The Stream is Silver (Matsu)

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had been traveling for quite some time. Mustafar was not close to the planet he had heard of. An entire world controlled by an artificial intelligence. Run only by droids. That was amazing, that was beyond anything Ultimatum had ever thought possible. He had always wondered at creating worlds run by a droid brain. Or taking organic controlled infrastructure and putting a droid in command. He had thought of sending an idea of that to Coruscant to see if the organics would be willing to make their systems more efficient.

Now though, now he was hunting for this world. It would be a whole new experience. It would not be long, the coordinates he had found had told him. Less than an hour, after a relatively long journey. He looked forward to this, more so than many things in the past. Definitely it would be a nice change to not deal with any Sith, at least he assumed not. The Dark Side was terribly irritating and Ultimatum had found that the personalities that had been attracted to it were only more so. He knew of one Sith that he actually enjoyed the company of that one was a Shard so he was almost a droid.

The Ship came out of hyperspace, the Forerunner quickly began moving to the surface. He sent ahead a message stating his ship ID and intentions. He did not want to make an enemy of such a marvelous thing.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

The asobi system was a nice place as she was working on things and the monitoring stations they had set up to make the advanced astrometrics lab function on the moon was a great thing as it alerted her. New ships entering the system as they were going toward Cryptium and its moons. All the work there with the droids to get them to work with the droids for their mining help in expanding as she motioned and started getting the course set. All the work they could do while Matsu gave a nod of her head contacting the AI core. "Cryptium Core, there are ships incoming. Do you have visitors?" She might not be in charge of it but the core was friendly enough for them... mostly. Usualy she was imagining it humored the organics more then anything as they gave it what it needed. "No I have no scheduled visitors, these ships however appear non hostile." Well that was good and she was using that time to get to the diplomatic Harlequin class and go meet them. The large ship with its observation dome to make out everything until some of her attention was on getting to the world from the inner parts of the system. "We'll be there soon, please alert for any changes from them so we can move the defense fleet if they try to escape."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum continued on his intended course, keeping droid precision to avoid deviation. As an AI he wondered what this other one was like. He had met other artificial intelligences before. He had been created alongside one, he had searched for an ancient one, he had constructed the frames for new ones. He loved the ability for artificial life to equal organics in almost anything. He had never been partial to organics, in fact originally he had been made with the intent of destroying all of them, committing genocide on such a scale as had never been accomplished by Sith. But he turned his back on those ways, recreating himself in a new form. He did not always appreciate organics, they were slow, inefficient, flaw ridden beings. But they were capable of things that a droid mind could not comprehend. In truth as an artificial intelligence he had had his original thought process and emotional matrices made similar to his master. That made him a hybrid, part droid part organic. He had of course completely changed his thoughts and emotions, restructuring them for his own ends, but that did not change the fact that he was not a perfect droid.

He was proud of his achievements nonetheless, though perhaps being proud was more proof of him being part organic. He had built ships that were run solely by droids, he had an entire company that ran on droids and mostly created droid controlled things. He had to deal with organics on a daily basis of course, as ruler of Mustafar even under the Galactic Alliance, a group that he had little interest in, he was at the pinnacle of the pyramid of command on that planet. The Alliance simply had their regional governors who were given lip service, but they had agreed to allow Ultimatum continued real leadership, so long as he did not step outside his bounds.

Perhaps his trail of thought was getting off subject. He did not really have to think all that much, as the Forerunner was also controlled via droid brain, which was at the end also controlled by Ultimatum. The fighter sized ship could practically run itself, Ultimatum just liked to keep an eye on things so as to avoid the potential disaster if something happened to the droid brain. He could begin control easy enough, manual was more interesting anyways, but he did not enjoy it as much. He could spend time thinking on other things, rather than focusing on flying. He could remember once floating outside a ship in order to see something that most organics took for granted. The marvels of the galaxy, the beauty that surrounded them more than even their vaunted Force. That memory was stored in permanent recall memory, ever ready to be picked up and saved into his HoloNet being so that nothing short of the complete deletion of the HoloNet and the destruction of every one of his bodies would remove that from him. He could not allow himself to forget that no matter how big a person got, they were less than atoms to the galaxy.

He sent another message to the planet, "Pardon my forgetfulness. My name is Ultimatum, I would humbly request permission to land. I would like to see this world, if you would allow it." This was one of the few times he had actually spoken to another artificial intelligence. He hoped that it would not be hostile.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

Matsu moved as they were making it through the asteroid field quickly, the drift charts easily obtained when your station gave them directly and she could see the planet in the distance with the force. THe droids invisible to her but she knew the AI and had worked with it before many times to well get them what they needed. She knew a few of the things could be strange but sending a message to the circle while it was there she looked at Harmony who was standing there and the HRD spoke. "Are you sure this is wise or needed, Cryptium always gives me the creeps." Matsu laughed a little at that though. "That is because he wanted to understand why the humans who made your body originally gave you everything normal females have... He was learning." The droid turned off the visor she had displays on. "We asked me if he could plug into my exhaust port." Matsu grinned. "See good times." The back and forth continued as she approached the planet and sent the codes for them to dock but could hear the AI as the massive domed city of droids was communicating with Ultimatium. "Proceed to visitors station, any hostile actions will be met with deletion."

 

[Ultimatum]

Deletion, such a term that an organic would never think to use, but all too perfectly fit to the situation. Ultimatum was not surprised by the statement. Straightforward, no need for the niceties that organics so desired. He had dealt with a Shard before and even it had required some decorum. Nothing had a mind quite like a droid, logical and without true worry of self image. He admitted to himself that he did have some of those flaws, as a creation by an organic he could hardly avoid some of those traits.

He followed the set flight plan to the visitor's stations. His ship's sensors were nowhere near strong enough to see the ships following his progress and coming through the asteroids. Ultimatum was unaware of the danger that would have followed and the quick death his body would have received had he decided to break his flight path. He stayed silent, thinking over what he would see on the planet's surface. The droids, the landscape, the technology. It would all be son interesting. He had created an imaginary concept that might or might not prove true. He imagined at what a society based on only droids, with little to no organic influence, would look like.

That made him wonder about the type of AI that ruled the planet. Was it the sort made for advancement, or for the goal of reaching self-sustenance. Either of which would greatly change the way that the AI would act to certain situations, Ultimatum imagined. He turned his attention to finalizing the landing procedures. He opened the cockpit even before the ship finished powering down its engines. He stood and looked around before stepping down onto the ground.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

Matsu continued as they came in and set down. The other ship was here and not to bad but there was always more to things while she motioned for some of the droids getting the cargo hold opened. "We don't have much but while we are here, metals and computer supplies." he imported them and looking at one fo the foreman droids it was motioning to the crystals and aurodium for what they needed. "Thank you." She was moving and wondering about the ones who were visiting as the machines all around her seemed confused mostly because they didn't know who or what it was just another visitor. The AI Core sending a burst to her wrist pad while she was moving to look around at the biodome and hangers. "I don't think they came this far to cause trouble but never know we have seen things." Some of the thoughts she had while Harmonyjoined her and they were walking down the pathways avoiding the tracks the carts and larger droids used to make a strong system. The mining droids unloading metals and ore for cargo containers.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum began moving about, trying to avoid getting in the way of those droids that seemed busy. He found it a truly wondrous place, he saw almost only droids. He wondered how well he would fit in here, his design probably made him stand out very well. He just walked, taking in the view. It was almost like walking through a dream for him, if a droid could dream. He wished that Mustafar could be like this, though he knew that was an impossibility. That planet was practically molten metal, he would need to cool the planet enough that the hostile environment did not melt most droids and then begin work on actually building anything. Then he would have to actually construct buildings using the metal that would then have to be reheated and shaped. In the end it was just too costly to be worth the effort at this point.

He noticed two people nearby, they looked female if he were not mistaken, he rarely was. There was something weird about one of them, just enough like an organic to probably be one, but not quite enough to convince him completely. Perhaps she was a cyborg, they were quite the fashion on some worlds he had heard.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

Matsu continued to move and she noticed something strange out the corner of her eye but she disregarded it for the moment while they were still walking. The tunnels and covers the droids still mined from were there as she walked around one of them looking over some of the droids. Vendor droids were selling some of the things and mostly as plating or attachments, new data packages they could have for experiences and some of them wanting to be more human as some of the other droids that came to visit. The more human ones of them could get synthflesh upgrades and attachments while Matsu looked at a few things. "See Harmony it is not so bad here, the Cryptium is helping." That strange droid as she got closer was vastly different mostly in plating and design compared to the more efficient designs of a city as some could stack and work on the alcoves to recharge. "The AI's ability on the planet has never been in question, its wanting to try and experience human interactions that it found on the holonet are what I do not enjoy." Matsu laughed a little to that and yes the holonet where the AI likely had several hundred million or more of information on human reporduction and how they can do it... as well as other species. SHe did not envy what it must have seen.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had been surprised by what he had seen. Nowhere else in the galaxy had he seen a place that sold products specifically for droids on such a scale. They seemed so much like the tourist spots on many other worlds, except this was for machines instead of organics. It was interesting. He did feel a compulsion to look at some of these stalls and contemplate purchasing them, however he knew better and stayed away from being sucked in. He wondered if this was how it felt for organics in their areas like this.

He continued walking, seeing the two organics walk by. He was a little interested as to why they were in this area, but then he was here to see other things. He was here to learn about a planet that simply could not be anywhere else in the galaxy. He looked for something that appeared to be an information terminal or droid. He did not want to get lost and he would probably need directions to where he wanted to go.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"He looks lost." There was the words from Harmony and Matsu turned to look at her while they were going over a couple of the things. "What do you mean?" She turned to see if there was something here and wondered. "The unknown droid model, it seems more curious here then it should. If it was a new model they were testing then it would have all the information needed to navigate. Instead it seems to be searching." She stood there as Matsu looked over to see him and was trying to see the expression of confusion or something but she did not know how to communicate with droids while some of the smaller droid were going around and she picked up some boxes. "We can see what he is doing or needs but first.... We should get you a new hair piece, that silver is nice but looks to sharp."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum walked for a few more seconds before deciding that there was no evident information droid. He was not too surprised at this, as he guessed that most droids knew what they were doing and what they wanted to do. He turned back to the two organics, walking towards them. He waited until they saw him easily and he could be heard over the moving of droids.

When at last he was close enough he spoke, "Pardon me, would either of you happen to know where I might find an information terminal or something alike to that?" Now that he saw both of them a bit more clearly he noted that the one that seemed strange appeared even more so to his sensors. Mostly metal, beautiful by organic standards he assumed. He guessed that perhaps she, or it, was not an organic. Maybe a droid, or a robot with an organic brain, a concept that had been used in the past if memory served correctly. He had learned about something somewhere where the organic brain was put in an otherwise droid body, he couldn't remember where or what though.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

Matsu and Harmony both looked at him and the first thing came to her mind.... Is there no droids smaller then me? She thought it as one of the roller droids came by and beeped looking at them almost like it was mocking her thoughts while she looked away from it and it continued on. She spoke though while holding her hand. "They don't really have information droids, most buy the programming discs for maps of the city and mining tunnels if they need it and usually they were made here." She was hoping that was helpful as the things they were selling looked quite nice for some of the droids. "I believe this is one of the occupants from the ships the cryptuim alerted us to." Harmony said it while she was standign there and some of the different photoreceptors for changing the color.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum listened intently, it made sense. Of course it would be easier to sell them in information packages or installs. That was logical, he was glad that the system was so efficient. He nodded as he mulled that over. It was when the second organic mentioned something about him being a passenger within a certain ship that he became somewhat suspicious.

"Is something wrong? I only just arrived and am curious about this world." He wanted to know what they were thinking, or course he could not, he could only guess at that. He was worried that perhaps he had violated some law, which was certainly not a good way to start. He wanted to learn, not cause trouble.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"Oh there is nothing wrong, it is just uncommon... rare even. Though I suppose if I thought like a droid there would be some statistical chance that would disprove the notion of it being a rare thing." Matsu said it and looked at Harmony as the HRD nodded somewhat. "Close enough for an organic, the chance is rare but not unheard of. The droids here that visit are from the mining ships picking up metals the AI has mined and trades with the more habital worlds beyond the asteroid field." Matsu looked over at her and made a motion with her hand that it was over her head while turning back to the large droid. "Though we can help you, Harmony here has it in good with the Cryptium as he likes to understand why her makers made her with silicone attachments that serve no purpose." She said it with a laugh and the silver HRD crossed her arms.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum wondered for a moment, the statements they had were quite interesting. To say the least. He wondered at what the joke was between the two of them... "I would appreciate some help, if you can spare the time. I am not from a mining facility, at least not one attached to this world. Though, I might be interested in trading metals from Mustafar here."

He looked to the HRD, waiting to perhaps hear a response. He did not know what these two were exactly doing here, but they were almost amusing to watch. The interchange was interesting, he looked forward to maybe getting to know them. He always found organics to be the most intriguing people to learn about. Their personalities were almost as unique as randomized Artificial Intelligences, and made it interesting to meet.

