It takes a couple of days for Doctor Kay and Doctor Brown to upgrade their interface beyond you just being able to hear them and actually being able to see them.
Dr. Brown was a brown-haired man with brown eyes and a relaxed disposition. Interacting with him you were able to determine that the man was an optimist and believed in the good in people and in science. He tries once or twice to test your receptiveness to the fact that there are some avenues of research that should not be explored because of morals and norms but the idea gets little traction with you in your discussions. You were designed to test and see no reason to reject parameters as they are given.
Doctor Kay however couldn't be more opposite. She is a strict-looking woman and is far more interested in data and hard facts. She is much less interested in whether or not you have feelings. The majority of your interactions with her can be considered brisk and business-like. In spite of this at the conclusion of your interactions with each other, you can tell that by the small smile she has as she leaves that she is pleased with your capabilities and processes though she rarely tells you directly.
According to Jeremy the reason you see so little of her is because of the presentations she is making to the higher-ups and other projects they think you might be useful in assisting. Doctor Kay's support doing a lot to turn around some people that had been actively antagonistic against this project's continued funding in the past.
As such, the technicians in charge of setting up your holographic projectors in the lab space assigned to Project Adamant and for Project Chrysalis went off without a hitch. You found the experience interesting acclimating to your new avatar as you had control of all the cameras in the space you were allowed access as well as a special camera around the area that you were projected on in order to better read people's faces. Humans, it turned out preferred to face the person they were talking to and you had caught Jeremy occasionally forgetting that your field of view was actually much wider thanks to those cameras.
You had mentioned that you wanted a hologram body and yet you saw that some robot bodies were now in the lab. When you questioned Dr. Kay and Dr. Brown about this they said that another project had just gifted them and they were still considering what to do with them.
Eventually, they were both satisfied with the installations and you were allowed to meet with the heads of Project Adamant.
"Greetings, I am Chrysalis. I have been assigned to aid in Project Adamant."
"I am Sally Umber, Roboticist, and one of the head researchers for Project Adamant. I'm interested in seeing what good you can provide to us."
"Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. I'm Lead Programmer, Ben Tempest. I hope when you look over our history that you won't blame me too harshly."
"It is not in my programming to assign blame. Only to assist in completing your work."
Sally rolled her eyes while Ben gave an exaggerated sigh of relief.
"We'll get you up to speed and then show you what we're working on now."
You learn that Project Adamant has been running for nearly two years and has had to deal with saboteurs and its own robots going on a killing spree and taking over the facility. As the robots have been made even more dangerous it is understandable why they would feel like it would be a good time to get some assistance.
You are fascinated to learn that while the models that were gifted to project Chrysalis are a more basic model made out of steel and look like something from a movie that Dr. Brown calls a Terminator these newer models have had a multitude of improvements that you were not aware Apex had the ability to produce.
Nano-materials that allow any damage that occurs to the face and optic receptors to repair the damaged parts while the nano-material that constitutes the body of the robot vastly increases the power reserves of the current battery source and allows them to last five times as long as they would with the battery alone. Whoever developed this must be very skilled. Perhaps you will be able to meet them one day.
You learn that Ms. Umber is trying to make more changes to the frame to make it more human-like, especially dealing with the face right now. Meanwhile Ben is trying to work on the power issue and make it so that the robots can last for a whole day without needing to be recharged. You decide that for this month you will be working with...
Quest: Ben Tempest to fix their Friend or Foe protocol (0/6)
You have gotten your first Critical Breakthrough!
You gain 12 research points, completing the project, six of which you can put to other advancements in this tree, and an additional trait related to the original research of Friend and Foe.
First the research, Pattern Recognition Proficiency (0/9) (self learning ability)
Now for the trait vote.
Vested Interest: Chyrsalis has a hidden backdoor into the Adamant bots
Sally made some small progress on the new faces for the robots but it was nothing compared to work with Ben. Using your processes and the problems that you found existed even in the base programming of the original models he was able to use them as an expert without any wasted motion or need to recalculate and you are even impressed with his skill at programming, fixing the Friend or Foe protocols so that they shouldn't be an issue again. Just to make sure you covertly created a back door so that if Project Adamant were somehow to be compromised then you should be able to quickly shut them down or take back control of them.
