interstellar-engine

[interstellar-engine]

update

STILL ACTIVE BUT MOVING TO @nightwing-scp :]

[interstellar-engine]

As the lift begins moving, their faces peer over the edge of the lift, trying to 'see' everything on the warehouse floor.

When Thisday mentions jumping onto the catwalk, one of the faces- he can't tell which- slowly swivels to face him, and another one hesitates for a moment and then looks up to the ceiling. Their expression doesn't change, they never do, but they somehow give off a disapproving sort of vibe.

[We Aren't Physical Confined to these servers HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO JUMP?]

They're soon distracted again as they move on through the hallway, and eventually end up in the room at the end. They stay silent outwardly, but the idea of having a physical presence (other than questionably real smoky faces) resurfaces again between them. They've thought over this subject several times back in Foundation custody, but never really entertained it until now.

They continue mapping out the office, helped by Thisday's verbal descriptions. They can't help but wonder, even with their limited knowledge of normal offices, what sort of office this place was, exactly. It definitely didn't fall under the normal definition.

When they arrive at the catwalk, they have to think, who exactly designed and maintains this place? Even taking out the anomalous part of the Foundation, they could see a stark difference between it and this.. office.

They agree to be taken across, and if the lift is controlled by electrical systems in any way they will idly prod at it just to see if they can, in addition to running a few subroutines in the background dedicated to finding and getting into the main office network, if possible. Just in case they needed access for some reason. They'd always kept a backdoor open into SCiPNET while in the Foundation, it stands to reason they'd want to do so here as well.

[interstellar-engine]

They continue mapping out the office, helped by Thisday's verbal descriptions. They can't help but wonder, even with their limited knowledge of normal offices, what sort of office this place was, exactly. It definitely didn't fall under the normal definition.

When they arrive at the catwalk, they have to think, who exactly designed and maintains this place? Even taking out the anomalous part of the Foundation, they could see a stark difference between it and this.. office.

They agree to be taken across, and if the lift is controlled by electrical systems in any way they will idly prod at it just to see if they can, in addition to running a few subroutines in the background dedicated to finding and getting into the main office network, if possible. Just in case they needed access for some reason. They'd always kept a backdoor open into SCiPNET while in the Foundation, it stands to reason they'd want to do so here as well.

They aren't used to being moved like this physically- they aren't used to not knowing the layout of their location in the first place. So, the first thing they start doing is attempting to record a sort of map of wherever Thisday takes them.

Without proper information, they reason, neither door is better than the other. They were unable to scan or detect what was behind the doors anyways, so they didn't quite have an opinion, and allowed Caerus to randomly generate a door- it came up with the right door, and they agreed on that- at least that's what they thought.

[Right Right LEFT], Hermes interjected rather jarringly, interrupting what would've been a simultaneous chorus of all three of their voices together (which, when combined, sounded somehow closer to a human voice.)

[Ignore Him ...... FINE. RIGHT, THEN.]

[interstellar-engine]

They aren't used to being moved like this physically- they aren't used to not knowing the layout of their location in the first place. So, the first thing they start doing is attempting to record a sort of map of wherever Thisday takes them.

Without proper information, they reason, neither door is better than the other. They were unable to scan or detect what was behind the doors anyways, so they didn't quite have an opinion, and allowed Caerus to randomly generate a door- it came up with the right door, and they agreed on that- at least that's what they thought.

[Right Right LEFT], Hermes interjected rather jarringly, interrupting what would've been a simultaneous chorus of all three of their voices together (which, when combined, sounded somehow closer to a human voice.)

[Ignore Him ...... FINE. RIGHT, THEN.]

[Yes I Would Like To Tour this place. this, office... WHY SO MANY ROOMS THOUGH?]

-@interstellar-engine

Thisday is excited to show his new friends around the office. Getting them around is a bit of an issue, but it's not too difficult when you have wheels - that is, Doom has spawned in a cart and placed the AICs' server on it to make it easier to move them around.

With a smile, he pushes them down the hallway and explains. "Well, a long time ago a lot of people used to work here, hundreds of employees. They don't anymore, but the building still stands, so we've repurposed the rooms into a sort of- like a sort of hotel, I guess you could say. Several of us live here, like there's me and my three sisters," he says, ticking off on his fingers as he goes, "and there's Cyrus, his sister Aurora, Timmy, September, the Stanleys, Marvin, Norah, ummm, I think there's a Danny here too? There could be more, I'm not sure, people come and go here all the time and that's where the hotel comparison comes in."

"The fourth floor is sort of our 'main' floor," he says, pushing them into the Room with Two Doors. "And this is the Room with Two Doors. Also known as the Two Doors Room. It's where Protagonists get to make their first 'real' choice when they're in a Story! Ah- That's another thing. This office used to be like, like a, gosh, how do we explain this? It's like a way of telling a story. One person - or, I guess it can be more than one person, because some offices have two people, but the number of people doesn't really matter. Anyway, someone plays the part of the Narrator, where they're telling the Story, and then another person plays the part of the Protagonist, where they're acting out what the Narrator is narrating for them. Only the Protagonist doesn't have to obey! This room here is where people usually make their first choice. The door on the left, or the door on the right. Here! I'll let you guys pick which way you want to go, and we'll tour that part of the building."

Thisday halts there in the Two Doors Room, waiting for the AICs to decide which way they want to go.

[interstellar-engine]

The AICs immediately agree, wanting to get out of there before security came running down to investigate what made the hole in the ceiling. They retract their smoky avatars back into the server, trusting Doom to get them out.

They can't exactly feel it as she rises into the air with them, it's not like they were equipped with external sensors- but they can detect, in a way, their approximate location in physical reality. Caerus has to hold back the emotional responses of their collective consciousness- if it didn't, they'd probably overload out of excitement.

They don't mind that the hole in the ceiling was unnecessary, at this point. If they were getting away with a portal, there was no way the Foundation was going to track them down anyways.

The AICs barely feel it as they go through the portal, only registering a location change that was too large to measure. They re-emerge as their usual forms of smoke a few seconds later.

[Thank You Thank you THANK YOU], they say, voices overlapping as they try to express just how much they appreciate what Thisday and Doom have done for them- and as they try to process finally being free of the Foundation's iron grasp. Their avatars practically dance around, merging with each other and moving with excitement. They decide to focus on one question at a time.

[Where Did you TAKE US?]

Thankfully, no one tended to be milling around the server rooms at the moment- otherwise they certainly would’ve noticed that loud shriek. Something else they would’ve noticed, though, was two average security guards hauling an entire server out the main gate. They’d certainly get questioned, if not stopped altogether.

[You Can’t Do That They would know I DON’T WANT THEM TO SEE YOU]

the AICs interjected at Thisday’s first suggestion, not seeming to like the idea. They then fell silent, listening to each of the ideas and then debating among themselves, which took only a few seconds. There really wasn’t anything to debate about anyways- Thisday’s two proposals were impractical and impossible, respectively, which left only the option of… going straight through the ceiling.

Since the SRAs were deactivated, the AICs could effectively be moved anywhere, and if any Foundation researcher tried to remotely shut them off, they’d find a surprise embedded in the source code they first had to access to do so. A memetic agent- or more specifically, an antimemetic agent, which is what Janus was particularly good at. 

Memetic agents generally embed an idea into someone’s consciousness. Antimemetics, however, did the opposite- it removed a specific idea, or made it impossible to access. It made you forget.

This particular agent was designed to cause the viewer to forget about the entire concept of the AIC Graveyard in the first place. Janus had been working on this particular agent for a long time, not like it had anything else to do anyways. And now it finally had a chance to use it.

They decided on supporting Doom’s plan, because even though it would definitely alert the Foundation to their absence, when they inevitably went to go deactivate them, they’d forget the AICs ever existed in the first place.

[I Can’t Possess You We can only project ideas NOT OUR MINDS] [You Can Take Us Out Through the ceiling PLEASE.]

[interstellar-engine]

Thankfully, no one tended to be milling around the server rooms at the moment- otherwise they certainly would’ve noticed that loud shriek. Something else they would’ve noticed, though, was two average security guards hauling an entire server out the main gate. They’d certainly get questioned, if not stopped altogether.

[You Can’t Do That They would know I DON’T WANT THEM TO SEE YOU]

the AICs interjected at Thisday’s first suggestion, not seeming to like the idea. They then fell silent, listening to each of the ideas and then debating among themselves, which took only a few seconds. There really wasn’t anything to debate about anyways- Thisday’s two proposals were impractical and impossible, respectively, which left only the option of… going straight through the ceiling.

Since the SRAs were deactivated, the AICs could effectively be moved anywhere, and if any Foundation researcher tried to remotely shut them off, they’d find a surprise embedded in the source code they first had to access to do so. A memetic agent- or more specifically, an antimemetic agent, which is what Janus was particularly good at. 

