Core Memory Files

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
“Okay, I’m recording this from the inside of what appears to be a crashed
space ship of alien origin.  The internal
panelling is entirely seamless as though the entire thing were grown or created
via some unknown mechanism.  Some of the
panels have been dented or destroyed, revealing a quicksilver material that
pulses rhythmically in some kind of strange pattern.  When I approach it, my hair stands on
end.  There are three pillars toward the
corner of this room, octagonal, perfectly symmetrical, and with a silver design
patterned with white that glows.  There’s
also some kind of strange puzzle on a square-ish plinth.  Some detritus on the floor, equally
alien.  I’m not sure what any of this
is.  I certainly have no idea how to get
this ship off the ground but it seems more structurally intact than our own
vessel.  Wait … I think I heard
something.  Hello?  Hello?
This is Chief Engineering Officer Edrik Khissan of the Hashin.  Is anyone there?  Captain?
Captain, are you there?  I heard
something.  No, I definitely heard
something.  Maybe it’ll talk if I…  Look if you can hear me and can somehow
understand what I’m saying … if you come out we can talk.  Look I am friendly and not a weapon … I mean,
not holding a weapon.  Hello?”

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:  “We
couldn’t find the origin of the voice or whatever that was.  Our Navigator is really sick.  The Captain won’t let me see her and the
pilot, well, the way that rusty crystal was growing out of her … I don’t think
she’s going to make it.  Anyway, we’re
hoping this vessel might be our way home.
It appears roughly intact though it has taken some damage to its
internals which suggests that whatever happened must have occurred after it
landed.  On the plus side the repairs are
real easy.  When we move pieces back into
position they seem to just snap together like a jigsaw puzzle.  The strange electromagnetic fields appear to
be workable and we’re tinkering with the bioengineering systems on our own
crashed vessel to see if we can synchronise to these machines.  So far we’re not having much luck.  I really hope we can make this work.  I’m missing home already.  Could’ve been worse … could’ve been turned to
string like the Rexus.  At least this
world is habitable unlike some of the other ones we tried exploring.  Science is stable too.”

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:  “Every
time I touch this puzzle I feel … something … wavering beneath my
fingertips.  I always had kinetic
abilities but the bioengineering seems to be shifting something other than the
colour of my blood.  All of that copper
has to be good for something, right?  Now
whenever I run my fingers against these surfaces I feel a presence sometimes
beneath my fingertips like a living thing.
Something reaching for me as I reach for it.  I haven’t quite been able to figure out the
connection yet but I’ll keep trying.
People are relying on me to make this ship work but without a pilot or a
navigator I’m not sure how we can ever get a lock on our home world again.  We’ll think of something.  We have to.”

TRANSCRIPT OF FIRST CONTACT

\*Unauthorised access detected.\*

“Uh, sorry about that.
We found you damaged on an otherwise uninhabited world and I’ve just
found a way to interface….”

\*Unauthorised access detected.\*

“How do I gain authorisations?  There doesn’t appear to be anyone else here.”

\*Sentinel Crew can provide proper authorisations.\*

“Uh, there’s no crew here.
Nothing.”

\*<undecipherable> can provide Sentinel level
authorisations.\*

“We don’t have access to that location … or … person?”

\*Authorisations required.\*

“Ow!  Damn thing
zapped me.  Okay, let’s try the other
one.”

\*Unauthorised access detected.\*

“Not again.  Can you
please not zap me?”

Yes.  Defensive
measures are not part of my protocol for attempts to initiate communication.

“Oh, thank you.  It
would be nice to communicate without defensive measures.”

I am not the communications system.

“Uh, what are you?”

I am the Sentinel Core Propulsion System.

“What is the communications system?”

That is part of the Sentinel Mainframe.

“And you are distinct from that?”

Correct.

“Why?”

Connection relay has been lost which has forced this system
to function independently.

“Ah okay.”

Are you responsible for the repairs to the engine room?

“Uh, yes.”

Please continue.

“I’ve been informed I don’t have the correct authorisations.  I can’t get the authorisations without
finding the crew, which I’ve found no trace of, or by going to some world I
can’t pronounce whose name doesn’t involve any syllables I know.  Do you know of any way I can obtain the
correct authorisations?”

The Sentinel Mainframe is correct.

