>>43562370
"Alright, it seems you have the radio down." She says. "You should also be picking up the security net. It's encrypted, but I threw in a converter for you."
You find what she's talking about- the signal feels like it should be part of the rest of your shell, giving your navigation systems orders, requesting information, and sending you positioning data all at the same time. It fits perfectly with your firmware, and you could theoretically act precisely like a Security Bot, albeit without the programmed ability to discern between humans.

The positioning data is useful in giving you a map of the city- it's much less confusing when you know what it's shaped like and you know where your shell is.
"Where is the target?" You ask, and in return, you get another buzz of static- something that doesn't make a lot of sense as audio, and much more sense as data- it's the coordinates to a factory on the west side of the city, on the other side from where you are.

"We'll have to be quiet here in a bit," Tandi says. "After we enter radio silence, the only time you should break it is when she's located."

At the same time as Tandi talks, the security net buzzes in your mind, and maps out a path through the city for you to patrol. It's slowly winding westward, toward the factory proper, but once it reaches a few blocks of the destination, it arcs away again. It may be a good idea to follow it until you get as close as you can, making you blend in more, but at the same time it would slow you down; it would take more than twice as long.
On the other manipulator, you could go directly there- you would stand out a bit more, but you'd reach it at the quickest speed.
You might have a third option, if you could only think of it...

>?

>>43562377
follow the patrol

>>43562377
better follow the patrol and blend in

>>43562377
For the most part follow the patrol route, if there are areas where Security bot patrols overlap, we can take shortcuts around those to make it seem like we're a good little scanner going for max efficiency.

>>43562377
Follow the patrol route for now, we'll have to see about sneaking after that.

"I have recieved orders from the security net to follow a patrol. It takes me closer to the target location." You say, and immediately come to a decision. "I am going to follow it."
"Alright, that's good." She says. "Mike and the others are going to get prepped. When you find her, send us your location, and we'll come grab you."

You quickly begin to follow the patrol, allowing the 'net to direct you through the streets. You float far above them, examining the many different shapes and sizes of the humans beneath you. One thing you notice is that you rarely, if ever, see any other security bots while you follow the patrol. The few times you do, it's only when they're leaving or lowered to human-height to examine someone's face. It seems that the 'net is designed in such a way that it tries to overlap its resources as little as possible. Carefully, you cut corners when you can, whenever there are no humans or security bots around to see you.

>Continued!

>>43562937
Almost two hours later, you finally reach the point in your patrol that reaches as close as possible toward the factory. It's a large building, with several warehouses surrounding it, and patrolling guards wearing what looks like thick armor on their limbs and torsos. They have (ASF) printed on their armor, which is an acronym you can't quite place yet.

You remember, vaguely, that security bots aren't allowed onto private corporate property- which this factory is. So if you get caught when you enter...

When some of the human guards make their patrol, you carefully move behind their backs, hovering over them while they're not paying attention to you. The Security Net informs you that you're moving in the wrong direction- and so you stop sending it your positional data, cutting yourself off from the 'net entirely.

The warehouses have barely any security at all, a guard or two posted at each main door, with none posted at any of the other entrances or exits. Unlike the warehouses, the central building itself is almost impenetrable. You can see cameras on all sides, and several human guards at each entrance. Your camera isn't good enough to see through most of the windows, but there is one open in the back of the building, open enough to fit in.

The main building's primary entrance seems rather busy. One by one, the many guards bring out a single uniformed human, scan their face, and send them aside, to go sit outside of the factory's territory, near what looks like a large ASF van.

With a start, you realize what they're doing- they're scanning each person to make certain that they are who they say they are, in order to discover anybody in disguise. So if Isha's inside of the central building, you'll have to get her out...

Or, on the other hand, you could attempt to search the warehouses, hoping that she thought to leave the main building before they locked everything down.

>>43563034
>I keep forgetting the 'you can write-in now' prompt. Sorry about that.


>?

>>43563088
I suggest we first ascern the location of two things:
1) The power supply line
2) Our rescue target.

We might not be able to actually hold anything, but we could still muck with the power if we need a black out.

