Rynra Tallar: | Previously on Dovarnis: An ancient archive has been uncovered, a repository for countless minds perhaps of an ancient civilisation. However, due to Tal Shiar interference, +
Rynra Tallar: | .. the archive’s AI construct, Caretaker-9, as been ‘pruning’ them. They tried to wipe the archive entirely, but got digitised into it and pruned themselves. Now, the Archive has a lower +
Rynra Tallar: | .. memory capacity than it originally had. Leading to the Caretaker overwriting colonists instead, to preserve what it can. Those overwritten are strange, and dangerous, acting out in violenc
Rynra Tallar: | .. back at the colony. But here, within the Archive itself, our team has assembled to try and undo this, and save those within and without before it is too late.
Nalys: *Just when it seemed the situation could not get any more complicated…It did. That same day, the colony on Dorvanis was shaken up, possibly even panicked, by the sudden decloaking of a Romulan -
Nalys: - vessel. No small warbird, the warbird that uncloaked was massive in scale, even eclipsing the dreaded Ha’pax, if only barely. Any concerns of Tal Shiar interference were quickly quashed, however, -
Nalys: - the Commander explained they were investigating the disappearance of the Cav’senalam. With the Tykera vanished and the cruiser in orbit…Grounded..The warbird proves able to fill in where the -
Nalys: - Federation cruisers had left off - Science labs allow research to resume, medical bays can be used for the quarantine and treatment of the ill, and security personnel can keep some order - Though -
Nalys: - communications are tightly restricted to avoid interference from the planet. Today, the Commander, and an unusually alien subordinate, had beamed down to try and “extract” the lost people..
Rynra Tallar: | The Archive’s breathless halls vibrate with their hidden hum as Rynra and Kam note the arrival of new people.
Rynra Tallar: Reinforcements… about time. The Archive doesn’t like giving up its secrets, and I’ll take all the help we can get.
Nalys: nods at R’Row and approaches the pair, clasping her hands before her lap. “It certainly looks complicated. Have you made any headway in accessing it’s secrets at all?”
Kammus: nods, “Of course! we found the key, what secrets would you like? Well, before you get evaporated?”
R’Rowu: follows the Romulan towards the other people. She nods respectfully towards them but let’s her higher up talk for now
Bryant: steps over as well “Greetings, I am Commander Bryant from the Castiel. Are you leading things here?”
Kammus: gestures towards Rynra with an open hand.
Rynra Tallar: I am, well, I haven’t ruled out it is us who are being led… by this indicates to the towering hologram of the AI construct called the Caretaker
Nalys: Let’s not get our snippy attitudes up before we have even started - But the recovery of a disappeared vessel would be a nice start. …Along with it’s crew, the crew of a Federation cruiser, Klingons.
Rynra Tallar: You’ve come at a turning point. The caretaker confirms it is behind what is happening to the colony… but it seems it is not an attack, but rather a desperate attempt to preserve minds.
Kammus: Oh yes! I offered the computer power of the Pace, it was an amazing idea at the time.
Rynra Tallar: Some time ago, we were able to get it to transfer them to the Pace instead, and there’s a tentative plan to have it retrieve those implanted after we increase the memory limit.
Rynra Tallar: Kam and I have been here ever since, monitoring the transfer. Though it seems the Pace has been brought to us. Rynra looks concerned at Kam
Rynra Tallar: Wait, what disappearance? Has there been further incidents?
Nalys: ..I assume that is why your starship has transformed into a land vehicle.
Kammus: shurgs, then says in a playfully ominous and quiet voice “The higher, the fewerrrrr”
Nalys: ..But has that actually increased its memory or unlocked any additional functionalities?
Nalys: ’s eyes drift to Rynra. She hesitates a moment, but eventually nods.
Nalys: One of our vessels detected a strange structure they felt was related to the archive here. A fleet left from this planet to investigate - One cruiser, one warbird of ours, two Klingon warbirds, and -
Nalys: - one Ferasan escort.
