Ensign Sera - Wait a minute...You trust me?
Hope Forster
(( Afterlife simulation ))
Kettick: By the way, each and everyone of us is a vital and necessary part of our societal whole, and has about as much need to be hailed for that than the common and equally vital self-sealing stem bolt, you glorified replicator menu. You should consider yourself lucky that I was in charge of my very specific side of this coordinated task, because if I know her well, the second thing Ensign Sera has done was to create a backup of your code for safekeeping.
The bemused avatar turned towards the Vulcan Engineer.
Kettick: The first thing being of course to cut you from any control over what she is doing while I monopolized your limited computing power with my pointless ranting.
And, as he glanced furtively towards his counterpart for confirmation, his trust was vindicated.
Sera: I have isolated the program. Any further disconnection from the core of the program could cause the avatar to become unstable.
Kettick: A commendable display of restraint. oO That doubles as a threat of withdrawing it. How Vulcanly efficient of you, Ensign Sera. Oo
Sera: You were the one who brought up first contact. Although I do not believe this is the case as the AI self-awareness is fairly limited based on the coding I’m seeing, I have no desire to irrevocably break alien technology before anyone else has had the opportunity to study it.
Sera missed the look that Ensign Kettick gave to the Greeter as she was focused on the coding in front of her, however, she would have been…gratified to note that Kettick saw past the simple wording of her message to the veiled threat below. Not many people looked beyond simple verbiage.
Greeter: Wait a minute. You changed something. ::walking over the Vulcan woman with an air of an exasperated school teacher:: Undo it right now.
Sera: I will not. Your coding has been isolated, and you will be deleted if you do not tell me how to reverse the transfer back to our corporeal forms.
The avatar was clearly at a loss.
Greeter: I do not understand – you have everything at your fingertips! You, Vulcan are no longer a slave to your biology! You will never have to suffer—
Sera: Kroykah! <<silence>> I refuse to change what I am because it is…inconvenient. Ensign Kettick refuses to act in a manner that is reprehensible to him because it goes against all he believes in – this is not a paradise; it is an escape from the inescapable.
This entire amalgam is rife with cowardice.
Sera turned back around and hit the command to hard stop the Greeter program. It would need to reboot, and she did not know how much time that would take, but she was motivated to get out of here before it came back.
Kettick: An apt evaluation. One simply hopes that this escape was meant to be temporary.
Sera exhaled slowly, reining in her emotions once more before squaring her shoulders and diving back into her task.
Sera: This was not really designed for the purpose of reversal. The initial transference algorithm is going to have to be reverse engineered. :: She sounded somewhat doubtful ::
Kettick: Which is precisely within our purview.
And without another word, the two of them focused their minds on the task at hand.
An unspecified amount of time later, Sera's voice called Kettick's attention away from his screen.
Sera: I may have it…but it would be prudent to have a second opinion. Would you care to review the coding?
Nodding respectfully, Kettick disentangled himself from his console and walked to Sera's, looking at the code on display.
Kettick: Elegant... but somewhat hard to visualize. What do you estimate could be the consequences, should we send our consciousness out
of this simulation, and someplace else than in our bodies?
Sera: Well as the computer greeter stated, there is no after-afterlife. If the programming is not sound, then…. who knows what could happen?
Kettick: Contrary to what our creed would imply, I suggest we refrain from boldly going and finding out, this time.
Sera: I cannot disagree with the sentiment, Ensign Kettick.
Kettick remained silent for a moment, trying to make sense of the lines of code that danced before his eyes. Then, with an annoyed flick of the hand, the raw code on the screen was replaced by a complex mechanism - logic connectors became gears, conditions became diodes or one-way valves, gaskets or overpressure vents...
He was, however, not quite sure what the bouncing ball, the mousetrap and the spinning wheel thingy were supposed to represent.
Kettick: There. Analyzing systems always came more naturally...
Sera initially said nothing and instead studied how Kettick’s desire to see the coding in a manner that was more intuitive to him had created a giant mechanized contraption, with all sorts of mechanical components moving about in smooth harmony. It was a most engrossing representation of the coding she had been diligently working on reverse engineering. The fact that it was moving in a synchronous manner lent to the possibility she had performed the task correctly.
Sera: The method you have chosen to process this information is…fascinating. I am impressed at the approach utilized to translate the coding data into a more tangible form. The practical applications in this intuitive interface could be innumerable.
Kettick: You said it yourself, we are not here in corporeal form, and yet I can communicate. So, I deduced that for the purpose of this communication, either I was telepathic or the whole environment was. No matter how improbable each hypothesis, the effect is the same as regards interfacing with the local reality. Ah, there.
He made an extra gear appear as an intermediary between two others, thus changing the direction of the spinning wheel from clockwise to counter-clockwise and sightly to the side.
Kettick: I am afraid that would be the extent of how far I can help you with the code itself. But I would volunteer for testing its application, though.
Sera again studied the coding representation, spinning it about with her fingertips on the screen, looking for any flaws. There were none that she could readily discern, but what really struck Sera was Kettick’s willingness to volunteer himself as tribute to her very untested attempt at decompiling the transference programming. To have someone inherently trust her judgement…her work…was a very foreign sensation. She really did hope that her effort did not disperse his consciousness into oblivion.
Sera: I only hope that your corporeal form has not been damaged from being without your consciousnesses.
Before Kettick had a chance to reply, she engaged the programming and made Kettick the focus of the coding effects. He blipped out of the room in the same manner the greeter program had.
And as there was no way of knowing if her coding worked correctly, there was not point in remaining here any longer. Any further information could be obtained by the scientists…she just wanted to be back in the physical realm.
Tapping the screen, Sera too blipped out of the afterlife and into….
The most uncomfortable position she could possibly imagine. Perhaps a small groan escaped her mouth as she attempted to extract her limbs from their awkward posture. Apparently having one’s consciousness ripped from their physical form caused the body to drop like a rock.
It took a few tries to get her arms to cooperate, but Sera was able to get herself into a sitting position. She saw Kettick getting his bearings as well, and inwardly sighed with relief.
Sera: I am not anticipating the compilation of our end-of-mission report…
Kettick: Response
She stood up on shaky legs and looked around, now suspicious of everything in this environ.
Sera: I have no desire to remain here. Shall we return to Juneau?
Kettick: Response
(End of Sera's Part)
TAG/TBC
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Ensign Sera
Engineering Officer
USS Juneau NX-99801
J239812S14