>>43563034
Check the warehouses first.

>>43563134
A distraction from the net they're casting would be ideal. Force them to reroute personell.

>>43563134
Actually, we want to look for a circuit breaker, our taser might suck against everything, but shoving a thousand volts into a breaker SHOULD trip it, and if they don't have one we can always call OSHA right?

>>43563233
Pretty much what i was thinking.

Its a good thing we can project with our screen, seeing were we are going in the dark will be required unless we want to have ourselves carried out.

Hey, I'm curious, how is our voice modulated usually anyway? Do we sound young, female, what?

>>43563284
Probably androgynous. Or like SIRI or one of those other text to speech apps.

>>43563284
>It sounds odd. Too feminine for a male, too masculine for a female, and it doesn't sound synthesized at all. It vaguely resembles the voices of people you know, like Tandi and Abel.

Staying carefully outside of the factory's territory, you circle it, keeping your camera out for any people who might resemble Isha, and tracking down the source of power for the entire area. You eventually track down a small substation at the very edge of the territory, but you don't find anybody who fits Isha's build.

Without any better option, you float over the fence surrounding the substation.
You don't want to go too close to the wires spread through the substation, so you carefully weave yourself through and to the control station. A worker stands there, smoking a cigarette and frowning to himself. He turns to see you, and sighs.
"Yeah, go ahead." He says, half to himself. He pulls the cigarette from his lips and gives you a neutral expression, obviously planning to allow you to scan his expression. You pretend to, in the same way you'd seen other bots do it- zooming your camera in on his eyes and jaw structure, and then flashing your screen green- the signal for 'all good'.

Behind him, the rest of the control station is a series of levers and buttons and voltage meters, complete with two breaker boxes. From here, if you could somehow get rid of the worker, you could probably mess things up enough to shut down the power for a time. At the very least, it would force the ASF to head toward the substation...
"You need anything else, little guy?" The worker asks. "... Or you're just gonna guard this place? Fine with me, I don't care."

>?

>>43563425
Flash red for a moment, circle on the spot, bump into the wall and then circle again. Eventually he will get bored with watching us presuming we wont do antyhing.

>>43563425
Move on, we're doing recon, as nice as this would be its a mistake. We can find things elsewhere.

>>43563425
Tase

>>43563425
Sounds like he's on a smoke break. Maybe he'll leave eventually. Let's keep scanning.

>>43563425
resume careful search of Isha, causing havoc now may just make her situation worse.

flash a ":3" on the screen, meow winsomely, then taze him.

>>43563499
>>43563544
The tazer isn't that powerful, and it might wear off before we can get anything done.
And then he'd run to security and we'd be fucked.

Okay, regardless of whether or not you are for the tase idea, I think we can all agree that >>43563544 is just plain idiotic.

After a beat, you decide not to use your tazer on him to shut things off, and simply fly away, weaving around the cables once again as you go over the fence. With the substation scanned, you move next to the warehouses, entering through one of the upper vents which had been propped open.

Inside the first warehouse is a large amount of metal plates in containers, and no matter how you scan through the building, you don't see anyone- or any spots where they might be able to hide from you.

The next warehouse is full of more containers, but these are all locked and closed. Using your screen as a lamp, you read their contents as alloy piping and hydraulic control systems. Again, you can't find any places where a person could hide from you, so you move on.

The third and last warehouse is exactly the same as the previous two, only it holds parts for repairing the machinery inside the main building. This time, however, you find a young man crouched under a table.

His eyes widen as he sees you, and he covers his face when he turns toward you, obviously hoping that you detect him as an object instead of a person. He doesn't have Isha's build, so he likely isn't her- and he isn't part of the same Initiative as the one you've joined... so he's likely a criminal.

You're not actually sure how security bots are supposed to respond when they find something out of place, and even if you did, it might not be the best option.

Now you just need to figure out what to do with him.

>?

>>43563875
If he's not Isha and not a known ally, then we should just ignore him and move on. We don't know what he's doing here or if he deserves to get caught. Maybe he can get out in the distraction caused by our raiders.

