[Story][Season 0] Angels

[Ace Dreamer]

Angels - 05/Jul/2012
As usual, it started with delegation.  Arthur was at the end of the chain.  The brief: build three 'Angels'.  Like "Charlie's Angels".  The implied brief, they'd better beat anything Stellvia had.
Arthur had some history of success with handwavium and AI.  His clock-radio sang to him every morning, with the perfect tune to wake him up - all he had to do in return was compliment its singing.  He was a reasonable electronic engineer.  And, he knew a few people who knew a few people, if you know what I mean.  They were starting to get nasty about his gambling debts...
His first attempts, with store dummies, and photographs of the original three Charlie's Angels pasted onto their faces totally failed.  Not a twitch.  Though, he sometimes wondered if they moved when he wasn't looking.  Interestingly, they didn't come to pieces any more, and you could only pose them in realistic looking postures.  He'd sold them, on the quiet to a clothing store, who seemed to be doing pretty good, these days.
Trawling the Internet, he read everything on handwavium and AI.  Most AIs seemed to live in waved PCs, often as part of cars or vans.  Not much use to him.  But, didn't he have some old PC mother boards?  And, apparently you could influence their skills, by feeding the handwavium with books and other media.
Conscious of the pressure, and that he'd get no more advances for 'materials', Arthur combed the second-hand shops and markets of Dublin.  He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, so he went by instinct.  And price.  A few late night drinks with science fiction fans had helped.  Speculating on the practical problems of living in space.
With a bit of luck, a friend in a sex shop told him about a trick with handwavium and sex dolls.  He tracked that down, and burned his last favour with an ex-girlfriend into the occult.  Now he had the dolls, three wigs, three motherboards he'd last used in 2000, and six buckets of handwavium.  He'd even scavenged a trio of hard drives, from a skip at the side of a school.
Piles of videos had been dissolved in the handwavium.  At least two tapes from the original "Charlie's Angels" series in each of three buckets; he'd picked-up some nearly intact boxed sets.  A Bruce Lee "Enter The Dragon" tape in each for the martial arts.  James Bond for the spy action.
It occurred to him he should look up 'Stellvia'.  It seemed to be an obscure Jap cartoon, with lots of cute girls in short skirts doing things in space.  Strange hair colour, but that gave him the idea of a blonde, a brunette and a red-head wig.  No luck finding anything on that, second-hand.  Cheap enough, anyhow.  But, each girl was good at different things, though they were all pilots.  So, a pirated copy of "Microsoft Flight Simulator" in the handwavium for each of them.
He'd labelled three buckets 'blonde, 'brown' and 'red'.  Red got "Wild Wild West" and a home video full of science stuff from "Discovery Channel".  Brown got a load of accountancy, admin and business legal training videos he'd been lucky enough to find in another skip.  Blonde, he'd thought a lot about, and reluctantly rejected the 'adult' idea, so she got "Legally Blonde" and "Terminator 2", because he'd really liked Sarah Conner in that.
The other three buckets were all the same.  He'd dissolved tatty "Legion of Superheroes" comic books in them, for the invisible spacesuits and the flight rings.  Also, old Golden Age science fiction, with women in transparent space suits on the covers.  Well.  Black-and-white printouts of them, from the Internet.
Arthur had a good feeling about this, so he went the whole hog, and rented a (cheap) hotel room.  He laid a salvaged plastic sheet on the queen-sized bed, put on his spray mask, and did all the work there.  An hour later he'd finished, and was sitting in the cramped en suit bathroom, in the dark, with his suitcase and six empty buckets.  Physically and mentally crossing his fingers.
"What happened?" came a woman's voice, from out in the room.  "Something died in my mouth", replied another voice.  "Urrg.  Why are we lying on a plastic sheet?" said a third.  'Opps' thought Arthur.
"Pay attention", he said, in his best 'Charlie' voice - he'd practised for hours.  "You're going undercover, deep undercover.  All three of you.  No contact with anyone you've previously known.  And, this time you're going out into space."
He took a breath, "You'll be working for the boss of the O'Neill space station.  You need to appear totally loyal to him.  It could be a long time, but I'll contact you with further instructions.  All your papers and tickets you already have."
"Is that clear?  Now, get going!"
"Yes, Charlie!"
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "Angels"

Was this the sort of thing you might be looking for, Dartz? Rob Kelk? [grin]

http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... ig-O-Neill
http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... _O%27Niell

I've a few (a lot of) ideas for quirks, but the fact this could be entitled "Second-hand Angels" might give you a few hints.

