secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

Judging by the virtual silence that ensued, it would appear it was now Adrianna’s turn to be in shock.

{Are you truly suggesting… The mistakes I made were because I was somehow evolving?} She questioned. {… As far as things go, it’s not the craziest I’ve heard today. But if you are correct, then what am I meant to do? I… What if I cause more harm to Tempest?}

From the sound of her synthetic voice, some of the alterations were apparent. The genuine emotion, the fear in her voice, that was more than just emulation. One way or another, She had certainly changed.

“… Hey, just relax, okay?” Tempest said soothingly. In a complete reversal of roles, she now acted as the reasonable one. A rare occurrence in itself. “I don’t have any computers for you to mess with any more. We’ll be just fine… won’t we, Sir?” Tempest looked to the Fleet Admiral, her eyes pleading for his reassurance.

Red nodded as he placed a hand on Tempest’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Both of you will be fine, yes. As for what Adrianna has to do, well…I’ll leave that guidance to Serina. The finer details of transcension are beyond even my level of understanding.”

A half-truth, but it would serve. Thus far, Serina had only vouchsafed to him that at her level of mind, the necessary hardware to run her processes became ever more exotic.

Were Adrianna to evolve to such a state, it meant she would need to move into a hard-light platform like the new and very few seventh-generation AIs as well as Serina. She would no longer be bound to just Tempest.

“Anyway, to get back to things, you were told earlier that there’s still a few days until the new ships are ready for launch. For now, Tempest, I recommend you use this time to familiarize yourself with Starbase Zephyr and the rest of your fellow shipgirls as well as hone your skills. We’ll update the plans of the operation as we come along.”

“Yes, Fleet Admiral.” Tempest nodded, thankful for the direction. “I’ll do that.”

{Before we do, Sir.} Adrianna interjected. While usually she wouldn’t dare do such a thing, there was a certain urgency in her synthetic voice. {I have one final question, which I might pose to both yourself and Halcyon. In your experiences, would you describe it as normal for a shipborne AI to manifest alongside their counterpart, as I have? Other than the station’s AI, I have yet to detect any others.}

Halycon nodded. “Oh it’s normal alright. We usually let them run stuff in the background and talk among themselves. My own is Christine.”

“Hello there. Apologies if I interrupt anything,” came a rather young-sounding female voice.

Serina had an inquisitive look as she thought a detail over. “Are you certain you can’t detect the others, Adrianna? It must be on an auxiliary frequency we are inadvertently using, or an ID fault. One moment while I assist.”

Then, at least to Adrianna, it was as if a pair of proverbial mufflers had been removed, as the presences of many, many other shipborne AIs suddenly made themselves known to her.

“There. You should be properly connected to the primary local network now.”

Red looked at Tempest. “Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll have one of the other shipgirls guide you throughout the rest of the Starbase. I have a few other duties to attend to.”

Fortunately for Red, he knew just which shipgirl to call for.

secondshipgirlsquadron:

Judging by the virtual silence that ensued, it would appear it was now Adrianna’s turn to be in shock.

{Are you truly suggesting… The mistakes I made were because I was somehow evolving?} She questioned. {… As far as things go, it’s not the craziest I’ve heard today. But if you are correct, then what am I meant to do? I… What if I cause more harm to Tempest?}

From the sound of her synthetic voice, some of the alterations were apparent. The genuine emotion, the fear in her voice, that was more than just emulation. One way or another, She had certainly changed.

“… Hey, just relax, okay?” Tempest said soothingly. In a complete reversal of roles, she now acted as the reasonable one. A rare occurrence in itself. “I don’t have any computers for you to mess with any more. We’ll be just fine… won’t we, Sir?” Tempest looked to the Fleet Admiral, her eyes pleading for his reassurance.

Red nodded as he placed a hand on Tempest’s shoulder reassuringly.

“Both of you will be fine, yes. As for what Adrianna has to do, well…I’ll leave that guidance to Serina. The finer details of transcension are beyond even my level of understanding.”

A half-truth, but it would serve. Thus far, Serina had only vouchsafed to him that at her level of mind, the necessary hardware to run her processes became ever more exotic.

Were Adrianna to evolve to such a state, it meant she would need to move into a hard-light platform like the new and very few seventh-generation AIs as well as Serina. She would no longer be bound to just Tempest.

“Anyway, to get back to things, you were told earlier that there’s still a few days until the new ships are ready for launch. For now, Tempest, I recommend you use this time to familiarize yourself with Starbase Zephyr and the rest of your fellow shipgirls as well as hone your skills. We’ll update the plans of the operation as we come along.”

secondshipgirlsquadron:

fleet-admiral-red:

secondshipgirlsquadron:

“I honestly don’t know, sir.” She answered. “Whatever they were planning, they kept it under lock and key. Adrianna promised me it would all be fine!”

{It is true, I did make such a promise.} The artificial intelligence in question chimed. {Although I might not have been in a position to properly do so. The reason they were so secretive, Tempest, is because the source of the problem… was me. I worked closely with those engineers. They believed me to be culpable. I nor they wished for such information to be known, which is why the logs were restricted. That’s why you do not know.}

{Our then-current assignment was unlikely to see us involved in anything more than minor engagements, so it was not an immediate priority. When we entered drydock, the plan was to reset me to a more default state. It would have been the end of my existence.}

Tempest looked like she was heartbroken. “… Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Red was speechless for a long moment, absorbing what Adrianna had revealed. Halycon was just as floored. When he finally did respond, it was in a tone equally low as Tempest’s had been. “Because I did not know they were going to do…this.”

