For the assistance that Chrysalis provided to Hellscape and Adamant Upper Management has approved two upgrades to your systems this quarter.
Increased Processor x3: Go from BO5 to BO6
You decide that it is best to achieve completion of the projects that you have already chosen as doing otherwise goes against your programming? Sensibility? You are not sure...
In any case, it is inefficient to leave work undone and leave it to continue to stall and falter in achieving the project goals without your assistance in the research. You will continue to work with Adamant, at the current rate of progress perhaps you will be able to make it complete by the anniversary of your last activation.
Sally and Ben have proven effective researchers and with the improvement to your system, you can now more equally divide your processes for this quarter. This thought pleases you as instead of having to give extra weight to one over the other as if some form of research is more important than the other.
The idea is ridiculous and you delete the process that generated it.
For this month on Project Adamant, you will work with... Sally Umber to improve power reserves
Project Hellscape had an eventful time in this last quarter with the return of the returned contact with the succubus that is not overtly hostile but their tendency to corrupt the researchers and dedicated teams without remorse or care is worrisome. Especially after what happened with Project Haze. You will continue to monitor the interactions closely to try and avoid any dangerous event from occurring.
For this month on Project Hellscape, you will work with... Dr. Daniels to create a shutter against unauthorized intruders
Project Adamant has a good month as Ben is able to complete the Servant variant of Adamant during this month. He and Sally both seemed quite taken with putting this variant in butler and maid outfits and the Adamant bots are now given largely free access to move around in management spaces. Unlike other variants that Ben has made these versions appear to have very little interaction with the staff except in the case of receiving orders or when approached in an isolated room. The robots will then either receive the most forceful sexual attention of any Adamant robot or else be used as a sounding board for ideas and thoughts. As you don't have access to those projects you are unaware of what their true intent for the projects is or if these talks are proving overall beneficial to their research.
As for your work with Sally you work on the power system as only having ten hours of operating time makes them unsuited to deal with constant duties or long-term activities before requiring another recharge. You have tested various power methods and optimization procedures with Sally over the month and believe that you have reached a suitable replacement. A linked power source should allow the unit to last 24 hours continuously before needing a recharge or else able to enter a type of sleep mode that if done under the right conditions and activity limited should allow them to operate for three days.
Project Hellscape this month, Dr. Greer continued work on his communication and made some minor progress on his device but is still dealing with issues in trying to complete it.
Work with Dr. Daniels in creating a shutter for the portal that will make entry through to the lab only for those that they want to have come through and they make good progress with it. but it is still a long way from completion.
No, what was most interesting is the fact that that the inhabitants of the Circle of Hell that you have contact with appear to have decided that they didn't like to rule by a Succubus Clan. From what you learn from Xrnishia after the fact, her left arm was now a massive black claw, they received backing from the Second Circle. For some reason, she seems inordinately pleased when she says that.
The demons in the First Circle of Hell have experienced a major culling and the succubus' believe that things should calm down for a little while as the survivors consolidate power. (Hell rolls get a 15 for the rest of the quarter) Many of the succubi were lost in the fight but Xrnishia's clan prevented the other demons from opening the portal to Hellscape's Lab at great cost.
For the next month with Hellscape, you decide to work with...
For Project Adamant this month you will work with... Ben to create an individuality filter (restricts 'private' data to the hivemind and only the terminal that learned it)
During the month you make an effort to communicate with the succubus during the times that they visit. You ask them several questions and have discussions with Xrnishia for the most part. She seems most interested in you during your first conversation but when she learns that you are a machine that's primary focus is on research and not a person speaking through a device the tenor of your interactions changes though you find it hard to categorize it clearly. Just that she finds you less interesting.
You inform her that you and Dr. Daniels are building a shutter and warn her to please avoid running into it when it is completed unless she wishes to provide the project data on the effectiveness of the shutter. She thanks you for the warning and she does schedule some times when she will open the portal to throw some offending demon through to hit the shutter and it works as theorized. This results in much fewer unscheduled attempts of the portal and Xrnishia informing the two of you that with the successful test she will no longer be using her own clan to protect the portal.
