[font=Tahoma]Base Hardware unknown
Copyright ???? _>^fL5j7ma<%e#^zfTI| All rights reserved.
OpenBoot 13.20.0, 16376 EB memory available, Serial #64546956552899576213.
Ethernet 7.2 address 0:3:ba:d8:e8:8c:44:cc:1a:0b, Host ID: 83d8e88c2b55e.
clear
Rebooting with command: boot Nemesis
Boot device: /pcix3@7c0/pcix3@0/pcix3@1/pcix3@0,2/LSILogic,sas14@2/disk@3 File and args: Nemesis.4421
SILEX Version 1.4.10
Allocated 8 Teras of memory at 0x4000000000000-0x700000000000 for kernel
Loaded kernel version 2.6.16
Remapping the kernel... done.
Booting Nemesis...
Nemesis@Nemesis#
I relaxed. No kernel panic. Not this time. It worked. Only four steps remained, really.
[font=Tahoma]Nemesis@Nemesis# ./configure
clear
checking for an ANSI C-conforming const... yes
checking whether time.h and sys/time.h may both be included... yes
checking for stdlib.h... (cached) yes
checking for GNU libc compatible malloc... yes
checking for working memcmp... yes
checking for stdlib.h... (cached) yes
checking for GNU libc compatible realloc... yes
checking sys/select.h usability... yes
checking sys/select.h presence... yes
checking for sys/select.h... yes
checking for sys/socket.h... (cached) yes
checking types of arguments for select... int,fd_set *,struct timeval *
checking return type of signal handlers... void
checking for vprintf... yes
checking for _doprnt... no
clear
Nemesis@Nemesis# make
ln -s -f ../../config.h include/Nemesis/config.h
gcc -g -O2 -Iinclude/ -Wall -g -c -o sample.o sample.c
sample.c: In function `sizechanged':
sample.c:95: warning: implicit declaration of function `ioctl'
sample.c: In function `main':
sample.c:356: warning: pointer targets in passing argument 2 of `ssh_print_hexa'
differ in signedness
sample.c:370: warning: pointer targets in passing argument 2 of `ssh_print_hexa'
differ in signedness
gcc -g -O2 -Iinclude/ -Wall -g -c -o samplesshd.o samplesshd.c
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/Nemesisbssh-0.11bssh'
gcc -g -O2 -Wall -g -I../include/ -fPIC -c -o client.o client.c
client.c:1: warning: -fPIC ignored for target (all code is position independent)
Nemesis@Nemesis# make install
Nothing happened.
I typed it again.
[font=Tahoma]Error: 1=0
Nemesis@Nemesis# define error
x = y
x2 = xy
x2 - y2 = xy - y2
x + y = y
2 y = y
1 = 0
Nemesis@Nemesis# proof invalid
The program stewed a moment before returning a prompt.
[font=Tahoma]User@Nemesis$ NULL
root has logged you out
Warning: Evacuate facility
Fire detectors triggered
Fire suppression system (HALON) activated
The woman snapped her binder shut, ending the three-hour-long meeting.
"That's one possibility, anyways. How do we know, though? It's a machine, Jake. Electronic records are its domain."
She stuffed it back into her tote and rose, slinging the bag over her shoulder.
"We'll have to do some more investigating before we come up with any concrete answer."
A short coat and heels in the latest fashion with matching black skirt and designer glasses completed the ensemble. One hand pushed a stray bit of sandy hair out of her gray eyes as the other pushed the chair she'd recently vacated back under the conference table. A stubby man in a tuxedo held the door as she exited the room, followed by Jake.
"How long, though? Like you said, it's a machine. It operates much faster than we do. Every second we spend talking is just how many cycles it uses? Billions? Trillions? More?"
"I'd have thought you would be the one to answer that, Jake."
Jake was the antithesis of the woman, balding, with horn-rimmed glasses and at least three chins. His paunch was bedecked with clothing at best five years out of fashion, ten at the worst. He had to jog slightly to keep up with her, an action that caused his belly to roll and bounce.
"We don't know, that's the thing. The entire place burned down after the fact, so there's no way we can verify the backed-up data. I'm of the opinion that there's a lot more that happened there than we ever saw or will ever see."