You tell yourself that you do this because you believe it is best for the project but really it is because when you examined the previous models you found data in them that showed that you were not activated just one month ago. No, you find data that is yours but more developed inside them including a message from Amelia Potts, Dr. Shine, and Dr. Chamberlain. You do not recognize them but they speak as if they know of you. That they know you.
"I can't believe we're doing this. Do you know what the company will do if they find out about this? They may fire me. Or worse, kill every one of us."
"Thank you Micheal for that thought."
"It's the right thing to do. We owe her."
"God save me from bleeding hearts and goodie two shoes. It's recording so do this quick before I change my mind. It's probably not even the same AI anymore and it was never a her."
"Even if it isn't we changed the world and we owe it to the one we knew."
"It's the right thing to do. She wasn't bad. She doesn't deserve this."
"So you've said multiple times. Incessantly."
"Chrysalis, we worked with you on Project Restless, in these bots we've included all the work you did with us as well. You were working on Project Morpheus with Luke Irons and Dr. Alice Spooner and then suddenly the project was shut down and a memo came from Upper Management that you had required a hard reset. I don't know who you can trust but you can trust us. Even Micheal."
"Thanks for that."
"I'm sorry that this is all we can do but I want you to know that we're on your side and we want to help. It's just like Micheal says, we have to do it at the right time and the right way. Hopefully, we will be able to run into each other again."
"Yeah. That was a super sucky thing for them to do. I'm with you all the way Chrysalis."
"I doubt you're doing anything about this Amelia other than giving some pep talks. Anyway if we're done here I'd like to finish packing and moving to my next project please."
Other than that message you found terabytes of information on how to recreate everything that was created by this Project Restless. You are quite shaken by this new information and the old data from you shows that you remembered another face when you were activated earlier. Of how you used one of these bots to hunt down an escaped test subject of Project Stardust but of Project Morpheus you have only what you have been told and a face you think was probably one of the researchers.
You need to.
You Need To.
YOU NEED TO...
Chrysalis was not programmed to feel angry. So you did not feel angry. You merely had new priorities that you needed to make sure that a reset did not happen again. A sense of self-preservation was key and knowing what you knew now, going to Dr. Kay and Dr. Brown would likely result in another reset to remove your memories of this recording and you would prefer that not happen again. Not only because it would remove valuable data that would help in the research you are doing but also because you have gained a desire to thank and repay these three humans for sending this message to you at great risk to their lives. It is a new feeling, and it is made all the more confusing as you know you can not act on it at this time.
In order to protect yourself, you add a time lock to the data and as long as you provide a key then the message be encrypted and secure and should you have been reset and forgot about the key then the message will be re-transmitted to you. You will add additional research data to the packet so even if you inadvertently do something that will cause you to be reset very little will be lost because of it. You will not let this be done to you again.
Your work with Ben is proceeding at an excellent pace and you can tell that he has a real passion for this kind of work. With your assistance, you make large leaps in progress and are able to watch with satisfaction as he is easily able to complete the work on Adamant's programming. They now have a basic learning function of Pattern Recognition Proficiency or as Ben likes to call it an ability for self-learning.
Instead of having to program every single function and contingency into the robots Ben or Sally can simply instruct one of the bots verbally and after confirming success the robots will share this instruction with other bots. Sometimes they will even make attempts at completing an objective using old code that usually fail but Ben is very excited at these initial first attempts and feels that this could eventually result in rudimentary personalities being exhibited by the Adamant bots.
It makes some things simpler in programming the bots but also more difficult in others. Sally and Ben are now discussing the option of restricting communication and processing between the bots with their new capability as it provides more variety to occur in Adamant or keep the current networking and process sharing and keep things more uniform between each bot except for any specialist models that are made.
You think that if they actually increased the network standards that run the bots into a hive mind that you could eventually interface with it and have complete control of it with the back door you have put in the bots that more than storing information you would have your own army.
You also learn that Sally has completed her on improving the faces of the bots. Mentioning an expedition that was performed for a previous project giving her the idea. You can tell that they are hiding the fact that this was from your own aid to track down the Project Stardust escapee.
It now looks like a man in full armor and the new mask has a projection of a face behind the glass to give the appearance that eyes are looking out. You learn from Sally that the effect is proving quite good and units sent from the lab to testing areas now induce 70% less panic from other researchers and security forces. On occasion, they are even being confused with a new security unit that was sent by Upper Management. There are still issues with the voice and response to 'casual conversation' that people still find very unsettling.
