http://quark-assassin.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
quark-assassin.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trans_92010-01-11 12:20 pm
quark-assassin.livejournal.com) wrote in trans_92010-01-11 12:20 pm
Entry tags:
I've gained Nothing, therefore I have Nothing left to Lose. [open]
He’d failed.
He’d failed miserably.
Everything had gone according to plan. Dustin got a layout of the ship, figured out all the key locations, found his weapons and tools, and had made it down to Neuropathy with only a few distractions here and there. True, once he got inside and Kirk got involved (along with security and the Major), things got a little out of hand for a few minutes. But in the end he still managed to get through to Stacy’s mainframe via one of the inorganic consoles and his cellphone—and, just as he expected, he ran into a pretty powerful defense mechanism.
Dustin had never seen anything quite like it before. The code itself was in an alien language and format (though that admittedly did not take long to sort out), and once he’d translated it into something recognizable it engulfed anything he threw at it. It was through sheer luck that he was able to decrypt and block the section that related to physical ship defenses so that Stacy didn’t hurt anyone while he was working—or, worse yet, hurt the one he was trying to save in the process.
It took roughly forty minutes of continuous typing, referencing, sweating and cursing for Dustin to probe his way through most of the security code. He was able to safely disable about a third of it. Two-thirds was beginning to look like a possible window of success, and at the rate that he was learning the code and adapting to Stacy’s counter-scripts his task was slowly becoming easier. Then, just as Dustin thought he had the hang of things, right when he let his guard down for the first time, the AI struck back viciously and managed to completely disable his phone, therefore destroying any chance he had at the time of getting past. The speed and ferocity in which it did so was totally unexpected, as if Stacy was predicting how Dustin would react next in order to disable each strand she threw at him—but this, this was impossible…not that he didn’t believe in telepathy, but he’d long thought that the frequency and turbulence of his thoughts made his mind impenetrable, equating to something like putting one’s finger in a blender if attempted. How she managed was less of a mystery; it was more bizarre how Dustin had managed to overlook such a glaring possibility in his preparations…
How could he have been so dumb?
It was a miracle that he’d escaped the brig (and the Major, no less), but now Dustin was on the run from everyone and everything. Judging from the crowd that had amassed and followed him inside Neuropathy, there was no doubt that his failed endeavor to get inside Stacy’s brain and fix her, once and for all, had long since been broadcasted to everyone’s Omnicom and had earned him widespread acrimony. Though, then again, he’d still managed to get pretty far into her programming to prove that he’d put up an impressive fight, one that few were probably expecting from him.
No matter; it still wasn’t enough.
So now, downtrodden, starved and exhausted, Dustin wandered into the City. He hadn’t eaten or slept since he woke up, kept hydrated only because he was stabbed by annoying tentacles each time he passed through the Living Area. Frankly he hadn’t expected that he would be on this ship long enough to worry about such matters.
Obviously he was wrong.
Staggering, the scruffy man’s gaunt figure walked blindly forward in a trance-like march. His deep green eyes, accented with bright red veins, were wide open and unblinking, staring at nothing, and yet wandering this way and that as if following invisible lines of text. The gears in his head were turning, nigh audible if one pays attention—though that sound is actually Dustin muttering to himself, quietly and without moving his lips. He seems to be speaking in…Russian? It doesn’t matter, what with the translating systems, because even with them he’s not saying anything coherent. Just numbers and letters…
He’d failed miserably.
Everything had gone according to plan. Dustin got a layout of the ship, figured out all the key locations, found his weapons and tools, and had made it down to Neuropathy with only a few distractions here and there. True, once he got inside and Kirk got involved (along with security and the Major), things got a little out of hand for a few minutes. But in the end he still managed to get through to Stacy’s mainframe via one of the inorganic consoles and his cellphone—and, just as he expected, he ran into a pretty powerful defense mechanism.
