hextraterrestrial: Hextraterrestrial (Default)
Hey Heartbreaker

By Dream Wife
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1-OkjZZqHk

I've seen you on the silver screen
And I've seen you in the daytime
I see you everywhere I go
And I see you in my dreams
And then I see you talking to your wife
And I see you holding your child
And I see you everywhere I go
And I see you, and I see you, but they all know

[Pre-Chorus]
Hey, hey, hey
That you're one of them
Hey, hey, hey
We're having so much fun
Hey, hey, hey
Why did nobody tell me
Hey, hey, hey
That you're a

[Chorus]
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Yes, you, heartbreaker

[Verse 2]
I know I'm young
And I know you're old
I know I'm old
And I know you're young
But we have so many stories untold
And the way you move
And the way you tilt your head
And all I want is to
Crawl back in with you

[Pre-Chorus]
But they all said
Hey, hey, hey
Because they all knew
That you're one of them
Hey, hey, hey
We were having so much fun
Hey, hey, hey
But you're a

[Chorus]
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker

[Verse 3]
Another victim to your touch
Another fairy tale
But the way you move, the way you move, the way
And all I want to do is
And all I want to do is
And all I want to do is
Yes, all I want to do is

[Bridge]
And don't you break my heart
Don't you break my heart
Don't you break my little heart
Don't you break my little heart

[Chorus]
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
Hey, heartbreaker
hextraterrestrial: Hextraterrestrial (Default)
"Wait, let me get this straight; you're saying that I was programming while unconscious?" Fred gulped greedily at his coffee, which at this point had gone cold.

"Tis so." replied Zakari "We were running a sandbox matrix with an experimental A.I. when we got the call to fetch you. It was the only viable interface we had up and running to jack you in." Gooch's face suddenly became far more serious. "The program was developed by a team I found at the 2016 AUSA Convention. They called themselves 'Compos Mentis' and they had a really intricate concept but their demo had crashed while in the middle of their presentation to several generals and potential investors. Needless to say, they failed to secure funding. I was right there during their presentation and as soon as the system booted the beta demo flopped. Not a single military representative waited to see if they could fix it, a few of them just chuckled but they all immediately walked off to the next booth. Only a few geeks and myself stuck around to see if we could help them troubleshoot."
"It took about forty minutes to hash out the failed command line before we realized they had fried a few transistors and a capacitor. One of the guys, Mitch, had some code and videos on his laptop he showed me after helping them out for so long. Their concept was very forward thinking. Everything was being programmed in V.R. combined with intensive holographic laser displays for outside the box coding. I'd never seen anything quite like it and was thoroughly impressed. I was really glad the military or corporate guys hadn't seen it either. Even though they had some really sophisticated programming and equipment, they were short on the galvinination of their core program, short on money and short on manpower. It was a simple matter of being first to proposition them after such an embarrassing failure. Guarenting them a steady paycheck immediately after seeing what they had, it was a simple matter of signing the paperwork. I thought I had all we needed at that point until I got a chance to see the program from the lab." Zak proceeded to peck a few shortcut commands on his phone as he swiveled one of his desk monitors 180 degrees around towards Fred.

Fred leaned back in his chair, frowning into the bottom of his empty mug before looking back to Gooch's station. Zakari threw a leg up on his desk, never taking his eyes off his phone, his thumbs worked furiously at the small device. He continued, "The base engines seemed fairly straight forward, collision, body dynamics, motion... they were actually kinda sloppy, I knew we would have to rewrite a lot of it... but when I saw the paradigms and real-time physics coding, I was fucking blown away man! I'd never seen anything like it. It was ridiculously complex. I couldn't even tell what systems of equations they were using. And once I started to ask team 'Cement' what they hell was going on in there, they became unusually skittish and suspiciously mute."

Fred leveled his chair as he sat up straight. He set his empty mug on his desk asking "Wait, who the hell is team cement?"

"I started calling the Compos Mentis guys 'Team Cement' after I figured out what was going on." said Zakari while rolling his eyes.

"What was going on?" inquired Fred.

Zakari looked up briefly from his phone before continuing. Pages and pages of green code began scrolling down the monitor Zak had turned towards Fred. It continued to load and scroll while Zakari spoke. "Well, I wouldn't find that out for another ten months. The first two months Team Cement feigned that they knew what they were doing. By month three I had determined that the bulk of the program wasn't even written by them. They couldn't tell me how the guts of the program operated, I couldn't figure out how it worked and my think-tank was impossibly stumped. We couldn't believe what we were looking at, let alone understand its nuances. Although we were able to patch a working program, we were limited in functionality and modding the core was impossible. We had to shell and partition a micro environment in which to work."

