In The Bluff - 13/Jul/2012
He felt a bit naked.  Standing there near the air lock.  Only second time 'up'.  And this time no adrenaline armour.  They were making him wait.
Eventually, a woman in a red-marked uniform came in.  Attractive, of course. Looked like they'd adopted that design the Hollywood Machine had put on the AI remotes.  A practical but stylish grey, with colour markings that would be visible from any angle.  Puckish, he wondered about the underwear.  Was that uniform, too?  He never did find out what The Machine had the AIs wearing.
She indicated he should follow.  No introduction.  No handshake.  Had she been carefully ordered what to do?  He'd noticed she'd checked a pad, presumably to, at least, see if he matched his photo.  It wasn't clear why she bothered, security cameras, at least linked to the AIs, covered this entire area.  But, he guessed it was good procedure.
She left him in a security office, not far down the corridor.  A long mirror on the wall, nice to see someone respected tradition, and multiple security cameras.  He politely nodded to the mirror, and took a seat.  As expected someone burst in, a woman in a blue-marked uniform, sat, then spent time reading papers before looking at him.
It was a waiting game.  He'd decided on this, early on.  They made him wait over night, so there wasn't anything immediately time-critical.  He made them wait until noon, as he slaved over the Body Builder and Mather's frustrating AI plans.  Making sure there was nothing he'd over-looked.
His transport had been efficient.  Dublin airport, into a waved Cessna, conventional flight to Shannon, then out over the Atlantic and a climb to space avoiding any airways.  Then a short hop to L5.  He must somehow find time to get a pilots license.
As predicted, they wanted him to sign a whole new set of paper work.  When he asked about consulting a lawyer she said he'd never used one before.  On the surface it was a non-disclosure agreement, and a restatement of his existing contractual arrangements, adding some provisions about repair and support - it would supposedly 'clarify the legal position', and, 'protect both him and them'.
He brought out his own copy of the previous NDA he'd signed, and his contract. The woman across from him got a little flustered.  Comparing the two he remarked that the NDA was unchanged, and that there were a considerable number of sub-clauses in the new contract.  The unintroduced woman appeared to be fighting hard to look calm and in control.
"I think we need to discuss this with your manager."  Hurriedly, the woman gathered her papers, and left.  As expected, Jane stepped in.  Arthur tried for a Zen state, and when he looked at her imagined seeing a spot an inch behind her forehead.  He'd read about it in a Sunday paper, while idly looking for something worth reading, and, it seemed to work.
Jane didn't look shaken, but he'd expected as much.  She was made of much stronger stuff.  He explained that the NDA covered the privacy and confidentiality issues, and he wasn't prepared to sign any new contracts without full disclosure of the situation.  He suspected Jane was quietly satisfied.
It was Del, the first AI in White Team.  Or, to be more precise, her humanoid remote.  The reports were contradictory, but there'd been an airlock problem, after Mr O'Neill's transport had arrived.  Possibly due to it being clipped by a poorly piloted visitor, the previous day.  She'd fought to hold the main airlock closed, so they could get O'Neill into the station, even though she was already injured, by flying debris.
She's succeeded, but collapsed with asphyxia, then bled-out.  There were hints that O'Neill had implied his health was more important than some robot.  He'd been treated by Kelly, Nurse Genny had tried to help Del, but failed.  By the time Kelly got to her there was nothing she could do.
The AI core that was Del's mind went into shock.  Defensively the other two White Team AIs, Epsi and Eta, had voted her off-line.  Then they had disagreed about what to do next.  That locked them off-line, and put Zeta, the Black Team AI, in control of their responsibilities.  "Nice to know all that logic worked", thought Arthur.
Jane was a little shocked to be told there hadn't been an AI logic cascade failure, it was a basic feature of the design.  She got Kelly in, and Arthur showed them on their copy of the AI operations manual, a detail Kelly admitted she'd overlooked.
Next, Arthur asked to see the actual White Team AI cores.  In person, this time, rather than by studying the system displays.  Then he followed up with the rest of the cores; the Black Team AI core was particularly difficult to get to.  Someone had added locked retaining straps, to hold the cores in place.
Kelly wasn't sure, but she thought it was an external technical inspection team, that went around after everything was installed.  She hadn't looked into it herself because none of the AIs commented.  Arthur pointed out that it explicitly broke the AI core installation specification.
Kelly got out the cutting tools.
After things were put to rights Arthur spoke to Epsi and Eta's remotes.  Epsi had been in a bio dome, working on her little garden patch, Eta in a kitchen, making pecan and chocolate chip cookies.  Neither were very happy.  He explained what he thought had happened, and they agreed that matched their experiences.  They said they were still in contact with Del, but she seemed in a semi-conscious state.
"I'll need use of your workshop" remarked Arthur to Kelly, and she led him there, with what looked like a numb expression.  Sweeping the contents of a workbench into a bin, she indicated it to him.  Two of White Team wheeled his luggage in, as he'd requested.
The Hollywood Machine responded in a positive but cautious way to Arthur.  Kelly explained she'd put Del's damaged remote through, but nothing happened.  Arthur shook his head, "It's not magic you know", though that was a bit of a cheap shot.  The new Del remote was processed in five minutes, after Arthur checked everything was OK with a test remote.
Back in Kelly's workshop the extracted Del AI core was open on the bench, and quickly had its new half-pair phone installed, the other half-pair having been processed into the new remote.  A quick AI core cycle, and Del leapt to her feet, and threw herself sobbing into the arms of Epsi and Eta.
Kelly was a bit bemused, and commented that she didn't think they worked like that.  Arthur gave her a sour look.  After a while they all calmed down, and thanked Arthur, who was a little embarrassed by the hugs.  Arthur pointed out Del was only dressed in a robe, seeing as he hadn't been able to match the original sports wear, and she'd need her spare clothes.  Then was shocked to find she didn't have any.
Jane was called in, and agreed there needed to be a re-think on the way the AIs were managed.  Arthur also asked her to witness him starting up another AI, using the test remote that he'd processed, and an AI core from his luggage.
"This is Consultant Engineer Janet.  She is an expert on the maintenance of the AIs, and knows as much as I do about the Hollywood Machine.  I think you need to get on with drawing-up a contract with her.  She nominally works for me, and she will not be resident on this station."
Jane and Kelly looked at each other.  He could almost feel them working the recent events into their story.  He held his breath, unsure what would happen, maybe even violence.  Kelly looked thoughtful.  Jane spoke.
"I suppose this means you wont be signing the revised contract terms with us."
"Yes, and I want all the AIs to read this."
He handed Jane a paperback copy of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

