RocketLord Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 GM February 1st, 2024 The Digital Den, a hip and happening cyber cafe Emerald City The Digital Den is new, but not exactly well known. The owner doesn't advertise it. They serve a more exclusive clientele than the regular cyber cafes, not just gamers that want the latest fix for the newest online game, but hackers and crackers alike. White, grey or black hat, it doesn't matter. If the mysterious owner M has heard about you, you will receive an encrypted invitation. All activity is rerouted through a multitude of constantly randomized VPN connections to numerous off site networks owned through various shell companies spread across the globe. M claims that it is secure, that no one will be able to track you while you are there. All that he asks in return for patronage is that you share. Information should be free. Haven has found himself part of the Digital Den's clientele. The current location is in a basement in the industrial district. Computers line the tables, with people sitting in front of them, typing away. The lights are somewhat dim, techno jazz is playing. M has spread a rumor that MarsTech is up to something. Maybe that is something worth looking into. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Haven Haven was Milo Mikano. Milo Mikano was dead, and Haven was only an echo. But right now, the mimetic alloy had lost its chrome sheen and had adopted the feature of the dead man. And had dressed in a crisp black suit. M was spreading rumours? Mars Tech was up to something? Haven had no doubt, but their were layers upon layers of intrigue in the corperate world, especially when it came to information. Information was free? Maybe. But it was also currency to others. The music was good. Techno Jazz; the pleasing clash of precision and chaos. He wanted to speak to M. But where was M? Haven sat by a computer, laced his hands together, and started plugging into the dark and obscured corners of cyberspace, hoping to catch M on the other end. What are the rumours?... ...I can help. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 GM It takes but a moment after Haven has sent his message, before a console opens on his screen. A simple command prompt. White text on black background. The text M:> read clearly on the screen. M:>Do you, now? There is a pause. M:>A ghost in the machine. What do you seek? Another pause. M:>Power or truth? Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) Haven Haven gave a small smirk and nod of his head. Bingo! M was being mysterious, cryptic. What flavour was his, or her, words? Philosophical. Zen, Challenging... ...aggressive? Why would one have to choose? >Truth gives power. >Power grants deception. >Deception kills truth. >The wheel turns. Truth may kill itself. >Today, I seek truth. Lets see if he is as nuanced in his reply. Edited February 8 by Supercape Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 GM M:>Truth it is. The words carry little tone, they seem neutral, but perhaps Haven is right about the flavor. M:>The word of the day is ULTIO. M:>Four years ago, MarsTech introduced the Ultio Suits to the market. If you had the cash or had a sponsorship, you could have powers of your own. M:>Fight the villain, stop the disaster, earn points, become the top ranked hero. M:>The Ultio Suits were discontinued after two years. Officially, the beta period ended. All Ultio Suits were supposedly refunded and returned to MarsTech. M:>MarsTech launched Ultio 2.0 one week ago. M:>So the question is: Who decides who is a villain? Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Haven Haven furrowed his artificial brow, squinting at the words, deep in both concentration and contemplation. >There are no villains. Only villanious actions, and those that act them. He was splitting hairs, but perhaps semantics were important. >I seek liars, to expose their truths. I seek the cruel, for they are dangerous. I seek tyrants, for they impose their will on others. >Ultio 2.0 >...is it a lie? Is it dangerous? Is it the instrument of tyrants? >Or is it all of this? >What would you say? And what would you have me do? Ultion 2.0 sounds like a firecracker in the fire. Power in the hands of the wealthy, the vain. No doubt their were nuances. No doubt they could spend all day debating philosophy. And there was a place for this, but Philosophy without action was just as bad as action without philosophy. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 GM M:>As amusing as it is to contemplate the nature of heroes and villains, the answer here is simple: MarsTech decides the villains, and their subscribers eradicate them. It seems like M has decided to be more direct, now. M:>Defeat the villain, earn points, get more powerful, rinse and repeat. MarsTech and their allies designate the targets. Political enemies. Former employees. The would be heroes that protect our world. M:>Have no doubt: Ultio 2.0 is the weapon of tyrants. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Haven Haven crossed his fingers and rested his head on the bridge, eyes clothes. There was fury, or what he thought was fury. A perfect copy of Milo's brain, of course, but it was not a brain. Fury had a different flavour, not the heat of adrenaline, but something icy, sharp, bitter. And determination, focus. Tyrants!!! >Then it must be destroyed. How? Maybe he should not trust M, not completely. But trust must be earned, and one had to trust a little to earn more trust. It always started with a leap of faith. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 GM M:>You cannot dismantle an organization the size of MarsTech in a day. M:>Not even the part that is their Ultio Project. M:>Knowledge is power. Shared knowledge is power to the Nth degree. M:>I know who you are, Haven. I know what you are. You are uniquely positioned to break into the MarsTech servers and to find all the information you can on the project. An image appears on the screen. Or rather, a small animation. A white rabbit that leaps into a hole and disappear. M:>You ar ea digital consciousness. Enter the cyberspace, enter the MarsTech network. Follow the rabbit, Haven. M:>And good luck. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Haven Cyberspace was Haven's space. But it was not without risk. A risk he was prepared to take. For a life without risk was the riskiest life of all. He took three breaths. He didn't need to breathe, not any longer. He had no need for oxygen. His lungs, such as they were, were no more than silicon and chrome lined spaces in his chest. But the rituals were still there, and he rituals had value. Three breaths, and then in. His digital consciousness was the same as life - a chrome man, wearing a black suit. He streamed forward, zooming through laced datastreams, seeking MarsTech... Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 GM Cyberspace: A realm beyond time and space. A digital world of wonder and order, unbound by the limitations of the physical world. White zeroes and ones barely visible behind the perfect blue sky. A realm that connects the world. A never ending, always expanding network of worlds. Through the rabbit hole, the digital consciousness that is Haven materializes into another world. He is falling, streaming forward through the data streams, a hint of chrome among white and black data streams, breaking the monotone of the on and off. Time holds no meaning in the Cyberspace. To Haven, it feels like minutes or even hours of falling. In the real world, not even a second has passed. Before him, he sees a hint of yellow. Something up ahead, another data stream, one that strikes off hard, away from the rest. A yellow path, a road to follow. In the distance from the road, he can see an emerald city that rises on the horizon. All spires and towers. Above it, far in the sky that is not a sky, hangs a red planet. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 Haven Mars, the Red Planet! He understood that much, that symbolism. But the Emerald City? That could mean this Emerald City. Or the Wizard of Oz. It could possibly mean both. Here was the twin danger; to draw too much inference, or to draw too little. A hint of yellow? What was that? The yellow brick road? In any case, he would not discern much from static indecision. Time to follow the yellow brick road. Towards the Emerald City. Towards Mars! Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 17 Author Share Posted February 17 GM The yellow path surges forward. The Emerald City ahead grows ever closer as the nanoseconds pass by. Other data streams join it for a time, before diverging, as it remains the one true path to the goal that lies ahead. And then, Haven is there. The Emerald City stands before him. What should be a simple path into the data center is not, however. The yellow data stream that he had been following goes through what appears to be a massive gate, an emerald firewall to block any unwanted visitors. A long queue of would be visitors are ahead of him. A guard, an emerald light, reads from a white list of allowed visitors, allowing entrance or turning away the hopeful applicants. It will soon be Haven's turn. He is not on the white list. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 17 Share Posted February 17 Haven Haven frowned, flexing his fingers. Vexing, vexing... but of course a organisation like Ares would have a firewall, and, if they were as nefarious as M said, then it would be a strong firewall. Secrets. There were, he thought, three options Firstly, become someone on the list Secondly, change the list Thirdly, find another exit and bypass the passport office altogether. The third one sounded the best option. Time was not pressing and he could at least recce the digital Ares construct. Sometimes people left backdoors; some of them deliberate, most of them mistakes. It was thin chance, but he took it. If nothing else, it might supply more information about the organisation. Peeling off from the immediate data stream, he quickly sailed around Ares, looking for a crack... Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 GM Splitting off from the yellow data stream, Haven finds himself traveling just outside the boundaries of the city's DMZ. At first glance, it appears to be it. The guard with the white list is the only point of entrance, the path of least resistance. No other path immediately presents itself to Haven. But there is something else that he finds, as he makes his way around the Emerald City. A program. From the outside, Haven can see that it is named Woodsman.exe. In Cyberspace, it is the form of an ever shifting automaton, a robotic design, with an axe, slowly chopping away at the great wall. Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 Haven Now that was interesting. A woodsman. Made of tin? The reference was a note of caution. The woodsman, whilst actually a kind soul, was always professing to have no heart. One could interpret that in many ways, but one was that the programme was mindless, callous. Possibly even cruel. He stepped up - but not too close - to the axe. "Chipping away?" he asked. "I'm trying to get in myself...." Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 19 Author Share Posted February 19 GM As Haven thought, the Woodsman did indeed have no heart. A very visible lack of one, even, with an empty hole going through its metallic body where the heart would have been on a man. The large robot, an abstraction of a simple brute force bot, looks down on Haven. It appears curious, as it stares at the metallic man. "Get in?" it's voice booms. It stops its work. "The Wizard does not allow anyone in if they are not on the white list." There is a small hole in the wall where the Woodsman has worked, but it is much too small for it. "Why do you want in?" Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 Haven The Tin Man was obviously a blunt tool. Chip chip chip... how long had the programme been chipping away at the wall? In this world, or the real life wall? Possibly centuries of cyber-time. Maybe more. Even Haven, no stranger to cybernetic time dilation, found his eyeballs bleeding at the thought of such monotony. "I want to get in because the Wizard wants to put me on the white list." More Oz references... who was the wizard? Just a sham? a facade? Haven did not make the mistake of underestimating such a hypothetical character. A man who was skilled enough to create such a facade was not to be underestimated. "And I should be on the white list because the Wizard wants me to get in." Lets see how the programme dealt with that tautology! Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 GM The Woodsman program looks down at Haven. It seems confused by what Haven is saying. Maybe, like he said, it is a blunt tool, that does not understand such considerations. "But... the Wizard determines the white list." The Woodsman speaks slowly. Like it is deciding its words. "And those on the white list enter through the front gate. That is why I... try to break through." Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Haven "Oh? You wish to enter but are not on the white list?" If that was so, there was room for an alliance - of sorts. The Woodsman appeared more like a scarecrow than a tin man, but still... "Perseverance is admirable, but I think your chipping away to enter will take more time than you would like. Why do you want to enter anyway?" Was the program on some kind of time schedule? If so... "There may be other ways to enter, you know..." A phrase laden with devious insinuation. Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 GM The program stares at Haven once more, like it is trying to remember. "I try to enter... because that is my purpose." It is obviously not nearly as self aware as Haven. It is program, nothing more. Still, it seems to take interest in Haven's idea. "Another way? Please, share what you know." Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Haven Therein lay the rub! He didnt know. "I am sure we can find one together..." he said. "All I know is that your efforts, whilst valiant, will take time. Too much time." He put his silver hand on the protective wall. It was not real, of course, but it felt real; Haven was no longer a man-he was a small sphere of quantum computations surrounded by mimetic metals. But he felt real. And if he felt real, that was good enough for him to call himself a man. "The White list is the key," he said, to himself as much as the woodchipper. "How do we get on it?" There might be some subtle way to weave through the code and intefere with the list. Or even destroy the list, corrupting its file. Alternatively, if he could find the list, he could create a digital fake ID. "Where is it?" Link to comment
RocketLord Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 GM "I don't know," the mighty Woodsman says. "The white list is the key, the white list determines who goes where, but it is out of reach." He looks down at the hole that he has been working on in the wall. "But... I have made a small hole through the wall. It is much too small for me. Perhaps you can fit, and help me get through from the other side, if you can find the white list. I am sure that it is stored somewhere safe inside." Link to comment
Supercape Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Haven Well then, that was a plan. A good plan - provided it actually worked. There was a hole, but could he fit through it? He had been no contortionist when made of flesh and bone, but this was cyberspace. Nothing was real, no more than data. And data could be manipulated. Both the wall, and himself. Could he widen the hole, or could he thin his body? Why not a bit of both? With a virtual crack of virtual knuckles, Haven started to squeeze through, wrestling with the data at every virtual inch... Link to comment
RocketLord Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 GM Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly, Haven moves into the hole. His body is only his perception, contorting and shrinking as he sees fit, but even then, the transfer rate through the firewall that surrounds the Emerald City is agonizingly slow. It feels like forever, as his body shifts and changes. Behind, he can hear the Woodsman. "Almost there! Almost there!" over and over, followed by "Don't forget about me!" It is like he is passing through the looking glass, into another place, one that requires that he shifts and changes. The moment that Haven finally makes it through, his body is stretched and shrunken, resulting in a strange, mishapen body. At least there is no one on the other side of the wall as he now finds himself standing in a majestic, futuristic city cast in emerald. Above hangs the red planet. Link to comment
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