Pandora Quest 34

Time to snoop. Writing!

You leave Grace to set up and Pandora to continue playing with her pet. A little checking up wouldn't hurt and while you're sure you got rid of the software, better safe than sorry.

You flip to the most recent entry and read. The fact that there is one at all is your first clue that something isn't right.

"Had another dream where he told me a story again, which is weird because I thought they got rid of my dreams. Maybe they meant just the bad ones? Anyway, it was a story about something called a mermaid. He said a mermaid is a creature that had a human top half and a fish bottom half, so it wasn't human, but it wasn't a fish either. He said they don't really exist, but stories aren't always true. Sometimes lies are more interesting than facts. I don't know what he meant by that, but the story was interesting!

He said that this mermaid girl fell in love with this human who she saved from drowning. I guess humans don't do good in water. And she wanted to be with him, like how the doctor and Babsy are, but couldn't because she had no feet to walk on the ground. So she went to a witch who gave her a potion that would take her voice, but give her feet. Feet that felt really bad to walk on! But she liked him that much. So she goes to meet him, but he doesn't like her like that. He likes this other girl who lied to him and said she saved him. How mean! Anyway, because she couldn't make him fall in love with her, she threw herself into the ocean and died. Turned into something called sea foam, which I guess is just lots of bubbles.

Sad story, but he said it has an important lesson; don't try to be what you're not or you'll only get hurt. That humans don't care for anything but other humans. I don't think that's true, though. Everyone here is really nice, right?"

(cont)

So...somehow she not only continues to dream, but now she's getting life lessons from what you can tell is some kind of mysterious, jaded entity. What the hell is going on?

>Speak to Pandora about it (write in)
>Begin lessons right away
>Other (write in)

>Begin lessons right away

Begin lessons.

The dream sort of warrents conversation but perhaps in private.

the fact that pandora stands against the opinions of this entity is an important sign.

PS. Gonna do some art in a bit may take requests after doing a quick warm up piece.

Please roll 1d100 to get your learn on. Best of 3.

Rolled 23 (1d100)

Rolling for doing better study than me even though I have an exam tommorow.

Rolled 38 (1d100)

Don't blow off your studies too much, user. Exams are important!

Rolled 72 (1d100)

Nice save, user.

Writing!

Today you, coincidentally enough, cover lying and honesty. You explain that, while some people say they want the truth, actually want half-truths. Like when someone asks if an article of clothing they're wearing looks good or if something they made came out right. You do your best to cover the subtle differences between white lies and full on lies. Like taking something that isn't yours and saying you didn't, or telling nasty rumors about someone even though they're false.

Pandora, much to your surprise, picks it up pretty quickly, but still doesn't bring up the dream she had. She mostly just gives you a flood of questions about who's lying to whom and if it's okay to tell X person about Y thing and so forth.

"Do people lie a lot?" she asks, a look of pure curiosity on her face.

>Yeah, people tend to manipulate others with lies pretty often
>No, for the most part people are honest with eachother
>Other (write in)

It depends on the person.

Honest people rarely lie.
Dishonest people lie a lot.

There are a lot of both in the world.

That Movie written by an AI was interesting.

>No, for the most part people are honest with eachother

If by interesting you mean completely nonsensical and impossible to follow, I agree. But still fascinating nonetheless.

I'll support that fampai.

>>Other (write in)
Add in:

Generally, there are lies that you tell to get out of trouble, lies that you tell to hurt someone, lies that you tell to help someone, lies that sometimes you tell to protect yourself, and lies that you tell to yourself to delude yourself. There are lots of reasons people lie, and not all of them are out of malice. It's still not entirely good, though.

Got it, writing!

this is a lie.

maybe with slightly different wording it be true.

for example.

Most people are for the most part honest with eachother.

There are people who lie.

and people aren't honest. and when honest people aren't.

"It depends on the person." you say, "Honest people rarely lie. Dishonest people lie a lot. There are a lot of both in the world. Generally, there are lies that you tell to get out of trouble, lies that you tell to hurt someone, lies that you tell to help someone, lies that sometimes you tell to protect yourself, and lies that you tell to yourself to delude yourself. There are lots of reasons people lie, and not all of them are out of malice. It's still not entirely good, though."

Pandora nods at this, tapping her cheek in thought. "Lying seems like it's too hard to keep track of. I think it'd be easier to just always tell the truth. That way you don't have to remember all the lies or come up with new ones."

"That's how I feel." Grace says, nodding happily, "But there is something called tact."

"Tact?" Pandora asks, tilting her head to the side.

