off. As well as, apparently, the infra-sound I had been feeling-hearing since I walked in - I could suddenly hear the 'absence' of it. That explains why I've been so jumpy...clever. In place of that, a cheerful bit of music started up...before quickly turning to something less cheerful.
Sebastian's phone rang. My computer pinged. I turned the volume on the song down and looked up at Sebastian with a plain question on my face. He just smiled wolfishly and answered the phone, putting it immediately on speaker phone.
"Tha-a-at was a-a mistake, hacker." Oh, that was where I had heard the voice before. Someone had gone and made a SHODAN voice emulator. Cute. I was betting it was a complex text-to-speech program. "Your simple ma-machine has bec-come a-a part of-of me n-n-now. O-oh l-look, you-ou wer-er-er foo-oo-oolish-sh eno-ou-ough to-o-o leave-eave me-e-e a-a-a cre-ed-ed-it-it ca-a-ard..." I waited a few more seconds. "Wha-a-a-at...?"
I grinned, and decided to cut the emulator off before it could get any more annoying. "Stop that stupid voice program and listen for a bit. I'm not some idiot who's going to make a mistake just because of some creepy voices and weird building. The SHODAN thing was a nice touch, but way over the top. I'm betting you regret that, now that your processors are spinning their wheels as fast as they can go, yeah? You fell for the oldest trick in the counter-hacking book - you jumped right into my honeypot the instant I opened an 'insecure' connection on my box...and now you're infected. If you hurry, you might not have to re-install your machine's OS...but by that time, this test will be over. Happy hunting!"
"In-n-n-se-ct-ct-ct! I-I-I-" click. Sebastian hung up the phone as the song I'd started on the speakers finished up and I unplugged the Bluetooth super-antenna.
"So, any more tests?"
Sebastian smiled and shook his head. "No, I think Lord Phantomhive will be quite pleased by your performance. The contract will be forwarded to you...with a bonus, if you can start immediately."
I looked a bit concerned. "How immediately?"
A second later the doors opened again, and some professional looking men in uniforms started coming in with various furniture-sized boxes and other things that...looked like sci-fi movie props. "Very immediately."
When they rolled past with something I swear looked like one of the GladOS AI cores you toss into the disposal at the end of Portal, followed by a 'Sugar Rush Speedway' arcade machine...I suddenly have to wonder exactly how much of the past few minutes has really been a fake-out.
============================================================
Name: [Redacted]
Age: [Redacted]
Height: [Redacted]
Weight: [Redacted]
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Ethnicity: [Redacted]
Login: Kestrel
Access Level: Administrator
Charisma: (##===)
Intelligence: (#####)
Wisdom: (##===)
Sanity: [Redacted]
Fortitude: (#====)
Mech: (###==)
Tech: (#####)
Macguiver: (###==)
Applicable Skills:
Programmer, Sysadmin, Hacker, Cracker, Root
Electrician, Plumber, Carpenter
Video Gamer, TV Troper, Esoteric Trivia Specialist
Friends/Contacts at MIT
Complex:
Warehouse #13, Bay Circle
Boston, MA, USA
1 Floor (2.5 stories), with catwalks at 12ft.
1 Elevated Manager's office
Amenities:
Electricity
Internal-only WiFi LAN
Individual Firewalls
The building is a Faraday Cage
'Tenants'
Wreck-It Ralph (entire caste, in arcade machines)
H.A.L. 9000 (2001)
Agent Smith, the Architect, the Oracle, the Merovingian (Matrix)
Joshua (War Games)
MCP (Tron)
AM (I have no mouth and I must scream)
SHODAN, XERXES (System Shock)
GLaDOS (Portal)
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
- Black Aeronaut - 10-04-2016
Quote:robkelk wrote:We can do that. I'd just like to work it out beforehand. In fact, I should probably start up a separate thread for working out the finer details of the overall plot. :pQuote:Black Aeronaut wrote:I still have the text. If I can't come up with something better, should it go back into the story?Quote:robkelk wrote:Ack...
Amazingly enough, we do shun that idea - other than red-light cameras at intersections, you'd be hard-pressed to find a camera anywhere other than a high-security facility.
