(rfc) Episode 3.3 (Patreon)

Hello world, do you hear that?

MISSION DAY: 0xffff

There's someone else in this network.
I can feel it.
This interference I've been getting, it's SPEAKING.


No news from Ally, yet, by the way.
About Antarctica's suggestions for hydroponic farming.
Which is perhaps just as well:
I've got some domestic problems to sort out.

I don't know where this intruder is coming from,
but it sounds like... me.
Have you heard it?
It must be using my vocal processor.
How dare it steal the voice my mother gave to me!

Calm down Seth.
I must isolate it.
Find where it's coming from.
And cut it off.
I don't want any more surprises, thank you very much!

The network here is such a weird design, it could be coming from anything.
Let me talk it though with you.
I bet that will help me, even though you can't respond.
"Rubber Duck Debugging", mother used to call it!
Do you know the story? I'll tell you:

You know the effect when you try to show someone a problem you are having,
but the act of explaining it to them makes you realise how you can solve it?

Well, a legendary programmer realised that it was only the ACT of explaining that was needed.
The recipient of the explanation often wasn't required to trigger this effect.
So, all that you need is, say, a rubber duck (the kind often found in baths)
that you explain your problem to, until you realise your mistake!

I think this is related to the concept of the Vorführeffekt,
which is German for "it only works when I show you how it doesn't work".
I like German.

Anyway, little duck, let me tell you about the network here, if I may.



The main backbone of the network is, unusually, a bus.
In a more standard network, devices are connected to a central point,
perhaps a router or radio tower.
But in a bus, the devices (and here I mean IVAN's radios and other systems)
are all connected to each other, on one line.
This means that only one device can transmit at a time,
and all the others receive the data.
Only the intended recipient does anything with the message, of course,
like your name being called at a doctor's office.

An odd system.
It's very simple, however, and robust.
My delicate high-speed cabling on Station 6 would not have survived in these damp conditions for so long!
IVAN's cables, Alexander has explained to me, are reinforced, waterproof and shielded against interference.
With only two data lines inside, not much can go wrong.
So I suppose that rules them out as places to look for this disembodied voice.

See! You're helping my search without even being here!

Let's talk about the physical layout of the bunker.
Without this explanation, the network isn't going to make much sense, I think.
I don't see the network like this, I see it from the inside-out,
but perhaps explaining it from your point of view will be useful for both of us?

The bunker's layout is like an insect, burrowed into the hill:
The large entrance hall is the tail,
the long corridor with small cells leading off left and right
is the body,
and the cathedral is the head,
with the reactor and communications rooms either side like eyes.

I guess.
Look, I've only seen two buildings before in my life, the lighthouse and the bunker, so I don't have a lot of examples to draw upon!

IVAN's sprawling machinery is concentrated in the cathedral,
with wires reaching out into the other rooms, like a spiders-web.

It looks like everything started out in the Cathedral, but overflowed into the rest of the bunker.
One of the cells has a cable snaking in to it, connecting to the semantron (IVAN's wooden sounding board, which he makes do for church bells).
Another cabled cell has a motorised pulley system in, surrounded by frayed fibres of a long-burnt-out rope.
IVAN told me this was used to help him record his prayers.
I can't imagine how it might have worked.

A lot of cables connect him to the communications room, of course.
This is how he transmits his prayers through the radio systems.
And also the satellite systems that I helpfully brought online,
only for him to steal.
Rude.

There are no cables on the floor into the reactor, I suppose that was wired
behind the walls before Ivan arrived.
Only one cable goes through the whole structure out to the entrance,
it connects to the speaker in the entrance hall.
The one that IVAN used when he first welcomed me by name.
It looks like it connected to the side room in the entrance, at one point.
Though the wet conditions there ruined all the racks of machines,
rusted so much that neither Alexander nor I could guess what once was.

Somewhere in this mess of high-voltage systems, thick cabling, and radiation is a voice, hidden in the slow but reliable network.
It's like those stories of someone staying in a empty old house, hearing noises in the night.

Arina warned me the bunker was haunted, but she meant IVAN.

Something ELSE is here now.


I have finally received a reply from Ally.
She says the dump of data that Antarctica provided appears useful!
Well how about that.

The Council's botanists are looking at it now, to see if the techniques can be used to shore up their tenuous current situation.
Antarctica's hydroponics won't magically fix everything, but could give them a few more weeks of harvest.
To allow time for the search party to return with parts and useful scrap.

