💾 Archived View for lantashifiles.com › writing › hybridShadows › chapters › chapter05 › scene04.gmi captured on 2024-08-31 at 11:40:07. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-08-18)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Captain McKnight had been directing several AI processes to analyze various parts of the ship, even during this conversation with his tactical officer. But now he withdrew his attention from those processes, fully concentrating on the officer. His eyes snapped open at the same time, as he engaged his natural attention as well.
The commander replied through the Song. NAME brought reports online and into the captain's viewing quickly. It seemed that several security guards down in the brig section of the colony ship - FOUR of the security guards - had gone offline. But somehow the automated processes that should have reported such an anomaly to the bridge had not been activated. Cameras in the security area had also deactivated, another event that should also have immediately alerted the captain and all of the high-level officers. And now...
Several more crew members, along with a number of colonists that were still aboard the ship, not having yet descended to their new world, fell offline, both from the Grid and the Song. Worse, the people being knocked offline were in many different parts of this enormous starship.
Captain Leonard McKnight stood straight up from his chair with an urgency that caused every member of the bridge to turn and look at him. Several of them had started to follow the data feed the commander and the captain were sharing, but none of them had grasped the danger that was before them.
The Captain executed a series of commands within his mind to immediately disengage himself from all networking, the Song, the Grid, everything. He simultaneously started an emergency protocol that would take the crew members and colonists off of the networks as well, but due to the number of systems aboard that action would take several minutes to complete. Booting someone who was actively using the Grid was jarring, an moreover, dangerous.
As his consciousness of the Song and the data systems of the ship began to fade, he called out loud to the rest of the bridge crew, "Turn off all your networking. We've been hacked. A computer virus is infecting the crew!"
A stunned looked crossed the faces of everyone on the bridge. But it didn't last for long.
The navigator, a young woman Lieutenant Rachalla Mchandal, collapsed to the floor. The bridge crew, excluding the captain who had already taken himself offline, immediately saw all status of her network presence disappear. Even more disturbing were the burn marks began to appear over a dozen different parts of her body. All of the crew recognized that the burn marks were over the common locations that Hybrid technology was interfaced with the human body.
Commander NAME was the first person to react to the captain's warnings. He closed his eyes momentarily, concentrating on initiating his own de-networking sequence. It only took a few seconds to complete. Then he opened his eyes and called out to the rest of the crew.
"The captain is right! Get offline right now!"
A number of officers were now following suit, but to Captain McKnight’s horror, another three officers collapsed to the floor, burn marks appearing on their skin.
MORE