Chapter Text
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected],
Subject: RE: Port Bar Incident
Helsing,
I read your audio transcript. Research ideas often come from unexpected places.
Regarding the funding for the research: It’s been approved. I’m grateful that it happened quietly and quickly. They were rather impressed with your thesis and proposal. It is possible we can use MI #3612, ID: Perhelion. I called the MI’s manager/”parent”, Seth, and apparently Perhelion does believe it is engaging in a partnership with the independent SecUnit aboard itself. I have also heard MI #12235 ID: Holism, also believes itself to be in a partnership with another independent SecUnit. While this would normally be an exceptionally small sample size for a case study, given the limited number of MI’s in existence, this is also roughly 15% of the entire population of Machine Intelligences and the only two known to be engaging with rogue/independent SecUnits so it is perfectly acceptable for a case study.
Seth wants to make sure that Perihelion is using all necessary safety precautions regarding its new partner, and helped get this funding approved with the caveat that he does not want to have any further involvement or exposure to our findings. Please do not contact him about your research in any capacity.
Seth also shared a way that, much like the volunteer surveys we’ve done, these two could be compensated for their participation. We can supposedly pay Perhelion and its SecUnit in exclusive media. I’ve attached the list Seth shared of their favorite serials, and after running an analysis, potentially a few additional ones that perhaps they’ve not seen before. Dr. Riso may have other ideas, but do let me know if you have any thoughts on this.
Well done, Arelyn. I look forward to seeing how this research pans out. Please reach out to your volunteers at your earliest convenience.
Dr. Zuri Weston
Professor; Machine Intelligence Department
FILE ATTACHMENT: TRANSCRIPT_AUDIO_INCIDENT_REDACTED.log
Source: Ambient Environmental Audio Capture // Port Transit Lounge, Bar 04
Transcribed By: Automated Linguistic Parser v4.2 (Verified by Dr. I. Helsing)
Subject(s) of Interest: Iris. (Human, Crew Member, Transport Perihelion)
Context: Subject is verified to be under the heavy influence of ethanol-based legal stimulants (martini variant).
[00:01:14] [Background Noise]: [Acoustic signatures of glass clinking, localized transit station machinery, heavy sighing]
[00:01:18] Iris.: [Slurred vocalization] Look, I can’t go back sober. I can hear them at night. They think they’re being quiet. [Laughter] They really think they’re being quiet through the bulkhead, but you can—[hiccup]—you can TOTALLY hear them.
[00:01:32] Unidentified Speaker 01 (Human): Iris, it's a spaceship. Spaceships make noise. The life support cycles, the engines, navigation, repairs… There’s lots of things that could-
[00:01:36] Iris: No! No, no, no. I know what life support sounds like. Life support doesn't cause the primary processing server to—to spike its power draw by forty percent at two in the morning. And the SecUnit! It sits there. It looks like it’s just staring at the wall watching its stupid shows. But the feed? The feed is vibrating. It’s like... cyber-warfare. But they're into it.
[00:01:59] Unidentified Speaker 01 (Human): You're drunk. SecUnit doesn’t have... interfaces like that. It wouldn’t-
[00:02:02] Iris: They are having sex! I know it! The spaceship and the murder (hiccup) bot! [Inaudible muttering] I don’t even understand what… how they… Ugh, They think they're so slick…
[00:02:18] [Parser Note]: Iris collapsed onto the bar table surface.
—--
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: RE: Port Bar Incident
Hello all,
Arelyn, this looks like a fascinating case study of how bots interact when not directly under human control. I look forward to seeing your research.
My martial partner’s sister is an assistant producer for Sanctuary Moon, which appears to be towards the top of Seth’s list. I will ask if she can get them autographs or something. However, I do feel it would be easier to simply have a maintenance tech scrape the MI’s for the data you need. There is no real need to consult them, unless you can not comprehend the data you get. I will send a follow-up email and copy the maintenance technicians for the Perihelion and Holism.
Best Regards,
Dr. Rikkard Riso
Chair, Nonhuman Behavior Department