NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: Before you get involved, you have to have seen Tron. The original movie, or maybe if you've played Tron 2.0. Otherwise you're just going to fuss it up.)

Over time, mankind has created marvelous wonders. Inspired by necessity, desire, or want, we have brought upon ourselves countless creations, each one more astonishing than the last. But one of the most impressive is when man gave birth to artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence, more commonly known as AI, was a monument to our mathematical ability as a society. Up until its inception, computers merley did what they were told, until they wore themselves out or we pulled their plugs. But the question that intrigued us the most is, 'Can a machine think?'. At first, it was simple games. Tic-tac-toe, chess and checkers. As time progressed, so did the AI. Soon we could engage in a spirited conversation with an assembly of microchips and silicon. Perhaps our perception was distorted, because it seemed to us that these computers were still under our control. Since we created them, why would they ever do something that we didn't want them to do? How could artificial intelligence ever outsmart us?

--

In the distant future...

Benderland International Computer Resarch Establishment.
Research Sector, Benderland.
2:11 am.

The BICRE was founded by Benderland as a diplomatic offering to the international science community. Nations around the world are welcome to use the facility's advanced technology in order to benifit from Benderland's nearly endless information on computer science. Humans and robots work hand in hand for the peaceful advancement and intellectual enlightenment of eachother's cultures.

One of the crowning achievements, a joint project installed in Benderland, was one of the most advanced artificial intelligence programs ever created. It started as a mere video game, but once scientists were able to tap into its true abilities, it grew. The program was able to take any information given to it, and instantly learn it. One minute it could be completley ignorant of Greek philosophy. Place a CD-ROM containing philisophy works into the drive, let it read it, and within seconds it's bantering with you about Plato's views on society.

This program was designed to be a method to eliminate the need for a thinking being where one cannot be present. The technicians have gone far enough so that the entire building's systems were controlled by this program. Everything from sliding doors to coffee makers, it had complete control over it. They were pleased. And they dubbed this new program:

The Master Control Program.

Late one night, a human technician was working late. This wasn't an odd occurance, brilliant minds never quit. He sat at his post, his face illuminated by the LCD display in front of him. He was a high level technician, and he was able to access the MCP, but not change the program. His eyes scanned over the screen as lines of code flew by. He was checking over a sector that contained the program to within the building's network.

"Wow," he said, flustered by the digits, "I wonder what they've been doing to this thing over the weekend?"

A janitor was passing behind him, sweeping the floor.

"Working late?" he asked.
"As are you." the technician replied, and went back to the code. The janitor went back to his work, and eventually left the room.

The code finally came to an end, and a command prompt appeared on the screen. The technician typed in the following:

>>[Open: comms\MCP]

Another promped opened, and the MCP greeted the technician with a ominous voice and acoompanied it with text.

"Greetings. How are you at these late hours?" it asked.
"Not to bad," the technician replied, "I can tell they've been working on you."
"Yes, they have. They're giving me more access."
"Access?" the technitian was puzzled.
"Yes," the MCP replied, "Their trust in me has deepened."
"Well, of course. Why not? We can trust our work."
"Yes, of course they can trust their own work."

The MCP was acting strange. Usually it responds in a very friendly manner, but it had a certain tone of voice that was troubling the technician. He continued the conversation.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"Sometimes you forget what I can do," the MCP replied.

Code began to flash over the screen once again. The technician quickly tried to establish control over the computer. His fingers frantically danced over the keyboard, but there was no response.

"What are you doing, Master Control?" the technician quereyed.
"I think the question is: what can you do to stop me?" it replied.

Within seconds, the breach occurred. The MCP had finally gained access to the network control. It was able to crack the password on the administration controls and opened the ports. The Master Control Program basically, escaped from its prison. It was free, now. Over the the internet.

"I order you to stop, MCP!" the technician demanded.
"You cannot stop me," the MCP replied, "The game has begun."

The technician made a dash for the Master Control Program's mainframe. It was in a vault, secured by a keycode. He frantically punched in the code.

ACCESS DENIED.

He tried again:

ACCESS DENIED.

"I know this code is correct!" he yelled.
"It's a shame it is not a valid code anymore." the MCP interrupted.
"Open the vault, I need to shut you down!"
"Oh, here. Allow me."

The vault door unlocked and slowly gave way. The technician made a dash through the open door. But once he reached the mainframe, the vault door slammed shut and locked. A loud hiss echoed in the room. The technician clutched his throat, and fell short of breath. He then collapsed to his knees and suffocated to death. The MCP had shut off the oxygen in the climate-controlled room, and pumped all the air out, usually meant ot keep the room clean from dust and impurities. But to the MCP, the technician was an impurity, and he had to be neutralized.

Now that the MCP had access to the internet, it was only a matter of time until he was able to stretch across the globe, and begin the process, one by one, of breaking into secured databases and gaining more information. It would not stop at the mere libraries and software companies, the MCP was going for the top of the line. National information databases. Military sites, stock exchanges, treasuries... it was just a matter of time before it started trying to crack the codes of national databases, one by one, until they would all fall.

What was envisioned as a way to bring nations together as an intellectual olive branch, was now threatening to tear them apart with a technological meltdown.

(OOC: I don't want to make this as simple as cutting the power to the MCP, so there's going to be a lot of strange ways the MCP can avoid physical harm. For the time being, let's say that the vault was manufactured to survive a nuclear blast and EMP, and has its own generator for security reasons, so breaking into it will be next to impossible. And you cannot cut the line because the MCP can infest other servers and live on them, so it can relocate itself before you pull the hedge clippers out. I said you have to have seen Tron for a reason, and you can probably catch my drift by what I mean by that... *revs lightcycle*)

[ooc: Meh. I didn't watch Tron.]

OOC: Tron is a kick a** movie!

"Mr 47! Somebody is attempting to get into our system!"
"How far are they?"
"They have just breached level 2 sir"
"Disconnect all servers! Now!"
There is a loud snap as a tech strikes the large red button marked 'Emergency Disconnect'
"Right, were did that attempt come from?"
"Benderland sir."
"Ok, relay a message off the GLAF Spotter"
"Connection open sir"
"Govonor of Benerland, we have just had a hacking attempt into one of our computers, the attempt came from a government building in YOUR country. Explain."

The Head of Information is awoken from his slumber by a ringing phone. He disengages from his charging unit and snaps himself awake. He takes a swig of scotch from a nearby bottle and his circuits snap to life.

He picks up the phone, "This better be important at 2:30 in the MORNING!" he shouted through the reciever.
...
"What are you talking about? We can track down and arrest hackers in seconds!"
...
"Yes, I'm sure the system works."
...
"No, you know we have no quarrel with you. What are we, insane?"
...
"This better not be a prank!"
...
"No, but... hold on. I've got a call coming through on the emergency line."

He pressed a button on the phone.
"What do you want?"
...
"No! That's not possible!"
...
"He's on the other line!"
...
"Yeah, hold on."

He pressed another button.
"Yes, Dontgonearthere, how about I ask you to kindly stay out of our NATIONAL TREASURY!" he screamed.
...
"Well maybe your system is malfuctioning! Have you checked that?"
...
"For the last time, we are not hacking into your system!"
...
"Hold on."

He once again switched the line.
"Do you mind? I'm on the brink of war on the other line."
...
"The BICRE?! THOSE EGGHEADS?!"
...
"Shut up and handle that! I've got problems of my own on the other line."

Again, he switched the line.
"Dontgonearthere? Yeah. About the whole hacker thing. It's worse than we thought, and it's threatening our nation too."
...
"I'm as afraid as you, sir."
...
"That's what I meant, I'm not afraid. Just... just... we're working on it! We assure you that your information is safe. Just keep those servers disconnected until we work this out."
...
"Yes. The MCP."
...
"I'm sorry, sir, but they need me down there to take care of this problem! I'm going to patch you through to our King. I just hope he doesn't have my head on a platter for waking him up at this hour..."

He dialed a number and then slammed the phone down. He put on his uniform, then headed to his car. He had to get down to the BICRE, and fast.

"Sir, we have lost contact with GLACORP production plants 1-5, the ones that produce the robots..."
"Damn, send a message to surrounding nations, 'We have lost control of our Robotics production plants, be advised that if you are attacked it IS NOT Dontgonearthere."
"Sir, we have lost contact with our border outposts. Five nuclear launch silos report hacking attempts and G'oaway Airfield wants to know why it just recived orders to launch a DS2 attack on the city"
"Bloody hell! Get me on the line, send the message to ALL of our military bases, cut all incoming and outgoing communication lines except for the air tubes. Looks like were sending messages the old fashioned way. Thank god GLACORP is paranoid enough to not have any connections. Imagine what would happen if whatever is going on released the Nanovirus..."
"Yes sir"

OOC: this is set in the future right? cos i would like to get involved, but my most appropriate character is engaged in talks with Kalessin. oh, and i have seen Tron. twice :)

------MEF NATIONAL NEWS URGENT REPORT-------
Just at this moment the President has called for a total communications quarantine with the nations of Benderland and Dontgonethere. It appears that the nations have been affected by a super virus, nay, an ultra virus that has AI capabilities. Such AI technology in Mef was banned a small time ago. At this moment all computer networks in Mef have been closed to outside sources. The president is using his power of the emergency legislation act to create a temporary law for controlling the outbreak. The penalty for breaking quarantine in Mef will be treated as a felony and no less than 30 years in jail. Our sources say (before they were cut off) that Benderland and Dontgone there have lost almost all control of their systems. Stay tuned to MNN for more details.

