|
Billions and Billions Roger shrugs. "His choice, really. We'd just like the gift of uplift to be spread around. We can wait." Ibarako stops typing and looks up. "Done. We can leave this place for the fire teams now. Need any help back on Logos?" The Other Guys As everyone talks, Rani notices a passing Quarko in a fedora who just happened to be within earshot turn, head for the doors you can in, and step outside (insofar as a half-sphere robot designed to hover under its own power can step). It seems in a hurry. Rani's secret trick works because it's cool! Gorbash: You mentioned wanting to do a thing too, you should totally do that.
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 11:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 11:06 |
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 Rani eyes take a mischievous glint. [ Oh, wait, did I say that? Because what I meant to say is that I have the backup ready for re-installation in case it's needed. Not that I'm doing it immediately. Quarko at 5:00 fleeing, look for the dumb hat, it being our target is probable. Anyone got Mesh dampeners of some type? Are those, uh, things that happen? Don't want him escaping into a different Quarko. Someone good at sneaking IE not me should probably pursue. ] Rani pauses. [ @SmarmyPanda Hey Panda, uh, don't wipe out the Quarkos. I accidentally said what my plan was but it totally flushed out the guy I'm after, and I'm trying to paint it all as me being super smart and doing this intentionally. ]
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 12:03
|
|
|
Arachne (Location: Billions and Billions) Moxie: [X] [X] [ ] [ ] [ ] 'Okay - I had no intention of letting Kozlov bury this anyway. Leave it to me, and I'll do what I can to make sure Kozlov gets all of his research to the genehackers.' [@troubleshooters: how's it looking down there? Need any more help flushing Noustra out? The Sons of Sagan are offering to give you a hand.]
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 12:45
|
|
|
Thibault Jaurès [I could follow this Quarko,] Thibault says. [But apart from blasting it, I have no way to suppress its mesh activity. Joe?] Thibault is a walking hacking device these days. If he's got Joe's fork, they can tag team the quarko and take it apart before it realizes they're there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2014 20:53
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe [Not remotely. Could manage it on a hardware basis. However, odd that would try sneaking if could just escape to new Quarko. Suggest we follow and ambush, perhaps learn more via dis-assembly. In the meantime, have someone who might be able to help...] Joe turns to their escorting Quarko. "Thank you for guiding us here. Was hoping to find an old friend here. Someone who tends to turn up when he's needed." Joe is actually not that good at hacking. However, I will call in Quarko Wheaton by spending a moxie point! Quarko vs Quarko.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 02:11
|
|
|
Billions and Billions "So, we done?" Kawashiro says. "Looks like it's almost time to go, anyway. Ooh, or can I join the fire team?" "It's really more of a plasma and disassembler swarm team," Ibarako says. "Whatever. You coming?" "I should get home to Nanakuma." The Other Guys Fresh Quarko is about to say something, but another, bearded Quarko puts a claw on his shoulder. "Hey. I'll take it from here." "Aight. Peace out." Fresh Quarko tips his cap and glides away. Quarko Wheaton bows to Sashimi Joe. "Long time no see. What's up?" Ettin fucked around with this message at 11:56 on Mar 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 11:47
|
|
|
Adan Mx: 1/5 (Billions and Billions) "Oh good. I mean the bridging course in uplift development politics has been educational and all, but I'm much more comfortable with things I can punch and/or shoot." --- "...I mean I know I can't punch an infomorph but I meant like, figuratively." --- "...As in 'punch Noustra right in the server'." --- "...Look you're free to come with, is what I'm saying."
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 14:15
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 ~*~Fork, BnB~*~ Rani Returns gives Adan a playful punch to the shoulder. "See, this is why I like you. You're speaking my language. Figuratively, as it seems loving nobody speaks Hindi, which can be depressing sometimes. And for what it's worth, you can sometimes catch infomorphs in a private server, probably simspace, so you CAN potentially punch and/or shoot them, but it's way less satisfying.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2014 16:30
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe "Rogue Quarko persona called Noustra attempting to kill us." Joe waggles a tentacle in that general direction. "Hoping to isolate him. Keep him from transferring into other Quarkos while we excise from the shared mindspace."
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 00:56
|
|
|
Quarko Wheaton Q.W. looks in the direction of the fleeing Noustra, though there are several walls between them. "Hmm, that's interesting. Why wouldn't he do it wirelessly? Unless he knows the trick..." He seems to realise something. "...Oh, clever Science Buddy! He has, hasn't he? This just got interesting." PS: If you want to catch that Noustra you have to go now, unless you'd like QW and the other Quarkos to do it!
