Sea Legs (Updated 09*21*19)
After a little encouragement from other players I've finally decided to "move" my story from another thread to this one. Moves in quotes simply because I'm not moving anything, just copying the posts...
Forum Discussion
Authors note: This is where in my writing journey I decided to stick with image panels of 3-6 smaller images, sort of graphic novel style. I hope you find it adds to the ease and flow of the writing vs images :)
Niella's day started with Javiera and Emily updating her on their progress in decoding the language used by the projection of the little green creature. "The challenge," Javiera explained "is that it doesn't seem to be an entire language, but rather only a fragment of it. If I had to estimate I'd say a solid half to two thirds of it is missing. But the biggest discovery is that we think it's not actually a projection. Or rather it is, but it's a projection of a sentient intelligence within the disc itself. An AI with an actual functioning feeling personality, so to speak." "You mean to tell me that the AI in that disc is alive?!" Niella knew that the advances in AI had been impressive but she had serious doubts that they had actually been able to create sentience. "Well it might depend on your definition of life. But it thinks, it reacts to it's environment in real time, it demonstrates emotions. Damien seems to be learning about us as we're learning about him." Emily explained. "Damien, huh?" Niella lightly chided.
https://i.imgur.com/U8mb0kj.jpg
Just then Alex burst into the office, apparently taking "Office Casual" to an entire new level in what appeared to be an old college TShirt and a pair of yoga pants. She pushed passed Emily and Javiera saying "Glad to see you could finally make it, I thought you'd taken the day off..." "Well I came in an hour early today and have been here for 3 hours. What time do you think I should come in?" Niella replied sardonically. "Never mind that, we can discuss work ethics later, I have something to show you with the disc... Now where did I put it.." she trailed, patting her non-existent pockets. Javiera rolled her eyes "We have it Alex, you handed it back off to us yesterday, remember? Emily has it." Emily placed it on the desk and the familiar green image appeared.
https://i.imgur.com/6oqwWzl.jpg
"No, not that, this" Alex had pulled what looked like a space age roomba out of nowhere when the women were focused on the disc. She began pushing different buttons and pads. All of the sudden Damian's familiar green image disappeared and was replaced by a slightly different blue image. "Far out! He changes colors!" Emily exclaimed loud enough to be heard throughout the behavioral and physical sciences lab. "So that's what that does" Alex said more to herself than anyone else. "You didn't know what it would do??" Niella said incredulously. "Well not exactly, but I knew we wouldn't blow up. There's no hidden explosives or any detectable weapon. Besides, who'd ever use a kid's video game to conquer the world?" "Ever heard of the Trojan horse?" Niella reminded her. Emily jumped to Damien's defense, insisting he had never displayed anything that even remotely resembled ill will.
https://i.imgur.com/IAMESSF.jpg
"Shh!" Javiera shushed. She picked up the disc and listened closely to the projection. "I'm not sure this is Damien" she said after a minute. "This projection isn't using the same language I don't think. Or at least the same words. Many of the same phonetic sounds are there, but I'm not hearing them used in the familiar arrangements..." She continued "and this.. image doesn't seem familiar of it's surroundings as Damien has come to be with our research. No, this one seems to be almost timid... Excuse us ladies, I think Emily and I need to see if maybe this guy has the missing pieces to Damien's language or if it's another language all together or exactly what this means" and turned with Emily to leave the office. As they were walking out, Niella questioned Alex about her attire. "It's my pajamas, of course, what do you wear to bed?" "Alex it's going on 10 a.m., don't you think it's a little early for pajamas and bed?" "10 A.M.?! Heh, I must have worked straight through the night. Heh haven't done that since Marlon Leary talked me into testing out some of his father's theories. Guess I'd better go make myself presentable." and walked out, passing Javiera and Emily already at work.
https://i.imgur.com/6Zy5WZs.jpg
The next couple hours were spent on the minutia that is sometimes required of a science facility director. As Niella headed toward the break room for lunch she passed the Earth Sciences lab and noticed Lopita had collected nearly double the number of insects she had collected from the immediate area of the meteorite strike. Wondering if Lopita was seeing signs of something concerning Niella decided to make a quick detour to find out. Lopita was completely lost in whatever she was doing on the research station, oblivious to Niella's approach. Still concerned, Niella herself was aware only too late that dozens of insects were openly crawling and flying around the Earth Sciences lab. "Lopita! what in the world is going on?! Why have you let all of these insects loose?!" "I didn't" Lopita said, still intensely focused on the screen in front of her. "Lopita!" Niella demanded. "Oh, sorry boss... I, uh, I didn't let these loose" she said, snapping back to reality. "These are meteorite orphans"
https://i.imgur.com/98N8zKZ.jpg
"Meteorite orphans? Their parents were killed by the meteorites??" "No, more like they were abandoned on them. In their cracks and crevices and even right on the surface. That has, as far as I've been able to tell, never happened before. They are literally coming out of the cracks. And they're maturing with incredible zeal." Lopita explained. "As in an expedited time line?" "No," she clarified "more like if every single one was living in nirvana. Almost every insect's life cycle stages can be lengthened or shortened depending on the various conditions around them. Adequate light, temperature, food, they all play a part. It's as if all of these insects had been given the best possible life conditions. And the really strange thing is that those conditions vary from insect to insect. One insect hatches best in one temperature range, the next another. But all of these insects are maturing as if their own type specific optimums have been met." "Good lord, what exactly is causing this? Do you have any idea??" Niella questioned. "Nope, none so far. But that's not even the strangest thing I've found" Lopita nodded toward her work table.
