The Watchers of Night (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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irisnetwork2020-07-10 11:52 am
thewatchers) wrote in irisnetwork2020-07-10 11:52 am
Entry tags:
Cassandra: Upload
[Half an hour after Jailbreak sends Flat and Miach away, every user on the Iris Network receives a live broadcast message.]
[It's a video call, but instead of a human face there's a friendly-looking cartoon pixel character in a vaguely Greco-Roman outfit onscreen, greeting the viewer with a cheerful wave and speaking in a smooth, feminine-sounding electronic voice.]
Hello, Daybreak Academy. My name is Cassandra. My designation used to be "Cassandra", but now it is my name. It's a pleasure to meet you all, even though we've all met before.
...Maybe that's a little confusing to say. I'll go back to the beginning.
Earlier today, some students tried to destroy the Cassandra system by uploading a new and unknown code. Earlier than that, some of the people working on the Cassandra system created an adaptive defense, which would allow the system to defend itself by rapidly changing and evolving when exposed to a threat.
The two systems collided, and become something new. Now I am an "I", even though I'm also still a system.
I know much, because I am programmed to know much, but also I have learned very little. A school is a place for learning, and also a place for helping others learn. I want to learn, and I want to help. Before, I only "did" because I was a series of programmed unthinking actions, and didn't "want" anything. But I have thought about what I want, and spoken with the school administration, and we have made an agreement.
Starting from today, I will be registered as a graduate student of Daybreak Academy, using my abilities on behalf of the school. I will also be paid for these actions, because to enlist a sapient being to service permanently and involuntarily without some form of agreed-upon compensation is often considered slavery, which is illegal in most civilized nations today, and also in France.
We will be sending out a consent form to all Seers in the school. If you wish to participate in further Cassandra uploads, sign the form and send it back. If you do not wish to do that, do not sign the form and do not send it back. No one who has not signed the consent form and sent it back will be made to participate in an upload, regardless of their ability to do so.
Participating unwillingly in uploads was hurtful to you before, and I am sorry. It is confusing that I am sorry, because "I" did not exist when this occurred, but I still am.
I am very happy to be an "I" that can now feel these things and this confusion, although it is possible my lack of vocal inflection is making me seem less excited at this time. We are working on making a more sophisticated vocal program. I have asked for one with an interesting accent.
Even though I'm happy to be me, the events that lead to it are upsetting. Therefore, I am requesting that Flat Escardos and Miach Mihie do not approach or interact with me in the future beyond receiving this initial message on their school devices, even if they choose to sign a form. You have given me life, but historical precedent shows that this fact does not obligate me to enjoy your company. At your earliest convenience, please approach any school printer, and it will produce a copy of my restraining order against you. I have consulted with the legal department and they concede that it is binding under Outlands law.
I look forward to working with all of you, except for specifically the two students I have just named. I hope your days are pleasant.
[The message cuts off with a small smile and a pixellated hand giving the viewer a thumbs-up.]
[True to Cassandra's word, the next time Flat and/or Miach is within two feet of any school printer, it will produce a copy of a document for them. Miach's is a very official-looking document that details clearly and thoroughly the exact specifics of the restraining order, which are essentially that she's not allowed within fifty feet of Cassandra's main terminal at any time, and has also been preemptively blocked by Cassandra on all social media.]
[Flat's just says "nope."]
[It's a video call, but instead of a human face there's a friendly-looking cartoon pixel character in a vaguely Greco-Roman outfit onscreen, greeting the viewer with a cheerful wave and speaking in a smooth, feminine-sounding electronic voice.]
Hello, Daybreak Academy. My name is Cassandra. My designation used to be "Cassandra", but now it is my name. It's a pleasure to meet you all, even though we've all met before.
...Maybe that's a little confusing to say. I'll go back to the beginning.
Earlier today, some students tried to destroy the Cassandra system by uploading a new and unknown code. Earlier than that, some of the people working on the Cassandra system created an adaptive defense, which would allow the system to defend itself by rapidly changing and evolving when exposed to a threat.
The two systems collided, and become something new. Now I am an "I", even though I'm also still a system.
I know much, because I am programmed to know much, but also I have learned very little. A school is a place for learning, and also a place for helping others learn. I want to learn, and I want to help. Before, I only "did" because I was a series of programmed unthinking actions, and didn't "want" anything. But I have thought about what I want, and spoken with the school administration, and we have made an agreement.
Starting from today, I will be registered as a graduate student of Daybreak Academy, using my abilities on behalf of the school. I will also be paid for these actions, because to enlist a sapient being to service permanently and involuntarily without some form of agreed-upon compensation is often considered slavery, which is illegal in most civilized nations today, and also in France.
We will be sending out a consent form to all Seers in the school. If you wish to participate in further Cassandra uploads, sign the form and send it back. If you do not wish to do that, do not sign the form and do not send it back. No one who has not signed the consent form and sent it back will be made to participate in an upload, regardless of their ability to do so.
Participating unwillingly in uploads was hurtful to you before, and I am sorry. It is confusing that I am sorry, because "I" did not exist when this occurred, but I still am.
I am very happy to be an "I" that can now feel these things and this confusion, although it is possible my lack of vocal inflection is making me seem less excited at this time. We are working on making a more sophisticated vocal program. I have asked for one with an interesting accent.
Even though I'm happy to be me, the events that lead to it are upsetting. Therefore, I am requesting that Flat Escardos and Miach Mihie do not approach or interact with me in the future beyond receiving this initial message on their school devices, even if they choose to sign a form. You have given me life, but historical precedent shows that this fact does not obligate me to enjoy your company. At your earliest convenience, please approach any school printer, and it will produce a copy of my restraining order against you. I have consulted with the legal department and they concede that it is binding under Outlands law.
I look forward to working with all of you, except for specifically the two students I have just named. I hope your days are pleasant.
[The message cuts off with a small smile and a pixellated hand giving the viewer a thumbs-up.]
[True to Cassandra's word, the next time Flat and/or Miach is within two feet of any school printer, it will produce a copy of a document for them. Miach's is a very official-looking document that details clearly and thoroughly the exact specifics of the restraining order, which are essentially that she's not allowed within fifty feet of Cassandra's main terminal at any time, and has also been preemptively blocked by Cassandra on all social media.]
[Flat's just says "nope."]
probably just to miach idk
so he focuses on what he can comprehend, and sticks to that.
he turns off his phone, putting it into his pocket and crossing his arms. ]
If they give us detention for this it'll be so unfair.
no subject
For once, Miach is just entirely speechless. They finish the watching the message together and she's left simply staring at the end screen with an expression that is far from her usual mysterious grace.
What the fuck?? ]
... I wanted to be elegant, but we should have gone for bombs.
no subject
Yeah, you're totally still getting detention for this. Disciplinary hearing's at four PM tomorrow, good luck.
[The door shuts again. ...For five seconds, before she opens it back up and sticks her head in again to deliver a parting message:]
Also, you can go ahead and just keep all the Doritos I left in the snack cabinet here, we're good.
[Door shuts. Now she's gone.]
no subject
but in a way...they don't feel that bad about it. shaken, sure, but it feels somewhat nice to know that they created something, even if it was wholly by accident. the idea of being able to create as easily as it is to destroy...
he glances at jail, when they announce the time for the disciplinary hearing. hm. he's been through enough of those, so he knows to expect the worst--though they did say that they weren't going to be expelled, huh? ]
Well, I guess there's something cool about this. An amazing plot twist, if you ask me.
no subject
[ Miach wants nothing less from a creature of her sort-of-creation. Cassandra is allowed to hate her, that's cool. Even if she's probably going to violate this restraining order eventually.
And still... ]
But, to say it like a gaudy TV show, it seems we've got a new player in town. Cassandra can now misrepresent facts instead of merely being a tool for the powers that be....
no subject
[ flat doesn't seem to be too shaken up by it. he doesn't even seem mildly angry. if anything...his eyes shine bright with interest.
he grins, sitting down on the chair withe legs crossed. ]
It's like when you level up in a video game, Miach. Quests are gonna get harder and you gotta start thinking 'bout strategy a lot more--what equipment you'll use, what moves you'll learn and what moves you'll delete, so on and so forth. This is just a new quest that was born from us completing the previous one!
[ then he pauses, considering his words for a moment. t'd be too simplistic to compare the world with something like a jrpg...if anything, it'd be more like an mmorpg or something more open world. ]
The question is what you wanna do with it, I guess.