carrarn
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Bleedingheart station - chapter 12: Brain Implant hacking
🕑 Added 2024-12-02 19:38:15 +0000 UTCGarrick stared into the long hallway, floating away from the crossing that had led to the bridge and Hilbert's untimely death. Sweat was beading his head as an unreasonable fear grew with every foot he floated forward. Ahead of him was the last crossing, and a bit further to the left would be the engineering bay and the mainframe.
"This is ridiculous, Dasbartin," he hissed to himself.
He clenched his hands, trying to ignore the fear, but no matter what he tried, his body began shivering. Grabbing the nearest handle, he pulled himself forward faster, hoping that speed would stop the fear from increasing as he wanted.
It didn't work.
As he reached the final crossing, his breath was coming out in bursts, and he felt a tiny drip on his lip. Licking it, he tasted the familiar salty taste of blood.
Pulling himself around the corner felt like the hardest thing he'd ever done, and as he finally saw the door leading into the engineering, the fact it had been blasted out and into the opposite hallway barely surprised him. A blue, pulsing light came from inside, and with each pulse, it almost felt like his heart skipped a beat.
How there could still be any power should have confused him, but Garrick was having an increasingly hard time thinking straight.
If this makes you so afraid, it has to be something beneficial to me, he thought, glaring at the door opening. He tried to release the handle, but his fingers wouldn't cooperate.
"Let. Go," he snarled, slapping his own gauntlet and quickly releasing his grip as he did. He kicked himself forward, knowing that if his gamble was wrong, he might be in deep trouble.
Floating forward towards the door, his H.U.D. began flickering, and an icon he'd never seen before appeared in the middle of his vision. It resembled an old stop sign.
"Not. Happening," Garrick growled. "I have no use for an alien presence in my brain."
His breath hitched as a message scrawled below the icon.
~ I'll stop your heart if you don't stop right now.~
Garrick grabbed for the nearest handle, missed and scrambled to get another one. He caught one just as he was sailing through the door opening, causing him to hang from one arm, partially in the room.
The Tealclaw mainframe was blinking furiously, which made no sense as the main reactor was offline and had been since it was blasted to smithereens. The cracks in the back of the wall behind showed reinforced plates that shouldn't be there, and sections had ripped off, slamming into different equipment panels on the walls.
Garrick gasped as something seemed to clamp around his chest, pressing it in so hard he couldn't breathe. A dull, aching pain spread out to his arms while his fingertips began going numb.
~ Go back! ~
Garrick felt his mind slow down as the fear seemed to vanish. Staring at the line, his body unwilling and unable to cooperate, he began drifting forward. Had his fingers released their hold? They had to have…
~ No! Go back! Back! ~
Pain began raging through his head, and drops of red blood drifted in front of his face. His mind cleared and became dull at the same time, but as it did, he realized he'd been influenced. Something, be it the fear induced by his implant or whatever was in control of it, or his own built-in fear of LLMs and AI, had him decide to go forward… why? In hindsight, it made no sense, and he wondered how much-
His H.U.D. showed a garbled message of unreadable gibberish, and shock seemed to course through his body. Garrick felt his entire body spasm before contracting, his muscles aching immensely. He felt his lungs expand, then contract as he began breathing and coughing, blood splattering across the inside of his helmet.
A provisional H.U.D. appeared on the smeared inside of the glass, one he'd not seen since basic training. A regular warning message appeared, partially covered by the blood that had splattered across the inside of the helmet.
"Emergency supply of adrenaline used. Be advised, seek immediate care!"
Right, Garrick thought, feeling his fuzzy mind clear while a massive headache began building.
An icon popped up, and it took him two whole seconds to recognize the old alert of an incoming call.
"Accept," he grunted, feeling a deep fear of trying to use his mind.
"Captain Dasbartin, do not listen to your implant. A foreign AI has overtaken the ship systems and those of the crew."
Garrick blinked stupidly as he heard the Tealclaw LLM's voice. It sounded as it should, but the memory of what he'd heard before surfaced instantly. Who was talking?
"I can understand your reluctance to speak, Captain, but you need to move closer to my mainframe quickly. Within the-”
Garrick felt his headache grow rapidly, and the now familiar drip of blood returned, this time moving away to splatter on the screen.
"Captain, you must hurry. The AI is trying to regain control over your implant."
Garrick's sluggish mind refused to give him an answer on what to do, but the only thing that kept drifting up was the fear he'd experienced and the way the thing in his implant had warned him to go away.
Looking around, he was drifting close to the ceiling, and as his headache increased, he saw his H.U.D. pop back up.
No!
