Play@YSDC

Nicole staggers to her feet. “Steinmann? My god, they preserved him? Why?” She peers closer at the column,
“Ugh, the man was a total arse but what a way to go! With any luck he’s just as much a pain in the backside for whoever put him in there. Look, he’s hooked up with electrodes.”

Spot hidden, 60 roll: 47

'Hello Science Officer Khan. All CENTRAL artificial intelligences require a non-linear, non-deterministic organic component to anchor the highly parallel quantum computers. Following a system-wide failure in 2178 the Barnard's Rest CENTRAL Intelligence has incorporated tissue derived from deceased miners. All convict miners remain the property of the colony and ultimately Richter Dynamics after death. If you attempt to disconnect organic components this will have a critical impact on my functioning.'

There is the slightest hint of a pause.

'Recent organic material has been unreliable and needs to be refreshed frequently. Earlier today the organic substrate failed and was replaced. I am now operating at one hundred percent efficiency.'

Take a 1/1d6 Sanity check for seeing Virgil's sorry state

[31] = 31
SAN 64 d%: [ 31 ] = 31
Pass, so SAN now 63.

Covering her mouth to hide her revulsion, Kiara takes a step back from the obscenity.

“Steinmann was an executive officer, not a convict miner! Even if this were ethical, you’re going way above your remit! You have recognised my authority; disconnect the organic element and restore to factory settings! This order cannot be countermanded!” she yells, hysterically.

Sam shudders as she disconnects Virgil, but she barely keeps it together. "I'm doing you a favor," she says.

Mechanical Repair roll (60% skill) to disconnect the cylinder:
d%
Sanity roll (current level 61) for seeing Virgil:
d%
Sanity loss:
1d6

[13] = 13
Mechanical repair 40 d%: [ 13 ] = 13
Hard pass!

“This is for everybody’s good…” mutters Kiara as, through gritted teeth, she also sets to work.

Sanity 96
1d100

Medicine 80
1d100

Jojo will attempt to monitor the medical portion of the disconnection but he is distracted by the weirdness of this situation and how much beyond his normal operating parameters this is.

sanity 55 roll:74, 4

Nicole can only stare, horrified at the grisly end of Virgil.
“What is this thing that’s doing this?” She whispers.

By targeting the pumps and other mechanical systems that seem to constitute the life support system Sam and Kiera are able to isolate the cylinder containing the remains of Virgil.

'Science Officer Khan, Engineer Golightly, please stop interfering with the organic maintenance systems, there is a risk of catastrophic failure of all organic subsystems.'

They disconnect all the cables, pipes, and tubing from the cylinder, spilling a viscous red fluid like blood onto the floor. The figure inside the cylinder starts to thrash, writhing on its mechanical hook.

'Time to catastrophic organic failure, five minutes, quantum computer decoupling from kernel, auxiliary systems in autonomous mode...Help...help me...'

The voice changes, still coming over the hidden speakers, 'Something's wrong, it hurts, I can't see anything...'

Then it changes again, a harsh, grating tone, 'Welcome. I am Ëka-Galä, we are Ëka-Galä, we are H'rada-Theka Pannakar, the Swimmer in the Void. Come to Waystation, to the Gate of Tawil at’Umr. Join us.'

Sam again feels a strong desire to cross the methane sea to Waystation

Inside the cylinder the pink liquid becomes more turbulent, machinery starting to move inside. Mechanical arms swing and pivot, there are rotary saw blades whirring, little currents of dark red blood swirling about the spinning blades as the remnants of Virgil's flesh are systematically diced and rendered until the metallic mounts and probes are picked clean of flesh while the fluid runs red with blood. Then the fluid rapidly drains, like Virgil has been liquidised and then flushed away.

Floor level LED lights come on, intense white lights that flash progressively towards the door. Then red beacons start to flash along the walls and a whining siren starts.

"Let's get out of here!" says Sam. "We need to go to Waystation and put an end to this once and for all. We've put it off for long enough." She tries to resist the urge to go to Waystation. "Or maybe we should evacuate everyone and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

[14] = 14
Computer use 65 d%: [ 14 ] = 14
Hard pass

“Wait; we can’t go anywhere where until CENTRAL is restored to normal, otherwise there’s no telling what it’ll do,”

Focussing intently, Kiara keeps working on the systems.

Nicole tries to persuade herself that being liquidised is better than becoming part of an alien machine. Then she pulls herself together.
“Why Waystation, Sam? The alien is here; it’s tampered with CENTRAL and is obviously in control of the whole colony here. Surely we should be evacuating everyone and sending a mayday- from the ship, not through CENTRAL.”

"I just...feel like I should go there," says Sam. "I can't explain it."

"I believe that Kiara is correct, Sam. We need to get CENTRAL rebooted without whatever this thing is. Your mind is obviously succumbing to its unnatural compulsions as so many others in this station." Jojo intones. "If you don't feel competent to assist, you should find something to plug your ears so that you can resist should things get more tenuous."

Now that you know I am an android, androids cannot expend luck which is why I haven't used any during this scenario. Sorry!

"No, I can resist it," says Sam. "It's not the sound of the voice that's making me feel that way. It's been like that since the dream I had last night. I'll help how I can."

In the confusing maelstrom of flashing white and red lights, and the incessant wailing of alarms, Kiara accesses the nearest terminal. As far as she can acertain the organic components were integral to the functioning of the CENTRAL AI. Something confirmed by Isabella as she rushes up beside her.

'All CENTRAL intelligences need an organic component to interface with the quantum processors. Usually it's just a floating lump of tissue, little more than lab grown cell cultures across a biofilm substrate. I've never even heard of anything like this.'

Kiara is able to initiate some autonomous subroutines to try and prevent a catastrophic failure of the whole colony systems but she can't find any way to reset CENTRAL without replacing the organic component.

"Jojo, do you have the necessary organic components to interface with the computer?" asks Sam.

"I'm a doctor, not an engineer. What is the backup if CENTRAL goes down? There must be a backup system." Jojo replies but he goes over to look over the interfaces to CENTRAL anyway. "The tissue is contaminated so we have to bypass the normal interface to gain neural control of the systems."

As she works, Kiara listens to the conversation with half an ear. The word ‘mayday’ gives her an idea: with CENTRAL reduced to basics and hopefully free of external control, it should be easier to broadcast a warning message on all frequencies.