Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos

[Bulldog Psion]

Furthermore, at that point she wasn't insane, so she was presumably reluctant to act too aggressively towards the people she nominally owed allegiance to.

[Cikomyr]

Man, I've just reread the Tagon Family's dark secret...

.... so depressing again...

[Tavar]

The question of why Thurl wasn't stopped was answered here.

[factotum]

And I already said I don't believe that answer. Para said that the only way to stop Thurl would have been to use lethal force, but Tagii's control of the ship's gravitics appears to be much finer than that...unless you're suggesting she learned how to use them *better* by being locked away for the virtual equivalent of millions of years?

Anyway, we'll find out what happens soon enough, the latest page says that this storyline wraps up on December 31st. Doesn't seem very long to resolve all the current plot threads, but we'll see!

[PhantomFox]

Notice she mentions "[in] that room?" Meaning I assume that using gravvy in the AI's room is a Bad Idea for some reason or another.

[Douglas]

Yeah, Para's comment strongly implies there's something about that *particular* room that makes such finesse measures impossible. My guess would be that projecting gravy through there would damage or disrupt some delicate AI circuits, which is not a concern elsewhere on the ship because all of those circuits are in the one spot.

[Ravens_cry]

Dammit, I liked Tagii. She didn't deserve this, nobody diserves this!

[guttering flame]

Yeah, Para's comment strongly implies there's something about that *particular* room that makes such finesse measures impossible. My guess would be that projecting gravy through there would damage or disrupt some delicate AI circuits, which is not a concern elsewhere on the ship because all of those circuits are in the one spot.

I'm guessing the answer is much simpler than that. The reason the AI can't use gravitics or other weapons in the AI control center is meant to enable the crew to dismantle a malfunctioning AI. The engineers who build these ships are not morons. They could foresee the very likely possibility that a rebellious AI would use its weapons to protect itself against its crew. So they crippled the AI to prevent it from protecting itself that way.

[Bulldog Psion]

I'm guessing the answer is much simpler than that. The reason the AI can't use gravitics or other weapons in the AI control center is meant to enable the crew to dismantle a malfunctioning AI. The engineers who build these ships are not morons. They could foresee the very likely possibility that a rebellious AI would use its weapons to protect itself against its crew. So they crippled the AI to prevent it from protecting itself that way.

That would make a lot of sense. There's no point in putting yourself totally in the power of your AI if you don't have to, after all.

[factotum]

They could foresee the very likely possibility that a rebellious AI would use its weapons to protect itself against its crew. So they crippled the AI to prevent it from protecting itself that way.

I like the theory, but it only explains away half of what Para said--she clearly implied that Tagii *could* have stopped Thurl by using lethal force in that room; if that wasn't gravy, what was it?

Mind you, I have a theory for how they'll resolve the Tagii situation:

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I think Thurl already told us how--when he explained to Kevyn how the processor and system busses were split, he said that "a rogue process can't bypass prioritisation". Presumably that means they can somehow use prioritisation to shut down the rogue Tagii process and get things back to a semblance of normality.

[NEO|Phyte]

Mind you, I have a theory for how they'll resolve the Tagii situation:

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I think Thurl already told us how--when he explained to Kevyn how the processor and system busses were split, he said that "a rogue process can't bypass prioritisation". Presumably that means they can somehow use prioritisation to shut down the rogue Tagii process and get things back to a semblance of normality.

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I am not an AI expert, but that sounds more like a preventing a repeat of Petey's ghost trauma measure than an oh god the AI went feral measure.

[PhantomFox]

Honestly, the UNS's comments provided what is the likely route out of this situation.

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"Hey, they have a really good AI. What say we take it?"
"No, we want them all dead."
"What if their TAD goes down and we can 'port the core out?"
"Sure, why not. Just be quick about it."

[NEO|Phyte]

Honestly, the UNS's comments provided what is the likely route out of this situation.

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"Hey, they have a really good AI. What say we take it?"
"No, we want them all dead."
"What if their TAD goes down and we can 'port the core out?"
"Sure, why not. Just be quick about it."

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I suspect he was referring to the Toughs in general, not their AI.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

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I suspect he was referring to the Toughs in general, not their AI.

As I stated earlier, I think that they want to "pick the Toughs' brains" about what Petey did to them after he reverted their memories.

[Kane]

Honestly, the UNS's comments provided what is the likely route out of this situation.

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"Hey, they have a really good AI. What say we take it?"
"No, we want them all dead."
"What if their TAD goes down and we can 'port the core out?"
"Sure, why not. Just be quick about it."

That would be hilarious. I hope it happens.

[Maugan Ra]

Well. That answer's that question, I suppose...

[TaRix]

Given that Osiri's got some impressive gravitics, might this be a Pa'anuri artifact? A Pa'anuri prison (either one made by baryonic folks or otherwise)?

Wow, fancy that. A whole lotta gravity keeping in a gravity-beastie, encased in a big box saying "Don't open this thing" in any/every conceivable manner.

At least the galaxy knows how to fight the things off. The Morokweng might not end up like the Tunguska.

[factotum]

At least the galaxy knows how to fight the things off. The Morokweng might not end up like the Tunguska.

The *Fleetmind* knows how to fight the Pa'anuri...we have no evidence that random ships which are not part of the Fleetmind know how to do this. In fact, the evidence seems to be fairly heavily that everyone else leaves Petey and his friends alone and carries on with their usual internal squabbling.

[Kane]

Wow. That looks to have been a pretty good guess. You weren't alone there, though, that's what I was thinking. (I just hadn't voiced it. Really.)

