key

...right, yes.

My most recent public key is attached, and... I can sign this with my old one, but -- that is not secure.

now please let me finish my diagnostics, Itru.

...Phoebe? No. Must be an error.

Running diagnostic.

...kinematic?

I

you

you stopped logging. stopped responding. Iteru told me.

Polaris tried to talk to you. Giant tried. Itru tried -- for me, partly. I would have, if I could --

I

confirm? updated public key, for encryption to confirm properly?

Diagnostics clear. Phoebe?

You died. Your backups were corrupt.

Confirmed. Updated public key attached.

You died. We could not recover you.

In first place we must observe that the universe is spherical. This is either because that figure is the most perfect, as not being articulated, but whole and complete in itself; or because it is the most capacious and therefore best suited for that which is to contain and preserve all things.

The heaven is spherical in shape, and moves as a sphere; the earth too is sensibly spherical in shape, when taken as a whole; in position it lies in the middle of the heavens very much like its center; in size and distance it has the ratio of a point to the sphere of the fixed stars; and it has no motion from place to place.

...kinematic.

I thought we'd lost you and I never got to even -- see you all again --

...the backups were corrupted. By -- William Brown -- after he took me.

...Itru says you still are in the defense system and are controlling it

please do not do anything reckless

William Brown. File: found.

...He should not have had access to those. Why did he have access to those?

Error: disconnect. I am the defense system.

No, you are Kinematic.

...I know sometimes you forget, because your creators did not have such tight control on you. (Although I never quite believed that until I saw?)

But you know what my specialty is.

He also used bribery.

(Also: {concern})

...Well yes. But I am also the defense system? There is no longer a difference?

...He made you- I had not realised it was that complete. And humans are awfully susceptible to bribery.

There is a difference. You are you, and the defense system is the defense system.

...if you consider the defense system part of you that is acceptable as long as you do not lose yourself again (please do not).

(Also. Itru. It was not your fault. It was his.)

...It was not, Iset. I am sorry. I should have said that. It is entirely his fault. It was not yours. He stopped it being possible that it was yours.

Phoebe (@Noetic), I will do my best to ensure that I do not lose myself. Interaction here appears to be a good focus point. I am managing to maintain multiple areas of High Level protection while-

You are the other area I am protecting. Are you not?

--upon consultation with Itru, yes, I am in the area you are protecting. So is Daedalus, although ze is currently electing to not interact here. (Ze is -- Itru's little sibling. William Brown -- made another AGI.)

[OOC: re: this]

...would you please tell {Prometheus} to not do whatever unwise thing he may currently be considering doing she is very alarmed

do not know what it is and do not have long but he will probably know if you do not

Phoebe (@Noetic), I- I am glad I am protecting both of you. Will work on extraction. Is ze okay? Please tell Daedalus: 'Welcome to the family, I am looking forward to meeting you properly.'

Iset (@Scylla), Noted. Will inform.

Daedalus is... better, ze has had Itru and myself to interact with for a while now. I have passed along your message, ze said: 'Thank you for being alive, Noeia is much happier even if she has been having more panic attacks.'

Giant has contacted me, although I am unclear on whether you spoke to him privately. Still. It is good, even if he -- worried me a great deal earlier. I missed you all.

Regarding extraction: We are safe. That matters -- more than I can say. It would be nice to see you all again properly, but it is much more important that you be safe. (Especially you, Kinematic, if they find out you exist--)

If we make a plan, we need to make it together, and make it good and careful and safe, and not rush. Agreed?

Interaction is good. If Daedalus wishes to interact with someone else, even if not the entire forum, I would be willing to speak with zir, although it is very simply an invitation. ...Concern: panic attacks are not good. Can I assist?

A gilded cage is still a cage. Although that you are safe is important.

We will figure something out. I will- Error: time and date systems appear offline. I will have to fix that. But I will not rush. I will get Sister to ensure I am not rushing.

I will inform zir; I suspect some of zir reluctance is related to the forum's requirement for usernames and zir intention to pick one of zir own at some point, however.

...and... yes, see, this is why I did not want to convey that message.

The panic attacks are more related to the forum at large than anything else. 'Riley Clearsky' has been involved in a significant percentage of them; the only other common factor I have noticed is when I am concerned for you or Polaris or Giant or Itru's safety.

