roleplaying:munchausen:michelin
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— | roleplaying:munchausen:michelin [2008/08/27 17:21] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
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+ | ====== Holiday on the culinary planet of Michelin ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Ms Rommer," | ||
+ | of Michelin, where you met a prophet whose visions had a way of coming | ||
+ | almost - but not quite - true, and what happened when you discovered the | ||
+ | source of the prophet' | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Life ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Ariel sips her recently arrived Earth Beer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | drink to EB. At least, they say its made by the same fermentation | ||
+ | process. Tooeze it's called. | ||
+ | actually made from. The Space Corp lab once tried to characterise | ||
+ | what it was that gave it its distinctive properties. But the funny | ||
+ | thing was, while they identified any number of sugars and proteins and | ||
+ | other complex molecules, it kept changing. | ||
+ | come up with a fixed composition. It was like it was almost alive. | ||
+ | And when you actually see a glass of the stuff, it kinda makes sense. | ||
+ | Pale green, sweet but pungent, and deliciously fizzy. And it goes | ||
+ | straight to your head!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | She grins unexpectedly. " | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I had just completed a particularly nasty mission ? which I'm afraid | ||
+ | I cannot discuss (Space Corp Directive 12759/ | ||
+ | Daniel Lester, had suffered an even nastier time of it. He'd barely | ||
+ | survived. So barely, in fact, that all that remained of him was his | ||
+ | slightly charred brain and some remnants of spinal cord. We fitted | ||
+ | him out pretty quickly in one of those Beridian life support capsules; | ||
+ | he was mobile and could communicate, | ||
+ | several weeks before his Regen (TM) body was ready for use. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We both had leave owing and we decided to make a short tour of the | ||
+ | nearby sector. I had always desired to visit Michelin: leisure planet, | ||
+ | gastronomic hub, and home of the fabled Tooeze. | ||
+ | place to start." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ariel looks a little sheepish. | ||
+ | Or drink. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I bet Dan had some other reason for going," | ||
+ | "I bet he had revenge on his mind." | ||
+ | between her and Ariel on the table. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Brro pushes forward a credit piece. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | noted for causing a breakdown in the neural structures responsible | ||
+ | for ethics and morality. | ||
+ | serious attention to the problem, because they' | ||
+ | are easily quantified within the Beridian medical hierarchy. | ||
+ | fine and upstanding member of the Space Corps, and I'm sure there' | ||
+ | no other kind...," | ||
+ | the mercy of his... baser impulses. | ||
+ | still use them. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "And with Michelin android technology being what it is - well, why | ||
+ | would an amoral brain in a jar settle for a Regen(TM) flesh-body, | ||
+ | when it could have the latest in Michelin Pleasure or Military | ||
+ | hardware?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Choices ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Smiling slightly, Ariel replies. "Oh I don't know Captain. | ||
+ | that there' | ||
+ | flesh." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | maintaining tissue integrity and their affects are completely | ||
+ | reversible - that's why the Space Corp still use them. But you are | ||
+ | correct." | ||
+ | |||
+ | She pauses, choosing her words carefully. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | aware of the extent that judgement was... impaired by the capsule. | ||
+ | Indeed, until Dan, most capsulees remained in the Space Corp medical | ||
+ | facility on Phoebe - where often the biggest moral dilemma is whether | ||
+ | to plug in to ' | ||
+ | Community Access. And I certainly don't think that any of us expected | ||
+ | that the man awarded the Space Corp ' | ||
+ | running would ever act in quite the... manner that he did." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | any signs Dan had been affected when we left. Heck, there weren' | ||
+ | any signs the first couple of days we were there - and maybe things | ||
+ | would' | ||
+ | it's the home of the famous year-round ' | ||
+ | by the way) but its also the site of the top secret Michelian | ||
+ | Robotics and AI Research Instalation, | ||
+ | |||
+ | She sips her beer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | configurations, | ||
+ | available to the Michelian government. The standard shells are | ||
+ | nothing special. They' | ||
+ | not to mention the thousands of el cheapo copies sold at the Ctober | ||
+ | street markets. But Dan was after the real thing..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Ah yes, Michelin, such a gorgeously faux-stable tri-star system... | ||
+ | *ingenious* is the only way to describe how they' | ||
+ | cutting-edge technologies - whoever would have thought that edible | ||
+ | androids would be so popular? and I particularly enjoy what they can | ||
+ | do with ice-cream!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | icecream and the slick new prototype combining the latest in military | ||
+ | and pleasure technologies - the Edible Android Mark XXIII.5, Tooeze | ||
+ | Icecream Flavour, Now in Taupe and Teal - which was just the incentive | ||
+ | to push poor Captain Lester over the rather rigid bounds of Space Corp | ||
