Grrl Power VIII: Hotter Than What's In Sydney's Lunchbox

[Radar]

It could be that Sydney at her best - channeling her hyperactivity into rapid thought and deduction - is very close to what the Nth were like as a people before they ascended.
In that case, what the orbs sensed in her was growth potential, the chance of becoming Nth.

Or they could be damaged somehow, and the selection protocol malfunctioned.

Or there is no selection protocol but once a user is established, the access gets locked to that one person.

The same question could be asked for the mysterious meteorite Maxima got her powers from. We have no clue why she was chosen and it is unlikely right now that we will get an answer to that question.

[The Glyphstone]

Or there is no selection protocol but once a user is established, the access gets locked to that one person.

The same question could be asked for the mysterious meteorite Maxima got her powers from. We have no clue why she was chosen and it is unlikely right now that we will get an answer to that question.

That's how I took it. The commentary does mention that Lapha's consciousness doesn't override her host, though she can apparently seize control of the body. Even if she's "running" on the same meatware as Sydney right now, her thought patterns could be different, so all it takes is the orbs being locked to Sydney's mind.

[AvatarVecna]

Or there is no selection protocol but once a user is established, the access gets locked to that one person.

The same question could be asked for the mysterious meteorite Maxima got her powers from. We have no clue why she was chosen and it is unlikely right now that we will get an answer to that question.

Also plausible. And yeah my initial post assumed this question would at best be unanswered for awhile. It might get answered as part of thus plot point, but if not, I expect it'll be part of the big reveal a month from now (comic time)/ten years from now (real time).

I don't think Max was chosen though? Like, it's a question with Sydney's stuff cuz they're displaying an ability to recognize and differentiate valid users from non. Max was shaking a geode next to her head to hear liquid sloshing, but cracked it by accident and the space rock spilled science juice all over her. It's weird that a rock cracked that easily, but we already know it's a weird rock; unless I've missed something big, I'm pretty sure the rock is not sentient and did not choose to crack in order to empower Max.

[Grendelkin]

The 'rock' may have been more in the ways of an egg or a protective shell. Iirc, the 'science juice' is a symbiote that decided it liked the cut of Max's jib - and also her late-blooming metagenes - or at least found them appealing enough, and hitched itself to her wagon.

[Radar]

Also plausible. And yeah my initial post assumed this question would at best be unanswered for awhile. It might get answered as part of thus plot point, but if not, I expect it'll be part of the big reveal a month from now (comic time)/ten years from now (real time).

I don't think Max was chosen though? Like, it's a question with Sydney's stuff cuz they're displaying an ability to recognize and differentiate valid users from non. Max was shaking a geode next to her head to hear liquid sloshing, but cracked it by accident and the space rock spilled science juice all over her. It's weird that a rock cracked that easily, but we already know it's a weird rock; unless I've missed something big, I'm pretty sure the rock is not sentient and did not choose to crack in order to empower Max.

The closest thing to a discussion about why the rock cracked when Max took it was between her and Deus here. They both assumed it was not exactly an accident, just had no idea why it happened to Max out of all the people browsing through the rocks.

[Traab]

Or there is no selection protocol but once a user is established, the access gets locked to that one person.

The same question could be asked for the mysterious meteorite Maxima got her powers from. We have no clue why she was chosen and it is unlikely right now that we will get an answer to that question.

This is my outlook basically. Its like the omnitrix. She put em on, they are hers now unless someone with override authority says otherwise. So either the nth dimension azmuth needs to show up, or some other advanced alien able to somehow extract them from her by force. And they clearly have protections, lets see if they have more... active methods of protecting the user.

[lord_khaine]

This is increasingly turning into a idiotic plan.
Since we now see that Lapha isnt even able to completely shut down the mind of the host.
But still tried to steal someone who at a glance seems to have though controlled weapons.

The aetholith race is super cool though.
Credit for developing that one.

[InvisibleBison]

This is increasingly turning into a idiotic plan.
Since we now see that Lapha isnt even able to completely shut down the mind of the host.
But still tried to steal someone who at a glance seems to have though controlled weapons.

The fact that the plan didn't work doesn't mean that it's a bad plan.

[tyckspoon]

The fact that the plan didn't work doesn't mean that it's a bad plan.

Sure. It's not having any apparent contingency or exit plan if it didn't work that means it's a bad plan.

[Traab]

The real problem here is this being now has a full download of EVRYTHING SYDNEY KNOWS. Info on the orbs, info on archon as a whole including the general stats abilities and personalities of its agents, any other info that may be considered classified and valuable. Its not as bad as if she had taken over general faulk for security breaches, but its still pretty bad.

