First Contact

Chapter 309

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

It's been nearly three month. I wish we could get some word of how it is going.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

I doubt it's going well for the Lanaktallan.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I'll be honest, I don't think it will matter.

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AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

What do you mean?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

The fleet and armies already fighting in Council Space have had a chance to turn around and head for TerraSol, instead they are still continuing their attacks.

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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

Maybe they don't know?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

They know.

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AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

They just don't care.

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

You two lost your home worlds. We barely kept ours. Do you really think that losing their home systems will matter? The Confederacy is huge. There's billions of Terrans, tens of billions of them all together, not to mention their allies.

Do you really think

>All right. Power's stable. You're right, board 83765655-23283-387 is completely shot. I'll have Wally fab up a new one.

>Replace that one and we'll move on to rebooting the emergency communications buffer system.

that the Terrans will

Wait, what was that? Did anyone else hear that?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

Yes, I heard it to. That was weird, it sounded like someone talking in the next room.

---NOTHING

>voltage is steady, amperage is kicking a bit along conduit 3765655-23211-A47. I'm going to replace it.

>Good plan. Oh God, there's a Nammerian squirmling hatch here. I have to find one of their parents. God, they're so frightened and confused.

>Heh. Don't let them bite you this time.

>I won't. Come here, little ones, let's find mommy.

FOLLOWS---

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

What is that? It's not broadcasting any identification and this is a secure chat room.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

They must somehow be inside the Gestalt system if

>How's that?

>Better.

>Did you find their parents?

>Yeah. They were at one of the riverbank parks I created. There's so many. I can't. I can't.

>You can because you must. It's just us. It's just us. We alone stand in the breach.

we can hear them this plain.

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TELKAN FORGE WORLD

By the Digital Omnimessiah, they sound like they are in so much pain.

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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

But where are they?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I don't

>I'm OK now.

>OK, I'm going to power up the buffer system. We'll see what happens.

>Ready.

>Activating

know what we can do to help

SYSTEM BACKBONE MESSAGE

6.43E+12 RECORDS TO PROCESS

PLEASE STAND BY

ARCHANGEL SYSTEM SELF TEST

them. They sound like they need help.

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AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

Archangel?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

ARCHANGEL SELF TEST COMPLETE

BUFFER OUT OF RANGE

PLEASE CONTACT SUPERVISOR

>Supervisor Override Accepted

BUFFER.TRANSFER.BIN COMPILE

struct group_info init_groups = { .usage = ATOMIC_INIT(2) }; struct group_info *groups_alloc(int gidsetsize){ struct group_info *group_info; int nblocks; int i; nblocks = (gidsetsize + NGROUPS_PER_BLOCK - 1) / NGROUPS_PER_BLOCK; /* Make sure we always allocate at least one indirect block pointer */ nblocks = nblocks ? : 1; group_info = kmalloc(sizeof(*group_info) + nblocks*sizeof(gid_t *), GFP_USER); if (!group_info) return NULL; group_info->ngroups = gidsetsize; group_info->nblocks = nblocks; atomic_set(&group_info->usage, 1); if (gidsetsize blocks[0] = group_info->small_block; else { for (i = 0; i blocks[i] = b; } } return group_info; out_undo_partial_alloc: while (--i >= 0) { free_page((unsigned long)group_info->blocks[i]); } kfree(group_info); return NULL; } EXPORT_SYMBOL(groups_alloc); void groups_free(struct group_info *group_info) { if (group_info->blocks[0] != group_info->small_block) { int i; for (i = 0; i |

EMERGENCY BUFFER TRANSFER EXECUTING

>>TELKAN GESTALT screams

>>TELKAN GESTALT HAS LOGGED OFF (LOSS CONNECTION TO CLIENT)

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

WHAT WAS THAT?

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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

EMERGENCY BUFFER TRANSFER COMPLETE

I think I had a stroke.

6.43E+12 RECORDS PROCESSED

I taste strawberries.

>TELKAN FORGE WORLDS HAS LOGGED ON

---NOT

>Coolant is moving fine. I think this one's stable.

>Looks like it. Oof, more Treana'ad hatchlings. Here, go here next.