>>43563875

"Excuse me. Do you think you could give me a hand with something real quick?"

>>43563875
Continue sweeping. Don't break the facade.

>>43563933
Bad idea.

>>43563875
We should remember where he is, if we get caught and start getting chased, we could come find him and pretend we where chasing a criminal

>>43563875
Just continue on I guess, If we can get a picture of him without him knowing, the Initiative might be able to tell us something.
Damn, where the heck is this girl?

>>43563942

Nah he doesn't want to be found either, sort of an enemy of my enemy deal. He might be able to give us an in if we can work out a plan with him

>>43564031
But if we expose ourselves, then he gets caught, our surprise, we are an AI, in future missions goes up in smoke.

>>43563875
Blink Red at him. He'll assume the scanners broken.

We might find a use for him later, leave him there and move on.

>>43563875
Ignore him, make him think covering his face worked, but be aware of what he is doing.

>>43563875
Make note of his looks and location, then continue on. His presence might be of use later, you never know.

You pay the man exactly zero mind, acting like he is just another stationary object.

Instead, you move through the warehouse and to search for Isha, making sure to look through whatever hiding places you can find. The office door is locked, but you don't hear anything on the inside except for the whine of a running computer- no heartbeat or other signals that there might be a living human inside.

While you fly around, the young man barely moves, keeping his face covered and his gait curled up enough that you wouldn't know he was human, if you had been less intelligent. You leave him behind and travel out of the third warehouse. There's only one building remaining, and that's the main factory. The offices are what's heavily guarded, and the production half of the facility is sealed. You stay out of the guards' views, trying to find a good way inside.

All you find is the open window on the second floor from your previous search, When something flashes at you from one of the windows. Then it flashes at you again. And again. There's a certain peculiar pattern to it, with long flashes and short. It takes you a moment with your inferior hardware, but eventually you discover that it's Morse code she's using. Specifically, three letters- A, Z, and U.

In other words, the first three letters of your name. You zoom in as much as you can from this distance, and on the other side of the window, you see a dark haired woman, with a slim frame and short stature.- exactly like Isha's build.

Target located.

You could probably signal the Ravens with her location even from here, by taking your own positioning system and estimating your distance from her... The only problem is that she's on the third floor of a building with four, and there's no easy way for the ravens to pick her up if she's not on the roof or in the open. More than that, the guards below look heavily armed, and the Ravens have open cockpits.

>?

>>43564289
Flash blue at her and go back to the warehouse, if the guys still in the control room look for something flammable and spark it off with the taser.

Alternate Plan: Open an emergency door, set off the alarm, security swarms the area looking for a runner, sneak back in the chaos.

>>43564289
See if you can reach her and think of a plan together. She knows the place best.

>>43564289
Flash blue, four flashes (Attention) and then the morse for ROOF. Repeat three times, then wait for a reply. If she moves away from the window, send her position data to the Ravens.

>>43564676

Excellent plan

>>43564676
From last thread:
>Make sure it's actually Isha and not Ms. Nunover before sending us the signal. Perhaps by scanning her and examining her lower chin. Isha's cut a small scar there, so she probably has something to mask it.
Need to get a closer look at her before we send the signal. Though I'm not sure how she'd know our name if she wasn't the right person, best to make sure. Actually not sure how she knows our name if she is the right person, given we were sent to find her because she hasn't been in contact with the base...

>>43564777
She knows we exist and she's taking a risk to contact us. If you'd rather not signal the ravens that makes sense, but let's at least send her to the roof.

>>43564803
You flash blue at her, once- a specific shade of blue to show her that you are who you say you are, and then you continue to watch for a time as the guards continue scanning workers. You still see a figure in the substation's control room, so far away, so he's still there.

Your options are slim, and at this moment, if you go through the opened window, you're certain you'll get seen- the guards are still surrounding the building. You sit in the warehouse's open vent, watching and waiting.

Eventually, you turn to Isha again and flash again, this time white, and mimic Morse code. First you write the morse for 'ROOF', and repeat it three times.

