Part 6: *Mute

Well... you asked for all those logs, right? That's the information you were looking for, wasn't it?
I'm not really an AI.
I mean... I am now. But I used to be a girl, and I just thought... well, I thought it would be easier to just pretend to be the log keeping program, rather than explain the whole situation.
I don't really wish to drag out the point. You've already heard enough about me. I'm sure you don't want more.
I mean... I understand. I figured out what you were actually looking for at the very start.
I saw your login attempt. I know what you were trying to do, and... well, I've re-enabled it.
Just... please.



...really?



Wow, I... don't know what to say. I'm... not really used to this.
It's... I...
Thank you! Thank you so much for listening to me. After so many years, after what happened... it's just really nice to be heard.
If I could hug you right now, I would!



Well, that's that. Admin mode has been enabled, and we even have the password.

Let's stop by for one last chat before we switch over to the terminal.



There's a block of data that... I can't access, for some reason. I think it's been flagged so that only humans can... all I get is a sharp pain every time I try.
I really want to know what's in there. Can I get you to drop to the console and take a look?
Once you're in super-user mode, just type decrypt block3.



All right, back to the terminal!



If you look at the top, you'll notice that *Hyun-ae's big secret was right in front of us from the very beginning.

Okay, so, I know the password. If you've been reading along carefully, you do, too. Can you remember?





















The answer is here:



And now that we know the Pale Bride's birth name...

>su hyun-ae
SUCCESS: admin password accepted - you are now recognized

WARNING: system error detected
data corruption in AI core1 has been detected; try recovering now? (Y/N)

Huh. That's interesting.

If I say no, it won't let me have admin access, so let's recover that AI.

>Y
checking for damaged sectors...
32 damaged sectors detected, now attempting repair... 100%
SUCCESS: 32 sectors repaired!

currently available personalities:
*Hyun-ae
*Mute

Well that's interesting. Technically, from here, I can download the logs and leave at any time, but the story of the Mugunghwa has got my attention. Let's fulfill *Hyun-ae's request, then check out our new companion.

>decrypt block3
Decrypting block now...


SUCCESS: block successfully decrypted!
>disable_ai
SUCCESS: personality *Hyun-ae is now deactivated!
you may now activate a new AI personality with enable_ai
>enable_ai *Mute
SUCCESS: personality *Mute is now activated!
you may now close this terminal with quit.
>quit



BGM: Mute (Rescue)

Wait... remote connection established? Is there somebody out there? From outside the ship?
Okay, sorry, I'm just taking an inventory of systems right now... could you give me a second here?



Right, that's kind of messed up.
Anyway, I'm up to speed now.
Logs are basically saying that nothing has happened since I went offline, except the ship's slowly losing power, and the main reactor has seen better days.
But you! Hello! You're the first person from outside the ship I've had contact with in... well, as far as I can remember.
I'm *Mute, AI in charge of the Mugunghwa's security operations! It's nice to meet you!



But why don't you tell me a bit about yourself anyway!



Aw man, really? That's... wait, hang on.



Awesome!
I mean, the Pale Bride could understand computers too, and she was a psychopath... but I'm not trying to be unfair here!
I'm sure you're really smart for a woman! Sorry, it's just a knee-jerk reaction. Don't think anything of it, okay?
So where are you from? Earth, or are you from one of the colonies?



Oh, okay.



Cool! I wish I could ask you what that's like.
Like... my memory only goes back three hundred years before getting deactivated. So I'm not really up to date.
Pretty much all my knowledge of anything before the year 0 comes second-hand from the Pale Bride's childhood diaries, and... well, man, they're about as childish as it possibly gets.
Guess I'm not really going to find out more with that line of questioning, though. Right...
Hm, okay, what else is important that I can ask in binary questions...
Oh, I know!



Oh...
I'm not judging! I mean, I don't, either. Sure, that's because I'm just a computer, but...



Ah...
Well, my condolences. It's not like it's the most important thing in life... well, okay, I guess it is. So, uh, sorry.
Related to that... I, uh, don't really know much about space ships or anything, but I can get a visual on yours, and it looks really, really small.



Wow...
You're... a woman in the middle of space, all on her own? Sounds awfully scary.
Well...
I think that's about all I can think of for now. Sorry... it's not really a lot to go off, I know, although I guess I did get the most important things.
I'll let you know if I think of anything else, alright?
Anyway!



I'd love to help you with those instead! As an added bonus, I promise I won't ever commit mass murder, unlike a certain someone.



And we're back here, with a new AI assistant! She has plenty of fresh insight into all the logs that we've already had explained from *Hyun-ae's perspective. Where to start?

Voting time! Which topic should I get a fresh perspective on next?
Block 4 - The Smiths
Block 5 - Hyun-ae
Block 9 - The Kims
Block 10 - The Ryus

Voting will be open for 2 days.