antietam | week 11; friday; luke's room

I am here, Luke and Adam. What is it you require?

Edited 2016-08-19 02:45 (UTC)

[Yeah he's just as guilty that they nearly went through with a plan to kill someone. The idea of almost killing Annabeth sits like a lead weight in his stomach and he's severely torn on what to do here. Everyone had promptly freaked out after their zombie friends showed up but...they needed answers. So, he tries to be calm enough and even smiles a little (oh gods this is horrible??? What the fuck.)]

Alice, we were sort of wondering if you could help us with a little request. You say you've been able to speak to the AI unit on the Nuwa right? Adam and I were hoping you could maybe put us in touch with her. Please. [Always remember please with Alice tbh]

We just need some answers. Since... since her database isn't blocked, she might be able to help.

I...can make the attempt, but I do not know if she will acquiesce. She has cut off most contact with even myself, as she is wary of the Souvlaki presence on this ship infiltritating her own. It is a valid concern, as even the slightest information leak can be dangerous, but it also makes communication rather difficult at times.

[...that's fair, but it causes him to glance at Adam curiously for a moment. They both know they're clean but at the same time it's a justifiable concern, too.]

And I think we both can understand that. It's a lot of why we requested to speak to you and her privately instead of out there with everybody else. I think you can attest for both of us that we've had far too much invested in this game--the project, I guess, to be one of the Souvlaki don't you think? [A beat.] If I was really an alien I'm pretty sure I wouldn't risk blowing myself up with a proximity mine.

[He shakes his head then as though clearing his thoughts.] We would just like to try. For everybody's sake. That's all.

Any attempt would be helpful. [ He pauses. He didn't think this would actually work. ]

We can even promise to not ask about certain things. All we want is a fair chance for us and the people on the Nuwa.

[There's a long pause where it seems like Alice has suddenly been set to screensaver mode before she speaks again.]

She has agreed to a short conversation. She has also requested that the two of you, and I quote, 'please refrain from wasting her time by asking inane questions like how to detect the Souvlaki and what their weaknesses are when any moron would have realized by now that if we fucking knew, we would have told you already'.

...I must warn you, the Nuwa's AI can be somewhat...temperamental.

[He lifts both eyebrows and there's a short, surprised laugh.]

I think we'll get along just fine. Adam and I have a few non-alien questions we'd like to ask her anyway. [He looks at Adam, drawing in a breath and still trying to remain casual.] Ready?

[ How is this working. Their questions are also a little bit outdated by now, but he nods. ]

Of course. We'll be respectful. Thank you, River. We really appreciate it.

Of course, Adam. I only hope this conversation allows you come to a consensus faster.

[There's another long pause, and then abruptly clouds begin flowing across the water of Alice's hologrophic body.]

[The clouds come faster and faster until no hint of water can be seen at all. A woman's voice emerges from the hologram, but one remarkably different from Alice's; unlike her cool modulated tones, this one sounds irritated and deeply sarcastic.]

Oh for fuck's sake, does no one understand what a quarantine means anymore?

[And then the hologram does something Alice has rarely ever been seen doing; she moves, taking a seat on the bed and crossing her legs. She raises a hand to her lips as if inhaling a cigarette and then blows out a long stream of cloud from her body until they shift and reveal a sunny sky.]

Keep it short and simple, boys. And don't expect anything too informative - either of you could be infected and I've got no intention of just handing information over to the enemy.

[...well. The very unfortunate part is that Luke already likes this AI much better than Alice and he can't help but grin at her even if he jumps in surprise as the hologram moves to sit on the lower bunk. She almost appears very, very real and while he's having a hard time wrapping his head around that now isn't the time and place.

Their questions are outdated. Adam and Luke had thought of this a few nights ago but the situation's heightened now. They have to be careful.]

That's a smart way to approach it, but we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us anyway. We'll try to make this as quick as possible but...we've got some concerned we'd like to talk to you about with River's project and yours. And, of course, the fact that the ships have two different stories going on? Kinda weird isn't it?

[ Why is Nuwa AI way cooler than River. And also more terrifying since she moves? ]

Um, right. We were wondering why you chose to give immunity to everyone on your ship. I mean, we were also told that if no one chose to murder on either ship, both programs would be purged. Is that still the case? Are you going to purge them no matter what?