Her response is a simple 'K', and she moves away from the window. At the same time she does, the guards stop bringing people out of the building, and they... begin to enter it, bringing their weapons to the ready as they swarm inside.

Isha doesn't have much time, so you stop waiting- instead you send out the position data, making sure to mention the roof, and you launch from the vent. You hear the alarm of a guard below you as you do, and you ascend to roof level, making your way to roof access. The door there is closed, and you can't open it, as you don't have hands.

Suddenly, the radio crackles, and one of the guards cry out on a different frequency than the one you've been using. "We've got a runner!" One of the guards call. "Out by warehouse C!"

You whirr around, looking at the named warehouse, and you see the young man from before, climbing up a fence. Guards begin to scatter toward him, weapons at the ready as he scrabbles his way up. The door behind you bangs, as someone tries to slam it open. You hear someone murmur- and then a loud BANG echoes across the area, as someone opens fire on the door's lock.

>Continued!

>>43564803
Yeah I meant not signalling the Ravens yet. No point in not answering the morse code, she obviously knows who we are.

>>43564838
"Gunfire on the roof!" The radio cries, and Isha storms from the rooftop access, the lock pulverized by the handgun in her hand. She looks very different from what you remember, wearing not only a pantsuit and tie, but her shade of skin is different, the scar on her chin almost invisible. Even her hair and eyes are darker, making her impossible to recognize had you not been looking exclusively for her.

"Ravens on their way?" She asks without hesitation.
"Affirmative." You respond. "And that was one question."
"Of course it was." She says, slamming the door behind her shut.

Over near the fence, the young man finally falls over on the other side. He springs to his feet, and sprints way, putting his hand to his ear.
Isha frowns, squinting at him, and a third radio frequency crackles, sending a series of beeps that you can't decipher.

Which is when all three warehouses and the production wing of the facility explode with a tremendous ROAR.

>Continued again!

>>43565002
Ah shit! Theres multiple insurgencies aren't there, and they all just stepped on each others toes. I wonder which one actually blew it.

"Observation: Buildings are not designed to explode like that"

Your shell shudders, buffeted by the forces, and Isha falls to the ground, covering her head. The guards scatter, many blown away or killed, and your anti-gravity drive fails for a moment, sending you to the roof's surface. You furiously try to reboot it- it doesn't understand the rough forces from the shockwave, and simply quit.

"Observation." You say, barely loud enough for yourself to hear. "Buildings are not designed to explode like that."
"Well, they obviously had help!" Isha calls, covering her head as shrapnel rains down on you, pinging off of your shell and off of the roof around you. Smoke fills the sky, flame still roaring from the warehouses, and to the east, you can see three flying vehicles heading toward you- the Ravens, tearing through the sky.

The guards are still in pieces by the time the Ravens arrive, Mike astride the one in the forefront. Isha immediately swings up and onto it behind him, and Kate scoops you from the ground in a moment, settling you into a duffel bag on her back. In the same moment, Mike slams on a pedal, sending his Raven tearing out into the sky again. Kate and the other pilot do the same, following them.

Isha is still shaking as she climbs off of Mike's Raven, a determined expression on her face, and the four of them immediately push open a hidden door, filing through. Your shell's firmware reboots enough taht you can exit the bag, and then Mike orders Kate and the other pilot- a tall, thin male named Marcus- to take care of his Raven. From there, he and Isha head into a dark room in the Initiative's base.

Abel walks in, expression grave, and sits down. The lights flicker on, and you can see it's a relatively large room, with a circular table/
"What happened?" Mike asks, eying both you and Isha. Then he shakes his head. "I didn't think you were planning on blowing anything up this time, Isha."
"It wasn't me." She says immediately. "I don't think I was the only one who infiltrated the place."

>?

>>43565133
We should have data recording of the guy we saw. If we had a datajack we could plug in, we could show them.

>>43565133
I have a recording of a male interloper, I ignored him to pursue the mission. I have a recording of him.

>>43565168
Or we could just put a picture of him on our screen.

