You Signed Up for This (Fanfic from Boughene PbP ATU)

[Spinward Flow]

Another common science/intel mission would be fitting what I call a satcaster rack on the turret, and the scout uses them to deploy satellites as survey tool, navigation aid, low starport repeater or other comms functions, etc.

Most people call that a Missile Launcher ... you just change the "payload" of the missiles that you launch.

This is actually something that LBB SS3 Missiles (Revised), p10 touches on this application in the non-military missiles section.

NON-MILITARY MISSILES
Missiles can be assembled with payloads that do not serve a strictly military function. Examples of such missiles include illumination or signal missiles, message torpedoes, and remote sensor drones.
Illumination missiles are fitted with a bright flare warhead (usually chemical in nature), a radio sensor, and a command detonation system. The purpose is to create a bright visual signal for some purpose—communication with a planetary surface, momentarily illumination of a location, or even as a diversion. Illumination missiles which illuminate in the radio or the infrared spectrum are also possible; they use special illumination payloads at the same cost and mass as the ordinary type.
An illumination payload is capable of producing an extremely bright light for the period of one game turn. The process destroys the missile. The payload masses 10 kilograms and has a base price of Cr1,000. Standard tech level is 6.
Message Torpedoes carry physical messages, materials, equipment, or samples from one location to another. Their payload section is a compartment which holds the items securely. They also carry a radio sensor and a controller.
A message torpedo payload masses 10 kilograms and costs Cr100 at tech level 5.
Remote Sensor Drones carry sensor equipment for remote operations. The specific sensor equipment must be placed in a custom produced payload assembly. The assembly costs Cr500 plus the cost of the instrumentation and can be produced at the tech level of the instrumentation.

Exchange "sensor" for "communication" and you're good to go!

So if you wanted to deploy a "starlink constellation" to a world somewhere, one way to do so would be to load up a Scout/Courier with lots of Remote Sensor Communications Drones to be launched using a Missile Launcher in the turret. No need for specialized turret equipment, just specialized missiles to be launched from the Missile Launcher in the turret.

 

[kilemall]

Sure but the satcaster would drop more payload, less tied up in propulsion.

 

[Spinward Flow]

Sure but the satcaster would drop more payload, less tied up in propulsion.

You basically build a different missile then ... with little to no propulsion and more payload.
You use the mobility of the ship to launch the payload into the right orbit.

 

[kilemall]

You basically build a different missile then ... with little to no propulsion and more payload.
You use the mobility of the ship to launch the payload into the right orbit.

You do you. My scouts are pumping satellites all over with maximum loads and gentle insertions.


I always envisioned sandcaster launching much like depth charges making that plumph sound, if sound carried in space like TV shows. Satcasters, same thing.

Mines too.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Commentary:

Other than nuclear properties, no properties of oganesson or its compounds have been measured; this is due to its extremely limited and expensive production[106] and the fact that it decays very quickly. Thus only predictions are available.

(Wikipedia, retrieved in year 2024 of the obsolete Solmani calendar)

 

[Grav_Moped]

Story
Continuation (135-1106, lunchtime)

“Are you sure you’re leaving immediately?” Chimmy asks. “If you wait a few days, we’ll know for sure whether Puch and the rest of ‘em went to Feri or to Efate, or didn’t go to either one. I’d ask you for a lift – working passage – to Efate if I knew they’d gone that way.”

I sigh. “Nah. If I stick around here doing nothing with the ship for too long, they’ll find something for me to do with it. Gotta move quick, and keep moving.”

“Figured as much,” she replies. “It was worth a shot. Still, I might have someone who’s looking to work for a ride to Efate now if you’ve got an open crew slot.”

“If I don’t know them already, probably not -- and you're not talking like you meant yourself. Might give 'em a break on the fare as a favor to you, but I’ve already got a crew. The ship came with an Assistant Guest, and she’s been conditioned with all the skills needed to run it.”

“Oh,” she insinuates, “a programmed clone with all the skills?”

If looks could kill, I'd have inflicted mortal wounds. “With a Guest? What kind of weirdo do you think I am? Wait, don’t answer that.” That got a laugh out of her. “Chimmy, this is the Scout Service, not some corporate courier. Pretty sure they programmed that out of her. The psych team targets ‘niece,’ not ‘girlfriend’ as the relationship model. ‘Avuncular’ was the word they used.”

“Ok, ok, no offense intended. Sheesh. Still, you’d rather have a Guest than a real crewperson?” she asks.

“Well, she is a real person, at least as far as she knows and I don’t see any point in arguing over it. And I don’t have much choice in the matter – she’s assigned to the ship. It'll work out."

 

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Commentary: (On previous narrative/dialogue, preceding post -- see above^^^^^^) Hadn't really given much thought to it when I started writing this, but I'm going to have to get into how the 3I treats clones, relicts (reloading personality into spare body), and guests (synthetic or modified personality loaded into a force-grown body).

And how Mike's going to treat this one in particular (one that uses an acquaintance's body and a synthetic personality).

And (at least IMTU) the body/mind (maybe soul?) linkage/dichotomy. (AotI appears to indicate that the Vilani afterlife is real in-universe -- though it does not indicate that there either are, or are not, other forms of an afterlife in-universe.)

And other stuff that'll manifest when circumstances enable it.

 

[Spinward Flow]

I'm going to have to get into how the 3I treats clones, relicts (reloading personality into spare body), and guests (synthetic or modified personality loaded into a force-grown body).

Simplest answer is going to be the "bio-roid" route.
Think "android" except that you're dealing with meaty wetware rather than machinery and electronics.

The other distinction you would want to be making is "original vs copies" ... in a sort of "copyright" kind of context. Once you can duplicate people(!), you get a sort of hierarchy of precedence, that basically amounts to a "who was here first" sort of deal. So long as the original is around, all of the copies/duplicates are "subordinate" to the original. If the original is "out of the picture" then the rights of precedence fall to the copy/duplicate that is closest to the original (copy of a copy of copy direction) and is the "oldest" of the copy/duplicates.

Once you have that conceptual framework built, the whole question becomes something of a pachinko machine of a range of possibilities, situations and circumstances. The important point being that the further you deviate away from the original, the more "artificial" the person becomes, leading to something of a "second/third/fourth/etc. class citizen" syndrome of thinking about the question.

In the context of your question, a clone would be "someone else who has the same DNA as the original" (so basically a natural identical twin, genetically, but a "new" person). A relict would "the same person, but refurbished" (an earlier state of aging, but with a continuity of consciousness from the previous). Guests would be "a constructed person" modified to purpose and thus the "farthest" from the original.

• Clone = genetic copy, new identity (least artificial)
• Relict = genetic copy, continuous identity (transferred)
• Guest = genetic copy, constructed/modified/tampered with identity (quite artificial)

A lot of the same prejudices that would be directed towards robots and androids could legitimately be directed towards Guest types as well. The purpose is the same (make someone for a job), but the materials are different (biology rather than electronics/mechanical) ... same goal, different means.

Note that this is, broadly speaking, rather similar to the themes explored in the Ghost In The Shell series by Masamune Shirow, including the Stand Alone Complex phenomena (which gets TRULY META and mind melting when you dive into it deeply enough! ).

 

[kilemall]

The original robots from the play RUR were meatware, but not human duplicates- more easy to manufacture, simpler, stronger, smarter, work until break then dispose and replace. No reproduction function, which became something of an issue.

 

[Kakistocrat]

I’m going to have to get into how the 3I treats clones, relicts (reloading personality into spare body), and guests (synthetic or modified personality loaded into a force-grown body).

[…] The other distinction you would want to be making is “original vs copies” … in a sort of “copyright” kind of context. Once you can duplicate people (!), you get a sort of hierarchy of precedence, that basically amounts to a “who was here first” sort of deal. So long as the original is around, all of the copies/duplicates are “subordinate” to the original. If the original is “out of the picture” then the rights of precedence fall to the copy/duplicate that is closest to the original (copy of a copy of copy direction) and is the “oldest” of the copy/duplicates.

