Beneath the Manor: Just don't get goat's blood on it.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:24 pm

Dee paced in the cavern beneath the manor as she waited for the 'specialist' Professor Weaver was sending over. Along the walls of the cavern crystalline formations gleamed, faint lights dancing within.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:48 pm

Victoria was walking at a leisurely pace as she came down into the tunnels, tracing her fingers along the walls as she walked to feel the ambient energy. She wore, today, black leather pants and a corset top that allowed the barbed wire tattoos to stand out very distinctly against her white skin, and walked along with a sensual sway, seeming wrapped up in her thoughts (or internal dialogue) as she entered the cavern.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:51 pm

There was no real mistaking it. The energy that the Manor's walls thrummed with originated down here, spreading out like the roots of a tree around the cavern walls. It didn't seem to be quite drawing all that it could. Indeed, there was far more of it down here, and it was barely being tapped into, flowing sluggishly in fits and starts.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:52 pm

"So," Dee said as Victoria came into view, "how much has Weaver filled you in on what we're dealing with here?"

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:54 pm

"Mmmm... you're not very healthy, are you," she cooed, stroking the walls. "Well, we'll have to fix that, I suppose..."

She smiled at some thought she had, then looked over at Dee. "Hmm? Oh, not much."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:58 pm

"Well then, let me clear some things up. The machine you're looking at here has killed before. What we need to determine is if it's likely to do so again."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:04 pm

"I'm sure that we can make sure that it doesn't," Victoria said, continuing at that same irritatingly slow pace through the tunnels. "Might have been a mad spirit that was put into it, after all..."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:06 pm

"The other factor here is we apparently already have a new tenant."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:13 pm

"Hm?" This news apparently snapped Victoria out of her reverie, and for the first time she actually looked at Deidre. "Well, that makes things somewhat simpler. Eliminates one step, at least."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:15 pm

"Perhaps, but she's really rather a young AI. I'd never really anticipated her residing on a system like this."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:00 pm

"I never said that it was perfect, just that it eliminated a step. I wasn't particularly looking forward to looking for a compatible spirit to bind to it, after all. So... is there a central area to this?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:02 pm

"Take your pick. It's riddled all through the cavern walls."

She gestured around. Some portions of the crystalline structure looked oddly scarred, scorchmarks on the rock behind, but evidence that they had at least partially reformed in the intervening years.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:18 pm

"Hm. I was rather afraid you'd say that," Victoria sighed. "All right... how much of it is damaged? Do you know that?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:23 pm

"We'd thought it was non-operational until we found ASHLIE parked on it. I know the hard-light generators are online, and I found that it... grew... a linkage to the campus network. I wasn't very pleased with that."

"Otherwise I admit I'm only partially aware of its full capabilities. It doesn't operate entirely on mundane principles."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:29 pm

"Very true. Well, I suppose that if we want to know the status, we should just go directly to the source," she mused. "We aren't in a blind spot, are we?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:31 pm

"Regarding what?"

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:47 pm

"Can it hear us?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:52 pm

"She hadn't been aware of this portion of it previously, but she seems to be now."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:01 pm

"Hmm. That would have been a dramatic moment for her to answer us. Oh well," Victoria said. "Well... let's see what things feel like here..." Her hand glowed red as she touched the crystal formation, trying to sense the energy, getting ready to project into it to examine the system from the inside.

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:11 pm

It would feel weird to say the least. There was a certain energy flowing through the crystals but it would feel very artificial, rigid, cold. Like light-beams breaking inside a crystal. Harsh and geometrical. It also seemed to respond almost automatically to the "intrusion", withdrawing processes and isolating the section immediately. At the same time a swirling ball of symbols appears in the cavern.

"Who is this and what are you doing?"

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:13 pm

"Ah, there you are. ASHLIE, this is the specialist I mentioned."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:38 pm

"Hm, I suppose I should have knocked first?" Victoria mused. "Hello," she said, greeting Ashlie pleasantly.

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:42 pm

"How did you do that?" she asks. She doesn't sound angry but very perplexed.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:46 pm

"A combination of psychic projection and sorcery," Victoria answered quite honestly.

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:50 pm

"I still don't understand. You interfaced without using electronics of any kind."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:57 pm

"ASHLIE, the system you're on right now isn't purely electronic in nature. It's why she's been brought in."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:06 pm

"And what is she to do?"

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:11 pm

"I'm handling the part that is mystical in nature. Notably... there seems to be quite a bit of damage that needs to be repaired. This could all be working much more efficiently than it is."

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:12 pm

"But at the same time, there are certain nodes of this system that we need to assess the risk of bringing back online."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:17 pm

"Then please do so instead of trying to pry into active systems and subroutines." she says, sounding like she's pouting.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:08 pm

"Well, if you can point me at those nodes, I can do that," Victoria said. "Right now, I'm trying to figure out what we're dealing with from my side of things."

by **ASHLIE** » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:16 pm

"There are no blueprints and I doubt any ever existed, but I believe it should be obvious which areas are inactive."

The hard-light construct seems to go into kind of an idle state for a moment, afterwards the crystalline veins and nodes around light up more. At least some of them do, some staying dull, especially further into the caverns.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:44 pm

"All right, let's see what we can do about this," Victoria said, walking forward until she found a rather largish patch that wasn't lighting. Reaching out, she did the same as she'd done with the active portion, trying to sense both what was stopping its function, and what its purprose was.

by **Narrator** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:53 pm

This one seemed fairly crucial. The unpowered portion of it seemed to provide significant additional resources for crystalline growth and repair. However, it didn't seem to have any means of directing that growth were it to be brought back online. A scarred-over blast mark divided it from the system as a whole.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:00 pm

"If I ever get the displeasure of meeting Mr. Braddock, remind me to bill him for cleaning up his messes," Victoria mused, touching the blasted edges of the crystals. Closing her eyes, she focused on projecting inside the unpowered section, pushing her power into it and seeing if, by chance, she could make it work just enough to repair the connection to the rest of the system.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:08 pm

"Care to tell me what you're trying?" Dee said, crossing her arms.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:09 pm

"I'm trying to fix the repair capabilities of this thing," she said, continuing the effort.

by **Narrator** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:10 pm

It was almost too easy. The moment it started getting even a little power, it could start repairing its own links, which of course resulted in more power flowing to it.

ASHLIE could feel more resources connecting which she could allocate. While this was nominally the self-repair function, it seemed to be missing any schematics necessary to show how to perform the repairs.

by **ASHLIE** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:15 pm

As per Dee's and Stan's instructions Ashlie didn't access the new system. Though it seemed hard, her own maintenance sub-routines trying to integrate it automatically.

by **Deirdre Quinn** » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:17 pm

"...well, so far so good," Dee said skeptically.

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