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 13:56
|
|
|
Thibault Jaurès [I will get him.] Thibault hunkers down, spreading the control surfaces of his new body. A compartment in his torso pops open, and a small rocket motor emerges, which keens faintly as it builds its activation charge. The robo crow gives off a very strong feel of a fighter aircraft about to take off. The rocket fires! Thibault plants himself into the ground face first with a metallic thud, and the motor coughs to a halt. Acrid white smoke leaks from a few of the seams in his body. [I will not get him.] I didn't totally bomb a pursuit roll, but this was funnier. Anybody else?
|
|
#
?
Mar 14, 2014 22:44
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 Rani sighs at Thibs. "After this? We go out for training." Rani then runs after the escaping MaybeQuarko! Freerunning vs 60: 1d100 9
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 13:15
|
|
|
Gonna split this up into a few parts! An opposed roll for the first... Running Away vs 40: 1d100 85 Rani chases the rogue Quarko (along with anyone who ran with her!). She doesn't catch up, but she manages not to lose it as it disappears into the maintenance deck. It zips into a nearby chamber filled with huge storage containers of scrap metal and raw matter and starts trying to disappear into the crates. How does Rani handle this one? And what are the others planning? 
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2014 16:58
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 Rani handles this the proper way. The secure way. The Scum way. Rani takes out her flamethrower and starts burning everything.
|
|
#
?
Mar 17, 2014 12:13
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe Joe sticks with Quarko Wheaton for the moment, helping Thibault up. Rani can handle the collateral damage tip for the moment. Still, he chivvies everyone along in her wake so they don't fall too far behind. "Trick? Can you elaborate?" He pings Adan and Arachne, copying Rani and Thibault in as well. [Think you can get to that mainframe? Suspect our quarry headed there. Try and push him into an ambush, I think.]
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2014 01:11
|
|
|
Thibault Jaurès Having had quite enough adventure for one day, Thibault settles for Quarko wrangling. This feat is accomplished by the simple process of going around the other side of Rani and waving his plasma cannon at anything that moves.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2014 01:21
|
|
|
Adan Mx: 1/5 (Billions and Billions) Adan grins openly when he gets Joe's ping. "Okay! Now this I can deal with. Standard drug bust. Ground team flushes the runner, we hit the stash. Except, like, a stash of information." "Ibaraki, right? Can you get me the layout of the Drunken Eidolon? Preferably with any doors susceptible to being dramatically kicked open marked. Arachne, what's the fastest way to get to the Eidolon and head this guy off? Roger, if you're coming with, be prepared to shout 'FREEZE, PUNK' at the appropriate moment. Arthur, it's time to nip this Noustra thing in the bud like... y'know what, provide your own bear pun." He takes off back down the hallway like a kid out of school. "Feel free to answer while running!" Police Procedure: 60: 1d100 100 SPACE COP, AWAY! Destrado fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Mar 18, 2014 |
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2014 02:17
|
|
|
ProfessorCirno posted:Rani takes out her flamethrower and starts burning everything. well alright When the smoke clears, Rani has destroyed about three level 5 favours worth of materials. It's cool, the Quarkos can fix it. probably. Not this one though! Rani and Thibault find the Quarko they were chasing, partially melted and fused to what looks like a stack of smuggled Experia GameCubes. It's deactivated for some mysterious reason but the core should have survived that. Destrado posted:Police Procedure: 60: 1d100 100 SPACE COP, AWAY! well alright Ibarako grins. "Better. I helped build it. And I know one of the Seekers that runs it. If I can't get us in she can." So Adan can basically seal off the building and door-kick his way to the mainframe any time he feels like.
|
|
#
?
Mar 18, 2014 12:03
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe Joe gets his dis-assembly on, breaking open the Quarko like a tasty blue crab at the end of a long day dealing with warm blooded sentients. He waves a spare limb at Quarko Wheaton. "What trick were you referring to?" Scrounging vs 75 due to 'ware [20:04] <+Morphball> Gorbash: 70 = 1d100(70)
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2014 01:06
|
|
|
Quarko Wheaton Q.W. strokes his beard. "If you wanted to hide in one of us, it's best to stick to hard-wired connections. Maybe a puppet sock." "It's complicated, but we... share parts of our brains through our network. If this guy went for a trip through it we might have accidentally overwritten some of his neural map, know what I mean?" Sashimi Joe gets a personality core!
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2014 14:29
|
|
|
Adan Mx: 1/5 (Billions and Billions) Adan flicks Ibarako an exuberant thumbs-up as he rounds a corner. He closes one eye, sticks out his tongue, and makes some helpful tactical additions to the floorplan before sending it to the rest of the team.  Then he continues running.
