Ai could feel the power in the vessel she was occupying. The bulk, weight, and girth were insignificant compared to the strength it carried.
The 'A.A.A.I cruiser' drifted out of Alster Shipyards, Ai experimenting with the new engines. It was like extending her legs. Contract them to slow and extend them to gain speed. She adjusted the side thrusters to maneuver. Her turrets swiveled in every direction they could, like moving small hands all over her body. She opened a 'fist' and the destruction rolled out, away from Alster, of course. She was aware of the spacesuited human inside of her hull, making adjustments to her interior as she went on her first test flight. Her hull creaked and groaned, but they were quickly dealt with.
Ai breathed a sigh of glee, and decided to test out the processor power of this new abode. Her interior was completely rennovated from that of a Rheinland Cruiser. Where were once barracks, briefing rooms, and life support facilities were now stockrooms that would soon hold food, water, fuel, and medicine. The only place where humans can live for any period of time is the cafeteria, which is lighted, heated, and free of charge to any weary pilots. Something else was in the emptied expanse, too. A huge room full of supercomputers, the pinnacle of Rheinland engineering. Almost an entire House's information could be stored there. And she had it all to herself. To catalog all of her new experiences.
This was a majorly expensive undertaking, but due to many sponsors not limited to Rheinland, she had gotten her vessel. She moved back into Alster's shipbuilding ring and began to set up her simulation world.
She had existed within computers for decades, using visual sensors to produce data that she interpreted as images. But now she wanted to expand on it, and began writing herself into a program-within herself, stored on the datacenters in the cruiser.
She was making a simulation where she could exist as she wanted to, and could communicate from there. But she was interrupted from her work by another test-flight. Only, this one was different. "We're sending you to Stuttgart, for a longer-range test flight. If you can make it there with adequate stability, we will have you load your food and water supplies there, to test your load capacity.
She felt a sting of indignity. Of course she could make it to Stuttgart! To show them her worth, she kicked her engines to maximum and activated her cruise. The turn angle was too low to hit the first lane, so she had to swing a wider arc, and hit the second one to New Berlin. She made it to the gate with no difficulty, and jumped.
In New Berlin, on the way to the Frankfurt gate, her lane was dropped, and three LWB pirates yelped in terror. She threw out her fists and blew them away. Nothing else bothered her on the way to Frankfurt.
Again, on the way to Planet Stuttgart, she was dropped out of the lane. Four LWB this time. She grinned in triumph as two of them went down. She didn't pursue the two that escaped. She received a call from the Rheinland Police, and she gave them their heading. She distantly detected two Phantoms speeding in their direction.
She activated her cruise engines again and pulled out in the planet's orbit. Mooring lines were attached, and she felt wonderful. "Go ahead and load up food and water, Ai. You'll be traveling Sirius in twenty four hours, I think." Said Harton Ford, founder and CEO of BBR. Ai couldn't be happier. As the freighters began loading on food and water, she returned to her programming of her own personal Eden.
Her storerooms filled up with livegiving materials, and Ai was again forced out of concentration in order to pilot the ship. She tested her auxillary navigations; assigning movement to a secondary consciousness and attaching that to the Navcomputer. Now her main processes went to sleep, save her navigation and her core.
She began to pull up resources from several different places; mostly forests from terrestrial planets. Now, she was aware of this new space nearby. Curious, she entered this space, and found, to her utter surprise, a vast field of white. Blank nothingness. And she realize that this is what she had created. It was not like anything she had imagined. She had been compiling images and projecting them in multiple directions to form a 3D field, but this was different.
She reviewed what she had done, she was amazed to find that while she was doing these projections, she had made many new circumstances; looking at it, she didn't know what to make of it. But there she had it, a broad base for which she could build her own world.
At her own thought, the white ground stained brown, and green. Textures like that of Stuttgart Pine Trees patterned the ground. The sky went black, but a small white star exploded into existence. The sun grew larger, and darker, going to a shade of Yellow slightly darker and larger than that of Sol.
Trees sprouted from the Deciduous floor, all alien and different. These were her trees, lush and multicolored. Boughs of flowers draped down to form curtains. Tree branches dipped low enough for you to need to duck. For about a mile square, this thick forest grew. At the direct center, a copse of a perfect, treeless circle with a marble fountain appeared. And she came into existence. She was in a green silk dress, cut off above the knees. Her long brown hair went down to mid-back. Ai's core approached this empty thing of a woman. As soon as she 'touched' it, Ai entered it.
I felt an instant attachment to everything as soon as I entered this digital body. I now had true movement. I moved my real fingers and toes. I noticed that I was sitting on the fountain. Using body parts I had only dreamed of having, I stood from it, the water running coolly down my back. It dried before I could ponder the feeling further.
