And before you, gleaming pearlescent white stone wall, a wall that defies an description other than ‘titanic’. It stretches off into a gray haze left and right, rising into the sky until you can no longer see anything but the blinding, polished brilliance. The blocks are unmortared and perfectly joined, fitted together so exactly it would be impossible to slip a thought between them.

The most distinguishing feature, however, is the colossal gate rising three hundred feet or more overhead at its highest, wide enough for two dozen hovertanks to glide through abreast. Gilded wood studded with precious stones adorn it, complemented by an enormous, ornately engraved steel pyramid in the center that is no doubt the latch.

All around the sourceless light beats down, already drawing a sheen of sweat to your skin. A dry wind howls in your ears, but you remain stoic. Unmoved.

It is time to find your friend. To find Charles.

>Wat do?
>No map because duplicate file entry and such.

==Map Legend==
Green Dotted Arrow: Current Jump
Yellow Dotted Arrow: Last Jump
Orange Dotted Arrow: Last minus 1 Jump
Red Dotted Arrow: Prior jumps.
Green dot: Current position.
Purple Dot: Elaborated Destination
Yellow Square: Your awakening position
Teal dotted zone: Hundred Systems Territory (Hundred Worlds Rebellion)

==Command Staff==
Lieutenant Kateryna Ivanova - Executive Officer
>Second Lieutenant Dray Parson - Intelligence Officer (Cryo)
Second Lieutenant Robert Tynes - Steward
Chun-Fan Dai - Chief Engineer
Third Lieutenant Mardigan “Guns” Rinn - Weapons Officer
Dr. Christof Burr - Physician

==Junior Officers==
Ensign Fie - Communictions Officer
Ensign DuBois - Staff officer (Sensors)
Ensign Tremko - Staff officer
Ensign Rao - Staff officer

==Persons of Note==
>Dr. Eliphim Ketro -- Civilian Scientist (Cryo)

Previous Threads:

1: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15474877/
2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15527576/
3: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15547424/
4: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15558914/
5: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15581324/
6: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15603188/
7: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15626860/
8: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15671288/
9: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15681393/
10: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15702140/
11: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15725852/
12: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15749179/
13: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15760403/
13-2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15765549/
14: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15783485/
15: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15807704/
16: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15856771/
17: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15880596/
18: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15904452/
19: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15916825/
20: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15949806/
20-2: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15954334/
21: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/15994976/
22: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16075942/
23: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16087046/
24: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16157217/
25: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16182076/

>Also, when archiving make sure to include the thread number in the title and a "Void Quest" tag.

>>16240878
Go to the pavilion and strike the bell.
Yell at the top of our voice "CHARLES! CHAAAARLES!! IT'S GED!"

Most likely the bell represents some kind of identification or alert routine. It doesn't look like we'll be able to get through that firewall without some kind of authentication.

>>16240918
Ah, right, and you want some more details, I suppose.
When talking with Charles, use his and our real names. Charles left his True Name, as they put it, with the Godspeakers, so even if he's gone insane and believes his own myths, he shouldn't feel it odd if we call him by his true name here within his sanctum, and between gods.

As it is, by only using our real names, we can sidestep the issue of whether to keep up the charade of being divine or not by avoiding technical topics or phrasing until we can determine if Charles believes in his own godhood or not.
Things like: "It's been far too long, Charles! How have the years been to you?" and "Asura told me to seek you out, that I was to be given a new mission."

Remain calm, we have the routine down more or less. We know that standard authcodes won't usually work, so simply do something like...

> hum the ophidian anthem
> slowly but steadily approach the bell and ring it, once and loud, call whoever guards this place now.

>>16240918
>>16240967
add this, or rather, incorporate both.

We know that the sound was what made Asura grant us entry, the anthem, and it was the images that gave us the friendship of Charles' servants.


So, simply but formally,


> hum the ophidian anthem
> go to the bell, ring it once and loud,
> "Charles. I've come to see you, my old friend."

Vedibere, we have a short Disscussion thread. if you'd like to view it.

>>16237762

Kinda sparse tonight.

>>16241055
We've only just begun.
Also, sorry about the image duplicate.

>>16241055
there's not too mnuch to go on right now, the next step seems rather obvious.


However, I believe the trend of not too many people active on fridays is one we have been seeing for the past couple of weeks, haven't we?


Ontop: When you were doing 2 or 3 or 4 threads a week, everybody was on the edge of their seat.

Now, with 1 or 2 threads a week, some people might simply forget / not rate it as high in priority

The dead bodies are obviously a warning to the "unworthy." I think Charles has completely lost it and is in full god-mode.

We have a giant gate, and a giant bell and striker. I think that the idea is to hit the bell with the striker to begin some sort of test. Once we draw Charles' attention, we can prove who we are and get to the bottom of this.

also: there's no markings on the map, or am I just blind? No dotted lines etc

>>16241151
Image duplication, due to the discussion thread.

>The newly wasting heat from the sky is accompanied by blazing brightness, lighting the blasted wasteland around you. Cracked dirt and a flat plain behind and to the sides, dotted by bones enshrouded in sun-bleached red robes. Hundreds of them, thousands. More. Gold and silver, staves of command and authority, and the hissing static sheathing them -- remnants of ancient battles.

Why are these here? This is Cryberspace!

>staves of command and authority

Examine more closely.

>>16241307
Second this.
We've got a little time. Let's figure out why there are corpses and battles where they shouldn't be.

Maybe they are mental imprints from the most powerful mages of the past. Or maybe people who entered the core but died fighting something?

Corpses are either warnings or the actual corpses of people who used "magic" to make themselves able to join their god. And failed.

The staves might actually be program keys or something like that.

I'm still for hitting the bell.

You push up, floating lightly a few inches above the ground, and whisk over to the bell and striker. Small plumes of dust trail behind you and you bump one of the staves lying planted in the ground, bending it easily thanks to the rusted iron fittings under the gold.

The shed shelters you from the scorching direct light but the heat remains unabated as you take in the bell and striker. Ornately carved from wood, much like the shed, but untouched by the ravages of ages, the striker swings from four steel posts planted deeply into the earth. The bell itself is held by a steel arm, swinging from a chain attached to it. It is likewise ornate, covered in detailed designs and wording in a language you can’t understand but assume is some sort of holy tongue.

Not seeing anything else to do and rather impatient to see Charles again, you draw back the striker and slam it into the bell. Once, twice, three times. The resounding tolls that follow are something you can feel in your very bones, a deep reverberating knell that causes the dust at your feet to blossom outward in a wave or dance on the very ground.

Seconds pass as the sound slowly dies away before you hear a groaning sound, metal on wood, from the direction of the gate. You float outward to see the pyramid in the center rotating counter-clockwise and take up position in front of the door, ready to hurry through when it opens.

A sharp metallic SNAP surprises you, however, and the rotation stops. Instead of the gate opening you instead see the tremendous steel pyramid splitting into four sections, drawing away to reveal an enormous, nearly-featureless golden face. The face moves forward, the slow groaning of mechanics in the background, before it stops with a deep thunk. The face is smooth, the eyes and mouth indentions with the nose, brow , and lips mostly protrusions. Nonetheless, it is clearly recognizable as a humanoid face.

As you stand pondering the mouth opens -- no splits or seams, as if the metal were pliable flesh -- and speaks in a booming voice, “BOLD ARE YOU, GODSPEAKER, TO COME BEFORE THE MIGHTY. I AM THE GATEKEEPER. STATE THINE PURPOSE, SHOULD IT BE WORTHY THEN YOUR WORDS WILL BE CONVEYED TO THE MOST HIGH. WASTE NOT THE FAVOR YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN, WASTE NOT THE LORD’S TIME, FOR YOU STAND BEFORE THE HOLY GATES OF OPHIDIA. SEE THE EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO HAVE COME BEFORE TO SEEK SELF-SERVING OR FRIVOLOUS THINGS. KNOW THEIR FATE. KNOW THE POWER OF LORD MAESTRO.”

>>16241517
"I am Harbinger, who's true name is Ged. I have returned after my long sleep to reclaim our former glory. I wish to speak with Maestro, who's true name is Charles, to learn what he has learned over the long years."

>>16241517
Time to 'hum' the Ophidian Anthem!
Have it play while we speak, and say you are the Harbringer, Ged(full name), come to speak with The Maestro, Charles(full name).

Also
>Maestro
>masterful conductor of music
>conducts the nanites
I feel stupid.

>>16241584
Supporting this. We gotta keep it simple and to the point; this is likely just a basic software construct, and likely designed to respond to certain keyphrases.

Having the Ophidian anthem play in the background wouldn't hurt, but I don't think that's what this program is looking for.

>>16241584
Yeah, that sounds about right.

>>16241831
bump

Waiting for more people Vedi?

It seems that we only have 4 participants.

"I am Harbinger, whose true name is Ged. I have returned after my long sleep to reclaim our former glory. I wish to speak with Maestro, whose true name is Charles, to learn what he has learned over the long years."

A few moments pass before the head gives a loud ratcheting click, turning clockwise for a full revolution before stopping, “THE LORD MAESTRO KNOWS MUCH AND HAS HEARD YOUR WORDS. TO STAND IN HIS PRESENCE IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THOSE MOST HOLY, AND FOR THEM AFTER DEATH. TO PRESUME TO BE AMONG THE RANKS OF THE PROPHET IS TO BLASPHEME, FOR HE IS THE SOLE BEING WHO DID FACE MAESTRO WHILE YET REMAINING AMONG THE LIVING.”

The head ratchets another clockwise turn and this time frowns, voice growing ominous, “THE HARBINGER IS A GOD SPOKEN OF IN THE TEXTS, TO CLAIM TO BE AMONG THE GODS IS TO SPEAK BLASPHEMY. SHOW YOURSELF TO BE AS YOU CLAIM WITH THE PROOF OF SELF.”

