Participants:
| Scene Title | Not A Plan |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | It isn't Bennet's plan. It definitely isn't K.Apila's plan. And D.Crypt is still working out how to make her plan work. Maybe she'll have to track down the other technopath for that. |
| Date | Sept 5, 2010 |
Digital Ether
D.Crypt sighed as she floated out past the 'secure' zone she had set up. Or as much as anyone can secure anything these days. It was time to go check on a message left out… not the most secure method of communication, but the best she had. And least trackable. Without help, what she knew had to be done was not a possibility. She didn't know enough about where on the network to go to find the specific place she needed to get to. She had gotten better at least at making the transfer between her body and the network.
K.Apila has other tasks to hand; there are always other tasks, a never-ending slew of them which is no small part of the reason she divested herself from everyday Ferry affairs. Even continuously connected as she is, there are only so many hours in the day. But that presence in the ether, that's someone she apparently needs to talk to, and the rest of her business can wait the small amount of time it'll take.
Would you care to explain yourself any further?
Takes a brief moment to gather her thoughts as the sudden contact was rather unexpected. Yet, it was exactly what was needed. Company down. Isotope tracking still up. Nobody happy with it. Most immediate solution, remove ability to track. It's a lot of words for the younger technopath. And yet there is a sign of much thought about how to do what she's speaking of, in how clear the words seem, how resolved they are. After a moment D.Crypt continues. Long term, duplicate isotope, spread it wide.
Tracking up, database claimed down, K.Apila corrects in similarly terse fashion. Possibly even true. There's a beat of silence, perhaps for the other technopath to consider D.Crypt's words. Other methods than isotope they could use, she points out. A pause again, but in digital medium it's difficult to conclude why — any number of things could cause K.Apila to space out her replies. Anyone who knew Hana could apply appropriate tone to what follows. Don't tell me Bennet's dusted off his plan.
If D.Crypt could sigh in this form, she would. She isn't TRYING to be terse, but there's no easy way to explain that… and she can tell that she's caused irritation somehow. Who's Bennet? No. This… extension of other request to me. Lead me to Project Munin. Know of it. Know not where it links to… She stops. She has no good way to describe the 'landscape' around them. So she just lets the thought hang.
Finally, she continues carefully, It's risky. I accept that. But riskier to leave them up? It goes unsaid that even if the database is encrypted down, eventually the new owners will pry it open. Gods help us all, the Institute with an easy hunting list.
The benefit of electronic medium, to D.Crypt, is that Hana has to expend effort to convey emotions — effort she doesn't typically bother with. It saves the younger technopath from reactions the older wouldn't be inclined to explain anyway. Risky's one word, K.Apila finally replies, after a hiatus that seems to stretch interminably long. I couldn't reach the first from ground four years ago. Not even in the Arctic, not in a way that will let me do more than hear it. The Munin Project makes three, on complementary orbits. I suspect taking them down will require going up to all three.
D.Crypt takes her time to reply as she makes sure she picks the right word. It communicates with ground. Ground communicates with it. Can ride that communication. But need to know WHERE in… network it links. She doesn't mention the risk that others like them might be defending that link. She doesn't add the risks of doing what she's considering, if her programming glitches at all, might leave herself stuck in the falling valkyrie on its last burning ride.
However, it's the learning of a THIRD target that catches her attention. A third. That complicates. Older. Likely bigger? The Munin-based ones would, based on simulation and logic, almost certainly not withstand re-entry. A larger one, however… would either have to be knocked into a specific spot to land it somewhere safe… or somewhere useful… just in case it DIDN'T burn up.
Past my reach, K.Apila restates. Probably unwise for you to stretch for it. Especially alone. Rebel might be able to reach it with impunity, she observes, toneless text leaching all sentiment from the words. Bigger, the technopath continues to affirm.
Rebel… There's a pause, and again, D.Crypt wishes for the ability to sigh. If you know better way… then leaving message like this… She lets the implication that she already HAD tried to contact the triple-personality ghost in the machine with little luck.
Just as D.Crypt can't sigh, K.Apila finds it impossible to shrug. He will answer when he wants to. Which isn't exactly much help. Send another message into the space between. The most you can do is call.
Also on the list of impossible things to do here, nodding. D.Crypt will be going through aspirin later for the headache she is earning today. Will do. Oh. Careful around the Renaissance. Been… practicing weaving webs. She would grimace if she could. Practice isn't the right word, but it will work. It will have to, as the 'data' that is D.Crypt begins to slowly withdraw.
It conveys the idea well enough, as does K.Apila's simple reply: Understood.
She lets the younger telepath go, and herself departs on other errands, leaving the patch of digital space they had occupied entirely empty, and far poorer for it.