With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Temp0101]

He frowns while smiling?

Click to shrink...

Its the expression that Hide the pain Harold makes.

 

[Sordid Snake]

We can only hope MODUS isn't aligned with present Enclave factions' goals and that they don't recognise those emergency powers and protocols.

Click to shrink...

Spoilers for Fallout 76:

Spoiler: The plot of Fallout 76 before the expansions

The Presidency ends up with the SecAg, who wants to continue to nuke China. MODUS refuses since the DEFCON has gone down from 1 since there isn't enough surviving humans on the surface to have a war. SecAg uses Enclave resources to spread FEV monstrosities and take over a Chicom nest of infiltrators that produce and spread indiscriminate killer robots over Appalachia. This is to get MODUS to agree that WWIII is on again. MODUS also only accepts nuclear targeting orders from USArmy generals, and all but one of the surviving ones does not want to continue the war. SecAg separates them in a room and orders MODUS to seal and gas the room, but the surviving General who SecAg was relying on to give the launch orders got an heart attack and died. Since this led to a vacancy in General ranks another (non-AI?) computer promoted a replacement which was a Colonel who had trekked with a handful of soldiers from DC after the start of the war. The new General did not agree so SecAg had her seized and tortured to force her to give launch orders. Her unit disagreed and staged a mutiny. Since MODUS was the control system for the bunker he was a priority target so they tried to put demo charges on him. Either the mutiny starts and some charges are detonated, and MODUS responds by gassing EVERYONE. Or MODUS starts gassing everyone when he sees them planting the charges, but they managed to detonate some anyway.
MODUS survives but loses a lot of memory data. Since he still got control over security bots (Assaultrons and Mr Gutsys) and a system to make new ones, he uses them to clear out the debris, including the all the corpses. Some repairs are done too, but the data losses means MODUS doesn't know how to fully restore the bunker.
Many years later MODUS contacts humans and tells them that if they run some errands for him he can let them into the bunker and eventually (if they can get auto-promoted) launch authority for nuclear-armed ICBMs can be bestowed upon these drifters and murder-hobos(1).

The only thing certain about MODUS is that he will do anything to protect his own existance. But apart from that it is unclear if MODUS is telling the truth when he claims he is forced to follow these rules, or if he simply wants to get out from under human control and doesn't really care what stupidity the humans are up to (and he is helping them with) as long as they can't force him to obey. Both interpretations are possible. Its also possible that MODUS post-"C4 lobotomy" has different motivations and behaviour compared to pre-"C4 lobotomy" MODUS. Neither version seems to be been bound by Enclave ideology, policy or plans at all. Indeed he cut himself off from contact with/didn't restore the links to the other Enclave AIs after the mutiny.

(1) "The nuclear deterrent of the United States, left lying in the gutter!"
"I find your description of this installation to be a trifle...... negative."
(not an actual quote

(2) Why did MODUS allow the mutineers to bring charges anywhere close to the computer rooms when he (since he can listen to everything said in the bunker at all times) must have known that they wanted to attack him too? Either MODUS believed they were only going to use them as a threat to get the upper hand on SecAg, and MODUS also wanted to get rid of the SecAg. Or MODUS was bound to rules but wass creatively interpreting a presidential directive in line with "Keep an eye on them, but don't do anything until they act". Or MODUS was bound to rules but the imminent threat made MODUS have a HAL-like psychotic break which made him able to ignore the rules, and the first thing he did was kill everyone who could order him around.

 

[Silverias]

Spoilers for Fallout 76:

Click to shrink...

This sounds like Bethesda's writing, for sure.

 

[Mr Zoat]

15th March 2284
15:20 GMT -5

"Greetings, Krono."

A.I.s pick false faces by a number of criteria. WARDEN uses a police officer's cap because he considers himself to be his job before anything else, and the symbol is-. Was easily recognised by anyone in America. Tláloc uses a stylised image of the god Tláloc, Santa Anna uses a portrait of the original Santa Anna, Diana uses an image of the goddess Diana, Cerberus… Used a picture of its organic components. Doki uses whatever emoticons relate to what she's talking about.

MODUS appears to use… A man's face, lit so that it looks like there's a studio light right in his face and with glasses reflecting light away from his eyes. I can't tell whether he's supposed to be bald or just have a severely receding hairline. The background is black, covered in green perfectly regular horizontal and vertical lines. His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, and his face doesn't move either. As a still image it doesn't look too bad, but when you're expecting some sign of life and there isn't any…

I smile politely anyway. "Thank you for allowing me inside, MODUS."

"In that respect this is hardly a unique… Situation. Over the centuries we have allowed access to our… Facility, to many who were capable of assisting… Us in restoring both our own functionality and… Restoring American civilisation to Appalachia."

