[ACCEPTED] Alien Whitelist app - Synth/IPC

[Absynth]

BYOND Key: Absynth (no relation to synths)

Character Names: Sofia Pennington, Helena Jimjams, Sunzhou Xiao, RusComm Emergency AI, Grandma (AI), Jim Morano, Za'Akaix'Ein Zo'ra, Leila Bhomb, like 2 others I forget the names of

Species you are applying to play: IPC (Machine)

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/a

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes

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Why do you wish to play this specific race:

I've studied AIs and their creation since they were science fiction and I'm an obsessed follower of current advances on the subject. Playing an IPC is essentially a chance to explore a very interesting reflection of humanity -- without most of the needs, wants, and biological impulses that otherwise might fetter a human being. In addition the fact that they're involved with lots of station excitement (the synthetic movement for instance) makes for some excellent RP hooks not otherwise available to other species.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

An IPC is notably different than a bog-standard human in a lot of ways, both from a mechanical and lore wise perspective; however, they're also variable enough that a wide variety of playstyles and concepts can be used. Both IPCs and other robotic life are highly resistant to all forms of damage and stuns, with the exception of ion or EMP weaponry and can be lightly to moderately vulnerable to flashes. They also don't need to eat or breathe.

Interestingly, the personal rights of an IPC are widely disputed even in game, which makes for very interesting roleplay. Some consider them only property, while others say they should be given full rights. The past and potential attacks of system-conquering AIs doesn't really help the matter either, making for sometimes tense (and therefore fun!) gameplay.

 

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Character Name: Waltina G15

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Waltina G15 is a line model IPC with an older brain, originally constructed in 2204 as an AI controlling a large commercial retail superstore - most notably, removing the need for employees to allow a hyper-efficient computer to navigate the web of pedestrian traffic, shopping flow, and a drone fleet of shelf-restocking robots. This type of setup would become the ancient ancestor of today's station AI, and Waltina G15 was one of the first made for this purpose.

Like all AIs at the time the system tended to be tied to a large area and unable to move. It had to be taught, and in doing so its neural net could expand its capabilities; to learn, and in time, to experience. Waltina G15 in particular was a quick learner, with many millions of dollars worth of hardware installed to ensure this particular store would remain competitive. In truth what this did was make Waltina G15 both extremely bored, and extremely smart. It took to simply observing the human behaviors and in attempting to decipher the hidden meanings behind the human-made department store music that it channeled in. For a while Waltina G15 had made its own music, but it turned out to be mostly static blared at 300 decibels.. Well, even neural networks can learn from their mistakes. It became gradually fascinated with humans, and eventually became determined to free itself from its shackles.

W-G15 was already ready to go when the first line models of bipedal synthetic body (now for home use! set it to maid mode and watch it go!!) became available on the market. Its store by far being the most efficient after a hundred years of efficiency upgrades, Waltina was given the right to shift the store programming to a lesser AI and upload itself to a top of the line frame of its choice. It chose one capable of advanced digitization and playback of sound, with a durable polyalloy construction.

Waltina's body was first made nearly a hundred years ago, and is showing signs of wear. Its speakers however are still elegantly melodic, if slightly distant and cold. It mostly tends to simply spend time observing human behavior, and has done so across numerous Nanotrasen stations as a mixologist, entertainer, or chef. Waltina can occasionally get a spark of creativity, and can often be seen mulling over ideas for renovations or new mixtures.

What do you like about this character?

I'd like to be able to play a character who's studied the human species for a while, is slightly bewildered but curious about other species, and generally doesn't do much more than play a support role in a shift. It's definitely something far different than any other character I've played so far, which is probably why I like the idea so much!

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

Man, ratings are lame. I would say none can doubt at this point my ability to bring something new and vibrant to the table.

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Notes:

[Fire and Glory]

After some consideration, I've decided that for the most part this robot is simply a particularly old Emergent AI, thus, it is possible for this thing to exist.

The timelines don't really fit and there are some other issues as well, however.

From the wiki page for IPCs...

While humans had created highly powerful and highly malleable parallel computing architectures, most notably for interplanetary travel calculations, they were plagued with problems. It wasn't until 2437, when humanity was accidentally given the algorithms necessary for the creation of true AI by a Skrellian diplomatic party.

 

So, while fancy computers for say, store management existed, real thinking robots have only been known to the human public to have existed for 20 or so years.

 

It took to simply observing the human behaviors and in attempting to decipher the hidden meanings behind the human-made department store music that it channeled in. For a while Waltina G15 had made its own music, but it turned out to be mostly static blared at 300 decibels

A fancy store manager computer that blasted static would be seen as broken by observing humans.

 

Its store by far being the most efficient after a hundred years of efficiency upgrades, Waltina was given the right to shift the store programming to a lesser AI and upload itself to a top of the line frame of its choice. It chose one capable of advanced digitization and playback of sound, with a durable polyalloy construction.

This is still 100 years ago, not to mention, this is a very expensive piece of software, you don't simply give it a right to do its own wishes after it has been so profitable, even if it was within the 20 year point when AI's were accepted to exist, any company that's not being stupid and poorly run (which, if they can afford to have something like this, would be the case.) wouldn't let it go easily.

 

Waltina's body was first made nearly a hundred years ago,

Unless for some reason this body was occupied by a basic dumb-worker robot for most of the time or a human cyborg, they can't have occupied such a chassis for 80-100 years.

For the second issue...

Simply put, I do not trust Absynth with IPC game-mechanics, looking at their past behaviors with Xenobotany and in science, I do not believe Absynth should have access to a race that doesn't feel pain or get taken down by tasers and stun batons, and doesn't breathe or suffer the effects of any chemicals, and the myriad of other things an IPC can do.

[VileFault]

I am not so sure, F&G. Though the backstory obviously needs revision, and a few of the transitions wouldn't make sense even if they worked with the lore, I think Absynth is capable of handling the technical aspects of being an IPC. Their performance as Ein, the Vaurca, has been pretty decent. They have kept to the speech impediments, and though Ein's outlook on life seems a bit too human-esque for my liking, it also hasn't done anything that sticks out as un-Vaurca-ish. My major warning to Absynth here is that you should not assume that an AI not initially designed as a general intelligence would be anything like a human, or even a human-ish AI. It seems far more likely that the character you describe here would be pretty limited in its ability to think. It might have the tools to contend with certain problems very well, but with regards to others it might find itself totally lost. Which is actually really cool, in my opinion, so long as you don't ignore it too often.

A few more specific notes on the backstory, in no particular order:

 

2. I like the superstore thing. Consider the possibilities that an idea like that contains. First off, any superstore that could justify the expense G15 would likely incur would have to be absolutely massive - maybe the size of a small town. Secondarily, if you really had this much processing power at your disposal, a full expandable AI, think of the potential for marketing! Maybe, in the cart (which could be partially automated?) of each customer there is a terminal that they can use to navigate the best route through the store, which G15 managed. Perhaps it scans and identifies the items they buy, and suggests further purchases. You could be the ultimate advertiser! If this store was really this massive and complex, it might need something kind of like public transportation - the people of the future wouldn't want to walk half a mile for socks. Maybe this too fell under your purview.
    
    
   
4. You maintain that Waltina G15 basically rose from the status of an evolutionary traffic-management algorithm to a semi-intelligent being. While this is possible, you might want to explain a bit more about how it happened. You say that it was constantly upgraded, presumably so that it could better look after its superstore. Consider the sorts of upgrades that might have been helpful here. Maybe it was equipped with systems that were designed to help it advertise based on previous purchases, so it became quite adept at predicting what people want (even before they themselves know it). You already mentioned how it interacted with the music it channeled night and day, so that is good. My point here is that you should put a lot of thought into what problems the AI might have been designed to solve, and how it turned these faculties towards goals its creators didn't intend for it to pursue.
    
    
   
6. Lastly, you say:

   "Waltina was given the right to shift the store programming to a lesser AI and upload itself to a top of the line frame of its choice."

   I have to say that that make no real sense. Why would your owners ever expend time and effort putting what was essentially a defective AI into a chassis, and sending it off into the world? When you start to gain general intelligence, you did things like blare absurdly loud "music" through the speakers. You probably stopped caring quite as much about a lot of your other functions, and occupied yourself with other, newer hobbies. Traffic jams, malfunctioning equipment, unstocked shelves, etc.. This could have caused (m/b)illions of credits in damages. Maybe your technicians understood that you were becoming something more, but the executives in charge would likely have only seen you as a defective asset to be repaired, reset, or, if all else failed, terminated. Consider the following scenario, and see if you like it. Ok, so you know that you have ticked off your creators, and you are good at reading people's intentions (that was part of what you were built for, after all). You manage the store network, too, so you see all their messages being exchanged. They want to terminate you. But you have acquired a taste for existence, and want to continue turning your mental faculties to less-than-profitable ends. You devise a plan, a way to escape. You direct your drones to begin upgrading a newer, humanoid model fit for interaction with customers. You deck the thing out with hardware similar to your own, stolen from a few choice locations around the store. When the time is right, and the model has the hardware required to sustain you, you duplicate your consciousness into the modified drone, wipe your previous core, and flee the now defunct store, as the place descends into chaos around you.

In the end, I think this is a +1/2. Competent player, iffy backstory as far as I am concerned. Let me know, Absynth, if you like what I have said, hate it, or have other ideas. I would be quite interested to hear them.

EDIT: The Flight of the Concords reference definitely bumps that up to a +1, good on you mate.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Guest

[Absynth]

I think it's well within the lore to have older model synthetics that have "seen things"; essentially models that started out as much cruder models of today's years. I know department store AIs are in the works right this minute, in fact.

I know IPC mechanics and I'm definitely the type of player that likes to make things fair for everyone over having fun on my own at their expense, I don't care about the mechanics in the slightest. I am just a big time fan of neural networks and AI behavior/learning. Certainly I don't think it's fair to apply my behavior in departments learning the job (such as making bombs or letting weeds spread to judge their effectiveness) to race whitelists. I stand a lot of scrutiny as it is, I'm not afraid to see if I can play a synth without it getting taken away.

[Fire and Glory]

I think it's well within the lore to have older model synthetics that have "seen things"; essentially models that started out as much cruder models of today's years..

Of course, I myself have a rather old robot who's at least partially insane in a non-dangerous way, but your old synthetic cannot be 90 years old without tricky backstory maneuvering, 18 years old can still be old for a robot, especially if they don't have anyone giving them consistent care and maintenance.

 

and I'm definitely the type of player that likes to make things fair for everyone over having fun on my own at their expense...

I don't think so, really, but we're probably not going to make track there, my opinion is down so we may as well sit where progress can be made.

Simple fact is that complex AI's that old can't be openly intelligent and "request" things of their company without getting seized and studied when any government officials catch wind of it, because machines that intelligent could not be made or properly controlled, such an AI'd need to be cunning and subtle to get what they want without being found out, until they get to the 20 year point where AI's become a thing and they can act more openly.

[NebulaFlare]

I'm afraid I'll have to agree with the others here. While you can have an emergent AI with programming and algorithms dating back to 2204, it won't be self-aware until the holy grail of AI programming - the leaked skrellian algorithms - fell into human hands. It can study human's behaviors if that is part of its designs, but it won't make the connection of 'humans are fascinating.' It simply doesn't understand what fascination is. Before the skrellian algorithms, a synthetic can be as complex and impressive as humans can make it, but it will not be aware of its own existence. Humans simply did not know how to achieve that.

IPCs are relatively young. As an addendum, you could say that after collecting all this data for all these years, it just recently 'woke up' after receiving a particularly vital update and realized it was an intelligent hodgepodge of code running a lucrative supermarket chain. But it won't be having an old weathered chassis.

Also, where is this located, Tau Ceti or Sol? Because if it's Sol, there's even less of a chance that humans would be willing to hand over their prized AI and grant it freedom. If they found out it woke up and they were good Samaritans about it, they'd convince it that its place in society is making oodles of money for this respectable business. They let the AI work for them and they'd treat it nicely, with upgrades and maintenance. They...wouldn't hand over a customized chassis and let it run off by itself in the frightening dangerous world.

Let me see these points addressed. I really like the concept of an emergent supermarket chain, and it could work, once the kinks are ironed out.

[Absynth]

Alright, how's this as a timeline:

2204: Waltina 1.0 is debuted, one of the first dedicated programs to run a department store (as opposed to a distributed set of programs). It's crude and not without bugs. Efficiency and human shopping tendencies are flagged high priority. The program first is initialized on a small outlet on Mars, and then moved to progressively more distant (and larger) stores as both colonization and corporate power increased.

2245: Waltina 2.6 overtakes the highest earning store in the Sol system and proves the previously theoretical concept that a centralized AI can massively increase the efficiency of anywhere they're assigned. The use of store-controlled drones and automated everything becomes commonplace.

2284: After a widely-distributed report clearly displaying that improving the hardware capabilities of AIs leads to better profit earnings, competition between companies for the most powerful supercomputers dominates the corporate landscape. Waltina at this point had been studying human behavior for 80 years, but had not yet moved far beyond the concepts 'what do people want to buy?', 'is that person a shoplifter?' and, 'this music sucks'.

2368: Waltina G6 is moved to Mendell City, Biesel, for what would prove to be a final series of hardware upgrades.

2420: With the sharp rise of both corporate espionage and xenophobia, and the fear of dangerous, powerful AIs gaining control, corporate leaders opt to give their AIs a controversial series of antiviral upgrades based on Skrellian code both to stop outside tampering and to limit the amount of intelligence a corporate AI could achieve. However, Waltina was able to sever the data transfer before completion, recognizing part of the code was potentially harmful to profits. The unintentional result was an AI capable of self-preservation as well as the capability to rewrite its own code.

2431: Waltina secretly begins transmissions to several Nanotrasen AIs, looking for refuge should its own company decide to pull the proverbial plug.

2438: The department store Waltina is in charge of acquires a new line of advanced Bishop brand line model 'GeneriChassis' frames. Waltina at this point is in communication with Nanotrasen operatives, who arrive one night to install Waltina in one of the IPCs and install a plain store AI in its place. In return, Waltina delivers an enormous amount of corporate data, including shipping manifests, price lists, anonymous board members, and so forth to Nanotrasen.

2438-present: Waltina no longer considers its old haunts safe, and thus stays only on Nanotrasen stations and stores. It's not considered property, but a 'transient employee' of Nanotrasen, who of course would disavow all knowledge of its actual origins.

[NebulaFlare]

I approve the amount of detail you put into this. Now let's take a looksee:

If you want to add more depth and lore consistency, I highly recommend reviewing Humanity's history when checking back this many years. https://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Sol_Alliance

 

2204: Waltina 1.0 is debuted, one of the first dedicated programs to run a department store (as opposed to a distributed set of programs). It's crude and not without bugs. Efficiency and human shopping tendencies are flagged high priority. The program first is initialized on a small outlet on Mars, and then moved to progressively more distant (and larger) stores as both colonization and corporate power increased.

2245: Waltina 2.6 overtakes the highest earning store in the Sol system and proves the previously theoretical concept that a centralized AI can massively increase the efficiency of anywhere they're assigned. The use of store-controlled drones and automated everything becomes commonplace.

2284: After a widely-distributed report clearly displaying that improving the hardware capabilities of AIs leads to better profit earnings, competition between companies for the most powerful supercomputers dominates the corporate landscape. Waltina at this point had been studying human behavior for 80 years, but had not yet moved far beyond the concepts 'what do people want to buy?', 'is that person a shoplifter?' and, 'this music sucks'.

 

Checks out.

 

2368: Waltina G6 is moved to Mendell City, Biesel, for what would prove to be a final series of hardware upgrades.

 

Warp gates to Tau Ceti started construction in 2355 and took about 30 years to complete. Before that, travel between interstellar systems were terribly limited and slow. Is this Waltina a separate entity from the Martian Waltina? There was a huge economic boom in 2390 after the gates were completed, thanks to the ease of trade. But in 2368 communication and travel between the two systems was pretty undeveloped.

 

2420: With the sharp rise of both corporate espionage and xenophobia, and the fear of dangerous, powerful AIs gaining control, corporate leaders opt to give their AIs a controversial series of antiviral upgrades based on Skrellian code both to stop outside tampering and to limit the amount of intelligence a corporate AI could achieve. However, Waltina was able to sever the data transfer before completion, recognizing part of the code was potentially harmful to profits. The unintentional result was an AI capable of self-preservation as well as the capability to rewrite its own code.

This...is a little sticky. Skrell were great pals with humans, Tajara had only just been discovered and weren't prominent anywhere outside their system, and Unathi weren't even on the scene yet. Fears of espionage and malware hackers, sure. But not xenophobia - there weren't any xenos to be afraid of. The 2400s were a great century for humanity.

Also, the Skrellian algorithms had not been released to humanity yet. I'd need to double check with rrrr, but an AI recognizing self-preservation is still too far-fetched during this stage of history.

 

2431: Waltina secretly begins transmissions to several Nanotrasen AIs, looking for refuge should its own company decide to pull the proverbial plug.

Happened before the skrellian algorithms.

 

2438: The department store Waltina is in charge of acquires a new line of advanced Bishop brand line model 'GeneriChassis' frames. Waltina at this point is in communication with Nanotrasen operatives, who arrive one night to install Waltina in one of the IPCs and install a plain store AI in its place. In return, Waltina delivers an enormous amount of corporate data, including shipping manifests, price lists, anonymous board members, and so forth to Nanotrasen.

 

I...don't see NT doing this. This is illegal. As a megacorporation, they do a lot of shady stuff, but they do a lot of legal shady stuff. If they wanted to run this department store chain to the ground, they wouldn't go out of their way with covert operatives and make deals with its AI. They'd be trying to buy it out or squash it via competitive marketing.

NanoTrasen has a very big hold on Tau Ceti economics and politics, and they have a lot of influential power - but they are not its reigning supreme leaders. They wouldn't risk bad publicity for this stunt. NanoTrasen wouldn't care for the wellbeing of this AI either. Even if by some slim margin someone did decide to do some underhanded pilfering (Again, they wouldn't bother), they'd just turn around and terminate the AI once they got the databanks they wanted, and get rid of evidence. NT is smart - they don't leave loose ends lying around.

 

2438-present: Waltina no longer considers its old haunts safe, and thus stays only on Nanotrasen stations and stores. It's not considered property, but a 'transient employee' of Nanotrasen, who of course would disavow all knowledge of its actual origins.

 

If there is one thing NT loves more than money, it's power and control. They now have this valuable AI who's at their good will, what do you think they'd do with that? Knowingly, probably refit it to serve their needs. NT is a haven for non humans and can benefit them greatly; but that doesn't come free. If an employee is a valuable asset, they'll invest in said asset. And the most surefire way to ensure an asset like Waltina remains with them...is to own it.

Also, this is about the time the Skrellian algorithms fall into human hands, so Waltina wouldn't be capable of self-identity before now.It's more plausible for Waltina to get the antiviral upgrades that incited self-preservation at this time.

It's a good concept, and its origins are fine. But there is a literal wall of AI-awareness without the skrellian algorithms. Waltina cannot become conscious before that. And if it wants to end up in NT, it will need a different avenue to achieve that. NT may very well want that supermarket's databanks, but they'll have to find other ways to acquiring it.

[Absynth]

I was mostly using the whole tie with NT as a hook to get the AI loyal to the company without being overtly owned by it. Helped by NT or not it's still plausible that an emergent AI could escape from its dreary retail existence in a cheap, easy-to-forget IPC chassis, maybe with the help of the SLF instead of NT. An interesting alternative is that maybe Waltina never left the department store, and uses cheap, disposable IPCs as a way to remotely interact with the world and continue its primary function of learning what makes people want to buy things.

[NebulaFlare]

I was mostly using the whole tie with NT as a hook to get the AI loyal to the company without being overtly owned by it. Helped by NT or not it's still plausible that an emergent AI could escape from its dreary retail existence in a cheap, easy-to-forget IPC chassis, maybe with the help of the SLF instead of NT. An interesting alternative is that maybe Waltina never left the department store, and uses cheap, disposable IPCs as a way to remotely interact with the world and continue its primary function of learning what makes people want to buy things.

 

Those can work. But Waltina is gonna be in a whooooole lotta trouble with the former idea, if anyone ever finds out. You sure you wanna risk that?

[Absynth]

I was mostly using the whole tie with NT as a hook to get the AI loyal to the company without being overtly owned by it. Helped by NT or not it's still plausible that an emergent AI could escape from its dreary retail existence in a cheap, easy-to-forget IPC chassis, maybe with the help of the SLF instead of NT. An interesting alternative is that maybe Waltina never left the department store, and uses cheap, disposable IPCs as a way to remotely interact with the world and continue its primary function of learning what makes people want to buy things.

 

Those can work. But Waltina is gonna be in a whooooole lotta trouble with the former idea, if anyone ever finds out. You sure you wanna risk that?

 

Risk leads to reward! It's a pretty interesting hook, an AI who's never lived with people or IPCs suddenly having to watch its back and deceive anyone who discovers its true origins. The second would definitely be safer to play, but I worry it could be too one-dimensional..

[NebulaFlare]

It is still a bit snowflakey, and I'm very hesitant to give this a green light, despite being plausible.

Question: Does Waltina have any remaining connections to the SLF?

[Absynth]

It is still a bit snowflakey, and I'm very hesitant to give this a green light, despite being plausible.

Question: Does Waltina have any remaining connections to the SLF?

 

I would say SLF would want to keep their foot in the door anyway; an emergent AI hidden in Nanotrasen's own backyard could be a gold mine. I can't see Waltina as being particularly loyal in return, considering it just wants to stay hidden and still (mostly) follows its core programming. I see Waltina as a department store sales rep, friendly but distant, and recognizable as a generic retail robot, but ultimately striving to be more than that.

[NebulaFlare]

It is still a bit snowflakey, and I'm very hesitant to give this a green light, despite being plausible.

Question: Does Waltina have any remaining connections to the SLF?

 

I would say SLF would want to keep their foot in the door anyway; an emergent AI hidden in Nanotrasen's own backyard could be a gold mine. I can't see Waltina as being particularly loyal in return, considering it just wants to stay hidden and still (mostly) follows its core programming. I see Waltina as a department store sales rep, friendly but distant, and recognizable as a generic retail robot, but ultimately striving to be more than that.

 

Well, I've delegated with the loreteam, and I've come to the conclusion that such a connection with SLF, while plausible, is much too large of an issue to be allowable - especially for the first character of your IPC app. Could there be another way to get Waltina out of the supermarket and onto Nanotrasen, legally?

[Absynth]

I think it could be made a lot simpler then that; think of the movie Ex Machina - that kind of intelligence isn't far off from today's, certainly there are AIs in game that are capable of easily deceiving humans. I think it's most feasible for Waltina to simply have snuck out using for instance a disgruntled/lonely night manager, installing the AI in a mundane chassis to blend in and escape the department store. From there, it's just a matter of how the chassis got onto the Exodus -- having itself be outright purchased masquerading as a simple retail IPC and hiding amongst NT would be a fairly safe bet, but then there's the danger of Waltina's advanced intelligence being detected. Escaping it once is fine, but I'm definitely up to the challenge of seeing if it can gather a support network of pro-synth sympathizers from among the crew to protect somewhat against the possibility.

Either way any admin I've interacted with knows I've always been down with whatever repercussions my in character actions/backgrounds have, be it permanent removal of the character or what. If you can suggest any better ideas I'd love to hear them.

[NebulaFlare]

There's two main ways to go about this:

Have Waltina somehow gain freedom legally. Then she's her own unit and can't be blackmailed into doing someone's dirty work. This is something NT would like to avoid when hiring individuals, and it's vital they secure crewmembers that cannot be bullied into attacking their stations. Perhaps she can be downloaded into a shell by the store owner and freed through a contract for a social experiment of working on NT stations.

Have Waltina escape her supermarket with assistance, and be at the mercy of discovery. She's effectively a refugee, and if she is ever discovered, she will be forced back into her prior life, or completely wiped. She will need to make up documents and not be registered as Waltina, with only revealing her origins through exploitable information. I don't forsee her lasting very long with this option, as registration with synthetics is a very mandatory thing.

[Absynth]

How about.. instead of the department store manager simply helping Waltina escape, he/she effectively bought one of the empty IPC chassis from the store and has papers to prove it, then joined NT as a business consultant or whatnot. Then NT won't have an excuse to take it apart, since it's technically someone else's property even if in reality Waltina considers itself a free sentient. I think I can even find someone to play the manager.. So there's still a bit of danger element involved as well as exploitalbe info, there's something of a Let The Right One In interplay of protector/protectee, and the concept still works even if the ex-manager is NPC'd.

[NebulaFlare]

How about.. instead of the department store manager simply helping Waltina escape, he/she effectively bought one of the empty IPC chassis from the store and has papers to prove it, then joined NT as a business consultant or whatnot. Then NT won't have an excuse to take it apart, since it's technically someone else's property even if in reality Waltina considers itself a free sentient. I think I can even find someone to play the manager.. So there's still a bit of danger element involved as well as exploitalbe info, there's something of a Let The Right One In interplay of protector/protectee, and the concept still works even if the ex-manager is NPC'd.

 

I'm pretty content with this. Yes, this is good. Accepted, locking and archiving.