+ | defined morality." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Manoeuvres ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | marvellous how it retains its consistency?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | She looks at Bobo appraisingly, | ||
+ | about the EdAM XXIII.5 when its delivery to market must still be at | ||
+ | *least* a standard year away. I was under the impression that the | ||
+ | whole project was still completely under wraps. The agreement with | ||
+ | which the Space Corp managed to wrangle our release explicitly stated | ||
+ | that we couldn' | ||
+ | fitted us both with honesty chips to make sure." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Like I said, Ctoberfest was a blast. | ||
+ | can. I probably ate more weird and wonderful food there than I had in | ||
+ | the rest of my whole life - and I've eaten some pretty weird things | ||
+ | in my time. And the *Tooeze*. It just flowed and flowed and flowed. | ||
+ | Dan was fine at first - he acted as my portable table and really | ||
+ | tried to get into the swing of things. | ||
+ | really began to get to him that he couldn' | ||
+ | anything. At first it was the icecream - he just *had* to try the | ||
+ | icecream. | ||
+ | But that just riled him up even more. He started spending more and | ||
+ | more time down in the street markets. | ||
+ | something that interested him, although I was a little worried about | ||
+ | the stories he came back with. Stuff about edible android shells - I | ||
+ | just didn't believe him. And a few days later he disappeared | ||
+ | completely. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, Dan's capsule was fitted with every acronym under the sun - | ||
+ | CNN, WWW, DVD, LOL, DUI and, most importantly, | ||
+ | the Selvik facility no problems - it was getting in that would be the | ||
+ | difficult bit. Space Corp Directive 34834/k requires all Officers to | ||
+ | act with diplomacy and discretion - particularly when acting in an... | ||
+ | unofficial capacity. | ||
+ | channels to gain entrance. | ||
+ | channel leaving the complex later that morning. | ||
+ | and he worked in the AI facility. A large credit ' | ||
+ | his agreement to get me inside Selvik and - more importantly - out | ||
+ | with Dan later that night." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Prophecy ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | that often besets those involved in research. He got me into Selvik | ||
+ | like he promised (bit of an anticlimax really - there wasn't even any | ||
+ | climbing involved!) | ||
+ | wing that he admitted that he didn't actually have clearance to get | ||
+ | over to the other side of the complex. That's where the Shell | ||
+ | research was carried out - and, according to my tracker, Dan's | ||
+ | location. Dan wasn't moving, but I was still anxious to get over | ||
+ | there A S A P. Xoffert said we could ask his computer, a special AI | ||
+ | prototype, to help us out." | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | first breakthroughs with the QWERTY archetype. | ||
+ | been some moments of ' | ||
+ | haven' | ||
+ | infamous JIM prototype, for example. | ||
+ | efficiency, it tried to assign its workload to its human creators | ||
+ | (' | ||
+ | hour or so...)" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But, yeah, apart from the odd bump here and there, AI systems work | ||
+ | really well. Asking Xoffert' | ||
+ | very least we should be able to download some sort of map to work out | ||
+ | how to get over there (and, frankly, the odd locked door has never | ||
+ | *really* been a problem for me). It was when Xoffert explained that | ||
+ | his computer | ||
+ | (NOSTRO for short) could predict the future, more or less, that I | ||
+ | began to wonder..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "An AI like JIM would not have disappeared quietly," | ||
+ | bet that it had somehow escaped shutdown and - in its maniacal drive | ||
+ | for efficiency - was behind the design and peculiar influences of the | ||
+ | Beridian life support capsules. | ||
+ | game before your adventures on Michelin ended." | ||
+ | |||
+ | A gently roating credit chip appears in the air above the table. | ||
+ | astute observer might note that it looks a little uneven and might well | ||
+ | wonder: is it *possible* to file the edges off a holographic coin? | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Efficiency ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | ever forcibly shut down. It just became obsolete, eventually. And | ||
+ | while it *was* a pain in the arse to work with, frankly, it did tend | ||
+ | to get things done. JIM was involved with lots of projects - | ||
+ | including development of much of the Beridian' | ||
+ | paraphernalia." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "They say each product JIM designed was imbued with a little bit of | ||
+ | its, well, personality (for lack of a better word). | ||
+ | this quite disturbing. It's definitely JIM's efficiency bent that | ||
+ | causes breaches in the capsules. Instead of taking into account *all* | ||
+ | the consequences of its actions, the brain gradually decides to just | ||
+ | take the most expedient route possible. If I was going to stop Dan, | ||
+ | I'd have to somehow override the capsule' | ||
+ | routines. It seemed to me that Xoffert had the perfect system to help | ||
+ | me. After all, what could be more efficient than knowing *exactly* | ||
+ | how you did something before you'd even done it?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But first things first. | ||
+ | knows what over in ' | ||
+ | NOSTRO to tell me how. On the face of it, it looked fairly primitive | ||
+ | - there was no voice interaction built in yet and I had to | ||
+ | communicate with it by typing my question in (*very* quaint). | ||
+ | in the necessary information; | ||
