audio; a warning

[alan_1]

[The audio message is posted to the network at midday. Alan’s voice is measured and serious, though some may catch a certain strained quality undercutting his words.]

This is Alan Bradley speaking. I’m posting this as a warning about one of the ship’s new arrivals -- a program named Clu. [There’s a link to Clu’s page on the MID directory here, which includes an image of the program in question. Those who were present the previous month may also recognize the name from the emergency post Alan had made some weeks earlier. For those who weren’t:] He was created as the admin of a server called the Grid. A few of you may have seen the Grid firsthand through the Ingress on Amissis-Re, in which case you know what he’s capable of. He rewrote programs against their will en masse and kept his own User trapped on the Grid for years. [Some of the anger Alan’s trying to keep in check slips through here and still lingers as he continues.] He’s a danger to everyone on the ship -- especially to any inorganics with accessible code. His only interest in rewriting programs on the Grid was to make them completely obedient and loyal to him and there’s no reason to believe he won’t do the same to any AI he can manipulate here.

Don’t let your guard down around him and don’t leave him alone with any of the AI onboard if you can help it. Death may not always be permanent here, but what Clu could do might be.

[There’s a pause that might be a sigh and then:] I think we can all agree that it’s a theory better left untested.

[And on that note, the audio message ends. He won't address Clu directly here; the program has an MID like everyone else. If he wants to respond directly, he can.]

Comments

text; encrypted

[whoami]

Seriously? There's already enough problems with misunderstandings, and anarchy. Stirring up drama isn't going to help.

[ Well maybe if you talked that wouldn't happen. ]

text; encrypted

[alan_1]

It’s not stirring up drama, it’s warning people on the ship of a legitimate threat. People should know the kind of danger he poses.

text

[chain_dash]

Can non-AI technology be affected by him?

[ His Companion Sprite isn't quite a program, in fact he's not sure what it is, just that it's mechanical and almost a person of it's own. But it's his oldest friend, and he's concerned. ]

text;

[alan_1]

What kind of technology do you have in mind? ["Non-AI" is a pretty broad category after all.]

Audio;

[devilofohara]

[Robin listens to this message with squinted eyes. She still isn't entirely sure what an AI is, and she's only had the very basics of "rewriting" one explained to her - and then there's concepts like "admin" and "the grid" that are completely foreign to her.

So she just kind of squints suspiciously for a good couple of minutes before she responds.]

...you aren't going to attack him, are you?

[That much is worth saying. Not because she gives a crap about this Clu guy, but like with Loki: She really doesn't want to set a precedent for people getting attacked for past crimes here.]

audio;

[alan_1]

No. I’m not encouraging any kind of violence. Just vigilance.

private text.

[prayed]

[dear god she's seen you on the network like ten times and always with the same thing?? and now everyone else is doing it??

Normally she doesn't comment on these things, or even look at the network, but this is starting to get really annoying.]

Do you people ever think before you post to this thing? Even a little bit?

I get hit. He pissed on in your cereal, killed your mentor, and stomped all over your playground. That doesn't mean anything here though, get it? 'Cause like, that playground he came from? It's gone. Along with whatever super special status he had.

The only one he's a threat to is any AI that's idiotic enough to show him how their coding works and let him fumble around with it til he's got the language down. For everybody else, he's about as threatening as a drenched kitten. If he pisses you off, just stick a magnet on him, or turn the microwave on, or whatever.

But sure, if he gets annoying, I'll make sure to completely destroy him just like I would anyone else. Seems fine enough for now, though. Just sorta up his own ass, but who isn't around here?

So, now that we've gotten all that out of the way, say it with me: The network is not for your personal drama. That's what Spacebook or whatever they're calling it here is for.

text

[a_shadow]

Sounds like he doesn't have the sense of conscience you have.

text; private

[alan_1]

Given the things he’s done? I doubt he has one at all.

[harderfasterwrecker]

We had a guy who did weird scrap like that loose once.

From what I heard, our therapist shot him, then panic button dropped a ship on him.

[A completely useless sigh, because it's not like he needs to. In fact he has to try to make the sound.]

Good times. Good times.

[alan_1]

[...]

Well, I’m not advocating that we drop a ship on him. Or that anyone shoot him, for that matter.

[bosswald]

[Another one of these? Honestly.]

Does anyone here actually stop and think before they post public messages?

audio;

[alan_1]

I don’t see what’s wrong with advising people to stay vigilant around someone with a history of harming others.

text

[overrecognized]

[Anon is glad that someone has sent out an alert about the threat. Pleasantly surprised that in this System, Clu is known as a threat.

However, its description of Clu's capabilities is worryingly incomplete.]
Rewrites also used to create viral corruption. Corrupted programs capable of infecting others, disk access not required. Corruption may spread to system environment.

Additional goal: deletion of ISO programs
[In Anon's experience, that had been the main goal. But he supposes that it wouldn't be a priority since Clu had mostly succeeded.]

text;

[alan_1]

[This new information comes as a surprise and not a pleasant one. So Clu could write contagious damage into program code? The thought is alarming to say the very least.]

