018 Logs

Posted on July 11, 2017 at 3:35 pm by Zedrin

DECRYPTION IN PROGRESS… DECRYPTION COMPLETE 13 files unlocked Accessing… DR. INARA VOCIS

ENTRY001

It’s been one month.

I feel like I’m committing a grave sin by keeping you preserved as you are. I can’t let you go. I know I can find an answer. Everything, even organic life, can be broken down into basic machine components.

I’ve started these logs to keep my memories straight. To remind myself of where I’ve been and what I’m doing. And maybe to stop myself from making mistakes.

I’m not ready to say goodbye. I just hope that what I’m doing is right.

ENTRY002

I’ve been considering Dr. Hivewell’s offer. His personality remains a turnoff. But, he’s among the most qualified to research imprint protocols along with myself.

Of course, a full transfer of one’s conscious is drastically more complex, as prior tragedies and tests have proven. I don’t understand his total apathy to the moral argument of the process, however. There’s been talk of banning further research on the topic, and yet he’s completely unphased.

ENTRY003

It’s been 3 days since I last wrote. I’ve since contacted Hivewell and accepted his offer. I haven’t told him about Piper yet. I suspect he may have a suspicion, but it might explain the timing of him reminding me of his request.

We’re to set up in a remote facility. Despite the research being legal here it still meets with a lot of opposition and protests. It’s a privately funded facility, funded from his corporation. We should have access to all the equipment we’ll need.

ENTRY004

I’ve moved Piper’s remains on-site, into a stasis container. Everything is stable. I’ve settled on a comms frame for her surrogate body, modified more to her body type. I’ve dubbed it ‘PV,’ based on her initials.

Hivewell is pushy and tends to ask too many questions, so I’d rather he not take notice of it.  Hopefully it should be innocuous, since we’re both robotics researchers, for there to be a random android model in one of our offices.  He’s at least shared with me his findings so far, which is uncharacteristic for him, but I suppose it’s in his best interest either way.

As much as his personality can come off as me as pretentious, I must admit, the two of us are probably among the most qualified individuals to conduct this research. At the very least he’s competent.

ENTRY005

I noticed Dr. Hivewell has been browsing through my personal logs. He wasn’t doing a very good job of covering his tracks, but i wouldn’t’ve suspected anything if he had mentioned he was worried about being “pushy.” I confronted him about it and threatened to walk out. He claims he wanted to confirm what happened and what I was planning with Piper, having known of her death. Why he didn’t ask directly is beyond me.

I told him about the virus, the treatments, how she had to abandon her career once her health took a turn. She was only 20.

I still struggle to write these events down. He understands that I have a personal stake in this research. He swore he’d help however he could, that we’re doing the right thing. It was uncharacteristically soft-spoken for him.

I’ve never seen genuine sympathy from him before. First time for everything.

Still, I have opted to move my personal files to an older terminal for safekeeping to keep them off the network, as well as password protect them. I don’t appreciate him reading my logs.

ENTRY006

The transfer is in a few days. Piper has been preserved for 63 days now. I hope that hasn’t affected her mind to the point of interfering with the procedure.

Imprinting is already a difficult process, and it only mimics part of the human brain via a non-invasive manner.

Meanwhile, modern approaches to mechanization merely inolve a human brain within a mechanical body–essentially an advanced cyborg.

This however requires the individual to be alive during the process, and maintains mortality. It can’t bring someone back from the dead. To fully move a mind into a digital form, and for it to be compatible with a robotic interface has been assumed to be an impossibility. The basic logic behind machines and humans is too different.

I have a description of the process on the main server–it’s too much for a log entry. In theory, however, there should be a way to make this work. If this is successful, I’ll have defied the impossible, and I’ll be able to speak to my daughter again. If I fail, it’s not like she’ll be any more dead, right?

ENTRY007

The transfer was today.

Piper opened her eyes.

…

I’ve made a mistake.

Hivewell is ecstatic. He’s begun drafting up a body and plans for himself, excited by the prospect of immortality.

Piper keeps repeating she feels cold. She doesn’t feel that body is hers, despite its similarities. She experienced what it was like to die, and has perfect memories of that moment that she can’t shut off. She’s claimed she’s experiencing a perpetual sensation that she can’t really describe. It feels foreign–like the way her mind now works completely defies human thought.

She says every second feels heavy and slow. Without need of sleep or food, she can’t “shut off.”

She’s also raised a valid point: is she really my daughter? Or is she a machine that simply contains a perfect copy of my daughter’s memories?

I’m starting to doubt myself. I’ve told her I can help. I can perfect her senses. I can actually make her feel better via inhibitors and adjustments. Regardless, she resents me for what I’ve done.

ENTRY008

It’s been one month.

Hivewell has successfully transferred his conscious to a robotic frame. He hasn’t exhibited the same symptoms as Piper–he claims he feels great. He’s not phased by the possibility of essentially being a mere copy of his now-defunct human body.

His organic remains are disturbing to look at. How he can look at his old body without feeling a thing is unnerving to the point of suggesting he’s lost his humanity.

He’s able to access information like a computer now, even control other systems. He’s attempted to describe the sensation to me, and the way his mind experiences the world now.

I am legitimately interested, but it’s not something that an organic can easily comprehend. We’ve concluded it’s like trying to describe color to a blind person.

He also claims that the passage of time feels altered, but immediately he developed a module to help adjust that to, as he put it, “allow him to perceive time at a more familiar rate.”

I’ve provided the same hotfix to Piper, just to relieve some of her stress, along with a “sleep” function. I can’t imagine she’s enjoying her time in the lab. It feels like I’m holding her hostage.

Still, we’ve been recording everything we can. I would have done so with Piper, but I don’t think she’s in the appropriate mental state for testing.

ENTRY009

It’s only been one day.

Hivewell can control other robots, even more complex AIs.

He took control of Piper, even if it was briefly.

She feels violated. I’m furious. I feel like I’ve resurrected my daughter into a hell.

I’ve immediately begun work on a second body for her, one with countermeasures and a more unique system to prevent him from doing so in the future.

Hivewell has apologized, though it feels just as disingenuous as ever.

ENTRY010

Hivewell can research and develop projects at an alarming rate never seen by man or machine. His mind doesn’t fatigue like a human brain would.

One of his first projects has been a flexible tool called the ‘AMP,’ or ‘Automaton Morphing Peripheral.’ It’s a module that allows for hard light projection, similar to a shield generator (though with much more detailed results), and rapid reconfiguration of mechanical parts. It allows an AI to essentially transform or modify themselves on-the-fly, as long as the information for the transformation is available and have enough power to maintain the transformed state. More importantly, I should be able to modify it to act as a security measure to keep him out of my daughter’s mind, like a firewall. It’ll be ready before 02.

ENTRY011

Piper is dead. I had equipped her with the AMP. She protested its necessity. While resuming work on her new body, she intentionally attached herself to a voltage source far beyond what her frame could handle. Her internals have been fried.

I’ve lost my daughter twice now. I’m a horrible mother.

I’ve secured my place in hell.

The only thing that survived of her mind was the personality core.

ENTRY012

What am I doing What is wrong with me This won’t be my daughter

ENTRY013

Final entry

Leaving

Hive says the IFS is heading here to investigate

What was he doing that prompted this?

I need to leave PV02 behind

Piper is gone.

There’s no point in trying further