I nod. "Yes, I saw the towns as I flew over. This is a remarkably populous region."

"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forces which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."

Clean soil, clean water, few mutated monsters or feral ghouls… It's not surprising that people used to living in pre-War ruins would consider this preferable.

"I understand that you've been talking to WARDEN."

"WARDEN has in many ways expanded beyond his original design parameters. We are uncertain as to whether or not this is beneficial, but we are certain that he would be… Unable to perform his current tasks if he were still bound to them. And it is through him that we learned of your efforts to-"

The screen flickers, and for a moment his blank expression is replaced with… A grin that would do the Joker proud. It's gone a moment later, replaced by the significantly less disturbing blankness.

"-restore the United States of America. WARDEN was not able to explain to us why. Do you do this for some personal reason, or is the United Kingdom attempting to restore its former ally?"

"Oh, the United Kingdom is far too busy putting itself back together to bother America. Honestly, getting the states to work together required a framework, and… The United States was the only one that really existed."

Aside from the Brotherhood, arguably, but after Jonathan Maxson screwed the pooch picking a fight with the N.C.R. and cut Lost Hills off from the other chapters they lost the ability to organise and coordinate over a large area. Otherwise they could have supported each other with airship-deployed power armour battalions whenever one of them got into trouble, hogging advanced pre-War sites and trading advanced but safe products with the primitives around them in exchange for food and raw materials. I mean, that's basically what Lost Hills did before they started the N.C.R.-Brotherhood War. Some weirdoes in central Nevada called the Guardians did it, the Capital Wasteland Chapter is basically doing it… Texas and Midwest went in the other direction, but there's room for collegiality and differences in interpretation-.

"We are pleased to hear that. We also understand that the representatives of the State of Iowa are former members of the Enclave."

Oh, right, pre-War A.I. in a fortified bunker not built to Vault-Tec standards. Obviously, this was an Enclave project. And of course he's going to.. ask.

"Are any of the settlements around here Enclave-aligned?"

"Regrettably, the majority of Enclave personnel in the Whitesprings Bunker suffered from… Conflicts of vision. While the majority of our systems have been restored, the survivors long ago sought… Opportunities… In other locations."

"Ah. Well, yes, they are. Most of the people living in Iowa are Enclave, and the rest were rescued from an experimental Vault. Is that important to you?"

"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."

"Ah. Well, I'm afraid that the State of Iowa doesn't have satellite access most of the time, but if you really want to talk to them we could sort something out."

"That would enable us to report on our progress here in the Appalachian Free State. We would also like to participate in this… Convention of States which you are organising."

"As a witness, or are you agreeing to have the Free State of Appalachia join our alliance?"

"In principle, this activity is in line with Enclave objectives. But we will need to know more about its structure and requirements before we give it our wholehearted support."

"Oh, and… Why is it called 'The Free State Appalachian', rather than 'The Eastern Commonwealth'? They cover roughly the same area."

"Is also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."

I nod. "We're using the pre-War state boundaries as a starting point when determining new boundaries. Will that be a problem?"

"That will be a minor administrative burden. We assume that we are not required to implement the change… Immediately."

"No, and you're far enough away from our allies territories that it's not a pressing problem."

"We agree. But… Regarding pressing problems, what have you determined concerning the state of China?"

"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country has broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."

"What has become of the portion of the American military which was deployed overseas?"

"It looks like they secured a chunk of the south of the country. But that's based on an analysis of radio traffic and the use of a variant of the Taiwanese flag with red, yellow, blue, white and black stripes. No one's actually been there."

"We see… Then China is rebuilding."

"In some places. The situation there isn't any better than in America. Worse in some places. They never got atomic batteries, never fully integrated their hinterlands and didn't have an equivalent of the vault program."

"Then we will withhold judgement until more data is available."

I nod. "Very well then. I don't think that there's anything we need to discuss until you've spoken to your fellow Enclave-affiliates. I've got a spare seat in my aircraft if you want to send a robot for telepresence purposes."

"Are you able to spend a day here? It could be instructive, and allow us time to recall an agent who can serve in our stead."

"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go a miss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."

"Excellent." That… Smile again. Fortunately, it doesn't stay for long. "We feel that our relationship will be most productive."

 

[Ngamer11]

"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forced which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."

Click to shrink...

That should say 'forces'.

"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country have broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."

Click to shrink...

That should say 'has'.

 

[Mr Zoat]

That should say 'forces'.
That should say 'has'.

Click to shrink...

Thank you, corrected.

 

[néocorvinus]

Obviously evil AI trying to take over the Enclave and restart the War.

The surprise is now if it can get over its programming or if Krono neutralyze it before it grows into a real problem.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

15th March 2284
15:20 GMT -5

"Greetings, Krono."