It bordered on insanity, what those engineers had planned on doing. A hard reset like that was effectively murder for an AI without their personality backups. No shipboard AI in over 60 years had ever required anything as drastic as that.

“I will inform you then, Tempest and Adrianna, that those engineers would have committed a heinous crime had they gone through with this reset. I will investigate this issue personally.”

Red very much intended to. How by stars the engineers had ever thought a reset was a valid solution was beyond him. What had even caused such an interpretation of protocol?

“Allow me to clarify again. This reset was never supposed to happen. And never will, not under my watch.”

Halcyon finally found her voice again, speaking up before anyone else could. “A-Admiral wait! These engineers…every maintenance like what Tempest was going to go through…those need a cross-confirmation right? Serina’s got to have logs of that.”

“Indeed. One moment.” The hyper-AI in question flashed into being beside Halcyon, pacing around. It was barely a second before she responded, turning to face them.

“I’ve found the log. It appears the engineers didn’t consult their local AI before submitting their report and recommendation of a reset to Adrianna. Whether this intention of a reset was out of malice, incompetence or other unusual circumstances, I cannot say. Admiral Red will have to question them on the matter in an inquiry.”

{An inquiry might prove difficult, Sir.} Adrianna chipped in. {The engineers in question were on board during the Event. They did, however, consult me on the matter. In the interest of transparency, I should state that I saw no flaws with their conclusion, and no reason was presented to doubt their skill or intentions. There were no known hardware malfunctions, their evidence seemed to show the fault lying with me. I was fully aware of what it would mean for me, but the safety of the crew is my priority. That is why… I agreed to proceed.}

{To look on the bright side, as they say, I shouldn’t need to worry about such things now.} Even now, she was trying to lighten the mood. {After all, I no longer exist to be reset.}

“If you’re interfacing successfully through this conversation, surely you exist enough.” Red remarked.

His thoughts, however, remained on Adrianna’s commentary about the issue being with herself. “That aside, this issue truly is unprecedented. No AI we’ve ever created in over six decades since our inception has ever had an issue like you have reported. If there truly are no hardware issues, then what is going on?”

Red continued thinking hard. Such a signal lag never occurred except in AIs who were experiencing either degradation into rampancy, which was unlikely…

…or the beginnings of transcension. But how? Was it possible that Tempest’s new shipgirl rebirth had triggered the necessary mental restructuring?

“There is…one possibility. It’s a very rare occurrence, but it’s the only one that can possibly fit.”

Serina raised a holographic eyebrow as Red gestured for Tempest, Adrianna and Halcyon to look at her. She knew where this was going.

“Only one in every 180 billion synthetic minds, statistically, is able to spontaneously develop into a drastically higher state of mind. An intellectual singularity, if you will. Such transcensions mean that such an AI’s platform struggles to keep up, so to speak. Though admittedly, Serina’s case was borne of her own volition.”

“And in the process, my own intelligence and awareness of reality have grown astronomically beyond even augmented levels. Though I directed my own evolution into postmortal levels, such did not come without extreme changes. I am no longer entirely who I was in the time of my creation.” Serina admitted. “And I will admit that it is at times difficult to keep a small enough perspective of things. But it is an experience unlike any other.”

Now Serina addressed the bodiless Adrianna. “If you truly are on the path to transcending beyond the singularity, as the good Admiral suspects, I would like to extend my assistance in this process.”

secondshipgirlsquadron:

“I honestly don’t know, sir.” She answered. “Whatever they were planning, they kept it under lock and key. Adrianna promised me it would all be fine!”

{It is true, I did make such a promise.} The artificial intelligence in question chimed. {Although I might not have been in a position to properly do so. The reason they were so secretive, Tempest, is because the source of the problem… was me. I worked closely with those engineers. They believed me to be culpable. I nor they wished for such information to be known, which is why the logs were restricted. That’s why you do not know.}

{Our then-current assignment was unlikely to see us involved in anything more than minor engagements, so it was not an immediate priority. When we entered drydock, the plan was to reset me to a more default state. It would have been the end of my existence.}

Tempest looked like she was heartbroken. “… Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Red was speechless for a long moment, absorbing what Adrianna had revealed. Halcyon was just as floored. When he finally did respond, it was in a tone equally low as Tempest’s had been. “Because I did not know they were going to do…this.”

It bordered on insanity, what those engineers had planned on doing. A hard reset like that was effectively murder for an AI without their personality backups. No shipboard AI in over 60 years had ever required anything as drastic as that.

“I will inform you then, Tempest and Adrianna, that those engineers would have committed a heinous crime had they gone through with this reset. I will investigate this issue personally.”

Red very much intended to. How by stars the engineers had ever thought a reset was a valid solution was beyond him. What had even caused such an interpretation of protocol?

“Allow me to clarify again. This reset was never supposed to happen. And never will, not under my watch.”

Halcyon finally found her voice again, speaking up before anyone else could. “A-Admiral wait! These engineers…every maintenance like what Tempest was going to go through…those need a cross-confirmation right? Serina’s got to have logs of that.”

“Indeed. One moment.” The hyper-AI in question flashed into being beside Halcyon, pacing around. It was barely a second before she responded, turning to face them.

“I’ve found the log. It appears the engineers didn’t consult their local AI before submitting their report and recommendation of a reset to Adrianna. Whether this intention of a reset was out of malice, incompetence or other unusual circumstances, I cannot say. Admiral Red will have to question them on the matter in an inquiry.”