Defective Work - 12/Jul/2012
Arthur didn't understand.  One of his AIs had failed.  Up on O'Neill Station. They said it was defective.  He'd messed-up the design.
They were threatening him with massive damages.  His incompetence was risking basic infrastructure.  The repair bill could be immense.
The message had come in last thing in the day.  He stayed late, sending requests for more details, confirmation.  Nothing.  That night, he hadn't slept much.  He'd read all the Asimov he'd been loaned.  'The Three Laws' wouldn't work, of course, but at least they were a start.
His secretary, Miss Lidzt, was in before him.  She was an ex-glamour addict, returned from O'Neill Station.  She'd worked there in a similar role, but the homesickness got too bad, so she broke her contact and came back to Dublin.  A good chunk of her pay went to pay-off the loan she'd needed so as to leave before her contract renewal date.  Arthur considered employing her a bit of a gesture of defiance.
The office was new, too.  The repair side of the business had expanded, and he was called in to fix things it was claimed were irreparable.  And, that wasn't just restricted to electronics.  Several times he'd had to turn-down requests, saying that was outside his field.  He seemed to have got a reputation for safe use of handwavium.  How?
Arthur had developed a a suite of waved tools.  Some analytic, some manipulative, some a mixture.  All were 'clean', and didn't contaminate with handwavium.  He guessed he was a 'Wave Consultant'.
He'd asked his aunt, seeing as she always seemed to know things, or knew someone who did.  "You didn't see the article, dear?  'Waving The Future'?  Came out a few months ago.  I'll see if I can find my clipping."  And, she had.  It was very flattering, if a bit inaccurate.
He wasn't really a 'medical researcher', he hadn't said 'careful use of handwavium can fix any problem', or 'used carefully handwavium is no more dangerous than gas'.  Wait a minute.  You could read 'gas' as either methane or gasoline.  This smelled a bit too much of the 'Wright Stuff'.
He'd never contacted Kevin Wright.  He'd been too busy.  Now he had another reason.  "OK.  Calm down, Arthur.  Analyse the situation.  Who sent the message?"  That's what he liked about Kevin.  Straight to the point.
He hadn't checked that.  'Admin & Legal Departments' it said.  Wouldn't that be Jane, and Sarah?  Maybe they'd found him out!
"Now, Arthur."  The voice was friendly but firm.  He'd fully recovered, that way, at least, from his stroke.  Nurse Blake sent him regular updates.  "Ask yourself, what do they want?  How do they expect you to react?"
Kevin waited while he thought.  Yes, he'd rather panicked.  Assumed it was all his fault.  They'd be able to tell that by the replies he sent.  The questions he asked.  Why hadn't they replied?  He asked Kevin that.
"Well, maybe they wanted to shake you up?  Get you in the right frame of mind for something?  You've become independent.  You don't jump when they say 'frog'. Think like a detective, but better than the ones in all those cheap books you used to read."
OK.  He had a road map.  Go up there.  Refuse to sign anything.  Until he knew exactly what happened.  Solve the case.  If he never worked for O'Neill again, he could live with that.  But, he owed them, if he could fix what was wrong.
"Thanks, Kevin.  I'll try and prove I'm still the 'Wright Stuff'."
"Now, before I go, about this article..."
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

I'm Irascor.
Just wanted to say hello, not sure what I can contribute right now, but I wanted to say hi and thank Bob for letting me join.

