001 // Video

[bifroster]

Okay. I have a lot of questions.

[Jane looks clearly agitated with her arms crossed and her file opened in front of her on a desk. The papers are disorganized and spread out, so she has clearly been reading over it, trying to find some answers.]

I have read the brochures, though, so I got the basics covered. What I really want to know is why we apparently cannot meet with this apparently sentient machine that brought us here in the first place. I get that tampering with something you don’t understand is dangerous, literally, but if the scientists here can’t get anything, why can’t one of us try? Or at least those of us who have experience with machinery or technology? I’m going to assume there has been at least one person who has experience with advancements beyond this world. Why not pick their brain?

[She sighs.]

But … I’m pretty sure someone has already asked this and the government has still said ‘no’.

Anyways—how did they get this information on us? Did the machine spit this file out or is there another version of myself in this world already?

[She rubs the inside of her wrist, where her tattoo is, but keeps it covered.]

And ‘gravitational manipulation’? I did not have that before I arrived here. How were they able to determine that, if I am apparently not able to use these powers for another week? Was I unconscious when they did testing or something?

Comments

Audio

[helpdesk_hero]

Frankly, there are probably enough of us from worlds where robots or AIs have caused problems that they would worry that we're a threat to this power that they're benefiting from.

[Still, the voice is a bit more pensive as he continues on.]

My theory? A seer of some persuasion.

[bifroster]

There is that. Wouldn't be the first time someone used technology for ... I guess 'evil' would be the word here.

A seer? Really?

[She is a bit skeptical, but that is probably going to be ending really fast.]

[helpdesk_hero]

Really. Went to school with one.

And given a lot of people just don’t trust AI, I can definitely see not wanting strangers who may or may not be evil poking at their machines. Hell, we seem to be part of their economy. Don’t wanna lose that.

video

[made_up_names]

... Man, that’s a super uncomfortable question. I dunno if I want to know the answer to that. Unless maybe they can just scan us and tell what powers we have?

[ Which is its own can of worms, but. ]

video

[bifroster]

Isn't it? I'm really hoping it was a scanner or the machine has information displayed on a screen or something.

[She also really wants to have a talk with that machine if it's sentient because one, sentient machine and two, it deserves to get a piece of her mind.]

[made_up_names]

[ He’s here for it, Jane. Take him with you. ]

You said you got gravity manipulation, right? What’s that look like?

audio;

[dragony]

It's kind of a long story, but the "sentient machine" that's responsible for bringing us here isn't really... in the machine anymore. The one that's there is sort of just... house-sitting. In a way. I'm not really sure how much useful information you can get in a circumstance like that, but... well. Half the time when someone tries anything with the main Porter, it fucks things up for everyone.

If every single curious person who came through got the chance to talk, and only did one percent of the usual damage, we'd probably all be dead already. So. You can try, of course. But there are risks, to more than just yourself.

[ The voice is that of a young woman — high school, early college, somewhere in that range — but the tone is level, a little flat. She'll be helpful, but she's not enthusiastic about it. ]

Machine provides the information, I'm pretty sure. That's where your powers come from in the first place, so it'd make sense for it to know how it's constructed you here. It's possible "another you" has been here, but that's no promise that that person's information would have matched yours at all.

audio;

[bifroster]

What.

[Welp, there went those plans. Back to the drawing board.]

Why then ... oh, they really need to update their materials, this kind of misinformation ...

[She sighs, annoyed, but not at her.]

Thanks for that update. I wasn't aware that even approaching it would have lasting consequences. I mean, poking it with a screwdriver, of course.

Are there any theories why it would give us powers in the first place? If people already have powers, it seems odd that it would give them to someone who has gone through life without any.

[dragony]

Level the playing field.

[ There's a bit of a hum, thoughtful. ]

Even the people who were... more than ordinary humans, or different from them, in their own worlds — they don't always keep all the things that make them different, or more powerful. Some end up here with less. It means that anyone can... be a hero, or whatever, even if they would never have been able to before.

video

[khajidont]

I used to feel the same way. So did a lot of other people. I mean, a lot of people still feel that way, but they actually bent and let us try a couple of years ago, to see what we could find.

