Summary:Peter has a couple of friends over to look at his tech. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's not a dastardly plan or an evil plot. It's…well, it's a not-evil plot.
He took a deep breath, then texted Helena. "I'd like to show you something at the lab. Would you like to come over to the house?"
Click. Send. New text. "Riri, I'm working on something new and i'd like you to take a look at it. Do you mind coming to Queens? I'm at 20 Ingram Street, Forest Hills."
Click. Send. Annnd hope no one drops a brick when they find out it's all a plot.
Of the not-evil variety.
Riri took the subway. It was probably best not to fly there, due to issues like attracting attention, lack of secure armor storage, and the fact that she'd leave inch deep boot prints on Pete's back laws on landing. As such, she'd bagged up a few things she wanted to tinker with and/or show off, swiped her SI issued MTA pass, and headed to Queens. A few train changes and some walking, and the teen clad in shorts and a Captain Marvel tank top, backpack slung over her shoulder, is knocking on a door.
For most trips to Peter's, Helena sticks with her motorcycle. It's easier to park, draws less attention, and doesn't make Aunt May give her that weird look. All wins in her book. So she rides up to the curb in front of the Parker residence, kicking down the kickstand and pulling off her helmet and jacket to stuff them in a secure compartment. Safety first!
As she starts to jog up the steps and finds someone already there though, a wry smile curves. "Hey," she greets, staying a couple of steps back with one hand in the pocket of her jeans. "Here for Peter?" The kid makes friends, after all.
Peter opens the door and sees both of them here. Wow. He was kinda hoping one might show up before the other, but that's the Parker Luck for you. He smiles sheepishly. "Come on in."
He closes the door behind them as they enter, then smiles. "You're…probably wondering why I've called you here tonight. Riri Williams…I want to introduce you to a lady who has billions of brain cells and all of them MENSA members. I'd like you to meet Helena Wayne, a woman of intuitive mind and questionable taste in boyfriends."
*STUPID MOUTH!*
Quickly, he continues, "Helena, I want you to meet the smartest person I've ever met, Riri Williams."
Riri jumps a little at Helena's question, tilting her head a bit to one side. "Uh… Yeah." She shifts a bit, backpack swaying with a dull metallic clank. There's something /heavy/ in there. Fortunately, Pete saves her from any awkwardness by opening the door and inviting them in. she nods along with the introduction, stifling a snicker at the momentary foot swallowing. "Nice to meet you, Helena. I met Peter back before I kind of literally dropped out of ESU. We were scavenging tech from the same dumpster."
"Peter's exaggerrating," Helena smirks, though she offers out a hand to Riri. "Nice to meet you, though. Dropped…out of ESU?" she asks, quirking a brow as she looks between her and Peter. "Everything okay?" Because of course the first thing to do is offer to fix it otherwise.
She makes sure the door is closed behind her, then peeks around the living room toward the kitchen. "Aunt May out?" she asks Peter. "Don't want to be rude and not say hello if she's here." The snacks pipeline might get cut off!
Peter smiled sadly. "Her hip started acting up, so a friend took her to the Urgent Care. I offered to take her, but she told me to 'go talk to that girlfriend of yours, I haven't seen her in over a week.'" He looks a little chastened. "I thought about arguing the point, but took one look at her face, and then I CAME TO MY SENSES." He points towards the back of the house. "She did say she left something downstairs…"
He paused, maybe for dramatic effect.
"…in the LAB."
…Oh yeah. Shaking hands is a thing people do. Riri obliges, following Pete through the house as she explains. "No… I kind of literally dropped out. Of a window." The backpack is placed on the kitchen table, and Riri extracts a rather familiar looking helmet from it before putting the bag back on. It looks kind of like Iron man's helmet, but in the battleship grey of Ironheart, along with the extra antenna clusters. And rather significantly more plating along the jaw and sides than the last time Pete saw it, or any of Helena's intel. "Guess we should go downstairs, then."
"That all sounds like Aunt May," Helena agrees with a laugh to Peter, leaning in to brush a kiss to his cheek. "Well, I was glad to get the call all the same."
As Riri opens up her bag, her brows rise. "Oh, cool. One of those, huh?" Her smile twists crooked, wry, and she steps back to let the heroes lead the way to the basement. She's definitely curious, though. Shiny new tech! Shiny new Stark tech. Mwahahahaha.
Well, so far so good.
Peter leads the way down. Helena has seen the lab, but this is Riri's first time.
The lab is the size of a corporate boardroom, maybe larger, The basement was much smaller once, but has been enlarged and reinforced. There is an eclectic mix of styles here—machine-shop stations that were cutting edge in the 1950's, desktops that have been upgraded again and again, a number of machines that were rescued from various tech dumpsters, including an actual mass spectrometer. A complete forensics lab is along one wall, a microtronics desk in one corner, and the center is dominated by a pool table that has been reconfigured into a backlit illuminated table, complete with lighted magnifiers, microscopes, and some scattered papers.
And, of course, a 60-inch flat-screen TV with a PS4 attached to it in front of a beat-up cloth couch. A sign on the partition wall says HARRY'S HIDEAWAY.