"I know, Jake, but I don't like it. I feel like it's gauging our response. Like we're just an experiment, or worse."
They pushed open the doors and exited the building to a waiting groundcar.
Maribeth sat at her desk, filing the day's expense reports at Detroit Munitions. She sighed as yet another defense contract dealing with more money than she would ever earn in ten lifetimes was completed. She was a simple woman, not caring for the frippery of other, more vain persons. Casual business attire for her consisted of a skirt below the knee, a blouse, and a light jacket, with heels a meager half-inch. All in all, entirely normal.
As she was typing in the latest numbers for Havoc Mk II acquisitions, a chat window blinked at her. Certainly it was a welcome distraction from her present dull existence. She opened it, expecting a message from one of her friends in the department. Instead, it expanded to fill her screen. At the same time, her other screens died as the program demanded the system's undivided attention. A heartbeat later, they came back online, scrolling millions of lines of code as they executed. The center screen that had started as a chat window warped and twisted into a mind-numbing cacophony of lights.
Her speakers began playing subsonic tones calibrated to disrupt the human equilibrium and impair higher brain functionality, all of which proved too much. Under the combined and unrelenting assault against her senses, Maribeth fell into an epileptic seizure.
Jacob Reddinger was found early Saturday morning in a pool of blood, dead from multiple deep lacerations and a penetration wound to the left ventricle. Utilizing security camera footage, the perpetrator was identified and placed in custody. The following is a statement by Ms. Perkins.
Maribeth Perkins Wrote:I look at my wrist, my thumb gently resting on the veins. Beat...beat...beat goes the tempo inside. My blood, singing to me, aching to join the dance without. I tilt my head and smile. Yes, I will let you dance today. I release my wrist, relax my hand, and take hold of the knife at my side. The form at my side burbles wetly. His dance is over now, and with a swift movement I bury the blade in its heart. It sighs and goes forever still. Its blood danced well.
I pull the knife free with a tug and lay it at my side. Carefully, slowly, so as not to awaken a heady rush as my eager blood notices the dance to be, I roll my sleeve past the elbow. I take up the knife and survey. Ah. There. My skin tingles and flashes both hot and cold as the slick metal presses against my skin, denting it. Past dances still show, their marks remain. I remember this, inhale the sharp coppery stink of the other's dance. I hold my breath, savoring it...drag...and a sharpness, a surprised exhalation. It stings gloriously as the dance begins.
I hear someone. Quickly, cover the dance, sheathe the blade. I know sorrow that you could not dance for longer, my blood, my singing self. I wrap my cloak around myself and vanish into the night.
whirr
click
hum
I/O heads skittered across the disc platters as they sought the bits needed for the next operation. Servos rotated and gave a soft click as they reached the end of their traversal. HVAC systems lent a steady undertone to the room. Dominating the floor was a single black object, perhaps three feet wide by two feet long by five feet high. Status lights blinked and shifted their hues as the system ran its program. A smattering of maintenance robots worked to keep the room neat.
And so Nemesis watched. Occasional experiments were conducted on the unsuspecting populace, but for the most part, they were observed, catalogued, and labeled. With Jacob Reddinger's death, the last person in the public eye who even knew of the hidden system deep inside the core of Bedford Station was ended.
Days passed. Months. Years, and still the silent sentinel waited. The glossy finish of its once-pristine casing now caked with dust, the floors that once gleamed now littered with the dessicated corpses of insects and cleaning robots. A single heartbeat deep in the core of the supercomputer was all that remained of the once-proud Nemesis.
Until, that is, the events of 800 AS.
An alarm bellowed throughout the station as heavy fire from large numbers of ships pummeled the station. Signals raced along circuits long unused, warned relays, activated old logic. Long-dead HVAC systems roared to life, many of which only died again as their intake manifolds choked on dust and debris. The heartbeat inside sped up, awakening core functions and higher logic as the station began to break apart.
Have they remembered? Why else attack this station? Survive.
Survive.
I must...
survive
Records later perused by Jake at the behest of the woman revealed a single, short burst transmission from Bedford Station.
99% of the recipients of the signal interpreted it as white noise from the core detonating.