Post by Pepper on May 4, 2020 21:06:43 GMT -6
"You know, when you said we were going on a little trip to celebrate your month's vacation and graduation from school, this type of place is not exactly the destination I had in mind." Pepper stayed silent for a moment, mind focused on flying the pair in armor-lock mode towards their eventual destination: the Tsurumai-Tsuburi Mountains. It was the most isolated place on Earth, along with being the coldest. Even bitter arctic chills couldn't match the sheer frigid temperatures of the range, and it remained one of the few surface-level formations still yet to be fully explored. So why was she, a recent graduate and on-the-nose legal adult traveling here? "We'll do something normal after we get set up here." She said aloud, trying to convince both URSA and herself along the way. "Maybe visit Dion again, or have a slice of pizza, maybe continue work on additional Plexbots. I... I just need to do this, OK?"
The Android didn't oppose her, though Pepper could feel an undertone of concern. Perhaps this was just a nervous little... crisis she was going through, and it'll all blow over after with some good friends and good food. Or maybe it wouldn't. And if it didn't, then her foresight and planning in these secluded mountains would prove invaluable. She hadn't exactly shown it publicly, but the revelation that Carro had fallen? Even if he was reanimated in a new machina form, it wasn't the point. The point was that the President of Earth and one of the World's strongest fighters had been murdered in cold blood. It was a terrifying revelation. One that made it clear to Pepper that her active defense of the planet could land her in a similar situation one day. And, if that happened, she wouldn't have a backup. She'd be dead. That was her true goal here in these mountains, to establish a facility that, if need be, could perform a similar service to what allows Carro to continue on.
He wouldn't agree to it, that much she was certain of. The robotic President was pained by his new form every day, and despite it technically making him stronger in conjunction with LEO, he'd switch back to his old body in a heartbeat if the chance arose. How then was she going to convince him to make the same failsafe for her? The man-bot already sacrificed his own well-being daily for the good of others, and with the suffering his metal shell caused, he'd never OK a similar procedure. ...That didn't mean it was impossible, though. It was easy to forget that Pepper wasn't an amateur roboticist and scientist. She'd built URSA's initial form out of scrap parts and a poorly translated user's manual for Plexbits, after all. Her time working closely with Crop Co's top researchers including Carro himself during URSA's upgrade to a full Plexbot had only strengthened her pre-existing skillset.
Lack of knowledge on how the Lifelink process worked and how exactly he managed to create enough storage space and processors to handle the hundreds if not thousands of terabytes of data that composed the synapses within a brain. Extremely difficult, yes, but far from impossible with the technology they had. Pepper assumed his Lifelink protocol had something to do with transferring relevant information and memories to the proper android unit he was currently housed in, and that was the sticking point. Until she got ahold of Lifelink's knowledge, Pepper was just essentially building a shell. A shell that would require someone or something to drag at least half of her brain or gray matter back to this lab to insert into it. Efficient and likely to work? Not whatsoever. There was always the option of... literally backing her memory on a database like a literal machine. That still would require quick thinking and extraordinary timing, given that ghosts were literal and tangible manifestations of someone's entire life force, and if it slipped away into the great beyond without getting called to its' new housing? She'd still die.
"Air temperature is rapidly dropping into the negatives." URSA's clinical report jostled Pepper out of her daydreams, the girl scanning the vast whiteness of blanketed snow and ice stretching out before her. "Suit integrity will remain stable." As it should. URSA's plating and airlock were rated to handle the vacuum of space if that dire need ever arose. And Pepper didn't want to even remotely consider the possibility of the seal failing. At these conditions, frostbite and cold-shock would act swiftly. "Thank you, Ursa. We'll push a bit deeper into the territory, look for a sizable mountain with a plateau or other flattened access point near it." The android hummed idly in response, a bit more despondent than her normally cheerful self. Pepper had a clear inkling as to why, but pressing that subject was bound to only cause issues at the moment. That was a talk that'd have to wait. "A possible landing point matching our parameters has been located." A small alcove, seemingly carved into the side of a mountainous formation by nature itself. "Right...we'll land a take a look."
The Android didn't oppose her, though Pepper could feel an undertone of concern. Perhaps this was just a nervous little... crisis she was going through, and it'll all blow over after with some good friends and good food. Or maybe it wouldn't. And if it didn't, then her foresight and planning in these secluded mountains would prove invaluable. She hadn't exactly shown it publicly, but the revelation that Carro had fallen? Even if he was reanimated in a new machina form, it wasn't the point. The point was that the President of Earth and one of the World's strongest fighters had been murdered in cold blood. It was a terrifying revelation. One that made it clear to Pepper that her active defense of the planet could land her in a similar situation one day. And, if that happened, she wouldn't have a backup. She'd be dead. That was her true goal here in these mountains, to establish a facility that, if need be, could perform a similar service to what allows Carro to continue on.
He wouldn't agree to it, that much she was certain of. The robotic President was pained by his new form every day, and despite it technically making him stronger in conjunction with LEO, he'd switch back to his old body in a heartbeat if the chance arose. How then was she going to convince him to make the same failsafe for her? The man-bot already sacrificed his own well-being daily for the good of others, and with the suffering his metal shell caused, he'd never OK a similar procedure. ...That didn't mean it was impossible, though. It was easy to forget that Pepper wasn't an amateur roboticist and scientist. She'd built URSA's initial form out of scrap parts and a poorly translated user's manual for Plexbits, after all. Her time working closely with Crop Co's top researchers including Carro himself during URSA's upgrade to a full Plexbot had only strengthened her pre-existing skillset.
Lack of knowledge on how the Lifelink process worked and how exactly he managed to create enough storage space and processors to handle the hundreds if not thousands of terabytes of data that composed the synapses within a brain. Extremely difficult, yes, but far from impossible with the technology they had. Pepper assumed his Lifelink protocol had something to do with transferring relevant information and memories to the proper android unit he was currently housed in, and that was the sticking point. Until she got ahold of Lifelink's knowledge, Pepper was just essentially building a shell. A shell that would require someone or something to drag at least half of her brain or gray matter back to this lab to insert into it. Efficient and likely to work? Not whatsoever. There was always the option of... literally backing her memory on a database like a literal machine. That still would require quick thinking and extraordinary timing, given that ghosts were literal and tangible manifestations of someone's entire life force, and if it slipped away into the great beyond without getting called to its' new housing? She'd still die.
"Air temperature is rapidly dropping into the negatives." URSA's clinical report jostled Pepper out of her daydreams, the girl scanning the vast whiteness of blanketed snow and ice stretching out before her. "Suit integrity will remain stable." As it should. URSA's plating and airlock were rated to handle the vacuum of space if that dire need ever arose. And Pepper didn't want to even remotely consider the possibility of the seal failing. At these conditions, frostbite and cold-shock would act swiftly. "Thank you, Ursa. We'll push a bit deeper into the territory, look for a sizable mountain with a plateau or other flattened access point near it." The android hummed idly in response, a bit more despondent than her normally cheerful self. Pepper had a clear inkling as to why, but pressing that subject was bound to only cause issues at the moment. That was a talk that'd have to wait. "A possible landing point matching our parameters has been located." A small alcove, seemingly carved into the side of a mountainous formation by nature itself. "Right...we'll land a take a look."