Anyone want to suggest names for the Angels? Better than "Jane, Sarah and Kelly" (brown/blonde/red)?

What is the timeline for this? When was the "O'Neill Station" opened, and looking for staff? Late 2008? 2009?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

O'Neill's Angels – 12/Jul/2012
"O'Neill's Angels" are AIs, but unfortunately there isn't a lot of evidence of that.  They are biologically human, and most people would think that they are biomodded humans.  Like many biomods, if they're ageing it's pretty slow, and they resist injury and death.  Built by a rather furtive Irish national, "Arthur, just Arthur" they seem either a brilliant example of wave tech, or someone got lucky.
They answer to the names "Sarah", "Jane", and "Kelly", and are respectively blonde, brunette and red-haired.  With film-star good looks.  They don't give surnames, saying they left that all behind on Earth.  Their legal documents however give their names as "Sarah Major", "Jane Dow" and "Kelly Green", and they're all in their mid twenties.

• Sarah is a brilliant lawyer, and a skilled armed combatant.  If needed she does a very good 'Valley Girl'.  She's also a lot stronger than you'd expect for someone of her build, and is quite capable of effectively using what would otherwise be crew-served or vehicle heavy weapons, but, in general, not dual-wielding.  It might be inadvisable to use the phrase "terminate that contract" around her.  Why injuries to her skin might show a metal endoskeleton is unclear, seeing as medical tests show normal flesh and blood.  Yes, she can do the "Terminator Walk" (see Sarah Conner in T2, and many Terminators).  And she heals fast.

• Jane is a brilliant administrator, skilled in accountancy, and in business law.  She is probably the most sane and stable of the three, but considers herself to be rather in their shadow.  You might class her as an understated English beauty, except for the fact that she looks Oriental in some lights.  Willing to use whatever weapons fit the job she is least inclined of the three to impractical flashy martial arts.  She has the lungs and voice control to shout-down most people, but rarely uses this unless really annoyed.

• Kelly is a brilliant scientist and engineer.  She's also a workable, if unlicensed, doctor.  Unfortunately her science is, while very broad-ranging, conventional, and her engineering is mad scientist steam-punk.  All goes well until she tries to mix the two; she's been seen hitting something with a large spanner shouting "Why wont it work?".  People who stereotype her as a red-headed Celtic engineer annoy her, and she might swear at them in Gaelic.  She prefers to use improvised weapons in a fight, such as tools, but chairs and unconscious enemies will do.  She's not really an unstoppable berserker when she gets badly upset.  Really.

