Stella - "Still Some Time"
Amanda Nordstrom
OOC: Doing tags a little differently since I’m incorporating two scenes here. Also not leaving many tags because of the number of people involved.
IC:
((Dyson Sphere, Communications Platform A2))
According to some, Stella ‘invaded’ the Sphere’s systems and even its very core. Now, she sought to adjust and modify the metaphorical atoms of the sphere’s existence, which was ultimately tied to the Continuance. Only there, she found it was much more difficult to access - and included protections she didn’t expect.
And it responded to her presence.
The alarms blared, but there was more than that. There was no voice that announced anything so her officers would know that something was wrong. But she knew something was wrong. Something was very wrong. It was she who voiced the warning.
Stella: The system has initiated a self destruct in response to my presence.
Lahl: I’m sorry?
Forsyth: wait, WHAT!?!
In one way, Stella had a similar mission to the Continuance. While it didn’t encompass the entirety of her programming, she would agree that preventing loss was part of it. In that case, she would prevent the loss of her people - her crew. She had to protect them. So, she warned them.
Stella: Self destruct in four minutes and thirty seconds.
Stella: The system has initiated a self destruct in response to my presence.
Varik: Response
Biological markers in all of the officers spiked. Heart rates increased, adrenaline and cortisol levels rose, and activity in the amygdala grew. Stella could tell the news of the destruction caused fear and concern in all of them through such readings.
Lahl: I’m sorry, what do you mean four minutes and thirty seconds? How are you this calm about it?
Stella: I am incapable of panicking, Lieutenant Lahl.
The computer responded matter of factly. Indeed, she had very little experience with emotion. When the others felt fear or anxiety, she did not. Love was a foreign emotion. Sorrow an alien concept. Such was evidence that she was not truly humanoid, despite how she looked when using the emitter.
Greaves: Lieutenant Varik, get a hold of the Butler and have the transporter room standby for our beamout.
Varik: Response
Alas, contact with her body was difficult, for the sphere interfered with the signal. At that point, Forsyth chose to use an explicit term of disgust.
Forsyth: Well….. poop….
Lahl: That’s an understatement.
Whirling around, Greaves faced his crew, ready to spring into action.
Greaves: Forsyth, get ready to shoot something if the security systems reactivate. Full power on your rifle. Maybe that’ll overwhelm their energy dissipation. Lahl, can you do anything on that console?
Stella: I am attempting to override.
He had not spoken to her, yet Stella reassured them that she had not simply left them to their fate. Those officers were her crew, and their safety was paramount.
Varik: Response
Lahl: I’m not seeing anything readily here on this console.
Greaves: Ideas people. We need ideas.
Currently, Stella’s idea was to attempt further access to the core of the core. If she could bypass that security system, she could override the self-destruct and protect her people.
Varik/Forsyth: Response
Lahl: Stella? Do you have anything to report?
She might have, but as Stella strove to work her way into that innermost sanctum of computer programming, she suddenly found it gone. Simply gone. Although still inside, she could see the lattice work of the mainframe, she could see the security, life support, and other systems, but the heartbeat that had been hidden deep inside was no longer there. Instead, she was flung into that framework, pushed out as the core itself suddenly ceased to exist.
Stella: Unfortunately, I am no longer able to recognise the core. It was as if it had disappeared from the sphere entirely.
And then she turned her attention to the other team - and she realised why. As she had worked to gain
Varik/Forsyth: Response
Lahl: There has to be some way to stop it.
Greaves: Maybe we can buy ourselves more time. The Butler’s self-destruct is tied to anti-matter storage containment. That can be instantaneous if it needs to be. This station doesn’t need antimatter. It’s got a star. That means this detonation likely requires a staged overload of energy storage. Can we slow that overload? Divert flow? Create resistance somewhere in the grid?
Varik/Forsyth: Response
Stella: =/\= Unab….acces…amework. Self de…four minu…=/\=
Despite the fact that Stella spoke clearly, she could tell that her words had not come through nearly as well, mainly because she sought to connect with her body and those still on board rather than simply those within close range. Despite her efforts, the Station still affected communications.
