sixthiterationlogs | time is running out

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time is running out

WHO: Niska Elster
WHERE: Bunker
WHEN: December 20
OPEN TO: All! Feel free to catch her in the bunker, in the escape, or back in town
WARNINGS: Violence and sexual discussion in the link. Niska's sneak preview runs from 1:01 to 1:16 if you see hers

While it's not something Niska readily talks about, she often sneaks back to the bunkers in the early hours of the morning when she can be assured that no one else will be there. With no need to sleep and her rigged charging system putting her at full power before four AM typically, it gives her a solid three hours to work with the systems.

It should be much easier to strip away the lines of coding here after her work with conscious synths and helping Mattie with her code, but there are trips and layers and, frankly, damage that she's not sure where the cause is from. Not only that, but compared to David's technology, it's primitive.

These are all excuses. Niska will later rely on them to help with her feelings of inadequacy about what happened.

She'd thought that she'd finally peeled back one of the layers to undo the glitching in the iteration lists so that she could see what's been redacted when her next push of coding suddenly went awry. The code doesn't work the way it's intended, but something clearly has been triggered. She watches the windows cascade as a program begins to function and then, her device sounds a notification.

Watching her wrist warily, Niska knows the timing is far too coincidental to be an accident. When she opens it, there's a new application that counts down. Twenty one days, five hundred and four hours. Until what? She doesn't have time to fixate on it for long when Niska sees the other message. Fifteen video seconds, which, when she opens it, reveals something she's been trying very hard not to reveal to anyone. She shuts it down, her panic not surfacing, but clear in the way her eyes scan the area.

"No," she says, calmly and coolly, but that starts to fade away as her processor works, trying to solve this. "No," she says, because she'd watched the coding deploy. She knows it's not only to her. Bending over the console, she begins to work faster in order to reverse what she's done, but even though she manages it within the hour, she knows it's too late.

People would have received the application, as well as the message. The only worry now is where she can hide. If her message, if her video is out there, then people will know of her secrets. Not the worst of it, thank whatever chance has made it so, but it's bad enough. Packing up her things, she shuts down the bunker's computers and runs, brushing past trees and in her hurry, she loses one of her contacts.

Having to stop, she bends to start working it back into her eye, but it's lost her precious time. The sun is coming up and she's on the outskirts of the village, looking rough and disheveled, her hair a mess, and if she had a proper heart, it would be racing.

Everyone that approaches her is someone to be wary of, now. Anyone could have been sent her message and as she tries to tidy herself up, she knows that she's not acting as she usually would, but her anxiety is clear in how she moves and watches others. This isn't turning all the synths conscious, but it feels very much like something has shifted and it's her fault.

Again.

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It's not as if Jake doesn't see what's in the video often. It's hard not to see it when he closes his eyes and there's those faces, and those sweet kids, and everyone of them dead. Worse their families will never know. Kidnapped. Gone. And yet always waiting for them to return. Yet they never will.

So the video is not something he doesn't see every day but it's vivid, and a little more real to think of it as being recorded by someone.

He should seek out Cougar, find out if he's seen the same, find out if he's okay. Because despite the fact that he's shaking, he needs to get himself back together before he sees Cougar, because he'll be no help if he finally lets himself break down over those poor kids.

It isn't Cougar he sees though, but a familiar face. One that doesn't look as if she's doing any better than he is.

"Niska?" Calling out to her, concerned with how she looks. He's only ever seen her well together and calm and this is nothing like the woman he's spoken to before.

Niska takes a deep breath and forces herself to rise slowly, checking that her contacts are in. She might be upset, she may be reeling, but she'll save her screaming and shaking for later. When she thinks she's fine, she turns to look at Jake, unblinking and realizing that he might understand.

"I triggered a program in the system," she admits, because it's not the first time she's confessed for justice. Raising her wristband, she doesn't play it, but shows the countdown. "I've put a stop to it before it could go out to everyone, but it's still out there enough. I don't know what it's counting down to."

"You..." For a moment his mind is trying to calculate what she's saying, blinking at her. "The... the video? Is that where it came from?" Admitting that he had his own video on that, not knowing it might seem he had seen hers and not his own.

