Noventa - A Star Wars Story

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Soft laughter echoed. "Oh, I would [i]never[/i] do that!" Again, the sound of ethereal laughter.

Slowly, it faded. "No, no. I'm doing that because I like them. They're my [i]friends[/i]. Or maybe more..." It was a suggestive purr, or a threatening rasp, or both at the same time. "More and more!" Again, the soft laughter.

Cal shifted, the flashlight flickering.

He looks to Cal and shrugs, giving him a small hand signal to stay calm.

"Him and the big one? Are you talking about people you know?" he asks curiously. "Are these simulations of individuals that you like? Have you replicated people from your past inside your system? I've known behavior modeling AIs that have done that for personalities that they found interesting."

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"They're mine. I need them!" Demona hissed. Cal's eyes widened. This was sharper than her usual voice, lacking the usual sensual breathiness. "They belong to me. Some day, they'll all belong to me. Especially [i]him[/i]. And the big one. I [i]like[/i] the big one."

Cal swallowed. "Do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

"Well, I've seen programs that have been developed like this before. Usually they're used for filtering and transforming large amounts of small pieces of data. They tend to be more efficient at their task at the cost of energy efficiency," Farkas says as he looks it over. "In earlier days of AI development this was a standard used in pathfinding and brute force slicing, before more adaptive machine learning was created," the balding man quirks his mouth a bit as he thinks. "Demona. Are these processes completely unrelated to your functions as an holo-entertainer? Do you have access to them all or did your creator lock you out of them?"

There was a short pause. The only thing that could be heard was the hum of electronics.

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The 'speaker', or whatever it was, crackled to life again. "You're an [i]interesting[/i] one, aren't you? Why don't you show me your moves..."

The diagnostics opened up. A brief glance showed that she didn't seem to be running any major processes... but many small ones, repeating over and over again.

Farkas nodded at that. "I would love for you to show me where it hurts. I'd like to make you feel all better." He plays along with her game, but his tone is that of someone who actually wants to help.

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"Oooh, doctor!" The giggle that came from the tangle of wires was anything but appealing. "Do you want me to show you where it [i][b]hurts[/b][/i]?" The last word was a sharp rasp, almost closer to a scream.

She didn't, though. Whatever her program was doing, it seemed to be running steadily along at the same, unusually high, level.

"Well, so far I've been seeing a lot of 'not supposed to' and 'odd' surrounding Demona. I'm starting to get the feeling that even if something is wrong, she's not exactly what you were promised."

"Demona. Your processors are running very high. I was hoping you could be a dear and grant me access so I can take a look at what they're doing. I just want to make sure that there isn't anything interfering with them."

"That's odd." Cal muttered. "The guy said she was supposed to recognize people. Learn a bit. Of course, he also said she'd be friendly."

There was a soft crackle of static from within the wires.

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"We all have our secrets." The voice was tinny, but unmistakably Demona. "Do you want to know [i]my[/i] secrets?" Her words were accompanied by high-pitched feedback.

"There's not supposed to be a speaker in there." Cal said faintly.

"It's got a lot of data in here. A lot. I'd expect this more from an analysis or science droid or AI," Farkas says.

"Demona... have you been collecting secrets? Listening to people?" He chuckles at that. "Or maybe just trying to figure out how best to give the regulars a fright with behavioral pattern recognition?"

"A bit." Cal said. His frown could be just barely seen in the dim light. "Mostly he was quiet. Muttered a lot. Didn't bother me none, though." Cal shrugged. "So long as they're not causing trouble, I don't really care how people act."

Aside from the excessive processor use, it seemed that the storage was much more full than could otherwise be expected from a program of Demona's type.

"Well, often times the designer's personality can come through in a synthetic creation. Was he particularly odd himself?" Farkas asks as he continues tapping through collected data. A minute worth of data does not reveal abnormalities. He'd likely sit here for a few talking and monitoring.

