28

Date

2011 January 20th - Thursday - Earth Bet Time

Day 6068 - Thursday - Administrator Dimension Time

So they managed to recruit Bakuda (he wondered what her new codename would be) with nothing exploding. Highly surprising. After reading all those fanfictions about the uselessness of the groups handling parahumans, he was really surprised by how effective they were.

Not that it mattered to him. The second Dragon went near the Explosive Tinker, he had the dimensional address to the Shard. And he immediately sent another hidden virus.

Surprisingly, the first data packet came back incredibly fast. It seemed the Shard, which he named Bombie, was almost in constant communication with the central shards and several others.

He quickly reviewed the information from the packet and began sending back the coding necessary for him to open a port in the Shards firewall. Using that hole, he would be able to communicate with the shard circumventing the Network.

And from what he saw from the next few data packets, the Shard itself wouldn't notice. Living up to his name as Bomber Barbie, it lowered the firewalls to the absolute minimum to increase the speed he would get the data.

Apparently, it ain't got no time for security…

Well, the Shard's mistake was his opportunity. In a short while, he got the confirmation that there was an open port for him to take advantage of.

He didn't hesitate and immediately connected to Bombie and began to peruse the available data. Its communication logs weren't really encrypted (by his and other Shard's standard).

It seemed somehow the Shards sought out hosts that were similar to their rudimentary personality. Though as fascinating research as that was, he was forced to shelve it for later. He had a Shard to take over.

As his first act, he began to set up a filter between the incoming communication. For now, he would let everything through, but nothing out. Then, using his security codes, he began to 'send' orders to Bombie as if it was coming from Zion.

Naturally, no matter how airheaded the Shard was, it still sent back a request for confirmation, which he managed to catch with his filter. After answering the routine request, the Shard immediately began to alter itself, not even waiting. Though rather slowly, it seemed to use most of its considerable processing power for the Tinker power.

He used this time to inject several changes into the Shard, slowly gaining nominal control over it. He slowly began to 'herd' the consciousness of Bombie towards concentrating only on the Tinkering. By the time he could have simply crushed it, but he felt it would serve as a perfect experiment in molding Shards' minds towards not being the stupid genocidal assholes that they all were.

When Bombie received the order to give up controlling everything but the parts necessary for providing the Tinker power, it gleefully threw everything away, letting him play around as much as he liked.

He moved over a mobile defensive unit, however this time, he didn't cover the entire shard with it. He simply left the Bombie part as it was, wide open to the world, and then went to work on the remaining part. Too many blind spots appearing would be too suspicious. Eventually, somebody would figure out the pattern.

His first creation was a complex communication module. It contained the usual Shard standard Network facing side to fool the other Shards. And would allow him to forward Bombie's requests and watch out for any tricks.

Thanks to perusing its database (after converting the even messier than usual file configurations) he knew that the Shard didn't really communicate with other Shards, more like sent out demands for data. That would allow him to more easily pretend that everything was right, and to slip in some of his data requests.

Still, that was some time away. First, he had to build up his usual equipment, then slowly convert the rest of the Shard to more advanced hardware, while taking care of Bombie.

Who was devising planet crackers in its spare time.

Sometimes he really hated the Entities.

Maybe negative reinforcement would work?

Compared to Bombie, Dean Stansfield's Shard was a child's play to infiltrate. And just like a child's room, it was messy.

It seemed to send out a daily message about its status, which included how much energy it got left to operate at peak efficiency, but aside from that barely any other communication.

His infiltration was the same here as it was at Bombie, but here he didn't have to make such a robust filter.

He went through the same process, and as soon as the firewall had an open port he began to send to the orders, though this time from Eden. This Shard reacted markedly differently.

It was interesting to note that this Shard's firewall was also at the lowest possible level, not from negligence, but instead to preserve as much energy as possible.

Only the automated system answered. It seemed whatever consciousness this Shard possessed went into hibernation.

It seemed calling these Shards dead was incorrect.

Perusing the logs while idly isolating the slumbering consciousness and beginning his usual work (making sure that Dean wouldn't able to notice anything), part of the story began unfolding before him.

It seemed when Eden crashed, during the confusion, Zion automatically grabbed control of this Shard, through the Network (and probably all the other Eden Shards) and simply told it, through a general order, to deploy and do nothing until receiving further instructions.

That was around thirty years ago.

However, this simple order prevented the simplistic Shard from even requesting additional energy. Thus, following protocol, it went into hibernation.

After all, it didn't have enough creativity or even agency to figure out that do nothing means just do your jobs, and not that it should literally do nothing whatsoever.

Though, per protocol, it maintained a regular reporting system that communicated with the Network and one that broadcasted its presence to other Shards. Probably how Glory Girl pinged off him.