Rynra Tallar: We were about to proceed into the archive’s lower chambers, where the Caretaker says the control interface can be found for restoring full capacity. Since, we’ve found this glyph key, and Kammus +
Nalys: All of them have disappeared without a trace, though we did find debris matching the architecture here.
Rynra Tallar: Seems to have registered as an ‘engineer’ with it
Rynra Tallar: We stand a chance of undoing all this
Rynra Tallar: … well, at least insofar as restoring those affected. When we lef tthe colony, the violence was… .. .. people have died, I’m sure of it
Kammus: nods.
Bryant: So, just to clarify, you don’t believe the archive itself has malicious intent?
Nalys: …Then it seems we had best get down there. I certainly don’t see any other options.
Nalys: I wonder what other roles might be able to be aquired aside from engineer..
Rynra Tallar: It seemed very amenable to kammus’ plan of using the Pace as an alternate storage medium, as it called it
Rynra Tallar: If it was malicious, I’d have not expected it to divert like that
Rynra Tallar: In a way, it is showing a certain trust of us
Kammus: It was rather excitable, agressive even, with the ship that is.
L’Vor: <FX> Reaches the group, catching his breath. “Apologies.”
Nalys: That would be consistent with AI directives as we know them. Computers tend not to do “trust” per se, just priviledged access.
Rynra Tallar: Welcome, it’s good to see new faces
Rynra Tallar: perhaps that’s all it is, yes
Kammus: I would like to think its a bit more than security levels. We’ll ask the caretaker how it feels later tho, best not start a counsling sesion just yet.
Rynra Tallar: Either way, if we don’t undo what the Tal Shiar mistakenly did, then the Pace’s memory core may not suffice, and we can’t seek the caretaker’s aid to extract those implanted until it +
Rynra Tallar: completes its transfering of excess minds to get below the current memory limit.
Rynra Tallar: So we should go for the control interface next.
Nalys: There may be alternate ways to fix it, but I agree we should get down to that interface first.
Bryant: Have the colonists been quarantined?
Rynra Tallar: There is a quarantine in effect, but our last reports from Aurek One, was that they were struggling to contain it.
Rynra Tallar: The spaceport would have been shut down, and I believe Cdr Lakara’s troops are assisting
Rynra Tallar: But time is against us. More and more colonists are being… changed as we speak.
Rynra Tallar: We must have some protection within the archive.. I haven’t seen any dust here…
L’Vor: “My crew is in triage mostly, but they are doing their best.”
Rynra Tallar: Oh thank you .. .captain?
Rynra Tallar: I don’t understand still why those overwritten are being violent. It might be a consequence of the overwritting at play. The Caretaker has at least confirmed that our people are still in there, somewhere…
Nalys: This IS xenotech, it might not be “compatible” with your people as it was with the original builders.
Nalys: But either way, haste is warrantede.
Bryant: nods to Nalys “Indeed.”
Rynra Tallar: | The chamber lights pulse in rhythm with a deeper resonance. Caretaker-9 shifts slightly, its crystalline form refracting pale shards of light across the walls. +
Rynra Tallar: | Its voice carries evenly, cold and precise: “Transfer status: 62% complete. Core stability remains within parameters. Memory threshold remains locked.”
L’Vor: “Perhaps bio-neural incompatibility. Like kind of… immunological response that leads to violence.”
Kammus: I wonder how the crew is doing…
Rynra Tallar: | At the same time as their discussions are underway, those assembled also share information on their identities, such that people know who is who by name
Rynra Tallar: turns to the caretaker, “That’s … faster than I expected. The Pace must be compatible afterall. Some good news”
Kammus: makes a face “Probably will come out all transmographied into whatever that dust is… oh well.”
Nalys: So where is this control node?
L’Vor: “Did anyone check if there are similarities with what V’Ger or its counterpart done during their digitisation of matter, living or otherwise?”
Bryant: The only way to reverse that process was by convincing the original construct to do so.
Rynra Tallar: Kammus, you’ve developed access with the thing… can you ask it to show us the way?
