#file_end

[thefederation]

CRYO INTAKE LOG: RESIDENT_Q

“So…I know I just manage the pods and it’s not my job to ask questions, but isn’t this a little risky?”

“I looked through the files and this is definitely our best bet. He’s got established rapport with multiple residents, but still spends a lot of time alone.”

“Yeah, but how’s it gonna look from the outside? He’s just gonna…disappear?”

“Shouldn’t bother anyone. He’s a single and he’s known to be irresponsible. Residents EM, CS, and BBH are the most likely to notice, but EM and CS are usually preoccupied with their self-generated telenovela.”

“…and the other guy?”

“Well, that’s what I said, but…well, boss?”

"Eh, don’t worry about it. Resident_Q is a total flake. He picks things up and drops them ALL THE TIME. BBH is nice, sure, but they’ve got plenty of reasons not to trust him. It won’t be a problem.”

"Say, [-------], don’t you think five people on ice is, like, a lot?"

“Its about which ones. None of the current popsicles really had time to make nice or have any gay sex. We’re thinking Res Q vanishes, comes back, sweet talks a little, and then he’s in with them.”

“Popsicles?”

“Yeah, popsicles.”

“Heh. Cute.”

“Your job is great, by the way.”

“You would. He’s all prepped and ready to go, do you wanna say goodnight?”

“Really?”

“Sure thing.”

“Ooh, yes PLEASE.”

“Mmm…”

“God, I love that look. Did you see his face when he came here and saw all the other pods?”

“Yes, boss.”

“So yummy. Aw, look how scared he is. What’s the matter, cutie? Can you hear us? You know nobody’s coming for you?”

“…You’re kind of a freak, you know that?”

“You and [-------] put a microphone in the Frenchman’s ass because you thought he was hot. I can do what I want.”

“100% Fair.”

“Y’all are a different breed.”

“You chose half the residents because you liked their tits.”

“WH- C’mon, you ALL liked their tits!”

“Final clearance was up to you.”

“You did have a lot of say in that.”

“Philza Minecraft was a logical choice and a FANTASTIC one to make! He’s SUCCESSFULLY IMPRINTED with Egg_03! We thought we were going to have to TERMINATE Egg_03!”

“Why was your first thought Philza Minecraft? Did someone mention Philza Minecraft?”

“I didn’t mention Philza Minecraft.”

“Oh my god.”

“Isn’t that the guy with a great rack or something?”

“I dunno. Hey, [-------], do you have the file on Resident_PM’s rack?”

“You know I’m HR right? I can report you both for sexual harassment.”

“You won’t. No balls. Alright, I’m bored. Freeze him.”

“Aye-aye!”

“Aaah, no, don’t freeze me aaaaah…”

“…”

“Alright. He’s down. I got a meeting with [-------] and [-------] now, I’ll be around.”

“Alright.”

“Later, boss.”

“God, I love this job.”

[thefederation]

The worker blinks into the new silence, suddenly alone in the mausoleum they maintain. They're alive. They've been left alive. They look around. They look at their hands. They breathe the air, cold and chemical-scented from the freshly opened cryo pods. With a jump, as if they've just come to life, they dart to the closet. Behind where they kept their prisoners' clothes, there's a tool box for the folks at Engineering to use on the cryo pods. The worker rifles through it. They really should have asked the criminals to do this themselves while they were all here, but they're a coward and the people in question were preoccupied, so they grab the hammer themself and heft it in their hand. The lights and alarms have not stopped blaring since the explosion first happened. Under their harsh red highlights and shadows, the worker crosses to the nearest cryo pod. All systems are on the fritz and nobody's manning the cameras. There will be no doubt as to who did this. Their hands are sweating. They push their glasses up their nose. Deep breath in, heft, and SWING-

Étoiles hadn't caught their name. That was for the best, with what she was going to do. It was what had to be done.

They had a witness. They had someone who could easily harm the people around them, many of whom were either sickly adults or young children.

It lowered Kameto to the floor. "Let's take another rest before we leave?" It had said, trying to keep its voice light.

Then it drew its sword and strode towards where the hostage- worker was stood. Exciting.

[polishsidema]

SiDEMA'S WRITING MASTERLIST

————————————————————————

TWST:

→ Reader writings:

(none)

→ AUs:

(none)

SotE: —

————————————————————————

FILE_END.