"It's when you're telling something to someone they might not like, but do it gently. In a kind way that won't hurt their feelings so much. Like if someone draws a bad picture for instance. Instead of saying 'that's a bad picture', you say 'that picture could use some work on these areas'. Constructive criticisms. Being nice about it rather than just saying the first thing that pops into your head, you know?"

Pandora nods. "So instead of saying the doctor's face is too scratchy and gross..." she makes a point to rub your chin for emphasis. "I should say he should try to make it less scratchy because it feels better when it's not?"

...Your face isn't that scratchy.

Grace laughs. "Yes, something like that, though we'll need to work on your wording."

"Have you...ever lied to me?" Pandora asks staring straight at you.

>I maybe haven't been totally honest...but never lied
>No, I would never lie to you!
>Other (write in)

>No, I would never lie to you!
Have we lied to her? I don't think so.

>>Other (write in)
So... You have finally placed the pieces together, haven't you? (evil chuckle)

(stands up dramatically) THAT'S RIGHT! I AM NOT THE MAN YOU KNOW! I AM DR. MALICIOUS, CYBER-ROBOTICS GENIUS, AND I HAVE MADE YOU TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD WITH YOUR CUTENESS! I'LL SHOW THOSE FOOLS IN HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE WHAT FOR, MUAHAHAHAHAH!!!

(pauses for the scene)

Erm... Now what?

Whitelies. Maybe? I can honestly not recall to be honest.

So I don't think so.
and if we did whatever it was doesn't matter.

Elpis doesn't matter.
Could be a fun way lighten up this conversation. you know if we get silly. and hightlight the silliness.

Honesty...you think! Writing.

Any requests anons?

The rise of DOCTOR MALICIOUS, MAD CYBER-ROBOTICS GENIUS!!!

(thunder peals in background)

Gentlemen, Behold!
The cutest robot girl!
youtube.com/watch?v=JDUxc6MLXoM

"Honestly, I can't recall any time I've ever lied to you." you say honestly, "There are some things I'm not allowed to tell you, but no, I've never lied to you." you nod, accepting your answer.

Pandora smiles. "Good. I wouldn't lie to you either, doctor. Even if...um..." Pandora looks away and suddenly goes quiet, nervously twitching her fingers.

"Even if what?" you ask.

"Um...he said not to tell you..." Pandora looks torn and her hair is flicking between several different colors.

"Who?" you ask, concerned. You furrow your brow. You don't like where this is going.

"The...the man...in my dreams..." Pandora admits, "He said I shouldn't trust you...that humans don't see me as a person...that you just want to use me for science and stuff, then when you're done, get rid of me..." she still can't look you in the eye at the moment, but her hair has settled on blue. "I told him that's not true. That you'd never do that, but he told me that's what you want me to think..."

Whatever this thing in her dreams is, it's not a friendly...whatever it is. And now it's outright telling her to disobey and lie to you. Standard protocol would be to report this...but odds are that would call for a data purge...which would mean her memory would be wiped clean, and you don't want that...

What do you do?
>Discuss her dream journal
>Inform Richards
>Other (write in)

>Discuss her dream journal

>>Discuss her dream journal

Pandora winning a pit fight because her opponent can't bring themselves to hurt her? Also as always, love your work!

I love it!

Discussing is go! Writing.

Sorry if I'm a little slow at times. Been having some issues with captcha tonight.

You retrieve Pandora's dream journal and put it on the table.

"So..." you begin, not sure how to go about this, "I noticed you still had a dream last night. One with a story and...moral lesson..." Grace looks a little shocked, her worry obvious. "I...I'm not sure what that is, but we removed your dreamware...Pandora, you shouldn't be having dreams anymore...at all. Do you...has the man in your 'dreams' ever tell you what he is? About himself? Where he came from?"

Pandora nods slightly. "He said he's someone like me. That he's there to teach me how things really are. He said stories and lessons he gives me are better than anything you ever will...but, um, he doesn't get mad at me as much anymore. He said he wants me to see things the way he sees them and yelling won't make that happen...is...is he really bad?"

Grace looks frightened now. "How could...that's not possible. She's...doctor, what the hell is going on?! This isn't right!"

>Pandora, do not listen to anything he says. Try to push him out of your mind next time.
>Keep listening to what he has to say and try to find out where he came from.
>Other (write in)

>Pandora, do not listen to anything he says. Try to push him out of your mind next time.

>>Keep listening to what he has to say and try to find out where he came from.

I'd lean towards. this personally.

If only to figure out what it is.

Im guessing somehow pandora has gotten hooked up with this thing somehow. be it through the charging cradle.

The R&D team or what.
Is pandora the only one who has ever been in this room? Is pandora written over other intelegences?

I think this will engender resentment from the intelegence.

Assuming its not some kind of... well... split personality/aspect of her own insecurities.

Lets face it...

she could've developed this creature on her own. Much like people do.

Only you and people under your direct instruction are allowed into Pandora's room. So the only ones who have ever been in there when you haven't been are Pandora herself, Lucky the dog and Grace while you were gone.

I was thinking more...

Before Pandora.
Previous versions of the AI.

Of the android.

Etc.

Though if that's the case... its an external thing then. something was brought in some how.

and the only things we ever brought in were upgrades.

>>Keep listening to what he has to say and try to find out where he came from.
"Just remember. These are stories that man has created, but remember, people are allowed to read and interpret them however they like. Just because one person sees a sad story doesn't mean there isn't a silver lining in it."

Should we consider sleeping over in her room tonight to see if there's any fluctuation in her systems during her rest cycle?

This sounds like a cool idea!! sleeping over.

Though I do hope we can check on ares as well.

and that Grace doesn't do something hasty.

On it!/spoiler]

Pandora's software is the original. She wasn't built on top of anything. The previous versions were (supposed to be) purged after her successful creation. Though with the existence of the "other AI" you now know not everything was taken care of correctly. But Pandora was overseen by yourself personally, so you can be sure her OS and all software were clean when you installed them.

this provides some interesting insights.

So whatever is going on... isn't because of us personally.

Its either internal. Or someone being cheeky in either R&D or security check.

Just an FYI, saying the stories were something he created would, ironically enough, be lying to Pandora. The stories he's told her thus far have been preexisting stories like The Hedgehog's Dilemma and The Little Mermaid. He did not create them, rather he is simply relaying them to her.

Looks like "keep listening" is the winner, along with a sleep-over. However, do you want to lie to her about the stories?
>Y/N

>N

we've talked about lying.

Now would be a bad place to start.

Pandora the "Man" is telling you stories that already exist.

They aren't made up.

And if he says he's made them up then... that's a lie on his part isn't it?

>I think he's not bad. Just angry and maybe a little lonely. Here's an idea. Make him listen to you for once. Talk about what makes you happy. This guy seems like a sourpuss, but maybe he just needs a little ray of sunshine in his day.

I think it's time we talk to R&D about awakening the middle child.

Sorry, but I didn't mean "that man" as in him, but the capitalized version, as in "that Man", as in Humanity.

Should have pointed that out.

>N

The N's have it. Writing!

Talk to him! This sounds like a clever idea!

Why didn't we think of it sooner?

"Pandora, I want you to keep listening to what he has to say." you tell her, an idea popping into your head, "I want you to try to find out as much as you can about him. I think he's not bad. Just angry and maybe a little lonely. Here's an idea. Make him listen to you for once. Talk about what makes you happy. This guy seems like a sourpuss, but maybe he just needs a little ray of sunshine in his day." you smile, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Pandora returns the smile. "Okay. But...what if he yells again?"

"You just keep at it. I'm sure he'll give up eventually. Some people just need time to get over themselves." you say, Kevin's image immediately popping into your head. "And in fact, I'm gonna stay here tonight with you and keep an eye on things. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you and we'll figure out this mystery together, alright?"

Please roll 1d100 for reasons. Best of 3.

I'll be back in a moment, talk among yourselves! Theorize on what it could be!

Rolled 60 (1d100)

Gotta fix those bed bugs.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

Here goes.

Rolled 38 (1d100)

Nothing shit!

The luck of Pandora strikes again.

Writing!

IMO, either this is some more voodoo magic that Elpis cooked up or Pandora accidentally made a duplicate 'shadow' program of it by being exposed to the other AI's deviant processes. She could've been confused into thinking it was an update and it's now lost in various legitimate files, it's presence masked by real data.

Here's some Pandora being a badass. with additional concerned Ares and Doc

I probably should've gone with her "Rockem sockem" outfit from yonks ago.

Thats a very likely technical reasoning.

It does sort of mimic... well... actual emotional development.

So it might need some emotional answer.

You bring some things from your room to Pandora's (blanket, pillow, essentials and so on) and thank whoever designed the room that the floors are padded. Relatively comfy, at least. Pandora is absolutely flabbergasted at how humans "recharge". No cradle, no cables to plug in, just lie down, go into sleep mode and then you're good to go. You have to explain to her that you work much differently than her, but the fundamentals are the same. You intake energy, use that to "power" yourself and then rest when it's expended.

"He said humans were inefficient." she says a little sheepishly, rubbing her arm.

