He’d easily have been able to do that from his guard post, since he’d said himself that he had a lot of free time and free computer access. It would also explain why he’d act so ditzy if visitors interrupted him in the middle. There was also that period when he’d been replaced by the Russian guard – we don’t know what he was doing then, and I don’t remember what the story arc was when he was MIA.
Everyone who was at Annex One knows that Ira left on board Nick, and that they arrived at A-Sig. Being noticed is no longer his concern. Whether the rest of the SH offices know is somewhat irrelevant, since they’re all reality-blind anyway.
i’m really curious now… if Ira -is- te real deal, or just another drone.
i mean, do we know this big bad to even be “biological”, and not just an AI running a lot of droids? XD
Your idea is possible. Let me throw out three other ideas for extra paranoia:
1. The Greens are a clone family. Nick is related to them.
2. Mr. Green is a group mind not unlike Whimsy but his control over his bodies is stronger and they are all in touch with one another.
3. Mr. Green is indeed an ordinary human – or rather what TV Tropes would call
a BadAss Normal but there will come the moment when he can truthfully say to Nick, “I am your father, Luke!” and expect Nick to get it.
I believe in all 3 of these ideas simultaneously completely untroubled by the way they may contradict one another. ^_~
Take the coffee. Watch yourself to see if it has any effect.
If it tastes real but acts like decaf then you are in a cheap simulation, but if you do feel the effects that means someone is dripping caffeine into your IV so it’s an expensive simulation. Because we have already determined WHAT it is and now we are merely negotiating the price.
I must give Ira credit for maximizing the ploy’s chances by using a brainwashing sim. Some laymen might be uncomfortable with that kind of intervention, but trained professionals know it is actually super moral, for three reasons. First, it’s unethical to ignore the opinion of a legal adult who says they have never been happier never been happier never been happier. Second, all communication is a form of mental influence, and to ban communication via electrode is a violation of free speech. Third, the Mind Controllers’ Union board of ethics has not convened in 200 years, which shows that misuse of brainwashing is vanishingly rare.
Is Nick dead? They may have been asking Ginny to disassemble him specifically to provoke her into betraying them. It seems like it would be easy enough to get the files off whatever he has for mass storage without destroying him.
Fair points. Still, I expect a similarly hit or miss success rate from the more accurately paraphrased pickup line, “Would you like to go on a date? You seem to have plenty of free time now that I have imprisoned you for refusing to betray your romantic interest.” If you try a charm offensive like that and roll a natural 1, the gods probably curse you to never again take a form pleasing to the eye.
Rescue me, and keep me far from harm,
Rescue me, out of this funny farm.
‘Cause it’s only overdue
I know you, and what to do.
C’mon and rescue me,
C’mon, Ao, and rescue me,
C’mon, Ao, and rescue me.
‘Cause this mess is corporate wide,
Don’t you know you can only
Rescue me, let’s get a running start.
Don’t cave in, to Anasigma’s part.
‘Cause I’ma kinda overdue.
I need you, I need your help, too.
C’mon and rescue me.
C’mon, doctor, and rescue me,
C’mon, doctor, and rescue me.
‘Cause the helicopter’s set aside,
Can’t you see that help’s only…
Rescue me, and get me off this farm,
Rescue me, before we hear alarms,
‘Cause it’s phoney, and untrue.
I want you, and your help, too,
C’mon and rescue me.
C’mon, Ao.
Do it, Ao.
Move it, Ao,
Got it, Ao?
Don’t you know that I need you, Ao?
Don’t you know it’s baloney?
Rescue me, c’mon and lend your hand.
C’mon, Ao, and take a stand.
‘Cause you want to,
‘Cause you’ve got to,
Can’t you see through baloney?
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm,
Do it, Ao (do it, Ao).
Move it, Ao (move it, Ao).
Push it, Ao (push it, Ao).
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm,
Can’t you see that it’s baloney, Ao?