Hah, so they did get the message back to you all.

[She exhales another stream of smoke.]

I'll be honest with you two then - I'm doing this because my ship isn't infected. I don't give a rat's ass what River thinks, the Nuwa doesn't deserve to be purged just because you lot can't get your shit together. So I told my charges that both ships would survive if neither chose to kill and I gave them immunity because I'm not about to lose valuable resources for something this stupid.

That said, I'm still confined to the motive thanks to my programming, so I'll have no choice but to purge them if you do decide your lives are worth more than theirs and kill someone this week. Think of the immunity as just...a little push for the Pygmalion towards making the more optimal decision.

They did, which makes me really curious how they managed to contact you in the first place. Doesn't seem like River did much for that one. [Nuwa AI--look can we call her Sunny? He kind of wants to ask her name but again they're working on borrowed time. Okay, no, distractions. He nods along slowly because again it makes sense. It's self-preservation and he has to admit that if he were in her position he'd do whatever's necessary to prevent a total lose of people, too. (Resources, whatever.)

Still, he doesn't like the idea of fucking up entirely just for a ship filled with people he mostly doesn't know.]

The thing about that is that by giving them immunity and not giving them a choice, that's taking away their free will. [He's not cool with that.] It's like...if you had a choice on what to do with your passengers on the Nuwa you would want to be able to make that yourself, wouldn't you? Do you not trust your resources to play along? There's also the fact that we were told if neither ship kills we'd be purged so this is pretty much setting us up for a really, really bad situation.

You managed to play the montage for your passengers of everything we've done these last few months. [He pauses, unsure of how to continue before looking at his feet.] Look. I get it. We can't get our shit together but we're trying. There has to be another route that doesn't end in us being purged and your ship being purged if one of the Souvlaki attacks. That's what it's gonna come down to, you know that? None of us that want to save that ship are gonna do anything, but the aliens will attack and then you lose everyone anyway. We're doing the best we can and I...you've gotta admit. We could be valuable resources, too, if both projects are the same and you get the winning lots after we purge the remaining aliens.

[ He is absolutely distracted by the AI smoking. What's up with that? Oh, Luke's saying something, he'll listen up. ]

That's right, most of us want to save the people on that ship. To the point that we'd die, but—aren't you already lacking on last chances for humanity? We've been doing... alright at getting rid of the Souvlaki. We have a role here specifically meant to kill them.

We can do it without being purged, and without your charges being affected. If there's nothing you can do, maybe you can convince River. Both ships continuing on is the optimal choice here, but that's not an option yet.

See, there's the problem, boys. What you're saying sounds perfectly rational. It also sounds exactly like what a Souvlaki would say to try to buy themselves a way out of getting purged. You say you have a role meant to get rid of them, that you've been doing all right - but as far as my data shows, they've taken out more of you than you have of them.

If there's another route you can think of, a way to guarantee that you can eradicate every last remaining Souvlaki from the ship without a purge or them masscaring you all anyway, then I'm all ears. But until then, there's nothing I can do. Sorry.

The problem with that is for whatever reason, the guy who got elected as the highest-ranking member of the Pygmalion is one of the people a lot of people don't trust, you know what I mean? It's a little hard to get people to let you do your job when nobody's...you know. Letting you do your job. That's why Adam and I stepped in to help, and I don't think you can see what's going on on our ship but he just told everybody else that he's the guy hunting these things down.

...it was once brought up that people could be used as bait, but you can see how that's incredibly risky on our part. There's also the part where we only have, what, three days? These things take a little bit of time and effort and everybody's in the middle of a huge clusterfuck at the moment. With our alien-hunter revealing himself, we're thinking it'll lure 'em out. Somebody else suggested we all sleep in clusters of three or so so that we're prepared, but you can see where blood can be shed there, too.

[...there's a curious little pause.] River has the capability of purging the Souvlaki and saving our guys. It takes her a while to actually get with the program and do her job and that's after the Souvlaki take out at least one or two other people. A lot of our key here I think is getting River to help us. You both have databanks and stuff but she's told us that things have been blocked from her memory and not yours. Do you know any reason why? If we can help her unblock memories, maybe we can work something out to "eradicate" the Souvlaki.