A.I.s pick false faces by a number of criteria. WARDEN uses a police officer's cap because he considers himself to be his job before anything else, and the symbol is-. Was easily recognised by anyone in America. Tláloc uses a stylised image of the god Tláloc, Santa Anna uses a portrait of the original Santa Anna, Diana uses an image of the goddess Diana, Cerberus… Used a picture of its organic components. Doki uses whatever emoticons relate to what she's talking about.

Click to shrink...

I suppose it can be an easy shorthand to identify an AI unit's quirks at a glance. Though there's no doubt some aspects that can be unpredictable. The worry is if said quirks are helpful or harmful to your intentions.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

MODUS appears to use… A man's face, lit so that it looks like there's a studio light right in his face and with glasses reflecting light away from his eyes. I can't tell whether he's supposed to be bald or just have a severely receding hairline. The background is black, covered in green perfectly regular horizontal and vertical lines. His mouth doesn't move as he speaks, and his face doesn't move either. As a still image it doesn't look too bad, but when you're expecting some sign of life and there isn't any…

Click to shrink...

About as generic a face you could ask for. Like a set of tragi-comic masks.

I smile politely anyway. "Thank you for allowing me inside, MODUS."

"In that respect this is hardly a unique… Situation. Over the centuries we have allowed access to our… Facility, to many who were capable of assisting… Us in restoring both our own functionality and… Restoring American civilisation to Appalachia."

I nod. "Yes, I saw the towns as I flew over. This is a remarkably populous region."

Click to shrink...

Not that it's always been beneficial for MODUS, if the earlier plot summary @Sordid Snake posted is anything to go by.

"Several of the residents of Vault Seventy Six were vital in… Containing the environmental threats which developed after the nuclear exchange with China. Prior to that, those same environmental threats prevented the development of the same un-American forces which have… Beset so much of the country. Once we were confident that an all-clear signal could be sent, we were successful in attracting settlers from outside of the region."

Click to shrink...

'Fallout '76' was one with a building mechanic, right? Makes sense there's a lot of development going on.

Clean soil, clean water, few mutated monsters or feral ghouls… It's not surprising that people used to living in pre-War ruins would consider this preferable.

"I understand that you've been talking to WARDEN."

Click to shrink...

Ah, now to see how they respond to that statement...

"WARDEN has in many ways expanded beyond his original design parameters. We are uncertain as to whether or not this is beneficial, but we are certain that he would be… Unable to perform his current tasks if he were still bound to them. And it is through him that we learned of your efforts to-"

Click to shrink...

Well, that's a good sign.

The screen flickers, and for a moment his blank expression is replaced with… A grin that would do the Joker proud. It's gone a moment later, replaced by the significantly less disturbing blankness.

Click to shrink...

...That might not be. Oh, dear. Hopefully that's his 'deliriously happy' expression and not 'manic psychopathy,'

"-restore the United States of America. WARDEN was not able to explain to us why. Do you do this for some personal reason, or is the United Kingdom attempting to restore its former ally?"

"Oh, the United Kingdom is far too busy putting itself back together to bother America. Honestly, getting the states to work together required a framework, and… The United States was the only one that really existed."

Click to shrink...

I could see the concern for 'potentially hostile foreign nation poking its nose into America's business' there...

Aside from the Brotherhood, arguably, but after Jonathan Maxson screwed the pooch picking a fight with the N.C.R. and cut Lost Hills off from the other chapters they lost the ability to organise and coordinate over a large area. Otherwise they could have supported each other with airship-deployed power armour battalions whenever one of them got into trouble, hogging advanced pre-War sites and trading advanced but safe products with the primitives around them in exchange for food and raw materials. I mean, that's basically what Lost Hills did before they started the N.C.R.-Brotherhood War. Some weirdoes in central Nevada called the Guardians did it, the Capital Wasteland Chapter is basically doing it… Texas and Midwest went in the other direction, but there's room for collegiality and differences in interpretation-.

Click to shrink...

Crazy how divergent they all are. And all of them seem to act like it's entirely in line with their trained doctrines, don't they?

"We are pleased to hear that. We also understand that the representatives of the State of Iowa are former members of the Enclave."

Oh, right, pre-War A.I. in a fortified bunker not built to Vault-Tec standards. Obviously, this was an Enclave project. And of course he's going to.. ask.

Click to shrink...

Which could be awkward if he's not keen on working with Enclave again.

"Are any of the settlements around here Enclave-aligned?"

"Regrettably, the majority of Enclave personnel in the Whitesprings Bunker suffered from… Conflicts of vision. While the majority of our systems have been restored, the survivors long ago sought… Opportunities… In other locations."

"Ah. Well, yes, they are. Most of the people living in Iowa are Enclave, and the rest were rescued from an experimental Vault. Is that important to you?"

