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Part 6
Fault Tolerence
By Jeff "Bitstream" Tindall
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The small, faded sign outside read simply "Neutral Ground", but it wasn't what drew most of its clientele inside anymore. Neutral Ground was, of course, a bar. Located in a rather run-down (and, at one time, neutral) part of Cybertron known as "Stakeholder's Keep", it catered to most anyone who could get in to the sector's borders. To enter, you had to put aside whatever factional disputes you might have had and just enjoy yourself, but with the Autobot occupation, few Decepticons made it in. Neutral Ground's fare was as widely varied as its customers, ranging from simple energon (all varieties), to inorganic Cybertronian delicacies, and even to human-style organics (for which the proprietor acquired a taste for some years back). It was late night in Stakeholder's Keep, and the bar was long since closed. Curfew, though it had been moved back a few hours, was still in effect. Dispite the fewer customers, business was as good as ever and, frankly, this bothered Waitstate a great deal. Sector-wide morale was down to a record low, thanks to all the restrictions put down by the Autobots, and reinforced by two more Decepticon attacks in the last four months. Nearly everyone was drowning their sorrows in intoxicating substances and it simply wasn't healthy. The only reason Waitstate didn't try and cut down on sales was because he knew there were other, less healthy, alternatives from fringe black-market sources that people were bound to try for if he did. In fact, he knew a few that already had. Money was also a factor, though not nearly as important to him. Normally, Wait could afford to cut back on sales without taking a very large hit. But, due to the project he and Stardrive were currently involved in, even Waitstate's vast resources were being taxed. It would certainly take some time to rebuild after this project.... Waitstate sighed and got up from the barstool. It was time to go hack through whatever 'brilliant' new security measures had been erected on the computer network. So far, the record length of time it had taken him to get through was 25 minutes, but it was usually quite less. Besides, he wasn't really trying very hard at all. Stepping in to the computer room in back, Wait flipped on the power-up switches for the lights and monitors. Sitting down, Wait looked over to one particular workstation which was already running. "Anything new on the security front?" A rather disembodied voice replied, "Just a new encryption algorithm. I already have it 40% decrypted." "Thanks Bit," said Waitstate as he jacked in. Looking over the data, Wait had to admire whoever had devised the latest system. It was almost worthy of his own work. Almost. After assimilating the data, he linked in with Bit and set their collective conciousness to work. As one might expect, the work progressed much faster than before. Within five minutes, the security was cracked and Wait had free access once more. Throwing up a few security programs of his own design to prevent anyone from seeing the crack (Autobot, Decepticon, or whatever), Wait scanned his e-mail. Sorting through the various headers, Wait stopped on the one he had been hoping was there: A status report from Stardrive. It had been rather hard on Wait of late, since Stardrive had left to supervise the Project. Having someone he could talk to nearby at any given time had beem a great comfort to him since the original Seige. True, he had Bit. But Bit was, quite frankly, not a very sociable person. Wait doubted very seriously that anyone even knew he was around. During the day, Wait was able to keep himself fairly busy with the bar, and wasn't affected nearly as much by the recent events. Still, it seemed that all of his friends were either diappearing or becoming more and more unavailable. Maximus had decided that perhaps Stakeholder's Keep was perhaps not such a great place for a former Autobot to hang out in, and thus hadn't shown his faceplate in the Neutral Ground for some time. Artifice, when he was even on Cybertron, always managed to gain free reign of the sector and was a frequently seen, jovial presence. Usually, though, he was away on some job. Then there was Admiral Lilwall. After the Seige, Lil had started drinking more. A lot more. Since then, he had been in an almost constant state of inebriation. At first, Wait had just attributed it to stress, but as time passed he realized that it was much worse than that. He tried to get Lil to cut down, but by that time it was simply too late. Lil's choice of drink had become harder and stronger as time went by, and Wait was afraid of what Lil might do if he was denied what he asked for. Of late, Lil had become cold and distant. He sat alone at his table in the back (no one dared come near it) every night, never letting his tankard get empty. No one had been able to get more than two words at a time out of him in almost 2 months. Even the talkative and energetic Shadowpaw was daunted when she tried to strike up a conversation. The only thing he cared about any more was the drink; it had become the only thing in his life. Finishing with his e-mail, Wait checked out a datasite an Autobot friend reccomended to him in one of the messages. The site told about recent research to develop harm-free substitutes for Cybertronian intoxicants that still retained all of their more pleasurable effects. The research was far from complete and had since been discontinued with the renewal of the war, but it gave Wait ideas. Given the recent situation, it was a light in the nearly impenatrable darkness. Wait started up a program to download the entire site for later study, and meanwhile set off to check out news from wherever he could find it. The download was nearly complete when Bit broke in with a warning. "A Decepticon computer team is attempting to enter the Autobot datanet." "Hmm? Well, just keep them from noticing us..." replied Wait, distracted. "I am endevouring to do so. However, it is proving ineffective. The Decepticons have detected our entry port into the external nets and are quickly homing in on the exact port ID. Estimate five minutes, thirty seven seconds till penetration." Waitstate checked the download manager. It had finished fifteen seconds ago. "Ok then... lets keep them out. It's one thing for the 'Cons to hack the 'Bots. It's another thing for 'em to go through MY system." With that, Wait switched from Browse mode to Full Immersion mode. Checking his options, Wait saw that it was too late to simply shut down the port; the 'Cons had stablized it from their end. "Ok... let's try the direct approach," muttered Wait. Calling up his Defence Daemon, Wait selected Feedback, then Scramble. Taking careful aim, he fired at the lead hacker. The Con's image waivered for a moment, but then it doubled. The two images merged and the hacker reformed. "Slag! Data redundancy." Waitstate switched on the Offence Daemon. "So much for a surprise attack," said Wait, dodging a Feedback Loop. Opening the port for a moment to allow data throughput, Wait fired off a nasty, but non-leathal, virus of his own design. It was designed to look big and menacing and distract any counter-virus systems that might be present. Then he fired off his REAL weapon: a small, stealth virus with the ability to encrypt, then degrade any data it could find in it's target. Hopefully, the first virus would allow it time to do its work. Even if the 'Cons were able to crack the powerful 4096-bit encryption scheme, by the time they did so the information would be so degraded as to be unrecoverable. The result would be a basically empty computer system, or an empty mind. "I hope that wasn't anyone I know... knew," said Waitstate, as the image representing the 'Con hacker wavered out of existance rather violently. "Bit, any damage?" Bit's disembodied voice spoke up, "Signifigant damage to the secondary analog/digital converter. We'll have to take it offline. Also, the security encryption software has been corrupted. There will be a noticable hole in the security net until it is reinstalled." "Slag!" exclaimed Waitstate, disconnecting from the computer system. "Take everything off-net. I'll replace the hardware, you get on the reinstall. Oh, and rebuild the access database while you're at it. I noticed it was a bit sluggish on the load time." Waitstate got up from his chair and went over to the hardware access panel. Powering down the appropriate section, he pulled out the hardware tray. Wait removed the blackened componant, thankful it hadn't melted onto the daughterboard. Bit spoke up, "That IS only a secondary. There is no need to replace it right away." "Yes, but if there's one thing I learned all those years repairing that ship is that it's better to repair a small part right away than to replace the whole system later. And later is usually the most incovenient time possible," replied Wait as he rummaged through the storage closet looking for a replacement part. Finding the part, he turned back to the hardware cabinet. "Besides, it's not as if I have a great deal better to do." "You have an excellent point." Both were silent as Wait finished the replacement of the slagged componant. Closing the access panel, Wait stood up and faced Bit. "Have you finished that re-install yet?" "It will be complete in 2.739 minutes." "Good. How about joining me for a drink when you're done?" "I still have to re-build the access database and re-compile the network subsystems. I do not think it would be appropriate-" "The software can wait just a bit. I want to incorporate some new defence routines anyway," Wait interrupted. Transforming, Bit responded "But, you said-". "I know, I know. But I don't think the software is going to get any more damaged while powered down. Besides... oh, just join me, ok?," interrupted Wait, slightly frustrated. Bit started to reply, but thought better of it. Nodding in aquiesence, Bit followed his friend out into the main bar area. Few words were spoken the rest of the night as the pair ended their day in the dimly lit, dead quiet bar. |