TBG Omake - A Computer by Any Other Name
Nov. 14th, 2017 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoAN: This is an omake fanfic of a Quest (fanfic) called To Boldly Go, based primarily on Star Trek.
This plot bunny bit out of the blue. It's a direct sequel to The Definition of Life. Basically, the in-game reward for the previous omake was to have Mipek and Yanag assigned to the USS Lightning, which is running the experimental testbed for the isolinear computer system before we can roll that out to the fleet. (And as a result, Lightning gets a +1 science stat out of it too.)
Then, I looked over the Q2 logs for the Lightning, and lo and behold, they had a mission to the computer-phobic Arcadian Empire. And so, this fic happened.
Also, I guess I'm starting to fill out the non-Seigaku expies. Though at this point, I'm just using the Tenipuri characters as the basis for coming up with names and rough job/skill profiles. Characterization is not going to be the same since they're not all high school tennis players.
A Computer By Any Other Name
Personal Log, Stardate 27112.6, Specialist Reng Yanag
It feels like Mipek and I have barely settled in on the USS Lightning before the ship rushed off on its first mission. I suspect their departure had been delayed by last minute reassignments on who would be handling the experimental isolinear computer. I also suspect said changes to have come from high above, since Captain T’Linn looked...well, let’s call it ‘less than unperturbed’ when she handed the orders to me.
In a way, it’s a relief. The Daystrom Institute may be wrong, but they’ve been around since forever, and familiarity breeds a kind of loyalty in the SDB. Of course, another significant faction agrees with me, and tensions between these groups have made the unofficial SDB mess hall an...uncomfortable place to be. So, I can understand why Command might want to ‘remove the spark from the tinders’, as the saying goes.
Mipek remembers its travels on the Odyssey fondly and welcomes another stint on a Starfleet ship. As for myself, this will be my first space assignment. I will endeavour to perform my best.
~~~~~
MISSION.LOG.27118.912 UPDATING...
Primary Job Status Report...ISO-X support...open.
..ISO-X Hardware Status Check...skip.
..ISO-X Environment Status Check...skip.
..ISO-X Software Status Check...update.
....Latest patch update...27118-78543-iso1368.sdb...Successful.
....Simulation Run 102...Success...Variance 0.112.
....Simulation Run 103...Success...Variance 0.033.
....Simulation Run 104...Fail...Variance 5.331.
....Diagnostic Output...Pending.
....Patch update...27118-94548-iso1368.sdb...Pending.
..ISO-X Diagnostic Status Check...Pending...Diagnostic toolkit retrieval
..Notes...update.
....No operational stress expected on ISO-X unit unless captain allows rogue mentat aboard...Continue running boring simulations and minor tweaks.
....No sign of ISO-X flying apart or developing sentience after ‘1 week’ cruise operation...Forward betting pool updates to ECG.
Secondary Job Status Report...Vega trade negotiations...update.
..Federation-Licori relations research...Completed 100%...update database.
..Arcadian Empire background research...Completed 70%
..Arcadian negotiators backgrounds research...Completed 80%
..Arcadian negotiators avoidance protocol...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior remote observation...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior close observation...Calculating Risk Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...costume camouflage...Pending Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...obfuscation...Pending Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...shock and truth...Pending Analysis.
END UPDATE
~~~~~
With the ship resting idle at the Vega starbase, there wasn’t much going on that would require a lot of computing power. Since he had already gone over what data had been collected on the isolinear computer module on the flight over, Yanag found his current routine to be...well, routine.
That was why he was surprised to nearly trip over a stranger on entering the secondary computer bay.
“My pardons,” he greeted the obviously Licori visitor politely. On closer study, the stranger was young, perhaps fifteen or so years of age if going by similarities to Indorian physical cues. Wondering if this was a child of one of the Licori negotiators, Yanag followed his apology with a question. “Are you lost, young man?”
The young Licori had also recovered from nearly being run over. “L-lost? O-of course not!” He puffed up in affected arrogance. “I am precisely where I should be!” Unfortunately, the faint stutter and the way his eyes nervously shifted from side to side belied his boldness.
While the twitchiness of visitor was suspicious, he seemed too young to be a threat. Even so, Yanag kept his voice calm and his motions casual as he moved away from the door to the control panels nearby.
“Well, my name is Reng Yanag,” he introduced himself, “a specialist assigned to this ship. What’s your name?”