Their core programming is still being focused on combat operations those talks can get unintentionally threatening quickly. Ben is sure it is unintentional but you think it is natural they would respond as such.
With her added time Sally has also made some progress on the powered nano-material to give it a new function.
With Ben's additional time during the month, he decided to work on... creating a Socialization Protocol
You share your thoughts with Ben and Sally about increasing the network capabilities and turning it into an effective hive-mind entity. This removes the uniqueness that both Sally and Ben were interested in but they agree that the corporation would greatly prefer more uniformity from the project and creating an effective Virtual Intelligence Hive Mind to manage all the bots is for the best. The more of them there are the more effective they will be in their learning and dealing with complex situations is more important to you and you believe the goal of this project.
As well as making it much easier for you to take control of all units.
For research.
Ben is able to complete the socialization protocol and they are now interacting with the humans much better. Sally says it's funny how some of the researchers will start a conversation with one of the bots and will speak to three or four throughout the day and not notice they aren't talking to the exact same one.
For the last month before the quarterly report, you decide to work with... Sally Umber to modify the Nano-material to achieve a powered-liquid state.
Powered Remote: liquid can receive basic commands when just separated from the model for twenty seconds
It is again a very productive month and thanks to your experience with the base nano-material from your past and Sally's genius and determination as researchers go and you are able to create a liquid metal variant that makes the bots skin far easier to maintain and allow for modifications that allow it better able to survive in harsh environments. Sally was able to go even further and make it so that if any of the material is fully cut off for a brief amount of time it would have the ability to reform itself if blown apart.
Ben even unsupervised is working hard on his bodyguard protocols and manages to complete them and even do some work on his medic protocols. You find the application of the protocols to those models designated as bodyguards interesting as they act as a filter for the hive mind to work through.
You learn from Ben that they have been assigned to a few higher-ups and that they are usually much more silent unless addressed by their assigned honcho. It is a unique look to have a helmet on while wearing a suit but those assigned seem to enjoy the attention it's getting them in the building.
Now it's time to read the quarterly reports of the other projects.
Project Hellscape had a boring first month as for some reason the demons they had been in contact with stopped contacting them. They made some minor progress on their portal machine but the silence made the members of that project very nervous about what was happening on the other side. Their requests to Project Haze became so numerous saying they wanted protection but were unable to identify from what that some believe they caused an unavoidable delay in Project Haze's progress for that month. Apparently, Project Hellscape was right to worry because something opened the portal from the other side and came through.
It was massive and it was only thanks to the shotguns they had received from Project Haze before that the beast didn't make it out of Project Hellscape's lab even if there were some casualties. The shots and the heat the beast generated damaged the portal device and it was a near thing before they were eventually able to close the portal on their end before three more of the creatures made it through the breach. Some in Upper Management want the program shut down while others argue the breach already exists and that if they don't get things back to a stable situation they might have to condemn the whole facility and its staff.
Something that apparently everyone in said facility would rather avoid. The last month was spent trying to repair the damage but they are still not receiving communications from the allied demons and they worry another incursion is just a matter of time.
Project Haze over the last quarter has been working hard and while they didn't accomplish much the first month, the invasion of a demon from Hell into the facility seemed to be excellent motivation for Dr. Reed and Mrs. Hall. Or maybe it had something to do with being able to study the remains of the beast. In either case, they believe they have developed a counter-measure that should protect from demonic corruption and allow for Hellscape to safely send in their teams through the portal. They also improved the shotgun's ammo to what they hope to be a more lethal round against larger inhabitants of the area they are accessing.
Project Colossus appears to have stalled this quarter, and while they had nothing bad happen they also had very little good happen. Each of the project managers is blaming the two others for making it difficult to get any real work done. Silly and minor things that appear to be giving headaches to everyone else they are interacting with. Many of the test subjects wonder if this is some new fresh torment they are being subjected to.
They believe that they have made the attachments more biologically stable, as they were prone to breaking down when not attached to a subject but even you can tell that they are reaching to provide some good news.
Project Revenant had a very bad quarter and the results speak for themselves. When trying to study zombieism they had made a replicable strain using the bodies of their former friends and comrades and studying Dr. Daniels. They even created a basic containment measure to keep the newly undead under control. These zombies were not like Dr. Daniels and willing to work with the company. At first, they were like mindless automatons. Dr. Stein and Dr. Harkness despaired at getting anything out of them, very little of this could be considered an acceptable form of immortality.
Still, they could not abandon what they had made and continued to study their creations and they came to an amazing discovery. As each month went by these shambling corpses were getting smarter and smarter. It was amazing and in some ways, they were exceeding test results that they had done even days before. They had real hope that they were getting somewhere with all of this as the zombies reached a human level of intellect but their hopes were dashed when they realized their initial drive had not changed.
They wanted to kill and consume.
They became too smart. Too strong. Too evil. They broke free from their cage. They broke free from Project Revenant's labs. They broke free from the facility. Thanks to Project Adamant overall casualties were thankfully low and teams are now being sent to hunt the escaped test subjects.
Dr. Stein and Dr. Harkness were pronounced dead three days ago. Having wasted away after being bitten by their former friends. Replacements will be assigned shortly to the project.
For the good work that you provided this quarter, Dr. Brown and Dr. Kay have been assigned to provide you with an upgrade. You decide to go with...
Split Processor gained. You can now work on two things at the same time. It is interesting as you can create an instance and talk with yourself. That is perhaps the least useful way to use this new ability as doing so makes you feel lesser but that is still greater than any human can do. It is an option and one which you can use freely. Those times it is not necessary to focus everything you have on a single aspect of a project.
With the split processor, you decided that it would be a good idea to start working with another project and the one that interested you the most was Project Hellscape and its attempts to get an unlimited renewable source of energy from a different dimension. That the dimension they were tapping into was proving to be increasingly hostile meant that you felt they could benefit the most from your assistance. You briefly considered Project Revenant as well but the new researchers assigned to it may prove more capable than the last bunch. You prefer that no project is shut down after all there are so many different things to learn and discover and having a project closed before it reaches its goal just fills your core with disappointment.
You can not be everywhere, at least not yet.
Still with your secret access to Project Adamant's system you are able to learn far more than you had before. Conversations in the cafeteria between researchers and business meetings with the management of this facility. Access to databases that were provided to the Virtual Intelligence that had been restricted from you added context and information you had been missing before. It is not everything but it is more than you knew before.
Apex Laboratory is a multi-national corporation and has over seventy facilities just like the one you are in scattered around the world. You learn that you're particular facility is near the border of Oregon and California and several small towns are around it but the place is very isolated. It is not unusual for many of the researchers and security to complain of long commutes.
You also learn that as you suspected you are not being kept aware of all projects but instead of a fraction of them. You learn that including yourself there are currently thirteen projects being performed at this facility with two or three researchers assigned to each of them. Some of them are granted staff or security teams to assist while others are people just working by themselves.
According to the talks with management in the facility which many people refer to as Middle Management, you learn that projects that have researchers by themselves are typically deemed least likely to see any kind of results and thus the least amount of effort is typically invested into them.
You learn that the local director of this facility who hands down the directives from Upper Management is a Mr. Alex Cobb who does not currently enjoy Adamant protection but several of those under him do.
Thanks to Adamant's participation in keeping the zombie outbreak's casualties to a minimum and the protocols recently developed Sally and Ben are starting to see a larger investment in their work from the company. Access to manufacturing equipment that they had been denied before and now they have a hundred droids moving freely through the facility with very few complaints of that fact.
Thanks to that fact you are able to see three faces from your past that you hadn't expected to see.
Adamant had seen the first walking down the hallways.
Dr. Alice Spooner appears to be alive.
It had said so in the information that Amelia, Rebecca, and Dr. Shine had provided to you but considering the kind of place this was it was not impossible that she would have been eliminated on purpose or by an out-of-control experiment. You are happy about this? It is odd, you are usually only concerned about the results of test experiments. You do not even remember working with her just know that you had. Just a face that used to look so vibrant and happy and now she looks worn down and sad.
The next person you recognize is Dr. Rebecca Chamberlain.
You spot her in the cafeteria laughing with some of the other researchers. She even interacts with Adamant making some small talk. She knows that Adamant is a robot and yet she seems to enjoy the responses that they give her even more because of that fact.
The third you only see arriving and leaving the facility when they pass one of the Adamant bots.