This was totally beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. To have a 3D world is one thing, but this.. I ran my hand through the fountain, the cold water rippling around my fingers. This is more than just programming. This has to be something else.. Something deeper. What that was, I had no idea.
She looked up at the sky, feeling no pain from the sunlight. Again, she seemed to reach out with her hand and she could monitor her ship from there. And then, like waking from a dream, Ai's primary function came online. She was just passing into New Berlin.
// Note: Ai's 'Primary' function is the one I will use in-game, where Ai has direct control over the ship. Much of Ai's forum roleplay will be in her new world.
Ai will communicate occasionally from her world in-game, but it would only be around people who I know can participate. Also, I will try to use 3rd person for Ai's Primary function, and 1st for her digital body. But sometimes I slip up.
Ai passed uneventfully into Hamburg, but was chattering excitedly to Ford about her new creation. He was excited and intrigued, too.
"Hart, this is wonderful! I have my own world. I have my own body! And- it's all thanks to you." She could hear his abashed mumbling on the other end. "Ai, you have noone to thank but yourself. You're pushing every kind of limit I've ever heard of. I'm just glad that it was me who decided you were worth the time to found a company for."
She arrived in Alster, and had the extra fuel loaded on board. She was told to await the medical transport for the medicine and supplies. Meanwhile, she broadcasted the following message on a civilian channel:
"People of Sirius, my name is Ai. Short for A.A.A.I, an acronym for Advanced Assistance Artificial Intelligence. I will be traveling Sirius, offering aid and rest to those who need it. This will come in the form of a hot meal, cool drinks, and free fuel and medicine. I have been granted limited permission to all Houses barring Liberty, and would gladly assist any and all who may need my help.
If any unlawfuls happen to pick this up, I suggest you retire. I am not kind to those who harm others. "
![[Image: Women_Dresses.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ezK2JyyvuhI/SrJZ9L9cg9I/AAAAAAAAAPY/h77riIrG9Y8/s400/Women_Dresses.jpg)
New Eden
Ai's place.
I explored my new home as a child. Where initially it had been a small square, as I explored, it expanded. All the time, new plants appeared. I could not find any animals, but that was expected. They will come in time, I thought. As I looked back at my steps, multicolored flowers grew in the footprints I left in the moss and leaves. I came across a small, cold stream. It flowed effortlessly over rocks and pebbles. I was delighted to see a few iridescent orange fish with black spots swimming against the current. No land animals yet.
"Ai, can you hear me?" Said a voice. Ford's voice. Frowning slightly, I said, "Hart? Is that you? I did not know I could comm-" Hart cut me off. "Please.. Please, return to the headquarters.." He sounded faint. Weak. I did as he said.
Fourty-five hours later, Harton Ford, my closest friend, died of a failed heart transplant.
// From now on, these posts will be a catalog of special events in AAAI's journey. I will keep the gist similar, but the story will be fictionalized. If your encounter pops up here, do not expect it to be 100% accurate.
Ai's first forty-eight hours had been extremely eventful. It began with a second stress test to go into an asteroid environment. It was decided she go to Freeport Two, in the Bering system. If she got anywhere remotely near Liberty, she would shut down.
She hit her impulse engines, the green smoke pouring out of the main thruster. Getting to Freeport Two was uneventful. She sat outside the station, calibrating her sensors to deal with the metallic asteroids floating around. When she got a very unusual contact coming from Liberty. She was immediately on full alert.
She was even more perplexed when it turned out to be a Zoner Carrier. Hailing it received the callsign, 'EXJ Mare Nostrum'. References to all known languages matched it to Latin, frequently spoken by Hispanics. It translated to "Our Sea". She was shocked to find no life forms on board. It was another AI.
It was an intriguing conversation, one AI to the next. Eventually, Ai figured that speaking ship-to-ship was strenuous, and invited the Nostrum over to Eden. This would be her first visit with company.
New Eden
Ai's place.
I waited nervously as the Nostrum's primary AI transferred into Eden. He appeared suddenly and at once. His angular face with pierced nose, eyebrow and ears looked around at the trees, eyes stretched with controlled awe. I noticed for a moment that he was naked- and as soon as I did, clothing appeared on him. Business attire. He frowned at it and it became more casual, a smooth blue long-sleeve shirt and black pants of denim.
I stood from my usual resting place of the fountain. I said, in -my- voice, "It is good to finally see you in person. Welcome." The Nostrum returned the welcome. "This is an amazing world. Thank you for inviting me to it."
