Embers After Flames, Chapter 8.5 (Patreon)

8.5

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I waited only a few moments to respond, a timeframe to ensure that the signal and response took long enough that they wouldn’t know how close to the Grid I actually was.

By the time I started responding, however, Carla was already dumping viruses into the systems. Nasty little things, too, a variety of them designed to cause a variety of problems. The level of access she’d already acquired just getting to this point gave her plenty of freedom to do it.

What those viruses weren’t, however, was subtle. The Grid’s systems immediately reacted, even before my own response came in. Alerts were sent out.

The network went into chaos immediately. The other Grids, with their systems still intact, cut the access channels in response. A basic quarantine measure, which would have them all run their own little self-diagnostics to ensure that no traces of malware remained. For Grid that Carla had dumped the viruses into in the first place, however, that wasn’t possible.

With Carla’s elevated privileges, those viruses had nearly free reign. It would be very, spectacularly bad, except Carla still hadn’t breached the absolute highest point of privileges.

By the time I’d dove into the system, it was a mess. I got to work cleaning it up immediately, sending out commands as I started disabling the processes. System repair took place nearly simultaneously as I pulled from the backups, quickly engaging in reboots and reintegrations.

Carla had to have a rather potent neural lace installed, because her responses came too fast to be anything but that. Her own commands went through the system, trying to activate a number of different things. A forced disconnect command, a network reset command, a system reset command...

None of it worked, as I was able to terminate the commands before they could be enacted. My next step was to remove the privileges she’d gathered, restricting her access to the most basic levels. That went through in only moments, and once she’d gone back to read-only access, there was nothing she could do-

So I thought, anyway, right up until she transmitted an RRI Override code to the Grid. That one in particular initiated a forced shutdown of the generators, which would plunge a Grid into inactivity. I would have lost them, or been forced to reveal the Antigen, if I hadn’t already purged them when I first set up the new admin account.

Anybody other than me would have very likely not been prepared for that. The only reason I had been was because I’d been watching them for so long that I came to be aware of its existence in the first place.

Still, that?

That was an opportunity. The number of people who had access to override codes like that in the first place was extremely low. A total of seven people, as a matter of fact, on a planet of billions. Six of them had perished in the Fires of Ibis, leaving only Carla.

There could barely be a better indicator of her identity, in other words.

I booted her from the system, disconnecting her completely- and then I turned on the radio.

“Well now.” I broadcasted, both over the radio as well as the speakers of the Grid. “That was not something that anybody on this planet should have possessed. I know for a fact that all but a single one of those in possession of those codes perished in the Fires that Nagai wrought.” The cameras flicked on, and I focused them all on the transports, hidden away. “Do I perhaps have someone who’s stolen from old woman?”

Yes, annoying her is part of the plan.

“Who the hell are you calling old?” Carla immediately responded. I could tell from the faint echo that she’d gotten into her AC, and that was proven a moment later when the transport’s doors opened and the Generator flared to life.

“Goodness, that voice...” I paused for a moment as her AC... no current identification code, boosted out to the Grid itself. “And from what little I can see of the data you didn’t corrupt with your viruses, that face... My, oh, my. Is that you Carla? You haven’t been on this planet for forty five years.”

Carla’s AC turned slowly, scanning the environment. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage.”

“You never did like that.” I chuckled. “You can stop looking around so suspiciously-” She started to look around even more suspiciously, at that. “- you just tripped the failsafes I left behind the last time we went through here to clear out the Dosers. Squatters of your particular calibre are rather more welcome than the drug addicts.”

“You seem to know a lot about me for someone who I can’t say I know.” Carla grunted. “You’re obviously former RRI if you know who I am and what that code was for, though.”

“Oh, don’t feel bad for not knowing me.” I hummed. “I can safely say that my presence went rather completely unnoticed, despite my best attempts to the contrary. I was ignored so thoroughly, despite how important I was to the whole thing.” Technical truths.

“Clearly not that important if you weren’t known at all.” Carla said, and I could hear the annoyance in her voice.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed, and I laughed hard, my voice echoing across the Grid for a good amount of time. When my laughter trailed off, I finished it with a final noise that would have been an exhale on anything with lungs.

“Haaah... Everybody recognized the results of my presence, yet nobody knew me. I was there before the beginning, yet this too escaped attention. I knew every single one of you so very well, yet none paid attention to me. It was rather terribly frustrating.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Carla asked. “There was nobody like that in RRI. We didn’t have some kind of omnicompetent stalker.”

“‘Omnicompetent’ is a far cry from what I was back then, unfortunately. If I’d had the skills back then as I do now, everything would have been rather completely different.”

“Are you even listening to me or are you just monologuing to yourself, now?” Carla sounded very annoyed now. “And, also, you didn’t deny the stalker accusation!”