O'Neill Station - 13/Jul/2012
The physical structure of O'Neill Station was built by an external contractor, under various provisions for secrecy.  Staffing was an initial problem, but eventually an 'Arthur' produced the goods, and initially ran "Lagrange Recruitment".  Arthur was supervised, except for his early work, by a line manager, 'Ms Jones'.
There are no files maintained about Arthur, on O'Neill Station, or various other low-level resources, which is what Arthur started as.  O'Neill probably doesn't even know his name, he just knows they've got someone who can solve problems.  Ms Jones isn't near the top of the ladder, she is a middle-level resource, herself, and her higher management is in Earth-based offices, in Australia.
The seventy-odd attractive young women who are permanent employees on O'Neill Station fall into three groups: The Angels (Sarah, Jane, Kelly), the humanoid remotes of the ten AIs, and the 'normal' (englamored) humans.
You shouldn't forget O'Neill Station runs as a private home, an estate.  This is different from Stellvia, which has major elements of service industry and commercial enterprise.  O'Neill will have offices in his home but will likely be careful as to which of his staff have access to them.  It is likely Jane will have access, Sarah will have her own office, and limited access, and Kelly will have no access at all.  A number of the general crew will have access in line with their duties, which include cleaning and maintenance, as well as clerical and administrative work.  There are no administrative AIs; the AIs on O'Neill Station run infrastructure.
The relationship between the Angels and the O'Neill Station AIs - that is more difficult.  It's not clear that the Angels would regard them as 'sisters', they are certainly biologically different.  The Angels to all tests are biologically human, without a biomod.
The AIs are not immobile, Arthur made sure of that.  Their humanoid remotes are quite capable of going and unplugging their AI cores, which will cheerfully run on batteries for tens of hours, and travelling off the station.  That's the way they arrived, and they could leave the same way.  Leaving chaos in their wake.
For details of the 'normal' humans, see the "Hollywood Machine", for the AIs see "Uncanny Valley".  The existence of the Hollywood Machine (AKA 'The Machine') is one of the secrets of the station.  The Angels might bear a suspicious thematic resemblance to improved(?) versions of "Charlie's Angels", but this isn't talked about.  At all.  It is, of course, completely unclear who "Charlie" might be.  Bloody murder might occur if someone makes a bad suggestion.
Actually, there is a Bosley.  She's a heavily-built, though glamorous, woman in her early 30s, who lied about her age being 25; she did have the looks, and forged paperwork, to get away with this.  Her name is Alison 'Lee' Kay, a divorced engineer (and not a spy or investigator), who works in Maintenance, doing the awkward heavy lifting.  Kelly befriended her first, and introduced her to Jane, then Sarah.  They affectionately call her 'Boz' (when they're sure they're alone) and she tries to mother the Angels, and anyone else she can get her hands on.
Lee actually died in the Hollywood Machine.  She was the first one they put through the process after Kelly had gone through, on an experimental basis.  The Machine took the usual half-an-hour with Kelly, but she came out apparently unchanged, though she complained about strange dreams, and flashbacks.  The Machine decided there needed to be a Bosley.  Unfortunately it isn't designed to do casting.
Kelly worked for half a day to save Lee, and waved up some extraordinary Steam Punk medical tech in the process.  After two days in bed, Lee was ready to return to duty, and the only change was she'd acquired a 'Mother' aura.  And now has some investigator skills, and an interest in, and skill with, firearms (copied from Kelly).  Kelly wrote a report on the incident, which pointed out they hadn't got as much as an operators manual for The Machine, and one day, it might go rogue.  She strongly recommended that the original designer and builder, an 'Arthur', be asked to provide any available documentation, and if it didn't exist, create it.  This report was apparently completely ignored.

Query:  How in Arioch's name do you make a hidden spoiler show up so you can read it?  I've been reduced to copying the "blank" area and then pasting it into a random document on my computer, which is a ridiculously cumbersome procedure.  If there's instructions for this somewhere on the Forums, I wasn't able to figure out the right place to look.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

Looks like a "where are they now" retrospective rather than a new episode, but hey... http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/07/ne ... v-special/]new Firefly show on November 11
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Some details drifting out of the latest Coffee Talk.

Presence still doesn't strike me as a pool I'll take much. Punch/Kick now actually mildly useful and new T5 uses both of them to essentially give you an entire secondary attack chain if you own all of them. 

Nuke. All. The. Things.

That is all.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Especially the ice cream shooter in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep.

That is all.

- dNN when a minigame makes you give up in frustration on the intro level, just maybe it should not be made into a mandatory plot checkpoint. Thank Primus for the Saves page on Gamefaqs, at least I can play the other two characters' stories and the epilogue.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/news/news ... cousin.php

2x exp weekend

http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... d-up-Anime

That's just one example, I've discovered several threads where every post past the first is telling me it cannot be restored.  I'm not sure of a pattern yet and am just wondering if this is a known thing or if there's been some wonky database corruption that's slipped by somehow.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs