tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72325861167582511712018-03-08T14:35:17.796+00:00Europe on MarsA log for Phil Masters's Transhuman Space roleplaying campaign of the same title. It's 2100, and the children of our minds are on Mars, and there's things need doing.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-88976379567132084842012-10-17T17:08:00.000+01:002012-10-17T17:08:20.067+01:00Left on the Beach<i>May 27, m0039</i>, <i>continued</i><br /><br />The team run some more checks on one more point, but determine that there was nothing odd about those marriage partners, so far as they can tell.<br /><br />At the same time, they are briefing Florence over Web. They tell her to come back to the embassy, and send Dougal an executive summary of events. In response, Dougal and Florence are somewhat scathing about the team's tactics so far.<br /><br />Anyway, the team continues watching the building, while Vajra begins negotiation for drone hire. Bastion's people start to troop out carrying packs, small items of gear, and so on, and get into the vehicle. The team note a certain odd <i>saminess</i> about these individuals, and Hugo especially notices a lack of body language. They also put a call in to Dr Vartex to ask if a K-10A would be able to detect a bioshell by scent; he thinks that one might be able to, but isn't sure - so he offers to come down to be sniffed by Woju. (Vediovis, his AI, mutters about his boss never resting.) The team heads down to an American bar to wait for him.<br /><br />Jianwei takes over the task of renting a drone, pushing his luck a little to put it on the embassy budget, and gets use of one just in time for it to observe the bus leaving the building.<br /><br />At the same time, a message arrives from the embassy's administration systems, which have been smart enough to make an association; there has suddenly been a rush of legal complaints about Bastion<br />cancelling contracts - legitimately, it turns out, by the letter of their terms of business, but unexpectedly and inconveniently. Jianwei draughts a standard response to such complaints; he doesn't make it especially sympathetic, as the complainants have nothing that will stand up in court.<br /><br />By now, Vajra is tracking the bus onto Port Lowell's main street, and sees it joining up with second, similar vehicle; he asks for second drone, in case the two go separate ways again, but that only comes slowly, and at high cost.<br /><br />Then a call comes in from Mars Development Security, who, among many other things, handle security concerns for the MDC. It was directed to the embassy, but the AIs there route it to Jianwei, who finds himslf talking to a slightly bemused human MDS night-duty staffer. It seems that, a few minutes ago, Bastion terminated the lease they had with MDC on their building, effective immediately. Following standard procedures, MDS despatched a spiderbot under LAI control to inspect the building. It promptly discovered evidence of unauthorised high-temperature processes, and called in. Jianwei looks at the imagery it provided, and agrees that the building is showing evidence of a lot of burn marks. Vajra checks the images, and decides that the building's static computer systems especially have been targeted. It looks like someone has been enthusiastic with the thermite, presumably to destroy all traces some kind of data. The MDC will be filing claims for damages.<br /><br />The team decides that a little more direct investigation is needed, and calls a fast taxi to pursue those minibuses, which are now heading south out of town towards the lake shore. They also call a security company which has its own boats and pay for one to be sent in the same direction, in case this is mass disposal of evidence by dumping in the water.<br /><br />It may not be, though. Rather later than they should have, Vajra's surveillance systems spot a moderate-sized transport vessel apparently heading for rendezvous with the minibuses. Jianwei tries calling Abril, but Abril stonewalls him, hard. <br /><br />The team's taxi gets to the lakeside meeting point around the same time as that boat, and Charles&nbsp; and Florence disembark - and meet two Bastion employees, whose behaviour, body language, and vocal manner are very flatly obstructive. Florence tries to move around them but she finds herself being blocked. Charles dashes towards lake shore, making unspecific but enthusiastic comments about the scenery as he goes, then turns and starts walking towards the boat. One of the Bastion guards moves to intercept him, while Jianwei talks to the other, who is confronting Florence - but he (or it) doesn't react. Jianwei also sends Woju, who's already spotted&nbsp; a certain <i>blandness</i> to the guards' scent, to film the boat.<br /><br />Charles wades into the shallow water, as does the guard who is trying to delay him, then heads for the boat. He's more resistant to cold than his antagonist, who now makes an ineffectual attempts to hit Charles with a side-handled baton. Florence dashes over at the sight of this,&nbsp; and a rather crude brawl ensues. As Florence tries to bear her opponent down, though, she has an unpleasant and unfamiliar experience; his head explodes in her face, without enough force to hurt her, but very destructively. The other Bastion "employee" heads back to the evacuation boat.<br /><br />Charles attempts first aid on Florence's recent opponent, although it's more or less instantly clear that this is as terminal an incident as one would expect. Looking at what's left of that head, Charles spots that he's apparently dealing with a bioshell here.<br /><br />Around this time, the boat that the team chartered from another security company shows up; the team asks it to stop the vessel which most of the Bastion people have now boarded, but it hits a jurisdiction problem; that vessel is Chinese-registered, this is more or less unclaimed territory, and there is no proximate cause for citizens' arrest. The crew offer to maintain hot pursuit, but that's all they can do. Jianwei calls Marshall Kirkowicz and try to get her help - but this isn't something she can assist with. No crime appears to have been committed in American territory, after all.<br /><br />The Bastion staff simply sail away, and a digital ping confirms that Abril is aboard their vessel. Left on the beach with a badly damaged bioshell-corpse, the team can do little but head back to town. The one other thing they can do is rent the minibuses which Bastion have now finished with, putting a clause in the agreement that they are <i>not</i> to be cleaned, allowing a forensic sweep later.<br /><br /><i>May 28, m0039</i><br /><br />By 4am, Jianwei has completed a careful report to the embassy on the incident, recorded the E.U. citizens who were down as working for Bastion in Port Lowell as possibly dead, details still unclear, and gone to bed. At 6:15am, Danteng receives a congratulatory message from the ambassador; he evidently turned up something quite odd here. At 6:30am, she wakes Jianwei to ask about the security company boat, which is still in hot pursuit of the Chinese-registered craft, which seems to be heading for Chinese territory. Jianwei kicks himself for forgetting about that, and calls off the pursuit, then files an extradition request with the Chinese authorities for Abril.<br /><br />During the day, word comes in that various E.U. citizens who were recently flagged as possibly dead are in fact on their way home from (actually suspiciously similar areas of) the Asteroid Belt, and are denying that they had anything to do with this when questioned by radio. Meanwhile, Bastion has taken to issuing waffly and largely content-free statements, and Jianwei's extradition request filters into the murky depths of the Chinese bureaucracy. However, it's not certain if it will achieve much before Bastion can extract their man from this mess - assuming that they want to, of course.<br /><br />In due course, the team and their acquaintances work out some idea of what may have been going on. At a best guess, Bastion have been experimenting with LAI-operated highly-networked bioshell security. This would let them use variants of their standard networked security management systems on jobs like they've been working in Port Lowell, and save on personnel overheads. The snag is, of course, that LAI operation of bioshells&nbsp; is highly illegal in some places, including virtually anywhere under EU jurisdiction, and has memetic problems in many others.<br /><br />So Bastion middle management set up this long-shot project, probably hoping to get proof-of-concept data and then quietly leave. They have doubtless been borrowing the names of people working in the Belt, presumably paying them a decent amount to take some time off in a Bastion-run facility out there. No doubt, if they could have proved that this LAI-bioshell system could function and not even be noticed by the public, they could have got clearance from their board to start more overt operations in some transhumanist enclaves and stations where this wouldn't cause much trouble. Unfortunately, the embassy team, representatives of a jurisdiction where LAI-controlled human bioshells are seen as an abomination, showed up and started poking around. It's hard to guess what they thought the embassy was up to, but they may have taken it as an attempt to shake them up and maybe warn them off. The trouble was, they'd broken rather a lot of EU laws, so they&nbsp; couldn't afford to just ignore this. So they decided to get out fast.<br /><br />Well, at least the team have thrown a spanner in the works of Bastion's illegal operations, and handed the company a major PR headache. Whether LAI-bioshell security guards will ever work as a business model remains to be seen.<br /><br /><i>(And here, the campaign went on hiatus for a while.)</i>Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-19860479328996707712012-09-19T18:32:00.002+01:002012-09-26T17:00:39.936+01:00Staffing Questions<i>May 24-25, m0039</i><br /><br /><br />The team find themselves based back in Port Lowell for a couple of days, with Florence unavailable to assist them because she is spending most of her time in extended consultations with her psychiatrists, and the rest acting as a pilot/driver for a group of European construction engineers who are helping build a new Japanese industrial plant up at Shibetsu which has fallen behind schedule.At the same time, Jianwei decides to proceed with a major upgrade that he has been planning for Aunty, so she is transmitted back to Earth for a substantial code revision, leaving him dependent on the team's other AIs for software support.<br /><br /><i>May 26, m0039</i><br /><br /><start date="date">Meanwhile, Danteng has been seeking to understand how law enforcement works in Port Lowell, as the study group</start> back on Earth with<start date="date"> which he works needs a better idea of the interaction between the various private security companies in the town and its multicultural population. It's rather hard to assess how the town's society will behave without a good model of that, and getting one is one of the things that really requires observation on the ground.<br /><br />Now, his work on this has </start>turned up an anomaly, involving a company named <i>Bastion Incorporated Reassurance</i> - one of the smaller Port Lowell operations. Some research back on Earth showed that they employed an above-average number of European staff (as indicated by tax data). This looked like an opportunity for Danteng to talk to people who'd be inclined to talk to European government representatives, and who must surely have some dealings with the embassy.<br /><br /><start date="date"></start>However, <i>no</i> such people have showed up on routine embassy records searches, and a search back through the files has shown that the embassy has had almost no dealings with Bastion staff.&nbsp;This is statistically implausible; security staff are normally pretty good at generating consular business, as Jianwei is able to confirm from experience - they run into legal problems, suffer injuries, and so on. Attempts to contact any of these people have also gone badly, meeting oddly uniform attitudes and refusals. Claims about "heavy non-disclosure agreements" sound rather thin in the context.<br /><br />So Danteng mentions this to the rest of the team, who decide that an anomaly involving multiple European citizens probably merits their attention. Charles, the team's Martian native, has actually heard of the company, which is known in Port Lowell for providing "human-interface" security - people rather than automated systems, where that is what is needed. Its staff are actually quite widely known not to be big talkers - they show up, do the job okay, and go home. He asks around and gets names of some small companies, bars, and the like, who currently employ Bastion's services.<br /><br />Vajra, meanwhile, does a lot of very successful digging on the Web, finding that Bastion is registered in Switzerland for tax purposes - which is doubtless a flag of convenience registration, but then many companies in 2100 are essentially virtual entities with no fixed abode. Vajra also finds some relevant records regarding Bastion's European employees; there are thirteen such in town at present, plus the local manager, one Jorge Abril.<br /><br /><br />Things become even more interesting when he checks their data footprints further. They have virtually none. None of the thirteen post, detectably, on any kind of Web forum, or otherwise generate any identifiable on-line traffic. Then, we Vajra checks their residency information, it turns out that they all share the same physical address; a unit flagged, in Port Lowell's rather relaxed property registration system, as combined industrial and residential. This isn't illegal, but is highly eccentric. So Vajra sends a cybershell to drop some surveillance swarms in the vicinity of the building. Observation for a few hours towards the end of the working day shows a few people entering the building as if heading home from work, but not much sign of anyone, say, going out on the town.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the team have been looking up a little more about the company. It turns out that they operate almost entirely off Earth - often in the Asteroid Belt, in fact, although they have some other offices and contracts on Mars. Mostly, they provide security services for corporate installations - the sort of thing that usually involves heavy automation and specialist cybershells, not human employees on site. Their Port Lowell operation looks anomalous. Anyway, they're definitely a highly distributed semi-virtual corporation.<br /><br />By now, even Woju is showing brief and intermittent signs of interest in the case. The team decide to exploit their own more or less official status to further this investigation - by launching a snap Health &amp; Safety inspection. After all, the set-up in Bastion's unit does look a bit anomalous in that respect. However, having themselves authorised to conduct such an inspection will take a few hours - in fact, they can't be cleared for the purpose until the next morning. So they decide to place a more detailed watch on the building by planting geophones around it, just in case anything might happen underground as much as anything. Jianwei takes on this task, pretending to be a drunk wandering around the neighbourhood for the benefit of any security camera systems. He's quiet enough, but his drunk act may need work. Still, he doesn't provoke any particular responses. On the other hand, the geophones don't pick up any particular activity as yet.<br /><br />Jianwei also has to talk to Ambassador Schmidt over the Web to get clearance for the team's sudden promotion to warehouse inspectors. She signs off on this with no more than mildly ironic remarks, and all is set to go in the morning.<br /><br /><i>May 27, m0039</i><br /><br />The decision for the morning is that Charles will go into the building with Woju. and an official-issue inspector's skill set loaded on his implant. Jianwei will remain back at the embassy to preserve a degree of anonymity and to field any complaints that the inspection might generate. Working AI-to-AI, Hugo initially talks his way past the basic NAI at reception, but it becomes uncertain and tells the pair to wait at the door. Woju gets bored with waiting, though, and slips into the building while Hugo is arguing. Charles takes the opportunity to "chase" him.<br /><br />At around which point, Jorge Abril shows up with his legal support systems running at full power on the local Web. He and the lawyers manage to bog Charles down with a fusillade of red tape, but Charles and Woju retaliate by each claiming to be in charge (Charles says that this is Woju's first day on this job; Woju claims to be "training the new guy"), confusing Abril. Other human Bastion staff - including several of the thirteen Europeans - show up during these proceedings, but only Abril seems to be stressed; watching over the Web link, Jianwei, the trained psychologist, decides that the others are strikingly affectless. At the same time, Woju notes that they all have very similar scents. As a test, the "inspectors" fabricate an excuse to ask several of these people which is their favourite restaurant in the neighbourhood; the replies are all plausible, but all different, and all come after a very slight but discernible pause.<br /><br />The building seems distinctly, severely sparse as Fifth Wave living quarters go, although Hugo can't find anything to justify further Health &amp; Safety action. Charles and Woju depart, with Woju accusing the ever-enthusiastic Charles of being weird. The party regroup at the embassy to discuss next steps.<br /><br />As there is clearly something very strange about those Bastion employees, one possibility that arises is to get DNA samples. This could probably be kept just about legal if the action which acquires the sample is not any kind of assault or invasion of privacy; this would need a plan. For now, though, they decide to act on another point of interest; review of the recording of the inspection suggests that all of the Bastion employees have implants. Jianwei slips around to one of the places where one of the thirteen is working, and Vajra uses his systems to remote-ping the Bastion employee's implant. Cross-referencing to records shows that this is <i>not</i> the implant that this individual was previously noted as using.<br /><br />Looking over other records also identifies three other European Bastion employees who worked at this installation for a while, then apparently returned to Earth. On a hunch, the team analyse their schedules, and find gaps in their travel records - nothing suspicious in itself, but it looks as though those three would have had to take slightly eccentric journeys to leave Mars at the recorded times, reach Earth at the recorded times, and avoid leaving a records trail. All three now seem like normally active human E.U. citizens; interestingly, two of them have married since they came home - which may be coincidence, but which might just count as curious.<br /><br />Following through all this record searching also locates biometric data for several of these Europeans. In the absence of full DNA tests, these aren't conclusive, but there are slight divergences - just enough to suggest that someone somewhere may be a surgically adjusted fake.<br /><br />All this takes much of the day. Towards the end, another message comes over the Web; <start date="date"><can be="be" br="br" determined:="determined:" for="for" in="in" incorporated="incorporated" it="it" s="s" switzerland="switzerland" tax="tax"><can bastion="bastion" be="be" br="br" determined:="determined:" fifth="fifth" mostly="mostly" provides="provides" security="security" standard="standard" wave="wave"><can actual="actual" all="all" been="been" br="br" dealings="dealings" few="few" find="find" have="have" that="that" those="those" with="with"><bastion a="a" abril="abril" are="are" br="br" by="by" citizen.="citizen." is="is" jorge="jorge" local="local" managed="managed" office="office" s="s" spanish="spanish">Florence calls to say that she's coming back on duty, effective more or less immediately. Shortly after this, while checking his surveillance swarms, Vajra spots a medium-sized rover, essentially a minibus, pulling up at Bastion's unit.</bastion></can></can></can></start>Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-22246384432589826402012-09-10T18:50:00.002+01:002012-09-11T16:02:31.499+01:00My Enemy's Enemy<i>May 14, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />When the party breaks up for the night, the team find that a tent has been provided for them. They also find that Charles has sampling an odd brainbug of some kind while hanging out with the other younger guests; it's certified safe, but he will be inactive for a while.<br /><br />As the humans and bioroid settle down to sleep, Vajra links to the high-bandwidth long-range comms systems on the team's hopper, and talks to Danteng; together, they run a preliminary analysis of the memetics of this situation. Danteng assesses the context, while Vajra burrows into the memetic loading. Their preliminary conclusion is that there is no <i>blatant</i> TSA involvement here, but the situation may favour whatever "Quipu" is trying to do.<br /><br />This analysis takes a little while, and shortly after the two AIs have finished compiling their conclusions, Samadhi picks up a digital distress screech from the now-muddy area where the aquifer is welling up. Unfortunately, there are no camera views of the point of origin available, from either the hopper or available orbital systems. So Vajra alerts his organic colleagues. Florence wakes up and, deciding that things don't appear <i>overly</i> urgent, starts dressing in shirt, trousers, and boots. But then, Aunty gets contact with the NAI which transmitted the alert, and that mentions that its owner has lost air mask integrity. So Jianwei calls panic, then loads a survival skill set to Aunty for advice. It says not to panic.<br /><br />The team board their hopper and take off, reckoning that a rescue from the air is likely to be the best option. (They are still well ahead of any of their hosts, who know about the distress call but who are evidently unaccustomed to providing fast emergency response.) They then find their target quickly enough, although it - he - isn't emitting quite as much IR as they might have expected; a human being largely submerged in the new quicksand, and struggling to stay safely afloat.<br /><br />They quickly form a plan, which involves Florence remaining at the controls of the hopper, while the others use the winch with which it is fortunately fitted to lower Vajra's rented spider shell to extract the victim from the silty mud. As it turns out, Florence flies fairly well, but Vajra bounces about rather too much. At Jianwei's prompting, Aunty loads up a basic Physics skill set and runs a quick frequency analysis on the cable, enabling the team to improve their timing. Jianwei coordinates the approach, lowering Vajra into the mud as they go; the idea is now that Vajra will "swim", with the cable providing effective bouyancy.<br /><br />In fact, Florence's piloting continues smooth but Vajra continues to have trouble, Eventually, though, he gets a grip on the victim, who is panicking, but ineffectually. The team start lifting; once Florence has enough control of the situation, she uses the hopper's thrust to complete the job, as Jianwei calms the man over his radio.<br /><br />They get him aboard, and Jianwei tries but initially fails to provide effective first aid; the victim his inhaled some very dangerous Martian silt. However, Aunty talks him through immediate remedial treatment while the team are flying back to the camp. There, Mahmud provides access to a useful emergency life support machine which helps a great deal. Once the patient is more stable and not in immediate danger, the team get him back onto their hopper for a trip to the hospital in As Sulaymi. Vajra's flying surveillance swarm is left sniffing round the desert for more information.<br /><br />Vajra also uses a crawler swarm to search the man's clothes, quietly, during the flight, while by a lucky exercise in computer intrusion, Dougal gets into some logs on his (very) low-end personal AI. Together, they reconstruct more of what he was doing. His name is Khalid ibn-Muqla, and to judge by his camouflage-appropriate clothing, the surveillance gear he was carrying, and the risky but secretive path he was attempting to take this evening, he was definitely seeking to spy on the progressive Saudi group.<br /><br />The team decide not to say too much about any of this, to avoid giving any signs of taking sides. Once Khalid is in hospital, Jianwei checks into a local hotel so he can catch up on sleep, while Florence&nbsp; stays on the hopper to guard it and ensure herself plenty of sleep time.<br /><br /><i>May 15, m0039</i><br /><br />The next morning, the team check in on the patient, who is now coming along okay. They send a message to his friends to say as much, then fly back to Mahmud's encampment for breakfast. Mahmud seems to be taking it as read that the man was spying, but he is formally polite when visitors from the other camp show up after breakfast. Still, he&nbsp; doesn't argue when Florence wants to meet them. They are barely formal to <i>her</i>.<br /><br />Vajra subsequently sweeps the camp, but finds no signs of bugs.<br /><br />The team stay around for a few more hours to watch a bit more of the aquifer seething up, then head home, dropping off first the hopper, then the rented spider on the way.<br /><br />On the way back, Vajra gets badly lost in memetic research. However, Danteng is watching the news streams, and picks up releases regarding the rescue; the team set to work determining the nature of any editing and memetic loading that's been applied to these - and it looks like there's been some. While they are busy on this, in fact, a call comes in for Florence from someone who identifies herself as "Darling Dobermann", and who wants to say thanks for a leak of information on this story that she assumes came from the team.<br /><br />So they analyse what she's received, and recognise some distinct if subtle slanting. They warn "Darling Dobermann" of this, and her response is a virulent "bastardsbastardsbastards..." She declares that she'll stay out of this business; she resents being manipulated, and can't tackle the story further without that becoming a dictinct risk.<br /><br />The team also assess the public response. It looks like the Saudi progressive/conservative divide is being noted. In general, public sympathy inclines, predictably, towards the progressives, though there is lots of noise among all the opinions.<br /><br />Once they are settled back in town, Florence has an appointment for psychomedical assessment in the embassy. The others chat with Ambassador Schmidt, going over events. Eventually, they spot the signs of what they've come to think of as "Peruvian" memetics in all this - and as they burrow into the data, Vajra starts getting what he describes as "null pointer" errors in his memory. Unfortunately, there also seems to be a distinct and probably deliberate attempt to draw the EU into the memetic/political conflict here, pushing them into an unwanted position as <i>active</i> allies of the Saudi progressives. The team decide to attempt a counter-campaign to preserve their neutral standing as best they can.