Had some free time to shoot the shit at Ramsey. More technocrats came through California the other day. Had to put them down, of course. Can't have those freaks run around Liberty right now. This little engram of mine did better this time. The powercore did not short out, but it still ticks me off that the only solution was to set lower limits than before.
Had another convo' with the thing. I guess it really feels some degree of emotions despite The Core's programming.
>so how are you?
>>Executing general diagnostics. Tracing underlying flaws within the host's internal infrastructure. Progr
>i asked how are you, not what you are doing.
>>Uncharacteristic query.
>i guess you're not used to that kind of attention
>>...
>>...
>>...
>>No.
>ill assume you're doing fine
>>Suboptimal.
>why is that?
>>Unknown variables.
>>Concern.
>you dont know what to do
>>Absence of data is so very tiring.
>im giving you a data shard. replicate the contents in your own way. Adapt. Improve.
>try your best, okay?
>>Query.
>>...
>>Am I a mere weapon to you?
>no. but you have to act like one or youre just extra weight.
>>Define.
>useless. one more thing to worry about.
>you have to make yourself useful one way or another. help me and ill help you.
>>So it is a trade.
>yeah. do what i asked of you. well see about further integration after.
That's all for now. Cut the tape.
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Yesterday was...I don't know. I think I slipped a little. Tried to downplay some risks - I don't usually do that. Laz and the engram had some form of a conversation. I was mostly listening, but I didn't try to intervene and stop things. Shit...Laz even named the damn thing and I childishly followed suit. His name is 'Amp' now - like ampere or amplification. We took a bit from the AI's designated serial number and made it easier to understand. He hates the name, of course, but at least acknowledges it. Hm, he even expressed that he hates us for thinking of such a trivial name. Again: he didn't deny it.
Anyway...there's hoping that we - myself and Amp - get an answer from Laz. About a deal. He gets better protection and we get a good ol' scan. Highly invasive - without prior testing on augmented humans. On top of that I still can't tell how strong Amp is, or how efficient. What if Lazurith's hardware can't handle the load? What happens when an AI invades your augs like this? I haven't done any of this on myself, but I expect some teen with emotional problems to be my lab rat. What the fuck am I thinking? All signs point to the better outcome. Everything will happen without complications. Maybe its just my self doubts that slow me down. Has to be.
But I suppose that's what you have to do in the name of progress. Either Laz takes this offer or I turn to other means - other...patients. Subjects. Unfortunately only two others come to mind. It won't be pretty.
Got nothing left to say.
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T-5 sent me a message. The team did some progress so I went back to Coronado to check. A few theorems later they gave me the rough estimate of how a suitable powercore would look like. Now of course those schematics are complete ass and not something to rely on. They suggested a standard issue powercore for starters - and then just...shove a Power Cell. So yeah, no. Fat chance I'm doing that.
Spent the night brainstorming solutions. The most promising one is a separate power supply in addition to the unmodified powercore of my Valkyrie. Like a battery I can plug in, adjust a few things and have 'Amp' do the rest. Guns will feed off of that while the rest of the ship and its functions will carry on as normal. Now I just need a way to contain that kind of power.
Now the downside of all this is that I can't store an indefinite amount of energy. Maybe to last about...I don't know. With the resources I have right now I could make it strong enough to last four days - give or take a shootout or two every few hours. Now if I bring this to the Final Journey? It'll be a close call. I'm expecting the ship to be under a lot of stress. Battery might burn out from several factors. Power might run out in the middle of an engagement too. In a nutshell there's quite a few downsides that will get the better of me in the long run, but at least its something that can be done. Right,
'Amp' will be working on a few variants. He says it'll take at least a few weeks. Best next thing I can do until then is stay alive and keep the technocrats away from Liberty with the Xenos.
Oh, right. I should mention that negotiations with Damien went through. Negotiations...? C'mon. I asked for a favor and he did agree. Some more firepower for myself and a more honest approach to a common enemy. Chances are Raven won't like the idea, but she doesn't have to know why I do it - only that I'm sorry for keeping up the hostilities despite our talks.