Singularity Hunters: The Rigel Incident

[CCC]

"Hey!" snaps Sally. "Get off there!"

She makes a vigorous attempt to chase Spot away from the electronics with a rolled-up electronics magazine. However, thus does not prevent Spot from getting a good idea of what it is for.

A lot of the equipment appears designed for surveillance - cameras, parabolic microphones, and that sort of thing. These are neatly placed in a corner, out of the way. Another set of. equipment is anti-surveillance - bug sweepers, white noise generators, etc. These show signs of regular use.

But by far the bulk of the equipment is designed for the purpose of remote controlling a series of robots - seeing through their camera eyes, hearing through their microphone ears, and controlling their motion from afar. Most of the robots controlled by this equipment are in a large crate at one end of the truck - the sole exception (a robot designed to look like an innocent cleaning droid) is, apparently, sitting in the airport, moving slowly towards the exit.

All of the equipment is well maintained and in good repair. There is also a good supply of tools and spare parts.

[Warbeard]

Sally snorts. "Who's the one who messes with my cameras?" she asks.

"That would be me. It can be a bit annoying since it can't be turned off, but I find it's nicer not having to worry about prying eyes," Thomas replies, climbing into the truck. "I'm Thomas, by the way."

[Stan Cold]

Wilshire puts his fist to his heart and gives a slight bow to Sally.
"Greetings. Shall you be bringing the ale?"

[FreakyBoy]

Professor Barnes thumps Wilshire with his walking stick.

[CCC]

Thomas: Empathy +1 Roll: +0 Total: +1

Sally gives Thomas a mildly irritated look. "Well." she says, placated slightly by his friendly smile.

Wilshire puts his fist to his heart and gives a slight bow to Sally.
"Greetings. Shall you be bringing the ale?"

Sally draws herself up to her full height (about a head shorter than Wilshire) and takes a deep, angry breath. The scarred man reacts quickly, forestalling her anger by placing a hand over her mouth. "He's from a different planet." says the scarred man, speaking swiftly. "Different culture, alright? I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. Listen, they're going to deal with the backup server while we move on the working copy."

Sally relaxes slightly, the edge taken from her anger. She gives Wilshire a distinctly unfriendly look, but any actual angry rant may have been temporarily averted.

[Weremensh]

Spot stays off the equipment for the nonce, just watching the people and the monitors.

[Weremensh]

After a few beats, something occurs to Spot. Addressing the locals, it says "Do you have extra tools?"

[CCC]

"Yeah, I have a few spare tools." says Sally, cautiously. "Why do you ask?" She narrows her eyes. "And whose remote are you, anyway?"

[Weremensh]

"I think we need tools. They" it indicates the people it's traveling with "need tools. This was not planned."

After a beat it adds "I am...local. 'The Man' knows this."

[CCC]

"We have time to get any tools or equipment you feel necessary." says Clarke. "What do you need?"

"What do you mean, 'local'?" asks Sally, suspicious. "You grew up here on Rigel?"

[Weremensh]

Spot shifts a bit so it's central node is level with Sally's head. "I am right in front of you. This is all of me. Please do not broadcast that." It extends a bunch of tendrils in an arm/hand configuration at about the right height for shaking hands, then continues "My name is Spot. How do you do?"

[CCC]

Sally falls off her chair backwards in surprise. "You're an AI?" she asks, fumbling at her belt and drawing forth some vaguely rectangular device. The scarred man quickly intervenes again, taking her hand that holds the device and holding it closed and out of the way.

"Look," says the scarred man, in a reasonable tone of voice, "it doesn't mean he's self-improving. He's probably Johnston-0.9 or something."

"Anything with a hard drive that thinks is self-improving in the long run!" insists Sally. "It's just a matter of time!"

If Spot had to guess, that handheld device probably delivers an electric charge enough to scramble conventional electronics. Unless it's incredibly overpowered (to the point of melting what metal it is applied to), such a device would be entirely unable to damage Spot's systems but lethal to a more ordinary robot.

[Stan Cold]

Wilshire steps between Sally and Spot. "No witch threatens my ally! Even if he himself is a product of witchcraft."

[Weremensh]

Spot considers the scene, then says "I have no 'hard drive'. I am not electronic. With your technology, I can not reproduce. I am...sterile." After a beat it adds "I think it is part of the reason I was invited by 'The Man' instead of being attacked."

[CCC]

Sally sneers at the big man towering over her. "So the bigot defends the abomination." Her head only comes halfway up Wilshire's chest; in a physical confrontation, Wilshire could probably hold her off with one hand.

"Look, Sally, could you calm down a minute?" asks the scarred man, still holding her hand with the device in it so she can't use it. "These nice people are willing to help us out by taking care of the backup of a potential Singularity. Can you try not to alienate them? Please?"

"I'm so sorry about this." apologises Clarke, taking hold of Sally's other arm. "Sally here had... a bad experience with an AI once."