Dustin had never seen anything quite like it before. The code itself was in an alien language and format (though that admittedly did not take long to sort out), and once he’d translated it into something recognizable it engulfed anything he threw at it. It was through sheer luck that he was able to decrypt and block the section that related to physical ship defenses so that Stacy didn’t hurt anyone while he was working—or, worse yet, hurt the one he was trying to save in the process.
It took roughly forty minutes of continuous typing, referencing, sweating and cursing for Dustin to probe his way through most of the security code. He was able to safely disable about a third of it. Two-thirds was beginning to look like a possible window of success, and at the rate that he was learning the code and adapting to Stacy’s counter-scripts his task was slowly becoming easier. Then, just as Dustin thought he had the hang of things, right when he let his guard down for the first time, the AI struck back viciously and managed to completely disable his phone, therefore destroying any chance he had at the time of getting past. The speed and ferocity in which it did so was totally unexpected, as if Stacy was predicting how Dustin would react next in order to disable each strand she threw at him—but this, this was impossible…not that he didn’t believe in telepathy, but he’d long thought that the frequency and turbulence of his thoughts made his mind impenetrable, equating to something like putting one’s finger in a blender if attempted. How she managed was less of a mystery; it was more bizarre how Dustin had managed to overlook such a glaring possibility in his preparations…
How could he have been so dumb?
It was a miracle that he’d escaped the brig (and the Major, no less), but now Dustin was on the run from everyone and everything. Judging from the crowd that had amassed and followed him inside Neuropathy, there was no doubt that his failed endeavor to get inside Stacy’s brain and fix her, once and for all, had long since been broadcasted to everyone’s Omnicom and had earned him widespread acrimony. Though, then again, he’d still managed to get pretty far into her programming to prove that he’d put up an impressive fight, one that few were probably expecting from him.
No matter; it still wasn’t enough.
So now, downtrodden, starved and exhausted, Dustin wandered into the City. He hadn’t eaten or slept since he woke up, kept hydrated only because he was stabbed by annoying tentacles each time he passed through the Living Area. Frankly he hadn’t expected that he would be on this ship long enough to worry about such matters.
Obviously he was wrong.
Staggering, the scruffy man’s gaunt figure walked blindly forward in a trance-like march. His deep green eyes, accented with bright red veins, were wide open and unblinking, staring at nothing, and yet wandering this way and that as if following invisible lines of text. The gears in his head were turning, nigh audible if one pays attention—though that sound is actually Dustin muttering to himself, quietly and without moving his lips. He seems to be speaking in…Russian? It doesn’t matter, what with the translating systems, because even with them he’s not saying anything coherent. Just numbers and letters…
no subject
no subject
“I might as well be!” Dustin snarled, moving violently forward as to push past this annoyingly nice woman, “If it keeps people from bugging me, then perhaps being dead would be the better option!”
no subject
"I don't know what's so important, but in case you hadn't heard, this really isn't the best time to be pushing yourself like this - not with the Nightmare King. We're going to need everyone to be at the top of their game... and you look like you're going to collapse on the spot!"
no subject
“I don’t need your help,” Dustin grumbled, increasing his pace while making a point to not look directly at this floating annoyance. The flying hardly put him off—he knew several people with levitation abilities. He’d even studied a few of them in order to document the different variations that they came in. Self-propelled flight was quite the dynamic ability, if you can believe it.
no subject
no subject
Oh right, the Omnicom announcement. Almost forgot about that one—on purpose, really.
“To hell with your problems,” the scruffy man glowered, clearly flustered as he stumbled along at his faster speed on the uneven pavement, “The AI’s already proved that I’m no use to the rest of the crew, and besides, I could care less about your goddamn Nightmare King. It’s not my priority right now. Mmkay?”
no subject
She sighed. "Please, just stop for a second, and let's talk about this - I'm giving you that choice, right now."
no subject
“I’ve already tried!” Dustin snapped, finally stopping and taking on a solid, defensive stance in the middle of the road, “I worked my abilities to the bone and I couldn’t pry my way through a simple issue! Would you like to know why?”