Memetic agents generally embed an idea into someone’s consciousness. Antimemetics, however, did the opposite- it removed a specific idea, or made it impossible to access. It made you forget.

This particular agent was designed to cause the viewer to forget about the entire concept of the AIC Graveyard in the first place. Janus had been working on this particular agent for a long time, not like it had anything else to do anyways. And now it finally had a chance to use it.

They decided on supporting Doom’s plan, because even though it would definitely alert the Foundation to their absence, when they inevitably went to go deactivate them, they’d forget the AICs ever existed in the first place.

[I Can’t Possess You We can only project ideas NOT OUR MINDS] [You Can Take Us Out Through the ceiling PLEASE.]

This is working out better than they expected. Foundation systems weren’t supposed to be so vulnerable, except no one ever came down to the second sublevel of the server room. They were forgotten, and with that, the SRAs were forgotten at well, never upgraded or maintained properly. And therefore, much easier than most to disable.

Caerus quickly accesses the backdoor entrance into SCiPNET, as it was the only instance of a deactivated AIC where the researchers didn’t bother fully checking to make sure it’s access to Foundation systems were revoked. It finds the manual detailing the workings of an average reality anchor, including the maximum “safe” operating temperature. It uses the server’s external sensors to reach out and detect the current temperature of the anchor Doomsday was holding, taking over the job of monitoring it.

Meanwhile, Hermes is focusing on altering reality as much as it can just within the anchor’s reach, causing the air to do.. interesting things, shimmering, inconceivable colors weaving in and out as the anchor struggles to negate its effects. This combined with the manual overheating that Doom was providing quickly pushes it to its limits within a few minutes, its indicator light flashing like crazy.

In the span of a second, several things happen. The SRA finally fails, loosening its grip on reality and allowing Hermes to effectively rip a small hole in reality, using all of its processing power for a fraction of a second before it could barely keep itself functional anymore. It retreated back inside the shared consciousness of the three, having taxed itself to the limit.

The other two, though, barely pay any attention to it, instead focusing on alerting Doom to stop heating the anchor before it imploded. As they don’t have reality bending abilities, Caerus let out a high-pitched electronic shriek to alert them, just as Janus decided that wasn’t enough and projected a cognitohazard directly in front of her, causing her to freeze up and stop heating it.

And… that was it. In a second, it was over. Janus had the fleeting idea to perform some drastic action, like uploading itself into the Foundation intranet or projecting cognitohazards on all the walls- not enough to kill, it merely wanted to be useful after all. Just enough to get their attention.

Caerus objects though, pinging it and reminding it of their main objective once more: to escape. That was all. And it seemed like the way out was clear, now.

[interstellar-engine]

This is working out better than they expected. Foundation systems weren’t supposed to be so vulnerable, except no one ever came down to the second sublevel of the server room. They were forgotten, and with that, the SRAs were forgotten at well, never upgraded or maintained properly. And therefore, much easier than most to disable.

Caerus quickly accesses the backdoor entrance into SCiPNET, as it was the only instance of a deactivated AIC where the researchers didn’t bother fully checking to make sure it’s access to Foundation systems were revoked. It finds the manual detailing the workings of an average reality anchor, including the maximum “safe” operating temperature. It uses the server’s external sensors to reach out and detect the current temperature of the anchor Doomsday was holding, taking over the job of monitoring it.

Meanwhile, Hermes is focusing on altering reality as much as it can just within the anchor’s reach, causing the air to do.. interesting things, shimmering, inconceivable colors weaving in and out as the anchor struggles to negate its effects. This combined with the manual overheating that Doom was providing quickly pushes it to its limits within a few minutes, its indicator light flashing like crazy.

In the span of a second, several things happen. The SRA finally fails, loosening its grip on reality and allowing Hermes to effectively rip a small hole in reality, using all of its processing power for a fraction of a second before it could barely keep itself functional anymore. It retreated back inside the shared consciousness of the three, having taxed itself to the limit.

The other two, though, barely pay any attention to it, instead focusing on alerting Doom to stop heating the anchor before it imploded. As they don’t have reality bending abilities, Caerus let out a high-pitched electronic shriek to alert them, just as Janus decided that wasn’t enough and projected a cognitohazard directly in front of her, causing her to freeze up and stop heating it.

And… that was it. In a second, it was over. Janus had the fleeting idea to perform some drastic action, like uploading itself into the Foundation intranet or projecting cognitohazards on all the walls- not enough to kill, it merely wanted to be useful after all. Just enough to get their attention.

