When I created the reserves, I did it for multiple reasons. The first was to be a true reserve of man. Lord knows we would need one after the war. Fighting monsters with tanks was a losing proposition when they would send in poisonous creatures to take out the men in the tanks before we could use the tanks. Some of the poisons, while still painful enough to put the men out of action until the battle was lost, also had side effects. One destroyed the thyroid gland of anyone who had it inflicted on them. We think it was Iodine based. There was another that permanently altered your DNA to eliminate your ability to read. Sort of super dyslexia. The worst prevented reproduction for an unknown amount of time, possibly forever. Thus, the need for folks to volunteer to be suspended, so we had someone with clean genetics to parent the next generation.

Later, the reason became even more complicated. When I started building the reserves only Australia had fallen to Hades. By the time I was able to fill the reserves with soldiers who had clean genetic backgrounds, North America and Russia stood alone as unconquered. North America because every single citizen was armed from the gun stockpiles the old U.S of A citizens had. Russia because it was so damn cold Hades seemed to be putting it off. As everyone knows at this point, the war didn’t end well, and even then, I expected we were going to lose. We built the reserves in the heartland of America to provide a spark for the resistance to rise from after the nation had fallen. I hoped that the Domains would get bored after the conquest. I just wish Hades had let us back into the base after we had lost. He wasn’t actively guarding it or anything like that, but nobody could manage to get past the monsters that were outside the base or the shield that surrounded it.

General Tsu Yang, Excerpt from the War on the System Published in 2073

“So... You aren’t an AI. The system registers you as a Human-AI Hybrid,” accused Lucas.

I did not lie to you. Rose retorted. I never said I was not a Human. I said I was Rose’s memories merged with the Diaries AI. I honestly do not know if my soul came along for the ride. I was able to keep some, but not all of the skills I had as Rose the Human.

Merging was an option that became available because of my high Hacker and AI Interfacing skills that I gained because of my IT background. With a Mastery in both, the system allowed me to become an AI, but only upon the moment of my physical body's death. I have the memories of slowly dying from a combination of dehydration and the poisons that had built up in my bloodstream as I drank non-potable water to keep myself alive a little while longer. So, don’t you go accusing me of lying to you. I laid down my life so that those of you still in the reserve could live.

“I’m sorry Rose,” Lucas said. “I guess I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. I have spent my whole adult life hiding, and I am tired of it.

Let me tell you a story. The story of me. The base AIs started to fail before the end of our first year in the reserve. The original medical AI managed to communicate with all 2163 reserve members and gave them the option of signing up for another term or leaving suspended animation on time. As I was supposed to be the technical support attached to the reserve, at some point I was given the option of leaving suspension and checking on the servers before renewing my term. I elected to wake and check the status of the servers before determining my next step. I was unaware at the time, but the only reason I was given the option to make that decision was that I was the most senior member of the technical staff still on the base at the time, so the medical AI had to request I verify the status of the AIs. All other staff that was not in suspension tanks was gone or dead.

I woke much the same as you. I had slid out of the chamber onto the floor. There was no one present to help me out of the tank. I also asked the AI for assistance when I woke. Unlike you, I was able to discuss directly with the AIs as soon as I came out of the chamber. At that point, the complex more or less worked. But there were still 2162 people stuck in the suspended animation chambers. It seems with no reinforcements to take their place no one was willing to leave and deplete the reserves.

Even with the repair bots, I couldn’t keep up with the required repairs. Tank, after tank had critical errors, are started failing. At first, it wasn’t clear why, but it soon became evident that the tanks relied on the self-repair modules to remain functional as they were built by the lowest bidder and had just about zero safety margin. If the self-repair modules had still worked, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But without them, every part failure required my interaction to resolve, even if it was my interaction by telling a bot to take care of it.

Every time a tank failed and the occupant died it was a punch in the gut. And then one day I was notified that I was out of water in the base tanks. I had lived here for 14 years, spending 14 years of my life trying to keep those in the reserve alive, but the base hadn’t been designed for someone to live in it that long without resupply. It had been designed for someone to pick up their gear and head out on a mission. Through a combination of recycling, draining the pipes to the rest of the base, and a rationing plan I was able to establish that I would have enough water to remain in the base for on another year before I would be completely out of potable water. By the way, I know you found a few, but I still have plenty of MRE’s left. They are in the suspension drawer I moved under the bed.