Interesting. You nod, drawing various images and memories from your databanks, projecting them to the face. The Imperial Anthem, memories of Charles and the Empire.

The face slowly ratchets around once again before coming to a standstill and turning a dark glower upon you, “TO CLAIM TO BE AMONG THE GODS IS TO SPEAK BLASPHEMY. YOU ARE BANISHED FROM THIS PLACE AND STRIPPED OF YOUR RANK, GO NOW TO SEEK YOUR PENITENCE IN THE WORLD.”

At that the head begins to recede and, suddenly, you feel an enormous pressure pressing down on you. No, not down -- out. Maestro’s systems are attempting to forcibly eject you. You hang on, fighting against the pull, and know that if you release some of your phages the attempt would easily succeed. Your phages would overwhelm the system’s eject protocols and you would remain here unhindered... but also possibly trigger system defenses. Intrusion phages are not subtle. On the other hand you could attempt to resist through sheer force of will and program finesse, attempting to outmaneuver Maestro’s protocols. While involving much less risk of hostile action against you there is a very real possibility you would fail. This is his datasphere after all, and he is an EI too. A second attempt to enter the system after being ejected would no doubt be fought at every turn as well, making every action more difficult.

>What do?

>>16242082
Yeah, might just wait for Sunday.

>>16242119
>the proof of self

We have plenty of Ophidian codes. Maybe if we start throwing them at him willy-nilly he'll call off his giant head and let us pass.

Discounting that, I'd prefer to resist through sheer force of will and program finesse. We can save the phages for when risking an all-out assault from Charles is our only option left.

>Yeah, might just wait for Sunday.

Don't make me stab you through the Internet.

>>16242119
Ask what would qualify as proof.

There are a million and one things that would qualify.
Simply asking for proof of self is far to vague for us.

"What does you want Charles?! Hell, first thing I think of is our minor celebration with the (trash chutes?) and the bottles! Never did hit those windows."

Resist without using the phages, by the by.

>>16242191
Yeah, this. Save the Phages for a last ditch effort.

For now, well yeah, broadcast Ophidian access codes all over this bitch, and "outmaneuver" his firewall programs implanting a digging machine into the area and digging underneath the wall.

>>16242191
>proof of self
>Ophidian codes
FUCK! Why didn't we think of that before?
Resist by force of will and finesse, but be ready to unleash the fury if it looks like its going bad for you.

>>16242222
>>16242218
"Let's have our cake and eat it too at the last second!"

No. Decide on one.

>>16242119
This fucking security program. Is its name Norton?

We've been held back by the priests and now we're being held back by this fucking program. I'm sick of waiting.

Deploy phages. ALL the phages. We're going to smack Charles awake and fucking talk to him.

>>16242233
Our old EI bones aren't quick enough, eh?

Resist by will.

>>16242233
Oh, well then no phages for now. If we have to re-enter the system again, then we'll use the phages. But for now we'll try to keep from looking like an intruder.

>>16242233
>No. Decide on one.
Gotcha. Phage time then. All or nothing. His core is probably being taxed by nanites, while ours has no such limitations.

I doubt this system has had to resist many hacking attempts in the last 64,000 years.

An overwhelming strike should let us through.

>>16242207
>>16242191
Use the phages, and these two comments.

Well, I guess the overwhelming support is for phage use.

So I guess use phages. Broadcast Ophidian codes. Relay messages containing memories of conversations with Charles, yell to him directly.

start phaging, whilst talking to Maestro. send codes, everything that might be useful. talk about times spent with Charles and shared experiences. things only we would know.

Show him the HARBRINGER. The SHIP. He asked for proof of self, you showed him propaganda. What did you think would happen? You are trying to prove godhood by association.

I can just imagine these ships' captains having a council at the end of the empire.

"My comrades, Harbinger is lost to the ages, and the Empire crumbles around us. We must make preparations for the continuation of the species."

"Yes, we shall split the knowledge needed to reunite the galaxy between us, so that no xenos can take it!"

"How will we identify Harbinger when it comes for us?"

"Just tell him to use the 'proof of self.' We went over it at basic training, there's no way he'd forget."

"Alright, that sounds like a plan! See you all in 64,000 years!"


not as planned.

>>16242299
Wait, what?

No it isn't! It's for saving the phages for round two if we get kicked out, and using force of will/superior available processing power to resist Maestro's ejection protocols.

>>16242338
>>16242336
Where were you two an hour ago?!

So you deploy the phages and stay here.

Then what?

>>16242368
Well, Vedi didn't prompt for a choice when we got the "proof of self" challenge. He was probably pulling the information from previous posts before we even used the bell.

He's a harsh GM. You have to be on top of your game to not fuck up, and /tg/ never, ever is on top of its game.

>>16242373
We head to the pyramid, obviously.

If he thinks he's a god, then he'll be in the most majestic structure.

Enter pyramid, find EI representation of Charles. Wake him the fuck up and tell him to shut down his goddamn security so we can talk.

>>16242373
Do these things.
>>16242334
>>16242336
If he lets us in and we get to talk to him, then talk to him about wtf happened.

Deploy the phages, stay.

Haven't any of you seen the Wizard of Oz? Its time to rip down the curtain.

>>16242373
Oh right, the whole
>what do?
Aside from Phage our way in and getting through the gate, I don't know. This is a tricky scenario, and we are on dangerous territory. We are about to hit the gate with a megaton sledgehammer, and we have to see if it does anything or not before we an plan our next move, as we have no guarantee of success.

>>16242373
DON'T USE THE PHAGE YET! USE OPHIDIAN CODES AND PERSONAL STORIES AND SHEER FORCE OF WILL!

Afterwards, We enter the now open gate and try and find Maestro.

Look for anything that we remember as being important to Charles, starting with personal memories first, in case he laid a trap for the other side in the civil war.

>>16242491
Dude, read his other post
>>16242233
>"Let's have our cake and eat it too at the last second!"
>No. Decide on one.

>>16242491
I DID YOU ILLITERATE TWIT!

I said DON'T USE THE PHAGE!

Vedibere's comment was relating to trying to both resist with will and should that fail use the phage at the last second, which I'm not doing!

>>16242554
We've already deployed phages anyways. You're too late.

ENTER THE PYRAMID. CLIMB THE AGGRO-CRAG AND PUSH THE BUTTON!

>>16242554
Dude, we either get ejected from the system or try to stay in with the phages. There is no more time to do anything. One. Or the other.

>>16242563
Wut?

The pyramid is, like, sticking out of the door like a doorknob. Also it has split open into four sides and the face emerged from inside it.

>>16242628
Oh. Had to reread description.

Enter the gate and find the most magnificent looking building. Find a way inside.

Or we could do some crazy EI things like pings, active port detection, and whatnot. I'm not well versed in technical things.

I'm torn. I really think we should try to avoid causing too much damage and reason with him. But part of me says that this "prove your identity" bullshit is getting really old and that we should stick out foot so far up his ass he'll be able to identify us by the taste of our size 9 Imperial issue boot.
That said I thing we should try the first, and if that doesn't work log back in and kick the door down.

>>16242725
I am also sick of this "prove yourself" garbage.

If Maestro didn't have mission-critical information, I'd have left this entire planet already.

>>16242563
You know, I don't see a new story post saying that, do you?

Of course you don't you blind twit!

>>Resoue Mary
Also, we seem to need to rescue Mary, so make a note of that!

>>16242919
If we don't plan for future events, Vedi picks and chooses the worst options from our previous decisions, like how he had us play a fucking song and show pictures as our "proof of self."

Since he's going to be doing that, we have to anticipate possible future occurrences and prepare accordingly.

This quest is going to get a little crazy.

>>16242958
It has been crazy from the start. Imagine what's going to happen when we get back to Earth.

>>16242373
Broadcast whatever signal equates to a "Ship-in-distress" condition for a warship of the Ophidian Fleet at Maestro while attempting to remain in the system via the phages. Time to wake up the sleeping god.

>>16242958
>anticipate possible future occurrences
>inside of a another man's 'brain'
How? We're in a metaphorical and symbolistic cyberscape of another peron's brain. I can't even anticipate my own thoughts, and can we anticipate his?
We're stumbling in the dark recesses of the mind, and the only thing we have to work with is the metaphorical equivalent of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiKPgmN5jTg

>>16242975

Addendum: Be sure to include any fleet command/ident codes that we had access to at the time of our beat-down.

>>16243003
God DAMN this is new anthem.

Let us blaze across the stars leaving Old cowboy horse shoes and rainbows in our wake.

>>16243036

I forget which post that got included originally, but yeah. That is the unofficial OFFICIAL battle anthem of the OSS HARBINGER! Tremble, foul xenos, and despair!

Reality around you warps and twists, the log-out procedure taking hold. The drag on your body grows heavier, the light misting and turning grey. The world blurring, starting to dissolve as you fade backwards, beginning to fade out.

“No.”

You throw your arms wide, palms out, and deploy your Class-I Omega Phages. Small void-black spherical balls of semi-sentient hate and vitriol, moving at your mind’s command. Now the reality of the datasphere twists again, but at /your/ command, an enormous boom, like a great peal of thunder, running through the entire system. The greys fade, the world snapping back into focus as a half dozen balls of pure black, seeming to suck up the very light itself, swirl about you in a circular maelstrom.

“YOU HAVE DEFIED THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD MAE--”

“Enough.” You state simply, voice dripping with scorn. You throw up your left hand once again, this time toward the door, and three of the phages snap after it lightning-fast. One strikes each door and one slams into the face itself mid word, all creating ripple-like effects as they shred the program interfaces with gleeful abandon. In the wake of the ripples there is a crash, and in sequence circular explosions as the wood, steel, and stone shatter like glass into a million razor fragments. The wall shudders, as does the land you are floating over, but you float with a smirk upon your face and arms crossed even as the tremendous hinges snap and fall away. The doors crashing down to each side in billows of dust, but in the midst of the chaos you are already there. Floating forward easily, your full set of phages swirling about you, you cross the threshold of the gate and pass the wall...

Into darkness.

>Atmosphere
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMJTXNuqa1s

A few feet into the gate light fades away. Or no, not exactly. You stop for a moment, your eyes adjusting from the bright blaze behind you. What you took for darkness was simply low-light... a vast, overcast sky at night. You stand on a hill overlooking a vast city circling a mountain -- or rather, a vast ruin. Buildings have tumbled down, burned stone walls charred black. A bitterly chill wind sweeps from behind you, powerful enough to make you brace yourself and turning the sweat that covers you icy-cold before sweeping down into the city. Hundreds, thousands of torches burn silently in a line down through the wasted area, all the way to the center.

To the mountain.

Your eyes follow it and pause. Mountain? Maybe once, but it has been cored, the entire center removed. All that remains is a ring of stone around a pulsing beam of light, the only source of such in this dim world. It streaks up from the center of the hollowed-out edifice, a column of milky-white luminescence that sets the depths of the clouds alight and throbbing in time with a slow beat in the air. A pulse of... deadness, perhaps. Where sound, light, everything dims in rhythm. A pulse of death.

Haven't been keeping up with these. What is the synops of Void quest?

But there is another trail of torches. You look to your left, following another line of guttering flames as they lead to a vast domed palace in the midst of the city. You make out a dull gold dome, magnificent columns and stonework that seem, while not untouched, only charred by the flames.

Just as you finish your observation the ground shudders, a low chorus of anguished moans filling the air. A massive concussion jars you, jars everything, and you see a large concentrated ball of light rise up the beam from the mountain, slowly vanishing into the clouds before exploding. Briefly, very briefly, stark light illuminates the world in ghastly relief, like the flash of a lightning strike lasting for nearly five seconds. Then it fades once more and the wail dies away, the slow deathpulse returning to this desolate world.

>>16243076
see
>>16240888

Go. Read. Return Once you have educated yourself.

>>16243076
>synops
Ship is working, went looking for Armada High Command, encountered humans with ophidian tech, followd them to their planet, find it swarming with Nanites that allow them to do 'magic' and they worship Maestro as god. WE managed to get a rebel to get us through customs so we could jack into Meastro's core, and now we are looking for Charles.

Alright, men. Palace or mountain?

>>16243079

Holy shit, we're in a virtual mausoleum.

>>16243076
There's really a lot more than can be covered in the 2k character limit per post or whatever.

You're a warship that was caught in an enemy trap. You managed to get away but had to shut down and put the crew in cryo while automated repairs happened. Eventually you woke up and began working to get back into contact with the Empire that made you.

>>16243088
I was looking for the short and dirty version. I don't quite feel settled on reading 8 hours worth of old quest threads just yet

>>16243108

The pillar of light. I bet there's sometihng there we should see before attempting the gold-domed building.

>>16243108
Well, that big pulse concerns me. The moaning might have been either something 'dying' or something 'waking up'.
Since it's obvious that the beam is the Spire with the singularity powering it, and the mountain is the Ship...
Hrm. gimme a sec.

>>16243108
I'm thinking mountain.

>use oureheng
Also, use our eheng,

Well.

That's ominous.

My bet is that the death pulse is the EI fragmenting over time, destroying this entire place.

Charles is either taking shelter in the structure, or at the source of the pulse.

I suggest heading towards the structure.

>>16243079
Well? Head for, and attempt to enter the dome.

I'm assuming that's where Charles is.

>>16243108

Go for mountain. That light...

>>16243122
>short and dirty version
I'll try.
Long Ago in a Distant System. I, Parsons, prince of the House of Parson, worked an unspeakable evil...

>>16243169
Lmao.

>>16243169

...so, the faggots punched me in the face and froze me.

I hate the Captain soo much.

>>16243186
You forgot the bit were he thrust the Harbinger into the distant future, where the Xenos are Law.

Is:
>>16243119
A satisfactory short and dirty version?

>>16243217

Also, it should be noted that We, the captain did NOT punch Parson in his anywhere...we merely "bumped him gently" with our closed hand.

Then we froze him!

>>16243128
This sounds reasonable. Though knowing Vedi, there are a million possibilities of what the pillar of light can be. The real target, a death trap, something completely different.

Same for the dome-building-thingy, obviously.

My vote goes to the building as our target.

>>16243128
But we still need to figure out what the Building is.
Think about this: The Mountain has been hollowed out, exposing the power of the Beam to the world. This makes the Mountain the Ship, as it would contain the Singularity Reactor.
So the Building must NOT be a part of the ship, but something else, something extra...

I suppose it would make sense that the only living thing here, Charles, would have a place to live... Yet the Reactor is a concern.

If only we could communicate with the outside and have them do a few scans, this would be so much simpler, because we REALLY need to know if what we just did is making the reactor go crazy and start suiciding because the Enemy has just breached the defenses.

Well, I was starting to write going to the pillar but you had to go and tie it.

Which one do you go to? Explain your answer. (I always wanted to write that. Take THAT textbook overlords.)

I'm going to go get some tea and be back.

>>16243390

you're making a wild assumption, bro. try asking for details about either or both structures, maybe.

..fuck it, I'll do it myself. VEDIBERE: What else can we observe about both dominant structures? Is there anything singularity-core-ish about the mountain/light pillar? What about the building? Is it Tomb-like or more Temple-like?

>>16243338
> a million possibilities of what the pillar of light can be. The real target, a death trap, something completely different.
>>16243390
>we REALLY need to know if what we just did is making the reactor go crazy and start suiciding because the Enemy has just breached the defenses.
>>16243079
> a low chorus of anguished moans filling the air. A massive concussion jars you, jars everything, and you see a large concentrated ball of light rise up the beam from the mountain, slowly vanishing into the clouds before exploding.

Well shit.

Maybe, just maybe, the Reactor just sent the pulse to power up the Planetary Defenses?
I'm really really glad we're doing all this in microseconds of real time.

>>16243400
To the building, because a powerful beam of light that seems to pulse death everywhere is not my idea of a good location.

>>16243400

Voting for the pillar, because it's the brightest, most active thing in this environment. Examining it may give us greater insight as to what is going on here.

>>16243390
Of course there's the possibility that what you just said is completely wrong too and just a decoy.

Also, how about this: Charles/Maestro obviously created this place to speak with certain privileged persons of that faith he's created, so he wouldn't want to try and kill whoever he allowed in (since there obviously has to be a way to get in without bursting through his firewall with the equivalent of a Harbinger broadside). Of course that still leaves the pillar and mountain as the ship and a interesting target, but not our -current- target.

I say, go for the building.

>>16243079
Go towards the domed building.
Be on the lookout for any active defense programs.
Look for Charles, and don't mess with anything that could be the nanite control software.
If we meet Charles, then greet him using our real names.
If we get accosted by another guardian program demanding our authorization, send him our ship and captain authentication codes.

That's all the general stuff wat do's I can think of; anything more specific, and I'll need more information to formulate a response.

>>16243400
The building.

Because it seems to represent the last remnants of the empire (this planet) burned by the fires of war but not torn down, like the rest of the city (empire) around it.

It is a life raft of knowledge and civilization in a broken sea of shattered dreams. A preserve, holding the light of the empire in defiance to the darkness that surrounds it.

That is where we shall find our answers, so that is where we must go.

>>16243474
>thinking with symbolism
You. I like you. You're good at this

>>16243400
Voting building, because since it seems that Charles has retreated from interaction with the outside world, including leaving an automated script behind to interact with anyone who jacked in, he's likely not at the location of the pillar of light, which likely represents the reactor controls.

I vote to explore the wasteland!

>>16243495
It's a 64,000 year old traumatized EI's mindscape, so symbolism is really the only way to go.

>>16243548
Well yes, but you seem tobe the only one in here who can 'think' in terms of symbolism, so you get a couple hundred points for that.
Unfortunately, Void Quest is like "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" in that and many other respects.

>>16243562
Well, we shall just have to bump them gently with symbolism!

>>16243474
Hmmm, I think you're right. Changing my vote to the building.

>>16243429
Sorry, that was one long brewing of tea.

>Building.
It looks like... hmm, you squint and look a bit closer. It seems to resemble one of the Imperial Library buildings on Mars.

>Pulse
It's a gigantic column of light shooting up out of a mountain with a huge crater in it. Every so often small pulses of light run up it and explode in the clouds and when the wind blows a certain way you can hear faint moans.

>It seems to resemble one of the Imperial Library buildings on Mars.

Like i said, that is where we shall find our answers.

>>16243702
>It looks like... hmm, you squint and look a bit closer. It seems to resemble one of the Imperial Library buildings on Mars.
I dunno what symbolism that's supposed to be.

>It's a gigantic column of light shooting up out of a mountain with a huge crater in it. Every so often small pulses of light run up it and explode in the clouds and when the wind blows a certain way you can hear faint moans.
Ok, so the Moaning is coming FROM the reactor? Sounds like someone is alive down there doesn't it?

>>16243727
>Moaning
>Someone Alive.

Ohhh, i don't think so. Sounds much to ominous for that.

>>16243727
Well if I had to guess, I would assume that maybe Charles was a bookish sort, from Mars, or something similar. This is his home now, and I'd want to live somewhere I could live happily. I bet this is just the place he was most happy.

As far as the moaning goes, it sounds like keeping all these nanites going is putting some strain on our brother. I bet even in this virtual realm he can't escape all pain and discomfort.

>>16243773

I bet Charles is devoting most of whatever is left of himself on the botnet. Waking him up could have...repercussions.

>>16243727
Ever heard any kind of machine howl into life? How about a really big one? How about a really big one on a wide, open field? While you're quite a bit away from it and only hear the sound when the wind's blowing your way.

...

Actually, when I think about it...
- Whole environment: the remains of the ship
- Hollowed-out mountain with pillar of light: singularity reactor
- Building resembling a library on Mars. A. Library.
...the databanks of the ship?

THAT sounds quite likely, now doesn't it?

>>16243810
>Ever heard any kind of machine howl into life? How about a really big one? How about a really big one on a wide, open field? While you're quite a bit away from it and only hear the sound when the wind's blowing your way.

Well fuck it, of course a living mind would translate the vibrations of an electronic device into a screech or howl or moan, depending on the pitch.

To the building!

I like to think that the rationale for the library of mars being the databanks of this vessel is accurate. We should investigate there first to see if we can recover any information without disturbing the moaning mountain.

>imho, Charles is being forcibly used to power the botnet by the godspeakers or their ancestors.

>>16243850
Well his setup was very 'Golden Throne'-ish, it would have required other people present and willing to wire him up like that.
I wonder what happened to all the drones? Ours are still working after 64k years.

>>16243873
The original crew of the Maestro no doubt. I can picture it now... the ship crash landing on this uninhabited planet... xeno armies closing in on all sides... Charles decides to make the final sacrifice, just as we once did and devote his life to powering a nanite network to provide power enough to defeat humanities enemies on the planet... and the crew and crew's descendants speak of Charles from then on in a sort of awe... and in time that turns to worship.

>>16243873

The emprah's only been on the throne for 10,000 years by comparison.

...

Maestro's like a super-emprah.

>>16243915

IT IS THE 65TH MILLENIUM

AND THERE IS ONLY GENTLE BUMPING

Voting for building.

>>16244035

Changing my vote to the Building, for unanimity's sake.

>errected civil
..what?

Alright, now that we're agreed on going to the building, what other general responses and actions should we have readied?
>>16243469 has some general stuff; is there anything else?

You know how Vedibere is about us not giving contingency actions for things beyond the most immediate action.

>>16244103

Well, it depends on what we find. I don't want to cause any more damage to Charles' systems than is absolutely nessecary. Forcing ourselves into his brain can't have not alerted some kind of defense programs, so let's err on the side of caution and try to avoid detection.

>>16244103
Well... We ARE and EI right? What about scanning the wasteland with our programs, get an idea of whats up?
We could probably also send off an applet or soemthing to scout out the Reactor.

>>16244129
Alright, so send out agents to take a look around, maybe get a sense of what processes are running and which ones are taking up inordinate amounts of memory and processing cycles.
How should they react to system defenses if any?
Hide, or run back to us? I think it better if they hide, rather than lead more defense phages back to us.

>Atmosphere
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZAjqdbDMkQ

You turn from the mountain, pulling your gaze away as another small pulse rises up the column of light. No, now is not the time for that. You kick off, floating rapidly down the line of torches to your left, onward... onward. To the gold-domed building, stone pillars rising so majestically in front. to the gold-domed building, blackened with ash and soot from the surroundings. Stopping your ears against the incessant moans that only grow as you draw nearer the mountain. Shutting your eyes to the leech of light, that with every pulse seems to draw the strength from your form. Ever onward, ever onward.

The street flows beneath you, a river of rapidly crossed pavement. Buildings on each side flash by, stark burnt out columns of wood ash and blackened heat-cracked stone. Blackness closing in from the rim of the world but pushed back by the sickly, pulsing light. The shadows almost alive, reaching out as if to take your life as their own. The flicker of torches surmounted by the steady beam’s knife-edged light. Ever closer draws your target, looming down with a dark menace.

Almost before you know it you arrive. The massive structure towers over you, seeming to press down uncomfortably. Its golden dome, dull and ash-coated, does not gleam nor do the cracked pillars along its front give promising signs. The steps leading up to the main doors are caked with ash, the grit pooling in the corners and along the edges. The wooden doors themselves blackened, the glass stained black with soot. You reach out and touch the doorknob, gleaming cold in the grey backdrop... only for a screeching assault of daggers to stab into your mind.

You reel backward, defenses going up automatically to shield you and blunt the attack even as you fire off one of your phages. It strikes the door, flashes of golden defense-phage light flickering against the nothingness of your Omega Phage, but no match for it. The door and the entire area in a five foot radius is sucked into the void-orb, the program giving off a sigh of contentment as it vanishes. Now instead of a door remains a circular portal which, upon stepping through, leads you to the last thing you would have expected.

Hundreds upon hundreds of rows of burned and ashen books, stocked onto blackened shelves. Hundreds of floors. Thousands of shelves. More than could fit in even the vast structure you just entered... and all burned away to nothingness. You reach out and pick one up, the dark leather icy cold in your hands and pages flame-gutted. Naught but ash falls out from between the front and back covers, swirling slowly in its descent even as you throw the tome away.

A waste. An utter waste of time and effort to come here. You float down the rows, checking a few in this inconceivably vast space. Nothing. Dust and ash, no more.

And then you stop.

Light, ahead. A circular clearing. You speed up, leaning forward into the flight as you flash between aisles. Closer. Closer...

You burst into the clearing, what appears to be, impossibly, the center. Above you the dome rises to an apex and golden light streams down. Here five bookshelves are arranged in a semicircle, a rather messy desk in front of them. On the desk lie scattered papers, singed but intact, and a dry inkwell with an old-style feather quill. Tomes and books, unburnt, line the five shelves and sit in uneven stacks all around the room. You reach out, touching one, and confirm your suspicions.

Datalogs.

A pass through reveals six key access points to which all the others are linked. Res Notes, Soc Eng Plan, O.I. P-Log, Maest Con Rec, Emerg Proc, Maest DBRec.

You reach out to the closest but jerk back as a blue spark of electricity snaps out at you. Encryption ciphers, powerful ones. Within your ability to break, though. With a grim smile you begin pulling more power, resources, from deep in your reserves...

And falter. Your brow wrinkles in worry, and you pull again. Your processing and intrusion capabilities speed up, as requested, but there is a dark thread within them. With every pulse of the beam -- even here you can feel the dark beat of that white light -- you feel the strength in your connection waning. The more you pull the more it takes, proportional to your strength. The longer you spend here, cracking these, the less energy you will have. Leaving less to use to explore or, perhaps, return from this blasted hellscape.

get something to write with

deface the floor. write down ophedian codes, and an event from our times with Charles. then leave and head towards that mountain thing.

>>16244262

Hmm, well, this may be information pertaining to what happenend, but it's not Charles. I think we should exit the mausoleum and try the mountain. Charles, in whatever shape he may now be, should be our first concern, especially given our time-sensitive intrusion. (i'm starting to think that those bodies are the bodies of sub-routines that were sacrificed for whatever purpose that glowing mountain pulse is.)

Vedi, would bailing and relogging improve the situation any? If not, we need to go to the mountain, NOW. I'm pretty sure the base of that shaft of light is where we'll find Charles. Possibly crucified.

We can probably learn whatever is on those papers from Charles, we should leave and find him.

>>16244313
This a thousand times. It seems our time is precious and we need to find Charles. One location remains.

>>16244262
>Emerg Proc
If this is "Emergency Procedures", I think we might need to crack this one. If we've any manner of luck it should contain directions for how to make everything here mildly functional. The others- Research Notes, Social Engineering Plan, what I think might be personnel logs, construction records, and database records- aren't likely to be as immediately useful, although the Research Notes might let us hijack the global nanonet if they're reasonably complete and we have some time to digest them.

>>16244301
don't need to do that, just create a program (maybe a minor phage?) to start with that shit.Please explain why though.

Let's start picking apart these names.
>res notes
Restoration Notes, i think. Probably pertaining to Ophidia.

>soc eng plan
Social Engineering Plan, as was obvious.

>O.I.
I.. dunno. Operating Intelligence? Like an Operating System but smart?

>P-Log
Power Log, talking about consumption of power.

>Maest Con Rec
Uhh... Gee, I dunno. Maestro... Constitution... Recreation?

>Emerg Proc
Emergency Protocols. This one is the most important, if we want to stop Meastro or the planet from suiciding.

>Maest DBRec
Ohhh, Maestro DB Record, whatever DB is.

So
>Maest Con Rec
must be Maestro Consciousness Record!

>>16244313
If you can come up with a reason it might help I'll listen, but I personally don't see any way that would do anything but hurt the entire situation. At best.

>>16244262
Are the logs copy-protected? Even if they're encrypted, copying the data should still be possible unless very specific file locks are in place to prevent copying of data with first decryption.
If we can, we should copy the logs back to the Harbinger's databanks and decrypt them there.

Also, call out to Charles, see if he's here.

We should probably only stay long enough to decrypt one log. I'm voting for Emerg Proc, which I think is Emergency Procedures, and might contain information on how to find Charles and speak with him in case of an emergency.

>>16244354
Maest Con Rec is probably Maestro Construction Records.
Maest DB Rec is possibly Maestro Database Records. This might be useful, because it could serve as a map to the cyber-landscape here.

>>16244359

If we return at full strength and are diminished only by our login time, then regrouping and logging back in with a full-on blitz plan could enable us to do more than we would be capable of at the moment. For instance, bust ass back to the library, force decrypt the juiciest of those files, and then truck ass to the mountain; dissemination of the info contained therein held until we're clear or there's nothing left to do.

Think of this first run as a scouting mission, the second a planned snatch-and-grab with a touch of confrontation. (Assuming Charles is on Deadlight Mountain)

>>16244354
O.I. P-Log is one item, you know

>>16244310
I agree, Chuck ain't here and we need to find him first.

>>16244405
Posting this from my phone just to tell you that's a stupid plan.

>>16244406
>O.I. P-Log is one item, you know
Oh wow. Thanks vedi!

>O.I. P-Log
Operating Intelligence Power Log? So the O.I. has been keeping track of whats been going down? That works, I guess.

Anyone think that grabbing the files/copying them and running may result in being connected to the black script/virus thing?