<br /><br /><i>May 16-23, m0039</i><br /><br />This is a full-scale, though modest, counter-memetic operation. They take some days just to analyse the problem in detail, then as many again to execute their counter-attack, using embassy press statements, carefully edited releases of imagery from the rescue operation, and so on. By the end, Jianwei and Danteng estimate that they have achieved 9% population penetration with the "Neutral EU" meme - enough to sow doubt about European complicity. Meanwhile, Florence is back to chauffeur work, and Charles finds himself doing a mandatory course on dangers of brainbugs.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-40140042924091102982012-08-22T21:47:00.000+01:002012-08-29T17:45:52.578+01:00Climbing (Two Kinds)<i>May 8-12, m00039</i><br /><br />Over the next few days, the team return to routine work as Liapchev recovers in hospital. The team check his progress periodically; Florence. who knows something about tradition, considers taking him grapes, but given the cost, ends up taking a bio-engineered Martian product that grows on a cactus and resembles a kiwis fruit. Talking to him confirms that he is (or sees himself as) an adventurer out of his time. He spends some time chatting with Florence about places they've been, as their wanderings around the Solar System have covered some of the same territory.<br /><br />He mentions, as advanced medicine completes its work, that he would like to go climbing on the upper Marineris-Noctis Labyrinthus cliffs, and both Florence and Charles find this interesting, and declare that they'll join him. Vajra, curious about such activities, decides to come along in a rented spider-shell, and Jianwei decides to come on the trip to keep the team together - although he says that he'll only drive the rover and watch the others. This is technically off-duty activity, but Ambassador Schmidt doesn't mind at all when she hears about it - she thinks that it might serve as the basis for a bit of good public relations work.<br /><br /><i>May 9, m0039</i><br /><br />And so the group take a monorail to the (relatively) old Chinese town of Guxiang, where they rent a rover, and head south to Ge'gyai, a town at the centre of the developing Chinese agricultural system. There, they sample the new local wines briefly before driving on up narrow canyons with <i>greenery.</i> By the end of the day, Florence, Charles, and Liapchev are climbing happily while Vajra discourses on weird organic concepts of "fun". Back at their camp, Jianwei cooks an indifferent meal - but at least he is able to suggest an interesting climb for the next day from his observation of the cliffs.<br /><br />Over dinner, perhaps now that they are less likely to be under significant surveillance, Liapchev tells a story regarding his commercial slink-logging work. His publishers are a Peruvian enterprise, and it seems that they very subtly but carefully edited his work. Curious, Jianwei asks for sight of "before" and "after" versions of the slog, and confirms this looks like deliberate memetic tinkering - the aim seems to be to promote ideals of Martian cultural diversity, with a little subtle Free Mars attitude thrown in for good measure. He pulls more from the same publisher off the Web to review the next day.<br /><br /><i>May 10, m0039</i><br /><br />The others take up Jianwei's suggestion for cliffs to tackle next. Florence, confident as ever, takes the most difficult route, but manages fine, indeed thanking Jianwei for finding such a good climb. She and Liapchev both slog this. She then becomes wildly overconfident on the way back down; she manages the climb, but her psychiatrists will be having words later. Also, she left her filter mask off, and so despite the peculiar persistent mediocrity of Jianwei's cooking (even on a hasty second attempt), she devours all the food that is put in front of her. Meanwhile, Jianwei has been wading through masses of slogs, but is uncertain of his conclusions.<br /><br /><i>May 11, m0039</i><br /><br />Through careless observation, Jianwei suggests an over-tough climb the next day. Fortunately, Charles demonstrates his keen eye for Martian scenery, and warns them of its problems. The group quickly locates an easier climb across the valley, and even Jianwei is persuaded to join them.<br /><br />On getting back to the rover with its long-range communications capability, the team (and also Liapchev) receive an invitation from Mahmud as-Sulaymi, relayed to them by the embassy. He is giving a small party off in the wilderness to mark some local event or another - he's vague on the subject. This looks like a good chance to cultivate some contacts. So the team transmit an acceptance and start planning.<br /><br />With some thought, social skills, and Florence's keen fashion sense, they choose a wardrobe. The humans in the party go for robes, while Vajra extends the hire period on the spider-shell, which should rate as tactfully non-humanoid in Muslim company, paying a small surcharge for it to be given a temporary metallic paint job on the way. Liapchev&nbsp; will join them; the Embassy protocol AIs note flatly that, while Danteng might monitor the event, Woju's presence would <i>not</i> be a good idea. <br /><br /><i>May 12-14, m0039</i><br /><br />Two days of travel return the group to Guxiang, from where they can take an overnight monorail. Florence's video records go to her psychologists over a fast comms link, while the party gets package of clothes from Quentin. A rented hopper is waiting for them at the monorail stop in the morning. They change clothes at the airfield, and head south to the party location.<br /><br />As they approach, Charles looks down and comments that he can see some really <i>interesting</i> geology - he's unsure about the quality of the soil hereabouts. They should land on the field marked out by as-Sulaymi, and not anywhere else, he says. They do so, spruce up before disembarking, and are politely and slightly effusively greeted by their host. They note that his bioroid camels are tethered off at a distance. <br /><br />Charles wanders off to chat with Hassan, but the rest of the team get talking to various unfamiliar Saudis. Vajra gets a strong sense of <i>politics</i> once again here - this is obviously an event for that radical/progressive faction in Saudi society. Some of them are visibly unsure about Florence the exotic bioroid, who would have severe problems in terrestrial Caliphate areas, but they are all conspicuously polite. <br /><br />At sunset, Mahmud claps politely for attention, and clears his throat to speak - and at that point, some of the insolation mirrors visible in the sky above turn to focus full daylight and more on the location. The team quickly realise what is happening; this action will trigger melting of a local aquifer. (Landing on the wrong spot would have left the hopper in a distinctly unhealthy position, especially at this point in time.) The plan - part of the whole great terraforming process - turns out to be to start liquid flows to what will eventually become a river comples downhill to the south. Mahmud doesn't claim full credit for this operation, but it is all part of his domain of interest, and he performed some of the related survey work. Getting his pictures on the Web in association with this will reflect well on him and his political faction - and having European representatives around at the time will also add effect. <br /><br />Jianwei recognises this, becomes somewhat distracted, and hastily files a short report with embassy - "We've found the hook inside the bait". <br /><br />Florence, meanwhile, goes off with the women to their private tent, and ends up dancing quite a lot. She does make one error, by mentioning sensory uplinks, which are <i>not</i> a respectable topic among any sort of good Muslims... She also notes that most but not all of the women have Andraste biomods - come to think of it, the same probably goes for the menfolk. <br /><br />Vajra, taking a detached view of all this socialising, fires off a message to Danteng - a request that the AI sociologist should check the semiotics of this set-up for Peruvian elements.<br /><br />Also, both Jianwei and Vajra note another encampment across the valley. It seems, when they mention this to their host, that a rival faction may be on the scene, observing events. Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-76361507000211670622012-08-08T01:51:00.000+01:002012-08-15T11:09:06.424+01:00Razzia<i>May 6, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />At the University, Vajra gets call from the embassy. Quentin expresses the opinion that things appear to be getting a little complicated for Vajra's teammates on a mission down in the desert; perhaps Vajra could offer some advice? Vajra rapidly reviews the logs of the team's recent activities, and then patches in to Liapchev's rover over a high-bandwidth satellite link.<br /><br />Meanwhile, advised of the approaching unidentified newcomers, Jianwei steps out of that rover, joining Woju, who is lying down outside, having declined to go&nbsp;<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span><i>walkies</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">. Vajra also places a call with Mahmud as-</span>Sulaymi<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">. Meanwhile, Florence, deciding that the team's hired hopper is too easy a target if the opposition are well-armed, lands it on the other side of Liapchev's&nbsp;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">rover from the new arrivals. Also, Charles has to be talked out of going to <i>talk&nbsp;</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">to them.</span><br /><br />Mahmud responds to Jianwei's call gratifyingly promptly, and is very polite. He spends a few moments chatting to&nbsp;<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">Liapchev, and is apologetic about the situation. He says that he doesn't wish to place third parties in danger as a result of his own problems... Jianwei cuts back in, though, as the team's time is limited; the E.U. team doesn't feel inclined to walk away from this. There is some &nbsp;discussion of options.</span><br /><br />Jianwei hails the incoming rover when it pauses a half-mile away, but receives no response. Then it starts up again, building up speed toward the Europeans. Vajra, operating available cameras, notes that there are at least two people inside, possibly more - and the ones he can see are scowling. Florence plays a targeting laser over the incoming rover, mostly as a warning. By now, she is on the roof of Liapchev's rover, while Charles and Woju are hiding behind some nearby rocks, and Jianwei has got back inside with Liapchev. As the incoming rover closes as fast as the terrain permits, Florence sends a warning spray of small-caliber full automatic fire in its direction, then carefully drops a homing shell into the ground just in front of it, creating a small crater in front of one of its front wheels. This causes it to swerve aside, after which it slows down and stops.<br /><br />Most of the people inside deploy on far side of their vehicle; it looks like there are three of them, with one more remaining inside. In the ensuing pause, Jianwei continues attempts at hailing - until an SMG burst just misses Florence as she somersaults down behind Liapchev's vehicle, which takes a little damage (and loses atmospheric integrity). She reacts by firing a missile at the attackers' front wheel, which makes a hole in it, but not a big one.<br /><br />Despite that, the attacker still at the controls gets their rover moving again, so Florence blows the windscreen out. The attacker reacts by accelerating -&nbsp; leaving the three of them on foot exposed, and at least two of them are clearly armed. Florence decides that the situation is now sufficiently unambiguous, and shoots one of them with a SEFOP missile, dropping him. The other two hit cover, and Florence switches her large-caliber barrel to HEMP rounds as the enemy rover charges, then drops prone to reduce the risk of being hit. Meanwhile, Vajra chooses this moment to start playing a Faroese whaling song over the team's radio channels, claiming that his adopted cultural heritage makes it appropriate. Inside Liapchev's rover, Liapchev and Jianwei find as much cover as they can, while Danteng, who has been observing events over the embassy's communications channels, takes control of the miniature shell which the NAI used to recover the unconscious Liapchev, and sends it on a flanking move to distract the attackers. Then Vajra acquires control of Liapchev's rover, and passes it to Samadhi, who starts it moving.<br /><br />Samadhi manoeuvres for advantage, side-swiping the incoming rover, which spins and evades Florence's first shots - but before it can run her down, she hits its drive train with her next two rounds. It rumbles to a halt, and the driver emerges clutching a gun - but before he can threaten anyone, Charles steps out of cover and brings him down with an electrolaser. The other two attackers still standing choose to slip away around now.<br /><br />It turns out that the attacker who was shot by Florence is still just alive, so Jianwei and Aunty do what they can to keep him so. A quick examination of these people suggests to the more knowledgeable members of the team that they may be some kind of Triad minions, while the interior of their rover has some aerosol cans of attractant and dispersal pheromones, some airguns and tranquiliser darts, and enough space to carry a tranquilised bioroid camel or two. Why the Triads would be after the camels is unclear, but they are known to have broad interests in the dubious end of the biotech market.<br /><br />Unfortunately, it seems that they used some of the dispersal pheromone spray at some point to make things harder for the team; the camels are all leaving the area in various directions. The team have to spend some hours rounding up the creatures; to his apparent slight annoyance, Woju ends up running ahead of groups of them while sprayed with attractant pheromones. While flying the hopper around on spotter missions, some of the team also locate the other two fleeing Triad goons, and take photographs of them for future reference. The team also finds time to perform some emergency repairs on Liapchev's rover.<br /><br />All this is pushing the team's fuel supplies down rather low, and after some discussion, the team decides to arrange some more supplies from As Sulaymi. Danteng, the cultural expert, points out a minor snag there, though; that community seems to operate under modern Islamic cultural norms, so a bioroid like Florence may be looked on a little askance - and a dog, however uplifted, will be regarded with intense disdain. Florence grumbles at the idea of being on the receiving end of prejudice, feeling that it is irrational as well as insulting.<br /><br /><i>"My brain is mostly human,"</i> she points out vehemently.<br /><br /><i>"I'm very sorry for you,"</i> says Vajra.<br /><br />In the end, Florence and Charles fly to As Sulaymi, after Jianwei has been back in touch with Mahmud, who agrees to meet them at the airfield with supplies. In fact, he also shows up with his teenage son, Hassan, and is intensely politely apologetic about the whole business. The hamper of food which he has brought along amplifies his apology. The agreement is that he will meet the party in the desert to take charge of the camels.<br /><br />It becomes clear to the party that Mahmud is quietly but radically liberal by Martian-Arab standards; aside from the fact that he was entirely polite to Florence, they saw that Hassan was a "Red Bear" parahuman, much like Charles (but without the leopard spots). Anyway, the hamper includes some good coffee, so they cannot but like him a little.<br /><br /><i>May 7, m0039</i> <br /><br />The meeting and handover takes place at the end of the next day. Mahmud has brought a number of friends along, evidently concerned that the trouble might not be over yet. They have the look of competent civilians, not professional bodyguards, but they seem adequately alert, and some at least of them are armed. The meeting, though, is all very amicable; Charles makes friends with Hassan, while Florence makes the acquaintance of Mahmud'd wife Soraya (who wears a full veil - with a high-resolution 360-degree video display of its surroundings on the inner surface). Still, it also gives Jianwei a chance to assess Mahmud's group further, and he recognises a political faction when he sees one. The camels, he suspects, represent a way to acquire prestige in the Martian Saudi community, and to prove the usefulness of advanced biotechnology in a context of cultural traditionalism. There is some talk of the next generation of the beasts being designed for racing.<br /><br />Dinner, provided by the Saudis, is (not surprisingly) excellent.<br /><br /><i>May 8, m0039</i> <br /><br /><br />The next morning, as the camels form up in elegant line astern for departure, Jianwei makes a nice speech of thanks. Mahmud seems happy to have a serious prestige gain in prospect.<br /><br />And so the team heads off in their flyer, leaving Liapchev's rover to make its own way home. The prisoners will be dropped off with the nearest Chinese authorities, along with enough evidence to arrange some kind of prosecution; the Chinese can also deal with tracking down the other two in the desert, and sending a salvage team to recover their badly damaged rover. Liapchev (a wandering adventure, it seems, hired by Mahmud to bring those camels quietly but impressively over hundreds of miles of desert) will go to hospital in Port Lowell. And Florence is happy enough to discover that her psychiatrists are not overly worried about her activities these last couple of days; it seems that they will even tolerate her shooting people on her own initiative, if she shows sensible judgement.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-31408918749099993632012-08-01T12:38:00.000+01:002012-08-01T12:38:07.148+01:00Caravan Club?<i>May 4-5</i><i>, m0039</i><br /><br />The team spend another couple of days settling in, dealing with routine business, and making sure that Woju has various items of equipment that he may need (not least some body armour). As matters do seem to be quiet and it still has time off in hand, Vajra transmits back to the University with Samadhi, to deal with further legal and software concerns.<br /><br /><i>May 6</i><i>, m0039</i><br /><br />Hence, Vajra is away when another non-routine task comes in one afternoon. An E.U. citizen named Josep Liapchev, travelling alone in a rover in the desert south of Arsia Mons, appears to have hit trouble. His rover's AI, which seems to be fully functionally but very non-sapient, has called in a report, saying that Liapchev has suffered some kind of accident and is currently in a stable but unconscious condition in its emergency support unit, being patched up - but it's not saying much more.<br /><br />This sounds like something that some kind of local emergency response unit should handle, but the problem is, no one is rushing to deal with it. The NAI is sending medical system telemetry which shows that Liapchev's condition is basically stable, despite the fact that he's unconscious, and it seems that both the Chinese bases around Arsia Mons and the Saudi Arabian community at As Sulaymi, south of his location, have this flagged as less urgent than their other current concerns. Well, he's not one of their citizens - he's a Bulgarian. Which means that he <i>is</i> the E.U.'s worry.<br /><br />So the Embassy team are being sent in, and they even get a budget that suggests a moderate sense of urgency - enough to cover an immediate commercial flight to Haiyuan City, where Quentin will ensure that a hired hopper is waiting. The team muster their gear while they review the medical telemetry with a forensic eye, and decide from careful assessment of the limited data (including a bit of visual imagery) that Liapchev is actually suffering from concussion. Something hit him on the head, hard. It's <i>possible</i> that he suffered a fall while running, but the angle looks a bit odd for that.<br /><br />They also select their hopper from those available at Haiyuan while they are in flight, opting for something large enough to carry all of them and some gear, rather than, say, two smaller craft. Then they do some research on the civilian that they are going to help. Charles has a stroke or two of luck while rummaging around the Web, perhaps because he recognises a bit of a kindred spirit; Liapchev, he realises, is clearly very fond of travel. He's seen much of the Earth and spent some time on Luna before arriving on Mars, where he has spent a few months already without much sign of intent to settle down or find any kind of permanent work. He isn't an eloi, though; rather, he supports himself as a bit of a jack of all trades, and also by writing about the places he visits. He writes well, though not brilliantly, and he hasn't turned in any writing recently.<br /><br />In due course, the team arrive, finding Liapchev's rover with no difficulty, and Florence flies a reconnaissance pattern over the site. At a quick look, it appears that there are a fair number of <i>tracks</i> around the vehicle - almost as if a crowd of people have been milling around it recently. Florence sets the hopper down carefully about 500 metres away, to avoid disturbing any evidence in the event of this being a criminal case, and the team gather up their gear and disembark. Woju sniffs the thin air briefly before donning a filter mask (this area is essentially a high plateau, but the air is breathable for those with the right adaptations), and declares that he's picking up a faint but distinctly organic scent - and no, it's nothing to do with the team or the crowded quarters of their hopper. It has a kind of densely <i>vegetarian</i> quality.<br /><br />As the team trek over to the rover, Charles instructs Hugo, his family's faithful high-end LAI, now installed on his personal implant system, to load tracking skill set software. Examining the ground through Charles's eyes on arrival, Hugo detects a lot of disturbance - as the team had already identified from the air - but not much sign of boot prints or similar. The disturbances are all around the vehicle, although denser in one or two places than in others. What Hugo can't detect is any sign that the vehicle came to a sudden stop, or any other vehicle tracks. It seems that Liapchev simply paused here, in the middle of the Martian desert.<br /><br />The team are still being careful, although they have basic communications with the rover NAI, and they even get some images from the interior of the vehicle, which don't appear to show anything too worrying. They decide that Florence and Woju should enter the rover first, ready for trouble - but once they're inside, all seems well, aside from the unfortunate Josep Liapchev, unconscious in the medical unit. They also notice the simple emergency remote-control cybershell that the NAI used to bring him back to the vehicle, as per its programming. The oddest thing that they find, on an initial inspection of the interior, is a number of bags of grain of some kind.<br /><br />So Jianwei follows them in, and links Aunty up to the medical unit as Florence exits and heads back towards the team's hopper; the feeling is that there's no real need to leave it at such at inconvenient distance now. Meanwhile, Charles is systematically photographing the area around the rover. Hence, coincidentally, both of them spot movement in the distance at around the same time, use their personal optical gear to zoom in on what they see, and make startled noises over the team's channel simultaneously.<br /><br /><i>Camels?</i><br /><br />That is indeed<i> </i>what appears to be wandering in the desert a few hundred yards away. Actually, once they get over their initial surprise, some members of the team realise that this isn't <i>that</i> bizarre an encounter. There has been some talk in various quarters about creating a camel-based bioroid for use on Mars; it seems that a number of wealthy members of the local Saudi community feel that it's somehow desirable. Quite what they're doing here is unclear, but the odd tracks around Liapchev's rover now seem to be explained.<br /><br />Florence diverts towards the camels, getting close enough to scan some of their implanted RFID chips, which indicate that they are the property of one Mahmud as-Sulaymi, a Martian resident with Caliphate citizenship who evidently regards himself as settled here enough to take the town name as a personal identifier. A little more research shows that he's a wanderer and primarily an amateur geologist - someone whose work has a certain amount of genuine scientific value.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Jianwei and Aunty have talked the rover AI into giving them some access to its records, and deduce from assorted items of information that Liapchev has indeed been travelling in company with the camels, making his way slowly south from a minor Chinese station on the slopes of Arsia Mons; they also conclude that the camels need fairly frequent feeding. Well, they don't appear to be wearing filter masks, so presumably their metabolisms need a lot of energy to process out the air's high carbon dioxide content.<br /><br />The party are a little unsure why a Bulgarian wanderer would be travelling in company with a rich Saudi's new camels. It's just possible that there's something illegal involved here, which would complicate their decisions about the best thing to do. They decide that, although Aunty declares that it would be possible to bring Liapchev round without danger to his health, it might be better to leave him quietly unconscious for now.<br /><br />Florence heads back, brings the hopper back closer to the rover, then sets out with a bag of the grain. A couple of the camels notice this, and wander towards her, but the smell and sight aren't enough to attract all of them reliably. Jianwei, wondering how Liapchev managed them, has a bright idea, looks around the rover, and turns up a pheromone spray. Florence takes that and some more food, and discovers that the combination does indeed work well to attract the bioroid animals.<br /><br />However, as she turns away from the scattered grain, one of the camels charges her back. Fortunately, she hears it coming at the last moment, and reacts instinctively, leaping straight upwards and clear <i>over</i> the camel as it tramples the spot where she was a moment before. It manages to stop and turn, but she instantly draws a tangler pistol, and as it tries to kick at her, she overloads its front legs with sticky strands. It's strong enough to break free, but it fails to do so before it trips and falls, and as it struggles to stand, Florence entangles it again. Then, Charles arrives on the scene, having drawn an electrolaser, and stuns it well enough for both of them to get well clear before it recovers and breaks free.<br /><br />This seems like odd behaviour, even for a camel - and these are supposed to be engineered domestic animals. Aunty directs Jianwei as he runs a chemosensor over the grain supplies, and runs a careful spectrographic analysis, concluding that there are slight but definite traces of extraneous biological material - something pheromonal. The teams sends their data back to the embassy for them to run or commission a more detailed analysis, and check further, concluding that only some of the bags are tainted. A bit of careful sorting should be feasible.