All of the three are fully qualified policewomen who believe they work for "Charlie", and are on a deep undercover mission.  They expect to be contacted by Charlie, but wont be bothered by this taking at least several years; they've no way of contacting Charlie themselves.  Their mission requires them to be totally loyal to the boss of the "O'Neill Station", and they will smile and do this, even if they're gritting their teeth.
All three are skilled martial artists though they sometimes fall into the pattern of set pieces, acrobatically leaping off each other, or taking poses, including the classic "Charlie's Angels" one.  Fighting one of them is bad, fighting all three is suicide for all but the most expert martial artist.  They are quite ready for someone to bring guns to a martial arts fight, and will likely take cover and respond.  Yes, they can use most martial arts weapons.
Unfortunately, they tend to believe they are "Bond Girls", and will dress and act after that style.  Jane is probably the best at resisting this, and it fades with the others when their particular quirks come out.  This trait can make them vulnerable to suave, sophisticated, dominant males.
Some equipment shared by all three of them are their invisible space suits.  The suits can be put-on in about twenty seconds, no matter what clothes are being worn, though they take a couple of minutes to take off.  They provide indefinite air and waste recycling, using magic-seeming technology, and you can eat and drink while wearing one.  While not worn they fold-up incredibly small.  And they act as full-coverage light body armour.
Being nearly indestructible and self-repairing you might wonder why not wear them all the time?  They have a strange quirk of making the wearer look faded, and shifted towards being four-colour, a little like an old comic book.  In low light levels they make the wearer look black-and-white, even while some colour can still be seen in their surroundings.  The suits only work for the Angels, though they could interchange them amongst them.
The other item they all share are their three flight rings.  One reason they're not worn all the time is their distinctive 'L' symbol.  These are made of an alien metal and have no obvious power source, again they are incredibly tough (as something needs to be around super powers).
Unfortunately the design of the rings wasn't good enough.  Even though the hardened, embedded, waved micro-circuitry is a brilliant piece of design work, the designer wasn't as good as "Braniac 5".  Flight in space isn't a problem, zero-G manoeuvring works perfectly, flight in significant gravity wells, not so good.  However, the flight is just good enough to manage a controlled crash into a gravity well.  It's unclear whether the Angels know about this problem (actually, they do, as they tried flying before leaving Earth for O'Neill Station).  The rings only work for the Angels, though they could interchange them amongst them.
No matter what clothes and make-up they wear they will always look a little 'off'.  Their clothes will never look totally new or original, their hair will be good but not perfect, and they will always look 'second best'.  Under normal circumstances a lot of people wont notice this, but it becomes apparent at really posh parties and receptions.  Those with a particular eye for fashion will spot this immediately on meeting them.
A major quirk they all share is to do with the computer hardware used to wave them (this is no longer physically part of their apparently totally biological bodies).  Their creator had only used their PC motherboards for MS Windows 98, and, even worse, Windows ME.  The ex-school hard drives had been wiped, but they had previously dual-booted Linux and Windows ME.  This residue has given all three unstable personalities, and they tend to get lost in whatever role they are playing.  Jane is most stable, and can realise what is going on and resist it, and sometimes she can pull the other two out of it.  Sarah is worst, particularly if she is operating alone.  Kelly is OK if you don't mind monomania on technical matters.
A minor quirk that they all have is tied to their piloting abilities.  They can pilot most vehicles, at a basic level of competence, though preferably with a little training.  To be expert pilots, or pilot in combat, they need to "go pirate".  This involves at least something like wearing pirate headgear, or having a pirate parrot on one shoulder (if it's a plastic one, it will become surprisingly animate, even vocal, during this time); an eye patch or fake pirate appendages are generally bad ideas while piloting.  A 'pirate earring' isn't enough.  In an emergency, they can get by with a fake pirate accent, and a bit of "Arrr" in the 'Long John Silver' tradition.
If someone wanted to 'fix' them they'd need near-divine level of skills.  Try Skuld.  They'd need to access their over-selves, outside the normal 4D space-time.  Once there you could have a go at de-quirking their AIs, and fixing their damaged auras.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "O'Neill's Angels"

Sorry, couldn't resist writing and posting this...

The basic logic is supposed to be that they are incredibly good, but they look "second best", and you often need to handle them carefully. Yes, they come as a matched set, and attempts to break them up, in the long term, mightn't go well.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[robkelk]

Good stuff all around... except for the flight rings. I know that's what they are in the source material, but handwavium doesn't quite work that way.

Although...

Maybe...

If the rings themselves can fly, but can't lift anything more than their own weight, that might work. We'd have to show how they weren't just solid metal or plastic before they were waved to make this work, too. (They'd still be useful in zero-G as maneuver engines, but wouldn't do much in a gravity well.)
--
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

[Ace Dreamer]

Good stuff all around... except for the flight rings. I know that's what they are in the source material, but handwavium doesn't quite work that way.

Although...

Maybe...

If the rings themselves can fly, but can't lift anything more than their own weight, that might work. We'd have to show how they weren't just solid metal or plastic before they were waved to make this work, too. (They'd still be useful in zero-G as maneuver engines, but wouldn't do much in a gravity well.)

The design was developed by Braniac 5 from the more cumbersome flight belts.  Reading carefully they are miniaturised circuitry, maybe totally solid state embedded in a protective matrix, which somehow uses the properties of an alien metal to achieve flight, probably using some sort of gravitic trick.  Maybe interacting with the aura around living beings, also so the living metabolism provides the power?  So, the rings are a sort of catalyst in making the wearer fly?
More recent DC Comics stuff has simplified them to an alien metal (very rare?) which can be worked into will-controlled flight rings (like specialised Green Lantern rings?), but I regard that as far more dubious.
As an electronics engineer I think Arthur would be a lot happier about something which had circuitry in it, even if he was having a Blue Hair day when he inscribed and etched them, laying down circuitry layers and components, using an ex-school plastic toy microscope.  Then put the ring faces on top.
If you think they can only be used for zero-G maneuvering, I'll go with that.
Arthur has certainly not got the genius of Braniac 5.
I'd prefer it if they could be used to at least perform a controlled crash into a gravity field, even if you can't use them to take-off - maybe some sort of gravitic dissipation/defocussing trick?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Black Aeronaut]

While the thing about the rings is still being hashed out... I love this idea. And the best part is that someone has slipped moles into O'Niel's operations and he doesn't even know it! HAH!

