Blinding Everyone With Science

by **Natalie Denisov** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:57 pm

"Subsystems like the General?"

by **The Caretaker** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:11 pm

"Oh, is that what he's calling himself now? When I last had access he was simply the Castellan."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:42 pm

"Would you happen to have any readings or specifications on the crystals that reside under the lighthouse?"

by **The Caretaker** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:49 pm

"But of course. I'd be more than happy to help you with those. Repairing the estate is my given function."

"They're really quite ingenious, you know. All the base elements needed to grow them are present in the caverns beneath the estate."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 10:59 pm

"Can you provide me with a list of those elements?"

by **The Caretaker** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:01 pm

"I can do rather better than that," he says, removing one of his white gloves as he strides towards Natalie's digital avatar.

"May I?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:04 pm

"I'd prefer that you didn't," Natalie says, drawing back.

by **The Caretaker** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:05 pm

"Are you certain? It's a much more efficient means to transfer the information."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:20 pm

"I'm good at visualization and translation. A simple displayed list will be sufficient," she says, keeping her distance.

by **The Caretaker** » Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:22 pm

"Ah, so inelegant," he sighs, gesturing as a complex diagram of elements, temperatures, and other conditions hangs in the air beside him.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 2:54 pm

Natalie makes a note of all the data, jotting it down in her memory before giving the Caretaker a smile. "Thank you. Maybe we'll speak again," she says as she tries to withdraw her hand from the canister in the real world.

by **Narrator** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 2:58 pm

This one seems to linger a bit as opposed to the other crystal. Almost clinging to her, but she does manage to slip free.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 3:33 pm

She runs diagnostics on the hand as she frowns, transferring the information on the make-up to one of the quarantined computers for display. "Add the Caretaker. He's oddly helpful and seemed to indicate that he was a facet program of a larger system. When I mentioned the general, he said that that program had called itself the Castellan back when the Caretaker still had access." She leans on the table and stares at the crystals. "This is getting more complicated."

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:03 pm

"So... A security program and a... whatever a Caretaker would be... basic systems management?"

by **Natalie Denisov** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 7:51 pm

"Possibly. Said repairing the estate was his given function when I asked him for information on the make-up of the crystals."

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:00 pm

"Do you think we need both canisters? Because The Caretaker seems the safer option."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:02 pm

"I had a harder time getting my hand away from the Caretaker canister," she says, putting small cards with 'Caretaker' and 'General' against each canister. "I don't think either of them is safe."

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 8:15 pm

"I guess we just move ahead then, continue to be careful, and hope for the best."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Fri Oct 04, 2019 10:29 pm

"At least I was able to get component and chemical data on the crystals for us to analyze."

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Sat Oct 05, 2019 6:52 pm

"Which will be incredibly helpful in keeping it contained."

by **Natalie Denisov** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 2:27 pm

She pulls up the data on one of the workshop machines. "It's over here. I need to take a recharge cycle for a bit. Don't hesitate to message me if you need me."

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 2:31 pm

"Will do," he said as he settled in to study the data.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:32 pm

As Natalie goes into her recharge cycle, data continues scrolling across the machine to Tosh's side, being the one she'd started work on the nanite control algorithm on.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:48 pm

Tosh's eyes were drawn by the movement and he leaned over to look.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:50 pm

It appears to still be the nanite control code, but the text is moving fairly quickly.

It takes a few moments for Tosh's eyes to fully track what's going on, but it appears the code is being rapidly edited and refined into a more complete form.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:54 pm

He nearly toppled his chair in surprise before scrambling to double-check that the computer in question was fully isolated from the system.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:55 pm

It is indeed properly isolated. The current rapid editing of the code is being done under Natalie's user permissions.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:11 pm

Tosh whipped out his phone and sent Nat a text.

Code: Select all: Is your nanite control code supposed to be self-editing? Because it is.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:17 pm

Code: Select all: Hrm? Let me check.

A pause.

Code: Select all: Looks like I may have been dreaming in code. Must be too focused on solving the problem.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:19 pm

The rapid editing of the code on screen certainly did stop when Natalie 'woke up' to answer Tosh.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:31 pm

Code: Select all: That's a relief.

Code: Select all: I didn't realize the system isolation didn't include you. I probably should have.

by **Natalie Denisov** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:33 pm

Code: Select all: No problem. If something else looks off, let me know. Powering down again.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:36 pm

Tosh returned to studying the data on the crystals.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:55 pm

The information is fairly comprehensive. As the Caretaker stated to Natalie, all the elements necessary for growing the crystals are present in trace amounts in the stone of the caverns surrounding them. The crystalline structure is adequately detailed, and though Tosh is no geologist he's never seen natural crystals in quite that configuration before. The answer as to why is presumably in the exacting standards of temperature in specific sequences that precipitate the crystals beginning to form.

Indeed as he's checking, he catches certain details out of the corner of his eye on the coding monitor, detailing procedures to reconfigure the nanites to more adequately create and control said conditions at an optimized and sustained level.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 8:01 pm

Tosh took the temperature data to heart and began mentally weighing his options for adding creating a temperature difference in the borders of the containment area to prohibit crystal growth.

by **Narrator** » Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:26 pm

It would be tricky, to be certain. The stone itself absorbs significant amounts of heat, and airflow is hard to restrict without a physical barrier.

More worrying is that the temperature restrictions are apparently only what's needed to start the crystal growth. After a certain amount of growth the reaction is apparently self-sustaining. While the canisters seem to be able to contain their individual shards, that doesn't seem as feasible once a formation reaches the point at which it starts drawing ambient environmental power.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Tue Oct 08, 2019 3:25 pm

Tosh scratched the back of his neck; this was going to be harder than he thought. So he dug further into the data for other avenues.

by **Narrator** » Tue Oct 08, 2019 4:17 pm

As he digs deeper, he notices that the code screen to his side has stopped scrolling so rapidly.

In the code's comments, two lines are visible at the end of the file.

Code: Select all: // THEORETICAL: UNCONTROLLED CRYSTAL GROWTH IS UNDESIRABLE. // PRACTICAL: WITH A RESIDENT PROGRAM, CRYSTAL GROWTH IS NOT UNCONTROLLED.

by **Toshiro Narumi** » Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:26 pm

His eyes shot to the room's security cameras.

"You know that's creepy, right?" he called out, unsure if Nat could actually hear him.

by **Narrator** » Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:35 pm

Code: Select all: // THEORETICAL: "CREEPY" IS SUBJECTIVE TO INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE. // PRACTICAL: "CREEPY" IS IRRELEVANT TO THE TASK AT HAND.

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