Rakhasa Wrote:Your big problem here is that the Angels view of the world isn't just bent, it's a corkscrew that requires higher dimensions to describe. There are things they cannot believe without doubting who they are.Quote:[b]robkelk wrote:[/b]Who finds out first? The Three Angels themselves, of course. They are world-class, Hollywood-competent spies and detectives. Worse, form Padiarg's point of view, handwaved AIs with a plot.
If the girls are enslaved, there's a plotbunny for someone - who finds out first, and what do they do?
One way to run with this: By the time this is discovered, O'Neill is too well-integrated into the Fen economy to attack directly, unless somebody wants to cause an economic recession. Thus, a stealth liberation operation is mounted, with "assets" drawn from multiple factions and the Generalist population so that no one group has to shoulder the blame if things go wrong... with Arthur in the background, helping with logistics and intelligence.
No matter the originals cover, in a matter of days -probably hours- they will discover
the truth about fenspace, AIs, Charlie's Angels, and so on. They will
also discover the truth about their sisters soon; there is no way there
is anyone better that then at hiding (and discovering) secrets.
Actually, it is likely that they are the ones in charge of security and intelligence. They will know everything there is worth knowing about O'Neill and Arthur.
Yes, they have a plot, but that plot is: "Deep Cover on a Mysterious Space Station". Charlie told them that. They can't doubt it. Deep cover means that they must establish themselves as loyal and reliable. And, they must wait for Charlie's call.
Anything that they learn will be twisted to fit that plot. They will learn about AIs and Fenspace, but that will only be background information, part of their investigation; none of it can apply to them. They can compare this with their previous investigations, and know they've "fallen down the rabbit hole". This is all far weirder than anything that they've done before, which didn't go any further than a few gadgets. They've got invisible space suits, they've got rings that let them fly (in space), and no one they speak to thinks that they're anything except something to envy.
Once they start talking between themselves, other cracks will appear. Their shared history works up to a point, then things get sticky. Jane is the easy one, both the others know her with the skills she has. Sarah was always known as being a legal genius, and Kelly a scientific genius, and unlicensed medic; that's all simple retcon. In neither case do you want to argue with them if they lose their tempers.
Where the wheels start to fall off is the question of where Sarah got all the Terminator stuff, and Kelly got the Steam Punk. These amount to large chunks of Secret Background that even the best script writer would have to scrabble to maintain plausible deniability. Remember, the Angels are writing their script as they're going along.
There are no files maintained about Arthur, on O'Neill Station, or various other low level resources, which is what Arthur started as. O'Neill probably doesn't even know his name, he just knows they've got someone who can solve problems. Ms Jones isn't near the top of the ladder, she is a middle level resource, herself, and her higher management is in Earth-based offices, probably in Australia.
You shouldn't forget O'Neill Station seems to run as a private home, an estate. This is different from Stellvia, which has major elements of service industry and commercial enterprise. O'Neill will have offices in his home but will likely be careful as to which of his staff have access to them. It is likely Jane will have access, Sarah will have her own office, and limited access, and Kelly will have no access at all. A number of the general crew will have access in line with their duties, which include cleaning and maintenance, as well as clerical and administrative work. I'm assuming there are no administrative AIs, and that the AIs on O'Neill Station run infrastructure.
Rakhasa Wrote: TheirThe Angels are the 'Good Guys' - they have to be. OK, they have problems, but so does everyone else.
reaction, both against Peter O'Neill and their creator, I don't know
-it depends on their personalities, which have not been too detailed so
far. But, given their fictional origins, they should be on the side of
Good and Justice (tm.); if their less mobile sisters are mistreated,
they will want to do something about then. If their investigation has
turned up than their creator would be willing to help (and, from what we
have been told about Arthur, he would), then they would contact him.
The relationship between the Angels and the O'Neill Station AIs - that is more difficult. It's not clear that the Angels would regard them as 'sisters', they are certainly biologically different. The Angels also are unlikely to regard themselves as AIs, more as humans with a bit extra. They don't have the sort of thinking speeds AIs in Fenspace have, for example, though they are certainly at the top of human mental reaction speeds. Almost like they have human minds condensed from an AI template.
The AIs are not immobile, Arthur made sure of that. Their humanoid remotes are quite capable of going and unplugging their AI cores, which will cheerfully run on batteries for tens of hours, and travelling off the station. That's the way they arrived, and they could leave the same way. Leaving chaos in their wake.
Unless they completely break their roles, which would put massive strain on their minds, the Angels will not call Charlie. Jane wouldn't even call Arthur if she was pretty sure he was Charlie. This doesn't mean she might not call him for some other reason, though.
Rakhasa Wrote:Plus,Actually, there is a Bosley. She is a heavily-built, though glamorous, woman in her early 30s, who lied about her age being 25; she did have the looks, and forged paperwork, to get away with this. Her name is Alison 'Lee' Kay, a divorced engineer (and not a spy or investigator), and she works in maintenance, doing the awkward heavy lifting. Kelly befriended her first, and introduced her to Jane, then Sarah. They affectionately call her 'Boz', and she tries to mother the Angels, and anyone else she can get her hands on.
they just aren't complete without a Charley and a Bosley. Well, if they
are going to become the Thirteen Angels, maybe two or three Bosleys.
The Bosleys can be located after, probably during the Operation: Rescue
Hot Slave Chicks, a name that will guarantee the entusiatic help of
untold thousands of male (and about 10% of female) Fen.
And they
already have a perfectly good Charlie available. Poor Arthur may find
himself leading an interplanetary detective agency before he even
realizes it.
Lee actually died in the Hollywood Machine. She was the first one they put through the process after Kelly had gone through, on an experimental basis. The Machine took the usual half-an-hour with Kelly, but she came out apparently unchanged, though she complained about strange dreams, and flashbacks. The Machine decided there needed to be a Bosley. Unfortunately it isn't designed to do casting.
Kelly worked for half a day to save Lee, and waved up some extraordinary Steam Punk medical tech in the process. After two days in bed, Lee was ready to return to duty, and the only change was she'd acquired a 'Mother' aura. And now has some investigator skills, and an interest in, and skill with, firearms (copied from Kelly). Kelly wrote a report on the incident, which pointed out they hadn't got as much as an operators manual for The Machine, and one day, it might go rogue. She strongly recommended that the original designer and builder, an 'Arthur', be asked to provide any available documentation, and if it didn't exist, create it. This report was apparently completely ignored.
Rakhasa Wrote:(really, it is for the best. The sooner ArthurYou might choose to believe this, but, I really couldn't comment. [grin]
realizes than someone of his talent has no business pretending to be
"just a normal guy", and starts practising his Insane Laughter while
joining the Mad ranks, the better for everyone. Well, everyone in a safe
distance)
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"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind