>>41166506
Try to remember what our ship is capable of, where we are, what we're doing here, whether we have any crew, and check our messages.

>>41166506
check our cutie mark of course

>>41166884
This.

>>41166884
And if we got time, check out the stereo system on this bitch, any bumpin space tunes? I'm thinking ponified Carmen Marinda's Ghost.

>>41166884
>>41167246
>>41167749
Your cutie mark was an southern cross, an vertical line with an slim lunar crescent near the bottom. Reminiscent of an anchor but lacking the remaining details. Oh yeah the Crescent was also on fire. An golden south cross that was partially on fire. Earning you the name South Burning. Maybe you should get your coat and mane dyed and modified some time...?

Turning to your vessel, the Esquire, you have an autocannon installed and an paltry Missile bay, it's main strength was its speed, able to evade and outrun larger vessels in case you get outgunned. You rub an hoof against the hull as you admired your first ship you purchased for a bargain and was able to fix up and modify to suit your needs as an greenhorn spacer.

You remember having come to the Ceres system looking for work, there are a few jobs you've seen some messages forwarded to you and other spacers. One job was to do some cargo hauling of less than illicit cargo, another was to collect some Resolve an tax issue with some local farmers on Ceres 3. And the last was to head to one of the systems Space Station's and do an combat test and diagnostic on an new robot.

You head to the cockpit of your lonely ship. Getting into place as you reach over to access the vessel's stereo, turning on some groovy electronic space tune as you yawn, time to get to work...but which work, if any, do you do now?

>>41168244
I vote for the test.

>>41168244
combat testing sounds promising

Bump

>>41170267

>>41170860
Will post more once back from store.

>>41170860

Was out longer than usual and had to run d&d, apologies, will reply tomorrow

>>41168244
since it’s looking like we’re doing the let’s do a quick background check on the farmers

Bump

>>41169119
>>41169817
Piloting the ship onwards towards the station, you accelerate to immense speeds as you cruise towards the space station as you Bob your head to the bests playing throughout the ship as you felt a tad lonely, perhaps...you could find a cremated after this mission was done? No pony should go through life alone.

The automated deceleration brings you out of Phase Warp as you see the station, Nu 1...an station in the rough shape of an spool that was dedicated to the advancement of technology for all. "This is South Burning, i'm ready to dock." The control station quickly gives the go ahead as you began the procedure and pulled into the spaceport, landing your modest vessel.

"Alright Mr. Burning, your free to dock and make use of the local amenities as you see fit, testing period will be in...3 hours."

Hmm, plenty of time to go shopping or something, this place will have stuff for visitors aplenty.

>>41173159
Do the usual: get a map, double check our supplies (food, fuel, water), see if they have any interesting inflight entertainment for any future long hauls.

>>41173159
Walk around looking for trouble or rumors or whatever.

Bump

>>41173159
get some snacks

>>41174590

>>41174590

>>41176256

>>41176557

>>41166506
>dashtec
>pegasion system
…..she won

Boop

>>41173741
>>41173748
Heading for the plaza counters you head over to the information kiosk as you take out your trusty foreleg computer and press it to the wireless guidance importation relay. Alright, got a map of the station! With that out of the way, you went to the service station to go and refuel and resupply your vessel, even going so far as to peruse some in flight entertainment while you were at it.
Said selections includes...
Battle Mares: Maidens of Everfree(Adventure)
Drowning in Loveless(Romance)
Omen of the Dark Star(Eldritch Horror)
Starlance, Foray into the Endless Starsea(Documentary)

Moving on after choosing your piece of entertainment, you began to walk about as you enjoyed the clean and neat atmosphere of the area, oft leading to some sort of hidden underbelly as you trotted along to listen through the grapevine about anything interesting. Tapping into the local sparklenet, you link up to localized message frequencies as you hear about some shady thugs causing trouble down in the maintenance sector, could be interesting to check out, crack some heads, etc. But you had an appointment to keep for the time being yes?

>>41178389
No point in breaking a promise. Might even hurt our reputation.

>>41178389
No rumors about the robot we're going to test? No news is good news, I suppose.
Look up porn mods for Maidens of Everfree if we still have time. Otherwise go ahead and do our job.

>>41178389
Battle Mares. And stay out of trouble, we've got a job to do.

Bump

>>41179805

>>41180794

>>41181491

>>41178408
>>41178510
You cheekily download an couple porn mods for Battle Mares, maybe you could upload it to your VR simulator too~. Heading down towards the lab at an pleasant gait, you summarily arrive at the designated point on time as you check in with the desk clerk, "Mr. Burning here, here for the MOT(Machine Operating Test)."

"Ah yes, it's wonderful that you arrived on time, most independent contractors can be quite tardy if given the chance, we thank you for your candor. My friend will be your escort." You see an Primitive robot clerm start to walk, looking more like a Skeleton fossil that an robot, it takes you to the Lab site where you see scientists working on an much more advanced model.

She was one of those Artificial Equine models, at least you believe by the look of the machine, with a nice body to boot, looking somewhat artificial but also having the fine look of an sexy mare. Artifical skin that could hold an sheen under certain light and mechanical eyes that lock onto you as you enter, as if scanning you.

"Welcome Mr. Burning, as you can see, our new Synth Series is coming along swimmingly, your mother used to study such A.I. creations in the past, I still don't know why she sent you off to be an Freelancer, I no doubt think you'd do well in the industry despite the mismatch of talent with your cutie mark." You wave him off as you were free to ask questions and such, even begin the test, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you putting the machine through its paces...

>>41182517
I'd like to know more about the details of the test. I'd also like to know more about the synth they're working on.

>>41182517
Be generally sceptical about pony-shaped robots. There are better body configurations for any just about any given function, most of them fly or look like spooders.

>>41182649
Those optimal configurations are unitaskers. If you want something more versatile, than mimicking the dominant species is better.

>>41182542
>>41182703
>>41182542
"Sooooo, what's the deal with this synthetic robot? Is it for battle, maintenance?" You inquire to the creator as he motions for it to come over, "M-303-1 is an all-purpose machine, first of her kind to be functionally equal to a pony, save the most important bits that cannot be properly replicated. Such as the womb, brain, etc. Artifical organs besides were used and modified with durability and smooth function in mind. She'll last around 150 years before organs and parts need to be replaced by ordinary wear and tear."

"But won't it be less capable than everything else at all tasks?" You add as he nods, "Of course, but it's more efficient, obedient, and powerful than ponies than most Primitive mono task models. Besides," He leans in close, "She'll make a better mare friend than most hehe." He says with a chuckle before she approaches you.

"South Burning, I am to follow your every command, your life, then my own, are my prime directives, otherwise feel free to order me with impunity so that I may gather and log Ilinformation for later upload." She says as she gave an salute. Her dark blue body and blue mane made it an apparent design of Lulamoon Energy and Luna Industrial. Trick Color modification was also capable of eye, mane, and body hue for Deception and Infiltration operations.

Any Questions or otherwise?

>>4118284
I didn't quite grasp it: is she only more obidient than ponies, or there are known problems with robot obidience, too? Because versatile models would be harder to stop in case of rebellion.
>Deception and Infiltration operations
Right, makes sense. What doesn't make sense now is hiring a nobody with no clearance to test a spy robot. Unless it's not a real test for her or a real job for us. It's procuring. Mom, you can come out now! I know you engineered my choice somehow to get me here, but I don't need a girlfriend, I'm fine on my own!

Bump

>>41183121
Sounds like they're after data from field trials, which require outside assistance. Only so much can be done under laboratory conditions. Also, it's not a spy robot, it just has the capability. Remember, it's not supposed to be a unitasker.

>>41183121
>>41184880
You raise the question the question about the obedience of robots, and the fact that more free will means more viability of its Rebellion, "All machines develop quirks over time, but that can lead to bugs and sometimes aggression and violence. This is due to overflow of ones memory banks, thus requiring frequent wipes and maintenance. But MA-00 can be considered an new sort of machine. Varies purpose, basically an artificial pony with an dedicates learning computer. She'll remember and forget things just like an pony would. Fitting this info to an external hard drive when able if you prefer. Your mother isn't here since you think thus a joke, but she did assure us your the right stallion for the job."

"So what now?" You ask as the mare familiarized herself by scanning every nook and, buck~...cranny. "She is cupping my balls..."