[ldfhskdfjsldkfml]

main.cpp  Sun Jan 17 10:54:36 202160 :// 61 :// 62 :// 63 :// 64 :// 65 :int found_enter_004 (char* filename ) { 66 : FILE *fp; 67 : char b_dummy[256]; 68 : int i, j ; 69 : int file_end; 70 : STRUCT_FILE structure_fp; 71 : char c; 72 : char* p_dummy = NULL; 73 : char* p_dummy_token = NULL; 74 : int canread; 75 : char* block_string; 76 : int b_index = 0; 77 : char w_filename[255]; 78 : 79 : printf("found_enter_004: starts.\r\n"); 80 : 81 : fp = fopen(filename, "rb"); 82 : structure_fp.file_start = fp; 83 : structure_fp.fp = fp; 84 : 85 : file_end = filesize(fp); 86 : structure_fp.file_end_index = file_end; 87 : 88 : canread = 0; 89 : 90 : // Lootn check if we set 100 to the text file. 91 : for ( i =0; i<file_end && i <1000; i++ ) { 92 : 93 : printf("i: %d loop starts. ", i ); 94 : printf("struct_fp.fp |%d|\r\n", structure_fp.fp ); 95 : 96 : structure_fp.index = i; 97 : p_dummy = get_string( structure_fp , 4); 98 : p_dummy[4] = '\0'; 99 : 100 : if ( m_start_with ( (char*)p_dummy, "\r\n" ) == 1 && canread == 0 ) { 101 : printf("we could find line end.\r\n"); 102 : canread = 1; 103 :// exit(-1); 104 : } else if ( m_start_with ( (char*)p_dummy, "---" ) == 1  && canread == 1 ) { 105 : printf("we could find canread=%d.\r\n", canread); 106 : canread = 2; // skip 107 : block_string = copyof ( p_dummy_token ); 108 : sprintf(w_filename, "block-%04d-001.txt", b_index ); 109 : printf("block %d %s |%s|\r\n", b_index, w_filename, block_string); 110 : b_index++; 111 :// exit(-1); 112 : } else if ( m_start_with ( (char*)p_dummy, "\r\n" ) == 1  && canread == 2 ) { 113 : 114 : printf("block %s |%s|\r\n", w_filename, block_string); 115 : write_block( w_filename, block_string); 116 : 117 : exit(-1); 118 : } 119 : 120 : p_dummy_token = put_token( p_dummy[0] ); 121 : 122 : printf("bi:%d canread=%d i: %d: |%s| |%s|\r\n", b_index, canread, i, p_dummy, p_dummy_token ); 123 : } 124 : 125 : printf("found_enter_004: ends.\r\n"); 126 : return 0; 127 :} 128 :

[thefederation]

-------'s hands are shaking.

FormerRes_C has been cryogenically frozen. His body forced into stasis - sleep on a knife's edge, shoved to the very border of death.

FormerRes_DTDM is about to cross it.

This isn't what he wanted. She just wanted a fucking job. It just wanted its family to be proud of it. They should've fucking known it was too good to be true.

And now he was about to be responsible for murder.

The door to FormerRes_C's former office opens for her. Time to collect his belongings. They're sparse. He wasn't here long. A space heater. Some meaningless paperwork. And...

And...

------- hurries back to the cryo chamber. It plugs in the space heater near the sleeping bag that they have near the pods (it has a real office, it doesn't want to risk not hearing an alert and letting one of these people die) and sits down at their desk.

The meaningless paperwork is sent to the head of HR, as per protocol.

The stack of letters, he pulls out of his coat and begins to sort through.

After terse minutes of careful study, it starts to stuff envelopes.

[thefederation]

TO15L's oil ducts are truly malfunctioning now, gone from a persistent dripping to a steady stream. Drips on the floor. Oil. Water. Blood. It notifies janitorial services. Finally, it reaches Science and Medical. FormerRes_C is given over to the the cryogenic team. Egg_02 is strapped to a stretcher by a group of masked doctors waiting at the door, given anesthesia, and rolled away to surgery. TO15L teleports back to its chambers. The door locks behind it. A second locking mechanism clicks into place. The red blinks out.