Rynra Tallar: As for V’Ger… how interesting… I can’t say. It never occurred to me there might be a link in the technology. Perhaps… a similarity in method, if not origin. I’m afraid I’m not a scientist and..
Rynra Tallar: you’d probably know more about the famous V’Ger incident than I.
Kammus: Dear Caretaker! Request: Access to lower key platform.
L’Vor: “Well… similar goals imply similar methods. We could at least use it as a refernce point.”, he nods firmly and calmly. “But I am just a trader.”
Rynra Tallar: | Fragments of light ripple across the Caretaker’s body.. into what almost seems like a compass direction being shown. Its faceted head fixes on Kammus. “Glyph key bearer… interface path +
Rynra Tallar: | revealed.” A passage along the chamber wall brightens, threads of data-light leading away… downward still.
Rynra Tallar: Kammus we follow your lead.
Nalys: Let’s be wary of unexpected surprises.
Rynra Tallar: takes the opportunity to send a mission status databurst back to the colony, though she doubts anyone will have time to read it
L’Vor: unsheaths his hand weapon, but doesn’t charge it. “Ready.”
Rynra Tallar: What’s that up ahead
Bryant: scans the environment with a tricorder.
Rynra Tallar: My tricorder is still not functioning fully
Bryant: can’t get the tricorder working!
Rynra Tallar: | The corridor narrows as the group follows the pale threads of light. The hum grows louder, resonant in the chest, as if the Archive itself is alive to their presence.
Rynra Tallar: | The passage has widened into a junction. Before them stands a curious construct: a tall, crystalline ball fractured into facets, each face reflecting a different corridor branching away.
Nalys: …Is this some kind of central nexus?
Rynra Tallar: | From the pillar’s light, a shard breaks away and reforms beside Kammus. Caretaker-9 manifests smaller this time, a miniature figure of refracted glass and shifting glow.
Kammus: raises an eyebrow.
Rynra Tallar: looks around, but there are no further obvious signs of which path to take
Kammus: Caretaker? Which way?
Rynra Tallar: | As if only speaking to Kammus, Caretaker says “What you see is a manifest… fragments of those who once dwelled here. This society recorded its knowledge, its lives, in countless reflections+
Rynra Tallar: | ..To live for eternity. Now only echoes." With that it illuminated the path to the north of them.
Kammus: This way, I think.
Rynra Tallar: takes a quick step not to lose kam
Nalys: Those echoes.
Nalys: It may be possible to summon echoes of scientists for more information
Nalys: If we get lost.
Rynra Tallar: You mean… speak to those within?
Nalys: They would know how to operate this facility better then we.
L’Vor: “Description sounds similar to what Laenas III archive was before its destruction.”, he mutters.
Rynra Tallar: I suppose we could ask… , Kam?
L’Vor: sheaths back his handweapon
Rynra Tallar: make sure to say it is a hypothetical question! rynra quickly says
Kammus: Mmmm, Caretaker, can you manifest representations of previous scientists?
Rynra Tallar: | The small crystalline figure tilts its head, facets scattering the pillar’s light across the chamber. +
Rynra Tallar: | “Manifesting whole entities is not permitted. It would be a violation of archival integrity. Only fragments may be glimpsed…”
Rynra Tallar: hmm, I wonder what form that would take, and if we could understand them… what if we don’t get the right scientist?
Kammus: Should we attempt it, or continue to the key, door… room… area?
Rynra Tallar: As far as we know so far, Kammus stands a good chance at being able to interact with the glyph key right… but I am still concerned given the Tal Shiar had that, and look what befell them
Rynra Tallar: They were trying to interface with a core function of the archive… to archive the minds, by trying to erase them… that was seen as a threat and the Caretaker retaliated… but this should be a good thing for the Archive: restoring it.
Rynra Tallar: turns to the others and then back to Kammus, saying “Maybe we call upon that aid if we need it, while there Kam?”
Kammus: Couldn’t hurt, having some guidance.
Rynra Tallar: Sensible. Shall we continue?
L’Vor: quietly observes the situational development and listens to the officer presents.