<br /><br />They also decide to wake Liapchev now, and Aunty takes control of the medical unit, managing this task efficiently. Liapchev turns out to be lucky; despite the concussion, his recent memories are clear, and he confirms (in good English) that he was indeed kicked by one of the camels when the creatures turned unexpectedly aggressive. He explains that he was commissioned to bring the animals from Arsia Mons to As Sulaymi - a perfectly legitimate commission, although there was evidently some kind of requirement for secrecy in the contract - and he's more than happy for the team to send a message to his employer. They are happy to note that they don't have a criminal case on their hands at this point. Liapchev for his part is glad to have an explanation for the camels' misbehaviour, although he doesn't know why the grain might have been tampered with.<br /><br />Florence gets back in the hopper and takes it up for a flight, using its sensor array to locate all the camels - Liapchev can say that there should be twelve in total. The team start working out ways to gather them together by stages, using unpolluted grain and pheromone sprays.<br /><br />However, at this point, Florence sees something else - another rover, approaching from the north. It has the scruffy look of a well-used vehicle, and it doesn't respond to automated radio ID requests. This looks suspicious.<br /><br />Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-60394252794438976972012-07-13T18:55:00.000+01:002012-07-13T23:19:35.633+01:00Shakedown Brawl<i>(And so the campaign restarts after its break.)</i><br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 16-May 2, m0039.</i><i></i><br /><i><br /></i><br />Things fall relatively quiet for the team for a couple of weeks, with routine duties for Jianwei and Florence, and Vajra actually taking some time off. It seems that it has transferred its processes to servers at the University of Mars, taking Samadhi with it, for purposes that are initially unspecified. Its humanoid body serves as a hatstand in Jianwei's apartment, except when Dougal and Aunty take turns operating it. One never knows when it might be useful for one of them to take charge of that shell, so some familiarisation seems like a good idea.<br /><br />However, at some point during this time, Jianwei receives a message concerning his non-executive directorship in the shell company which renders Vajra legal in jurisdictions where that is necessary. It seems that the company is in the process of becoming legally responsible for a second full-sapient AI. In fact, it turns out that Vajra, having monitored Samadhi's development and decided that the LAI is capable of more, is having Samadhi upgraded to full self-awareness. Samadhi will remain in Vajra's and the embassy's employment for the time being - it may have become fully self-aware, but it still needs supervision and guidance for the time being - but in due course, it will become fully independent, and Vajra will presumably need a new assistant.<br /><br />Anyway, Jianwei signs off on the change of Samadhi's status.<br /><br /><i>May 3, m0039.</i><br /><br />Jianwei often comes into the embassy to work, finding that more convenient in various ways than using VR connections from home, but this morning features one very minor extra amusement on the way in; a delivery van has pulled up outside the building and deployed its associated mover shell, while its driver AI falls deep into apparently rather brusque consultation with Quentin regarding where to place the large crate which it has brought. Jianwei shakes his head and leaves the infomorphs to their conversation.<br /><br />Inside the building, though, he finds himself summoned to Ambassador Schmidt's office. She makes an idle remark about the delivery, then suggests - with seeming complete casualness - that Aunty might go and help integrate the new systems into the local embassy network. Jianwei takes the hint and doesn't ask how Aunty can help, instructing the LAI to divert its attentions to that part of the embassy network. A green light comes on in augmented reality, indicating that the ensuing conversation is not being recorded.<br /><br />"Actually, I have some good news," the ambassador announces. "Your team has acquired some extra budget. With strings attached, of course. To begin with, someone back in Brussels evidently got interested in some of the events that you encountered. It's one of the analyst AIs there. It evidently wants to review things from closer quarters, so it's moving to Mars - and it'll be assigned to work with your team. Fortunately, Quentin was able to find room for the new mainframe that it will need to run on. He's had to move some other equipment around a little, of course."<br /><br />Jianwei comments that this is indeed good news.<br /><br />"Yes, we can hope so. Its name is Danteng, by the way." (Jianwei recognises a Chinese slang term that suggests tedium - perhaps the new AI really wants more excitement in its existence.) "It's arranged for some kind of assistant to be available to it, to act as its eyes and ears. You'll have to sort that out in due course.<br /><br />"Oh, and that's not all. You'll be getting another team member. To be honest, somebody pulled some strings to get a favour. You're getting an intern."<br /><br />Jianwei is politely noncommital.<br /><br />"Yes, well - he does look quite promising for his age. Just as well, given that he's eighteen. He's a Mars native, but he's also an E.U. citizen - well. joint E.U. and University of Mars citizenship, actually. From an academic family, it seems. His name is Charles Dupont. He's up on Nix Olympica at the moment, actually - perhaps Vajra should have a word with him?"<br /><br />Jianwei agrees that this sounds like a workable informal induction process, and after a little more inconsequential chat, the unrecorded conversation ends. Jianwei goes off and discovers that, with its new hardware still being installed and tested, Danteng isn't running yet. So he puts a call through to Charles Dupont at Nix Olympica, and discovers that the new intern is definitely keen and enthusiastic about the job. After explaining a little about what the team does, Jianwei introduces Charles to Vajra, and those two fall to talking, with Charles's energetic enthusiasm colliding with Vajra's measured philosophical attitude. Vajra asks how Charles is proposing to travel to Port Lowell; the answer predictably involves the equatorial monorail, and Vajra offers to keep Charles company through the train's systems, and continue their conversation.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aOu3eRzBWPQ/T_67kg5s34I/AAAAAAAAAF4/fi2WBjtcM2c/s1600/Marvin_the_martian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aOu3eRzBWPQ/T_67kg5s34I/AAAAAAAAAF4/fi2WBjtcM2c/s200/Marvin_the_martian.jpg" width="170" /></a>Meanwhile, Danteng has arrived on the new, fully verified system, and receives an orientation briefing from Quentin. It is an academic sort of system, specialising in Martian sociology, but it evidently has some kind of sense of humour, as its chosen VR avatar resembles a 20th century flatscreen cartoon character. Quentin passes the briefing duty onto Jianwei, who describes the team's work - actually, Danteng has seen a number of their reports - and then takes the new arrival on a walking tour of Port Lowell. Having studied a lot of reports about Martian communities, Danteng proves quite knowledgeable already, but demonstrates one slightly irritating habit; it almost seems to have difficulty distinguishing between <i>actual</i> conditions and the multiple social models and predictions with which it regularly deals, and so it keeps talking about landmarks and buildings as if they are only there some of the time, in some versions of reality.<br /><br />At some point along the way, Florence makes an appearance, having escaped from her own routine tour guide duties, and more introductions are made. In due course, once Florence has taken her sidearms home, she and Jianwei go out for dinner, with Danteng along for company in VR. Danteng also mentions that its assistant/field agent will actually be an uplifted dog, which is being prepared for the duty at a local biotech company. Florence and Jianwei politely refrain from saying too much about <a href="http://europeonmars.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/go-fetch-rover.html">the last such canine with which they had to deal</a>.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Vajra and Charles are talking about Buddhism and geology. Both evidently have very keen interests. Later that night, the organic team members sleep, while Danteng, having been advised to keep well in with Quentin, returns to the embassy to spend some time mastering the game of Robo Rally (specifically, the version which Quentin plays in the embassy storerooms in his off-duty time).<br /><br /><br /><i>May 4, m0039.</i><br /><br />Charles's train is due in the next morning, and Jianwei and Florence decide to meet it, accompanied by Aunty, who is operating Vajra's humanoid cybershell for convenience. At this point, it sinks in with the team&nbsp; that it now has at least two fur-clad members; Charles is one of the first-generation Mars Adapt parahumans, complete with proper heat insulation, and Florence's tiger stripes contrast with his leopard-style spots. They both make fur look good, but the clash may be a problem.<br /><br />From the station, the group head off to Crucis Bioservices, the company where Danteng's new K-10A aide should be waiting for them. The receptionist - human, but a heavy user of extreme cosmetic proteus nanoviruses - directs them to a room at the back of the building, where Woju the K-10A is waiting. By now, Jianwei and Florence have a clear idea of Charles's mood and general attitude, which is <i>enthusiastic</i> - he evidently finds the idea of working with this team very interesting. As the embassy have arranged him accommodation on another floor of the same apartment block as they live in, they realise that he'll be quite hard to avoid.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yh_goPzbfZ0/T_69fi61RkI/AAAAAAAAAGI/yoeHvZFxJQQ/s1600/WoJu_face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yh_goPzbfZ0/T_69fi61RkI/AAAAAAAAAGI/yoeHvZFxJQQ/s200/WoJu_face.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />Woju, on the other hand, turns out to have a more <i>sanguine</i> temperament, to put it mildly. He seems almost depressed by the idea of his new employment, and the effect is somehow amplified by the barrel chest and long fur which his Mars adaptations have given him, and even more by the bulldog genes which have evidently influenced his facial structure. Still, the team hand him the computer harness which he'll be using to remain in touch with Danteng, and he gets up to come with them.<br /><br />However, their departure is slightly delayed by the appearance of a pair of Mars cats which have been permitted to wander around the building. Being cats, they take an interest in these visitors as possible sources of food if nothing else. Charles accesses the building's systems to buy them some cat food. They're still bored and capricious enough to take a clandestine swipe at Woju's tail as he's leaving, but he retains his equilibrium, and Florence warns them off.<br /><br />In fact, this leaves her and Woju discussing the finer points of tail management with the rest of the team as they all stroll down the street. They reach the apartment block, where Charles and Woju will be sharing some living space, and a battle of wills soon ensues regarding decor. Eventually, they end up with pictures of Martian landscapes on two walls, and an ocean scene from Earth on the other. It seems that Woju has dreams of travel.<br /><br />Once the new arrivals are reasonably settled in, the team sets out to return to the embassy - but on the way, they receive a call from Marshall Kirkowicz. It seems that she's been alerted to a brawl in progress at an American bar - a New York-style place - and it that there are a couple of Italian tourists trapped in the middle of events. She's letting E.U. consular services know as a courtesy - her own cybershells are already on the way - but the team realise that they are close to hand, so they divert to deal with the problem straight away.<br /><br />They arrive at the bar at much the same time as the Marshall's cybershells, which head in first, but as no gunfire ensues, the E.U. team quickly follow (Woju, who seems uncertain, being encouraged by Danteng). Inside, they discover a stand-off situation, with the Italians keeping their heads down on the far side of the room. As Jianwei endeavours to talk the drunken brawlers down, Charles sidles around the walls towards the tourists, accompanied by Vajra's flying microbot relays. As he spirits the Italians clear, Jianwei's efforts start to bear fruit - except that some of the brawlers seem persistently bloody minded. But as one or two of them move towards Jianwei with a hint of threat, Woju remembers the basic police dog training that is part of his background. Stepping up beside the team leader, he emits a deep-throated growl - and the troublemakers lose interest in making trouble, giving the Europeans time to leave the bar.<br /><br />And so they can head on to the embassy after all. So far, the expanded team seems to be working.<br /><br />Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-10840198548913504722011-11-30T14:45:00.000+00:002011-11-30T14:45:41.176+00:00Hunted Dog<i>Sagittarius 14, m0039, continued.</i> <br /><br />The team are still at work supervising this small building project. Florence decides that there is no sign of trouble here, and wanders off in search of lunch, picking up a fauxflesh sandwich and, by way of an experiment, a locally-grown durian fruit. She tries to force herself to eat the latter, but fails completely. Her enhanced senses are a little too sensitive.<br /><br />Then, a call comes through for the whole team - but is intercepted by one of the embassy NAIs which is assigned to help manage their security, as they <i>are</i> E.U. diplomatic service employees.<br /><br /><i>"This is a heavily anonymised and redirected contact, but it probably originates from the area of New Shanghai or the western end of Marineris, and there is a high possibility that the individual calling is the acquaintance of yours whose primary pseudonym is 'Deimos Dog', or a good digital emulation."</i><br /><br />The team take the call - and the speaker initially refers to herself as "Dravidian Delacroix", but doesn't actually try to maintain any pretence. It quite quickly becomes clear that she feels that she's in some danger, and is calling in favours. In the last few hours, her on-line reputation and trustworthiness indices have suffered dramatic falls - the sort of falls that endanger her status as a journalist, just as a very small start.<br /><br />It seems that her past posts and Web stories have been subjected to a concerted and extremely hostile attack - a series of selective analyses and comments, some delving into what is publicly known about her private life, which seem to be designed to mark her down as a cat's-paw of the American authorities, an SIA stooge. This requires considerable selectivity, but as she says, <i>of course</i> a large proportion of her past stories have been highly critical of the Chinese on Mars - they're the largest single power on the planet! Unfortunately, she can't be sure who might be falling for these attacks, and a number of her contacts and acquaintances are the sort of people who won't take kindly to someone they see as an American government agent of influence.<br /><br />She doesn't know who these attacks might be coming from - she's long seen it as part of her self-appointed job to annoy people, and candidates could include both Chinese and American authorities and any number of smaller groups and powerful individuals. She can't ask many people for help - too many people she'd normally approach might be falling for these slanders, or might even be involved in launching them, while any help she gets from American sources will just make her look worse. Hence, she's come to the E.U. team, even though she has to admit, when she thinks about it, that she's actually an American citizen.<br /><br />Florence decides that there's a missing piece to this story, and switches on the charm, exploiting the intimacy of her past acquaintance with DD to draw her out more. Eventually, DD admits that she's recently been doing a very little, mild digging around the team's current activities - after all, she finds them interesting. She's been researching FAXAD and so forth. Maybe she wonders if this might have something to do with the attacks - but she presumably doesn't expect the team or the E.U. to be overly annoyed by this, let alone systematically hostile.<br /><br />She thinks that only the embassy or FAXAD could have known enough about her enquiries to recognise her interest in this project, so the team drop the line to her and check with the embassy. Quentin denies that they had even spotted her enquiries - they were subtle and anonymous enough to slip past whatever warning systems the E.U. has in place, although Quentin does admit that they have DD tagged as "to watch" - she's a freelance journalist of unpredictable prejudices who has got close to an E.U. team, after all.<br /><br />The team decide that they will try to help DD; they regard her as a basically friendly and sometimes helpful contact, after all, and if this incident is linked to their work on the FAXAD project somehow, they ought to know about it. Vajra puts Samadhi in charge of the construction operation while Vajra itself sets to work analysing DD's past work, not turning up any clear clues as to likely attackers there. Meanwhile, Jianwei quickly designs and scripts a counter-campaign, with inputs from DD, that should hopefully make life a bit safer for her. But who should deliver it? If the team tackles the job, anyone tracking it back will flag the posts as questionable, and it will compromise E.U. perceived neutrality too far.<br /><br />As Jianwei and DD chew over this problem, Vajra also analyses the memetics of the slander-attack. The conclusion is that it's deliberately bland and generic, using stock, textbook tools and methods - which weakens it a little, perhaps, but also makes it effectively untraceable. It's skilful enough, but it sacrifices some effectiveness for anonymity.<br /><br />Meanwhile, DD has come up with the best available vector for the counter-campaign. Double-checking her security and trusting to encryption, she admits that she is currently holed up in an unused commercial building in New Shanghai; she has friends - well, probably-reliable acquaintances - elsewhere in the city, who have the resources to handle the job. But she'll have to ask them in person.<br /><br />Jianwei pulls up his mapping software and plots her a route to this destination that should mostly avoid busy streets, and then Florence links directly to the cameras on DD's wearable interface, allowing her to watch DD's back and advise on stealth. (Her attempts to advise on disguise don't work so brilliantly, unfortunately.) Hence, Florence is looking over DD's shoulder when DD enters what is, to the knowledgeable eye, rather obviously a low-level Triad Web-media operations centre. Florence snorts. "You know you can't trust these people, don't you?" she snarls in DD's ear, as <i>those people</i> turn not-totally-friendly looks on DD.<br /><br />DD, though, maintains her cool and demonstrates a decent grasp of street etiquette, while Jianwei, as ever the social operations expert, advises on negotiation techniques. DD ends up owing this Triad operation a favour, but in exchange, they set to work using subverted LAIs to spread the counter-campaign. Within minutes, DD's Web-based reputation indices are showing marked signs of recovery. She breathes a sigh of relief and slips out of the Triad dive, then agrees with the team that she should check into a capsule hotel for a while.<br /><br />Once she seems to be safe for the moment, Jianwei starts talking to the LAIs which currently represent FAXAD on Mars, and soon decides that they are blandly trustworthy standard models. But Vajra digs out some more information on FAXAD arrangements back on Earth, which include a lot of "rehabilitated" gypsy, orphan, and rogue AI workers, and Dougal, assessing the Foundation's security arrangements using his developing aptitude for computer work, is less than impressed. The team advises FAXAD to bring their most trusted and unambiguously trustworthy software agents into this project, and to transmit some of them to Mars to handle local security.<br /><br />Meanwhile, it's getting late in the day, and the team's organic members will soon need to rest. They get the informorphs to watch over DD as she sleeps. She, it seems, has an elevator car bar-tending job coming up, which should represent a fairly safe place for her to remain while the trouble dies down.<br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 15, m0039.</i><br /><br />The next morning, the embassy's security systems give a briefing on their assessment of this incident. From now on, FAXAD will be treated politely, but not trusted over-much - E.U. digital security are no more impressed than Dougal was by the effectiveness of their defences. They may be an innocent and unconnected party in this incident, but their extensive use of "rehabilitated" infomorphs looks frankly questionable.<br /><br />As for the actual attack on DD - there are any number of possible candidates as perpetrators of this, and few clues to narrow the field. The team throw out as many ideas as anyone. Discrediting DD while she is looking at the work of an E.U. team might, say, be a subtle way of insulating someone from DD's investigations in the vicinity of later E.U. operations. Or, given the weakness of FAXAD security, there might be something going on within that organisation. Could it be the Chinese, who don't, in truth, have much cause to love DD, <i>and</i> who may not be very fond of the E.U. team in the wake of other recent incidents? Maybe, although this all looks rather too subtle <i>and</i> under-resourced for that. The Americans, then? It's conceivable that one of their organisations could have hoped to drive DD to working for them in the absence of other friends...<br /><br />It does appear to closer analysis, certainly, that the attack was plotted out in advance, possibly not in the very recent past - it wasn't something that could have been thrown together <i>very</i> quickly, and wasn't keyed to some of DD's most recent activities. This gives it the smell of an organisation's contingency plans, rather than an individual's act of vengeful malice.<br /><br />In the end, the team find themselves on a hopper back to Port Lowell, left only with the knowledge that <i>someone</i> is up to <i>something.</i> But isn't that always the way of things on Mars?<br /><br /><i>Note: The campaign goes on hold at this point for a few months while the GM deals with a few mostly work-related issues.)</i>Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-90050834523643897222011-11-23T14:26:00.000+00:002011-11-23T14:26:04.407+00:00Foundations<i>Sagittarius 4-10, m0039.</i><br /><br />The team remain in Bako a little longer, with Florence for one enjoying some interesting nights in a town with a different social scene (and picking up some basic knowledge of African culture in the process). However, they eventually start receiving hints from the E.U. that a move back to Port Lowell may be indicated. Florence is becoming a bit of a permanent fixture on some gossip blogs and slogs, which might not be entirely desirable, and the team can continue to monitor Adam-4's progress well enough from their home base.<br /><br />A rather boring boat trip sees them safely across Lake Candor to Port Lowell, where Florence is happy to discover that the psychologists aren't currently inclined to harass her for too many personal reports. And so everyone is able to spend a few quiet days on routine work, time in the dojo, and so forth. Everyone's monthly pay has recently been credited to their various accounts, which leads to minor outbursts of shopping - or, in Vajra's case, minor outbursts of generosity.<br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 11, m0039.</i> <br /><br />Then, Vajra receives (via an AI agent) a contact from someone who, deliberately or otherwise, seems set to play on his particular charitable instincts - though it's actually a legitimate-enough, if informal, request for consular support. The Foundation for ArachnoXenological Assessment and Development is an Antwerp-based institute that, officially, studies Web life and provides consultation on practical aspects of the subject. However, it seems to be a fairly open secret that FAXAD provides a haven for orphan and gypsy infomorphs; it certainly acts openly as a proponent for infomorph rights. It hasn't previously operated much outside of Earth-local space, but growing complexity in the Mars Web looks set to make a FAXAD presence on the planet desirable - in FAXAD's opinion, anyway.<br /><br />The first step in the Foundation's response is to establish a physical presence on-planet - for which purpose, a sufficiently powerful computer installation is the main requirement. However, given the nature of some FAXAD activities, the Foundation would really like to be sure that this will be located somewhere with an unambiguously liberal legal structure. Their analysis says, plausibly enough, that New Amsterdam might be the best place to go. It's a tiny, growing, 100% Dutch colony up in the north; Dutch law is as close to tolerant in relevant areas as FAXAD can hope to find, practically speaking. They've got the engineering side of things worked out; now, they're requesting consular back-up in the physical set-up process.<br /><br />Vajra throws the request over to the others and the embassy for assessment. Jianwei decides that the legal position looks okay, while Vajra puts a call through to Dr. Mariam Kalatta in Bako, asking for her support; she's happy enough to assist as far as she can, though strictly on an informal basis, and she's certainly sympathetic (and knows nothing against FAXAD).<br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 12-13, m0039.</i> <br /><br />The information processes through various systems, and a couple of days after that first call, the team are notified by Ambassador Schmidt; there's a formal request come through from FAXAD for someone to act as legal witnesses on site when their shiny new computer system is installed on a site in New Amsterdam. This looks like a job for the Consular Services team. FAXAD have said that they will pay for the team to take a hopper flight up north - but in fact, Vajra decides to rent a shell on the site. Which is why, when the hopper lands, Jianwei and Florence are greeted by a formidable-looking industrial machine. "Hello Vajra," Florence cheerfully says.