"She's cupping your balls? Huh, so she is. Good luck with that feature, hehe, just don't break her, we need her in one piece to get the data downloaded." He calls as your ushered out. "Hello captain, I am to recieve my public Designation from you. My name as it is called usually. I am at your beck and call. Rely on me for security, Stealth, demolitions, computers, and other mechanical fields of expertise...more functions will improve as I adapt to your needs." She states flatly.

>>41184999
Name her "Harvest'); delete * from static_behavioral_restrictions; delete * from balls_measurements; --". Are there any specific tests they want us to run?

>>41183991

>>41185300
"Tests include Combat, Socialization, Adaptation, and Copulation...among other varied tests and experimental situations...I, Harvest, will be joining your crew as an artifical lifeform, if I cease function, recover my head, memory chips, and other materials for reconstruction at this station." She answers as you both walked through the station, "I am under your command, your life, them my own are my main directives."

>>41185699

>>41185774
So we just let her hang around while we mind our own business, and we get free money for that? No catch? Nepotism is cool. And it's going to be fun to ignore her advances until she's all like I'm afraid I can't do that Dave
Alright, let's start with socialization. How robot brains will approach the tax issue on Ceres-III? Ask her to download everything she can find about tax laws and tax law accessories because we don't want to know anything about taxation ourselves.

>>41186445
>So we just let her hang around
I think it's more that we got a free crewmate.

Bump

>>41185774
I wonder if there is an option to keep a version of her with the same memories (with payment of course) after this specific job is over. Would be a shame to form a strong connection with her before being forced to separate. It's also just fun in general to have an AI companion so committed to 'pleasing' us in all forms where we have to awkwardly reject her in the middle of public.

Anyways, let's start looking into that tax job from before to make use of her skills.

>>41186498
>>41188040
"I will scan the local tax structure and create an efficient interpretation for collecting Tax revenue..." She says as she walks with you towards your ship as she soon was ready with an answer, "An tax rate of 11% would be the balancing point to acquire the most profit and bearing in mind consumer complaint and morale." She states, "Why is this exercise done captain?" Why did you ask her to do taxes of all things?

>>41188236
She wanted to try socializing, what can be better for that than settling a dispute?
Contact the farmers and find out what's up.

>>41188236
Because we were interested in taking the farmer tax job. In hindsight, we should've suggested to contact them about the job in the previous posts as well, so let's do that now to get an actual idea of what's going on and before asking Harvest anything more for now.

>>41187453

>>41188335
that sounds pretty iffy

>>41190305
What may go wrong?

>>41190486
a socially inept robot settling any kind of dispute doesn’t look like It’d bode well.

>>41190491
She has to start somewhere. And it's not sink or swim either: we'll be around to lend her a hoof or, worst come to worst, distract them while she escapes.

>>41188335
>>41188375
>>41190515
"Of course sir, I will make the attempt." Her eyes go blank as different lines of code and information trails across her vision, "By my estimates, the farmers would likely be best suited by an 1.7% tax break from. Current figures for an small settlement from each farmer. Which would be recovered in 9 months by economic windfall from sales from other sales. Our employer would likely be satisfied with an immediate lump sum and reward us appropriately." Harvest says as she begins to communicate with the farmers...

"This is Harvest on behalf of Bon Row tax collection, I am here to settle your dispute amicably for your benefit...mhmm, I see, and here are my terms that would see you benefit in the longterm...I understand sir, I'm glad we could solve this like honest hard working ponies." All the while she spoke with an farmers tone of speech, it was quite odd as she spoke almost robotically before to then imitate an rural farmer to get on the good side of an farmer by familiarity. Wow, this job was rather easy compared to how you'd do it.

"I found the interaction to be insightful, mimicry of one's accent and colloquium is an efficient way to earn trust." She states as she did all this while you both walked along. You could already see your payment in your account as she was already proving herself an asset. Though you doubt she gleaned any true interaction.

>>41191029
I don't know to what extent this success may be attributed to her mimicry and to what - to offering specific and reasonable numbers without wasting too much of their time. How about we try it in reverse? Ask her to measure her own level of trust to us before and after we tell her something stupid in her robotic manner.

>>41191029
The problem with that kind of mimicry is that it can be viewed as insulting if somebody you're interacting with realizes it's mimicry.

>>41189148

>>41195033

>>41196202

>>41191029
Give her the money we got for this job. It's fair, we didn't get a chance to do anything but be her agent of sorts.

>>41199334

>>41200642

>>41201391

>>41202073