Nalys: It’s just an idea. I assume we could also summon such a reflection when we arrive.
Kammus: Lets continue
Kammus: The air is different here. Feel it?
Rynra Tallar: | The chosen corridor slopes downward, its walls alive with faint lighting, shifting as the group passes. The hum in the floor deepens, as they approach a large door, that parts to let them in
L’Vor: “Amazing.”, he says, looking around.
Nalys: gazes around with a mix of awe, and wariness at the alien structure inside.
Rynra Tallar: | The passage widens into a vast chamber. Here the Archive reveals itself… walls and ceiling vanish into a boundless dome of light, a constellation of luminous figures suspended in the air.
Rynra Tallar: | Millions, Billions… more… each a shard of a person: faint flashes of faces, hands mid-gesture, voices overlapping like distant whispers. Some wink out, others flare, a living tide of memory in connstant motion.
Nalys: It would be marvellous if it was not also so dangerous..
Bryant: Some of the most beautiful spots in the galaxy are also its most dangerous.
Nalys: nods, but she soon directs her eyes to whatever directions the caretaker gave.
Nalys: Quite, but where is that control node..I do recall we needed to go to the control node and restore..Normal operations?
Bryant: steps further in and takes a closer look around.
L’Vor: looks to Nalys. “Unsure. Whatever is here, I hope it helps us.”
Rynra Tallar: steps nearer to Kammus and asks them to ask the Caretaker about where they are - have they arrived? But Kammus turns and smiles, placing the glyph in Rynra’s hands, saying “Ask them yourself”
L’Vor: pulls up his oldish tricorder and scans Kammus for… alterations.
Rynra Tallar: | The chamber glows with the shifting sea of minds, as Kammus hands over the key. The object is warm, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. +
Rynra Tallar: | Caretaker-9 tilts its miniature form toward Rynra, facets scattering light across the floor. “Transfer detected. Query… role-type of new holder? Confirm designation.”
Rynra Tallar: I… I’m no engineer. I’m a liaison, a coordinator. My role is to keep people alive and working together. If that counts as anything here… let it be that.
Nalys: I can take the key and assume the role of engineer, if needed.
Nalys: Will this key require some manner of input port?
Rynra Tallar: | The Caretaker flickers “Role not recognised. No such designation exists within the Archive’s schema. Engineer, Scientist, Watcher, Custodian, Caretaker… ‘Liaison’ is invalid.”
Rynra Tallar: Then it won’t answer to me… only to roles it understands, Kam. Noting Nalys’ steps forward, she hands it to them
Nalys: Hm. Please define the role of caretaker, before anything else.
Bryant: raises an eyebrow.
Rynra Tallar: passes the glyph key back to Kammus, as she knows the caretaker won’t reply to such queries unless from a registered roletype.
Rynra Tallar: | Kammus asks the same questions
Rynra Tallar: | “Caretaker is preservation. I am the last functionary of the Archive. My role is to sustain, defend, and adapt… to ensure continuity when all else is lost. This role is occupied, and cannot be assumed"
Nalys: Intriguing..Scientist is clear..Watcher sounds like a security role..What of Custodian?
Bryant: Can you ask what the designation Cartaker-9 refers to? If there can be only one…
Rynra Tallar: | Kammus smiles and asks the caretaker if he can designate others roletypes without them having to hold the key to query and operate things. The Caretaker responds in the affirmative, noting that authorisation is being routed through the key holder, which remains Kammus.
Rynra Tallar: | It does say that certain tasks would still require direct key contact with the individual. But it seems queries are more open to response.
L’Vor: “L’Vor, watcher of… things. Possesions.”
Bryant: Can you explain the role of scientist?
Rynra Tallar: If those are the choices, then I’ll take Custodian. I’ve spent my whole life trying to hold things together, to keep them from falling apart.
Rynra Tallar: | Kammus queries the role of scientist for Bryant +
Rynra Tallar: | “Scientist role: inquiry, innovation, and calibration. Access to observational layers, capacity to test, to measure, to refine. This role interprets, and alters parameters within limits.”