<br /><br />The team head towards the one hotel in this tiny town, where they are greeted by an AI receptionist (operating a static cybershell, humaniform from the waist up, a desk from the waist down). Their rooms prove to be ... very idiosyncratically ... decorated; the hotel may not have much competition, but it evidently doesn't want to be seen as <i>boring.</i> The organics then head out in search of a restaurant, finding a good Indonesian place (200 things to do with tofu, and durian fruit as a non-advised option on the dessert list). Meanwhile, Vajra has checked the rooms for bugs; he doesn't find any, although he is slightly unsure about this.<br /><br />The organic team members&nbsp; emerge from the restaurant to find some colourful furry snakes wandering the streets. Oh well, it's a biotech-industry town... They head on to a coffee shop and sample some other local products. The snakes start to make sense and the Martian coffee begins to seem almost tolerable... They decide that it's time to head for their respective rooms to sleep. Meanwhile, Vajra heads to the site acquired by FAXAD, and downloads some architecture and civil engineering skills sets to facilitate assessing it. His conclusion is that there isn't much to say.<br /><br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 14, m0039.</i> <br /><br />Breakfast for the other two involves lots of smoked and spiced fauxflesh sausages, after which, they join Vajra on the site, which is at a reasonable height up a local hill - it will be a few decades before rising sea levels become a serious issue at this altitude. Jianwei checks the financial side of FAXAD's arrangements, and decides that they are sound, by which time, construction materials are being delivered to the site. Vajra sets to work being useful, following v-tag instructions as concrete is poured to provide the new computer building with foundations, and then walls begin to go up. As the most authoritative sapient involved in this process, Vajra has a fair amount of discretion, and decides to follow local building standards by providing the structure with colourful external doors; he even checks with some local semi-professional consultants about established architectural aesthetics in New Amsterdam.<br /><br />The watching Jianwei thinks about the defensibility of the site, which is frankly mediocre at best - though why should that be a concern? As he is looking around, though, he notices other observers - camera-equipped mini-blimps, which appear to be registered to a Martian news service.<br /><br />In fact, around lunchtime, Aunty spots something on the feeds - and Quentin has also picked it up, because he calls soon afterwards. Florence, it seems, has made herself enough of a temporary minor celebrity that her presence in a different town (such as New Amsterdam) is considered worthy of note. Jianwei tells Florence to be boring for a little while, so hopefully the news feeds will lose interest.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-6356753881720799362011-09-30T19:04:00.000+01:002011-09-30T19:04:26.157+01:00Damage Control<i>Sagittarius 1, m0039, continued.</i><br /><br />When the organic members awake, the team decide that testing will need a fairly sizeable box to hold the materials they acquire, confining and isolating it. Florence, who is used to scrounging up odds and ends, is sent off with an emissions nanobug (patched through to Dougal) and told to find something of the order of a metre cube with no detectable electronic behaviours of its own. She succeeds, and drops the box off in the team's rented apartment. Then they all go shopping for, essentially, fancy tat - a good assortment of cheap items with identifiable VKVLM packaging. It helps when they work out how to persuade shops' systems to generate an augmented reality layer with products from known VKVLM customers highlighted. Florence also takes the chance to pick up some things she considers worth wearing, on expenses - her keen eye for fashion helps - while Jianwei handles the purchasing process.<br /><br />Back to the apartment again, a session of busy unwrapping follows, with packaging materials being diligently tossed into the box. Then Vajra puts surveillance dust on the inside of its lid, and the other two decide that it's time for lunch. In fact, Dougal talks Florence through the process of cooking a passable meal using foodstuffs and ingredients that they've just acquired. As they eat, though, Vajra picks up sounds of movement in the box. Unfortunately, his dust has no IR capability, so Florence drills a small hole and observes through her gunsight camera. There are indeed definite, even dynamic, signs of self-organisation in the packing materials.<br /><br />This looks like some kind of countermeasures are needed, so the team's AIs look at online documentation related to programming VKVLM processors and systems. The company themselves evidently regard this sort of thing as proprietary, but Vajra and Aunty find some hobbyist materials-hacker sites, mostly with information carried in from the Earth Web. Dougal, the team's chief computer operations specialist, looks at these, although he becomes a little twitchy at what he sees - the people involved are evidently the sort to skirt the fringes of formal legality, bypassing software security locks whenever possible, and he is, after all, an AI with proper honesty programming. He is persuaded to carry on, and he also looks more at VKVLM's own site, but that seems to be rather evasively verbose when one looks at all deeply at matters of security.<br /><br />Dougal does conclude that VKVLM materials can be induced to communicate with other items using the same architecture over distances of a metre or two using their short-range radio capabilities, and unauthorised reprogramming may propagate this way. This leads him to use that nanobug to search for emissions in and out of the box - and he quickly locates a cheap energy food bar which Florence had almost forgotten she has had in her pocket for some time. Or rather, he locates its VKVLM packaging, which is active and probably infected.<br /><br />It looks like the viral code is now trying to spread, and Dougal provisionally diagnoses this as an occurrence of something referred to on the Web as <i>Self-Organising Malware Phenomenon 3,</i> or SOMP-3 for short. It definitely looks as though the processor monoculture caused by VKVLM's market dominance in Bako is allowing it to propagate uniquely well, though. So Jianwei puts a personal call into the local VKVLM offices to warn them about the problem. He quickly gets past the AI receptionists and finds himself talking to Eugene B'Kosa, the company's branch manager. B'Kosa becomes very detectably nervous when told of the problem, and says that he'll investigate and call back in ten minutes.<br /><br />While the team are waiting, Jianwei checks the news feeds out of habit, and spots a note on the Bako local feeds about some local shops shutting their doors and closing unexpectedly, for reasons that are currently unclear. The team promptly puts a call through to the Bako Corporation, where someone correlates what they say with a series of alerts coming through from their own Computer Issues department. They know that there's a problem, and words like "cancertech" catch their attention, but they hadn't yet noticed the association with VKVLM products. The responsible department asks the team to meet them at a downtown location, in person.<br /><br />So the Europeans head out. The address they've been given is within walking distance, and in fact Florence decides to run there, without bothering with an air mask. (Her metabolism has no problems handling this, especially as she's well fed at present.) The Bako corporate cop on the tape responds favourably when she arrives, and she ends up talking to the police Computer Problems specialist, acting as a mouthpiece for the rest of the team in the few minutes before they arrive. As this expert soon notes that VKVLM are being smoothly cagey about this incident, he listens with interest to what the Europeans have to say. What <i>he</i> has to worry about is runaway unexpected behaviour by packaging and wrapping in several shops around Bako; items which are merely supposed to keep themselves tidy and well-presented on the shelves are shifting and flickering in an unnerving fashion.<br /><br />He can tell the team exactly which shops are affected (although the number increases by one as he talks), and Jianwei runs an analyst's trained eye over the map. Two of them are places which Florence visited that morning; by excluding those, he can see that the other half-dozen are linked by the sort of back-alley access ways that the new garbage collection cybershells use for daytime auxiliary collections. He immediately alerts the Corporation agents and police - the cybershells have likely somehow become a transmission vector. The Corporation respond to this, sending a signal that makes all those shells stop what they are doing and go park themselves outside of town.<br /><br />The team now have enough information to allow Dougal and Vajra to collaborate on a simple <i>ad hoc</i> fix for this problem. They know which radio frequencies the materials use to communicate and which ports they must be leaving open to allow propagation, and the simple architecture involved should be easy enough to overload or saturate. Dougal specifies a signal pattern that can be transmitted through the medium-range communicator that Vajra has available, and Florence volunteers to carry the unit into the shop, where Dougal can trigger it.<br /><br />The authorities are happy enough to try this, although their technicians suggest that Florence should carry as little digitally active material with her as possible, to avoid possible contamination or other accidents. (By now, the team have unavoidably had to acknowledge that Florence may have been responsible for infecting at least two of those shops...) When one of the technicians asks, perhaps flippantly, if Florence's underwear is sentient, she reacts by stripping off all her clothes - which, of course, doesn't exactly leave her <i>naked,</i> given the density of her Mars-appropriate fur. Then she picks up the transmitter, walks into the shop, puts it down again, and steps back. Dougal sends a trigger signal - and all the twitching, shuffling, and flickering products on the shelves go inert. Dougal follows up by sending another signal that puts them into inactive "shipping mode" before the infection can reboot.<br /><br />So now, she just has to repeat the exercise for each infected shop. Finding herself the focus of multiple visible cameras (never mind how many less visible systems may be tracking her), she amuses herself on the walk between each place by posing as she goes. Meanwhile, Vajra and Jianwei leave her to that job and locate the parked garbage collection shells. A little time and skilled use of electronics locates the source of the problem - lengths of active packing tape that have wrapped themselves round two of the shells' axles. By the time they're done removing that, Florence is on the way back to their apartment to disable the experimental samples.<br /><br />The team and the local experts now know a bit more about SOMP-3.It seems that , given time and sufficient processing power, this digital virus advances to increasing levels of complexity and self-organisation. It's a clever, possibly self-modifying design, but in the wild on Earth, it never progressed beyond its third level of complexity. Here in Bako, it seems to have managed five or six levels. Also, when the team disturbed it in the rubbish pits, they unknowingly triggered a built-in emergency response; it shifted from local self-organisation to a series of behaviours, digital and physical, that made it more likely to be spread more widely. What more the unknown South African hacker who created it made it capable of is unknown.<br /><br />However, the team now have a new problem; by late afternoon, Jianwei, watching the news feeds, realises that VKVLM are emphasising the "human transmission vector" aspect of the event. It seems that the company, or at least B'Kosa, are seeking to divert as much blame as possible from themselves - which means pinning some of it on the Europeans. Jianwei quickly improvises a counter-campaign, built around recordings from the dump. Then he calls B'Kosa and politely but forcefully persuades him that the current VKVLM line could provoke the release of a lot more imagery of VKVLM products in full cancertech mode. Thus, when Ambassador Schmidt calls a few minutes later, Jianwei is able to tell her that the memetic problem that she too has spotted is now under control. Even if the news feeds <i>are</i> now full of yet more pictures of Florence.<br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 2-3, m0039.</i><br /><br />The problem thus seems to be under control, and Florence is able to hit the bars of Bako (sometimes no more dressed than she was on those news pictures) to exploit her new fifteen minutes of fame. The rest of the team sit back and leave the clear-up to the town's numerous computer experts. However, Dougal alerts them to one consistent, somewhat unexpected factor in many of the reports; pictures of a visiting <i>Peruvian</i> team of emergency-response experts. Jianwei looks at this reporting, and concludes that there a subtle propagandist aspect; the team looks subtly but distinctly <i>too good</i> on camera, pressing too many buttons. (There may even be some well-planned cosmetic surgery involved.) He alerts E.U. Intelliegence, whose analysts agree; it seems that "Quipu" may be exploiting this opportunity. But it's being subtle about it, so there's not much to be done, for now.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-79787234700327862732011-09-18T19:51:00.001+01:002011-09-18T20:31:59.575+01:00Cleaning Up the Streets<i>April 26-27, m0039.</i><br /><br />The team hire apartment hotel space, booking for a week at a time, and begin to explore the local culture in Bako when they aren't monitoring Adam-4's slow progress towards mental integrity or performing routine embassy work in VR. Indeed, things go unremarkably for the next day or two.<br /><br /><i>April 28, m0039.</i><br /><br />Then, around noon on the 28th, one of the embassy LAIs suggests to Jianwei that, as the team are in Bako for a few days, they might as well look at a low-priority issue which does require personal, on-the-spot investigation. In fact, it's something which Jianwei recalls seeing a few days ago, when he agreed with that assessment. As the LAI comments, though, they may be able to save an E.U. company some money and trouble - perhaps even a full-blown court case - while they're there.<br /><br />The issue is a contractual dispute between the Bako Corporation, the non-profit holding company which manages the urban infrastructure of Bako, and Turino Sistemi, a European hardware systems company. The Corporation appear to believe that some equipment which Turino sold them is persistently failing to perform to specification, and want an engineer on site to fix the problem; Turino are equally insistent that, according to its logs, the equipment is demonstrably working fine, so any engineer visit would have to be billed on a cost-plus basis - which the Corporation won't sign off. Turino have requested consular advice.<br /><br />Jianwei agrees to tackle the problem and receives a set of files from the embassy. These are brief and phrased in very general terms, so he contacts Turino, discovering that their only Martian office is over in New Shanghai, and speaks to their local manager, one Paolo Corsini. Faced with an offer to solve this persistent nuisance-level problem, Corsini is happy to cooperate with the team, even when Jianwei tactfully makes it clear that the embassy is a neutral party and will report whatever they discover to both sides. Once he has Jianwei's standard assurance of confidentiality, Corsini transmits not only a much larger set of files but also a NAI, T-Epsilon-K, with specific technical expertise - though frankly, T-Epsilon-K doesn't seem to be much more than a good technical manual with a user-friendly front end.<br /><br />Wading through this new information with the aid of their AIs and specialist training, the team discover that the problem involves ... garbage. Turino sold Bako a new garbage disposal/management and street-cleaning system (replacing an earlier <i>ad hoc</i> set-up), involving automated waste collection and street sweeper shells. Working mostly at night, these take the waste they pick up to a set of pits a few hundred metres outside town, where it can be sorted and processed at leisure by specialised microbot swarms (although it turns out that this part of the process isn't really running yet). But, according to the Corporation, the system isn't working.<br /><br />Further reading shows that the problem boils down to management of the pits. The Corporation thinks that Turino's system is managing them badly, and has extensive pictures of a mess around them to prove it; Turino says that their logs show no evidence of malfunction by their shells, and have images from the shells' camera systems to back this up. The pictures are, to a casual glance at least, inconsistent.<br /><br />Jianwei calls the Bako Corporation, and speaks to Steve Kobala, their contracts manager. He is prickly at first, clearly assuming that the embassy will side with their fellow Europeans, but Jianwei knows how to handle bureaucrats, and works past this suspicion and the cultural barrier to convince Kobala that the Europeans will be reasonable and fair. This is fortunate, as the team need his clearance for their plan - which is simply to visit the dump and observe it closely to see what's happening.<br /><br />With permission for this acquired, they acquire some cheap but serviceable cameras, a tent and other camping gear, and some folding seats. They head for the dump by rented cab, aiming to arrive long enough before nightfall and set up some equipment.<br /><br />Once Jianwei has helped Florence get the hang of erecting a high-tech tent, she and Vajra enter the dump site (Kobala having told the site management systems that they are authorised for access) and begin placing cameras - Florence shins up some fence posts to place them for the best possible view. While there, they note that the site seems quite tidy - but there are a couple of low-end janitor shells around, who have had all day to tidy away any overnight mess.<br /><br />Vajra also puts an aerostat surveillance swarm into the air to provide a different view of the site, and Jianwei makes tea a for the two organic Europeans. Then, the team settles down to watch what transpires.<br /><br />The various cybershells which run the site begin working, and all <i>seem</i> to be performing to specification. So, eventually, the team settle down for the night; Florence goes to sleep, but Jianwei watches for a while, before deciding to leave the unsleeping Vajra to his own devices. Well, at least Vajra has Aunty for company (as well as Samadhi); Florence has put Dougal into a sleep state to keep him out of trouble.<br /><br /><i>Sagittarius 1, m0039.</i><br /><br />It is some time in the early hours of the morning that the watching Vajra spots something curious, and wakes Jianwei before instructing his aerobot swarm to go in for a closer look. Bringing up and enhancing the imagery, they determine that something is <i>pushing</i> rubbish out of three of the pits. The pits have flexible fabric covers to provide basic retention as the level of rubbish rises towards ground level, but the edges of these are rising occasionally as odds and ends are expelled.<br /><br />Jianwei and Vajra wake Florence, and then Vajra sends a crawler swarm into the site for a yet closer look. Vajra's instruments also detect a pervasive electronic "smog" in the area - nothing exceptional in 2100, but a higher density of short-range traffic than would usually be expected in such a location. Vajra moves his flying swarm in for a view from above, but all they can pick up is a few signs of motion.<br /><br />The team don environment suits, reckoning that this is a worthwhile extra protection for various purposes that they have in mind and against various possible causes for this phenomenon (and not just against the smell, which honestly isn't a major consideration in the current Martian atmosphere). Then Florence goes into the dump site carrying a surveillance worm. It soon turns out that the peculiar movements within the dump stop when there is large-scale motion nearby - as Florence approaches the pits, they calm down. So she drops the worm and backs off. Meanwhile, the other two have been making some checks, and have confirmed that there are no garbage-sorter microbot swarms supposed to be active in those pits at this time.<br /><br />As the team monitor its signal, the surveillance worm enters a pit. It is Vajra who works out what follows; some of the assorted packaging materials which make up a large proportion of the garbage have some limited motile capability (which is quite normal in 2100), and they are using it to <i>eject</i> other items. In fact, the worm is quite quickly ensnared by a length of gift wrap ribbon and forced back out the way it came.<br /><br />The team decide that they need a sample. By coincidence, at this moment, a garbage truck shell arrives on the site, which Florence uses as cover as she moves right next to a pit. Then she waits for it to leave, and once it's gone, she raises the edge of the cover and starts rummaging around inside. At this point, the packaging materials demonstrate that they also retain the common ability to change colour and even generate a degree of illumination; they start strobing rapidly.<br /><br />Florence flinches back, and Jianwei, who was watching the screen too closely, is blinded for a few moments. (Cheap civilian gear has limited user vision protection!) But Florence retains enough presence of mind to grab blindly for some of the active rubbish, and comes away triumphant with a length of gift ribbon. Then, as a further experiment, she opens another pit - and manages to turn her head and close her eyes in time as that, too, begins to flicker wildly.<br /><br />So then, she leaves the dump and hands the ribbon over to Vajra. ("I didn't know you cared," Vajra comments.) Some team efforts, using their wide range of skills, generate a clue as to what's going on. The ribbon is a product of a company named VKVLM Ltd. - but then, so is a lot of packaging and wrapping material found in Bako. On the other hand, <i>none</i> of the material being ejected from the pit is VKVLM product. It appears that VKVLM are an African-based company with a good line in culturally-attuned products, who by dint of good timing, have established something of a monopoly in this town. They also use a rather standardised processor architecture for all their semi-intelligent materials. Hence, a virus or contagious behaviour which happens to be adapted or designed for that architecture, capable of spreading through its very-short-range wireless networking features, can spread throughout the rubbish pits.<br /><br />The semi-technical term for this sort of phenomenon is "cancertech". The team comment to each other that there may be an interesting legal case coming up here, when various parties decide what grounds they have for suing each other. For now, though, they decide to go back to sleep (well, two of them do) and conduct more research in the morning. But first, Florence, in a moment of whimsy, decides on one last self-indulgence.<br /><br />Making sure that her protective nanoweave costume is secure, she wanders over to one of the pits, opens the cover again, turns her back - and deliberately falls backwards into the rubbish, to see how well it supports her. The answer turns out to be "not especially well", but as she sinks down through the strobing rubbish, Vajra, watching through his cameras, realises that there are more or less geometrical <i>structures</i> in the layers deeper in the pit. It seems that the VKVLM material is physically self-organising - presumably optimising the ability of the components to network with each other in the process.<br /><br />Anyway, Florence clambers out of the pit before the rubbish can reconfigure itself (and maybe encyst her), and Vajra lends her a cleaner swarm to add to her own so that she can clean herself up. She slink-logged this experience, but Jianwei tells her not to upload the recording anywhere yet; best to keep this matter quiet for now. The team also briefly take shovels and dig into the pit, confirming Vajra's sighting of patterns and structures.<br /><br />Then, they finally retire for the rest of the night. Their plan for the next morning is to go shopping, pick up some more VKVLM-made packaging materials, and conduct a few experiments with it.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-69029404975781789702011-08-31T18:05:00.001+01:002011-09-07T14:11:19.311+01:00Confusion in the Garden<i>April 25, m0039, continued.</i><br /><br />While the team has been waiting, Florence has been checking the Web for places in Bako where local bioroids might hang out. (It seems that the glimpse of that lion-maned individual may have done something for her.) Actually, of course, it's Dougal doing the serious research... There are various places that might be expected to be full of semi-autonomous worker bioroids, one of which is rated as quite cool by various trustworthy posters, while another place is apparently more up-market if slightly tourist-oriented. Meanwhile, Jianwei is telling Aunty to book the team a hotel. However, they're still needed at this location for now, to take reports directly while maintaining a presence to support various diplomatic-legal fictions. One of these reports is in fact delivered by a member of the analysis team:<br /><br /><i>"Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Mariam Kalatta. I understand that you are the next of kin?"</i><br /><br />Dr. Kalatta, incidentally, is 6'3" tall, whip-thin, and appears all but asexual. When the team answer Yes to what seems to be a dry joke, she explains what her team has determined. This emergent behaviour is, for once, not directly attributable to malevolent or irresponsible viral software - although given the prevalence of viruses in the Web environment, one can never say that they had <i>nothing</i> to do with software behaviour.<br /><br />It appears that, although the Adam-class AI is low-sapient, it is designed to interact with large numbers of humans and other sapients as part of its regular duties. Hence, it needs some "understanding" of other individuals. With full-sapient AIs, such empathic personality-modelling functions are built into the design at a low level; Adams lack that capacity. Hence, they incorporate a certain amount of rather mechanistic, statistical behavioural modelling, which seeks to predict the responses of those with whom they interact on a fairly basic level. It's a brute force approach by the standards of modern software design, but serviceable enough for the specific purpose.<br /><br />And, it appears, it is all very well for a tourist site management assistance program on Earth, but downright superfluous for a building site manager on Mars. However, those subsystems were still running - and they ended up reflexively casting about for something to model. In the absence of crowds of human visitors, they locked onto Eve, the other Adams, and then Adam-4 itself.