Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(19)
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Life support and power is about all we have while the data monkeys do their thing
ByteMe: With the AI? Something’s wrong with it, isn’t it?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: probably shouldn’t be talking about it. We could both meet some serious grief.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Like, imagine “serious” written in 40 foot high letters, set on fire with dancing girls all around it and you’re there
ByteMe: I think we are eyeball to eyeball with some serious grief already. Are you ok?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: … Why wouldn’t I be ok?
ByteMe: The comms aren’t the only thing I jacked. I saw your court martial records
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Are you dusted? That’s classified UTA intel and we’re in wartime. They can charge you with espionage if they catch u
ByteMe: you know, I hadn’t considered I’d get in trouble if I got caught. Thanks Ez.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Kady, I’m not talking about a slap on the wrist I’m talking about them LINING YOU UP AGAINST A BULKHEAD AND SHOOTING YOU
ByteMe: There’s no way they’ll catch me.
ByteMe: Trust me
ByteMe: I saw what you said to them. That was … unexpected.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: how so
ByteMe: You do not have a long history of telling the man to go f*ck himself.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Could’ve thrown me in the hole for that. Kinda stupid, right?
ByteMe: My kind of idiocy.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: …
Mason, E, LT 2nd: maybe I should do it more often then?
ByteMe: Once is enough for now. You’re no use to anyone in the hole. Not even sure what that is but I am taking some nasty guesses.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: solitary. Water and dehydrate grub. Occasional visits from a big hairy guy called “Raoul.”
Mason, E, LT 2nd: I might be exaggerating about the Raoul part
Mason, E, LT 2nd: He’s not all that hairy
ByteMe: I saw what you said about your dad, too. I saw his name on the casualty lists after the evac.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Oh.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Right.
ByteMe: I’m so sorry, Ezra.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: It’s not ur fault. You got nothing to be sorry for
Mason, E, LT 2nd: how’s your mom doing over there anyway? Tell her I said hi
ByteMe: How long’s AIDAN been down? Since the Copernicus was destroyed?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Um.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: I shouldn’t have told u that. I’m not even supposed to know. Don’t say anything, alright? people could get rolled.
ByteMe: Not planning on broadcasting this conversation. They’re lying to us tho, you know it. We should just sit here and wait to see what happens next? How’d that turn out for the Copernicus?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: There’s no danger to you guys. Nobody’s sick on Hypatia, right?
ByteMe: What’s sick got to do with it?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: If nobody’s sick, then nothing at all. Dun worry about it.
ByteMe: So because we’re safe over here we should just swallow whatever lies they want to feed us? Nobody here is saying AIDAN is down. They’re pretending the Lincoln is out there and we still have comms, but we have to stay silent to avoid detection. You want to tell me that’s true? Saw a great big BeiTech dreadnought when you were out by the Copernicus?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: they’re just trying to avoid a panic, Kades
ByteMe: I for one am not feeling super calm.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: you should leave it alone. You could get in real trouble.
ByteMe: We’re already in real trouble. I want us to at least be in it together.
ByteMe: Ezra? You there?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: Yeah, I’m here.
Mason, E, LT 2nd: though I’m kinda wishing I was on Hypatia right about now
ByteMe: I am fearsome, but I’m not quite that good. I’ll try and get a line up tomorrow. You’ll be here?
Mason, E, LT 2nd: As you wish
ByteMe: If only THAT were true. Keep your head down. Don’t do anything too noble.
——-CONNECTION TERMINATED——-
CitB: sooooo u talking to ur boyfriend again?
ByteMe: not my bf
CitB: u talking to him?
ByteMe: 7 min burst no sign of detection so far
CitB: he know what going on over there?
ByteMe: not spilling
CitB: he know about the AI?
ByteMe: it’s down, not spilling more than that
CitB: so work some magic
ByteMe: not as simple as that. u don’t just jump into law breaking with a guy like Ezra. don’t even know if i want to involve him yet.
CitB: then why do it?
ByteMe: to see if i can. now have to decide what to ask him to do. not safe for him.
CitB: not safe for anybody. get it done
General,
As of 11:00 hrs, an assessment of the Alexander Artificial Intelligence Defence Analytics Network (AIDAN) has been completed by myself and Senior TechEng Specialists Major Nico Lassinger and Major Lisa Barker. Junior staff were excluded to preserve confidentiality of our findings. Status report and recommendations follow:
Current Status
During the battle at Kerenza, AIDAN suffered significant physical damage. Due to losses of key personnel in the TechEng department, we have been unable to carry out a full diagnostic, but most obviously, we cannot generate a jump gate, and AIDAN’s computational speed is reduced. However, damage to AIDAN’s neural network may also be worse than first realized.