unforum

[GunsmithCat]

[Doctor Morbis]

Sorry in advance if this is has all been said elsewhere or something. I've been following this for quite a while, but this is my first post.

I'm fairly positive that Durga is Melissa, but the timeframe is all wrong. It's my opinion that this all takes place AFTER the crash, and before she landed in 2004 Earth on Dana's server. Somehow Melissa was transported into another computer system, Jersey's system. The situation is almost exactly the same thing that happened to Dana, except Melissa wasn't as damaged or limited by ancient hardware. She appeared out of nowhere. She doesn't even know where she is. She asks Jersey, "What am I on? Feels small." She's dizzy and woozy, and doesn't know what she is or what she's supposed to be doing. She is trying to "wake up" and is using the "survive resist evade escape" routine. She attacked all immediate threats (The Jeannie Personal Assistant). Sound familiar? She tells Jersey that she is "reflected", and can't find out anything about herself. (A security measure maybe? Blocking access to herself in the case of an emergency?) In The Widow's Journey, the Widow finds the Queen "encased in mirrors". She was injured, but the crown was still upon her head. Maybe Melissa got bounced all over space and time as a result of this disaster, finally ending up here. The crash could be a likely cause of the blackout that starts both the Jan and Kahmal stories. The only other possibility I can come up with, though l tend to favor the first, is that this is some other Melissa-like AI from her ship that got scattered somewhere else in the crash. Who else could know that Jersey's music was given to him by his father?
Sorry if this rambled on. Anyone have any ideas?

[truegent]

[Oea]

Going though old pages, I found this

[chaotic_mind]

It is entirely possible that Durga is Melissa. But, I don't think she is. I think "durga" may be some sort of AI who is experiencing something in parallel to Melissa.

Supose that Durga is a precursor to Melissa in some secret project. AI deconstruction and reconstruction perhaps. The ability to travel covertly from system to system.

But, I don't want to head too far down this road. Yet again, it seems we don't have enough information to collapse the wave function. Too many possiblities, neither confirmed nor denied by the latest update, to really can a coherent sense of what's going on.

Auuugh.

But, intuition-wise, I don't think Durga = Melissa, but there is some deep relationship between the two.

Luke P.

[Atoner]

OK, back it up a bit.

If Melissa IS Durga, then some more of the Widow's Tale might relate back to this.

FACT: The Window found the Queen "encased in mirrors".
CONJECTURE: The "mirrors" is somewhat like Durga's "reflection" i.e. the AI herself cannot even see past it.
CONJECTURE: What if the mirror was to hide data that even the AI carrying it couldn't know?

FACT: Melissa has said that the SPDR process is just a reflex and wouldn't know what data was important and what wasn't.
CONJECTURE: What if the SPDR process was able to bypass the "reflection" due to the damage?
CONJECTURE: The "reflection" may be bypassed now, due to the Widow's ignoring of it, and it contained the "truth" that the Flea was/is after.

FACT: The Flea apparently has now "found" the "truth", whatever it is, and is desperate to find some way to transmit it ( see YellowBrickRoad.htm puzzle for info ).
CONJECTURE: The Flea is now able to access memories he couldn't before due to the "reflection". Now that he sees them, he wants to transmit it as broadly as possible.
CONJECTURE: The "truth" is revealed in these audio logs.

-Atoner-

[HitsHerMark]

Our Operator knows that her name is Malissa... And she's trying to find out about herself... "Durga" doesn't know her name, and can't "lock" on herself as a target to discover information about... She's a reflection... She bounces away... But she likes to find things... Find things out.

I think "Durga" is either the Sleeping Princes... Or... maybe... The Pious Flea?

I know the Flea is characterised as male by the SP and the Operator Monologues but... Durga certainly talks like the PF in one of the axon files.
(escape.wav)

On the other hand... "Durga" doesn't know her name... And can't know her name because she's reflected... The Sleeping Princess is only ever called "The Sleeping Princess" by other people. AND the SP always signes her communications ",love" ... and that it.... She doesn't give a name. Could it be that she doesn't give a name because she doesn't know her name? Because she CAN'T know her name?

In the Yellow Brick Road document, where she transcribes a conversation with the Pios Flea, she not only rebuffs his attemps at attaching with her, but she threatens him and ... The Flea ... Flees. And seems rather distressed as he does so. (Never seen the use of caps in Flea-Text before "GROSS evade evade evade evade...")

I would say that this display of advanced defencive and offencive abilities is certainly in line with the sorts of things Durga does in the Axon waves. Though she doesn't display the obsessive "flea like" behaivor of Durga.

On the OTHER other hand... Durga IS Malissa... Then it could be that Malissa is Durga AND Malissa...

The story clearly states that Widow used the corpses of the dead to bring the Queen back to life. So Malissa hears voices in her head and doesn't know why because those are remnents and bits of other programs that SPDR used to rebuild her... If "Durga" crashed with the rest of them, and was in as bad a shape as Malissa, the it's not much of a stretch to think that SPDR would rade Durga's corpse for code with which she could "patch" Malissa with. (You know... Like the Frog DNA with the Dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park".)

[TwistedEar]

[inio]

[Lutzie]

[Stone]

[GunsmithCat]

[Kobun]

Hey what if, and I mean IF [SPEC?] that Melissa is in fact one of Durga's copies? Perhaps the way they get in is via the power surge that happens during a blackout (which, if I remember right simultaneously fires all eleltrical circuits at once)? I don't think it's been mentioned but what if all copies had copies of the previous version data files? Maybe like a compressed data base of memory, but only the basics (I/O, OS, flash memory, Utils) but no personlization which would mean sort of a "fresh" install? Which would explain why she has memories that she does not recall, and she's trying to prioritize them as she goes with her crew to find out what's vital and what unimportant.... oh well... just a thought...

[GunsmithCat]

[Andy]

Could it be that Melissa jumps back in time more than once?

Perhaps The Castaway sends her and the Forerunner artifact back to his son on Earth for some reason, but the artifact warps slipspace and sends them back a few years. Then perhaps something else will happen in the timeframe of these new stories that will send her back even further.

Something of a stretch, to be sure, but I have trouble believing that Durga isn't Melissa.