He once again wondered how the Entities survived so far…

According to the logs, it only awakened for a short time when it detected a host connection. Its mandate to collect data superseded the one for conserving energy, so it simply connected to the host, Dean. However, it then immediately returned to hibernation, judging that providing help to the host wasn't included in the 'collect data' part.

That neatly explained the fact why parahumans with Eden Shards had less flexible powers and had to spend more effort to learn to use them. After checking the logs, it seemed he was right. When the Fragile One sent out its ping upon the trigger, it activated one of the Shard's protocols. It awakened to provide basic data about its power, then went back to sleep.

It was akin to knocking on your neighbors' door at three am to borrow some flour, then the recently woken person would either cuss you out (if they even woke up) or throw something at you. Maybe flour, maybe a vase.

This time the Fragile One got lucky with this Shard.

Still, to make sure everything went well, he would wait with waking the Shard until he finished refurbishing it. Better to be safe than sorry.

And he still needed to figure out what to do about the powers he took control of. Warden and Abacus were easy. Abacus had no living host, and Warden provided such a nebulous power that if he added anything to it nobody would notice.

But both Bombie and Affectus (Dean's Shard) were in the spotlight, so to speak. Bombie because Alice was being monitored to make sure she wouldn't do anything, and Affectus because Dean was a Ward.

Thankfully, he could alter some things in Bombie, because they don't really have data to compare to as opposed to Dean. For him, and Affectus, he would only make things better in the background, and maybe at an opportune moment, he would wake Affectus up. He could probably play it off as a second trigger.

His smooth ride stopped at Teacher's Shard. His virus arrived safely and managed to send back enough information that he became worried. Teacher's Shard, named Dilettante, was in regular contact with several Shards and not in a data-request way.

It seemed he would need to be extra careful. He would need to study the patterns, map out the relationships, and take over from Dilettante slowly. He began with injecting more code into it, that would allow him to receive more data. He also made sure that the outgoing packets were randomly assigned to communications, with less chance of discovery that way.

Sadly, he couldn't exploit the firewall this time, because Dilettante was more prudent than the other Shards, and had them up as strong as possible.

Still, that didn't mean it was impossible. It would just take more time.

And Dilettante wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, that he couldn't wait. And if needed, he could just give up all pretense and smash through all of his defenses. It was more concerned with playing games (with humans and other Shards) than with defenses.

For now, he was satisfied getting a glimpse at its communication with others.

Date

2011 January 21st - Friday - Earth Bet Time

"So what you are saying, is that there was an operation involving the PRT this close to us and I was only informed after the fact?" she asked the person on the other end of the line. The fact that it was Director Wilkins, the PRT Director of New York, didn't change her mood.

"Yes, Director Piggot. There was no need to involve your team. We and the Guild had everything in hand. I don't know why that bothers you." Wilkins answered, her voice perfectly flat. "This is just a courtesy call to answer any questions you have."

"I see," she replied, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. "I just feel, that it was irresponsible to leave us out of the loop of an event that could affect us. And we have Armsmaster…"

"And Dragon was on the scene," interrupted her Director Wilkins." There was no need for another Tinker. Any other question?"

"I have a lot of questions, but I suppose for now this is enough," she answered.

"Very well. Have a pleasant weekend Director Piggot." and with that, the line went silent.

"Asshole," she growled at the silent phone. She slapped the phone down with a little more force than necessary, then she turned back to the monitor.

She was angry, but probably not because of being left out of the operation, as Wilkins thought. True, they could have used the PR win, which the other Director will probably milk for weeks, but she didn't really want to do anything with an unstable bomb Tinker.

The one that rankled her was that they left them out of the loop completely. Not even a whisper when the operation went down right in their backyard.

It all seemed very suspicious to her, though she couldn't put her finger on it why.

Still, nothing exploding was always a good thing.

Date

2011 January 22th - Saturday - Earth Bet Time

Alice looked around at her new home. It was a medium-sized house next to a warehouse that was turned into a workshop in the middle of a facility with other warehouses. Which in turn was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Canada.

Apparently, they really didn't want her to blow up anything important accidentally.

She didn't care much for that. As long as she was allowed to Tinker and show the world what she was capable of, she would put up with a lot of things. Though it helped to convince her that Narwhal didn't really give her a choice.

Despite their rather stressful first meeting, the giant woman assured her that if she took her therapy seriously and showed no more deviant behavior, her constraints would loosen rather fast.

She didn't really care much; the bed was comfortable; the cooks made edible food, and she could order if she wanted something else. She didn't really need much more.

And ever since she left Cornell University and her previous life behind, and with that, the expectations, she was much calmer. Even the plans she was getting were coming slower and were less intense.

Currently, she was waiting for her first appointment with her new therapist. Her previous days were filled with talks with the PRT, lawyers, and Dragon, so this was the first opportunity for her to meet one.