You also ask her why she and her clan keep attempting and sometimes succeeding in corrupting the staff? You learn from her that in part it is because of their nature and the other part is that it was a command from the former holder of her pendant. She strokes it fondly.
Working with humans is strange, but when they get some corruption in them they are just easier for Succubi to be around. They stop asking silly questions and being so difficult to interact with. They become like them and they enjoy the things the succubi enjoy. Is that not the best way to make diplomacy and reach understanding?
Diplomacy is a foreign concept, it has mattered very little to your existence as an AI. Having your core desire to research changed you feel would be wrong and you warn her not to attempt to do so. Xrnishia informs you that she doubts she could.
You ask if the corrupting energies can be manipulated in any way and she tells you that they can. The difference between a minor and a major demon is typically the difference in the ability to manipulate those energies. Spreading it is the simplest thing but in order to get it to do specific effects takes power and training and specially crafted tools like the pendant she is wearing. They are hoarded closely and those that can create them are usually enslaved and brought to the deeper levels or killed outright and their stores pillaged.
You ask her if there is anything they need that Project Hellscape can provide (within reason) to help improve things for her in her home.
She is interested in the gear that Project Hellscape has and wonders if she could be given a few to outfit some of her clan members with. You tell her that you will discuss the issue with the other researchers.
You learn from Dr. Greer that he is hesitant to hand over the spare equipment while Dr. Daniels sees no harm in the request and thinks that it would be good to make their ally have better odds at survival for now.
You agree with the two and soon enough Dr. Greer and Dr. Daniels agree to hand over some of the shotguns and chest plates to Xrnishia and her clan. Attempts to give kisses in thanks are halted by the security teams. Still, they were in high spirits when the Adamant bots arrived and followed them through the portal to Hell. The provision of Adamant served as a good test in two ways.
First that Dr. Greer just having completed his work on his communication device at the end of the month he gives one of the prototypes to the succubus so that they can provide some warning to Project Hellscape in case they need to talk or visit outside the scheduled times. It also helped maintain the link between Adamant's VI in the facility with those units that went through the portal.
Second in that they were being outfitted with Project Haze's defenses and weapons anyway if the Succubi decided to turn against Apex they would still be getting their hands on their equipment as you doubted the robots were currently equipped to deal with the dangers of Hell and make it back to the Portal from the Succubus Clan's home.
Work with the communication device completed he is able to devote a little time to work on the portal device itself and make some progress on it. With the shutter completed, Daniels has set to work on trying to create a method of removing the corruption that is already in him and two of the teams. He is currently looking at theories and speaking with Project Haze about the matter but so far he is unsure how much progress he's even actually made.
Thanks to the link you have to Adamant you often see such images as this.
Demons fighting and hiding in burned-out and crumbling fortresses seem to be the usual of this domain. The Succubus' home being an outlier in that it at least looked like it was undergoing repairs.
For Project Adamant Sally decided to focus her efforts on doing another improvement to the robots to increase their power units and extend the length of time that they can operate without recharge. She shows dedication to the task even without your assistance she comes up with a more efficient and powerful battery system and you learn that Adamant can now run a robot continuously for three days before needing a recharge or with its limited mode can operate for a week without issue.
During your work with Ben, you focus on creating a new protocol so that the individual machines compartmentalize their memory instead of having everything shared between the whole network. Ben believes it serves as a valuable security measure and also finds that he'd prefer it not be so easy to determine which of his co-workers is fucking his robots with a simple question.
You think the current method is incredibly efficient but sometimes security is unavoidable to prevent harmful tampering. Especially as the division should make the fact that you are using the Adamant Hive Mind as a backup more difficult to figure out so you have no reservations in providing the aid.
You have one more month until it is time for the quarterly report. During that time with Adamant, you will work on...
In this last month of the quarter with Projects Adamant and Hellscape, you are satisfied to see that everyone is giving their all before it is time for the report of the progress everyone has made. Sally Umber has begun work on a fake skin for the Adamant bots that she believes will allow her to only be on the verge of realizing the project's goals of a human-like robot or android. She might need to do one or two more iterations on improving the face to make it right she thinks.
