[Video: Wednesday, Week 48] Hopefully we skip past singing 'Daisy Bell'.

[standsentinel]

[The backdrop is a middling familiar one to anyone who's been paying the slightest bit of attention to the goings-on with Salvation, consoles of a futuristic bent: mostly functional, bulkheads: some damaged. Kaidan is leaning up against one of the bits of better-repaired tech, his communicator propped up to let him speak as if giving an interview.

(To the annoyance, somewhere in the multiverse, of one Diana Allers, he seems a lot more open about this one.)]

So, ah, hey there.

This is Kaidan Alenko, since I know we've had some new people wake up since the last time I was on the network. I'm one of the people that's been working on the ship, among other things, and I figured I should let you all know how it's going.

Ah... specifically I'm trying to bring Salvation's ship's AI back online. AIs are kind've a touchy subject back where I'm from, and I imagine that's probably not an isolated experience, so I thought I may as well put this out there so people can get any questions or concerns out now, instead of after they've tried storming the ship and ended up put inside a force field by it.

If there are any newly decanted engineers or other folks with mechanical or electrical skills, we could sure use more hands on this project too. I'm hoping that bringing Salvation back online will let us figure out how best to fix her so we can work on getting home again.

Comments

[video]

[hypospraying]

So this is why I haven't heard from you in awhile. You've been up to your eyeballs in wires and motherboards, haven't you?

[video]

[standsentinel]

Ah, I guess I have, at that. I promise I've still been getting my rest -- I'm not an actual engineer, I think that helps.

[video]

[hypospraying]

Well as long as I don't have to browbeat you into getting a full night's sleep, I guess you can keep doing what you're doing.

[video]

[standsentinel]

The permission's appreciated, ma'am. [Kaidan's teasing, says the crinkle to the corners of his eyes, but he does do an excellent military bearing when he wants to.]

If I get her online and there's anything you'd like me to ask her, let me know.

[Video]

[catchingflies]

Oh, hey, right, I talked to that gal, too. The AI. Salvation. Whatever.

She was kinda weird.

[Have the most unhelpful reply ever, Kaidan. Sorry about that.]

You're really tryin' to get her back up, huh? But then, y'know, she might... actually have security t'throw at people when they mess up.

[He also remembers being thrown in spaceship-jail and then possibly dying when the ship crashed, and he doesn't want that to happen again.]

[Video]

[standsentinel]

Weird is putting it mildly.

[Kaidan's own interactions with the AI were more informative, but no less bizarre. His hand rubs idly at the nape of his neck.]

But I think she genuinely was programmed to try and get things back the way they're supposed to be, which would include getting us back into our home realities.

[Video]

[catchingflies]

You don't think she'd, y'know. Remember us or anythin', right? If you turned her back on?

[He can just picture it now, that weird woman computer thing spotting him and herding him back into his little cell.]

Re: [Video]

[standsentinel]

Hard to say. I mean, the timeline outside the ship sure changed. But the ship itself...

[He smirks at the teenager, not unkindly.]

Guess you'd better be nice to the powerful sentient computer program.

[Video]

[inductionport]

I must be going crazy because I could have sworn you said youwere trying to bring an AI back online.

[Video]

[standsentinel]

Yeah, I can pretty much feel the Council trying to break through space and time to yell at me.

[Kaidan's expression is a mix of ruefulness and relief -- Tali was, apparently, one of the people he was hoping would respond.]

But I've been on the ship in her heyday -- there was this time travel thing, long story -- and she's complex enough that there's no way we can puzzle out how to prioritize repairs in anything less than a lifetime without some guidance. She seems to have been programmed with a fairly clear set of primary protocols, at least?

Which, OK, I heard from Shepard about what resulted in the Reapers, but I think her architects actually had a functioning brain, unlike the Leviathans.

[Video]

[inductionport]

That doesn't make it safe. We should be keeping it shut off, not trying to turn it back on! It's too dangerous!

[Video]

[standsentinel]

I won't say you're wrong... but I'm not actually sure we have another choice.

[Although the hopeful look across the console says that if Tali, actual engineer rather than part-time tinkerer out of necessity, has a work around, he's all for hearing it.]

