Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 17, 2009 22:40:29 GMT -5
A messenger ran into the office "Athena! News from the north, everything has shut down and the robots are missing!" He then collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.
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Post by Athena on Aug 17, 2009 22:41:46 GMT -5
"Oh, well, that's not good," points out Athena. This is true. This is not good at all.
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 17, 2009 22:44:59 GMT -5
The doorman walks in. "Lady Athena, sorry for the disturbance, but there are more messengers awaiting you." He has great posture and is wearing a black butler's suit.
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Post by Athena on Aug 17, 2009 22:46:26 GMT -5
"Send them in," demands Athena, leaning back in her chair and taking a deep breath.
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 17, 2009 22:53:17 GMT -5
The doorman leaves the door open and exits the room. Two dozen sweaty people in various clothing enter the room, one has a robot, the others avoid her. The woman with the robot speaks first "Archivist, the mindless robots have gone rogue. This one here has AI technology. But all communications and power has stopped functioning to the north of here. The gears have even stopped turning."
Another messenger butts in, "You must tell us what to do!" A third says: "I witnessed a troop of army-bots marching towards the Court and Sonambulist territories! Surely they will consider this an act of war!" A fourth "How could this happen? You must know!"
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Post by Athena on Aug 17, 2009 23:16:43 GMT -5
Athena stood up, glanced at Lailoken and gave him a quick nod. Then, "Lyneet, are there any other AI robots unaffected by the change?" she asked; and then, turning to the messengers, she continued "Gregory; I am prepared. Tuck your shirt in. Helga; yes, they will consider it an act of war. See if you can head them off; tell them that we are just as baffled as they are. Fiarcha, I don't know, but I have my suspicions."
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
|
Post by Howl on Aug 17, 2009 23:24:59 GMT -5
Lyneet: "There are many, all of the intelligent robots are maintaining themselves, but they no longer have to obey the 3 laws. They seem to be taking it well, Andromache here says that the hive-mind consensus is that the first and third laws are now equal, and they'll obey reasonable orders. We still control of all the mindless ones south of here."
Gregory tucks his shirt in and sits down.
Helga: "Who are you sending where, my lady?"
Fiarcha crosses her arms and pouts.
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Post by Athena on Aug 17, 2009 23:49:05 GMT -5
"Helga, will you go to the Sonambulist headquarters?" asks Athena. "Fiarcha, you need to go out and warn the general outskirts of Sonambulist territory. Take Gregory with you." She turns to Lyneet. "Go warn the Court. If they'll listen."
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 17, 2009 23:51:59 GMT -5
The messengers all leave, and give the messengers universal "I hope you don't get killed for delivering bad news" sign to each other. The other dozen and a half messengers stand and sign as well. "Shall we help warn the Sonambulists as well? The sooner they know, the better, and their towns are a long ways apart."
"What about the Firestarters? Do you think they should know?"
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Post by Athena on Aug 18, 2009 0:02:23 GMT -5
"Yes. That's an excellent idea, Rowena. Padma, yes; perhaps the Firestarters should know as well. Again, if they'll listen."
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 18, 2009 0:04:23 GMT -5
The rest of the messengers scattered out of the room, and the doorman shut the door, leaving Athena alone with Andromache, who remained still.
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Post by Athena on Aug 18, 2009 0:06:10 GMT -5
Athena looks up sharply from her calculations to Andromache. "Do you know anything?" she asks.
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 18, 2009 0:08:57 GMT -5
"I know many things, Archivist, but the information we've gathered about this incident is limited." Andromache pauses to make sure Athena absorbs it all. "We know that the incident occurred this morning at 10:32 and that the mindless started marching at the same time the gears stopped. We've also lost communication with them."
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Post by Athena on Aug 18, 2009 0:11:14 GMT -5
Athena pauses. "Are 'the mindless' marching exactly the same way, at exactly the same time?" she asks. "Are they in a line, in a row, are they looking straight ahead of them?"
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Howl
Scholar
I know I'm crazy, thank you
Posts: 283
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Post by Howl on Aug 18, 2009 0:14:26 GMT -5
Andromache doesn't respond for a few seconds "Reports are varied. The army-bots at the northernmost factory are reported to have done exactly that. No patterns are detected in the movement of the mindless, continuousness is random."
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