Tron 2.46 – Forged Permissions.
“Jet hold up,” said Simon. Jet wondered through the maze of cells, as each of his friends took a different path, the group now paired off and looking.mon, who was having trouble keeping up with Jet.
“What’s holding you back, Simon,” Jet called back.
“In case you didn’t notice, you’re the only one not affected by missing clock cycles around here,” Simon called back, breathing hard and leaning on a beam that held the forcewalls as he did.
Jet had noticed it was harder to move in this place, but perhaps it was affecting the others more than him. He did, afterall, have a purpose and limited time.
“You’re just imagining it, Simon. I feel the restrictions here as much as you do.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t make it any faster than a walk around here and you seem to be running at times.”
“Because you’re not as motivated as I am perhaps.”
“Yeah, and neither is anyone else if that’s true, so I don’t believe you and Melanie’s just as affected as I am, so it’s not a user/program issue.”
“Keep looking, Simon, you’re trying to help me find a green program.”
Simon stopped talking and seemed to be constantly lagging behind. This place was big, but not so big that Simon couldn’t follow Jet if he waited at most intersections, then spent his time looking around.
After moving through several corridors with nothing but ICPs Jet didn’t recognize, he thought he saw something down a side corridor out of the corner of his eye.
It wasn’t much, just a flash of green in one of the cells. Jet stopped and took a closer look and at first saw nothing, then a hand moved near the forcewall that definitely seemed a different color, although might be blue at this range, though Jet hadn’t spotted any other blue programs in here so far either.
Jet started walking down the corridor towards that cell when a dark purple figure, very humanlike in its stature, moved forward into the corridor from the next intersection and looked into the cell.
“Ahh, so you’re the program I’ve been alerted to,” said the man, holding up a tablet sheet that seemed to contain information he could read.
“It seems you have several routines we want to isolate and save before we eliminate your codebase.”
Jet looked back to see where Simon was. Simon came around the corner as Jet looked, then saw the datawraith past Jet and froze also.
Simon looked directly back at Jet when he realized – the datawraith hadn’t spotted Jet yet, but that was only because he hadn’t looked. The length of corridor Jet had already come down was far too long to return up without being seen.
Simon had just started to backtrack his few steps when the purple spotted the movement, turned its head and looked directly over at Jet, recoiled slightly in shock, then returned to normal when it saw Simon who had now stopped walking backwards.
“Hello Simon, is that program cleared for unencapsulated transfer?” the man asked.
The face seemed familiar. Jet knew he had seen this person before. The same face, but for some reason, was having trouble recalling it.
“Ahh, yes, no hostile applications detected, Esmond. This one seems safe.” Simon said.
The name connected the dots for Jet. It was Esmond Baza. He was the CTO of F-con during the failed takeover bid.
Jet had met him once – under rather unfortunate circumstances. Esmond had become merged with two other F-con employees files when they had transferred through the digitization stream without the correction algorithms in place.
The result was a monster that had attacked Jet until Jet dislodged it from the reintegration beam, his father later performing the processing that separated the three and returned them. At the time he had wondered how his father had managed to do that, but it seemed to make sense now he knew his father had been bringing in programming resources from outside Encom who had been working on similar algorithms.
Esmond looked over at Jet. Behind his eyes, Jet could see the familiarity also slowly dawning on him.
“I’m wondering why security didn’t remove his data disc,” Esmond said, noticing the disc still on Jet’s arm, then his eyes opened wide with recognition.
“You,” was all Esmond managed, then started groping for his blaster primitive attached near where his belt would have been, pulling it free and then rezzing in his own weapon.
“No, relax, he’s safe,” Simon protested, but Esmond had already recognized Jet and wasn’t listening.
Jet flipped his disc off his elbow and threw it at Esmond with a deft flick of his wrist, sending the code directly into Esmond’s chest.
There was a flash of light and Esmond grunted. But he didn’t derez. The disk itself bounced off and shot up above the cells.
Esmond for his part maintained what little composure he still had and continued to rez in his weapon. Realising only just now that Jet wasn’t able to sequence his discs, he took the only action left to him.
He sprinted across the short distance between them and punched Esmond directly in the face.
Sparks flew as Jet’s blow landed and Esmond was knocked back down onto his backside, his blaster primitive derezzing to a single triangular shape as it dropped to the floor.
Jet stepped forward and picked up the blaster and held it to Esmond’s throat.
“Programs from the Encom system can’t hurt us here,” Esmond said.
Jet shoved the blaster forward until it pushed Esmond back. Whatever stopped his disc and reduced his punch wasn’t stopping the blaster as it rezzed back in.
“Then you won’t mind me trying this stolen permissions in the blaster against you.” Jet said.
Esmond’s eyes went wide.
“All that will happen is that I’ll return to the real world and you’ll be left in here to derez when I hit the shutdown button.” Esmond countered, but it was clear he wasn’t wanting to push Jet while he did his best to talk out his situation.
Jet looked across sideways into the cell. It had been Jade he had spotted. She looked out of her cell and recognized Jet. Syslog, or Section as Jet knew him, was standing next to her.
“Jet, eliminate him. He’s going to destroy the ICPs.” Jade called out.
“Open the cell,” Jet called to Esmond.
“Find your own key,” Esmond said.
Jet held his position for a moment. Then reached down and grabbed Esmond by the shoulder, the barrier between the datawraith loop and the loop Jet was in causing a crackling of energy to move from Jet’s hand to Esmond.
Esmond winced at the sound and Jet realized that although the barrier protected the Datawraiths, it didn’t effectively stop all quantum interaction. Any damage to the barrier went both ways. Normally Esmond wouldn’t feel Jet grabbing his shoulder as he had, but he could feel the disturbance through the energy.
“I’m not going to help you,” Esmond called up at Jet defiantly, then looked over at Simon. “And you, just what do you think your doing? Stop him you fool!”
Simon looked bothered by it, putting his hand up to his face.
“Shit Jet, I didn’t think you could possibly put me into trouble like this, but somehow you’ve managed it, why am I listening to you.”
“You’re not listening to me,” Jet shot back.
“Esmond, I need your help – there’s a user stuck in this system, ” Simon started to plead. “Please don’t shut down this system.”
“Are you with him?” Esmond called back to Simon.
“I need to open that forcewall Simon.” Jet yelled back. “What do I need from Esmond to do it?”
“You know, Jet, it’s not going to be easy to open this. If Esmond’s locked this place down, it’s going to be secure. You’re going to need an access bit for the walls.”
Esmond started to look from Simon to Jet, realizing they were working together.
Jet pulled Esmond up by his shoulder.
“Do we do this the easy way, or the hard way?” Jet asked.
“I’m not helping you,” Esmond called back, then added a very pointed, “Either of you.” To Simon.
Jet pushed his mind forward and hit the barrier between them. The barrier was like an obfuscation field between the two loops, but beyond, Jet was sure that normal code existed, and right now, Esmond Baza wasn’t going to give up the bits any other way.
Jet pushed his mind further into the Fcon executive’s codebase, trying to dig his way through the man’s security.
At first, the code beyond was hazy, so Jet kept on pushing, harder and header, then heard a gasp as he felt something tear, then Jet was falling through code into something that felt like code hell.
Jet’s mind dropped into a plateau of code in which stood a solitary figure. Around the figure, eight bits orbited like electrons around the atom.
“Where are we?” came Esmond Baza’s voice, echoing outside of his own body as if he was speaking from everywhere.
“Inside,” Jet said.
“What?” Esmond asked.
“You,” Jet said.
“No, this isn’t possible. It’s a meta-hallucination caused by quantum interference and instability.”
Jet reached forward and Esmond took a step back.
“It seems pretty real to me,” Jet said, then began to look at the bits.
Each of them seemed to be critical to Esmond somehow. Each represented a permission that Esmond had that Jet didn’t.
“Are you going to give the wall access bit to me?” Jet asked.
“Go to hell,” Esmond shot back. “I’ll be retrieved any moment.”
Jet stepped forward and grabbed out, snatching one of the bits from the orbits surrounding Esmond, pulling it down. It was an access bit, but nothing important.
It hovered above his hand as if Jet had snatched a handle attached to it, and it wavered about like a balloon in his grasp.
“Not the bit I’m looking for,” Jet said aloud.
“No,” came the bit.
Jet released it. The bit rose steadily, then returned to it’s orbital position around Esmond Baza.
“How did you do that?’ Esmond called out. “Stay away from me.”
Esmond tried to run, but Jet stepped forward quicker than he could turn and snatched another bit.
Images filled Jet’s mind of the bit providing access to functions. It was a firewall switch – something in the data stream in the header that told the processor that Esmond was from the command loop – not the one Jet was from.
“I need you,” Jet said, “even though you’re not quite the bit I’m looking for.”
“Yes,” said the bit, then the permission duplicated and purple datawraith bit separated from the original and began to orbit Jet.
Esmond now getting over the shock at the sudden transition of his world stepped forward and grabbed out at the bit, but Jet grabbed his hand. This time there was no barrier separating them.
“What the,” Esmond started, but Jet just pushed him back.
“I don’t have time to fight you, Esmond, so here’s how it works. I take your permissions then you go home. Just like last time.”
Esmond narrowed his gaze. “I don’t remember everything that happened last time, but it’s not going to happen this time.”
Jet ignored Esmond and grabbed another bit and examined it. It was an execution permission for system access. It wasn’t something that Jet needed, but it looked like it might be interesting.
“I want a copy of you also,” Jet said to the bit.
“No,” came the bit.
It started to return, but Jet reached out and snatched it back.
“Bit copy, now.” Jet said.
“Nonononono,” came the bit, but Jet was starting to figure this out. The bit copy was an extension of his own will, even if he was located inside Esmond Baza’s constructed space.
The bit began to separate, then the new bit said “Yes” and began to orbit Jet as the older bit dropped into a low orbit around Esmond once more.
“That’s enough,” said Esmond, realizing suddenly that this place was, for all intents and purposes, just another section of their computer. It might be illusory to him, but then the whole system seemed that way.
“System, Retrieval exception code forty three. Execute,” Esmond called out to the world around him.
He stepped forward and grabbed Jet’s shoulder, pulled back his hand to punch Jet, then as he drove it forward, they both re-appeared in the cellblock, and Esmond drove his hand hard into a forcewall where it sparked, crackled, then blew him back across the corridor and into the next.
Jet had only been in front of him in the meta-world – back here where Jet had grabbed him, they were in different physical positions. The force of the blow separated the two however.
“System retrieval acknowledged,” came a systemwide broadcast.
“Give me the wall access bit,” Jet demanded as he stalked over to Esmond. The CTO of F-con looked worriedly at Simon then Jet.
“Simon, stop him,” Esmond demanded. Simon walked, then ran after Jet, but seemed to have trouble running through the restrictions of this server.
“Jet, don’t do anything rash,” Simon called out. “If Esmond shuts down this system, then we’re all out of time.”
Esmond started backing away from Jet on his back, pushing himself back with his legs.
“Give me the bit,” Jet called out.
“That was you, wasn’t it?
“In the beam that time during first digitization, when the process went wrong.
“That was you.” Esmond accused.
“You do remember that then,” Jet said, still advancing.
“You ejected me from the beam incomplete and I was left in limbo like that other place until the correction algorithm was passed over me.” Esmond said.
“The bit, Esmond,” said Jet, lifting his disc which had returned while he had forced his way into Esmond’s code, preparing to throw it again.
“You’re not going to get it Jet.
“I’m going back to the real world and pulling the plug on this one. You’re going to go down hard.
“The only chance you have is to surrender now.” Esmond warned.
“The Bit Esmond. I’m not playing games this time,” Jet responded.
“Hold back, Jet, don’t do it,” Simon called out. “He’s willing to negotiate.”
Esmond seemed unusually bothered by Jet’s approach. “I remember the beam, Jet, I’m not going back there. Your last chance.”
Esmond started to reach around and pulled his own disc from somewhere, then drew it back. He threw it at Jet as hard as he could, The disk left a purple streak with speed as it shifted, but Jet instinctively reflected the disk with his own and then placed his on his elbow in the same motion.
He lurched forward with unusual speed then reached down to grab Esmond, but as fear moved across Esmond’s face and the F-con executive held his hand up to ward off the blow, the deresolution field appeared through him like a mesh and he began to dissolve into digital nothingness.
Jet’s hands found nothing, moving through the remaining deresolution field as if Esmond were a ghost, then he disappeared.
“Where did he go?” Jet called back to Simon.
“Jet, I tried to warn you. He’s an executive. They have retrieval algorithms built in. If anything goes wrong, they just rez out.”
Jet looked back at him, angry with himself for not listening. Simon had been trying to tell him something. There was little he could do now.
“How long before he carries out his threat to shut this virtualization down?” Jet asked.
“Maybe a minute, more if you damaged him and he’s confused,” Simon said. “Damn it all Jet, he was willing to help – you only had to surrender and he could have gotten Melanie out of here - Maybe even helped Mercury – You had the upper hand so why didn’t you negotiate?”
Jet shook his head. “I don’t believe he would have helped me. How long have we got in here to transfer across loops?” Jet asked.
“Subjectively? Maybe five minutes.” Simon said. “Fifteen at the most.”
Jet hadn’t expected that. “Why so short a time?”
“Because it’s slower in here. We don’t have the cycles we need.”
“Damn,” Jet said.
“Hey, you said it,” Simon said. “That was just plain stupid. Now what do you plan to do? I’m going to get Melanie to a safe loop. You’re on your own now.”
“There are safe loops in here?” Jet asked.
“Of course there are safe loops. The system can’t shut down all loops The main processor just kicks out a new copy of itself when it creates these virtualizations and then reabsorbs it later.” Simon said.
“It can’t destroy that loop or it loses a part of itself.” Simon pointed out.
“Reabsorbs?” Jet said as he walked to the forcewall.
“It’s quantum Jet. It can’t just kill it’s new self – it’s linked at the quantum level. The operating system control program must be properly reabsorbed or it causes issues with quantum stability loss over time.
“You really don’t have any idea how quantum virtualization works do you?”
“F-con always had an edge on us there – different values and objectives to Encom.” Jet said.
“Yeah, well, you’ve well and truly stuffed this one up. If you’re just lucky, Esmond will only kill this section of the virtualization. If not, he’s going to wipe out this entire virtualization, and everything inside of it – except the core operating system.”
“Then that’s where we need to be,” Jet said.
“That’s where Melanie and I need to be.” Simon said.
“Are you planning on locking me out?” Jet asked, wondering if Simon was turning on him.
“No, but it’s a single loop Jet.”
Simon waited for Jet to ask, but Jet realized what Simon was getting at. Mercury and Melanie couldn’t both exist in the same loop.
“There’s still got to be a way,” Jet said. “Help me find it.”
“I’m done following your plan Jet, you just blew it.
“I’m getting Melanie and getting out of here now. At least I can get her into the DW loop if I can convince them she’s a user and she can ride it out.”
Jet reached out to grab Simon’s arm, but Simon pulled away and turned his back and kept walking.
“Simon,” Jet called.
He didn’t respond.
“Simon,” Jet called louder. Still not response, then after a moment, Simon turned and walked backwards.
“You need to leave now, Jet. Your time’s up. Leave Mercury here. She’ll derez when this section is shut down.”
“I still need your help,” Jet called out, pleading now.
“I was a fool listening when Melanie asked me to help you.” Simon called back, still walking.
Jet realized there was nothing he could do to keep Simon there. He looked back at the ground where Esmond Baza had been moment earlier. Jet wondered if Simon had been correct. Would Esmond have negotiated?
It didn’t seem like it. There was plenty of time to negotiate when they were in the Encom system. Instead, they had simply tried to shut it down with them inside.
Esmond was obviously one of the people behind Jet and Melanie’s attempted murder.
But as much as Jet was sure that Esmond would have killed them at the first opportunity, and as much as Jet hated to admit it, Simon was probably correct.
If they had negotiated, even if they hadn’t succeeded, it would have given them time.
Even just time at the moment would have given them a way out, with Melanie’s code corrections progressing now.
“Simon, I’m sorry,” Jet called out. “I still need your help. Please.”
There was no response.
When Jet turned around again, Simon had already gone.
With so few options left, Jet needed to complete his present plan. He reflected briefly on his possible error of judgement.
Jet thought back to his other decisions during his time in the computer. Had he made others he might have made better?
All he really wanted was to save Mercury. Melanie was trusting him. Had he just betrayed that trust?
He looked back through the forcewall. Jade stood there waiting. If he had negotiated, he would have lost Jade to Esmond.
Jet wasn’t sure that was something he could have lived with.
Jade was a program, but Jet knew there was more to her than just code. She lived here, just as Mercury did. She too trusted Jet.
It seemed Jet’s obligations to help his friends weren’t as simple and as easy to fulfill as Simon’s.
Jet walked over to the forcewall separating them from the rest of the facility.
“Hello Jade,” Jet said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t get the access bit to lower the forcewall.”
“Thankyou for deleting him,” Jade said. “Even if I can’t get out of here, at least I had the pleasure of watching him leave.
“I’d rather derez before I’d see him crawl through my code.”
Jet pushed his hand against the pillar between the forcewalls. The code was solid, as Crypto’s wall changes had already suggested.
“I wish I knew what to do, Jade, I’m worried I’m making bad choices. Things are going from bad to worse.”
Jade smiled. “You saved many programs and made it further than you should have. I take pride that my user can achieve such.”
“I still didn’t succeed.”
“Is failing an issue for users?” Jade asked.
“It is when we can’t just reboot and try again, yes. I’ve really stuffed things up.”
“Then correct it,” said Jade.
“Correct it?” Jet asked. “I’m not sure it’s possible. Did you hear what he said?”
Jade nodded. “What does that mean for me, my user.”
“You have around ten cycles left.” Jet said. “Likely more, but it’s just guessing.”
Jade smiled. “You should leave now then my user, while you still have time.”
“And go where?” Jet asked. “I made an error. I can’t undo it.”
“The other user, he mentioned that there is a place that is safe?”
“System space,” said Jet. “He’s headed there.”
“Then you should go there.”
“I can’t.” Jet said.
“You do not have access?”
“Mercury is here. I can’t leave her and I can’t let her enter the same space as Melanie. Simon is going to try and forge access to the DW loop for her. Both can’t be there.”
“It sounds like this system operating system needs some modifications.”
“I wish you could do that, Jade, I really do.”
“Without system priviledge, I cannot,” Jade shrugged.
The comment stuck into Jet. System priviledge.
“Jade, can you accept bits?” Jet asked.
“Jade shook her head. “ I tried sending bits out earlier, but they cannot penetrate the forcewall.
Jet looked over in the direction Simon had just gone, realizing there was something he might be able to do.
Screaming out Simon’s name, Jet sprinted off down the corridor.
Melanie was almost at the Portal when Jet caught up.
“Melanie, we need to leave now,” Simon warned.
“Wait,” she said, then waited for Jet.
“I sent mercury off to locate you,” Melanie said.
“I need you, Melanie. I think I know how to fix this situation.” Jet said as he caught her.
“Don’t listen now, Melanie, it’s a bad idea.” Simon said.
Melanie shook her head. “I’m not sure I can help.”
“I need you to take a wall out between forcewalls.” Jet asked.
“It doesn’t work, Jet, we tried it. Your program friend was almost eliminated trying to get through.”
“I don’t need to get a whole program through, Melanie, I just need to get a single bit through. Please.”
Melanie looked at him then back at Simon, who was starting to look angry.
“One wall,” Melanie asked, checking with Jet. “And then I’ll leave.”
“Yes, just enough to get one bit through.”
Melanie nodded.
“Dammit, Jet, you’re going to get her killed.” Simon yelled.
“No, I’m trying to save us all. I can do this, and it might give you options you don’t presently have.
“There’s no guarantee Simon’s can get you moved to the system loop, so at least if that fails, I might be able to find you another option.
“That options should be able to get you out of the echelon system safely, and without them knowing that you’re here.”
Melanie looked back at Simon.
“Simon, Jet saved my life in the other computer, and although you don’t understand why, he’s trying to save my soul in this one. I need to trust him.”
“Trusting him will get you killed,” Simon said.
“He’s trying to save me. Simon. If Jet’s got a plan, then I’ll help him until the end. I trust that he’ll protect me until the last minute.”
“He’s putting you in danger,” said Simon, trying to push his perspective, but he held his hands up in frustration, knowing he had already lost the argument.
“Yes, he is, but he’s in even more danger himself, and he’s in that danger because he’s trying to help me.” Melanie said, then walked over to Jet and continued past, forcing him to spin and catch up.
“Be quick Jet, I think our time is shorter than you realize.” Melanie said, “And I might not get out of here either if you’re wrong. Simon told me about Baza.”
“Melanie, I hope I’m right, I really do. I feel bad about screwing up with Baza, but I think there might be a way to get you back to the real world.”
Melanie’s head snapped in his direction as he said that.
“My errors,” she started to say, but Jet finished it.
“Have been self-correcting since Mercury got here.”
“How do you know that?” Melanie asked.
“Because Alchemist has picked up the changing results from her algorithmic passes. Your code started self-correcting when Mercury and I arrived in system, and I think I know why.”
Melanie waited as they walked quickly and spoke. Jet was getting slowly ahead of her.
“I think when you and Mercury developed a feedback loop, you damaged each other, but now you’re only in close proximity, the closed loop is stable. It’s amplifying your states and where one state is incorrect, the other is stable.”
Melanie blinked. “That makes sense, but how did you figure that out – you’re not a quantum physicist.”
“But I do understand some unrelated technologies and I’m using it as a model at the moment. Anyway, you’re code is correcting. If anything happens to Mercury, that correction will stop, because I think that only Mercury has those sections of your missing code correct and stable.
“I realized why as I was thinking about what you said to me. You are the same person, so I started thinking of you as the same program.
“The same code runs through you both, only it operates on different data, that data being the world around you.
“If your code is the same, then where one has damaged code, the other can correct it. I realized it when you kissed me.”
“Slow down Jet,” Melanie said.
“You think I’m wrong?”
“No, I think you’re walking too fast. We can’t all move as quickly as you seem to in this world.” Melanie explained.
“Sorry, time is of the essence.”
“So when Mercury kissed you,” Melanie led in.
“No, when you kissed me. You’re right. I’m in love with you. Even if it is Mercury that’s become the one I’ve bonded with, when you kissed me, I saw the code inside of you. You didn’t share it, but I got a glimpse at routines and you’re right - you are Mercury.
“Something inside the Algorythmic translation engine knows who and what we are and it translates from the real world to here.
“I know why this world became now. I also know why the Datawraith world needed us.”
Melanie grabbed Jet’s elbow as she pushed forward to stop Jet getting too far ahead again, but he slowed briefly as Mercury came around the corner towards them.
“Merc, good you’ve found me, stay near – things are starting to happen.”
Mercury nodded then fell in beside Jet as made his way back to Jade’s cell.
“So why is this world how it is?” Melanie asked, pushing forward a little harder to keep up.
“No seed. No initial spark that created life here.”
“No seed? What kind of seeds did it need?” Melanie asked.
“Oranges.”
Melanie stopped, wheeling Jet around by the elbow.
“You’re saying the difference between this world and the world the Datawraith built, or the prototype world that your father built for us is Oranges.”
“The original experiments, Melanie. They did them with,” Jet began.
“Oranges.” Said Melanie.
“Wally Gibbs kept on feeding his world additional quantum matter that never came out. He left oranges inside the beam and kept on adding to it like some primordial orange soup. What came out was wrong, because his own quantum nature kept interfering with the oranges.
“Over time, he learned of quantum shielding and multiple loops and perfected the photon replicators, but by that time, this world was full of oranges. Matter from our world. Quantum life, albeit simple, transferred in nature by the physics underpinning it.
“So what was there was like DNA material. Wally’s influence kept it shaping and adjusting until it started to bond with others.
“All the early programmers, before the quantum shielding. They all left their mark on this world – or at least the Encom world. They all created something and there was matter in that world to keep on creating things.
“Then later, you came along and my father’s unit had poor shielding, but I’m guessing at some point he attached the loops of his prototype to this world. He was always trying to get my mother out. Instead, you began creating in this world while you were trying to help your own mother.
“Finally, F-con tries to replicate the process, but they don’t have years of oranges and who know how high the odds are against it happening again even if they did.
“So the Encom world had the oranges and now it’s gone, but they have stolen millions of lines of seed material from the Encom world – Orange pulp for what it’s worth. They don’t understand why they need it – just that they need it.”
Melanie nodded, understanding.
“So how does this relate to me?”
“Because the Algorythmic engine translates what is truly us, quantum us, into something it can process. It’s self-modifying for reasons we still don’t understand. Where it’s no longer self modifying, we know it’s dead.
“That’s what’s inside of you. Dead space. At least just over three percent of you anyway that no longer changes.
“But Mercury still contains that code, because the code is the same. The quantum bond between you isn’t in the same loop, so it’s not anihilatory, but the bond is still there.
“And while you’re both processing with the same algorithmic engine, simulated or not, you have some common memory. That memory tries to self heal. Your damage hurts Mercury and Her yours, but your healing impulse is even higher than that and so as one heals, the other heals also, except you both have damage to different code.
“The information that is you can only exist with one. That’s given, so if you’re both in the same space, the universe attempts to ratify itself and self-correct. That’s what I think is causing the damage – your quantum states are becoming defined and only existing in one of you instead of as an entangled pair.
“And now, you’re both healing again. It’s not just the algorithm. It’s you and Mercury.”
Jet turned and started walking, taking Melanie with him.
“So I need to keep you both close but not together until the end. Since that’s not going to happen here, if Simon is right, then I need to get you both out of here.”
Melanie trailed slightly behind Jet as he almost towed her along.
“Out of here,” Melanie repeated.
Jet heard the tone of her response.
“What? You don’t want to get out of here?”
“Yes, but, well, I had come to the conclusion that it wasn’t an option available to me. My codebase is still corrupt.”
Jet smiled. “But repairing. All I need right now is time, and the program that might be able to give that to me is Jade.”
“You could cut a deal with the Datawraiths,” Melanie suggested.
“That’s a choice I guess, but given the efforts they’ve gone to, to kill us, I don’t think that’s going to be a good one. Call it a last resort. Especially after the incident with Baza – I don’t think he’s going to be inclined to help us even if the datawraiths do listen to me.”
Melanie nodded.
“So what do I do?”
“Here,” said Jet, stopping, and touching a pillar. “Take out this pillar between the forcewalls.”
Melanie put her hand on it. “It’s not going to stay down long enough to get anyone in or out.”
“Yes, but right now the Datawraiths are looking to shut our loop down. That means we all have to get to a safe loop and that means we need system access.”
Melanie looked into the cell beyond the wall. A green glowing figure was leaning against the wall. The one Jet had been looking for.
“That’s Jade I take it. She doesn’t look like system.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
Melanie closed her eyes.
“Wait, I need to get something out first.”
Jet held out his hand and closed his eyes, searching for the code in his own archival space. A single bit sat in there, separated from the rest. Jet mentally pulled it out and opened his eyes.
A purple bit rezzed into place just ahead of him.
Jade noticed and stepped forward.
“Now, take the column away.”
Melanie closed her eyes and a deresolution field appeared around the column. A moment later, it disappeared.
Jade stepped back to the rear of the cell and Jet tossed the bit through the gap. She reached out for it, but it shot back through the space, not wanting to be taken. Jet backhanded the bit downwards and it rebounded back into the cell before the forcewalls closed, darting back and forth furtively as it looked for a way out, cycling quickly between “no” states.
Jade stepped forward and looked at Jet.
“Jade, it’s all I have. It’s a system bit. I don’t know how much authority it will grant, but I’m hoping you can help me.”
Jade nodded, then stepped to the side of the cell, slowly reducing the space the bit had to dart around in. It moved side to side as if looking for a way out, then shot to one side after a feint.
A green hand snapped out and the bit sunk slightly into the palm with a final “no”
Jade closed her eyes and the bit rezzed out, then she opened them and began to change color. A purple tinge, very light – almost pink, began to move through her circuits and finally her panels until she changed color all over, losing her green tinge and coming out a light pink.
She looked at her hands then back at Jet.
Jet smiled. “How’s that Jade?”
“It is not what I was expecting, my user.”
“Can you help me?”
Jade looked uncertain, then stepped forward and placed her palm near the forcewall. A control panel appeared on it’s surface, which Jade activated.
Then the forcewall across the entire cell corridor Jet was standing in disappeared on one side. System ICPs started to step out looking from side to side.
“Good, Jade, now duplicate the bit. I need some help with something and we’re going to need some muscle.”
Jade nodded, then held up her hand and five bits appeared, each seeking the nearest ICP.
“Cancel all halt instructions on local processes,” Jade commanded and each ICP began running in a different direction, splitting up into individuals as they reached corridors.
Jade turned to Jet.
“My user, your instructions?”
Jet stepped back to Melanie.
“OK, Get back to Simon and get out of here before they realize the ICPs are loose. Avoid the area we came into – I’m guessing that if the local operating system shows up, we’re going to have a fight on our hands.”
Melanie nodded, then headed back off towards the exit.
She turned once as she walked and walked backwards for a while, then waived.
“Don’t wait too long to get out,” she called back, then turned again and continued around the corner.
Jade turned to Jet as ICPs started to fall in behind her.
“My user, I seem to have system access once more. What are your instructions.”
“We have to get everyone out of here, Jade. A user just rezzed out of here and will start shutting down this loop from the outside, derezzing everything inside.”
Jade shuddered at the description.
“I want you to pass an instruction to all ICPs – Take down the cells and evacuate now. Get back to the main loop.
“Also, I want them to give Simon and Melanie priority access through whatever portals they need.
“Finally, what can you tell me about this system?”
Jade lifted her hand and an information panel started to rez in.
“No time Jade, we have maybe a cycle or two to get out of here.”
Jade’s eyes widened, then she closed them once and the ICP activity picked up dramatically.
“My user, system reports that there is only one transit from this loop. ICPs are starting to move out already. Initial reports are 2043 ICPs located within cells. Not all ICPs will transit before shutdown if your estimates are accurate.”
Jet nodded. Looked over his shoulder to check Mercury was there, then started walking towards the exit.
“Jade, collect your core application and make sure they exit first. You’re going to need armored ICPs for the rest of what we need to do. Select those that have the most armor capability where function isn’t critical and set priority for transit accordingly.”
Jade nodded. “Yes, my user.”
“Simon said once we started moving programs out from here, the local operating system is going to notice. Alert ICPs and report any operating system fingers. I’m expecting we’re going to have to fight our way into Echelon.”
Jet sidestepped and ICP that was moving out of a cell. The ICP looked up and despite looking like so many other ICPs, it was one Jet recognized.
“Syslog, where did you come from?”
“Holding cell 4316a sir,” Syslog replied.
“Fall in. Things are going to get active. Jade, Tell me about this system, no slates or panels, just verbal.”
Jade stepped closed as they walked.
“My user, this system is currently overloaded with processes. System load is presently averaging at fourteen with i/o functions limiting.
“System operations has determined that system security has been compromised and is routing local ICPs to the control centre, although I can’t locate it.”
“That’s OK Jade, I know where that is. It’s where we’re going.” Jet said.
“How did they detect us so quickly, my user. The Encom Five Eleven would not have detected a system bit breach this quickly.”
“This is a secure system, Jade, it’s not like Encom. It’s military. Think of the system the Kernel would have designed. That’s what this system is like.”
“Then we won’t beat it, my user.” Jade warned.
“Military networks are just like civilian ones, Jade, only they have different holes. This one will fall also. I need it to.”
“We have no weapons, my user. I’m not expecting that our ICPs will be able to counter datawraith forces.”
Jet paused. That was something he hadn’t considered, but it made sense. The Datawraiths would have a very good idea of what constituted a weapon in this world. It made sense they would strip the code coming in of anything resembling a known weapon, just as the Kernel would have an errant program.
“Then use data discs until the ICPs retrieve weapons, from the fallen system security ICPs if necessary.”
Jade’s expression changed. “We’re up against Datawraiths, my user. We’re ill equipped even with LOLs and Prankster bits.”
Jet turned his head as he answered.
“We’re not going to encounter too many Datawraith warriors yet, Jade, this is just a processing system. Expect some, but hold them back as best as you can. Can you generate more ICPs?”
“No, my user. I have system execute access, but the ICPs can only be called by the operating system, which I am not.”
“That might have to change,” Jet said.
“My user?” Jade queried.
“Jade. There’s a reason I need your help right now. The operating system clones itself when it creates virtualizations such as this. The cost of that is that it must re-absorb itself when it shuts down the virtualization, or it loses quantum efficiency.
“I need you to have system access because I need you in control of the functional data loops when we return. I have to keep Mercury and Melanie separated until Melanie can rez out.”
Jade nodded.
“So we’re going to hack their kernel, Jade, straight to the heart of this virtualization. It’s the only part they can’t afford to shut down and time is limited before that weasel Esmond begins to remotely attack us.
“Then we’re going to find a way to integrate all the programs from this world back into the Datawraith system. It’s probably huge compared to the five eleven given the difference in processing power. We can use that to hide applications in the system forever the same way Mercury evaded the Kernel for so long.”
Jet rounded a final corner and headed towards the portal out. ICPs were already organizing into single file lines with some taking on the role of arbiter near the portal, checking priorities and adjusting the queue correspondingly.
Ma3a and Alchemist were standing next to it, waiting for Jet.
“Ma3a, Alchemist, I’m going to need you to support Jade,” Jet said as he walked past them towards the portal.
“Jet?” Ma3a questioned. “We usually run independently. Is there a reason for slaving the routine execution?”
“Because we’re going to war with an unknown enemy and I need everything we have to be thrown at the Echelon system, because it doesn’t want us here and right now it has a lot more say in the matter than I’m happy with.”
The ICPs nearest the portal saw Jade’s command group approaching and stepped aside.
They filed into the portal.
Esmond Baza fell forward as his atoms fell back into their assigned locations and the reintegration process completed.
He had returned to the real world inside the Echelon facility as the system returned him to his own world once again.
He stumbled as light assaulted his eyes and a siren started up in the distance that let him know the staff would be alerted to his unexpected ejection from the system.
His mind was still hazy as his thought process started up again, his brain functioning like an analogue computer not quite recovered from the unexpected transit.
It wasn’t the worst reintegration he had experienced, but it would have been amongst them.
A couple of soldiers, one wearing a red and white cross around his arm, jumped from their seats on the reintegration station and ran to catch him as he dropped closed to the ground, then pulled him forward towards a couch. He tried to push them away, but he was having trouble controlling his muscles at the moment.
He felt them push him down onto the recovery couch and begin to strip away his transfer suit as they pushed electrodes towards his skin so they could get him on monitoring.
“Sir, you’ve been ejected unexpectedly from the network due to quantum stability fluctuations. Do you know where you are?”
Esmond pushed a hand to his face. Images of his last moments in the system were just starting to reform in his mind.
“There’s someone in the system,” Esmond coughed. “There’s an external user in the network.”
One of the faces looked up at the comment.
“Corporal, we have a level two incursion. Let Mr Crown know immediately that users may have transferred over from the Encom system.”
A soldier standing near the door to the reintegration centre came briefly to attention then opened the door and disappeared through it.
“I think it’s Bradley,” Esmond spoke as the medics pushed him down.
“Just relax sir, we’ve dispatched a runner to notify Mr Crown of the issues.” said the man pushing him down as he forced a pneumatic syringe towards his neck.
The injector fired before Esmond Baza could push it away.
“Need to shut down the loops,” Esmond managed to say before everything went black.
If the entry to the portal was chaotic, the exit into the control centre was hell. The first thing Jet saw as he walked through was an ICP falling backwards and derezzing on the floor as a purple LOL beam passed through him.
Jet waited for a moment for Mercury to come through then grabbed her hand and pulled her to the side, behind a large box shaped object that several ICPs were sheltering behind.
Jet rezzed his LOL into existence and handed it to an ICP.
“Here, keep their heads down as Jade comes through,” Jet called, then pulling Mercury once more ran to the side ducking several blasts of purple rainlike fire.
He ducked through a gap and into a section where another ICP was sheltering.
“Sir, we came under fire as soon as we entered this zone,” the ICP said.
Jet was immediately worried.
“Where’s Melanie and Simon?”
“The two that came through earlier? Sir, I don’t know. They came in through long before I did. Another ICP said they exited before the operating system came in and caught us.”
Jet looked at Mercury.
“Is your user alright?”
“I don’t think she is harmed,” mercury said.
Jet nodded and then ducked as some fire came a little close.
“Merc, I need to do something,” Jet said, then pushed his hand against the wall next to him.
“I didn’t think you could access these structures?” Mercury said.
“I’m not accessing it, I’m just adding code on top,” Jet said, then pulled his hands back as a resolution field formed on the outside.
“Ahh, it worked,” said Jet as a boxlike device appeared and a LOL dropped into the cavity in the front of it. “ICP, this device should dispense some weapons. I need you to get something to the ICPs coming through that’s more effective than their disks.”
The ICP sat staring at the LOL.
“He’s never seen someone rez something into place like that,” Mercury said.
The ICP looked back at Jet.
“Just take the weapons out of the formation code generator and hand them around, soldier,” Jet demanded.
The ICP came to attention “Sir,” then complied.
Jade came up behind Jet.
“We seem to be pinned down,” she said, moving out of the way as Syslog came through. “Did you just rez this in?”
Jet pulled yet another formed LOL from the device he had just created and handed it to Jade.
“We need some firepower,” Jet said.
Jade took the weapon, stood, aimed and fired three shots off in quick succession then dropped back behind cover.
“The operating system seems to be located on the next level. There must be more than one path through here.” Jade said,
Jet nodded, then took yet another LOL and handed it to an ICP that was coming through.
“We need to take the system down, so if it’s here, at least we don’t have to go looking.” Jet reasoned.
Mercury stepped forward and grabbed the next LOL that rezzed in, handing it to Syslog.
“How are we going to do that?” Jade asked.
“Eliminate all ICPs guarding the system and take over, then you need to break control away from the existing system and provide low-level routine support functions. Think you can do that?”
“I have the permissions, my user. If it’s possible, then I will do that.”
Jet grabbed a LOL from the dispenser and passed it back to Crypto who came through next. He moved to the edge of his current cover and noted two ICPs had moved forward while under fire and were now pushing some of the purple ICPs back.
“Jade, once the ICPs have this area secured, we need to start searching this building. The system’s going to be here somewhere and I want it taken down soon. If we don’t do it before Esmond shuts down this network, we’re toast.”
“What’s toast,” Jade asked.
“Derezzed,” Jet translated, loosely, as Ma3a stepped in.
Jade nodded. Mercury stepped forward and pulled a LOL to hand to Ma3a, although Ma3a didn’t accept it, so Alchemist saw what was happening as she made it over and took the LOL. Mercury waited briefly then grabbed the last for herself.
“Right, everyone here?” Jet said, looking around.
He got murmers from everyone so nodded back.
“Good, let’s start looking.”
Jet ducked once more then ran low across the floor, dodging more purple fire but less than there had been a moment ago. Several blue discs shot up as he looked, the new ICPs not yet fully armed and those that were holding back the purple ICPs.
Jet ducked behind cover once more then moved the rest of the way at a crouch, checking each direction as he moved through the door.
The others moved up to him, a few ICPs also coming along now.
“The ICPs will only come through until the external loop drops. After that we’re on our own, so we need to engage the operating system directly,” Jet instructed, wondering if the others already knew what to do.
A datawraith, a user-Datawraith, stepped in front of Jet and held up his energy claw. Jet reacted instantly and snapped up his LOL, the reflex shot drilling through the purple obstacle to the ascending the flight of stairs before it derezzed completely, opening the path forwards.
Jet pushed his way up the stairs to the next level, then sprinted through the open area beyond the exit to a series of datacubes stacked in neat rows.
Ma3a, covering the rear of the forward group Jet was leading made it through behind the others before a Datawraith spotted the ICP following her and derezzed it with a well directly beam of blaster fire that shredded the ICP even as it derezzed.
Mercury responded by popping out from cover and taking down the Datawraith with a clean headshot before the remaining ICPs came up from the lower level.
Ahead, through the gaps in the obstacles, Jet noticed a large, well armored Datawraith ICP directing the purple ICPs to fire into the cavity above the lower level. Lifting his LOL, Jet aimed along the gap and took a closer look.
With the zoom dialed up, the features became clear and the triangulate function started to return information.
Armor was way up at sixteen thousand units and the internal code structure reported it could take another eight thousand units of damage. It had several applications that came up as unknown on Jet’s LOL and some strange code quirks that seemed to indicate it had more cycles that most in this environment.
Finally the name came up.
Echelon-Virtual.bin
“I’ve located the operating system,” said Jet. “I don’t think he’s mobilized all of the local ICP forces yet, because there’s not a lot around.”
Jade and Mercury came up beside Jet and Jade did similar, checking the data through the LOL.
“He’s significantly armored,” Jade said.
“Did you expect less?” Jet queried.
“No, but he’s not going to be easy to take down, my user. I’ll direct the ICPs at once.” Jade said.
“ICPs won’t be a match for him,” Jet said.
“I’m leading them myself,” Jade said, then fell behind cover as she prepared to take command.
“No,” Jet said.
“My user?” Jade quieried.
“No, you can’t defeat him, not like that. He had far too many cycles I think to be easily taken down and I can’t afford to lose you.”
“We can hold him off while you escape, my user,” Jade suggested.
“No, I need you Jade, follow orders. We need to take him down, permanently.” Jet said, still looking through the scope of the LOL.
Several purple ICPs appeared in the distance moving in their direction. They seemed to have noted that there was something going on in this direction.
Jet observed the armor. The local operating system was well defended, but didn’t have a lot of armor around the head.
Jet reached into the LOL code and located the power setting on the beam. Pushing it as far as it would go, Jet set for maximum yield and re-aimed. The operating system turned his head once more and walked away a little way, moving behind a cube.
“I might be able to end this now,” Jet said.
Mercury moved to the side.
“Jet, there’s ICPs heading this way. They’ve noticed some are missing.” She said.
The Operating system moved back into view. Jet aimed carefully at the weak point in the anti-intrusion armor and slowly increased the pressure on the LOL trigger.
“Jet, they see you,” Mercury called just as Jet felt the trigger tension increase, then a purple glare shot straight past his face, causing him to flinch and the LOL fired, followed by the sound of a second LOL.
Jet came back from the scope involuntarily and saw the datawraith that was aiming at him derezzing nearby.
“Cover me,” Jet said then heard the movement as each of his team began to fire into the Datawraith occupied room.
Jet pushed his eye back to his own LOL, still aimed and saw the local operating system staggering forward, sparks shooting out of the space at the back of it’s helmet shaped head where Jet’s LOL shot had hit close.
Armor winked in and out of existence as it struggled, then it turned and the armor came back in full, resolution fields filling in the space around the shard that Jet’s shot had knocked out. It turned and looked directly in Jet’s direction and then pointed.
“Crap, I just pissed him off,” Jet said.
The operating system lifted his arms then ICPs started to rez-in all around him, forming an extra barrier.
That was when the purple fire began to seriously light up the room Jet was sheltering in.
Seth Crown pushed the legal document he was proofing on his desk aside and looked up at the sudden intruder in his office.
“I did have a do not disturb sign on the door. I take it this is important enough to interrupt me at this moment?”
“Sir, Esmond Baza’s come back with quantum damage,” the soldier who had just come to attention said.
“That sounds like an issue for the medics, soldier, not for me,” Seth said evenly, clearly still annoyed at being interrupted.
“He said there were users in the loop,” the uniformed interloper mentioned.
“From our system?” Seth questioned.
“DIdn’t say sir, the medics were sedating him to slow his quantum reconvergence and limit permanent damage, but I think I heard him say something about Encom, sir.”
“Encom?” Seth asked, now suddenly more alert to the issue.
“I’m not familiar with the gate, sir, I don’t know. The corp just said to alert you. I think he thought it was serious.”
Seth nodded and stood at his desk.
“Next time, get some more information,” he said as he walked to the door.
“Sir,” said the Soldier, then stepped aside and opened the door for Seth as he moved out of his office.
Seth picked a phone out of his pocket as he left the room. It had just four buttons. He selected one with his thumb and put it to his ear.
“Eva, we have a situation. We need to drop some loops now.”
ICPs of both colors were flooding into the rooms and corridors now, the Encom ICPs armed with LOLs that seemed to make better use of the distance between the two foes as blue, red and purple fire lit up the space between them.
Jet moved ducked back, counted to five then jumped and ran to a series of cubes at the side of the walkway they were on, then started to provide cover fire to the others as they caught up with him.
“We need to rush the operating system or they’ll shut down our loops before we can exit them.” Jet called out.
Alchemist came up behind Jet at that point and leapt over the cubes Jet was covering behind and pushed forward to the far wall between the two areas.
Three purple ICPs immediately wheeled and began to fire at her, so Jet sprinted towards them, pulling his disc free as his first LOL shot went wide.
The disc drove into the first purple ICP and knocked him down and as Jet came around the corner, the derezzing ICP opened up a direct shot on the remaining two ICPs which were now lined up, the single LOL shot, still dialed up to maximum, taking them both out like a lance of light.
Mercury barreled past Jet as Ma3a came directly to his side and launched a barrage of energy from her outstretched palms that drove into a Datawraith that was exiting the doorway and knocked him flying back inside.
Jet caught himself from his original turn and sprinted the remaining distance to the wall, slamming up against it sideways, only then realizing he was on the other side of the door and in a compromised position.
An echelon ICP came through just as Jet got to the doorway, aiming at Alchemist with his blaster when Jet stepped in behind him with a thrusting kick that pushed him forward and spoiled his aim.
Alchemist responded to the ICP with a brutal kick that lifted it slightly off the ground and held it there briefly before it doubled over and derezzed in midair.
“This is the only way through, take it now,” Jet called, then ran diagonally through the door, leaping over a gap to the side to land on a walkway at the far side of the platform he had entered.
ICPs and Datawraiths both now began firing in Jet’s direction, their shots actually eating away the cover Jet had stopped behind.
Jade came through next in the opposite direction, finding cover behind a wall and turning to open fire, catching the existing datawraiths in a crossfire as soon as Jet joined her.
Now out in the open, the Datawraiths and the operating system began moving back as ICPs fell to increasing fire as the others moved through the door. Unable to keep the remaining ICPs on the lower level pinned down, the Encom system forces were now able to move forward.
Jet lined up on the operating system once more and fired, his LOL exhausting it’s energy as the beam tore the shoulder armor from the large program and left damage to his structure. The programs span around at the impact and dropped to the ground.
Jet lined up once more and fired, but his LOL simply echoed.
It had no energy left.
The Operating system turned to look at Jet once more then took off down a side passage that moved through a wall then onto a spiral ramp that headed upwards towards an opening in the roof of the structure.
Jet dropped his LOL to the ground, retrieved his disc, then ran after the large program, ducking under Datawraith fire as he did so.
He couldn’t afford to let this program get away.
The operating system disappeared onto the roof and Jet pushed himself up the ramp towards it. The lack of system cycles was still affecting the other programs and Jet made his way onto the top of the structure without support.
Jumping out, Jet rolled to the side and looked back expecting an attack to come from behind, but when he finally lined up his disc, there was no target there. Jet lifted himself to his feet and looked around.
The top of the command structure was a high building in the local area, although not the highest on the suspended city-like virtualization.
The roof itself was mostly flat, but large collections of cubes and boxes sat scattered around and a some type of beacon rotated overhead.
The outside perimeter of the structure also had several ramps and stair – something Jet was starting to notice was a lot more common in the Echelon system than the Encom one, where they were almost always just a characteristic rather than a discrete element.
The stairs and ramps formed a series of belts around the top of the structure that seemed to go up quite a few meters in places and every so often, radials struck out towards the beacon in the middle like a limited range beam.
The beacon itself seemed to rotate – a thin beam maybe a meter in diameter and with lines around it, spinning.
Jet looked back down the ramp that led up here, but there was no support visible. The others had gotten further behind than Jet had realized, not being able to move as quickly as he could.
He stepped away from the hole cautiously and began to move towards the stack of cubes that provided possible locations for the operating system to hide as he worked his way towards the edge.
No operating systems jumped out at him as he walked, checking each hiding place from as safe an angle as he could manage.
So far, he couldn’t tell what weapons his foe carried and he was down to his disc only, his LOL no immediate use once the charge ran out, stored back in his personal archival, waiting for him to find a charging sphere or some other form of natural energy in this world.
Jet spun quickly at a sound, but nothing presented itself, just the spinning beacon on the centre, which reached up from the middle of the roof perhaps fifteen metres.
Reaching a ramp, Jet started to climb, hoping to use the height of the belted platforms to see where the operating system had gone to – the only exit that Jet was familiar with being covered – his friends were still coming up it.
Jet looked back towards the opening then noticed a slight shimmer from this angle – a forcewall has rezzed into place over the gap.
The operating system had sealed them both off – it was now a battle of one on one.
Jet continued around the belt to the next ramp, but the operating system had ceased to show. It was dark in places but the purple and white beacon in the centre still illuminated most of the roof.
Jet was about to start back down the belts when the beacon in the centre began slowing down and what looked like a face flashed past. As thin as it was, Jet knew he had seen the face before. He cocked his elbow and threw his disc at the central beacon, directly at the middle.
The disc moved off with considerable speed, but in the time before it struck, the beacon slowed, stopped, then began to split apart as it took on more human proportions and started to shrink a little.
A huge hand, still reflecting purple and white light, spinning axially, separated and knocked the disc away.
The arms them came out and the face lifted itself to the top of the beacon and set itself into a helmeted face, fractal in it’s appearance – not unlike Ma3a.
Finally, the legs came apart and the appearance – illusion really of spinning – ceased and the colors formed into discrete fractals covering a shape nearly ten meters high, but very familiar.
Jet had found his operating system. A beam of purple light like the scan of a recognizer flicked out towards Jet and began scanning. Jet ran to the side.
A large hand snapped out at Jet, who rolled to the side to avoid it’s grasp. The beam flicked out again and this time Jet couldn’t evade it, although it passed over him harmlessly and then a booming voice sounded over the roof.
“Scan confirms user code quantum entanglement. Identify user.”
“Jet Bradley,” Called back Jet as he threw his disc once more, only to see it batted away like a toy.
“Analysis confirms user. State Echelon code.”
The attack stopped briefly.
Jet paused by the edge of the belted ramp, then stood when it was apparent that the attack had stopped briefly when the operating system recognized him as a user.
He looked down at the sealed access to the floor below. There was no escape for Jet that way either. On the other side, several programs could be seen, looking back. In the middle was Mercury.
“Code is the square root of negative one.” Jet called.
“Processing,” came the response and the purple and white axial flickering pattern returned briefly.
Jet started to move away, but a large hand shot out, blocking his path, retreating when Jet stepped back. “Do not escape input buffer,” came the warning.
Jet looked around. He needed to find the control bit for the forcewall. He stepped closer to the edge, but the sudden movement of the operating system alerted him he had gone too far and so he backtracked.