What effects does this corruption have on infected programs?

[The term “ISO” is familiar, if undefined. Alan can remember it in Flynn’s voice, amidst his feverish, indecipherable descriptions of a discovery to change the world forever.]

And why did Clu want to delete these ISO programs?

video; public, unencrypted (1/2)

[a_perfect_end]

[...!]
[!!!...]
[...!!!!!!]

video; public, unencrypted (2/2)

[a_perfect_end]

[The words are smooth and small and mean under a heavy, bright sheen of teeth.]

You look just. like. This guy I know. It's uncanny.

audio, private;

[hatesimprovising]

[ Wash doesn't believe what he's hearing at first. Some kind of awful joke, right? Because he knows enough about this Clu from everything that happened last month to know that him showing up here would be so far from good.

Except, it's clear that Alan's not making some horrible joke post, no matter what he'd prefer to believe. He's bristling by the time the message is over. Why does this shit keep happening? Sometimes it seems like the Ingress pulls in people specifically to fuck with certain others on the ship. ]

You've got to be fucking kidding me. He's here now?!

[ Repetitive, considering Alan just explained the whole thing, but Wash's anger doesn't care. ]

What can we do? Is there any way to prevent him from pulling any of this? Or is it just another thing we have to deal with around here now, not being able to leave inorganics out of our sights?

audio, private;

[alan_1]

He is. And unless the captains are willing to enforce some kind of preventative measures themselves, I don’t know how many options we have. [If Alan had his way, Clu would be either in the hold or in cryo for the duration of his time on the ship. But given how the captains had handled past incidents, he doubts any such action will be taken.]

Clu's only one person, though. He's the one who needs to be monitored, not every inorganic on the ship.

☄ PRIVATE

[warandpeace]

What are you planning to do about him? If he gets his hands on Rinzler again...

audio; private

[alan_1]

I’ve already messaged one of the captains. Maybe there’s some sort of precaution that they can enforce… [It’s a long shot and he knows it. The captains seem to prefer to take action after a crime has already been committed. But Alan’s willing to try any possible solution, no matter how unlikely, if it might contain the threat that Clu represents.]

If not… it becomes a matter of vigilance more than anything. [He doesn’t sound happy about this fact. If the captains won’t agree to contain Clu, then everything boils down to a dangerous game of keep-away -- one in which a single mistake could lead to permanent consequences.] Clu needs a program’s disk to edit them. As long as we keep them out of his hands, Rinzler and Tron should be safe. [A sigh.] Safe from edits, at least. [Clu had defeated Tron once before. There’s no guarantee he couldn’t do it again.]

text

[chaostic]

Do his skills only apply to rewriting AIs, or can he mess with other technical functions on the ship?

[ He just needs to know. For. Reasons. ]

text;

[alan_1]

He has the same access to ship systems as anyone else onboard, as far as I know. It’s his motives more than his skills that I’m worried about.

private; text

[arcreact]

you seem to know a lot about this

[ It's a question, sort of; he's testing the waters. ]

text; private

[alan_1]

I’ve seen the kind of damage he can do. To programs and organics.

[Not Here]

[ersatzeverything]

[Deacon doesn't reply, but if Clu is a potential threat to all the AI on board, then Deacon has decided to make him his intel target. Stick close, tell lots of lies, assess, and hopefully put himself in a position to know early on if danger is going to manifest.]

AUDIO [PRIVATE]

[squadgoals]

[Good lord. What was it with all the call-outs? It was practically an incitement to riot. The ability to escape the ship for extended periods might be the only thing stopping it. At this rate, they'd need a vacation from the damn vacation.

There was no point in lecturing him about it now, though — what was done was done, and there was a few questions.]

First — please inform the captains. They're not omniscient, and they don't always have time to read every post on the network that goes through.

Second, Rinzler told me CLU was his administrator. Are you saying he re-coded Rinzler to switch administration from yourself to him? You're worried about Rinzler, but you've also tried to re-code Rinzler yourself — people may not be so eager to take you at your word.

audio; private

[alan_1]

I will. [Even if he doesn’t think the captains will offer much help. Weren’t they the ones who allowed a giant homicidal robot to walk the ship unchecked until he had tortured and killed another crewman?]

Clu did more than that. He completely rewrote who Rinzler was -- blocked his access to his own memories and tried to program him to be completely obedient to him.

What I tried to do-- [(wasn’t as bad) (wasn’t the same)] was wrong, and I understand why people might not trust me. But I’m trying to prevent anything like it from happening again.

text

[meyneth]

Is this the person who changed Rinzler? "Rewrote" as you put it?

text; private

[alan_1]

It is. You can understand the danger in him being here now.

Not heeeeere but definitely facepalming

[beautifulspaceraptor]

[Alan. Alan, please. He doesn't want to explain to his new roommates why you're staying over if it comes down to that again.]