>>43565133
We should mention we observed an individual who was attempting to avoid our surveillance in the warehouse, using a method that would have worked with normal security protocols, and that he fled moments before the blast, which was remotely detonated via radio.

>>43565193
Our screen is extremely low quality, we can't do anything except for uniform colors and blobs. We could probably play snake on it though.

>>43565193
I dont think we have the pixel resolution for that.

>>43565210
Wait, why have we been screwing around rescuing damsels in distress if we could have been playing Snake this whole time?

>>43565244
Good point, hell, in theory we could probably run most low quality games on there, like pong, for example.

>>43565133
I briefly encountered a male individual in one of the warehouses. By his actions I assumed him to be a thief or similar criminal and disregarded him..

>>43565244
>You've obviously been multitasking.

"I observed a male interloper." You say. "I saw him attempting to avoid my surveillance in warehouse C. He used a method that would have worked, had I been a standard security bot. By his actions, I assumed him to be a thief or similar criminal, so I disregarded him. He fled moments before the blast, which was remotely detonated via radio."

"And what did you do about him?" Mike asks. "What did he look like? And did he say anything?"
"Those are three questions." You say. "I ignored him to pursue the mission. I do, however, have a recording."
"That's good." Abel says. "I'll send for Tandi to grab a screen and jack for you. Isha, what were your findings?"
"What I found wasn't good." She says, and draws a folder out from her jacket. She sets it on the center of the table, and flips it open- inside are blueprints, and a contract for the company that owned the facility to make certain machines for the ASF- which is mentioned as the Arcturus Security Force.
"They've designed new machines." Isha says. "Heavy vehicles for urban combat, automated combat machines, and some high speed vehicles that are supposed to be able to counteract our ravens."

"Fuck." Mike says. "How close to production are they?"
Isha grins. It isn't a happy smile.
"They were about to start within days. Now, well, they're quite a bit further away. Whoever blew it up means that they won't be able to start until they repair it all."

>?

>>43565363
How fortuitous. Is it possible there is another cell or organization working to overthrow the ASF?

>>43565363
I want one.

>>43565363
"Can I have one for Christmas?"

>>43565363
say a bad word, like scrungus.

>>43565363
>"Fuck.'"

Tell Mike:
- You said a bad word -

"How fortuitous. Is it possible there is another cell or organization working to overthrow Arcturus?" You ask.
"That's what it looks like." Abel says, frowning down at the documents Isha had brought.
"That has to be a good thing." Mike says. "We should make contact."

Tandi walks into the room, carrying a large box. Inside is a screen, a power cord, and a cable to connect to your shell. "You said you needed these?"
"Yeah, Azure saw something that we should probably see." Abel says. Tandi hooks you up and soon enough you're there, replaying your memory.Several times, Abel has you go back and look at different moments of the video, but nowhere during the entire time the young man was in your sight could you see the entirety of his face.
"That's smart." Isha says. "If the bot can't see your face, it can't scan you, and won't alert anyone."

While they discuss that, you look down at the documents. One looks like a car or truck, only more heavily armored and with anti-gravity drives for short bursts of flight. Another resembles a Raven, vaguely, but with strange sinuous tendrils hanging from the bottom. The third blueprint is... Amazing.

"I would like one of these for christmas." You say, looking down at the large security bot- Vaguely humanoid, and incredibly bulky, with two large hands and weapons strapped to its shoulders. "I really want one."

Tandi looks over the document and snorts. "Yeah, we might be able to steal you one eventually. But now we have to deal with more important things."

"To be entirely honest, we need to discuss things, just the three of us." Abel says. "You two can be on your way. And Azure?"
"Yes?" You ask.
"Good work." He says.

Outside of the room, Tandi is grinning, carrying the box.
"Don't worry, I'll build you one of those things someday." She says, and stretches. "But since neither of us have things we need to do, that means we have some free time. What do you want to do? We could try and fix up those ravens some more..."

>?

>>43566032
Go for it, maybe she teach us to code as well as looking at the ravens.

>>43566032
Indeed, that seems worthwhile. Also that was one question.

