Punk's Thread

Sammy continues to pester the AI for a moment until you approach him. Which is a problem, because some of the others want its attention, too. You're helping! "Hewwo, I heard what you were saying about making our moonhouse more special! I want to do dat, too! Can we work together?"

Sammy is surprised and turns to face you. "Oh, uh, sure? I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion." He points up at the window. "The big draw of this room is obviously the big window up there, but the bright walls are not only tacky, they make it harder to see out there and strain the eye over time. There should be a darker color for the walls here. A nice dark blue, I think. Yeah?"

A clearly grateful Jeanine steps forward and addresses the AI. "The Sea of Solitude... Is that where this sinking feeling is coming from? WhiteRabbit, was it? Do you have a Lunar star chart on file?"

"WhiteRabbit is just my Listener subroutine. You are still speaking to me." AI-113-E tugs at its dress and smooths it out before returning to its usual neutral stance. "We have multiple charts on file. You will find them waiting in your lab facility."

"But you won't let me visit it until tomorrow."

"Correct. Please spend the evening acclimating to your new environment." AI-113-E pauses. "Miss Wildcat, please refrain from needless vandalism."  Wildcat is nowhere to be seen, but you think she headed towards the dorms.

zer0 slides in past Jeanine, walking around the director. "So, like, what programming language are you made in? How'd they make your facial rig? What's your processing speed like? Your mesh is, like, super-smooth. How many polygons ya got? What percent of your processing power goes to maintaining that sweet ass? Can you overclock it and set the world twerk record?"

"I am a proprietary AI of the WanderLuna corporation and many of my specifications are classified. My programming language is classified. My facial rig is a composite simulation of multiple artist designs. My processing speed is orders of magnitudes greater than your 'rig' as you would say. My mesh is indeed smooth and stylish, thank you. My polygon count is on the order of 100,000. The processing power devoted to my 'sweet ass' varies depending on current needs. In response to your current careful examination, I have increased current processing power devoted to it by .01%. With my clock speed, I could easily outpace the world twerking record, though it would not be accepted as an official world record. Do you have further questions, Miss zer0?"

As you leave, you hear a voice behind you. "Hell YEAH, I have questions. You can't just make a claim like that without backing it up, now let's see you shake that dataframe!"

You head to the Dorms, passing Wildcat and Zarv as they leave. You wave and tell them you should hang out tomorrow. It'd be badbutt.

When you arrive at the dorms, you find 8 rooms laid out around a smallish rectangular room. 3 to either side, 2 on the far wall. A set of stairs leads up to a walkway on a second floor, where you can see more doors. Probably 8.

Each door has a picture on it. You spot one with a cartoonish representation of your own face, smiling and waving back at you.

Sammy takes a look around. "This isn't much better, huh. How do they expect people to stay calm in a stressful environment that looks like this?"

He walks over to a door with a doodle of himself stretched out on a couch and frowns slightly. Then he notices a small panel next to the door with a weird mechanical thingy. He reaches out and pokes it, and his door responds with a click. It slides open, revealing a simple room. A smallish bed. A desk and chair. A small can of pens. And an empty journal on the desk. It has Sammy's name on it. A small footlocker, a closet with a few outfits similar to your usual taste, as well as a few outfits that look a bit more special, like a fancy suit. And a swimsuit, too. The bathroom is small, just a mirror, toilet, sink, toothbrush... The center of the room's has a small window with a view of the outside.

You look around at the other doors and notice one whose picture has been torn slightly. A picture of a jet with a caricature of pilot sitting on top, but the face has been torn off.

~Ding!~

"This is Site Director AI-113-E. It is now time for your evening meal. Please report to the Cafeteria." A now-familiar, smooth voice rings out as if from everywhere at once.

You make your way towards the cafeteria along with the others.

The cafeteria has a pair of long, unassuming tables and benches in the middle that look like they could sit maybe 2 dozen people between them. A holographic menu and a speaker on the far wall are placed next to a window where you can see what looks like an automated kitchen - though the access door appears to be locked. And a giant window offers a great view of the moon's surface. You can see some of the structure you're in, the dorms probably, as well as a large telescope nearby. Far in the distance, you see some more domes. Another Wonderland unit?

Looks like tonight's menu is salad with protein bars, chicken breast stuffed with broccoli, or a simple cheeseburger.

"While we wait for everyone to order, perhaps we should share what all we found?" Mikoto suggests. Her tail flaps up and down as she stands at ease near the window. "I checked out the baths. It seemed... nice?"

Zach speaks up. "There was this really nice hot tub in the middle. I'm not one for hot tubs though. Otherwise, just some standard showers along with the water treatment machines."

"We shouldn't mess with those!" Valerie blurts out.

"OK. What else?" Mikoto asks.

This is very confusing and distressing to Anne, so she's running around as fast as she can, yelling stuff like "Sammy! Wildcat! Anyone help! What's going on, this is scary!" If she finds them or anyone charitable, she'll try to hide behind them helplessly.

Upon being called a peasant repeatedly, Anne's face momentarily hardens before she whines and leans into Sam's awkward shoulder pat. "Why is computer stuff so scary? Can we fix it?"

The others trickle out, one after the other, until only you, Sammy, and Jill remain.

Sammy takes a seat near the camera feeds of the other facilities. He watches them intently for any signs of change.

Jill's head bobs as she stays in her seat, seeming to go in and out of sleep. "So d... d'yo..." she murmurs. She pauses and yawns. "What do you think's going to happen...? Will they call the thing off?"