Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
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Would that mean that a Third Trigger would be 'Jailbroken'?
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Commercial Break (Worm / Slut Life) (Borderline SFW)
- Thread starter Jonakhensu
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5ColouredWalker
Know what you're doing yet?
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No, we know because Contessa couldn't path it. The explanation is her probably double triggering in the locker.
edale
Versed in the lewd.
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Easy for me, but then again, I have Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, so my natural sleep cycle is actually a lot closer to a 32 hour day than a 24 hour one.
Also, in absence of environmental factors (such as a day/night cycle), the human body naturally falls into a 28-32 hour sleep cycle.
I swear one of these days I'm gonna just bookmark this, so one of the many times I have to dig it up I don't have to spend 1/2 an hour trying to find it again...
Not only does he say that Taylor Second Triggered, he says dual-Triggers are common (well, "not uncommon"; a slight, but distinct difference).Venom 29.7 said:
At least my slip was from literally next chapter, and not 4-5 chapters down the line. Letting something major, or from too far in the future, slip would be... Embarrassing.
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The Unicorn
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We do? Where? I quick check for "second trigger", found Dr. Mother and Numberman explaining the issues involved in 29.7 and Numberman telling Taylor
Which I note is not definite but is AFAIK the only basis for her having had a second trigger.
And in 29.9
So no Contessa didn't fail to path it, she wasn't there to try. Numberman thought she might have had two triggers at once, but even if she didn't couldn't guarantee a second trigger because Contessa wasn't there to run a path that would guarantee one.
Google search
Code:
site:https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ "second trigger"Except immediately after he said she's had a second trigger he states that it's "very possible" she had one, i.e he isn't actually certain. He also goes on to explain that without Contessa they can't actually be sure about if a second trigger is possible or not.
You do have a point about dual Trigers being "not uncommon", which I forgot and does make it more resonable to assume Taylor had one, but still doesn't make it definite she did in canon.
5ColouredWalker
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I stand very corrected, I also wonder what path she was running that lead her to play dead. Presumably she was doing something to hide from Taylor until she could execute her because I don't remember her being mentioned between then and the very end. (Though that would require her reading the script.... Which I'd believe.)
Something else that can be done is simply posting the bits into the Spacebattles WOG thread...
Something else that can be done is simply posting the bits into the Spacebattles WOG thread...
The Unicorn
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No path, she encountered Mantellum who shut down her power and escaped by pure luck.
5ColouredWalker
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Yes, but what was she running so that she disapeared between Mantellum and killing Taylor?
necrolectric
[Lazy Catgirl Enthusiast]
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"Path to not getting taken over by Khepri."
edale
Versed in the lewd.
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https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-20#post-44301909
https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/7ysdpr/spoilers_for_worm_what_if_taylor/ (WoG's source)
Wildbow talking about what Taylor's power would have been had she not Second Triggered.
Wildbow said:
Does that convince you that Taylor actually Second Triggered in The Locker?Wildbow said:
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Czlyydwr Llrngwl
"Sell ya a door Learn gull" Czly/Celly for short.
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Does it really matter? The whole thing came out of a minor misunderstanding where someone read a comment about people around Taylor during the show possibly getting triggers from buds as whether Taylor might second trigger. Whether she did or can or not has no bearing on the actual question, and for the purposes of the fic she has the canon powers whatever trigger(s) they might have resulted from.
Since Taylor is planning to do the Magical Girl thing and is Taylor she probably will get enough new data in to have QA bud, and probably multiple times, which leads to the question of what the new powers might be. Canon had Aiden the bird-controller and WoG says Danny would have commanded rats if he's triggered instead of QA jumping to Taylor, but just changing what animals are affected is pretty dull past the first time, especially with a whole new paradigm for data to be collected with outright magical power in play. Obvious candidates include some or all of the things that can be controlled via remotes in the SL CYOA and emotion powers similar to what Taylor and presumably her MG team mate(s)/mentor/whatever will be using, possibly emotion control not unlike Cherie's as a counter to such abilities, and whatever power source the current MG villain are using, but what else might show up?
Since Taylor is planning to do the Magical Girl thing and is Taylor she probably will get enough new data in to have QA bud, and probably multiple times, which leads to the question of what the new powers might be. Canon had Aiden the bird-controller and WoG says Danny would have commanded rats if he's triggered instead of QA jumping to Taylor, but just changing what animals are affected is pretty dull past the first time, especially with a whole new paradigm for data to be collected with outright magical power in play. Obvious candidates include some or all of the things that can be controlled via remotes in the SL CYOA and emotion powers similar to what Taylor and presumably her MG team mate(s)/mentor/whatever will be using, possibly emotion control not unlike Cherie's as a counter to such abilities, and whatever power source the current MG villain are using, but what else might show up?
SystemSearcher
"I fought the door and the door won"
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One of the magic systems is math-based, so... QA the magical math engine that can do literally anything because it found math?
Kade Lanik
Getting some practice in, huh?
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It was mentioned to be Nanoha-style, which means even if the magic system is math based it still relies on a core for power. No core or source, no magic.
Czlyydwr Llrngwl
"Sell ya a door Learn gull" Czly/Celly for short.
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Nanoha-style definitely does have artificial mana generators, though, and technologically controlled spell effects. If they're normally too big to carry around, well, they're not too big to be carried by a continent-sized shard like QA and dimensional fuckery to put the effect generated here onto the target there is standard operating procedure.
SystemSearcher
"I fought the door and the door won"
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And if it wasn't possible to introduce said core into someone, Taylor probably wouldn't have been offered that.
The Unicorn
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"Path to avoid any of the case 53s", hoping that that would keep her out of range of Mentallum (who she can't path).
That works, my point was never that she didn't, just that it's never explicitly stated in canon.
Preparation 2.2
Jonakhensu
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Preparation 2.2
"Where are we headed this time?" Taylor asked as she and Cindy made their way through the city.
"We're heading to a small airfield just outside the city limits," Cindy explained. "We need to make sure we can safely get you off the planet, so the scientists found someone to check, and we're heading out to meet them." Looking over to the younger girl, she added, "If everything checks out, we'll be moving you over from there, which is why I wanted you to pack up your insects. I'll be taking them over once you get there."
"And it's far enough away that we need a plane?" Taylor asked.
"We don't," Cindy replied. "We're going to be using another space station."
Taylor nodded in understanding. "I suppose it would be easier without worrying about me losing control of any insects nearby or anything."
"Pretty much," Cindy agreed. Looking ahead, she sighed. "Damn it, I forgot they're having a Three Kings Day festival on this road. Come on, we can cut through this alley to go around it," she said, pulling Taylor to the side and down a shadowed alley.
"So, why do we need to walk?" Taylor asked.
"Mostly because it's a nice day and it isn't far enough to worry about taking a car," Cindy replied.
Taylor huffed in frustration. "I meant, why doesn't Slut Life have another satellite we could use?"
"We do," Cindy replied. "But the one you're staying on is our quarantine satellite, so we keep its access point away from the others. It has much higher security than most of the others do."
"Put your hands in the air," a gruff voice ordered from behind them. "Don't turn around!" he shouted as Cindy began to do so. "I'm mugging you! Do what I say or I'll shoot!"
"Really?" Cindy asked incredulously without turning. "Why?"
"Shut up!" the man snapped. "And give me your purses!" Neither girl moved, as neither had a purse. "Fine, give me your wallets, damn it!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cindy asked as she slowly reached into a pocket for her wallet.
"I didn't ask for your advice!" the man snapped irritably.
"No, really," Cindy began. "I work for Slut Life. If you're that hard up for money, I can work something out with you."
"Oh, no," the man said warningly. "You're not getting me involved with that filth!"