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2014 05:29
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe Joe considers the personality core, and adds it to his collection. "I see. How do you manage it then, old boy?" [@Adan, cc:Team: Smashing. We'll be on our way presently.] He surveys the wasteland Rani left. On the whole, about average for her. He waggles tentacles at her and Thibault. "Think we should get moving. What do you say?"
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2014 03:51
|
|
|
Quarko Wheaton Q.W. shrugs. "I'm a Quarko. My personality is built around my connection to the Quarko collective. The network can't overwrite some of my neural functions because the network supplied them. Noustra is a Science Buddy. He's different. He has independent functions to lose. There's no way around that for a transhuman." Alright! Where do you want to meet up and what's the plan? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2014 04:10
|
|
|
Thibault Jaurès Thibault ponders life as a Quarko, or worse still, to awaken one morning to discover one had been turned into a Quarko. He shudders. Even his motors let out a wail. [The sooner we leave this place, the better.]
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2014 05:11
|
|
|
Arachne (Location: Billions and Billions) Moxie: [X] [X] [ ] [ ] [ ] 'Wow, I didn't think they made Jovians that excitable. It's like watching a very violent child in a gun store on Christmas day.' Arachne follows Ibarako at a slightly more sensible pace (one that excludes tripping over while carrying ordnance). [@Troubleshooters;CC:Sons of Sagan: I'm going to see if I can keep anyone from investigating either Rani's colossal damage to Logos' vital infrastructure or Noustra's mainframe dropping off the grid. Give me a sec. Okay, as far as Disaster Control is concerned, the Drunken Eidolon has just scheduled an explosive decompression/fire drill for today, at a random time, and we're listed as first responders. The part where Rani levelled half a maintenance deck is going to be harder to cover for, so please exercise a little more caution when fighting the bad guys. Like, try to shoot them and not the ground/ceiling/walls.] Rolling NW:OmegaNet to get someone to doctor the drill schedules for the Drunken Eidolon! 87 vs. NW:OmegaNet 90, which is a success.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2014 12:33
|
|
|
Lemon Curdistan posted:Rolling NW:OmegaNet to get someone to doctor the drill schedules for the Drunken Eidolon! 87 vs. NW:OmegaNet 90, which is a success. A great success! One of Arachne's friends convinces a young lady named Sami Pythagoras who apparently mixes virtual drinks at the Drunken Eidolon to schedule an actual drill, and Arachne can use her as a contact on the inside.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2014 11:34
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 [ Gods don't even worry about it. I have an 'in' with pretty much all the guys who control the repair drones. I've been pushing to make 'Pulling a Rani' a slang term for acceptable levels of collateral damage that aren't acceptable for others, in fact! No luck so far. I think right now it means arresting yourself for drunk and disorderly conduct. After the fact, of course. Joe, Adan, you guys are Mr Plan and Mr Plan Senior (fight over who gets which), what's our current state? ]
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2014 03:36
|
|
|
 [17:00:25 LST] Location: The Drunken Eidolon, Logos Central It isn't actually that far from the main plaza - you can just make out the winking owl logo hanging in the sky a few blocks away. The Drunken Eidolon itself sits on the corner of Seeker Plaza, a place where Seekers in Logos Central can use their Ω-rep to fabricate gear, get favours and make friends. The DE is popular with infomorphs and synths. By the time you get there the synths are only just leaving - apparently they were having a strip poker tournament and some of them are only just getting their chassis back on. Sami Pythagoras was supposed to meet you out here. You don't see her at first, but then this thing shows up:  And suddenly there's a hologram avatar floating in front of you.  Sami Pythagoras @-rep: 64 :: Ω-rep: 41 :: r-rep: 46 :: Argonauts Cybernetics, theoretical physics, exometeorology "Oh! Hello there!" The holo-bot excitedly turns a set of sensor arrays on you. "First responders, right? Check it out! We're all evacuated! Is this supposed to be a regular fire drill or a virtual fire drill?" Thanks to Adan you basically have the run of this place, and can enter any way you like. Who's going where? There's a front-door, a side-door, or you can look for ways in through the ceiling/basement if you're feeling sassy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2014 08:08
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe Joe heads in the front door to meet with Sami. He looks around - all around - to see that no one is listening in obviously, and extends a tentacle in a friendly way, ready to mime a bow or a shake as necessary. "Both, afraid to say. Full on dress rehearsal, check all the usuals twice and all that. Sorry for the inconvenience, be out of your hair quick as we can." "Say, you wouldn't happen to have a server running in a back room, would you?"
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2014 01:43
|
|
|
Sami Pythagoras Joe discovers Sami is a bit of a motor mouth. "Yep yep! We host a simspace and some servers for the popular games around here. Oh! And the Quarkos rent out most of it. Well, not rent, we don't take money, but you know what I mean. Hey hey, is this a bear? Wow! Want to see the back room? I'll show you! I mean you, not the bear. Hi, I'm Sami!" Arthur tries to give a virtual avatar a handshake. He hasn't worked out how to make it look like you're gripping the hand properly yet. "Hello!" Sami offers you access codes for the back room!