[Star Ranger4]

Or, it could be that Arthur was hired by Padrig and the whole "pretend to be loyal till you hear from me again" bit is meant to keep them loyal, as they'll actually never hear from their Charlie again.

Or rather, until someone cracks their secret and pretends to be charlie to use them against padrig.

OOOO... An Idea born of sleep deprevation to consider here. The Boskonians find out about this and 'activate' the angels, and effectively use Padrig secrecy against him. The Angels think they are working on the side of the Angels against Padrig, but what they are actually doing is covertly allowing the Boskonians to use O'Niel staion as a waypoint in... in...

Well, that would depend, wouldnt it? Gives us a plot hook to use etc without fleshing it out too much?
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Rakhasa]

 And the best part is that someone has slipped moles into O'Niel's operations and he doesn't even know it! HAH!

 

Or, it could be that Arthur was hired by Padrig and the whole "pretend to be loyal till you hear from me again" bit is meant to keep them loyal, as they'll actually never hear from their Charlie again.

Handwavium. Wich was fed with a very specific fandom. And the wave does not like when someone tries to derail its plots... "Charlie" may find himself leading a detective agency no matter how fast he tried to run.

[Ace Dreamer]

blackaeronaut wrote:

---

And the best part is that someone has slipped moles into O'Niel's operations and he doesn't even know it! HAH!

 

Star Ranger4 wrote:

---

Or, it could be that Arthur was hired by Padrig and the whole "pretend to be loyal till you hear from me again" bit is meant to keep them loyal, as they'll actually never hear from their Charlie again.

Handwavium. Which was fed with a very specific fandom. And the wave does not like when someone tries to derail its plots... "Charlie" may find himself leading a detective agency no matter how fast he tried to run.

If you work your way back up the chain Arthur was hired by Padraig ('Patrick' for the non-Gaelic).  This becomes apparent in the next story which occurs to me.
As for subverting the Angels, they know their "Charlie", and no one could ever substitute for him. [grin]
I wonder if Padraig gets upset if people call him 'Patrick', and spell his name that way?
As to Arthur ending up running a detective agency, you'll just have to wait and see. [grin]
And, given the mix of fandoms involved in the Angels...
Coming soon:  The Hollywood Machine. [grin]
((Do you think it is a good job no one has tried to call them 'Lovely Angels'? [grin] ))
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Rakhasa]

Patrick. Padrig. Next, Patricio, Patton, Peter, Parvati. Why can I see a new meme where no one writes Padriag's name correctly? (even Irish fen who should know better. Though they may do it on purpose...)

[robkelk]

Patrick. Padrig. Next, Patricio, Patton, Peter, Parvati. Why can I see a new meme where no one writes Padriag's name correctly? (even Irish fen who should know better. Though they may do it on purpose...)

Well, I know I spelled it three different ways when I put his writeup on the wiki...
--
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

[robkelk]

As an electronics engineer I think Arthur would be a lot happier about something which had circuitry in it, even if he was having a Blue Hair day when he inscribed and etched them, laying down circuitry layers and components, using an ex-school plastic toy microscope.  Then put the ring faces on top.
If you think they can only be used for zero-G maneuvering, I'll go with that.
Arthur has certainly not got the genius of Braniac 5.
I'd prefer it if they could be used to at least perform a controlled crash into a gravity field, even if you can't use them to take-off - maybe some sort of gravitic dissipation/defocussing trick?

I think we can go with this...
--
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

[Black Aeronaut]

Well, with Rob's blessing, I'll add mine.

[Ace Dreamer]

Thanks. Lets try and figure out how to phrase it right...

I think the logic behind the suits and rings for LSH were they were all going to need to fly (through space) and vacuum'd better not be a problem for them. How the logic of comic book super science has evolved over the decades...

