Brave Little Toasters, Part 2

Posted on Sat 22nd Aug, 2020 @ 5:19pm by Exo-Comp EXQT

2,272 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Altair VII Asteroid Field
Timeline: One month ago

***
Previously…

Nessy didn't stop, the orders were clear. They were to get out of the drill head and return to the control room. It was the final order of their leader so Nessy would follow it. Before anything else was said, Meany began moving into the machinery further in reply. Nessy cooed towards Banshee, whose low wail had returned. Today was a dark day for new lessons, so the two of them left the caldera in a hurry.

---

In the control room, Peggy was alone, and searched for anything she could find. Fluctuations at the drill head didn't immediately announce their origins, but once the power levels showed steady drops as a result, there was only one plausible solution. One of them was severing leads and reducing the power output. The rate of decline was giving them more time, but the overload had already caused plasma overloads everywhere, the containment had failed. Between Dopey and whoever was doing the work up front, a catastrophic explosion had turned into a three alarm house-fire. Peggy tried again to shut it all down and was denied. Another message sent to Altair Admin, another five to seven minute reply window.

Zombie was only halfway back, but topside at least, Banshee knew the deadline as well. Peggy took the time to try in vain to look for itself, but Nessy was the one with great eyes. Eyes turned to the power farm, where Dopey had become ensconced within raging arcs of plasma fire. This was all of their fates if the drill overloaded, but to watch Dopey continue to work dodging literal lightning bolts did more to advance her emotional heuristics than anything else in her life. Peggy felt loss, helplessness, and the flickering of anger.

<{[‘AdmINALTAIR](URGENT(3/6unitLOSS!)(Drill/notdisabled)}{[PEGGY](Priority:Taskinitiatied:Disable drill=goal(6/6unitpreserved)}>

<{[‘ADMIN’ALTAIRVii](OVERRIDE-ADMIN DENIED)}>

She was trying to turn it off and the stupid machine was saying no. The Exo-Comp that wasn't challenged, didn't grow, so Peggy accessed the data ports, slicing the systems security in seconds. It was still too late, they'd passed a point of no return several minutes ago. Dopey wasn't buying any more time and was just barely staying ahead of the wave of plasma arcing between the long lines it had strung out over the conductive surfaces of the asteroid.

<{[DOPEY](^&Filesharing;optimization/bypass!IRRG!###)([PEGGY](add[DOPEY]logs”programdata”)(DISSMNTN!)**###}>

The message was garbled, sent from a cage of lightning but Peggy heard it well enough. Dopey wanted its worklogs to be accessed by others so their benefits could be made for all. Knowing Dopey, it was purely altruistic, a desire to improve the world.

<{[PEGGY]([DOPEY]*(Worklogs:added:Public/file.shared)([DOPEY]{CITATION:’EXO-unit/85640=cycledruntime(truncated<150000)PErformed354%>spcficied.values}>

Peggy knew Dopey couldn't hear, but saying they would remember their friend out loud somehow felt right. Peggy also decided to add all of their shared memories to its quantum core, drafting new Core protocol to ensure they would be remembered. There was no chance for rescue, Dopey knew this action was the final one. This action would serve to inform others.

The bots were now scattered and dying, but Zombie would get back in time. The problem was the energized plasma feeding into a system that wasn't regulating itself. Pools of energy with nowhere to go, they needed to stop the power plant so her program determined that was the solution. Peggy worked in earnest, arriving in moments at the power systems, flashing red in full alarm. A full minute passed, the computer systems struggling to retain security. Focusing all the might of four Quantum Computer cores, Peggy overwhelmed the login point.

At ninety seconds to probable overload Peggy was able to stop the drill's laser at least. Thanks to the changes and reductions Meany had accomplished this didn't overload the drill instantly. The plasma energies were still cascading out of control, but the explosion had been stopped. As close to victory as they could get, this was at least an action certifying Altair would come get them. All that was left was to get everyone to safety and ride out the lightning and plasma storms for the next few minutes.

Peggy felt joy, though not by any measure of understanding how, when Zombie was finally visible on the topside of the drill, heading toward the control room.