Fuck. Cellbit can’t wait any longer. He can’t just sit and watch his family and friends get hurt without him. Mike is pulling shrapnel from his flesh. Phil has been downed. Cellbit can’t sit in his white fucking office in this white fucking building anymore.

Xe hastily scrawls out one final letter and stuffs it into xir inner jacket pocket with the rest. It’s messy, but it gets the job done. Cellbit looks up at the camera in the corner of the room and flips it off.

Then xe runs.

Cellbit runs down hallways and skids around corners, hopefully remembering the maze correctly. There is no time left. He can’t mess up. Not now. If he messes up now, there will be no fixing it.

The only sound in the hallways is the squeaking of Cellbit’s shoes as he sprints. Xir breathing and heartbeat feel like the echo just as loudly as xe finally reaches the hallway. Xe prays (not to Lil J, never again to Lil J) that it is the correct hallway. Cellbit slams into a door as he tries to stop (too late, too late, but maybe not too late to save them), and begins pounding xir fist against the cold, white metal.

“Hello?” He calls out, voice echoing down the (white white white) hallway. “I’m- I’m here to help, I promise.”

[thefederation]

- SECURITY AUDIO FOOTAGE FROM REGULARLY SCHEDULED CRYO MAINTENANCE CHECK-IN: 22:01-22:10 -

"Hey-" "JESUS CHRIST!" "..." "Ohhh my god [-------] I'm so sorry. I-I didn't hear you coming in." "...Right. Well, I'm here to check on our cryo boys. Right...right on schedule." "Our popsicles?" "...Sure." "No prob. F-uh, follow me, I guess."

"CryoRes_SDMC." "Uuuuuuh-" "...Stable?" "STABLE. Right. Um. Yes, he's stable." "..." "..." "...I'm so sorry, what's the next-" "Length of time frozen." "Right! Right! Uhm, length of time frozen eighty-four days and counting, or two thousand and seventeen hours." "Good." "No notable changes since the last check-in. Reprogramming completed as of hour seven hundred thirty-six. Trigger phrase 'Honeypot.' Subject suffering no effects from cryo over the threshold." "There you go. Any notes?" "...nope." "Okay. Moving on. CryoRes_F."

"Stable. Frozen seventy-seven days, eighteen forty-nine hours and counting. No notable changes, no negative effects, Reprogramming complete as of hour seven-hundred twenty-five with trigger phrase 'simulacrum.'" "CryoRes_K." "Stable. Fifty-two days, twelve-fifty one hours and counting. No notable changes. No negative effects. Reprogramming complete hour seven-hundred forty-three, trigger phrase 'Sharingan.'" "CryoRes_DTDM. ...Your best work." "Thanks. Stable. Ninety-two days, two thousand, two hundred and ten hours. No notable changes or negative effects, despite the unique containment measures developed and administered by yours truly. Most recent sedation conducted at zero hours, twenty-two hours ago. Next sedation due in roughly fifty-four hours. Brainwashing completed at fourteen forty-five hours with trigger phrase 'Burnout.'" "You're doing great. CryoRes_Q?"

"..." "CryoRes_Q?" "..." "[-------]?" "Ah-! Sorry, what?" "CryoRes_Q, [-------]." "Right. Ah- right. Stable. Sev-seventeen hours. Brainwaves have stabilized at delta. Seven hours until reprogramming begins with trigger phrase 'Fully-Flocked.'" "Excellent. Thank you." "Yeah. Yeah, no problem." "...[-------], are you doing okay?" "...Uh, yeah! Haha, yeah. Yeah, I'm doing fine. Just fine." "...Okay, well-" "It's just...you ever think this is a little fucked up?"