If it was just a matter of we fix this or we don't go home, that's one thing. But there's things tearing holes in the multiverse, destroying entire realities, and Salvation was designed to help people figure out how to stop that. If we do nothing, then we're dooming whole realities of people to a fate worse than the Reapers.

[Audio]

[nodavinci]

If any more idiots storm the ship, we're leaving them in their box.

[Audio]

[standsentinel]

If any more idiots storm the ship, I won't have time to get them out of the box.

[Audio]

[nodavinci]

I see no down side to that.

[Audio]

[standsentinel]

They'll start to smell, after a while. Unless you're planning on getting Salvation to--

[Repod them, Kaidan doesn't finish, as some tact belatedly appears to remind him about the situation with Pepper.]

Actually, she could probably drop in some ration bars. They'll be fine.

[femshep]

Do we have any idea what the hell this thing's capable of? [ She sounds wary, but a hell of a lot more open-minded than when he tried to win her over on the Authorities. Her main concern isn't the nature of the AI on the scale of trustworty to rampant, but more, how much damage the ship could do if Kaidan did manage to 'wake it up'.

Because there are quite a few people left in pods that she'd take particular offense to seeing any kind of harm. ]

[standsentinel]

Not... as much as I'd like.

[Kaidan, the constant overthinker and keeper of a way out, is unhappy with the amount of uncertainty? We are shocked. Shocked. He scrubs a hand through his hair as if hoping that will yield some answers.]

I do know that Salvation's the reason we're all still alive, and some of her primary programming is all tied up in keeping us that way. Find out what's shredding the multiverse, and get people back safely where they came from seem to be what she was programmed for.

And, frankly, there's no realistic way we're getting the ship running without the AI. It's like EDI but way, way moreso.

[femshep]

[ Getting people back home. Something about that's not quite as reassuring as he likely means it to be. Shepard... Well, if Tali's any judge? Shepard doesn't exactly have much to go back to.

But Kaidan does, and plenty of others here do too. Shepard always has been one to take one for the team.

So she asks: ]

What can I do to help?

[video]

[heartofasun]

I've had some experience with AI's and I'd be happy to help. Is there a way we could directly connect to her systems so we could talk to her before we bring her up completely?

Just in case she tries to vaporize us or shunt all the oxygen out.

[When it came to crazy AI's, well the Andromeda crew had their fill]

[video]

[standsentinel]

Ah, yeah, good idea. I think we probably won't have a choice to do it gradually, given the condition of the systems, but if you want to help out with a slow startup, I'll take all hands that know what they're doing.

Or, ah, can fake it. You're the one who solved the power crunch, so I'll take unorthodox too... although easy on the consoles this time, maybe?

Re: [video]

[heartofasun]

Don't worry, I wont be trying that any time soon. It worked fine back home!

Is there any way we can find out more about what happened to Salvation before we wake her up? She might be..... [Trance bit her lip, trying to find a delicate word] ...crazy. A lot of ships who lost their crew, it's traumatic. Especially after crashing and being damaged and offline for so long. She's probably mentally fragile.

At the very least we should probably disconnect her from the environmental systems and internal defenses. And the airlocks.

[audio]

[verbose_evoker]

[Putting this on audio to sidestep all of the questions because those have been rampant ever since V got here.] Though unfamiliar with an 'AI', I may be able to assist in reconstructions of a previously-extant one using my cantrips. It is not as if I have anything more productive to do with them.

[audio]

[standsentinel]

I'll take all skilled hands I can get. Are you a programmer, or more on the physical engineering side of things?

[The audio also means that Kaidan can't get a look at Vaarsuvius and come to logical conclusions about medieval-era technology.]

I'm hoping the AI -- artificial intelligence -- is still intact, it's just a matter of bringing her server banks back online.

[audio]

[verbose_evoker]

I have neither skill set; I am a wizard. It should be noted that I do not actually require the skill due to my abilities, and am simply offering the service of magically repairing several small objects per day. The number may rise if I find the demand for higher-level spells to exceed my considerable supply.

If you have any questions regarding my abilities, please consolidate them into forms that can be answered in multitude with a single response.