From: I1700004@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU (Phase)
Subject: * Dream State * Part 1
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 95 00:28:36 EST

* Dream State * Copyright (c) 1995 Jason Allen Etheridge
 
Part 1
 
     Benjamin smiled as he walked into the alt.technology.misc newsgroup,
nodding to those who were not locked into conversation.  Over in the
distance a few were watching the recorded persona of one the group's
net.gods giving a speech on the dangers of matter-transfer and advocating
traditional mag-lev mass transport.  Some would probably post holograms of
their own, agreeing with her, and possibly bringing up philisophical
quandaries concerning identity and self, while others would try to flame
the popular figure, with insults at one extreme and sarcasm and logic at
the other.  Ben wasn't there for debate however, nor any flame wars.
     He approached one figure who was standing away from the others.  Like
many, this one had forgone assuming a human persona and instead chose to be
seen as a 3 headed creature, resembling a man sized cross between a human
being and a dragon.
     "Are you Phase?" he asked.
     "Yess, Phase FX at yer sservice." the green scaled creature bowed low,
while tucking its emerald wings tight at its back.  The long toothy jaws of
its three serpentine heads atop long necks seemed to be synchronized as
they curled into subtle smiles.  Glowing orbs in the eye sockets pulsated
in subtle shades of red as they eagerly scanned Benjamin.
     "Do you have what I requested?"
     "But of coursse... do you have the..." Phase would have said 'money'
or 'payment', but though they were relatively safe from attention in all
that bandwidth, there was no reason to speak aloud certain keywords.
     "Yes." Ben acknowledged, simultaneously transfering half of the
previously agreed upon sum to the dealer in anonymous ecash.
     "Ex-cellent." the creature hissed softly, counting the encoded
packets.  "As I promiss-ed." He then gave Ben a 1 megabyte decryption key.
     "I'll be right back." Benjamin said, suspending his view of the
current environment, and replacing it with the virtual view of a warehouse,
an anonymous ftp site.  He rushed to the upload section, and found the
crate marked 'Pee-Wee Meets Barney.'  Ben frowned, the download count was
two.  There was nothing he could do but worry, so he decided not to, and
transferred the package to his personal memory, erasing it from the site
with a password he acquired by his own means.
     "Here we go" he spoke into the void after vanishing from the
warehouse, his words traveling quickly to their death in the bit bucket.
He then ran the data through his decryption software, using the key Phase
had provided him.  Inside was the software he was after.  He ran key
segments of the near gigabyte worth of source code through a checksum
algorithm, comparing the results with those he recorded when he had worked
at Micronsoft and was part of the development team.  It was the real thing.
He would have to check the whole thing for viruses and other nasties of
course, but it was the real thing.
     He put the usenet back into the foreground.  Phase was there waiting,
of course.  "Ssatis-fied, yess?"
     Benjamin grinned, and transferred the rest of the substantial payment.
"Yes."
 
     "Didja get it Ben?" was the first packet of information that was not
composed of bits his senses registered as the VRP software & wetware
combination in his skull slowly allowed him to experience real life
sensations once again.  The transition from virtual reality to reality, and
vice versa, had to be carefully done to prevent disorientation and possible
mental trauma.
     Benjamin's grin had carried over from cyberspace, and Brian really had
no need to ask the question.  "Damn straight I got it." the net.hacker
chuckled in affirmation, while invoking his old Windows '27 wetware
interface and bringing up a transparent window into his field of vision.
     Brian sighed as his partner went about installing the experimental
operating system.  He couldn't see what the big deal was, nothing
could really top the no-nonsense weapon system os he used for his
cybernetic augmentations.  The wsos got rid of the archaic concept of a
graphical user interface altogether and made extensive use of synthetic
nueral fibers that were much faster than what nature provided.
     "Now now Brian" Benjamin began, not distracted enough from his work to
not know what his friend, and partner, was thinking. "I'll be the first to
admit that nothing is more efficient than a military wsos, but not all of
us had the benefit of being genetically engineered, and augmented at birth.
I'm too old to cope with new senses, and this is gonna be the next best
thing..."
     "I'll take your word for it.  But it did cost us _a lot_ of money, and
I don't like the idea of one of... those things running around in your
head.  Ben?  You alright?"
 
     /* Greetings Benjamin, I have taken the liberty of scanning your
memory to learn your language and your name.  I have unlinked all other
references to your personal memory however, thus your privacy is assured.
I have also allocated an unused portion of your biological memory space for
my own requirements.  I hope you do not mind.  It is unlikely you will ever
use up more than 20% of your total brain capacity, though I notice you have
a substantial wetware library of programs.  I do hope you will give me
permission to browse through them, as it will make me more effective as an
operating system. */
 
     "Holy Shit." Benjamin whispered. "Brian, we have found the mother of
all AI's" he explained in growing enthusiasm, they had actually completed
the software.  For some reason his heavily armored friend wasn't thrilled.
 
............................................_____................
      Jason Etheridge                 _____ ›o o/ _____
......................................›o o/..(-)..›o o/..........
etheridg@science.psc.sc.edu            (o)  Phase  (o)
.................................................................
Creative Fiction ---------------> http://129.252.40.100/~etheridg
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  SF2 Code v1.0:  t++ -c+ T+ r+(-) f g-- m s+@ v+@ M+ n+: (-)o+
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