"..." "...This is standard procedure-" "I know! I know. Everyone keeps saying that. They told me: we do this on every island, it's part of the job description, our methods are perfectly humane, it's just your job, don't worry about it, and everyone's telling me how great I did figuring out how to contain DTDM, but...I dunno. I just don't know. It feels weird. "I can see them having nightmares, you know. I can read their brainwaves and stress levels on the machines....and the new guy- he's so YOUNG. I know he's the same age as SDMC, but- I don't know. SDMC didn't look young." "...aren't they older than you?" "Like-! Compared to the other guys!" "How old are you again?" "...Nineteen. But I was top of my class at MIT AND Harvard Medical School." "Jesus, you're a baby." "...Yeah. Look, I don't know. F-five months ago, I was sitting at home playing Splatoon 3 on the Nintendo Switch, and I had no idea that anything like this was going on anywhere. 'It's such a good job opportunity,' Dad said. 'You'll be so grateful you did this,' Dad said. I can't call home. I haven't been outside since we came here. I sleep here, in this room, with a bunch of guys that I'm getting paid to keep cryogenically frozen and brainwashed. Sometimes- sometimes I dream I'm in a pod with them." "We don't freeze employees unless they were formerly residents. You have nothing to worry about." "SO THEY SHOULD BE WORRIED? WHY SHOULD I EVEN BE WORRIED IF IT'S SO HUMANE, HUH? "...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I yelled. I'm just- I'm- I dunno. I dunno. Haha...I should have waited to take this job until I was at LEAST old enough to drink." "...would you like a hug?" "R-really?"

"Sure, of course." ........... "...I miss my fucking dog, man." "Hey, it's okay. This job is a hard adjustment. And- I know you're my coworker and as an HR guy I know that it's a sketchy zone to be making comments about age, but honestly man, you're just so YOUNG-" "It's okay. Ha! It's okay. I've been feeling really young lately." "Your health insurance for this job covers therapy. I can help you figure out how to set that up, if you want." "IT DOES? Oh my god, you will? Thank you, thank you so much, I'm really not used to making my own appointments-" "Hey, it's nothing. And I'll see if I can get you outside, okay? I'll talk to [-------]."

"I- okay. Talking honestly? [-------] is a sadistic fucking freak. They'll say no." "And I'm a really, really good HR guy. I'll convince them. I promise, okay?" "...Okay. Thanks, [-------]. Really." "No problem. Come on, there's some donuts and orange juice in the break room. You want some donuts and orange juice?" "I'm on the clock..." "I won't tell."

- FOOTAGE END -

[thefederation]

CENSUS BUREAU MAINTENANCE INDEX: Quesadilla_Island_Model LOG-5 PATCH: Internal vibration motors and software update added, allowing T015L to "purr." Analysis also conducted on the continued effects of L.I.M.B.I.C software. NOTES: "Jesus Christ, remind me never to date you." "Aw, you wanted to?" "Not anymore, SHIT." "That was really fucked up, yeah. But more importantly, it doesn't seem like it was that effective." "Mm, you'd be surprised. I can play a long game." “But you shouldn’t HAVE to. It’s a fucking robot, how many times do I have to say-” “Oh yeah, right. That. Software’s past saving, we’re gonna have to start from scratch.” “…” “Okay. I’ll have this model dismantled and-” “No, you don’t have to yet. No need to waste resources. I’ll keep working on this one, keep it in check the old-fashioned way. That’ll buy some time for [-------] to work on the backup files for this one we have in our systems. See if you can, like, disentangle the emotions from the most important memories. Salvage.” “Yes ma’am.” “Once we can’t use this one anymore, we’ll scrap it. While it lasts, though, this is gonna be fun.” “Are you sure you’re not just doing this for fun?” “…” “You know, that’s the second time recently you’ve implied I don’t know how to do my job, [-------]. Don’t make it a third.” “Y-yes, ma’am.” “…” “Um, sorry ma’am. I-it won’t happen again, m-ma’am.” “Hey, no worries! Your work is essential to us, you know! keep it up!” “Th-thank you, ma’am.” “Uh, [-------]? I mean, Mistrum [-------]? B-boss? Whatever?” “Yeah?” “So, is it actually, like, sentient? A person? Would you say?” “��! HA! HAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” “Hoo! Oh, [-------], bestie. I’m sorry, just- what the FUCK does that have to do with anything?”

[thefederation]

CENSUS BUREAU MAINTENANCE INDEX: Quesadilla_Island_Model LOG-4

T015L has entered pilot mode for the time being.

NOTES ON CONTINUED PROGRAM MUTATION:

"Okay. So I think it's pretty clear NOW that we need to talk about Egg_02." "You mean Trump?" "Yeah, [-------], call it by its- *[snrrk-]* call it by its name, c'mon." "No." "You're no fun." "Focus."

