Housepets!

"UNIDENTIFIABLE PERSONNEL , SELF IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED" the robot spoke up for the first time in a deep, growly voice.

Looking over at the machine, she tries to stand straighter, holding onto the side of the pod for support with one hand, the other still across her chest. "Epsilon. ...right, you probably want my identification number. 228." the stranger states, her voice a cold monotone.

Now that she's outside the tube, two things are far easier to spot. firstly, she has exposed cybernetics everywhere, and her fur being damp reveals dozens of scars that would normally be hidden. Secondly, she's kinda in little more than underwear. you might want to help her find some proper clothes.

Buster wrote:Looking over at the machine, she tries to stand straighter, holding onto the side of the pod for support with one hand, the other still across her chest. "Epsilon. ...right, you probably want my identification number. 228." the stranger states, her voice a cold monotone.

Now that she's outside the tube, two things are far easier to spot. firstly, she has exposed cybernetics everywhere, and her fur being damp reveals dozens of scars that would normally be hidden. Secondly, she's kinda in little more than underwear. you might want to help her find some proper clothes.

"228" the robot replied after a moment of silence "this vessel is no longer suitable for bio life form, you have 1 hour 55 minutes to evacuate"

Taking the machine choosing to refer to her by her prisoner identification number, rather than name, to mean it was probably a new model guardbot, she nodded. "Understood. Which way to the evacuation ship? This thing doesn't have pods. We looked."

Conall's eyes flick to Corp's words on his screen and he throws a quick signal, one of his secret signs, at his brother without looking up.
"Conall says he's already done tha', sir." Cailean translates without elaborating. Once Corp's attention is elsewhere again the border collie leans towards Sarah.
"Mind ye, he didnae exactly say it in tha' tone o' voice." he murmurs under his breath to her, hiding a grin.

Over at the computer, Conall frowns and leans forward towards the screen, reading and typing intently, as code scrolls and lines flash.

Buster wrote:Taking the machine choosing to refer to her by her prisoner identification number, rather than name, to mean it was probably a new model guardbot, she nodded. "Understood. Which way to the evacuation ship? This thing doesn't have pods. We looked."

the robot paused again, looked around the room, then looked back at "228", and said "I require the identity and record of the remaining survivors before an extraction vessel can be provided."

Epsilon looks over at the other pods, and is about to answer when she realizes she can't actually remember who is in which one... which should be impossible, her memory is usually flawless. caught off guard, she gives a vaguely coherent half answer that seems to form into blaming cryosleep sickness for memory problems near the end.

short on other options, she shoves her own empty pod out of the way, so that it's easier to get at the medical console wedged behind it. it would at least have everyone's medical files in it, even if it lacked their prison records.

Hlaoroo wrote:Conall's eyes flick to Corp's words on his screen and he throws a quick signal, one of his secret signs, at his brother without looking up.
"Conall says he's already done tha', sir." Cailean translates without elaborating. Once Corp's attention is elsewhere again the border collie leans towards Sarah.
"Mind ye, he didnae exactly say it in tha' tone o' voice." he murmurs under his breath to her, hiding a grin.

Over at the computer, Conall frowns and leans forward towards the screen, reading and typing intently, as code scrolls and lines flash.

Sarah chuckled and tapped Cailean on the muzzle. "Ne'er und'restimate the Chief," she said quietly. ""Ah'm more glad Conall cannae hear Silv'r an' the Lieutenant."

Liz gave a quiet chuckle when the AI called Lewis a credit to her. ”Well I’d certainly hope he’d be a credit, I raised him since he was a kid.” She said, as Lewis subtly rolled his eyes in the background. ”But anyways, you’re certain you have no idea how you got past the firewalls? Because Command isn’t going to be happy that the programming that’s supposed to stop criminals from gaining the ability to mess with people’s mind was circumvented by a two hour old AI who has no idea how he did it.”