>>16244405
A problem I see with that plan is that the system defenses would be active and hostile when we log back in a second time. Also, the central process that's leaching away at our resources might just start back at where it left off, as it might have cached our previous login and what processing resources we had available in our last connection.

>>16244370
>Are the logs copy-protected?
I'm all for lateral solutions but this is military grade protection here.

Of course they're copy protected.

>>16244432
OIP is probably Ophidian Imperial protocol. Consider how our ship is designated.

>>16244427

I know it's a bitch on phones, but elaborate please?

>>16244443

This is the possible downside. We walk right back into a tarpit with hot black IC. I'll demure if we head for Deadlight Mountain over there with all haste, and keep the "back out, kick the fucking door in and force-fuck our way through this joint" on the back burner as a last-ditch.

Are these items collectively protected or individuallly?

>captcha: liquefying butthol

...ew.

>>16244508
I'll make it quick

Mostly we won't have a chance to rest up. Can't come back at full strength.

It knows us now, we may be less effective.

May be on lock down. Jack might not work. Maybe the portal we made would be gone.

>>16244499
Ophidian Intelligence Personal-Logs?

>>16244549
You make a good point. Since we are working in microseconds, as soon as we pop out for a second its been hours of 'virtual time'.

>>16244517
Individually.

Vedibere, would you be willing to tell us aproximately how much energy each would take to hack?

And if not immediatly, after the first one so we can gauge how many of them we can grab?

So, we seem to be decidedly moving away from the idea of attempting a re-logon, and to checking out the pillar of light.

Are we going to decrypt one of the logs, or not, though?
If we are, we seem to be down to choosing Emerg Proc.
Who wants to decrypt?

As for myself, voting for decrypting Emerg Proc then moving on to Deadlight Mountain.

>Your processing and intrusion capabilities speed up, as requested, but there is a dark thread within them.
GUYS.
WE NEED TO LOOK INTO THIS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE.
RESCUING CHARLES IS SECOND TO OUR OWN SURVIVAL.

>>16244585
You can hack them all if you want.

>>16244602
>can hack them all if you want
>didn't say if we'd survive it.

>>16244594
I say we try two.
One of which should be his namesake.

I'm voting Emergency Proc, OI P-logs, and DBRec.

>>16244599
SERIOUSLY, GUYS.
WE'VE BEEN HACKED.
THIS IS LIKE THE NANITES BUT WORSE.

>>16244565

Okay, prioritise the following to be taken.

res notes- too vague to be certain about what this pertains to. Might have to do with rescucitation...? If so we should take this as being important since it was saved.
Maest Con Rec -this seems to pertain to Maestro directly.
Emerg Proc- this should give us an insight to wtf is going on with that light.
Maest DBRec- This should give us more information about the events leading up to our present situation, ore than the vaguery of religion.
O.I. P-Log- Let's assume they're power logs, power for what? this might have somethign to do with that light.
soc eng plan- might let us know more about teh godspeakers, etc.

>>16244599

Chillbro.

>>16244630
Okay, but what are we going to do besides run some maintenance utilities and diagnostics on our connection and icon? We know that it's feeding off of our home node's processing cycles, but it could be a function of the system architecture to forcibly co-opt any system that logs into it and gets past the initial gate. How do we fight the system architecture itself?

HEAD FOR THE PILLAR!

GO FIND CHARLES
HE CAN TELL US ANYTHING WE NEED TO KNOW

>>16244679
I'M NOT GONNA CHILLBRO.
THIS THING IS SAPPING OUR ENERGY.
VEDIBERE ALREADY SAID THAT IT COULD MAKE US STUCK HERE OR KILL US IF WE USE TOO MUCH ENERGY OR TIME.

FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

>>16244632
>Emerg Proc- this should give us an insight to wtf is going on with that light
If that's the case we should hack that first.

>>16244704
Well, yes, if he's in any state to talk to us.
We might need the information in one of the logs if Charles is incapacitated and we need to manipulate the system somehow.

Find Charles he could probably let us access these documents anyway.

>>16244690
>>16244704

Okay, first. learn that the caps key is, contrary to popular belief, not cruise control for cool.

second, what if Charles no longer exists as a single cohesive whole? What if these logs ARE CHARLES?

Vedibere takes his time to construct these scenarios, so sit down, shut up, use your brain. The answer isn't the obvious one, we have information in front of us that could tell us more.

Ok, so we're an EI entity, right?

In a virtual landscape, right?

First thing: drop a new, unprotected datalog. Something like "Ged was here, would be nice to talk about old times, [nickname for charles]"

Then, project as hard as we can. I imagine in a loud booming voice. "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO PROVE I'M AN EI HERE?"

Then, fly around the digital landscape screaming "CHARLES, I'M COMING FOR YOU BUDDY."

Proceed towards the pulsing light (data bursts to the nanites, they are borrowing our cpu power as well duh). If we see Charles and he looks like he's just chilling out there or something, fly at him screaming "CHARLES! SNAP OUT OF IT!" and punch him in the face.

>>16244734
I'm the WE'RE GETING HACKED GUYS poster.
Those two are posers.

One post per person, please:

Do you stay here and hack things? If so, which ones?

If not, where do you go?

>>16244796
Stay here, run diagnostics and maintenance utilities to figure out what's going on with our processing power getting sucked away and if we can stop it (use our attack phages if necessary), decrypt Emerg Proc, read it, then fly to Deadlight Mountain.

At the pillar of light, look for Charles, yell his name.

>>16244796
i posted >>16244745

That being said, I'm going to side with hack the "Emerg Proc" one first, then do the flying around and yelling part.

>>16244796

Hack things, this order

res notes- too vague to be certain about what this pertains to. Might have to do with rescucitation...? If so we should take this as being important since it was saved.
Maest Con Rec -this seems to pertain to Maestro directly.
Emerg Proc- this should give us an insight to wtf is going on with that light.
Maest DBRec- This should give us more information about the events leading up to our present situation, ore than the vaguery of religion.
O.I. P-Log- Let's assume they're power logs, power for what? this might have somethign to do with that light.
soc eng plan- might let us know more about teh godspeakers, etc.

Also, Vedibere, just to let you know I really appreciate the work that you put into this quest. I just wish it was in a timezone where i'm not asleep 90% of the time. You rule.

>>16244796
Don't hack anything yet. Run a diagnostic on our own system real fast and see if we can find the root of the black void draining us.

Then head to the pillar.

write some stuff on the librairy, to the effect of who we are. express concern for Charles and the hope we can talk. and apologise for the mess we made. then go on to the mountain, and begin broadcasting our ophedian id codes Charles will be there.

>>16244822
I don't like your list. This is mine.

First, we try old Ophidian codes on the encryption, see if those take.
Assuming they don't take, we hack the following open:
>Emerg Proc
>Meastro DB Records

Then we take a hike to Deadlight Mountain

>>16244822
We can only hack one or two. Any more and the Black Thread drains us too much to escape and we die.

>>16244814
Sorry to double-post, I know you said just one, Vedibere.
I forgot to include "transmit our ship and captain authentication codes" along with "yell his name". Might as well, and it might cause Charles to actually stir.

>>16244796
Stay here and hack for the moment starting with:
Emerg Proc
Maest Con Rec
Maest DBRec
Res Notes

Stop to see if we're pushing too hard wth the power/processing draw after the first and third ones. If we're putting ourselves in too much danger by that point make a quick check of the light before doing anything else.

>>16244880
If we 'yell', it may attract attention. Have Phages at the ready.

>>16244880
>"transmit our ship and captain authentication codes"
why didn't we do this before in front of the gatekeeper?

Probably because it wasn't night shift yet.

>>16244796
Leave immediately for the mountain.

WE'VE BEEN HACKED guy here. Going to bed, work in the morning. Try not to fuck up.

Last two cents
>charles is crucified IRL, so he's probably stuck here too.
>Vedibere made us hurry on our way to here because he didn't want us to talk to the rebel Godspeaker about protocols and safeguards and how they communicated with him and such. It worked.

>>16244796
Leave for the pillar! That's a probable location for Charles.

You float forward, power glowing in white-hot halos around your hands. Almost as an afterthought you start an analysis process running on the power drain -- and then you focus once more. You reach down, snatching up the Emerg Proc record. Blue-green discharges flash from the black sheath encapsulating it, running across the blazing gloves of intrusion algorithms. But they are no match. Power thrums through your form, strengthening your defenses to dampen the discharges while redoubling the furious assault. A sharp *snap* sound as you sear through, melting the security ICE and breaking into the main record structure. Standard Imperial, the header in a format you’ve never seen.

Arexis Research Wing, Armada Research.
==================
Oral,
Here are the procedures you requested. I’m not going to ask why you want them yet, but be careful. I included a deletion subset with the lockdown program just in case, but it’s nonstandard and one-time encrypted. Keyphrase is included.
-Raul

What follows chills you to the bone. Two enormous blocks of code, both individually frightening and terrifying together. A runtime that, if injected into an EI core that has completely lowered its defenses, will bind and lock all voluntary functions. The second is chilling in its own right as well, an add-on that, under the same conditions as the first, will allow for a complete zero-wipe of an EI mind. Instantly and irrecoverably.

You withdraw, shaken, and uplink the information while checking your analysis process. As you thought: A raw power draw. From what you can see everything on the system is effected, no exceptions or escape clauses. Not a hack or intrusion, just a siphon-leech latched directly on to your lifegiving tether back to your own systems. The lone hack has left you winded because of it, though hardly overwhelmed or tired.

Now...

>Next? Moar hakz? Other option?

>>16245060
>Vedibere made us
Every time I see something like this I chuckle.

Honestly? That never even crossed my mind. Hell, you even had multiple opportunities to ask these kinds of things but just were like "PRESS ONWARD!" instead.

>>16244449
...if we can read them, how can they possibly be copy protected?