He kicked himself away from the ceiling, shooting towards the mainframe. A message began appearing on his H.U.D., but it vanished as he thudded into the mainframe.
"Good! Quickly, take hold of something so you don't drift away."
Garrick did as instructed as he watched his H.U.D. jitter oddly.
"Captain Dasbartin, I need to inform you that Captain Braddock has been compromised. The last I got from her was a warning for you, which I managed to relay into the shuttles. Have you heard it?"
Garrick swallowed and closed his eyes, slowly feeling the headache fade.
"Replay it," he grunted, partially to give himself some time and partially to see if this LLM wasn't lying. He opened his eyes, scanning the room, searching for whatever was powering the mainframe.
A crackle came, followed by Hillary's voice.
"Garrick, I'm going to give it a sixty percent chance that you are going to be the one that is listening to this. If it's not..."
Garrick closed his eyes again as he listened to the reply of the exact same message from the shuttle.
"Alright," he said, feeling his voice return slowly. The muscles around his chest and back were burning as if he'd had a massive workout a day earlier, and his lips were dry.
"What is going on?"
"It is hard to be sure, Captain Dasbartin. After the Precursor Shipslinger exploded, The Tealclaw's stern armor and plating failed. Subsequently, most of the back of the ship, including the reactor room, were obliterated. The extra plating around my mainframe managed to keep this room secure, and the emergency power supply that Captain Braddock had installed seven years ago was able to keep me mostly operating. For a short while, I managed to remain in contact with the Captain; then, I detected a foreign entity taking over the few systems still in operation. It eventually took over the communications systems, but not before Captain Braddock ordered me to use the hidden ancient radio she had installed."
Garrick groaned.
"Let me get this straight," he grunted, not sure if he should laugh or cry. "Hillary had extra plating installed around this room, an additional energy supply, and some ancient technology for communication that hasn't been used for a thousand years?"
"Among other things," the Tealclaw LLM said.
"What other things?"
"Additional plating around the engine room, connection equipment in the shuttles to work with the radio, additional emergency rations, additional radiation sickness medication, additional-"
Garrick listened in silent wonder as the LLM continued to list over twenty things. When it finally stopped, he swallowed.
"Did she give a reason for all these extra precautions?" he asked.
"Yes. Captain Braddock explained to me that she expected that The Astra Concord would likely instigate another war within the following ten years."
She… was a doomwar prepper? Garrick thought, trying to remember if he'd ever talked with her about that. Suddenly, he wondered exactly why she had been moved so far away, and faintly, the map of the situation popped up on his map. Had she maneuvered The Tealclaw behind other ships?
"Captain Dasbartin, I need to explain a few more things."
"Then do so," Garrick snapped, his mind a hazy mess.
"Yes, sir. My emergency supply will only last for another few weeks before shutting down. Currently, the unknown entity is trying to boost the signal it's using to restore contact with the entity inside your implant."
Garrick felt his anger bubble up, only held back by his weary body and headache.
"Why didn't you turn off the power to the rest of the ship?" he asked.
"I do not have control over the emergency power supply. That said, there is no power flowing to the other parts of the ship. I am unable to determine how the foreign entity is still functioning."
Garrick blinked, and then he remembered how Hillary had looked, her eyes gleaming, and how the odd entity had seemed more functioning after taking over Hillock's implant. Was it somehow draining power from them? But that wouldn't be enough…
The cry pods!
Garrick shivered as he imagined the hibernating crew dying as their systems were being drained.
"What can you tell me about the entity in my implant, and how can you detect it?" he asked.
"Captain Braddock had installed additional firewalls and software for me to use in case of an enemy LLM hack," The Tealclaw stated calmly. "This included sensors inside my mainframe to detect intruders and the option to detonate the nuclear payload in my core."
"Your what?!" Garrick shouted, instantly regretting it as the headache throbbed stronger.
"Captain Braddock had a nuclear failsafe installed in case The Tealclaw was boarded."
"Of course she did," Garrick whispered, suddenly wondering how he, as the fleet captain, had not been aware of any of this.
"These sensors allow you to detect the entity in my implant?" he finally muttered, feeling old.
"Not exactly. It allowed me to detect the communication between your implant and the entity that is now inside the rest of the ship."
Garrick felt the weariness grow, and he wondered what he should do and what his crew back on The Sibilis had to deal with.
"Can you explain how the ship got infected?" he asked as a sudden idea occurred to him.
"As I said. When the explosion came, an electromagnetic pulse rippled through the ship. When it was gone, the first systems dropped. Initially, signals suggested it was due to the damage the ship had taken, but in hindsight, it seems this was the moment the entity took over part of the systems."