https://i.imgur.com/01Nx1zV.jpg
Niella turned around to see the same sort of debris that had become the norm in the Earth Sciences lab since the meteorite strikes - rocks mixed with building remnants. Pulled out alone from this was a piece of oddly, but artificially shaped scrap. Lopita continued "that is. I have no idea what it is. It's an alloy combination that I've never seen anything like and something that is far beyond anything in existence on the planet." "Anything known? Do you mean it's not from this earth??" Niella inquired. "Actually I'm not saying that at all. There are no visible signs of atmospheric entry. No signs of adiabatic compression or atmospheric dissipation, no remnants of fuel or a fusion crust." "So it's .. not from Earth, but not from space?? That makes no sense." "I didn't say it made sense. In fact I said it was strange. What I am saying is that from everything that machine is telling me, it has not traveled through space to get here. That's really all I can tell you at this point"
https://i.imgur.com/RTm1Iiq.jpg
"All of this, the rocks, the metal alloy fragment, the bugs, all lands squarely on my block so I've just been trying to keep up. Don't get me wrong at all, I'm not complaining, I am all in, it's just slow going." Lopita explained "Well I can get you some help, but if you're going to need any new equipment just put in a request with Kahale and I'll see it gets approved. I'll see if Masao can assist you." "Assist?" Lopita seemed surprised. "I know he's technically your boss but this is your wheelhouse, kid. You're lead on this. Don't worry about Hamada, I'm sure he'll understand." Niella found Masao in the aquatics lab, just where she thought she'd find him. The only thing he had to think about was whether or not he had any time sensitive experiments that he couldn't spare time from but really the impact on the aquatic life around the site had gone relatively unharmed. He didn't, however, have to think about following Lopita's lead. Her expertise is why he advocated for her hire in the first place.
https://i.imgur.com/lhPtqiV.jpg
Niella returned to her office. She knew she had to call her father immediately. She knew he was the only one she could trust. Not only were these discoveries exciting, they were also cause for added concern. A new alloy? A new form of AI? She could easily see how fast discoveries like this could be taken from her by any number of government agencies. And who knows what they'd do with them. No, she needed to make sure she could get as many answers as possible and the one person she knew she could trust was on the other side of the world. She knew it'd be really early there but she wanted to make sure she caught him before he headed out. She shut her office door as his phone started to ring. "Little one?" Ammon questioned groggily. "What time is it? Is everything alright??" "Everything's fine dad. I just needed to get ahold of you before you left..." Niella spent the next few minutes explaining, as best she could, everything that had happened. "Dad, I could really really use your help. I'm a marine biologist, I am way out of my field of expertise..." After a minute Ammon answered "Ok little one. It might take a few days but I think I can arrange something. I just need to finish something here first." Niella had no idea what he meant but was so relieved to hear him say he'd come it didn't even register until later. She started to thank Ammon when her other line beeped. It was Connor, so she said goodbye to her dad and took the call.
https://i.imgur.com/s9UAwMz.jpg
"Hi honey, perfect timing I was just going to call you and let you know I was going to be late. We had some amazing breakthroughs today!" "So... you're not coming to dinner then?" Connor questioned, sounding slightly hurt. "Dinner?" "Yes, remember? We're meeting Florita to discuss my contract??" Niella felt terrible. Connor had planned this dinner with his publisher two weeks ago after deciding he really wanted to try to branch out from the bawdy vaudevillian sea themed novels he'd become famous for. It was a tough move for Connor, especially considering he'd be getting out of the last two books he was under contract for, but he'd hoped his success would allow him a little wiggle room. "Oh I'm such a jerk. I'm so sorry I totally forgot about that, but just scratch what I said, I'm on my way home now." Connor sighed a breath of relief before saying goodbye. Niella slipped her cell back in her pocket and went to leave. Suddenly she was hit with a dizzy spell.. She knew she had skipped lunch but it surprised her that she was so affected by it, as skipping lunch was not completely uncommon with her. She assured herself it was the skipped lunch combined with the excitement of the day, waited for the room to stop spinning and then headed out the door. Whatever discoveries were left to make, they'd have to wait for tomorrow.