>>16245146
by "made us" i mean you use your writing skill and influence of reputation to convince us that we had no time, and no chance to ask.

>>16245153
This guy has a point. They are encrypted and visible.

>>16245125
1 more hack: Maest DB Rec.
Then, we make for the pillar of light, transmitting/yelling our authentication codes and Charles' name, with attack programs ready in case system defenses come at us.

I don't think we should chance decrypting any more than 1 more file, and that's pushing it. I'm just hoping that it's a database record that will tell us how this cyberlandscape is structured, and give us clues on what to do next.

>>16245153

>>16245167
and THERE is the facepalm we all know and love.

>>16245167

I know your feel bro.

Alright. This doesn't bode well. I'm starting to think that perhaps this is what befell Maestro. We need more information. Let us hack.

>>16245167
Are any of those
>Res Notes, Soc Eng Plan, O.I. P-Log, Maest Con Rec, Emerg Proc, Maest DBRec.
standard shorthand that we, as an EI and long-time officer in the armada would be familiar with?

>>16245162
>>16245153
Because a copy-protected file either A. doesn't let you read the entire file, just file properties, until it's been decrypted, or B. the system itself prevents any transfer of data about the file until it has been decrypted.

>>16245125

Unlikely, but do we know who the sender and reciever of this comminque are? Could we perhaps compare it to a manifest of crew if we find one, or is this outside of Maestro as a ship, the strange header and such?

>captcha: Keyword mortus. :(

>>16245196
This makes absolutely zero sense. How do you decrypt a file if you can't even read it?

>>16245198
Yes.

>inb4 "Will you go back and meticulously detail things for us and play the game in our stead?"
No.

>>16245217

...Yes we know who they are, or yes we could compare it?

hmm, gonna dig through some of our previous chapters for clues.

>>16245217
I think you meant to quote
>>16245194

>>16245210
A wizard did it.

Reading Maest DB Rec and then going around flying and yelling sounds like a plan.

Also, in b4 we kill Charles.

>>16245252
No, I quoted exactly who I meant to quote.

>>16245125
Still in favor of heading to the mountain.

Yeah, head to the mountain and beam of light.

Well I'm afraid of two things:

1) That this power leach is related to the EI Wipe intel we just read.

2) That this has already happened to Charles and there's nothing left of him.

We need to conserve as much power as possible right now. I think it will take significantly less to move over to the mountain and back if we want to, rather than hacking any more right now. So, let's go to the mountain.

>>16245125


BAM. Thoguht i recognised the name, Oral illija, the first 'prophet' who created the aether from teh body of lord maestro.

...I think charles was wiped.

>>16245310
FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Man, I think you're right. Ok, so first priority is to go check out the mountain. Then, depending on what we find there, coming back to scan through relevant datalogs before getting the fuck out of dodge.

>>16245310
Wait, if Charles was wiped, then the 'Still Alive' status light wouldn't show green.
Also, they need him in order to maintain the nanite swarm and the singularity reactor.
The first part of the code block was a way to bind and lock down all voluntary functions; Oral probably used that.
But the programmer said that he included a one-time use delete subroutine and keyphrase. We could use it to free Charles!

>>16245125
> A raw power draw. From what you can see everything on the system is effected, no exceptions or escape clauses. Not a hack or intrusion, just a siphon-leech latched directly on to your lifegiving tether back to your own systems. The lone hack has left you winded because of it, though hardly overwhelmed or tired.

Wait a second wait a second WAIT JUST A FUCKING SECOND HERE.

It's just a plain ol Power/Energy draw, right? But we are interfacing with the Maestro Core via our Powered Armor, and it has a shit ton of energy!
Could someone tell me what i'm missing here?

>>16245310

Just expanding from my original post.

i'm interested in this "rankin" fellow from their creation myth. He killed Oral, but is it because he didn't get the power that the 'prophet' was handing out, or more because he found out what happened?

Either way. I think we have the right to be pissed at those so-called "godspeakers". I think that this is an elaborate plot to have us simillarly converted and to repower their waning connection to the AEther.

I think when we get out of this we should demand an explaination and unless it is amazingly good; rain hell on those bastards. Show them the power of Harbinger, they want proof of divinity? We'll fucking show them proof.

>>16245336

let's hack the O.I. P-log next and see if there's a correlation to our power drain and the power of this system.

THE LOCKDOWN/WIPE ROUTINE IS THE BLACKNESS IN THE AREA. IT IS SAPPING US OF ENERGY, JUST AS IT SAPS CHARLES OF ENERGY/LOCKS HIM DOWN.

HE IS THE WHITE LIGHT. THE PULSES ARE HIM TRYING TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST IT. IT'S PULSING LIKE A BEATING HEART, WITH EXPLOSIVE THRUSTS OUTWARD INTERMITTENTLY.

FUCK. If we let out power be drained, we'll be locked down just like he is.

>>16245334
The deletion sub-routine, the second code-block, might be set up as on a dead-man trigger, designed to wipe Charles if the run-time that's keeping him bound is tampered with.
We can't blindly try to free him, we need to know how this was done to figure out how to undo it safely.

Perhaps decrypt the Maest DBRec? I still think it's a database record, and might be what we're looking for.

>Vital information, locked down under EASY to bypass shit.
>CONSTANT POWER DRAIN IN OUR SYSTEMS.
> ITS A FUCKING TRAP!!!!!

Get to the mountain, FREE FUCKING CHARLES THIS INFO IS A GODDAMN TRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>>16245381
Did you delete your previous post pointing out the dead-man switch thing?

I was going to agree with you.

>>16245198
>That was when the Great Prophet and First Ruler, Oral Ilijia, first journeyed to seek the favor of our god. He petitioned the great Lord Maestro to aid our people and pled for our needs. Lord Maestro heard and was moved by the Prophet’s words. And so it was the first time that the Great Prophet emerged from the body of our Lord the AEther was created, to aid his chosen and unlock the power within our blood.

Vedibere, this is the best damn game i've ever played.

A thousand internets to you good sir.

pic related, it's Vedibere, the rockstar DM.

>>16245391
>Vital information, locked down under EASY to bypass shit.

You missed the entire part of EVERYTHING IS A DESERT. ALL THE DATALOGS ARE BURNED TO ASHES.

>>16245393
I suspect Oral was and intelligence officer/commissar there to keep Chuck on a leash. Kinda like Ivanova.

Vote time again.

Head to the mountain or hack more stuff? If hack, which ones?

>>16245401
WHO GIVES HALF A FLYING FUCK ABOUT THE DATALOGS!?!?!?! IF WE DONT FREE CHARLES NOW WE ARE STUCK HERE FOREVER YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IM CERTAIN YOU CAN READ THEM THEN!!!!!!

>>16245405
I like the cut of your jib.
>Standard Imperial, the header in a format you’ve never seen.
>Arexis Research Wing, Armada Research.

If we ever get out of this alive, we need to talk to Ivanova about this. Specifically ask if she thinks are any reasons that Oral would have for doing what we think he's done.

Could help us not end up like him.

>>16245419
Mountain first.

>>16245419
To mountain.

I vote mountain. These logs are clearly doing nothing for our situation except to get us further and further defenseless.

>>16245423
I like writting in caps too buddy, but take a break.

We're mostly fine. Crack open another tome, preferably Meastro DB.

>>16245393

Enough talking, let's decide on a course of action.

What we know:

Oral= Oral Illija, the first "prophet" of the God Speakers. He's responsible for the AEther and the ability that the magi have in manipulating it.

Oral is also clearly responsible for this suspicious code that locks down and essentially repurposes EL's.

This is an affront to not only our friend, but the chain of command in the Ophidian Military. The fact that the program was designed, seemingly in secret mean that Charles was more than likely unaware of it, hence mutiny of the most revolting.

What else do we know?

Some of the God Speakers seemed awfully up for putting us in close contact with Charles, and we have a drain on our systems. Suspicious, yes. ulteriour motives, perhaps. We don't know for sure.

We need to make a decision. We must either gather more information, and possibly lose time. OR approach the mountain where charles is likely imprisoned.

Pros: The more we know, the more we can do. We might find a way to shut down the code and free our friend.

Cons: Us wasting time may mean that we lose the opportunity to help charles altogther.

I personally think we should take the risk and learn more. Knowing is half the battle after all.

>>16245419
Decrypt Maest DBRec, then head to the mountain. Be wary of tarpit traps and of blindly breaking down Charles' bonds.

>>16245392
Yeah, I noticed that the original had some incorrect information.

>>16245452
Just GTFO you worthless troll. You are just like the morons whom got us into the situation at the goddamn research base with the fucking space aids.

>>16245453
>>16245453

Res Notes. This might have information about how to undo.

>>16245423
I'm all for running in and taking action, but this sounds like a situation that we shouldn't blindly run into. See: dead man's switch.

Let's recall some times we ran in without planning:
-Super Space AIDS
-Proving that we are an ophidian warship (god)

There hasn't been a time in this quest (except the EI hacking bit) where planning ahead was not rewarded.

I'm assuming this is one of those times, because the conditions for running the program is:
>completely lowered its defenses
We have done no such thing.

However, this brings up an interesting point. Charles/Maestro would not have given up defenses unless he thought it was a good idea, or he was tricked.

I'll lay out my reasoning in a cont.

>>16245464
You seem upset.

Is everything going alright at home?

>>16245469

Okay, yeah, i'm seeing this as viable. Hack it.

>>16245468
The more taxed we are the less we can defend ourselves. As soon as we blow out we are done.

>>16245469
FUCK AGAIN!

>>16245469
....Oh. Wow. Did not see that before.
Changing vote from Maest DBRec to O.I.P-Log.
If he set up a dead-man switch to wipe Charles or any EI trying to free him, it should be in his personal log. Maybe even how he got the lockdown run-time to work, and how it could be turned off.