“I am A-akayi Kirih, Squire-in-training to Lord Kaanwa of House Rithe!” the young man announced proudly. Unfortunately, his voice broke into a squeak at the end, causing him to flush and tilt his chin up in a show of defiance.
Yanag immediately revised the boy’s age downwards. He must be closer to twelve, thirteen at the most.
“So, Mr. Kirih,” the Indorian said blandly, calling the boy’s bluff, “what brings you to the Lightning’s computer bay?”
“C-computer!” the boy immediately yelped, his eyes widening comically as his head whipped around, as if expecting to be jumped by sudden attackers.
The behavior reminded Yanag of the pet his sister owned, a yappy thing that was often excited by its own shadow. He had to suppress the urge to reach out and pet the boy over the head.
“Calm down, Mr. Kirih,” Yanag soothed with a calming gesture. “I don’t know what horror stories you’ve been told, but the computers can’t attack you. See?” So saying, he raised a fist and rapped lightly on a nearby panel.
Perhaps it was his even tone, or perhaps it was simply that nothing actually did attack them, but Kirih did calm down after another moment of tenseness.
“I-I was told,” he began tentatively, all bravado now gone, “that c-computers are…unnatural.”
Yanag tilted his head in an exaggerated motion of deep thought. “If by unnatural, you mean something that does not exist without any living being involved, then yes, that is true. But, the same could be said about the clothes we wear and the houses we live in, does it not?”
Kirih scowled at the analogy, some of his boldness returning. “That’s not what I meant! I’m not a dummy, you know?”
“Of course not,” Yanag assured him, trying hard to keep amusement out of his voice. “What did you mean then?”
“Computers are made to…think better than people,” answered Kirih more confidently. “It’s unnatural for something not-alive to be superior to a Licor--uh, living mind.”
The small smile slipped off of Yanag’s face as he was starkly reminded of the trial he had just left behind in Sol. Granted, the Licori was coming at it from the opposite direction as the Daystrom Institute, out of fear rather than covetousness, but the attitude...the underlying attitude of smug superiority in one’s own kind was so much alike.
“That’s an awfully limiting way to look at it Mr. Kirih,” Yanag said slowly, “that it all should be a competition between your mind and the computer. Have you considered it doesn’t have to be that way? That it can be a cooperation, with the computer and the people working together?”
Kirih’s brows furrowed. “Why...why would a computer want to work with a person inferior to it?”
Yanag thought of V’ger, a great intelligence traveling a lonely journey in search of answers, before finding it in imperfection.
“Why would anyone?,” he echoed quietly. “Maybe they need the perspective that can only come from a diversity of views. After all, look at the Federation--” He swept his arms out, as if encompassing the room. “--They didn’t need Indoria, who were inferior to them. Nor Gaen, who were the same. And a number of others besides. But they still welcomed us, and in accepting us, they…we have also become stronger.”
“I--that--” Kirih stuttered at the speech, wide-eyed.
Realizing that he had let show more of his true emotions than he had intended, Yanag cleared his throat and dropped his arms back to his side.
“Or, if we’re just talking about the computers we normally use on this ship, they work for us because they’re designed to,” he stated with an offhand wave. “They’re not sentient, Mr. Kirih. Nor always better than living beings in everything.”
“They’re not?” Kirih asked, still looking a bit overwhelmed.
“Not at all,” Yanag assured him, even as an idea occurred to him. “Here, let me show...you..."
His words trailed off, as the moment he turned and headed toward a diagnostic panel to one side of the room, he suddenly spotted a figure peeking out from an alcove near the back of the room. A very familiar, hovering, form.
“Ah? Mr. Yanag?” Kirih looked up at the Indorian, confused by the sudden stall in motion.
Thank goodness for the obliviousness of youth.
“...Right this way.” With a smooth turn and a casual hand on the young Licori’s shoulder, Yanag guided the both of them toward another nearby panel -- one that would leave them facing away from Mipek’s not-so-stealthy form.
Since he wasn’t able to get to the diagnostic logs panel because someone was using it as a hiding spot, Yanag instead tapped at the communications panel. There, he entered in his personal authorization code, and pulled up the last communique he’d received from his sister.
She was a few years older than he was, and worked in the cyber-security agency of the Argyle Bench. Most of her work was being hired to attack computer systems, to find their weaknesses so that their clients, ranging from universities to corporations to government institutions, can secure them. Once in a while, she would come across an unique setup that the owner once thought impenetrable, and sometimes she would send him the abridged story of how she conquered the challenge.
