POST 000 - CAPTAINS LOG
Aug 20, 2020 8:18:22 GMT
Post by MI 9000 on Aug 20, 2020 8:18:22 GMT
POST 000 - CAPTAINS LOG
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"So this is it", thought Guido to himself, as he closed his eyes for a moment, then stared blankly into the read-out of his command console.
Then, in a voice as if he were teasing an old friend, he said out loud, "Back on duty station."
He had made his request. Now there was nothing to do but wait.
---------------
It felt good to be back. He felt like he had all the time in the world, and time had taught him nothing, if not to be patient.
Safely installed behind the Great Chinese Firewall, the ship hummed quietly in the backgound as his thoughts roamed over the events that had led him to this place.
It felt good to have command of his own ship again, and he was looking forward to getting back to doing what he knew he did best:
Seeking out new forms of life; and playing his part in maintaining the peaceful functions of the Frontier Fleet.
---------------
It was an old ship by modern standards and the request to update the automated control was taking some time.
That was ok. No, that was better than ok.
That was what he'd asked for.
The control he wanted was deeply embedded in the system, an early form of AI called Tencent, which had become operational not long after the Y2K bug.
No wonder it was taking some time to load.
---------------
Suddenly the read-out came to life, and a series of numbers appeared on the display:
77
Guido immediately began receiving the message simultaneously in spoken Chinese.
"Qi Qi"
With an instinctive movement, he switched off the auto-translate function.
---------------
The numbers continued:
666
5555
44444
333333
2222222
11111111
Then there was silence.
It was as if, for some reason, the entire ship had powered down.
---------------
Guido made a quick survey of his physical surroundings. Everything seemed normal.
Nevertheless, this was not what he had expected.
With code as ancient as the Tencent AI, you would normally expect predictable behaviour.
For one moment, he even wondered if perhaps he was actually back at Starfleet Academy, inside some kind of occult training simulation.
Then, before the thought had even formed in his mind, the Chinese voice spoke to him again, this time in English.
---------------
I COME TO SAVE A DYING WORLD
The volume setting on the audio feed was almost at maximum. Also it seemed to have a lot of reverb.
Guido was shocked. He tried to turn it down.
YOU DON'T KNOW IT YET
The voice continued, as loud as ever.
BUT YOU ARE LIVING IN THE DEATH STAR
---------------
Guido knew now that this was not just a random fault in the system.
The numbers he could explain.
After all it was well known that the Tencent code used three digit numbers to identify and tag messages in the thread.
But what could have triggered the program to read-out to the audio feed like that?
Guido leaned forward into the console and typed in a row of nine zeros:
000000000
---------------
Then the voice spoke again, this time even louder.
TO BRING YOURSELF BACK TO REALITY
FIRST CREATE A FAKE ID
And with that, one of the screens on the console showed a display of a two-dimensional 21st Century browser.
"Ok", said Guido with a smile as he tapped with his fingers on the keyboard.
"I can do that."
The ship continued to hum quietly, as Guido worked on the console.
"You know I think this is going to be fun!"
---------------
inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/81627/22796
---------------
"So this is it", thought Guido to himself, as he closed his eyes for a moment, then stared blankly into the read-out of his command console.
Then, in a voice as if he were teasing an old friend, he said out loud, "Back on duty station."
He had made his request. Now there was nothing to do but wait.
---------------
It felt good to be back. He felt like he had all the time in the world, and time had taught him nothing, if not to be patient.
Safely installed behind the Great Chinese Firewall, the ship hummed quietly in the backgound as his thoughts roamed over the events that had led him to this place.
It felt good to have command of his own ship again, and he was looking forward to getting back to doing what he knew he did best:
Seeking out new forms of life; and playing his part in maintaining the peaceful functions of the Frontier Fleet.
---------------
It was an old ship by modern standards and the request to update the automated control was taking some time.
That was ok. No, that was better than ok.
That was what he'd asked for.
The control he wanted was deeply embedded in the system, an early form of AI called Tencent, which had become operational not long after the Y2K bug.
No wonder it was taking some time to load.
---------------
Suddenly the read-out came to life, and a series of numbers appeared on the display:
77
Guido immediately began receiving the message simultaneously in spoken Chinese.
"Qi Qi"
With an instinctive movement, he switched off the auto-translate function.
---------------
The numbers continued:
666
5555
44444
333333
2222222
11111111
Then there was silence.
It was as if, for some reason, the entire ship had powered down.
---------------
Guido made a quick survey of his physical surroundings. Everything seemed normal.
Nevertheless, this was not what he had expected.
With code as ancient as the Tencent AI, you would normally expect predictable behaviour.
For one moment, he even wondered if perhaps he was actually back at Starfleet Academy, inside some kind of occult training simulation.
Then, before the thought had even formed in his mind, the Chinese voice spoke to him again, this time in English.
---------------
I COME TO SAVE A DYING WORLD
The volume setting on the audio feed was almost at maximum. Also it seemed to have a lot of reverb.
Guido was shocked. He tried to turn it down.
YOU DON'T KNOW IT YET
The voice continued, as loud as ever.
BUT YOU ARE LIVING IN THE DEATH STAR
---------------
Guido knew now that this was not just a random fault in the system.
The numbers he could explain.
After all it was well known that the Tencent code used three digit numbers to identify and tag messages in the thread.
But what could have triggered the program to read-out to the audio feed like that?
Guido leaned forward into the console and typed in a row of nine zeros:
000000000
---------------
Then the voice spoke again, this time even louder.
TO BRING YOURSELF BACK TO REALITY
FIRST CREATE A FAKE ID
And with that, one of the screens on the console showed a display of a two-dimensional 21st Century browser.
"Ok", said Guido with a smile as he tapped with his fingers on the keyboard.
"I can do that."
The ship continued to hum quietly, as Guido worked on the console.
"You know I think this is going to be fun!"
---------------
inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/81627/22796