Rescue me,
Rescue me,
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm…
“not to mention, attempting to blow her (and sergio)…”
Uh… Maybe I missed that storyline…?
“…up using the very same Violet drone…”
…Oh. Right. That. Nevermind.
Trapping someone in a situation where they’re denied freedom and basic niceties and then hinging the return of those things on a romantic overture is absolutely creating and then abusing an almost cartoonishly uneven power dynamic.
Not even mentioning that last Dr. Lee knew, Mr. Green effectively had Nick at gunpoint.
Sweetheart can attest to this. Some of her elder packmates got their doctorates in their tens. (Do madtech dogs have the same lifespan as normal ones?)
I suppose that depends on how long they can forestall having their throats ripped out by one of their pack mates… or by any of a number of other creatures to be found in Polar North America.
But seriously, IIRC, Sweetheart is one of the older dogs of the pack, and she doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of aging. Even Muffin – the oldest one – doesn’t seem any worse for wear.
I don’t know if he could be Ira; could Ira have broken away from his job as security guard and not have it noticed?
Sweetheart knows, and word could have gotten around the Skinhorse offices by now. If this is the VR world, then yes, this is Ira.
I had more in mind his earlier adventures in the VR world, before the Great Reveal.
He’d easily have been able to do that from his guard post, since he’d said himself that he had a lot of free time and free computer access. It would also explain why he’d act so ditzy if visitors interrupted him in the middle. There was also that period when he’d been replaced by the Russian guard – we don’t know what he was doing then, and I don’t remember what the story arc was when he was MIA.
I’d somehow forgotten Constantine
Are we sure it was really a Russian guard and not Ira in a drone?
Everyone who was at Annex One knows that Ira left on board Nick, and that they arrived at A-Sig. Being noticed is no longer his concern. Whether the rest of the SH offices know is somewhat irrelevant, since they’re all reality-blind anyway.
And even if it’s Real Reality and not Virtual Reality, Dr. Ao could be just another drone.
Flirting senses tingling!
Flirting senses tingling!!!
i’m really curious now… if Ira -is- te real deal, or just another drone.
i mean, do we know this big bad to even be “biological”, and not just an AI running a lot of droids? XD
He could be a plant.
Which kind of plant?
Obviously a walnut tree.
Your idea is possible. Let me throw out three other ideas for extra paranoia:
1. The Greens are a clone family. Nick is related to them.
2. Mr. Green is a group mind not unlike Whimsy but his control over his bodies is stronger and they are all in touch with one another.
3. Mr. Green is indeed an ordinary human – or rather what TV Tropes would call
a BadAss Normal but there will come the moment when he can truthfully say to Nick, “I am your father, Luke!” and expect Nick to get it.
I believe in all 3 of these ideas simultaneously completely untroubled by the way they may contradict one another. ^_~
Don’t do it! Roasted walnuts make a perfectly good substitute for coff…
Nope. Go for the real coffee!
In VR, no one can hear you scream…. for real coffee.
So the way to a woman’s heart is through her coffee addiction? o_O
It helps with us guys, too.
I never thought I’d see a “Me Gusta” expression in Skin Horse, but now that I have, I’m surprised I didn’t see it sooner
Take the coffee. Watch yourself to see if it has any effect.
If it tastes real but acts like decaf then you are in a cheap simulation, but if you do feel the effects that means someone is dripping caffeine into your IV so it’s an expensive simulation. Because we have already determined WHAT it is and now we are merely negotiating the price.
That’s the kind of thinking I like
Ahh… but what if there’s something else in the coffee? If Dr. Ao is a drone, he could drug both cups of coffee and it wouldn’t affect him.
For the past several years, he has developed an immunity to iocane powder.
Sorry, only tangentially relevant, awgiedawgie’s comment made it spring to mind, had to get it out.
Oddly enough, that was exactly what sprang to my own mind as I was writing the comment.
But what if it’s evil coffee?
