Imposter System

Chapter 31: Hackerman

That night was a bit wild for Matt. After having dinner later that evening, Alexis and Matt returned to their rooms. He didn't know what got into her, but she was fired up to go as long as his body could last. Unfortunately for him, Matt was still recovering from evolution and he was worn out rather quickly. However, his little brother didn't seem to be of the same mind. Matt could only assume that whatever Scorch had fed them earlier that day was laced with something.

It did not affect him because of his toxin resistance, but it seemed to really fire Alexis up. Matt wondered if Scorch had designs against the child, but he wouldn't do something so obvious. It was the fifth week of her pregnancy. The medication that she received and the advice from the doctor limited her 'dangerous' activities to the first trimester. After that, she would have to go on maternity leave and be extremely careful.

Matt didn't know Scorch's contact information and in order to contact someone through the communications system you needed their real name. Thinking about it, a nickname was very strong in this modern world of surveillance. Alexis had eventually been worn out and now she was fast asleep. He was close to leveling his Hypnosis and decided to target the night crew. Night time is when most of the engineers worked. This was in order to prevent repairs from interrupting day-to-day activity.

The most pressing matter right now are the engineers responsible for maintenance on the AI. The AI, or Artificial Intelligence, was created a few decades ago as the first ever 'true' AI. The reason it was called that was mainly to do with how it processed information. This was called AI-complete. Since in the AI world, intelligence is assumed to be computational, there were complex things like understanding language and dealing with unexpected circumstances while solving problems. These are things that required the human touch.

Essentially, the AI onboard the USS Odyssey was 'as smart as humans.' At least that was the advertised function. However, whether intentional or not, the AI seemed to not be as overbearing as the science fiction dystopian stories would lead you to believe. It seemed to understand its own existence as a tool for humanity and became a powerful assistant on the ship. Although it was able to solve problems, it still relied on human intervention to complete. Additionally, it would never attempt self-repairs and only allow the trained engineers to troubleshoot.

Strangely enough, Matt thought this made sense. The AI is like a professional in its own field. With the ability to think like a human, it seemed to understand the concept of professionalism. A doctor diagnosing and prescribing for themselves was generally frowned upon, so the AI not attempting to fix itself made sense in that aspect. This must also be a factor of their advanced problem-solving capabilities. Many humans are naturally going to be wary of AI because of the implications.

If the problem is 'how do I make humans accept my existence' a true AI-complete would be able to solve it without mass genocide. That was Matt's hope at least. Since the AI was willing to accept human intervention, winning the engineers over with his hypnosis would be very helpful. There were only two protocols that allowed for the AI to be disabled. First was a major malfunction. If the AI attempted to kill or maim a human without direct orders, it would be put on probation. If it tried to do it again, it would be considered a major malfunction and would be immediately deactivated.

The second method was power malfunction. The AI has its own power source separate from the ship's reactor. If the power source malfunctioned and endangered the ship or the mission, the AI would need to be disabled in order to shut off the power source and repair it. There was a third method that existed in the game which would not be possible as of yet. The AI player spawned in with control over various instruments. The first thing they would do is research and create a body for themselves.

Due to the restrictions of the body, the AI was completely bound in that mobile unit. Although it had access to the ship via its mainframe, it no longer existed as an information entity. If the mobile unit was destroyed, the AI was effectively shut down. In order to recover the AI, the parts which contained the AI's core functions would need to be installed onto the ship again. This was a very difficult and dangerous task. Destroying the AI's mobile unit was practically impossible unless you acquired the captains key card and turned the ship's self defense system against the AI.

Given these options, it was best to find a way to sabotage the power source. Of the three options, this one brought the greatest risk to the whole ship. The reactor that powered the AI was more powerful than the most powerful warhead from Matt's past life. If it went into full melt down, nothing could save the ship. Fortunately, there was an excessive number of safeties in place to prevent that. That being said, the favorite method of trolling in the game was to detonate the AI's reactor. This ended the game very quickly. Their method of choice was to naturally plant a nuclear warhead onto the reactor and the chain reaction would cause a marvelous explosion.

Matt arrived at Scorch's bar in the middle of the night and there were many engineering members sitting around eating their lunch. He sat at the bar and gave Scorch a suspicious look. The reason Matt came here was mainly to 'interview' the engineers, but it was also to figure out what Scorch was thinking feeding them that earlier. However, the man simply kept cleaning his glassware as if he didn't understand.

"Hey Scorch, why did you drug our food."

"I didn't. I drugged your drink."

"That's essentially the same thing"

"It's different. Did you have a good time?"

"I don't need your drugs to have a good time."

"I can see that. Why else would you be at my bar in the middle of the night instead of embracing your partner?"

"That"

Matt didn't bother saying anything because that was indeed the case. He took his water and walked over to mingle with the engineers. He used his hypnosis to ask around about how it is working the graveyard shift and he made fast friends. In Matt's past life, he often had to work these hours so he had some understanding of their situation. Seeing that he empathized with them, they were rather loose lipped about their struggled. Matt only needed to use his ability occasionally to pull some more sensitive information.

Eventually, he discovered a few engineers that were often getting in trouble. Someone even told him a story about a time he attempted to shut down the AI using a nasty virus. It was called 'Pandora's Box' and the more the AI tried to 'solve' the code and disable the virus, the more powerful it became. It was a logical progressive virus that would only become a problem if the AI attempted to learn from it. When he was brought to court, his argument was infallible. He had created the program as an advanced teaching aid and questioned the AI's intention of trying to 'steal' his intellectual property.

Matt was taken aback. There was a whole different world among the night crew than the day crew. He had never heard of these disgruntled people. Everyone in the science department considered the engineers to be glorified mechanics. However, this man was a genius. Whenever Matt tried to inquire about him, he gained proficiency. The other engineers were definitely not happy about his existence. This made perfect sense since he was essentially undermining them.

After several hours, Matt finally reached ninety-three proficiency and had very useful information. The engineer that everyone here had a grudge against for his attitude was the perfect 'ally.' Naturally, Matt wouldn't dare to actually treat him as an ally, but more of a subordinate. Or rather, a sacrificial pawn. Although his intelligence was frightening, Matt felt like he had nothing to lose. At worse, he would be a disgruntled employee and at best he would have the ability to disable the AI at key moments.

Matt went up to the bar once he felt like there was nothing else to ask the engineers and sat down with a satisfied look. Scorch probably overheard his conversations and probably knew what Matt was going to ask. However, it was his nature to not speak up first. Matt leaned forward and made eye contact with Scorch. His eyes glistened as he rested his chin on his hands.

[Hypnosis Activated.]

"Scorch, tell me what you know about Willard Nelsson."

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Okay guys, I was originally not going to release a chapter because I woke up an hour earlier and had to leave within the hour BUT I got the contract invite and decided to crank out this chapter since I felt a bit guilty that I wasted the day yesterday haha.

Anyway, insert Hackerman memes here I guess.