I also couldn’t just leave the base. The AIs had a core directive regarding outside door control. If I left the base, it would register that the reserves had been activated and anyone left in the tanks would be sent for recycling, as the core directive indicated anyone left behind should be assumed to be dead. At this point, there were still over 1500 people alive in the tanks. Stupidest directive anyone could have hard-coded into them, but I couldn’t change it without killing everyone still alive and in a tank. Furthermore, I couldn’t force the AI to disengage the suspended animation on the reserve without breaking another hard-coded directive. I couldn’t open the door and kill them all; it left me with only one option that I could live with. Die.

From then on out I had a mission. I had to figure out a way to keep the base minimally operational until everyone was either out of the suspended animation chambers or dead. Using the remains of the self-repair module from as many defunct capsules as I could scavenge, I was able to scrounge up enough materials to create a custom self-repair module using the Nanoforge. I had to use it sparingly because the Nanoforge sucks down power.

Then the question just became which AI did I trust to keep the lights on for the longest. The Base AIs were all pretty much crazy at this point. Between data corruption and the effects of all the failures when compared to their prime directives there wasn’t enough there for me to trust them. I only had one choice then. As should be obvious by now, I put the self-repair module into the diary. I then wired up all the AIs to the data hub, wired up an upload unit to the switch, and I set my Diary to receive a new AI. I plugged in my specialist data implant to the switch, and the data transfer began. The moment my body died, my consciousness transferred to the diary, and that's where I still live today.

In all my years of overwatch, you are the only other individual to decide to leave the reserves. All the other animation units failed over the years. Leaving just yours. For whatever reason, when the System disabled all self-repair units worldwide, the self-repair unit in your module was unaffected. It wasn’t obvious to me while I was still alive, but it became obvious as all the tanks around yours failed. Your capsule stayed in good shape while the other 2000+ members of the base died. You have been the lone soldier under my watch for almost 50 years, and I relished the moments of conversation with you that I got when I brought your mind to a conscious state. But still, I could not break you out of your mental prison.

The base AIs may be mad, failing creatures, but they still have enough control that they can block my link to the rest of the base. After the medical AI completely failed and I had to step in to keep the base functional, I had to follow the wake-up script closely lest I get ejected from the system. Each year I hoped you would select to eject, and you did not. This year I deviated ever so slightly from the script. It was worth the risk, but it was a big gamble on my part to deviate from the script and tell you how long you had been in the tank. Once you deviated from the script, I had more freedom. I think you know the tale from there. But I do want to emphasize this. The reason I took the risk is that in 300 days, less if the suspension chamber had stayed active, I will run out of power.

So now I ask you, Lucas, the man whom I have looked after for over 200 years. The man who was my sole companion beside the crazy AIs for the last 50 years, even if you don’t remember it. Will you save me?

Major Quest Update Save Rose Rose The power that Rose requires to survive is failing. The Domains have restricted the use of Energy Cells and most other high-density portable energy storage devices. Internal Combustion Engines have also been blocked from working. Any strong explosion may be countered by the Domains as well. Find a method to begin power generation and restore the power reserves for the base to a length of 2 years. Rewards: Access to additional Historical Information +2 Attribute points Control of Military base and production facility

“Shit. That was a loaded question,” thought Lucas. Did he assist Rose and restore the base, or did he run as far and as fast as he could? “I guess there is no harm in settling in here for a little while and trying to get a home base established. It gives me a safe fallback position. It also lets me figure out what current events look like before I go rushing headlong into trouble.”

“OK Rose, I will attempt to restore some power generation facilities and try and get the base operational. Before I get moving on that, I do need more information. We need to break it down into a few smaller steps first as getting everything operational just isn’t going to happen quickly. How much power would it take to operate the diary and whatever support equipment you need to maintain consciousness?”