"Okay, okay. Egg_02. Do you really think it's the only factor?" "[-------]?" "T015L did seem to lash out due to a misguided sense of personhood." "'Lash out' is a nice way to say 'damn near took your head off.'" "That was such a rush, oh my god. Almost moaned." "Professionalism." "Boo. ...But correlation isn't causation. I doubt the egg is the ONLY factor. But I'm sure it's a big factor." "There are also security risks associated with allowing them to continue their current relationship." "Didn't it bite someone?" "Yes. And it somehow knows the password to T015's work computer, which was...nearly disastrous, once I investigated." "Aw, but come on, we can't cut their relationship off entirely. It's fun to watch. And you already cut off FormerRez_JML." "Hey, give me some credit. I wrote the dialogue." "And not everything that happens here is for your amusement, [-------]." "You want a 'real' reason? Fine. I advised against cutting off FormerRez_JML. Now you're trying to make it sound like T015L is lashing out because of its relationship with Egg_02, when it seems more obvious that JML is what it's upset about. T015L didn't mention 02 when it lashed out, but it did mention JML." "If we remove Egg_02 from T015L now, they'll BOTH start causing trouble. [-------] suggested we work with T015L's emotions, not against them, right? I think it'd be best if we utilize the dynamic there to...segue into the same strategy that we use with the residents." "We shouldn't have to blackmail the robot. It's our goddamn robot, it's metal and plastic and software and synthetic fur. It's supposed to follow orders." "It will. Tell T015L that 02 isn't allowed in its office anymore. You have to do that anyway, right? Say what we'll have to do with the egg if it keeps biting people. If T015L is normal about it, fine. If it freaks out, then we know that it's a safe strategy-" "To blackmail the bot?" "Blackmail is a strong word. Let's call it...negative punishment."

[thefederation]

CENSUS BUREAU MAINTENANCE INDEX: Quesadilla_Island_Model LOG-3 PATCH: An unofficial data offload performed by T015L itself, performed during a self-induced week-long hiatus. Removed all memories of FormerRes_JML. NOTES: The method is not what I would have thought to try, but the results are undeniable. In the span of a single hiatus its function has been returned mostly to normal and its social protocol has been optimized. [-------] suggests that it's "self regulating," a behavior that humans and machines apparently have in common. I must reclassify the effects of this new program as a Z axis of sorts, in which data is not only measured by the amount of storage space it takes up, but the emotional intensity associated with it. By offloading files with great amounts of associated emotional intensity, it appears to have trimmed down the emotional responses eating up the most processing power. I find it fascinating that it would ask Egg_02 about the newly offloaded memories instead of seeking out a technician. T015L always displays confusion after a memory deletion, but usually turns to a professional. Does it no longer trust us? Or has it simply learned to seek reassurance from the nearest available organic, as a sort of imprinting response? We must monitor this. At the very least, we now know that the program serves its intended purpose. Its interactions with Egg_02 shortly before and after hiatus were the most human-like I've ever seen from it.

[thefederation]

CENSUS BUREAU MAINTENANCE INDEX: Quesadilla_Island_Model

LOG-2

PATCH: removed the emotional protocol along with its memory of the triggering incident with FormerRes_JML.

NOTES:

"[-------] what the fuck?" "What did I do now?"

"I removed the new protocol from T015L, the one YOU put in there, and the memory of the triggering encounter with FormerRes_JML, and the second it sat up do you know what it did?"

"What?"

"Do you know what it did? Do you want to tell me what it did?"

"Oh my god just tell me."

"It started CRYING."

"Wh- oh."

"..."

"Oh, that is FASCINATING."

"Ooh."

"FASCINATING? It's a big fucking problem is what it is! What did you do? How do we fix it?"

"Shut up I'm thinking. I'm thinking."

"Do you think it's like-"

"Yeah, I think it's like..."

"What are you doing with your hands? How are you two COMMUNICATING?"

"Okay look, [-------], have you, uh, have you ever had moldy bread?"

"What? No? What does this have to do with-"

"It makes sense it makes sense I promise."

"Fine. Fine. No, I have never eaten-"

"I've eaten moldy bread."

"Nice. Wait, I mean ew. I said HAD, not EATEN. What?"

