Governor: Talking with the ship: Spoilers

“I am Captain Magnar Treschow,” the tall, raw-boned blond said from Murphy’s comm. His face showed virtually no expression. “I am the master of Bǐshǒu. To whom am I speaking?”

“Rear Admiral Terrence Murphy, Terran Federation Navy. I’m the senior officer of the task force which has just taken control of the system.”

“I see.”

Treschow had to be aware of just how…ticklish his situation was, but from his tone, Murphy might simply have observed that the sun was likely to rise the next morning, and his expression gave away nothing at all. He must be one hell of a poker player, the admiral reflected.

“I’m sure you can understand that I might have a few questions about your vessel’s presence in a purely military League star system in the middle of a war,” he said out loud.

“Bǐshǒu is a simple merchant vessel, Admiral. We take cargo where we are instructed to take it and deliver it to whomever we were told to deliver it to. What that cargo may be and what it may be used for is not my concern.”

“On the contrary, Captain.” Murphy allowed a stern edge into his own tone, “if you’re transporting war materials for the League, then you’re carrying contraband under interstellar law. And that means your vessel is liable to search and seizure by the warships of a belligerent power. That would be me and my ships, in this instance.”

“Hell Hearth would be very…displeased if our neutrality were to be violated in that fashion,” Treschow replied. “The consequences would be severe.”

“But Hell Hearth isn’t here just now, and I am. I also have my responsibilities and duties as an officer of the Terran Federation, and they supersede any obligation I might have to Hell Hearth. Your government will be free to lodge a protest and even demand reparations in an admiralty court, but that doesn’t change those responsibilities of mine right here, right now.”

“Then it is your intent to board and search my vessel despite my very strong protest?” Again, his tone was level, almost…disinterested, and Murphy hid a frown.

“It is,” he said.

“I cannot allow that.”

“Captain Treschow, you don’t have any choice,” Murphy said flatly.

“There are always choices, Admiral.”

This time Murphy’s frown made it to the surface. Surely the man didn’t mean—

“Admiral, Bǐshǒu is bringing up her fan!” Mirwani said sharply. “Estimate activation in six minutes!”

“Captain Treschow, shut down your Fasset drive!” Murphy snapped.

“No,” Treschow said simply, and cut the comm circuit.

“Shit,” O’Hanraghty said. “That idiot must have SCM balls! That or no brain.”

It is my belief that they are "talking" to recordings made by the Rish.

Nothing the "Captain" says is really specifically responsive to what Murphy is saying.

He's got "SCM balls" because he's not there, actually being threatened

GregD wrote:
It is my belief that they are "talking" to recordings made by the Rish.

Nothing the "Captain" says is really specifically responsive to what Murphy is saying.

He's got "SCM balls" because he's not there, actually being threatened

Consider the "conversation" Mr. Llyn had with Admiral Gensonne of the Volsung Mercenaries before he blew up his flagship, Odin, in the Danak system. After Llyn abandoned Banshee. Llyn and Banshee's Captain had spent considerable time in determining how to respond to any messages from Gensone, and recording responses.

[quote="Call to Vengeance chapter 32"

Unfortunately, those responses had to be fairly nonspecific, which was where the fancy software came in, choosing which message to use in any given set of circumstances. In a pinch, the software could also manufacture its own CGI talking heads if the pre-recorded messages weren’t adequate for the task.
[/quote]

At least Murphy saw through the attempted illusion.Gensonne didn't, with fatal consequences.

Haven't gotten that far [and won't for some time], but is there anything that would exclude the possibility that she's actually Rish, hiding behind an AI-generated image, and under orders to ensure that the ship is destroyed?

Which case, no balls at all

GregD wrote:[i]“I am Captain Magnar Treschow,” the tall, raw-boned blond said from Murphy’s comm. His face showed virtually no expression. “I am the master of Bǐshǒu. To whom am I speaking?”

“Rear Admiral Terrence Murphy, Terran Federation Navy. I’m the senior officer of the task force which has just taken control of the system.”

“I see.”
< snip >

[i][/i]

Louis R wrote:Haven't gotten that far [and won't for some time], but is there anything that would exclude the possibility that she's actually Rish, hiding behind an AI-generated image, and under orders to ensure that the ship is destroyed?

Which case, no balls at all

GregD wrote:[i]“I am Captain Magnar Treschow,” the tall, raw-boned blond said from Murphy’s comm. His face showed virtually no expression. “I am the master of Bǐshǒu. To whom am I speaking?”

“Rear Admiral Terrence Murphy, Terran Federation Navy. I’m the senior officer of the task force which has just taken control of the system.”

“I see.”
< snip >

A Rish using image altering software is also a possibility. Having to superimpose a human image over hers, and then using a translator to go from Rish to (Terran Language equivalent) would account for some of the behavior of Captain Treschow.