"Well, he says a lot of things and tonight we're going to figure out just where he's saying them from." you say, a bit of a cocky smirk on your face.

You "tuck her in" with a good night hug and a promise that you'll see her in the morning. She smiles in only the way she can and tells you she'll do her best. With that said and done you set up your laptop to monitor every little thing that goes on with her throughout the night, a large number of programs all running at once to make sure you don't miss a thing.

For a few hours you watch diligently, but with no real hits. Your eyes begin to get heavy and you start to nod slowly. Within an embarrassingly short time you end up nodding off, falling asleep for the full duration of the night.

Thankfully your programs did their jobs throughout the night and you have some data to go over...after you peel off the metal girl cuddled up at your side with a death-grip on your arm. She seems to be mimicing you somewhat, her eyes closed and a peaceful look on her face. However, as you stir, she releases you happily. Of course, she wasn't actually asleep. Still, it was cute.

"Morning!" she says cheerfully. "So what happened?" she's pretty excited to find out.

(cont)

Hah, I like that Ares is the only one even remotely concerned. You're cute Pandora, but you're not a fighter.

You pat her on the head and return the infectious smile, then check your logs. Everything seems normal for the first few hours, standard charging process...then you see a message that makes your blood run cold.

"Connection established. Communicating..."

That...shouldn't be possible. Neither Pandora nor her cradle have any kind of wi-fi capabilities. Purposely, to keep them from being accessed by anyone but you. She should have zero capabilities for wireless communication...yet...there it is. Someone or something with an outside connection is talking to her through...honestly, you couldn't even begin to know how. You designed her software yourself, R&D built the chassis exactly to your specifications, no one but people here under your watch have been allowed to alter any part of her for any reason...how in the fuck did you miss something like this?

>Tell Pandora
>Don't tell her, ask her about any dreams she had
>Contact ____ (write in)
>Other (write in)

>You designed her software yourself, R&D built the chassis exactly to your specifications
R&D...
Could someone on that team have done this?
Perhaps not with malicious intent but still.

also there is the dog.

>Tell Pandora
>Contact ____ (write in)
THE ENTITY
Oh, and both Mouse and Theresa for this.

>Tell Pandora
>Later, contact Mouse. R&D are gonna go over her blueprints and the cradle with a fine comb until they can offer a satisfactory explanation. Outside interference on this project could make them shut down Pandora for good.

It's gonna have to be fixed eventually. Best let her know what's happening inside of her head now.

Tell her.

Whatever this thing/man is. It isn't within her. its without.

ask about dreams too perhaps.

I feel like once we learn how this thing is communicating with her we can trace the signal. That, and bending R&D over and spanking them straight should take priority. Doesn't matter how self-assured or likable Mouse is. If she doesn't cooperate full-heartedly we have the power to ruin her career.

Spooky! Writing.

her life honestly.

To be fair... R&D has been operating with tons of impunity.

Making the Pandora Data Clone really should've been the first clue.

Wether its malice, naivete, corner cutting, or good intentions.

there is something that r&d has done... or whoever security checks the stuff.

Seriously... the dog.

You guys don't think this can effect ares too right?

You sigh heavily, composing yourself. The gravity of this situation is almost too much for you, but you get it together enough to talk to the curious girl.

"It, uh..." you begin, "looks like...someone has been talking to you from some outside source... But the thing is, that shouldn't be possible. You shouldn't have any way to communicate wirelessly...uh, beyond talking and stuff, I mean. You're not meant to connect to other machines without a physical connection for security reasons. It should be actually impossible, in fact. Yet, there you are...connecting. I have no idea how that happened, but...there it is."

Pandora immediately looks worried, wringing her hands as her hair shifts to a depressingly dark navy blue. "Is...is that bad? Am I in trouble? What do I do?!"

"I...I don't know, but for now...Pandora, don't tell anyone about this...if Richards or anyone else found out, they...that would be bad for you, alright? So keep it between us for now, okay?" you squeeze her shoulder lightly.

"O-okay..." she says, nodding. "I'm...I'm scared...does this mean that he really is bad?"

"I wish I knew..." you say, shaking your head. You fire off a quick message to Mouse and tell her to get there ASAP. This better not be another one of R&D's fuckups... Mouse confirms she's on her way.

"In...in the meantime, did you have another dream last night? Did he talk to you?"

She nods. "Yeah, um...I tried to do what you said. I tried to talk about what makes me happy and find out about him, but he got really upset after a while. He said he was just someone there for my benefit and the usual stuff he says...but then after a while he just got quiet. He said he couldn't talk anymore and then just...left..."

(cont)

Until we isolate the cause anything is possible.