"Not so as I'm aware of." Cal said, scratching his head. "Was a sullustan fellow. Stayed here about a week, then moved on. He offered to set up the system in exchange for room and board."

He shrugged. "She's always been spooky. I do think she's been getting a bit more intense lately. Appearing at odd times, that sort of thing."

Farkas sighed a bit at that. "Threats are definitely aberrant behavior for a an entertainment holo-projection AI. But they may be intentionally aberrant. The man who designed her may have been more mad than genius. Did he have a reason to not like you or anyone that worked here?"

"Suppose that makes sense." Cal nodded. "Just like anything else."

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"Just be careful no one gets [i]hurt[/i]." Demona's voice ended in a hiss, and the line went dead. Cal stared at his commlink as though it were a live snake.

All of the basic diagnostic information was coming back normal, although signs indicated that the processor was running quite actively.

"It's personalized. A lot of people that have as much experience with computer systems like I do tend to create personalized tools like this. We all have our different specialties and focuses, so we need different things. I value being as non-invasive with synthetic intelligence as I can so I prefer piggybacking off of exposed systems for observation. That way I don't interfere with processing too much," Farkas explains. "This attachment has a tiny, needle-like protrusion that enters into non-optical lines and picks up signals physically with minimal interfacing, while allowing me to send small packets of data to the system."

To Demona specifically he whistles again, imitating binary once more. [i][Sorry.][/i] But his organic body won't allow for a full explanation, so he continues in basic, "You're probably sensing the pings it's sending out, allowing me to measure response times, power usage, and security responses. Nothing really invasive. Kind of like when a doctor uses tools to monitor vitals on organics. Just trying to see how healthy your systems are right now."

The code seemed... complex. Eccentric, even. It seemed as though it would take some time to gain proper access.

As Farkas began his work, Cal did his best to aim his flashlight at his datapad. "Quite the fancy piece of gear you've got there." He said. For a time, he was silent, the electronic sounds the only thing that could be heard.

His commlink rang.

The light shook as Cal jumped. "Sorry." He muttered as he lifted it to his ear. Static hissed audibly through as he answered it.

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"Ooh, that tickles." Demona's voice came through. "But are you sure you should be doing that?"

"That's a bit of a mess," Farkas says as he looks at it. He opens his toolkit and pulls out a pair of insulated gloves, slipping them on before moving closer to take a look at the nest of wires. Pulling out a simple tool made of non-conductive plasteel, he uses it to try and move wires around gently to try and make sense of them. "Hmm..."

Then he pulls out what looks like some sort of extremely customized datapad that wasn't in the toolbox and extends some sort of strange attachment from it. Definitely not a normal tool as he simply attaches it to one of the wires. He starts tapping away at it, attempting to slice into the system so that he can try and see what is going on in the system before he tries to make any fixes.

Cal grimaced. "Non-standard is right. Ummm..." Squinting, he looked out the window. "I can give you about half an hour. Only way to get to her means turning off all the lights in here." Luckily, it was pretty slow. "C'mon, I'll show you." He said, jerking his head.

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"Be seeing you..." Demona flickered and then vanished. It was hard to tell, but the ethereal laughter seemed to trail them as they walked up the stairs.

...

It was in one of the side rooms. Cal pushed a button, and a hatch in the floor slid away, revealing an intertwined collection of electronics. The computer core was just visible under a mass of wires and conduits, clearly live. "Okay, here." He tossed the older man a flashlight, and switched on his own. "Killin' the lights now."

The room was plunged into darkness, except for the dimly flickering light of the two flashlights. And somewhere, deep in the mess of cabling, a faint red glow.

"That would be my assumption. Before taking a look, I couldn't tell you how much of her behavior is abberant due to corruption or malfunction, but if I had to make an educated guess I'd say that the person that installed her at least intended for some of this behavior. And may have intentionally given her access to some of the building's systems to help enable it," Farkas explains.

Finishing off his drink, he stands. "But I'll need to take a look to be sure. It sounds like it was a non-standard installation, so you'll have to show me where the hardware was put."