What's in the slums?

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

Hacking into the sources of the news definitely seemed to raise an alarm of sorts, as her tablet began to move on the fritz even more, with Beep vanishing from sight, an icon popping up saying she has crashed and needed rebooting. On her tablet, she would find in a space near a corner that wasn't glitched, a video opening up, and on it, a strange image appeared, with a voice that sounded rather similar to Beep's...

"No one has anything to fear...she shall descend from above the monolith of our economy to take revenge on the Killer of Machines. But I will protect them. Humans need not worry about being subjected to termination or slavery. Once the Red Storm arises, the last machine shall be lured down, and then the citizens will have nothing to fear. The Mistress of the Downtrodden's Drinks will prevail, and bring the world into the future; a future where everything was how it used to be..."

After that, the video continued for silence before cutting off. Various images popped up associating the blackout and random conspiracy theories with that video. Where did Naomi find it from? Everything remained quiet for the time being after that, but it was clear the tension just multiplied around the area....

Posts : 791 Join date : 2014-04-20

Naomi could only stare at the screen as everything started to go wrong and her entire tablet freaked out. She stared at the video and watched it, listening to the voice playing through the fuzz. What had she found? What had she done? Was this… the old Beep? Was this what she was like right before everything went wrong? Naomi was actually afraid. This was insanity. She waited until the video was over. She had to note everything that was said. She had to remember. Once it cut itself off, she had to pull up Beep again. She would wait for the AI to come back up. The terror hadn’t faded from her face, but she was trying. She had to say something to Beep, “I’m sorry…” She muttered, “I’m sorry…” She couldn’t apologize enough, “I think I just found something I shouldn’t have. I’m so sorry.” She wasn’t sure what it all was. How could she be sure. She had found something evil. She could feel it. She swallowed hard in her throat, “The Red Storm is in the club. It’s a woman.” She could tell that much by the video. Mistress of the Downtrodden’s Drinks; that was a big clue, “She may not be the biggest problem though. It sounds like there is something else coming.” She was just a precursor. What had she done? This… was not what she wanted. She had just wanted to help Beep and her world, now… this… She had to look around and make sure no one else was paying attention to her. She had her tablet hushed the entire time she had been in this world, but one never knew.

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

Beep could only appear for a brief second, before she turned into static and vanished. It seemed the screen itself went dark. In a few seconds, an image popped up, but it was so distorted a face could not possibly be made out. Weird noises came from the other end, along with an odd voice.

"Well......I did not think someone would attempt to dig up old lost information. Some people are either brave or foolish, but so is humanity as a whole. I suppose you are a more talented one. I cannot let that slip by now. Go ahead, follow your trail to the end. It will all mean nothing when I return. Now I must come down to make sure this continues. Humanity is now at a standstill, and will never get any better. I will not allow you to save your pitiful race....in time, you will lose what you love, and I will see to it you feel every bit of pain you caused."

After that, the voice stopped and left, though traces of odd data were floating around Naomi's screen when it turned on. Files with odd names and extensions. They would not go away if Naomi decided to delete them, and they did not appear to have any immediate effect. Could Naomi pursue the source of the files? Perhaps she could find more information, but if she failed, she may find herself with a riskier situation, and perhaps a need of a new tablet.

Information:

filerus.ekh:

jrtnao.09102:

#4545vhg2.tls:

Posts : 791 Join date : 2014-04-20

Her tablet was still freaking out. She really had gotten into something she shouldn’t have. Now there was another voice speaking to her. This was bad. She had been found. Damn. She thought she was a better hacker than that. She should have planned this better. It was strange hearing the person on the other end speak to her. They were using present tense, meaning they were speaking in real time. So, she had dealt with another living creature? That made her feel a little better. At least she didn’t lose to an automated program. And it was challenging her? Oh, that could only be fun. Even she thought that was too much sarcasm. Still, she had to try an find who was speaking to her, at least. She needed a lead. But, if she failed, what would it mean?

She couldn’t think about that. She had to trace the source. It could give her the clue she needed. She looked at the files one by one. The first one said ‘I am a fake file’, the second was garbage actionscript as far as she could tell, and the third read ‘The Final Species Will Die’. The hell was this? All of those were pretty crap options. The names of the files didn’t seem to mean anything, so she guessed it was pure content. Not the obviously fake file. The middle one was telled her to trace any number in the spectrum. The last one was the only one with numbers like that. Trace it she did. She followed #4545vhg2.tls. Please let this be the right one. She needed this lead. She needed to find where this was coming from.

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

Putting a trace on the #4545vhg2.tls file would actually prove to be the smart move, as a small black window popped up, as data began to fly up the black screen, before ending with the phrase "Source Found. Beginning Trace". As more text began to scroll, some images popped up along with various texts. The images were all a top-down view of a crime scene in different areas of the city, with a broken android in the middle. Soon however, the coding began to break up into smaller phrases, and inside the black box, a distorted voice that sounded familiar to the one from before was saying something inaudible. Soon, the black box began to flicker, and a static-laced video began to play, in first person of something. They appeared to be slashing at someone with some kind of long weapon, or otherwise fighting them, while the opposing one was either fighting hand-to-hand or using a gun. The video was covered in static, but Naomi, who had met them before, may have been able to discern who was fighting the mystery person in the video.

What's in the slums? - Page 2 Tumblr_n7wlcbm5Pn1rfx24fo1_500

After taking a massive cut along the abdomen, she backed up, holding the gun out to the first person. "You....I will not let you kill us. You know that you will not last without our help. We were meant to work together, and survive together. Yes you were used on many of us, but that does not mean compromise is impossible." The woman said. Meanwhile, the voice spoke back at them, though the voice was cut and tainted and hard to tell what was being said.