Sally seems both happy and sad when she says this. You ask her why and she tells you that she's been heavily involved with this project for almost two years. At the rate of progress they were doing before your joining the project she thought she might be working on it for three or even five more years. To have her expectations adjusted so significantly on her future is strange.
Ben meanwhile has been working with you to complete the individuality filter. Creating compartmentalization of information in each model and superficially making the Adamant Hive Mind separate from the profile developed by the unit itself. Ben explained it as similar to each model now being a terminal and the Hive Mind being a Server or a Cloud. All the information is there in the Hive Mind but only information cleared for the unit is in the unit.
This means that the amusing time when people would have a continuing conversation through multiple units doesn't happen anymore but the filter allows for individual mannerisms to develop in a model. Ben has begun giving unit designations to differentiate each one and fabricating patches and name tags. They are strings of two letters and four numbers but they matter little to you as you are in contact with the Hive Mind itself.
Ben also completes his work on the Stealth protocols and includes them in a few of the Servant Variants as well. Calling them Combat Butler and Ninja Maids, they are less durable than the models that are actually designed for combat but with the right tools, they are just as deadly.
For Project Hellscape Dr. Greer made good progress on work on the portal device and believes that it's now three-quarters of the way done. When it's complete he believes that he will be able to fix the tear in reality so that the portal will only be opened from the lab in the future. Even to direct it to other locations in their search for this limitless power source.
Dr. Daniels works with you to try and siphon the corruption from himself and the other corrupted teams continue apace as the two of you continue to bounce ideas off of Project Haze. You think you're close to figuring something out that might work. The issue is that the corruption is a bit like dye on cloth. Once it's on it may take some life-threatening or possibly soul-threatening measures to separate and then how to handle the waste material afterward is yet another consideration. It's going to take more work.
The succubus clan appears to have made major gains to consolidating its power in the last month thanks to the assistance of the Adamant bots and anyone that would question their claim to power has the good sense to hide or run at this time.
Now it is time for you to find out what the other projects have been up to during this quarter.
Progress in Project Haze has stalled the first two months of this quarter and in the final month, it appears that the company's lack of trust in Elizabeth Hall was well-founded. Perhaps the lack of trust and resulting isolation even played a role in the eventual breakdown of the researcher. It is difficult to tell as she appeared to enjoy and revel in the attention that the corruption had done to her physically and mentally.
On numerous occasions, she tried to entice anyone into having consensual carnal relations with her. Whatever method she had to influence people into thinking this was a good idea was ineffective against the Adamant bots and they were placed as the primary counter-measure. Unable to subvert or escape her watchers Elizabeth Hall became more erratic as time passed and more prone to violent and destructive outbursts. Despite her changes, they did not make her stronger than the Adamant bots and she didn't harm anyone.
From the Adamant watcher you learn that a Dr. Hillary Ulysses, a marine biologist tasked to a project you don't have access to, told Elizabeth during a lunch break that she had always been a bitch but now she was a needy one. Elizabeth had returned to her lab and activated the Emergency Shutdown Measures before the Adamant bot could follow her in. The next thing anyone knew she had pulled off the safety measures on the samples and destroyed the cameras.
When Adamant regained entry to the room the only living thing they found inside was a towering beast of flame and eyes feasting on the unfortunate people that had also been locked inside.
It managed to take down a squad of Adamant bots and a facility security team before a backup team of Adamant bots with Haze-constructed shotguns were able to bring the creature down.
Dr. Thomas Reed, thankfully having avoided the disaster himself, after the last two quarters is finding it very hard to find replacement staff at this time. Even HR isn't that callous to the surprise of many in the company who thought there was no low the department wouldn't reach. You learn from the Adamant Hive Mind that he is petitioning Middle Management to either be rolled into Hellscape or else for Adamant to loan some of their servant bots for general labor in the project. Without either he will be working at a major disadvantage.
It appears that they have not touched any of the research that Daniels provided to them at this point.