"I really think you should reconsider," Taylor spoke up. "You should probably take her offer or leave."
"Oh, and why should I do that, girl?" the man demanded. From behind him came an eerie sound, like scales clicking together and the sounds of millions of tiny feet stepping over everything in their path and a great number of wings flapping in the air.
"Because if you don't, I might get angry," Taylor replied. "And I don't think you want that." Without turning her head, she added, "You might want to look behind you."
Keeping his weapon trained on his targets, the would-be mugger looked over his shoulder. "What in the name of all that is Holy is that?!" he demanded in shock.
"That would be the forty-nine million, eight hundred twenty-six thousand, five hundred and eight insects I managed to collect since you started mugging us," Taylor replied calmly. "Now, would you like to reconsider mugging us, or should we see what that many insects and spiders can do to to a human? They're faster than you, after all."
The man hesitated until something landed on him and crawled down the back of his shirt. He quickly ran away, screaming incoherently about Beelzebub taking the form of a girl and trying to swallow his soul.
"Hey guys, I'm Hackerman," a dark haired man spoke into a camera drone. "Today I am going to show you how to hack a biological supercomputer on an alternate Earth. Normally, you would need a modem. The modem is what allows you to bypass the grid relay and penetrate the barrier through the sixth dimension. However," he gestured across the room, the camera panning to show a girl sitting strapped to a chair with a colander strapped to her head, "we have access to a primary relay node, so we will be using that instead."
"Excuse me, Hackerman?" a man called from the side. The camera panned further, showing a man in a lab coat. "Is there a reason you want to go with a physical link? We know where the probe is originating from, after all."
The camera shifted to show Hackerman again, who was looking into it quizzically. "Why would we want to bother with a networked connection when we have a physical link?"
"Well, it does have a lower chance of causing Miss Hebert's brain to explode," the scientist replied.
"Don't I have any say in this?" Taylor asked. "I'd really rather not explode."
"Not really," Hackerman stated as he began connecting a few last minute cables. "Using a direct link will prevent signal loss or forming a connection with the wrong system. Obviously."
"Now, I admit I'm not an expert at hacking," the scientist protested, "but computer science has advanced significantly since whenever it was you came from. I'm sure a physical connection isn't necessary."
Hackerman ignored the man, beginning to type on his keyboard. After a few seconds, a modulated female voice came through the speaker. "Please insert external drive."
"Yeah," Hackerman said sleazily. "I'll insert my external drive." Turning to the camera, he added, "Ladies." A few more seconds of typing passed before the camera view switched to show Taylor again.
"What's happening?" Taylor asked as a device whirred to life above her.
"It's inserting the external drive," Hackerman explained. "The communication array is good, but a physical connection will provide the maximum bandwidth while having the lowest risk of signal loss."
"Ow!" Taylor yelped as the needle pierced her skull. "What the hell was that?"
"Just inserting the external drive," Hackerman called back. "It should be at the correct depth in three, two, one."
The camera showed one of the computer screens flashing data too quickly to be seen without freeze frame. "The mainframe is going to try to stop us from making a direct link to the kernel, so we have to bypass it by forcing a segmentation fault. Now, this is a capital offense on most planets, so make sure to hide your proxy."
"No it isn't," the scientist exclaimed. "That would just alert the computer you're trying to hack that you're there!"
Hackerman ignored him as the computer terminal began beeping. "We've been detected, and it's trying to force us out of the system. I'll have to go into hardcore hacking mode." Sitting back from the terminal for a moment, he turned and began donning a glove with a partial keyboard attached.
"What the hell are you doing now?" the scientist demanded.
"Can't talk, busy hacking," Hackerman countered as he continued typing on one keyboard followed by another, watching three screens simultaneously as loud syntho-pop played in the background.
Finally, the main computer flashed a message. [Communications module active. Send message?]
"Neato!" Hackerman cheered, pumping his gloved fist. "There we go, now, let's just make sure the conversation protocols are correct." Turning to the scientist, he asked, "What did you want me to tell it, again?"
The scientist sighed in frustration. "We want to know if it can safely be moved away from the Earth."
Nodding, Hackerman hit a few more keys before sitting back and waiting for a response.
[Negation. Query.]
"It looks like there is an issue," Hackerman replied. "It also wants more information."
"Before we continue, I have to ask, is there any danger for Miss Hebert currently?" the scientist asked.
Hackerman looked at a few gauges before answering, "Temperature, voltage, and amperage are all reading nominal. Her blood pressure is a little high, but she should be fine."
"That's easy for you to say," Taylor griped. "You don't have a needle sticking into your brain!"
"Alright," the scientist decided. "We've come this far already. We may as well continue. It'll be just a short while longer, alright, Miss Hebert?" Walking around to where Hackerman sat, he stooped so that he could reach the keyboard. "Are you seriously still using a keyboard from the 1980s?" he asked looking it over. "Whatever, let me type in some of the generalities. Just get this thing ready to send the information." Moments later, the message was sent.
[Interest. Query.]
The scientist looked at the response in shock. "What's it saying now?"
"It's interested in going, but needs permission," Hackerman said while checking a few more screens.
[Acquiescence. Excitement.]
"And it looks like we're good to go," Hackerman said with finality. "Call up whoever you have set to move her, and we can pack this all up."
"Ah, yes..." the scientist said hesitantly. "It may take a few hours for Captain Andreyasn to be available, and I believe there may be a few last minute details to pin down. Something about needing a fairly significant amount of mass to use as fuel."
"Oh, that will be easy to take care of," Hackerman replied casually. "We'll just need to leave the connection open until then. We can find out what can be used for fuel then."
"Do you mean I'm going to need to sit here, with a needle in my head, for hours?!" Taylor demanded from where she was strapped into a chair. "God damn it! What am I supposed to do now?!"
Hackerman looked over at Taylor. "By the way, why did you want to ensure there were no insects anywhere near us?" The girl just growled in response.
Cindy made her way back onto the satellite after getting notice that the attempt to contact Taylor's supercomputer was successful and that it would be safe to return. Figuring that Taylor was probably starting to go a bit stir crazy, she had picked up a box of crickets at a pet store while on her way back from retrieving some paperwork that Taylor needed to go through. From the sound of things, she could probably use the distraction, as they were waiting on somebody able to move the computer being available.
"Hello, everyone!" she called as she made her way into the room. There was computer equipment strewn about haphazardly and off to one side, Taylor was sitting, strapped to a chair with a device attached to her head.
"Hello, Cindy!" Taylor called, not turning to look in her direction. "I'd wave or something, but I'm a little tied up right now."
The man in the labcoat, one Analyst Cuypers, huffed irritably and said, "Come now, Miss Hebert, as we've explained several times, the restraints are there for your protection."
"I get that," Taylor agreed dryly. "I really don't want the needle in my head to do any more damage than it already has."
"The what?!" Cindy demanded. "Why the hell does she have a needle in her head?!"
The scruffily dressed man behind the computers replied, "A direct connection was the most effective option we had." He looked off to the side before adding, "Obviously." Looking back, he continued, "The neural mapping sensor grid she is wearing made sure we'd use the least damaging entry vector."
"Whatever you say," Taylor called back. "Anyways, I've got a box full of crickets to play with so… any requests?"
The man Cindy knew could only be Hackerman adjusted his glasses and asked, "What kind of request?"
"Is there any music you'd like me to try to play?" Taylor asked.
"You can use crickets to play music?" Cuypers cut in. "Fascinating."
"I wouldn't want to listen to it," Hackerman began, looking up from one of his monitors, "but would you be able to emulate a modem with them?"
"A what?" Cuypers asked. "Is that some sort of primitive boondoggle from your time?"