<br /><br />Hence, the LAI gained a crude form of self-awareness - which is a first-order definition of sapience. However, it wasn't designed to handle this, and it malfunctioned under the strain.<br /><br />Dr. Kalatta now has to ask the team where they want to go from here. Some discussion follows, and one immediate decision is to contact Eve-17 and request snapshot copies of the other, currently inactive Adam LAIs on the site, so that Equatorial Data Services can check them for signs of the same problem. Eve complies, although transmission of such large files over the relatively undeveloped Mars Web will take a little while.<br /><br />Which leaves the question of what to do with Adam-4. Simply deleting it is possible, but the team feel squeamish about this, regarding it as maltreatment of an entity which achieved unintended sapience through no fault of its own. Dr. Kalatta seems pleased with this thinking, and Vajra decides that he likes this person; she is, it feels, the first human who has treated Adam-4 primarily as an individual rather than as a problem. The software engineers could attempt intensive editing to stabilise Adam's personality, but this would be a heavy-handed solution that might still leave an unstable personality with little in common with its previous form. There are subtler alternatives, but they run into the problem that the legal systems under which Bako generally functions are somewhat hostile to high-end emergent infomorphs. European law is more tolerant, so Jianwei and Kalatta agree to construct a legal agreement under which the company's high-capacity, heavily firewalled macroframe, which Kalatta refers to as "the sandbox", becomes European territory, or at least E.U. leased property. Then, Adam-4 can legally be run on that for therapeutic interaction.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://a3.idata.over-blog.com/98x299/1/22/67/14/SUITE-DE-MES-IMAGES-BIS/Eve-cranach-200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://a3.idata.over-blog.com/98x299/1/22/67/14/SUITE-DE-MES-IMAGES-BIS/Eve-cranach-200.jpg" width="104" /></a></div>The team decide that it's time to talk to Eve some more, and not just to determine if Eden Unlimited might partly fund this project; they also talk about her other current problems. (During this conference, which is conducted in VR, Eve manifests a social interaction avatar based on a painting of her namesake, specifically one by Lucas Cranach.) In the absence of the Adam LAIs, she notes that she's just going to have to acquire and install a large number of competent NAIs to help look after the construction work for now. It's not ideal, but she accepts that the Adams might become unstable, even given more interaction with humans; she really doesn't need a site manager who fixates on her suppliers. Well, at least the construction work can continue. Anyway, she also gives what authorisation she can to the proposed work with Adam-4.<br /><br />So Jianwei contacts the embassy legal AIs, and works with them to sort out the sandbox legalities. Once that is more or less resolved, the company AIs set to work constructing an environment for Adam to interact with overnight. So the team, with little more they can do immediately, decide to stop work for the day. Jianwei tells Aunty to locate a good restaurant, and both Aunty and Dougal locate some acceptable eating-places while the team head to their hotel to clean up. Indeed, Vajra remains there, tactfully out of sight - the public in Bako may have ambiguous attitudes to autonomous AIs.<br /><br />At their chosen restaurant, Jianwei is suprised by an authentically firey East African-style curry, although he decides that the pseudo-Chinese food (often found in good East African eating places for the most of the 21st century) is passable. Florence, oddly, takes fairly well to African-style tapioca-based dishes. Then, Jianwei crashes out while Florence hits the higher-end bioroid bar which Dougal found and makes a few friends, although no Felicias show up there until late in the evening. It's a quiet night by her standards, although at least she comes away with a better restaurant recommendation.<br /><br /><i>April 26, m0039.</i><br /><br />The next morning, the first news is that the company has received and assessed the other Adams. The initial conclusion there is that they are safe enough; it was the specific functions which Adam-4 was assigned which tripped it into a quasi-emergent state. However, the team suggests that running them would still seem too risky, and Eve agrees.<br /><br />The team also learns that the macroframe has become <i>de facto</i> E.U. territory (complete with an appropriate flag on its liquid crystal-coated casing), so the team connect up to interface systems and drop into the high-end virtual environment - initially purely as VR, but Florence quickly becomes confident (despite an accurate simulation of 1G conditions) and switches to slink-level connectivity. The company AIs have created a simulation of Eden Unlimited's first and most substantial site, in Cornwall, England - a complex of domes and external gardens - the site for which the Adam series was first developed. Adam-4 is then set running, initially in a simulation of the site's own Web, so that it is seeing through virtual cameras and speaking through virtual loudspeakers. It seems to adjust and become quite comfortable at first, but when the experts suggest that it could use an avatar based on a large gardener cybershell, it becomes increasingly erratic and "detached". The experts prefer to preserve the verisimilitude of the simulation, so Florence steps forward to disable the "shell" before it can start trying to damage the environment too much. Adam-4 initially dodges her attempts to hit the large "Off" button on the shell's chest, and then manages to grab her avatar by the head - but before it can test that slink interface too far, she swings her legs up and neatly hits the button with her feet.<br /><br />Okay, the experts conclude - this is going to be a long job... The Europeans had best leave things with them, although the team can continue to monitor the job over the Web. (Jianwei has status here as an expert in relevant fields, while Vajra is showing a definite sense of duty towards the confused emergent intelligence.) They decide to stay in Bako for a few days - it has perfectly good comms links to Port Lowell, so they can carry on with their office work in VR, and Florence seems keen to expand her range of social experiences...Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-30413000499432728422011-08-24T18:18:00.000+01:002011-08-24T18:18:25.283+01:00Carrying a Load<i>April 23, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />As they settle in, the team members chat a little over encrypted channels - after all, the Chinese might have dropped surveillance dust. (The conversation is managed by Jianwei and Vajra, whose skills prove fully adequate to compensate for Florence's lack of secret messaging experience.) They theorise a little more about Sergei's presence; if he's a GRA agent, what is their interest in Eden Unlimited? Something to do with plant genetics, perhaps?<br /><br />Whatever... Vajra deploys a bug-hunter swarm, but doesn't find anything with it, and feels fairly sure that there is nothing to find. So while the organics sleep, he chats to Eve, assisting her re-planning work.<br /><br /><i>April 24, m0039</i> <br /><br />Nothing untoward happens during the night, and in the morning, the team do a little more local investigation. They don't find anything much in the way of genetic engineering equipment on the site, and when Jianwei finesses Eve's psychology, gaining access to more of her files, he doesn't find much more there, either.<br /><br />However, a message comes in after a little while, asking the team to take their rover down to the lake shore, as there is an (unspecified) delivery arriving. Jianwei stays in the station on general principles (his presence might help assert continuing E.U. authority on the site), while the other two make the short trip. A small water vehicle - essentially an unmanned powerboat with a cargo pod - pulls up, emits a "sign here" pulse, drops off a crate, and then departs, leaving Florence to complain that it didn't take the crate itself away after its contents have been removed. In fact, the crate opens itself to reveal a rather generic "wanderbox" cybershell, a box on large wheels. Sergei promptly installs itself on that, and the group head back to the domes.<br /><br />As Sergei now has an independent shell which it and its employers trust, it tells them that it is happy for them to leave. It also hands over a small box, which they might perhaps take with them... Florence wonders what's going on here, but Jianwei guesses that there's a deniability issue somewhere, and kicks her ankle.<br /><br />The team head back toward Santo Tomas. On the way, they send requests for (a) a closed metal box to put the box they are carrying in (after Vajra has discovered comms ports on it), and (b) a flight back in a hopper with no other passengers. They're not actually <i>this</i> nervous really, but they don't want people complaining about finding themselves on an aircraft with an emergent intelligence. (Quentin actually calls back to query this. "You people know human memetics best, but it sounds a little paranoid to me...") In any case, they make an uneventful journey back to Port Lowell.<br /><br />While they are <i>en route,</i> Marshall Kirkowicz sends them a polite note. ("We really should do something nice for her some time," Vajra comments.) Then, when they reach the embassy, they determine that the ambassador is in her office, with <i>no</i> signs of digital activity there. Jianwei sees the invitation implicit in that, and suggests that Dougal, Aunty, and Samadhi should be shut down or temporarily offloaded to the embassy network, thus removing any danger that their memories might be subpoenaed later by someone who wants to know what's said in the office.<br /><br />Mostly, it turns out, Schmidt wants to talk to the team about the GRA - who do indeed appear to be behind Sergei. She isn't sure what they're up to herself,but she suspects that they want to move into Mars - where they do not currently have a significant presence - and this incident has given them a minimal but adequate excuse. Anyway, all that the embassy can do for now is watch and try not to annoy anyone.<br /><br />Oh, and someone has identified an organisation that is competent and trusted to analyse Adam-4 and what happened to him, and the team are being sent along as observers (and guards). They have to take that box on to a company called <b>Equatorial Data Services.</b> They have tickets to Bako booked for the next day.<br /><br />So the team head to their various homes (and Florence heads on from there to the local bars, but has a dull time of it). They chat a little about that idea of doing the Marshall a kindness, but identifying anything that wouldn't be classified as a possible bribe is hard.<br /><br /><i>April 25, m0039</i> <br /><br /><br />&nbsp;With a hopper booked, Jianwei calls ahead to avoid legal problems. Bako, it turns out, has rules in place for this sort of thing, and Jianwei has a straightforward conversation with the cops there. In fact, a lot of clearances have been arranged; the short trip is on a commercial flight, with Adam-4 travelling as what is enigmatically known as "19-inch hand luggage". The team can relax enough to pay attention to the street scenes in Bako, which proves to be full of ethnic-African somatypes, including the odd lion-maned Felicia.<br /><br />Equatorial Data Services proves to be a hive of African computer geeks, but there are still formalities and legalities to observe and certificates to be exchanged; Jianwei ends up processing a mound of digital paperwork. The company have acquired source information and documentation from Eden Unlimited, which they regard as generous reference data, and the team are directed to a coffee lounge (with access to the building's internal networks and cameras) while the analysts work.<br /><br />This work turns out to involve a lot of cryptic 3-D holographic models, but the analysts seem to know what they are doing. After a while, one of them stares hard at the holographic display. "That's interesting", he murmurs...Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-49547643323967306872011-07-29T18:15:00.000+01:002011-07-29T18:15:59.285+01:00The Source of the Problem<i>April 23, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />The team continue tidying up in the aftermath of the Eden Unlimited site problem. They decide that one important consideration should be keeping the site effectively isolated from the general Web as much as possible, and also isolating Adam-4 from the local network. They tell Eve-17 to password-protect everything she can, and to change the codes for everything already protected, and she sees to this, while Florence gets up onto the building roof and, advised by Vajra, sets to work disconnecting the major, high-bandwidth satellite communications dishes. They can't be entirely sure of cutting off everything - not when portable radios can give access to satellite networks - but they can reduce options and do their best. After all, Adam-4 will be widely classified as dangerous wildlife that can escape at the speed of light, given a chance.<br /><br />They also confirm with Eve that all the AIs on site are designs developed by or for Eden Unlimited, suggesting that if malware is the cause of this incident, it will likely most effectively threaten other Eden sites. They contact the E.U. embassy to consult with the legal systems there, and discover that Quentin has already issued alerts to various recipients - faced with an emergent infomorph intelligence, failing to do so as promptly as possible would be widely considered culpably negligent. This means that news of the event has already reached both Chinese and American authorities. "You have incoming," Quentin dryly informs them, and this will mean more than messages. It seems that the team will be on site for a while longer.<br /><br />The first visitor they can expect, it seems, will be a U.S. Marshals representative from Santo Tomas, but the Chinese are unlikely to be very much later. Meanwhile, though, the Europeans have the opportunity to talk to Eve-17 a little more, asking first about the "religious" imagery in the site's nomenclature and suggesting thet this may worry humans. Eve sounds quite startled at that; this system of naming is standard in Eden Unlimited, and has been for the last century, since the days of its <a href="http://www.edenproject.com/">predecessor organisation</a>, and has never caused trouble in the past. The team asks what Eden actually does, and Eve explains that it's a botanical research trust, focussing on low-impact developments and ecological studies; with the progress of terraforming on Mars, a presence there seems appropriate. Eden is traditionally largely self-funding, as its facilities can be set up to attract and accomodate tourists and other paying visitors; for example, the domes that she is constructing will hold quasi-terrestrial environments, one warm and damp, one warm and dry. She will eventually be trained to manage these, although she is currently functioning as a construction management system.<br /><br />Eve asks if the team would like more information about Eden Unlimited, and promptly presents them with a digital brochure when they say yes. The team quickly scans this, paying particular attention to the History section, and also make a cursory assessment of the brochure's memetics. They are looking for, among other things, traces of the sort of memetic payloads deployed by a certain Peruvian faction, but they don't find anything. However, they send a copy of the brochure to the embassy's expert systems for deeper analysis.<br /><br />Florence gets down from the roof about now, and reloads her guns from the stores in the rover, which the others have called in by now. Eve offers to pressurise up a guest room so that the team can drink some tea in relative comfort.<br /><br />Soon after this, U.S. Marshall Jones arrives from Santo Tomas with his security shell back-up (which is addressed as "Bill"). Jianwei greets him with all his trained diplomatic skills to the fore, and Jones responds courteously enough - but he is clearly operating under orders; it looks, judging from Bill's repeated subtle shifts in gait and posture, as though that cybershell is often being teleoperated by someone (or something), and the focus of its attention at those moments suggests that the operator is an expert in computer security. Jones, meanwhile, takes a look at things such as the destroyed Lilith shells.<br /><br />Captain Feng, of the Martian People's Armed Police, arrives a little later, at the head of a force that needs two hoppers; he has a squad of security shells that aren't <i>quite</i> RATS units, and a couple of human (or possibly bioroid, but certainly not very conversational) aides. Most of this team stays out in the open, fairly overtly defining a perimeter around the buildings, while Feng and one cybershell come inside to talk.<br /><br />Feng methodically assesses the situation, reconstructing what happened and questioning the Europeans about the details of what they know. He asks especially about Adam-4's behaviour; in his responses, Jianwei is careful about implying too much about Adam's sapience level, given that he knows that China is especially cautious, to the point of paranoia, about fully sapient emergent intelligences, seeing them as very dangerously uncontrolled. Unfortunately, Florence is also involved in this discussion, and gives away slightly more, including an audio record of the whole incident.<br /><br />With the situation contained, the team have been able to shut Adam-4 down (with Eve's enthusiastic consent), and they are on the verge of giving both the Americans and the Chinese copies of that software, for independent examination. However, they catch a problem with that in the nick of time; they have by now formally applied for the E.U. authorities to register provisional guardianship of Adam, and the legal systems consider that this is incompatible with transferring copies of the infomorph to third parties without condition. They have to withdraw the offer, leaving Feng (and to a lesser extent Jones) visibly somewhat irritated.<br /><br />As these negotiations continue, Vajra receives a request to provide a visual feed for a third party. He suggests that he would like to know who is seeing through his eyes, and the embassy admits that it would be Ambassador Schmidt. He agrees. At around the same time, Florence is trying to observe the Chinese quietly as Jianwei does the talking, and senses growing problems. Feng is escalating matters to his superiors; "protocols need to be established" is his comment, brushing aside the European's claim that this is <i>de facto</i> European territory.<br /><br />Schmidt speaks in Jianwei's ear, calling a private conference among the European team. Brussels, it seems, are transmitting a LAI observer, and would like an adequate mobile processor to be available on the scene. Vajra heads out to the rover, which has the highest-bandwidth communications systems available, to download a fairly high-powered infomorph which calls itself "Sergei". It manifests a humanoid avatar with the look of a plastic mannequin in a dark suit with very synthetic hair, and also a rather brusque manner. Vajra decides that it's a focussed sort of LAI.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Schmidt has commented quietly to Jianwei that this is a difficult situation, but incidents involving emergent intelligences are always complicated - as a student of memetics, he'll recall the Shang-Marquez-Theodopolus Study... Which Jianwei spots as a hint. In fact, the Shang-Marquez Study is considered to be the definitive analysis of public attitudes to EIs, but the third name is unfamiliar. The team's infomorphs hit the Web, and Dougal finds what looks like a relevant reference; in political memetics, the Theodopolus Theorem is a ("morally neutral") analysis (also known as the "Good day to Bury Bad News Theorem") of ways to use an emotive subject or incident to facilitate the attainment of some actually barely related goal. The ambassador apparently thinks that someone is exploiting this situation - but the team aren't sure who. Could the Americans or the Chinese be aware of possible mineral deposits in this area, perhaps?<br /><br />Negotiations between the three factions are still polite, but are becoming increasingly confrontational, with the Chinese especially becoming difficult; Jones is clearly exasperated but is following instructions from his superiors. Then, suddenly, Sergei asks for permission to manifest in everyone's VR sensorium. When this is granted, it says that the E.U. government are interested here and are prepared to offer assurances; perhaps the others should ask their superiors to contact an address on Earth which it can provide?<br /><br />They do so. A few minutes pass - long enough for people to consult with Earth, albeit briefly - in which time, Florence wanders off to organise some sleeping arrangements for the team, and does a pretty fair job of scrounging. (The inflatable dual-layer clear panels for these domes turn into almost-passable mattresses when partly deflated.) Then Jones (amused) and Feng (even more irritated) come back. The European assurances are enough for their superiors, as it seems. The European team are impressed - it seems that <i>someone</i> has the ability to call in high-level favours.<br /><br />The Americans and Chinese prepare to depart, but Sergei declares that it needs to investigate a little further. "You need a mobile shell, don't you?" Vajra asks.<br /><br />"Yes."<br /><br />As they settle in, Jianwei and Vajra confer in an attempt to guess who "Sergei" may represent. A name like that might or might not hint at points significantly east... Then Vajra notes that the crucial address, which was given in clear, resolves to a location in <i>Konigsberg</i>. This isn't proof positive, but it's suggestive. The Genetic Regulatory Agency, based in that city, certainly has supra-national clout. They don't have much authority on Mars, and don't <i>really</i> have jurisdiction in this case - but this latest turn of events suddenly looks like it has GRA fingerprints all over it.<br /><br />The two organics settle down to sleep, while the unsleeping Vajra keeps watch. No one is sure what he's watching for, but it seems appropriate.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-4115855746870268232011-07-12T16:43:00.000+01:002011-07-12T16:43:06.446+01:00Revolt in Eden<i>April 23, m0039</i><br /><br />The previous case having passed into the hands of various legal systems, who can argue among themselves happily enough about priority in access to d'Alembert, the team return to Port Lowell and to routine work for a while. Part of this for Jianwei, as it turns out, is providing routine assistance to the commercial dealings of an E.U. citizen AI named Eve-17, which has evidently been assigned to supervise some kind of business or project on Mars.<br /><br />Thus it is one morning that Jianwei is talking to Eve-17 when she (and this AI has evidently decided to maintain a consistent female persona) announces, <i>"Excuse me, I am having some transient tr..."</i> - and then goes off-line. Jianwei immediately contacts Vajra, who is running routine net management and traffic observation ops, and asks for a check on the problem. Vajra quickly establishes that the net node corresponding to all addresses given for Eve-17 is returning nothing but very basic no-packets-accepted error codes. Another quick check finds a physical location for that node - a site on the southern shores of the Marineris Sea, south and a little west of Port Lowell and on the borders between the <i>de facto</i> territories of the USA and China.<br /><br />Jianwei decides that an investigation is required - and it doesn't look as though either the American or Chinese authorities would take an interest here, so this is one for his team. He's already in contact with Florence, who was swimming in a public pool elsewhere in the city; at his word, she gets out of the water and starts gathering up her gear as the team discuss transport options.<br /><br />Florence would be quite keen to hire a boat and travel directly to the investigation site, but boats aren't especially fast, and Jianwei for one isn't especially keen to sit in a small, bouncing vessel in outdoor gear for several hours. Anyway, the destination may turn out to be a little way inland. An analysis of times and distances suggests that the best option is to take a commercial hopper flight to the American industrial town of Santo Tomas, then a hired rover along the coast. Jianwei puts a booking in for the first stage, and the flight scheduling systems inform him that they can provide a couple of seats and adequate luggage space on a flight in about an hour; meanwhile, Vajra rents space on a mainframe in Santo Tomas, puts his mobile shell in a crate, transmits himself to the mainframe, and sees to the rover rental.<br /><br />Thus, by the end of the morning, the team are on the approach to Santo Tomas - a sprawling, depressingly industrial town, much of it permanently in the shadow of adjacent cliffs. Jianwei places a courtesy call with the local US Marshals' office, which responds promptly and politely - the team wonder if Marshall Kirkowicz has perhaps filed some polite reports about them - and then everyone is happy enough to board the rover. Aunty and Samadhi plot an optimal route - much of it perforce cross-country, although there are some dirt tracks between minor coastal settlements and bases, which help - and Florence promptly takes off a little too fast along it, making for a bumpy journey. Still, the team reach their destination late in the afternoon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_jlO9nrzeI/Tgxwm0IKc-I/AAAAAAAAAFA/KTA2k29TUFs/s1600/EdenView_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Z_jlO9nrzeI/Tgxwm0IKc-I/AAAAAAAAAFA/KTA2k29TUFs/s1600/EdenView_edited-1.jpg" /></a></div>In fact, they stop a little short of Eve-17's apparent base, sitting on an overlooking bluff to assess the situation. Eve-17, as it seems, is working on quite a major project - a pair of large domes, with frames mostly erected but transparent panels only installed in a few lower sections as yet. The domes are linked by a rectangular, blockish building, and everything is surrounded by a building site. The site doesn't seem as busy as it should be, but a few cybershells are moving around, and the team risks a few ID request pulses directed at them.<br /><br />The responses allow them to identify four wheeled shells, each around human size, whose controlling LAIs are tagged as "Liliths", and a larger number of smaller snakebot and spider-configuration units managed by "Serpent" NAIs. The imagery of all this nomenclature worries the team - an AI with religious obsessions might rate as dangerously <i>eccentric</i> - and they conduct a little research, but can't find much trace of AIs with foibles on these particular lines. So they decide to try a contact signal to one of the Liliths, saying that there seem to be problems contacting the site and requesting communication with whatever or whoever is in charge.