Dark Energy by carlsojos

Chapter 15

The tile floor beneath us suddenly changed to an expanded metal bridge. Looking down into the darkness, I begin to feel uneasy, but Etirn suddenly shouted, Here it is! I look up and see he had ran ahead to what looked like a pile of scrap metal. I came up to see he was actually looking at a piece about the size of a tower shield, covered in unlit lights.

That's the system core?

Well, technically no, but it's the processor. If I pull on it just so... Etirn lifts the device, revealing a nest of wires attached to it, Yes, it's hardwired into everything in the complex. I think I even have the right adapter this time. Etirn takes off his computer, opens it, and places his headset on top, flipping a switch on it. Mic check. The computer screen lit up. MIC ON.Remote. CHK LINE. What are you doing, Etirn?

Good things come to those who chill. Etirn procures a wire with unique ends, and plugs it into both his computer and his new toy. CONNECTED. That's good news. This is where we turn crap to cash.

Huh?

Diag.

IO0 is unknown.
IO1 is MEM.
IO2 is COMM.
IO3 is MEM.
IO4 is RST.
IO5 is PWR.
IO6 is unresponsive.
IO7 is BIO.
End of Diag.

Those are strange words. What do they mean?

Etirn looks up at me. At this point, it's more art than science. COMM is probably for contacting other computer systems, and MEM almost definitely stands for memory, where this system stores local copies of everything. The others, I'm not sure about. I'm not even gonna touch the unknown, because that could do anything from turn on the lights, to activate those monster chambers. IO 2, ping.

Default Gateway is Nurvus, 10.2.0.1
Delay 54ms. 53ms. 54ms.

Nurvus, huh? IO 1, tree. IO3, tree. Processing requests...

Nurvus? Tree? Computers aren't my specialty.

Sorry, Marika, I'm getting wrapped up. Nurvus is likely another system. It's still functional enough to say 'Hi' back, but I don't think we've discovered it yet. As for the Tree command, it's used to make a graphic of how memory is organized.

IO1: Error, unknown FS.
IO3: Error, unknown FS.

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work. Not all computers are programmed the same. I wonder what PWR does... IO 5, ping.

No gateway detected.
Delay Timeout. Timeout. Timeout. No system listening.

Nothing. IO5, help.

help >> coutIO5......no response.

Damn. IO 5, drive high?

Driving IO5 @ 5VDC...

Suddenly, the processor's lights turn on, all in shades of red. A second later, lights all over the place turn on. I find myself squinting at the sudden brightness, but Etirn seems unphased. Suddenly, a noise starts coming from the device, eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-....

It's coming to life, Etirn! IO7: serial activity detected.

IO 7, monitor.

IO7: obsti. Exec ex-exe res world ous cut xecut no...

Apparently, BIO is where this computer talks. It seems scrambled, or something. IO 4, pulse high.

Driving IO4 @5VDC......
Driving IO4 disabled...
IO7:Restarting...BIOS version 4.27......

POST: Fail. Retry, Abort, Ignore?

Uh.... Ignore.

I'm getting lost in all the jargon. What was the computer saying?

Etirn shrugged. Chaos. Garbage. It didn't shut down correctly, so its internal memory was corrupted. Thanks to whatever managed to blow this place to Kingdom Come, it's almost guaranteed that whatever was its last words - that garbage on BIO - didn't survive intact. There's some sizable damage, it thinks it's broken according to its self test, but hopefully it'll be able to output onto my terminal.

IO7:Boot sucessful.
IO7: ERROR: Unknown data source, IO7.
IO7: WARNING: Hardware Data Logger detected, IO7.

Etirn shrugs, It knows I broke in.

W......ppen..to.e? Surprisingly, the machine can still talk, albeit with a broken voice. Etirn's computer seems able to translate. IO7: echo What happened to me?

Can you hear me?

A full minute passes before a response to Etirn. IO7: echo Yes.

What is this place? What is your purpose? System name?

IO7: echo Bio Plant. Perform genetic engineering to assist in maintenance of Mota ecosystem. Seed.

Etirn nods. Marika, you want the next question?

I look at my surroundings, noting the devastation. What happened here?

IO7: echo Unknown.
IO7: tblsht -s
IO7: error 104, error 409, error 410 reported.
IO7: echo Self Destruct system is nonfunctional. Unknown reason.

Etirn speaks up, looking around. Is it possible that the Self Destruct was activated?

IO3: unknown activity
IO1: unknown activity
IO7: echo There is no log entry to prove it, but it is possible.

Hell, that would explain the hole in your wall. Could you output your last 5 log entries?

IO1: unknown activity
IO7: echo unrecoverable entry
IO7: echo unrecoverable entry
IO7: echo #e!fdes2
IO7: echo cbd ec3o
IO7: echo priority R$B1 -E

I felt confounded by how little I understood of the conversation. Could you explain the log a little better?

IO7: echo According to my backup log, I erased the goal R$B1 from my priority list. I then engaged an unknown command, possibly echo, which outputs human readable text from my voice parser, as a redundant output in case of undetected damage to my data bus. I then engaged an unknown command; closest match is selfdest, which arms the Self Destruct system prior to use. The final 2 entries cannot be recovered.
IO1: unknown activity
IO3: unknown activity
IO7: unknown activity
IO7: echo I wonder about Rika.

I get the feeling that the name should be familiar to me, beyond the similarity to my own. I wish I knew why. Who's Rika?

IO3: unknown activity
ERROR: IO7 packet is greater than 1024Kbyte. Output?

Etirn says, Mirror to HDD. Accept. suddenly, Etirn's computer screen fills up with a mess of letters. What the hell is this?

The computer seems to be completely random, but I notice there's only 4 different letters in the chaos. Etirn, I think I've seen this before. Is this Genetic information? A sudden scream breaks the silence of the ruins. What's that?! I remember that Akkosua is alone right now!

IO7: end of packet
IO7: echo Warning! System unstable! Breeding capsules have activated! Evacuate the facility!

Etirn shakes his head. Guess now's a bad time for a union break. Disconnect! CONNECTION SEVERED. The entire facility goes dark, but then it lights back up a second later. Etirn grabs his headset and computer, leaving the core behind. I'm ready.

Let's find Akkosua! I take the lead as Etirn runs behind, still putting away his equipment. We rush towards the monster machines.

Next chapter

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