"It is a method of sending information as sound," Hackerman explained. "I read a paper on some guy sending a heavily detailed message through a voice only communication before. Started a war or something."
"I don't know," Taylor answered with a wince. "There's a lot of sustained high notes in that noise. I'm not sure I could replicate it accurately enough."
Hackerman shrugged. "It's something to work towards, at least. You can always start with Morse Code."
Taylor looked like she was giving the idea some thought. "I'll give that a try." Pitching her voice a little higher, she asked, "Did you bring anything else for me to work on?"
"Having your crickets produce music won't strain your concentration?" Cuypers asked incredulously.
"Not as far as I can tell," Taylor replied. "It might be different if I were using a whole swarm, but I didn't have any problems earlier today."
"How many insects were you controlling?" Cuypers asked excitedly.
Deciding to cut in before things could devolve into technical talk, Cindy cut in, "She was controlling a lot of them. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to go over the details once you start studying her properly." Holding up a tablet, she added, "I figure she might want to take the AI design survey while she can't do anything else. That way, it'll be ready for her when she gets started."
The Analyst sighed. "Very well. I suppose we can go over this in more detail later."
"So," Taylor called. "Want to come over here so I don't have to keep shouting?"
Cindy blushed slightly at her slip. "Oh, right, just give me a moment." Picking her way around the tangled wires littering the floor, she made her way over to her charge. Settling herself next to Taylor, she tapped on the tablet to activate the screen and began, "The first question is fairly simple. Do you have a specific AI you would like to emulate?"
"Not that I can think of," Taylor replied. "I never really kept up on science fiction." Slowly the crickets began chirping in tune, starting with a slow rendition of Do-Re-Mi.
"No problem," Cindy replied. "That just means you'll need to do the rest of the survey." Clearing her throat and waggling the tablet for effect, she continued. "First question. Which is more important to you? Loyalty or obedience?"
"My first reaction is to say obedience," Taylor replied. "But that could lead to even stupid orders, made in the heat of the moment being followed. Sometimes you need to go against somebody's wishes to help them, so… Yeah, I have to go with loyalty being more important."
"Right," Cindy said, making a mark on the screen. "Next they want you to list five activities you enjoy."
"I enjoy reading, looking through forums, cooking," Taylor thought for a moment before continuing, "I think I like exercising, and music is fun, too."
"All right," Cindy replied, making a few notations. "Now it wants to know which style you'd prefer, anticipating your needs or waiting for orders?"
After a moment, Taylor replied, "I'd definitely prefer anticipation. It's a lot less creepy that way."
Hackerman scoffed. "You haven't seen a properly optimized helper AI, then. Very helpful, but very creepy."
"Oh, definitely," Cuypers agreed. "You never go full anticipation." After a moment, he added, "Without the proper safeguards, that type usually goes rampant and tries to kill you to help you."
"Let's avoid that!" Taylor yelped.
"I'll add that to the notes," Cindy replied. "Now, I've got another three screens worth of questions to go through before Captain Andreyasn gets here.
Captain Andreyasn grumbled as he stood before Bob Ross. Ross, for his part, was watching the scientist carefully. "Is there a problem with the assignment, Captain Andreyasn?"
The blue clad scientist shook his head. "Nothing is wrong with the assignment. I just don't understand why they don't want me to wear my epaulets."
Glancing at his computer screen for a moment, Ross replied, "They probably don't want you to have antimatter near Miss Hebert."
Kevyn looked from Bob Ross to one of his shoulders, where an epaulet was floating and back. "I'm not sure I see the issue. They let me into the Mad Scientist meetings with them, after all."
Ross nodded. "Yes, they do. That's because you've needed to use them several times already and have shown that you will, typically, use them responsibly." With a dark chuckle, he added, "Besides, do you really think that's the most dangerous thing in those meetings?"
"So, if that's not the issue, then what? The containment is entirely safe."
"Mostly, it's because the scientists assigned to Miss Hebert aren't sure how they'll react to the mild warping of reality caused by the interdimensional probe poking into her brain," Ross explained.
Andreyasn thought for a moment before asking, "But they want me to use billions of nanoscopic wormholes to transport the girl and her computer across the galaxy?"
"Do your wormholes use antimatter?" Ross asked, already knowing the answer from looking at his screen.
"No," Andreyasn admitted.
"Do they, as an intended feature, explode violently?" Ross pressed.
"No," Andreyasn answered again, not particularly caring for this line of testing.
"Have they been tested with interdimensional phenomena?"
Holding up a finger to illustrate his point, Andreyasn stated, "In some ways they are interdimensional phenomena."
Ross nodded his agreement. "Now, we're starting to get to their point. What happens when your wormholes fail?"
"Most of the energy used to generate them is lost, due to the way the wormholes collapse," Andreyasn explained, "Since the conversion to standing gravitic waves is a fairly stable process, nothing would happen to the subjects involved, other than the already accounted for loss of mass. It'd only be deadly, and then only to the participants, if someone actively prevented the wormholes from forming correctly."
"So, your epaulets likely fail dangerous, being weapons," Ross began, "while your wormholes fail safe? At least for the surrounding area?"
"Okay, I get it already," Andreyasn complained mildly. "I suppose that does bring up why you're so concerned about them now."
"Well," Ross began, smiling widely, "the momentary failure of several magnetic fields in Miss Hebert's vicinity when Hackerman established communication with the computer didn't help our opinion of you having them near her. Now, I know you have a Laz-5 back up, but Miss Hebert does not. If she dies, you won't get paid, and we'll complain to your wife about you taking unnecessary risks again."
Andreyasn sat in silence for a moment before standing. "If you'll excuse me, I should probably swap out to my safer low profile power armor."
Bob Ross nodded genially. "You do that." He watched as Andreyasn shakily made his way out of the room before commenting, "I hope the video of that goes over well at their next meeting." He was always happy to help his more scientifically minded peers get one over on one of the younger upstarts, especially when it was done in the name of safety.
"And we're done," Cindy announced, clicking the submit button on the AI design questionnaire.
"Thank god," Hackerman muttered from where he was sitting, playing Pong on one of the computer monitors. He scowled as he lost again. "Did you really need to ask that many questions?"
"If we want to make the best AI for Taylor we can," Cindy began, "then yes, we did." Looking through the scoring section and glancing through it, she winced slightly. She was not going to tell Taylor that her preferred AI sounded an awful lot like her old friend Emma, before the girl decided to turn evil, or whatever had happened. "I'll get these submitted for you, and they should have an AI ready within a week or two."
"Thanks, Cindy," Taylor replied. "Any idea when we can get this thing out of my head? It's starting to itch."
"We'll need to leave the connection open until after Captain Andreyasn can confirm the targeting data for his transportation device," Analyst Cuypers said.
"Hello?" a voice called from the direction of the space station's portal. "Did somebody call for a ride?"
"Are you Captain Andreyasn?" Cindy called back.
"I am," the blue suited man said as he approached the group. "I'm sorry for the delay. I needed to leave my antimatter in my other pants."
"What do you..." Taylor began before trailing off. "Don't care," she decided before continuing. "Can you get this over with so I can get this needle out of my head?"
Andreyasn looked over to Hackerman. "I see you decided to go with a direct interface."
Hackerman shrugged. "It was the most direct connection."
"Is there a reason you still have her hooked up?" Andreyasn asked, looking the contraption over. "Hm, fairly crude construction, but effective."
"We still need to make sure the computer will survive the transport," Cuypers cut in. "As I only have a rudimentary understanding of how your teraport works we decided it would be best to have you on hand to explain before we use it to transport the computer and Miss Hebert."