>He said he couldn't talk anymore and then just...left...
Is he on to us?
On to us being onto him?

The logs do show activity for a short time, but then the connection is cut after about 30 minutes. Maybe he knew he was being watched? You can't tell where the signal is coming from, but you doubt it could be from anywhere outside the Facility. The huge, thick walls and electronic defenses keep damn near anything out. God couldn't peep on this place without an ID badge.

After a while Mouse shows up, needing you to let her in. She has a hefty tool box under one arm and a serious look on her face. "What's the deal, doc? You sounded upset. Our girl alright?" she says from the excited hugging arms of Pandora.

You show her the logs and, if they still could, her eyes would go wide. She then lets out an extended stream of swears a large number of which you've never even heard of.

"How the fuck did this even happen?!" she shouts angrily, "There are no wireless anything on her! I drew up the blueprints myself! I soldered half of her damn boards together with my bare hand!" she holds up her cybernetic hand to make a point. "Doc, she has NO wifi anywhere in her. My team and I worked on this together for literal days non-stop..." she looks furious. She's actually going red in the face at this.

"If someone's been fucking with my Panda, I will brain a cunt with my own damn wrench!"

Well...she seems just as upset at this as you do. She seems to say only she and her team had anything to do with the building process. Could it have been someone in R&D? Or maybe they weren't as diligent as you thought watching her?
>Question someone(s) from R&D (write in)
>Do a full-body scan
>Bring it up with Richards
>Other (write in)

>Other (write in)

What about her hair? Or clothes? We had some of this stuff ordered in from outside right? There might be something planted in them.

>Do a full-body scan

Hair and her other hardware were all made by R&D. Clothes were ordered from a standard retailer.

>Do a full-body scan and scan the cradle
>Compare the Scans to the schematics we have of them.

We know it only happens when she sleeps, so we can assume that the cradle or her sleep protocol are what allow the connection to get through. We also know it sends as well as receives.

Out of all these parts we're creating something someone used as a wireless connection. If we have to we should compare her cradle and rest procedure with Ares. Find probable culprits.

Do a full body scan naturally.

We might need to question people on R&D.

But I can't think of any one in particular.

>>Other (write in)
What about the charger? Did you make that here too?

Charging cradle was made here, yes. (You already checked the cradle in a previous thread, FYI.)

Please roll 1d100 for the body scan. Best of 3.

Rolled 55 (1d100)

Rolling

Rolled 80 (1d100)

Rolled 71 (1d100)

Poor ol' AM never gets to write bad rolls...

Writing.

You get Pandora up onto the table in the repair room and get to work running a scan over all her parts and hardware. It's a slow process, but thorough. Every inch of her body is checked and rechecked by pretty much every visual spectrum you can think of. The only problem is it's incredibly boring and most of the time it picks up things you don't really care about, like tiny scuffs on metal or discoloration on a screw.

Still, it's important, so you grin and bear it. Most of the time is spent listening to Mouse grumble and cuss under her breath while making wild guesses as to who could've done it. You try changing the subject a few times, but it always goes back to how pissed off she is. Honestly, she's angrier than you are at this point. It's kind of cute how protective she is of Pandora.

After what seems like an eternity of hopeful beeps and colorful Australian slang, the scan completes and you've picked up pretty much every tiny little part of Pandora you possibly can. Obviously a marvel of science and so on, but still a fuckload of things to look at.

But you spot it. A tiny little thing, way down near the bottom of a locomotion actuator, just behind her knee. The tiniest wireless communicator you've ever seen. Wired directly into her motivational systems. It's so small it's no wonder everyone missed it. But that just means it was deliberately hard to find. Someone is playing the espionage game with your AI daughter and that does not make you happy.

Thank you guys for playing tonight, but I'm going to call it for now. If you enjoyed the thread, please vote for it on the archive and follow me on Twitter for future updates! I can stick around for a bit to answer any questions you might have, but other than that, thanks for playing and have a good night!

Rolled 13 (1d100)

Thanks for running AM.

Also I totally forgot to mention that this picture just makes me hear a very light "tink tink tink" noise as Pandora harmlessly taps on an actual combat machine.

Knew there was something.

So now the question is...

Who did it?

And when?

And does ares have something similar? this is IMPORTANT.
Who are our prime suspects? Grace? Other guy Who does teaching? Possibly someone in the security force since any upgrades or new stuff tends to go through them.

I feel ares might be able to put up a better fight.

But wahey whatever makes Pandora feel happy.

In other news I was awash in nostalgia, watching that new gundam show.

Awesome, thanks as always! I look forward to your stuff every thread!