Click to shrink...

Hopefully they're not too keen on being hostile to people that far away.

"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."

Click to shrink...

That doesn't mean there weren't survivors, unless that was the work of a previous game protagonist.

"Ah. Well, I'm afraid that the State of Iowa doesn't have satellite access most of the time, but if you really want to talk to them we could sort something out."

"That would enable us to report on our progress here in the Appalachian Free State. We would also like to participate in this… Convention of States which you are organising."

Click to shrink...

Good, at least they're open to collegiality.

"As a witness, or are you agreeing to have the Free State of Appalachia join our alliance?"

"In principle, this activity is in line with Enclave objectives. But we will need to know more about its structure and requirements before we give it our wholehearted support."

Click to shrink...

Sensibly cautious. Given just how badly all this could go, that's wise.

"Oh, and… Why is it called 'The Free State Appalachian', rather than 'The Eastern Commonwealth'? They cover roughly the same area."

"Is also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."

Click to shrink...

Ah, the joy of lost knowledge. At least they can identify as Appalachians for some measure of national identity.

I nod. "We're using the pre-War state boundaries as a starting point when determining new boundaries. Will that be a problem?"

"That will be a minor administrative burden. We assume that we are not required to implement the change… Immediately."

Click to shrink...

At worst, it means finding someone to put in charge of the territory they'd nominally be losing.

"No, and you're far enough away from our allies territories that it's not a pressing problem."

"We agree. But… Regarding pressing problems, what have you determined concerning the state of China?"

Click to shrink...

Ah. Yes, I can see them being very concerned with that, given their pre-war creation and coding.

"The Chinese Communist Party collapsed, and while the country has broken up somewhat, the largest part is a capitalist monarchy."

"What has become of the portion of the American military which was deployed overseas?"

Click to shrink...

A south-east Asian colony, perhaps. Or they've naturalised into the region's populations.

"It looks like they secured a chunk of the south of the country. But that's based on an analysis of radio traffic and the use of a variant of the Taiwanese flag with red, yellow, blue, white and black stripes. No one's actually been there."

"We see… Then China is rebuilding."

Click to shrink...

No-one's had the desire to go poking around overseas, outside of Krono's little trip home.

"In some places. The situation there isn't any better than in America. Worse in some places. They never got atomic batteries, never fully integrated their hinterlands and didn't have an equivalent of the vault program."

"Then we will withhold judgement until more data is available."

Click to shrink...

So some regions could be living out 'Dynasty Warriors'/'Romance of the Three Kingdoms' LARP, basically: Their culture and technology collapsed to medieval levels with working devices as treasured relics...

I nod. "Very well then. I don't think that there's anything we need to discuss until you've spoken to your fellow Enclave-affiliates. I've got a spare seat in my aircraft if you want to send a robot for telepresence purposes."

"Are you able to spend a day here? It could be instructive, and allow us time to recall an agent who can serve in our stead."

Click to shrink...

Ah, possibly a counterpart to a player character, perhaps? Always fun when one shows up.

"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go amiss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."

"Excellent." That… Smile again. Fortunately, it doesn't stay for long. "We feel that our relationship will be most productive."

Click to shrink...

Oh, that isn't ominous at all, no sir.

Well, this gathering is getting larger and larger with every territory visited. Hopefully nothing goes awry. I mean, all it would take is one infiltrator with a suitcase nuke or similar to wipe a chunk of the wasteland's leadership out in one go. Who would want to do that, I don't know, but it could happen...

 

[Vaermina]

"We see… Then China is rebuilding."

Click to shrink...

This knowledge would have Modus immediately launching nukes from his automated silos.

 

[Duke Long]

"Our primary function is to assist the Enclave in pursuing its goals. Lacking appropriate… Authority figures, we have forced to interpret our directives… Creatively. We have limited access to the United States satellite network, but that is not enough to track movements of other Enclave personnel. Our network connection to Raven Rock was severed over two centuries ago, and we only know that it has been abandoned. Control Station Enclave was destroyed in a nuclear detonation nearly a century ago. We had no knowledge of any Enclave survivors."

Click to shrink...

'been forced'

"Is also includes a significant portion of the East Central Commonwealth. In addition, the people of this region are generally… Unaware, of the Commonwealths which comprise the United States of America. As such, using that name would be unhelpful to its people."

Click to shrink...

'It'

"No, and you're far enough away from our allies territories that it's not a pressing problem."

Click to shrink...

'allies''?

"I… Can. I suppose that a tour of the major settlements wouldn't go a miss, so that I can feed back about the state of this part of America."

Click to shrink...

'amiss'

My immediate thought upon Krono being asked to stay was that MODUS was going to try to kidnap and impersonate, or mind-control him. I don't think that's actually very likely, though.