Nilsen: =/\= Go for #@AQSD, Stella, %SA? ::beat:: wh%SDF ^$#@ong? Team, rep%^DF. =/\=
At that moment, the Continuance chimed in its own information.
Continuance: =/\= Report: Signal degradation correlates with rapid energy accumulation in Sphere internal grid. Mitigation: synchronized EM frequency hopping and phased array coherence correction. Proceed with communications. =/\=
That was optimal, and it meant that Stella could also more easily communicate with her crew.
Stella: =/\= Previous message received. Repeated for clarification. Confirm if any statements are false.=/\=
The first part was in Stella’s own voice, but she shifted to Nilsen’s to communicate the previous message. Stella: =/\=Go for Nilsen, Stella, who? ::beat:: what’s wrong? Team, report.=/\=
Greaves: =/\= We’ve got less than four minutes before detonation and Stella here can’t even access the Station’s computer core anymore to try and override it. =/\=
Woolheater/Away Team: =/\= Response (optional) =/\=
Nilsen: =/\= Continuance, let’s work together. Is there anything we can do from up here? =/\=
Continuance: =/\= Clarification: STATION self-destruct sequence is a terminal fail-safe embedded at Sphere core-depth to prevent Kevaran Continuance-class intelligences from acquiring write access to foundational code and propagating across Kevaran infrastructure. Trigger condition: unauthorized artificial intelligence interaction with deeper functions. Status: Triggered. Initiator signature: Stella. =/\=
That was her. She recognised and acknowledged her attempt to access had triggered the self-destruct. Stella did not feel badly, for she had acted in what, at the time, had been the best interest of her people. Now, she would continue to do so, but the parameters had shifted. She would shift with it.
Continuance: =/\= Clarification: Captain Rouiancet’s team has physically removed the STATION computer core. With the core removed, no command channel exists to issue override or abort. The device that can hear “stop” is no longer present. =/\=
Greaves: =/\= I’ll take that as a no then. We need to get the ship out of the system before this thing blows. Who knows how big of an explosion this thing will trigger or what will happen to the system’s star =/\=
Stella: =/\= Continuance, =/\=
Woolheater/Away Team: =/\= Response (optional) =/\=
Greaves: =/\= With the transporter interference here we’ll need to move. We’ll try and find a beam-out point. Greaves out. =/\=
Where that point would be could only be determined once they made their way out toward the outer rim of the station. Greaves turned to his team. While there was urgency, he was calm and thought clearly.
Greaves: Time is short, and there’s no bad ideas. Way I see it, we either need to divert energy flow away from this compartment to clean up localized signal interference, or run to find a new compartment with less energy flow nearby.
Stella: Changing position to a location closer to the hull of the station increases likelihood of successful transportation. I
Forsyth/Greaves/Lahl/Varik: Response
The Station was going to explode in three and a half minutes. Stella knew her people were in danger, and her first and foremost job was to protect them. To do so, however, she also understood she would need some assistance. As a computerised entity, she was able to straddle two places. While her foundation essence remained in Lahl’s PADD, she also had access, still, to the station via a wireless connection. It would allow her to both retreat and work on the problem at hand.
And the bigger problem was the core had been removed.
Rouiancet: I'd like to get back to Fledgling, but (beat) the Continuance may know when we return. Perhaps it's better to remain on the Sphere for now, or even to meet up with the other teams. (looking around) Thoughts? Speak freely.
It was then Stella interjected. Her warning had not been clear enough, and that fault lay with her. As Rouiancet made her statement, she interjected.
Stella: =/\=Captain, the Station is set to self destruct in three minutes and twenty eight seconds. Unless the core is replaced, there is no way to deactivate the sequence. =/\=
Dekas/Ragh/JoNz/Rouiancet: Responses
Meanwhile, the Continuance and his people received their own message from the entity that was the USS Octavia E. Butler.
Stella: =/\=Kevara Continuance, I am Stella, also known as the USS Octavia E. Butler. Request assistance in shutting down the self destruct sequence. A request to return the core has already been submitted. =/\=
Continuance: Response
-- Stella USS Octavia E. Butler M239008AD0