[InvisibleBison]

The real problem here is this being now has a full download of EVRYTHING SYDNEY KNOWS. Info on the orbs, info on archon as a whole including the general stats abilities and personalities of its agents, any other info that may be considered classified and valuable. Its not as bad as if she had taken over general faulk for security breaches, but its still pretty bad.

Not quite. She is able to learn anything that Sydney knows, but she doesn't automatically learn everything that Sydney knows. If she doesn't think to access Sydney's memories of something before getting removed, she won't retain any knowledge of that thing after being removed. It's still a problem from a security perspective, but it's not a total catastrophe.

[Radar]

This is increasingly turning into a idiotic plan.
Since we now see that Lapha isnt even able to completely shut down the mind of the host.
But still tried to steal someone who at a glance seems to have though controlled weapons.

The aetholith race is super cool though.
Credit for developing that one.

I'd say the idiotic part was to jump at the chance of getting control of Halo without enough information to properly set the plan up. Granted, the opportunity window was narrow, so Lapha just took the chance and did not consider what could go wrong. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I'd give her a benefit of a doubt and think that at this point she simply lets Sydney co-control Sydney's body as the whole plan failed miserably. She totally could override Sydney on body control (as she did right after jumping onto her), but did not consider a possibility that the orbs will not listen to her at all. At that point there was nothing left to fight for.

Dave in general has a lot of interesting world-building ideas. Not always well executed but still.

The real problem here is this being now has a full download of EVRYTHING SYDNEY KNOWS. Info on the orbs, info on archon as a whole including the general stats abilities and personalities of its agents, any other info that may be considered classified and valuable. Its not as bad as if she had taken over general faulk for security breaches, but its still pretty bad.

Well, at that point it is more of a problem for the body snatcher: say hello to maximum security detention for the foreseeable future! Be thankful we do not kill people who know too much! As was already shown, Aetholith are easy to detain.

[Grendelkin]

So. Sciona used one of these living spells to run her super blood-golem, huh? That... bodes ill.

[lord_khaine]

So. Sciona used one of these living spells to run her super blood-golem, huh? That... bodes ill.

We dont actually know what Sciona did to power her golem.
It might be any number of things. It seems more likely she just made a self-aware golem though.

But yeah. Basically Lapha's entire plan revolved around being able to figure out how the orbs work at very short notice.
Like before anyone could stop her from flying off. Without any sort of failback contingency or backup plan.
Honestly. Had she gotten the lizard guy on standby with a stun gun she would have gotten away with it.

[Traab]

We dont actually know what Sciona did to power her golem.
It might be any number of things. It seems more likely she just made a self-aware golem though.

But yeah. Basically Lapha's entire plan revolved around being able to figure out how the orbs work at very short notice.
Like before anyone could stop her from flying off. Without any sort of failback contingency or backup plan.
Honestly. Had she gotten the lizard guy on standby with a stun gun she would have gotten away with it.

Going by the description of her race, that wasnt a bad plan, her entire thing is basically being a master at instantly accessing all needed knowledge and perfectly controlling the body she inhabits, so if it wasnt for the orbs literally rejecting her, she would have absolutely already gotten away and/or caused havoc. That doesnt mean a backup plan wouldnt have been a good idea, im just saying that this was totally unforeseen as an obstacle and the plan itself had a very high chance of working. On top of that, she has a hostage to delay and weaken any potential responses as she has hijacked sydneys body and her mind is still there and thus savable.

[lord_khaine]

Well. Its just all the same. We can see she dont assume 100% control over the host body. Sydney can still snark at her the moment she fails to control the orbs.
And the orbs being though controlled also seems very obvious? they float into Sydneys hand when she want to use one. They dont have any buttons.

At the very most you should assume something like a 10-20% chance something gets in the way of using the orbs, before starting the heist.
And thats absurdly bad odds to risk so much on without a backup.

Edit.
Ah fair. So Sydney was a plan B thing. Bit less bad planning now she is down to figuring out C.

[Radar]

Sigh... Harem should have done that immediately after realizing that Sydney is possessed.

[Grendelkin]

Yes, well. In spite of her operating on five networked brains at a time, she lacks discipline and experience.

[lord_khaine]

I honestly though this should have been done at first as well.
But then realized it was a honest mistake.

I mean initially it was "oh noes! Sydney is mind controlled, panic!"
Then it became "oh.. Sydney is mind controlled.. but can only control Sydneys tiny body? point and laugh!"

Tasering someone isnt entirely unsafe. So i actually think, with the information Harem had available,
that it was the correct choice to just quietly try and de-escalate the whole mess.

Especially since, initially Harem didnt know the invader could read Sydeneys memories.
And didnt know that Sydney knew any critical secrets like this.

[Grendelkin]

Sydney's privy to a lot of critical secrets already, though. Daphne should've sedated her the instant she learned Lapha has full access to her memories.
Heck, the only reason Sydney doesn't know about Arc-DARK is that Maxima and the General saw how dangerous the orbs could be with regards to secrecy, and made sure she wouldn't be in a position to find out.