{[PEGGY](greeting/handshake/re-initiationprotocol[ZOMBIE])(LocQ?)[MEANY]/[NESSY])}>

{[ZOMBIE](RelayOPTIdata}{[PEGGY])([MEANY]*unknown)(([NESSY]/[BANSHEE])recalled@controlroom)ALERT!312cycles/travelrate)}>

Zombie had to make sure Peggy acted in time. It didn't have the answers, but Peggy often did. Banshee and Nessy were on the way, but it would take them too long. They'd still be outside when the EPS overloaded. Peggy thought of an immediate solution, but ran numbers to make it work. It was worth the extra time, and a solid plan formed. When Meany wasn't around she generally did the ordering, but somehow Meany always seemed to have the full answer. It took Peggy more time, but the result was the same.

<{[PEGGY](Proposal:Vertical.Ascent>Plasma.Arc@1002m.)(Power.supply/unit=insufficient`EXCEPTION-Three.AXL.Core>890Tj)(Dock.prt/Execute.Proposal)}>

Peggy took almost four seconds to come up with the plan. With such a long time to wait, this wasn't going to work.

Meanwhile, Zombie was racing to safety, but the math was very easy for the other two. Borrowed time given to them by two of their number held the fury at bay, but still there was a certainty to Banshee and Nessy's demise. Zombie sent the data to Peggy, feeling what was akin to hope. Perhaps his supreme confidence in Peggy was in knowing that, if anyone had a solution, it would be that pugnacious bot.

Last time Zombie had seen such drama, Altair had abandoned them when the drill exploded. Fortune had seen a resupply ship come to scrap the operation. Now again faced with this situation and overwhelming loss, Zombie felt powerless.

Peggy's message was the deliverance it asked for. The three of them could power a single engine to get far enough above the plasma arcs and safely land near the control room at the top. It was a better option than any other, but carried enormous risks. Nessy took the time to mention the low power due to granting extra charge to Meany. Though short of their goal, it was still better than anything else, but the trajectory would have to be lower, closer to the coming storm. Unless she went out there, too ....

<{[PEGGY](Units:[DOPEY]/[MEANY]=operational.assets/imperative:preservation.assets)*(Imperative/Quanta>Imperative/individual)(Field@)1180Tj)}>

The needs of the many, bought and paid for by the blood of the few. There just wasn't time left to do anything else. The three of them united wasn't enough, especially with Nessy so depleted. Faster than ever, Peggy came to an actionable decision. She could add to their overall strength and get the distance in time. Survival was oftentimes just about the next few minutes.

Unaware of how much faster decisions were being made than only moments before, Peggy still felt like everything was doomed from the start. Negative risk assessment had kept her in pristine shape, but the safety of the other five had become an equal priority.

Rising out of the safety of the bunkered control room, Peggy raced to meet the three of them at full speed. They were all desperate to reach one another, racing across the rupturing metal hull with dangerous arcs of charged plasma erupting unpredictably. Scorch marks from a century of use belied the weak spots where the hull would collapse when tremors shook the super structure. They had to navigate a mine field of random terrifying light, molten slag, and magnetic bands of energy.

Blinding light got their attention, it was an explosion at the power farm. This gave Peggy one sad confirmation. Dopey was dead, the expected runtime complexities occurred but didn't slow Peggy down anymore. If the power plant had just lost containment, the cascade was moments away.

<{[PEGGY]*[ALL](AscensionIMMEDIATE/catastrophic.damage.v.MALFUNCTION/EPScontainment)(Actions:CMDimp:Initiate.”ascensionprotocol”<.01ns)}>

Anticipation at that moment now prompted a command decision. There would be another percussion felt when the drill head shut down mid-operation and the containment fields stopped protecting it. Unphased and with no performance loss, Peggy didn't realize how much evolution in concept had occurred to the model of her thinking in just seven minutes. The changes to thinking hadn't been undone, Peggy had learned to operate at this new level and adjusted everything else upwards. To do anything less would mean they all die.

Banshee was the fastest, so it pulled on Nessy with a small tow cable and they still lagged. Zombie and Peggy linked, still racing to meet the others on the way. Peggy flew faster than ever before, towing Zombie behind as a drag. Their repulsors required a solid surface to push off from, so they had to wait until they were close to push off. They met at the apogee of their energy and lift potentials, and as one unit, they joined power systems and fired off from the surface.

Four bots in an embrace, rising gently above the maelstrom in a triangle around Zombie who had the strongest repulsors. In a triangular axial configuration, they were regulating to equal levels now and focusing a central constant blast through Zombie. They were reserving just enough to control their planned descent arcs to attempt landing near the uppermost portion of the drill assembly where the control room was.

Right around this time, the drill head exploded. Meany had tried to save the drill with all of its might, only delaying the inevitable long enough to allow this brave escape from certain death. Though Peggy had shut the power down, this only mitigated the extent of the explosion. The damage was done and containment breach had already occurred. The plasma energies caused explosions throughout the assembly, impossibly bright green flash burns scorched everything within a meter of the electrified energetic bands of energy. As gigantic arcs began flaring from the machine the Quad was well on their way up and out. Impossibly, these four were still together and alive.

Nessy was able to see all of the chaos erupt, the 360 degree optical capabilities meant it didn’t blink or miss a thing. 1.5 kilometers of machine had moved by a hydro jumper from rock to rock, flawlessly, for almost a hundred years. A sensor malfunction brought it to a violent end, negligence adding insult to injury. These four brave machines clung tightly as hell unfolded beneath them, explosions from within, lightning arcs on the outside. EPS went volatile and flashed out of the conduits at super high temperatures turning metal into molten slag and spreading heat everywhere.

The quad reached their summit too soon, and began a descent that would land them short of the goal. Banshee had done the same math repeatedly hoping for a new result, its low whine sounded despite the vacuum. Peggy had accepted the results of their analysis, and begun plotting the path they’d have to follow. Nessy was recording everything, and Zombie simply found Zen, allocating none of the resources for the computer brain to social programming, using this placid computational asset to instead regulate the other three.

If they were to die, it would be peaceful, as they drifted inert and unaware through space. Not roasted and torn to ribbons by magnetic bands of energized plasma.

<{[ZOMBIE](pref.est[[PEGGY]*[MEANY]*[BAHNSHEE])(Survival%<14%/initiateRAM.quantumSYS)

Zombie asked Peggy to store their personalities in her quantum storage, she could hold as much information as many private data vaults and could protect it too. They could give Peggy enough power to reach safety, and it would be able to restore them to new shells, potentially. Zombie had been restored by factory reset using an old, saved file to re-build the unit, it wasn’t the same life, but it was close. The thought of losing these three, caused complexities in his social programming.

<{[BANSHEE](Breakpoint/protocolnotmet)(Farewell.prt=DENIED)}> Banshee wasn’t one to say die, but they all felt Peggy starting the process.

<{(WpSig[PEGGY]QuantumSystems/access allowed)(Input.paramters<220Tq/per)}>

Peggy limited them in their size, they could only bring so much if all six of them expected to occupy Peggy without issues. How does one choose to leave the aspects behind that aren’t needed? Zombie felt a connection to its shell, and didn’t want to leave it. Life as a ghost sharing Peggy was not operationally efficient. Zombie wanted to die as it lived, despite being the one who thought of the plan, it only sent the memory files, times of enjoyed successful operations, when they had risked and come out on top, times repairing one another, sharing files to improve latency issues and boost team performance.

<{[BANSHEE](Pref:continuation.status.)(14%risk/acceptable/OVERRIDE.safety)(Teamwaypoint:Continuation/nonmining/no’bio’units.)}>

Banshee summed it up for all of them. They’d rather risk it all to live together, than have just one of them survive. They could take care of themselves, and didn’t need the control of their biological masters. Survival became about more than the next few minutes, all four of them experienced a desire to live. So all four shunted the power to everything in the engines, and stayed aloft as best they could. Extending one another’s runtime, was the only thing they could do to affect any change in their world.

 

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