04-22-2024, 04:26 PM
Talion eventually returned to Ten Forward. This time he was alone and he paused at the door, cautiously scanning the room with his eyes before deciding on a course of action. With this many people, it was quickly turning from a social moment to a tactical exercise in diplomacy. That was when he caught sight of Thorn.
Unceremoniously taking a seat, he greeted her as if they had never parted ways, "I should have guessed you would be over here, trying to hide in plain sight. How have you been?"
Thorn gave him a playful mock punch in the arm, "I thought you had ridden off into the sunset. What are you doing on this ship?"
He shrugged, "Well, I could raise my daughter her entire life only surrounded by synthetics. That just didn't feel right. She needs to experience organics in their natural environment."
Thorn's eyes went wide, "Daughter! So then the stories are true. Who? I mean..."
Alex held up a hand, "Kristina, but it's a long story. Reyna is six, going on sixteen, or so it feels. I wonder if I was like that as a kid. How about you? Last I knew, you were dating that huge Mirak."
Kalli suddenly looked a bit sad and answered, "Well, first I broke his heart, thinking I was doing the right thing. Then, not long ago, I got word that he died in an accident, trying to save people. Love is just not in the cards for me, Alex."
He placed his big hand on her small shoulder and tried to soften the blow, "Hey, I'm sorry about that. Of all people, I know how that hurts when you lose them. When that happened to me, with Krinstina, I didn't even have interest in my work anymore. Give yourself time though."
Kalli nodded and pulled out an isolinear chip from a pocket and held it out to him. "I saw you on the Bridge earlier and prepared this for you." He took it and looked at is suspiciously as she explained, "It is a log of my field testing of your drone systems. In short, I have been developing a program to use with them that I originally adapted from a targeting subroutine for ship's weapons systems."
He nodded understanding, "They're designed to swift target acquisition and rapid identification with subsequent analysis."
She nodded in return, "Exactly, which is where I started and then have been expanding on the database while integrating behavioral strata within the matrix for interaction and situational application. My primary goal right now is to use if for Damage Control assessment during combat as well as possible search and rescue assistance for crew without endangering them in crisis situations. I've been working on since before you left and I have even logged one official mission application of it in operation, using stealth as well as various situations involving scanning of organic and inorganic targets. It went very well. The only snag turned out to be the limits of my database uploads to the program, which was very easily remedied. I think it has great potential."
Alex was impressed. He put the chip into his pocket, "I look forward to reading this. I'm eager to see how your program has developed." He frowned, "You're not going to...um..."
She shook her head, "No, the program is designed for interaction, but is not being programmed for sentience. It IS adaptive, but I've not altered the matrix of it from the original Star Fleet framework."
He nodded approval, "Good, that should keep you safe from it wandering into dangerous territory. You have to be very careful not to let people get confused about the nature of the program. It's alright for them to not know it isn't organic on first sight, but the program needs to know and be able to make clear about its status." He rolled his eyes, "I have lost track of how many times people insisted I set Cindy free and so on. Some people just don't understand, so please take care not to blur that line too much."
She cringed and confessed, "There is one point that I don't tell people about, but I feel you can appreciate. It wanted to have a name, so I let it pick one. It had already scanned the room and I had a book in view that I had been reading."
Alex's expression showed he was bracing himself for something that deserved this big of a lead, "Oh no."
She nodded, "It thought I respected the person, which I did, but not in how it calculated. It saw the quote in the subtitle."
"A quote? Oh this is not going to be good."
She nodded and looked down, trying not to laugh, "I am become death, destroyer of worlds."
Alex couldn't help himself, he laughed out loud. It was a genuine belly laugh. He quickly managed to get himself under control, but it had been let out. Kalli joined him, both of them getting a good laugh out of it.
In between laughs, she managed to add, "Obviously, I couldn't let that be the program designation, but I had let it choose. So, the official designation is DDOW and is known as DeeDee for short."
"Oh, that's a creative recovery! Oh my goodness, that's one that even Reyna will appreciate hearing about."
Kalli regained her composure a bit and continued, "The data is all solid. The design and my program are proof of concept that expands upon the original specifications exactly as intended. They do function with default programs, as well as being able to integrate standard EMH programs for field deployment and so on. I anticipate the use of repair programs into automated drones, especially on a ship of this size, but I will need to approach the Command Staff in a formal manner to see how they feel about such things. I currently have only been using the very small version, so I can carry it into field situations prior to deployment. The potential is very strong though."
Alex was quite impressed. He had worked with Thorn in the past and her grasp of ship systems and how to use conventional materials in unconventional ways never ceased to impress him. She reminded him of his own mechanical creative genius that turned to research and development of his prosthetics and medical equipment that were now commonly used in many environments, across countless colonies. She had practically become like a little sister to him and he was good with that.
