PHD #040: Comparing Notes
Comparing Notes
Summary: Bannik and Haeleah compare notes on their respective Cylon tech projects.
Date: 7 Apr 2041 AE
Related Logs: None.
Players:
Bannik Haeleah 

Even dissected as it is, the Centurion is still being kept under guard in Engineering. A pair of MPs stationed outside the locked hatch to the room where it's kept. Those who've been cleared can get in without fuss, however. Haeleah's in with it now. It's not /really/ a Centurion anymore. Its frame has been popped open, most individual parts removed and arranged on a table. Some labled, some not. The thing contains some innards that they're still puzzling out.

Bannik has to show his dog-tags to the MP's to get him into the secure area. "I'm one of the Deck liaisons to the project," the crewman is saying as the dubious MP is checking him against some sort of list. Apparently the paperwork was filled out correctly for he is waved on into the secured compartment. "Sir," he says to the Lieutenant. "Are you Lieutenant Parres?"

Haeleah looks up from studying a component that looks slightly rounded, over at Bannik. "Parres? That's me. I'm assuming you're one of the Deck boys? What can I do you for, Crewman?" She grins, stepping back from the table a notch. So he can come gander. "We broke him down. Though there are some complete Centurions still left on the anchorage, I think, if we need to grab a full model. It seemed…prudent to disassemble him, though. They're frakking tough bastards as far as *completely* shutting them down is concerned."

"Tyr Bannik. I'm one of the Deck techs assigned to help out on this." Bannik waves at the Centurion. "If you needed it. But perhaps more relevant these days, I'm heading up the Heavy Raider analysis project. I was hoping we'd be able to trade notes."

"The Centurion heavy into systems ops, and programming," Haeleah says. "Not much on avionics, though its specs are yours for the looking. If you've got some tech insight to add, I'm happy to hear it. These things are still a frakking puzzle." She nods at mention of the heavy raider. "Yeah, El-Tee Paris has been down in Deck land to get a look at that thing, I've heard." Parres and Paris. That one must get confusing at the meetings. "I wouldn't mind a gander at it myself, though I might just be rubber-necking. Anyway, my notes are yours. How's your work with it going so far?"

Bannik shrugs his shoulders as if to say, 'what can I say'? Bannik glances over at the dissembled Centurion. "I can figure out sort of what some of the things /do/, but it's hard to figure out /how/ they work. The tech is way more than anything we've got right now or can hope to get." He pauses. "Did you find any biomech aspects to it?"

"Biomech?" Haeleah's eyes come up from the parts on the table. "No. Not that we've dug out of it yet, at least. It's definitely more advanced than the Cylon War models of circa some forty years ago, but in general it's improvements and refinement-type evolution. You?" Her brows go up at the idea.

"Yeah." Bannik smiles faintly. "It looks like the Heavy Raider uses biomech to — to wire it for lack of a better word. It has appendages that work something like cables and then goo on the inside that is the actual conductive wiring." He pauses. "Well, at least that's our working theory at the moment."

"Frak me," Healeah murmurs softly, reaching down to idly finger one of the Centurion's detached metallic claws. "That is freaky. I mean, at least these things are machines. Frakking scary machines, but machines. Why the frak would a bunch of robots be messing around with biotech? It doesn't even make any sense."

"Like any of this makes any sense," sighs Bannik with a shake of his head. "We also found some sort of nanotech inside the Heavy Raider — it was what the tubing was leading to." He takes a folder he has with him and flips out a printed digital picture to show the Engineer. "Really super tiny computer chips."

"Now that this thing *might* have," Haeleah says. "We haven't plugged in all its computer components for separate analysis yet. The last time we tried to plug this thing in for electrical experiments we accidentally reinvigorated it. Like I said, these things don't really 'die.' That's the bitch of machines. It was just mostly dead. But the nanotech sounds really interesting. I'll have to compare it to my notes. I'd love to have a look at that. I'm not as much of a comp-head as somebody like Lieutenant Oberlin, but I've done a little programming work."

"I've got some background," admits the Deck tech, shaking his head. "But it's so damn small that it's practically off the charts for us. I mean, this stuff just isn't possible in Colonial labs, as far as I know." Bannik sighs. "Have you started to figure out any of the tech inside, though?"

Haeleah grins at Bannik. "Small's better than nothing right now. It still seems surreal. I mean, not six months ago I was sitting in a class at grad school listening to an argument to lift the ban on artificial intelligence." She does not say what she thought of that argument just now. She picks up an oval-shaped disk from the parts on the table, offering it to Bannik. "We pulled this out of its CPU. I would guess it's a fairly integral control component, but frak me if I know what it does yet. It's central processor is really impressive. From a technical point of view. Sleek, compact, and it can apparently operate under hibernated states. This'd be interesting as hell if it didn't scare the shit out of me."

"A lot of lead," Haeleah replies dryly. "At least, the Marines had to cut loose on this one when it…revived itself. Though it's our own fault for hooking it up to the electrics. We thought it was an acceptable risk, but I don't think we were quite paranoid enough. We haven't noted any activity out of it since we've broken it into pieces, though. It's like a body, I guess. An arm or a…liver can't really do much by itself once you sever it from the main unit."

"Think you can disrupt the electronics package on it?" questions the crewman, looking over the parts, switching gears for a moment. "Chief says we should try to figure out how to better try to take them down."

Haeleah considers that, lips pursed. "There are some experiments we can run, though we might need a fresh body to do it on. I don't relish trying to put this damn thing back together. Like I said, there are some Centurion corpses on the station we can grab. We can detach its weapons systems before poking at it if we want to run electrical experiments. Maybe its arms and legs, too. Gimp it and figure out how to disrupt it."

"It's something worth looking into, at least," suggests Bannik. He sighs. "But it's a start, at least. I'll give you what findings I have in my report, huh? Maybe we'll find out something that can help both of us move forward on these things."

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