See the film Multiplicity for a comedic take on this distinction.

 

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Commentary:

 

[Grav_Moped]

Commentary (in-universe):
1. Legal issues: The host body is Melissa Ketonic, who is unlikely to come back and contest for sole possession of the identity -- she's in hiding after extensive plastic surgery and other tricks to avoid detection. Notably, this body has not been marked as being a duplicate, and at this point Ms. Ketonic no longer much resembles it!

However, the personality is very much not her, and has been synthesized and conditioned for specific purposes. In the Third Imperium, the legal status of such constructs is that they are not legally competent adults. They cannot be property (due to the Imperial prohibition of slavery), but they can be indentured for their cost of production and upkeep. In practice, tragically, this is often a difference without a much of a distinction.

2. Moral issues: the Olga Nesson identity is not "organic" but instead a composite of a baseline "generic technician" personality with a fabricated backstory, plus whatever bits of personality crept into the skill wafers used to "level her up" from the skill donors. As mentioned above, this personality has also been conditioned for loyalty to the Scout Service and to the Oganesson Pegasus, as well as to view the authorized pilot of the ship as an avuncular figure or auntie entity, depending on their gender.

As far as she knows, she's a "real person" with a "real" history. She has, however, been strongly conditioned to not think about her past or her identity so as to avoid noticing internal inconsistencies or gaps. So, basically, she's an unreflective teenager by nature, and shouldn't outgrow that state.

Thus, if you're an adult, you probably shouldn't get romantically involved with her because that's just skeevy. In similar cases with synthetic, conditioned personalities, getting "romantically involved" may be both ridiculously easy and perhaps actually illegal (depending on local law level and local societal norms).

Some might consider her to be less than human, based on the limits of constructed personalities. Legally, she's human, but not fully competent. In truth, she's probably about as human as a typical human...

3. Technical issues: The Olga Nesson personality was fabricated by loading the generic Female Technician personality into the empty Melissa Ketonic clone host (which had no underlying host personality that could re-emerge), adding Skill Wafers as needed, then recording the resulting composite and re-installing it into the host body. The host body is a force-grown clone, so will age faster than expected. The artificial personality is effectively the body's new host personality and will not fade over time. It may develop over time, but the conditioned avoidance of introspection would tend to limit this.

 

[Kakistocrat]

[…] an avuncular figure or auntie entity, depending on their gender.

Given the etymology of “avuncular” (from Latin, in which avunculus is a maternal uncle), an analogous feminine form in English could be coined as “amital” (from amita, a paternal aunt — amita is also the ancestor of “aunt” itself).

 

[Grav_Moped]

This is going to get different (that is, I might either restart it or modify it a bit). I'm rewriting it for a creative writing class, and had an interesting idea for a different direction for the plot and character development.

 

[Grav_Moped]

The different direction for the plot (which I didn't go with on the initial assignment submission) is to write up the "meet-cute" scene (it's more like meet-awkward, though) from walking up to the ship and encountering "Melissa". This provides an opportunity for flashback character establishment -- Mike worked alongside Melissa on Feri some while ago, so their history can be used to establish both of the characters' personalities and hint at her psionic abilities (that the clone probably doesn't have). It also gives me a paragraph or few of internal reflection as a mechanism for exposition about Scouts, the Detached Duty program, and how the Og Pegasus is unusual -- which can let me skip bringing in the "Chimmy" character, for simplicity.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Restart, revised
[SPOILER="Authorial rambling"]Yes, there's a bit of a train wreck after the "phone call". Probably ought to clean that up a little more.
Add: worse, I changed her last name in the early part of this and didn't catch that I hadn't fixed it in the second half.. oops.
Add 2: also missed that I'd overlooked that part of the "phone call" should have changed from third to first person... OUCH.

It's all fixed now, I think. /sigh

(In other words, I seriously screwed up on the version I turned in as an assignment last week... )[/SPOILER]
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When one door closes, another one opens -- after all, that’s how airlocks are supposed to work. This particular one opens into Hangar Bay 4 and the three 40-meter-long steel arrowheads – scout ships -- parked inside. The big one at the far end of the hangar is mine now. I’ve earned it from a solid career, or so they tell me.