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2014 15:42
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 "Sami! What's up, girl! Don't mind us. We're uh, absolutely not going to get smashed on code meant to simulate alcohol and then smash, uh, everything else, look I'm really sorry about that one time, but I paid for the repairs and arrested myself so we cool right?"
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2014 13:43
|
|
|
Adan Mx: 1/5 There's a few muttered curses by the back door, before a chameleon cloak falls to the floor and an annoyed Jovian gives up on trying to crack the panel. "Okay, yeah, hi. Codes would be... helpful." That no-one said anything as he'd ridiculously crawled cloaked across the floor was likely more due to politeness and apathy than stealth, given the number of sensors that casually scoped him on the way.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2014 14:11
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe "Thank you." Joe accepts the codes and heads into the back to check things out. He checks the room over carefully as he locates the correct server. Investigation vs 45! [20:28] <Krysmbot> Gorbash, 63 = 63 Gonna spend a point of moxie to make it work. And Interfacing to check on the server. [20:35] <Krysmbot> Gorbash, 86 = 86 Dang.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2014 01:34
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2014 14:59
|
|
|
So on the one hand, this toxx falls apart any time I'm waiting for everyone else to post. On the other hand most of you already mentioned that and started ignoring it so I guess forget it Anyway I'm just assuming Joe heads in through the front, Adan slips in through the back door and everyone else is with Joe, so: Adan The back entrance leads to a room filled with the ugly parts of running a business - water pipes, power conduits, some sacks of spare matter for the fabbers, a quick and dirty synth resleeving setup recessed into a wall. The sections of wall not covered in conduits are mostly covered in touch-screens and banks of switches and lights. This joint caters to infomorphs and synths so Adan probably isn't surprised at this stuff. What might be surprising at the three Quarkos hard at work here, tapping away at screens and shifting cables around. They all look beaten and half-broken, like they were damaged and shot at by grumpy locals and someone just buffed them a bit instead of repairing them. There are exposed wires and everything. If there's a benefit to operating like this, Adan doesn't know it. They stop and stare at him as he enters. Nobody calls him a Science Buddy. Joe Sami's avatar pointedly keeps a short distance from Rani, drifts right through the bar's empty steel tables and follows Joe towards the back. "All clean! How's that? I even turned off the nanoswarms, and that was hard, let me tell you! Anti-seeker hacktivists keep screwing them up, so I made them nearly impossible to alter. And I guess the off button counts? Anyway, if you need anything, let me know. I do nanobot programming, higher mathematics, narcoalgorithms, macroalgorithms..." The door behind the bar leads into the storage room. There's a couple of fabbers, a shelf of pre-fabbed alcohol in case of emergencies, a workshop covered in busted-open nanobot hives (probably Sami's workspace)... and racks and racks of servers. "Tada," Sami says. "This is where we host the sim part of the bar. I use some of the rest for testing new algorithms. Most of the time it's about 78.5% unused. I rent it out to this AGI, right? Not, you know, in a capitalism way or anything. He uses it and Quarkos send me thank-you packages with cool new algorithms sometimes. It's a sweet deal!" Joe discovers most of the servers are running a simulspace. He can't figure out how to interact with it without jacking in or grenading it, but it appears to be a place in Immersion called The Trench.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 16:02
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe Joe catches a few of his limbs pulling detonators and explosive from his vest, and reluctantly puts it all back in order. Blowing it up would definitely be his preference but... "Very good. Do you happen to have the name of this AGI? Believe may be involved in an ongoing situation."
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2014 23:38
|
|
|
Joe/Anyone Else Sami taps her chin thoughtfully, and speaks at the same time because her memory recall is instantaneous. "Lukyanenko!" "Lucky neko?"
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2014 14:30
|
|
|
Rani Kaur Moxie 4/5 "Do we know a Lucky Neko?"
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2014 02:39
|
|
|
Sashimi Joe "Yes but it is unrelated. In this case, Lukyanenko is correct. As in Dr Kozlov Lukyanenko. Head of the team behind, well, Arthur. Raises a number of disquieting questions." Joe thoughtfully puffs on his pipe. "Only non-destructive way to interact with the simulspace currently is to enter it."
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2014 00:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 27, 2024 11:06 |
|
|
Thibault Jaurès Thibault's ailerons clack. [Ugh. Is this entirely necessary? Are we certain destroying the mainframe is not a possibility?]
|
|
#
?
May 30, 2014 00:39
|
|