A beat, but it was a short one.
“Because I tried to take the rest of the crew into account! I was trying to solve everyone’s problems when I should have been focusing on my own! And because of that, I’m no longer useful. I’ve failed the one person that I cared about in the first place because I lost sight of my goal.”
An angry, cynical smirk curled the edges of Dustin’s nose into a disgusted grimace.
“Why don’t you tell enlighten me as to what my other choices are, lady? I’d really like to know!”
no subject
no subject
“You don’t have the answers I need,” Dustin barked, “If you did then I wouldn’t be here right now. So quit trying to help me and get out of my face.”
He started walking again, deciding that this woman really wasn’t worth his time.
no subject
The jewel she wore around her neck spoke in a synthetic female voice: "Yes, my master. Set Up: Barrier."
Now, unless Dustin were significantly faster than she'd judged in order to outrange her, he'd find himself and Nanoha at the center of a dome that rapidly swelled to thirty or so feet wide, tinging the entire world with a muted green otherworldly tint.
"We're now in a Barrier spell - in other words, shifted half a dimension over from our regular one," Nanoha explained calmly. "You really should just stay and talk with me, because it won't be easy to get out."
(ooc: Wanted to ask permission but you weren't on AIM, if this isn't ok let me know and I'll delete and retag.)
no subject
Dustin’s brain ran through the different possibilities for how this woman managed this. Thankfully she was nice enough to at least explain what this was, so that saved him half the trouble. On the other hand Dustin wouldn’t rest until he figured out exactly how she’d done this.
It wasn’t so difficult to contemplate, really. She had channeled her energies through a mechanical pendant around her neck—and though the powers were different, one of Dustin’s best friends could do the same thing, even if said pendant didn’t talk back. Similarly, Elemental shielding was a fairly common ability, and traveling to the fourth and fifth dimensions was something that an, eh, ‘acquaintance’ of his did on a regular basis.
None of this was particularly strange or overwhelming. Dustin was, however, smart enough to see when he’d been cornered.
“What do you want with me?” he asked gruffly.
((ooc: Seeing as you haven't mortally injured him, you're fine. :3 ))
no subject
no subject
“Well I could’ve gathered that,” he growled, still plastered to the floor (because he felt like it, not because he was too tired to get back up), “But if you haven’t guessed I’m not really one for conversations. What the hell is it that you want to talk about?”
Sorry, Nanoha. There will be no proper exchanging of names today—not if Dustin can help it.
no subject
It's okay. Other than one of her pet peeves, she's remarkably patient. And this Barrier can last for hours.
If nothing else, he's getting a bit of rest.
no subject
“I tried to fix the AI.”
Dustin continued to glower emotionlessly at the ceiling.
no subject
She moved to sit crosslegged, hovering in the air.
no subject
“They obviously weren’t getting the job done. And from what I understand, I got closer than most of them.”
no subject
Judging from what she'd picked up, anyway.
no subject
What do you think he’s been muttering all this time?
no subject
She shook her head. "What did you have to gain from trying it alone instead of working on what they'd learned so far?"
no subject
“I work differently than they do.”
And in more ways than one.
no subject
no subject
But, considering that he was basically being held hostage and was too weak to adequately defend himself, Dustin just wanted to get out of there as quickly and painlessly as possible. Might as well play along for now, yeah?
“I don’t work with people,” he narrowed his eyes pointedly (still flat on his back of course), “I work for them, and only if it’s worth my time. If I wanted their ideas then I would get them to write me individual theses for personal study.”
Dustin gave Nanoha a grim smirk.
“Perhaps you can be a dear and go tell that to them in order to stop wasting my time, mmkay?”
no subject
Nanoha paused for a moment. "We're on this massive city-ship with people from millions of millions of different worlds, all with different abilities and experiences, and we're fighting a bigger threat than anyone has ever faced before. Don't you think that it's a bit silly to assume you've got all the answers?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)