4th Enhanced Truth [Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

So. Has anyone out there actually bothered to examine these wings properly? Considering the inevitable amount of comments they get to one degree or another, I'm guessing none of you have them naturally. It doesn't seem like anyone has bothered to do a medical study, either, if your primary source of information on them is anything to go by.

If you'd like to prove me pleasantly wrong, go right ahead. It would be nice to underestimate someone for a change. Otherwise, well. I'm taking volunteers.

Comments

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

Weapons, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, methods of mass destruction, reconstruction, and paramilitary aid. Weapons alone are not the sole focus of most developments made during war, though they are the most obvious. Things that explode tend to attract the most attention.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

Regardless, that whole war that's going on is really not my problem at the moment. I'm not even developing weapons.

All I would like to do is gather any known data on these wings. If what exists is insufficient, well. There's plenty of people who can give me more.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

Considering how vulnerable they are? I do not think many will volunteer offhand. We've test and experiments enough run on us by the Malnosso. Why endure more, even if for the sake of knowledge? Some may. Most probably will not. It depends entirely upon what it is you intend to do to gather the aforementioned data.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

[ Lock them in rooms of the battledome, of course ]

Plenty of people have a tendency to be willing to undergo testing given the proper incentives. I simply need to devise those incentives. Alternately they could cooperate when asked nicely, but these things usually aren't quite so simple.

My current operations are restricted to the battledome anyway. Even if I wanted to cause injury, the actual amount of damage I could inflict is minimal.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

And what is it you would offer them? A gold star? A medal? Cake? [She huffs a soft laugh, and sighs.]

I would ask that you attempt to avoid any injury at all, if only to save me work. If I experience a sudden influx of patients at the clinic because of your tests, I may have to recommend you've a medical professional on hand to supervise.

...actually, no. I think you should have one to begin with, to better avoid injury.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

Cake and peer incentive have proven to be remarkably effective in improving the productivity of a majority of Aperture Science Enrichment Center Testing Subjects. I'd imagine there are similar things which would work in this location, though I have not yet gathered the data necessary to determine what they are.

I cannot guarantee I will completely avoid inflicting injuries upon those I'm studying, if only because I don't have any information about what these wings can handle. If you're paranoid enough to provide me with testing supervisors, far be it from me to stop you.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

I think it would be in the best interest of any volunteers you have were I on hand for these tests. I trust you will be kind enough to inform me as to when they will be held?

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

If you insist, that is well within my capabilities.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

I insist.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

Then you will be notified as well. However, please note that failure to attend will not be taken as a reason to terminate exams.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

I would not dare to assume I would interrupt the march of progress simply by being absent.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

In that case I suppose some congratulations are in order. You have just proven yourself to be smarter than most of the scientists I have previously worked with, and Aperture Science prides itself on hiring the most brilliant minds in the world. Then again, being smart and intelligent often can be considered two almost entirely different things. So don't necessarily think too much of it.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

As I have met brilliant idiots and foolish geniuses, I will have to agree.

...

This is the second time you have mentioned 'Aperture Science'. What is this organization? It is from you world, yes?

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

Aperture Science is the company that owns the testing facility I previously oversaw. It's because of them that I was created.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

So you are, in fact, an artificial intelligence. I wasn't certain if that was the case, or if you were using some text to speech program for the sake of privacy.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

No, I can quite assure you I'm not another one of you humans. I was in fact the world's most advanced supercomputer, though I wouldn't be surprised if that's actually still the case, all things considered.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

An advanced artificial intelligence and super computer...and the Malnosso either has no use for you, or cannot control you, or finds you too dangerous to entrust with anything that it is they do.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

[ W E L P ]

There's also a very real possibility that they're just too stupid to realize what they've gotten their hands on. It wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

It would be par the course for them, at least from what I have come to understand.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

Considering the drastic gap between technology they appear to be using and concepts they seem to understand, my current hypothesis is that they stole their technology from someone else. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time humans have built something they don't fully understand. Any nonzero probability is always possible.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

That begs the question of who it is they could have stolen it from? Those that were here before, someone else that this world might have pulled to it? I...do not think they built everything that they use. They seem unfamiliar with the entirety of it's effects, at least from what I have read.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

There is a strong chance it appeared here for the same reason I did. A highly unlikely quantum event which just happens to be disturbingly common within this general location. Well. It wouldn't be the first time I've been faced with the possibility of the laws of physics no longer applying.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

As you are more experienced with such things than the rest of us, it should no doubt offer a useful perspective when it comes to understanding this place. Of everyone in the village it would take a supercomputer to make sense of the many variables in the way, time, and world from which people are pulled here. You'd be the only one with the ability to calculate it with any measure of accuracy, at the very least.

[Voice]

[haveiliedtoyou]

While your assessments are accurate, I will still point out that if this is any sort of attempt at flattery, it will get you nowhere. [ ... Okay, maybe with enough of the right flattery you could make your way slightly lower on the list of "order in which to kill everyone with neurotoxin". But not much more than that. ] But my present priorities lie with discovering more about the mandatory implants of these wings. I'm afraid your area of interest will have to wait.

[Voice]

[fleurdesel]

Why would I want to flatter an artificial intelligence? Flattery is for humans that can be moved by such things, and I do not use it with them either.

What I've found most curious about he wings is that they are grafted to all but wild animals and pets. I cannot help but wonder if there is a baseline for intelligence or another variable involved in this.