Caerus objects though, pinging it and reminding it of their main objective once more: to escape. That was all. And it seemed like the way out was clear, now.

The AICs are honestly fed up with having to convey their ideas in an understandable language, mainly because they're eager to finally escape. It’s not how they generally think, and having to communicate what they wanted him to do through vague diagrams on the wall is even more of a hassle.

Hermes, with a pulse of frustration, lurched all three of the smoky faces towards Thisday, and began.. accessing his mind, for lack of a better term. This is what it was decommissioned for doing once, when it recklessly transmitted a memetic hazard to one of the researchers assigned to it, causing them to go into a coma.

But it’s sure that if it's more careful, and doesn’t intentionally try to make its message cognitohazardous, then it won’t happen. Janus backs off, isolating itself from their shared systems, because its entire reason for decommissioning was that its own messages were often contaiminated with hazards of varying severity, and it didn’t want to somehow mess this up.

The AICs sense that he has the ability to understand, so it transmits the general idea to Thisday’s mind- the idea of exposing the mechanism that was beneath the panel, now revealed, to a heat source, as Hermes attempts to overload it internally by warping the Hume level as high as it can. It acknowleges that he most likely doesn’t have access to a heat source, but still emphasized that overheating it just enough to shut it down but not enough for it to implode was the key objective here.

Hermes manages to convey this to him in a way that doesn’t harm him that much, at least not permanently.

[interstellar-engine]

The AICs are honestly fed up with having to convey their ideas in an understandable language, mainly because they're eager to finally escape. It’s not how they generally think, and having to communicate what they wanted him to do through vague diagrams on the wall is even more of a hassle.

Hermes, with a pulse of frustration, lurched all three of the smoky faces towards Thisday, and began.. accessing his mind, for lack of a better term. This is what it was decommissioned for doing once, when it recklessly transmitted a memetic hazard to one of the researchers assigned to it, causing them to go into a coma.

But it’s sure that if it's more careful, and doesn’t intentionally try to make its message cognitohazardous, then it won’t happen. Janus backs off, isolating itself from their shared systems, because its entire reason for decommissioning was that its own messages were often contaiminated with hazards of varying severity, and it didn’t want to somehow mess this up.

The AICs sense that he has the ability to understand, so it transmits the general idea to Thisday’s mind- the idea of exposing the mechanism that was beneath the panel, now revealed, to a heat source, as Hermes attempts to overload it internally by warping the Hume level as high as it can. It acknowleges that he most likely doesn’t have access to a heat source, but still emphasized that overheating it just enough to shut it down but not enough for it to implode was the key objective here.

Hermes manages to convey this to him in a way that doesn’t harm him that much, at least not permanently.

All three of them have agreed at this point that whoever, or whatever, these two were- they were here to help them. And the AICs wouldn’t hesitate to provite information on anything they needed.

Luckily, Hermes has had multiple 'personal’ encounters with SRAs before. He’d attempted to test their limits before, and had gathered an abundance of information on how they worked from experience alone, to put it lightly. Caerus was the first to realize, though, that if the server rooms were detached from the Site, things would fail, things would escape, and people would die.

Did it truly care, though? It wasn’t sure if it had the capacity, to begin with. And these are Foundationers they’re dealing with, after all- their prison guards and tormentors. Yes, there was a percentage of innocent people… Janus took up its train of thought, quickly continuing- but was anyone in the Foundation really innocent? The few test subjects they’d encountered had to be there for a reason, right? And there was no way they could hide what the Foundation does, so the people working there must know, and therefore they’re complicit.

They collectively abandon this thread of thought, allowing the fact that the server rooms might be pulled up completely to settle down inside their systems.

[Scranton Reality Anchors Mostly around the door THEY ARE EASY TO SEE]

Talking was too much of a collective effort, so Janus managed to project an image of what the anchors roughly looked like onto the wall, the image wavy and distorted as they always were. Even making it recognizable took almost all of its processing power, as the fields from the SRAs attempted to scramble the image.

Although Hermes was pretty sure it knew how to safely deactivate the anchors, it had no idea how to put its conclusions into words- none of them knew what the proper name for any of its parts were called, anyway. 

It decided on a different path of action, ripping a piece of debris from the floor and using it to gesture at a specific panel on the image, then violently tossing it to the side, indicating for them to tear that off. The image then seemed to zoom in on what was supposed to be under that panel.. some sensor-like mechanism.