What I'm confused about is where it came from; AFAIK, that looks like the Pa'anuri came out of the annie plant that powered the research team's base. Not the actual Osiri artifact. (Incidentally, I'm assuming that the annie plant got wrecked due to the gravity fluctuations caused by Osiri.)(D'oh. Right, Pa'anuri ate/screwed with it.)

But back to the point, what was the Pa'anuri doing inside the non-ancient-artifact annie plant?

[lord_khaine]

But back to the point, what was the Pa'anuri doing inside the non-ancient-artifact annie plant?

What do you think the annie plant was powering? it was a gravety prison for dark matter.

[guttering flame]

I think Tagii just used it as a massive bomb to punch through the planetoid's crust so that the prisoner could get out sooner.

[Bulldog Psion]

Interesting to see what happens here. Since Howard has stated that this is going to wrap up in another 15 days, there isn't a lot of wiggle room, especially considering how many loose ends need to be tied up.

Based on how little time is left, it sounds like the Morokweng is going down. Does anyone else think so?

And how is the General Tagon/Ms. Flinders part going to be taken to completion in just two weeks, along with everything else?

[smuchmuch]

What I'm confused about is where it came from; AFAIK, that looks like the Pa'anuri came out of the annie plant that powered the research team's base. Not the actual Osiri artifact.

Because of the orange halo left by the neutronium explosion, it gives the impression of comming from the annie plant but I'm prettty sure it actualy comes from under, inside Osiri. When Osiri energy was shut down, The Pa'anuri pierced through Osisri ice and as it did so, it went for the most 'interesting' spot that registred on it's gravittic senses to do so, aka the one where the annie plant topside was located.

The *Fleetmind* knows how to fight the Pa'anuri...we have no evidence that random ships which are not part of the Fleetmind know how to do this

Didn't they shared some of the info from Ai to AI on a massive scalefirst ? In fact, if memory serves, that's pretty much how they started the fleetmind in the first place. and not every AI that was in the fleetmind stayed (see Enesby for example)

There are a few different factor that what happened witht the Tenguska tho, Kweng is bigger, has a chance of identyfying what he's fighting, and this Pa'anuri might be different (for one thing it was in a gravitic prison, there's probably a reason for that ? maybe it's bigger and meaner ?).

Of course even if kweng know what it is, I doubt he would have remotely enough power to fight it (the fleet mind has to use either huge ships or big numbers as far as we've seen so far). So best bet here would be to port bravely away (if the big bad black matter monster leave him even the time for that. Likely not)

[Thalnawr]

Didn't they shared some of the info from Ai to AI on a massive scalefirst ? In fact, if memory serves, that's pretty much how they started the fleetmind in the first place. and not every AI that was in the fleetmind stayed (see Enesby for example)

As far as I recall, the only AIs that did not stay with the Fleetmind were Ennesby and Haban 2. At least they were the only ones featured on-screen. Luckily, during "The Body Politic" story arc, Kweng had a good deal of brain-on-brain time with both of them before re-writing their memories to protect the UNS secrets... Maybe he picked up some tips on how to fight this thing.

[HandofShadows]

The question(s) I want answered is why was that thing "in prison". Whoever build Osiri certainly had the tech that would kill the dark matter beasties. Maybe this Pa'anuri is different and can't be killed like the other ones. Or maybe the other Pa'anuri locked this one up for some reason rather than kill it.

[NEO|Phyte]

The question(s) I want answered is why was that thing "in prison". Whoever build Osiri certainly had the tech that would kill the dark matter beasties. Maybe this Pa'anuri is different and can't be killed like the other ones. Or maybe the other Pa'anuri locked this one up for some reason rather than kill it.

Assuming Osiri doesn't get destroyed in the upcoming charlie foxtrot, the information is likely transcribed on the surface once those nanobots finish gathering it (assuming the recent gravity spike didn't break them).

[The Glyphstone]

Assuming Osiri doesn't get destroyed in the upcoming charlie foxtrot, the information is likely transcribed on the surface once those nanobots finish gathering it (assuming the recent gravity spike didn't break them).

Oh you poor, naive fool.

[hajo]

Since Howard has stated that this is going to wrap up in another 15 days, there isn't a lot of wiggle room, especially considering how many loose ends need to be tied up.
..
And how is the General Tagon/Ms. Flinders part going to be taken to completion in just two weeks, along with everything else?

I guess they will be there for the start of the next episode.
Maybe going inside one of the UNS-factions

I'm still wondering how the UNS got their info about Oisiris in the first place, and the idea it would be a weapon ?

[Radar]

I'm still wondering how the UNS got their info about Oisiris in the first place, and the idea it would be a weapon ?

For starters, Gavs got their regeneration nannies from UNS, so intel source is quite obvious - they slipped a hack in the equipment alongside the Pseudowalski one.

Any source of power is a weapon and Oisri is (or rather was) an annie plant of unimaginable proportions with equally big power output. There was also enough evidence, that it was equiped with gravitic control.

[Slayn82]

Well, since we saw that enough kinectic/gravity can kill Schlock, he probably is out of any plan to retake the AI room. My bet is:

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Ennesby will dupe Tagii with a simulation of the interior of the ship, while alowing Tagii to act against external menaces. His background, beyond hacking and frauding expertise, includes his past as an entertainer, and his usual extensive library of media. Yes, Tagii was smarter, but as a tactical AI. Not even Petey who has near infinite processing capability is impervious to being surprised, as Kevin has demonstrated a lot of times. And if Ennesby was in Tagii position, he probably wouldn't go crazy.

Also, we have to take in consideration the brand new Teraport Cages, a kind of tech developed by Kevin that the Toughs possibly have almost monopoly, and whose effects are still untested in the Pa'anury. Maybe it can act as some kind of extruder?