unforum

[clamatius]

Well, if we had solid things to go on, where would the fun be in that?

Melissa (in Phase 2 and 3) seems reasonably rational - except for the survive/law/etc stuff. It just doesn't "fit in" - it doesn't seem logical. If those were her original goals, you may hit me with a trout or other piscine of your choice.

[GunsmithCat]

It seems like Flea has the ability to act like a part of Melissa.

He can't overtly control her, but he can like, move stuff around. Maybe swap out a thing or two here and there.

For instance, it couldn't just tell Melissa to delete SPDR. It had to pose as SPDR and tell her to delete it's "old" version (the real SPDR). And I think it does that because it needs to be the SPDR to get to some of Melissa's memories (it doesn't just look like it, it behaves like it).

Maybe by the time we meet Melissa for the first time, Flea has already swapped some nouns and verbs around and Melissa is either unable to tell that the Flea is there or doesn't care.

All this indicates though, that Flea IS a bad guy. Because this is adaptive, which isn't like a human AI, but it's not like the personality of a third. Plus, there's the religious overtones surrounding the Flea which suggests a Covenant nature. I mean, a lot of people were guessing Flea was a bad apple BEFORE he tricked the Queen into killing her own servant and started re-writing her programming in spooky ways. Definitive proof? No, but knowing my Shakespeare, I think I can guess which side of the bed trick Flea sleeps on.


So if Flea's ability to remain hidden from Melissa tells us more of what he is capable of - what does the fact that nobody can hide from Princess tell us about her?

[Astald]

But the only I see so far from the flea is to find the truth. He found a way to destroy SPDR because it was interrupting him in his attempts at truth seeking. His whispers to Melissa are a little odd, but that could just be another way to find more truth.
On the sleeping princess. I don't really think I know enough about her to judge. She is the one talking to us though, and does seem friendly enough. As to why she can see everything going on, every story needs a narrator.
With Melissa I am very unsure. I always had the feeling she was just a confused AI, but this line gets me a little anxious:

[GunsmithCat]

[GunsmithCat]

OK, so now from the latest email from Princess, we get some clues that she is actively hiding from the other AIs. It's not that they are natively unaware of her and her spying, but she is also good at hiding.


Hiding.

Seeking.

Sounds familiar...

[GunsmithCat]

Also, I just thought -

If Queen is still looking for Dana, why is it so hard to find her? Supposedly WE know where she is, but not an AI built for it?

Maybe Queen is completely unaware of messaging like the blog, emails, etc? Is she limited to using only certain kinds of network travel? (maybe instead of SPDR she should have had a LYNX?

[GunsmithCat]

Soon I will promise to stop posting alone to this thread

But I just realized something odd about the Queen's awareness of Flea.

She seems oblivious to it.
Flea tricks her into deleting the "old" SPDR.

Yet, she knows she's deleted him. She says she's free of him. She knows she's broken him into pieces, etc. Would she be that final about it if she thought she had just deleted an old version? Maybe she realizes it post-SPDR, but enjoys the freedom Flea gives her?

[jellyfish_green]

[guest]

and how does she do all that while locked in a glass casket?

[rose]

Spec about the Queen and the Sleeping Princess

[clamatius]

[GunsmithCat]

DOH!

[chaotic_mind]

My problem with the idea that the Sleeping Princess is a back-up made by Melissa herself, is that it is difficult or impossible for humans to copy AIs. Of course, I feel this bit of information is OOG at this point. Too Haloverse, not enough Bees

Plus the Queen seems to be unaware of the Princess. In her monolgues, post-apocalypse, the Queen never mentions any copy. Though, this isn't unexplainable. She died after all, and has been having her memories stripped from her.

The Princess, in the killer.jpgs in broken English, spoke of the Queen actively doing stuff to her. This indicates that the Queen maybe aware of the Princess in another form. Osmium, anyone?

Still, not enough info. I'll need to look over the full game text, see if there isn't anything that can be connected.

Luke P,

[GunsmithCat]

Queen from killer.jpg's:

[clamatius]

I'm more and more liking the idea that the Operator put her there as quarantine rather than imprisonment.

The description of the Queen as "verminous" may refer to the Flea infestation.