Seems those last few harrowing months of peace-seeking on war-torn Feri at the end there -- that didn’t work out as our team had hoped, alas -- made the difference. At least we got the story out past our incompetent on-world allies, and the Duke can come in and straighten things out. Maybe that was enough. Well, all that and a mostly ghost-written proposal to do socio-political reports while in “retirement.”

“Welcome to your retirement, Mike. Do us proud.” Base Director Kehoe’s parting words echo as I reach the ship’s boarding ladder, climb up past the nose gear, and into the forward airlock. Let’s meet that cloned and conditioned crewmember he said the ship comes with, and get on with this. The door at my feet spins closed, the one in front of me spins open -- yep, that’s how they work – and I stop right there, facing a familiar girl standing there at parade rest.

“Can’t be,” I think. Her hair’s shorter and in a spacer’s cut now, and she looks about a decade younger, but I’d remember those amber eyes and that smile forever. She saved my life more than once back there on Feri, and I returned the favor. “Melissa!” I exclaim, embracing her.

Or, not. She blocks me with upraised arms, eyes wide then narrowed. “Who the hellworld are you?” she demands angrily. “And who is ‘Melissa’ anyhow?”

Stunned and slack-jawed, I stumble backwards. “Blandship. Scout Michael Blandship. I’ve been designated as the pilot of the Oganesson Pegasus here. You aren’t Scout Melissa Ketonic?”

Her narrowed gaze relaxes; her face seems to almost light up. “Oh, you’re the pilot! I’m sorry for my reaction. I’m Olga Nixon, the assigned crew for this ship. Never heard of Miss Ketonic, but I suppose I must look a little like her. You can hug me if you’d like,” she finishes sweetly. No hint of recognition – she was always good at staying in character.

“Er… not just now, thanks. And I’m sorry – I’d never have even tried that if I realized you weren’t her. Hold on a second…” I tell her, then address the ship’s computer. “Og Pegasus, Pilot Blankship. Comms security, radio and acoustic isolation, level Penultimate, activate.”

A polite, feminine voice – similar to that of the woman in front of me – replies from hidden speakers, “Radio and acoustic isolation complete, level Penultimate. Confirmed.” Good, I think.

I turn back to face this younger Melissa, and try again. “OK, ship’s secure and we can talk freely. Great work Missa, in not breaking character there, but why are you trying to pass as a technician with an artificial personality? It’s overkill!”

Her answer is a blank look and a determined statement. “I’m not Missa, or Melissa, or whoever you think I am. I’m Olga, and I’m not artificial.”

I try to work out her history with the ship; she reflexively redirects to talking about the ship’s systems. I push the issue, and it does not go well – she backs away crying, saying there’s something she has to do in the engine room.

This isn’t right, I think, walking to the cockpit. Above my pay grade – well then, I have to talk with someone who’s at the right pay grade to settle this. I slide into the pilot’s seat, key up the comm unit, and punch in the code for Director Kehoe’s office. I’m patched through immediately, another surprise.

 

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[If you linked here because it's the last post (as the thread stands now), please start reading in the post immediately before this one; I've restarted the narrative. Thanks!]
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“Director, with all due respect, just what the hellworld is going on here anyhow?" I demand.

"Mike, at least you went full encrypt on the call. This could have gone very badly otherwise," he counters.

"Look, I worked with Scout Ketonic on the Feri recon mission. I knew she'd gone to ground after our guys brought her here to Boughene Station on that ghost ship from the far end of the subsector. Finding Melissa -- or rather, her teenaged duplicate -- waiting for me here on the Oganesson Pegasus isn't something anybody sane is going to transmit in the clear. So, why is it her?"

"Look, Mike, I went over this with you when you agreed to take the ship. The Ognanesson Pegasus is a General Products build under mandatory license, not a high-quality legacy one from Collace like the rest of the Neon Pegasus class. You're going to need good help keeping it going."