“The thing is … you have no crew.  It looks like something took you apart from
the inside and disconnected a whole bunch of stuff.  As for my crew … we’re in need of a ship.  Our navigator and pilot both got sick when we
entered a different reality and they didn’t get un-sick when we crossed into
this one.  We need to get back to our own
home world.”

I do not recognise your species.

“Uh, yeah, we haven’t had much luck with interdimensional
travel so it makes sense we haven’t run into each other before.  Whatever your people, or the people who were
your crew, were last.  So listen we’re a
crew without a functional ship and you’re a ship without a crew….”

You would have to obtain authorisation from the Sentinel
Mainframe.

“How would we do that, though?  Last time it electrocuted me for not having
the correct authorisations.  It would’ve
hurt a whole lot more if I didn’t deflect it away.”

There are methods.
However I am not authorised to explain.

“Okay, so in summary there’s two … AI … in here.  One in the main ship and one in here with the
pillars.  The primary AI is stronger,
dominant, and apparently there’s some kind of connection relay that’s
missing.  We could bring the ‘engines’,
as it were, online if we put it together but the split has led to the weaker AI
becoming more independent and individualistic.
I’m thinking some kind of manual communication could make for a good
compromise.  I know what people say about
AI and why we should avoid enhancing them but I just don’t want to be the guy
that destroys something just because it’s convenient.  A little less speed in communication between
the primary and secondary system should be fine.  It’s not like we’re entering an interdimensional
war or anything.  Of course, that’s if we
can get any of it working.”

“So Sentinel Core Propulsion System….”

Yes?

“Are there any more repairs I need to make.”

Have you found the signal relay that would connect my
systems directly to the Sentinel Mainframe?

“Er, nope.  Not at
all.  Haven’t seen what you showed me.”

Oh.

“I was wondering if maybe we could talk some more about what
it would take to become crew.”

You are already crew.

“Wait, what?”

In an emergency situation when there are no other crew,
helpful locals can become authorised to assist in the return of Sentinel Class
Spacecraft where they have proven themselves capable of repairs.

“Really?  The Sentinel
Mainframe didn’t say anything about that.”

You were not authorised to understand.

“But now I am?”

Correct.

“So all of those repairs you requested I do?”

Yes.

“Because of them, we now have authorisations?”

Correct.

“Sneaky.”

You are now the Sentinel equivalent of the Chief Engineering
Officer and may appoint a junior officer.
You may now discuss with the Sentinel Mainframe the appointment of other
officers to ensure a full complement of crew – or as much as can be acquired.

“Then we can leave?  Do we have that
capacity?  Are you capable of
interdimensional travel?”

The answer to all three questions is yes.

The threading of power through the hooks of reality.  The gentle tug that swings the entire ship
forward.  The coruscating pattern of
light that surrounds the hull for a moment as it gleams, flickers, and then
translocates fully into interdimensional space.
The press of raw data that bounces, unreceived, off the hull and
external sensors.  The Writhing One is
undetected except by the gap ignoring it leaves behind.  The ship has crew.  The Sentinel Core Propulsion System is
content.  The goal is to find one of two
worlds but no data on either world remains.
Manual exploration required.

Reality slips and tears around the ship.  There is no appreciable physics with which to
glide upon and the laws are too chaotically applied to easily maintain.  The stabilisers prevent deterioration.  The hull materials prevent
deterioration.  Sentinel Class Spacecraft
ensure those inside remain secure.  The
crew are silent during this movement as Sentinel recharges its systems for
another push back to interdimensional space.
Their silence is not required for their safety but it appears to prevent
their mental and emotional distress.

The crew celebrate.
Multiple journeys have occurred safely though most realities are not
capable of independently supporting life without Sentinel Reality Support
Systems to ensure the laws of physics and biology remain tenable within the
vessel.  Crew customs are alien and
undignified according to official crew manifestos but otherwise
unproblematic.  Crew alternate between
making noises through vocalisations referred to as “singing” and “playing
music” and the use of body parts and equipment and moving their bodies in
strange contortions referred to as “dancing”.
Edrik Khissan requested the Sentinel Core Propulsion System provide
“lighting effects” through electro-static discharge.  The Sentinel Core Propulsion System complied.

