after the Waking World log

[claudiometer]

Hoo boy. I realise this phrasing may be treading on thin ice right now, but strange things are afoot at the Aratta Skyhook.

First things first. Leah took the news that she was chosen to be the first Conductor deliberately... about as well as we figured she would. She has a theory as to why and asked me to run it by you guys. [And so she does, letting the memory play out from the linked point until Leah says she'd like to talk to the Oracle who uncovered this.]

So yeah, Thace, if she hasn't found you already, find her.

Second. I made sure to get a planetside view while I was out and about. Alexandra had never bothered before, and apparently wouldn't have understood what she was looking at anyway, and for an uninhabitable planet there's a shitton happening on the surface. And, uh, I found the source of the mysterious ticking noise, probably.

They're building a computer chip the size of fucking WYOMING.

Comments

[truerevelation]

[And he thought that he was off base with the Grid stuff.]

A what? The hell?

...You think you could give us a look?

[claudiometer]

Sure thing. [It's easy to see how your average Hecatite wouldn't see anything unusual - or most space-age sentient beings, really, since computer chips have only gotten smaller over time. But for anyone who's seen one of Claudia's circuit boards out in the open, the resemblance is blatant.]

I didn't want to be right with the stupid golem virus comparison. But as it is, I was already thinking Conductor as in 'of electricity' more than 'of an orchestra.'

[truerevelation]

... So the question is ... what's the electricity. What's the ... ones and zeroes whizzin' around?

[crouching_sin]

... Well, here's the thing.

If it is a computer, we can hack it.

[youandyoualone]

... are we sure they do not wish the Conductors to become the Programs to inhabit such a chip and make it work?

[Forgive him. All he knows of the internal working of computers comes from the Grid/ZODIAC.]

[claudiometer]

Vectors of whatever file it's running, definitely. Pretty sure creating Programs isn't something whoever built this would be capable of. [Claudia knows when to drop the 'that's not how computers do' battle, and that's when the person arguing the point is as stubborn as they are brilliant.]

I'm still not sure what they hope to gain from a processor this big, but if that's not what created the Conductors I will be very surprised.

[youandyoualone]

Did someone not also say that Paraiba has been troubled too—I would not bet against there being a connection, given his Waking location.

[truerevelation]

It ain't-

- okay, now I'm wonderin' what sorta software you'd need a chip like that to run.

[youandyoualone]

I know that you can overhear the signals transmitted by electronic devices—if you are already coming to the Waking World to see what electronic surveillance has been put upon Leah, mayhap you could see if there is anything transmitted by this overlarge chip.

[reallymean]

Terraforming on a massive scale - what we saw on Mars was very rudimentary. Or the creation of a massive wormhole generator without alchemy to power it. Or a weapon of incredible size and complexity.

I'm sure there are other possibilities, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

[eldritchwheelies]

Just to translate Leah's theory from meme to something effing understandable if you aren't knee-deep in the weeb, like me:

"Doofenschmirtz" is referring to a mad scientist that's gonna science madly, with a nasty habit of building doomsday devices like the Disintegrator, Decaffinator, Otakunator, or, as Leah guesses, a device that makes people into Conductors that she calls the Conductorator.

She thinks she was specifically targeted because she had anxiety or depression, walking it back from another problem she had that's her and Deedee Yeowoo's business to tell you about. Cause that would mean taking away her fear and sorrow is kind of a life-changing deal, one she'd want to talk about because of how lifechanging it was.

Cause for people who need that in their lives, it really is lifechanging, you know? I can't claim to have personal experience with it, but the difference between Addison Waite off pills and Addison Waite on them is the difference between being unable to do school and excelling.

From there, she thinks it's an idea that spreads like a virus. Or like a really good youtube video, or say, My Little Pony. First you send a clip to someone saying "this rules," then you get people asking to see the show, then you get fans... then you get Bronycon.

For the record, we have definitely gone Full Bronycon at this point.

[claudiometer]

Going off the conversation we had, I'm going with 'anxiety and depression.' Also if Delaunay's right about how it's spread, it could just as easily have been because she's a memelord.

[awitchdidit]

Wait. I'm confused.

Are you saying there's pills for depression?

[helborn]

['Dysphoria'. A problem between her and Deedee.]

Ohhhh.

[Shit, okay. Good thing he reworded his joke.]

[levelthreehooligan]

Well.

Uh.

I don't know one thing from the next about Computer Chips...

But Pic0 does. If you need Emulator again, just let me know.

[eldritchwheelies]

That and a pair of rubber gloves will get us the subroutines that are Conducting.

And the ability to rewrite them, or help Leah to.

Do it. With her on board if possible.

[insidegalra]

I'm moving toward that contact with her

[After that, Thace starts musing aloud.]

As with others here, I may be able to help with the hacking and retrieving information from whatever they're making. It was my primary function back in my world. I would be happy to go down as part of a team, or as backup.

However, if it's well guarded, I suspect I'll need something more robust than an illusion and even well-faked documentation. Does anyone know how to fake biometrics?

An unoccupied synthetic body that I could control remotely might also be an option, but I don't know if any are given clearance into the areas we'd need to enter.

[crouching_sin]

It's fairly easy to fake biometrics. You can just spoof the signal. The issue is getting an authorized person's biometrics.

[claudiometer]

I'm not sure how well-guarded it is once you get down there - getting to the surface is probably going to be the harder part. Also not sure if you could find an unoccupied Synthetic. They don't tend to make those for no reason, so.

If you can half-infiltrate on purpose, that might be the easiest way to make sure you have clearance. I would super not be surprised to find out there are people cleared to work on this project who have reservations about it.

[okanetendo]

Technically, that thing is the size of Spain.

What? Ah, yeah, and Portugal. Here is your payment of scritchies, Rouge.




Hey, don't they have software that can dream, now? Doesn't your ride have it installed?

[claudiometer]

Even better. [It is not better. The size of Wyoming was alarming enough.]

They do, and she does, but she also doesn't understand memes for shit. If the subliminal software is connected to the Conductor generator, it's a tenuous connection at best.

[fearinahandfulof]

Scientists.

What's a Wyoming?

[Oh hey, it's a completely new voice on the network.]

[claudiometer]

The first large, sparsely populated, squareish land mass I could think of. Also apparently half the size of this damn thing, thanks for that, world.

...uh. Who is this?

[bite_the_hand]

So her having the perfect Archetype to see who fits the role and make sure they really want it was just a coincidence. Of course it was.

[He just sounds tired at this point.]

...I'm guessing Wyoming is too big for even my Titan to break it?

[claudiometer]

Wyoming was the first suitably large, sparsely populated, squareish land area I could think of.

And, apparently, underestimating the size of this damn thing by half.

On the other hand, now that we know where the Conductor thing came from, we can change it, or stop it.