Star Trek: Theurgy

Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

August 31, 2023, 11:15:54 PM

[Lt Vanya | Xenobiology and Cybernetics Lab | Deck 17 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]


Attn @Griff


Vanya sighed dropping her tools on the counter.    The cybernetic brain refused to give up its secrets.    She wasn't sure it was alive or dead.    It could be a twisted mass of polymers spent and useless, or it could be a sibling trapped out of body      The only other member of her species.       

Since she had liberated the item from a Breen trophy cabinet it had been the puzzle she couldn't solve.         And it drove her mad.      She'd read every paper on Multitronics and the files that were in the database of thr ship she was found in.     

She wanted to contact her advocates and supporters at Daystrom, they were denied to her, she thought about asking Nat, but this was too close to work.     As delightful as it was having the XO in her life, she didn't want to drag her into another scientific mystery.       Besides there were much more fun things to be doing  with Nat.     

That left someone else on the ship.     As good as her team was, she didn't want to get them involved- this wasn't mission critical and she didn't want her personal interest to monopolise the science department resource.   

She moved over to the console and did a search for current  Theurgy  crew with an interest in computers.    After a long five minutes search she found a lead.     Alistair Leavitt.     A masters degree in computer science and Temporal expertise that might just help with perspectives and approaches to solutions.   

 "Lt.  Vanya to Lt. Levitt.     I wonder if you have a moment to meet me in the Cybernetics lab…     I could do with your advice on a personal project"

Re: Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

Reply #1 – September 01, 2023, 01:10:11 PM

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt Upper Gymnasium | Deck 6 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] Attn. @Number6
[Show/Hide]

When the call came, Alistair was more than a little occupied. Sweating profusely and panting, wearing a loose vest and shorts, he raised his hands again in a loose fighting stance, while his Cardassian opponent merely sneered in disdain. A moment later, Alistair surged forward and grabbed the Cardassian's wrist, then yanked it hard down to his own waist, unbalancing the other man. Not giving his opponent a chance to recover, Alistair punched the Cardassian with his other hand as hard as he could, then used both hands to twist the captive wrist hard.

To his great surprise, the technique worked, forcing the Cardassian onto the floor, his wrist still securely locked by Alistair's hands. The human raised a fist to finish it, but hesitated. It was just a hologram, but still...

"Lt.  Vanya to Lt. Levitt..."

"Wha-?" Alistair said in surprise, glancing outside the ring where he'd left his combadge, but that moment of distraction proved fatal. He yelped as his legs were swept out from under him and he fell on his back, before a pair of armoured legs scissored his throat. There was no actual pressure on his trachea, holographic safeties being what they were, but the fall had still hurt, and it was a distinctly unpleasant situation to be in. Alistair struggled for a moment to escape the choke hold before the computer beeped, announcing the loss, and the hologram disappeared.

"Close," a passing man said sympathetically, also clad in gym clothes. The rest of the people in the gym continued their workouts, politely ignoring the entertainment in the sparring ring. "What level was that?"

"Six," Alistair said as he got to his feet and stretched his sore back, wincing all the while. It was only his third practice session, counting the one with Zark, and he was quickly starting to understand his own body's limitations. He'd thought that he was physically ready for anything, but between rough sparring and increasingly enthusiastic sex with Enyd, his body was aching in ways that he hadn't thought possible. "Six is okay, right?"

"It's not bad," the other man (whom Alistair vaguely recognised as a security crewman) said unconvincingly. "Level 8 is what you want to aim for before you try doing that for real. A real Cardie soldier wouldn't have given you that much time." Perhaps realising that he was being discouraging, the other man grinned. "You're doing really good, though, great technique and everything. Just keep at it."

Alistair gave the crewman a thumbs up and a grateful smile before climbing awkwardly out of the ring and moving to where he'd left his bag. As he towelled himself off, he tapped the combadge pinned to the bag. "Replay last message." After listening, he tapped the badge again. "Leavitt to Vanya: I'll be there in twenty minutes."


[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt |  Xenobiology and Cybernetics Lab | Deck 17 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

After a much-needed hot shower, Alistair (refreshed and now clad in uniform) walked into the lab. He immediately saw Vanya and waved in greeting, recognising her immediately. The two had never spoken to each other, but knew each other by sight; even aboard such a large ship, it was hard for senior staff to miss each other.

"Hi!" Alistair said jovially. "How can I help you, lieu...ten..."He trailed off, his eyes fixed on the object that Vanya was working on. "Is that...is that a positronic brain?"

Re: Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

Reply #2 – September 24, 2023, 10:36:43 PM

[ Lt Vanya | Xenobiology and Cybernetics Lab | Deck  17 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy attn @Griff

Vanya took the opportunity to review the sensor logs for the last few days.      Without the benefit of a Starbase to call into for repairs and checking it never hurt to check the sensor logs to see what the ship had traveled through in the past few hours.     A stray nebula or microscopic organisation on the hull, and the next thing the crew were under the influence of gas that made them promiscuous or the hull was being eaten by a parasite the size of a runabout.     

“More’s the pity about the sex gas” Vanya said aloud.      

The report didn’t reveal anything particularly untoward, but she did find it useful to drop in from time to time.   

Finally her thoughts were interrupted when Leavitt entered the room.   He seemed to be freshly dressed she should have told him that it was an informal meeting.    On the other hand, informal dress was something else entirely where Vanya was concerned.   

"Hi!" Alistair said jovially. "How can I help you, lieu...ten..."He trailed off, his eyes fixed on the object that Vanya was working on. "Is that...is that a positronic brain?"


“No.   It’s a multironic brain, same as my own.” She said.   Positronics and multitronics were often confused particularly since Noonien Soong’s successes were exposed to the Federation.    The most well known Multitronic experiment was the flawed M5 unit a century ago.    