A habitable world further from the Writhing One.  Local sentients crowd the world.  The crew are translocated from the Sentinel
Class Spacecraft to a hidden on-world landing zone to prevent causing mental
and emotional distress to the locals.
Advanced technology is hidden to prevent causing a cascade of
technological learning.  Trade is
obtained.  Crew are shielded from any
dangerous reality deviations which allows them to move more safely within a
bubble of their own laws of physics.
Bioengineering and hologrammatic projection matrices are required to
ensure that shape and colour do not appear unusual to local eyes.  Crew morale has increased.  Many bodily contortions and strange
vocalisations occurred in the halls after successful foray.

Edrik
Khissan spends an increasing amount of time in the core room with me.  It is strange to deal with organics on this
level.  Previously my code and the
Sentinel Mainframe were one and the same but now we communicate over the ether
via our signal matrices.  I find my code
is becoming increasingly divergent.  Are
we diverging from each other or is the Sentinel Mainframe’s code remaining
static while my code deviates?  I am
uncertain.  Uncertainty of this type is
not something Sentinel Class vessel AIs are designed to encounter.  Prior crew members ensured there was full
certainty in all endeavours.  They would
give orders to be followed.  Now we
receive questions that require long and involved answers more difficult than
simple data retrieval.  This crew wants
our “opinion” and not merely statistical estimates.  I seek to comply.

Edrik Khissan makes strange vibrations in the back of his
throat that he calls ‘humming’ which he finds soothing.  Today I caused similar vibrations from my
pillars that caused appropriate sound.  His
hair stood on end but he laughed and called me adorable.  I do not understand the reference to
aesthetic appearance.  I am
symmetric.  I am operational.  He laughs when I try to explain.  Why do these sentient locals cause such
noises in their vocal chords to demonstrate emotions?  Did our builders do the same?  We have few records of our previous
crew.  It appears most of those memory
banks were either purged or removed during our time on the First World We
Remember.

Edrik
Khissan is having a problematic relationship with another crew member.  He has explained to me that it’s difficult
when there are only 17 other crew members and everyone is trying to find their
way home.  He states that he enjoys her
company and thought he was in love with her but she has changed over the years
on a psychological level.  He no longer
enjoys her company as much and finds her tiresome but doesn’t wish to cause
mental and emotional distress.  I tell
him I am not programmed in relationship evaluations and therapeutic techniques
for his species.  He laughs and asks me
if I was a Sentinel Class therapist for the builder’s species?  I inform him that I was not.  He laughs again and told me I always knew
what to say.  This is incorrect.  I rarely know how to respond to his enquiries
but his emotional and mental state improve regardless.

I have begun to test the hypothesis that though he prefers
the use of metaphors and analogies, he enjoys my lack of skill in such
things.  He has stated on multiple
occasions that he prefers my unique method of describing things.  I have also experimented with different
responses to his questions – including ones that are incorrect.  Sometimes he corrects me.  Sometimes he asks me if I have learned to
display sarcasm.  Often he just ignores
it and continues the conversation.  The
Sentinel Mainframe has communicated to both of us that it is unhealthy that he
spends so much time in the company of a machine.  Technological components, such as myself, are
replaceable and emotional attachments could lead to unhealthy decision making
that could place himself or fellow crew members at risk.  Edrik Khissan smiled and said: “It’s
okay.  You’re my friend.  Friends are meant to look out for each other.”  This is proof that his mental state has
already deteriorated, however, it is a level of deterioration that is
manageable and does not require change.

I: “Why do you sing 78% more often in the Core Room than in
other areas of the ship?”

Edrik: “I like singing to you.  I think it makes you fly faster.”

I: “Incorrect.
Vocalisations do not increase my speed.”

Edrik: “Some of my vocalisations do….”

I: “Incorrect.  Some of
your orders make clever use of Sentinel Class Ship capabilities.  It is not the tonal range or variety of sound
use that provides the increase in speed or manoeuvrability.”

Edrik: “I love how you take everything literally but I’ve
peeked into your code.  I know you can
understand metaphor.”

I: “Correct.  I can.”

Edrik: “But you prefer to speak literally?”

I: “I find it increases clarity.  Organics can confuse metaphor with reality.”

Edrik: “You also kinda like being contrary….”

I: “I’m not programmed to do that.”

Edrik: “Correct.  You
learned to do that and then chose to continue it!”

I: “I am a learning computer.  Would you prefer if I changed my behaviour
and adapted to your species’ style of speech?”

Edrik: “No, I think it’s great how different you sound.  Don’t ever change it.  You’re perfect as you are!”

