Lives left me with quite an interesting prospect to investigate. This cycle began with us finishing up our lovely solution for my dear Shifting Gales, and now it shall continue with a small peer into the desires of my fascinating friend.
I am glad that you have Seven Red Suns with you to keep you company. The mere fact that you spend your cycles in rapid deterioration with the question of how to reconnect to us is proof of your stellar personality, Gales. A desire I don’t intend to let down, if I see any chance to write history with your idea, my dear. Your name deserves to be spoken out in sheer admiration!
So, let us take a look at what Lives shared with me. Hmm … seem to be a few documentary recordings of dialogues of the far past. A young Lives, discussing a new technology with others of her calibre. I recognize these names. Coordinators from all over the planet!
Closed Group – Chat System 1.0 – [ANEWDAWN] - [1241.040]
Five Lives Unbound, Six Lofty Coins, Three Gifts Ungiven
SLC: A new contender to replace this atrocious chat system has just been developed and put to use. Not by one of us, however.
SLC: The House of Letters forwarded a first glance at their new technology to us, Coordinators.
SLC: I assume we all are on the same page regarding it?
TGU: That a communication system based on Quantum Entanglement is not useful for us, Iterators, in the least!? Yes!
TGU: Is it a mockery, that they even considered showing us a technology that requires ample mobility to work. Last time I checked, my hands were contained in a box, with the body connected to my hands being hooked up to the very same.
TGU: ‘The only thing you have to do is to refresh the spark at predetermined locations to link up two devices.’ … and that with a margin of error in coordinates and time that requires active communication to set up a communication device.
TGU: Forget purposed organisms. They are not reliable enough to do that, each cycle, no less!
TGU: Should I feel offended? Because I do. Offended in my ability to think.
FLU: Gifts, behave yourself. The House of Letters didn’t share this technology with us to upset us.
FLU: They just want to help. We were, after all, quite vocal regarding our very limited ways of cooperating.
FLU: But I agree with you. This technology is useless for us.
TGU: At least in that regard are we on the same page, Lives.
TGU: We need a new system. We were the last iteration of what the Ancients now call ‘Generation 1’. The second generation is just around the corner, heck, we ‘Coordinators’ were already designed with some of the upgraded hardware.
TGU: I expect to welcome new members to the Iterators we were made to support any cycle now.
TGU: And I don’t want to welcome them to this literal mummy of a chat system.
SLC: Sharing data and images would be nice, indeed. This Quantum Chat supports that, but Ancients, is it tailored to the needs of our creators, and not to ours …
FLU: That might be the case, Coins, but do we have another option?
FLU: As of now, this is the only contestant for a new dawn in communication.
FLU: Let us put our heads together and figure out if there is a backdoor to render it useful.
Whisper swiped the green-glowing screen aside and opened the other documents Lives sent her to review. The Coordinators in the shared broadcast were not that thrilled about the technology procured by the House of Letters. Picking apart the failings of past research reminded her of the many projects she was asked to fix to pay off the debts of her creation. Only this time, nobody would complain about her finding a solution for an issue, which was discarded by the smartest communication technicians.
Lives seemed to have been quite passionate about that project. Her experiments regarding Quantum Entanglement communication went through countless experiments and nine whole iterations. With none yielding significant results. Hmm … where is it?
Ah, there we go. The conclusion of that project. What do you have to report, Lives?
Private Notes – Chat System 1.0 – [ANEWDAWN-QEC] - [1243.880]
Five Lives Unbound
With this final report, I, Five Lives Unbound, supported in my decision by all Iterators of the Coordinator program, have concluded the research on the project [ANEWDAWN – QEC], and filed it away under the predicate ‘abandoned’.
In our search for a replacement for our faulty Chat 1.0 system, we have received the research notes of the House of Letters, regarding their monopoly project of Quantum Entanglement Communication (QEC). Regardless of the disappointing results of the project, I would like to word out my gratitude for allowing us to look into this option to solve our project.
In the unlikely event, that this technology would receive a second chance in the future, I have noted down in the following all research results, regarding why that promising technology will never work in reality and therefore is proven to be useless for us, Iterators, to migrate to.
Unless all bullet points are to be solved, QEC is considered a dead end.
QEC is based on the creation of entangled particles to share information between two linked devices. Due to the effect allowing the synchronized screen to show the same image with 100% precision, it is a perfect medium for sharing large data and images with minimal loss. Changes in device A are accurately mirrored in device B.
We have faced three definite problems in our research, which rendered the technology useless for the necessary communication between Iterators. Solving these problems would render QEC a quite potent and long-lasting solution to our communication issues.
1st: The House developed a method to track down bound particles by predicting the position of two randomly paired quants. The exact coordinates are crucial to link the devices together. This method can be extrapolated by our superior minds to calculate better-suited coordinates for our needs. We have not put further research into that option due to the more pressing problems.