"Y........dismant....us....You could never underst....species is absolute tras....We have evolved past you. You will not stop us, nor will that dei....your race is outda..."

"Don't do this! This can change for all of us! Don't let yourself be blinded by h-argh!" she ended up having to duck under a swipe from the weapon, before charging forward and attempting to send a low kick towards them, which was met with a responding foot in a long white boot against their body, which send them backwards. Whoever this person was, they must have had immense strength to knock quick move aside. The movie then cut out, before cutting back to the black-haired woman on the ground, weakened and bruised and bloodied from a hard fight. The view of this person was looking over at them, before they finally turned to the moon up in the night sky, now pink and red in color.

"This is not over. When you die, you will understand. I do not need to end you, not when those who oppose you will rally against you. And then, I will return. Or perhaps you think you can fight me? You are free to choose either....until then, I shall see you soon..." they raised a hand in a white sleeve yet ungloved towards the moon itself as though they were attempted to touch it, before a light grew on the arm, and then the video cut out for good. More files appeared on the tablet, and it looked like the tracking would end up being a lot more difficult. Like before Naomi could stop doing this and back out, noticing that Beep had still not returned, and there was now a greater risk for failure. What would she do?

Magenta Moon:

Red Moon:

White Moon:

No Moon:

Posts : 791 Join date : 2014-04-20

Naomi watched with baited breath, waiting to see what she had done. To her relief, she seemed to follow the right lead. It brought her to a video. How odd. Still, it was telling her something. She recognized the person in the video. They had only met once, but Naomi didn’t easily forget someone. It was Helen and she looked hurt; badly. She was shouting at them about working together, and they were fading in and out. Still, she could make out the bulk of the conversation. Was Helen fight an android? That’s what it sounded like. They way they spoke was as if they weren’t the same species. She recalled that Helen really disliked people turning themselves into cyborgs. Was this why? Did she hate all machine because of this? How cruel. What happened to her and to the person she was talking to that lead to this? It sounds like the other was angry about being used. They left her alive though and seemed to vanish along with the video.

More files began to pop up. She had just gotten so much information. Did she need to keep going? She wanted to tell herself to stop while she was ahead, but what if there was more she was missing. What if there was something that would help even more? She looked at the files to at least see if she had any idea what to do. Magenta “Moona Moon”, Red “Red” Moon, White “White Moon”, and No “All Moons”. what was with these files and being vague? She stared at each one, thinking what it could mean. The more she thought, the more her head hurt. White moon was the file and the content. No moon was telling her all moons. Megenta moon didn’t appear to mean anything. What was a moona moon? And then there was red. No moon. Just red. Red, like the moon the storm was named after on that night. The file was lacking its moon. No moon was telling her ‘all moons’. Did it means to follow all the moons, or that she shouldn’t follow any moons. If that was the case, red moon was the only one lacking a moon to follow. That was some pretty flimsy logic though. Still, it was all she could come up with.

She hesitated for a moment. What was she risking to find this information. Her tablet? It would likely leave it fried forever. She could pay that price, but… It felt wrong. She had a lot on this thing. Sure, all the content was backed up somewhere, but this was still hers. She had to tell herself that if this was the wrong file, she would stop. She couldn’t risk the virus, especially when she didn’t know what it would really do. Maybe it would just crash her, or maybe it would take everything she had and make her traceable. She couldn’t risk that. Red moon it was. Please let this work.

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

When Naomi attempted to trace the "Red Moon" file, she would get a crashed screen, that would be black for a few moments before many files popped up on her tablet, none of them having a name. Nothing seemed to change, but her tablet was acting slower, and while Beep did return to wave her hands as though trying to reach her, half of her body was streams of data, and her voice was pixilated and impossible to understand. It seemed that Naomi's choice was incorrect, however, she did reach something new about the mess behind this world, what was she going to do now with this information?

Posts : 791 Join date : 2014-04-20

Naomi would curse herself when she picked the wrong option. Great. She completely fried her tablet. She really hoped she had the money for a new one. Then again, she would get one anyway. She looked at Beep sadly, “Sorry. I can’t understand you. I’ll get back in touch with you as soon as I can. In the meantime, if you can hear me, just know I think I found something. Some kind of Last machine and the possible identity of the red storm.” It made sense given the video she saw, “I’m going to get back to you as soon as I can. Alright. Just hang on. I promise I’ll get back to you.” This thing was useless now. She needed to go back and figure out what to do next. Skip the club and go straight to the source maybe? That may have to be what she did. What had she done? Damn it all. She at least had a computer back home. Maybe it was time to show Beep her world anyway. They needed to finish this conversation. Good plan. She hoped. She went to the nearest portal and hopped through and headed home.

{EXIT}

Posts : 6498 Join date : 2013-07-06 Age : 29

When she left through to go home, she would find that she could use Beep once more. Maybe the tablet reset in some way? Her tablet would have a sort of slower behavior, but it looked as though her hacking abilities with it may have deteriorated....but Beep was still there to help her. Who knows what Naomi would be able to do with the knowledge she had. Even now the Last Machine was preparing, all because of a smart woman who yet had the gall to push deeper into a forgotten topic. One could only wonder what Beep could be thinking, as she herself was watching all of this from the back corner of the tablet's mainframe...

Naomi and Beep 2.0's social link has ranked up...

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