The Admiralty
Day 1
Today Ovmar came to me with a proposal, said proposal involved assigning me onto a team of experts to construct a program for him. Program revolved around two main issues, security and flexibility, didn’t get a lot of information but it seemed the man was concerned with one of his installations. Wished to be certain that nobody would be able to simply slice his way around the defenses. Didn’t receive anymore intel as of yet, not sure yet if I will take this job, certain stories make me wary about the man and his ‘request’.
Day 3
To my shame I have to admit that I relented, I am currently assigned to Ovmar’s team in /redacted/. First thing that hit me while being introduced to the project was the sheer difference in scope here, the funds he is pouring into this team… it’s shocking and makes me wonder what else is going on here. A simple firewall add-on wouldn’t need this much equipment nor the specialists he has assigned to it, there are even Verpine here! How did he persuade them to come and work here only God knows.
Day 6
The progress we are making is extra-ordinary, never considered the sheer pleasure you experience working with equal-minded scientists and without having to worry for budget cuts. Took me a few days to figure out what Ovmar is having us work on, took me so long because he is outsourcing all of the work to different teams across the net. No one has all the information, but I think I got it! He wants us to construct some kind of Artificial Intelligence, purely focused on Counter Electronic Warfare, not sure yet why though. Wondering if I shouldn’t dig too deep into this, Ovmar seems courteous enough, but… it’s something in his eyes that makes me reconsider.
Day 9
As far as I can see the ‘AI’ is actually going to be several semi-sentient nodes across some kind of network. Code implies those nodes will work asynchronous from each other, each scanning their segment on the network for irregularities in the connection. Doesn’t seem to have any counter-measures against AI attacks though, not sure if I should speak up to our overseer and suggest some basic changes to the algorithm, the nodes wouldn’t be able to hold off the attack long enough. But enough for a warning to come through and maybe sufficient time for a counter-offensive.
Day 10
Spoke with the project leader, he seemed very pleased with my input and praised me widely. Told me he would make sure Ovmar would hear of this, still… there was something in his tone that suggested--- I am just anxious, this assignment has been great and I just don’t want to screw it up, that’s all. Stevens and Xi’xla’xo streamlined the program, implies we will have less problem with the latency and a more efficient behavior from the nodes.
Day 11
Lord Ovmar came to visit us today, not sure why I had been concerned before, talked with the man for maybe an hour about mathematical problems and logarithms, it was clear that the man was severely out of his depth, but he seemed genuinely curious about the more in-depth working of our job. I feel a bit woozy in my head, some kind of fog circulating across my mind… probably just tired, we have been working on this for eleven straight days.
Day 13
An accident occurred today during testing, Stevens is stuck in Med. Bay until they are able to construct him a prosthetic arm. Freak accident is the official story, but I think the AIs we are using for test attacks are approaching rampancy. We got a new supervisor today, Erik seems more laid-back than the previous guy, a bit too laid-back some’d say. We have to move on though, just a bit more work and we should be ready for B-day.
Day 21
Didn’t have enough time to keep up with the logs, Erik is hounding us to complete the project. Fog is finally clearing a bit, I can see the pieces in front of me and with a few questions in the right corner I managed to find out what the work is for. Ovmar seemed to have constructed some kind of Station, all hush hush, in cooperation with CEC, seemed not to be all too glad with the security issues though. He intends Project Overlady to plug those holes, as said before. It’s not so much a full-blown AI, as much as several semi-sentient cores inside the network, each supervising their own portion of the network of the Space Station.
Doesn’t seem to have any access to the Station’s critical systems, meaning that weaponry, trajectory, maintenance and those type of appliances would still need to be performed by crewmen or alternatively droids. With the recent upgrades in the syntax we have been able to make the nodes more self-sufficient and in line with that efficient.
Their capabilities run from scanning the network for new vulnerabilities, plugging the holes on the fly, to detecting intrusions in the system code and establishing counter-measures. This isn’t much of a fool-proof system though, each node presides over their own segment, but needs cooperation of the other nodes to hold off prolonged attacks.
This implies that several consecutive or even simultaneous attacks could fry the systems and allow direct access to the mainframe. I suggested the creation of some kind of synthetic supervisor, as a fail-safe to take the blunt of the attacks, but as of yet I have been met with silence.
Day 27
People are acting strange lately, Stevens is back but seems off somehow.
Day 32
Project O’Lady is almost finished, I am reconsidering the notion of permanent reassignment to the team, funding is great and the sheer efficiency in the team members… yet… I don’t know. I have to consider this.
Day 42
Took us a bit longer than expected to apply the final touches, O’Lady consists of several nodes running simultaneously across the system. Capable of limited replication if necessary, though I question the need for it, basic station network shouldn’t need such a function.
Day 44
With a bit of tinkering a basic overarching supervisor program has been established, it acts like a buffer in times of duress. Won’t hold off sequential pressure from dedicated Artificial Intelligences, or a persistent bot net trying to crash the network with an overload of trash packets; but it’s something at least.
O’Lady retains the ability to replicate itself into several more subroutines if situation demands it, and further additions to her programming is a possibility.
As of yet the Program doesn’t display any signs of higher sentience, mainly focuses on her functions and that’s about it. Still recommended, at least, weekly maintenance to avoid unnecessary explosions and airlocks disengaging venting the whole station.