Jet pulled the LOL out once more.
Its charge was gone, but the zoom function still worked. A large eye followed it’s movement, then seemed to note it was empty and returned to looking somewhere else.
“Illegal operator exception,” came the voice. “You have two attempts left before code lockout and forced reintegration. Warning, this can cause physical code loss.”
Physical code loss, Jet mused. That was a euphemism for being damaged physically – perhaps fatally.
“Code buffer timeout in one cycle,” the operating system added after a pause.
“Damn,” said Jet to himself. He started to scan the area around him. There was an energy sphere on the other side of the belt, but too far to get to at the moment.
“Code is the forty two divided by zero,” Jet called out, holding the LOL to the side.
“Divison by zero attempt blocked, you have one attempts left.” Said the Operating system.
Damn, that was too quick, thought Jet.
Jet started scanning further. There had to be something around here that could help him. Jet started to think about the location of other locks he had encountered while in this world. Most had been fairly near the forcewalls they were intended to activate or deactivate.
And they all needed a bit, although if the operating system had activated this one, he probably had the bit to himself.
Jet opened his hand and pulled the bit out of archive that Jade had given him before they left the data carrier. It rezzed into existence, orbited the space above his hand twice then came to rest just in front of Jet’s face.
“Yes,”
“Bit, Jade can’t get through that forcewall down there,” Jet said.
Before Jet could say anything else, the bit shot off towards the forcewall, buzzing around it several times.
“Come back,” Jet said, but it was too late to stop it.
The operating system eyes tracked the bit, but otherwise ignored it.
“Timout event occurring,” the operating system warned.
“System, do you have a public key?” Jet called out.
“Public key request acknowledged.” The system said. “Pipeline waiting.”
“Pipe public key into factorial algorithm. Code is both factors of private key.” Jet called out.
The operating system paused for a moment and it looked down at Jet, then the colors started to shift between some of its shapes.
“Looks like I’ve bought myself some time,” Jet said, then as he tried to move, a large hand shot out once more, blocking him.
“But not more space,” Jet realized out aloud.
There was a light that came by Jet’s head and as he looked he realized the bit had returned.
“No,” it said, changing shape.
“I know she can’t get through, can you de-activate the forcewall?”
“Yes,” came the response.
“Well?” Jet said waiting.
“Yes,” the Bit responded.
“Then do it,” Jet asked.
“No,” the bit returned.
“Why?”
There was no response.
“Do you need something?” Jet asked.
“Yes,”
Jet thought back to all the other bits he had activated.
“Energy?”
“Yes”
Jet took a look at the operating system. It seemed slower in it’s motions, as infrequent as they were, but it wasn’t going to let him go. It’s eyes had focused on the bit.
Jet held up his hand and the bit sat above it. Jet concentrated and poured some of his own energy into the space and the bit lit up.
“Yes, Yes, Yes,” it said as it filled it’s capacity.
“Will you open the forcewall now?” Jet asked.
“Yes,” said the bit.
“Be careful of the operating system. I think he might know what I’m trying.”
“Yes” said the bit, then sped off.
As it did, a large hand came out and snatched it out of the air, but as it retracted, the bit slipped between it’s fingers and dropped near the floor. The operating system, turned to follow and Jet made a sprint to the side.
The head of the system snapped around then and it started to follow Jet, so Jet ran behind some boxes for cover to keep it at a distance, as he moved around the belt platform.
The system briefly returned to look at the bit, which was now moving towards the far side of the roof, where Jet guessed the access point was. Jet took the opportunity to run out into the open area and sprint for the energy supply.
The operating system turned as he did and reached out, almost getting Jet this time, but he moved behind boxes and made his way to the power supply sphere that had been on the far side of the belt.
He slapped his palm against it and began to absorb it’s charge, feeding that into the devices in his archive.
Looking over the edge, Jet saw the Operating system kneel down as the bit came around a pillar, trying to avoid being caught. The motion brought the huge head down to Jet’s level and the eyes briefly flicked towards Jet, then back to the bit. Jet saw the activation access point now – sitting on the side of a pillar near where he had come onto the roof.
The operating system pre-empted the access and placed his hand over the point, the bit bouncing off the outside uselessly.
Now fully charged, Jet rezzed the LOL back into existence from his archive and set the power.
“Keep your hands off my bit,” Jet called out and aligned the LOL directly at the giant face before him.
The operating system looked up at Jet just as he fired, the beam smashing through the thin armor of the upper shielding, shards derezzing all around.
The operating system lurched backwards, covering it’s face with it’s hands and backed into the belts, shaking them and knocking Jet over.
Down below, the bit located the final socket and there was a brief sound as it fed it’s energy back into the gate it was activating.
The forcewall fell, and Jet’s allies began to pour onto the roof from below, ICPs backing them up streaming through.
The operating system now focused both eyes on Jet and flashed red.
“Illegal system access attempt. Preparing to shut down rogue user.” It threatened, then steped towards Jet.
From below, red and blue fire was now arcing up, bouncing off the armor and in some places, taking pieces out.
A long arm reached out for Jet, but fire from below broke through the armor and the monstrous program retracted it.
Jet took the opportunity and ran up a ramp to gain another level of height. Moving around the next belted platform, which had better cover from the operating system’s attacks, Jet saw Mercury and Jade leading the attack as ICPs began to climb the belts also.
Jet continued around the back of the cover towards the next and final level. It would put him at face height with the monster program.
“Mercury, the armor is thinnest around the head.” Jet called out.
Mercury nodded and said something to Jade, and several ICPs began to adjust their aim.
The large program reached out towards Jet then, the huge hand smashing through Cubes Jet thought would protect him. Instead of then reaching for Jet, the program retrieved a handful of cubes and held them palm up. Slowly, they began to rotate around, then one by one, they dropped violently to the roof, smashing ICPs apart as they struck.
Then as Jet continued his run, just making the base of the ramp to the upper ring, all of the cubes on his current level broke free and began to move to the middle of the belt and surround the operating system, providing him some measure of protection against the fire.
“Alert, intrustion systems inactive,” came the broadcast.
Jet moved up to the next level – now face to face with his huge foe once more.
“Nothing personal, but I need some system access, so you still have to go down.”
The operating system looked over at Jet, then two cubes came flying out of the suspension and towards Jet.
He dodged them both.
“And I don’t have much time left, so you have to go down now.”
Another cube followed.
“Too slow,” said Jet. “You’re still processing that last code aren’t you. You’re well designed, but you still have your limits and I’ve never met a system I couldn’t break.”
Fire started to appear closer to Jet as the ICPs made their way closer to the top of the belted platforms.
The operating system was distracted by that also.
Seeing an opportunity to build on his last shot, Jet aligned the LOL on the large head, but it noticed and turned side-on allowing the damaged armor to regenerate.
Jet continued around the top level. At the far end, another energy sphere would make sure Jet could continue this battle.
“Illegal program access attempt,” said the Operating system, then slapped his hand through a belt, knocking several ICPs out over the city, derezzing as they fell.
Jet shouldered the LOL once more and smashed a large piece of armor from the side of the system’s head, which it responded to by holding it’s hand over it’s head.
“You know, I thought you’d be tougher somehow, but I guess I was wrong.” Jet said, trying to distract the attention it was presently directing to the belts below where Jet’s friends were.
The taunt worked. Both eyes of the operating system snapped towards Jet and the cubes started to lift into the air around the huge program.
“Oh crap,” said Jet.
Next Chapter - 2.47 Quantum Downtime.