I'm reasonably sure I could come up with Fenspace logic to make the rings function as personal speed drive controls, but Arthur not getting just what he wants is entirely in character.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

Edit made to "[Organisation] O'Neill's Angels":

[start]
Unfortunately the design of the rings wasn't good enough. Even though the hardened, embedded, waved micro-circuitry is a brilliant piece of design work, the designer wasn't as good as "Braniac 5". Flight in space isn't a problem, zero-G manoeuvring works perfectly, flight in significant gravity wells, not so good. However, the flight is just good enough to manage a controlled crash into a gravity well. It's unclear whether the Angels know about this problem (actually, they do, as they tried flying before leaving Earth for O'Neill Station).
[end]

Adds a new paragraph just before the final sentence on the flight rings.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

O'Neill's Angels – 13/Jul/2012
"O'Neill's Angels" are AIs, but unfortunately there isn't a lot of evidence of that.  They are biologically human, and most people would think that they are biomodded humans.  Like many biomods, if they're ageing it's pretty slow, and they resist injury and death.  Built by a rather furtive Irish national, "Arthur, just Arthur" they seem either a brilliant example of wave tech, or someone got lucky.
They answer to the names "Sarah", "Jane", and "Kelly", and are respectively blonde, brunette and red-haired.  With film-star good looks.  They don't give surnames, saying they left that all behind on Earth.  Their legal documents however give their names as "Sarah Major", "Jane Dow" and "Kelly Green", and they're all in their mid twenties.

• Sarah is a brilliant lawyer, and a skilled armed combatant.  If needed she does a very good 'Valley Girl'.  She's also a lot stronger than you'd expect for someone of her build, and is quite capable of effectively using what would otherwise be crew-served or vehicle heavy weapons, but, in general, not dual-wielding.  It might be inadvisable to use the phrase "terminate that contract" around her.  Why injuries to her skin might show a metal endoskeleton is unclear, seeing as medical tests show normal flesh and blood.  Yes, she can do the "Terminator Walk" (see Sarah Conner in T2, and many Terminators).  And she heals fast.
• Jane is a brilliant administrator, skilled in accountancy, and in business law.  She is probably the most sane and stable of the three, but considers herself to be rather in their shadow.  You might class her as an understated English beauty, except for the fact that she looks Oriental in some lights.  Willing to use whatever weapons fit the job she is least inclined of the three to impractical flashy martial arts.  She has the lungs and voice control to shout-down most people, but rarely uses this unless really annoyed.
• Kelly is a brilliant scientist and engineer.  She's also a workable, if unlicensed, doctor.  Unfortunately her science is, while very broad-ranging, conventional, and her engineering is mad scientist steam-punk.  All goes well until she tries to mix the two; she's been seen hitting something with a large spanner shouting "Why wont it work?".  People who stereotype her as a red-headed Celtic engineer annoy her, and she might swear at them in Gaelic.  She prefers to use improvised weapons in a fight, such as tools, but chairs and unconscious enemies will do.  She's not really an unstoppable berserker when she gets badly upset.  Really.