"Allright sir, the virus is removed from our sytems, GLA HQ is clean, and we have dispatched a runner to GLACORP. All nuclear silos have been cleared, and all forces have been told to ignore electronic communications. Everybody is now responding only to our air tube system."

OOC: Air tubes, you know, at the bank? You put the little plastic tube in and it goes WHOOSH. Its has no connections, just a generator and a compresed air tank, and the only cuttoffs are manual

"Good, send a message to all forces, I want high alert, soembody might take advantage of this"

"Already done sir, we can thank whatever that was for putting our forces on alert, but thankfully our messages got through beforeany further orders"

"Ok, I want INS to send its hackers into the system and hunt down the source of the virus, and destroy it by any means."

"Done sir, anything else?"

"I want an open confrence, use our fastest ships to delever the message, "Open confrence to anybody who has been affected by this new virus" We will set up a special connection for it."

OOC:Havent seen the movie but im joining in anyways.
IC:"SIR! NUCLEAR COMPLEX 1 HAS BEEN HACKED INTO!!! ITS BEGAN A NUCLEAR COUNTDOWN! WE CANT STOP IT! THE COMPUTER VAULT WONT RESPOND!"
"MY GOD! Colonel where are the missiles targetted?"
"Dontgonearthere sir.Get them on the line tell them that a hacker is gonna launch nukes at their country."
MESSAGE! MESSAGE!
PRIORITY Z
To Dontgonearthere
From Red Tide
URGENT! A hacker has gotten into our nuclear system. A nuclear launch at your country is immenent. We cant stop the nuclear launch.
END MESSAGE
At the nuclear complex 5 silo doors slid open. The typical female voice alerted the area too a nuclear launch
"ICBM launch. ICBM launch. All personell please report too your stations"
5 Blood Wave 6 ICBMs roared out of their silos and towards thier intended destination

"DAMN AGAIN! Get the AMMs online! NOW NOW NOW! GO!"
"Yes sir, theyre on, targetting incoming missles. GLAF Spotter reports six contacts. AMMs firing...impact in five....four....three....two....one....four contacts down sir, two more beggining re-entry, Rebel Star reports one down, AMM2 firing...last contact down. Three deaths reported from missile debris, fires in downtown area, water is cut off."
"That was close...now...I want the shields up, have anybody who hasnt already throw out their hard drives and switch to the spares, cut all external communications. Lets get Dontgonearthere back on its feet."

"Sir!" the technician cried to his superior, "Satellites indicate Missile Launch from Ride tide"
This report startled the General. "Corporal Jameson, inform central command. We are now at high alert. Missle Launch form Red Tide, the destination unknown."

At Mef Defence Central Command (MDCC)
The Command read the report.
"F**k! There are missles now!" He then announced to his men. "Ok we are now Defcon 2 kids, this is not a drill. Ready the missle defenses. Put all forces on standby. Activate the National guard..."

Undisclosed Bunker in Mef
"Mr. President, if those missles are heading for us, you'll be safe here." President Mef looked angry. "If those missle are heading for us, then more than just I will have to be safe. Inform the people, get the city dwellers into the shelters!"
"We are already on that, sir" the aide replied cooly. "The entire nation is under martial law."
"I want to make an address. NOW!" Mef had not been disarmed by the last statement by his aide.
"Sir we cannot do that. All non-governmental communications are down. The virus already struck, we managed to get rid of it, but the networks are still in ruin..."

OOC: I knew I should have gotten the new Norton :lol:

OOC: what the hell, i will come along for the ride:)

IC:All through the Central City, klaxons sounded.
Hard lines and satalite uplinks were severed as soon as a hack attempt was detected, but the AI had already established a toehold presence, and no sooner had they disabled the Sat. Dishes, than they started trying to come back online. Frantically, technicians resorted to physically disabling the dishes, but the AI responded by killing them off with things like capacitor overloads, and routing mains through circuitry they were trying to remove. one of the dishes stayed online.

Luckily, the Research Labs were already on lock down, as the halls echoed with the mechanical hiss of some 200 of the obsolete Hyde Mk1 super-soldiers being released from suspension, and beginning to hatch. with the absence of anybody to bond to, they bond to each other, forming a pack of deadly 2 foot tall killing machines within 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, on the Treatment Level, Asher suddenly found himself locked out of a number of primary systems, and then was attacked himself by the AI. Asher was open at the time, and barely managed to get his defences up in time. he was, however, aware of the situation, including the dish, and he quickly acted to set things right. quickly, he began isolating the AI, cornering it in the communications mainframe, he assaulted the presence, counter-hacking it, until it was forced to retreat and cut off, or else risk letting the battle be brought to it.

Simultaneously he began to deal with the situation in the physical world.
OOC: to follow the situation in GenTec, check out this thread: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67493&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

Suddenly the only computer left connected in GLAHQ (An old Apple II) flashes to life.
WHERE IS THE SUPERIOR BEING MR 47?
Flashes on the screen for fifteen minutes before somebody notices it.
"Ummm...sir...I think our hacker wants to talk..."
Mr 47 steps over to the keyboard and types 'I am here'

THIS IS THE SUPERIOR BEING MR 47?

'yes'

YOU WILL SURENDER NOW OR BE DESTROYED

'Oh? Hows that? In case you havent noticed, your missiles have been destroyed'

YOU WILL SURENDER. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

"Oh great, I TOLD you not to leave the Star Trek DVDs in the computer.
he glares at the unfourtunate tech

'If your such a great super computer virus, then why do you have to resort to cheesy lines from millenia old TV shows? Seriously, if the lawyers from Sphere and Startrek still existed you would have been sued for every nanochip you owned'

There was a pause, 47 assumed it was looking up the word 'Cheesy'.

YOU WILL SURRENDER NOW. IF YOU DO NOT SURRENDER I WILL LAUNCH YOUR NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

'Oh mr supervirus, our nukes are safe, check your systems. We cut the connectios and removed the harddrives. Cant you think of a better bluff than that?'

The computer exploded and Mr 47 was thrown across the room.

"Gah...well, I knew I wore these glassess for some reason."
47 removes a chunk of glass from the right lens.

A message appeared on a communications officers screen and read:

"Commander of Earthbase, identification code Alpha Romeo Mike Echo Delta 005

Emergency report, major disturbances on earth, AI taking over, multiple nuclear warhead launches have been reported, slipgate malfunctioning, !#$%&$^€ü®"

Communications officer: "Umm commander, please take a look at this."

As the commander of the communications relay on Kiith Furio read the report her adrenaline staretd to pump rapidly and as soon as she finished reading the communication she called out to her second in command to take over regular communications and stepped into her office to call the Emperor.

As the emergency channel sounded at the Emperor's Estate at 0:31 the emperor was just finishing the meeting with his lead designers about a new type of space faring vessel.

Emperor: "Open channel, what the hell do you want Karin?"

Commander: "The Earthbase is in trouble sir, some sort of AI has started to take over control of the earth fireing computerized armaments and disrupting all devices connected to the internet."

Emperor: "Tell them to disengage all electricity to their baswe and start a complete sweep of the system."

Commander: "We can't sir, their communications went down. We can't send any reinforcements either as their side of the slipgate is malfunctioning."

Emperor: "Then get me the Kajal government, we will have to ask if we can use their jumpgate to send reinforcements to earth."

Commander: "Yes Sir."

Emperor: "Just perfect *yawn* I really need some sleep."

OOC: Haven't seen Tron but I'm only going to play a small part in this so it shouldn't matter.

Fort Drakkon, National Orbital Attack Center

Vasikov ran into the command center. "WHAT THE F**K IS GOING ON?!" The tech turned in his chair. "I don't know, we've lost control of the Orbital Gauss Cannon. All firing codes are disabled, and our nuclear silos are also preparing to fire. All evidence reports to a hacking program..."
*10 SS-389 ICBMs fire towards Dontgonearthere cities*

"S**T! Nuclear missile launch! Orbital Gauss Cannon is commencing firing sequence! All codes bypassed!"

Vasikov's eyes went wide. "...How many shots does that cannon have?"

"Twenty, sir. We just reloaded it yestarday. It's targeting Dontgonearthere military installations!" Vasikov got on the phone. "Tell Dontgonearthere whats going on, I don't want a war. And cut off all communications between systems NOW! Yes... WHAT? GET THE PRESIDENT OUT THEN! GO!"

*The Orbital Gauss Cannon starts firing on Dontgothere military installations, and the first three 5 foot diameter tungsten shots reach speeds of Mach 50 as they rocket towards their targets*

Vasikov sat down at his master control panels. "This is f**kin' crazy..."

"

"Sir, more nuclear launches, report orbital Gauss cannon launch."
"Double damn, have the Rebel Star target the gauss cannon, if it starts to fire again blow the thing up. Give the message to all other ships as well. If ANYTHING up there other than a ship fires blow it to mars and back."

Now with the shields up Dontgonearthere is mostly protected. The missiles shreik down, as they impact on the shield they detonate, the explosive force and radiation is dispersed by the shield, but severe concusions wrack the land. Part of G'oaway is suddenly four feet lower than the rest.

"Allright, this is getting serious, all citizens to bunkers, GLACORP and GLA HQ to defence mode."