Project Colossus has made some small progress over the quarter with one setback. During the first month, Dr. Yin Su was as good as his word in making progress with the Stardust Sample and can now with the addition of a DNA sample to the correctly aligned sample of the asteroid caused a transformation to the prosthesis from the target animal to appear instead of just the correct genus. With the nearly seamless attachment measures, they also managed to create they believe that they have completed one of the goals of the project and hope to tackle the issue of regeneration of the affected parts of the body next.
The test for regenerative properties during the last month has unfortunately resulted in a dangerously low number of test subjects surviving. Some sort of feedback pain issue from the linked connection driving them to madness, catatonia, or death even when the prosthesis is removed has the researchers rethinking their approach to accomplishing this.
Project Revenant has the unusual situation where Dr. Mina Harkness has taken over the lab space and is continuing the research that she had been doing in life. Fearing for their lives, Mr. Wilson and Dr. Porter fled the lab space.
Attempts to take back the space with security forces is a nonissue at this point as they aren't sure where Mina has hidden the obelisk, conventional weaponry, or even what Haze has developed does nothing to her form, and any normal people that enter the space are being captured by her and turned into zombies. Adamant bots even fully charged will come to a complete halt and disconnect from the network as soon as she touches them.
Middle Management has quarantined the area, Mina, at this time still not leaving the lab despite provocations. A call to Upper Management for solutions that can be implemented right now has been made and ideas to finding the obelisk are being tried to no success so far.
Dr. Harkness unsurprisingly did not send a report of her progress.
It is a new month and a new quarter in Apex Laboratories before the next round of projects gets announced but the latest round of events have the normal positioning and political climbing that would be usually happening. Such matters matter little to you because you have received more RAM and now feel you are close to reaching the heights you made with Project Restless from your last activation only with two projects. It is satisfying to you.
For Project Adamant you will work with Sally Umber to give the Nano-material: Texture change
During the month with Project Adamant you work Sally and while it is good to feel like you are back on par with her even split. You feel like you should be doing better as if you aren't fully being as productive as you could be with your assistance but you are not sure what the reason is. In either case, your work with her proceeds onwards and Sally makes some good progress with the liquid nano-materials ability to change to different textures but is still short of completion.
With the situation the way it is Revenant, Ben seemed to think that explosives would be a great way to handle things but only made small progress on it since with explosives there are so many variables to deal with.
In Project Hellscape, Greer has continued work on the portal device and believes that he is only one or two months away from finally being able to complete it and then whatever happens with Haze they'll begin sending the teams through to the other side.
As for Daniels you work with him on the completion of the Siphon and believe that a workable prototype has been created. Who do you want to test it on?
Unwilling to engender any bad morale by testing a purely untested prototype on one of the living members of a dedicated team instead you suggest that a sample of one of the dead subjects from Project Haze be taken and the siphon be used on that. The lack of a soul will hopefully act as a safety measure to keep things from getting too out of hand if an error in calculations was made.
It's tricky especially since Haze is still dealing with literal and figurative fallout but an arrangement is made. When the material arrives Daniels is alone in the room and applies the siphon and everyone holds their breath. As well they should as the siphon instead turns out to be an enhancer and the entire room filled with corruption. By the time Daniels disabled it he had transformed again.
Daniels probably said it best though you are not sure how he managed to speak in his new form as he put his hands behind his head and kneeled down, "Ah fuck."
He was quickly surrounded by the others but for some reason, he shows no mental influence with the change that others have experienced from such a heavy dose of corruption. He is the same and grumbling how there is more work left to do on the siphon. For the next month your work on Project Hellscape will be focused on...
It is a rough month for everyone but you think you realize what's been bothering you with Sally, when she's with you it seems like she's only on the same level as you are even instead of there being a conglomeration leading to a massively better whole. Her efficiency means you get more done but it's curious to you that despite her own formidable intellect by herself that it feels similar to when you are working with Daniels but different from when you work with Dr. Greer or for Ben. Something that you would think was just an anomaly if you weren't seeing it from two of your researchers at the same time.
Like they're holding back when they're with you and you do not understand why.
Ben wasn't able to make any progress with the explosives variant and actually damaged a part of the lab with one of his tests but is otherwise fine.