All of the three are fully qualified policewomen who believe they work for "Charlie", and are on a deep undercover mission.  They expect to be contacted by Charlie, but wont be bothered by this taking at least several years; they've no way of contacting Charlie themselves.  Their mission requires them to be totally loyal to the boss of the "O'Neill Station", and they will smile and do this, even if they're gritting their teeth.
All three are skilled martial artists though they sometimes fall into the pattern of set pieces, acrobatically leaping off each other, or taking poses, including the classic "Charlie's Angels" one.  Fighting one of them is bad, fighting all three is suicide for all but the most expert martial artist.  They are quite ready for someone to bring guns to a martial arts fight, and will likely take cover and respond.  Yes, they can use most martial arts weapons.
Unfortunately, they tend to believe they are "Bond Girls", and will dress and act after that style.  Jane is probably the best at resisting this, and it fades with the others when their particular quirks come out.  This trait can make them vulnerable to suave, sophisticated, dominant males.
Some equipment shared by all three of them are their invisible space suits.  The suits can be put-on in about twenty seconds, no matter what clothes are being worn, though they take a couple of minutes to take off.  They provide indefinite air and waste recycling, using magic-seeming technology, and you can eat and drink while wearing one.  While not worn they fold-up incredibly small.  And they act as full-coverage light body armour.
Being nearly indestructible and self-repairing you might wonder why not wear them all the time?  They have a strange quirk of making the wearer look faded, and shifted towards being four-colour, a little like an old comic book.  In low light levels they make the wearer look black-and-white, even while some colour can still be seen in their surroundings.  The suits only work for the Angels, though they could interchange them amongst them.
The other item they all share are their three flight rings.  One reason they're not worn all the time is their distinctive 'L' symbol.  These are made of an alien metal and have no obvious power source, again they are incredibly tough (as something needs to be around super powers).
Unfortunately the design of the rings wasn't good enough.  Even though the hardened, embedded, waved micro-circuitry is a brilliant piece of design work, the designer wasn't as good as "Braniac 5".  Flight in space isn't a problem, zero-G manoeuvring works perfectly, flight in significant gravity wells, not so good.  However, the flight is just good enough to manage a controlled crash into a gravity well.  It's unclear whether the Angels know about this problem (actually, they do, as they tried flying before leaving Earth for O'Neill Station).  The rings only work for the Angels, though they could interchange them amongst them.
No matter what clothes and make-up they wear they will always look a little 'off'.  Their clothes will never look totally new or original, their hair will be good but not perfect, and they will always look 'second best'.  Under normal circumstances a lot of people wont notice this, but it becomes apparent at really posh parties and receptions.  Those with a particular eye for fashion will spot this immediately on meeting them.
A major quirk they all share is to do with the computer hardware used to wave them (this is no longer physically part of their apparently totally biological bodies).  Their creator had only used their PC motherboards for MS Windows 98, and, even worse, Windows ME.  The ex-school hard drives had been wiped, but they had previously dual-booted Linux and Windows ME.  This residue has given all three unstable personalities, and they tend to get lost in whatever role they are playing.  Jane is most stable, and can realise what is going on and resist it, and sometimes she can pull the other two out of it.  Sarah is worst, particularly if she is operating alone.  Kelly is OK if you don't mind monomania on technical matters.
A minor quirk that they all have is tied to their piloting abilities.  They can pilot most vehicles, at a basic level of competence, though preferably with a little training.  To be expert pilots, or pilot in combat, they need to "go pirate".  This involves at least something like wearing pirate headgear, or having a pirate parrot on one shoulder (if it's a plastic one, it will become surprisingly animate, even vocal, during this time); an eye patch or fake pirate appendages are generally bad ideas while piloting.  A 'pirate earring' isn't enough.  In an emergency, they can get by with a fake pirate accent, and a bit of "Arrr" in the 'Long John Silver' tradition.
If someone wanted to 'fix' them they'd need near-divine level of skills.  Try Skuld.  They'd need to access their over-selves, outside the normal 4D space-time.  Once there you could have a go at de-quirking their AIs, and fixing their damaged auras.
Angel Holes
The Angels view of the world isn't just bent, it's a corkscrew that requires higher dimensions to describe.  There are things they cannot believe without doubting who they are.
Yes, they have a plot, but that plot is: "Deep Cover on a Mysterious Space Station".  Charlie told them that.  They can't doubt it.  Deep cover means that they must establish themselves as loyal and reliable.  And, they must wait for Charlie's call.
Anything that they learn will be twisted to fit that plot.  They will learn about AIs and Fenspace, but that will only be background information, part of their investigation; none of it can apply to them.  They can compare this with their previous investigations, and know they've "fallen down the rabbit hole".  This is all far weirder than anything that they've done before, which didn't go any further than a few gadgets.  They've got invisible space suits, they've got rings that let them fly (in space), and no one they speak to thinks that they're anything except something to envy.
Once they start talking between themselves, other cracks will appear.  Their shared history works up to a point, then things get sticky.  Jane is the easy one, both the others know her with the skills she has.  Sarah was always known as being a legal genius, and Kelly a scientific genius, and unlicensed medic; that's all simple retcon.  In neither case do you want to argue with them if they lose their tempers.
Where the wheels start to fall off is the question of where Sarah got all the Terminator stuff, and Kelly got the Steam Punk.  These amount to large chunks of Secret Background that even the best script writer would have to scrabble to maintain plausible deniability.  Remember, the Angels are writing their script as they're going along.
The Angels are the 'Good Guys' - they have to be.  OK, they have problems, but so does everyone else.
The Angels also are unlikely to regard themselves as AIs, more as humans with a bit extra.  They don't have the sort of thinking speeds AIs in Fenspace have, for example, though they are certainly at the top of human mental reaction speeds.  Almost like they have human minds condensed from an AI template.
Unless they completely break their roles, which would put massive strain on their minds, the Angels will not call Charlie.  Jane wouldn't even call Arthur if she was pretty sure he was Charlie.  This doesn't mean she might not call him for some other reason, though.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "O'Neills Angels" (repost)

This is a re-post to insert the agreed limits on the flight rings.

Also, arising out of feedback, Angel Holes has been added to the end, to more firmly nail-down just how messed-up the Angels are.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind