Chapter 245.5 (The Black Box) (2/2)
”The Gestalts get their data from the SUDS system, somehow,” Flowerpatch said.
”I thought they got it through datalinks?” Violet said.
”The data moves through... how could we have been so blind,” Torturer said. ”It moves through SolNet, which is built on the foundation of the original, which was tied into SoulNet.”
”We need to access the root level software, down in the hardware application layer,” Delta said. He looked at Victor. ”Somehow, you figured out how to access the system itself, not just request data regarding SUDS or Soulchips.”
”And either the dogs and cats were a byproduct of that, or restoring the Sleeping Ones was a byproduct of that,” Herod said, stepping forward. ”You're an Immortal. What happens if the Black Box got planet-cracked? Do you go away? What?”
Victor shook his head. ”No. It's hard to explain. I drop out of a portal wearing Combine Era armor, my memories intact as if no time had passed.”
”Hellspace, huh?” Herod said. He threw up particle interactions. ”Why Hellspace? How did they keep the facility from being dissolved?”
”It isn't Hellspace,” the Confederate Agent said.
Herod looked at her. ”What is it?”
”Deadspace. I come out of Deadspace,” Victor said, shrugging. ”Daxin comes out of Hellspace.”
”What in the name of the Unholy Chocolate Rave Mouse is Deadspace?” Violet asked.
”Someplace terrible,” Victor said.
”Could they have stored the SUDS backbone there?” Herod asked.
Victor shook his head. ”No. Well, maybe. I mean, the place is weird. The Big Bang was more like a Tiny Whimper, and time itself didn't exactly form.”
”No, no, you'd...” Herod stood still. ”You'd need time, but not distance. Someplace you can access from within a stellar gravity well consistent with Sol, maybe even accessible from a planetary or orbiting body gravity well. Particle interactions would be more about the rules on the receiving end, where the SUDS array is located, not ours.”
”You'd just need a form of binary data transmission,” Delta said. ”Between this dimension and the other dimension.”
”There's seventeen catalogued dimensions, excluding Hellspace and Deadspace,” Trifold Carthage said. ”I'll need to look at the mathematics for all of them.”
”Look between the Treana'ad/Human War and the Mantid Strike, that's the era that the SUDS was developed,” Violet said.
Flowerpatch was still perfectly still, blurred as the nanites drifted apart with the loss of processing power dedicated to holding her together. She suddenly snapped together in a puff of bluish-black dust.
”It explains all of it. The miracles, the Apostles, all of it. A massive supercomputer that would make a Digital Sentience Creche look like an abacus, with massive energy reserves normally reserved for stellar masses,” she said. She looked at everyone. ”You know what we're actually looking for? What we're trying to do?”
Everyone shook their head then looked at Victor when he started laughing.
”What's so funny?” Herod asked, feeling his digital flesh crawl.
”We're looking for the Digital Omnimessiah's body so we can commune with his spirit,” Victor laughed.
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
Has anyone seen TerraSol lately?
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
I assumed he was off doing war things.
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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS
Do you need me to go looking for him?
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
Would you? I need to talk privately with him.
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TNVARU GESTALT
Our new home is beautiful.
We had forgotten what beauty was.
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DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS
OK, that was weird. Did anyone else feel that?
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
Oh, thank the Digital Omnimessiah, I thought it was just me.
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CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COOPERATIVE
No, I felt that too. What
soft blanket warm blanket nappy time for good podlings sleepy podling happy podling cuddle podling nighty night brave podling sweet podling dreams
ALL>YAWN
CYBERNETIC ORGANISM COLLECTIVE
What was I saying?
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