Where’s the Infinity in Halo Infinite? Is she still in one piece? What’s going to happen? Hopefully not this!
Roland POV of a sinking ship. Inspired by many things but also the Old Russia 2 lore from Destiny.
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Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. This is UNSC INF-101 Infinity, requesting immediate support. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: November Zero dash One dash-
He can’t listen to his own voice echoing through the dying ship, the recording he made so any help would hear a human enough sounding voice and maybe-
No one’s coming. There is no one else. Humanity’s last bastion, the Infinity in all her glory was dying. He couldn’t help seeing the numbers, he was the ship after all. Disparate threads of himself feeding him live data from cameras, sensors, and neural interfaces that were going dark--.
No.
He can’t look and see the biosigns blipping out. Can’t focus on that or he’ll lose himself to the waves of grief threatening to wash over his matrix.
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Casualties on multiple levels. Loss of atmosphere in hangars 3, 5, 11, and 12. Comms were offline on several decks as the enemy jammed signals and fought him at every turn. The aft weapons controls were gone, too close to the engine room which had been the enemy’s first target. 4.9 meters of titanium armor and energy shielding wasn’t enough to save her from the organized Banished onslaught. All the frigates that had been scrambled, along with the pelicans and broadswords were silent.
They were floating there as each pass took more from him. More of his eyes went dark, more of his crew went missing, more of his massive web was undone and he was left trying to stitch together solutions. MAC cannons were still online but without a firing solution or visible target they were useless.
Spartans and scientists huddled near his hearts and brains, the last few server rooms still sealed were bright lights compared to the growing darkness. It was worse than the last time the ship was boarded because he is painfully aware and no killcode is preventing him from working properly. He’s just overwhelmed.
Roland isn’t made for combat. His specialization is in astronavigation and administration. He’s trying to be brave but the conditions are terrible and falling fast. His crew, his people, his ship. They always found a way. He hadn’t been with them long but they had always survived, always found a way to shoot their way out. But now.
They’re dead in the water and the Banished ships are circling like sharks. Nonvolitional AI tell him the numbers, voices blank and unhelpful as he thinks, thinks, thinks. Thinking is what he does, what he is, a being of pure thought and yet he’s drawing a blank because he cannot accept, won’t accept what’s about to happen.
Time means so little and so much to AI. They process everything on an incomprehensible scale compared to humans. Roland was supposed to have a few more years with them. But his crew was too slow, too human to know what they were up against, to know the mounting odds. Roland was sure the captain had an idea. He could see it in the set of his mouth and the way he’s squared his shoulders.
Roland’s eyes on the bridge still work and he takes in the bridge crew seemingly frozen in time at their stations. Sees the stiff postures and dilated pupils, sees them looking to the captain for direction and strength. Roland knows he’ll give it to them until the very end. He’s so proud of his captain, and all of his crew.
He also knows that he can’t panic. No one wants to see their own ship fearing the end while they’re still on it.
He tries accessing the one remaining repulsor engine and it sputters weakly but still fires. Part of him calculates the chances of survival if they attempt to land on the Halo in front of them. Some of his crew might survive.
He forms his avatar on the bridge’s holodisplay and stares out the viewport, stares past the remnants of UNSC ships and floating debris. The chances aren’t great but he’s working with what he’s got. Miller wouldn’t like it and the thought makes him grit his avatar’s teeth before he turns back to his crew.
Commander Palmer is still frozen in time, standing tall and strong next to their captain. She’d make sure he doesn’t make any stupid decisions, like try to take the ship in manually. Lt. Jet would back up his math and Captain Lasky would have to agree that it’s their best course of action.
Roland rolls his shoulders and clasps his hands and allows his processing speeds to dwindle before he burns out another stack. He has his plan, now to make his humans listen. No one else has to die. His ship cannot become a tomb with him sitting alone in the empty cold.
Captain Lasky mumbles to Commander Palmer about his half formed plan. Not bad for a human with only a few seconds to respond, Roland thinks as he turns it over. He lets the captain finish before turning to face him with a bit of a flourish. He’s allowed to be a little dramatic, given the circumstances.
"That's because you haven't heard my great idea." He crosses his arms and musters a smile for them. He’s going to save as many of them as he can.
this sucks, I was only supposed to get friends interested in my interests not rewatch my interests and then merge them and get sad about stupid fucking leonard church and his terrible life choices again.
I’m thinking about fragments coming into contact with full smart ai and oh boy, how do they interact?
I’m thinking about underbaked ai from [SPOILERS], like that was not ethical, ONI, stop taking people’s brains.
A....I....
do you think ship AIs see the ship as part of their "body". do you think they'd feel the presence of everyone aboard, using the ship in any digital way (walking through automated doors, using communications, tapping on a screen, etc). imagine the different mindset an AI must have compared to ours, constantly notified of so many people and so many actions, perhaps a comfortable buzz like insects in a hive. some AI must feel at least partially responsible for all those lives aboard their vessel.
I have done nothing but go insane in my free time for the last few years about AI/Robots and different ways of being/experiencing the world. So yes I love exploring incorporeal beings extending their sense of self to their containers/environments. I love thinking machines and nonhuman constructs feeling feelings and getting attached to their select humans/crews.
Murderbot Diaries does it really well. I think the Imperial Radch books do it well with their ships and ancillaries hivemind thing (I've only read 1.5 of the books).
I also joke with people that the crew on the Infinity are Roland's tamagotchis he needs to care for and look after. I have an old ask where I went on about AI but their way of experiencing things is so interesting to consider. More under the readmore so I don't clog everyone's dashes.
I'm going to share a passage from Iron and Gold because it's stuck with me during my descent into AI obsession. It's also a kick-ass fic that has beautiful prose about ai and the way they interpret the world. There are so many examples of things in your ask that the author explores and covers and I think it should be canon supplemental reading material.
“How about some music?” she offered, navigating through her media. She hit play, and Roland’s smile blossomed into a delighted grin as a synthesized rendition of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 flowed from the speakers.
“You know,” he said, “I’ve never listened to this album aloud.”
“Really? I thought this was one of your favorites.”
“It is, but I’ve only read the byte order before.”
“Is that how always you listen to— er, experience music? What about movies and books?”
He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “If somebody plays media in an area with sensors, then I can watch and listen to it kind of like you do. Guess it never occurred to me to play things for myself.”
At times like this, she found herself brimming with questions, each one raising more in its wake. What was it like to see without eyes? To hear without ears? To feel without nerves?
“I suppose this must be pretty slow and inefficient by comparison.”
“Oh, it’s glacial.” His avatar’s lips curved into a warm, shy smile. “But I enjoy listening to it with you.”
I love how AI/Robots/Constructs etc are written and how they can experience things. It's all very queer and neurodivergent and I find comfort in the Other and the way considering all the details stretch the brain.
These are beings existing on different scales, on different ways of interpreting time. The sheer processing power and number of thoughts juggled in such small timeframes are fun to consider and how their sense of self and bodies extend to the ship.
Are there favorites amongst the crew? Does the AI watch over them, remind them to eat? Do they adjust the atmosphere or temperatures to keep them comfortable? What about opening doors or lighting hallways? What about acts of service are layered with real compassion and worry?
Does the crew protect their home and friend? Do they defend servers and key areas? Do they keep each other company whether they're going to win the day or it's all going dark?
last night after asking for and recieving the Roland content you so kindly provided I watched all of the spartan ops cutscenes (I have very little knowledge about halo) and!! one part that really stood out to me (the thing I saw in a gif that made me ask for the content to begin with) was when Roland split into two and went back together. left me with questions, like he's able to just. override the special command given to him by that lady if he tries hard enough? even though I guess he shouldn't be able to? what do the two halves of him represent? has something like that happened another time, maybe with other AI? ough man that little scene is so cool and interesting to me
Link to the last post and all the Roland sources!
Thank you for watching all of SpOps!
Sorry for doing that to you!
Also sorry for another wall of text!
They never really address what AI can and can't do in Halo because they're usually a tool to make the plot go or unlock doors, but they are some of the most interesting parts of Halo! Roland does just brute force and overcome an override code (and they never address it again!!!!>:[)from Dr. Halsey, the most important old lady in all of Halo. She's the scientist behind Master Chief and the Spartans, the power armor they use, Cortana and AI in general, and she helped build the UNSC Infinity (the biggest most technologically advanced ship.). She probably has like 7 doctorates and also is there to provide whatever the plot needs!
AI are really cool and have so many good moments. Isabel has some great cutscenes in Halo Wars 2 when she avenges her murdered scientist buddies and causes a ship to get cut in half. Cortana overrides her ethics subroutine to fuck shit up in one of the books and just generally kicks ass and saves Chief a bunch throughout the games. Serina, also a Halo Wars AI is fun and tragic - here's her goodbye to her captain which is always a fun listen. Iona is great in her comic and in Saint's Testimony, one of my favorite halo short stories - and one of the best AI ones. See also Mo Ye in Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian and just the entire Anarosa short story as well - it's about an ONI agent and AI getting a brain to make another AI (Isabel).
Also I will push Hunt the Truth because it's a good podcast regardless of anyone's level of halo knowledge. It's like the Andor of Halo <- says crab who sits through so much stupid shit for their likes. It's well thought out and crafted and fun. And I still want to yell about the ending without spoiling it for anyone.
Anyways - AI are really one of the coolest parts of Halo and they don't get their time to shine because Microsoft won't let 343i commit to telling a story that might not go over well because nothing they can make will be universally accepted because they're not Bungie***
***I know it's a little more complicated than that but - gestures at everything.