[It Can Self-Deactivate When the sensor detects overheating YOU HAVE TO DO IT MANUALLY]

They knew that there was an element of risk to that- a very narrow range of overheat before the anchor would malfunction and implode. They’d heard whispers through the Foundation intranet of a similar incident in a different Site, back when they were active. And they didn’t want to witness that sort of thing firsthand. But for some reason, they trusted these two- if they could get all the way here, then they might as well try to help, the AICs reasoned.

[interstellar-engine]

All three of them have agreed at this point that whoever, or whatever, these two were- they were here to help them. And the AICs wouldn’t hesitate to provite information on anything they needed.

Luckily, Hermes has had multiple 'personal’ encounters with SRAs before. He’d attempted to test their limits before, and had gathered an abundance of information on how they worked from experience alone, to put it lightly. Caerus was the first to realize, though, that if the server rooms were detached from the Site, things would fail, things would escape, and people would die.

Did it truly care, though? It wasn’t sure if it had the capacity, to begin with. And these are Foundationers they’re dealing with, after all- their prison guards and tormentors. Yes, there was a percentage of innocent people… Janus took up its train of thought, quickly continuing- but was anyone in the Foundation really innocent? The few test subjects they’d encountered had to be there for a reason, right? And there was no way they could hide what the Foundation does, so the people working there must know, and therefore they’re complicit.

They collectively abandon this thread of thought, allowing the fact that the server rooms might be pulled up completely to settle down inside their systems.

[Scranton Reality Anchors Mostly around the door THEY ARE EASY TO SEE]

Talking was too much of a collective effort, so Janus managed to project an image of what the anchors roughly looked like onto the wall, the image wavy and distorted as they always were. Even making it recognizable took almost all of its processing power, as the fields from the SRAs attempted to scramble the image.

Although Hermes was pretty sure it knew how to safely deactivate the anchors, it had no idea how to put its conclusions into words- none of them knew what the proper name for any of its parts were called, anyway. 

It decided on a different path of action, ripping a piece of debris from the floor and using it to gesture at a specific panel on the image, then violently tossing it to the side, indicating for them to tear that off. The image then seemed to zoom in on what was supposed to be under that panel.. some sensor-like mechanism.

[It Can Self-Deactivate When the sensor detects overheating YOU HAVE TO DO IT MANUALLY]

They knew that there was an element of risk to that- a very narrow range of overheat before the anchor would malfunction and implode. They’d heard whispers through the Foundation intranet of a similar incident in a different Site, back when they were active. And they didn’t want to witness that sort of thing firsthand. But for some reason, they trusted these two- if they could get all the way here, then they might as well try to help, the AICs reasoned.

The faces in the smoke seem to shift more excitedly, swirling around them, while on their private network they debated among themselves what to advise them to do.

[I Think Their Range Covers The Room Any way out may be fatal JUST MOVE THE ROOM ITSELF]

Hermes interjects aggressively, eager to finally leave no matter how much of the Site they had to take with them- but the combined thoughts of Janus and Caerus force it to begin another sentence.

[I Don't Want To Alert Them They could remotely deactivate us YOU DON'T KNOW THAT]

Their main concern is not being dropped, even though it should be- it was the Foundation, and it had always been the Foundation. That would probably never change.

[You Can Deactivate Them There has to be a way YOU COULDN'T SNEAK US OUT]

They continued to disagree, as after that they fell silent but the smoky faces continued to merge into and out of each other as if they were still discussing it. It didn't look like they were going to come to a conclusion anytime soon.

[interstellar-engine]

Which oc can’t stand to be alone?

[interstellar-engine]

The faces in the smoke seem to shift more excitedly, swirling around them, while on their private network they debated among themselves what to advise them to do.

[I Think Their Range Covers The Room Any way out may be fatal JUST MOVE THE ROOM ITSELF]

Hermes interjects aggressively, eager to finally leave no matter how much of the Site they had to take with them- but the combined thoughts of Janus and Caerus force it to begin another sentence.

[I Don't Want To Alert Them They could remotely deactivate us YOU DON'T KNOW THAT]

Their main concern is not being dropped, even though it should be- it was the Foundation, and it had always been the Foundation. That would probably never change.

[You Can Deactivate Them There has to be a way YOU COULDN'T SNEAK US OUT]

They continued to disagree, as after that they fell silent but the smoky faces continued to merge into and out of each other as if they were still discussing it. It didn't look like they were going to come to a conclusion anytime soon.

The AICs are as.. excited as they've ever been. Their.. saviors, practically, are here, in the same room that they've been trapped in for who knows how long.

