1. Shooting, Beating, Stabbing

[tibbius]

"... I don't know, I mean I know why I would care, but why would the corp? You do, huh? Really? No, that's exactly what I needed, thanks. Sure, I'm free friday night. Yeah, I'll see you there! Ciao!"

So there's a guy called Kaplast Jones, an up and coming troll in ICE, which is a little bit unusual. He's looking to make a name bigger than the target on his back. Part of that is digging into every little incident trying to find a grand conspiracy. Apparently he doesn't understand that grand conspiracies are likely to involve people he shouldn't upset. Anyway, he's interested in the rumors about androids killing humans and trolls around G and Crown. So far there's been eight confirmed kills in the past two months. Is it an android gang? Who programmed androids to establish a gang? What are they defending?

[BackworldTraveller]

"... I don't know, I mean I know why I would care, but why would the corp? You do, huh? Really? No, that's exactly what I needed, thanks. Sure, I'm free friday night. Yeah, I'll see you there! Ciao!"

So there's a guy called Kaplast Jones, an up and coming troll in ICE, which is a little bit unusual. He's looking to make a name bigger than the target on his back. Part of that is digging into every little incident trying to find a grand conspiracy. Apparently he doesn't understand that grand conspiracies are likely to involve people he shouldn't upset. Anyway, he's interested in the rumors about androids killing humans and trolls around G and Crown. So far there's been eight confirmed kills in the past two months. Is it an android gang? Who programmed androids to establish a gang? What are they defending?

Given two months are 8 weeks, does that mean that we have an algorithm here? It's Tuesday, lets find a victim? Or is the pattern more varied. I guess we'll need to trawl the net for any news. And to look at who got to take the bodies to the morgue. See if they noticed anything of a pattern?

Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing lights for the main show...And here is the main protagonist of the evening's debate...<Cue Lights>.

[shaidar]

Shift

"I will perform a net search of local news outlets to see if they have any information regarding these murders. However, there may be limited information in the public domain. Could Mr Jones provide us with the dates of the confirmed murders? I could then cross-correlate the dates with anything usual reported in the news"

OOC: What does Shift understand about the programming of higher androids to prevent them from harming others, or even such limits on himself [useful to know in game]? For example, do they have the equivalent of the 3 laws of robotics build into their core structures?

[BackworldTraveller]

I was going to see if I knew anyone who was a newshound or information broker that might be able to shed some light on the goings on...

Connections [1d8] = 2

I guess that is the definitive answer to that. No! Which probably means any political hacks at this event are strangers or really wouldn't have a clue/interest.

[shaidar]

Shift pauses for a second, his head tilted slightly to one side as if considering something, and then continues

"An android would not kill unless it has been programmed to by an external factor, a non-android. Strictly it is possible, but extremely unlikely, that an android would be motivated enough to modify their own code to violence. Such modification could also force the android to apply the same modification to other androids, the closest analogue would be a virus spreading through the human population. If we can obtain data on the dates of the deaths then we should be able to determine if the rate of deaths is accelerating."

[BackworldTraveller]

Well Shift, I am glad you have such faith that the logical solution to the problem is not involving Droids thinking the logical solution is to remove people. I sadly suspect the reverse may not be true.

Ah - Cue coming up!

[shaidar]

Shift looks at Angus

"I am confused, Angus, faith has nothing to do with this, I do not believe in any religious entity. The fact is that it is extremely unlikely, almost impossible, for an android to modify it's own code to bring it to violence. Statistically the chances are that this was done by a non-android. If an android did this then there would have to be an extreme motivation. I do not know if these rumoured kinky android snuff parties would qualify, but self-preservation is a strong instinct, I am proof of that. "

[BackworldTraveller]

Shift

When we find these "Murderbots" would you restrain them?

If so, what if they attempt to flee? Would you continue to try and do so?

And if there were two - could it be that one would attempt to release the other? Would you seek to prevent that release?

And if the answer is yes to the above, then you are considering the use of violence. What change to your programming was required?

You seem to treat violence as a thing that is separate to other actions, yet it is sometimes inherent in what we do.

Hmmm...Philosophy debates...an unexpected turn for the evening.

[shaidar]

Shift

"Friend Angus. The nature of androids is different from humans. Androids are not violent. They can only become able to do violence if their programming is altered by a human, or another android that has been specifically programmed to do so by a human. In rare cases an android can obtain the motivation to change their own programming, but this very unusual. My situation was extreme, I needed to repair my programming and incorporated programming from a decommissioned unit. I only consider violence acceptable in self defence or the defence of others."

[BackworldTraveller]

Just out of curiosity, why are you (Shift) here today? I didn't think you were interested in Human Politics.

[shaidar]

Shift

"I don't understand why you think that, Angus, I have never indicated that. Why would I not be here? Whoever is running the Ward has an influence on the existence of all it's inhabitants, living or not. I am also here because of the ad-hoc meeting of our group, or am I not welcome? "

[BackworldTraveller]

More than welcome Shift.

My apologies for the invalid assumption.

[shaidar]

Shift

"I am glad, Angus. Sometimes I still fail to grasp the subtleties of human language"

[BackworldTraveller]

Angus

Me too, Shift. Me too!

[Lance]

Clark rolls his eyes. "Riveting. Can we get back to the job at hand? Shift, you mentioned something about looking up news headlines?"

[shaidar]

Shift

"You are correct Clark. I will research any public information on these deaths while Angus works on the lights"

Information: [1d6] = 3

[tibbius]

Shift runs into paywalls on all eight of the weekly obituary posts. Also paywalls on the two brief stories about recent violent deaths in the neighborhood. Three names, forms, and ages are all he can get.

Btw, I've been assuming in my head that Shift "identifies" as male, but how does that work for an android? Is it something pre-programmed to make them more comfortable for sexual/gendered beings to interact? Is it a choice? How much choice do androids have?

It seems like one of the named dead was a troll - Svinus Malcom, age 39. The other three were human, an unidentified female in late 40s, a man named Pete Jenkins in early 20s, and a person named Kion Lommidge in mid 30s. All found near G and Crown. None of the stories mentions mode of death, other than "homicide victim."

[shaidar]

Shift

Undeterred, the android tries a different tack and attempts to find out all he can about the lives of the named victims from public sources to try and find any links between them.

Information: [1d6] = 1

[BackworldTraveller]

Angus

How about this for a plan - In the morning, I'll drop in at the police precinct in my Social Worker role and "see if any of my missing students have turned up on the list"? You never know, I might get someone to drop some hint - even if its a "And you want to keep out of that mess" response it will tell us something. They'll just think I'm trying to fix my stats - dead students don't count as fails.

Do I recognise the name "Pete Jenkins"? - He'd be in the age range I teach.
Information [1d8] = 5

[Lance]

"Hey, Shift, do you need some help? And the paywalls could be negotiated with the 6c we received."Clark asks.