Yanag had already memorized the letter by heart, so he was able to explain the details with half his attention focused instead on watching the reflection of Mipek from a stray panel out of the corner of his eye. At first, he didn’t know what the probe thought it was doing, risking exposure to the volatile Licori. Then, he realized what it was doing when a diagnostic tool kit was lifted off a nearby table, and floated along with the probe back into the alcove.
With a sense of relief he didn’t dare show, Yanag finally refocused his attention back onto the conversation with the Licori boy. As he did, he wondered how much of his rambling had been comprehensible to someone who hadn’t had any exposure to advanced computing before. To his surprise, however, Kirih had been able to follow most of his story, and even ask some intelligent questions.
“You’re very good at this, Mr. Kirih,” Yanag spoke the thoughts aloud.
Kirih flushed again, though this time it was from the praise. “Akayi,” he said. “You can just call me Akayi.” Then he ducked his head. “And...I’m not going to see anything like this back home, anyway.”
“Don’t be so sure, Akayi.” Yanag tried to reassure him. “Your home is in a period of change. Who knows what the future will hold?”
Kirih still looked uncertain. Another thought occurred to Yanag. Not so coincidentally, it would also take them out of that room.
“Come on,” he said as he placed a hand about Kirih’s shoulders once more. “I have a personal computer in my room. It’s small, discreet, and I built it myself. I’ll show you how to work it, and you can dial anywhere on the Federation’s network with it. There’s a lot you can learn.”
He could always build another one later. Maybe they could exchange letters.
~~~~~
MISSION.LOG.27119.627 UPDATING...
Primary Job Status Report...ISO-X support...skip.
Secondary Job Status Report...Vega trade negotiations...update.
..Federation-Licori relations research...Completed.
..Arcadian Empire background research...Completed 70%
..Arcadian negotiators backgrounds research...Completed 100%...update database.
..Arcadian negotiators avoidance protocol...Under Revision.
..Arcadian behavior remote observation...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior close observation...20%...analyzing results.
..Notes...update.
....Hypothesis...Licori youth have extreme tunnel vision?...Pending Analysis
....Reminder...Replacement computer for Specialist Yanag in apology...Pending
END UPDATE
~~~~~
This plot bunny bit out of the blue. It's a direct sequel to The Definition of Life. Basically, the in-game reward for the previous omake was to have Mipek and Yanag assigned to the USS Lightning, which is running the experimental testbed for the isolinear computer system before we can roll that out to the fleet. (And as a result, Lightning gets a +1 science stat out of it too.)
Then, I looked over the Q2 logs for the Lightning, and lo and behold, they had a mission to the computer-phobic Arcadian Empire. And so, this fic happened.
Also, I guess I'm starting to fill out the non-Seigaku expies. Though at this point, I'm just using the Tenipuri characters as the basis for coming up with names and rough job/skill profiles. Characterization is not going to be the same since they're not all high school tennis players.
Personal Log, Stardate 27112.6, Specialist Reng Yanag
It feels like Mipek and I have barely settled in on the USS Lightning before the ship rushed off on its first mission. I suspect their departure had been delayed by last minute reassignments on who would be handling the experimental isolinear computer. I also suspect said changes to have come from high above, since Captain T’Linn looked...well, let’s call it ‘less than unperturbed’ when she handed the orders to me.
In a way, it’s a relief. The Daystrom Institute may be wrong, but they’ve been around since forever, and familiarity breeds a kind of loyalty in the SDB. Of course, another significant faction agrees with me, and tensions between these groups have made the unofficial SDB mess hall an...uncomfortable place to be. So, I can understand why Command might want to ‘remove the spark from the tinders’, as the saying goes.
Mipek remembers its travels on the Odyssey fondly and welcomes another stint on a Starfleet ship. As for myself, this will be my first space assignment. I will endeavour to perform my best.
MISSION.LOG.27118.912 UPDATING...
Primary Job Status Report...ISO-X support...open.
..ISO-X Hardware Status Check...skip.
..ISO-X Environment Status Check...skip.
..ISO-X Software Status Check...update.
....Latest patch update...27118-78543-iso1368.sdb...Successful.
....Simulation Run 102...Success...Variance 0.112.
....Simulation Run 103...Success...Variance 0.033.
....Simulation Run 104...Fail...Variance 5.331.