https://i.imgur.com/hArdwNh.jpg
Niella's day started with Javiera and Emily updating her on their progress in decoding the language used by the projection of the little green creature. "The challenge," Javiera explained "is that it doesn't seem to be an entire language, but rather only a fragment of it. If I had to estimate I'd say a solid half to two thirds of it is missing. But the biggest discovery is that we think it's not actually a projection. Or rather it is, but it's a projection of a sentient intelligence within the disc itself. An AI with an actual functioning feeling personality, so to speak." "You mean to tell me that the AI in that disc is alive?!" Niella knew that the advances in AI had been impressive but she had serious doubts that they had actually been able to create sentience. "Well it might depend on your definition of life. But it thinks, it reacts to it's environment in real time, it demonstrates emotions. Damien seems to be learning about us as we're learning about him." Emily explained. "Damien, huh?" Niella lightly chided.
https://i.imgur.com/U8mb0kj.jpg
Just then Alex burst into the office, apparently taking "Office Casual" to an entire new level in what appeared to be an old college TShirt and a pair of yoga pants. She pushed passed Emily and Javiera saying "Glad to see you could finally make it, I thought you'd taken the day off..." "Well I came in an hour early today and have been here for 3 hours. What time do you think I should come in?" Niella replied sardonically. "Never mind that, we can discuss work ethics later, I have something to show you with the disc... Now where did I put it.." she trailed, patting her non-existent pockets. Javiera rolled her eyes "We have it Alex, you handed it back off to us yesterday, remember? Emily has it." Emily placed it on the desk and the familiar green image appeared.
https://i.imgur.com/6oqwWzl.jpg
"No, not that, this" Alex had pulled what looked like a space age roomba out of nowhere when the women were focused on the disc. She began pushing different buttons and pads. All of the sudden Damian's familiar green image disappeared and was replaced by a slightly different blue image. "Far out! He changes colors!" Emily exclaimed loud enough to be heard throughout the behavioral and physical sciences lab. "So that's what that does" Alex said more to herself than anyone else. "You didn't know what it would do??" Niella said incredulously. "Well not exactly, but I knew we wouldn't blow up. There's no hidden explosives or any detectable weapon. Besides, who'd ever use a kid's video game to conquer the world?" "Ever heard of the Trojan horse?" Niella reminded her. Emily jumped to Damien's defense, insisting he had never displayed anything that even remotely resembled ill will.
https://i.imgur.com/IAMESSF.jpg
"Shh!" Javiera shushed. She picked up the disc and listened closely to the projection. "I'm not sure this is Damien" she said after a minute. "This projection isn't using the same language I don't think. Or at least the same words. Many of the same phonetic sounds are there, but I'm not hearing them used in the familiar arrangements..." She continued "and this.. image doesn't seem familiar of it's surroundings as Damien has come to be with our research. No, this one seems to be almost timid... Excuse us ladies, I think Emily and I need to see if maybe this guy has the missing pieces to Damien's language or if it's another language all together or exactly what this means" and turned with Emily to leave the office. As they were walking out, Niella questioned Alex about her attire. "It's my pajamas, of course, what do you wear to bed?" "Alex it's going on 10 a.m., don't you think it's a little early for pajamas and bed?" "10 A.M.?! Heh, I must have worked straight through the night. Heh haven't done that since Marlon Leary talked me into testing out some of his father's theories. Guess I'd better go make myself presentable." and walked out, passing Javiera and Emily already at work.
https://i.imgur.com/6Zy5WZs.jpg
The next couple hours were spent on the minutia that is sometimes required of a science facility director. As Niella headed toward the break room for lunch she passed the Earth Sciences lab and noticed Lopita had collected nearly double the number of insects she had collected from the immediate area of the meteorite strike. Wondering if Lopita was seeing signs of something concerning Niella decided to make a quick detour to find out. Lopita was completely lost in whatever she was doing on the research station, oblivious to Niella's approach. Still concerned, Niella herself was aware only too late that dozens of insects were openly crawling and flying around the Earth Sciences lab. "Lopita! what in the world is going on?! Why have you let all of these insects loose?!" "I didn't" Lopita said, still intensely focused on the screen in front of her. "Lopita!" Niella demanded. "Oh, sorry boss... I, uh, I didn't let these loose" she said, snapping back to reality. "These are meteorite orphans"
https://i.imgur.com/98N8zKZ.jpg
"Meteorite orphans? Their parents were killed by the meteorites??" "No, more like they were abandoned on them. In their cracks and crevices and even right on the surface. That has, as far as I've been able to tell, never happened before. They are literally coming out of the cracks. And they're maturing with incredible zeal." Lopita explained. "As in an expedited time line?" "No," she clarified "more like if every single one was living in nirvana. Almost every insect's life cycle stages can be lengthened or shortened depending on the various conditions around them. Adequate light, temperature, food, they all play a part. It's as if all of these insects had been given the best possible life conditions. And the really strange thing is that those conditions vary from insect to insect. One insect hatches best in one temperature range, the next another. But all of these insects are maturing as if their own type specific optimums have been met." "Good lord, what exactly is causing this? Do you have any idea??" Niella questioned. "Nope, none so far. But that's not even the strangest thing I've found" Lopita nodded toward her work table.