"That's why we didn't have this problem," Garrick said, his voice weak. "Because all our systems turned off."
"Very likely, captain."
Garrick immediately knew what that meant. He was going to have to get rid of The Tealclaw. Luckily, he had a solution sitting right next to him.
"Is that nuclear payload still useable?"
"It should be, captain."
Garrick closed his eyes, thinking about the things that had happened over the last few weeks. Was he seriously going to die now? Between Macdewil and Yuri, his crew would be fine, but… he didn't want to die. Not yet. Not with so many unanswered questions.
"Is there a way for you to turn off my implant so it can't be used against me?" he asked.
"No, Captain. Like all LLM, I am unable to interact with your implant in this way."
"Not even if some other entity has hijacked it?" Garrick snapped before coughing and flinching from the pain in his body.
"No, Captain. As you should know, my core programming dictates that I may never harm a human being."
"How would turning my implant off harm me?" Garrick asked. "If it remains, I'll die!"
An image of a brain with an implant appeared before him, rotating slowly. The implant was far larger than any X or Y1 implants he'd ever seen, spreading far and wide while hair-like tendrils drilled deep into the brain. It seemed like a cross between a Y2 and Y3 implant, though the chaotic way the tendrils moved wasn't like any of the images he'd ever seen.
"What…" he hissed, feeling his hair stand on end.
"Your implant has grown and changed. Turning it off now will cause your immediate demise, Captain."
Garrick stared at the image, his mind empty of any thoughts, while a deep-routed fear made the words his late grandfather had said flow through his mind.
'You are all crazy! Putting these foreign things in your mind. Mark my words, you will live to regret this!'
Garrick shoved his worry down, deep into the depths of the darkest parts of his mind, next to the pain when his wife had died.
"That's not possible," he said, haltingly. "There are no materials in my brain to create something like that!"
"Correct, captain," The Tealclaw said, and the image zoomed out, showing his skull inside the helmet. Dozens of tiny dots sat on his head, and as the image zoomed in, he saw a tendril, thinner than his hair, latched onto the inside of his helmet.
Garrick felt his stomach revolt and took another massive surge of willpower to prevent himself from vomiting.
"I… for the love of god!" he shouted, feeling an intense desire to tell The Tealclaw to detonate the nuclear payload.
"Is there anything you can do to stop this?" he finally asked, wishing he didn't sound like he was begging.
"There is only a single potential option, captain, but you will not like it."
Garrick stared at the wall, gritting his teeth.
"Compared to all the things that are happening and the alternative of blowing ourselves up, how bad could it possibly be?" he asked.
"I can attempt to hack into your implant, captain."
"..."
"From your profile, I can surmise that this is not something you would like. However, I have observed a large amount of communication between the implant and the foreign entity, as well as a large number of odd sounds and symbols the foreign entity has uttered. With some time, my calculations show there is a thirty to fifty percent chance to take over the small entity currently in your implant. It seems to be a mostly autonomous system, not capable of a lot more than running your implant."
Garrick wished he could rub his head and eyes and scratch the dozens of itches he felt, but most of all, he felt like screaming. Instead, he took a calm breath and focused on the sounds of his own breathing, the drops of blood on his visor. Very slowly, his mind calmed.
"If you take over the implant, what would that mean for me?" he asked, a cold shivering running down his spine but his voice calm.
"With the increased size, I should be able to provide you with the same abilities a Y2 implant has," The Tealclaw said calmly. "I could put a smaller version of myself onto the implant that should have enough abilities to prevent the foreign entity from taking over the implant again."
"Will you…" Garrick let his voice trail off. The implant had been changed so much and had been able to turn off his heart. Would he just be switching one machine for another?
"The smaller LLM will have the same core tenants as I do, and it will not be able to harm you in any way," The Tealclaw stated calmly. "It will do everything in its power to support and keep you safe."
Garrick meditated for another few moments, regaining his calm.
"How long would you need?" he asked.
"A few hours, captain."
"Will you be faster than the foreign entity?"
"Unless things change, I will be faster."
Garrick nodded to nobody in particular.
"How long till the foreign entity will be able to reach my implant?"
"With the current speed of progress, three hours and forty-seven minutes."
"Fine. I order you to ready the nuclear payload. If you don't manage to take over the implant within three hours, you are to destroy this ship."
Comments
Carrarn
For those still reading this - I haven't managed to finish NaNoWriMo, as the time it takes to finish Irwin's book 2 for publishing and all other things just don't leave me the time to write. I only got roughly halfway. That said, I've found I'm enjoying this more every chapter, so I'll continue writing this during the weekdays when I have time. It will not interfere with Irwin's, which will take precedence over Bleedingheart when it is required.
