.:A September Intermission:.

[filialdeception]

Who: Meng Yao, Senku Ishigami, Shin Tsukimi & Sara Chidouin
What: Looking into USB business.
Where: Workshop
When: Beginning of September. 9/6 as a tentative IC date.
Warnings: N/A, probably?

So due to events of the previous month, some time to look into the matter had ended up post-poned. But Meng Yao's determined to go and get this over with. He pulls Senku aside and asks him to clear some time for the workshop so that they can look into this with one another. He also does end up bringing some snacks and drinks just in case it might take awhile, though he's not anticipating this to be quite an ordeal, necessarily.

((OOC: This can be considered kind of freeform, so jumping around is A-OK. ))

Comments

[filialdeception]

[ Once Meng Yao has come into the room after notifying the others of the meeting, he ensures that everyone is in the room. Or checks to ensure that this is the case. ]

Is everyone ready? Also, Ishigami-xiong do you happen to have the laptop prepared as well...?

[ Might as well get them started. ]

[kingofscience]

Yup! Got it right here.

[ He takes a seat and pulls his laptop out from his bag, setting it down on the table and opening it up. He quickly turns it on and inputs the password, and it's looking in ship shape! ]

Ready whenever you guys are.

i apologize in advance for getting lost in the google rabbit hole fifty times this thread

[notsosou]

And I have this right here...

[He produces the USB from his jacket pocket and slots it in with a finger, which only looks as smooth as it does because he gets it right way up first time. He's somewhat worried about malware - he's used that trick before - but it's clear Senku knows what he's about. If he's prepared the laptop for this then it's prepared for that, and you can't get any more airgapped than the school not having internet. Still...]

Let's scan it first, just in case.

[A 90s-style virus would be like an archaeological find for him, really. He's standing nearby, hunched over to see the screen, scarf dangling. Something about conspiring like this is... strangely fun, even if it's strange to not be the one in front of the laptop.]

i don't know computers, please forgive me

[adsum]

ERROR: Location is not available.

• • • E:\ is not accessible.
    • The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

[ The error message pops up in the middle of scanning, which could be due to any number of problems: a virus like Shin is worried about, physical problems with the USB itself or the port in the laptop, or the files itself are corrupted.

Somebody who knows computers would be able to open up command prompt to manually fix things, somebody who does not can take the USB out and blow on it and stick it back in to see if that fixes it. Either way, I trust Senku and when he fixes it, they'll see the briefest flash of a loading bar pop up on the screen, too quick to cancel out of it, and all the open windows close to leave just the desktop, with one additional icon: one of an eye, that can't be moved or deleted. ]

[samuraiwomen]

Oh, I've got this!

[ Sara pipes up from behind Shin, reaching over to try and smack the side of the laptop (but not the USB itself), unless someone physically stops her. ]

When machines don't work, you should hit them!

1/2

[notsosou]

[NO???]

2/2

[notsosou]

[His arm shoots out to grab hers and then slowly move it away a bit. How did the death game laptop survive her using it...]

Miss Sara, that's only going to cause more problems than it solves.

[It might have a slight chance of knocking things back into place if that's the issue but more likely it'd just knock things that were doing fine loose if anything.]

The laptop the USB was in... it was smashed when we found it. [It would suck if the tiny thing he'd been carrying had been dead the whole time, but it's something to keep in mind in terms of possible corruption causes.] That probably didn't help.

[kingofscience]

[ Immediately, Senku curls in as if to try and protect the laptop. Honestly if Shin hadn't stepped in, he would've smacked Sara's hand away too. ]

Yeah, jeeze. Don't try to literally brute force your way through things like this. Machines run on inputs and outputs, it won't react well to physically smacking it. Heh, sounds like what some of my friends would do back at home...

[ Taiju and his big oafish face would probably suggest something like that, and most others from the Village for that matter. They've only known of the Stone World an haven't seen computers yet, so they'd get a real kick out of this. ]

...Anyways. This is a simple enough fix!

[ He opens up command prompt, and his fingers fly on the keys, fixing the problem as best he can. As soon as it's fixed, a quick flash of a loading bar pops up before it finishes just as quickly, before everything closes and he catches sight of the icon. ]

...That's new. Well, nothing ventured.

[ He carefully moves the cursor over the icon and goes to click it, unless someone wants to stop him beforehand for whatever reason! ]

[adsum]

[ Senku clicks the icon, and the screen flickers and goes black. ... Then it flickers again, with the screen turned on to the webcam that shows Senku and whoever is sitting within view of the camera, and no other window that would normally show who is on the other side.