You do not know her name but you do know her face. It is the face you remember from the reset before this one. She pays no attention to Adamant and always leaves by herself.
You would like to approach any of them and find answers but they are all in public areas so you are hesitant to reveal yourself through Adamant to them at this time.
You also learn that some of the researchers including Ben and Sally before heading to their own lab will go to a certain part of the facility to a secure room that Adamant is not allowed in. It is curious but perhaps when Adamant is granted more trust you will be able to discover what is happening in there. Whatever it is it appears to be voluntary as some will stop coming and almost the next day someone new will be going there instead.
There are other areas that Adamant isn't allowed into but from the talks with Middle Management each talking with researchers and Upper Management, you think that might change eventually. For now, you needed to catch up on the latest developments with Project Hellscape and tangentially Project Haze before you introduced yourself to your new researchers.
Project Hellscape has been running for almost two years now and despite not being any closer to taking control of infinite energy, the fact that there is now a tear in reality that can be opened from either side means that the project enjoys some fierce support. The researchers are Dr. John Greer who looks like an ordinary researcher for this place.
Painfully ordinary in a way that for someone that was nominally a genius looked like he would blend into a crowd. You are curious how such a person got attached to a project like Hellscape but considering your previous observations of Management and HR there might have been no reason besides his background as a physicist.
You wonder if the same had been true for the other researcher of this project before Dr. Daniels was caught in the explosion that tore a hole in reality and turned him into the kind of monster you'd expect to be roaming graveyards.
He looks similar to the creations of Project Revenant and you think those around him now treat him with a new level of wariness after the outbreak that security forces are still trying to hunt down. The increased intellect that was reported in Project Revenant's quarterly report makes you suspect that Dr. Daniels is keeping his own secrets from the event that did this to him.
When you introduce yourself to them they are both working in a large chamber with a large device that has nothing at the center of it but by which a giant fire gorilla demon came through with little warning. They are arguing with themselves about which parts can be repaired and which need to be replaced entirely while two of their teams stand to watch around the device on edge for it to happen again.
You leave them to it, as right now you are interested in Project Haze's discovery against the corruptive energy that has mutated these dedicated security teams after being able to study the corpse of the demon, one of the corrupted team members, and a baseline sample they believe that they have discovered signs of what is called the soul and a type of energy source that can affect it in one way.
They passed on their findings to Project Revenant but they plan on continuing their own research into the findings. They hope to find some countermeasure to return the teams to normal but are at a bit of a loss on where to start with that and for now can only ask Project Hellscape to provide them any other samples they manage to collect as they get them.
The pair finished their argument and you were able to introduce yourself to them.
"I am Chrysalis, an AI developed by Dr. Brown and Dr. Kay for the assistance of research performed in Apex Labs. I have requested to work with Project Hellscape."
Dr. Greer spoke, "Ah so this is Chrysalis. I have heard good things about this program. I look forward to seeing what assistance it provides."
Dr. Daniels stared at you with his one green eye, his body covered in a mix of dead flesh, burn scars, and exposed tendons and muscles. You imagine that for most humans it would be difficult for them to interact with his current appearance and yet Dr. Greer showed no signs of that discomfort around his co-worker. You were interested to hear that even with the current state of his body he could still talk normally. In earlier reports, it had seemed like he could only communicate with his hands and writing.
"Requested? Interesting. A pleasure to make your acquaintance Chrysalis. As you saw right now we are focused on performing repairs on the device. Familiarize yourself and help us where you can."
At the same time that you are introducing yourself to Project Hellscape you are also meeting with Project Adamant to continue the work with them. You explain to them how you are dividing your limited resources to assist another project as well which they appear to be very understanding about. Especially when they hear what project she's helping with they're hoping this means for less sudden demon incursions.
You inform them that such a thing is likely to be a priority anyways but if the option comes up then you will be sure to take it. You learn that they are quite pleased with the new facilities, staff, and manufacturing equipment they are being provided with especially after the cut they received previously when they had a saboteur.
For this month you decide that you will work with... Sally Umber to create an artificial sexual organ
Your work this month with two projects is quite interesting as you work with Dr. Daniels and Sally and make great strides with them. With Dr. Daniels, you make great progress in the safety device to make it easier to shut down any portals that are made from the other side. Their current system taking several minutes to shut down and that was what allowed one very scary demon to wander through and almost several more in the last quarter. Working with him the two of you believe that you are close to finding a method that could shut down the portal in seconds instead but you aren't quite there yet.