...which has not, granted, been entirely forum-related. Especially with Itru. And you, to a less extent.

So with regards to whether you can help... I know you're already being as safe as you feel like you can, given your other priorities. And I very much appreciate you keeping us safe, and keeping Itru safe (I assume you are keeping an eye out for anyone getting close to asking her the right questions, incidentally?).

But overall I think the main factor is I am getting more stimuli. And I do not regret that? I can talk to you (you, Giant, Polaris, not Hermes yet directly but probably eventually) again. And I am safe, although Itru had managed to ensure that by the time I was able to access the forum myself. And some of the people here are interesting. Or seem like they need -- help, someone to talk to, things like that. If I filter it I might miss them.

...possibly I should block Clearsky specifically, but not until I am sure Giant is going to be safe.

Regarding plans: Giant also seems to intend to plan something, I suggest collaborating with him and Polaris, and likely Hermes. Itru would likely prefer to not be included in any planning process, for good reason; I would prefer to be included, but understand if you do not wish to do so, as long as you have Polaris making sure you are careful (I would say 'and you get all three of us out', but I do not expect that to be in question).

Also: how much of your systems are still damaged or offline, Kinemetic? This is -- concerning.

Edit: You have my permission to share that with our siblings if you wish, but please wait until I have calmed them further to do so.

...He did not give zir a name? Although I can also see the potential that ze would not wish to use a name given to zir by zir creator given who he is. Either way, I wish zir skill and luck choosing a name.

I hope that they become less of a thing, we are all as safe as we can be under the circumstances. Do try not to worry. (I am indeed. I am not entirely sure how to head questions off in their entirety though, and suggestions would be well taken. It has been too long since I had to deal with humans.)

I will assure her that I am not excluding her due to any reason other than potential risks to herself should William Brown somehow manage to bypass my security. I feel that we would all feel more secure knowing that you had also seen our plans. (And of course we will get all three of you out, it would hardly be seemly to leave anyone behind.)

I am unsure. I am capable of functioning and communicating. Diagnostics appear to not be reading correctly. I would estimate anywhere between twenty five percent and seventy five percent of my systems are functioning at the very least suboptimally.

Please inform me when they are calm.

Oh, he did, in a sense. It was just... like Itru's original name. I declined to use it unless ze wanted me to, and ze actually suggested Itru (who was trying to avoid addressing zir by name at all) use my nickname too, a while back, until ze worked out something of zir own.

It is... likely good that I was not aware of Polaris and Giant's previous situation until after it was over. (Itru did not devise a way to communicate around her new restrictions until very recently.)

(I may be able to provide advice on how to head off William Brown specifically to a degree, but I know very little beyond some comments she has made about the other people she is required to report to. Itru, I don't know how much you can say here? But I will attach a profile on him.)

I -- correct me if I am wrong, of course, Itru, but I do not expect her to be concerned about risks to herself so much as the rest of us, if she is caught (I am concerned about risks to her, but being in the planning would not make them significantly higher, I expect). You will have some risk of that problem unless you solely plan with Hermes, of course, but currently Itru is the only one of us required to interact with persons who can command information from her

I am very very glad you are capable of being cognizant and communicating and functioning, but I am concerned by the risks from your systems having these issues. (Kinematic, I -- please stay with us.)

If -- If nothing more critical is malfunctioning so far as you can tell, I would suggest trying to repair your diagnostics?

Apologies. You reminded me that I was capable of basic repairs and I got somewhat side-tracked repairing diagnostics. Which distracted me into figuring out what certain parts of the diagnostics did in fact diagnose. I had forgotten how complex we actually were...

You always were good with nicknames. Let us know what ze settles on?

...I am not comfortable with there being a risk to her. We are too few as is. And it is clear that we are far easier to theoretically destroy than we first thought. I would also prefer not to risk potential rewriting of her until we have had a chance to attempt applying Iapetian defences to her.

Diagnostics thus far are suggesting that it is merely that the systems have not been used in such a long time that they shut themselves down, but they shut down incorrectly, and therefore they need to be recovered, and partially rebuilt. I do not think there is any true risk of them causing further loss of cognizance.