"Wait," Taylor demanded. "You're going use something you call a Tear-Apart on me? What the hell?!"
"Bah," Andreyasn scoffed. "It's perfectly safe. It's been tested innumerable times without any major incidents."
"What about minor incidents?" Taylor asked worriedly.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Andreyasn replied. "That is why we're going to be working with your computer, after all."
"I haven't heard of a teraport before," Cindy commented. "How does it work?"
Andreyasn smirked and held up a small device. "First it converts the subject into standing gravitic waves and then it sends them through millions of nano-wormholes."
"That doesn't sound safe," Taylor protested. "At all!"
"It's perfectly safe," Andreyasn objected. "Now, please be quiet while I work with the computer." Walking over to where Hackerman was sitting behind his equipment, Andreyasn gestured toward the equipment and asked, "May I?"
"Go ahead," Hackerman said, rolling his chair back. "The interface should be fairly easy to navigate. Ask if you can't figure it out."
Andreyasn looked over the display quickly. "Ah, I see what you did there. Very clever." Looking over at the suddenly nervous hacker, he added, "Don't worry, I won't spoil your fun." Turning back to the computer monitors, he added, "Alright, let's get started. He typed in a quick query and hit enter.
[Data. Concern. Query.] came the reply.
"Huh, that is an interesting system," Andreyasn commented. "Very efficient." Typing for a longer period, he hit enter again and sat back. "That's most of the information I can type in. If it needs anything else, I'll need to start sending files and hoping it can decode them."
[Contemplation. Query.]
"Ah, so it would like the extra data after all," Andreyasn murmured. "Luckily, I have a universal port with me. Mind if I send it through?"
"Can I make a copy of it?" Hackerman asked.
"I don't see why not," Andreyasn replied nonchalantly. "I did make it open source, after all." Pulling out a device, he attached it to one of the ports on the computer. "I'm copying it to your hard drive and sending it now."
"Thanks. It sounds like an interesting system, and it should be interesting trying to hack it," Hackerman replied.
"That is… probably not the best idea," Andreyasn replied. "Anyway, all we can do now is wait for the computer to finish going through the data. And that brings up another issue." Turning to Cuypers, he asked, "Why haven't you guys given it a catchy name yet?"
Cuypers shrugged. "We're still brainstorming ideas. We should have something nailed down by the time we start filming."
"You're not leaving it up to the viewers, right?" Cindy asked nervously.
Cuypers bristled. "Of course not. We don't want another Planet McSquirrelFace."
"To be fair," Cindy replied with a smirk, "it does have a lot of squirrels."
An electronic tone in the background distracted everyone before Cuypers could reply. Andreyasn looked down at the screen and smirked. "It looks like the computer has finally finished going through the data on the teraport. It has some concerns about the process, but they should be fairly easily handled."
"What's the issue?" Cuypers asked.
"Primarily, it feels that the host, that is Miss Hebert, needs to be transferred simultaneously," Andreyasn explained, "in order to prevent a potentially fatal connection loss. It should be fairly easy to synchronize teraports, so that shouldn't be an issue, though it may be uncomfortable for Taylor. Given the mass involved, it may take as long as an hour for the teraport to complete."
"What?!" Taylor demanded. "That doesn't sound safe!"
"It's perfectly safe," Andreyasn explained. "Provided no one fires a gravitic beam at your exit coordinates or anything." Looking down at the screen, he continued, "Anyway, I also have information on some superfluous mass the computer isn't using, so I can have the teraport use that as fuel, rather than risking any critical systems with a randomized mass extraction." He turned to Taylor and asked, "Ready to go?"
"No!" Taylor snapped. "There's got to be a safer way, right?"
Cuypers sighed. "Unfortunately, this is the safest way we've found so far."
Looking to Andreyasn, Cindy asked, "Is there any way to make it safer?"
"Well, having Taylor and the computer in the same place wouldn't hurt," Andreyasn replied with a shrug. "At least then you wouldn't have to worry about any dimensional flux during the teraport."
"Of course, we'd still need a way to get her to that dimension," Cuypers added.
"That would be more difficult," Andreyasn noted, stroking his goatee.
"Why?" Taylor demanded. "You people had an easy enough time getting me here in the first place."
"She's right," Cindy agreed. "Excuse me for a moment, I need to make a call."
"Excuse me," Hackerman said, nudging Andreyasn to the side. "I want to check on something."
"Sure." Andreyasn moved to the side, allowing the hacker to take back his seat. The man quickly began typing.
[Data.]
"This may be a problem," Hackerman noted, looking at his screen. "There is very little available oxygen on that planet. Taylor would need an environmental suit if she's going to be there for more than a minute or so."
"That's fairly easily arranged," Cuypers noted. "Of course, we should probably eject the direct connection first."
"That would be appreciated, yes," Taylor almost growled. "Get this thing out of my head!"
"Is there anything else we need to ask?" Hackerman asked. "Having to reinsert the probe could cause additional damage."
"I think that's everything," Andreyasn replied. "Pull it out."
"Got it," Hackerman replied. Turning to the camera, he added, "Remember, when disconnecting, it is best to ensure that there is no active communication." He typed on the keyboard for a moment before looking back up. "There. Now we can disconnect." He hit a key and the probe retracted with a sickening slurp.
"Gah!" Taylor squawked. "That felt so wrong."
"Oh, grow up," Andreyasn said. "That shouldn't have been more than a thirty on the ouchdammitometer."
"Let's see you get a needle shoved into your brain and see how you like it," Taylor griped. "Besides, it didn't hurt. It just felt really weird."
"I see," Andreyasn said. "Anyway, I'm going to see about getting a shuttle for you. It'll be easier than getting a suit for you. Let me just call Ellen and have her prep a shuttle." Pulling out a communication device, he made his way out as well.
Taylor turned her head, finally, and leveled a glare on Cuypers and Hackerman. "Do you have anything to fix the hole in my head?"
"Bandaid?" Hackerman offered, holding one up.
Cuypers sighed before pulling out a vial. "Sorry, I got distracted. Here's a simple healing potion. It should clear that right up." He handed the vial to Taylor.
Taylor just looked the vial for a moment before asking, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Speaking slowly, Cuypers explained, "You use it to heal small injuries, such as that hole in your head."
"Yes," Taylor began impatiently, "but do I drink it or pour it on the wound? Or are you going to tell me that I need to do something especially degrading with it? That seems to be a thing around here, after all."
"Oh, right," Cuypers realized, "you've never used a healing potion before. My apologies. You just need to drink it."
"Thank you," Taylor said as she popped the cork and downed the potion. "That tastes awful!" she complained.
"But it worked," Cuypers replied. "We don't know why, but most flavorings tend to ruin potions or cost exorbitant amounts to do right."
There was a thumping sound that reverberated through the station, interrupting Taylor's train of thought. "What was that?" she demanded.
"That would be the shuttle," Andreyasn explained, walking back to the group. "Ellen sent a few grunts to pilot it for you, and they've docked to the airlock." Shaking his head he muttered, "I'm not sure why she bothered sending more than one." Speaking louder, he continued, "As soon as Miss Matos comes back with whatever she needs to shunt you to the correct dimension, we can get started."
"I'm back," Cindy called as she walked into the room, followed by a busty blonde teen wearing an orange, poofy outfit that barely covered anything and wielding a staff. "This is Mina. She's a Carnal Pit magical girl we keep on retainer."
Smiling sultrily, Mina added, "It's so much easier to stay on the straight and narrow when you're already surrounded by sex. It means I don't need to go hunting for energy. So, you're the one Meagan and Liana are ranting and raving about." She looked Taylor over. "Hm, you don't look like much, but then, looks can be misleading." Ignoring Taylor's look of indignation, she turned to Cindy. "So, how are we doing this?"