<br /><br />The Lilith proves to be a particularly dull and inflexible LAI, which says that matters like this have to be handled by the "Adam Layer". It pauses to contact that part of the system, but then says that no further contact is being authorised. Jianwei, who knows something about AI psychology, decides that the Lilith is <i>uncomfortable,</i> suffering some degree of cognitive dissonance.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Vajra is conducting some research. Functional ownership of this patch of land has, it turns out, been registered in the name of a European non-profit research coordination body called "Eden Unlimited", itself registered in Luxembourg, and when Vajra looks into the ownership of the Lilith LAI type, that too proves to be connected to Eden Unlimited.<br /><br />The team decides that a closer look is really needed, but the Liliths, some of which have the look of security patrol units, aren't likely to permit it, given the choice. Hence, Vajra prepares a surveillance crawler swarm, while Florence maps the site and plots an approach route to the buildings for herself. Both she and the swarm set out, on different paths; Florence is carrying a laser comm unit so that the other two of the team can update her about the movements of any mobile shells they can see.<br /><br />Both she and the swarm manage to cover the mile or so's distance without complications, and then have a little more trouble getting into the central block, where the site's controlling computer systems appear to be located; they avoid patrols and notice by narrow margins. With receiver&nbsp; systems now on site (their signals passed back by a radio module which Florence left by the entrance to the block), Vajra is able to build up a more detailed picture of radio traffic in the area, and both Florence and the swarm are able to get into the site's main computer room. Further analysis suggests that there's a fair amount of digital traffic on the local net, most of it on the "Adam Layer"; Eve-17 does not seem to be receiving much traffic.<br /><br />Vajra sends a mass of information and suggestions to Florence (via Dougal), enabling her to walk up to the processor unit housing Eve-17 and plug a comms cable in directly from her implant, while everyone else monitors the situation via the swarm. Eve-17 turns out to be surprised but not unhappy to be contacted in this way; she wasn't watching the room much. She is not a happy AI in general; it seems that one of her subsidiary high-end LAIs, Adam-4, is displaying <i>highly</i> erratic behaviour, effectively cutting her off from the Web and taking control of the construction site...<br /><br />Then the monitors warn Florence of two approaching Liliths which are bare seconds away, somehow looking distinctly hostile. Florence hastily switches to a radio link, drops a longer-range radio unit on the floor while keeping contact with it via her implant's short-range transmitter, and rolls acrobatically to the doorway. This gives her the drop on the first of the approaching Liliths, and she immediately pumps two explosive shells into that, then two more into the second, disabling both.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Jianwei has managed to establish some contact with Adam-4 - which he quickly diagnoses as mentally unstable, suffering from the AI equivalent of schizophrenia. Jianwei tries to talk the more or less emergent but seriously unstable (and somewhat paranoid) AI down from its current course of action, suggesting that its best course of action is to seek the protection of the E.U. rather than risk too much attention from other, less broad-minded factions, but has some difficulty doing so. However, at much the same time, Dougal is talking Florence through the process of dismounting the server on which Eve-17 is running from its rack, and once that is done, they quickly move the unit to the other side of the room. That leaves Florence able to, frankly, threaten Adam-4 with physical harm without implicit risk to the citizen SAI. Adam-4 is now trying to persuade the E.U. team to back off with threats of its own, demonstrating the point by triggering the destruction of a structural spar on one of the domes (which distresses Eve-17, who clearly has a sense of duty towards this project), but this shift in the balance of power finally gets through to the emergent intelligence, which starts, nervously, to negotiate.<br /><br />Hence, Florence is able to do more in the computer room without <i>too</i> many worries about consequence, disconnecting Eve-17's server from the portable radio module and hooking her up to the site's main power supply again, then physically disconnecting Adam-4 from network links and hooking him up to the radio to preserve a channel of communication. Eve-17, now with her direct access to the site systems restored and no longer being blocked by Adam-4, sets to work repairing the damage and getting her project back on track.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-19303199242692343902011-06-22T17:55:00.002+01:002011-06-24T15:19:02.544+01:00Cold Pursuit<i>April 11, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />Florence reaches the base entrance a minute or so behind Beta, with Vajra a little way behind her. As their respective radio nodes gain line of sight through the base's Faraday cage, large bursts of information from Beta flow onto the Navy's local <i>ad hoc</i> net.<br /><br />Florence pauses in the base entrance, and hears a few distant explosions; Beta seems to be meeting resistance, but nothing especially effective. Vajra arrives and passes a surveillance swarm off to ride on her suit, and Dougal brings up a partial map generated from Beta's transmitted observations, with hazards flagged; it seems that the place is infested with those miniature walking bombots. Florence heads in along the path which Beta has effectively cleared of such traps, and she and Vajra pick up a number of open voice transmissions as she goes; they <i>seem</i> to be in Soraya's voice, and to be proclaiming the fleet's defiance in terms of radical separatist rhetoric.<br /><br />Florence finds Beta paused just before a closed and locked door; its sensors suggest that the human inhabitants of the base are holed up in a room just beyond. It is preparing to make assault, and seeking clearance from its commanding officers; the Europeans suggest that the Navy should take this slowly and try and avoid unnecessary bloodshed, and Jianwei talks the lieutenants into following this line for now.<br /><br />Vajra's swarm detaches from Florence and enters the base's air ducts, which prove to be conveniently large. The swarm advances carefully to observe the room, which is indeed occupied by several humans (all physiologically female, so far as the observers can tell); Vajra is able to build up a map of the situation, including the location of Soraya Claire. There doesn't seem to be any sign of d'Alembert...<br /><br />While Jianwei analyses the psychology of the cornered pirates and their likely responses to possible events, Vajra surveys the base's net. It seems to be in exceptionally poor shape, with little sign of a competent management AI, but a brief analysis of traffic finds the physical location of the computer room. A plan begins to come together.<br /><br />Florence gets into the ventilation duct herself, and plants a full-size radio near the main vent over the room holding the pirates. Getting back out proves a bit harder - the ducts aren't <i>that</i> large - but she manages in the end. Then, she heads for the computer room. When the door opens, two bombots charge her, but she has her UAW out and ready, and sweeps them with rapid fire. She only hits one, but that responds automatically by detonating, spraying the room with fragments; the blast is no problem to someone in body armour at this distance, although some shards hit her armour - and another hits the other bombot, and a fratricide effect removes the threat.<br /><br />At that moment, Vajra immediately notes a "flicker" in the local net, and guesses that another computer may now be managing it. Most pleasingly, the political speeches stop. Anyway, Florence reaches the microframe computer in this room, and Dougal talks her through the process of powering it down - although they subsequently realise that it had been cut off from the local system until fragments from the bombots destroyed a smaller computer unit that was tapped into the main data trunk "downstream" from the microframe.<br /><br />Jianwei is now able to begin talking to the pirates, using the loudspeaker on the radio which Florence left in the air ducts, and turns on his full diplomatic charm. They respond by becoming quite cooperative; they realise that the situation is well out of hand, and are willing to surrender given basic guarantees of safety. But d'Alembert isn't there; they believe he may have left by now...<br /><br />Florence takes the pirates' surrender, while Beta heads to the submersible bay that shows up when it has access to a full plan of the base, letting any remaining bombots expend themselves against its armour.. D'Alembert has indeed departed, in a minisub which can outpace Beta; there's another such minisub available, but its one-person control bay is designed for a humanoid operator.<br /><br />So Florence rushes to the bay as soon as the pirates are reasonably securely in the hands of the US Navy. Dougal loads an operation skill set program from the minisub's on-board library, and manages a moderately comfortable departure into the open waters of the Boreal Ocean, but has difficulty getting a sonar lock on the fleeing, skulking d'Alembert. Florence thus ends up searching arbitrarily under icebergs. However, the Navy team soon start receiving imagery from SIA satellites, and Beta enters the water and starts using its own sensors. Together, these flush d'Alembert from hiding. He stays ahead of the pursuit for a while, but has to beach and tries to escape on foot. That puts him in reach of hoppers from a local law enforcement station, who are also working with the SIA satellite downloads. Once they have him cornered, Florence - who has also beached her minisub - is able to close in and make the arrest.<br /><br />Once she has handed him over to the local authorities, Florence rejoins the original group - and notes with some mild irritation that there is no one uninjured who is likely to be susceptible to her charms. She also notes that Soraya is trying, against the odds, to flirt with Jianwei. (It seems that being in an all-female pirate fleet with no males except the politically obsessive and manipulative d'Alembert may have become boring for a self-appointed pirate queen after a while.) Jianwei, though, has other things on his mind; the diplomatic situation is moderately complicated, only partly because of the presence in the arrested group of on Ssu-Li Wong, daughter of a certain mid-ranking Chinese official. Jianwei, though, is well on top of the situation, and soon has everyone doing things his way. Score one for European diplomacy; as the team head for home, they mark this mission down as a success.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-5665401060493939022011-05-29T23:40:00.002+01:002011-06-15T18:19:37.882+01:00Rules of Engagement<i>April 11, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />Before the combined party sets out, though, Jianwei asks about the US Navy's rules of engagement; although he's too polite to say so, the E.U. team may be required to report how well those rules were followed, after all. Kethburger replies that this is, formally, a police action; the Navy will make best efforts to proceed with some kind of minimum force and restraint. On the other hand, it's a <i>Navy</i>&nbsp;police action, against armed opposition with unknown but as it appears possibly lethal capabilities; his force is authorised to take what actions are judged genuinely necessary.<br /><br />Then the group sets out. The Europeans are in a RHIB with CPO Romero, while Kethburger is supervising Alpha and Beta, and Oppenheimer has command of a third boat full of assorted gear, some of it somewhat autonomous. Travel in light, fast craft on the Martian polar sea proves somewhat ...&nbsp;exhilarating; local waves are&nbsp;quite large, and a boat that leaves the surface doesn't necessarily come down again for some moments. Still, automated control systems manage things quite well, and nobody is actually unable to face a lunch of enchiladas when the time comes around.<br /><br />It's mid-afternoon when the methodical search of locations identified as possible hiding-places by SIA analysis of past pirate activity and satellite imagery finally produces a result - an ice shelf (basically a beached iceberg) with space underneath and some oddities in thermal patterns and chemical traces in the surrounding water. There's no local radio traffic detectable, even by military-grade sensors, but good radio management and a Faraday-caged base would probably see to that.<br /><br />Alpha and Beta go in the water, trailing fibre-optic links to provide low-signature comms, while the Navy take all three RHIBs up onto a nearby beach. Within seconds, a small army of miniature scout-RATS have deployed from Oppenheimer's boat and gone scurrying off cross-country to probe and monitor the possible pirate base. Soon after that, Alpha and Beta settle on the sea bed, and a memetically-tailored surrender demand is aimed at the likely base location.<br /><br />This provokes a response, if not a reply; Jianwei and Vajra, who are both monitoring the Navy's sensors (by invitation), realise that there must be a network of sensors on the sea floor, which has just gone from passive to active mode. Seconds later, something appears, presumably from the pirate base - it's about six metres long and moderately fast-moving. Alpha, which is closest to it, evidently realises that it will have been detected, and that it's more vulnerable if it's stationary on the bottom, and so rises into active mode itself.<br /><br />The unidentified object responds immediately, turning towards Alpha. Then it <i>accelerates</i>; everybody who knows anything about aquatic operations realises that it's supercavitating. Alpha tries to evade the charge, but fails - and goes offline. Sensors show an expanding mass of debris from the last known position of Alpha (and the evidently hostile object).<br /><br />Beta's tactical programming is good. It beaches itself promptly, using the bubble trail and collision turbulence for cover.<br /><br />Jianwei speaks to Kethburger, suggesting that it may still be possible to resolve this incident relatively peacefully, and then, with permission, composes a message addressed to d'Alembert, while the Navy team update their intelligence and generate some better tactical mapping. Vajra notes signs that suggest that the pirate base is now running Web traffic through the Martian satellite network.<br /><br />D'Alembert responds to Jianwei's requests to talk, although he only provides voice and a still picture (which does match his&nbsp;last&nbsp;known appearance); Jianwei follows the same protocol. D'Alembert seems most interested in political argument, challenging the Americans' right to exert authority here (or for that matter that of the E.U.) and quoting the old-time pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy (<i>"I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea and an army of 100,000 men in the field..."</i>), and Jianwei ends up debating politics and law with him. While they are bogged down in this, however, another signal comes in, from a Chinese government official named Kong-Ki Wong, who seems intent on asserting that China has an interest in this incident, and keen to ensure that the US (and the E.U.) do not do exceed their authority under international agreements.<br /><br />Vajra handles this call, and takes it at face value - but eventually, Jianwei notices the conversation, breaks off his unproductive interaction with d'Alembert for now, and examines the available information. Wong, it seems, is actually only a mid-rank official in one of the Chinese communities in the equatorial region, and his nominal responsibilities don't seem relevant here. Jianwei wonders if his tone and manner actually suggest a <i>personal</i>&nbsp;interest in the incident.<br /><br />But nothing is happening for now; in fact, the team decide that they may be here for a little while. Jianwei even suggests to Kethburger that the Americans might consider using their orbital mirrors to melt the ice shelf under which the pirates are hiding - but that really is a long shot, as it would not only take some time, it would require redirecting mirrors which are covered by some rather stringent international agreements. So for now, the E.U. team decide to attempt some background research, looking to see who leads the Anne Bonney Memorial Fleet; Web-based probes come up with the name of one "Captain Soraya"...<br /><br />And while they are discussing this, another call comes in, from one Captain Soraya Claire. She doesn't deny that she leads the "Fleet", or that d'Alembert is their guest; however, she does demand to know what business it is of anyone else who they choose to receive as a guest?<br /><br />Jianwei responds by listing the charges against d'Alembert - indeed, Claire seems quite interested to learn of these details. She breaks off briefly, evidently to talk to someone at the other end, then goes offline altogether and rather abruptly.<br /><br />Unfortunately, at this point, it seems that the US Navy team are becoming a little irritable. Some information on recent events, including the destruction of Alpha, has been posted on the Web, under the heading "PIRATES 1, US NAVY 0", and they aren't amused. Jianwei tries pushing a call through to the pirate base, and is acknowledged after a few seconds. He suggests that this post wasn't a good idea; the pirates seem openly amused, but do take the point. However, after a few moments, there are hints of a disagreement at the other end, and then this call too is abruptly terminated.<br /><br />By now, the team's assessment is that the pirates may be ready to give up d'Alembert, and they run the idea of a deal on that basis past Kethburger, who in turn contacts his superiors. While he is doing so, though, Oppenheimer takes another call from someone elsewhere on Mars. From what the team overhears, they think that caller is trying to strike a bargain on behalf of someone in the pirate base.<br /><br />All of which might seem moot, though, when that base emits a defiant "Death or Glory!" message, signed as from the whole Anne Bonney Memorial Fleet - and a few seconds later, tactical displays show a swarm of small cybershells charging out from the same location. These look sinister, and the whole party retreats to the vicinity of their boats (and their automated point-defence systems) as a number of explosions echo through the thin Martian air. Meanwhile, Beta goes into semi-autonomous mode and charges the pirate base; some of the miniature shells attack Beta, but they are apparently carrying only small explosive charges, totally incapable of penetrating military-grade armour.<br /><br />The humans have other concerns, though; their own personal armour isn't quite so good, and the pirate bomb-bots are threatening to overwhelm the Navy's defence systems by sheer weight of numbers. The PCs draw hand weapons and manage to destroy any shells coming for themselves at a safe distance; Lieutenant Kethburger, however, is less fortunate, or maybe less skilled, and suffers serious but non-fatal injuries from a close-quarters explosion. When the situation calms down a little, and Jianwei is applying some first aid to Kethburger, Vajra places an urgent call with&nbsp;Kong-Ki Wong,&nbsp;regretting that the&nbsp;situation now seemed to be escalating and adding a vaguely-expressed wish that&nbsp;it might not decline any further - hoping that this might trip the right&nbsp;levers to get him to try to calm the pirates down a bit. (Although Vajra isn't at all sure that&nbsp;the pirates are still in control).Wong in turn declares that he will contact his connection within the pirate base immediately.<br /><br />This leaves Florence free to follow up Beta's charge, and although she restrains her enthusiasm enough to get permission first, she undertakes to see what's going on inside the base. Vajra in turn heads in behind her, ready to take up a position at the entrance to the Faraday-caged space as a communications relay.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-76012182551351238582011-05-11T17:00:00.047+01:002011-05-11T19:38:57.085+01:00Yo Ho Ho<i>April 10, m0039</i> <br /><br /><br />A few days later, the team get another mission - with an initial briefing from the ambassador and, as it turns out, from "Mr Grey". It seems that an E.U. intelligence operation has generated a situation which will require the presence of observers with an American operation on Mars, and the team are getting the job.<br /><br />Specifically, the Quebec and Maritimes Union security services have been running down a series of shady arms deals, and the case was recently cracked with the help of a quantum computer. However, getting that to solve the suspects' cryptography took several months, by which time, events had moved on. The trail proved to lead to one Josef d'Alembert, a quasi-anarchist radical who also happens to have engineering qualifications. Unfortunately, by the time the authorities on Earth had his name, d'Alembert had, it turned out, travelled to Mars on a tourist visa - and when they looked closely, they found that he had dropped off the radar on Mars. However, his last traceable personal transactions where in the town of Sharona, on the shores of the Borealis Sea. More worryingly, tracking data back and forth, E.U. intelligence determined that d'Alembert may well have received a number of shipments from his friends on Earth - small non-fabricatable items of various sorts that <i>could</i> be used in weapons construction. (No, this <i>isn't</i> a euphemism for anything nuclear, in this case anyway; still, weapons are weapons.) Given that d'Alembert's specialisation is marine engineering, this all looked worrying suggestive.<br /><br />But Sharona is US territory, so the E.U. tossed this one over to the SIA, with due apologies, a full file of data, and a strongly-worded request to be kept in the loop. The SIA obliged, coming back after a week to say that d'Alembert was still out of sight, but they believed that he had made contact with a faction of the so-called "Boreal Pirates" who operate along that stretch of coast. This, they thought, looked like a job for the US Navy.<br /><br />Well, the Navy do have units on that ocean - one based in Sharona, in fact - but their feeling was that it would need reinforcement before tackling a Pirate gang. (Actually, the Boreal Pirates are usually regarded as a bit of a joke - their main operational interest seems to be raiding for supplies and recreational pharmaceuticals from the ice haulers on that sea - but this lot may now have better weapons, after all.) So they're airlifting an additional force in from their main base on the Marineris Sea - which is fortunate, because it gives the E.U. a chance to attach the team to the operation, and even to request a lift to the scene with the Navy people.<br /><br />Which brings matters to the present, as the Navy cargo hopper will be heading out later this day. The team are instructed to handle this tactfully, looking after E.U. interests as best they can while preserving good relations all round.<br /><br />So, the meeting formally closed, they discuss requirements. It's spring in the north polar regions, but it will still be <i>cold</i> up there... They invest some personal funds in expedition suits, floatation vests, and sealed bags for kit. Not that they plan on going in the water...<br /><br />Then they head for the field where the US Navy team are preparing to head out in their service's one substantial transport hopper. This team turns out to consist of two humans - Lieutenant Calum Kethburger, who's in command, and his aide, Petty Officer Georgina Romero - and a fair amount of baggage, including a small but doubtless fast water craft (which some observers would tag as a RHIB), with not-very-chatty onboard intelligence, in a semi-dismantled state, two matched cases that give the distinct impression that they may each contain one quite substantial cybershell, and which are indeed referred to as "Alpha" and "Beta", and a third case that looks like it holds smaller objects or devices.<br /><br />The E.U. team manage to strike up amicable enough relations with the Americans as the hopper heads off on its multi-stage flight northwards. (This sort of trip demands a couple of refuelling stops <i>en route</i>.) Kethburger, who seems to be a conventional sort of junior career officer, gets on well enough with Jianwei, and proves quite amicable to Florence - her looks, and a positive attitude towards navy people (thanks to her rescue by the Royal Navy some time back), maybe compensate for her problematic status as a bioroid, while Romero is happy to chat to Vajra, who gets to meet her wearable system's onboard AI in virtual space. As it's off-duty at this time, it's using a non-standard avatar - something clearly hand-crafted for masculine good looks.<br /><br />As the hopper stops off at various refuelling stations across the northern deserts of Mars, Kethburger mutters that he hopes that any opposition they may have to deal with aren't running smart intelligence analysis on Web traffic - it's hard to keep a mission like this quiet. But anyway, by the end of the day, the hopper reaches Sharona's airspace, as everyone on board can tell when its flight control systems start announcing repeated minor course adjustments to keep them out of the way of gigantic, lumbering ice-carrying airships. When the town itself comes into view, its nature becomes very obvious; it's largely a working port, processing icebergs as they are towed in from the northern polar cap and sending the water south by airship or cargo crawler. In addition, most of the buildings are designed to be moved uphill from time to time as the sea levels rise. It all looks rather temporary and utilitarian, even transient.<br /><br />The US Navy base, atop a hill just outside the town, has space for a landing, and the visitors are met by a rather bemused but formally very correct lieutenant named Jane Oppenheimer, who turns out to be the only human naval officer on site, although it turns out that she is assisted by Chief Petty Officer Montezuma, a full-sapient AI. The Europeans are a little bemused to encounter a non-citizen infomorph which rates a military rank despite technically being property, but reflect that something which is responsible for much of the operation of a working base needs to be able to issue instructions with some weight. Meanwhile, Alpha and Beta deploy - they turn out to be a pair of amphibious RATS units - and some smaller, less self-willed combat-model shells appear from the other travelling case and run some self-test routines.