Joao casually waved Jasmine's apology away, indicating that it was nothing.
"It is that surely," Gunther responded with his amiable rumble, "But how do you control this all? It's surely doable with a traditional system, pre-programming the drones autonomously and having them react to sensor data. But this many, the data stream would be massive..." Gunther trailed off, thoughts clearly still racing though his mind.
Jasmine smiled. "The source of your answer is in the control room but i think we should wait until my sisters are done up there."
A single human-sized droid walked over to Jasmine, identical to the guard that had greeted them with Eloise. A strange voice emanated from within it. "Mon Reine. Drone production is matching required upkeep. Increase numbers? "Non. Keep it even but no further." "Yes, Mon Reine." the droid replied evenly, toddling off to do its duty somewhere.
Jasmine turned to face the group. "Well. We may be here a little while, any questions?"
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.
"Auditory interfacing, a nice touch..." Gunther noted idly, still trying to work it all out.
"Aye, lots of questions," Joao started, "Gunther, as you can tell, will be extremely interested in all the technological marvels you have here. Myself as well, though my own technical knowledge is rather general. Catalina and myself, and all my crew for that matter will want to know more of Gallia. This my second time here and frankly, I've dodged less fire passing through nomad territory during the war. The navy is not fond of us Sirians."
"So allow me to start general on both points. This workforce is hugely impressive, but past the hangar repairs what do you have in mind for such capabilities? And more interestingly, what was missing from Gallic technology that you needed to import supplies? From our quick observations, the technology here seems on par or better than that of Sirius."
Joao waited for Jasmine to answer, allowing Catalina to pose her own question.
The Diomedes' executive officer spoke precisely, but also pointedly and with deep conviction, "What is Gallia's view of Sirius? There's the conflict between the Council and the navy, the Council placed neatly between Sirius and Gallia. Something doesn't add up to the little communication that has come through from Gallia to Sirius, assuring us all is well. The Council, the Maquis and yourselves welcome us while the Navy lobs anti-matter across our bow."
Within the last two decades Joao, Gunther, Lara, Roberto, John and myself flew as freelancers and mercenaries in a war that could have killed all Sirius. Now we're a crew, but I, at least, was left with a keener smell for danger. What can you tell us of what is happening here Jasmine?"
Jasmine seemed a little solemn as she spoke. "Well. From what I 'ave learned, the Royalists still believe that the old alliance betrayed them when they launched the sleeper ships, leaving them behind. Their military is insanely powerful, and from what Cassandra has told me, theres been more activity than usual lately. The council are...well, they are the saviours, I guess. But if they win, where do the Brigands end up? We are pirates, and that is all we know. If either group wins, we still end up the same, it doesn't matter much to me."
She smiles, looking around at her creation. "As for this...I had the raw materials. What I needed, what I really needed, was the -heart- of everything. None of this would be happening if I didn't get those supplies, none of it. The robotics, the optronics, -everything- relied on those parts...and after they were delivered, I finally brought my creation to life for the first time. It is his handiwork you see here, every drone, every design, part of the same mind, same logic. This technology is all generated from the parts you brough me...as for what I want to do with it? Well, think of what I could do. I've got what is necessarily an army at my fingertips...what would you do with such a thing?"
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.
"Wonderful, a powerful military holding a grudge against all Sirius is not good news for us. But then, I'm not sure that is any worse than I expected," Joao replied solemnly, "With the four main houses each paired off in shooting wars and the fifth split since the sleeper ships arrived, Sirius is not in good shape to repel such a force."
Catalina added on, "As for the Brigands, what are pirates to do anywhere? They form groups, make profit, gain power if they're good. Eventually they hold so much sway they have their own laws, tribunals and the pirate gang becomes another type of house. Then some smaller group becomes the gang. Simply wish for the lawmakers to be too busy to notice you."
Joao idly stroked at his goatee, answering Jasmine's second point, "I could think of many things to do with such an army. They range from the noble to the selfish. I could begin mass-construction of biodomes near my native home, or kill off my enemies. But then, I'm just a bloody freelancer. In truth, a self-replicating army is a power I wonder if anyone should have, regardless of intentions or character. But since it's possible, I'm sure more than one will turn up. And maybe that will be the balance. "
Jasmine shrugged. "My only intention is the safety of me and mine. And the service of the Legion where possible, of course. This 'army' is far from combat worthy in any case.
To itterate her point, Jasmine drew a small plasma pistol and shot directly at one of the welding bots. It punched clean through, and after a moment, the entire machine was consumed by an explosion. As it fell onto the scrap heap, another one replaced it from the assembly line. "Though it may be in the future. The acquisition of resources may be easy in a place such as this, but in a warzone, my force would be defeated easily."
She shrugged and walked over to the stairway, beckoning the crew to follow. "Come. I think you should meet the -true- reason for your trip."
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.
"You make your point well, and I had no intention to accuse Ms. Estelle. Your drones are much more a workforce, better suited to building those biodomes than taking on hostiles. It was more a general thought, at what point does something become too easy for its own good?" Joao replied, apologetic and clarifying his meaning.
"And again, I don't belittle the technological accomplishment here. Workforces like this could, very possibly, end wars in Sirius. Peacefully. But that would require a great many people in power to swallow their pride, something uncommon I find. Like anything else, a tool is a tool."
"Of course, I'm very interested to see this," Joao said at last, following Jasmine to the stairwell. Gunther and Catalina followed as well, listening to the conversation.
Jasmine walked up the stairs, but instead of walking up to the control room, she took a turn halfway, off a dusky corridor to a plain metal door. Opening the door, Jasmine walked in, beckoning the crew to follow.
What greeted them was a two metre across square of optronics, rising a metre high off the floor. The structure was rimmed by strange circuitry and machinery, and multiple cables extended in every direction. Jasmine walked over to the structure, resting her hand steadily an inch from the surface.
She stated clearly. "Hex5. Control Room." As soon as the worlds left her mouth, a holographic display appeared, the single red eye hovering in front of the group.
"Hello Mon Reine. I presume this is the crew of the Diomedes vessel. It is a pleasure to meet those partially responsible for my creation."
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.
"Likewise," Joao managed, not really covering his surprise at what the control room contained. Holographic displays and voice interfaces were common enough, but the implication was clear: Hex5 controlled the operations here, made decisions about it and interacted with the people it met. And while the depth of that decision making and interface wasn't clear, Joao very much doubted it was trivial.
"So this is how you control the workforce without an army of people, or reducing it to robotic-simplicity, if you excuse the term," Gunther said, putting the conceptual pieces of the operation together, "Hex5 here is clearly more than a pretty interface, although I do like the red-floating eye-thing. If you don't mind my asking, what are the learning capabilities of the system?" The grizzled engineer wanted to learn as much as he could. The possibilities behind the technology here were huge. From what he had seen so far, Gunther doubted the creators of Hex5 had stopped short of anything they felt possible. But out of pure curiosity, he wanted to know just how far that was.
Hex5 seemed to take a moment to process the request. "I am able to store and maintain a large supply of information and apply it necessarily to cause an outcome that is closest to recommended protocol." it said in its emotionless voice, the hologram 'watching' them despite the fact that it was, indeed, a hologram.
Jasmine smiled and spoke. "It is difficult to explain the processes, I do not even understand what i have wrought, not entirely, but Hex5 uses whatever information he has available to produce the most acceptable outcome within the shortest plausable time. In short, the more he knows, the better he can react. He stores information systematically, converting the info into a logic string, and then storing it." She scratches the back of her head, looking at the glistening optronics tower. "It seems confusing, but really its just difficult to wrap your head around."
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.