unforum

[Starblade]

[SPEC] The spider and the flea

[DreamOfTheRood]

This is pretty wild spec, but it pleases me. I've been thinking along the same lines, but I think the Flea is trying to maintain the spatial-temporal link between Melissa and Durga. At this point, we've got next to no information concerning that link, so it's all spec.

Still, I like this theory.

[HedgeKnight]

It would seem like Durga is the one that's "Seeking". And Melissa really seems to be more about hiding things more than anything else (the opposite of reveal). But the SP certainly seems to like to point out the things Melissa is hiding ("Behold"?). Perhaps this is an indication of Melissa being broken and the Flea, by working to reveal what Melissa is hiding is trying to fix things.

If the Spider was really malfunctioning (the axon put out at sea, Melissa saying it was hindering her regeneration) then perhaps the Flea really is a backup program and took over the Spider's job in his own way when he saw things going the wrong way. Or, based on his name, perhaps he was built into the AI as a security precaution. At least one definition of "Pious" is "Professing or exhibiting a strict, traditional sense of virtue and morality; high-minded." So perhaps he was built in by the AI's creators to make sure she sticks to her pre-programmed objectives.

The Spider is really interesting to me though. Are these just repair programs? Or could they have been used in converting the human brain to AI stuff? The SP mentioned in her beach story that she witnessed a boy whose face was eaten by spiders. I kind of think this might be a metaphor for someone else in the same program being "processed" into an AI (or perhaps a failed attempt at doing so). And that might be why the SP didn't object much to the Widow being killed and thinking she was kind of icky.

Just some more wild spec to throw out there while we're on the subject :p

[Starblade]

Well, when I said the part with the Flea getting rid of the SPDR, I meant that the Flea's tasks had a higher priority than the SPDR's, and that the Flea might have thought that the SPDR's repairs would cause more 'mental' damage, so, the Flea decided to do away with it, by telling Melissa it was a better version. For the rest, read the top post. Glad some people read this!

[Phaedra]

Spiders and Fleas, oh my!

[Starblade]

Thanks, you have a good point. Maybe Melissa is the, well, I don't want to say brainwashed, but I can't think of a better word right now. Maybe Melissa was the part that was brainwashed in the AI making process, to do her job, and the SP is a part that managed to resist the conversion to a Military AI. Perhaps it's not the SP that resents the militaristic parts of her, but Melissa, who resents the human in her, that makes her weaker.

The SPDR and the Flea still intrigue me, though. Perhaps there is another autonomous program with Durga, but we don't know about it because she doesn't mention it, or it's been destroyed or something.

[Digiwizzard]

Maybe the flea terminated the SPDR because it's job had been done and it would have taken up memory on an otherwise crammed server? OR the flea could be a newer version SPDR literally, and the SPDR got deleted because it was an older version like Melissa ordered.

[Platonix]