I sigh. "Yes, I know. Meliss -- scratch that, she's Olga Nixon -- was loaded with Engineering and Navigation along with Gunner over the generic Technician personality. She'll be fine, but that's not why I'm asking, and you know it." I hesitate, then re-attack. "Why is the ship's Assistive Guest Clone built from the body of Scout Ketonic? That's not fair to her, besides being flat-out creepy and a violation of Scout Service policy."

"Mike, Mike -- It wasn't my call. I'm just making sure the orders get followed."

"Orders? From who?"

"Classified and anonymous, as with most everything that's had to do with her. But it's the same source that had us do the concealing reconstructive surgery and chimera grafts to hide DNA on the original Miss Ketonic before she left... so it's legit. We got notification that the ship's back-ordered drive parts from Rhylanor came in at the same time as the orders to thaw Melissa's backup clone for use as the ship's Assistant did."

"Someone's trying to get Olga here, killed. If agents of Feri or from House Oberlindes find her, they'll want vengeance. They won't know -- and probably won't care when they find out -- that it's not Melissa in that body."

"Yeah, Mike. Can't rule that out, but that's what the orders said. They must have a reason."

"They do. They're using her as an expendable decoy, and I'm supposed to parade her around until someone strikes."

"The orders don't say that!" Kehoe protests.

"They don't have to," I growl in response.

"Are you backing out of accepting the ship under Detached Duty regulations?"

"No. I know it's not Melissa in there, but the real Melissa saved my backside on Feri a couple of times that I know of. I think I owe it to her to keep her spare body alive. The Olga personality is keyed to this ship. If I don't take it, someone else that didn't know Missa is going to be in the same position with less information and motivation." I pause before my inevitable reply: "I'm in, you bastard."

"I told you, it wasn't my idea!"

"I know. But you didn't weasel out of it, either."

"The needs of the Imperium come before any individual."

"Doesn't mean we have to like it. Scout Blandship out." I hear footsteps behind me at the cockpit door, and there she is.

"You aren't going to leave me then, Mike? I'm glad you're staying, I like you," says Olga, with an innocently hopeful tone that Melissa had never used. Melissa's really not in there, I realize. Wherever she is, I hope she's ok. Knowing her and her uncanny luck, I'm sure she is.

"No, Olga, I'm not leaving. This is my -- our -- ship now."

"Great!" she exclaims. "Where do we go first, and how soon do we leave? I really want to help make Oganesson Pegasus fly -- it's what I'm here for." She's totally sincere, and literally correct: she's been custom-programmed for this tasking. I now know better than to ask about her background, because she's been conditioned to actively avoid thinking about the fact that she doesn't actually have one.

Just another bit of unfairness dumped onto Melissa's spare body. The cloners could have given her a full personality and history, even if a mostly made up one. They didn't. They couldn't have made her the real Melissa though, not and set her out as a target. She knows too much, presents too much risk.

Maybe it's better that she's not a "real" person, since after all she is doomed -- but that's not right either; "Olga Nixon" is real too, if incomplete. I turn away so she can't see me curse under my breath.

I turn back to her, wanting and expecting a totally random answer. "Olga? Where do you want to go first?"

"Feri."

What the - - !? "Um, Olga, that's not really a good choice right now."

"Why not?"

"Remember the woman I thought you looked like?"

"Yes -- 'Melissa,' you said her name was."

"Right. Well, the things she did there on Feri were good and important, but they made the local government mad. If we go there, you'll be in trouble because they'll think you're her, coming back.
"And why did you pick Feri anyhow?"

This drew a blank look from her. Born yesterday, age 20. I keep tripping over that...
A pause, then a reply as if reading from unfamiliar notes: "You two worked together there before, so it must be an interesting world. I would like to see it."

Glitch in her conditioning, I suppose. "Maybe later," I reply, "but it's not a safe place for you right now. Then again, it's not all that safe for anyone these days – it’s an active war zone. Surprised it doesn't have a yellow travel code yet." Olga's face and posture expose her dismay, and I can't let that stand. "Anywhere else should be fine, though! I say, cheerily. "How about it?"