In that case this is a job interview at Davenport Labs and Ginny should negotiate to make the rescue of Nick part of her hiring package. ^_^
Ira, shooting a woman’s boyfriend and then asking her, “So, are you single?” works at most, like, 20% of the time.
I must give Ira credit for maximizing the ploy’s chances by using a brainwashing sim. Some laymen might be uncomfortable with that kind of intervention, but trained professionals know it is actually super moral, for three reasons. First, it’s unethical to ignore the opinion of a legal adult who says they have never been happier never been happier never been happier. Second, all communication is a form of mental influence, and to ban communication via electrode is a violation of free speech. Third, the Mind Controllers’ Union board of ethics has not convened in 200 years, which shows that misuse of brainwashing is vanishingly rare.
Is Nick dead? They may have been asking Ginny to disassemble him specifically to provoke her into betraying them. It seems like it would be easy enough to get the files off whatever he has for mass storage without destroying him.
Fair points. Still, I expect a similarly hit or miss success rate from the more accurately paraphrased pickup line, “Would you like to go on a date? You seem to have plenty of free time now that I have imprisoned you for refusing to betray your romantic interest.” If you try a charm offensive like that and roll a natural 1, the gods probably curse you to never again take a form pleasing to the eye.
Rescue me, and keep me far from harm,
Rescue me, out of this funny farm.
‘Cause it’s only overdue
I know you, and what to do.
C’mon and rescue me,
C’mon, Ao, and rescue me,
C’mon, Ao, and rescue me.
‘Cause this mess is corporate wide,
Don’t you know you can only
Rescue me, let’s get a running start.
Don’t cave in, to Anasigma’s part.
‘Cause I’ma kinda overdue.
I need you, I need your help, too.
C’mon and rescue me.
C’mon, doctor, and rescue me,
C’mon, doctor, and rescue me.
‘Cause the helicopter’s set aside,
Can’t you see that help’s only…
Rescue me, and get me off this farm,
Rescue me, before we hear alarms,
‘Cause it’s phoney, and untrue.
I want you, and your help, too,
C’mon and rescue me.
C’mon, Ao.
Do it, Ao.
Move it, Ao,
Got it, Ao?
Don’t you know that I need you, Ao?
Don’t you know it’s baloney?
Rescue me, c’mon and lend your hand.
C’mon, Ao, and take a stand.
‘Cause you want to,
‘Cause you’ve got to,
Can’t you see through baloney?
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm,
Do it, Ao (do it, Ao).
Move it, Ao (move it, Ao).
Push it, Ao (push it, Ao).
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm,
Can’t you see that it’s baloney, Ao?
Rescue me,
Rescue me,
Mmhmm, mmhmm, mmhmm…
—from “Rescue Me,” Fontella Bass. (Composer credits uncertain.)
Not to mention, attempting to blow her (and Sergio) up using the very same Violet drone…
“not to mention, attempting to blow her (and sergio)…”
Uh… Maybe I missed that storyline…?
“…up using the very same Violet drone…”
…Oh. Right. That. Nevermind.
Ugh… Uncool use or an uneven power dynamic Mr. Green. >:[
Offering to apologize over coffee? o_O
In this specific situation? Yes. Absolutely yes.
Trapping someone in a situation where they’re denied freedom and basic niceties and then hinging the return of those things on a romantic overture is absolutely creating and then abusing an almost cartoonishly uneven power dynamic.
Not even mentioning that last Dr. Lee knew, Mr. Green effectively had Nick at gunpoint.
Mr. Green, a creep? Why I never!
So you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.
Sweetheart can attest to this. Some of her elder packmates got their doctorates in their tens. (Do madtech dogs have the same lifespan as normal ones?)
I suppose that depends on how long they can forestall having their throats ripped out by one of their pack mates… or by any of a number of other creatures to be found in Polar North America.
But seriously, IIRC, Sweetheart is one of the older dogs of the pack, and she doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of aging. Even Muffin – the oldest one – doesn’t seem any worse for wear.