Not to mention, he's secretive, but he definitely knows more than we do. He knows more than River does. At this point, I think he's at least managed to narrow down some people. He's trusted a group with this information and is still alive, which suggests that none of them are Souvlaki or he would have died last week. So we have leads and—yeah, we've lost a lot of people to them but each one who's killed has been found and eradicated.

Luke is right. River is our best chance here but we're working with a handicap in place. And—none of us want to die. It's a Souvlaki thing and a human thing. We understand that not purging us will keep us trapped in here with them, but it'd still be isolated, right? There's no reason why your ship has to be involved.

River's database were blocked by Perkins because if they weren't, she would have automatically purged everyone the second she recognized exactly what the intruders were on your ship. Exactly like what's happening now.

No need to be coy, I'm aware of exactly who you're referring to. So what exactly are you asking me to do here? As I said, my parameters are locked. The motive's already been set and programmed in - I can't avoid the ramifications of it. And if it isn't obvious already, River's programming is much more simplistic than mine. If I can't get out of it, she certainly doesn't have the capacity to.

[On the one hand, at least he looks a little sheepish with that.] Sorry. I'm still kind of getting used to how you guys operate. We weren't sure just how much you knew about the Pygmalion and the roles we have and everything.

[He pauses though, sharing a look with Adam to try and find some footing in the conversation. Part of him thinks that at least they have the AI's attention and curiosity, otherwise she could have told them to fuck off a while ago. On the other hand, he has to wonder how far they can push this. So...he thinks quietly for a moment.]

I'm still not too clear why two projects are running at the same time when killing wasn't meant to be the objective of the Cradle Project. We know that part. And I get what it's like to have something set in stone and be unavoidable, but that doesn't mean you can't make some changes along the way. I--[He finally settles for leaning against his desk facing the AI, folding his arms over his chest and closing his eyes a bit.] You've got some of the most incredible people on the Nuwa. You put on the immunity. I think you have the power to take it back off. Have you directly asked your new crew what they would like to do?

[Those are important, but also:] River put us in connection with you this time. And Adam made a point. Jack trusted a group of people with this information and if one of us were an alien we would've already killed him. I've known for almost two weeks, Adam's known for a week. Thursday nights and Friday mornings are usually our killing days around here, so since we haven't really had a chance to do that yet I want to ask you to trust us a little bit. River put us in contact with you. Maybe she can do it again so we can report back to you about what happens on this ship so you can save your crew before it's too late no matter what the outcome is here.

Maybe they're set, but the motives on both ships conflict. You said you told your crew that if neither ship killed, both ships would survive. Here we were told that both ships would be purged if neither ship killed. So if none of us killed—what would happen? These motives can't both be fulfilled, right?

[ Maybe? He looks at Luke helplessly. They're definitely failing here and it's stressful. Sunny take pity. ] Putting on immunity has already messed with one part of our motive, anyway. If both ships had a kill, we were told we'd all continue. The immunity wasn't part of your motive, right? Like Luke said, you can take that off. All we want is something to make both the motives on the ships work.

I can't. More than that, I don't want to. Your ship should have been purged the second those damn aliens were discovered, and the fact that we're offering you all a chance to survive at all is already more than enough. River's trying her best to protect her charges, and I'm doing the same. Your very existence poses a risk to the Nuwa, and if keeping them completely safe from infiltration means jettisoning you out into space and starting the entire Project from scratch, then that's a price I'm willing to pay.

But I'll make you a deal. I can't do anything about Alice purging you all if no one kills on the Pygmalion, and I'm not going to lift the immunity. But maybe if you manage to execute an alien this week, you can get back in contact with me and we can talk about a third option. Use the override if you can't get River to do it - the code's Dr. Lin Earth CHINA119348. Don't share this offer with the rest of the ship - besides, you two seem intelligent enough to handle it on your own, don't you?

Until we meet again, Luke Castellan, Adam Parrish.

[The clouds fade away, replaced by Alice's usual water.]

Edited 2016-08-19 23:41 (UTC)

week 11; friday; luke's room

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