"Efate?" She's a little hesitant there, unsure.

Probably safe enough for now, even with the recent terrorist sprees, I think. Three parsecs from Feri, different noble families, high-population and industrial -- yeah, it'll work. "Efate sounds good. Let's do that."

She brightens up. "Great! How soon?"

"Well," I respond, "I'll need a couple of hours to get my stuff together, and then run the pre-flight checks and file the flight plan. How about you?"

"I'm ready to go right now -- all my stuff is already on board. I live here, you know. I'll work on the pre-flight checks so you can do whatever you need to do. Let's get going!"

She's entirely too perky. I wonder if I'll be able to handle that for weeks on end..

 

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[If you got here by jumping to the last post in this thread, and haven't read the two-post reboot, please jump back to Posts #36-7 and give it a read -- and let me know how you think it compares to Posts #1-4 from a writing perspective!]

Anyhow:
Well, I got good feedback from the instructor -- she liked that I'd aggressively re-written the first half. Didn't mention the other issues I called out in the Authorial Rambling spoiler section... doesn't mean they won't show up in the grade though.

Next up: I'll edit out he "Chimmy in the Waffle House" scene since I can shift some of the backstory exposition into dialogue between Mike and Olga during the first part o the trip. Also, the ship's computer is more than it seems... (But, what could possibly go wrong with a General Products computer running an Artificial Intelligence system?
Especially if it was even weirder than GP hardware to begin with... )

There's going to be a rift in the algorithm -- the ship's AI is going to need to "lean on" Olga to get some math done in a crisis and that will leave her slightly changed. (And that's not the only personality change I'm plotting -- there are two additional writing assignments that will be additional bits of this story, so I need to pace myself...)

 

[kilemall]

[If you got here by jumping to the last post in this thread, and haven't read the two-post reboot, please jump back to Posts #36-7 and give it a read -- and let me know how you think it compares to Posts #1-4 from a writing perspective!]

Anyhow:
Well, I got good feedback from the instructor -- she liked that I'd aggressively re-written the first half. Didn't mention the other issues I called out in the Authorial Rambling spoiler section... doesn't mean they won't show up in the grade though.

Next up: I'll edit out he "Chimmy in the Waffle House" scene since I can shift some of the backstory exposition into dialogue between Mike and Olga during the first part o the trip. Also, the ship's computer is more than it seems... (But, what could possibly go wrong with a General Products computer running an Artificial Intelligence system?
Especially if it was even weirder than GP hardware to begin with... )

There's going to be a rift in the algorithm -- the ship's AI is going to need to "lean on" Olga to get some math done in a crisis and that will leave her slightly changed. (And that's not the only personality change I'm plotting -- there are two additional writing assignments that will be additional bits of this story, so I need to pace myself...)

That’s probably a major problem with artificial humans- they learn.

Always the Blade Runner four year lifespan solution, or some embedded suicidal command, although that seems to slide a bit too close to slavery…

 

[Grav_Moped]

That’s probably a major problem with artificial humans- they learn.

Always the Blade Runner four year lifespan solution, or some embedded suicidal command, although that seems to slide a bit too close to slavery…

Agreed. The underlying issue is "what is a human, really?"

I've already noted that while "Guest" clones aren't literally slaves, they can be indentured for their cost of production and conditioned to not ask why that never actually gets paid off... (This is somewhat analogous to the intergenerational social contract wherein children repay their parents for raising them, by caring for them in their old age. Only a bit more cynical...)

I'm actually coming at this from a different direction: Multiple layers of identity.
[SPOILER="Where I'm going with this --- spoils upcoming twists"]Olga gets modified by having to temporarily store the ship's AI personality to free up space for computations. Also, what if she's not installed onto an empty host, but a personality overlay (with skills, which isn't canon) over an existing personality that gets partially reactivated and wants out from under?[/SPOILER]

And there are issues in the OTU, too. Do clones have souls? Do multiple concurent instances of a personality wafer each have their own soul, or does the original one get distributed somehow?

The Vilani afterlife appears to be a real thing in-universe, per AotI, and there are disembodied souls there.