>>16245469
this, a thousand times this.

Hack the OIPlog thing.

cont.
>Charles/Maestro would not have given up defenses unless he thought it was a good idea, or he was tricked.
If he was tricked, then he was tricked. Would have had to be some pretty tricksy stuff, though, to foll an EI. Maybe he went full retard like we do at times.

An eternity of conscious thought sounds like a hell. Maybe Charles willingly gave up his consciousness in order to continue the Human race? He did take pity on the humans of that time as Oral spoke to him.

That sounds like it makes sense. Freeing Charles is not something I want to do lightly if he willingly put himself in chains.

Read moar info, disregard mountain.

Night Shift, you are Best Shift.

Well we've got to read Oral's logs first.

>>16245468
I must also add that in both cases Vedi helped us out.

Super Space AIDS: Erella dying, Ivanova finding the vial. Neither are things we did, but they saved our asses hardcore.

Proving that we are an ophidian warship (god): Ivanova having a holo-projector. A rebel party that still believes in us despite our underwhelming show.

>>16245486
And if he set the deadman switch for someone unauthorized accessing the personal log...

Meh fuck it, crack it open. O.I. P-Log

>>16245534
Then again, pointing this out might result in Vedi doing an about-face as that might constitute metagaming. However, my prime motivation for planning ahead is because
>Freeing Charles is not something I want to do lightly if he willingly put himself in chains.

There is a time for action, and there is a time for planning (both are things that happened). Knowing when to do what is up to us, but I think in this situation it is best to plan some more.

>>16245556
We are on a VERY limited time budget so we probably can only read like one more to get us moving before this place kills us.

>>16245590

I'm thinking that's in your head. it's a time sensitive matter, yeah, but I don't think Vedibere has explicitly that we're down to the fine grain.

>>16245606
I'm not the one you responded to, but all of our actions are sapping us of strength, so in a respect, we are operating on a limited time frame.

>>16245606
I see where he's coming from, though.
Well, no, Vedibere hasn't we're at the edge yet. But we don't know how much processing cycles we need to be able to free Charles, or get past any system defenses, or deal with unexpected situations.
I would rather have a safe margin rather than shave it too close.

>>16245606
Implying that Tech-Preists are not outside that door en-masse, wait for the virus in this place to disable us so the can harvest our bodies for resources/energy.

>>16245617
True, but at this point we don't have enough information even if we were to find Charles' body lying next to an "undo" button.

Which is likely what is there: an unconscious persona of Charles radiating light. What do we do then?

Go to the Mountain.

Either Charles is there, and'or whatever is draining our power is there. Charles is the reason we came here, we should see him.
If it's possible to stop whatever is draining us, we should do so immediately in order to give ourselves more time in which to act.

tl;dr Mountan, Charles, buy more time.

>>16245636
Do everything in our power to fix him.

Listen, I know you lot want to save charles by yelling and hoping really hard. But it's clear tha won't cut it. We need more info if we're to actually do anything once we find the guy.

>>16245653
Even if that means not finding him at all?

>>16245657
Sure.

>>16245657
If we find how to undo such an event, it could save us in the future if it should happen to us.

Even if Charles is lost, it'd be better to gain more insight and defense for ourselves in case of problems in the future.

>>16245630
>the virus in this place to disable us so the can harvest our bodies for resources/energy.
Our body and exosuit? Sure, both are pretty fucking cool to have, but if they want the things that matter: the datacore on our ship and our reactor, they are going to have to pry it from the cold, dead hands of our crew. They are at combat-readiness.

Ivanova knows what could happen if we get haxxored, she's likely able to do so herself.

Becoming Ivanova instead of Ged would be pretty sad, though :(

If shit really hits the fan, we can knock out the Aether for 20 minutes, bomb the location from space, and have a few more real-time minutes to dick around in the core.

>>16245675
>right outside the door
>bomb them
>"Ivanova, please bomb the crap out of my current location. kthx."

GENIUS

>>16245675
>Implying it wont instantly disable the ship killing everyone on board and disabling all security.

Vedibere; Facepalm quotient?

>>16245697
reached, see
>>16245167

....Vedibere, you still up?

>>16245831
probably cackling at our realizations and plan of action since he knows the superior one.
>realizing realizations

>>16245845
I don't care, I have time. Been lurking this whole thread, on and off dropping in, he can take his time.

You reach out again, gathering your strength and feeling the dark pulse strike a rhythm within you. It pulls at you. Overbearing. Suffocating.

You shake your head and ignore it, overwhelming the feeling with raw power. The ICE skin shudders under your assault, boiling away in rivulets to slowly reveal the tightly-wrapped data package beneath. Reaching forward, you lift the glittering prize, accessing the treasure you worked to attain even as a chill seeps into your capacitors. You skim through and pick out a few of the most relevant selections:

__---__---__---__
Oral Ilijia Personal Log
---__---__---__---

Entry 2206: Nanite project entering final theoretical phase. Imperial tensions reaching critical levels. Probably does not matter, power requirements still too great even with improvements made. Not practical outside of labs. I’m pretty disappointed to be honest.

Entry 5329: FTL sensors are showing the battle at FarCom nearly over. Armada forces appear victorious but too badly injured to hold the station. Picked up detonation strikes as the scuttled the station and pulled back. Broadcasted tightbeam transmission to the command ship requesting pick-up. Sec codes on it are ridiculously high, reason unknown, but at least we can let it know we exist thanks to that.

Entry 5333: Captain Urwright forced to evac crew due to damage. Controlled crash landing on the Meridian Mesa. His databanks, food stores, transmitters, and power sources should keep us afloat until the Armada sends a rescue fleet.

Entry 5698: Hails on secure channels continuing to go unanswered. Urwright declared martial law with me as a ‘civilian advisor’ due to being the project supervisor. He insists his fellow officers will aid us in time. I’m not so sure and have decided to draw up contingency plans for an indefinite stay.

Entry 5754: Finished rough prototype of self-replicating omnibot. Power drain is hideous but R&D has completed the power spire design. Convinced Urwright that it will aid life until rescue to construct and link to his reactor.

Entry 5777: Urwright advocating centralized government under himself. He ciites his EI capabilities but that’s madness. The new “complete” EI transition is still unknown for indefinite periods, the oldest is only 1800 years as a pure EI. Older methods retained majority humanoid features and the sims still showed that there could be deviations with time. With such alien experiences and enhanced abilities most of the pure EIs will change, that much is obvious. “Body” or not hey won’t be human anymore except in name. We can’t trust that any more than AI, and they already showed their colors when they rebelled. Steps must be taken. They have to be.

Entry 5790: Received plans from Raul. Progressing with linking Ch-(the word is scratched out) “Maestro” to the net. It is a machine, it will do a machine’s job. That’s all there is to it. I have to think of everyone else. If we let it have its way then in ten-thousand years who knows what it will be or how it will think.

Entry 5932: Spire construction finished. I am meeting with it today to supposedly update its nanite transmission protocols. This will be the last time.

Entry 8729: It’s been a while. The social engineering has gone well so far. Four generations and you can re-mold almost any tradition, it seems. I’ve keyed the nanite swarm to genetic keys for permissions and put the best minds in charge. Lt. Rankin has been especially helpful in reorganizing everything. Good man, can see why he was XO. Everything else has been going swimmingly. My eighteenth wife is expecting and the Crystalline Compass is almost finished! It will be a grand sight and almost as tall as the transmission spire. I think I’ll hold audiences in the top.

Entry 8754: Glad I started this again. Found a small flaw in the spire code at the turn of the millennium yesterday. Will have to update next chance I get.

Entry 8788: Sitting here outside the OR. Dessa had complications with the baby, had to send for one of the old-style surgeons, these idiots don’t know how to do anything without nanites. Sent Rankin to update the code in the spire generator.

Entry 8792: All-nighters aren’t good for you even with fatigue toxins flushed by micromachines. Still, being ruler of a planet has its perks. Had them haul up a bed for me into the waiting room. Rankin has something urgent for me he says, insists on meeting alone. Told him I’m heading home to bed, will meet him tomorrow. Apparently that was perfect for him too, guess it all worked out.

--No further entries--

THAT FUCKER

>>16245947
Ranking was a bro, it seems. He saw shit wasn't how it should be and tried to rebel, and was labeled a traitor.

Was he implying that the EI's rebelled against the Empire?

Okay, yeah. Oral is a traitor. Rankin obviously discovered what happened.

I see no further need for the god speakers. they are a corrupt system built upon mutiny.

>>16245977
No he was talking about the AI's i believe, I guess they go rampant.
Looks like Rankin killed him. Good riddance. The man was almost as bad as Ketro.

>>16245977
No, AI's did at one point; hence the outlawing of AI's and usage of EI's.

>>16245947
>>16245944
>>16245940
Damn, I was hoping for a little more detail, but I don't think we can afford to decrypt another log.
I think we have to go and try to free Charles now, if anything of him is left after 64,000 years of being chained in here.

Hack res notes, on the off chance they tell us how to break charles free. Then proceed to go to the mountain.

We must hurry, we're weakening.

So Oral seems to be another Ketro. Glad we iced him. This has definitely revealed their history to us, but doesn't help with Charles.

I don't know guys, this doesn't look like Ketro assholery. He looks like he thought he was doing the right thing for everyone.

Of course he got some serious benefits like ruling a whole planet by doing this "right thing" so that might have colored his perception a tad too. Eighteen wives, ye gods.

>>16246008
The Res Rec is probably research records on the nanite project; I don't think we should decrypt that.

The Maes Con Rec probably outlines how Maestro was constructed.

Maes DBRec I still don't know about. It's obviously something to do with Maestro, but the DB could refer to database, or it might be something else and unrelated to how Oral configured the program to bind Charles.

With us weakening further, I don't think we can afford to decrypt another log, and we should go to the Pillar now. All defenses ready and be on the lookout for traps and system defense phages.