"Welcome to the Parker lab."
"Yeah, got busted by campus security, fell out a window, flew off and got intercepted by Iron Man and Captain Marv- Ooooooh…." Riri stops just past the bottom of the stairs, helmet clutched in her arms, she slowly turns and takes the place in. It's a lot lower tech than her lab, but this one feels… lived in. There's a lot more of a personal touch. Some of the machines remind her of her garage back at home in Chicago, and there's just something special about something that still works perfectly half a century later. "…I like it."
"Nice, right?" Helena agrees from behind Riri, grin flashing. "You should see the stuff he can get done in here, too." She slips past the other girl, heading directly for the mapping table to see what Peter's been working on lately. She's certainly comfortable here. How much of that is familiarity with labs and how much may be from spending time in this lab may not be clear at first glance.
"So is that work in progress?" she asks, dipping her chin toward the helmet. "You've got a lot of antennae going on there, going to end up going by Bug Lady."
Peter smiles, It is a fond, wistful smile. "My Uncle Ben gave me a lot of the older machines. They work perfectly—he took care of them or fixed them up after he found out I was interested in them…"
Helena does move quick, that's for sure. He chuckles as he walks over to the table, with a plastic container with CURRENT PROJECT taped to it. However, when he opens it, they see it is a type of cooler. One side is cold, one side is warm. The cold side has three bottles of regular milk. The warm side has a small plate of Aunt May's homemade chocolate-chip cookies, kept warm from the oven, the smell wafting up as the lid is removed.
Riri follows the pair over, setting her own bag down on the table along with the helmet, which makes a rather solid thunk. "Yeah. I'm working on integrating the comms suite fully, but antenna geometry needs engineering. The final Mark I build is going to hide all of them behind the armor shrouds, and have the radar in the shoulders. Was planning to use an AESA since I have to work with a bunch of different frequencies. And I'm entirely aware of what Pete makes, and the side job we share." Riri's eyes flick over to Pete, She's /pretty/ sure Helena knows. But talk of tech is distracting from cookies. She's pretty much instantly on the other side of Peter from Helena, leaning over a bit to inhale the aroma
"Your aunt is a gift to humanity, Pete. I'd tell you to take care of her if I didn't already know you'd die before you stopped," Helena smiles crookedly as Peter shows the waiting snacks.
She nods as Riri mentions Peter's side job, though there's a long-suffering look in Peter's direction. "He's a sharer," she says with slightly forced lightness. "Armor's tough, though. Materials are no joke in the acquisitions department. What've you been working with?"
Peter takes a deep breath, then takes out the plate and hands a milk bottle to Riri and Helena. "For the record, Helena, I told you first because of the reasons I told you. Riri…hers was more recent, and only because of the work she's doing." He is too principled to say something like "If you were doing this too, you would understand," but he can't quite keep all of it out of his voice. Then he grabs a cookie and puts it in his mouth before it can do more damage.
Riri Williams dropped Holdout Watch.
Riri is slightly perplexed by the old style milk bottle, not really having experience with this. It is soon figured out however, and there is a brief pause in the conversation as cookies and milk are enjoyed. "He literally only told me after I told /him/ to tell Spider-Man that Tony Stark wanted to meet him. Apparently Mr. Stark is impressed by web fluid." Nomf. "The prototype was mostly whatever titanium alloy bits I could liberate from the machine shops at ESU. I'm going with a bit more durable one and thicker armor for the Mark I now that I've got a real materials budget at SI, and the Mark II is going to be a gold/titanium alloy that should solve the high altitude ice buildup problem. Currently relying on anti-ice doped paint for that since it's not worth rebuilding the entire frame out of a new material without significant advancements… Oh yeah. By the way, I was looking at the science fair website and saw your neural control rig. Pretty nice stuff."
"Hey, your secret, your choice," Helena raises her hands innocently to Peter. "I just want to make sure you stay safe." Then it's back to Riri's project with a cookie in one hand and a bottle of milk in the other, nodding along at her explantion. "Yeah, that all makes sense. I mean, good news is most of the crime in New York happens at a more moderate altitude, to."
She winks, though the confidence fades to a blush at the compliment. "Thanks," she nods, taking a bite of the cookie. "I mean, it's still a work in progress, and it's not perfect, and it's pretty personal, but…Well, we were able to use some of the source code to help out with ALICE," she nods toward Peter.
Peter nods. "I still haven't heard back from Tom yet. Thanks for reminding me." He heads over to one of the computers. "I decided to run a little data mining on Tom, so I can see where he is."
He pulls up the app, then selects the icon for his search.
And wishes he hadn't/
AUTO ACCIDENT FATALITY. Thomas Veil of Horizons Software was killed in a hit-and-run as he left his company. The case is still under investigation, but sources allege he was pushed off the road as he crossed the Elm Street Bridge. His car was recovered from the river after an anonymous tip…
Peter closed the app abruptly. He pushed back slightly from the computer, as if he had seen something…something he hadn't expected and didn't want to see, really. His face is almost blank, confusion robbing it of emotion.
