World Tree MUSH

    The last visit to the Warden reboot the AI systems, and gave it... sort of control over the ship again. Sort of. At least it knew what was happening. The command deck was also clean of robot zombies or whatever those things were, or at least the area around the bridge was clear of such. It was a good place to meet and figure out what is going on, especially for those who are new to the situation.

    "Welcome back to the CS Warden," the AI intones. "If you are here to aid in the current situation, I have managed to collect some limited data." A rough image of the Warden appears, though the ship is so massive that of course details are scarce. Numerous red points are along the ship, with a large cluster along one side.

    "These are the various hull breaches that have occured over the last several centuries," the AI explains. Centuries? "The alien life forms in the asteroid have been attempting to claim the ship for a long while. They sometimes use small pods, which I have difficulty tracking, to latch on and insert strange life forms that create biological hazards or emit unusual radiation. This happens in waves, and fortunately we are in a low point for the next six months, if projections hold true."

    The image shifts to show a bipedal creature resembling some kind of raccoon or the like. "These are the Chi-tur. I know very little about them, but that they are a mutated specimen from the zoological compounds. A small colony moved down to the Sensor and Exploration Deck, where the asteroid's hull breaches are most common, and became trapped there. Initially they fought the robotic defenses, but once the androids on that deck were activated, they managed to secure an alliance against the frequent incursions by alien attackers. Unfortunately my programming prevents me from allowing them to stay on the ship once we are underway, so it is my hope they can migrate to the asteroid once the threat has been neutralized. I would ask that you aid in doing so, but I may find another task if that is to your liking."

    Circe had also taken advantage of that rebooting process and her own little divine expertise to give herself the highest level priviledges she could manage for the moment. Unlike the previous time, she hadn't been nearly as generous in sharing those boosted rights with the class, though.

    Maybe she's still bitter about the inflation present in the price for not being shot.

    It won't stop her from talking, or in listening to the problems. She doesn't actually have a problem with relocating the creatures, if everyone else does, but she'll still ask. "..Would it be possible to modify your programming to allow them to remain once you are moving again, or to modify the creatures such that you could allow them to stay?"

    That sounds benevolent; it's not, because what she really wants is for the computer to give her permission to go mucking around in its code more. Or at least to not fight her as hard if she needs or wants to again in the future.

    Unfortunately for Circe, Belle is going to ruin her plans. It obviously isn't intentional, because she doesn't seem to have any malice behind her suggestion, "Or maybe we could have them migrate through the Vine, if there aren't too many of them! We could find them a place on a planet so they don't have to live on a starship. I guess we could ask them if they're okay with that."

    It seems an honest attempt to help them out! Sorry Circe. As she continues, "Hey uh, does the asteroid have radiation on it? Because I'm mostly a normal human. I can resist it better than most, I bet, but I'm not too keen on putting that to the test, because as far as I know I'm genetically human."

    The Hunter is here.
    Over the past few weeks Samus has grown fairly invested in the case of the CS Warden, so once again the bounty hunter returns.
    "If anyone could modify an AI's programming it'd probably be you." She notes blandly to Circe. "But we can see how it goes and cross that bridge when we get to it." The Hunter says before pausing to consider.
    "Another task?"

    The one new to all this is Weiss! She's listening and trying to put it all together, and doesn't really know the people here, so the snow-haired young girl is hanging back and soaking up the information. "We should... probably talk to them," she says, grudgingly, and constantly glancing at the ears of the image with just the faintest blush.

    "Other tasks," the AI repeats. "For example, the Chi-Tur are not the only mutations to spring up on the ship. Many of them can be transported via classifying for research, but any sapient beings must either be interred or removed from the ship. There may be others. Another concern is the city, which is run by malfunctioning Androids that believe themselves to be the proper crew. This could be a danger to the crew when they awaken, and they must be neutralized in some way." Circe's question also gets answered. "I am reluctant to alter my code any further, given how unpredictable it makes other AIs. I have already been operating much longer than expected."

    Weiss receives a wristband, dispensed from nearby, while the AI continues. "Other tasks are available as well, but those are the ones most likely to benefit from external intervention."

    Circe snaps her fingers a couple of times, trying to remember something, before saying. "Oh, right! We're supposed to get you to stop sending cleaning robots into the, um, vent systems. There's some psychic slime there that doesn't want to be harrassed off of the ship, and we promised to at least make the effort so it wouldn't eat our brains or anything like that. It seemed nice enough, anyway."

    That wasn't really a question, but she'll at least consider her promise fulfilled by even bringing it up.

    "I'm good with going to visit the mutated rodents if you all are. They're probably nicer than most normal humans, at least."

    "That's fine with me," Belle agrees, crossing her arms. "Besides, we should probably get a look at what this thing is that's attacking the ship. This turned out to be a way bigger project than I would have liked, but what can you do?" Well, technically she could just walk off, but that doesn't seem to be her style, does it?

    "Thirded." Samus says on the decision to try and speak with the Chi-tur and possibly checking out the asteroid if need be.
    At some point they will likely have to deal with nazi androids, but that can be a problem saved for later.

    Weiss clicks the wristband on. "So we just need to get rid of the invaders, huh? And find a place for these Chi-Tur? I can't take them in my world, Faunus are already treated pretty badly and these little guys are even more animal. They'd end up little better than slaves if my father had his way."

    Weiss shuts up before she goes on a rant, and then nods, "Right, looks like we're all in agreement then?"

    The Warden replies, "This would explain the troubles the maintenance bots have been reporting. I will investigate." That should be enough to satisfy Circe, though what the AI decides to do is up in the air for now.

    As for moving them, "They are not hostile, so I will support and aid in relocation of the Chi-Tur if that is an acceptable solution." The Warden opens the elevator doors. "I have informed the androids staffing the Sensor and Exploration deck to be prepared for your arrival."

    Circe will be happy enough with that, since she'd mostly done it because she'd given a promise to something that had been able to connect into her brain. She'll be able to get by with that if she ends up going back through that area.

    "..Hopefully they'll be prepared in, like, a greeting way and not like a murdering all of us kind of way." Circe will say, ever the optimist. At least she waits until she's on board the elevator to say it, though the Warden will still be in earshot. She's trying to mentally review everything she remembers about raccoons; unsurprisingly, given who and what she is, it's actually quite a lot. She'll at least finally notice and glance over at Weiss, the newcomer. "..I'm Aida, by the way. It's good to meet you, I think."

    "Oh yeah, name's Belle," says Belle. "Nice to meet you." She files into the elevator with the others. "This place is huge. And weird. It's all a giant ship, like you saw, but there's whole ecosystems in here." Sadly, Belle doesn't seem to have much indication of her tech level on her, aside from the fact that she isn't all that weirded out by everything in this high-tech place. But maybe she's just used to weirdness.

    Into the elevator Samus goes.
    "Samus. Samus Aran." That's for Weiss' sake more than anyone else, because the others here know her." She looks to Circe now for SOME REASON.
    But she says nothing.

    "Weiss Schnee," answers Weiss, to the others. "I've been handling some stuff in my homeworld so haven't been offworld much lately, but I've been out on the Tree for a while." She adjusts her sword, and then spins the canister at the base. "Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm more interested in getting these invaders off the ship, but I'm not too keen on the idea of kicking these little guys out. I guess if we can find them a good home..."

    The elevator, despite travelling miles, is as quick as ever, and after a few moments opens up to an interesting site. It's sort of like a MASH unit, in some ways, a temporary base with hastily-erected shelters and equipment. Of course these aren't tents, but pop-up housing and the like. Androids are wandering about, as are some of those Chi-Tur things. While they do look to be working together, there's a sort of wary tension between them.

    One android and a grey-furred, aging Chi-Tur shuffle forward. The android greets, "Hello, we were told to expect you and aid you in investigating the invaders. We have information you require."

    The Chi-Tur chuckles. He's about four feet tall, and walks with a cane, and looks the group over. "How interesting," he says, in an odd accent that says this isn't his first language. "These strange creatures are very abrupt, I hope you don't expect good manners. Though he is right. We have managed to capture two of the invaders. Usually, they decay rapidly upon death, but we've managed to keep these two on the verge of death long enough to get some study in, if you'd like to see before they die."

    He seems very... polite?

    Circe will studiously ignore Samus' reproachful gaze for introducing herself by a probably-fake name. One that she actually had to show herself on one of her personal heads-up display screens so she could keep track of, given the number she uses elsewhere.

    She'll also be all smiles and friendliness at first during the introduction of the Chi-Tur and the androids on the new floor, unbothered by any of the tension between them. At least until the mention of the dying invader comes up, at which her entire expression changes into a rather severe frown. "..How is it going to die? Are there some natural causes once you've captured them, like they die when seperated from their hive?" The implication that this would be somehow better than just executing them is obvious from her, though maybe not very sensical.

    Oh the tension is noticeable. But Samus is as cool as a cucumber as she step off the elevator, boots clanking with every step in her power armor.
    Aida is a stupid dumb mean cheating cheater reminding herself of her fake name like that. Not that the Hunter had been hoping she would slip up.
    "Show us." She says to the android and Chi-Tur on the topic of the alien invaders.

    Well aren't they cute! Weiss squints as she walks out, looking at the androids, then the little fuzzies, trying not to grab. She'll manage to control herself and walk out with something resembling dignity, nodding. "I mean... I'm not a doctor or anything, but I guess looking at them couldn't hurt."

    "Huh. Sure, show us the way," Belle replies, looking all around at the whole encampment. "Are you guys like, preparing for a siege or something? Running raids? How long have you been fighting together?" A rapid fire series of questions from the normally impulsive one, a reminder that she IS technically an investigator, just a bad one.

    The Chi-Tur hmns... but it's the android that speaks. "The situation is complicated. Live capture has also been very difficult, as captured specimens tend to die violently rather than allow us to keep them."

    The Chi-Tur mutters, "Something like that. Take a look..." He pushes open the door to one of the larger prefabs, showing a cool room with a number of androids around two tables, which have restraints to keep the subjects down.

    One of them is twitching, and looks like a large arachnid-taur sort of thing with large mandibles, sort of like a cross between a xenomorph and a drider. The other... looks like a rotting Chi-Tur.

    The raccoon-man stops just a few feet away from the tables, and gestures at the heads. "Look. You'll find some kind of... fatlike tissue adhering to the head of each. It infects the brain and uses the body as a host. THESE are the creatures we're fighting. We don't really know what they want, or why, but the way this other one is withered and fragile, part of their desire is new hosts."

    The android answers Belle, "We have been protecting this area for a long while now, several generations of android. It was only with the assistance of the Chi-Tur that we were able to make a short strike toward the invaders. We have only been working together for six months, before that we had intermittent fighting against one another, before we both realized we are trying to deal with these creatures."

    Circe will still look rather severe, though at least she won't be obliged to try and step in to prevent the killing so this won't be as awkward as it could have been. Instead, once they're allowed to observe, "Aida" will lift her hand up, Scylla coming to life to get closer to the infected and start scanning them. This might alarm anyone who hadn't seen the snake armlet she wears leap into life before. "..If it attacks by bonding to the brains of people, I could probably try to make a poison that would prevent that. Either poisoning the aliens, or poisoning people in a way that prevents them from getting taken over but doesn't otherwise seriously harm them."

    Seriously harm them. A little harm is probably fine.

    "Do they only infect living creatures or can they take over androids, too?"

    Samus follows into the prefab, takes one look at the two 'subjects' and the fatty brain slugs attached to them.
    "That's disgusting." She says without sounding all that perturbed while setting her visor to scanning mode to see what she can learn.

    "Ew, so it possesses them?" Belle makes a face, then walks around in a circle and... sniffs. Just sniffs the air a few times. "Well... at least I can try to get an idea of what they smell like. If we're going to try to strike back, it'd be nice to know what we're dealing with. Too bad this place doesn't seem to have magic, that'd be a much easier thing to deal with."

    She glances at Circe and then asks, "Can they be detached? I'm guessing no, or you'd have already tried it."

    Weiss makes a face, and mimics Samus, "That's disgusting." She doesn't get too close, but she is getting a good look at the 'fatty tissue' or whatever. "I hope it's not easy for them to attach. I'd rather not risk my pretty hair."

    Which is probably a joke, because she'd lose a lot more than that!

    It's the android that speaks now, "So far, we have not seen them take over an android. However... nine months ago they couldn't take over a Chi-Tur. Then we started seeing them staggering around. This one is still uncoordinated but can operate on its own without help. They're learning, but they do not appear to be a hive mind. Each of these creatures operates independently, though we have nto ruled out some widespread telepathic communication, which is another reason why they are sedated for the moment."

    The Chi-Tur snorts, "They don't smell too pleasant do they?" And they don't. Aside from the partial rotting, the 'brainslugs' do in fact smell like something kind of sick and mucousy. "As far as we can tell they have to capture someone first. Bonding to a host must be something that takes time, at least we hope."

    The Android adds, "We can offer this place as a base camp to strike out, and some idea of the weapons they have. They seem to vary, which is strange. Their attack on the ship is very uncoordinated and we don't know why. Their technology is also alien, and appears to be biological-based, or crystalline. That is all we know right now, but some of their weapons can inflict an energy-sapping sort of beam that can cause death, or paralyze a creature. Why they do not deploy these more, I don't know."

    "It's a start," the raccoon grumps.

    "Right. I can definitely maybe do something about some of this." Circe will decide, as she keeps scanning it. "At the very least, they'd have a very difficult time making an assault on me. I can see about making the environment generally more hostile to them, without directly killing any of them." Not being willing to kill them even in this condition is maybe not going to make Circe the most popular, but she won't even focus on that.

    No, her brain is now fully engaged with the idea of targeting a poison at preventing the takeover, one way or another.

    Circe gets a side-eye from Belle, but the teenager sighs and adjusts her glasses. "Let's hope they aren't telepathic, but the lack of coordination makes it unlikely. Unless there are multiple Queens or something." She thinks for a moment, "Okay, guess we can probably deal with this stuff the same way as usual. Just point me where to smash, really."

    "This place will be ideal as a basecamp." Samus replies. It's close and it's guarded. That works well enough as she scans the brain slugs a moment longer while listening to the details of their tactics and weapons.
    "Mm." Something about those weapons not being deployed doesn't sit well with the Hunter though.

    "I'm sure we'll figure something out," Weiss agrees. "I'll see if I can get some protective gear or something, my Aura doesn't help much against poisons and such." Looks like she isn't going to just watch and let it go. She doesn't question Circe's reluctance to kill though.