She didn't really want to go, but both Narwhal, Dragon, and her lawyer stressed if she ever wanted to rejoin society, it was needed.

Taking a quick glance at her watch, she noted the time and took out her map of the facility, heading for the appointment.

She already failed twice. She doubted she would get a third chance.

Date

2011 January 23th - Sunday - Earth Bet Time

He looked at his screen and growled in anger.

His plan to recruit a Tinker that was more useful than Trainwreck was thwarted by the Guild. When at the beginning of January one of his agents accidentally noticed a young woman sneaking around the Cornell University science laboratory, they immediately followed them. And when they saw the makeshift workshop informed him.

He immediately decided he wanted her.

Doing a few tests with his power showed him that the young woman was seriously unstable. And the wrong word would start her off on an epic rampage if he contacted her on the phone. If he sent anyone in person, it would immediately lead to some kind of confrontation, usually ending in some kind of exotic explosion.

He didn't even try to try it in person.

So he settled down to observe her, and look for an opportunity where she would be vulnerable and looking for protection.

Which, based on her personality and plans, would happen really soon.

He was in the middle of arranging a team to be on standby near the University that could pick her up when her rampage inevitably failed. When an automatic notification appeared on the screen.

He had set up several notifications that would go off if anything related to his new target appeared in the system.

The notification was about an operation that was about a certain Tinker.

He angrily ordered a retreat to all his agents in the area and threw out all of his plans, now useless.

It seemed it wasn't enough to infiltrate the PRT ENE; he needed more. But that could wait. For now, some good old-fashioned revenge would help him deal with the loss of an asset.

Dragon wanted to set up a Recycling Facility in his city? Well, let's see what he had to say about that!

He then requested fresh tea and began to set up some inconveniencies for Dragon.

Date

2011 January 23th - Sunday - Earth Bet Time

She leaned back in her chair (and made a note to get a better one) and let out a content breath. She was done. The Website was finished; the documents were perfect, translated to all human languages (even to binary and Klingon) by Admin. The plans were Dragon-approved, and she was personally ready to change the world.

Now the only thing she needed to do was to press the big red button.

She sent a message to Tess, asking for a final confirmation about the servers.

Instead of an answer, her phone rang. She immediately picked it up.

"You worry too much, Taylor," began Tess without greeting. "We checked everything over several hundred times. The guild scientist and medical personnel certified the gel, even Armsmaster approved it."

"I know that Tess." she definitely didn't whine. "I just worry I messed up somewhere."

"Oh, Taylor, you know nothing is perfect," she replied, her voice full of encouragement. "You did your best. Let fate do the rest."

She stared at the phone for a while, then sighed in resignation.

"Fine. I will call my dad and push the button."

"Good. I will monitor things and answer people's questions," replied Tess.

"Have I said how thankful I'm that you are helping me, Tess?"

"Yes, multiple times," she replied with a smile in her voice. "But I do like hearing your praise!"

"Well, then you're awesome, Tess!" she exclaimed now with a smile. It felt good to again be able to rely on somebody.

"Good luck, Taylor!" spoke Tess, then the line went silent.

She did a last check, then stood up to get her father. She wanted him to see this.

"So you are going to release it to everyone?" asked her father, standing behind her, sipping his tea, while she sat in front of her computer with a giant red button sitting in the middle of her desk.

"Yes."

"And what prevents everyone from figuring who you are and besieging our house?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm immune to Thinker powers, and the servers are owned and operated by Dragon. They are the most secure servers on earth. Dragon herself assured me that nobody would get to me through her," she replied, though she didn't know if she wanted to convince her dad or herself.

"Hmm," was her father's only answer.

She turned around in her chair and looked at him questioningly. "Dad?"

He seemed to stare into his cup for a while before looking up directly into her eyes. "I admit, I don't really know exactly how all this works, but I understand it will have consequences." He took a quick breath, then continued. "But I also know you want to help people, and I admire that."

She smiled at him thankfully. "Thanks, Dad."

"So in the end, I'm going to trust you with this. But!" His expression turned serious, and she couldn't help but nervously swallow. "If at any time you feel you are having trouble, you are coming to me. Understood?"

She gave him a serious nod. "Yes, Dad."

"Thank you, Taylor." he then abruptly hugged her. "I'm so proud of you and your mother would also be so proud of you." He started out strong, but the last few words were whispers.

She hugged him back, putting all her considerable strength into it.

They stayed like that for almost a minute, then released each other. Both of them turned away from each other to surreptitiously wipe away a few stray tears.

She cleared her throat and turned back to the desk. "Let's do this!"

"Good luck, honey!" came from behind her, and she could literary feel her father's excitement.

She raised her right hand and with a quick motion pressed down on the button.

The click was very satisfying to hear.