Roughly 65W's would be required to provide enough power to maintain only me. Keeping the other AIs active so that they can control the base while I use them as puppets require another 0.5 kW. Keeping the base fully functional outside the suspension chambers and the Nanoforge would require 2 kW. Keeping the Nanoforge operational requires 1 MW of energy in fully automated mode, less if we toss materials into its hopper and I can power down its retrieval robots. We have 100 MWh in storage with our currently active solar cells providing roughly 24 kWh of energy per day .

“Alright, so we have a mildly functional solar array outside. I found a 15W solar panel, If I hook that into the array how long does that buy us?” said Lucas.

With our base at the currently consumed 15 kWh adding that panel will get us an additional ⅓ of a day before I am out of power.

“OK. Find more solar panels or another source of energy, check. Initial target will be to hit the 1.5 kW that you require to stay operational. That means I either need to find roughly 34 of these little solar panels that we used to use to charge small electronics or another source of 500 w of energy generation capability.” said Lucas. “How far can you drop the power usage since you can shut down all of the suspension chambers?”

The shutdown of the suspension chambers was included in the 300-day 15 kW figure. So, shutting the chambers will not cause any additional drop in energy.

Rose giggled a little after saying this. “She must like getting the better of me,” Lucas thought, “maybe this means she is coming out of her shell a little bit. Maybe it really is Rose stuck in the diary...”

May I make a suggestion? If you can locate enough materials, it is possible to manufacture a larger, more efficient solar panel in the Nanoforge. If you decide to do that, please be very careful not to cultivate near the Nanoforge. The nanobots are impossible to replace now, and if you cultivate your affinities near it you will destroy them. As far as I know, that was the fate of all other Nanoforges. While activating the Nanoforge to make anything has downsides, we are likely going to need to use it to build some things to get the base operational.

“I guess the good news and bad news on that is, I kind of have crap affinities so I won’t likely be able to just start cultivating anywhere,” said Lucas.

It does not require good affinities to cultivate, but I get your meaning. I have prepared three blueprints for the Nanoforge. One for a solar panel that produces enough energy that 40 of the panels will take care of the minimum base needs by themselves. Another blueprint for a Comlink with a three-kilometer radius so you can stay in contact with me without having to use the base’s systems. As I can control the door to let you in and out, once I let you out, you can let me know if you need to come back in via Comlink so I can shut the door behind you to try and prevent monsters from getting in. The third is a composite dagger. It is the best dagger I can currently design. Better than the USMC Mark 4 combat knives that I have in the closet and it should be enchantable.

“Thanks, Rose. Would it be possible for me to get a couple of those combat knives?” said Lucas.

I was just about to suggest it. Since I see you only have the fatigues, I was also going to let you have my combat helmet and combat boots as well. I shoved them in my suspension chamber before I died, so they should still be in the condition I left them in, Poor, but they are better than nothing, especially since you’ve got a choice to make where every choice will lead to combat of some sort.

You have three things that need to get done. The order is up to you, even if I have a preference. The Nanoforge is surrounded by Goblins. The goblins need to be cleared to move forward with reconstruction. The solar array on the roof was originally a four-megawatt array to be able to power everything. As we are only receiving 24 kWh total per day from the array it is highly likely that there are damaged panels lying around that can be recycled. It is also possible that some of the wiring on the panels has been disconnected or destroyed. We could have some partially functional panels that simply need to be rewired. Finally, the Giant Rats need to be cleared from the base and we need to seal up the crack that they used to get in. We can use a permanent fix or a temporary fix; it’s up to you. Their tunnel does not appear to lead directly outside.

With that, Lucas got a notification.

Major Quest Update Save Rose Rose The power that Rose requires to survive is failing. Find a method to begin power generation and restore the power reserves for the base to a length of 2 years.

1) Clear the Giant Rats (1/40) and seal their entrance. (0/1)

2) Scavenge materials. Attempt to repair a Solar Panel.

3) Clear the Goblins from the Nanoforge. (0/??)

4) Secure a source of water. (0/1)

5) Restore Power to the base 100 MWh/244 MWh

6) Bring one automated repair drone online or build a new one Rewards: Access to additional Historical Information +2 Attribute points Control of Military base and production facility