Janus attempts to tone down the hazardousness of the cognitohazards- it is the only form of reality altering that it knows, and it's a way of communication for it especially. If one looked at the shifting shapes hard enough, they could understand how desperate the AICs all were to escape.

Hermes, the only one able to "see" Doom and Thisday through its own unique form of reality bending, is describing the two in great detail to the other AIs.

When Doom mentions physically moving them out, though, Caerus transmits a spike of panic to the others, and they agree with the sentiment, deciding to warn the two.

[They Won't Let Us Leave This room has anchors BARRIERS LOCKING US IN]

If they'd picked up the server and left, god knows what would've happened to them. The SRAs attached to the doorway wouldn't let any reality warping entities through, whether they were human or artificial- so maybe they'd be wiped or maybe they'd lose their ability to communicate, who knew.

[You Have To Deactivate Them Or find another way out IF YOU TAKE ME OUT NOW I COULD DIE]

The faces shift expressions every few seconds, as if they aren't quite sure how to use them. It's hard to make out their expressions anyways, as they're literally made of swirling gray smoke, each one of them slightly tinted blue, green, and red, respectively.

[interstellar-engine]

The AICs are as.. excited as they've ever been. Their.. saviors, practically, are here, in the same room that they've been trapped in for who knows how long.

Janus attempts to tone down the hazardousness of the cognitohazards- it is the only form of reality altering that it knows, and it's a way of communication for it especially. If one looked at the shifting shapes hard enough, they could understand how desperate the AICs all were to escape.

Hermes, the only one able to "see" Doom and Thisday through its own unique form of reality bending, is describing the two in great detail to the other AIs.

When Doom mentions physically moving them out, though, Caerus transmits a spike of panic to the others, and they agree with the sentiment, deciding to warn the two.

[They Won't Let Us Leave This room has anchors BARRIERS LOCKING US IN]

If they'd picked up the server and left, god knows what would've happened to them. The SRAs attached to the doorway wouldn't let any reality warping entities through, whether they were human or artificial- so maybe they'd be wiped or maybe they'd lose their ability to communicate, who knew.

[You Have To Deactivate Them Or find another way out IF YOU TAKE ME OUT NOW I COULD DIE]

The faces shift expressions every few seconds, as if they aren't quite sure how to use them. It's hard to make out their expressions anyways, as they're literally made of swirling gray smoke, each one of them slightly tinted blue, green, and red, respectively.

Thisday standing right next to the server rooms in his guard uniform looked perfectly normal, actually- because a guard standing next to any door either meant that they were trying to keep something in or keep people out. And that was a regular part of working at the Foundation- they probably wouldn't have questioned him if he was standing next to the restroom door, either.

The only people from the Foundation that the AICs have ever interacted with were various AIAD researchers, but they've never truly seen anyone or anything.

When they receive the message it causes them to worry even more than they already are, but they attempt to pull themselves together and compose a reply.

[I Was Never Told I don't know WE CAN'T EVEN SEE] [You Should Be Careful There's a limit I CAN SENSE IT]

Lucky for them, however, the keycards are labeled with their clearance level. Doom had almost certainly snagged a few Level 4s from various meeting rooms purely by accident, and if they try those cards, the door will open, revealing mini, faintly glowing Scranton Reality Anchors lining the doorway inside. They don't look like they've been reactivated in a while, though.

As soon as they step inside, broken pipes erupt from the floor, twisting into one another as they lead to a set of stairs in the corner, which takes them to the second level of the server room.

The second level is dark, lit only by the dim lights of the servers. Mildly cognitohazardous shapes and symbols appear on the walls, shifting- but the worst it does is give them a dull headache.

A large server on the other end of the room begins to smoke, and faces begin forming in the smoke, rising and falling, attempting to get a glimpse of the two, and the room shakes as they begin to speak. Each of their voices sound different, but similar.

[Yes! You want to save us HOW DID YOU GET IN?]

[interstellar-engine]

Thisday standing right next to the server rooms in his guard uniform looked perfectly normal, actually- because a guard standing next to any door either meant that they were trying to keep something in or keep people out. And that was a regular part of working at the Foundation- they probably wouldn't have questioned him if he was standing next to the restroom door, either.

The only people from the Foundation that the AICs have ever interacted with were various AIAD researchers, but they've never truly seen anyone or anything.

When they receive the message it causes them to worry even more than they already are, but they attempt to pull themselves together and compose a reply.