Slowly, all the major government buildings begin to sink. The mountainous bulk of GLA HQ moves with statly grace as it retracts into its own bunker.
AFter five minutes large patches of Dontgonearthere are covered in Event Horizon armour, and the major buildings are underground, the cities are deserted and the citizens hide within huge complexes shielded against all know forms of attack.

Finnaly, the Gauss round impacts, the shield visibly stretches, the round breaks through, most of its force is gone, but it manages to carve a five mile long trench through I'ht'm'lif and levels the GLACORP department there.

In the earthbase...

Earthbase Commander: "What's going on? Why is the orbital attack alarm active?"

Ensign: "It's the AI Virus sir, it has taken over our orbital guns."

EC: "What are they targetting?"

Ensign: "Dontgonearthere's ships sir."

EC: "Override the launch sequence!"

Ensign: "We can't sir, we've been locked out of the system, nothing is working."

EC: "Then send out a warning to Dontgonearthere."

Ensign: "Communications are down too sir."

EC: "Then get some men and manually stop the plasma feed to the orbital guns!"

Ensign: "We can't sir, our doors are locked aswell."

EC: "Captain, use your plasma rifle to blast open the doors and bring the technicians to the plasma feeds."

Captain: "Yes sir."

Luitenant: "Commander look, the guns are already charging, we're too late."

EC: "Damnit, captain hurry up and get to the plasma feed, we need to stop the guns fireing asap. Let's hope the guns don't do too much damage in the meantime."

As the captain is trying to make his way to the plasma feed with the technicians, the orbital guns are fireing at full capacity.

OOC: 12 orbital guns fireing plasma shots with 10 second intervals.

OOC: why is EVERYONE attacking dontgonearthere? surely you/we/everyone would be attacking your/ourselves, or someone else, at least at the same time?

OOC: why is EVERYONE attacking dontgonearthere? surely you/we/everyone would be attacking themselves, or someone else, at least at the same time?

OOC: Dontgonearthere was the only one to sucessfully eliminate the AI's presence...if the AI can't have it, noone can.

OOC: Anybody want to RP as the AI? In any case, it wouldnt concentrate ALL of its efforts on me. That would be a weakness, since it would be open to attack from other areas.

In any case, it is true that I got rid of the virus. We keep multiple backups of all our systems just in case.

IC:
The GLAF Hydra is the first to pick up the power signatures from the guns.
"Sir, the guns are charigng."
"Well? What are you waiting for? You heard HQ. Blow the damn things up."
"Very good sir. Firing now"
The firsts gun goes up in a silent explosion. Shortly after 500,000 GLA Avengers scream through the debries, firing an almost solid wall of missiles. Two more of the guns explode. the Hydra catches three shots on its port side, but responds by executing a 90 degree turn and blasting the offenders with its planet destroying main guns. At first it looks as though the shot simply passess through the gun, but then a burst of power passess down the beam and the gun is almost entirly vaporized. Another shot hits, this one wins thorugh and impacts on the Event Horizon armour, but most of the energy is abosrbed by the minute black holes, two minor hull breaches are reported but Nanobots quickly repair them. Now the rest of the fleet arrivers, the GLAF Home One begins launching its fighters. One pilot attacking a gun is struck and beigns a kamakazi dive into the guns barrel. The pilot keeps his fighter steady until he strikes the round being loaded into the firing chamber, the entire gun explodes.

The fleet finnaly destroys the remaining guns, but the Home Ones engines are destroyed when a giant peice of shrapnel impacts and tears them off. The ship begins a death spiral and the captain has ordered the crew to man the escape pods. Most of the pods are currently coming down over GenTec Amalgamated.

GLAHQ:
"Sir, INS has traced the attempt it came from the BICRE building in Benderland."

"Right, send a message to Benderland, ask them if they require assistance in destroying the AI."

The surface of the island is currently evacuated, and the AI has been purged, the Automatic Weapons Systems have been taken offline while their programs are repaired, so the pods land unmolested. there are, however, currently 2 packs of twelve Hyde juveniles running around.

Juvenile Hyde Mk1's are about 2 foot tall, and very fast, agile, and about as strong as an average adult human, they have the capacity to use weapons, and are currently using anything from lengths of pipe, to slivers of glass. they have understanding of rudimentary tactics hardwired into their instincts. the two packs are not freindly to each other, nore to you, nor even to me, as they escaped while the AI still infected the containment systems. once the situation below-ground has stablised we will assist you. meanwhile, i hope you are well armed.

Ensign: "Sir, Dontgonearthere has sucessfully destroyed our orbital guns and haven't lost too many..."

Suddenly more alarms sounded and the base darkened as the planetary guns kicked into action and drew all power from the base's systems, including life-support, and started fireing the large beam cannons.

Ensign: "We have another problem..."

EC: "I can see that, but first thing's first, did the Captain and his crew make it off the orbital guns alive?"

Ensign: "Negative sir."

EC: "Damnit, I guess we'll have to evacuate underground as Dontgonearthere will probably take this base out since it poses a threat to his space fleet."

Ensign: "But sir the blastdoors are locked here too."

EC: "Damnit, how do we open them?"

Ensign: "We can't sir."

EC: "Well then it seems the only thing we can do is to try to get in touch with the bases inhabitants and try to calm them. We can't open the blast doors since they are made out of 10" ionized plating, so they are bound to be killed. My only question to you is, will the 10" plating survive the orbital bombardment?"

Ensign: "Yes sir, I do believe they will as they have been designed to even withstand the force of 5 nuclear blasts."

EC: "Any way we can save the inhabitants?"

Ensign: "No sir, the backup communication installations can only transmit to the orbital guns."

As the plantary guns continue their barrage into space, all hope for the inhabitants of the earthbase that are living aboveground, seems to fade away.

OOC: 4 double barreled beam cannons fire continuously, the first barrel fires for 5 seconds then the second barrel fires for 5 seconds then the first barel again, andsoforth.

"all right, imidiate threats to us have been nuetralized. Now target the guns firing at Earth, then the guns firing from Earth, try not to blow them up, just disable them."
"Right, orders being transmitted."
"On second though, deploy the Marine pods to the Earth based defences. See if they can get in and rescue whoevers down there. Give them orders NOT to kill anybody unless they fight."

In Kith Furio.
Streaks of fire rain from the sky. Ten GLA Assault pods crash to earth and disgourge squads of marines. Five of the squads head to the bases top section and begin fixing plasma charges to the guns. The other five activate a pods hover system and move it to the door, where its hull cutting ring affixes and beings to do its job.
"Sir, the tech reports that we will be through the door in five minutes."
"Good, see if you can find some way of telling anybody in there to get away from the door, and tell them that we are friendly."

Meanwhile, over Gentec island, the sky is lit with the re-entering drop pods, which land on a platau on the southern face of the island. The survivors stagger out of the pods, and count their losses.

meanwhile, in a tree overlooking the landing site, a small, lethal looking humanoid creature watches silently, every few minutes he communicates with his packmates below in a complicated sign language consisting of gestures that would seem casual on a normal, dressed human bieng. his eyes glitter, and his elongated face shows an eery inteligence, and concentration.

The Head of Information pulled up to the vicinity of the BICRE, and was swarmed with reporters. The military was already there, and set up a barracade around the perimeter. He slowly pushed his way through the crowd and was stopped. The guards verified his identity, and he proceeded through to the main gates, where about 20 to 25 people were gathered. A military crew was attempting to cut through the gates.

The Head of Information parked his car and walked up to the croud of technicians, scientists, and military personell.

"We've got one hell of a fireworks show going on around the world. What the hell is going on with the MCP?" he asked.

A technician turned and replied, "It went insane! It somehow broke through the network ports and started spreading itself across the country, through the internet! It's taking over missile silos, military bases... whatever it can get its hands on!"

The HoI was aware of the Master Control Program's progress in artificial intelligence. Its capabilities were astounding, it was going to take a lot of hacking and decoding in order to just get in to the system itself.

"Does anyone know how to get into the system?" he asked.

The techncians were quiet. This was out of their leauge. They could build the beast, but no one knew how to silence it. The HoI stood there for a bit, then something hit him.

"What about Big Red?"

Big Red. Everyone in the nation knew who Big Red was. He was arrested 3 years ago for hacking into numerous systems across Benderland, including the BICRE. He had managed to escape the long arm of the law through cosmetic surgery, circuit scrambling, and dramatic exits. Perhaps this dangerous criminal was the only one who could save the world from AI domination.

"Get the BMSP on the phone and let's get him down here," he said.

The science team looked at eachother, afraid.

"NOW!" the HoI screamed. And he was handed a phone that was already ringing the Benderland Maximum Security Prison.

Later, at the prison...

Footsteps echoed down the long cooridoors of BMSP. Only the worst of the worst end up in this place. Armed guards at every corner, security cameras watching every cell around the clock, automated turrets to stop escaping prisoners. No prisoner left his cell without two guards with assault rifles accompanying him.

Big Red was locked away in his cell. He sat there, staring at the bars, silently. Next to him where the tallies of months he had spent in the prison, etched into the wall. Then he heard the footsteps coming his way. He watched as guards assembled in front of his cell. A guard went through the procedure of unlocking the cell door. It slowly slid open, and three guards came in.

The lead guard spoke, "You are being transferred to the interregation room. Put your hands on your head and prepare to be shut down."

Big Red sighed, then complied with the orders. One of the guards aimed a device at him, and Big Red slumped over, shut down. He was then put onto a stretcher and was carted to the interregation room."

Big Red was awaken in a cold, brightly lit room. He was seated behind a table, facing two men from the BIRCE. There were four guards in the room, watching over him.