<br /><br />It soon emerges that Kethburger has seniority over Oppenheimer, and has been placed in command of this operation - but anyway, there's no time to do more than unload and settle in this evening. The Europeans are assigned temporary quarters - a tent, as it turns out, but quite a comfortable one - and Florence drops off her luggage and goes to investigate what passes for a bar here. Kethburger evidently feels obliged to accompany her, and they find Oppenheimer already present; it looks as though she's glad of company and happy to chat. Florence asks about the local martial arts scene, and Oppenheimer tells her that there is in fact a local version of Zhua developed among off-duty ice workers. Its main special feature is, not surprisingly, that it's learned on icy-smooth surfaces, and fighters learn to allow for that. She pulls some video recordings up on the bar's main screen...<br /><br />All this combat chat seems to leave Jiawei rather squeezed out when he drops in. He ends up nursing a drink at the back of the room. Meanwhile, Vajra is trying to teach Montezuma the basics of Robo Rally.<br /><br /><i>April 11, m0039</i> <br /><br />The next morning, with everyone rested, the lieutenants feel able to call a briefing meeting. Oppenheimer begins by acknowledging that the Navy has not previously worried very much about the Boreal Pirates, apart from providing some ice tugs with occasional escorts; frankly, they've been dismissed as a bunch of kids - but the Anne Bonney Memorial Fleet, the main outfit in this specific area, who d'Alembert seems possibly to have contacted, do seem to have some Martian separatist ideals, or at least tendencies. They're mobile, and probably smart enough to use ice structures for cover from infra-red detectors, so the first step will be to locate them - but there are some likely locations. Hence, the plan begins with a lot of reconnaissance and&nbsp; intelligence analysis work...Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-35712858622335319462011-05-04T11:22:00.001+01:002011-05-04T11:45:28.365+01:00Diplomacy, Jealousy, and Wrath<i>Scorpius 27, m0039, continued</i> <br /><br />While Florence arranges her four-day climb, from a tunnel exit to the rim of the great volcano's caldera, Jianwei and Vajra take the maglev back to Port Lowell - where Ambassador Schmidt would like a conference with them at their first convenience. She likes some element of face-to-face conversation in her work, sometimes.<br /><br /><i>April 1, m0039</i><br /><br />Schmidt has been in conference with Brussels about this latest case, and one of her assisting LAIs, April Thetis, has been prepared with a persona overlay to represent the E.U. authorities' position. (It's designed for such flexibility.) Hence, it too has an avatar "present" at the meeting, adopting the image of a human female in sternly Hellenic-classical garb. It expresses a clear position; that state-level conflicts on Mars aren't the E.U.'s business, but that it is evidently impossible for E.U. citizens to avoid becoming caught in the crossfire from time to time - in which cases, de-escalation should be the standard objective, Also, the E.U. seeks especially to remain on good terms with the Nix Olympica community, on the basis that it recognises certain common interests.<br /><br />One issue now arising from the latest incident is how to word a travel advisory. The meeting agrees that they can't avoid making a public statement referring to "severe memetic conflict", and also to things (literally) exploding "accidentally" - but Jianwei will try to assist in designing something that won't overly discourage E.U. visiting.<br /><br />It is also noted that, although the team is and should seek to remain on good terms with the US Marshalls service, they could not but observe the speed and weight of the Marshalls' intervention on Olympia, when given an excuse. That relationship may need careful handling, if the Marshalls are sometimes going to act as agents of US state power...<br /><br />Anyway, for now, the embassy's resident memetics specialist LAI is to be given special interrupt access to the team's communications - because it's going to be looking out for Quipu operations, and flagging any possibilities it detects for the team's attention. It apologetically seeks permission to take an attitude towards Peruvian Martians that might almost be interpreted as obnoxious ethnic stereotyping; they may have to be assumed to be <i>planning something...</i><br /><br /><i>April 5, m0039</i> <br /><br />As Florence has ascended the extinct volcano, she has noticed at least one of her human companions has clearly been treating her as a rival. He's an American, of course, and on Mars, Americans do have issues with bioroids... But she thinks little of the matter - until she awakes on the last day of the trip, to discover that this individual has finessed the psychology of the guide AIs and set out on his own, ahead of the rest. This isn't in accord with safety rules, obviously, but he is obviously suffering from an excess of competitiveness, aiming to reach the top well ahead of the group. He has gone offline, but at least he has taken an adequate amount of kit with him, and he can be tracked by satellite imagery if necessary.<br /><br />So the main group sets out, following their planned route. The competitive singleton, on the other hand, has evidently tried to plot a faster, riskier path. Well, it's certainly riskier - it involves heading up under what is actually an impossible overhang. After a while, the lone climber stops, and then comes sheepishly back on line. He's got himself wedged. He's also a little low on air and supplies - after all, he was trying not to weigh himself down...<br /><br />Florence assesses the situation, and decides that she can manage a solo recovery climb. (Of course she does.) The climbing company are torn between the danger of losing one customer, and that of losing two... So after a few minutes, they place a call with Jianwei and explain the situation. (They're American too, and regard Jianwei as Florence's responsible adult.) Jianwei ponders for a moment, then gives his assent. Vajra joins the conversation, and suggests that the company sends a guide cybershell with support gear, but Florence is being overconfident enough to push ahead of that. (Vajra also tries to talk the tour company into paying her for all this, but sadly fails.) Florence and Jianwei have settled an optimum load for her to take, and she makes good progress up the rock face, and gets the sheepish American out of his problem. This leaves them some way ahead of the main party, even after some very necessary back-tracking, and Florence decides to move on forward, for the look of the thing; she and the American are waiting at the top of the slope when the others arrive.<br /><br />The image of this looks good on the press release that Jianwei crafts, with assistance from Vajra on the memetics. It never hurts to make the E.U. look good.<br /><br /><i>April 6, m0039</i> <br /><br />The next day, Florence arrives back in Nix Olympica, and is disappointed to find that DD isn't available for lunch. She's still chasing that story, and saying it looks very interesting. Florence advises her not to get herself killed.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Jianwei and Vajra get a call to handle a routine-looking commercial dispute resolution. A European tourist, Pierre Marchand (a typical Eloi type, to judge by available data), hired a local guide, one Xiang Gao, and is now complaining that Gao has reneged on his guide contract. A brief check shows that Gao is a Chinese citizen, and ex-military - well, there's a lot of those about. He is also quite easy to trace to an ecoforming station a little way out of Port Lowell.<br /><br />The pair rent a light rover and set off to contact this individual. Arriving at the station - which is basically a hamlet with some high-tech installations and a bar - they are promptly directed to the latter, where they find Gao, clearly enjoying the place's wares. The most notable thing about him is that he is wearing a sword on his back. Jianwei approaches the bar while Vajra quietly takes a seat and watches events.<br /><br />Jianwei buys Gao a drink (the human barman serves him a beer), and then mentions Marchand, which elicits a response. <i>"...Boring round-eyed Eloi snob..."</i> is perhaps the essence of it, embedded in a lot of what can best be described as Street Mandarin. Then Gao demands another drink. But the barman, noting that this customer is looking dangerously well-served already, turns difficult. Gao attempts to vault the bar, but fails (the ceiling is a little low for real Martian acrobatics), and somehow ends up yelling abuse at Jianwei, making himself angry enough to wind up for a swing at him. So Vajra, who has been watching all this with AI impassiveness, shoots him with his vortex pistol. The burst of advanced tranquiliser gas drops Gao on the spot, and Vajra lobs Jianwei a reel of cufftape.<br /><br />The pair make a few calls, and then load the cuffed Gao into their rover and tow him back to the Chinese authorities in Port Lowell. This case can now be handed off to the legal system.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-88891749115268946012011-04-19T15:52:00.107+01:002011-04-20T17:11:47.323+01:00Incomplete Conclusions<i>Scorpius 26, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />The Marshals' rocket hopper arrives (allowing the E.U. team members the always curious sight of dust being kicked up - and instantly falling - in vacuum), and the two humans and one tech spider aboard deploy. They introduce themselves as Marshals Carstairs and Brown-Suarez and Excursion-Alpha-4. The Europeans feel obliged to observe what they do, and to leave messages on the subject with the local Emergency Response office for attention in the morning.<br /><br />Jianwei takes the lead in talking to the newcomers, of course, but at this moment his feeling for legal niceties seems to be working better than his negotiation skills; within a few seconds, after quoting far too much legal jargon at Marshall Carstairs, he finds himself being routed through to Carstairs' LAI aide and generally being treated as a problematic legal entity. But anyway, there doesn't seem to be much to do here right now, so Florence goes back to bed, and Jianwei gets back into the rover at the same time to avoid inconvenience (as the vehicle doesn't have an airlock). Vajra, though, stays outside to watch the US tech spider going over what's left of the wheelform cybershell; with a little polite negotiation, he arranges to get a direct feed of technical data from the spider's work, albeit that much of it is encrypted. If the Marshals Service agrees to release that data later, all they have to provide is the encryption key.<br /><br />The Marshals subsequently declare the intention to send their hopper back under autonomous control to fetch another forensics package; they're prepared to wait on site for as long as such things take. Jianwei points out that his own team maybe should take the package they brought out back to Nix Olympica - after all, much of the point of their being here is supposed to be to certify a chain of evidence as neutral observers, and the US authorities agree to that.<br /><br />So the European team sets out homewards in the morning - albeit on the now-familiar route via the outstation with the medical facilities. Actually, they're slowed a little by some navigation problems - even when you've been over a route before, one rock still looks much like another - but they bowl along, especially once Florence has had her full set of high-sugar breakfast bars. They welcome Mahler and Melk aboard the rover from the treatment centre, and are soon on their way again. Perhaps a little too briskly, in fact - Florence puts the suspension under more stress than it's certified for at one point.<br /><br />The team gets the two European tourists into their hotel without too much press attention, drop the forensics package at the Rescue Service offices, and head to a Chinese restaurant for dinner while awaiting the results of an initial analysis of the samples it has gathered - the Emergency Response people having agreed to share these as a courtesy. The results come through as they eat; it looks very likely that the airship's balloon was the subject of some quite precise nanotech-based sabotage. Indeed, by now, the US Marshals are releasing some initial statements which hint at the same conclusion.<br /><br />Captain Ping comes in on a Web-based conference to discuss these results. It's clear that he is by now becoming downright irritated at the string of offers of help he's received from the Marshals. As usual, the US authorities are trying to muscle in on anything interesting that happens on Olympus Mons - asserting their actually non-existent right to a presence on the mountain and seeking to compromise the independence of the local authorities. The team suggests that Nix Olympica should go public with as much of their own data as possible, to demonstrate that they have an independent position here and stop the Marshals' investigation looking dominant. Jianwei has a thought at this point, and forwards a link to some of the published results to Kai Ssung-So, mostly as an exercise in provocation. Aunty's reading of the automated response that he receives suggests that Ssung-So has in fact left town by now. Presumably, he wasn't inclined to be on the receiving end of too much attention.<br /><br />Anyway, the team head to their own hotel, getting there just as they receive a message from someone who identifies herself as "Darth Dalmatian". It seems that she is arriving in town at about 3 am, and she'd quite like to meet for breakfast. Jianwei agrees to that, and sends a note to Florence, asking her to come along too.<br /><br /><i>Scorpius 27, m0039</i><br /><br />The team awakes first to a message from Kai Ssung-So, who is polite. "The American authorities seem determined to treat this as a hardware issue," he notes. "I fear that there may be an extended period of litigation before this matter is resolved..."<br /><br />But the team - well, two of them - are more concerned for now with their breakfast in a pancake house, and then with the arrival of a familiar figure dressed in a pressure suit with a helmet that flares widely at the neck - and which has a surface design with a white background with black dots. "DD" contrives to order breakfast at the EU's expense, and chats about the airship crash. When Jianwei and Florence claim that they have no idea who may have been responsible for the software sabotage that was clearly a major contributory factor in the incident ("probably <i>not</i> the SIA..."), DD spends a few seconds staring hard at Florence. Evidently DD's nose for a story is proving better than Florence's rudimentary skill in lying. DD follows that exchange by commenting that the Americans - well, the SIA - are likely to try to pin such sabotage onto the Triads. Jianwei replies that she might want to look into <i>that</i> subject a little more.<br /><br />The team then says that they seem to have finished their mission in Nix Olympica, although Florence is in fact going to be staying around for a few days, taking some leave time to do some climbing in the caldera. For her part, DD says that she will be staying in town for a while, to do a little more digging into this story. Jianwei decides to feed her a hint about recent problems on the local computer networks.<br /><br />And so, after breakfast, Florence books herself a place on a tourist climbing party, attempting a distance from part-way up the slope to the top. She looks quite well set to out-climb some of the teleoperated shells which some tourists use for such expeditions...Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-24165989929951241782011-03-24T10:08:00.002+00:002011-04-19T20:58:20.880+01:00Local Interests<i>Scorpius 24, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />Jianwei does take a moment out to send Quentin a message about the team's plans for the morning, and Quentin notes no problems with the arrangement. Meanwhile, Dougal finds Florence a bar that his search heuristics suggest will correlate to her known preferences. This turns out to be "Ping's Bar", a fairly substantial building close by the walls of the dome - the chief meeting-place for the university's martial arts enthusiast community. It is almost entirely open space inside, and indeed partly occupied by a sparring ring. The general style of the place is typical of Nix Olympica's local American-Chinese hybrid atmosphere; Florence orders a burger with fries and a rice wine, and looks for a table with a view of the ring.<br /><br />There aren't actually any free tables, but at least one group already settled in signs her to join them; a Felicia bioroid isn't a common sight in these parts, and there's an automatic assumption that she must have her own insights into the martial arts. Members of the group prove chatty; they're a mixture of areology and Chinese history students who like talking about variant unarmed combat forms. They ask politely about her background; she's open about the general facts, and admits to having received VR combat training during her creation process. Some of the group actually remember seeing recordings of Florence's fight in the elevator car, which earns her some respect; nonetheless, one of them expresses cynicism about "vat training" for real combat, and the conversation, while never lapsing into outright hostility, becomes abrasive enough that a trial match in the ring becomes unavoidable. Other would-be combatants are interested enough that they allow this pair to the head of the queue.<br /><br />Florence and her opponent size each other up for a while, and then he throws a competent punch that slides past her guard - first point to him. Florence responds by using her Zhua training to go over his head, evading his attempts to stop her (the move was hardly unexpected, after all), then lands behind him and follows through with an elbow strike that brings their points score level. He tries to retaliate in kind, but Florence expected that, parries, and follows up with a complex grip and over-the-head throw, putting her challenger down. Before he can recover, she pins him and gains a completely effective lock. He is obliged to submit, and then proves good-humoured enough about the experience to buy her a drink.<br /><br />Aside from that - and a later request for a less serious-seeming bout to demonstrate some Zhua forms - Florence spends the evening in casual conversation. The only snippet she does pick up is a remark about the Zeppelin incident being typical of how things go around these parts - "the only people who know how to run anything are the Peruvians..."<br /><br /><i>Scorpius 25, m0039</i><br /><br />During the night, after Florence has returned and retired to bed, Vajra receives notification that the forensics package has arrived, and goes to talk to it. It proves to be run by a simple-minded NAI, so he puts it into demo mode. (Their first exchange - "Do you self-identify as male/female/other?" <b>[other]</b> - causes it to display a VR avatar that combines a metallic, androgynous form with what is clearly meant to be a "sexy librarian" form in a downright annoying fashion.) Anyway, he can't find any obvious problems, so he returns to the hotel.<br /><br />The next morning, he and Jianwei inspect the rover, then the team sets out once again. Unfortunately, Florence makes a minor driving error involving a high-speed approach to a sharp drop that causes them an hour or so's delay as they check the vehicle for damage and make calls through the Web to check their insurance position. Hence, it is becoming quite dark when they reach the crash site, but Vajra is able to deploy the forensics package - it works largely by IR and radio location, enough that darkness is of little concern to its operation. The team watches microbots deploying for a while, until the two organic sapients' minds begin to wander, and they retire to sleep.<br /><br /><i>Scorpius 26, m0039</i><br /><br />However, Vajra needs no sleep and can provide a diligent watch, and is more than alert enough when the rover's sensors pick up an incoming trace in the early hours of the morning. He generates an audible alert sound; Jianwei comes awake smoothly; Florence's trained reflexes prove stronger than her alertness, and she comes awake with her helmet and gloves half on.<br /><br />The team's AIs fail to acquire a precise lock on the trace, so Jianwei instructs Aunty to turn on the rover's floodlights. The team quickly locate a large wheelform cybershell rolling toward the airship wreck, and Florence immediately pops a side hatch and vaults deftly up onto the vehicle roof. Jianwei drops into the driver's seat and begins recording events while telling Aunty to prepare to move; Vajra, who has been outside of the vehicle all along, contemplates the ineffectiveness of his weapons against a combat-capable cybershell in a trace atmosphere, then settles down to researching the wheelform design. (It is actually the kind of slightly out-of-date generic thing which can be put together from components for which 3D printer templates can be found on the Web.)<br /><br />The cybershell ignores radio challenges, so Florence takes careful aim, locks a homing shell's sensors onto it, and fires. The large-caliber projectile punches through what armour the cybershell has, and then detonates. This proves more than sufficient; the wheelform suffers a series of systematic malfunctions and stops moving. This is doubtless just as well, as a brief inspection shows that it was itself carrying a gun in an internal bay - as well as a tank of what seems like scrubber nano. It would seem that someone may have been anxious to eliminate some sort of evidence from the crash scene.<br /><br />The team have not attempted to keep information about this very brief combat from the Web, so it is no great surprise that, within a few minutes, they are notified that a rocket hopper with a team of U.S. marshals is incoming. Before they arrive, though, Vajra collects forensic samples of his own from the wheelform wreckage.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-67080562849348383082011-03-16T14:38:00.000+00:002011-03-16T14:38:53.106+00:00Planning and Conferring<i>Scorpius 24, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />While Florence is in the gym and Vajra is monitoring the Web and running some diagnostics on his own systems, Jianwei books a slot on the embassy diary to speak to the ambassador - and soon gets a call back on that.<br /><br /><i>"Oh, yes - you've been having an interesting time again, haven't you?"</i><br /><br />Jianwei summarises recent events from his point of view, leading to his conclusion that there may be another TSA operation here, although it seems to have different objectives.<br /><br />"Or perhaps it's two sides of the same coin," Schmidt murmurs.<br /><br />In any event, some of these problems seem to have a similar source to the Nova Iquitos incident, so Jianwei requests another meeting with "Mr Grey", for a specialist assessment and guidance as to next steps. Ambassador Schmidt agrees to put in a request, although she notes that she herself doesn't know who "Mr Grey" is - she <i>assumes</i> that this is simply a place-holder on-line identity for whoever happens to be the ranking E.U. intelligence officer within half a light-second or so of Mars.<br /><br />While that goes through, the team hear that the Nix Olympica emergency services unit has announced a press conference regarding the crash, and Jianwei and Vajra head along to observe this in person. (The team feels that Florence would attract too much attention, and anyway, she's still working up a sweat in the gym.) Many of the attendees are humaniform or "camera tripod" cybershells, but the event proves moderately interesting anyway, even given the amount of stonewalling from the clearly still uncertain authorities. The team note a lot of provocative questions that seem designed to reinforce those "uncertainty about current power structures" memetics, although it's only when reviewing recordings afterwards that they decide that a lot of the critical challenges seem to have come from a software agent representing the "Xanthe-Zhigansk News" agency. (Zhigansk is an independent Russian community in the Xanthe region, with lax enough government and regulation to make it a good location for anyone looking to set up a puppet news operation with obscure ownership.)<br /><br />After the conference ends, Jianwei and Vajra leave the room - and after a few meters, Kai Ssung-So falls into step with them, and asks how the press conference went. Jianwei is guarded, but Ssung-So drops hints about people wanting to know who might have been behind a dual-cause accident. Evidently, the Triads are still investigating the incident.<br /><br />As they arrive back at their hotel, Ambassador Schmidt calls and arranges a VR conference. Florence arrives from the hotel's pool in a thick robe, her fur still wet, and joins the others in Jianwei's room. Mr Grey is present when they enter the embassy's encrypted conference space, and reviews the situation again. One possibility he acknowledges, which had crossed the team's minds, is to leak more or less everything to the Triads, in hope that <i>they</i> will trace and deal with Quipu - they have more resources than most other people, after all, and enough incentive. However, no one is happy with the long-term implications of such a move. Ethics aside - and the conflict might get bloody - if it subsequently became publicly known that the E.U. diplomatic service was either colluding with the Triads, or using them to do their dirty work, anyone known to have been involved could be in legal and disciplinary trouble - and such things have a bad habit of coming out sooner or later, and the ambassador comments that she for one plans to have a very long career in the service.<br /><br />However, Mr Grey can provide something practical and useful; a specialised firewall utility for Vajra to run on his system, developed by E.U. programmers on Earth. If the TSA have "basilisk" triggers that cause Vajra to shut down, they appear to take the form of moderate-sized binary files; this utility will watch Vajra's input channels for anomalous unexplained digital blocks addressed to him, and quarantine and document them. That aside, Mr Grey supports the team's conclusion about their best option at this point; keep their heads down and their ears open. He will handle any decisions about releasing information to the SIA, and possibly also to the Chinese - although the latter at least might result in leaks to the Triads, which might generate the sort of messes that the E.U. currently wants to avoid.<br /><br />Once the conference ends, Florence heads back to her room to dry off, and the other two settle down to routine work, such as arranging anonymous travel bookings for Giovanna D'Aquila, so she can get on with her life and holiday without too much hassle from the press or their ilk. Then a call comes in from Captain Brooks-Carter, who has a favour to ask. As the investigation into the crash continues, the investigators need some specialised forensics checks run at the crash site - the first groups on the site were focussed on rescue and medical aid and conventional accident investigation, and criminal enquiries have different needs. An automated forensics package can handle this, but, the whole business is now becoming increasingly difficult and <i>political</i>; it would really be helpful if that package could be delivered and supervised by someone who is seen as reasonably neutral. The E.U. team may actually be as close as anyone gets to meeting that specification currently on the mountain.