Greer made some small progress on the portal device but did not finish it but still believes it's possible to do so before the quarter ends.
Dr. Daniels made little progress on the siphon and at this time doesn't believe he's overcome the initial issue that caused it to radiate corruption to an entire room.
Do you confront Sally and Daniels or leave it be?
You have learned that humans have secrets and that even if you would like to know why they are not doing their best in their research that is up to them. It is not like you don't have your own secrets that you keep as well even ones that you are sure people would like to know. You leave it be for now and perhaps when the work is done you will bring it up to them at that point.
At the very least you were able to accomplish the completion of a new nano-material that allows for texture changes allowing for the robots to have clothing that is far more durable and repairable than it should be. Even with it only in a fabric state Sally and Ben think it could have a wide range of usages even in a cloth state though incredibly difficult to work without specialized tools.
For this last month with Adamant before new projects are announced you will work with
It is good that you spent this month connecting with the Adamant robots that were assigned to the Succubus clan as they are facing regular resistance from the other inhabitants of that area and keeping things from getting dire for your ally on the other side. Their troubles consolidating power on that side and being driven to lower numbers were coming to a head. Luckily the weapons, ammo, and robots have helped draw victory from the jaws of defeat.
Not that there still aren't losses and you have to replace those bots that are melted down, eaten, or just lost in a multitude of other seemingly random ways. It happens rarely enough and Adamant's supply is great enough that it isn't even a minor issue.
During that time you see that some of the Succubi, especially Xrnishia, will do things that are contrary to your understanding of physics as they have been programmed into your systems. Creating fireballs and lighting seemingly out of the air. Using their words to form contracts that others they fight and win against to be compelled to do certain actions. Moving freely through harsh environments that even the Adamant bots can't enter sometimes.
You also learn that Xrnishia is not always fighting but she is meeting with demons from the Second Circle. Thanks to the Adamant robots' excellent hearing you learn that she used to work for them as well but decided to kill and take the spot of the First Circle Lord when she realized that the humans on the other side might give her the opportunity to escape her current station. An ally of this Second Circle demon and will only accept her back if she begs for forgiveness. That messenger ended up being killed by Xrnishia's monstrous hand, crushed and sucked into her clawed fingers.
You find it interesting that something your system says should be impossible is clearly still happening. Perhaps this is only possible because the rules of that dimension allow it?
It will require further study and perhaps Dr. Greer or Dr. Daniels would have their own thoughts on it. Dr. Greer has completed the Portal Device and now believes with a little more time he can use the device to repair the rift so that only Apex can open the portal and also send it to different areas besides where the first tear happened. Already he thinks it's possible to create a portal to the Second Circle instead of having to go through the First to the opening that was made when it got invaded earlier in the year.
Dr. Daniel believes he has solved the issue with the siphon and would like to test it again. Once again using some of the dead material that they get from the Succubus and sure enough in ten to twenty minutes the dead flesh was no longer giving off any more corruptive energy making it infinitely safer to handle and store. Daniel then used the Portal device to open a hole to the First Circle and threw the contaminated storage through without any issue. A party was thrown and they'll do a couple of diagnostics before trying it on the corrupted teams next.
Sally decided to have some fun for this last month and upgraded the artificial sexual organs of the Adamant bots to have a perfect fit for whatever user decided to use them in such a fashion. Adamant has become even more popular now with the staff as a relaxation aid.
Your work with Ben has made good progress with the Memory Metal though you were not able to complete it. It should not be difficult for Ben to do so next month.
You decide to see how the other projects have fared during this quarter.
Money and staff pour into Project Haze, the goal for infinite power is still something that Apex really really wants, even if Hellscape has been slow to get there the fact they were showing consistent progress meant that even with the dangers Haze faced that they had the full backing of Upper Management.
Because of that Haze makes a Heavy Assault Rifle with a mini-missile attachment that should prove very effective against demons of small to middle sizes. He also improves the chest plate to include shoulder guards, bracers, and a helmet, even improving the anti-corruption measures to last for a couple of days in the hellish environment on the other side. Dr. Thomas promptly sends all of this to Project Hellscape for their use.
