unforum

[Cherry Cotton]

[IDEAS?] The What to Do about Dana Thread

[Astald]

Actually Melissa really hasn't been too eager to kill Dana it seems. Reading what I can from some of the transcripts of todays (yesterday's EST) live calls, it looks like Melissa is more of the mind to use Dana now. Maybe she no longer believes she is disposable, but perhaps a tool for information. It isn't much better, but it's a start. And I think it is all thanks to the crewmembers who have tried to turn the Operator away from the path of revenge.

[jellyfish_green]

Not that I think forcing Dana to demonstrate her loyalty by taking care of the Sleeping Rogue Princess Process Problem to be the warmest, fuzziest method of reconciliation, but it's a start. (Quick, Yasmine! Hide over here!)

[sam]

[META] I am Spartacus. No, I am Spartacus!

[chappy]

I sent this to Melissa via email last night (part of a photo submission):

When I spoke to you earlier, you explained that you believe Dana is
still a threat. While I don't think she poses an immediate danger to
you or the crew, I agree that she may be a useful asset. In particular,
she likely has access codes or security overrides to the hardware
you're currently inhabiting. It was this access level that allowed her
to mistakenly try to remove you (she didn't understand who or what you
are at the time). In any case, this may be information she would be
willing to trade for a promise of safety. I do not know where she is or
how to contact her, but I believe some of the crew DO know but are
refusing to tell the entire crew. This betrayal is probably borne out of
a desire to protect Dana; it does appear that her earlier action was a
mistake based on lack on understanding. If you can take advantage of
Dana's security clearance and promise her safety, this may unify the
crew and provide you better control over your systems... two birds with
one stone.

[TommiWan]

well, I started to think about this today... what is dana's part in the story? It is her aunt's website, and she comes and posts to us now and then, but she has no real place in the story. If Melissa did kill her it wouldn't change a whole lot. Melissa would continue to broadcast to her crew, and would still be infecting the ILB site. Now I'm not saying that we should give Dana up to Melissa, but more opening a discussion. What does Dana do for us? Why do we need her? and if we did help melissa get her, what could that do for us in helping progress this game? Melissa would surely trust us MUCH more if we gave her the "killer"

Here is the bottom line... we have a lot of opposing forces in this game, and very soon we need to determine which ones we are going to help and which ones we are going to determine are the enemy. That is the only way to get this game moving a bit faster.
(off subject kinda: I think we should help the SP)

[sam]

TommiWan - I'd suggest that you read this http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_html/Outline_of_Great_Books_Volume_I/machiavell_bfa.html, but probably you're the inspiration for old Niccolo

Sam.

[Incitatus]

Well now after axon tuesday (10-12) We can no longer ignore the very possible scenario that Durga and Melissa are one in the same, just split by timelines. (As many of you know, a particularly favorite theory of mine and others)


Now assume this for a moment. The answer to weening Melissa's strive to "control" dana is in how durga endeavours against those who have wronged her.

Notice the only thing that could stop her was distraction. Jersey tried hard sometimes to sway her retaliatory endeavours... to no avail.

So we use logic, now i've said this before, but I'll say it again:
We convince Melissa that finding the truth is more important than dealing with dana at the moment. That she must focus all of her reasources on this one task.

[Cherry Cotton]

Wow.... these are hella good ideas. Keep 'em coming.

I think I'm going to write a letter to Margaret... does that sound like a good idea? I don't want to scare her, but, at the same time, maybe she should know that an AI from the future is gunning for her niece. (Except... how would YOU respond to somebody telling you that your niece in Japan is under surveillance by a program from the future that has gone crazy and wants to kill her but we can't just delete the program because she can control any computer and yet we don't want to destroy her because in the future she is helping us fight the alien invaders?)

[OmegaX]

I think I may have helped push Melissa into 'using' Dana.... I e-mailed her the other day, not as crew (since I'm not), but as an outside observer who's "been watching all sides of the situation with equal interest"; and I told her that I'd suggest she watch Dana, SP, and PF/Seeker (yes, I told her about him) to see if any of them becomes useful.

I told her (again, as Adam did) that someone (I mentioned ol'Seeker) may have rewritten her mission, and added the old 'survive, evade, resist, escape'. I mentioned that if she was wrong about her mission, maybe she was wrong about Dana. Then, I said the part about observing (or, I actually said !seek and !behold) Dana, et al, and finished with mentioning that SP may be 'useful' (trying to keep her alive), PF may be 'converting' (thinking about how he's been going on with the 'survive evade escape resist' thing lately), and that Dana may be an 'innocent' (because I whole-heartedly believe it).

[Cherry Cotton]

Thank you, Omega X.

I wanted to make one last self-serving comment before this thread begins its inevitable descent: I've heard a lot of people (not on this thread) say that turning Dana in will make Melissa "trust us more." Well...

She's made it abundantly clear that she loves us. She thinks a bunch of nerds with screwdrivers are her capable engineers. She identifies a guy jumping in slow motion as a paratrooper with "more courage than skill." She's said that she will die for her crew. She constantly tells us how courageous and capable we are. Her "proof of loyalty" consists of answering a question, and then possibly singing or telling a joke.

People, SHE TRUSTS US, and if there is an end which requires sacrificing a human life, this is not it. If there's an imminent Covenant invasion and the only way to stop it is to let Dana die, I will consider it. Until then, I reckon the majority of us want her alive and kicking, and it's really irritating when people use their extensive powers of moving and communicating with Melissa at a live call to tell her how she can successfully hunt down a twenty-year-old girl.

(exhales)

[skilletaudio]

You know, I fully agree. I dont understand how we got here. We started by consoling dana, don't worry, we'll figure this out and make it safe. Now all of a sudden we're the Queen's Army.
I'll roll over and do tricks for melissa just because I want to see where this is going, and frankly if she comes to her full power I want to be on the winning team, but I did promise Dana that I was trying to help her.