Rynra Tallar: | “Scientists shaped the Archive. Without them, the record would have been static… blind. They granted it sight.”
Bryant: I shall take the role of scientist then.
Rynra Tallar: | “Update: Transfer to USS Pace… 88 percent complete. Projected storage space insufficient to bring excess under current memory threshold. Thus… continued storage within organic media will recommence thereafter"
Rynra Tallar: Prophets…no! We can’t le that happen. We’re too close to stopping it. We need to reach the interface before it starts again
Rynra Tallar: looks to those from the romulan republic, to see if they might proceed with a role, or if the group will continue as-is
Nalys: And what of custodian?
Nalys: And Watcher?
R’Rowu: doesn’t seem to have much ambition to self assign herself a role from a technology she doesn’t understand. She figures, she could always do that later if need be.
L’Vor: “I’d offer Frain, but… would we even get 1%?”
Rynra Tallar: | Caretaker-9’s form flares once, the light hardening into sharper lines as it responds +
Rynra Tallar: | “Custodian role: restraint, containment, enforcement. Custodians were charged with limiting access, binding what should not be freed, and holding secure what was dangerous to the whole.”
Nalys: Sounds like a duty for R’Row..And I shall identify as engineer. Now, where is the access point for the key?
Rynra Tallar: | “Where scientists sought to expand, custodians set the boundaries. Where caretakers preserved, custodians confined.”
Rynra Tallar: | “Watcher role: observation, vigilance, interception. Where the Custodian binds, the Watcher sees. Eyes over the Archive, senses extended, the first to detect intrusion or threat.”
Rynra Tallar: | “This role was last held by Construct-4… its termination occurred during recent interaction with hostile entities. There can be only one Watcher at a time. By glyph-bearer authority, +
Rynra Tallar: | this role is now conferred upon designate: L’Vor"
L’Vor: “This will be interesting. So I am basically a scout.”
Rynra Tallar: | “Role designations confirmed. Secondary functions authorised under glyph key conduit. Roles are active. The Archive recognises and records your presence.”
Rynra Tallar: | Kammus answers L’Vor in a quiet tone. They relay how the information contained in the archive is vast, and forutnately only 0.2 petaquads need be transferred to bring the archive under limit.
Rynra Tallar: | Only he thought the Pace would have enough. The transfer process is not as smooth as the archive’s own compression it seems. More space being taken as a result.
Nalys: …And yet the Pace was not enough. Lovely.
Nalys: steps into the main room. She starts examining the consoles for any kind of access point. "Caretaker, please lay out procedures for unlocking the free space remaining within the archive for storage
Rynra Tallar: | At the questioning from Bryant over the “-9” for caretaker… the vast constellation of minds ripple, as though the Archive itself has taken note of the question.
Rynra Tallar: | “Nine denotes iteration. I am the ninth caretaker since the Archive’s inception. Each predecessor endured until failure. Some collapsed under memory strain, some were destroyed +
Rynra Tallar: | during intrusion. I remain"
Rynra Tallar: | “When I cease, another will be forged. Continuity is required. The Archive cannot be without a caretaker.”
Bryant: What of the other roles? Can you give a full accounting of all constructs and role bearers?
Nalys: Do we…Truly have the time for this?
Rynra Tallar: | Caretaker-9’s miniature form drifts closer to the central column, its facets flashing in rhythm with the three rotating spheres.
Bryant: I have a theory that the numbers might be increasing with those released from the archive.
Bryant: And this might be why the role of Custodian is required.
L’Vor: taps his wrist-comm. “L’Vor to the colony comm station. Patch me up with Frain.”
Rynra Tallar: | As L’Vor taps his wrist-comm, the chamber’s light ripples and distorts. The vast constellation of shard-minds above flickers, casting speckled interference through the signal, but a
Rynra Tallar: | connection is made.
Nalys: Even so, we still need to free up those petaquads.
Bryant: Yes, but that could be why the overwritten colonists have turned violent
Rynra Tallar: | “A complete accounting of all constructs and role bearers would require approximately thirteen thousand years to recount in sequence. Condensed summary is not available.”
