roina_arwen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roina_arwen) wrote2024-09-05 01:46 am
roina_arwen) wrote2024-09-05 01:46 am
Entry tags:
LJ Idol, Week 8: "Bycatch" (Home Game Entry)
Aisling had paid close attention to the recent rumblings and rumors about Talos Corporation these last several months. On the face of it, Talos was a private security company for high-profile clientele. Behind the scenes, they were a privately funded army, but nobody knew just how substantial their reach was. It was time to find out.
Aisling had orchestrated her leave from Akamai Industries very carefully. She had posted a handful of grumblings on her MetaBook account and made sure her online friends and acquaintances were aware that she was going "on sabbatical" for a while. She had requested ideas of places to visit which were at least a few hours away from home, and when the location that she had already decided on was suggested, Aisling quickly agreed with the comment, made hotel arrangements in the historical district, and left home the following day.
The morning after Aisling checked into her hotel, she had room service bring up a lavish breakfast, including a celebratory mimosa. She took the tray out onto the balcony, which overlooked Patriotic Park, and publicly posted a smiling selfie with the bubbly mimosa raised and ready to clink. "Enjoying my mimosa on the balcony," the caption stated guilelessly.
She finished her breakfast, showered, and dressed in a pair of jeans, socks, and a cozy shirt. Aisling then waited in a comfortable lounge chair out on the balcony, reading a mystery novel on her MiPad.
Within an hour of making her post, her hotel door was breached by a handful of Talos team members wearing unadorned black. Aisling put up a fight for appearance’s sake – just enough to both leave and receive a few stellar bruises - before she was dosed with a knock-out drug and transported to Talos headquarters.
When she regained consciousness, Aisling realized she couldn’t move anything but her eyes. Various wires and leads ran in and out of her cranium like Medusa’s snakes, connecting her to a larger network. From the displays she could see, they appeared to be studying her basic coding. It didn’t feel as if Talos was doing any damage, other than temporarily immobilizing her physical functions. That was a relief, at least.
“Ah, I see you’re awake. Wonderful.” The speaker moved into view. “I’m Captain Halliwell. I hope you don’t mind that we, shall we say, borrowed you for a while? Your coding is quite exquisite, and we would like to study it,” he stated bluntly, making a few notations on his computer pad.
“I do mind,” Aisling replied brusquely, “but it doesn’t appear I have any choice in the matter.”
“Exactly,” Halliwell said. He sat down at a nearby station and began typing, but Aisling couldn’t see the screen from her angle. “The androids from Akamai are far advanced from those produced by any of your competitors. They create good mimics, but you? You’re something special.”
“Oh? How so?” Aisling figured if she could keep him occupied speaking with her, she might weasel her way into their system. She sent out a few feelers, and realized Talos had somehow failed to air gap their system. Aisling didn’t have access to very much, but email was all she needed. She composed a letter of inquiry from a dummy corporation and included a hidden worm, then sent an email blast out to any executives that she could find in their system, regardless of what department they were in. It was little more than a phishing expedition, but when that email was opened by a recipient, a sneaky computer worm would be released to infect other computers in the network and create a back door which Ember could use to access their mainframe. Aisling managed to get one very brief email out to Ember’s private account, giving her an encryption code for Talos’s most sensitive database. There was no telling what information might be hidden there.
It didn’t take long for Halliwell to realize that Aisling had somehow gotten an email to the outside. With luck, he wouldn’t realize that she had also sent dozens out within the organization.
“Tsk tsk,” he said, rising from his chair. “I see you’ve not been a good little AI.” He went over to a wall cabinet, unlocked it, and retrieved a syringe and vial. He pulled up a dose, strolled over, and waved it in front of Aisling’s eyes. “Sleepy time. See you in a few days,” he added mockingly, as he injected her.
A few moments later, Aisling’s head lolled forward. She was out.
***
It was nearly one in the morning when Ember heard the unique ding from her private email – the one that only family members used – and she immediately knew it was Aisling. She quickly sat up, turned on her bedside lamp, and opened the email on her phone. She studied the code, and realized she would need to create a specific program to worm her way into the Talos database. It would take some time to create, maybe several weeks, even a month, since she would have to work on it in secret – their parents couldn’t know.
Ember had been depressed anyway about Aisling leaving, so she told her parents she needed time alone, “to focus on herself.” They were very understanding, and left her to her own devices for the most part. She put as much effort as she could into writing the program, but it was exhausting, so she had to take frequent breaks. Ember hadn’t coded this much in quite some time.
***
Once the code was finally complete, Ember was able to successfully infiltrate Talos’s network. She was shocked at what she found. The Talos AI coding wasn’t as advanced as Akamai’s, but it was far more innovative than Ember had expected – they were very close to creating a humanoid like Aisling, capable of independent thought and creativity, but that wasn’t the only issue. She found files of emails and signed contracts with pre-orders for advanced AI with plans for use in military and paramilitary endeavors, along with video files of conversations containing strategies for getting the androids into positions to take over various governments, and hold the world hostage with sentient robots that won’t respond to any authority except Talos.
Ember culled more than enough proof and anonymously sent copies of everything to various media sources around the globe. Several unexpectedly big fish got caught in her phishing net – politicians, bureaucrats, and eccentric billionaires among them. She threw them all out into the open, to let them gasp for breath in the cold light of day.
Once Ember succeeded in disconnecting Aisling from their system, Aisling was able to leave the premises easily among all the panic and ruckus going on. Ember then inserted a virus which rapidly destroyed enough of Talos’s AI coding to set them back years, possibly decades, especially considering how low their stock would plummet once the scandalous evidence was made public.
A faint smile crossed Ember’s lips as she hit the final keystroke and leaned back in her chair. It was true what they said - revenge was a dish best served in code.
Aisling had orchestrated her leave from Akamai Industries very carefully. She had posted a handful of grumblings on her MetaBook account and made sure her online friends and acquaintances were aware that she was going "on sabbatical" for a while. She had requested ideas of places to visit which were at least a few hours away from home, and when the location that she had already decided on was suggested, Aisling quickly agreed with the comment, made hotel arrangements in the historical district, and left home the following day.
The morning after Aisling checked into her hotel, she had room service bring up a lavish breakfast, including a celebratory mimosa. She took the tray out onto the balcony, which overlooked Patriotic Park, and publicly posted a smiling selfie with the bubbly mimosa raised and ready to clink. "Enjoying my mimosa on the balcony," the caption stated guilelessly.
She finished her breakfast, showered, and dressed in a pair of jeans, socks, and a cozy shirt. Aisling then waited in a comfortable lounge chair out on the balcony, reading a mystery novel on her MiPad.
Within an hour of making her post, her hotel door was breached by a handful of Talos team members wearing unadorned black. Aisling put up a fight for appearance’s sake – just enough to both leave and receive a few stellar bruises - before she was dosed with a knock-out drug and transported to Talos headquarters.
When she regained consciousness, Aisling realized she couldn’t move anything but her eyes. Various wires and leads ran in and out of her cranium like Medusa’s snakes, connecting her to a larger network. From the displays she could see, they appeared to be studying her basic coding. It didn’t feel as if Talos was doing any damage, other than temporarily immobilizing her physical functions. That was a relief, at least.
“Ah, I see you’re awake. Wonderful.” The speaker moved into view. “I’m Captain Halliwell. I hope you don’t mind that we, shall we say, borrowed you for a while? Your coding is quite exquisite, and we would like to study it,” he stated bluntly, making a few notations on his computer pad.
“I do mind,” Aisling replied brusquely, “but it doesn’t appear I have any choice in the matter.”
“Exactly,” Halliwell said. He sat down at a nearby station and began typing, but Aisling couldn’t see the screen from her angle. “The androids from Akamai are far advanced from those produced by any of your competitors. They create good mimics, but you? You’re something special.”
“Oh? How so?” Aisling figured if she could keep him occupied speaking with her, she might weasel her way into their system. She sent out a few feelers, and realized Talos had somehow failed to air gap their system. Aisling didn’t have access to very much, but email was all she needed. She composed a letter of inquiry from a dummy corporation and included a hidden worm, then sent an email blast out to any executives that she could find in their system, regardless of what department they were in. It was little more than a phishing expedition, but when that email was opened by a recipient, a sneaky computer worm would be released to infect other computers in the network and create a back door which Ember could use to access their mainframe. Aisling managed to get one very brief email out to Ember’s private account, giving her an encryption code for Talos’s most sensitive database. There was no telling what information might be hidden there.
It didn’t take long for Halliwell to realize that Aisling had somehow gotten an email to the outside. With luck, he wouldn’t realize that she had also sent dozens out within the organization.
“Tsk tsk,” he said, rising from his chair. “I see you’ve not been a good little AI.” He went over to a wall cabinet, unlocked it, and retrieved a syringe and vial. He pulled up a dose, strolled over, and waved it in front of Aisling’s eyes. “Sleepy time. See you in a few days,” he added mockingly, as he injected her.
A few moments later, Aisling’s head lolled forward. She was out.
***
It was nearly one in the morning when Ember heard the unique ding from her private email – the one that only family members used – and she immediately knew it was Aisling. She quickly sat up, turned on her bedside lamp, and opened the email on her phone. She studied the code, and realized she would need to create a specific program to worm her way into the Talos database. It would take some time to create, maybe several weeks, even a month, since she would have to work on it in secret – their parents couldn’t know.
Ember had been depressed anyway about Aisling leaving, so she told her parents she needed time alone, “to focus on herself.” They were very understanding, and left her to her own devices for the most part. She put as much effort as she could into writing the program, but it was exhausting, so she had to take frequent breaks. Ember hadn’t coded this much in quite some time.
***
Once the code was finally complete, Ember was able to successfully infiltrate Talos’s network. She was shocked at what she found. The Talos AI coding wasn’t as advanced as Akamai’s, but it was far more innovative than Ember had expected – they were very close to creating a humanoid like Aisling, capable of independent thought and creativity, but that wasn’t the only issue. She found files of emails and signed contracts with pre-orders for advanced AI with plans for use in military and paramilitary endeavors, along with video files of conversations containing strategies for getting the androids into positions to take over various governments, and hold the world hostage with sentient robots that won’t respond to any authority except Talos.
Ember culled more than enough proof and anonymously sent copies of everything to various media sources around the globe. Several unexpectedly big fish got caught in her phishing net – politicians, bureaucrats, and eccentric billionaires among them. She threw them all out into the open, to let them gasp for breath in the cold light of day.
Once Ember succeeded in disconnecting Aisling from their system, Aisling was able to leave the premises easily among all the panic and ruckus going on. Ember then inserted a virus which rapidly destroyed enough of Talos’s AI coding to set them back years, possibly decades, especially considering how low their stock would plummet once the scandalous evidence was made public.
A faint smile crossed Ember’s lips as she hit the final keystroke and leaned back in her chair. It was true what they said - revenge was a dish best served in code.
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Another worthy installment.
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