https://i.imgur.com/01Nx1zV.jpg
Niella turned around to see the same sort of debris that had become the norm in the Earth Sciences lab since the meteorite strikes - rocks mixed with building remnants. Pulled out alone from this was a piece of oddly, but artificially shaped scrap. Lopita continued "that is. I have no idea what it is. It's an alloy combination that I've never seen anything like and something that is far beyond anything in existence on the planet." "Anything known? Do you mean it's not from this earth??" Niella inquired. "Actually I'm not saying that at all. There are no visible signs of atmospheric entry. No signs of adiabatic compression or atmospheric dissipation, no remnants of fuel or a fusion crust." "So it's .. not from Earth, but not from space?? That makes no sense." "I didn't say it made sense. In fact I said it was strange. What I am saying is that from everything that machine is telling me, it has not traveled through space to get here. That's really all I can tell you at this point"
https://i.imgur.com/RTm1Iiq.jpg
"All of this, the rocks, the metal alloy fragment, the bugs, all lands squarely on my block so I've just been trying to keep up. Don't get me wrong at all, I'm not complaining, I am all in, it's just slow going." Lopita explained "Well I can get you some help, but if you're going to need any new equipment just put in a request with Kahale and I'll see it gets approved. I'll see if Masao can assist you." "Assist?" Lopita seemed surprised. "I know he's technically your boss but this is your wheelhouse, kid. You're lead on this. Don't worry about Hamada, I'm sure he'll understand." Niella found Masao in the aquatics lab, just where she thought she'd find him. The only thing he had to think about was whether or not he had any time sensitive experiments that he couldn't spare time from but really the impact on the aquatic life around the site had gone relatively unharmed. He didn't, however, have to think about following Lopita's lead. Her expertise is why he advocated for her hire in the first place.
https://i.imgur.com/lhPtqiV.jpg
Niella returned to her office. She knew she had to call her father immediately. She knew he was the only one she could trust. Not only were these discoveries exciting, they were also cause for added concern. A new alloy? A new form of AI? She could easily see how fast discoveries like this could be taken from her by any number of government agencies. And who knows what they'd do with them. No, she needed to make sure she could get as many answers as possible and the one person she knew she could trust was on the other side of the world. She knew it'd be really early there but she wanted to make sure she caught him before he headed out. She shut her office door as his phone started to ring. "Little one?" Ammon questioned groggily. "What time is it? Is everything alright??" "Everything's fine dad. I just needed to get ahold of you before you left..." Niella spent the next few minutes explaining, as best she could, everything that had happened. "Dad, I could really really use your help. I'm a marine biologist, I am way out of my field of expertise..." After a minute Ammon answered "Ok little one. It might take a few days but I think I can arrange something. I just need to finish something here first." Niella had no idea what he meant but was so relieved to hear him say he'd come it didn't even register until later. She started to thank Ammon when her other line beeped. It was Connor, so she said goodbye to her dad and took the call.
https://i.imgur.com/s9UAwMz.jpg
"Hi honey, perfect timing I was just going to call you and let you know I was going to be late. We had some amazing breakthroughs today!" "So... you're not coming to dinner then?" Connor questioned, sounding slightly hurt. "Dinner?" "Yes, remember? We're meeting Florita to discuss my contract??" Niella felt terrible. Connor had planned this dinner with his publisher two weeks ago after deciding he really wanted to try to branch out from the bawdy vaudevillian sea themed novels he'd become famous for. It was a tough move for Connor, especially considering he'd be getting out of the last two books he was under contract for, but he'd hoped his success would allow him a little wiggle room. "Oh I'm such a jerk. I'm so sorry I totally forgot about that, but just scratch what I said, I'm on my way home now." Connor sighed a breath of relief before saying goodbye. Niella slipped her cell back in her pocket and went to leave. Suddenly she was hit with a dizzy spell.. She knew she had skipped lunch but it surprised her that she was so affected by it, as skipping lunch was not completely uncommon with her. She assured herself it was the skipped lunch combined with the excitement of the day, waited for the room to stop spinning and then headed out the door. Whatever discoveries were left to make, they'd have to wait for tomorrow.
https://i.imgur.com/hArdwNh.jpg
