[Inside Khafir's Lab]Hraithre wrote: ↑Jan 07, 2024 6:26 pm [Inside Khafir's Lab]
Non-functionality of Khafir's fabricator is a significant setback to the entity. If said device did work, it could maybe simply show to the doctor what to make with it. Alas, it is not an option anymore than the entity figuring out what is wrong with the device - after all, Khafir herself has not managed to do that, and the entity, living inside her brain, cannot exceed her problem-solving ability.
But, the entity does figure out one attack vector: Khafir did activate wireless capabilities of LB1 and LB2, and her communicator can send and receive messages to those two machines. Of the two, LB2 is a more appealing target, given its mobility and increased freedom. The right inputs over a call could be enough to insert a suggestion, a seed of an idea, into the reverse-engineered artificial intelligence. But which inputs, and how to sell the idea to the doctor?
When no external event seems to shake the doctor's routine and the entity has exhausted what it can learn by studying VIGIL, it turns to the one other place it truly knows: the Octahedron, its point of origin. It exploits the doctor's farsight to venture into the dark passageways, not hard to do since Khafir herself occasionally checks on the structure to see if anything's changed. Sadly, the non-functionality of the structure means it is still overwhelmingly unlit, and the entity has learned the hard way that Khafir's farsight does not penetrate the pitch-blackness of the empty halls. It has also learned that whatever mechanism Khafir's farsight works by, it cannot bring the entity back into contact with any of its brethren. Because of these things, most of its runs are blind, with no feedback to guide it through the dark. For the same reason, Khafir might not realize the entity is attempting anything with these runs. There quite literally is nothing to see.
There are two notable exceptions. First is familiar to Khafir: the great archive, its walls lined by blue-glowing cylinders storing all of the structures. It is still under watch by VIGIL, lit by light they left behind. In theory, anything the entity could wish to find is there - sadly, it has no physical presence to open any of the cylinders and reveal their contents to the doctor. So, that room is a dead end.
Second is less familiar - Khafir has never visited it, only briefly glimpsed it through her farsight. It is the armory, faint light from four pair of glowing red eyes barely giving it dimensions. The entity knows what they watch over. If it had fingers, they would itch to grasp that thing. If it could long, it would long to see it properly in the sun once again. Khafir needs to see it, though seeing it is, sadly, not enough.
Since the entity cannot physically retrieve it, nor can it bring more light to that sealed chamber, it has to resort to other means. It has learned that it can "augment" the reality of Khafir's visions, paint objects on her field of vision that are not truly there. Now, it bends that power to reconstruct a scene - an image of fictive past. It is an arduous task, taking many days and nights. To Khafir, the initial attempts might look like nothing. But slowly, it paints the armory with colors, gives life to the guardian statues.
In the fabricated vision, they are not statues at all - they are living giants, leaning on massive swords, each wearing an animal-themed headdress. The first, intimately familiar to Khafir, is an eagle; the scond, a wolf; the third, a ram; the fourth, a ram. They stand guard at the corners of a square arena, built on top a stone pillar rising from the sea. An arched bridge connects it to the mainland - Khafir can see a lush, verdant landscape across.
A procession is walking over the bridge, dressed in silver and gold, carrying incense, wood and trays of food with them. The head of the procession, also wearing a gold eagle mask and a feathered headdress, has in their hands a small object covered by red silk. He holds it up as he walks towards the middle of the arena, showing it to each of the giants in turn. The procession fills the arena, some set aside the food and begin sharing it around, others build a small pagoda at the center from the wood. When it is almost as tall as a man, the leader places their offering on top. His followers cheer. The crowd sets up tents and mattresses in the shade of the giants and begin celebrating.
It looks like a good time.
"Do you wish to see more?", the entity signals to its host once it is done. It knows it cannot really rouse an emotional response in her, but maybe, it can trigger an impulse to tell someone else of all this.
...This is new information.
So far, not entirely out of the domain of inference, and mostly the entity is confirming (or at least corroborating; she has no guarantee this is a reconstruction of an actual memory and more than a little evidence it isn't) a number of things Khafir and those among her Vigil compatriots who studied this data already suspected. But that didn't have to be the end of it.
Khafir pauses what she's currently doing, taking some time to address the entity directly. "If this is not a matter of some urgency, I would ask that you allow me some time to properly log what you are about to show me." She says flatly, standing and making her way over to the door of her laboratory. Leaning outside, she pulls a small plastic placard from her lab coat's pocket and hangs it on the outside of the door.
Testing in Progress
DO NOT DISTURB
DO NOT DISTURB
That done, she turns her attention to a device in the back of her lab, one that passingly resembles a futuristic salon chair. The entity will not have seen her use it before, and indeed might not have been aware of its presence at all; it's been sitting in the corner, undisturbed, for the past several months, with the most acknowledgement of its existence being the red "Out of Order" tag on its control panel, which Khafir ignores as she sits down.
"This device monitors brain activity and records it for study." She explains quickly. "I can set it to tune into my visual cortex and record the images you are showing me. Do I have your consent to do this?"