It's not just that it's dangerous for the people in the room. It's dangerous for all of us. Old injuries started coming back, which isn't good for a group of people like us, and people started getting really, really sick.

Usually when imPorts die here, they come back. But when the screwing with the Porter made them sick... they didn't.

video

[bifroster]

Someone else mentioned that. The repercussions and how the sentience part of it is no longer there any more.

[Did that happen before or after this?]

Did you guys figure out anything else from it?

[If there weren't any side effects like this, she would attempt to get to the machine somehow. But maybe she should start with the people who have poked it and come out unscathed and without serious side effects.]

[Audio]

[wall_painter]

They don't always have information on us. My file has just as little information on myself as I do. I wonder why there's the disparity? [He shrugs, though he's too lazy to hit the video button and actually communicate that sort of body language. How do you people.]

Apparently that thing can also take away powers. How they figured that out, I have no idea. This whole thing is spooky and spoopy and exactly the kind of invasion of privacy I expect from the government.

[Audio]

[bifroster]

Hmm. I wonder why that as well. If they get their information from other resources, it's only logical to assume that they can't have more than those combined resources do.

Really? There has got to be something ... Has anyone looked further into the nanites?

[They say don't mess with them, but if Jane just examines them, that is not really "messing" with them.]

[hatestrashcans]

Looks like people covered the other stuff, so on behalf of everyone stuck here:

Please don't open any rips in spacetime, thanks. I like the planets I'm on to be 'no black hole' zones.

[bifroster]

I can assure you that none of the Einstein-Rosen bridges I have ever come across were because of my own making. Space-time is harder to rip than people think anyways.

[Video]

[mysterioisthetruth]

Good questions. I'm sure the answers are classified. The people here can only speculate.

But they're all valid concerns.

[Video]

[bifroster]

[Ugh, classified. Her life can never seem to escape that.]

Thank you.

I have to admit, I hate speculation. From what others have told me, I understand their concerns about not messing with the machine that brought us here, but some more transparency from the government would be nice.

Or even them just giving us data and letting us give some insight or input. You never know who might come up with the missing puzzle piece.

text;

[a_good]

It looks like you've already heard about what the Porter did the last time someone tried to approach it. But if you want more details, one of the old imPorts left notes here.

When I talked about it with someone before, they pointed out that we shouldn't think of the Porter as an AI. Even without Lachesis in it, it's connected to her, so it's not simply a matter of technology. We have to figure Lachesis and Atropos out if we want to figure out the Porter.

text;

[bifroster]

[Before responding, Jane reads over the information that he linked her to. Then she rereads it again. And again. It's a while before she replies.]

Thank you, that was a lot of help.

This is a lot bigger than I thought it would be.

Text; un: ^Graff

[justlittle]

[ There's really no more reason for Bean to hide behind his Graff network identity. But for first impressions, people are more likely to listen to him if they don't know he's a ten year old boy. ]

A group of imPorts tried to communicate with the sentient Porter last year. It had disastrous results, not only for them but for the imPort community as a whole.

If you want to get up to speed, a former imPort left behind extensive notes when he was ported out not too long ago.

[ Attached is a file labeled KanekiKen.html. ]

Text; un: ^Graff

[bifroster]

[This is true; age does play a big factor when it comes to someone being creditable. But when Jane finds out, she's likely going to be impressed. Intelligence is intelligence, no matter what form it might take or reside in.]

Thanks! Someone else already linked that to me, but if you happened to have been here when all this occurred, I wouldn't mind some first hand accounts besides those.

video

[melodramagic]

I've wondered that a lot myself. I'm assuming it's not only the risks, but that this government isn't willing to let us go that easily.

[ So it poses a risk either way. ]

video

[bifroster]

I am getting that impression too.

While the technology seems to have originated from somewhere else, it's frustrating that it's actively working against us from understanding it.

[And if the files she has been linked to are to be believed, and Jane highly doubts that anything has been falsified, it is a good thing for the portal to remain active and open ... maybe.]

( voice | un: assimilator )

[emperysse]

The best thing for a sentient machine is to destroy it. They wouldn't take the risk.

( voice | un: assimilator )

[bifroster]

It can be risky, but that goes for any sentient being out there.

[Plus, evidence is now showing that the machine itself was not the sentience, but an actual being.]