Stepping forward, Andreyasn spoke up, "The planet she needs to go to doesn't have much of an atmosphere at the moment, so we're going to be sending her with a shuttle. Once there, we'll teraport the whole thing to Babnockorty and then send the shuttle back to this dimension."
Mina sucked in a breath in surprise. "That means I'll need to go with them and open the gate on the other planet as well. I'm not sure my reserves will be enough to handle that without recharging."
"Won't that require having sex?" Taylor asked, her face a bright red at the thought.
"Pretty much," Mina agreed. "If you aren't into it, I can help. A simple touch can have you raring to go."
"What?" Taylor asked in shock. "No, I…"
"That shouldn't be necessary," Andreyasn cut in, much to Taylor's relief. "Ellen sent several grunts to act as guards and the pilot. I'm sure they will be more than happy to assist you, should you need it."
"Are they single?" Mina asked shrewdly.
"They are," Andreyasn replied. "And now I see why Ellen sent them."
"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Mina purred. "Well, no time to waste, let's get into that shuttle and get going!" she declared, stepping behind Taylor to start pushing her out the door while the others watched on. "Come on, time's a wasting!"
"Where are we headed this time?" Taylor asked as she and Cindy made their way through the city.
"We're heading to a small airfield just outside the city limits," Cindy explained. "We need to make sure we can safely get you off the planet, so the scientists found someone to check, and we're heading out to meet them." Looking over to the younger girl, she added, "If everything checks out, we'll be moving you over from there, which is why I wanted you to pack up your insects. I'll be taking them over once you get there."
"And it's far enough away that we need a plane?" Taylor asked.
"We don't," Cindy replied. "We're going to be using another space station."
Taylor nodded in understanding. "I suppose it would be easier without worrying about me losing control of any insects nearby or anything."
"Pretty much," Cindy agreed. Looking ahead, she sighed. "Damn it, I forgot they're having a Three Kings Day festival on this road. Come on, we can cut through this alley to go around it," she said, pulling Taylor to the side and down a shadowed alley.
"So, why do we need to walk?" Taylor asked.
"Mostly because it's a nice day and it isn't far enough to worry about taking a car," Cindy replied.
Taylor huffed in frustration. "I meant, why doesn't Slut Life have another satellite we could use?"
"We do," Cindy replied. "But the one you're staying on is our quarantine satellite, so we keep its access point away from the others. It has much higher security than most of the others do."
"Put your hands in the air," a gruff voice ordered from behind them. "Don't turn around!" he shouted as Cindy began to do so. "I'm mugging you! Do what I say or I'll shoot!"
"Really?" Cindy asked incredulously without turning. "Why?"
"Shut up!" the man snapped. "And give me your purses!" Neither girl moved, as neither had a purse. "Fine, give me your wallets, damn it!"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Cindy asked as she slowly reached into a pocket for her wallet.
"I didn't ask for your advice!" the man snapped irritably.
"No, really," Cindy began. "I work for Slut Life. If you're that hard up for money, I can work something out with you."
"Oh, no," the man said warningly. "You're not getting me involved with that filth!"
"I really think you should reconsider," Taylor spoke up. "You should probably take her offer or leave."
"Oh, and why should I do that, girl?" the man demanded. From behind him came an eerie sound, like scales clicking together and the sounds of millions of tiny feet stepping over everything in their path and a great number of wings flapping in the air.
"Because if you don't, I might get angry," Taylor replied. "And I don't think you want that." Without turning her head, she added, "You might want to look behind you."
Keeping his weapon trained on his targets, the would-be mugger looked over his shoulder. "What in the name of all that is Holy is that?!" he demanded in shock.
"That would be the forty-nine million, eight hundred twenty-six thousand, five hundred and eight insects I managed to collect since you started mugging us," Taylor replied calmly. "Now, would you like to reconsider mugging us, or should we see what that many insects and spiders can do to to a human? They're faster than you, after all."
The man hesitated until something landed on him and crawled down the back of his shirt. He quickly ran away, screaming incoherently about Beelzebub taking the form of a girl and trying to swallow his soul.
"Hey guys, I'm Hackerman," a dark haired man spoke into a camera drone. "Today I am going to show you how to hack a biological supercomputer on an alternate Earth. Normally, you would need a modem. The modem is what allows you to bypass the grid relay and penetrate the barrier through the sixth dimension. However," he gestured across the room, the camera panning to show a girl sitting strapped to a chair with a colander strapped to her head, "we have access to a primary relay node, so we will be using that instead."
"Excuse me, Hackerman?" a man called from the side. The camera panned further, showing a man in a lab coat. "Is there a reason you want to go with a physical link? We know where the probe is originating from, after all."
The camera shifted to show Hackerman again, who was looking into it quizzically. "Why would we want to bother with a networked connection when we have a physical link?"
"Well, it does have a lower chance of causing Miss Hebert's brain to explode," the scientist replied.
"Don't I have any say in this?" Taylor asked. "I'd really rather not explode."
"Not really," Hackerman stated as he began connecting a few last minute cables. "Using a direct link will prevent signal loss or forming a connection with the wrong system. Obviously."
"Now, I admit I'm not an expert at hacking," the scientist protested, "but computer science has advanced significantly since whenever it was you came from. I'm sure a physical connection isn't necessary."
Hackerman ignored the man, beginning to type on his keyboard. After a few seconds, a modulated female voice came through the speaker. "Please insert external drive."
"Yeah," Hackerman said sleazily. "I'll insert my external drive." Turning to the camera, he added, "Ladies." A few more seconds of typing passed before the camera view switched to show Taylor again.
"What's happening?" Taylor asked as a device whirred to life above her.
"It's inserting the external drive," Hackerman explained. "The communication array is good, but a physical connection will provide the maximum bandwidth while having the lowest risk of signal loss."
"Ow!" Taylor yelped as the needle pierced her skull. "What the hell was that?"
"Just inserting the external drive," Hackerman called back. "It should be at the correct depth in three, two, one."
The camera showed one of the computer screens flashing data too quickly to be seen without freeze frame. "The mainframe is going to try to stop us from making a direct link to the kernel, so we have to bypass it by forcing a segmentation fault. Now, this is a capital offense on most planets, so make sure to hide your proxy."
"No it isn't," the scientist exclaimed. "That would just alert the computer you're trying to hack that you're there!"
Hackerman ignored him as the computer terminal began beeping. "We've been detected, and it's trying to force us out of the system. I'll have to go into hardcore hacking mode." Sitting back from the terminal for a moment, he turned and began donning a glove with a partial keyboard attached.
"What the hell are you doing now?" the scientist demanded.
"Can't talk, busy hacking," Hackerman countered as he continued typing on one keyboard followed by another, watching three screens simultaneously as loud syntho-pop played in the background.
Finally, the main computer flashed a message. [Communications module active. Send message?]
"Neato!" Hackerman cheered, pumping his gloved fist. "There we go, now, let's just make sure the conversation protocols are correct." Turning to the scientist, he asked, "What did you want me to tell it, again?"
The scientist sighed in frustration. "We want to know if it can safely be moved away from the Earth."
Nodding, Hackerman hit a few more keys before sitting back and waiting for a response.
[Negation. Query.]
"It looks like there is an issue," Hackerman replied. "It also wants more information."
"Before we continue, I have to ask, is there any danger for Miss Hebert currently?" the scientist asked.
Hackerman looked at a few gauges before answering, "Temperature, voltage, and amperage are all reading nominal. Her blood pressure is a little high, but she should be fine."
"That's easy for you to say," Taylor griped. "You don't have a needle sticking into your brain!"