"I wish I could make it that easy for you, Captain, I really do," Silverwolf said honestly from wherever he currently was. "Perhaps the speakers in the holodeck are working for me? Or perhaps I am only imagining this conversation. Hm, that would be something. Or perhaps it is the universe playing a trick. I don't know. But I would say something if the latter. Lewis, my friend, I can always tell what ride is best suited for people. For couples it's easy. The big wheel or the tunnel. A sharing ride.
Single male adults usually come for the fast rides. For you, however, I could not make such a guess. You came alone in a group but I sensed you wanted a sharing ride. Find that person to share with, Lewis. Take it from someone who's just found out his life lies between when someone comes in and when they leave, hmm?" The voice chuckled. "It's already number one on the list I wish I'd done..."

Chris made some slight adjustments to the mounting bracket before sliding them into place and fitting the retaining pin in its rightful spot. He hooked up a couple power cables to it and gave it one more go around, making sure that it rotated smoothly and that the connectors lined up correctly when it did rotate. He held it up to MT, "I believe this belongs to you," he said with a smile.

Mt picked up the device, returning the smile with his eye lights, before installing the module holder in his left arm. He tested it out. It seemed to rotate properly. He set it to the test module and turned it on. The test module was very simple with no real practical use. It produced a holographic screen with the text "Hello World" on it. He rotated it to the shield module and turned it on. A basic hardlight shield appeared on his arm. He turned it off. "Thank you, Chris. It works brilliantly. I hope Corp will not mind this upgrade."

Buster wrote:Epsilon looks over at the other pods, and is about to answer when she realizes she can't actually remember who is in which one... which should be impossible, her memory is usually flawless. caught off guard, she gives a vaguely coherent half answer that seems to form into blaming cryosleep sickness for memory problems near the end.

short on other options, she shoves her own empty pod out of the way, so that it's easier to get at the medical console wedged behind it. it would at least have everyone's medical files in it, even if it lacked their prison records.

Having skimmed through the files, the robot returned to the pods, and with each touch of its palm on the pods, the slowly opened, waking the survivors inside, until they were all awakened, then, it stood in silent, observing everyone.

"I don't think he'll mind. It's more defensive than anything right now but if you need anything more offensive. Well I'm sure we can figure out something." He grinned at that last sentence, somewhat mischievously.

"Aye. Ah think it's better tha' wye."

At the computer, Conall sits back for a few moments, watching the screen. He flexes his fingers and cracks his knuckles before signing to Cailean who translates aloud for Corp and the Captain.

"Conall says he's patched Silverwolf intae th' main computer in a quarantined partition which has bought him some time. Silverwolf's code is corrupt an' degradin' fast though an' Conall cannae guarantee he can save him though. But he's gonna try his hardest."

The older collie nods as Cailean speaks and then turns back to his typing.

MT tried to more fully mimic the grin. It was the first time his retractable teeth were fully visible. The grin that resulted was horrifying, as the literal guillotine-like razor blades that were his teeth extended. They were apparently meant for combat. "Why Chris, are you offering to upgrade my weapons too?" He retracted the blade-teeth and his eyes returned to normal. "At some point I might take you up on that offer. But right now, I don't think Corp will appreciate that."

(wasn't planning on having too many of them survive, but i need a stall tactic...)

Some of the pods don't open, a few have deceased occupants, others open but the occupants immediately collapse. it looks like the healthier of the survivors are going to need to carry the others.

Epsilon seems to be focused on trying to force one of the jammed ones open.

the robot approached the jammed door, its left arm sparked with electricity then formed a short energy wrist blade as it came next to Epsilon
"Move away from the cryopod" it demanded.

Lewis seemed baffled by what the AI said. ”Are, are you saying I need a girlfriend?” He asked, confusion clear in his voice. ”Um, thank you for the advice, but I’ve never been interested in romance. I’ve always felt kinda fine by myself. Plus, I have no idea how I’d even start a relationship, let alone find someone I’m willing to spend so much time with.”
Meanwhile, Liz was more interested in what the brothers had to say. She put a finger to her lips, indicating that they should be quiet, before walking over to stand next to them. ”What was that about his code being corrupted?” She whispered, not wanting to alert Silverwolf to the fact anything was wrong.