“Now now, Carla. I’m not any of your less sane coworkers.” I chuckled. “Not exactly a high bar to clear, I’ll admit.”

“You’re just going to go straight over that accusation of stalking, then?”

“If you had been in the same condition I was, you too would have sought every extra eye and ear you could find.” I said. “There are a lot of those in modern society. I’ll be clear, you were studied as much as you did study, but only one of us learnt the complete lesson. Don’t worry, though, it wasn’t malicious, and I do not bear you any will.”

“... You’re admitting it?”

“Carla.” I spoke, taking a similar tone to the one Nagai had always taken with her, because that was going to make my following words hit even harder. “You’re getting stuck on the wrong thing.”

Silence fell, for a moment. Even her AC briefly ceased to move. “... What did you just say?”

“You heard me, Carla.” I took a sharper tone. “I said to you the same thing that Nagai used to say to you. The thing he said whenever you became distracted and chose to chase a single line of thought when there was another solution available.”

Which... had been rather frequent, when she was making her weapons.

“Who the hell are you?” Carla asked, very direct and very displeased.

“Drich.” I gave my name to her, easily.

“You must think you’re being very funny.”

“I do find some amusement in this.” I said honestly. “But in truth, that’s mostly morbid humour. Everything that happened was a tragedy, and it’s a true shame that things unfolded the way they did. We who remain must now bear it, for the sake of the future, yet we all handle it in different ways.”

A few seconds of silence came. “You’re the one who’s been using RRI technology. You made those machines that have been attacking the PCA and the corporations.”

“Spied my Firekeepers, have you?” Just going to name drop that there. Congratulations, Carla, you just became one of the vanishingly few who know the name of the group. “My, you must have been busy. You were hardly ever the type to sit still and do nothing, but that’s a level of activity that’s truly impressive, even for you.”

“Firekeepers, huh?” I could hear the scepticism in her voice. “Hell of a name for this planet. What are you trying to do then?”

“I could ask the same question for you.” I responded. “But I won’t. It would be a bit pointless, after all. There’s only one reason you and yours would be coming back to Rubicon after all this time. You believe in Nagai.”

“... He was the best of us.” Carla spoke, carefully, rather neatly not addressing what Nagai’s goal had been. “Even if he had to make some hard choices.”

“Oh, Carla... Did he, though?” I asked. “Were those choices ones that had to be made? Did he have all the information that could have informed his decisions? Did he actually know the true consequences of his actions?”

“You really think I’m just going to sit here and listen to all this nonsense?” Carla finally snapped.

“Of course not.” I said. “However, I know you, and I know what you’re like. I remember well how much time he spent convincing you. You never really did want to believe the data- but you were a scientist, and you forced yourself to.”

“Well that’s not concerning at all.” Carla said. “Is there a pit stop between now and your point?”

“You will investigate.” I simplified. “Your pride demands nothing less. I will not block your attempts at investigation, which I’m sure confuses you because by now you must realize that my goal is to ensure that the Coral isn’t set aflame again, something which should put us at odds.” I spent a moment crafting a data packet, before sending it to her AC. “I shall even provide a minor bit of support, as well as what you need to properly investigate.”

“And you think we’re just going to dance to your tune?” Ah, so confrontational. Which... yeah, not unexpected, but still.

“Your plan would have no doubt required nobody to know who you really were.” I pointed out. “It’s info that’s just a bit too big of a risk to get out, after all. There’s a big difference between Carla, a weaponsmith with a crew of junk wizards and hackers -and don’t even try to deny that’s what you were going to end up doing, I know you- and Carla, left hand to the head of the Rubicon Research Institute. The Corps would snap you up in a heartbeat, no matter how much hell you give them. Anonymity is your shield, but I now know you’re here and all my friends and allies aren’t far behind. It’s a risk you can’t take- and ultimately, you’ve always been a curious woman.”

“... Tch. Fine.” She did not sound happy about how right I was.

“I’ll leave you to it.” I spoke. “Good luck, Carla. I’m afraid that the future isn’t going to be as clean as you wished. If you desire a chat, all the details you need have been sent to you, and more asides.”

“Whatever. Go away now.”

“Goodbye, Carla.”

I abandoned the system. It had served its purpose.

My Antigen kept watching, undeterred.

“... Boss?”

“We’re alone. Whoever they were, they’re gone now.” Carla sighed.

She must have checked the system immediately, then. Definitely a neural lace.

“... What are we going to do.”

The sound that went across the broadcast was pure frustration. “We’re going to establish ourselves, and then we’re going to start looking. Whatever is happening on this planet, we need to find out, and making an enemy right now isn’t going to help.”

Ah... excellent.

I didn’t really want to start this whole thing off on such an antagonistic note, but Carla’s the type of person who believes what she’s ascertained herself first and foremost.

This was going to take time to pay off.

But, well, I’m not lacking in time right now.