Despite her preference for undress, she found talking about her past to be really laying herself bare.     

“I’m trying to activate it….    I was hoping you had some thoughts on how I could do this.    I could be sending decoding algorithms to it until my own death, or it could be dead.”     

Re: Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

Reply #3 – October 08, 2023, 01:51:10 AM

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt | Upper Gymnasium | Deck 6 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] Attn. @Number6
[Show/Hide]

Alistair did a double take, looking at Vanya in astonishment. "Woah. Uh...sorry, just...taking a moment to process. I didn't know that you're an android. You're the first that I've met. Well, not counting V-Nine, I guess, but she has a completely different design lineage to Alpha Quadrant robotics, so...erm...right. Okay." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before realisation bloomed. "Oh! You must be Commander Stark's friend, right, from the Academy? She, uh, mentioned you, but I didn't make the connection."

In an attempt to recover what little dignity he had, Alistair smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you properly, anyway. We're the same rank, so please call me Alistair if you're comfortable with that." He glanced at the brain, plainly eager to dive into the work but holding himself back to be polite. A childlike excitement was building, just like it had when he'd started working on Thea. Between this, Thea and his relationship with Enyd, the Theurgy was proving to be almost worth the horrific cost that Alistair had paid to get here.

Well, no. It wasn't even remotely worth the cost. Alistair felt a wave of guilt at the thought before refocusing on the brain, now sobered somewhat. "Okay. Could you tell me everything that you know about the brain, please? Is there any similarity to your technology, or is it unrelated?"

Re: Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

Reply #4 – December 03, 2023, 10:12:48 PM

[ Lt Vanya | Xenobiology and Cybernetics Lab | Deck  17 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ]attn @Griff

He's a nerd Vanya mused.     She liked the nerds.   They were deeply excitable, passionate about what they did, and didn’t look at her, or her Romulan heritage as something to fear.   Then there were those who saw her as the sex bot, something to try out and enjoy without consideration to the partners of them, or her own feelings.    True, she was no stranger to transactional relationships, but she had always hoped she was more than some loners tawdry holosuite programme.  

True, Nerds did see you as a puzzle to solve, but they were like that with most people.   Its just that her base code was easier to understand for them than fellow emotional beings.    And truth be told, Vanya struggled to understand humanoids herself.   She was pleased to be his first, and despite her earlier thoughts, she had to refrain from making a joke about first timers.  

“Poor old V-9” Vanya said.   “I don’t think they like me because they don’t really have the programming to understand me.”  

She nodded as he asked her to tell her everything about herself.   “Yes. Its difficult to say.   Romulans aren’t really ones for cybernetics.    But the design and the materials are identical to my own.”  

She walked over to the PADD.  

“My brain is multitronic.    I’m sure you are aware of the Daystrom M-5 Experiments.” She said.   Daystrom was still a legend in the field of computing and artificial intelligence, even so, his multitronic Matrix resulted in the death of hundreds of Starfleet officers and was deemed a failure.  

“The Romulans stole the M5 files from Starfleet.     They remained in some isolated datacore until a rogue cyberneticist found it, and began to apply the work to androids.   You see, the ultimate flaw with the M5 Unit was that it was based on the mind of Daystrom, who’s ego was unstable and unpredictable.    My creator was far more mentally stable, and Multitronic matrix was far more viable.”   

She loaded up the file.   Every last scrap of data about her that she had access to before the Theurgy broke away.    Every file was listed.   All anyone had to do was press a control to access them.   She theatrically stepped away and gestured towards the console.  

“This is… me…   everything about me.   Starfleet's analysis when they found me, what files were with me when I was found, my own notes about my performance.   Someone could one day use this data to destroy me.   I am bearing my soul to you Lieu – Alistair.   If I can trust you, its all yours.”  

Re: Day 18 [19:33 hours] Three brains are better than two

Reply #5 – December 06, 2023, 02:16:05 AM

[Lieutenant Alistair Leavitt | Upper Gymnasium | Deck 6 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy] Attn. @Number6
[Show/Hide]

"Well...that's...uh..." Alistair babbled, looking completely bowled over. "I...er...I really don't know what to say to that. I'm...I'm honoured, Vanya, and I promise to be worthy of your trust. As far as I'm concerned, this is equivalent to a medical situation, so I'll adhere by the medical code of ethics for both you and your sibling." He grinned awkwardly. "While I was an undergrad, a few friends and I planned out how we'd handle a situation like this, helping an AI. It's nice to finally put it into practice."

For the second time in as many weeks, in fact, though those same ethics forbade Alistair from revealing that. Instead he glanced between the console and the brain, biting his lip as he pondered. "Alright, then. I'm sure that you've tried all the standard protocols for a multitronic network...erm...hang on."

With that, Alistair moved to the console and began typing, his fingers flying across the controls, Moments later, a huge multicoloured holographic representation of the brain appeared in the center of the lab. Alistair kept working, not saying a word as slowly, the hologram gained extra details. Labels appeared around the hologram, pointing at various things, while more holograms appeared around the lab. Some seemed to be complex diagrams, while others even showed what appeared to be gibberish at first glance.

After a good twenty minutes of work, Alistair finally finished. He considered the holographic brain for a few moments, examining various things closely, before looking at Vanya. "Sorry, I should explain: this is a scanning technique used for examining positronic networks. It's not ideal for a multitronic network, but I think..."

He paused, frowning, his eyes narrowed. "Vanya, I know that this must be very personal, but can you please recall the exact moment that you became sapient? When your programs coalesced and you became...uh...alive? I'm not talking about the physical event, or even what happened on a software level, but what your first thoughts were, your emotions, how you handled becoming sapient."