[member="Matsu Ike"]

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

"Well if you want to exchange mining materials here, it might not be the best. They buy droid parts and droids more then anything and sometimes other supplies but the mining groups would be interested and the Ai of the planet makes sure it is a beneficial deal all around." Matsu was moving and held up her hand to one of the scanners as the door opened with some more of the droids. "One of its meeting areas is this way," She motioned while Harmony was walking and looking at some of the rooms making droid upgrades as more of the human looking HRD's with synthflesh over it were being given their things. "Those are products from the dopplebangers, sort of a droid escort service." Matsu kept on going and Mustafar was a far off place, not many things came from there. "So what have you brought for trade, my mining company is always looking for new places of interest."

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum listened with rapt attention. These were important tips. Droids parts and droids. Things that he worked on often enough, they were in fact his main concern, he himself being a droid and most of his work force being of that kind. Producing more beside would have been child's play. Not something he would say lightly. Then the organic began leading the way. Ultimatum was interested in all the more human looking parts. He had never really thought of creating a body that looked like an organic, but the uses would be exponential.

His attention was diverted away from the distractions of the HRD parts back to [member="Matsu Ike"] as she made what sounded like a subtle offer at mining help. He admitted to himself that in truth outside help would be a good way to go forward. Most of his work still came from collecting the molten metal and refining that. The crystals and other rare minerals that lay hidden beneath the surface were more difficult to reach and he had limited access to the equipment really necessary to get any of that work done. He had gotten enough in the past to keep most parties pleased, but he had learned that there would always be more to deal with.

"I have not brought anything with me, but I do have information on the the majority of the metals that come from the volcanoes. That is our major sources, but we have not gotten far into the mining area. If you would be willing there are large stores of crystals and metals that are still untouched. I would be willing to work with you if you would like."

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

She was listening to him and thinking about it as getting down deeper she had been working with Vulps on Eol Sha and the fireworms they had fought. Now that was a fun time getting things set up and the thermal shielding they had dealt with she had access to with Phenex now. The Nirvana shields were made to dip into the sun. "We might have some ways to work with that, we have some mining droids and experience on volcanic planets getting crystals. The one planet here in the system the AI hells mine and developed a shield for plunging near the surface of a sun."

She kept walking as the area opened into a room and a display with the hologram representation of the AI appeared for them as she looked over it. "Evening Quiet. How is your father?" The image was looking at her and standing there as the hologram was looking at them. "He as you insist is fine, operations in the tunnels have increased and a new pocket of the hibridium crystal has been found. We'll be able to begin stealth field testing of it to help upgrade the units constructed by the As-Ski and aurodium production has increased with the new mining droids constructed."

Well that was good to hear as she looked at the AI and then at Harmony then looked towards the large droid. "This is well Cryptium's representative for visitors, it is good at organizing and prioritizing as needed some of the information and helps work out deals. She has a very keen business mind and knows what they can trade or offer for things." Matsu kept looking at her and brought up her datapad to the computer while the inventory of what they had been mining came up while she showed some of their other pieces. "We'll be able to begin work and testing on the converter miniturization with the madilon materials and a new reactor." That would come in handy for her and what she could think about.

 

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum turned his focus to the holo projection. It was quite fascinating, he had never really thought about making a solely holographic intelligence. Of course that was not possible at this point, there had to be a computer somewhere that allowed the projection to think and process information. He wondered about making himself a holographic body. But then again, what would be the purpose? He had a physical body, a lot of physical bodies. He did not require one that was not physical. He was part of this galaxy, he had to interact with the galaxy and that was much more difficult when you could not physically interact.

He spoke after a moment, listening to the organics speak with it first. "It is a pleasure to meet with you. My name is Ultimatum and I would like to discuss the possibility of making an agreement over trade."

He stopped and waited for a reply. He wanted to avoid that appearance of overly dominating, or assuming. He needed to listen, to control his almost overly willing voice. There was a balance that he had to maintain. It would be interesting to see what this would come up with.

He was thinking over what [member="Matsu Ike"] had spoken of. She had droids and experience, everything that would be required. He wanted to talk about that further, but it would have to wait.

 

[Matsu Ike]

[member="Ultimatum"]

The hologram seemed to be contemplating it as they were going forward and she had a look for a moment. "Trade is acceptable but we require new things. The audio sensors have you mentioning Mustafar and we require information from the droid facility there. It is unknown to us as is the old city archives on tython." The hologram looked at it as Matsu was taking in some of it and she had a few ideas having used the protoarchives but there was more and this could be a beneficial thing to their mutual advantage. "The informtion might be possible to get for trade, though I am curious what Ultimatium would like from here."