5.14)

## Ships log: HvCFT Singularity : Personal Entry
## Date: December 06, 2006
## Log by: Pilot Bittype

I just jacked out from a tour in the simulation, and an interesting conversation with WiredNight… No… Interesting is not the word, Disturbing conversation.

He knows, he knows too much.

I will try to record it while it is still fresh in my memory.

WiredNight: Hello Bitt.  I didn't expect you to be jacked in so soon.

Bittype: Oh?

WiredNight: Usually no one is around at this time.  The craft is sleeping or doing chores.

Bittype: I am usually one of the first up and about. You should know that by now.

WiredNight: I usually am in the kitchen or asleep by the time you are, Bitt.  I must have lost track of time that's all… So how are you feeling this day?

Bittype: Maybe... Don't see you about very much. In a confined space such as the ship it is odd not to bump into you more often.

Fine, fine.

WiredNight: My tasks keep me busy that's all, and in places most people don’t go.  The kitchen, the computer core, my room.  So it’s not all that odd, no one has really seen me lately.

Bittype: Well I keep busy too... If I am not flying I am working with the engineers correcting little errors, or replacing worn parts. It’s always good for a pilot to know the ins and outs of her ship.

WiredNight: *murmurs*or destroys my fixings for my apples flambé.

Bittype: Hmm?

WiredNight: Oh nothing, sorry was just thinking of a recipe that crashed, that's all.

Bittype: Ah. Definitely an improvement on the slop Em used to dish up.

WiredNight: So how goes the flying?  You know, with all the upgrades to the programming.  No lag or anything?

Em wouldn't know a pan from a spatula.

I had to laugh at that, Em’s a great navigator but he doesn’t know the first thing about food.

WiredNight: Nice to see you laugh again Ma'am.

Bittype: She handles ok… Mainly it’s power relays or hardware that needs attention, but as I say, I spend time with the engineers working on that.

WiredNight: Something always needs attention.  Doesn't do any good to ignore that which could adversely affect us in a pinch.

Bittype: Though I did notice a slight lag on one of the proximity sensors... It took a little longer than normal to react yesterday.

Bittype: *grins*

WiredNight: *turns white with the memory* Yes, I'll have to tweak it somehow.  Those proximity sensors always seem to act up around those things you'll never see... like skyscrapers.

Bittype: Most people don't understand, but My baby talks to me, I always know when she has a potential problem.

*WiredNight Looks at you for a moment with something akin to... humor.*

Bittype: Well not that I need the proximity sensors; I tend to react faster than they do anyway... But I like to see my baby in top condition.

WiredNight: Oh I bet she does, I bet she does.  It’s funny how that entire ship is tweaked.

Bittype: Well the machines can build them, but they will never really understand them, never get a feel for them as humans do.

WiredNight: Oh, I've noticed that.  Still, I'll have to see if that sensor is faulty, or if it’s the programming and logic circuits that are reacting to something.

True, the Machines don't know the meaning of pilot.  If they want a fighter ship, they make one with its own brain, so that the ship is its own body.

Bittype: *shivers*

Bittype: Bah probably just some errant code somewhere... I am sure you'll find it in no time.

WiredNight: *Notices the shiver, and places it away into memory* Errant code.  Probably more likely a fragment within the memory core that won't go away and is effecting it.

Bittype: Mmm getting a bit chilly in the simulation.

WiredNight: Well you should probably wear something a bit less revealing and a touch warmer.

Bittype: Ah well, you'll know more about that than I do. I am more of a hands on sort of person.

WiredNight: Really you could do it.  It’s just a matter of picturing what the code does and is.  Our operators do the same thing with Matrix Code.

Bittype: Mmm maybe… But I get quite umm… warm when I am... working.

WiredNight: Well I suppose it’s easier then just to remind you that really there is no cold.

Bittype: I've had quite enough of seeing code thank you :)

WiredNight: *WiredNight laughs.*

Bittype: True enough. Still the simulation can appear quite real sometimes, even when we know it is not.

WiredNight: Code isn't so bad; really it’s nothing more than logic arranged in a proper format to achieve a certain goal.  It’s when the format gets affected by some outside force, that it becomes problematic.

It’s all an illusion.  We live and breathe and eat an illusion.

Bittype: Perhaps. But you might feel differently if you had seen...

WiredNight: *He looks at you and shakes his head* Bitt, I've seen every inch of the code within the Singularity, both new and old.

*Bittype Shakes her head tying to dislodge an unwanted memory*

Bittype: Perhaps...

WiredNight: *shakes his head* Perhaps I just see it differently then most people do.  Each person sees it in its own way, at its own time.  For some it’s only a flash just before they jack in, for others, it lingers... for me... I can see every line and know... Exactly what it does or can do.

Bittype: *murmurs* If you had seen, felt the code as I have...

WiredNight: It is not my place to say how one person experiences the code over another.  What one needs to ask is not "how" but what are you going to do with the experience of that code?  Let the code control you, like the blue pills, or control the code... and find a way to improve and use the code to your betterment.

Bittype: I have no use for that code.

WiredNight: Then you are looking at it the wrong way.  All code has a use, it’s just a matter of looking at it in a different manner.

Bittype: Perhaps. But I do what I do and I am good at it. There are some code that a person just does not need.

*murmurs under her breath* Or want.

WiredNight: Perhaps that is true; as there are times it’s better to streamline then to have useless code.  The question is, what are you going to do about this errant code?  Continue to let it affect the programming, or find a way to fix it?

Bittype: There is always a way to fix errant code. Be it subtle or draconian, there is always a way. It is just a case of finding it.

WiredNight: Sometimes though, its best to call in an outside source that you trust, to help you find a way to deal with the errant code, and properly adapt it.

Bittype: *Looks at WiredNight* Trust. Trust is a risk, and oft times comes at too high a price.

WiredNight: *Looks back at you and shakes his head* An interesting statement, coming from someone who trusts me to fix her food and not poison her, or trusts me to make changes to her piloting code, and trust that I won't code it to stop at a most inopportune moment.

Bittype: We trusted Agamemnomn… *Suppresses another shiver*

WiredNight: We trust a lot of people Bitt.  And for the strangest reasons.  We all have our pasts, some worse then others.  It’s not a question of trusting everyone... it’s a matter of realizing that you do trust certain people to watch your back.

Bittype: I trust that you will watch your own hide. Therefore sabotaging the ship while you are on it would not be in your best interest.

*WiredNight laughs.*

WiredNight: Maybe we should get this out in the front.  If I wanted the ship sabotaged, it would be, and I'd be walking off of it just peachy.  If there is one thing I learned in my early years of being a red pill, and my late years of being a blue pill, is sabotage.

Just as I'm sure if you wanted us all dead, a simple slip up on the reaction time, and a properly working ejector seat would get you the same results.

Or as you said, you are up earlier then all of us.  How hard would it be to sabotage the jack in beds.

Bittype: Considering the jury rig that was required of me before you joined the crew, I think you know the answer to that.

WiredNight: As you know the answer of me saving my own hide, or the answer of M4rb, or d4sh saving their own hide over yours.  You know that any one of us would sacrifice ourselves for the good of the faction.

Bittype: Oh... And are you saying I would not... DID not!?

I wanted to kill him, I moved on him for that purpose, but I held back. Something inside me wanted to hear what he had to say.

WiredNight: No, what I am saying is that your proximity sensor for companionship was a bit slow, and you already care, and you know that they care back.  You've hit that wall that is "love", and it terrifies the hell out of you, to the point that you'll do anything to try and keep us at a distance to prevent you from crashing and running the chance of being hurt.

Bittype: Love? Hahaha… Nice try. You know nothing of what terrifies me.

WiredNight: Don't I?  Don't be so sure.  I may be the only person who does, who knows what you touched.  Who knows what it means to be a terrorist, and find a family.  Who knows that for a moment you saw a glimpse of what true power is, what it was to be a god.

I may be the only one who understands that you have an addiction and are going cold turkey from the addiction to that power.  No I don't understand a damn thing.

Now if you will excuse me, the crew will be expecting breakfast, and since I lost the still, I'm having to come up with substitutes.

Bittype: I need to hun... do some work. Good day WiredNight.

WiredNight: Good day Bittype.

How can he know, how can he be so sure? No-one has ever done what I did before. HOW can he know?

##End of log