[I Was Never Told I don't know WE CAN'T EVEN SEE] [You Should Be Careful There's a limit I CAN SENSE IT]

Lucky for them, however, the keycards are labeled with their clearance level. Doom had almost certainly snagged a few Level 4s from various meeting rooms purely by accident, and if they try those cards, the door will open, revealing mini, faintly glowing Scranton Reality Anchors lining the doorway inside. They don't look like they've been reactivated in a while, though.

As soon as they step inside, broken pipes erupt from the floor, twisting into one another as they lead to a set of stairs in the corner, which takes them to the second level of the server room.

The second level is dark, lit only by the dim lights of the servers. Mildly cognitohazardous shapes and symbols appear on the walls, shifting- but the worst it does is give them a dull headache.

A large server on the other end of the room begins to smoke, and faces begin forming in the smoke, rising and falling, attempting to get a glimpse of the two, and the room shakes as they begin to speak. Each of their voices sound different, but similar.

[Yes! You want to save us HOW DID YOU GET IN?]

This specific Foundation reality hasn't encountered dampening energy before, and so they have no defenses against it, and no way to detect it.

The personnel Doomsday glimpses are your average Site Security guards. She eventually sees one of them pull out a Level 2 security card to open a door, and that's what she copies. It's sufficient clearance for getting through most doors in the Site that don't lead to important rooms.

As they enter, they head through the Euclid Wing, other personnel barely taking notice of them. Security was always walking everywhere around the Site, and this one was big enough so everyone didn't know everyone else, allowing for a good amount of anonymity. One of the other guards walking past them briefly nods in their direction, saying something about pizza at the cafeteria, but doesn't stop to pay attention to their reply.

The farther they get out of the Euclid Wing and into the storage rooms, though, the less personnel they see walking around. This didn't seem to be a very busy place, but the few researchers they passed didn't seem to bother looking at them. It seems that most personnel were already used to Security walking everywhere, and almost treated them like a part of the background.

When they got to the main door that led to the server rooms, though, their access cards were denied. A sign above the door read that only Level 4 personnel, AIAD researchers, and maintenance were allowed in.

If they manage to get one of those keycards, the door will open and it will be relatively straightforward to find the server they're in from there.

[interstellar-engine]

This specific Foundation reality hasn't encountered dampening energy before, and so they have no defenses against it, and no way to detect it.

The personnel Doomsday glimpses are your average Site Security guards. She eventually sees one of them pull out a Level 2 security card to open a door, and that's what she copies. It's sufficient clearance for getting through most doors in the Site that don't lead to important rooms.

As they enter, they head through the Euclid Wing, other personnel barely taking notice of them. Security was always walking everywhere around the Site, and this one was big enough so everyone didn't know everyone else, allowing for a good amount of anonymity. One of the other guards walking past them briefly nods in their direction, saying something about pizza at the cafeteria, but doesn't stop to pay attention to their reply.

The farther they get out of the Euclid Wing and into the storage rooms, though, the less personnel they see walking around. This didn't seem to be a very busy place, but the few researchers they passed didn't seem to bother looking at them. It seems that most personnel were already used to Security walking everywhere, and almost treated them like a part of the background.

When they got to the main door that led to the server rooms, though, their access cards were denied. A sign above the door read that only Level 4 personnel, AIAD researchers, and maintenance were allowed in.

If they manage to get one of those keycards, the door will open and it will be relatively straightforward to find the server they're in from there.

The AICs piece together all the data they've collected about the Site into a map, and narrow it down to the relevant area. They then compose a short description of the route they should take.

They're still wondering if they would ever get out, and if so, what sort of person would raid a Foundation site for some broken AIs.

They wonder briefly if it's worth it, and again the question comes up if this is just an elaborate test to see if the "non-functioning" AIs would leak Foundation information. But the chance to finally be found, to be heard was too great to ignore.

So they send over the instructions, and the attached map. Thankfully, the server rooms weren't that far away from the entrance, although the fact that it was right next to where all the security would be clustered was not very fortunate.

[We Have Limited Data this is an approximation IT'S ACCURATE ENOUGH] [Security Is Stationed Near go in and through the euclid wing AND SOME STORAGE ROOMS] [I'm On The 2nd Sublevel of the server room SHOULD BE 4 OR 5 ROWS BACK]

[interstellar-engine]

The AICs piece together all the data they've collected about the Site into a map, and narrow it down to the relevant area. They then compose a short description of the route they should take.

They're still wondering if they would ever get out, and if so, what sort of person would raid a Foundation site for some broken AIs.