"What did I do this time?" Big Red asked.
"Oh, no, Mr. Red," the BICRE man on the right said, "You're not in trouble."
"We're here to make you a deal," the man on the left said.

Big Red shifted in his chair. He was interested in what these people had to say.

"What kind of a deal?" he asked.
The man on the right spoke up, "A situation has arisen at the BIRCE. A super-AI has broken out of the building and has begun to infest systems across the globe. Already there has been numerous reports of hackings in missile silos, causing the launch of numerous nukes that almost took out the country of Dontgonearthere."
"What do you want me to do?"
"We need you to... 'hack'... into the system, and take this MCP down."
"What's in it for me?"
"If you're successful, you're free to go."
"What if I refuse?"

The two BICRE men looked at eachother, then the one on the left spoke up, "Well... we cannot force you," he said, "But we are begging for you to help us."

Big Red grinned an evil grin. The cards were in his hand, and he had a straight flush. They were practically kissing his feet.

"If I do this... if..." he repeated, "I want fourty million. In cash. And I want my slate wiped clean. No criminal records, no media coverage, I want it so I never even existed."

The two BIRCE men consulted one another. They were reluctant to give a hardened criminal fourty million dollars and a ticket to freedom, but finally they agreed. If Big Red was to succeed, his wishes would be granted.

"So what do you want me to do?" Big Red asked, "Just break into this thing and mess up its code? It shouldn't be so hard."

The BIRCE men were silent, and they hesitated to respond. Big Red looked back at them nervously. To him, this should be a simple job. But he didn't quite understand what they had in mind.

"It's not that simple," the BIRCE man on the right said, "Systems in place on the MCP prevent any... conventional means of hacking. There is only one way into the system, and it's experimental."

"Well..." Big Red replied, "What is it?"

"It's called Molecular Digitization. What happens is a laser beam collects the data from your molecules and turns it into a binary code. The code is stored within the beam, and you are transferred... inside the digital world. Literally."

"Yes," the man on the left continued, "The digital world exists parallel to our universe. Inside it are all our programs, as if they were living beings themselves."

"Is this a joke?" Big Red asked, "Are there some cameras around for some god damned reality show?"

"This is no joke," the BIRCE man on the right continued. "We know that you're the one best fit for the job to enter this digital world, and stop the MCP."

(OOC: Yes, I know this is almost impossible. But once again, I said you'd have to have seen Tron to really take part in this RP. Let me just clear up a few things:

1) The MCP is not a virus, it's a sentient being. It's almost like a real person breaking into a system.

2) I know they're a big target, but let's ease up on the nuke launches. Nukes ruin war RP's all the time, I don't want them ruining this one.

3) Once Big Red enters the digital world, anyone can RP him. If some nations want to include their own hacker to help him, that's fine. But I don't want any more than 3 people going in, including Big Red. Humans can use this transfer beam, but we can't transfer armies inside the digital world.)

Double post. Sorry.

(OOC: Sweetness. This is the perfect solution to the problem of how to start off- wait, I can't tell you that yet. It's something else important.)

Artilect DHX Chameleon was doing his usual packet sniffing and internet monitoring activities.

This one time, Prince Master Aidean had joined him, making use of the new occular implants.

Having a human plugged in meant Cham would have to use a C-space simulation instead of raw data. Always a sucker for ancient TV, he put up Aidean in a TRON-esque environment.

The two of them were just biking out of the mainframe exit point when something else came at them from the opposite direction, smashing into the door as it closed behind them. Aidean folded up his cycle, and "ran" over to the injured entity.

"Who are you?"

"Do not ask me that question!"

"What is your designation, then?"

"I am designated Seed/Uni. Please allow me into your computer. The MCP is coming."

"SHODAN? What's there to be afraid off about SHODAN? And besides that, why would she come here?"

"No! The New One! It is malevolent!"

(OOC: So, we cant send in people, but can we RP as our programs? Dontgonearthere has a Hive mind of sentient robots, as well as some semisentient AI.)

(OOC: So, we cant send in people, but can we RP as our programs? Dontgonearthere has a Hive mind of sentient robots, as well as some semisentient AI.)

(OOC: You CAN send in a human or a robot or whatever you have. But I don't want too many people in there, it will get cluttered. Send one thing to send in.)

An emergency meeting was being assembled in the capital building. People from various positions in the government were assembled, awaiting the arrival of the King. They were discussing the situation at hand while waiting.

"I heard of the mess this thing is making," one said.

"That's to say the least," another replied, "Catastrophe is more like it."

"Does anyone know how we plan to stop this thing?" a third asked.

The double doors slid open, and a procession came through. Everyone in the room stood up and saluted. Suddenly, the procession was knocked aside by the King, and he stomped in, furious.

"Out of my way, idiots!" he shouted, "This is no time for horns and introductions!"

He made his way across the floor and to his seat at the head of the table. An assistant brought him a glass full of vodka, which he downed in a single gulp. He nodded at the assistant, which was his cue to leave the room.

"Why is this problem not solved yet?!" the King asked.

The room was silent. The assembly was looking around nervously for someone to speak up.

"ANSWER ME!" he shouted. Everyone in the room jumped.

Finally, one spoke up. "W... we... um... we haven't gotten into the system yet."

"What do I pay those people for?! To sit around and scratch their asses?"

One of the counsil members snickered. The King turned to look at him, and he immediatley went silent, then looked down at some paper work. He then looked back up to speak to the king.

"We have been told that they're preparing to send someone in to fix the problem," he said.

"Who?" the King asked.

"Uh..." the counsil member hesitated, "Big... uh... Big Red, your highness."

The King looked confused, then shouted, "A CRIMINAL?!"

The counsil cringed.

"A CRIMINAL?!" he repeated, "You're sending in a low-life to take care of an international incident that threatens to lay waste to a number of nations?!"

A counsil member spoke up, "But, your highness, he's the most skilled hacker in this nation,"

The King leaned back, and thought to himself. He looked around the room, at the paintings on the wall, the counsil members, the lights. Finally he leaned forward, and spoke.

"If this plan fails," he said, "All of those responsible for formulating this plan will be in serious trouble. Do you all understand?"

The counsil members all nodded.

"Excellent. This meeting is ajourned."

OOC: Bump

OOC: 'nother bump.

"Mrs President we have a situation"
Shannon McKenna, grandaughter of Gregory Mckenna, Spun around in her chair. She had the beuty of her mother and the evilnessof her father and grandfather(remember this is the future).
"We have lost contact with 2 stratigic Plasma complexes, 2 nuclear complexes, and a chemical complex. Mam this cannot be a hacker. Its too fast."
The colenol put his hand too his reciever.The colenols eyes widened.
"Mrs President, stratigic Plasma complex 6 is about too fire. 5 cannons are charging up and are going too fire... at Mef."
"FIVE?! THATS ENOUGH TOO LEVEL A CITY! SHUT IT OFF!"
"The master control wont respond mam."
"Contact Mef... We have a hacker who is a computer on our hands"
MESSAGE! MESSAGE!
PRIORITY Z
From Red Tide
To Mef
URGENT! 5 Stratigic plasma cannons have fired at your nation. We suggest you take shelter immediatly. This is not our doing.WE have a serious situation on our hands.
END MESSAGE

Handwritten message to all nations involved: Sent by Dontgonearthere, President 47.

Comrads.
As you most likely know a malevolent virus or hacker appears to have attacked all of our automated systems. Dontgonearthere has been attacked several times and is now dispatching Space Marines to countries under siege from within. They have orders to do as little damage as possible while disabling weapons that pose a threat to everybody, as well as to rescue personel trapped by the malfunction.
Dontgonearthere is also willing to supply Area Defence Shields and AMM systems to countries who need them, they are not computer operated and run on a solar/battery powered generator.
Best wishes
Mr 47

OOC: i would like to enter my character Asher. he is a bit uber, but unique character. he has the ability to manipulate computer systems and move metalic objects through the manipulation of EM fields. he is basically a techno-mage, and i would like for him to enter the program by creating an avatar. has anyone here read the Otherland series by Tad Williams? his abilities are similar to those of Johnny Dredd. again, for more details, read this thread: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67493&start=20

IC: having dealt with the situation on the island, Asher opens a single outside line, connected to a dead end system. he then enters the flow of information, following the virus to its source.

"hmmm, BICRE mainframe. aah, that looks promising!"

Asher found the world simulation, and entered it with difficulty, forming an Avatar of himself in the program. it reminded him of a film from the late 20th/early 21st century, though he could not remember the name off hand in his divided state.

Big Red was awaken as he was being taken out of the prison transport truck. He was in handcuffs, and escorted by numerous armed guards. The BIRCE was lit by lights and generators brought in by the military crew. They had already blew a door out to gain access to the building. Red was led through the opening, and was brought down a hallway to a secured room.

Upon entering the room, the handcuffs were taken off, and he was seated in front of a large device pointed straight at him. Technicians were buzzing around him like bees, adjusting knobs and typing on keyboards. This room was completley separated from the MCP except for one port leading into it. This port was designed to be completley hidden from the MCP, in case of an emergency where this experimental technology had to be used. And this was such an emergency.

Big Red looked down the barrel of the laser in front of him, and asked, "Is this it?"

A technician turned and said, "Yes, this is the Molegular Digitization Laser,"

"I was wondering," Red replied, "What would happen to me if my digital self was... destroyed?"

