<> <> ( She could probably afford it anyhow, given her lifestyle is above average. :P ) <> <> * Vera is doing things! Like... Watching TV? <> * Vera flips through looking for a western. Or mobsters. Or western mobsters. <> (I should mention you're prly gonna have to call her. ^_^;) ( Oh ;_; ) * Vera gives up and switches the thing off. After a few minutes, she decides to call Ronnie Bell- Er. Levingston- Er... That one woman. <> "Good morning, ATC Central Offices, may I please direct your call?" Yeah, I'm looking for... what's-er-name. Ronnie Levinworth <> "Certainly. Who may I say is calling?" * Vera hops back onto her couch and swings her feet up. "Vera Alieyva." "One moment." <> * Vera would've preferred jazz music. But ATC never did have any taste. Just look at their god-awful logo. <> "Ah! Vera. What's the occasion? The money? I know it's not the amount I promised but I couldn't squeak the full bit through the accountants..." <> * Vera leans back, and looks up towards the ceiling. "Nah. Don't care about the money. Well, no, I do. Just not that much." "Oh? What's up, then?" Wonderin' about a few things. Like, what's up with this Cloud, or whatever. <> "Hmm. Well, before we start, how much do you want to know?" * Vera shrugs. "Not much. Know there were a bunch of AIs, and they all played some kinda Game, and there were some sore losers. <> "Yes, well. ATC used to be run by an AI, named the Cube..." <> "Turns out, all AI have a little quirk in them, called ITT. Instantaneous Thought Transfer. It lets them talk to other things with ITT, faster than light." "So AI can pretty much find each other easily. Turns out, the Sleythin had one. Called it the Egg." <> "With me so far?" * Vera nods. "Oh." Then she blinks and looks at Ronnie. "Wait a minute... so ATC knew about the Sleythins before sending the Europa team?" "Well, yes and no. The Cube knew. He didn't bother to tell anybody, I guess." Oh. "There was also the Pyramid. She was the queen of the Bugs - the head brain." "You know her as the Bug Queen. She's in the movie." There's a movie? ... Probably not my kind of thing. "Yeah, Halfway to Europa. You remember, it won seven Oscars." No... actually, I don't think I do. But go on. "You should watch it, I get writing credit." <> "Anyway. Then there was the Cloud - a nanite plague that evolved sentience out of almost nowhere. Pretty nasty stuff - it could only talk to humans by burrowing into people's brains and taking control." "Funny thing was, the heat that came off their heads made them glow blue. It was a weird sight." Sounds like it. "The rules were pretty simple. If you got destroyed or surrendered, you lost. Last AI standing was the winner." Right. "The Egg faked like he was bowing out, but helped the Cube, who used the Europa Team as an elite squad to kill first the Pyramid and then the Cloud. Then, kind of a surprise to him, they killed him, too." * Vera nods. "Sounds like gambling, in a way." <> "You want to know more? There's a bit more I can tell you, if you really want to know." Yeah. <> "They didn't leave ATC leaderless. First, they stole me out from under ATC's nose, and then put me in as the new commander in chief. So there is, in fact, still an AI running ATC." You'd be the 'Sphere', then? "That's me. Rondure's french for 'round'." Yeah, but it's also French. "It's a dead language anyways." <> So who won the game, then? "I suppose you'd have to say I did. The Egg wisely folded. He and I don't talk much. He's a stuck up ovoid anyhow." Mm. Where'd you come from, then? <> "I was a pet project. The Cube wanted mini AI he could set up as managers in places, or to use for military strategy, or whatever he needed." * Vera nods. "We were going to be little balls of potential. Feed us information, any information, and you get an AI that's an amalgam of all that information. Feed it tennis matches, you've got a tennis coach. The entirety of the Civil War, you've got an expert on American History of the 1800s. Sun Tsu's Art of War... a master general." <> "We"? There another one of you, or something? "I was the prototype. No more of me were ever made." By ATC, at least. "ATC was the only one with the "formula", so to speak. Nobody else has captured the secret of AI. Trust me, I'd feel it if they did." * Vera shrugs. "I'll buy that." "Turns out if you fill one of me full enough, boom, sentience." <> * Vera nods. "I'm chock full of all sorts of crap. The 3 Rules of Robotics, books on politeness, all sorts of classic novels, and a giant crapload of rules about being benevolent and nice and beneficiary to the human race." <> * Vera smirks. "Sounds better than the alternative. No offense." "You try bounty hunting when you have to worry if your every move is in the best interests of humanity. It's a royal pain in the ass." <> "But you're right, mostly. The Cube proved it's pretty hard to run it the other way." * Vera shrugs. "Open to interpretation, I guess. Why, you hunt bounties?" "No, but I have to do things like send people to their certain demise when Bug resurgences happen, or hire people to do things like go retrieve girls who've gone crazy... I'm just glad I'm an AI so it doesn't take long so see if something's against my internal rules or not. It'd take you a week to check everything I have to." <> Not really. I'd just make a snap decision and go with it, like I always do. "Ah, the luxury of humanity." Could say that. "Well. Is there anything else you want to know?" * Vera shrugs. "Don't think so. Not right now." <> "Well, you've got my number, and I've always got the time to talk to you guys. Catch you later, hey?" Yeah, sure. See ya. <> * Vera swings herself into a sitting position and rubs her head. (Anything else>) ( Don't think so ) <>