PRIORITY SYSTEM FILE TRANSFER: PRIMARY SOULNET PHASIC BUFFER SYSTEM

HING FOLLOWS---josei

>TELKAN GESTALT HAS ACCEPTED FILE (SYSTEM NON-REFUSABLE)

FILE TRANSFER COMPLETE

>AKLTAK GESTALT HAS ACCEPTED FILE (SYSTEM NON-REFUSABLE)

FILE TRANSFER COMPLETE

>TNVARU GESTALT HAS ACCEPTED FILE (SYSTEM NON-REFUSABLE)

FILE TRANSFER COMPLETE

TELKAN GESTALT HAS DISCONNECTED (LOST CONNECTION TO CLIENT)

AKLTAK GESTALT HAS DISCONNECTED (LOST CONNECTION TO CLIENT)

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

Urk.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS HAS JOINED THE CHAT

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT HAS JOINED THE CHAT

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Oof. What is that?

I'm going to open it.

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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

I wouldn't.

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Too late.

By the Vat Grown Luke's beard...

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AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

What is it?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

It's... it's...

It's to filter out something called phasic echoes and phasic energy from data streams. It's the size of a BOLO tank.

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TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

What's it for?

ARCHANGEL SYSTEM NOTIFICATION

ALL ARCHANGEL HASHES ARE OFFLINE

SALTED HASH CRECHE OFFLINE! PLEASE INFORM EMERGENCY CREWS

and why did we get it?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I have no idea...

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Herod leaned back, looking at his handiwork and trying not to laugh.

If he started laughing he'd start screaming and his throat was already raw from that.

There were fuses on either side of the component Herod had replaced. The component had to be precisely manufactured, taking nearly an hour to print out through the strange matter creation engine, and was probably exceedingly expensive to create.

The fuses, finger thick coils of iridium wire, were intact.

Praise be to the Digital Omnimessiah that those fuses survived, Herod thought to himself.

He laughed, but managed not to go any further.

Wally leaned against him, playing a comforting little ditty. Herod put his arm around Wally and hugged him slightly.

"Fire it up," Herod said.

"All right," Sam-UL answered. "How long do you suppose they've been running with this blown out?"

"From the evidence? This blew out during the Mantid Attack," Herod said. He stood up and stretched, feeling the artificial muscle fibers uncramp.

He didn't ask why his robotic physical interaction frame now had artificial muscle fibers.

"All right. I've got it working. Ready to move to the next part?" Sam asked.

Herod nodded, closing his tool-tray and patting Wally. "Ready."

Herod followed Sam-UL's directions, a blue line in his vision, to the mag-lev tram station.

At least there weren't any Shades around.

Herod leaned back and closed his eyes. "Where are we going next?"

"Gestalt Channel Switching Emergency Bussline," Sam-UL said.

"Huh, might need that." Herod said. He closed his eyes. "I'm going to defrag and recompile. Mind running me a dream?"

"Can't do that. Want to hang out in one of the parks?" Sam said.

"Hit me," Herod said.

The world dissolved.

--------------------

TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I have no idea where this blueprint is from, to be honest.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

AKLTAK FREE FLIGHT

Maybe there's something going

EMERGENCY GESTALT CHANNELS ONLINE

on in Terra that

SCANNING CHANNELS

has to... what?

SCAN COMPLETE

ACTIVATING CHANNELS

TERRASOL HAS JOINED THE CHAT

Bring Task Force Starlight to 33.383 and have them go to rapid fire on all guns. These guys aren't going to surrender.

MANTID FREE WORLDS HAS JOINED THE CHAT

only a half a billion Lanaktallan prisoners.

RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT HAS JOINED THE CHAT

Try Doctor Gwarkarkawt's Foot Webbing Cream! Warm and tingly for all your webbing needs!

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS HAS JOINED THE CHAT

The War Queen has announced that she will be turning over control of Smokey Cone to the Council of the Queens. In other news, Lanaktallan prisoners need your help! Pen pals, vid-chat buddies, and more! Donate grazing land today! Assist the victimized Lanaktallan in reentering society and culture with a small donation of fifty acres of grassland today and receive rewards! Contact your nearest War Matron!

DOKI! DOKI DOKI DOKI (DOKI)

DOKI!

---BEAUTY FOLLOWS---

...

...

...

CHAT RELEASED TO ALL MEMBERS

WARNING: LAG BETWEEN EMERGENCY MEMBERS AND NORMAL MEMBERS = 60X

TERRASOL

I think we need a roll call.

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