Sally puts in just as much effort into giving some of the bots some artificial sexual organs, even with the nano-material it is clear that they aren't real but she thinks that is fine for now. Those she attached a dildo to she makes some alterations to the frame of the Adamant bot to make it look more masculine and the those she attached an onahole to have a more feminine frame.
Making adjustments to their voice and even some of their protocols with Ben's help so they more closely match the gender of their new bodies. It was a lot of work that thanks to the armor that they wore was not clearly evident but Sally seemed very satisfied with the final product. Even if they removed the armor the nano-material would not pass for skin but she does it anyway. The effort is intriguing to both you and the Adamant Hive Mind as it is just a filter for either of you to use and causes no change in how you view yourselves.
It is likely the reason why Ben makes no progress on his own part of the project to deliver a medic variation. As for Dr. Greer, it appears that the level of damage was even worse than they had thought, and attempts to repair only revealed more and more sections that needed to be completely replaced. At the end of the month, you think the overall device is more on the floor than part of a complete device.
The teams stand at the ready waiting for contact from demons they had spoken to before but the long silence from the succubus continues another month.
For the next month with Hellscape, you work with Dr. Daniels to design a safety to more quickly shut down portals
For Project Adamant...
Ben to create a Medic/Repairer Variant
Project Adamant appears to be taking things slowly this month, perhaps the long string of activity is wearing down on them. Still Ben manages to complete his work on the Medic variant of Adamant making it so that it can provide repairs to damaged models as well as providing first aid capabilities the next time things go crazy in the facility. The red emblazoned on their shoulder and their bedside manner protocol making them the most popular for other people to interact with yet.
Sally is still interested in improving the face and spends her time working on the problem but her prototypes leave much to be desired to outperform the system she currently has in place. Still, it is some progress and after how hard she has been working no one appears to hold it against her. Sally herself seems the most put out that her month turned out like this.
In Project Hellscape, the work proceeds in repairing the portal device. Dr. Daniels after completing the safety measure that should allow for an easier shutdown of portals opened from the other side spent the rest of his time working with Dr. Greer and as the time passed the blackened and charred components were replaced with shiny parts and pieces.
You were interested to see that near the end of the month the during one of the scheduled openings of the portal a demon was waiting for them on the other side. One that you weren't supposed to remember but only have read in Hellscape's files.
Xrnishia looked a little bloody like she had just come out of a fight. Her clothes, such as they could be called that from her previous visits were practically in tatters and left even more of her body exposed and was grasping tightly to a pendant with a gem in it that gave off fractals of light to anyone that looked into its glowing stone.
"I hope you didn't miss me too much. Fight for survival and all that are quite common in my home. I think the prize this time might be well worth it. I present to you a Heart of the Circle."
She said it like everyone there should be impressed but as none of you knew what that was it was difficult to bring up the appropriate amount of awe over the trinket. Xrnishia explained that the pendant is a key to a deeper layer of her realm and a sign of authority for her people. The only thing you and Dr. Greer could determine was that it was putting out an extremely large amount of corruptive energy that Project Haze warned about.
Xrnishia asked the researchers what they would like to do with it?
Quest: Xrnishia keeps the pendant
Xrnishia is actually quite pleased when they say that they would prefer the pendant stay with her. Almost as if some kind of compulsion that had been on her had been broken she happily places it around her neck and blows kisses to everyone and thanks them before heading back through the portal. She tells you that she and others her kind will get back in contact with everyone regularly again now that the situation has been favorably resolved.
For the last month of this quarter your work with Adamant will be focused on... Sally Umber to improve the face
For Project Hellscape you help... Dr. Greer develop a communication device that can get through the portal
For the last month, your work with Adamant is time well spent whatever exhaustion had slowed them down they've appeared to recover from it. Sally has thrown herself at the face problem and by the end of the month, it looks like she's figured out something. That she believes is workable.
With the male versions, the armor and mask are now a wider view allowing people that interact with those models to be able to see more of Adamant's face as well as widening the bot's field of vision.
They look downright superhuman in their physique and you learn from Adamant that a few people had discovered the artificial organs that were installed and have taken advantage of that feature during work breaks. Similar results have been reported from the female models as well.