"Alright," the scientist decided. "We've come this far already. We may as well continue. It'll be just a short while longer, alright, Miss Hebert?" Walking around to where Hackerman sat, he stooped so that he could reach the keyboard. "Are you seriously still using a keyboard from the 1980s?" he asked looking it over. "Whatever, let me type in some of the generalities. Just get this thing ready to send the information." Moments later, the message was sent.
[Interest. Query.]
The scientist looked at the response in shock. "What's it saying now?"
"It's interested in going, but needs permission," Hackerman said while checking a few more screens.
[Acquiescence. Excitement.]
"And it looks like we're good to go," Hackerman said with finality. "Call up whoever you have set to move her, and we can pack this all up."
"Ah, yes..." the scientist said hesitantly. "It may take a few hours for Captain Andreyasn to be available, and I believe there may be a few last minute details to pin down. Something about needing a fairly significant amount of mass to use as fuel."
"Oh, that will be easy to take care of," Hackerman replied casually. "We'll just need to leave the connection open until then. We can find out what can be used for fuel then."
"Do you mean I'm going to need to sit here, with a needle in my head, for hours?!" Taylor demanded from where she was strapped into a chair. "God damn it! What am I supposed to do now?!"
Hackerman looked over at Taylor. "By the way, why did you want to ensure there were no insects anywhere near us?" The girl just growled in response.
Cindy made her way back onto the satellite after getting notice that the attempt to contact Taylor's supercomputer was successful and that it would be safe to return. Figuring that Taylor was probably starting to go a bit stir crazy, she had picked up a box of crickets at a pet store while on her way back from retrieving some paperwork that Taylor needed to go through. From the sound of things, she could probably use the distraction, as they were waiting on somebody able to move the computer being available.
"Hello, everyone!" she called as she made her way into the room. There was computer equipment strewn about haphazardly and off to one side, Taylor was sitting, strapped to a chair with a device attached to her head.
"Hello, Cindy!" Taylor called, not turning to look in her direction. "I'd wave or something, but I'm a little tied up right now."
The man in the labcoat, one Analyst Cuypers, huffed irritably and said, "Come now, Miss Hebert, as we've explained several times, the restraints are there for your protection."
"I get that," Taylor agreed dryly. "I really don't want the needle in my head to do any more damage than it already has."
"The what?!" Cindy demanded. "Why the hell does she have a needle in her head?!"
The scruffily dressed man behind the computers replied, "A direct connection was the most effective option we had." He looked off to the side before adding, "Obviously." Looking back, he continued, "The neural mapping sensor grid she is wearing made sure we'd use the least damaging entry vector."
"Whatever you say," Taylor called back. "Anyways, I've got a box full of crickets to play with so… any requests?"
The man Cindy knew could only be Hackerman adjusted his glasses and asked, "What kind of request?"
"Is there any music you'd like me to try to play?" Taylor asked.
"You can use crickets to play music?" Cuypers cut in. "Fascinating."
"I wouldn't want to listen to it," Hackerman began, looking up from one of his monitors, "but would you be able to emulate a modem with them?"
"A what?" Cuypers asked. "Is that some sort of primitive boondoggle from your time?"
"It is a method of sending information as sound," Hackerman explained. "I read a paper on some guy sending a heavily detailed message through a voice only communication before. Started a war or something."
"I don't know," Taylor answered with a wince. "There's a lot of sustained high notes in that noise. I'm not sure I could replicate it accurately enough."
Hackerman shrugged. "It's something to work towards, at least. You can always start with Morse Code."
Taylor looked like she was giving the idea some thought. "I'll give that a try." Pitching her voice a little higher, she asked, "Did you bring anything else for me to work on?"
"Having your crickets produce music won't strain your concentration?" Cuypers asked incredulously.
"Not as far as I can tell," Taylor replied. "It might be different if I were using a whole swarm, but I didn't have any problems earlier today."
"How many insects were you controlling?" Cuypers asked excitedly.
Deciding to cut in before things could devolve into technical talk, Cindy cut in, "She was controlling a lot of them. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to go over the details once you start studying her properly." Holding up a tablet, she added, "I figure she might want to take the AI design survey while she can't do anything else. That way, it'll be ready for her when she gets started."
The Analyst sighed. "Very well. I suppose we can go over this in more detail later."
"So," Taylor called. "Want to come over here so I don't have to keep shouting?"
Cindy blushed slightly at her slip. "Oh, right, just give me a moment." Picking her way around the tangled wires littering the floor, she made her way over to her charge. Settling herself next to Taylor, she tapped on the tablet to activate the screen and began, "The first question is fairly simple. Do you have a specific AI you would like to emulate?"
"Not that I can think of," Taylor replied. "I never really kept up on science fiction." Slowly the crickets began chirping in tune, starting with a slow rendition of Do-Re-Mi.
"No problem," Cindy replied. "That just means you'll need to do the rest of the survey." Clearing her throat and waggling the tablet for effect, she continued. "First question. Which is more important to you? Loyalty or obedience?"
"My first reaction is to say obedience," Taylor replied. "But that could lead to even stupid orders, made in the heat of the moment being followed. Sometimes you need to go against somebody's wishes to help them, so… Yeah, I have to go with loyalty being more important."
"Right," Cindy said, making a mark on the screen. "Next they want you to list five activities you enjoy."
"I enjoy reading, looking through forums, cooking," Taylor thought for a moment before continuing, "I think I like exercising, and music is fun, too."
"All right," Cindy replied, making a few notations. "Now it wants to know which style you'd prefer, anticipating your needs or waiting for orders?"
After a moment, Taylor replied, "I'd definitely prefer anticipation. It's a lot less creepy that way."
Hackerman scoffed. "You haven't seen a properly optimized helper AI, then. Very helpful, but very creepy."
"Oh, definitely," Cuypers agreed. "You never go full anticipation." After a moment, he added, "Without the proper safeguards, that type usually goes rampant and tries to kill you to help you."
"Let's avoid that!" Taylor yelped.
"I'll add that to the notes," Cindy replied. "Now, I've got another three screens worth of questions to go through before Captain Andreyasn gets here.
Captain Andreyasn grumbled as he stood before Bob Ross. Ross, for his part, was watching the scientist carefully. "Is there a problem with the assignment, Captain Andreyasn?"
The blue clad scientist shook his head. "Nothing is wrong with the assignment. I just don't understand why they don't want me to wear my epaulets."
Glancing at his computer screen for a moment, Ross replied, "They probably don't want you to have antimatter near Miss Hebert."
Kevyn looked from Bob Ross to one of his shoulders, where an epaulet was floating and back. "I'm not sure I see the issue. They let me into the Mad Scientist meetings with them, after all."
Ross nodded. "Yes, they do. That's because you've needed to use them several times already and have shown that you will, typically, use them responsibly." With a dark chuckle, he added, "Besides, do you really think that's the most dangerous thing in those meetings?"
"So, if that's not the issue, then what? The containment is entirely safe."
"Mostly, it's because the scientists assigned to Miss Hebert aren't sure how they'll react to the mild warping of reality caused by the interdimensional probe poking into her brain," Ross explained.
Andreyasn thought for a moment before asking, "But they want me to use billions of nanoscopic wormholes to transport the girl and her computer across the galaxy?"
"Do your wormholes use antimatter?" Ross asked, already knowing the answer from looking at his screen.
"No," Andreyasn admitted.
"Do they, as an intended feature, explode violently?" Ross pressed.
"No," Andreyasn answered again, not particularly caring for this line of testing.
"Have they been tested with interdimensional phenomena?"
Holding up a finger to illustrate his point, Andreyasn stated, "In some ways they are interdimensional phenomena."