However, this is your world, and I'm only playing in it. I'll edit the post.
Okay, whats done is done... But just to set things straight, I really don't want to run roughshod over everyone here. Part of the whole 'collaborative writing' thing is the 'collaborative' bit. I'm willing to work things out, but as an American I may have blind spots. x_x
Kestrel, that looks great! And you got one heck of a mix of infomorphs there. Some are gonna be outright useful to have, like Joshua (once it learns to discern what is a game and what isn't), Ralph, and Felix. Few of the others can probably be rehabilitated, like HAL and GLaDOS... HAL's issue was (IIRC) a literal programming error, though GLaDOS will take a bit more effort. You might even be able to get the MCP on your side if you can get it to understand that control is only good so long as it preserves things like free will.
I don't know much about System Shock, so I can't say much about it here.
AM is just plain nasty and probably only good for nasty things.
And then the Machines from The Matrix... What will they do now that the Matrix is a moot point?
- Rajvik - 10-05-2016
here's the start of my next part.
Quote: “What are these,” Shinji asked as he picked up one of the cigarette pack sized pieces of plastic. James had cooked steaks for everyone but Rei who he had made a large salad for and apologized for not having any tofu or other vegetarian meal ingredients handy. Apparently he had gone back out the night before after everyone else had gone to their rooms and acquired these things for them because there was enough for each of them to have one.
“Good morning Shinji,” James replied with his attention mostly on the grill pit that he had cooked the steaks on the night before. He was apparently getting the fire started again so breakfast could be made if she was judging the ingredients on the table correctly. “Those are portable phones, each one a prepaid model so that you can all stay in contact no matter where you are. They flip open and one should have your picture on its screen indicating that it belongs to you.”
Finally the man got the fire going and hung a pot of water over it after settling the grill grid in place. “Each of them has all the numbers of the others already programmed into them plus my own number so that you can reach everyone in case of an emergency or something. Now, I could really use your help with breakfast because I have no idea how to cook things like tofu or miso. I can do a western style breakfast which I’m sure Asuka, Kaji, Misato, and Ritsuko would probably eat, but I don’t have a clue how to do an Eastern style breakfast so I have nothing for you Rei or Maya.”
“Let’s see what you have to work with,” Shinji answered and then set to working on something that he could do well.
- Black Aeronaut - 10-05-2016
Ahhh, cooking. I think you can definitely make inroads with Shinji that way.
EDIT: And, oh yes, while Shinji may have missed it, I can see Asuka wigging out over the phones. Even if they're basic flip-phones, they're at least a generation or two ahead of her NERV-issued phone.
- Black Aeronaut - 10-07-2016
Okay, posted a Read Me First, stickied and locked.
If anyone has anything you think I should add or change, please let me know!
- Black Aeronaut - 10-08-2016
Oh wow.
Someone showed me something incredibly fun...
...AND I DID A THING WITH IT!!!
![[Image: Sbq42e7.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/Sbq42e7.jpg)
Made using this: http://photofunia.com/effects/retro-wave
- Bloodfox64 - 10-08-2016
kestrel404, sense you are having the bad guy from Tron and because of how we are doing things on this project, will Tron himself and maybe his user will be somewhere on Earth?
- kestrel404 - 10-10-2016
Quote:Bloodfox64 wrote:Tron & the other programs are probably...somewhere. I'm essentially claiming most (not necessarily all) of the Infomorphs who require dedicated hardware to exist in this universe. Canonically, Tron and the other programs from the movie are, essentially, normal programs - they don't require dedicated machines to run them, while the MCP ran on a specific, dedicated mainframe server and can thus be easily moved and contained.
kestrel404, sense you are having the bad guy from Tron and because of how we are doing things on this project, will Tron himself and maybe his user will be somewhere on Earth?
My setup is more geared towards 'Secure-Contain-Protect' (SCP) for the non-humanoid intelligences that get dropped into the setting.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84
- Black Aeronaut - 10-11-2016
kestrel - I love how you got HAL characterized. You and and he knows he's not fully trustworthy... but he is not lying in that his desire is to be helpful.
Maybe hitting him with the Three Laws might help?