Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 12, 2008 1:20:26 GMT -6
Roland sighed, leaning his head back against the tree behind him. He'd been wandering through this damn forest for 3 days, and he couldn't tell if he was anywhere near the edge of it.
For the first day, he'd used his emergency rations. He'd designed them himself, granola bar-sized pieces of nutrition that fulfilled all of a human body's daily needs. However, he'd only had 1 on him. After that, he learned to hunt.
The learning was the toughest part. However, once he'd learned how best to hunt a deer with his weapons of choice, it became almost easy. Just challenging enough to keep him from loathing the activity of it.
Unfortunately, he was currently out of food, as well as power in his batons. He'd struggled to find a spot in this endless forest with enough sunlight to charge the things, and now, he was too tired to do anything but wait. One baton had already finished charging, but his charging station could only hold 1 at a time. At this rate, he'd be at this for nearly an hour.
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Post by scrap on Oct 12, 2008 13:12:26 GMT -6
A tall, metallic figure moved through the trees, circling around the human's impromptu 'camp'. It had fled from Visignis' mansion after repairing itself, and had fallen back on older programming for the time being. The focus of this programming was learning more about human behavior, so as to blend in better with their kind.
However, the direction the machine had gone contained precious few intelligent organisms. This human was the first being of it's kind the machine had found since leaving the mansion.
Attempting to follow it's programming, the machine circled the man slowly, just out of a human's maximum viewing range under the current lighting conditions. However, in it's obedience to it's programming, it did not account for the varied detritus along the forest floor. This led to a very noisy attempt at surveillance.
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 12, 2008 13:18:58 GMT -6
Roland's hand crept towards the fully charged baton at his side. He'd heard this thing coming for the last 5 minutes or so, and now, whatever it was had decided to circle him. However, with the exception of reaching for his baton, he attempted to remain as outwardly ignorant of the thing as possible.
Whatever it was, he didn't want it to know what was about to happen.
He waited, letting the thing make a wide circle around him 2 or 3 times, listening as it came closer with every pass. However, no matter how close it came, it never got close enough to see beyond the bright sunlight coming down through the trees. Whatever it was, it was smart.
On the 4th pass, he took his chance, waiting for the thing to come around his right side before reacting. His hand snatched up the baton in the blink of an eye, aiming it by ear and launching the small harpoon tip in the direction of the circling thing. Whatever it was, it was currently being charged with non-lethal, albeit very painful, jolts of electricity.
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Post by scrap on Oct 15, 2008 15:39:32 GMT -6
SCRAP looked down at its thigh, which was impaled by a small barb, attached to a cable. It followed the cable to its source, held by the human it had been observing. It turned, ignoring the barb that was still attached to it, and began to walk towards the human.
"ATTEMPTS AT NATURALISTIC OBSERVATION ABORTED. MOVING TO ENGAGE."
The machine managed a few steps before it's progress was halted by the voltage flowing through the cable. It stood, shaking visibly, the lights that represented its eyes flickering rapidly. However, after a moment, though the current continued, the shaking and flickering ceased, and the machine looked directly at the human.
"SUBJECT HAS ATTEMPTED TO UTILIZE ELECTRIC CURRENT TO SUBDUE THIS UNIT. MEASUREMENT OF VOLTAGE INDICATES THE SOURCE DEVICE WAS DESIGNED FOR USE AGAINST BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS. DEVICE NOTED IN MEMORY FILES."
The machine reached down, pulling the barb out of its thigh, and dropping it to the ground. It raised a hand towards the human, a dull glow lighting up the palm. A low humming filled the area.
"YOU WILL BE GIVEN ONE OPPORTUNITY TO JUSTIFY YOUR ACTIONS. SHOULD YOUR JUSTIFICATION PROVE INSUFFICIENT, YOU WILL BE SUBJECTED TO HIGH FREQUENCY SOUND WAVES, WHICH HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED TO CAUSE PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 16, 2008 0:03:08 GMT -6
Roland flinched slightly as the machine pulled the barb out and kept walking. True, the weapon had been designed with...living things...in mind, but for any machine to continue operating as if nothing had happened? It had to have some kind of basic EMP shielding, at the least.
He grimaced at the low humming. As it was, the sound was enough to make him slightly nauseous. He didn't doubt the accuracy of the robot's claim.
"My name is Roland Van Patten. I am from the world of Argalia, and I did not mean to do you harm. I am a hunter, and you snuck up on me. I assumed you were some form of...game. Do you understand?"
He mentally crossed his fingers, glancing down at the progress of the second baton, then remembered the minimal effect the first one had had. He could only hope that his 'justification' was sufficient. If not...well, he'd just hope to God it was.
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Post by scrap on Oct 16, 2008 0:09:24 GMT -6
There was nearly a full minute of silence, interrupted only by the occasional click or whir from the machine. Eventually, the low hum ceased as the machine lowered its arm. It took a few steps forward, bringing itself into the sunlight that filled the small clearing.
"YOUR JUSTIFICATION IS SUFFICIENT. WHILE YOUR CLAIMS AS TO YOUR ORIGIN ARE SUSPECT, YOUR REASONING FOR YOUR ATTACK IS LOGICAL."