The Rish Commander was undoubtedly under orders to ensure that no one who got aboard Bǐshǒu without her permission left her alive. And doubly so for anyone who actually saw or physically encountered an actual Rish. Although that one shown eating Terran Marines would go at least part way towards that goal.

Louis R wrote:Haven't gotten that far [and won't for some time], but is there anything that would exclude the possibility that she's actually Rish, hiding behind an AI-generated image, and under orders to ensure that the ship is destroyed?

Which case, no balls at all

We don't know enough about their tech level to say.

But it seems unlikely. Since nothing that "Captain Magnar Treschow" says ever responds to what Murphy says.

“Bǐshǒu is a simple merchant vessel, Admiral....”

So, there he acknowledges Murphy's rank, but not his name. The first is easy to do with pre-recording, just do it once per rank. The second would be easy to do if it was a Rish behind a human "model."

“Hell Hearth would be very…displeased if our neutrality were to be violated in that fashion,” Treschow replied. “The consequences would be severe.”

Generic statement, easily recorded.

“Then it is your intent to board and search my vessel despite my very strong protest?” Again, his tone was level, almost…disinterested, and Murphy hid a frown.

“I cannot allow that.”

Again, easily recorded, selected, and played

“There are always choices, Admiral.”

Again, one copy per rank. A Rish in a human suit could say "Admiral Murphy", but a pre-recording can not

Not untrue, but also not as diagnostic as you seem to think: first, there's no reason to use Murphy's name in this dialog, and many live humans wouldn't. I'd be unlikely to myself - there's only one admiral at the other end, why should I bother specifying which one I'm talking to?

Second, you're positing a system smart enough to extract the rank from the introduction and trigger a specific set of recordings. A system that can do that shouldn't face any challenge inserting the name following the rank into the recording if it seems to be needed. Fairly simple speech recognition - the sort required to identify 'admiral' - with a name dictionary would be able to sort given and family name out.

Over all, I would agree that this doesn't have the feel of a live human. OTOH, that could be because it's a live human who knows he's already a dead man, so why bother?

GregD wrote:

Louis R wrote:Haven't gotten that far [and won't for some time], but is there anything that would exclude the possibility that she's actually Rish, hiding behind an AI-generated image, and under orders to ensure that the ship is destroyed?

Which case, no balls at all

We don't know enough about their tech level to say.

But it seems unlikely. Since nothing that "Captain Magnar Treschow" says ever responds to what Murphy says.

“Bǐshǒu is a simple merchant vessel, Admiral....”

So, there he acknowledges Murphy's rank, but not his name. The first is easy to do with pre-recording, just do it once per rank. The second would be easy to do if it was a Rish behind a human "model."

“Hell Hearth would be very…displeased if our neutrality were to be violated in that fashion,” Treschow replied. “The consequences would be severe.”

Generic statement, easily recorded.

“Then it is your intent to board and search my vessel despite my very strong protest?” Again, his tone was level, almost…disinterested, and Murphy hid a frown.

“I cannot allow that.”

Again, easily recorded, selected, and played

“There are always choices, Admiral.”

Again, one copy per rank. A Rish in a human suit could say "Admiral Murphy", but a pre-recording can not

Louis R wrote:Not untrue, but also not as diagnostic as you seem to think: first, there's no reason to use Murphy's name in this dialog, and many live humans wouldn't. I'd be unlikely to myself - there's only one admiral at the other end, why should I bother specifying which one I'm talking to?

Second, you're positing a system smart enough to extract the rank from the introduction and trigger a specific set of recordings. A system that can do that shouldn't face any challenge inserting the name following the rank into the recording if it seems to be needed. Fairly simple speech recognition - the sort required to identify 'admiral' - with a name dictionary would be able to sort given and family name out.

Over all, I would agree that this doesn't have the feel of a live human. OTOH, that could be because it's a live human who knows he's already a dead man, so why bother?

I'm assuming the Rish Captain of the ship was pressing a button to pick which recorded response to send back after each message comes in to her ship.

Seems simplest

Ah! I see.

Had assumed you were thinking of an unmanned system.

Not sure I would agree with simplest, but certainly simple enough.

GregD wrote:

Louis R wrote:Not untrue, but also not as diagnostic as you seem to think: first, there's no reason to use Murphy's name in this dialog, and many live humans wouldn't. I'd be unlikely to myself - there's only one admiral at the other end, why should I bother specifying which one I'm talking to?

Second, you're positing a system smart enough to extract the rank from the introduction and trigger a specific set of recordings. A system that can do that shouldn't face any challenge inserting the name following the rank into the recording if it seems to be needed. Fairly simple speech recognition - the sort required to identify 'admiral' - with a name dictionary would be able to sort given and family name out.

Over all, I would agree that this doesn't have the feel of a live human. OTOH, that could be because it's a live human who knows he's already a dead man, so why bother?

I'm assuming the Rish Captain of the ship was pressing a button to pick which recorded response to send back after each message comes in to her ship.

Seems simplest