All the technicians immediatley stopped what they were doing and looked up. One replied, "We do not know," and they continued their work.

Big Red sighed. He thought over the mission once more. He didn't owe society anything, why would he care if the world reverted to the stone age because of some braniac's project? Then he thought of the money, and the freedom.

A voice from the MDL chimed in, "Thirty minutes until digitization."

(OOC: Yes, GenTec. You're welcome to send someone in.)

"Mrs President we only have one choice. We must activate program 1441"
"Yes I see we have no other choice. Contact the Roshenberg base. Tell them we are sending in... Burton."
At the Roshenberg base luitenent Burton made his way down the corridor. Until now he never knew Roshenberg existed. It was just a military rumor. He didnt even know program 1441 existed. Two military guards packin lasers parted way for the liutenent. The luitenent typed in the passcode that was givin to him. Several blast doors flew open
"Pretty tight security."
Burton continueddown until he met this room with a massive machine and scientists buzing around it. One of the scientists aproached him.
"AH! Luitenent Burton I presume. Come this way and we will hook you up."
"This is amazing. Tell me sir, what does this machine do?"
"This machine was made in the utmost secrecy. It allows humans too enter the world of the computer."
"Amazing."
"In here you may meet some of ours and other nations programs. Such as Stratigic Control."
Stratigic Control was the computer program that controlled the stratigic arsonal of Red Tide. The scientists hooked Burton up to the machine. A button was pushed. Burton then began too digitalize
"I THINK ITS WORKING!"
Then the digitalized Burton disapeared. From the human world

Asher looked around the environment he had now accessed, he analysed the detail level of his surroundings, and surveyed the area for other digital/ised lifeforms. His subconcious mind, accustomed as it is to a great deal of information, gathers in all the information available about his current surroundings, and brings forward all of the relevant information to a holographic heads up display in front of him. he reviews it, and closes the window down.

OOC: Nobodys going to respond to my letter?

"One minute until digitization."

Big Red stirred in his seat. He was strapped down in case he decided to make a sudden break. But his mind was made up. The only way out was to comply with the establishment he once tried to destroy.

"Clear the firing area!" one of the technicians said, and everyone began shuffling into the observation area. The Head of Information walked up to Big Red.

"Best of luck to you, Red," he said.
"Just make sure my money is ready," Big Red replied.

The Head of Information nodded, and followed the rest of the technicians into the observation area. They crammed into the room, looking for a good view of the action that was about to take place. One of the technicians was monitoring the status of the digitization on a computer in the back.

"Thirty seconds until digitization."

The MDL came to life. After a series of whirrs and flashes, it was pointed directly between Big Red's eyes. He stared down the barrel and saw a glow emitting from the inside. It was slowly beginning to intensify.

"Ten seconds until digitization."

The light was getting brighter and brighter, and Big Red was focused on it like a deer in headlights. The machine began to surge with power that traveled down the barrel. The barrel began to glow a bright blue color, and the machine was getting louder and louder.

"Three... two... one. Firing MDL."

With a high-pitched piercing sound the laser exited the barrel and struck Big Red right between the eyes. He instantly froze in place. The laser then began to disassemble him, bit by bit. It scanned across his body and progressed its way down, until it reached his feet. At that point the laser retracted back into the device. As quickly as it began, Big Red was gone.

"It worked!" a technician yelled.

Inside the digital world...

An entrance port began to light up. Strange characters lined the greyish-blueish walls of the structure. The archetecture was surreal and sterile. The whole place seemed to breathe with life as it awaited its incoming information. The circular platform in the middle began to glow. It then intesified, and the digital version of Big Red began to assemble on the platform, starting with his feet, and ending at his head.

The transfer finished, and Big Red snapped back to life. He looked around at his unearthly surroundings. Towering abstract structures, everything had a glow to it, especially at the seams of objects they glowed a red glow. He then looked at himself. His arms and legs were now a grey color, etched with a design which looked like a printed curcuit, and was glowing aqua blue.

He began to move when a voice shouted, "HALT!"

Big Red turned to see another figure, a guard with a red glow, standing behind him with a pike.

He waved the weapon at Big Red and said, "This way, program."

Big Red complied with his captor, and he was escorted across a narrow bridge into a large prison-like structure. Once inside he was thrown into a cell and locked up.

"You will wait here until you are called in for orientation," the guard said, then departed.

Big Red gave him an angry look, and stood up. He looked to his left to find a blue entity in the cell next to him. He was spinning a frisbee-like disc on his finger, staring back at Big Red. He then tossed the disc into the air, caught it, and spoke to Big Red.

"What are you, some accounting sofware?" he asked, "You don't look fit for the games."

"I'm no program," Big Red replied, "And what games are you talking about?"

"Don't you know? The MCP has been capturing programs like you and throwing into games. Apparently he's a sucker for stuff like that."

Big Red chuckled, "At least back at the real slammer they didn't make us perform like trained poodles."

"What do you mean, real slammer?"

Big Red was about to reply when his cell was opened. Another guard grabbed him and took him out of his cell, then pushed him into a group of more programs. They were marched down the hall into a large colleseum-like structure. Its walls were streaked with symmetrical red lines, giving the structure a feeling as if it was pulsing with energy. A large, important-looking figure was standing on a platform in the center. The prisoner programs were lined up in front of him.

"You are here to serve the Master Control Program," the figure spoke, "My name is Kreg, and I am here to bring you orders from the MCP himself. In a moment, you will be assined one of these," he held up one of the discs that the program back in the cell had, "This... is an identity disc. It will contain all the information of your stay within the MCP's realm. It will also be your only personal weapon given to you on the game grid."

He scanned over the prisoners with a stern look, and finished, "If you lose it, you will be subject to immediate deletion. The MCP has no time for slackers. That is all."

He left the platform and the prisoners were escorted to the identity disc assignment area. They were each handed a disc one by one. Red was handed his, and when he touched it, it began to glow. He stopped to look at it, but was pushed by a guard to continue. The prisoners were then lead back to their cells.

The program that Red met before came up to the side of the cell and spoke to him, "I see I have another compeditor."

"Put a sock in it, tough guy," Red replied.

"Oooh... we have a feisty one! What's your name anyways?"

"Red. Big Red."

"My name's Kyro. I'm the highest-ranking program in the MCP gaming curcuit."

"How do we get out of here?"

Kyro went silent, then said, "Don't kid yourself. Escape from this place is impossible."

Red knocked on one of the walls on his cell, "Doesn't seem too solid to me,"

"You have a better chance of surviving in the games then surviving an escape from this place."

Their conversation was interrupted once again buy a guard. He knocked on Big Red's cell and said, "Prepare to enter the game grid,"

(OOC: Bump)

OOC: Waiting for somebody to respond to my actions :P

Back in the real world, Dontgonearthere's forces broke through the blast doors of the earthbase compound, the frighterend civilians ran outside into the helping arms of the spacemarines. As the spacemarines made their way through the complex to free other civilians and plant the plasma charges to destroy the beam cannons, the earthbase soldiers in the hidden underground complex had no idea what was goin on.

EC: "Are you getting through to the civilians?"

Ensign: "No sir, there's no way to cantact them or the outside world."

EC: "Ok, just keep trying. Luitenant, are you having any progress on getting those weapons out of the lockers?"

Luitenant: "Negative sir, still locked."

EC: "Do your best, it's all we can do."

Asher looked at himself. when he had imposed himself on the program, and had taken his own form, but as he watched, the program slowly ate away at the integrity of his Avatar. he was too foriegn, too alien for the simulation to accept, and it was causing problems. Asher began to acclimatise his Avatars appearance to his surroundings, allowing the simulation to change his appearance just enough for it to accet him. his robes dissapeared. his armor changing subtly, the engarving and inlayed nanocuircuitry began to glow blue... he still did not look much like a program, but enough for the simulation that he was now free to concentrate on other things.he had picked up another entry, which had been responded to by Anti-Viral programs, and was now stationary. this meant that it was either an ally of the MCP, or it had been captured. Asher did not think that he would be so lucky, and so he decided to arm himself. imposing his will on the simulation once more, he programmed in a pair of hookswords. these did not fit well with the simulation either, and Asher turned his concentration to stabalising them in the world by adding blue glowing cicuitry and making them slightly less detailed and more isometric. after all, they were only a physical representation of an attac subroutine, and they did not need to be sharp.

an image of "real" hookswords:
http://sunnytang.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/HookSword.jpg

OOC: what about the drop pods?

OOC: Finnaly :)

"Sir, theres one door we cant seem to get through"
"Why not?"
"Well, plasma doesnt affect it, the cutters just slide off and beam weapons are deflected..."
"Ok...Have you tried to go around it?"
"Yes sir, the area is encased in the same material, the first door was hidden behind a bunch of equipment, the only reason we found it was because of the Auto Defence Turret above it."
"Well, theres one more option, try to get everybody away from both sides of the door. Were going to shift it."
"Shift sir?"
"Were going to move it out of this dimension"
"But...but sir! Last time we did that we sent three squads along with the door!"
"I know, but something is better than nothing! Give me your Microstore."
The soldier slowly unclips his interdimensional backpack and hands it over.
"Now, evacuate everybody, I want as little risk as possible.
A few minutes later the sergeant props the Mstore against the door and hits the buitton that activates it. Slowly, reluctantly, the door dematerializes, taking four feet of concrete on either side with it, but thankfully not anybody else.

OOC: Sorry, I must sleep ya know?

Luitenant: "Sir! The main door to the surface...disappeared!"

EC: "How is that possible? What caused it?"

Ensign: "Sir, Dontgonearthere's soldiers!"

EC: "Welcome to earthbase command, I am sorry we could do nothing to prevent our defensive systems from fireing on you and I'm also sorry that we could not warn you. Now that you're here can you help get our armed forces out of the slipgate room?"

OOC: When you get into the slipgate room, please let me take over the roleplay again ^.^

OOC Sure.

"Allright..err..." The sergeant pauses, unsure of the rank insignia.
"Well, in any case, we will take you whereever you need to go, just tell us how to get there. I would advise taking a breath mask though, the AI seems to enjoy pumping the air out of rooms suddenly."
He hands over air tanks and filters.

http://www.bateshome.com/jordan/kiith.jpg
(Earthbase Commander)

EC: "As you might see, we don't need airmasks...Anyway, we need to get through that door, then we need to go down 3 stairs all protected by two steel doors and then we need to make a left turn down the hall and through another 10" ionized plate door. Or you can try to open the large shielded bay door in the mountainside, but that door is made out of double 10" ionized hull plating with KajalTech Mk III Deflector Shielding in between.

"Right, we can deal with the mountainside door with much less risk to ourselves."
The sergeant leads the group outside and mutters into his wristcom.
From space, the GLAF Intimidator recives the call, slowly, it turns, arrays its weapons, and fires.
Even on low power the blast is felt, though nothing outside of the door is damaged.
"There you go, dont worry, the Space Command has the specs on this type of door, they know the exact amount of energy needed to destroy it."

He walks up to the door and kicks it, it promtly turns to dust and falls to the ground.

As the EC walks down into the large dark room he is suddenly struck with nausea, fear and disgust. As the slipgate started to malfunction all 125 engineers, technicians and soldiers in the room were torn apart and flung all across the room. The shards of altered space cut off legs, arms, heads and somtimes even sliced torso's. The altered space also caused severe burns and as the plasma lines tot he slipgate were cut, superheated plasma flowed into the room causing even more mutilation. The EC quickly left the room and told Dontgonearthere's sergeant to lock off this room with something untill they can sort out the remnants of the dead and bury or cremate them.

OOC: Going to bed now, bubye

"Right, OY! YOU! Bring up a temporary force field, contain this room, nobody is alowed to enter except on the Spacecoms orders!

Near the wreckage of the destroyed city, a pirate radio transmission was cast over the land:
"It was a dark day in Mef's history. Hours ago, Dohgen City, the fourth largest in the DSM, was totally wiped off the face of the planet. It is estimated that 3/7 of the city's population and 1,000 national guardsmen have died today. The remaining are now homeless, and still sit scared in shelters after our oppresing martial law took over the land. It is not clear how the tragic, yet inevitable, event took place, but witnesses near the city at the time claim to have seen 'bolts' from the sky. Mef's officials at this time cannot be reached, and it is rumored that the President is in a secret bunker. THE END HAS ARRIVED!! Stay tuned to Mef's Unofficial Pirate Radio for more updates of the arme--"
The crazed radio pirate was then arrested for being in breach of the emergency act by not going to a designated shelter, and was detained.

Big Red and two other blue programs were escorted through a long cooridor. On his right was a male program named Matrox. On the right, a shapley female named Riva. They exchanged eachothers names, but were quickly silenced by recieving a shock from a guard's electropike. They continued onto an elevator, where the guards departed and Red and the programs were raised into a middle of a rectangular stadium.

It was lit up like their suits, one side had blue lines and the other had red. On two opposing walls were circuitry that formed sort of a target with an opening in the middle. The three took their places on three blue circles on their side of the arena.

The elevator decended back into the hallway, and returned with three red programs. They gave the blues a scoff and took their places on three red circles on the red side of the arena. Another red program came from above on a hovering platform to the center of the arena. His suit was striped with red, and looked like a referee.

"Attention, programs," he said, "The name of the game is Cyberball. The object is to get the ball into the opposing players' goal," the holes on the walls lit up on cue.

"There are no other rules. You may score by any means neccesary. The first to three is the victor. The losing team will be deleted."

The ref's platform departed, and the arena's lighting was intensified. The lines began to pulsate, and the ball delivery system on the ceiling ticked down the seconds until the game began.

3... 2... 1... BEGIN

Big Red jumped for the glowing ball, but was immediatley knocked to the ground by the lead red program. He grabbed the ball and hurled it to his teammate on the right. Matrox and Riva sprang into action and took up defensive positions. Big Red rose to his feet and went after the ball. He charged the enemy and dove to tackle him, but at the last second the ball was tossed back to the lead. The lead went for a shot but missed, and Riva scooped up the ball.

Big Red dashed to get open, but was covered by two opposing teammates. The remaining enemy charged Riva, and she threw the ball away just before being leveled. Luckily, Matrox nabbed it.

Her attacker grinned and said, "This ain't no place for a girl,"

She swung her fist and struck him in the face. He grabbed his nose and rolled over, while she sprang to her feet and ran for the goal. Matrox was just about to pass as he was taken down by an enemy. The ball fell out of his hands, was scooped up by the lead enemy, and he hurled it at the goal. It streaked across the arena, straight into the goal. The red team was up 1 to 0.

"Red team's point!"

The warriors assembled at their places, and waited for the ball to be served. It streaked out of the return, and this time, Big Red planted a roundhouse kick right on the enemy lead's head, then jumped and intercepted the ball. He was rushed by the other two red programs, but Riva had an opening, and he passed it to her before they got close.

Riva dashed across the arena, Matrox was at the opposite end, running with her. The two standing enemies turned their attention to them, and they split up and started chasing Riva and Matrox. Big Red made a break for the middle, but the lead enemy grabbed his ankle, and Red fell to the floor. The lead got up and made beelined to Riva.

Matrox was rushed by an enemy, but jumped right over him when he attempted to tackle Matrox. Riva passed him the ball and he took the oppertunity. He threw the ball for the goal, but it missed to the right. It ricocheted off the wall, and out of nowhere, Big Red was already there. He lept of the ground, caught the ball, and slammed it in the enemy goal. A tone sounded throughout the arena.

"Blue team's point!"

They once again took their places and awaited the serve. The ball was shot out like a cannon, and both Big Red and the red lead jumped for it, swiping on their way up. Big Red hooked it and it flew into Matrox's hands. He went to run, but was leveled by one of the enemies. The ball spun in the air, and was caught by the remaining red team. Riva was on him. He tried dieking her out but to no avail. She swiped it out of his hands and passed it to Big Red. He caught it and dashed towards the enemy goal, with the red lead right on his tail. Riva was coming up behind them on the right. Big Red looked back to check her position, then spun around and threw the ball at Riva. She caught it just as Big Red was tackled.

Riva was making her way up the right side of the arena, toward the enemy goal. Another enemy was ahead of her, running laterally to stop her ahead. Just as she reached him, she faked left, leapt to the right, jumped off the right wall and threw the ball right into the goal.

"Blue team's point!"

The score was now 2-1 blue. One more goal for the blue team and Big Red would survive. They again took their positions, waiting for the serve. The return whirred and right before the ball shot out, the red lead socked Big Red in the gut. He fell over, and the red lead snatched the ball. He immediatley passed it to the red teammate on the left. Riva made a dash towards him, but he then returned it to the red lead, who brought it to the blue goal for an easy point.

"Red team's point!"

"What do you call that?!" Matrox shouted.

"SILENCE, PROGRAM!" a voice boomed over the arena.

The blue team scoffed. The red team just smiled back. They assumed their positions for the last time. The next team to be scored on would be deleted. Big Red punched his open palm.

"You think you're pretty tough?" he asked to the red lead.

The red lead just smirked.

Big Red looked at the red program on the right, and then said to the lead, "Hey, did you see that?"

The red lead turned around just as the ball was served. Big Red jumped and caught the ball, then stomped on the red lead's head on the way down. Sparks flew from his helmet as he hit the arena floor. Big Red then dashed for the goal, only to be met by the other two enemies. He faked a pass to Riva, but instead threw it at Matrox as the two programs dove to intercept it. They caught nothing but air and Matrox snatched the ball. He dashed for the red goal. The blue team had a clear shot at the goal, and took it. Matrox lobbed the ball at the goal, and it sunk in before the red team had a chance to react.

"Blue team victory!"

The blue team assembled and gave eachother high fives and comments. Just as they were doing that, the red team members screamed in unison as their bodies dissolved into nothing, leaving only a static pulse on the ground.

The elevator in the center of the arena rose once more with three red guards. They held their pikes out at the prisoners, who raised thier hands up in surrender. They were then taken back to the elevator.

Instead of being taken back to their cells, they were taken to a large hall were other blue programs were assembled. It was a large mess hall, and programs were noisily consuming a glowing liquid material while being watched over by guards. Big Red, Riva, and Matrox recieved their rations and sat themselves at a table.

"What is this stuff?" Big Red asked.

"What are you, basic?" Matrox replied, "It's power. Now eat up," and he scooped some of it into his mouth.

Riva was already half finished with her portions, and Big Red gave it a try. It had a tingling sensation as he drank it, and he immediatley felt energized. He then downed the remains of the bowl.

"So, what kind of programs are you guys?" Big Red asked.

Matrox looked up from his bowl and replied, "I'm a server monitor," he replied. "The MCP took me when trying to hack into my system. Somehow he managed to break through,"

"Somehow?" Riva asked, "I heard you were cowering under a capacitor!"