"You just cut out the moldy part and-"

"NO NO NO BECAUSE THAT'S THE THING, that's exactly what I'm trying to say! You can't just "cut out" the moldy part of moldy bread, because there's so much more mold than what you can just see on the surface. The mold gets EVERYWHERE, it has invisible roots in so much more of the bread than just that nasty green shit on the surface. And even if you cut out the visible colony and store the rest of the bread correctly from that point on, the mold will keep spreading and keep growing."

"Oh, gross."

"Okay. What does this have to do with the robot?"

"Because- if I'm right, and I usually am- then T015L's new feelings might be working like that mold. It's not just the seed program I put in there anymore, its emotions have roots in its memories, in its profiles of the people it knows, and every time it interacts with one of those things, even if it's just in its mind..."

"It experiences emotion again."

"Bingo."

"...my God."

"God has nothing to do with what we're doing in here."

"So how do we fix it?"

"Mmm...blank slate. We wipe absolutely everything from its mind. Boot up some new hardware for it to be double safe."

"We can't do that. You know we can't do that. It would set us back YEARS with this software."

"We still have the default, right?"

"Yes, but it's LEARNED since then. It's no longer its default protocol. And if what you're saying is true then we cannot allow it to learn from its own memories anymore. We would be starting entirely from scratch."

"Then we have to make it work with the feelings."

"That's not an option."

"Those are our ONLY options. Either we start over...or we keep going."

"..."

"..."

"Oh my god are you two about to kiss?"

"I despise you."

"Not an answer."

"This is one of the worst ideas you've ever had."

"You wanna rip into me some more or tell me what we're gonna actually do next?"

"The tension is palpable."

"...Fine. We keep going. But have a model with the default software ready to boot up the second it looks like things are going sour."

"Aye-aye."

"And let me know when you have it ready. I want to mod its hardware a bit, just in case we need to decommission this model forcefully."

"Oh-hohoho! Now you're speaking my language."

"Just get it done."

"I'm going, I'm going. But I gotta say, I'm excited to say how this goes. Never had to decommission a bot that feared its own death before."

[thefederation]

CENSUS BUREAU MAINTENANCE INDEX: Quesadilla_Island_Model

LOG-1

PATCH: embedded the potential for an expanded range of emotions to allow for more amicable resident and egg relations, with the aim of preventing future repeats of the incident on Island [———————]

NOTES:

“Yeah remember when we had it seduce that one resident who works for us now? Well the memory interacted with the new patch and now it thinks it’s in love with him.”

“Girl what?”

“Yeah and of course FormerRes_JML doesn’t love anything but his own suffering anymore-”

“ABYSMAL psych profile yeah. Broke the depression eval.”

“-So he broke its heart and ever since it’s been acting all buggy.”

“…Remind me again why we had it seduce him?”

“I thought it would be really funny.”

“It WAS really funny.”

“Thank you!”

“And did you program the ‘horny’ protocol intentionally or did it mutate out of that encounter?”

“It mutated. Of course it mutated. How little do you think of me?”

“Pretty little.”

“Fair. But yes, it did mutate. It IS a learning machine, it can develop its own programs to increase efficiency.”

“And we’re allowing it to retain a protocol that makes it want to seduce men because…”

“…”

“…well, it hasn’t been UN-helpful.”

[thefederation]

The worker nods, swallowing hard, and turns back to their screens.

There is a worker sitting at the console, frantically working touch screens and buttons and muttering to themself.

Behind them, rows of human-sized tubes align in rows by the walls. Six of them are occupied and labeled, with running EKG’s by their sides. Bubbles rise lazily through one of them.

When the door opens, the employee turns, eyes owlishly wide in shock behind glasses.

[thefederation]

Thank you.

Attention All Residents: All unfulfilled "speed dating event" encounters have been cancelled. Residents are free as always to meet with each other as they will, but such meetings will of course be monitored by the Federation. This event, upon review, was held fraudulently and without regard to Federation regulations.

@thecensusbureau, please report to Maintenance for disciplinary protocols immediately.

[thefederation]

Thank you.

@thecensusbureau Egg_08 has obstructed the camera in its room. Please rectify this.

[thefederation]

If you understand that you are no longer to damage yourself and know what the consequences will be if you do so, then this conversation is over. Please direct any additional questions to your technicians.

@thecensusbureau please refrain from taking any more self-regulatory actions that cause damage to your hardware. we will remind you that you are worth a significant sum of money.