....Diagnostic Output...Pending.
....Patch update...27118-94548-iso1368.sdb...Pending.
..ISO-X Diagnostic Status Check...Pending...Diagnostic toolkit retrieval
..Notes...update.
....No operational stress expected on ISO-X unit unless captain allows rogue mentat aboard...Continue running boring simulations and minor tweaks.
....No sign of ISO-X flying apart or developing sentience after ‘1 week’ cruise operation...Forward betting pool updates to ECG.
Secondary Job Status Report...Vega trade negotiations...update.
..Federation-Licori relations research...Completed 100%...update database.
..Arcadian Empire background research...Completed 70%
..Arcadian negotiators backgrounds research...Completed 80%
..Arcadian negotiators avoidance protocol...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior remote observation...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior close observation...Calculating Risk Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...costume camouflage...Pending Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...obfuscation...Pending Analysis.
....Experiment Proposal...shock and truth...Pending Analysis.
END UPDATE
With the ship resting idle at the Vega starbase, there wasn’t much going on that would require a lot of computing power. Since he had already gone over what data had been collected on the isolinear computer module on the flight over, Yanag found his current routine to be...well, routine.
That was why he was surprised to nearly trip over a stranger on entering the secondary computer bay.
“My pardons,” he greeted the obviously Licori visitor politely. On closer study, the stranger was young, perhaps fifteen or so years of age if going by similarities to Indorian physical cues. Wondering if this was a child of one of the Licori negotiators, Yanag followed his apology with a question. “Are you lost, young man?”
The young Licori had also recovered from nearly being run over. “L-lost? O-of course not!” He puffed up in affected arrogance. “I am precisely where I should be!” Unfortunately, the faint stutter and the way his eyes nervously shifted from side to side belied his boldness.
While the twitchiness of visitor was suspicious, he seemed too young to be a threat. Even so, Yanag kept his voice calm and his motions casual as he moved away from the door to the control panels nearby.
“Well, my name is Reng Yanag,” he introduced himself, “a specialist assigned to this ship. What’s your name?”
“I am A-akayi Kirih, Squire-in-training to Lord Kaanwa of House Rithe!” the young man announced proudly. Unfortunately, his voice broke into a squeak at the end, causing him to flush and tilt his chin up in a show of defiance.
Yanag immediately revised the boy’s age downwards. He must be closer to twelve, thirteen at the most.
“So, Mr. Kirih,” the Indorian said blandly, calling the boy’s bluff, “what brings you to the Lightning’s computer bay?”
“C-computer!” the boy immediately yelped, his eyes widening comically as his head whipped around, as if expecting to be jumped by sudden attackers.
The behavior reminded Yanag of the pet his sister owned, a yappy thing that was often excited by its own shadow. He had to suppress the urge to reach out and pet the boy over the head.
“Calm down, Mr. Kirih,” Yanag soothed with a calming gesture. “I don’t know what horror stories you’ve been told, but the computers can’t attack you. See?” So saying, he raised a fist and rapped lightly on a nearby panel.
Perhaps it was his even tone, or perhaps it was simply that nothing actually did attack them, but Kirih did calm down after another moment of tenseness.
“I-I was told,” he began tentatively, all bravado now gone, “that c-computers are…unnatural.”
Yanag tilted his head in an exaggerated motion of deep thought. “If by unnatural, you mean something that does not exist without any living being involved, then yes, that is true. But, the same could be said about the clothes we wear and the houses we live in, does it not?”
Kirih scowled at the analogy, some of his boldness returning. “That’s not what I meant! I’m not a dummy, you know?”
“Of course not,” Yanag assured him, trying hard to keep amusement out of his voice. “What did you mean then?”
“Computers are made to…think better than people,” answered Kirih more confidently. “It’s unnatural for something not-alive to be superior to a Licor--uh, living mind.”
The small smile slipped off of Yanag’s face as he was starkly reminded of the trial he had just left behind in Sol. Granted, the Licori was coming at it from the opposite direction as the Daystrom Institute, out of fear rather than covetousness, but the attitude...the underlying attitude of smug superiority in one’s own kind was so much alike.
“That’s an awfully limiting way to look at it Mr. Kirih,” Yanag said slowly, “that it all should be a competition between your mind and the computer. Have you considered it doesn’t have to be that way? That it can be a cooperation, with the computer and the people working together?”