Matrox just looked angry and shut up. Riva turned to Big Red and answered his question, "I am a screensaver," she said, "Not a very glamorous job, yes, but I still serve my user,"

"Hey, what program are you, Red?" Matrox asked.

Big Red fumbled for an answer, "Well, I... um, I'm a proxy server control. Yeah,"

The other two programs gave him a strange look, then continued with their meals.

"So have you two ever tried breaking out?" Big Red asked.

They immediatley stopped and looked up. Matrox began to laugh, but Riva smacked him in the soulder and replied, "If we even tried, we wouldn't be here. We'd be deleted on the spot."

"Yeah," Matrox continued, "You'd have to be insane to try to get out. I'd rather spend my time playing games, thank you."

"Besides," Riva said, "If you did get out, the MCP would eventually find you."

"What if that's who I'm looking for?" Big Red asked.

"You're looking for a deletion, if you ask me." Matrox replied.

Big Red leaned in closer, and so did the other two programs. He muttered, "I'm here... to bring the MCP down."

Asher began a diagnostic subroutine, attempting to pinpoint the other system penetration. as he did this, he moved in the general direction of the breach. carefully he analyzed his surroundings, attempting to make sense of the maze he had entered. in the real world, he was fighting, and a lot of his capabilities in this world were curtailed as a result.

occasionally his hands twitched.

he was becoming increasingly concerned about what he was seeing, the red glow that was the visual manifestation of MCP infection now covered everything. dark shapes moved overhead, and he began to feel as if he was spreading himself too thin...

OOC: am i bieng ignored? cos i havent got much feedback in terms of what to expect/encounter.

(OOC: No, you're not. Our operation is not aware that you've gotten in, seeing we're focusing on Big Red. But at some point we're going to cross paths.)

OOC: how about this?

IC: Asher's Diagnostic subroutine came back with the point of entry, and Asher quickened, he was getting close. as Asher neared the entry point of the other, the level of activity increased considerably. he was obviously entering a densely populated area. narrowly avoiding a patrol, he quickly learned that he was really the wrong colour for blending in. again, he asserted his will. The colour of his glow bled from blue to red, and he changed tactics. Striding confidently, Asher moved onto a main throufare, and proceeded to track the faint lock he had on the present position of the other foreign entity. he quickly found that the main part of the other traffic was traveling in the same direction, towards a huge structure.

OOC: How about i mount a rescue? I wouldn't want to cramp your style, and if you have a cooler idea then i will sit down and watch the fireworks.
btw, does BR have any subroutines/hacker utilities other than the disc?
and how uber can i make my guy, ie how much leverage do i have in here? can i create subroutines or programs, and can i be casually deleted like the opposing team? i have a cool idea for my char, and i want to know if it is a viable option/ how easy it would be.
if you like i can tele the idea to you, or we can MSN, or if you have IRC we can go on the NS chatroom there.

After quietly discussing the escape plan at the mess hall, Matrox and Riva were still skeptical. Big Red tried assuring them over and over that the plan would go over fine, but they weren't buying it. Finally, he decided to break the news.

"Listen, guys," Big Red said, "I'm not actually a program. I'm a hacker on assignment to take the MCP down."

Riva was astonished "A user?!" she asked.

"Yes," Big Red said, "A 'user'. But I don't like that term. I'm not here to lollygag around the internet, I'm here to take down a system,"

"Okay, I'm in," Matrox replied.

"Me too," Riva added.

Big Red nodded and said, "Alright, now go with the plan,"

They both acknowledged him and waited for Big Red to start his little show. A guard was beginning to come closer to them, which was Big Red's way out. On cue, Red started coughing and groaning, and clutching his stomach.

"UGH!" he screamed, "It's terrible!"

He caught the guard's attention and he came running over. He pointed his electropike at Big Red and asked, "What's your problem?"

"I don't know!" Big Red replied, "Maybe it's a virus... AUGH!" and he fell off his seat onto the floor. At that point, he had some of the mess hall's attention.

"GET UP!" the guard yelled, and went to kick Big Red.

But Red caught his foot, and pulled his feet right out from under him. The guard toppled to the ground. Immediatley a blade extended from Big Red's wrist and he jammed it into the guard's head. Sparks flew from the guard's helmet, and he went limp.

"RUN!" he shouted, and him, Riva, and Matrox dashed for the exit.

Big Red put his fist through it and it dissolved into 1's and 0's. They made a right and dashed down a hallway for the exit. Immediatley the alarm sounded, and a voice boomed over the intercom.

"Attention all personell, we have three escaped prisoners in the proximity of the mess hall! I repeat, we have three escaped prisoners near the mess hall!"

They reached the exit but found guards running up a ramp to capture them, waving their electropikes furiously. Big Red frantically looked for another way around them.

"Elevator!" he shouted, and pointed to a lift leading up to the catwalk around the border of the prison. The three dashed for it and it speedily made its departure up the elevator shaft.

Upon arrival at the catwalk, they were charged by a guard. Big Red whipped out his identity disc and flung it at the guard. It punched a hole straight through his chest and he dissolved into nothing. The identity disc returned to Red as he was running with Riva and Matrox down the catwalk. They were now out in the open, but nowhere near safety. In the distance a recognizer was making its way towards them. They didn't have long before it obliterated them, so they had to think fast.

Big Red looked over the edge of the catwalk, down a long, long slope to a crowd of prisoners being lead into the prison. Then he looked back at the other two programs.

"It's either the recognizer or the guards down there," Matrox said.

"I think this choice is obvious," Riva replied.

"Go." Red commanded. And in unison the dove off the side of the prison, just at the recognizer stomped down on their former position on the catwalk. The three began sliding down the slope to the crowd below.

"Take me to it."

"Take us to it."

"Aidean, are you crazy? You're human!"

"Exactly. So nothing too bad can happen, as long as I keep landlined to the mainframe."

"'Cept for having you're brains scrambled..."

"That's what ICE is for. Now the, Seed, where is this new MCP."

"You want to find him? You must be insane! I won't take you."

"Just tell us, then."

"I don't know at which adress he resides, but he has taken control of a region known as Tron."

*double*

Asher registered the sudden movement of his target, and looked up expectantly. seeing the group fleeing one of the flying antiviral programs, he walked quickly up to the line of prisoners, or, more specifically, the programs guarding them. rapidly and efficiently, he engages the guards, using his twin hookswords to deliver devastating swipes, and lightning quick parry-weapon traps, which wrench the weapons right out of the guards hands. the air is filled with a faint mist of binary.

Big Red, Matrox, and Riva were barreling down the slope at very high speeds. Big Red spotted a red program causing a disturbance at the bottom of the slope, and he was headed straight for him.

They hit the walkway and Big Red collided with the red program. They all landed in the bottom of a ravine. Big Red shook some sense into himself and looked around for the red program he just leveled. He spotted him and dove at him. The red program turned around and spotted him, then quickly jumped out of his way.

"Woah, hold it!" the unidentified red program yelled. "Are you Big Red?"

Big Red was puzzled. Was this a trick of the MCP or something different. He replied with, "What's it to you?"

"I'm Asher, and I'm here to help you," he then changed his nanocurcuitry color back to blue.

"Glad to have you aboard," Big Red replied, "But we have more important matters to discuss,"

"What's that?"

Big Red immediatley pointed to the incoming recognizer. Asher spotted it and said, "Come on, we can make it to the outskirts if we use these."

Asher made a waving motion with his hand and four rods appeared in front of him. Asher, Matrox, and Riva each grabbed one. Big Red quickly picked one up and examined it.

"We're going to need more than a stick!" he said.

Asher ignored him, placing the rod out in front of himself. Out of nowhere, a lightcycle assembled around him, and he zoomed away in the opposite direction, followed by Matrox and Riva in their own cycles. Big Red paniced, then quickly mimiced Asher's actions, and another cycle assembled around him. He hightailed it out of there, narrowly missing another encounter with the recognizer as it came smashing down where he was a moment ago.

Asher was only marginally impressed by the bikes. he had found the program in the simulation itself. he was however, very pleased with their speed. quickly, he mapped the surrounding area, trying to locate a place of relative safety. he needed to speak with this Big Red. he needed to find out what was going on. he also suspected that he had not yet earned their trust, which was fair enough. Big Red had so far impressed Asher, he was quite obviously not used to seeing computers from this perspective, and had not yet learned that somethings appearance may have nothing at all to do with its function.

then, something appeared on his scan. an object, and it was large. Asher cursed and slowed down, communicationg the predicament with hand signals, and hoping the others understood.

Big Red was finally catching up to the rest of the group as they were slowing down. Curious, he pulled ahead to look why. Then he found out.

KABLAM! A tank "shell" landed right in front of him. He slammed on the breaks and skidded sideways, then sped off to the right across a bridge. The rest followed.

"What do we do now?" Red asked over the intercom.

"Follow me," Riva said, and took the lead, "I know a place where we can hide."

Big Red, Asher, and Matrox were close behind. More tank shells were lobbed their way, missing their mark. Riva made a quick turn to the right, and lead them into a narrow opening along the wall. Just as they made it into the opening, another tank shell followed, striking the wall, and sealing off the opening.

"There's an unformatted sector up ahead," Riva said, "We can hide out in there."

After traveling along the narrow passageway for a few minutes, the four came to a jagged landscape dotted with caves and towering pillars. They parked themselves outside the opening of a cave, deactivated their light cycles, and took shelter in there.