Unceremoniously taking a seat, he greeted her as if they had never parted ways, "I should have guessed you would be over here, trying to hide in plain sight. How have you been?"
Thorn gave him a playful mock punch in the arm, "I thought you had ridden off into the sunset. What are you doing on this ship?"
He shrugged, "Well, I could raise my daughter her entire life only surrounded by synthetics. That just didn't feel right. She needs to experience organics in their natural environment."
Thorn's eyes went wide, "Daughter! So then the stories are true. Who? I mean..."
Alex held up a hand, "Kristina, but it's a long story. Reyna is six, going on sixteen, or so it feels. I wonder if I was like that as a kid. How about you? Last I knew, you were dating that huge Mirak."
Kalli suddenly looked a bit sad and answered, "Well, first I broke his heart, thinking I was doing the right thing. Then, not long ago, I got word that he died in an accident, trying to save people. Love is just not in the cards for me, Alex."
He placed his big hand on her small shoulder and tried to soften the blow, "Hey, I'm sorry about that. Of all people, I know how that hurts when you lose them. When that happened to me, with Krinstina, I didn't even have interest in my work anymore. Give yourself time though."
Kalli nodded and pulled out an isolinear chip from a pocket and held it out to him. "I saw you on the Bridge earlier and prepared this for you." He took it and looked at is suspiciously as she explained, "It is a log of my field testing of your drone systems. In short, I have been developing a program to use with them that I originally adapted from a targeting subroutine for ship's weapons systems."
He nodded understanding, "They're designed to swift target acquisition and rapid identification with subsequent analysis."
She nodded in return, "Exactly, which is where I started and then have been expanding on the database while integrating behavioral strata within the matrix for interaction and situational application. My primary goal right now is to use if for Damage Control assessment during combat as well as possible search and rescue assistance for crew without endangering them in crisis situations. I've been working on since before you left and I have even logged one official mission application of it in operation, using stealth as well as various situations involving scanning of organic and inorganic targets. It went very well. The only snag turned out to be the limits of my database uploads to the program, which was very easily remedied. I think it has great potential."
Alex was impressed. He put the chip into his pocket, "I look forward to reading this. I'm eager to see how your program has developed." He frowned, "You're not going to...um..."
She shook her head, "No, the program is designed for interaction, but is not being programmed for sentience. It IS adaptive, but I've not altered the matrix of it from the original Star Fleet framework."
He nodded approval, "Good, that should keep you safe from it wandering into dangerous territory. You have to be very careful not to let people get confused about the nature of the program. It's alright for them to not know it isn't organic on first sight, but the program needs to know and be able to make clear about its status." He rolled his eyes, "I have lost track of how many times people insisted I set Cindy free and so on. Some people just don't understand, so please take care not to blur that line too much."
She cringed and confessed, "There is one point that I don't tell people about, but I feel you can appreciate. It wanted to have a name, so I let it pick one. It had already scanned the room and I had a book in view that I had been reading."
Alex's expression showed he was bracing himself for something that deserved this big of a lead, "Oh no."
She nodded, "It thought I respected the person, which I did, but not in how it calculated. It saw the quote in the subtitle."
"A quote? Oh this is not going to be good."
She nodded and looked down, trying not to laugh, "I am become death, destroyer of worlds."
Alex couldn't help himself, he laughed out loud. It was a genuine belly laugh. He quickly managed to get himself under control, but it had been let out. Kalli joined him, both of them getting a good laugh out of it.
In between laughs, she managed to add, "Obviously, I couldn't let that be the program designation, but I had let it choose. So, the official designation is DDOW and is known as DeeDee for short."
"Oh, that's a creative recovery! Oh my goodness, that's one that even Reyna will appreciate hearing about."
Kalli regained her composure a bit and continued, "The data is all solid. The design and my program are proof of concept that expands upon the original specifications exactly as intended. They do function with default programs, as well as being able to integrate standard EMH programs for field deployment and so on. I anticipate the use of repair programs into automated drones, especially on a ship of this size, but I will need to approach the Command Staff in a formal manner to see how they feel about such things. I currently have only been using the very small version, so I can carry it into field situations prior to deployment. The potential is very strong though."
Alex was quite impressed. He had worked with Thorn in the past and her grasp of ship systems and how to use conventional materials in unconventional ways never ceased to impress him. She reminded him of his own mechanical creative genius that turned to research and development of his prosthetics and medical equipment that were now commonly used in many environments, across countless colonies. She had practically become like a little sister to him and he was good with that.