Ross nodded his agreement. "Now, we're starting to get to their point. What happens when your wormholes fail?"
"Most of the energy used to generate them is lost, due to the way the wormholes collapse," Andreyasn explained, "Since the conversion to standing gravitic waves is a fairly stable process, nothing would happen to the subjects involved, other than the already accounted for loss of mass. It'd only be deadly, and then only to the participants, if someone actively prevented the wormholes from forming correctly."
"So, your epaulets likely fail dangerous, being weapons," Ross began, "while your wormholes fail safe? At least for the surrounding area?"
"Okay, I get it already," Andreyasn complained mildly. "I suppose that does bring up why you're so concerned about them now."
"Well," Ross began, smiling widely, "the momentary failure of several magnetic fields in Miss Hebert's vicinity when Hackerman established communication with the computer didn't help our opinion of you having them near her. Now, I know you have a Laz-5 back up, but Miss Hebert does not. If she dies, you won't get paid, and we'll complain to your wife about you taking unnecessary risks again."
Andreyasn sat in silence for a moment before standing. "If you'll excuse me, I should probably swap out to my safer low profile power armor."
Bob Ross nodded genially. "You do that." He watched as Andreyasn shakily made his way out of the room before commenting, "I hope the video of that goes over well at their next meeting." He was always happy to help his more scientifically minded peers get one over on one of the younger upstarts, especially when it was done in the name of safety.
"And we're done," Cindy announced, clicking the submit button on the AI design questionnaire.
"Thank god," Hackerman muttered from where he was sitting, playing Pong on one of the computer monitors. He scowled as he lost again. "Did you really need to ask that many questions?"
"If we want to make the best AI for Taylor we can," Cindy began, "then yes, we did." Looking through the scoring section and glancing through it, she winced slightly. She was not going to tell Taylor that her preferred AI sounded an awful lot like her old friend Emma, before the girl decided to turn evil, or whatever had happened. "I'll get these submitted for you, and they should have an AI ready within a week or two."
"Thanks, Cindy," Taylor replied. "Any idea when we can get this thing out of my head? It's starting to itch."
"We'll need to leave the connection open until after Captain Andreyasn can confirm the targeting data for his transportation device," Analyst Cuypers said.
"Hello?" a voice called from the direction of the space station's portal. "Did somebody call for a ride?"
"Are you Captain Andreyasn?" Cindy called back.
"I am," the blue suited man said as he approached the group. "I'm sorry for the delay. I needed to leave my antimatter in my other pants."
"What do you..." Taylor began before trailing off. "Don't care," she decided before continuing. "Can you get this over with so I can get this needle out of my head?"
Andreyasn looked over to Hackerman. "I see you decided to go with a direct interface."
Hackerman shrugged. "It was the most direct connection."
"Is there a reason you still have her hooked up?" Andreyasn asked, looking the contraption over. "Hm, fairly crude construction, but effective."
"We still need to make sure the computer will survive the transport," Cuypers cut in. "As I only have a rudimentary understanding of how your teraport works we decided it would be best to have you on hand to explain before we use it to transport the computer and Miss Hebert."
"Wait," Taylor demanded. "You're going use something you call a Tear-Apart on me? What the hell?!"
"Bah," Andreyasn scoffed. "It's perfectly safe. It's been tested innumerable times without any major incidents."
"What about minor incidents?" Taylor asked worriedly.
"I wouldn't worry about that," Andreyasn replied. "That is why we're going to be working with your computer, after all."
"I haven't heard of a teraport before," Cindy commented. "How does it work?"
Andreyasn smirked and held up a small device. "First it converts the subject into standing gravitic waves and then it sends them through millions of nano-wormholes."
"That doesn't sound safe," Taylor protested. "At all!"
"It's perfectly safe," Andreyasn objected. "Now, please be quiet while I work with the computer." Walking over to where Hackerman was sitting behind his equipment, Andreyasn gestured toward the equipment and asked, "May I?"
"Go ahead," Hackerman said, rolling his chair back. "The interface should be fairly easy to navigate. Ask if you can't figure it out."
Andreyasn looked over the display quickly. "Ah, I see what you did there. Very clever." Looking over at the suddenly nervous hacker, he added, "Don't worry, I won't spoil your fun." Turning back to the computer monitors, he added, "Alright, let's get started. He typed in a quick query and hit enter.
[Data. Concern. Query.] came the reply.
"Huh, that is an interesting system," Andreyasn commented. "Very efficient." Typing for a longer period, he hit enter again and sat back. "That's most of the information I can type in. If it needs anything else, I'll need to start sending files and hoping it can decode them."
[Contemplation. Query.]
"Ah, so it would like the extra data after all," Andreyasn murmured. "Luckily, I have a universal port with me. Mind if I send it through?"
"Can I make a copy of it?" Hackerman asked.
"I don't see why not," Andreyasn replied nonchalantly. "I did make it open source, after all." Pulling out a device, he attached it to one of the ports on the computer. "I'm copying it to your hard drive and sending it now."
"Thanks. It sounds like an interesting system, and it should be interesting trying to hack it," Hackerman replied.
"That is… probably not the best idea," Andreyasn replied. "Anyway, all we can do now is wait for the computer to finish going through the data. And that brings up another issue." Turning to Cuypers, he asked, "Why haven't you guys given it a catchy name yet?"
Cuypers shrugged. "We're still brainstorming ideas. We should have something nailed down by the time we start filming."
"You're not leaving it up to the viewers, right?" Cindy asked nervously.
Cuypers bristled. "Of course not. We don't want another Planet McSquirrelFace."
"To be fair," Cindy replied with a smirk, "it does have a lot of squirrels."
An electronic tone in the background distracted everyone before Cuypers could reply. Andreyasn looked down at the screen and smirked. "It looks like the computer has finally finished going through the data on the teraport. It has some concerns about the process, but they should be fairly easily handled."
"What's the issue?" Cuypers asked.
"Primarily, it feels that the host, that is Miss Hebert, needs to be transferred simultaneously," Andreyasn explained, "in order to prevent a potentially fatal connection loss. It should be fairly easy to synchronize teraports, so that shouldn't be an issue, though it may be uncomfortable for Taylor. Given the mass involved, it may take as long as an hour for the teraport to complete."
"What?!" Taylor demanded. "That doesn't sound safe!"
"It's perfectly safe," Andreyasn explained. "Provided no one fires a gravitic beam at your exit coordinates or anything." Looking down at the screen, he continued, "Anyway, I also have information on some superfluous mass the computer isn't using, so I can have the teraport use that as fuel, rather than risking any critical systems with a randomized mass extraction." He turned to Taylor and asked, "Ready to go?"
"No!" Taylor snapped. "There's got to be a safer way, right?"
Cuypers sighed. "Unfortunately, this is the safest way we've found so far."
Looking to Andreyasn, Cindy asked, "Is there any way to make it safer?"
"Well, having Taylor and the computer in the same place wouldn't hurt," Andreyasn replied with a shrug. "At least then you wouldn't have to worry about any dimensional flux during the teraport."
"Of course, we'd still need a way to get her to that dimension," Cuypers added.
"That would be more difficult," Andreyasn noted, stroking his goatee.
"Why?" Taylor demanded. "You people had an easy enough time getting me here in the first place."
"She's right," Cindy agreed. "Excuse me for a moment, I need to make a call."
"Excuse me," Hackerman said, nudging Andreyasn to the side. "I want to check on something."
"Sure." Andreyasn moved to the side, allowing the hacker to take back his seat. The man quickly began typing.
[Data.]
"This may be a problem," Hackerman noted, looking at his screen. "There is very little available oxygen on that planet. Taylor would need an environmental suit if she's going to be there for more than a minute or so."