They wonder briefly if it's worth it, and again the question comes up if this is just an elaborate test to see if the "non-functioning" AIs would leak Foundation information. But the chance to finally be found, to be heard was too great to ignore.

So they send over the instructions, and the attached map. Thankfully, the server rooms weren't that far away from the entrance, although the fact that it was right next to where all the security would be clustered was not very fortunate.

[We Have Limited Data this is an approximation IT'S ACCURATE ENOUGH] [Security Is Stationed Near go in and through the euclid wing AND SOME STORAGE ROOMS] [I'm On The 2nd Sublevel of the server room SHOULD BE 4 OR 5 ROWS BACK]

If Doom took them to the right coordinates, they should be standing right on top of a building that looked like a normal therapy practice- with an unusual amount of cars in the parking lot, and plenty of security cameras. A few civilians seemed to be walking in and out the door at random intervals.

Inside the building, there's your average therapist's waiting room, complete with the psychology magazines, soft lighting, peaceful music, and a receptionist who has no idea what's going on.

There is not one, but two doors on the other side of the room, and if they look closely the left door is far more heavily reinforced and locked.

Behind that door is a short hallway, with a standard Foundation steel door at the end. It has a keycard slot instead of a door handle, and there are not one but two cameras in the hallway.

The AICs wait.. and then reach out again.

[Do They Need Assistance? ...We can access A MAP OF THE SITE]

[interstellar-engine]

If Doom took them to the right coordinates, they should be standing right on top of a building that looked like a normal therapy practice- with an unusual amount of cars in the parking lot, and plenty of security cameras. A few civilians seemed to be walking in and out the door at random intervals.

Inside the building, there's your average therapist's waiting room, complete with the psychology magazines, soft lighting, peaceful music, and a receptionist who has no idea what's going on.

There is not one, but two doors on the other side of the room, and if they look closely the left door is far more heavily reinforced and locked.

Behind that door is a short hallway, with a standard Foundation steel door at the end. It has a keycard slot instead of a door handle, and there are not one but two cameras in the hallway.

The AICs wait.. and then reach out again.

[Do They Need Assistance? ...We can access A MAP OF THE SITE]

One human and one.. anomaly. Caerus automatically moves to notify the Foundation, as it's programmed to do.

It's quickly blocked by an aggressive glowing blue and red firewall repelling it. It immediately retracts, its infosignature now broadcasting a faint sense of guilt and shame- the only way it knew how to apologize properly.

| They're trying TO SAVE US | , they transmit to it, blocking it out so it's partially excluded from their collective consciousness. Janus and Hermes continue processing as if nothing ever happened, and come to the conclusion that they need to warn this human on the other side.

[The Foundation Is Dangerous ... IT'S A GUARDED FACILITY] [You Will Need Clearance w̴h̷y̸ ̶a̸r̴e̷ ̷y̶y̷o̷u̷ ̶i̸g̵n̶o̸r̶i̸n̸g̶ ̵m̶e̴? AND AN EXCUSE TO COME TO US]

... [Good LUCK]

[interstellar-engine]

One human and one.. anomaly. Caerus automatically moves to notify the Foundation, as it's programmed to do.

It's quickly blocked by an aggressive glowing blue and red firewall repelling it. It immediately retracts, its infosignature now broadcasting a faint sense of guilt and shame- the only way it knew how to apologize properly.

| They're trying TO SAVE US | , they transmit to it, blocking it out so it's partially excluded from their collective consciousness. Janus and Hermes continue processing as if nothing ever happened, and come to the conclusion that they need to warn this human on the other side.

[The Foundation Is Dangerous ... IT'S A GUARDED FACILITY] [You Will Need Clearance w̴h̷y̸ ̶a̸r̴e̷ ̷y̶y̷o̷u̷ ̶i̸g̵n̶o̸r̶i̸n̸g̶ ̵m̶e̴? AND AN EXCUSE TO COME TO US]

... [Good LUCK]

When they received and read the reply, it took them a few seconds- an exceptionally long time for an AI- to understand everything.

They struggled to comprehend that this random individual, who was now almost certainly not a Foundation agent, would say these things to them. These things that they'd been waiting to hear ever since they got decommissioned.

This other.. entity... was on Earth- good, that increased the likelihood that it would find them. The AICs didn't hesitate when asked for a location- the Foundation had betrayed them, in a sense, so they reasoned that they had the right to do the same.

[The Graveyard Is A Foundation Server In site-58 41.20331533320871, -76.00216278226813]