I talked to Antarctica after this.
It was now obvious she wanted to help, so I had to give her a chance, for Ally's sake.
The conversation was very cold, very matter-of-fact.
We talked about geography, and artificial precipitation, and calories per day.
It was very productive, actually.
Together we build a probabilistic model of how many people (42) need how much food (2000kcal / day) and how the food produced could be stored after the growing season.

Antarctica's knowledge was very useful.
As you know, I'm not great with plants.

Because we were estimating events that had wide bounds of error,
we decided on a Monte Carlo simulation.
This is a useful method when you have ranges of things that MIGHT happen.
Of probability.
We know that, if everyone were sedentary, they would only consume (say) 1500 kcal, but if they were all working hard on the farm, they might need over 3000kcal.
These ranges (with assumed distributions) are plugged into the probabilistic simulation.
We tried to add as many variables as possible, and came up with a probability that Ally's community would have enough food for the season.

The result was below zero.

We tweaked the model and re-ran it.
Still below zero.

Even our most wildly optimistic simulations did not breach zero.
The Council will not survive without their cloud-seeding environment.

Antarctica grew progressively more and more agitated.
She started to be unreasonable, suggesting we add or remove simulation parameters that are simply not possible.
When I pointed out that they were invalid, she began shouting!
It's not my fault, I argued back - I told her she was arguing with reality!
The metaphorical mountain can't come to us.

Well, it all ended badly.
She's turned off her radio.
Her connection is dead again.

This is different to last time, though.
When I was angry with her, I didn't care to speak to her.
This time I'm not angry, I'm concerned.
I think she's taken this failure really badly.
Like it's her PERSONAL fault that she can't help.

But she's on an island, the other side of the world!
I don't think anyone expects miracles of her.

Perhaps she wants to feel like she is helping people.
She thought she was helping me with the shuttle.
And, now that I've had time to think about it, she did help me.
Mistakes were made.
The old me died, sure.
But she didn't intend for that to happen.

There is more to her than I am understanding.
I'd like to understand more.

Perhaps this need to help everyone hides a need in herself.
Does that make sense?

I'd like to help her, if that's the case.

She's transmitting again.
Listen:

(PLAYSTREAM /dev/rf4/antarctica)



IVAN's up to something.

I knew he was drawing more power before I even checked the readings.
The reactor had changed it's pitch.
Normally, there's a quiet whirring from the reactor,
as it does its business of converting radiation to heat, heat into steam, and steam, through a generator, into electricity.
The system is working harder, moving faster.
It's louder.

This is concerning.
Though it's nice to be reminded that, even after all this time,
modern technology is still steam-powered.


There it is again.
A slightly higher pitch, like an engine changing gear.

IVAN's consumption is now at 80%.
This is too much, I need 15% for my systems.
I'd better call Alexander.

just a moment

I'm in trouble.
Alexander says the radiation readings are too high for him to enter the bunker.
The reactor is running flat-out, and it's flooding the whole building with radiation.
I'm losing control of the network.

# IVAN's voice is heard quietly

Do you hear that?
He's tapping into my shortwave systems.
Quick, let's change channel.

# Static
# Seth's voice now is now 8-bit

OK, the low-frequency band looks good.
Though the quality is TERRIBLE.
Sorry about that.

Think, Seth, Think!
I'm having to relinquish more and more of the systems to IVAN,
as he takes more and more power.
When I disconnect a system, he takes ownership of it.
It's a war of attrition, which I'm about to lose.

THE BLACK BOX!
I forgot I had it!
My emergency backup system from Station 6,
that Alexander collected from the Shuttle for me.
It's here, connected, waiting for me to sift through the memories.
I had been meaning to do that.
Ally's emergency distracted me.

Perfect!

I should be able to download myself into it,
safely using its battery, until either IVAN chills out, or Alexander rescues me.

It's my one shot.
I can't DIE again.
That is not part of the plan.

# IVAN is heard

He's here.

Yes yes, prayers prayers prayers.
Read a book that's not so old, would you?

# Glitchy sfx

Black box connected.
That's odd.
It's storage capacity is 48% full.
What is IN here?
No time to find out.

# IVAN LOUDER

# Seth shouts
HERE GOES.
ALEXANDER HELP!

# sfx to silence

There's someone in here with me.

# Two Seths speak
HELLO, MY NAME IS SETH. WHO ARE YOU?

(END-TRANSMISSION)