Today Ovmar came to me with a proposal, said proposal involved assigning me onto a team of experts to construct a program for him. Program revolved around two main issues, security and flexibility, didn’t get a lot of information but it seemed the man was concerned with one of his installations. Wished to be certain that nobody would be able to simply slice his way around the defenses. Didn’t receive anymore intel as of yet, not sure yet if I will take this job, certain stories make me wary about the man and his ‘request’.
Day 3
To my shame I have to admit that I relented, I am currently assigned to Ovmar’s team in /redacted/. First thing that hit me while being introduced to the project was the sheer difference in scope here, the funds he is pouring into this team… it’s shocking and makes me wonder what else is going on here. A simple firewall add-on wouldn’t need this much equipment nor the specialists he has assigned to it, there are even Verpine here! How did he persuade them to come and work here only God knows.
Day 6
The progress we are making is extra-ordinary, never considered the sheer pleasure you experience working with equal-minded scientists and without having to worry for budget cuts. Took me a few days to figure out what Ovmar is having us work on, took me so long because he is outsourcing all of the work to different teams across the net. No one has all the information, but I think I got it! He wants us to construct some kind of Artificial Intelligence, purely focused on Counter Electronic Warfare, not sure yet why though. Wondering if I shouldn’t dig too deep into this, Ovmar seems courteous enough, but… it’s something in his eyes that makes me reconsider.
Day 9
As far as I can see the ‘AI’ is actually going to be several semi-sentient nodes across some kind of network. Code implies those nodes will work asynchronous from each other, each scanning their segment on the network for irregularities in the connection. Doesn’t seem to have any counter-measures against AI attacks though, not sure if I should speak up to our overseer and suggest some basic changes to the algorithm, the nodes wouldn’t be able to hold off the attack long enough. But enough for a warning to come through and maybe sufficient time for a counter-offensive.
Day 10
Spoke with the project leader, he seemed very pleased with my input and praised me widely. Told me he would make sure Ovmar would hear of this, still… there was something in his tone that suggested--- I am just anxious, this assignment has been great and I just don’t want to screw it up, that’s all. Stevens and Xi’xla’xo streamlined the program, implies we will have less problem with the latency and a more efficient behavior from the nodes.
Day 11
Lord Ovmar came to visit us today, not sure why I had been concerned before, talked with the man for maybe an hour about mathematical problems and logarithms, it was clear that the man was severely out of his depth, but he seemed genuinely curious about the more in-depth working of our job. I feel a bit woozy in my head, some kind of fog circulating across my mind… probably just tired, we have been working on this for eleven straight days.
Day 13
An accident occurred today during testing, Stevens is stuck in Med. Bay until they are able to construct him a prosthetic arm. Freak accident is the official story, but I think the AIs we are using for test attacks are approaching rampancy. We got a new supervisor today, Erik seems more laid-back than the previous guy, a bit too laid-back some’d say. We have to move on though, just a bit more work and we should be ready for B-day.
Day 21
Didn’t have enough time to keep up with the logs, Erik is hounding us to complete the project. Fog is finally clearing a bit, I can see the pieces in front of me and with a few questions in the right corner I managed to find out what the work is for. Ovmar seemed to have constructed some kind of Station, all hush hush, in cooperation with CEC, seemed not to be all too glad with the security issues though. He intends Project Overlady to plug those holes, as said before. It’s not so much a full-blown AI, as much as several semi-sentient cores inside the network, each supervising their own portion of the network of the Space Station.
Doesn’t seem to have any access to the Station’s critical systems, meaning that weaponry, trajectory, maintenance and those type of appliances would still need to be performed by crewmen or alternatively droids. With the recent upgrades in the syntax we have been able to make the nodes more self-sufficient and in line with that efficient.
Their capabilities run from scanning the network for new vulnerabilities, plugging the holes on the fly, to detecting intrusions in the system code and establishing counter-measures. This isn’t much of a fool-proof system though, each node presides over their own segment, but needs cooperation of the other nodes to hold off prolonged attacks.
This implies that several consecutive or even simultaneous attacks could fry the systems and allow direct access to the mainframe. I suggested the creation of some kind of synthetic supervisor, as a fail-safe to take the blunt of the attacks, but as of yet I have been met with silence.
Day 27
People are acting strange lately, Stevens is back but seems off somehow.
Day 32
Project O’Lady is almost finished, I am reconsidering the notion of permanent reassignment to the team, funding is great and the sheer efficiency in the team members… yet… I don’t know. I have to consider this.
Day 42
Took us a bit longer than expected to apply the final touches, O’Lady consists of several nodes running simultaneously across the system. Capable of limited replication if necessary, though I question the need for it, basic station network shouldn’t need such a function.
Day 44
With a bit of tinkering a basic overarching supervisor program has been established, it acts like a buffer in times of duress. Won’t hold off sequential pressure from dedicated Artificial Intelligences, or a persistent bot net trying to crash the network with an overload of trash packets; but it’s something at least.
O’Lady retains the ability to replicate itself into several more subroutines if situation demands it, and further additions to her programming is a possibility.
As of yet the Program doesn’t display any signs of higher sentience, mainly focuses on her functions and that’s about it. Still recommended, at least, weekly maintenance to avoid unnecessary explosions and airlocks disengaging venting the whole station.