"How? The computers?"

They had both shown an interest in them, and he's frowning as he moves in closer to her, looking at the countdown. "Don't guess we have a clue what that's counting down to?"

She nods, though her gaze is narrowed and critically focused on Jake, because if he dares to do something stupid and criticize her for it, he's not going to like the result. "I was trying to strip away the coding and see the redacted names, but I ran into another program," she admits. "The code is old and cobbled together. I was able to patch it, but not soon enough."

She holds the device against her frame tightly, like she can protect the video from being seen if she does. "I'm not sure anything of importance happens on any calendar in twenty-one days," she admits, given the timing she can place them in. January. What's it supposed to mean?

"I'm not familiar with these computers, but it shouldn't have deployed a program like this. It can't even be possible," she gets out, annoyed and wanting to hit something.

For a long time Jake just kind of gapes at Niska, starting at her as he listens to what happened. After a time though he shakes his head, clearing his throat.

"Not accidentally," he says, already seeing something in this. Something that sounds kind of familiar in a way. "There are backdoors and viruses that you can put into coding that are triggered by certain things. So if someone set it up that when you, or me, or anyone played with the right series, tried the right sequence, it activates the virus. I've used them on a lot of the systems I've made. Mostly to eat the system in the case of a breech. In this case, sending out videos, I'm guessing, and starting that timer. Whatever it means."

The timer is now more worrisome than the videos except for one thing...

"I want to know how they got the videos. At least what I saw on mine? There's just no way. I can't even imagine how they got it." And why they would want to remind him of it. "As for January, if time here is what we think it is? I can't think of what it might be but I suspect we're going to find out in a big way. You never have a timer for a small thing, do you?"

She nods, because that's exactly what she'd been thinking. She appreciates having someone that she doesn't have to dumb things down for, seeing as humans are so notoriously stupid when it comes to this sort of thing. Lucky that Jake understands the issue and how serious it is.

"Mine was on surveillance cameras," she admits. "It could have been mined and sent. Are you sure no one was recording the incident in your question? Not even a satellite or drone?" It would make sense to her if there were simply security protocols in place. She doesn't like it, but it would make more sense.

"I don't time for small events, but I also don't want to try breaking through the wall. Who knows what else they might send."

"Did the code show anything odd before this happened? Any kind of a signature, or a line of code that you remember?" There's no doubt in his mind that had there been something odd, she will have remembered it. Sharing it is another thing but she's right. It's better than going in again and seeing what they triggered.

"Mine? Well... We were in the jungle, and I know we were being traced. We'd just found out someone had betrayed us, and we were trying to rescue the kids he was going to accept as collateral damage." And that had still happened. No matter how hard you try, you can't change everything.

"Sattelite, yeah. Maybe. Military RPGs I think we would have noticed, we were looking in the air." At the copter as it was struck and came down.

"Everything was working perfectly." She's a synthetic being, she doesn't make mistakes. "I had peeled back a few layers, and then I stumbled onto it, like it was sandwiched in there." Maybe like it had been waiting to be found, but Niska's opinion is that it had been left there accidentally.

Or, like a tripwire.

"However it happened, they have footage," she says darkly. "Did you receive anything else? A threat? A demand?"

"It was a set up," he says, believing that more and more as she talks about what happened. "It could have been any of us with computer knowledge. Just as easily could have been me," he says, wanting her to believe that it's not her fault. Not even sure if she does, but he knows he'd want that reassurance. "This would have happened one way or another, just depends on who."

He nods, lips pursed, tight for a long moment as he thought about the reality of that. "He filmed himself bombing a plane full of children," he says in a low voice, closing his eyes for a long moment, considering how sick that is. Beyond the actual plan to blow them up. If he had been filming it though, that meant there Max had likely known just who he was blowing up, and that no matter what they might have done, those children were going to die.

He shakes his head. "No, nothing. Just the video of those children dying."

She's frustrated and it's pushing her to want to do something, potentially very ill-advised. "It wasn't you, they did this to me." She's been humiliated and pushed around before and the video on her device is a terrible reminder of that long stretch when she'd been without control or autonomy.

She gives him a cool look, not flinching as he talks about the dead children, but only because the world is terrible and that's what happens. "And somehow, someone's mined the video," she says calmly.

She's going to kill whoever did, that's what her tone of voice implies.

"You're right. It wasn't me, but it wasn't anything you did either. They expected us to do this and to set these videos off," he points out. "So I don't want you to blame yourself," he says, holding up both hands though. "Not that I'm saying you are. Just in case you're thinking about it," he says, not wanting her to think of it.

"What's the point of showing them to us? Blackmail?" He frowns, arching a brow. "You get any de... That may be what's going happen when that timer counts down."

"If it's blackmail, then they're not going to like what happens when they show their faces to collect," Niska guarantees, with the unblinking and unflinching promise of a woman who intends to make them pay for what they've sent her to show her. "I don't blame myself."

"I blame a shoddy system of traps and faults that allowed this to happen," she adds irritably. "No other coding I've ever run has been this poorly built."

That gets a tight smile out of Jake, though it's not entirely there. He's much too upset, but he can appreciate her attitude about the things they were trying to do to them. Especially if it does come to blackmail. "Good. I'm glad."

Except he would be entirely blaming himself, without a single hesitation about it.

"Does any of it feel intentional though? As if it's meant to be that way?"

She's having to remind herself of human behaviours through this, given that the high emotions are causing her to forget to blink, to move, to act natural. She does, but there are long stretches when it's possibly too long and might begin to get suspicious if she's not careful.

"You think this was going to happen whether I was in there or not?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at him and trying to parse his meaning. "It's become clear that they're far from overly kind, but I don't know about that. I definitely ran into a specific program that I triggered."

Those things will start to add up as Jake spends more time with Niska. Certainly having noticed that she is different from others, but nothing he is going to judge on given that he's certainly odd, and knows he wouldn't want others to treat him that way.

"Why send me a video if it was about you?" Which is the main reason he's thinking that it isn't just because of her. "Well yes, but anyone could have. Well, you and I and Tony probably could have," he admits. "Maybe others, but that's the only ones I've known. Some here don't even know what a computer is."

"I should probably go back," she admits. "If they have information about all of us, there could be videos that I stopped that didn't make it out there. There could be more information being stored about us. Who knows what sort of repository they might have," is her pessimistic outlook on this whole scenario.

It makes sense to her, though. It's not just doom and gloom, it seems like the most reasonable fact when you put all the signs together. "Knowledge doesn't affect whether they've been spying on us, somehow." Could this go back to their homes? It's a chilling possibility, but she can't rule it out.

He nods, knowing he needs to do the same, check with Cougar if nothing else. "If you find out anything, let me know?" Because he knows they can only put these things together if they compare notes. "Just... I know you don't need to be told this but be careful, okay?"

He knows they both need to be, but he also suspects she won't listen to that either.

"They brought us here. Who knows how long they've been watching us."

She doesn't give any smiles, nor does she offer any positive words that it will be all right. Niska isn't sure what's going to happen, but she can't help but suspect that whatever it is, it's not going to be pretty. "Then I'm going to find out how much they have on file," she says.

"Keep an eye out for any other programming side-effects," she advises. "I'm going back to the bunker to see if I can unearth where this program came from."

"I will harass you and find out what you find," he says, knowing she isn't likely to tell him on her own. He might harass it out of her, or annoy her. Whichever works for him to make sure he knows what's been said.

"I will. I'll check with others, see what we can find out," he says with a nod. "Be careful, okay?"

I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on the emotions of sentient AI, but I think it's fair to say that in a robot modeled after humans, human emotions of the unguarded kind might actually imply what they seem to. Logic would suggest that, anyway, but not being sentient AI — At least, not that I'm aware of — I can't tell for sure if, when someone like Niska projects an emotion, it's genuine.

But she looks upset, if only in that subtle, tightly-controlled fashion I've come to associate with everything she does, so I'm going on faith.

"Hey," I call, stepping off my porch to lift a hand in the twilight, my eyebrows pinching tightly together. "What's going on?"

Niska settles her contacts back in place, steadying herself as best as she can. She's grateful that it's Mark, but as she strides towards him, the purpose in her step is escape and hiding, not company. "Get inside," she warns, because what she has to tell him isn't going to be something she wants anyone eavesdropping on accidentally.