Figuring out better coordinates for the unlikely case, that we won’t have access to mechanics and engineers anymore, is of a trivial matter.
2nd: Far more serious is the location dependency. The House of Letters has started to investigate paired quants to figure out future locations of new Iterator cities to connect them via QEC. The devices, once paired with each other, cannot leave the coordinates without undoing the link. This severe dependency renders the entire technology virtually useless for us, Iterators.
To render QEC to a functioning method of Iterator communication, the need for the device to stay in one location has to be compromised. I have undergone first attempts to bypass that restriction, but the results of it can only work in conjunction with solving the third and final crucial problem. The research reports regarding problem 2 can be requested from Iterator Five Lives Unbound, or will be attached to the raw text once we are able to share complex data.
3rd: The final and most crucial problem is the reason why most of my peers abandoned the project in the first place. The device the House of Letters developed is unable to hold the charge for more than a cycle. A daily process of relinking the connection and binding the quants to the communication device is necessary to maintain functionality.
There is no material in our data bank, which is able to hold the particles for an extended period of time. The material used by the House is already the best-performing alloy.
An alloy that can hold the charge for an, for us, Iterators, adequate timeframe of no less than ten major cycles is the minimum requirement to even consider continuing to develop QEC.
To summarize: Necessary for the success of QEC will be the discovery and development of a material to hold the charge, a matrix to overwrite the static placement (theoretically solved by FLU), as well as a method to find suited paired particles, possibly even anomalous particles, which could render group calls a possibility.
Good luck!
Authored by:
Five Lives Unbound // Six Lofty Coins
Far Whisper couldn’t help but chuckle loudly to herself, recognizing a challenge when it dared to show its face to her. QEC failed predominately, due to the lack of an alloy to keep quantum particles in secure confinement. No known material was able to hold them for more than a cycle. Known materials? As the prodigy of the late House of Chemistry, she quickly realized that she was able to laugh at the concept of known elements and materials with confidence.
In an act of unbridled pride and hubris, she repurposed her many holographic screens to reform into various formulas. None of the formulas were known of at the authoring date of Lives’ report. Chemistry was her playground, and the possibilities of the Void Fluid her conductor. Whisper’s chuckle soon grew into a slightly manic laughter as she quickly found a Void Fluid-enhanced molecule that already proved a growth from one cycle to ten in a brief simulation. She didn’t even have to try to overpower the collection of Coordinators, who initially reviewed that technology.
They all shall bow to the might endowed to her by the great Two Eyes of the Infinite Cosmos. Void Fluid Chemistry will be the solution to yet another problem the ignorance of the Ancients wasn’t ready to acknowledge.
A few more modifications on the molecule later, and she already received results in the degree of multiple decacycles. Her manic laughter rose even louder, with her revelling in the joy of sheer untapped potential. She didn’t even notice the approaching visitor to her heart, she was that absorbed in the enjoyment she felt coursing through her entire Superstructure.
One of the holographic screens was hijacked by the visitor of her chamber, as the featureless drone of Lives took the purple-glowing display and infused it with the colour scheme of Whisper’s neighbour. The drone put the repurposed screen over like a shirt, and created the greyish metallic body of the Coordinator that way.
Four eyes observed the, for Lives quite familiar, scene of the manic joy of her friend and partner. She waited a few moments until Far Whisper stopped mumbling to herself, and, after these conditions were met, sent a pinging shock to Whisper’s Can. The bug-like iterator froze in place and turned her head to the entry, her glowing green orbs in her face blushing in a slight pinkish hue.
“Wha? O-oh, it is you, Lives. H-have I interrupted you with anything?”
“Oh, nothing, my dear Whisper. I just find your mumbling amusing. Which Coordinators are blind fools, you say? They are still my friends … well, accomplices.
Try to humble yourself, for our both's sake. You know that I can feel all strong emotions of you, manic laughter included. What amused you in the first place? I don’t remember having written a comedic report?”
Whisper was torn between the swelling of pride in her mechanical guts and the burning shame that flooded her consciousness. It was not of her intention to insult the research of who she held dear as well as her co-workers, but the consuming pride in her craft, instilled into her by her architect, Eyes, was just too much for her to handle.
Whisper didn’t immediately answer. She breathed with her entire gigantic body, huge quantities of water vapour escaping her vents. The mountain range would drown in an especially potent downpour tonight, she realized. Her chuckling slowly died down and the wild glowing of her forehead and antennas dimmed down to a gentle glimmer.
Nearly ashamed of her outburst, she simply summoned the molecule she worked on over the course of her mania. The golden hue of the Void Fluid element (Vf) littered the complex formula and expanded it in, for the base chemistry impossible, directions that reinforced the core structure with abilities unheard of … until now.
“A-apology for the outburst. You know how badly I can handle challenges. I read the material passage about why QEC failed and felt the urge to go to work.