Kirih’s brows furrowed. “Why...why would a computer want to work with a person inferior to it?”
Yanag thought of V’ger, a great intelligence traveling a lonely journey in search of answers, before finding it in imperfection.
“Why would anyone?,” he echoed quietly. “Maybe they need the perspective that can only come from a diversity of views. After all, look at the Federation--” He swept his arms out, as if encompassing the room. “--They didn’t need Indoria, who were inferior to them. Nor Gaen, who were the same. And a number of others besides. But they still welcomed us, and in accepting us, they…we have also become stronger.”
“I--that--” Kirih stuttered at the speech, wide-eyed.
Realizing that he had let show more of his true emotions than he had intended, Yanag cleared his throat and dropped his arms back to his side.
“Or, if we’re just talking about the computers we normally use on this ship, they work for us because they’re designed to,” he stated with an offhand wave. “They’re not sentient, Mr. Kirih. Nor always better than living beings in everything.”
“They’re not?” Kirih asked, still looking a bit overwhelmed.
“Not at all,” Yanag assured him, even as an idea occurred to him. “Here, let me show...you..."
His words trailed off, as the moment he turned and headed toward a diagnostic panel to one side of the room, he suddenly spotted a figure peeking out from an alcove near the back of the room. A very familiar, hovering, form.
“Ah? Mr. Yanag?” Kirih looked up at the Indorian, confused by the sudden stall in motion.
Thank goodness for the obliviousness of youth.
“...Right this way.” With a smooth turn and a casual hand on the young Licori’s shoulder, Yanag guided the both of them toward another nearby panel -- one that would leave them facing away from Mipek’s not-so-stealthy form.
Since he wasn’t able to get to the diagnostic logs panel because someone was using it as a hiding spot, Yanag instead tapped at the communications panel. There, he entered in his personal authorization code, and pulled up the last communique he’d received from his sister.
She was a few years older than he was, and worked in the cyber-security agency of the Argyle Bench. Most of her work was being hired to attack computer systems, to find their weaknesses so that their clients, ranging from universities to corporations to government institutions, can secure them. Once in a while, she would come across an unique setup that the owner once thought impenetrable, and sometimes she would send him the abridged story of how she conquered the challenge.
Yanag had already memorized the letter by heart, so he was able to explain the details with half his attention focused instead on watching the reflection of Mipek from a stray panel out of the corner of his eye. At first, he didn’t know what the probe thought it was doing, risking exposure to the volatile Licori. Then, he realized what it was doing when a diagnostic tool kit was lifted off a nearby table, and floated along with the probe back into the alcove.
With a sense of relief he didn’t dare show, Yanag finally refocused his attention back onto the conversation with the Licori boy. As he did, he wondered how much of his rambling had been comprehensible to someone who hadn’t had any exposure to advanced computing before. To his surprise, however, Kirih had been able to follow most of his story, and even ask some intelligent questions.
“You’re very good at this, Mr. Kirih,” Yanag spoke the thoughts aloud.
Kirih flushed again, though this time it was from the praise. “Akayi,” he said. “You can just call me Akayi.” Then he ducked his head. “And...I’m not going to see anything like this back home, anyway.”
“Don’t be so sure, Akayi.” Yanag tried to reassure him. “Your home is in a period of change. Who knows what the future will hold?”
Kirih still looked uncertain. Another thought occurred to Yanag. Not so coincidentally, it would also take them out of that room.
“Come on,” he said as he placed a hand about Kirih’s shoulders once more. “I have a personal computer in my room. It’s small, discreet, and I built it myself. I’ll show you how to work it, and you can dial anywhere on the Federation’s network with it. There’s a lot you can learn.”
He could always build another one later. Maybe they could exchange letters.
MISSION.LOG.27119.627 UPDATING...
Primary Job Status Report...ISO-X support...skip.
Secondary Job Status Report...Vega trade negotiations...update.
..Federation-Licori relations research...Completed.
..Arcadian Empire background research...Completed 70%
..Arcadian negotiators backgrounds research...Completed 100%...update database.
..Arcadian negotiators avoidance protocol...Under Revision.
..Arcadian behavior remote observation...In Progress.
..Arcadian behavior close observation...20%...analyzing results.
..Notes...update.
....Hypothesis...Licori youth have extreme tunnel vision?...Pending Analysis
....Reminder...Replacement computer for Specialist Yanag in apology...Pending
END UPDATE