Instead, a little chat window is open on the bottom left of the screen, although it displays no text.

Regardless of what they try, the only way to exit is to force shut down by holding the power button and restarting the laptop. ]

[notsosou]

[There's a small jolt from him when the screen changes. It's clearly the webcam view, Senku fore-and-center and Sara (and possibly Meng Yao) behind them. But still, seeing his own face appear on a screen... makes him feel uneasy in a way he can't quite pinpoint. His mouth is a little dry and he swallows before speaking.]

Senku... i-is the laptop connected to the network?

[Someone wants to talk, it seems, so... if there's no data coming in from outside...

...it has to be an AI.]

[filialdeception]

[ ...yikes.

That sure is something that's happening here. ]

A network?

[ He's going to just...ask this question from here, looking at the little chat box and then back to the Shin and Senku. ]

[notsosou]

The school PDAs connect to one.

[He doesn't really post to the network, if you asked him because it would reveal his name but mostly because he's just that much of a lurker, but he does backscroll quite a bit to see what people are saying. Ceiling Shin is watching you post.

Wait, chilling thought. Does Meng Yao not know what that is either?]

Y-you do have one, right? Should have got it when you arrived... this thing.

[He briefly pulls out his own in demonstration, but Shin this isn't really explaining anything.]

[kingofscience]

...No, there's no internet connection in the school. At least, not yet. The network only works for the PDAs. [ He's thinking about trying to get internet here but he's sure the school itself will try to stop him. ] It's... We can probably assume that this is working remotely, just on the laptop itself.

[ Senku stares back at himself and the others in the webcam, checking to see if something might be behind them in the screen? But also, something in this USB turned on the webcam by itself. There's definitely more to this than it seems.

Senku takes a look at the chat box and carefully goes to type into it. ]

Hello. Anyone there?

[adsum]

[ Nothing happens for a moment, but then the response appears below his. ]

hell
hell
hell
hell
hello

[kingofscience]

[ ...Okay, so he didn't entirely expect a response, but also this place has more surprises than necessary, so. ]

I'm Senku, and these are my friends. Who am I speaking to?

[ He'll let the others decide if they wanna share their names, but for now, he'll wait for a response. ]

[adsum]

sen
ku
ku
ku
senku

[ ... ]

[notsosou]

Looks like it's struggling... [A little louder and clearer.] Can you hear us...?

[He's thinking. The webcam's being used... is the microphone, or is it only through the chat client? It seems like it's just pulling the most important word in response... how well is it parsing language at all?]

Yes if yes.

[adsum]

yes
here
hear

[samuraiwomen]

It's nice to meet you, I'm Sara.

[ Behind Shin and Senku, Sara gives a small bow. Chill out boys, when you meet someone new, you should be polite! ]

I'm sorry to repeat Senku-san, but can you tell us your name? We'd like to be friends, so it would nice to have something to call you.

[adsum]

na
me
me
friend
end
ends

[ It sure is struggling, whether because Meng Yao had found it by the shattered remains of a laptop having fallen a good distance, or maybe it was always like this. ]

[kingofscience]

Hm... Maybe yes or no questions would be good. ...Are you a student here?

[ Does the USB itself look badly damaged? And is there anything else to this file that Senku can take a look at? ]

[filialdeception]

[ When Senku asked, and is looking closely at things, he'll try to add an inquiry of his own: ]

And if you are a student, have you been here for a long time?

[adsum]

y
y
y
y
y

[ The USB itself... well, it was corrupted when they'd first put it in, but physically it looks okay. Senku would have to hard reset the laptop in order to mess with the files without clicking on the new icon of an eye that's appeared on the desktop, but he could try to fix what's there or transfer the information to something else. ]

[notsosou]

....A student, huh...

['She's basically a human at this point...' He thinks a bit more. It's a strange thing to think about asking, given code isn't usually alive and usually you can just do it, but you have to, don't you?]

Hey... do you mind if we shut you down for a bit to see what's wrong?

[This... doesn't look like it's normal operation. If anything, he'd say it almost looks painful. He's kind of wondering now what it was like for that AI as the trap ripped it's mind to shreds, and tries to stop wondering. It was working for the enemy anyway...]

[adsum]

wrong

[ ...

It's the only message that displays following Shin's question, but even if you give this consideration, the power is ultimately in their hands to do what they want. Like a dog whining in its crate on the way to the vets. Or a people tree crying about wanting to live as you set it on fire. ]