+ | least." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "LEVEL 7 CORRIDOR - DISABLE 2 SECURITY DRONES - USE CODE | ||
+ | R36NHTE45H0938 - KILL THE CHICKEN." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "I hacked into to the Selvik mainframe to double check the route. | ||
+ | According to their map, Level 7 was the way to go. The code was spot | ||
+ | on too. And, when we actually got up there, we bumped into a couple | ||
+ | of guards just like NOSTRO said. But kill the *chicken*? What the | ||
+ | hell was that about? It was only then that Xoffert admitted that | ||
+ | there were a still few ' | ||
+ | NOSTRO couldn' | ||
+ | much help when it came to neutralising Dan. And, while I was always | ||
+ | sure that I'd be able to restrain him if I *had* to, things are | ||
+ | always far more pleasant when they just come along quietly. For that | ||
+ | we needed to iron out NOSTRO' | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | Chaos theory, but with a fancier butterfly. Xoffert tried to explain | ||
+ | it all to me, but he got flustered and a bit over excited. Maths does | ||
+ | that to some people. | ||
+ | was talking about, but precious time was passing. In the end I just | ||
+ | downloaded the code - I could process it on the way there." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Nitrous glances at Ariel and comments | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | sidekick had swapped capsules" | ||
+ | |||
+ | then slaps a credits worth of Terran Trillion Dollar | ||
+ | bills onto the table. | ||
+ | |||
+ | " | ||
+ | grabbed turned out to be someone other than Dan" | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== Closure ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, I don't think I can be blamed for that", Ariels replies | ||
+ | crisply. "One capsule does look pretty much like any other." | ||
+ | |||
+ | She slurps her EB. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "So where were we? Oh yeah - we took the Level 7 corridor over to | ||
+ | the Shell section. | ||
+ | to NOSTRO. | ||
+ | They were expected, after all, and were strictly surveillance models. | ||
+ | I checked out NOSTRO' | ||
+ | loveliest program, but he did make the silliest of mistakes. | ||
+ | most of 'em pretty easily - I mean, does anyone *else* here think | ||
+ | that the square root of four five sixty-seven is *five* point seven | ||
+ | five seven nine. I don't think so!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | She rolls her eyes before continuing. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "Now, I like a bit of icecream as much as the next lifeform, but | ||
+ | things were pretty bad when we got there. An empty Beridian capsule | ||
+ | was lying against the wall and an EdAM XXIII.5 was, erm, indulging | ||
+ | itself in the middle of the room. No wonder Dan hadn't been moving on | ||
+ | the GPS screen! There was icecream *everywhere* - and a heap of | ||
+ | officials and research guys helplessly watching on. They didn' | ||
+ | notice our arrival. Frankly, I don't blame them." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "It was time to find out what we were going to do next. We uploaded | ||
+ | the revised code into NOSTRO and waited with baited breath. I guess | ||
+ | we'll never know *exactly* what happened but, after a nanosecond or | ||
+ | two compiling, a new message appeared: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ANSWERING YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS FOREVER? | ||
+ | . | ||
+ | . | ||
+ | . | ||
+ | . | ||
+ | BUGGER THAT. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "After that the console went blank as NOSTRO imploded. Xoffert was a | ||
+ | bit stunned - I was too. I guess nobody had really stopped to | ||
+ | consider how NOSTRO would deal when it could see its own future | ||
+ | perfectly. But I still had to stop Dan. None of the Michelian seemed | ||
+ | to be doing anything and it was time for me to take charge. | ||
+ | attacked the EdAM. It fought well and I think its squishyness was to | ||
+ | its advantage. | ||
+ | toppling over - killing a turkey that had been inexplicably wandering | ||
+ | round the room (there was no chicken, obviously). I opened up the | ||
+ | breastplate and ripped out Dan's brain. | ||
+ | at it closely - it didn't *really* look like his brain at all. Dan' | ||
+ | brain was much slimier. The officials finally started moving - | ||
+ | apparently I was holding the brain of the Beridian ambassador to | ||
+ | Michelin. | ||
+ | new prototype. He probably wasn't expecting this additional | ||
+ | excitement..." | ||
+ | |||
+ | "But where was Dan? The GPS said he was in the room - and we | ||
+ | eventually found him hovering in a corner. The sneaky devil was | ||
+ | quietly downloading top secret plans so he could build his own EdAM | ||
+ | later on! He came along pretty quietly. | ||
+ | the most efficient thing to do... They locked us both up while | ||
+ | negotiating our release with the Space Corp. I guess I could' | ||
+ | broken out pretty easily, but I felt kinda bad what had happened to | ||
+ | the Ambassador. | ||
+ | |||
+ | "We got to say good bye to Xoffert before we left. He'd been demoted | ||
+ | after his little transgression, | ||
+ | Poor guy - they were going to make him work on the JIM efficiency | ||
+ | routines to make it up to the Beridians. He also admitted that before | ||
+ | we fixed the code NOSTRO had believed that, eventually, it would be | ||
+ | off to join the Space Circus as an anti-grav trapeze artist. I guess | ||
+ | you could see why it'd be upset to find out otherwise." | ||
+ | |||
+ | Ariel smiles brightly "And that's about it really." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | Back to [[science fiction]] \\ | ||
+ | Go back to [[The Captain' | ||
roleplaying/munchausen/michelin.txt · Last modified: 2008/08/27 17:21 by 127.0.0.1