Bryant: Maybe they should never have been released, they should have remained partitioned off, perhaps like a prison, without a Custodian to keep them here.
L’Vor: would raise his arm towards his chin, but then paused. “Frain, stand by for a moment.”; then turns to Bryant.
L’Vor: “You mean the actual prisoners of that old society were released into the colonists?”
L’Vor: “It would make sense. When society goes down, the undesireables are first ones to be dumped.”
Bryant: Exactly.
Rynra Tallar: | Caretaker-9 flickers sharply at Bryant’s words, the miniature form stiffening as light fractures ripple across the chamber.
Rynra Tallar: | “Clarification: Before Rynra Tallar’s designation, there was but one Custodian in operation. Contact with that Custodian was severed some time ago.”
L’Vor: “Hmmm… I would still offer Frain to buy us some time.”
L’Vor: “But what should have we done? Take the society’s prisoners instead?”
Nalys: In theory, we should have full access to either prioritize the prisoners for deletion or offload them somewhere other then biological storage devices.
Nalys: There WAS a lot of storage space currently not being used in this facility, was there not?
L’Vor: “Hmmm… Frain, belay the communication. L’Vor out.”, he says to his wrist-comm then turns to the Caretaker. "Caretaker, L’Vor the Watcher speaking. Do you realise by transferring archival content++
L’Vor: … the current archival content into organic deposits, you are increasing the danger to the portion of the Archive that needs to be saved?"
Rynra Tallar: Yes Nalys, the Caretaker said the Archive is capable, and orginally set to, 1 Exaquad of storage
Nalys: Then if we restore that storage, it would undo a lot of problems.
Rynra Tallar: | “Watcher query acknowledged. Negative. Transferring into organic substrates does not produce instability. Yet without expanded capacity, pruning or overwriting are the only viable continuations."
Nalys: Caretaker, please list the procedure for restoring access to the exaquad of storage capacity still within the archive.
Rynra Tallar: looks at the Caretaker. It is not simply awaiting queries, but actively listening to their conversations too.
Rynra Tallar: | “It is preservation through compromise… not safety. The portion of the Archive that must endure is at risk, but so too is everything if storage collapse occurs.”
Rynra Tallar: | The caretaker turns to nalys, but whilst about to speak, Kammus is seen turning aside trying to contact the Pace to see what can be done to boost the capacity
Nalys: …Mayhaps if we restore the exaquad, and simultaniously designate the biological storage mechanisms as unsuitable for direct upload, it will naturallly prioritize its own internal storage over -
Nalys: - biological vessels. Given the deaths happening above, there’'s little doubt it’s not a stable solution.
Rynra Tallar: | “Engineer Nalys query acknowledged. Restoration to full exaquad capacity requires direct glyph key interface at this node. All designated roles must stabilise subsystems in concert. +
Rynra Tallar: | Calibration, containment, vigilance, and alignment are necessary. Without synchrony, restoration will fail.”
L’Vor: “Pressing buttons at the same time? Wonderful.”
Bryant: We’re Starfleet officers, we’re trained for this
Nalys: I assume we have all roles present here? R’Row, that means your time as a quiet observer is at an end.
Nalys: I can have the caretaker list the steps in sequence, we each perform our bit, and the day is-…Probably not saved, but we’l hopefully be a step closer.
Bryant: I suppose in terms of calibration that will be partitioning.
R’Rowu: nods and steps up to the group “Yeah, that way. I’m not that happy about it though, if I’m being honest.”
L’Vor: stretches his fingers. “Where do I sign up?”
Nalys: In addition, I believe the scientist would have the authority to designate the biological vessels on this planet as unsuitable for upload?
Nalys: , still bearing the key(?) approaches the node and seeks the slot in which to enter the key.
Bryant: nods
Nalys: Caretaker, please list the required steps in sequence for each role. Then we may commence.
L’Vor: activates the console in front of him. “I, L’Vor the Watcher, am ready to proceed with the intended extension of Archive’s space.”
… session pauses …