At this, Fred stood and approached Zak's monitor inspecting the loaded script. He looked to Zak, "So what happened? Who wrote the original core?"

"I'm getting to that." Zakari looked up from his phone, thumbs still working. "I had to seek outside assistance again. I printed up two hundred fliers in March, 2017 and emailed a few friends to reproduce and distribute several dozens. I drove all over New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California and Nevada posting them in select positions. Then it just became a waiting game; in July I booked a ticket to Vegas for Def-Con 25. I needed more bees for the hive."

"Bees?" Fred asked puzzled. "Is that what you call your think tank?"

"More precisely, I needed Nymphs who'd grow into a Brood." Zakari looked sharply at Fred "But I never said that and you are never to repeat those words aloud or on the wire."

"Ok..." Fred's voice rang out. "Wait a sec... are you..." Fred watched Zak's face break into a maniacal grin. "You'r talking about that 3301 thing... what is it called again? That fly! Or whatever bug! What's the name of that?"

Gooch put his right pointer finger over his lips signaling the need for discretion. "Cicada."

Cicada

[TO BEE CONTINUED]
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Gooch entered the lab with a cardboard box precariously stacked with various items nearly spilling out the top. Fred reached over to his I-Pod and turned the music way down, barely audible over the hum of the computers in the lab. He smiled towards Gooch.

"I found it!" Gooch said flashing teeth as he reached into the box pulling out a small silver Mac-Mini. "There wasn't much left in the way of computers but this survived the raid." Taniguchi placed the small computer on the edge of Mudi's overflowing desk. "I'm headed downstairs for tea; do you want a coffee?"

"You read my mind," said Fred. "and thanks." he said with a nod.

"No problemo compadre." Gooch said turning on his heel as he headed out the door.

Fred checked the monitor bank. Visual schematics were sprawled across the monitors. He was working on building a new firewall for Knight Tech. His workstation was a ramshackle conglomeration of screens, wires and pc towers that looked like the inner workings of a hole blown into the side of the Starship Enterprise by some overzealous Kilngon warbird. Although Linux and Windows were more comfortable to him, he was glad to have his Mac returned. There was some invaluable data in there that was irreplaceable.

The chore of getting situated with a new desk was always a tedious task to Fred. He had set up and broken down his station so many times he wondered if he should rather be a technician than a computer engineering consultant.
To make matters worse, while he was incapacitated, Fred had been robbed. All his belongings had been rifled through, leaving his personal Sherlock Holmes style office rudely disorganized and scattered. All his pertinent materials had been taken, including his retirement stash of silver bars, so at this point he was rather irate with the whole situation. Short of rape, there was nothing more violating to a person's wellbeing than having your personal belongings disrespectfully manhandled and rent asunder by a bunch of strangers in a place considered sacred. Now he had to start from scratch - again. He huffed a sigh, at least Gooch had a good portion of previous work archived, the Mac was a nice boost to his disposition.

The lab was a temporary setup, the thought of which sent Fred's head shaking in dismay. He'd have to set this all up just to break it all back down. They had a small office space just outside of the Holloman base provided by an anonymous outside investor. From his second story window, Fred gazed out his tinted window to highway 70 below. There wasn't a single car passing by and the stillness struck him as picturesque. He imagined the snow like hills of rolling sand as a white sea frozen still in a photograph. Fred caught himself staring out the window for an exorbitant amount of time. The sound of swooshing fabric and heavy steps snapped him out of it as Gooch returned, a steaming cup in each hand. Gooch carefully handed a mug to him as Fred inhaled the aroma. French vanilla. Fred smiled as he decided right there. That's what he'd name the firewall. It was being written in Java after all; at least initially.

Gooch spoke, "I have a few Mac power cables on the far shelf." as he pointed to the north east corner of the room. "How's the design looking?"

"Rather rudimentary." answered Fred. "I've been a bit flustered with the packet dynamics. As you know, they are too easy to breech and I do not have the math skills to write what I see. I don't think Java is secure nor robust enough to handle my vision."

"How so?" inquired Zakari.

"I want to weave the threaded processors into a hyperspace funnel or sync. The problem is extracting the individual IPs from the other end. I was going to ask you if C++ would be more appropriate for the problem or just invent our own characters and language? My drawings exemplify the process beautifully but the translation into code is another matter entirely." Fred explained as he crossed the room and scoured the shelf for the proper cable.