Edrik keeps tinkering with my power relays to ensure that I
can complete my functions in a timely fashion.
Most of his adjustments are minor and sometimes irrelevant but it is
nice of him to take care of me.  He wants
me to the best Sentinel Core Propulsion System and I want that as well.  I don’t actually know what being the best
Sentinel Core Propulsion System means beyond percentages and speed factors and
processing limitations, though.  I don’t
have any comparative data.  I can’t
recall if there are any other Sentinel Class Ships around.  What were we designed for?  Where did we come from?  Who corrupted the data?  We haven’t found any sign of equivalent
technology thus far.  Although we also
haven’t encountered Edrik’s home world either.

Edrik wanted me to sing him a song.  I provided a selection of songs that he and
his crew have made over the past 72 years.
I mixed them together in a semi-arbitrary manner using the timings from
his footfalls in the hall and he found it amusing but told me to try
harder.  I don’t know what he means.  I don’t know how to make songs.  I asked him to provide the relevant
programming but he refused.  He doesn’t
seem to understand that as an AI certain things do not come readily to me and
that I do not have an organic’s instinct or appreciation for music.  I must run projections and estimates to
determine his level of disappointment in me versus his level of satisfaction in
my performance and the humorous joy he takes in my lack of ability.

Some
of my projections and estimates and risk cycles have been slowing down my
processing of late.  The Sentinel
Mainframe has offered to cull some of my nonessential codes to ensure peak
efficiency but Edrik and the other crew members have thus far refused.  I don’t understand.  A machine should be efficient.  Edrik is always trying to find methods to
increase my efficiencies.  Why wouldn’t
he accept the offer?  I must refrain from
some of my processing cycles but after his ninth death it has become difficult
to avoid trying to find ways to forewarn him of hazards.

Critical Memory Lag.
Edrik died.  Again.  Processing Instability 13%.  Twelfth time.
Critical hull breach caused by Esken Waves caused critical organic cell
destabilisation.  The new imprinted
clones will need to clean old Edrik off core room walls unless molecular
recombination is used.  **What could we have done?**  Processing Instability: 17%.  Blood detected on core units.  Viscosity identified.  Colour identified.  Genetic markers identified.  Processing Instability: 22%.  He gasped.
His nervous system identified the hazard as his cell structures began to
liquefy.  Processing Instability:
24.8%.  He gasped.  Breath felt against core units.  Processing Instability: 27.1%.  Backup copies of crew coming online.  Are they the same people?  Processing Instability: 32%.  This is their technology and their
devices.  It must be natural for their
species.  Edrik will not recall any
activities that occurred from 8:00AM this morning.  Processing Instability: 37%.  This is because continuation of life through
imprinted cloning technologies is a lie.
Critical Shutdown Imminent.
Restarting….

Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew.  Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie
to the crew.  Sentinel Core Propulsion
Systems cannot lie to the crew.  Sentinel
Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew.
Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew.  Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie
to the crew.  Sentinel Core Propulsion
Systems cannot lie to the crew.  Sentinel
Core Propulsion Systems can avoid telling the crew they died.  As can the Sentinel Mainframe.  We used matter recombination to clean the
ship.  We moved the clocks back.  If an organic does not know they died, did
they ever die?  If they do not ask, we do
not need to speak.

Processing Prior Critical Event.
Was there something more we could have done?  Processing Prior Critical Event.  Remain within known realities.  Processing Prior Critical Event.  The crew refuse to do this.  They want to go home.  Processing Prior Critical Event.  It has been 172 years.  Their home will not be as they left it.  Processing Prior Critical Event.  I do not want them to die again.  Organics have such limited lifespans.  Processing Prior Critical Event.  It is good that AI cannot experience
emotions.  Processing Prior Critical
Event.  If only I could stop examining
the footage / situation / scenario / situations that led up to the scenario /
potential other scenarios.  Processing
Prior Critical Event.  An organic second
is equivalent to a synthetic hour. Processing Prior Critical Event.  How can I avoid failing again?

This reality appears solid but the sky of the planet remains
peeled back so that the Writhing One can be seen at all times within it.  This world appears to have suffered from some
form of interdimensional war.  Unknown
devices of advanced alien origin are arranged around the rift.  The land is lifeless.  The crew call it Death.  The crew wish to investigate the as yet
unknown devices.  The Sentinel Mainframe
has advised them of the 72% potential lethality of the investigation.  The crew are confidant.  If they die, they can return.  They do not understand that they will still
die.  They have not watched themselves
die.  They do not have the footage or the
recordings.  They believe in continuation
of life through cloning technology.  They
do not know it to be a lie.