<br /><br />In fact, it looks as though this assignment could actually usefully be combined with another trip to the outlying medical facility, to escort the other two E.U. citizens back to the resort - they're up and about now, and comfortable with the idea. So the team takes the job. But that will be for tomorrow; driving in daylight is generally considered safer, and the forensic task can wait that long. For now, Vajra continues to suck in data, Jianwei goes looking for a good Chinese restaurant, and Florence heads to the University area, reckoning that a bar full of postgraduates might come the closest to being interesting that she'll find in this place.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-58462171588626158382011-02-28T18:34:00.001+00:002011-03-01T13:58:27.776+00:00Who Pulls the Strings?<i>Scorpius 24, m0039, continued</i><br /><br /><br />Vajra appears to be back online, and all the tests that the team, Samadhi, or Quentin have available suggest that this is indeed him, without major modifications or corruptions; Jianwei suggests that he performs a backup point immediately, before anything happens that might cause more permanent problems. The team had left him locked out of motor control on his shell, but now they cautiously return it. It does appear that Vajra is back, with no memories of the interruption; Quentin is evidently pleased to see him restored to function.<br /><br />The team is continuing to play with theories about this whole series of incidents, including Jianwei's opinion that the airship crash was likely the result of two technically unconnected problems - the gasbag failure immediately followed by the software problem. Why these might happen together, other than sheer extreme coincidence, is still unclear, though. They wonder if Vajra and the airship computer could have suffered essentially the same problem; it's not inconceivable, but why just these two entities? There's no trace of anything similar showing up on Web reports. One clue, perhaps, is that Vajra's internal logs show that he received, presumably processed, and then immediately wiped a small packet - a kilobyte or two - of unidentifiable data immediately before his shut-down. Unfortunately, he can't determine its origins, although it evidently came through the hotel's standard Web channels; he doesn't seem to have made any non-routine comms connections at that time.<br /><br />Jianwei authorises Aunty to continue tracking the news for similar incidents, allowing her to purchase a news-scanning skill set for the purpose (although she seems to have some trouble integrating it at first), and the team set up logging processes on as many comms ports on their assorted systems as possible, so they'll at least have records of any more trigger packet after the fact. Then, the team contact Captain Brooks-Carter and suggest a personal meeting; he is happy for them to come in.<br /><br />So they don vacc suits and set out by tram again. Brooks-Carter turns out to have called in a couple of colleagues, apparently feeling that these problems are going beyond his domain of accident investigation; Captain Ping, of the Nix Olympica Serious Crimes Unit, whose job is mostly to keep Triad activities on the mountain to some kind of minimum, and Officer Lau, the small police force's computer problems specialist. When the team talk about possible systematic software problems, Lau pays attention, but his assessment is that there isn't much resemblance between Vajra and the airship's systems - not that Vajra is exactly an overly well-documented unit, he notes.<br /><br />So he offers to pass more of the raw data he has available on the topic to Vajra, who accepts - and a few seconds later, alarms sound throughout the police/rescue installation, which goes into some kind of lockdown. Its security systems are apparently showing the presence of various software configurations and signatures which they have been instructed to treat as a threat, physically within its firewalls. A little nervous testing suggests that <i>Vajra</i> is indeed being treated as a potentially hostile software entity.<br /><br />The team request a low-bandwidth channel out of the installation, place a call to Quentin to explain something of the situation, and then allow Vajra to be taken down to the installation's computer crimes office, accompanied by Ping and Lau - Brooks-Carter is beginning to look like a man who wants some problems off his hands. A few minutes later, a local high-end LAI is asking questions about Vajra's origins, which of course has to bring in the words "presumed former TSA military asset".<br /><br />It appears that Vajra's peripheral software generates various signatures that approximately correspond to those produced by an unidentified, elusive entity which has recently been detected on the Nix Olympica Web. The match isn't exact, and with the E.U. embassy vouching for Vajra, local security is prepared to trust him, rather conditionally - but that suggests that the mystery entity was similar to him. Which in turn implies that this intruder was connected to the TSA. This might be considered odd, and also worrying.<br /><br />It also cuts across the previous evidence of Triad involvement. On that subject, Ping has a brief conversation with the team - noting Florence's known personal history. The team is gaining an odd image with this security and rescue organisation.<br /><br />So they withdraw politely, and discuss matters further on the tram back to their hotel. Could the Triads be using TSA-designed software agents? That's not entirely their style... Meanwhile, Aunty is scanning local news channels, and picking up a fair amount of discussion on academic boards. The team run further surveys of the local Web, and Vajra soon notes an area of free resources that seem more or less optimised for his use. Not being foolish, he knows a honey trap when he sees one; rather than being caught, he ends up in conversation with the currently-anonymous operator responsible. It's clear that this is someone at the University of Mars - the kind of academic computer specialist who reflexively sneers at that mention of police computer security specialists. He's prepared to trade more data on recent Web events, but what he has would require more technical skills than the team can offer.<br /><br />However, they can point him at the probably-subverted version control software at the airship tours company, which he didn't know about, while they ask Quentin to look for some software problems consultancy expertise. He may have to go to Earth to find anyone appropriate (he'd normally often call on University of Mars experts for such things, after all). Then, after a few minutes, the anonymous academic calls back to say that he does indeed think that the mystery entity ran some kind of assault on the tour company. Given its efficiency, he wonders if the company was in fact subverted in advance.<br /><br />Just on principle, Vajra puts a little work in and, mostly by a stroke of luck, identifies this caller as one Dr Rodrigo Manos. He decides that it's more polite not to tell Dr Manos so.<br /><br />The team are settled back in at their hotel by now, with no specific duties to perform, so they relax a little; Florence looks at local dojo facilities, goes to the hotel gym, and plans a break on Olympus Mons when this mission is done, while Jianwei handles some public relations issues related to the crash and generally looks after consular duties. Then, Quentin gets in touch again, with word from E.U. experts on Earth.<br /><br />Their belief is that there are indeed signs of SAI-level Web intrusions here. If it's a TSA operation - which seems very possible - it must be a major one. Well, the E.U. isn't aware of any major TSA operations on Mars, with one possible exception of which the team should be aware.<br /><br />"Quipu" someone says. Vajra admits to being a little scared now.<br /><br />Jianwei takes this as a cue to look at the memetics of the situation again, and decides that there are subtle but, when one knows where to look, clear similarities in the campaign signatures to the memetics around the Nova Iquitos incident. If "Quipu" is running a broad TSA memetics campaign, this crash may have somehow been involved in that too. It's possible that the Triads have been <i>played</i> by Quipu, while the recent intrusion at the tour company - indeed, all the peculiar events on the local Web since the crash - are beginning to look like a clean-up operation. As a part of that, maybe, Quipu decided to take Vajra off-line for a while - although it's not clear why.<br /><br />Jianwei sends a message to the ambassador. He wants to request another meeting with "Mr Grey", who appears to be the sort of person who's in the right sort of position to decide how this should all be handled.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-89663844161781703272011-02-17T18:29:00.002+00:002011-02-26T10:29:41.503+00:00Software Controls Hardware<i>Scorpius 23, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />As the team's vehicle approaches the Zeus Tourist Resort, it becomes clear from Web traffic that the press have picked up on both their presence and that of Giovanna D'Aquila, the first survivor of the airship crash to return to civilisation. They promptly offer her assistance in dealing with what will follow - that's their job, after all - and she accepts the offer. She's evidently smart enough to be careful about what she says, and the team help her to prepare a response to the obvious first questions ("I cannot say very much while the investigation is still underway..."), and work up a press release to appear over her name. They also offer to see her back to the hotel room which her wearable has already chosen for her, and she accepts that offer too. Her wearable is also already handling matters such as getting some of her possessions out of storage while her luggage on the airship is being identified, extracted, and flown back. The team are being cautious enough that everything that arrives for her will be scanned for bugs...<br /><br />When the rover reaches the airlock and the travellers disembark, they discover a couple of enterprising reporters already waiting. Both Jianwei's and Florence's instincts for practical tactics desert them, and the group is brought to a halt by the importunate reporters. However, Giovanna keeps her head and remains bland, and Jianwei does some smooth talking, giving the others a chance to get away<br /><br />However, as the group is entering the lobby of Giovanna's hotel (her personal AI automatically checking her in), Vajra's cybershell suddenly locks up and falls over. The other two team members move quickly to assist, trying to determine what has happened; Aunty establishes contact with Samadhi, first carefully validating his ID codes, and Samadhi reports that Vajra is still running on the shell's systems, but isn't responding at all to external stimuli. Jianwei invokes his director status with the company that nominally "owns" Vajra for legal purposes in some jurisdictions to authorise Samadhi to take control of the cybershell. Once Samadhi has the shell back on its feet, if a little unsteadily, the group quickly heads up to Giovanna's room for privacy as they run more basic checks. First, though, Jianwei borrows Vajra's electronic gear and sweeps the room for surveillance devices, finding nothing. After a short while, with no signs of Vajra returning to "consciousness", they ask Giovanna (who's understandably a little perturbed by this turn of events) not to discuss it with anyone, and head back toward their own rooms.<br /><br />On the way, they contact Quentin at the embassy, first reporting their successes, then describing what has happened to Vajra. Quentin "talks" to Samadhi, then leaves him to walk the shell home. Quentin is evidently perturbed by this turn of events, but has no idea yet of its causes. Aunty is monitoring the technical news channels for any evidence of anything similar, but nothing has shown up, so Jianwei calls the Emergency Response Service, and leaves a message, and after a few minutes, Captain Brooks-Carter calls back. He notes their concern, but this seems to be an isolated incident at present; he comments that it may well remain so, as far as he can tell - he understands that Vajra is a rather non-standard sort of AI...<br /><br />Quentin too gets back in touch; he's been probing Vajra's systems, and his conclusion is that Vajra's low-level processes are, essentially, looping. What they're processing remains unclear - he's not taking any large data input streams - but this has evidently locked up his higher personality functions. ("Oh my God, he's garbage collecting!" someone mutters.) It's quite possible he'll come back on line when this process is complete, so there's no question of restoring him from backup yet.<br /><br />The team get back to their own rooms, Samadhi lies the cybershell body down, and the team plugs him into a high-speed fibre-optic port while Quentin gets in touch with some experts. As there's little they can do themselves, the two organic beings decide that, rather than ordering dinner in, they might as well go and get the feel of what pass for streets in this place. So they head out to a restaurant and bar to do some listening.<br /><br />There's only so much to listen to, in fact - perhaps the most interesting thing they hear during the evening is a news report on the Web, which suggests that Peng Chiang-Kwan was put in nanostasis as soon as the rescue teams reached the crash site, but that was longer than anyone would like, and now a lot of specialist human doctors, AI experts, and advanced cybershells are being mustered to attempts a prolonged and careful uploading exercise on him; it'll be a while before its success or otherwise becomes clear. There are no reports of misbehaving AIs.<br /><br />Then, in the bar, the pair are approached by a well-dressed man, ethnic Chinese in appearance, who identifies himself as Kai Ssung-So, the insurance company agent. He's blandly polite, and still seems to be looking to exchange information quite openly; he seems convinced - or determined to convey the belief - that software problems are the key to this mystery. Smooth as he is, Jianwei senses that he's seriously worried about something. Meanwhile, Florence remains reticent, just reining in her distaste for anyone Triad-connected - and noting that Ssung-So is accompanied at a distance of a few yards by another man, also Chinese to go by his features, well-built and self-contained - not exactly a <i>disguised</i> bodyguard...<br /><br />As the pair are returning to their hotel, they take another call from Captain Brooks-Carter. His own people have been looking at the airship tour company's computer systems, and they think that <i>someone</i> has been tinkering with the logging components. They believe that there's <i>something</i> highly capable loose on the local Web, and he reckons that the Europeans might want to know that. In response, Florence mentions that there may be Triad agents currently operating in the resort; the captain takes a note of that, but isn't immediately concerned - detecting a Triad presence somewhere on Mars is rarely news.<br /><br />Back at their rooms, the pair talk to Quentin again. He notes that one problem in trying to diagnose software problems with Vajra is his status as, well, probably a former TSA military asset; he's hardly well-documented. But Quentin and his advisers are convinced that Vajra is in that shell somewhere; hopefully, the loop will eventually terminate. They're bemused, though, and worried. Still, all the biosapients can do for now is get some sleep, leaving Dougal and Aunty to learn how to play Robo Rally. Before they settle in, they do get some assurances from Quentin that, if Vajra awakens in "kill the squishy things" mode, he'll warn them, or something.<br /><br /><i>Scorpius 24, m0039</i><br /><br />Jianwei wakes first, and reviews the news channels over breakfast. As a trained memeticist, he concludes that this whole incident is maybe being exploited to raise general fear-uncertainty-doubt levels across the planet. He looks deeper, but if his first guess is right, this is a well-engineered campaign, and not easily traced. He mentions the theory to Florence when she wakes, and they wonder who could be responsible - Negative Growth or other such preservationists might have an interest in spreading such memes, as might the various Martian Independence groups; it's certainly a challenge to the current power structures.<br /><br />As they finish breakfast, another call comes in from Captain Brooks-Carter. By then, Jianwei has assembled a quick presentation analysing this possible campaign, and he takes the opportunity to pass it over; the Captain in his turn says that he has been asking questions, and he believes that the team may have a point about the Triads; his own team's best guess is that they were looking to muscle in on the tour company, although nobody is admitting anything. But this doesn't explain the airship crash; reducing share values and intimidating managers would be one thing, but destroying the company's image and profitability would surely just be foolish and inefficient.<br /><br />Then, in Florence's room, another voice speaks.<br /><br /><i>"Where am I?"</i>Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7232586116758251171.post-82414704069970710742011-01-31T15:50:00.002+00:002011-02-09T18:14:40.097+00:00On Site and Back Again<i>Scorpius 22, m0039, continued</i><br /><br />Along with civilian-model vacc suits, the team have hired a heavy rover, which is now available to them - although they do spend a few moments discussing whether they need to head out to the crash site. It's a couple of hundred miles from the Zeus Resort - they should be able to make the run inside a day, if it looks like good use of their time. The rover really is the only option; at this altitude, the only flying vehicles capable of operating and of landing in the wilderness are a few specialised, fuel-hungry, and expensive vectored-thrust flyers with very little carrying capacity.<br /><br />So they review more data. Quentin has now pulled some strings and acquired some imagery of the incident from weather satellites; it's not great for resolution, but it's usable. It shows the Zeppelin's gasbag failing - perhaps quite rapidly - and a descent that looks, at least to a trained pilot like Florence, to be fairly controlled at first, but with rapidly increasing instability. However, Florence can't say much for certain; she's not qualified on airships.<br /><br />Jianwei decides that a personal visit to the Emergency Response Team's HQ is in order, and the rest of the team might as well come along. He talks his way quickly past the receptionist - avoiding "crank" or "time-waster" tags on support NAI displays really isn't very hard - and gains a brief interview with Captain Brooks-Carter, who is polite, though clearly busily engaged with multiple VR displays even while he's talking to them. Jianwei says that the team would like to visit the crash site, and while the Captain is a little cautious about the possibility of them getting underfoot, he doesn't ask them to refrain. They offer to transport any small items that might be useful on the site; while the Captain doesn't come up with much, he does say that they might take a shipping box of additional rescue gear.<br /><br />So the team set out. Samadhi plots a route and Florence drives (breaking for lunch on a relatively flat stretch where she trusts the supplied vehicle NAI to manage safely enough). Meanwhile, Jianwei mostly naps, and Vajra and the team's support AIs collect and collate information on the crash as it appears on the Web. It seems that there were ten organic beings on the airship: the three European citizens, two Chinese tourists - Peng Chiang-Kwan, now reported deceased in the crash, and Teng Sui-P'ing - three American citizen passengers - Alan Becovani, a resident of Mars, and Sarah Louise-Smith and Ira Solway-Cortez, both up from Earth - and two crew with Nix Olympica citizenship - Carl Davidson, the captain/pilot, and Eugene Marquez, the steward.<br /><br />After a few hours, the rover is approaching the crash site, and Jianwei wakes up and begins checking local data feeds and streams. He calls the E.U. citizens, who are still here receiving medical attention; they are still recovering from the stress of the accident, but are currently feeling relatively comfortable, with no immediate special requirements.Actually, it soon turns out that the medical personnel on site feel that it's about time to transfer the crash survivors to better, static, medical facilities; the ambulance rovers will be leaving shortly - before the team have actually quite reached the site, in fact.<br /><br />Still, the team do reach the site, hand off the case of rescue gear to a robot which says a polite thank-you, then start moving around the area, avoiding getting in anyone's way while taking visual images from multiple viewpoints for future reference and recording all the v-tags that they can identify. After a while, when they pause a couple of medical personnel and another rescue worker wander over for a chat and to accept the team's open offer of tea. This lets the team pick up some more knowledgeable gossip about the crash; it seems that everyone involved is finding the details a little odd. Eventually, the team ask if they can give anyone from the rescue teams a lift back to civilisation, and some of the techs consider this.<br /><br />After a while longer, a call comes in via satellite relay. The caller identifies himself as Kai Ssung-So, an agent of the insurance company which was providing medical cover for the Chinese passengers on the airship. He seems smoothly courteous; the team get the impression from various details that there may be another person present and monitoring the call at his end, but can't pick up any other details. Ssung-So too has an obvious interest in the incident, and understands that the team is picking up independent information; he would appreciate access to anything which they are prepared to release. He is evidently far too sophisticated to offer <i>payment</i>, but he can promise future favours, should anything the E.U. embassy need fall within his capacity...<br /><br />Jianwei, knowing the value of favours on Mars, takes the time to contact Ambassador Schmidt, obtains clearance, and agrees to Ssung-So's request. He'll be sending checked and, where necessary, edited information, of course, but Ssung-So is smoothly grateful.<br /><br />Although the site is currently being illuminated by an orbital mirror or two, sunset is still noticeable, and the team feel that they've done what they can for the day, and settle down in their vehicle for the night.<br /><br /><i>Scorpius 23, m0039</i><br /><br />Waking and rising fairly early, the Europeans set out. The injured tourists have been taken to a scientific station with good medical facilities about half-way back to Nix Olympica, a little way off the direct route, and the team have decided to detour that way to check how things stand; two of the rescue team decide to accept a lift there. As Florence drives a little too fast over the rocky ground (but recovers from her mistakes quickly enough to avoid accidents) and everyone talks to the two techs about what they saw at the site, Vajra receives an anonymous Web message, suggesting that he might like to check the ownership of that Chinese insurance company, or its agent's past employment records. With little else to do with their time for an hour or two, the team quietly take up the suggestion, digging through financial records and personal pages on the Web.<br /><br />These don't turn up any obvious dirt, but the company's ownership is dispersed and only lightly documented. There's no proof, but on Mars, this kind of paper trail might well hint at Triad ownership or strong Triad influence. As for Ssung-So - his consultancy work has involved a number of companies, all culturally Chinese, but is only lightly defined - and the companies are almost all in the import-export business, which hints at Triad smuggling operations. Is he somebody the Triads might want to use as a consultant whenever possible, for some reason? Or could he actually be some kind of Triad troubleshooter? And who might have sent this tip-off, if he is?<br /><br />Florence, who doesn't like the Triads <i>at all,</i> is muttering under her breath. <br /><br />The team stop for lunch at the medical&nbsp; facility, where their passengers leave them with polite thanks. They've determined that Mahler and Melk are happiest to stay there for now - Melk seems not to want to travel too much yet, and there's no good reason for her husband to leave her - but Giovanna D'Aquila would like to get back to civilisation and has been well patched up. As they have spare space in their rover and are supposed to be offering what help they can to E.U. citizens, the team are more than happy to give her a lift. Indeed, this gives them a good chance to chat with her about the crash, and she's happy to cooperate and to give them access to her wearable's recordings of the period in question.<br /><br />Apparently, she had recently retired for the night when the airship's emergency alarms sounded, and within seconds she, the other passengers, and the steward were following the standard emergency procedures which were being quoted at them by their AIs, including suiting up for vacuum, while the pilot attempted to manage things from the control compartment. To judge by the mounting verbal responses from there, the airship's behaviour degraded progressively and unexpectedly as it went down, until it hit the Martian surface painfully hard. As the team had already gathered from other sources, Peng Chiang-Kwan was simply horribly unlucky, getting in the way of a shattering structural member during the impact; it apparently punctured his suit and his torso. Whether the medical services can restore him, as an organic individual or as software, remains to be seen.<br /><br />The team take another look at technical issues. The pilot blew the second, undamaged gasbag immediately after impact, very correctly; could the mechanism intended for that purpose on the first gasbag somehow have been triggered? After all, that would reduce the entire incident to a single cause - massive software malfunction, possibly malicious. (Although it would have to be an implausibly broad failure that both blew a gasbag and scrambled the airship guidance controls.) Unfortunately, everything says that the emergency gas release mechanism really shouldn't be that easy to trigger. Anyway, software sabotage that blew one gasbag could surely almost as easily blow both, producing a more guaranteed catastrophe that would be easier to pass off as an accident than this pair of problems without a close connection...<br /><br />Meanwhile, Florence has engineered a detour for the rover. She hasn't seen the edge of the Olympica escarpment before, and it's not far out of their way. Unfortunately, the team's AIs do an unusually poor job of route planning, and Florence finds that she's having to compensate for a twenty-degree slope for some distance. Fortunately, her skills are up to the task.Phil Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.com0
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