She passes him and stands, completely still, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "I've done something," she says, her words bitter and choked out, like she hates to admit it, but in order to explain it to Mark, she has to admit culpability.

Well, shit.

That pinching of my eyebrows has expanded to my whole face as I follow Niska inside and close the door behind me. "Please tell me you didn't hurt anyone," I say, watching her carefully. Whatever she's done is bad; I can tell that much from her closed-off posture.

She watches for the door's closing before she feels safe. Even then, she does a quick walk to the windows to ensure there's no one lingering there. Only when she's done this twice does she return to the main room, hands at her sides.

"I was in the bunker trying to strip away the redacted coding on the names on the lists," she says. "In the process, I deployed a program." She extends her wrist, where it's open to the countdown application, but not the video. She's not sure she's ready to talk about her own, just yet.

"It's not all. It also pushed out a video program. I can't say to how many before I was able to cut it off, but it's enough."

The first thing I do is look to my own wrist, but a quick tap through the interface reveals nothing new, nothing unusual. Apparently Niska caught it before it got to me.

"Okay," I slowly say, looking to her watch. "We have two questions, then. What happens at the end of the countdown, and what was on the video?"

I'm not going to blame her for doing some digging, for trying to pull apart the code down there and learn more. I don't know who among us wouldn't do the same if they had her same capabilities. In that sense, I think Niska's worry might be overblown, but that doesn't negate that we could be looking down the barrel of consequences regardless.

Niska presses her lips together, as the countdown is secondary as far as she's concerned. If anyone is going to be trusted with the truth, it's Mark. She keeps her gaze steadily fixated on her device as she taps at it, bringing up the video.

"It's precisely fifteen seconds in length," she says, which makes her wary about what else might be lurking in their databanks, but this is bad enough. "It's from back home. We were always monitored, there were always cameras, but I'm not sure how they got their hands on it." With another touch, she extends her arm to show Mark the video, turning her head to the side, grateful that it doesn't show everything.

He'll know about the brothel, but he won't know about the murder. Not yet, at least.

I don't know exactly what I'm seeing here, but it's clear enough that it's personal. Deeply personal, maybe, but this doesn't seem the most appropriate moment to ask, if there ever would be an appropriate time for me, a human man, to ask Niska about her feelings over what looks like her exploitation for the pleasure of human men.

"Maybe not," I reply with a slight shake of my head. "We know they have access to our minds, or our processors. We know that they are able to manipulate us psychologically. We know that their technology for accomplishing these things is advanced far beyond what most people here can comprehend. Isn't it a possibility that this—" I flick a finger toward her watch, "is built from memory?"

In her case, it is absolutely possible. Niska's memories could be accessed just like a hard drive, which means that it would be easy to convert them into the raw data required to play them on the devices. What she's not so sure about is the specifically chosen.

"Yes, you're right," she says, but she's already moving on to the far more concerning aspect. "It's fifteen seconds of a life. I know I'm not as old as some others here, but for eight years of life, they selected these specific fifteen seconds. Why?"

"That I honestly have no idea, although in my experience, very little of what they do doesn't have a purpose. Sometimes it just takes awhile to understand the point." Some of the things in the simulation in particular seemed arbitrary, but when you step back and look at the more dangerous reality here, in this version, the picture starts to become more clear. Not crystal, not by a long shot, but you can start to see the outlines of a grander plan.

"Does that clip have particular meaning for you or evoke a specific emotion?"

She has an idea.

It seems like the sort of thing that she would be sent if someone is trying to blackmail her. It's the sort of video that they would give her if they want to put Niska in her place and make sure that she doesn't do anything that threatens them.

Stop digging, it says to her. "He wanted me to act like a scared little girl so he could rape me," she snaps at Mark, bluntly. "Of course it evoked a specific emotion. I can feel," she says, challenging him.

Recalling that Mark isn't her enemy, she reminds herself to be steady. "After that moment, though, that could be the worst thing I've done," she adds, once her fervor has died down slightly.

Edited 2019-01-18 22:02 (UTC)

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time is running out

Disheveled and Rough

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