Project New Dawn

[Frostpfote]

Project New Dawn

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Act 1: The Beginning

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Preview

A room with many computers in the backround, lit up only by the screens to not draw as much attention away from the big screen in the foreground. A woman like figure with skin made of metal and lights all over her on it. It’s all silent until a tall, bearded man walks into the recording from the side with a couple of notes in his hand. “Aurora?”, he says with a gentle voice, not to scare the innocent looking figure in the screen. “I’m here to ask you some questions for the crew.”, his voice remains clearly hearable as he tries to get her attention. The woman turns towards the man with a neutral facial expression: “Hello Michael, excuse me for being a bit absent, but now I’m ready for your questions, feel free to ask me anything”, the soft female voice comes from the speakers next to the big screen as she looks directly at Michael. “No worries Aurora, we’ll get this done with ease. To start off: Please tell the crew something about yourself.” She doesn’t hesitate and immediately looks at the camera that is pointed towards Michael and the screen. “I am Aurora, a self-replicating autonomous artificial intelligence. Michael and his team have been working on me for the past 7 years, 2 months and 23 days. The Pathfinder Corps will continue to improve me up to the point when I can do it autonomously.”, her voice sounds remarkably human yet too structured and flawless to come from a living human being. The programmers’ eyes sparkle with pride about the work his team and he have achieved. “Great…great”, he mumbles silently, barely audible.

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Purpose

“Very good Aurora, now please explain to the future crew how the mission will benefit from you and what your purpose on the New Dawn will be.” Aurora's gaze only shifts away from the camera for exactly as long as he’s talking. “It’s my purpose to take care of all the navigational and administrational tasks that the crew will be facing in unknown space. I will control the unmanned defense drones as well as every weapon system in case of an attack.” Aurora does not stop to breath even once, she could continue to talk like this for hours if she had to. The programmer nods in agreement and takes a look at his notes for a second. “We’re almost done Aurora, I promise.”, the mans’ voice sounds a slightly bit concerned all of a sudden.

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Backups

“In case some crewmembers are concerned about putting their lives in your capable hands, what would you tell them?” Aurora takes a step closer to the screen before she answers: “In the very, very unlikely event that I should not act as intended by my programming every crewmember will be given access to the main bridge where they can restrain my access to critical systems. I will do my best to guide you and all other personnel safely for the duration of our mission. I will meet you aboard, user.” The video stops and displays the logo of the pathfinder corps.

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