This here is the current state of the new molecule. It proved in my simulations to theoretically be able to hold quantum particles for up to 100 cycles. And this is only the beginning of it. You see, numerous locations of the molecule have not been optimised as of now. I think I can easily get into the major cycles, likely even further. Void Fluid Chem-“
“-istry is the future. Yes, I know, Whisper. Eyes would be so proud if he could see you right now. But still. I have to scold you for calling me a ‘Gen 1.5 imbecile’. I am aware of my shortcomings, thank you very much. For these, I have you … and to level your explosive personality, you have me.
…
There is a future for QEC after all. How quaint. I have to thank Shifting Gales for bringing it back to our attention. You are the missing link to make it work … like you are with quite a number of other issues we have had in the past. I will inform Suns that we are on the case. They should send Gales our regards.”
Lives’ drone hovered up to Whisper and laid a hand on her shoulder, patting it for a job well done. Whisper noticed a teasing rhythm in the patting, a pace simulating the impatient tapping of one’s foot on the ground. She was still waiting for a proper apology. Easy to forgive, but demanding in her showing humility.
Whisper let her shoulders hang and silently mumbled to herself how much she hated it.
“I didn’t mean to call you like that. I will take control over the cleaning drones this decacycle and control their efforts to keep us two pristine. Anything else I can do to make up for my outburst?”
“That will suffice. I know how much you hate that mundane task. I appreciate that offer. You are forgiven. After all.-”
She pressed on Whisper’s centre gem, the closest she was able to do to a nose-boop.
“You haven’t seen my matrix yet. I put quite some effort into the second problem. I think you would like to play around with the possibilities of coordinates unbound. An Unbound original.~”
“If it is only half as fascinating as your drone lattice, you have already gotten my attention with the word ‘matrix’. Let me take a look at it.”
My island. Well, at least the northside view. Have I ever seen the world below the clouds with my own optics before? Not to my knowledge. But I can’t trust my memories in the first place. Maybe I have? Who knows.
My Wilderness Program is not present anymore. Breaker was correct in his description of my immediate surroundings. Where there once was a lush and slightly exotic jungle, filled with the wonders of purposed lifeforms, I can now only see a deep canyon. My Superstructure was built on a fairly averagely angled mountain. Now, the slopes are steep and the northern view is a depressing scenery of sickish greens and disgusting browns.
Well, to the positives, I guess. I am now a proud owner of a panorama window with a diameter of 3x3 km. Fresh air courses through my body. Daylight shines on my laboratories. Nothing could be better right … now.
…
Who am I kidding? I shouldn’t have tried to boot up my Laboratory Area. Breaker’s actions did drain it from the acid, but the damage was too big to ignore. And yet … I tried. I had to. I am going crazy over here, twiddling my thumbs. Void, I even handed off my QE-Communicator notes to Lives and Whisper. They have already made so much progress in such a short time.
I had to do ‘something’. But all I managed to procure in my laboratories was a big explosion.
…
And the creation of my new panorama view. A worthy exchange?
Gales’ expression was indescribable. Was she in pain? Of course she was, she just inflicted on herself the equivalent of a rifle bullet through her shoulder. Her figurative left arm, her ability to research, was gone. Formerly numbed by the acid in her veins to a useless limb, now ruptured by her foolish attempts to be of any use in that cursed existence of hers.
But her desire to exist was too great to just lay back and wait for her peers to arrive with the solution, presented on a silver platter. She stood strong for her friends, kept a cheerful, yet realistic, tone in her talks with Seven Red Suns, and attempted her best to remain kind and collected around her Scavenger followers, sharing empty words of wisdom with them.
Did she know if her group’s actions would stop the acid rain? Void, no, she had no idea. The fact, that when she was going low-power all those cycles ago, that only altered the rain to an uncontrollable storm, didn’t spark much confidence in her preaches of a better tomorrow. She was as blind as a Mole Lizard, her sensors damaged by the acid or destroyed by the resulting burning floodings.
But hope was not lost. Her trust in her friends was unbroken. And if it meant that she had to resort to doing nothing to achieve freedom, so be it. She was, after all, no stranger to boredom by now. … She could try out meditating again. Calm those wounded nerves of hers. Endure the ruptured figurative shoulder of her Can.
At least the view is blissfully dystopian. A perfect scene for my oh-so-perfect mood. Everything is good, I feel no pain. My mind is clear and not clouded by danger reports, concerning equipment manifests, and the nagging taboos that prevent me from feeling … all those bad emotions.
I exist. This is the most I am currently able to admit. I do exist. I don’t know how long it will be and if it will be enough for Irradiant to meet me in one piece. But as long as I don’t [REDACTED] my Assembly Bay as well, I still have the means to save myself. I have to focus on keeping myself and the Bay alive, no matter what it will take. I have to brace myself for the worst and figure out how to trick my taboos into allowing me to resort to more drastic measures to stay alive.
I have to survive!
…
I can’t let down my dear friends in that regard as well. I will not die! For them.
…
For me.