As for pointing and laughing because Lapha can only control Sydney's "tiny body"... Ask that mugger how underestimating Sydney went for him. She's pretty feisty once sufficiently angered, and capable of unpleasant innovations even without using the orbs. Like the tongue-lever throw.

[Keltest]

Sydney's privy to a lot of critical secrets already, though. Daphne should've sedated her the instant she learned Lapha has full access to her memories.
Heck, the only reason Sydney doesn't know about Arc-DARK is that Maxima and the General saw how dangerous the orbs could be with regards to secrecy, and made sure she wouldn't be in a position to find out.


As for pointing and laughing because Lapha can only control Sydney's "tiny body"... Ask that mugger how underestimating Sydney went for him. She's pretty feisty once sufficiently angered, and capable of unpleasant innovations even without using the orbs. Like the tongue-lever throw.

Why? What is sedating her going to do to stop her accessing those secrets?

[Grendelkin]

Nothing. But it'll stop her transmitting that info and ready her for transport to a blacksite ... safe location without allowing her to see the route traveled or any passcodes exchanged or dialed in.

[Keltest]

Nothing. But it'll stop her transmitting that info and ready her for transport to a blacksite ... safe location without allowing her to see the route traveled or any passcodes exchanged or dialed in.

Transmitting? With what, Sydney's mouth? Maybe if she had some co-conspirators here or something, but right now its just some college students who don't know her.

You are inventing dangers where there are none.

[Grendelkin]

Neither you nor I know the full range of Lapha's abilities as a living spell.
Neither does Harem.

[Keltest]

Neither you nor I know the full range of Lapha's abilities as a living spell.
Neither does Harem.

There are exactly 0 ways to safely knock somebody unconscious on a dime. Sydney is a friendly. Ergo, its a measure of last resort, not first.

[Radar]

Transmitting? With what, Sydney's mouth? Maybe if she had some co-conspirators here or something, but right now its just some college students who don't know her.

You are inventing dangers where there are none.

Just now Lapha blurted a secret most dangerous for Sydney - Nth technology will obviously be of interest to many parties that may or may not be above kidnapping or killing their target with significant collateral damage.

There are exactly 0 ways to safely knock somebody unconscious on a dime. Sydney is a friendly. Ergo, its a measure of last resort, not first.

Full knockout is not needed - just enough to make her dizzy/groggy so she cannot think or talk straight.

[lord_khaine]

As for pointing and laughing because Lapha can only control Sydney's "tiny body"... Ask that mugger how underestimating Sydney went for him. She's pretty feisty once sufficiently angered, and capable of unpleasant innovations even without using the orbs. Like the tongue-lever throw.

Ask him about what? He was a hero in disguise, so he was treating Sydney a lot softer than one might expect.
And then caught off guard by Sydney's toxic breath. Fact remain though that Sydney is something like 50 kg at most.
Without any noteworthy degree of martial training.

So no. Point and laugh is absolutely a valid response.

Just now Lapha blurted a secret most dangerous for Sydney - Nth technology will obviously be of interest to many parties that may or may not be above kidnapping or killing their target with significant collateral damage.

Part of keeping a secret is making sure people dont know there is a secret.
So pretty likely Harem didnt know that fresh recruit Sydney knew anything of critical importance.

[tyckspoon]

There are exactly 0 ways to safely knock somebody unconscious on a dime. Sydney is a friendly. Ergo, its a measure of last resort, not first.

They've got access to superscience, magic, and superscientific magic/magical sciences and live in a world where a lot of fiction tropes basically work. They do actually have access to ways to knock somebody out safely and quickly, although admittedly not ones that Harem specifically can use on her own. It wouldn't be unreasonable for members that are on active duty to have some means of non-lethal subdual added to their standard kit/utility belt loadout, tho, especially if Dabbler had ever committed to following up on 'I'll rework my options to be better for takedowns' - something like a wand-equivalent that carried a one-shot sleeping spell should be a possibility or a 'We promise it's not magic, really' widget that applies a nerve block and interferes with voluntary motor functions (which is.. basically what a taser is brute-forcing already but could almost certainly be done in a less violent and more precise fashion.)

[Grendelkin]

Ask him about what? He was a hero in disguise, so he was treating Sydney a lot softer than one might expect.

When Max, the General, Arianna and the rest of Archon's leadership were discussing Sydney's background, there was mention that she'd been arrested. The reason being, someone had tried to mug her, and all the police report said as to what she did to the guy was "The humanity!"

This was well before the faked bank robbery.

[TeChameleon]

... wait, Harem is tasing Sydney while two of Harem are holding on to her? Wouldn't that also zap the Harems?