Post by Charlotte on Jul 6, 2007 16:05:19 GMT -5
SOMEWHERE IN SPACE....
Huge red letters had scrolled once more across the screen, showing their disdain at the prodding he had been doing. It was the third time it had happened. He'd been hoping to have gotten it by now, but he was just missing something. Solomon took a deep breath, sat back in his seat and stared at the angry red letters. Learning to slice was harder then learning to build a saber, or so he was finding out. "I just don't get it..." he muttered, talking to himself, "What did I miss this time?"
Solomon's initial attempts were being protected by a safety net that Sadhric had designed for this sole venture. Real systems could detect the slicing that was being done if the young man made mistakes, and their efforts to backtrace would be obliterated. But Sadhric was considering the usefulness of that as he glanced over and saw Solomon's third strike. "You're getting the nuts and bolts," he said patiently, "You're getting a hang of your tools--the coding itself--but you need to start thinking like the thousands of people who designed the systems you're trying to crack." His mouth quirked sideways slightly. "Solomon," he said, "much as I hate to say it, you need to immerse yourself in their paranoia with the same dedication you use when immersing yourself in the Force." He turned to face the young Tekal more squarely, leaning a hip against his console and folding his arms. He looked amused rather than disappointed. "When you slice, you need to be as warped as that collective protectiveness is--the fear that you're going up against that was used to fill in every gap." He laughed. "That sounds deep, but it's not. Be paranoid, and those things that paranoid minds created will cease to be so perplexing."
He had sat, still staring at those big red words as Sadhric spoke. It was only after Sadhric had finished that Sol nodded, let another sigh fall from his lips, and turned to face Mr. Tlin. "Sounds easier then it is, Sadhric. But, I'll give it a shot..." It left his mind to wonder how to think like a paranoid person. Solomon Tekal was not one to think that everyone was out to get him.
The Mechanic shrugged. "I've never found it difficult," he said matter-of-factly. Indeed: when working through the knots of group fear, it helped tremendously to be a bit off-balance yourself. From some long-ignored storehouse of calm, he dredged up the ability to say: "Have patience with your speed for now. You'll be slow for a long time. You're learning to read what amounts to a multidimensional language, and you're putting it to use in hostile environm--" He cut himself off.
His gaze became introspective, and then suddenly he was all motion, moving toward Solomon's console and getting in the young man's way, flicking away from the projected red letters, away from the previous exercise. "Sorry," he said, sounding annoyed, "I've been going about this all wrong...."
Sol had been listening, giving Sadhric his undivided attention, and when Sadhric pushed his way to the console, Sol gladly let him have the room. He leaned in the opposite direction, pushing his chair away slightly so that Sadhric could work. "It's alright..." He muttered, watching what The Mechanic was doing.
One by one, as they floated in space in the Vault, Sadhric was removing their defenses. That safety net was being plucked apart, string by string, and unraveled, leaving them exposed. When The Mechanic straightened up, the complex display showed the search patterns of the system Solomon had just failed to breach. Very calmly, Sadhric said, "I'd say we have about twelve minutes before that system locates and identifies us and reports us to the New Order and Republic authorities. ... You'd better get cracking."
He went and slid into a chair on the other side of the room, closing his eyes and clasping his hands behind his head, bootheels resting on a console. "Make us invisible, Tekal."
Sol only spared a glance at Sadhric before leaning in to the console. After a brief moment's hesitation, Sol opened his mind up. The Force was there, and he waded into it, using the urgency of the situation as a spring board. He trusted that the Force would guide him from string to string, he knew the Force could aid him in by-passing and bringing those security walls back up around them.
The aid he had gotten came in the form of speed. His fingers moved swifter then they would have had he been doing it without the Force.
Still with his eyes closed, Sadhric's words were a hissing mantra in the background: "They will find every flaw. They will find every tiny way in. If you miscalculate once, they'll sniff out that tiny fissure and force their way in. If they see us, we're finished. 'They' are charging at us with the mindless ferocity of creatures with only one purpose: find us through our imperfections. Because that's all 'they' are; programs. There might be some living thing out there trying to home in on us, but mostly it's the systems themselves that will find us if you forget even the tiniest most insignificant point. Go over everything. They'll find us if you don't. Go over everything again. Did you consider also any flaws I might have missed in the ship's basic systems? What if I made a mistake somewhere? They'll tear us to pieces. It's all on you, every second. You have to be perfect. The slightest flaw will kill us both...."
Sol heard, but he wasn't listening. To allow himself to become distracted was to allow himself the opportunity to fail. That, as Sadhric was so generously pointing out, was something they could not afford. Through the Force he let himself be guided, from code to code, piece by piece, inspecting and rebuilding those security walls. If he missed something, if something went wrong, it would be because he had failed to notice it within the Force. Repairing a ship, repairing any security system, he was slowly coming to realize, was much like trying to repair the human body. If you failed to catch the smallest fracture, there was the potential there for a greater injury to occur. His mind was forming around that, looking at it from a new perspective, the security he was working to patch through was much like the Force in that respect.
The mantra went on. Sadhric had also started airily to throw out suggestions in the form of did you remember to check this? He seemed to be enjoying himself, actually. It wasn't often that he let someone else have the burden of defending him. At the same time, under that outward ease, it was a massive strain on him not to take over. He was pulling at mental shackles, wanting to be in control, right now, every moment--but this was a lesson and--more importantly to him--an experiment! A challenge. Twofold. Multifaceted. So he stayed where he was and continued to be the voice of paranoia from ten feet away.
The system that was trying to track them down had identified several of the paths by which Solomon had initially attacked it. By doing so, it was, in essence, closing in on them, identifying more and more pathways, getting closer to the connections that belonged directly to the ship and to Sadhric.
For as fast as he was moving, and as quick as his mind was taking in the Force, the sensation that he was not moving quick enough caused him to block the Force out somewhat. It was becoming more of a distraction then a helper at that point in time. The flares it was sending to his mind were drawing his attention away from what he needed to be doing, so he just simply stopped paying attention to them in a sense. He knew they were there, and how bright they were within the flares of the Force, but he did not them blind him as they had started to. Sol turned to checking, and rechecking his work, doubling back over the strings that he had built, the codes he had put in place, making certain that they were stable before moving off to develop new ones, to pull new walls into place.
It was getting down to the wire, but how close he was to the dead line, he had no idea.
Silently, Sadhric pulled his Lenses out of a pocket and put them on. He was still whispering--it was endless. Maybe they were the kind of zig-zagging ideas that darted through the minds of schizophrenics, chaos with a mad kind of order--thorough from the sheer quantity of thoughts--clever in the speed of the avalanche of what ifs. Time had passed.
Now Sadhric said, "Well, in ten seconds we'll know."
Sol sat back, his eyes glued to his console. He was watching, waiting -- nearly holding his breath to find out if he had achieved what he had been seeking to.
With his Lenses he didn't have to, but The Mechanic came over to watch the fireworks from just to Solomon's right. The attacking system washed over them like a wave, seeking through networks. Only once did Sadhric reach over to make an adjustment--that was the only time his control gave. He called up law enforcement systems, watching to see if there was activity regarding them there. But at last he said: "Congratulations...."
"... you've just outmaneuvered Burger Empire." He grinned wickedly. "Tomorrow, we'll try something with guns."
Huge red letters had scrolled once more across the screen, showing their disdain at the prodding he had been doing. It was the third time it had happened. He'd been hoping to have gotten it by now, but he was just missing something. Solomon took a deep breath, sat back in his seat and stared at the angry red letters. Learning to slice was harder then learning to build a saber, or so he was finding out. "I just don't get it..." he muttered, talking to himself, "What did I miss this time?"
Solomon's initial attempts were being protected by a safety net that Sadhric had designed for this sole venture. Real systems could detect the slicing that was being done if the young man made mistakes, and their efforts to backtrace would be obliterated. But Sadhric was considering the usefulness of that as he glanced over and saw Solomon's third strike. "You're getting the nuts and bolts," he said patiently, "You're getting a hang of your tools--the coding itself--but you need to start thinking like the thousands of people who designed the systems you're trying to crack." His mouth quirked sideways slightly. "Solomon," he said, "much as I hate to say it, you need to immerse yourself in their paranoia with the same dedication you use when immersing yourself in the Force." He turned to face the young Tekal more squarely, leaning a hip against his console and folding his arms. He looked amused rather than disappointed. "When you slice, you need to be as warped as that collective protectiveness is--the fear that you're going up against that was used to fill in every gap." He laughed. "That sounds deep, but it's not. Be paranoid, and those things that paranoid minds created will cease to be so perplexing."
He had sat, still staring at those big red words as Sadhric spoke. It was only after Sadhric had finished that Sol nodded, let another sigh fall from his lips, and turned to face Mr. Tlin. "Sounds easier then it is, Sadhric. But, I'll give it a shot..." It left his mind to wonder how to think like a paranoid person. Solomon Tekal was not one to think that everyone was out to get him.
The Mechanic shrugged. "I've never found it difficult," he said matter-of-factly. Indeed: when working through the knots of group fear, it helped tremendously to be a bit off-balance yourself. From some long-ignored storehouse of calm, he dredged up the ability to say: "Have patience with your speed for now. You'll be slow for a long time. You're learning to read what amounts to a multidimensional language, and you're putting it to use in hostile environm--" He cut himself off.
His gaze became introspective, and then suddenly he was all motion, moving toward Solomon's console and getting in the young man's way, flicking away from the projected red letters, away from the previous exercise. "Sorry," he said, sounding annoyed, "I've been going about this all wrong...."
