by KrazyFace, HSM team writer

The Xi Journals – By Nam-Shub

Entry: The Final Day of Xi

As I approached the large reflective doors embossed with binary, they finally opened to me. After all our riddle solving in and out of virtual space, the end was finally upon us; we had made it. Together we had overcome all of the hurdles Jess had laid out before us but there was one last thing left to do: make a choice. One we must all make alone.

I made my choice, and as soon as I did a brilliant white light engulfed me and then there was nothing. An aether perhaps, a place of grand size that seemed to contain nothing, and it was here I stayed. Waiting, watching…

Entry: Day 0

For what seemed like an eternity I had been waiting, listening for something, anything. A murmur, a rumor, a quake.

And then it happened; I felt such an unusual tremor I was put into a state of unease. Something was moving under the skin of this programme we call “Home” — something big. It began with such abruptness I was taken aback, fires began to rage through Home and in the strangest of places. Parts of Aurora were being lit up like forest fires!

Whoever was doing this was no normal avatar; they were beneath the code. I could feel them, shifting in the spaces between the programmer’s lines, and even they who created this place did not know.

Then the hidden codes started, and I knew it had begun: Jess was back and the aether broken.

As I deciphered the encryptions that began appearing around Home, it became obvious there were more like me, and they too had been woken from their hibernation. Each region had differing parts to these encryptions and were being pieced together already. It didn’t take long for the one causing the fires to show themselves either; EatFlamingDeath had an undertaking that she would obviously never be dissuaded from — some kind of revenge or score to settle. But why, and with whom?

I had to find out.

Not long after, I found a message from Jess on the Net. It was a war cry, a call to arms and a plead for us to come together once more, across the oceans and lands of the real world, a globe-wide cooperation was being asked of us once more — but this time there was real danger. This was no repeat of our previous training. This was the real thing.

Entry: Day 1

After following the clues and decrypting the messages, I was led back to Aurora, where it all started this time around. By now the strange kiosks popping up around Home had been finished; they were in the guise of cola vending machines, but something wasn’t right. The name for one, rang bells that pertained to something very unrelated to a soft-drink. Xoff; something used by computers that tells a programme to cease its transmission of code to another place. Xon/Xoff. Simply a go/stop command. But for what?

All Home users are real, each and every one of us, but our embodiment within Home is still nothing more than a string of code — a separate programme, if you will. Could this be what they are? Not merely another jovial Home item but something much more profound; something to switch off our avatars?

And if we are switched off within Home, where do we go?

I took my chance, and approached the machine, as soon as I touched it I fell into blackness. Then, before I knew what was happening, I was falling. Terminal velocity didn’t seem to register wherever it was I had suddenly found myself, for the pace at which I fell was warped. I was being pulled, pulled through some kind of pipe or wormhole. Before I knew it I could hear the familiar voice of Jess talking to me; she had led me here and was pulling me through. Her work however was being sabotaged, and I was part of that process! EatFlamingDeath had been watching us, and obviously did not want me involved. Explosions began all around me and whatever means Jess was using to drag me into this new place with her was being destroyed as I came through it.

The vortex collapsed and I hit the floor with what can only be described as the most painful fall in history — and yet I lived! There she stood before me: EatFlamingDeath. I watched her smug grin turn to frustration as she watched me get up. Jess didn’t waste a second, spurring me on to persue EFD immediately, and I did. Only to be slowed by a chase to a darkened warehouse. Jess in my ear again, urging me to find my way through and find EFD. By the time I did, though, she was long gone; I’d lost her again.

Yet here I stood in such a strange place, the likes of which I’d never seen in Home before — for in here, wrapped under a safety blanket of code was a city, a space so vast it would rival the emptiness I had been lost in for the last few years. This, apparently, was the Continuum. After following Jess’s instructions I came to a space built just for me: a haven from the strange creatures flying high above the Continuum and the prying eyes of unseen enemies, relentlessly hunting for something, or someone. In here I found my Cypher, and within that, my Primer; my link to this world and Jess.

Entry: Day 2

As I awoke from my brief rest, it seemed the second day was already upon me.

This new place was strange; time didn’t seem to move the same way it does out there in the normal world of Home. In fact, I’m not even sure if time moves at all here.

My musings were interrupted by Jess contacting me again, asking me to use my Cypher – a kind of personal computer linked directly into Home, the Continuum and the real world outside. As I scanned through my Primer I was informed of more movement outside of the Continuum and even outside of Home itself. This time, a new troublemaker had been found; other Xi agents had been scouring the Web, looking for clues to EFD’s whereabouts but instead had dug up something rather foreboding: someone or something called Devine Zero. A faction, perhaps, in league with EFD and her malicious plans? No one really knew for sure yet, and it was my job to find out.

I used my Cypher to link in to Devine Zero’s page and found only one thing: a message — and a threatening one at that. Whomever they were, it seemed they were not friendly. Irritated by my own presence and the other agents of Xi within the Continuum, they were warning us to stay away. Thankfully we had back-up in all of this — a mysterious group or company known only as Axiom. These were the people responsible for the Xoff Cola machines and are working in league with Jess and the agents to track down EFD. Although I’m never sure whom I can trust, this new faction are indeed quite the enigma, Axiom itself is a word meaning “a fact that is true, and proves itself simply by its own existence.”

But who are they really, I wonder.

Entry: Day 3

Today a bomb arrived sent by Axiom, probably while I was exploring the Continuum. Right now it’s not even assembled, but Axiom have led me to believe it’s some kind of scrambler bomb and quite safe to be stored in my personal slice of the Continuum. From what I can gather, Axiom plans to use this and other agents’ bombs to destroy the Continuum from the inside. It seems rather a shame to destroy something so beautiful and unique when we know so little about it, but regardless, my instructions are due.

There’s been more movement from Divine Zero, too: everything they do seem to be aggressive actions, yet Axiom are holding back on them. EatFlamingDeath also appears not to be working alone; myself and other agents have found contacts linked to her, two more known as Malachi and Stickman. Both seem as brash as EFD herself, and I’ve been tasked with finding at least one of them ASAP. The Continuum isn’t like other places though, things here are not always what they might seem. I myself can appear strange and unusual to other agents sometimes and this will make things particularly difficult later I’m sure.

After further exploration of the Continuum I’ve come across something of particular wonder and interest; small packets of what seem to be code. I’ve been collecting what I find, but can only find eight of these odd things so far, I’m keeping them safe until I find out more and will endeavor to keep a sharp eye open for any more I might come across. I’ve also been visiting a place known as Snowcrash Bar, a place of training for myself and other agents to hone our skills. A rather curious name for such a place, though; snow crash was a novel written by Neal Stephenson, with the connotation leading to nonsensical language spouted by one of his prototype computers that had crashed. I fear there is more to this name than whimsy.

Entry: Day 4

Continuum virtual weather – clear skies with a faint loss of bandwidth to the North!

The bomb in my personal space it seems has been assembled without my presence. I have been instructed that it will be detonated in three days’ time. I must admit, it makes me terribly sad to know the destruction of something so beautiful and unexplored will never have its secrets revealed to us, yet we must do what it takes to halt EFD’s assault on Home and its users.

After digesting this new information I was informed of a firebomb attack on Axiom’s HQ within the Continuum itself; no three guesses needed to who that might be.

At least, that’s what I thought. Once I got to the scene of the attack traces were left that had been picked up by Jess and her team. These led me to a firewall outside a building, and after using my team to gain entry I found Stickman pleading for mercy. Some tough guy, begging not to be hurt! Once my job there was complete he was taken to a safehouse by other Axiom agents for the “extrapolation of information” — rather him than me.

More information about the data packets I’ve found has also come up. Turns out they’re definitely hidden code, but what exactly? I have my own guesses, but I’ve already been directly contacted by Axiom and informed they will “crack the nut” for me. Good things, they say, come to those who wait. In the meantime I’ll keep searching the Continuum for more of them; if they really are worth something we’ll need as many of them as we can find. There’s only three days left until the destruction of this amazing place and I for one want to know what these data packets can tell us before it’s too late.

Entry: Day 5

I’ve been told of the information Stickman has provided Axiom; apparently it did not take much to get a wealth of info out of him. I can’t say I’m all that surprised. If he was afraid of me, he’d be terrified of the other agents.

