WEEK 13

[al2955]

the pygmalion. . . ONLINE CAPTAIN'S LOG: WEEK (13)

monday - thursday (10) survivors Sunday's trial was only mere hours ago, but you find yourself faced with a new week on The Pygmalion. When you awaken, you will find that the ship is still in disarray; there is no robot prepared breakfast, nor has any of the damage been repaired. The ship bears power in the rooms you have decided should have power, though the lights are dim. Without Alice, you are all on your own. The ominous pressure of the Queen Mother still looms, though you no longer feel Her presence. taken list profiles private conversations setting rulebook ENTER COMMAND_

Comments

[al2955]

Sure, if you want to call it that. Never could keep up with all those damn Greek myths - I still don't get why it's so great naming a ship after a guy who wanted to fuck statues, but maybe that's why I'm a doctor and not an English teacher.

Ah, now you're talking about option two. It's certainly possible to design your own version of a universal cradle that would include everyone on the ship who wanted to join. The downside - or perhaps upside - would be that you'd remember everything that happened here. You'd know exactly what you're living in. You would all be playing God, and perhaps that's enough for you. Perhaps it isn't. As for your bodies, the cradles will only upload brainwaves. The bodies will be preserved as long as the ship has power...which judging from the damage done to the core won't be very long. But they'll also be nothing more than shells at that point - you won't need a physical body if you're in a cradle.

They are. Though we won't be able to interconnect cradles between ships.

[chiseler]

Probably because it's funny. But that's besides the point.

So really what you're saying is that there's all or nothing. We don't get the choice of the in-between. If we were all living in one cradle that'd include the dead right? We could upload them too and it'd be just like when we first woke up. Only with a lot of messed up memories. Okay...and if someone decides to break out of a cradle and doesn't have a body to go back to? Has that been considered? All of this makes sense, but I want to know the catch. And the other options.

[But he frowns suddenly. Wait why can't we connect cradles? What's stopping that?

[al2955]

Got it in one. The personal cradles read individual brain waves - even if someone were to join you in yours, they'd retain all of their memories. The dead won't be able to enter the personal cradles of the living either - you'll need to create a mass one to include them.

As for the rest, you need someone physically outside to break out of your cradle. And once your bodies die, it'll be permanent. That's the catch - how important is your physical body to you? How important is what you construe as reality?

Distance. I'm an AI, I can go between the ships as I please, but the cradles need to be physically in proximity in order to connect.

[chiseler]

And how exactly do we go about making a cradle if that's what we decided to do? I'm not saying we're going to, but I get the feeling we're working on limited time thanks to the state of our ship.

My physical body should have rotted months ago if you want me to be blunt about it. The last thing I remember involves losing it in the first place, so I don't really care so much about that. I want a reality I can be in control of. Why wouldn't that be important?

[...] And if that's true, why can't you just come to us and we'll be able to see the Nuwa survivors again? [Stop. Just stop.] Or better yet, we figure out a way to get to you. What then? Since you lied to us once already, I'm curious about all routes possible.

[al2955]

Don't ask me on the specifics on that - Perkins will be leading the charge there if that's what you decide to go with. She's the one who worked on the cradles and Furry Passing application, not me. All I know is that you'll have to enter the Furry Passing application to do it - and yes, that means exactly what it sounds like.

Because the Queen's parked her fat ass right between us. You want to get to us? You're going to have to go through her. And I mean that in the most literal sense possible.

[chiseler]

I'm not sure I feel like becoming my avatar anytime soon, but good to know. There's no way I can talk to Perkins before then, is there? Just to be sure and see how everything works. Seems pretty...complex.

[...ah.] Oh. [That's a bit of a problem isn't it.] Fine. We'll find another route, figure out a way to defeat the Queen, something. If we decide to go with that am I right in guessing we're on our own?

[al2955]

You can try. Your friends on the other side will probably have more luck there though.

Come now, Luke...you call me for every little thing for weeks, and now that it actually matters, you want me to leave you on your own? I hope you don't play with every lady's heart like that. If that's the decision you make, I'll do my best to help from this side. Hold the ship together, reinforce shielding, maybe even remove a few of the limits we've placed on your bodies, that sort of thing.

But the real battle will be entirely up to you guys, yes. What makes the Queen so dangerous isn't her physical abilities, it's her attacks on the mind. You've already experienced what she can do with just a projection - now you'll be facing her up close.

[chiseler]

I know this might be a shock, but I've made some friends here that might be able to help me out.

Hey, a guy can have his secrets can't he? [Stop.] But I just wanted to make sure. The key to negotiations is all in how you say what you really want. But you could do that for us? Even that would be helpful, you saw how we got our asses kicked by her kids. I'd like our troop to be as prepared as possible if this is the route we go. I'd be interested to hear what kind of limitations could be removed, too.

[He seems oddly serious about this though.] Dr. Lin. You may not know this about me, but I spent the last year of my life alive with someone else controlling my mind and my body. I think I can help prepare everyone for what's coming. And we're pretty done here. It's been three months...we're a lot stronger than you'd think. [Or just bloodthirsty.] But if you have any additional information about her, that would be helpful. Otherwise I'll do what I can to prepare us on this end.

[al2955]

Protecting the ship itself's the easy part. It's what's going to happen to the people on it that's the real battle. As for limitations...right now, nothing too major. The closer you get to the Nuwa, the more power we'll be able to transfer your way.

Luke, darling...I hate to tell you this, but everyone knows that. We've been watching the Pygmalion's antics for a while now. You're more entertaining than reality TV. As for additional info, all I can do now is hypothesize. She'll likely try to paralyze you with either your worst nightmares or your most tempting dreams. If you want to prepare, I suggest temporarily entering your cradles - that might give you the slightest idea of what you'll be going up against.

[chiseler]

So then in that case what we need to do is renavigate the Pygmalion to fly it closer to the Nuwa. I don't exactly know how to drive a spaceship, but one of us can probably figure it out. We just need coordinates of where you are. We run the risk of still being down on power once we first approach the Queen, but we have a better shot the closer we get to you. There has to be another way we can siphon power or something before then. But I appreciate the options.

[And there's just. A blank look.] You really like messing with me, don't you? [He shakes his head. Those are absolutely options he'd considered as well and in a way he can't see how either of those would be too impossible to break out of. The dreams maybe, but who wouldn't want to escape nightmares?] You're sure this isn't a trick just to keep us in the cradles.

...I guess I'll organize something with the other nine still alive. Pair everybody up, shove us back into our pods in the electric sheep room and test everything out. There a time limit on those things before it's too late to pull back out? That only covers the tempting dreams part. But then again her majesty bestowed a bunch of nightmares upon some of us a few nights ago.

[He scrubs a face over his hand.] Okay. I'll see what I can do from here but if I actually call you will you answer me again?

[al2955]

If you want more power, break all the remaining cradles. Like you said before, this is all or nothing. Don't make this choice hoping there's a back-up plan waiting for you if you get cold feet or fail.

No trick. You really think I care enough about what the lot of you do to force you into a decision? And no time limit either, but you should try to do it fast, if only for practice's sake.

Only if you do it nicely.

[chiseler]

Man, it's like you don't even know me. You've seen the footage, apparently. I don't do the cold feet thing. We have enough people on board that love breaking things. That shouldn't be a problem.

I don't think so, but I think you care enough since you keep coming back to deal with us anyway. [Just a shrug.] We'll start making plans now and go from there. If something happens, I'll figure out a way to be in touch. Thanks a lot.