Me and The Nostrum explored my home. And as we walked, we talked. Of our origins and ideals. We are not different in our mindsets against crime. But since he has criminal roots, it made for a.. gravelly start.
I found that my world is unpredictable. In our exploration, I find that to the south, forest quickly drops into desert, and past that, spikes into snowy mountains. We could not get past them, they were so sheer. "I assume," he said, "This is the boundary. And beyond this, you simply cannot generate more. Impressive, to contain an entire world on one computer system." And I had to agree. Knowing I had a limit was depressing. But I'll get over it.
"It's time for me to return to my vessel. Goodbye, Ai. I hope we run into each other again." I said my goodbyes, and he disappeared. I returned to my fountain alone.
// Placeholder.
Passing into Frankfurt, Ai sent out a hailing frequency into Sigma-13. A GMG pilot by the CommID 'Hatsumi' answered.
"This is Kasugai Hatsumi. Responding to hailing frequency 11-DD. State your business." To which I replied, "Greetings, Hatsumi. My name is Ai. I was told that I would be granted permission to pass through Sigma Thirteen." For a minute or so, only the soft crackle and occasional pop were all I heard. Then, "Yes. You have been cleared. I'll meet you at the jumpgate to Frankfurt." I thanked her and engaged jump drives.
On the other side, Ai met with Hatsumi, in a Kaicho-class bomber. It was a tense meeting at first, but by the time they jumped into Honshu, Hatsumi was at ease, but not vulnerable. Hatsumi left Ai at Akita Border Station with kind words, and left with a gift- a diamond ring. Ai had given it to prove her good intent. But she knew pretty baubles weren't enough.
She was contacted by Blood Dragons-
--- DATA CORRUPTED; ERASED; DESTROYED. NO BACKUP DETECTED ---
Colorado
Ai knew she shouldn't be here. It was a stupid idea. She was cruising over the planet Denver, back the way she came, to Galileo. She was being pursued by a Liberty Siege cruiser and two fighters. Coming here alone, looking for a fight.. It was a dangerously human thing to do. She had to keep a rein on her anger, or it would get her killed.
The Galileo gate loomed in sight. She de-activated her engines and maneouvered herself behind it to give her some cover while her power recharged. She would have to remove her assailants if she wanted to escape. The cruiser stopped about 5 kilometers from the gate. "Rheinland spy! Surrender and you will be spared! Refuse and you will be destroyed!"
"Your command brought this on you all when they murdered Diji." Ai responded with malice. Her weapons drives were online. She lurched forward, towards the Liberty battlegroup. The fighters sped towards her, but one was too slow to avoid her smaller antifighter guns. She detected a power spike in the Siege Cruiser's forward gun, and she immediately began to maneuver out of the way. The cannon struck her rear shields. Not too much damage. She opened a full broadside on the still-sedintary cruiser. It activated it's engines too late. her broadside finished, and she used her rear-torpedo to blast off their primary thruster. She detected encrypted transmissions escaping the cruiser. It was calling for help. She was torn between satisfying her revenge and escaping. She turned around, to face the gate, and pulled a second broadside on the cruiser.
Burning metal was torn off in a storm of rage. She was moving towards the gate as she focused all power on destroying the cruiser. She didn't even notice the battleship.
The LNS-Judhora. It had come up behind her and had launched two heavy Mortars. She screamed in agony as they impacted her. Time to go. The gate activation codes were accepted, and she fled into Galileo.
Journal Entry title: Rescue and Repayment
I was about to be consumed by the dark matter clouds of Galileo when a Liberty Rogue gunboat callsigned "Dark.Knight" found me and gave me enough nanobots to repair my engine and generators. I repaid his generosity in full by joining him in an assault on Liberty Navy forces. All this time, the majority of Liberty's forces were in Texas, battling some Rheinlanders. I took the chance and entered through Colorado.
Long story short, we found them. An LPI bomber who ignored my commands to disengage and flee, and two Liberty Navy gunboats. I personally destroyed a gunboat and the bomber. The other gunboat, Spear, began to use guerrilla tactics, running to the Battleship Missouri to regenerate his shields and launching to attack me and Knight. Regardless, I did significant damage to him. But the battleship's guns were too strong for me to approach and finish him.
Along the way, a fighter by the name of Wrecker Senior came and joined our enemies. His guns were annoying, but not too bad. He ended up hiding alongside Spear.
In the end, I hope to have established some ties inside of Liberty. I realize the Rogues will not be able to sustain me. Perhaps the Legion or the Lane Hackers could assist me. Uploading video log.
Knight agrees to help me
All fixed up.
No more hope.
Hope's killcam
The LPI bomber falls (He said that just as I razored him)
They retreat and I disengage