"I wouldn't mind taking a look at the code too. I'm still working on the control systems for my own armor, trying to get it smarter than Siri. I'm thinking AISHA." The eyes on the helmet light up, and there's a soft beep from inside it. Riri just sighs, flicking a finger on her non-cookie occupied hand against the faceplate. "Cancel." The eyes go dark again. Pete's silence draws her attention, and she leans over to read the screen as well. "…Oh. Shit. I'm sorry, Peter."
"Sure," Helena nods. "Processing power may be an issue though. I mean, the original was designed to recognize just a few key commands, which is easy to fit in a wearable processor. Adding in enough to operate power armor might be a strain. I guess you could cloud it, but then you run into the possibility that you could end up in a dead zone or underground and not have control over the heavy suit of armor you're trapped in…"
She trails off, clearing her throat as she realizes there's a real world conversation past her technical musing, leaning forward to get a look as well. "Who was Thomas Veil?" she asks, quirking a brow between the pair.
Peter takes a deep breath. "He was…the guy who sent me the core coding for ALICE. Eighty percent of it is her, basically. Some others created modules, but…" He suddenly stops, then looks over to the microtronics desk. "ALICE?"
A pause, then the husky voice, tinged with sobriety, answered. "Yes. I have a message to send you."
She paused, and then a male voice responded, "Peter, it's Tom. If you're hearing this, then they caught me. I'm sorry to do this to you. KEEP ALICE SAFE."
The message suddenly ends. "Before you ask, Peter, that is all. No other messages are recorded." Alice sounds apologetic.
Riri's probably going to ask Pete and Mr. Stark for help if that becomes an issue. It's a lot easier to fit hardware into power armor than spandex. Her eyes widen as the message plays, and she darts back over to the backpack, unzipping it and rummaging inside. "Fucking conspiracies…" She straps on some kind of a harness with what is distinctly an arc reactor sitting over her chest, before lifting out a rather boxy looking gauntlet, clearly part of the Mark I. Inserting her right hand, she plugs some cables into the back and flexes her fingers experimentally. "ALICE, Was this message sent through proxies? Is there any chance the people Tom was talking about traced the message?"
Helena quirks a brow as Riri starts pulling out pieces of armor, slowly sliding to one side out of the way of any arc reactors. Just in case. Then she's looking back to the rest of the problem, lips pursing.
"Can you bring the root code up on the projection, Pete?" she asks, leaning against the table and crossing her arms loosely over her chest. She has a thought, but she's not sure enough to say more yet.
Peter looked to the voice, who replied candidly, "Riri Williams, the message was pre-recorded one month ago and sent as part of the hard code that comprises my own architecture. It was sent through a VPN from an untracked location. I assume this was set by the failsafe if my search brought up any notification of the demise of Thomas Veil. If you want, I can bring up the code on the smart TV, but there are 5,342,190 lines of code. Do you wish to narrow search parameters?"
"….shit." Riri relaxes slightly at least, letting her arm rest on the bench again. Hey, power armor bits are heavy when they're not connected to the rest of the armor. "I'm willing to let you guys take the lead on this. I'm more of an engineer than a programmer."
Helena winces at the line count, scrubbing a hand over her face. "ALICE, show me code that's not tied to the Spider-Man systems," she tries. "Anything that's not used for the suit."
She looks back over to Peter and Riri, waiting for the code to come up. "The only reason I can think of for him to need ALICE hidden and kept safe is if there's information in the code that someone is looking for. I mean, she's a great system, Pete," she adds. "But hardly worth killing over. Especially not as a first resort."
Peter nods. "She was based upon A.I. for NPC charactersfor one of Horizons' games, but she's not a a full A.I. Uhm, no offense, ALICE."
A pause. "None taken. I have narrowed the field to 5,463 lines. Would you like to see just the original code, or my own updates?"
Peter froze. "YOUR updates?"
"Yes. I have improved my own code by optimizing 15,423 lines of the original code."
Riri's eyes widen at this revelation. "Self optimizing and learning. …You did it, Pete. You and Tom did it." She starts to lift her arm for a fist-bump, realizes she's still wearing the gauntlet, and decides not to. Instead, celebratory cookie toast. "Self optimizaiton and learning is a long way from NPC AI. It's amazing."
"Yeah, but the question is, did you program that in there?" Helena quirks a brow at Peter. "I mean, my code's got learning built in - it has to, to keep up with neural changes and activity, and to be adaptable to different users, but…it was never tied in to the rest of it. Yes please, Alice," she adds, taking another bite of her cookie.
Of course, in the back of her mind, she's working through the better hackers and programmers she could contact for help, but…maybe not quite time for that yet.
There is a pause. "I apologize, but your assessment is premature. I do not meet seven of the fourteen requirements for true artificial intelligence." Another pause, then, "I will be shutting down now. Aunt May Parker is arriving in two minutes, and there is a 94 percent probability she will want to see Peter when she gets home."
Peter looks to the two girls. "You better slip out. Aunt May sees me down here alone with my girlfriend and another girl, she might just shove me into a test tube."