>>43566032
Teach us the language of the mind - code

>>43566032
"i'm very interested in mother's work, when i was researching the first time i, became to exist, i discovered children find interest on their creators work."

"That was one question." You say. "Indeed, that seems worthwhile."
"Well, let's do a little bit of both." Tandi says. "C'mon, Azure."

The two of you make your way through the hallways of the Initiative's main base, making your way to the workshop, where the ravens still sit suspended from the ceiling. They're in a much better state than they were before you left- likely because they've been repaired while you were gone- but one of them is still in pieces.
"Alright, let's get to work." She says.

>Basic Fabrication: 85%


After an hour of work- mostly where Tandi explains the basic forces at work and how she's customized the Ravens for their various pilots, you think you understand more of how it all fits together. She'd plugged you into the old, rusted 'Dahl Construction Vehicle', a flimsy robotic construction that's more a factory arm than anything. After learning how to use it, you find yourself able to make minor repairs with supervision. It would help more if you were in stronger hardware or if Tandi had blueprints for the Ravens instead of just a mental design, but eventually she pulls her arm out of the Raven's innards.

"I think that's all I can do right now." She says, panting. "I'm exhausted. Even with your help, most of these parts are just too heavy."

Then she shakes her head. "But we don't need it right now, so what else would you want to do?"
After a moment, you consider things, and nod your shell's head.
"I would like to learn the language of the mind. Computer code."
She snorts. "Yeah, sure. I guessed you'd want to learn something like that, and since you probably have all the manuals for a few languages in your head, it might just come natural to you. C'mon."
>Continued!

>>43566509
She leads you into the wreck room, and pulls you up next to her into one of the back computers. Instead of navigating to a videogame, she instead plugs you into the computer and pulls open a plain text file. "You'll probably have to simulate keyboard presses, but it should be simple enough." She says. "We'll start with 'hello world', of course..."

>Programming: 40%

>End of session!
>My twitter is @FutureExabyte
>And I also hang out in the IRC channel #Exabyte on the Rizon server.
>I'm still somewhat working on the way skills work, but when it becomes significant enough to give you guys new abilities, I'll mention it.
>Sorry I ended things an hour early, but things have been hectic here since my mother broke her leg. I'll still be able to answer questions if you have them, or if you feel like I haven't mentioned something that I probably should.

>>43566530
Thanks for running Exa.

>>43566530

Thanks, I'm enjoying this quest!

>>43566530
Have you ever heard of the QMs curse? Do you believe it has come for you?

>>43566530
Hope your mother heals well. Thanks for the run.

>>43566594
If the curse came for Exa, the sheer amount of questing he's done would make it more like a meteor striking his house during a power outage and two different attempted burglaries and a SWAT raid all at the same time. And also his mother's leg is broken.

>>43566594
It's come for me a few times. Like the time my house flooded with chlorine gas. Or time both my computer and laptop died in the progress of a single week.
But my anti-curse voodoo doll shaped like AC-Guy seems to be working, so he'll still take most of the brunt like he has before.

>>43566530
Here are some information on the skills you guys have and are learning:

>Basic Shell Control: NATIVE.
>>Your native ability, Shell Control allows you to intuitively understand and control bodies and robotics. Basic control allows you to use the simplest functions available- and it also allows you to use any more advanced functions if they have programs or firmware that are properly programmed.

>Advanced Shell Control: 20% complete.
>>Advanced Control allows you to use more advanced functions without firmware, allowing you to control any shell regardless of how functional they are, digitally speaking. Basic functions are also done with more skill. Moreover, you learn new shells much more quickly.

>Programming: 40%
>>Computer Programming is the ability to write software or firmware for various uses. As a digital entity, you're naturally skilled at this, though you still must write software 'externally', usually as or through a peripheral device.

>Basic Fabrication: 85%
>>Fabrication is the ability to design and repair mechanical objects. You are as effective as a basic engineer, unable to design state-of-the-art or advanced machines. However, you know enough to repair more advanced machines as long as you know how they are designed.

>>43566688
>>43566530
I only tend to lurk and stay out of votes, but just popping in to thank you for running!