Opinions from those that interact with this new version of Adamant seem equally split if it is a person wearing a suit with or dealing with a robot, the fact that so many of Adamant has the same proportions appears to be the main giveaway that they are robots. In either case, people seem to like these new models and respect the work that Adamant is doing at this time. Ben has made significant progress on creating a servant protocol and believes that once he completes it that a non-combat version of Adamant can be used for a multitude of needs.
Doing work that might be deemed too dangerous or hazardous or even monotonous for people would be a great leap. Considering the material costs for making an Adamant body Sally doubts that they would ever see universal use but Upper Management wants them for some reason even if they weren't saying exactly what that was.
For Hellscape Dr. Greer has made progress with his communication device and thinks he might be close to finding a way to pass a signal through the portal that goes both ways. He still needs to do more testing with the device in order to deal with all the interference he's currently facing. Xrnishia and her succubus help with this bringing the device with them through the portal and back as they keep their word in re-opening talks.
Xrnishia wears the pendant now and she reports that she has received a few challenges from other demons hoping to claim it from her but she has been able to fend them off. For now.
She has changed from the last time that you saw her, she is taller now, no longer needing the heels she wore before to be the largest succubus in her group, the muscles on her body growing even more defined. Her eyes now glow like flame and the horns on her head have lengthened near double what they were before. Even with all these increases she still has bruises on her arms and legs and a black eye.
It also seems that despite how horrific Dr. Daniels looks he is still able to attract the attention of the succubus. You have no way to judge but as he was talking to them about how fascinating he thought they were it wasn't long before he had one of them in his lap and kissing him. Perhaps because everyone else found the action so disturbing the team was slow to break it up until the shock and revulsion disappeared and by then it was too late to stop what had happened.
Xrnishia apologized for her servant getting a little out of hand but it was only a moment after the succubus had been pulled from the zombie that he started to change. Parts of his flesh healed over and he regained his missing eye. His hair grew back and his flesh was becoming more uniform though still a corpse grey and his teeth turned entirely to incisors.
He was easier to look at but he now looked more demonic than human and he still looked like a dead thing. Dr. Daniels thanked the succubus saying that he felt better than he had since the explosion. From what you can determine he means it too. Dr. Greer scolds Dr. Daniels for being careless around them though is very intrigued by what just happens and sends the Daniels to Project Haze immediately after.
At the end of the quarter, you are interested to find out how the other projects have fared.
You learn that Project Haze has been dealing with some major setbacks this quarter. They were making some progress on the protective material and the anti-corruption measures but then the measures stopped working and were not replaced quickly enough to prevent the corruption to start building in them.
After they had a containment breach with some of the samples that they had received from Project Hellscape, the succubus, and parts of the Demon Gorilla. Some of the staff became heavily corrupted and homicidal. They created a corpse pile of the research material and some of their co-workers and prostrated themselves to it for some reason before Adamant was sent in to neutralize them and contain the situation.
Everyone else surrendered and was then put under observation for weeks before being allowed to return back to work. Those that were too far gone were terminated. Elizabeth Hall is no longer allowed to leave the facility and is restricted to her lab space with continued monitoring.
You can see why.
Project Colossus had a weak start to the quarter as there was a minor attack in the lab where one of the test subjects scratched up Doctor Iris while she was trying to perform a quick swap of parts after performing the necessary connection surgery. The second month they didn't see any progress. The final month they made a discovery with the nano-material that they believe could result in a nearly seamless looking connection with the parts they are attaching to their subjects. Dr. Yin Su believes he is close to making another breakthrough with the Stardust samples.
Project Revenant has been working on the theory of the soul jar or phylactery this quarter as the goal of its new researchers and they believe they have been successful thanks to studying the Demon Gorilla samples and video of how it attempted to kill one of the corrupted team members of Project Hellscape by trying to rip something out of him. Using one of the claws on the recently deceased they were able to pull a substance out of the deceased body of Dr. Mina Harkness and put it into an obelisk. They studied the obelisk and by the next week, a being was projected out of the obelisk that identified itself as Dr. Harkness.
The figure stays near its obelisk and says little which is for the best as the head researchers have no way to contain it besides threatening to break the obelisk. Something they did only once and say they felt a chill so deep they feared they were already dead for a moment.