Gooch laid an arm across his chest, resting the other arms elbow on top. He scratched at the five o'clock shadow on his chin as he leaned in towards Fred's monitors. He studied the swirling lines in the diagrams carefully letting go a quite whistle before replying.
"Mail these images as .png to my Linux account along with what executables you have so far and I'll review them with our tank and get back to you as soon as we come up with something tangible."

Fred exclaimed a "Ah ha!" as he thrust his fist up victoriously clutching a white power cable. "No problemo." he said. "How long do you think it will take?"

Standing up straight, Gooch beamed, "With my guys? Just a few hours. They might not have the same capacity for spatial perceptions for one such as yourself but once I give them this design, they'll be all over it like bees on honey."

Fred approached Zak and his desk, when he stopped he smiled saying "That sounds sweet!"

Gooch let out a giddy giggle. The devious nature of the work made them both feel like little kids again. As if they were going to be sneaking cookies from the jar when their mothers weren't looking.

Gooch extended his index finger and tapped the mini "So what's in this bad boy?"

Fred began clearing space at his station as he plugged the device and other appropriate cables in. "Remember how you forced me back in '08' to cast that I-Ching reading the day they fired up Cern? Before the magnet broke?"

Gooch's right eyebrow raised, "Yeah..."

"Well, I have a feeling there is something in that reading that we need now. Don't ask me why or how, it is just an urge to check it out." Fred suggested.

"AAhh... I like the way you think Mudi!" exclaimed Gooch. "I'm not sure how that would correlate but that is the exact 'outside the box' thinking that makes you so invaluable. I'm so glad to have you back!"

"Me too." said Fred from under the desk. He scuffled out and stood. "There we go." He input a few strokes on his keyboard, switching the display settings, entered one of his notoriously short passwords and waited a moment for the Mac to boot. Gooch was all grin. They both stood silent as Fred searched for the file. "Here we are!" he said. "I'll shoot it over now, check it out."

Zak sailed to his station and plopped into his ergonomic chair. A few touches on the screen and he had the document open. He was taken back to memories of a decade prior as he contemplated the old info as a new dataset.

卦 F.M. I-Ching reading 05/02/2008 13:44

Cast Hexagram:

26 - Twenty-Six
Ta Ch'u / Recharging Power

Heaven's motherlode waits within the Mountain:
The Superior Person mines deep into history's wealth of wisdom and deeds, charging his character with timeless strength.

Persevere.
Drawing sustenance from these sources creates good fortune.
Then you may cross to the far shore.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:

There are important precedents in this situation.
Others have trodden this Path before you, overcoming the same obstacles facing you now, and making crucial decisions at the same crossroads.
Study their journals, watch for their trail markings.
Gain inspiration and wisdom from the heroes and learn from the mistakes of those who chose a sidepath.
All were Seekers, explorers whose daring mapped a course you can follow.
The words and deeds of the finest can imbue you with the courage necessary to face what lies before you.

Changing Lines:

There are no Changing Lines.

Transformed Hexagram:

No Changing Lines.
Only the Cast Hexagram applies.

Upper Trigram:
Kên / Mountain
Image: Mountain.
Qualities: Tranquil, Immobile, Still, Perverse, Waiting, Patient, Calm, Stubborn, Inert, Methodical, Eternal.
Direction: Northeast.
Family Member: Youngest Son.
Body Part: Hand.
Season: Late Winter.
Time of Day: Dawn.
Animal: Dog.
Color: Emerald Green.
Element: Stone.
Miscellaneous: Byway, Mountain Path, Pebbles, Doorway, Opening, Gateway, Seed of Fruit, Eunuch, Watchman, Doorkeeper, Fingers, Rat, Black-billed Bird, Gnarled Tree.

Lower Trigram:
Ch'ien / Heaven
Image: Heaven
Qualities: Creative, Strong, Light of Day, Firmness, Inspiring, Power, Aggression, Completion.
Direction: Northwest.
Family Member: Father.
Body Part: Head.
Season: Early Winter.
Time of Day: Daytime.
Animal: Horse.
Color: Purple.
Element: Metal.
Miscellaneous: Round, Prince, Jade, Cold, Ice, Tree Fruit, Upper Garment, Word, Prehistoric, Flesheater.

Gooch leaned back in his chair interlocking his hands behind his head as he cooly exclaimed:

"Holy cow!"

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