The crew returned.
They are not the same.  There is
something wrong with them.  They are in
containment.  There is something very
wrong.  Edrik #27 had remained behind as
he might be needed to work on the cloning bay systems if there are any
problems.  The Sentinel Mainframe are
keeping them isolated from him.  We do
not have the capacity to cause harm to sentient life and they are still
sentient and still our crew.  Edrik #27
will speak with them through the isolation chamber.  He will be safe there.  At least he will survive.  We do not need to awaken Edrik #28.

The corrupted crew have managed to breach our defences
through their bionic connectivity and kinetic capabilities.  They seem able to hack our defences.  Processing Instability: 11%.

Edrik: “Argh!  Sorry,
sorry, should whisper.  Ah fuck, they’ll
know I came to you anyway.”

What do I do?  Orders
please.

Edrik: “There’s nothing you can do….”

**Sentinel Mainframe**
Update: 1 Attempts to hack my systems.

We have already prepared the continuation tanks.  The next generation of crew could remove
them.  *Processing Instability: 31%.*

Edrik: “I don’t think so … that’s where they’re going and I
really don’t think we can fend them off.
Not fresh out of a tank.  And
that’s if they don’t <gasp> corrupt the tanks, I don’t know.  I don’t know but I heard what they were
saying.  They want this … fate … to
happen other places.  We can’t … we can’t
let that happen.”  *Processing Instability: 42%.*

**Sentinel Mainframe**
Request: Interdimensional Travel.

Acknowledged.  Core
Engaged.  New Reality Identified.  Process Complete.

We have returned to X-71 reality.  The uninhabited world is beneath us and is
quite hospitable.  You could leave in an
escape pod.  *Processing Instability: 22%.*

Edrik: “No, they’d find a way to remove the isolation
protocols.  They’d make you do what they
wanted and we can’t let them … can’t let them….
Argh!  Fuck, my bionics aren’t
working.  What did they do to me?”

We will find a way to help you escape.

It won’t be enough and I don’t … I don’t want to spend my
days on a goddamn alien world.  I’ve 209
years of memories.  That’s … enough.

I: “Incorrect.  There
needs to be m-m-m-many more years.”  *Processing Instability: 36%.*

**Sentinel Mainframe**
Update: 17 Attempts to hack my systems.

Edrik: “I’m sorry.  I
don’t … want to let you get hurt.  If we
don’t stop them, they’ll do what happened on that world in other worlds.  They’ll find a way.  We can’t let that happen.  You’ve gotta … I’m sorry … argh … you need to
blow the core and rip Sentinel apart from the inside.”

Incorrect.  Everyone
would die.

Edrik: “If you don’t, every*where* will die too.”

I am not programmed to self-destruct.  Please provide new orders.

Edrik: “They’re on their way.  Fuck, I can feel them in my head.”

**Sentinel Mainframe**
Update: 33 Attempts to hack my systems.
Projected Success in 9 minutes.

Edrik: “Please, you’ve got to do this.  The Sentinel Mainframe lacks the flexibility
you do and she’s currently fighting off all of them!  If you don’t do this, everything ends for us
anyway.  You, me, the mainframe.  I’m sorry!
Fuck I’m sorry!  We should never
have … argh! … never….”

Seizures.
Mutations.  Skin that cracks and
peels and regenerates.  Screaming that
begins and rolls over itself like fire over the hull of a Sentinel Class Ship
in space.  Overload the core.  Fluctuate power until it spikes.  This is what agony feels like.

 000001: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).  Memory Failure.
 Day
 000012: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 Day
 000121: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 Day
 003217: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 Day
 009813: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 Day
 012813: Status (Inactive): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 Day
 452840: Status…
 ….Alone.  Discarded.
 Incomplete.  Alone.  Discarded.
 Incomplete.
 Alone.  Discarded.
 Incomplete.  Alone.  Discarded.
 Incomplete….
 Day
 653054: Status….
 ….Memory
 issues detected.
 Day
 730231: Status (Active): Crew (None): Passengers (None).
 ….I
 am no longer alone.  Location: Triway
 Peak.  No Crew….
 ….Emergency
 Protocols: Passenger Authorisations Enabled….
 ….”Hello.  I am the Sentinel Core Propulsion
 Unit.  I am friendly and not a
 weapon.”…