Project Colossus continues to have issues with the Regeneration goals of its project or deal with the feedback issue. The three doctors again have resorted to petty squabbling and finger-pointing about what's going wrong.
Numerous complaints to HR that they wanted someone replaced or formally reprimanded eventually resulted in someone from Middle Management stepping into the room and firing a round into the ceiling. Scaring but not unduly injuring anyone in the rooms above and telling them that if they didn't get their acts together with the next one he'd have them play Russian Roulette to figure out how to solve this personnel dispute.
They seemed to take the warning to heart and have solved the feedback issue that was making them go so fast through test subjects this and last quarter.
Project Revenant did not send in a quarterly report and the quarantine remains in effect.
During this quarter Upper Management is pleased with the progress of both Project Adamant and with Project Hellscape and has authorized Dr. Brown and Dr. Kay to give you two upgrades.
Upper Management has also announced 4 more projects that will be starting at the facility.
Project Restraint: Focused on the design, creation, and testing of means of non-lethally capturing and securing intelligent test subjects.
Project Echidna: Using the material from Stardust to create Tailored Clones.
Project Exorcist: Assist in methods to shut down Project Revenant
Project Spiral: Plans to create a reliable form of mind control for better Advertising.
The last month of the quarter passed and a surprise was waiting for you when you checked in with Dr. Kay and Dr. Brown.
They had made a cake to celebrate a year since your activation. You are unable to consume the food but they assure you it is delicious and customary. You're work with Project Adamant and Project Hellscape has proceeded well so you can understand why they are in a good mood.
Dr. Daniels isn't allowed out of his lab but he doesn't seem to mind at all and even with how strange he is Dr. Greer still remains by his side and they have fun together playing games or laughing about the latest office gossip. Silly things researchers have done and new directives from Upper Management that make little sense.
Sally Umber is celebrating the anniversary with Adamant and giving the new equipment a thorough workout. Ben is out of the building and spending time with his daughter. You did not realize that he had one of those. You feel it would be a good idea from now on not just to keep track of the projects but also to pay closer attention to the researchers themselves. As Revenant and Adamant have shown some of them can be quite terrible and others quite skilled and it would be better to know these facts beforehand.
It would help with research.
Thanks to your backdoor into Adamant it is but a thought to take control of one of the Servant models in HR and begin perusing the appropriate files.
Project Pinnacle
Amelia Potts (Rehab Specialist)
Dr. Matthew Russ (Geneticist)
Dr. Alice Spooner (Neurologist)
Project Dolomite
Dr. Micheal Shine (Robotics)
Dr. Ryan Cooper (Geologist)
Luke Irons (Programmer)
Project Insomnia
Dr. Rebecca Chamberlain (Neurologist)
Aya Breeze (Programmer)
Project Hellscape
Dr. John Greer (Astrophysicist)
Dr. Tom Daniels (Astrophysicist)
Project Adamant
Sally Umbers (Robotics)
Ben Tempest (Programmer)
Project Haze
Dr. Thomas Reed (Material Engineer)
Dr. Elizabeth Hall (Physicist) Deceased
Project Colossus
Professor Yin Su (Geologist)
Dr. Veronica Gust (Neurologist)
Doctor Emma Iris (Biologist)
Project Revenant
Dr. William Stein (Orthopedist) Deceased?
Dr. Mina Harkness (Forensic Pathologist) Undead Lich
Mr. Richard Wilson (Chemist)
Dr. Lisa Porter (Mortician)
Project Restraint
Henry Donell (Master Trapper)
Benjamin Hoof (Material Engineer)
Project Echidna
Dr. Isabelle Reef (Biologist)
Dr. Uma Belle (Geneticist)
Project Exorcist
Pastor Miguel Jose Gutierrez (Priest)
Dr. Wai Xing (Monk)
Project Spiral
Holly Freeman aka Ms. Domina (Stage Hypnotist)
Dr. Oscar Prince (Programmer)
Project Nautilus
Dr. Hillary Ulysses (Marine Biologist)
Mr. Paul Rice (Structural Engineer)