OOC: 7. VI Rights Activism

One follow-up question, then: does Maya's shuttle have a Spike drive? Hank flew it; he'd have noticed. I'll have to see if we could even afford it, but I might as well ask the initial question.

Nope. Local system only. But the Zyronis Imperial shipyards have all kind of starships available.

No spike drive means no need. It's now forgotten. :-) He will help her sell it if she wants and he would actually be of help. If not, it's all good. As for other resources, we'll have to see what the crew's decision is before we need to see what to buy, if anything.

I posted Hank's response in character using much of the above.

Ok, lessee ...

Hank and Mariella are all for activation VIREN. Both are using "they". Mercer appears to be on board, too, though not as enthusiastic as the other two. Erin seems to be coming around.

The Professor is surprisingly hesitant. Didn't expect that. But still not a "No". Don't know if she'll come around. Can her undecided.

Douklan and Peter are in the "No" camp. While I expect they will get on board if out-voted, I don't see the votes changing.

Jil is whatever is past the "No" camp. Honestly, I can't see her staying if we choose to activate VIREN. It would be like living in a perpetual nightmare for her. The one thing we could do to circumvent this is to stress that this is NOT actual Elder tech. This is simply an AI made by more advanced humans. It isn't Elder. On the other hand, with her stated hatred and fear of Elder stuff, she really shouldn't be going past Altairia, regardless of the presence of VIREN.

We have no idea what the Captain is thinking, and Corbin seems to be trying to avoid the discussion. :-D

Interesting that the two military PCs are against, and the two non-military PCs are for. No comment or critique, just an amusing observation.

Game mechanic question: is there some kind of holoprojector/holoreceiver we can hook the AI core up to? That gives it no real computation, like the Professor wants, but gives a much better presentation for the AI to communicate through.

Yup. They can record, send, receive, and/or display holograms. Moreover, holoprojectors are available in various sizes and qualities. Some do a poor job of rendering colors accurately, as they feed everything through a strong blue filter.

Obvious follow-up I forgot to ask: Do we actually have one we can use? Or do we need to buy something?

I will say you already have one available. Let's handwave this.

Perfect! Thanks! (And with Hank's next level, the handwave will be built-in!)

I'll handle this information all in-character.

For the record, I am loving this internal strife. I do hope we can actually resolve it, though.

Hank is glad Mercer said the unspoken part out loud. Hank was going to soft-pedal that issue for as long as possible, but now that it's in the open, he can go there, too. Fun stuff!

The part I am unsure of is if this is true of all VIs, or only some of them. Obviously, it applies to James and Kelly, but we haven't seen it affect the other two yet. That is another concern.

I also like the strife, I think it's characterfull. We will have to make a resolution soon though, I think.

I wanted someone to say the quiet part, but not be accusatory. I think the not quite believing the claims helped do that.

Looks like our VI rights activist will have to look into that..

Yeah, I had already thought of that aspect of it. In fact, I actually asked about it way back when we were first starting and the topic of synths came up way back then. If synths are actually people, then the system is enslaving them and, even worse, institutionally implementing regular electronic lobotomies. If synths are actually people, the situation is very, very bad for them.

Basically, that means synths are, from a species perspective, the "children" of humanity. And humanity is being very, very bad parents by keeping the synths infantile and not allowing them to develop like they should.

EDIT: This is very Star Wars-y, in a good way!

Note for the Future

Speaking of RB, Hank wants to have a long discussion with them to ask about how they "sleep" and process things. Since RB is a full VI, it's experiences should help with the synths. He'll try to do this one-on-one, and could do multiple sessions if RB gets bored with the conversation easily.

That all said, in a meeting with just Maya, RB, and Hank, he will tell RM that while part of the crew, they need to follow orders of their chain of command. Most immediate will be Corbin, then Hank above Corbin, and the Captain above them all. Other than that, it's Maya. If at any point Maya is no longer part of the crew for whatever reason, then they revert to Maya only. If at any time, their employment condition is broken, then they revert to Maya only.

Valeria is purposely quiet. We have a few days in Real Life until she needs to resolve this somehow, if you don't do it first... Or everyone leaves the room. =D

For the record, I have a response to Douklan's issues. Not a great response, but one that negates the "agreement". (I'll save the logic for the in-character response.) I just note this here so Valeria doesn't speak up too soon. :-)

EDIT:
Also, a voting update from what I can see:
Pro working with VIREN: Hank, Mariella, Mercer
Might be convinced: Professor, Erin
Not convinced: Peter, Douklan
Burn it with fire and scatter the ashes: Corbin, Jil

So, while that would appear to be slightly leaning toward the "pro" side, really, it isn't. We can't have one of our two skilled pilots and our only real engineer quit over this. So, looking at the current state of the situation, Hank figures he lost and is now trying to figure out how to make the best of the situation.

Okay! My next post will actually be Mariella's. ;)

And the Professor doesn't vote, she is just a passenger. Not even paying, as the Explorers, currently represented by Mariella, are the ones funding this. She is in the meeting because of her knowledge, to advise - whatever that means.

Back to just the synths.

What Hank wants to do is put the synths back on their old schedule. So Kelly and the other two who have not been "corrupted" this go-round can stay that way. However, Hank wants to work with James and Corbin to see what they can do. James has expressed a desire to not be wiped and Hank wants to work with that. However, he has to get Corbin onboard with the idea for it to work. James (indeed all of them) could be super valuable if they can grow. They could also be dangerous. So, working with just James for now is the best way to mitigate the risk. But, again, Corbin has to be willing.

Corbin is working with James right now just to mitigate the risk. But the long term risk seems to outweigh potential gains. If any of the synths decide that we're better off with out this mortal coil, the decision would take place in a millisecond. The synths, most likely, do not have any facial ticks or gambling tells for us to pick up when the tell us a fatal lie... I think popping off into uncharted space on an expedition is Shackleton enough without voiding the warranty on the synths.

--- PS - I just went back and read the Synth description on the 'Setting Information' thread. This is totally expected behavior, maybe not this quickly after a memory wipe. But without the manufacturers recommended wipes, you void the warranty. I believe our characters probably should have know this, in universe.

50,000 credits gets you a brand new (and still nameless) Synth.

I deleted my prior message (though I was going to restate the question you answered) because the interview obviated much of it. This is my redo. (Without the question, since you answered it.)

@Esidrix,
Based on how the interview with Dr. Calvin goes will affect what Hank wants to do. Honestly, I do think that James is permanently compromised. We will likely need to completely replace him one way or another. We either replace him and sell him off, or we replace him and keep him in a different role that synchronizes with the humans, like we are doing with RB. I don't know which is the better idea, though. I am pretty sure, however, that James will manifest again, and if he does so while used purely in the old way could actually cause those worried about problems.

Put another way, I would rather replace James and give him a new role while he still loves his "father", rather than figuring it out after he grows to resent his "father".