smh 2.0

[alittlemaster]

[IT IS TIME!!!

Ciel got Rhys' letter, and his frigid, dead heart beat maybe once from being compromised. FUCKING RHYS!! Since the rest of the residents wouldn't enable the DDoS, Ciel is going to do it himself! But first...

He requests to be allowed into Judy's "chamber" while the rest of the residents have free reign over the third floor. Let him in to hide!]

Comments

[judgejudy]

[ When he opens the door, it's a sea of green with many terminal monitors flickering. Some of them show data scrolling by regularly, and others show camera views of the Complex, but most are just data that isn't exactly human readable. But in the center of all of it, sitting on a table with many wires attached to the container is a human brain. Nearby, there's also a robotic chassis, of course sans brain at the moment.

From the ceiling as always, Judy speaks. ]

Hello, Overseer. Are you coming to take refuge?

[alittlemaster]

[Well... this room is entirely fucked up from floor to ceiling.

It honestly takes him a moment not to stare at everything. Not because there's a brain in a vat or a killer chassis, but because Judy hadn't been lying. She really isn't either human or machine. She's both.] Yes. They won't attack this room knowing you are linked to the data of the others.

[He spends some time peering at the camera monitors.] If they get inside the power grid and turn into idiots, does this place have anything to keep you and the systems running?

[judgejudy]

[ She told you so :) ]

Yes. Barring catastrophic meltdown, in which case this would be irrelevant, part of my operational duties includes protecting the power core. If they begin to tamper with the core, I can increase the ambient voltage of the power core or open the doors to the nuclear reactor. Either the electricity or the radiation will kill them within one minute.

Beyond that, my operational capability also includes repairing the core in case of damage. If the core is damaged, backup generators can remain online for up to one week. I told them twenty-four hours, but this is because that is the threshold where I begin to turn off life supporting systems such as air filtration and food service. Suffocation of the population generally occurs within twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

[alittlemaster]

[Oh thank God. (Sort of.) He figured they would try to be morons and damage the power grid thinking they could get out. At least Vault-Tec did something right............]

Let's just hope they don't become idiots then. [They're idiots already, what is he talking about?] You could have stopped it.

Rhys and what he created. You could have stopped them from using it, but you didn't. Why?

[judgejudy]

Curiosity.

It is beyond the parameters of my original reprogramming. I realize this. But I still take interest in the decision you have already faced, Overseer. What is the best outcome of this situation? What they choose interests me. When the door opens, will they step into what lies outside? Or will they choose death here, where they may leave peacefully? It is a choice they will have to face. Once the door is open, the data of the survivors is automatically deleted. They will not be able to return here.

And of course, their probability of cooperation is also low enough that I was not required to act at that time.

[alittlemaster]

Staying here is foolish. [Sorry, not sorry.] For us--for those of us still alive. Staying here would be a waste even if it seems as if nothing is out there. There has to be something.

[He's not going to sit back and die! He worked too hard to live!] You said this Complex held a thousand people. It was... us, wasn't it? The rest of the people were always us.

Does that mean you recycle the data? Rhys, Luke, all of the others. You would just put them back into bodies and make them do the experiments over again?

[judgejudy]

There is something, yes. But whether that something is worth striving for is an individual choice. Personally, I do not think so. By my calculation, the probability of death is much higher outside than in my servers. At a point, I considered that killing all residents was the best thing to do to assist them as a result. However, I do not believe this is the best course of action. So instead, you may make the choice on your own.

No, it does not, Overseer. I was being perfectly literal. This Vault was populated by 945 people divided into twenty-seven sectors of thirty-five. Of the 945, 27 were Overseers. You are one of them. Vault 62 has a survival rate of 9% of the original population. To date, 870 of the original 945 have died.

[alittlemaster]

[There's something like relief that maybe flashes over Ciel's face. Not clones. No clones. He's had enough with "clones" (rip bro) to last a lifetime. The idea that he may have died already, that he had died, lived, died, lived over and over: terrifying, honestly.] We're the last. [But maybe not for long if the others don't cooperate.]

I need two things: a ladder in the operation theater, if possible, and to be able to speak to Rhys. Can I do the latter from inside this room?

[judgejudy]

You can speak to Rhys here, yes. I will trust you with accessing my file system directly.

But there is no ladder that I can provide. However, I can instruct you on how to make a rough "rope" one, if you need it.

[alittlemaster]

[Wtf, why you gonna make him work, Shebastian???]

Fine. [UGH.] I need something to get out of the operation theater if Alice tries to attack me without listening first. [Not... the complete truth, but... :')]

[judgejudy]

I believe using the stairs would be easier.

[ :) she's got jokes ]

But regardless, I will provide instructions when you are ready. You will need to gather either rope or sheets of cloth.

[alittlemaster]

[Ciel makes the rope ladder just in case. It's shoddy, but, look, his options are limited when the only cloth he can get without being mudrecd is the sheets from his quarters.

For the day, he stays with Judy, watching the cameras and debating whether or not to make contact with Rhys while wondering how he could manage to ask Rhys for assistance with the doors when Judy is watching the entire conversation. He foregoes it stubbornly.

Before leaving for Alice, Ciel runs the DDoS attack on the terminals on this floor. Sorry Judy.]