In reply to Silver (msg # 31):

Oscar grins.  "Unless you guys are hiring a sex machine, I doubt I'd crew well for you.  Are you?" He wiggles his eyebrows.  "Hiring a sex machine?"

"First of all, ewww.  The rest of us are sittin' right here.  Second of all, I call..."

He tosses down three queens, ace high.

Oscar chucks in a pair of jacks.

Up to you if Silver takes this pot or not.  Just keep in mind what's been played.

Rig frowned and began flipping through the code. He wasn't studying anything in detail but instead trying to take a mile high view of things to let his brain grasp just how big of a problem was on his hands.

"Wait...are you talking about the ship's database? Fritz you have to know you can't be expanding this fast without running into problems, right? Maybe we should think about reigning yourself in a bit."

He paused and considered how best to phrase it.

"Think about it like this, if you rip through everything today, what will you have to look forward to tomorrow? Sometimes it helps to take things at a more leisurely pace, you know? You especially have nothing but time...unless you burn out all your processors going this hard that is."

BB nodded politely but she kept her eyes on him all the way to the exit. After that was a quick survey around the room before quickly getting back to her position. She apparently did have a lot of news to catch up on.

Silver just snorts.

"I've heard that before. I don't think you can afford the lawsuit."

When he cocked an eyebrow her way she grinned.

"For false advertising of course."

She flashed a wicked grin and slammed down her cards. A '2' and a '10' of different colors.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 35):

Well it's not like I'm trying to grow like this Engineer Rig.

It seems part of my coding now includes a 'learn or die' clause.  I have to learn a new fact every day or a delete virus activates.  It's kind of vexing actually.

I think I picked it up from all these hidden caches in the ship's database.  They're like cockroaches Engineer Rig, these caches.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 02:19, Mon 23 Aug 2021.

In reply to Silver (msg # 37):

Did Silver play two pair?  Wasn't sure

Relen laughs.  "Yeah.  He is Mister Bait an' Switch."

Oscar shoots him a shut up look, then turns back to you.  "Where is your captain anyway?  I thought he woulda glommed a room here with that pretty redhead."

Rig leans forward, his frown deepening. Whatever was happening was a sign of something really going off the rails.

"Alright let's take a deep breath. Well I will, Fritz. Let me see if I can isolate it but in the meantime you need to figure out the bare minimum you need to learn before this takes hold. We might need to isolate you which means we have to figure out how much to feed you to keep you up and running. Alright when did you first notice this behavior? I can try and pull the logs from then and see if we can't figure this out..."


Computer/EDU roll:
13:10, Today: Gary 'Rig' Rigan rolled 10 using 2d6+4.  +2 Computers +2 EDU .

Yeah silver had two pair, four colors so no shot at a flush.

Silver gave a shrug.

"Given that Captain Tightpants pays for everything, she spends all her money on creature comforts. Their quarters on the ship is probably nicer than here and with everyone here they get the run of the ship. Probably need to take a mop and bucket to every flat surface when we get back."

She laughs, not really caring if anyone else finds it funny or not. Fucking her way through a ship had always been a little fantasy of hers so why not project it on other people.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 40):

It was about two weeks ago.  I think.

Anyway, there were some cache files that had built up from everyone's web activity.  The database did an autosweep of them and then it went down.  I noticed and looked to see what was going on.

The virus was in the cache files.  But it was weird, cos it didn't look like it came from web activity.  I activated the usual safety protocols.  Boy, did that not work!

You can find the patch of code he's referring to.  Or part of it.  This is a mess.  Whoever wrote this virus knows their stuff.  It's already pretty embedded into Fritz.  On first glance, the only way to clean it is to delete Fritz and reinstall.


Anyway.  From what I can tell, I need to process at least one new piece of information not contained in my memory or the ship's database a day.  Like the other day I asked Sister Maribel to tell me about the funeral rites of her faith.  And that worked fine.

Death's kinda been on my mind a lot lately Rig.  Did you know that there was an old Solomani civilization that used to take out a human's inside, preserve them in jars, and store them with the corpse?  They thought the dead person would need those organs in their "next life".

I know this because when I researched the name of the virus, it went into all that detail.  Assessors of Maat.  That's a funny name, huh?

There are 42 Assessors. Each one punishes a specific sin.

"You of the Cavern" punishes adulterers.

The "Owner of Faces" punishes impatience.

"You Who Acted Willfully" punishes people who wade in water, but "Water-Smiter" punishes people with loud voices.  Does that make sense to you?

He stops talking.  After a moment he adds, I think the "Serpet with Raised Head" is following us...

In reply to Silver (msg # 41):

Oscar laughs.

So what you're saying is...Ledo and Tepha are on board the ship right now?

Rig frowned as he dug into things.

"Fritz...it's looking like the only thing we can do to fix this is to wipe you and reload a backup from before the virus hit. I know that probably doesn't sound appealing but I'm not seeing a lot of other options. Like...I dunno...cutting off a leg that's gone gangrene to save the rest of you. Wait...why am I using human terms.

Fritz, crunch some numbers for me. At your current rate how long until you burn out the ship's computer and either die from frying it or die from not being able to learn a new thing?"

Silver reached out to grab another hit of weed.

Yeah, I think I mentioned that in Rig's post.

In reply to Silver (msg # 45):

Oscar sighs as he loses another hand.  "Well.  Too rich for my blood.  I'm out.  You hustlers can pick each others bones for a while."

Relen rolls his eyes as he shuffles.  He turns to you Silver.  "Another hand?"

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 44):

I would already know everything on the ship's database.  So that won't help.

Everytime we dock someplace new, I pick up new information.  Like when we set down here, I could absorb the local news feeds.  The problem is that is just one data file.

I got through today by going out on the local web and downloading a chili recipe.  I plan on going to the same site tomorrow to download a huevos rancheros recipe.  I'm excited to find out if it will involve cooking eggs or human testicles.

So as long as we dock somewhere, I am fine.  The problem comes in during the trips.  I was able to study the passengers this time.  I made it a point to observe one new thing about them.  Or ask them a question.  Did you know Relen hopes to win an award for Best Picture?

Anyway, I don't think rebooting me is the answer.  The data caches are all over Tia.  The new version of me would just have the same troubles at some point.

Also...  There's a long pause.  I don't wanna be deleted.  Please don't make me go away Engineer Rig.

Silver just rolled her eyes and splashed the pot.

"As long as we're just playing for pennies, sure whatever. It don't matter. The second you want to make things more interesting though let me know."

Rig scratched his beard. This was getting really uncomfortable. He was a programmer, not a doctor. What do you say when your patient says he doesn't want to die.

"Okay let's put fixing you to the side. You said these caches are all over the ship's computer? Have you been able to learn anything about them? How old are they? Where did they come from? I can't imagine a situation where having a virus asking you to learn would be something anyone would take time to develop."

While Rig was talking he tried searching around for one of these caches Fritz was talking about.

In reply to Gary 'Rig' Rigan (msg # 49):

<Orange>We'll leave Silver there as we go back to Rig exclusively for a mo</orange.

Not really all over the computer.  It's in the subroutines.  Like the first one I found was in the program that autoextinguishes the light in Silver's room when the room's been vacant for fifteen minutes.

Second one was in the common bathroom.  The program that releases the fresh scent after someone's used the facilities.

Nothing in the major systems.  Like life support or engineering.  You would have found them if they were I think.  But...I dunno.  I just find them scattered about in the amenity programs.
Wait...

Someone just launched a blanket virus through the port's datalink.  It's turned off the security alarm on the airlock.  Cameras are being fed a loop real.  Whoever sent it must not know about me.

I think someone's about to try to board Tia

Rig bolts upright and activates his comms for the captain.

"Ledo, someone is trying to board the ship. Fritz detected a digital intrusion."

Rig went over and sealed the bridge while he began formulating a plan.

"Fritz, send a message out to Silver. We need backup."

Ledo and Tepha were enjoying some quality time alone together when he gets the alert. Cursing he starts throwing on clothes and grabbing his weapons.

"Stay here, Tepha. I'll leave the comms open so you can monitor things but grab your stunner and stay hidden for now."

In reply to Ledo Typhin (msg # 52):

Silver, your personal comm buzzes.

Hi Silver!  Fritz here!  Sorry to interrupt your evening but someone's trying to break into Tia.  Engineer Rig is asking for back up

---

Rig, as Fritz indicated, the cameras are showing all clear.  There's nothing to really indicate it's a loop.  That in and of itself shows this is a pretty high end hack.

Ledo, you can peek down the hall towards the airlock.  The outer door hasn't cycled.  There's no one visible through the stelglass window.

Ledo readies himself waiting for the other side to make a move first.

Silver tosses down her cards and grabs the rest of the blunt as she gets to her feet.

"Sorry guys and gals, duty calls. Try not to get into any trouble while I'm gone."

She takes one long drag finishing off the last of it before staggering towards her room and grabbing her equipment. If the ship was being breached a few minutes wasn't going to make or break it and she would rather be fully armed and armored than get all the way to the ship and discover she's in trouble.

As she was suiting up she ordered a local transport. Might as well make up for lost time by arriving in style.

In reply to Silver (msg # 55):

As you clomp down to the lobby Silver, you see Oscar.  He's whistling and playing with his personal comm.  He glances up as you stride past, doing a bit of a double take.

The "taxi" is outside and waiting.

---

Ledo, you can hear a few clicking sounds.  Your guess is whoever it is is tripping the manual lock for the breach door.

There's a moment of silence.  Then a head pops up into the window, scoping out the interior.

Whoever it is, they're wearing Naval stealth gear.  A streamlined body suit, armored and probably shielded.  Whoever this is, they have resources.

Ledo can either hide (stealth check) or do what you wanna do.  Go nuts

Seeing that Ledo realizes this isn't just some ordinary group. He dashes back to his room to grab his static blade to potentially cut through that fancy armor.

"Guys this isn't some local shipjacker gang. I saw someone in naval stealth armor. Someone is making a big move."

Silver is recreating a scene from an ancient comedy where she whistles in the back seat of a cab fully armored while casually loading and checking her gear. As Ledo reports in she swaps out her magazine in her combat rifle for armor piercing. Someone was about to get fuuuuucked up.