There has been some very unwelcome progress however, linked to the menacing silhouettes of the drones that have been circling my every move since I entered the Continuum. At first everything seemed rather tranquil here: the strange trees that seem to grow from the water upon approach. The water itself, a calming reflective substance that seems intangible at the same time and yes, even the strange, fast moving squid-like robotics that appeared to swim high above me did not seem to be much of a threat. But as the days here have gone by, my awareness of them has grown as has my anxiety of what they really are. They seem to be attracted to the scanner I’ve been given to help me track down targets. Perhaps they are the keepers of this strange new place. Perhaps they are being controlled by EFD herself?

Whatever their purpose for being here, they have me unnerved and ill at ease with my own presence here now. Axiom have coined them “Bully Drones” and have warned me that they have been known recently to have attacked other agents.

The data packets I’ve been gathering have also come to fruition, Axiom have told me they have “cracked the nut” so to speak. It seems these packets are combinations of words and have given me an extra programme within my Cypher that should automatically decode them and place them within sentences to make some kind of sense of them. I can only hope the message they convey is one that will dissuade Axiom from the destruction of this mysterious place.

Entry: Day 6

I received some worrying news today via my Cypher. It seems my fears of the Bully Drones were right — they are hostile. I was right about my concerns of them being somehow attracted to my scanner, too. Axiom already knows this and assures me they’re working on a fix. Whatever they do about it, I hope they do it fast; I don’t like my odds for going up against one of those things on my own. It seems Divine Zero are picking up the pace too, but Axiom have a trick up their sleeve — me.

I’ve been asked to investigate their site. Some kind of hack is needed to extrapolate information about who they might be, what exactly they want or even just where they fit into all of this. I was already on my way out to search for more of those elusive data packets, and had been asked to investigate some strange goings-on while out; apparently the Divine Zeros have been flexing their muscles. I read strange reports of them being able to change the very shape of the Continuum. The power to move a whole building! When I arrived in the area of these bizarre sightings I saw nothing. Yet once I moved my position to what I can only describe as “the gardens,” I saw it happening. The reports were right. It wasn’t just a building they were able to move, but whole blocks of them! It seems to me that whoever these people are, they have been here much longer than we have, and they know much more than us, too. My concerns can wait, however, because right now I have a website to crack open.

Entry: Day 7

Good news today: there have been discussions within the commanders of Axiom as to whether they should go ahead with the bombing of the Continuum. Although nothing is concrete yet, the general consensus is we have more to learn from this place than previously thought. I daresay I am thankful for this turn of developments; the bombs have been deactivated for now, just in case.

There has been a development in our understanding of the Bully Drones as well; it seems they’re not exactly individually intelligent. Instead they’ve been reported to display swarm dynamics most typically associated with that of birds or fish, like a flock or shoal. We have also discovered that previous reports of them attacking other Xi agents is not linked to our personal robots — the Aeropals — but rather the heat signature of our scanners when in use. The 15w of heat our scanners emit when in use will attract their attention rather quickly; from what we can tell they see it as something alive that must be removed from the Continuum.

In some ways, this a kind of blessing, since now we can alternate the use of our scanning equipment and hopefully avoid any further incidences with these strange and formidable creatures. On the other hand, it’s going to make our jobs just that little bit harder without full use of our scanning tech. There have also been reports of Drones passing through restricted areas with minimal effort, meaning they may carry some kind of command override signal granting them access all areas. I can’t help thinking that if we could maybe catch one, we might be able to utilize this to our advantage. A dangerous prospect indeed, but with a skeleton encryption key to anywhere within the Continuum we could gain a huge upper-hand in finding EFD and her associates and put a stop to this quickly and efficiently, while leaving the Continuum intact for proper investigation.

One other thing I happened to dig up today was information on what we’re calling the Hole in the Head Gang. I’m not sure if it’s the same person, but rather than EatFlamingDeath, they seem to be led by someone called EatFreakingDeath. That might not appear odd at first, but in Axiom’s database their gender is listed as “Zygote” — originally a Greek word, but acquired by science and used to describe the first stages of an embryo. An embryo that if given the abilities of miosis could potentially multiply itself indefinitely. A worrying thought at the least, as it could mean that EatFlamingDeath, EatFreakingDeath, EvilFrogDoris, EarwigForDinner and EbolaFeverDame are all some kind of clone from the same origin.

 

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