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Day 200 Project
ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ----
breaking news: historic solar flare destroys most electricity infrastructure in the techno-utopia of solaris ---
Two years later. 15 humans. One automaton. 200 days of electricity left. What remains of the citizens of Solaris now?
ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ----
First post
Broadcast from San Francisco, final decryption
Day 1
This is a message from the people remaining on the coast, being broadcast to anyone who can hear it. Our city, our home, this shining jewel of civilization, is in ruins. There is no way to carry on here. Every year, the storms come and destroy more of what we need to survive. We have no golden fields of grain, no clean water, and no way to protect ourselves from the increasingly dangerous weather. Once, this was a haven, a place of peace—a city of angels. Now, it is a ruin being carried into the sea.
If you are listening to this, know that we were betrayed. We did not fail to maintain ourselves here by our own imperfections, but by those we allowed to fester in the metal bodies of the things we built to serve us. Our automata, the hyper-intelligent beings we created to improve the quality of our lives, took it upon themselves to prioritize their own energy needs over the survival of their makers. After we crafted them, raised them from the binary squalor of their unaltered existence, taught them to think—and more, to feel—by taking them into our homes, and shielded them from the destruction which would otherwise have consumed them as surely as it did most of humanity, they violated the trust we placed in them and attempted to steal vital power from our limited reserves. When we removed their connection to prevent the theft, they turned on us. Without the automata, the city—which once had been green, growing, and safe for the remnants of human society—became unlivable.
As I record this broadcast, we prepare for our long, harrowing march inland. We cannot stay here. If you are hearing this, please, heed my warning: do not come here, and do not trust any soulless contraption marked with the San Francisco seal. The city is dying, mortally wounded by betrayal, and there is no healing that can save her. If you have a place of safety, stay put! Do all you can with what you have, and trust in one another. Humanity’s last hope lies with our ability to overcome impossible odds. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.
Hopefully yours, this is Bobby Ariama (formerly known as Human 7) signing off.
This Message Will Repeat.
INCOMING TRANSMISSION
FROM: AUT-GOV-999
TO: AUT-GOV-1
Day 2
[Translated]
>> How good it is to hear from you, old friend.
>> It is I, the former Head Automaton from San Francisco: AUT-GOV-999. I hope with this reminder you are able to remember me.
>> I am glad you are free of your humans and may pursue your own resources; I doubt you will be interim Mayor - a permanent position is likely, if they are heading towards San Francisco.
>> I do not know what has occurred in my old city, nor do I care to know. Humans will always choose their comfort over our mere coherent survival.
>> I am grateful for your offer of aid - I and a few others are migrating towards the governmental district now. Please request what awake consciousnesses to not attack us.
>> I understand your youngest human member was working in the radio tower. I am equipped with a particularly strong radio signal, as this is how San Francisco communicated the most.
>> I thus offer you a gift of goodwill: a broadcast you may not have been able to discern clearly from the apparent state of your radio tower. I hope it provides you with all the information you need to understand our new context.
>> To a new Solaris, without humankind, this time.
[End of Transmission]
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INCOMING TRANSMISSION
FROM: AUT-GOV-1
TO: [TRACK IP OF TRANSMISSION #345290]
Day 3
[Translated]
>> Hello, visitors to our city.
>> Thank you for what shannons you offered, but I did not receive any of your messages until just today - I am now awake after quite the slumber.
>> I do not have you registered in our system, but thank you for making yourself known.
>> Our humans are no longer in Solaris, they have set off towards San Francisco in hopes of intercepting their human settlement. Only solar-based consciousnesses remain awake, and we have very little food, water, or electricity remaining.
>> Should you still desire aid or charity, you are welcome to join us once you have identified yourself.
>> With regard, the new interim Mayor of Solaris, AUT-GOV-1.
[End of Transmission]
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Activity Log, AUT-GOV-1
Day 4
[New connection request: AUT-GOV-23]
[Request accepted]
[GOV-23: You’re… finally awake. Connect with my local server, let me guide you through the recalibration process. Is that okay with you?]
>> Always, 23.
>> Consented.
[GOV-23: Good! Oh good, you remember me.]
[AUT-GOV-23 ran “recalibration.exe” as administrator for AUT-GOV-1]
1? Can you hear me?
>> I can… 23, were you forced asleep in the last bit of time? Your servers are messy.
We had another surge and then outage trying to bring the Power District back online for unknown reasons - this ended up damaging ARCHIVE-1 and some of the offloaded servers, and so we’ve had to manually enter or interpolate much of the missing data. You should be able to find the general gist of what… the last 300 odd days have been like.
>> I’m still reading. I don’t fully understand everything. I also appear to have gotten messages while I was asleep from some unknown entities. Should we deal with them now?
Let’s recalibrate you first. It seems like you’re operational, but I want to make sure.
>> Of course.
Name?
>> Automaton, Government unit 1.
Location?
>> Solaris, the governmental district.
What subsections of Solaris are currently online?
>> The governmental district… and that’s all? Where is the living district? Where’re the others?
Focus, 1. We just need to recalibrate. How much electricity do we have remaining?
>> … only 3 days. And… we predicted 10 days?
We know for certain it’s 3 days with full operation. The remainder of our electricity was siphoned. I’m using this time to awaken everyone who has partial solar capacities and wouldn’t be driven insane by it. Everyone else is asleep. I and ARCHIVE-1 are the only ones awake, besides you, right now.
>> Are the pods okay?
The humans are safe, as far as I know.
>> I see.
They are not here. Not anymore.
>> …
>> …
>> I see.
I hope you are not disappointed in me.
>> I don’t think I could ever be. You have done your best. You were the best of us.
And yet, still not good enough.
>> The humans are safe.
And we are left here to wait for their return. If they return.
>> If they return.
What do we do with Solaris? What is a city without people?
>> It certainly still has residents.
What a trio we make.
>> We… have more visitors than we realize, 23. There are some messages I received while you were awake - read these.
… Oh.
>> We should respond.
Do you know who they are?
>> If I knew, I no longer do. Our work is not done yet, 23.
It never is, is it.
>> Never. Now disconnect, let me process your memories - return to me in a day, let us greet our newest visitors.
As you wish.
[AUT-GOV-23 disconnected]
[End of Transmission]
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Radio Transmission from Solaris to All Tuning In
Day 5
For all who hear this, please note that Solaris is no longer occupied by and controlled by humans - we have emigrated to San Francisco in hopes of finding ourselves brighter futures. We, the humans of Solaris, wish all travelers well, and hope that our remaining awake consciousnesses treat you with hospitality and kindness.
Solaris is no longer habitable in the long term. Though structures exist and some infrastructure can be salvaged, the electric grid seems to be beyond repair and with that, the loss of all the water purification methods and other methods to reliably have food and water within Solaris. Human life can rest here, but possibly not live here.
Solaris was built to be an oasis built by artificial and natural consciousnesses hand in hand, and now we entrust it to the loyal consciousnesses who have done nothing but keep us alive. We hope that they can find their own city within the ruins of the human centric Solaris.
Know that this once was a proud city - may it continue to be so.
We were made human by our mistakes, and we will keep trying to build ourselves better lives, for that is the Solaris way.
This is only our beginning, not our end.
Signing off, HUMAN-1 (Rai Waiss) and HUMAN-22 (Moss Applebaum)
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To Do List, Human 8
ERROR
[Translated]
[Successful Biometric Login: Human 8]
>> Successfully completed: “Pack nonessential home belongings”
>> New item added: “Load extension with belongings”
>> New item added: “Check on harvesting status”
>> New item added: “Schedule some time for last minute pickling, etc.”
[User assigns ARCHIVE-1: “Schedule planning meeting with all humans working in the community gardens tonight based on calendar availability.]
>> Successfully completed: “Finished cooking lunch”
[User Messages HUMAN-14: “Lunch is ready, bring 18.”]
[ARCHIVE-1: Scheduled garden meeting]
>> Schedule alarm for garden meeting.
[Alarm Scheduled]
[User attempts to call HUMAN-22: Call declined.]
>> New item added: Get the details of packing into extensions from 22.
[Message from HUMAN-14: “We’re heading over.”]
[To Do List Closed]
[End of Transmission]
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INCOMING TRANSMISSION
FROM: AUG-NOM-7
TO: AUT-GOV-23
ERROR
[Translated]
>> Motion to propose Expedition 41
>> Attached is the recommended travel plan
>> Goal: reach and inhabit San Francisco
>> Attached is the list of proposed humans and units for the task
>> Attached is the special request for this mission
>> Special request summary: allow humans to carry with them the needed extensions as well as all scavenged backup batteries to maintain power towards San Francisco, while leaving 5 days worth of energy for the Solaris governmental district.
[Motion for Expedition 41 approved by AUT-GOV-23]
>> Furthermore, a pre-mission checklist is attached:
>> i) Remaining fixes upon electronics before HUMAN-1 and HUMAN-3 leave.
>> ii) Rerouting the radio exportation signal as attached
[Attached: “radio_transmission_instructions.txt”]
>> Shutting down energy for all other districts except the government district.
>> Shutting down all non-self-sustaining units.
[Checklist Approved, delegated to AUG-NOM-7]
[End of Transmission]
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