Sol had been listening, giving Sadhric his undivided attention, and when Sadhric pushed his way to the console, Sol gladly let him have the room. He leaned in the opposite direction, pushing his chair away slightly so that Sadhric could work. "It's alright..." He muttered, watching what The Mechanic was doing.
One by one, as they floated in space in the Vault, Sadhric was removing their defenses. That safety net was being plucked apart, string by string, and unraveled, leaving them exposed. When The Mechanic straightened up, the complex display showed the search patterns of the system Solomon had just failed to breach. Very calmly, Sadhric said, "I'd say we have about twelve minutes before that system locates and identifies us and reports us to the New Order and Republic authorities. ... You'd better get cracking."
He went and slid into a chair on the other side of the room, closing his eyes and clasping his hands behind his head, bootheels resting on a console. "Make us invisible, Tekal."
Sol only spared a glance at Sadhric before leaning in to the console. After a brief moment's hesitation, Sol opened his mind up. The Force was there, and he waded into it, using the urgency of the situation as a spring board. He trusted that the Force would guide him from string to string, he knew the Force could aid him in by-passing and bringing those security walls back up around them.
The aid he had gotten came in the form of speed. His fingers moved swifter then they would have had he been doing it without the Force.
Still with his eyes closed, Sadhric's words were a hissing mantra in the background: "They will find every flaw. They will find every tiny way in. If you miscalculate once, they'll sniff out that tiny fissure and force their way in. If they see us, we're finished. 'They' are charging at us with the mindless ferocity of creatures with only one purpose: find us through our imperfections. Because that's all 'they' are; programs. There might be some living thing out there trying to home in on us, but mostly it's the systems themselves that will find us if you forget even the tiniest most insignificant point. Go over everything. They'll find us if you don't. Go over everything again. Did you consider also any flaws I might have missed in the ship's basic systems? What if I made a mistake somewhere? They'll tear us to pieces. It's all on you, every second. You have to be perfect. The slightest flaw will kill us both...."
Sol heard, but he wasn't listening. To allow himself to become distracted was to allow himself the opportunity to fail. That, as Sadhric was so generously pointing out, was something they could not afford. Through the Force he let himself be guided, from code to code, piece by piece, inspecting and rebuilding those security walls. If he missed something, if something went wrong, it would be because he had failed to notice it within the Force. Repairing a ship, repairing any security system, he was slowly coming to realize, was much like trying to repair the human body. If you failed to catch the smallest fracture, there was the potential there for a greater injury to occur. His mind was forming around that, looking at it from a new perspective, the security he was working to patch through was much like the Force in that respect.
The mantra went on. Sadhric had also started airily to throw out suggestions in the form of did you remember to check this? He seemed to be enjoying himself, actually. It wasn't often that he let someone else have the burden of defending him. At the same time, under that outward ease, it was a massive strain on him not to take over. He was pulling at mental shackles, wanting to be in control, right now, every moment--but this was a lesson and--more importantly to him--an experiment! A challenge. Twofold. Multifaceted. So he stayed where he was and continued to be the voice of paranoia from ten feet away.
The system that was trying to track them down had identified several of the paths by which Solomon had initially attacked it. By doing so, it was, in essence, closing in on them, identifying more and more pathways, getting closer to the connections that belonged directly to the ship and to Sadhric.
For as fast as he was moving, and as quick as his mind was taking in the Force, the sensation that he was not moving quick enough caused him to block the Force out somewhat. It was becoming more of a distraction then a helper at that point in time. The flares it was sending to his mind were drawing his attention away from what he needed to be doing, so he just simply stopped paying attention to them in a sense. He knew they were there, and how bright they were within the flares of the Force, but he did not them blind him as they had started to. Sol turned to checking, and rechecking his work, doubling back over the strings that he had built, the codes he had put in place, making certain that they were stable before moving off to develop new ones, to pull new walls into place.
It was getting down to the wire, but how close he was to the dead line, he had no idea.
Silently, Sadhric pulled his Lenses out of a pocket and put them on. He was still whispering--it was endless. Maybe they were the kind of zig-zagging ideas that darted through the minds of schizophrenics, chaos with a mad kind of order--thorough from the sheer quantity of thoughts--clever in the speed of the avalanche of what ifs. Time had passed.
Now Sadhric said, "Well, in ten seconds we'll know."
Sol sat back, his eyes glued to his console. He was watching, waiting -- nearly holding his breath to find out if he had achieved what he had been seeking to.
With his Lenses he didn't have to, but The Mechanic came over to watch the fireworks from just to Solomon's right. The attacking system washed over them like a wave, seeking through networks. Only once did Sadhric reach over to make an adjustment--that was the only time his control gave. He called up law enforcement systems, watching to see if there was activity regarding them there. But at last he said: "Congratulations...."
"... you've just outmaneuvered Burger Empire." He grinned wickedly. "Tomorrow, we'll try something with guns."