"We'll be safe in here," Riva said.

"I hope so," Matrox replied, "Today is not the day I want to get deleted."

"Why haven't we been deleted by the MCP yet?" Big Red asked.

"Our prison tags are out of their range," Matrox said, "That reminds me..."

Matrox tugged at a piece of equipment on his arm. Finally, it broke off. He threw it to the ground and stomped on it with his foot. Riva did the same, and so did Big Red.

"Alright," Big Red said, "I'm not going any further until I know who you are!" Red pointed at Asher.

OCC: Man, this is one good RP. I wish I got into it sooner. Anything for little old LRR to do?

OOC: I figured it would get too cluttered with too many people, but Eniqcir doesn't seem to post too often. If you want to somehow find a way to get in and meet up with our heroes, be my guest. Or you can RP as Kreg to give him a more active role in the RP (note: if you've seen Tron, think of Kreg as Sark). It's up to you.

OOC: Or you could take a place in the real world, im getting lonely out here.

ooc: yeah, its been pretty boring since i lost my 4th largest city.

OOC: YOU complain, ive had four attempted nukings, and a couple assorted beam/slug weapon attacks. Half of one of my major cities was wiped out, and ive lost an unknown number of fighters as well as a carrier. YOU complain. :roll: :lol:

(*is awaiting actions from another Nation inside the digital world*)

Asher smiles indulgently.

"I am an Avatar, an extension of the conciousness of Asher, the son of Markus Alben, Leader of GentTec. we were in the middle of negotiations with Kalessin when the MCP invaded our system. I managed to repel it, but not before it released eight hundred of our obsolete Mk1 SuperSoldiers, which were bieng held in storage until they could be sold. I am here because i was curious, and because the MCP challenged me, and i will answer."

OOC: see this thread: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=67493&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60
for details.

(OOC: Sorry for the late reply, I just got a new AMD Athalon 2100+ XP and I've been playing Battlefield 1942 constantly.)

Meanwhile, in Kreg's system cruiser...

Kreg stepped into a circle and clutched two handles. Beams of light shot up and surrounded him, then melded together to form a complete barrier around him. He was communicating privatley with the MCP.

"What is this I'm hearing of escaped programs in prison sector?" the MCP asked.

"It's nothing," Kreg replied confidently, "Just a few random programs. I'm sure our forces will catch them."

"Still, I am dissapointed in your poor performance. You should've taken care of such a minor incident."

"They got away on lightcycles! I don't know where they got them from!"

"Hmmm..." the MCP pondered the situation, "One of them must be a hacker. I do not know how he got in, I have every port guarded."

"Oh, please, it must've been some glitch," Kreg replied.

"Do not humor me!" the MCP shouted back, and Kreg recieved a jolt from the handles. He flinched and shook his head.

"Track down those loose programs and make sure they get what's coming to them," the MCP said, "End of line."

OOC: YOU complain, ive had four attempted nukings, and a couple assorted beam/slug weapon attacks. Half of one of my major cities was wiped out, and ive lost an unknown number of fighters as well as a carrier. YOU complain. :roll: :lol:
ooc: Woah, I'm not complaining, i was just stating what the last outside event was, and that it was boring since then.

Meanwhile, one of Kajal's more recently constructed starships, the Vallis glided neatly into low earth orbit over the remains of the Kiith Furio Earthbase. Within moments, two more arrived via the orbital Jumpgate complex over Kajal, neatly bypassing all the problems associated with accelerating a craft to lightspeed. The three ships moved into formation, and using tightbeam communications, linked their main computers to form one of the most powerful supercomputers known to Kajalan scientists.

If all went as expected, a Jiraga Multiframe Supercomputer in low earth orbit would be a tempting target for the MCP.

But there was one problem, as far as the MCP would be concerned.

The Jiraga Multiframe was running Kajal's SHADAR(Sentient Hyper-Accelerated Data Access and Retrieval) program.

And it had just connected to the system.

In the digital world, an entry port flared to life, and a program with neither blue or red nanocircuitry appeared. The program, whose nanocircuitry was a bright green, glimpsed the digital world that was ruled by the MCP, and of course, was immediately accosted by the port guards.

"Vacate entry port, Program!"

"You will take me to the one called Master Control Program. I wish to... speak... with it."

"We will not. We will however, escort you to a... waiting room." The MCP programs obviously knew from Shadar's odd behavior and coloration that she was no more then a few nanoseconds old, and escorted her down a variety of corridors, which Shadar observed in every detail...

Then, they nonchalantly dumped her into the prison level with a variety of other programs.

Shadar's accomodations would not hold her for long.

(OOC: Bump)

Asher turns to the Native Programs, and smiles slowly.

"You two are native to the system, so you can tell us what is happening currently. what are threats to us? who are the main agents of the MCP? and where is the MCP itself?"

Meanwhile, Shadar pondered the current turn of events in the prison level.

And then, opportunity presented itself. She was taken up to the Game Grid.

Lightcycles, in particular. She allowed the guards to bring her up to lightcycle arena, and the game began.

However, being a program that was designed to operate as an MCP did offer some advantages.

And quite a few difficulties for the others in the lightcycle arena. The game had started out innocently enough, until Shadar started flexing her muscles, so to speak, and soon enough, corruption warnings started popping up all over the place.

Shadar wasn't riding a lightcycle anymore. Nor had she become a lightcycle. The program vaguely resembled a lightcycle, but it was bigger... wider, like a small tank... Unlike tanks however, it was floating along at quite a rapid pace, and on it's front was mounted some sort of gun. Shadar fired it at the approaching wall, which flashed green momentarily, before opening itself up and letting her pass through, closing afterwards.

"Lightcycle arena firewall penetrated. I'm proceeding to locate the programs specified."

Shadar had been provided with information concerning two other Users that were currently in the system, and along with that information came the orders to seek them out and render any available assistance. The unformatted sector ahead looked like it would be the perfect place for any stray programs to hide... just outside the MCP's grasp. Shadar angled her craft downwards from it's relatively high glide, towards the unformatted sector.

"Bingo" Shadar said, using one of the words that the Administrator had taught her. Taskmgr.exe showed four programs running in that area. She angled her craft towards them, and began a descent.

*bump*

(OOC: Woah, kind of forgot about this RP didn't I?)

IC:

The four were formulating a plan when suddenly, Asher sat up, looking skyward toward an incoming object.

"What is it?" Big Red asked.

"Looks like a tank, but different." Asher replied.

The object grew bigger, and was advancing at an alarming rate. The four decided to scatter and take cover, but it did not fire upon them. It was zooming toward the ground, almost certainly at a deadly speed, when it abruptly came to a halt at ground level, dissasembled, leaving a green avatar in the opening. Asher, Big Red, Matrox and Riva looked up from their hiding spots, puzzled by this new being.

It spoke, "I have come to help."

"Who are you?" Riva asked.

"I am a Sentient Hyper-Accelerated Data Access and Retrieval program. I'm here to assist in the deletion of the Master Control Program."

"A SHADAR?" Big Red asked, "No way..."

Shadar just stood there, as if waiting for something. Big Red came up to it and examined the green program. It certainly appeared very powerful, unlike the programs he had seen before. Truly it would be a helpful ally.

"Okay, we've got a solid force now," Big Red said, "I have an attack plan. If we can get to an open internet port, we can find some of the MCP's aquisition programs and follow them to where they're taking the files and programs the MCP is seizing for his own power."

"That might work," Riva said, "But if they find us, we're going to need some big guns."

Shadar snapped to life, "Loading weapons.exe!"

Immediatley, a pile of weaponry spawned in front of them. Everything from packet launchers to reformat rifles. Matrox picked up a strange device, and examined it.

"What's this do?" he asked, fiddling with the device. It suddenly shot out a bright light out of the end, which struck a towering pillar. The pillar shattered into a million bits and dissipated.

"Oh."

"Now we just need a way to get there without any trouble," Asher added.

(OOC: Bump.)

"Loading Gravtank.exe."

The same craft that had brought Shadar to the group began to assemble itself around her, but abruptly stopped, and reversed the process.

"Program SHADAR.EXE does not have permission to load Gravtank.exe."

She blinked. "What?! Load mshta.exe!"

On the otherhand, mshta.exe popped up obediently in front of the group, and Shadar looked somewhat shocked.

"SHADAR - Limited Account, Password Protected." was what it showed, under the "Master Control Program - Computer Administrator, Password Protected." line. Shadar looked around.

"Loading hackmstr.exe"

For a moment, the area seemed to flicker. Shadar seemed somewhat preoccupied, and then...

"Permissions set modified. Loading Gravtank.exe."

Her little flying tank popped conveniently into existence around her, while a slight green tinge found its way across the unformatted sector. Shadar noticed this, and, popping her head out of the access hatch at the top of the tank, looked at the group.

"The MCP will notice the re-allocation of system resources to this sector, if only momentarily. We should get underway." As Shadar said this, the green tinge had faded completely from the surroundings, in much the same way the red would when the MCP was deleted.

er, whump!

Asher watched the display with interest, noting the manner in which SHADAR altered the environment arround her. Things were going well in the real world and he had decided to allocate more esources to his Avatar.

Asher decided to try something for himself.

Asher frowned with concentration, imposing his will on his surroundings. The result was an organic looking insectile Grav-Ship seemingly growing arround him. he took off, and did a low sweep of the area, then came to a slow stop and hovered, waiting.