novius wrote:First, obviously the Historian AI managed to decrypt the tablet, figure out communication frequences and protocols on an alien device and whatnot. That might be reasonable. But it begs the question... did it share its knowledge with the Loroi? If it did, Beryl would have been untruthful when she referred to the devices as "unknown".
Third, how did the Historian AI end up on the shuttle, too? I'm sure it wasn't on the original passenger roster.
Let's assume nope. For all we know, it was loaded to the shuttle back before the battle, to be shipped over to Mozin's ship, but the sudden appearance of the Umiak fleet scrapped those plans, and it sat in the shuttle since then, halfway forgotten. Which would suited the local Loroi command (Stillstorm and Tempo) well, as it was cut off from the ship's more sensitive systems.
Second, the AI can "fake" being in standby and be aware of the surroundings. It waited until Alex was alone. And I'm quite sure it would have checked for hidden cameras and listening devices as well. Good thing to know.
Even if it's checked for, there is no reason the Loroi could recognize every part's true purpose. Some sensors, like microphones can be a secondary functions of other parts, if you allow lesser resolutions. Like it couldn't eavesdrop on anything happening far away but at least can tell that there is some activity around it.
As for being in standby, well, they could have constructed it in a way that it'd shutdown completely when it detects scanning attempts, but otherwise have a subsystem running low level surveillance on it's surroundings all the time, waking the higher levels when it sees fit.
Fourth, we can be pretty sure the AI already learned everything worthwile about the humans. It's reasonable to assume that it downloaded everything from the tablet, and others, and maybe what remained of Bellarmine computer core, if it went to work back on the Tempest.
Depends how long it had access to the salvaged stuff. Loroi don't give access to their communications systems to these AI's for a good reason, but if it have been stored next to the salvaged PADs and stuff for a long time, it could have done more than bit of snooping around. Remember, the current shuttle flight took a few hours since leaving the Tempest already.
Yep, it more and more looks like the Historians have their own agenda and maybe some "helpers" inside the rest of the Union.
Everyone has an agenda.
The contents of the message? It could be a warning - either cryptic or a clear one - that things are not as they seem to be, or it could be an offer Alex would be hard pressed to refuse, and one the Loroi shouldn't know about.
In addition, the AI seems to put a lot of trust that Alex's Lotai will hold for the time being. What use would be a clandestine message if any Loroi could lift it from his mind?
Risks have to be taken.
SVlad wrote:So is this bucket actual computer running ambassador AI application?
I've thought this bucket is just a holographic projector and an actual AI application runs on server on board of Prophet's Reason.
Not giving access to your ships' comms system to foreign entities with unknown, but more than likely way better tech than you, is a sane and cautious approach to these things. So it's self contained AI in a can, with limited resources.