"You start a conversation with 'hello'," Silverwolf's voice chuckled. "Ask Dan or Keeva. And don't be afraid to say it when you wish, Lewis. It's the advice I can give. I sense more questions, Captain?"
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"They'll sort this out," Keeva told Andy. "Lets go get you something fudgelike, eh?" She took Danny and the youngster off.

Legotron123 wrote:Meanwhile, Liz was more interested in what the brothers had to say. She put a finger to her lips, indicating that they should be quiet, before walking over to stand next to them. ”What was that about his code being corrupted?” She whispered, not wanting to alert Silverwolf to the fact anything was wrong.

Conall flashes his brother an "I don't have time for this" secret sign before answering the captain's question, his paws a blur.
"NPCs in the program are technically non-sentient AIs. There's an error somewhere in Silverwolf's limitation clause which has allowed him tae learn frae his own programmin' an' frae people usin' the simulation an' that's caused him tae develop intae a sentient AI. The simulation program recognised this as abnormal an' tried tae remove him frae the simulation an' quarantine him.
Th' holodeck computer interpreted this as the simulation program actin' tae modify files withoot permission sae it quarantined th' simulation program which locked up th' computer because it's tryin' tae run an' tae block itself at the same time. It's also tryin' tae delete Silverwolf but his code is actively tryin' tae repair itself since he's a sentient AI. The ship's antivirus programs saw all th' infightin' an are tryin' tae delete Silverwolf an' quarantine the holodeck an' th' simulation program at th' same time an' all th' while Silverwolf's codin' is tryin' tae escape th' attack an' rebuild itself. Basically it's a perfect storm o' computers fightin' themselves an' Ah hae tae try tae make them play nice before they manage tae delete Silverwolf sae Ah can hae time tae repair him properly." Cailean explains, translating the blurred paws into words.

TWO DAYS LATER

As Liz looked out the window from her seat on the Bridge, glancing across the pale blue horizon that marked the inside of a warp gate, as well the exit gate in the distance, she couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. They had a a lot of stuff to do when they got to Earth, from stopping that Insignia impersonation plot, to having MT checked out by the AI council, figuring out what happened on that prison ship they found, finding out what the deal was with the cyborg they found, not to mention all the more mundane stuff they had to do, like dropping off cargo and picking up passengers. No one would blame her if she just tried to enjoy the quiet while it lasted. She tried to shake off her worries as she gazed upon the blue stillness of the horizon. The blue stillness that suddenly started rippling. Before she even had time to think about what that might mean, alarms started blaring, and as she looked back towards the exit gate, she couldn’t help but notice it was getting smaller.
”Captain! The exit gate is collapsing!” One of the bridge technicians cried out. ”Someone must have destroyed the stabilizers!”
Insignia, she thought. Only two groups had the power to pull off a stunt like this, and this sort of thing didn’t fit the Barbarox’s usual tactics. ”Can we turn around, maybe try to make it back to the entrance gate?
”No ma’am. The gate is going to collapse in just under a minute, and the entrance is at least three hours away. We’re trapped.
Liz sighed frustratedly. ”Alert the rest of the ship. Tell everyone to prepare for impact.” She ordered, though she knew it wasn’t going to help. Being inside a tear in reality when it collapsed wasn’t the sort of thing people tended to survive. Sure, every quantum physicist in the galaxy had their own theory on what would happen to you, but since every attempt at testing those theories had come up with nothing, Liz didn’t exactly have high hopes about their chances of survival. ”Lewis, can you come over here?” She asked, as a member of the bridge crew started counting down the seconds until the gate collapsed.
Lewis walked over, clearly confused by the Captains use of informal language. ”Um, what is it you need me for captain?”
Liz smiled sadly, before pulling him into a big bear hug. ”I just wanted to spend my last living moments hugging my son.” Lewis was still for a second, before he started hugging his mother back, all while the bridge technician counted ”5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN BEACON OF HOPE.