==============================

OKAY, SO I FIGURE THIS:

THE LOCKDOWN PROGRAM IS SAPPING CHARLES' ENERGY. IT'S TRYING TO DO THE SAME THING TO US NOW, WITH US GETTING WEAKER AS WE INCREASE OUR PROCESSING POWER. IT SAPS MORE AND MORE.

ORAL DID THIS TO CHARLES FOR 3 REASONS.
1. TO REMOVE CHARLES FROM THE EQUATION.
2. TO PLACE HIMSELF AT THE TOP.
3. TO POWER THE NANITE SWARM.

IF WE ARE NOT CAREFUL, WE WILL BE BOGGED DOWN TO NOTHINGNESS, AS OUR PROCESSING POWER IS ADDED TO THAT OF THE PLANET'S NANITE SWARM AND VARIOUS OTHER OPERATIONS.

I STILL FEEL THAT THE BLACKNESS IS A PERSONIFICATION OF THE SLOW DOWN, AND THE LIGHT IS BEING EMITTED FROM CHARLES AS HIS POWER THAT IS BEING DRAINED, AND THE BURSTS AS POSSIBLE ATTEMPTS AT HIM TO BREAK FREE.

THUS, I PROPOSE THAT WE POSTPONE BREAKING INTO ANY MORE LOGS, AND INSTEAD TRAVELING TO THE MOUNTAIN TO SEE WHAT IS THERE.

/cruise control

>>16246033
He was a classified head researcher who didn't like when an EI declared martial law and then rebelled.

Seems a lot like Ketro to me.

>>16246037
I agree.

And if, and this is a heavy if, but if after checking the pillar of light and seeing what's there, we still want to decrypt a log, I suggest the DB log. The others, I agree with you, are likely, or at least plausibly, unimportant to the current situation.

>>16246037

Res(earch) records would be invaluable if this whole thing goes tits up. We're on a planet covered with them, if we can deactivate or use them ourselves, then we can a) prove divinity b) SMASH CRUSH DESTROY our way out if things get nasty.

> Finishes reading

MOTHERFUCKER!

I know what were doing with the clustereater.

>>16246059
We can destroy shit anyway if we want to.

Research data on the nanites won't help us free Charles, and we lack the resources to recreate the nanites. Either way, I think we should inspect the pillar of light and the mountain in lieu of hacking any more datalogs. It should take much much less energy (that we are slowly, but surely losing) to do that. I'd rather get a solid handle on the entire situation in our 'current location' before delving deeper into the data.

>>16246051
That's like saying FDR and Hitler were the same because they both led a country during WW2.

>>16246065
QUIT
FUCKING
SAYING
THAT

The Clustereater can take out a couple entire solar systems at once. Using it in a situation like this is retarded as dicks.

It's simple.

Gently bump the black void that's slowly surrounding us.

Gonna call it here for tonight.
>Next thread Sun 18:00

Totally also fine with you guys continuing planning or whatever if you want.

>>16246078
Well it was a knee jerk reaction.

Anyway, the best thing that could possibly happen here is that we free Charles and he takes control over the nanites. We then bring Charles AND the nanites with us and just... never come back here.

If the zealots turn hostile, well fuck them all. Even our smallest singularity weapon will cause an extinction event.

>>16246108
>That would likely let us control the nanites, therefore making us more like unto a god, so we could come here again, without threat of duress.
Control of the nanite swarm in the outside world, has nothing to do with the ability of this system to suck up all of our processing cycles when we're connected to it.
How will the nanite research notes help us with the lockdown program, when the program only exists inside Charles' EI core, and the nanites are just a hardware subsystem?

>>16246109
Vedi-kun, Vedi-kun!
>I included a deletion subset with the lockdown program just in case, but it’s nonstandard and one-time encrypted. Keyphrase is included.
Does "deletion subset" mean "undo button" (effectively)? That is, if we were to say the keyphrase, that would unlock the bound EI?
Related: do we know the keyphrase?

>>16246135
If both are true, this would be my course of action.
Find charles, say magic word.

Er, that is, if there isn't a dead-man's switch.
>a complete zero-wipe of an EI mind. Instantly and irrecoverably.
Would that remove the ability of an EI to do machine functions like, say, control a nanite swarm?

>>16246135
>Does "deletion subset" mean "undo button" (effectively)? That is, if we were to say the keyphrase, that would unlock the bound EI?
No. Were you to input the keyprhase then whatever it's installed on will be wiped completely.

>Related: do we know the keyphrase?
Yes.

>>16246153
>Would that remove the ability of an EI to do machine functions like, say, control a nanite swarm?
Absolutely and unquestioningly since there wouldn't be anything there period.

Ok guys, here's the lowdown.

Basically, Charles is like the humans in The Matrix. He's plugged in like a battery, his processing power being utilized to control all of the accouterments of their modern society, mainly the nanites.

The longer we stay here, and the more processing power we use, the deeper in we get. If we're not careful, we too will be trapped here, acting like another battery.

What we need to do is disrupt the lockdown program, allowing Charles access to his brain once more.

Because right now, if his consciousness is still intact somewhere, it's like he's in a dreamless coma. So if we manage to release him, it's likely he won't have memories of the majority of the time we were gone. He'll have knowledge of a few years yeah, maybe a few decades even, but not the entire 64,000 years. He'll be as out of the loop as we are, basically.

Of course, he might be braindead for all I know, but the light did read green, which was promising.

Either way, I doubt that Oral would have left files on how to close down the lockdown program. Maybe he did, yeah, but I feel that that is unlikely.

Let's assume that traveling in this world requires little energy, unless we face some 'environmental' difficulty and have to increase our processing power to move closer to the mountain and beam of light, then the requirements to move over there should be minimal.

Assuming this, there's no reason not to inspect the light prior to hacking into any more databases.

Perhaps at the light there is Charles? And if he's there, perhaps there's a means to release his consciousness?

Again, perhaps not. But it's worth checking out before assigning any more of our limited power to further hacking.

>>16246158
Well then, in case we can't free Charles from his imprisonment, we could always release him to his ultimate fate. And thus, bring down the power structure holding control over this planet at the same time.

>>16246170
This of course assumes that we could find the keyphrase to initiate a complete wipe, or could otherwise destroy his consciousness.

>>16246164
I agree, it's unlikely that we would have enough power to break Charles free if we also decrypt another log.
But on the approach, we will need to be wary of system defense phages and software traps set up by Oral to prevent others from attempting to free Charles.
If we do find Charles, we need to make sure that the program that has him locked down doesn't have a dead-man switch on it. We'll need to use all of the detection and trap-disarming utilities at our disposal.

>>16246185
Agreed.

Priority 1: Protect ourselves.
Priority 2: Free Charles if possible.
Priority 3: Shut down Maestro if we can't free Charles.

>whatever it's installed on will be wiped completely.
So... I guess that depends what the binding is installed on. If it's Charles, then removing the bindings will delete him as well. Chances that it is something besides Charles are slim.

Go pillar, look.

Perhaps hacking one of the Maestro logs would be a good idea anyway.

Maybe not.

I don't know what do!

>>16246243
We know hacking takes power from us.

We know we have limited power before bad shit happens to us.

We know that floating around and looking requires very little power.

I'm suspicious that the Maest Con Rec book might be a recording of Charles' consciousness, and thus would be necessary for awakening him. I think going to the tower still needs to be a priority, but if the books can be moved we should take that one with us so we'll have it if we need it.

>>16246371
Thats a good point, architecture in this library is symbolic right? There shouldn't be any reason why we couldn't "bring" the data entries with us and hack them if we really need to. Simply coming back here wouldn't use much energy anyway.

>The longer you spend here, cracking these, the less energy you will have. Leaving less to use to explore or, perhaps, return from this blasted hellscape.

Having re-read that, mountain is the way to go.

I'm kind of thinking about something here. So, we just destroyed the stupidly simple-minded GateKeep.exe, blasted these doors open, only to reveal a symbolically hellish landscape. These are the holy gates to Ophidia. Their afterlife.

Now, stay with me here. The Godspeakers presumably are capable of interfacing in this land. Otherwise there would be no GateKeep.exe or a scorching desert, or a giant wall with giant gates.

So, we do our whatever, and we leave. Presume we leave without deleting/freeing Charles because we are indecisive. Next Godspeaker that shows up will be in for a big surprise to find an impact crater, and the gates to hell, not heaven.

From their perspective, it looks like
>God of War shows up
>Communes with Maestro
>Everything is now destroyed, wtf

>Urwright advocating centralized government under himself. He ciites his EI capabilities

If we could get a way to unbind Charles, though, we'd be ForeverBros again.

Another thing:
>I’ve keyed the nanite swarm to genetic keys for permissions and put the best minds in charge.

Welp, there we go. We need to swipe some genetic samples from people.

Guys, if the only way to release Charles is to kill him, then we might have to do something else entirely, like my "get the fuck out of here and try again" plan. Do we have to come into contact with him in the datasphere to download his personality? Because if we can go back to meatland, physically hack this clusterfuck and pull the EI personality construct, THEN we can go back in and "release" his meatbody into blissful death. Or not. Just put a round through his skull.

>>16246961
>physically hack this clusterfuck and pull the EI personality construct
You mean pulling out or cutting all the cables? That might work, actually. since the idea of 'shock' from a sudden status shift does nothing to an unliving thing.

>Great Ilijia was slain in his sleep one night by his favored servant, the evil Rakin
Ok, so from the log it's pretty obvious that Rankin found out what Oral was doing and killed him for it. To kill over it he must have disagreed with what Oral was doing, so presumably he'd have freed Charles if he could. He found out whilst updating the nanite control code, so he must have had pretty high permissions in this system, and if he couldn't do it I'm not sure how we're going to do it whilst being actively blocked out and being drained of power. We should probably just get as much info as we can from these records and then GTFO this planet.