The machine's head twitched, archiving the encounter thus far. However, in it's review of the events, it noticed something. It twitched again, speaking once more.
"THE VOLTAGE MEASURED FROM YOUR ATTACK IS SUFFICIENT TO PLACE ORDINARY HUMANS INTO A STATE OF CARDIAC ARREST. QUERY: WHAT DO YOU HUNT?"
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 16, 2008 0:15:41 GMT -6
Roland blinked. It was the only outward expression of the surprise he felt at this machine's question, and the logic behind it. However, he could see no harm in telling the robot more. As a matter of fact, the machine's specifying 'normal' humans piqued his interest a great deal.
"My usual prey are those who would appear human, but are not. They possess special traits and abilities that set them apart from humanity. Remove them from it. They are my prey. I hunt them to exterminate the threat they pose to humans."
Roland said all this almost by reflex. A good deal of it was from the Reclaimer's Creed. Not the entire thing...the entire thing was published, the Reclaimer's Manifesto. But the key ideas behind it were there.
"Tell me, robot. Do you know what I am talking about? Do you have any knowledge in your memory about these so-called 'superhumans'?"
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Post by scrap on Oct 16, 2008 0:23:54 GMT -6
"SEARCHING...SEARCHING...THERE ARE SEVERAL RECORDED INSTANCES OF 'SUPERHUMANS' IN MY ARCHIVES. MY CURRENT PROGRAMMING IS DEDICATED TO AN ACT VERY SIMILAR TO YOUR 'HUNT'. HOWEVER, PRELIMINARY ATTEMPTS AT THE ENGAGEMENT OF THE TARGET RESULTED IN UNACCEPTABLE MATERIAL LOSSES."
The machine's head jerked again. Inside what a human would call it's 'mind', new pathways were being constructed. New ways of using its available computing power were being created. Along one of these new pathways, the machine combined knowledge of human nature, and this human in particular, with it's logic centers. It was thinking. And it had come up with an idea.
"HUMAN DESIGNATION: ROLAND. MY PROGRAMMING ALLOWS FOR THE USE OF NON-PROGRAMMED TACTICS TOWARDS THE COMPLETION OF MY DIRECTIVE. I HAVE A PROPOSAL FOR YOU."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 16, 2008 0:31:26 GMT -6
Roland's look of surprise was genuine. He knew a fair deal about computers, and AI. But...even in the course of their conversation so far, this machine had gone from referring to itself as 'this unit' to using words like 'my'. If he didn't know better, he would have said it was learning.
He did know better, though. This thing was operating withing it's programming, whether it realized it or not. It was probably equipped with an adaptive language unit, to improve human interaction over time. That was it. Besides, he was too busy considering the thing's proposal to be concerned about something as silly as a 'smart' AI.
This thing had shrugged off one of his batons like it was nothing, then proceeded to realistically threaten him with permanent brain damage. For anything to cause 'unacceptable material loss' to this thing, it would have had to pack one hell of a punch. And that, in itself, presented an opportunity he simply couldn't pass up.
"Deal, robot. However, I have a few requests. First off, cut the 'human designation' thing when speaking to me. Refer to me as either 'Roland' or 'Master'. Second, I need something to call you, other than 'robot'. What is your designation?"
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Post by scrap on Oct 16, 2008 0:38:30 GMT -6
"VERY WELL, HUMAN DESI----ROLAND. YOUR TERMS ARE ACCEPTABLE. I HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED 'SELF-CONTAINED REPLICATION AUTONOMOUS PROTOTYPE'. HOWEVER, I HAVE BEEN CALLED BY THE NAME 'SCRAP'. THIS IS ACCEPTABLE."
Wasting no time, the machine turned, walking towards the edge of the clearing, back towards Visignis' mansion. However, it stopped by the charging station for Roland's batons. It knelt down, placing a hand both on the one in the station, and the two on the ground nearby. There was a moment of flickering in its eyes, combined with a rapid beeping from the batons as they were fully charged.
SCRAP stood, its upward-facing surfaces turning a darker grey momentarily, as its nanites converted solar energy into power, to replace that used to charge the batons. Within seconds, SCRAP's eyes were back to their usual, soulless green, and it returned to its normal silver sheen.
"ROLAND. I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF RECHARGING YOUR WEAPONS. WE HAVE LITTLE TIME TO SPARE. FOLLOW ME TO THE TARGET'S LAST KNOWN LOCATION."
With that, SCRAP turned and began to walk away, leaving a human-sized hole through the underbrush.
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Post by Roland on Oct 16, 2008 0:41:24 GMT -6
Roland watched, speechless, as SCRAP recharged his batons. After the robot walked off, he stood there for a moment, as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. However, he snapped out of it as soon as he remembered: the hunt was on. And from the sounds of it, the target was definitely worth the effort.
He ran around the clearing, collapsing the charging station and placing it back in his bag. Then, gathering up his batons, he ran after SCRAP.
Oh, yes. The hunt was on again.
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