"That's fairly easily arranged," Cuypers noted. "Of course, we should probably eject the direct connection first."
"That would be appreciated, yes," Taylor almost growled. "Get this thing out of my head!"
"Is there anything else we need to ask?" Hackerman asked. "Having to reinsert the probe could cause additional damage."
"I think that's everything," Andreyasn replied. "Pull it out."
"Got it," Hackerman replied. Turning to the camera, he added, "Remember, when disconnecting, it is best to ensure that there is no active communication." He typed on the keyboard for a moment before looking back up. "There. Now we can disconnect." He hit a key and the probe retracted with a sickening slurp.
"Gah!" Taylor squawked. "That felt so wrong."
"Oh, grow up," Andreyasn said. "That shouldn't have been more than a thirty on the ouchdammitometer."
"Let's see you get a needle shoved into your brain and see how you like it," Taylor griped. "Besides, it didn't hurt. It just felt really weird."
"I see," Andreyasn said. "Anyway, I'm going to see about getting a shuttle for you. It'll be easier than getting a suit for you. Let me just call Ellen and have her prep a shuttle." Pulling out a communication device, he made his way out as well.
Taylor turned her head, finally, and leveled a glare on Cuypers and Hackerman. "Do you have anything to fix the hole in my head?"
"Bandaid?" Hackerman offered, holding one up.
Cuypers sighed before pulling out a vial. "Sorry, I got distracted. Here's a simple healing potion. It should clear that right up." He handed the vial to Taylor.
Taylor just looked the vial for a moment before asking, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
Speaking slowly, Cuypers explained, "You use it to heal small injuries, such as that hole in your head."
"Yes," Taylor began impatiently, "but do I drink it or pour it on the wound? Or are you going to tell me that I need to do something especially degrading with it? That seems to be a thing around here, after all."
"Oh, right," Cuypers realized, "you've never used a healing potion before. My apologies. You just need to drink it."
"Thank you," Taylor said as she popped the cork and downed the potion. "That tastes awful!" she complained.
"But it worked," Cuypers replied. "We don't know why, but most flavorings tend to ruin potions or cost exorbitant amounts to do right."
There was a thumping sound that reverberated through the station, interrupting Taylor's train of thought. "What was that?" she demanded.
"That would be the shuttle," Andreyasn explained, walking back to the group. "Ellen sent a few grunts to pilot it for you, and they've docked to the airlock." Shaking his head he muttered, "I'm not sure why she bothered sending more than one." Speaking louder, he continued, "As soon as Miss Matos comes back with whatever she needs to shunt you to the correct dimension, we can get started."
"I'm back," Cindy called as she walked into the room, followed by a busty blonde teen wearing an orange, poofy outfit that barely covered anything and wielding a staff. "This is Mina. She's a Carnal Pit magical girl we keep on retainer."
Smiling sultrily, Mina added, "It's so much easier to stay on the straight and narrow when you're already surrounded by sex. It means I don't need to go hunting for energy. So, you're the one Meagan and Liana are ranting and raving about." She looked Taylor over. "Hm, you don't look like much, but then, looks can be misleading." Ignoring Taylor's look of indignation, she turned to Cindy. "So, how are we doing this?"
Stepping forward, Andreyasn spoke up, "The planet she needs to go to doesn't have much of an atmosphere at the moment, so we're going to be sending her with a shuttle. Once there, we'll teraport the whole thing to Babnockorty and then send the shuttle back to this dimension."
Mina sucked in a breath in surprise. "That means I'll need to go with them and open the gate on the other planet as well. I'm not sure my reserves will be enough to handle that without recharging."
"Won't that require having sex?" Taylor asked, her face a bright red at the thought.
"Pretty much," Mina agreed. "If you aren't into it, I can help. A simple touch can have you raring to go."
"What?" Taylor asked in shock. "No, I…"
"That shouldn't be necessary," Andreyasn cut in, much to Taylor's relief. "Ellen sent several grunts to act as guards and the pilot. I'm sure they will be more than happy to assist you, should you need it."
"Are they single?" Mina asked shrewdly.
"They are," Andreyasn replied. "And now I see why Ellen sent them."
"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Mina purred. "Well, no time to waste, let's get into that shuttle and get going!" she declared, stepping behind Taylor to start pushing her out the door while the others watched on. "Come on, time's a wasting!"
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RageKnight
My heresy senses are tingling
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Wait are they making a body for QA to talk through or an AI helper for Talyor?
Jonakhensu
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Taylor decided to get an AI to help her and keep her company throughout her run. Said AI will typically live in her phone or her computer... or the sexbot Taylor specifically got for that purpose. Since she didn't have an AI in mind to base hers off, she needed to have one designed for her. Since they were going to be sitting around unable to do much else anyway, Cindy brought out the survey for designing the AI while Taylor was stuck with a needle in her head.
They seem to have managed to communicate with QA fairly well already, considering they've decided it should be safe to move Taylor and QA to Babnockorty, even without the shard having any other form of body.
Apparently, Hackerman is just that good at hacking.
Czlyydwr Llrngwl
"Sell ya a door Learn gull" Czly/Celly for short.
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whynotboth.gif
More seriously, all they'd need to do is intentionally insert a
few bugs in the right part of the system and QA should easily be able to handle that through Taylor's powers if it became necessary or sufficiently desirable.
SystemSearcher
"I fought the door and the door won"
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Proceeding from that, QA as a future SL contenderwhynotboth.gif
More seriously, all they'd need to do is intentionally insert a
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
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I know it's intended as comedy, but it looks like a lot of Taylor!Whump. Not very fond of that.
Jonakhensu
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Sorry, I'm not familiar with that term, so I can neither confirm nor deny your allegation.
Having just looked up the trope, I think I can say it wasn't intended as Whumping her... well, the needle to the head probably counts, but it's something Hackerman would probably do, and it makes some sense from a connection standpoint, as far as I can tell.
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Tortoise
Know what you're doing yet?
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"Teraport" was also capitalized the first two times and lower case after that.
Jonakhensu
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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All things considered, you only finding three typos is better than average for me.
Thanks again, and fixed.
MissileTeatime
By the power of Vaporware!
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...I have qualms about how you wrote Hackerman, but if (as I somewhat suspect) he is only going to be in this one scene, they aren't really worth bringing up. Especially not with "I've already written a ways past this" in effect.
Jonakhensu
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I have to admit I'm curious what your qualms are, considering I did my best to copy his speech style and mannerisms from the hacking tutorial. Also, while I've written further out, it's fairly unlikely that anything Hackerman does differently would affect more than a chapter or two... unless you think he should have failed, leaving Taylor stranded on Earth. Trying to make that change would be quite a lot of work.
armorfiend
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[FORNICATION]
...I hate to do a one word response but that's pretty much where that would go.
TheEyes
Well worn.
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Model Ms are the best keyboards ever fite me.
You know, Taylor, getting squeamish about sex now, after just signing up to be a sex worker on a reality show for a year, is somewhat less that a brilliant idea. Might be a better idea to get a little experience now, unless you want your deflowering to be on live TV.
Surprised no one there suggested it, Cindy in particular given the recommendations she had for Taylor's actual run.
Fencer
Weaponized Randomness
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That is a very good point. On the other hand though how many contestants in a show called slut life do you think are still virgins at the start of the show? Losing her V card on air will probably make her rating skyrocket....
and man is that a disturbing train of thought :/ this concept is full of stupidly confusing moral quandries if I let myself get bogged down in them, and frankly it's hard not to some times. really consent and legal contracts or not this is still really fucked up when I let myself think about it. Like watching a trainwreck if the train was see-through and powered by a mass orgy.