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Architect's Workshop (Girls' Frontline design quest)
- Thread starter Solark
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Chapter 7
Solark
sun-chaser
Hello, dear,
What do you think would happen to a play if the prompter wasn't able to give cues? Or the lighting technician lost control over the spotlights? Of course it would be ruined! Oh, I enjoy ruining Griffin's plays so much, and I have done it more times than I care to count. A timely application of radio jamming to make their prompter mute– and their play staggers, tumbles, degrades into chaos... and the stage is mine to command. Such a joy!
But to get my own stage snatched away from me? That's something I do not wish to happen ever again. They got their hands on a jammer, and used it to cut off a sizeable regiment of my troops. It's not my poor minions' fault that they got destroyed for this. So I implore you as a friend and the movie club member: give me means to protect my stage, and I shall reward you with the best play of my own at zero hour.
Yours sincerely,
I.
It's morning, and you're reading Intruder's message. The movie club, huh? It's been a while since you watched movies together. Yet another thing this war has taken from you. And Intruder's problem does look like a serious one indeed: cut off from their Ringleader, SF grunt units lose their edge over their Griffin counterparts. The enemy realized this, and accurately identified Intruder as one of the most vulnerable targets for their new e-war capability.
There's an attachment at the end of the message– Intruder sensibly provided the battle log for you. Let's see...
The log starts with Intruder's forces converging on what looks like an abandoned hamlet, if it weren't for several mil-spec trucks hiding between the shacks. Intruder herself stays behind, overviewing the... stage from a hillock about 2 kilometers away through the... opera glasses?
When the front of the advancing troops has about 200 meters left to the closest shack, white noise suddenly floods the ether, and the connection goes down. The troops stop, their disarray noticeable immediately. Intruder reacts by abandoning her vantage point and closing the distance, when a heavy MG fire from one of the shacks pins her down. Unable to come closer, she's watching for some time as her forces are methodically decimated, then retreats. The log ends.
You don't know the specs of the jammer, or how many do they have. What you do know is a fact that closer and more powerful transmitter wins the RF battle. And that the frequency used by SF was chosen for a reason: you won't be making things better should you decide to change it. Speaking of which, it's not as simple as turning a knob on a radio. Yes, it can be shifted to some extent, but not enough to avoid a jammer designed to work on a band of frequencies. And more substantial leap would require a new hardware module with corresponding components and antennae's profile. But is it the only thing you can do? Hmm...
[x] Brainstorm
What do you think would happen to a play if the prompter wasn't able to give cues? Or the lighting technician lost control over the spotlights? Of course it would be ruined! Oh, I enjoy ruining Griffin's plays so much, and I have done it more times than I care to count. A timely application of radio jamming to make their prompter mute– and their play staggers, tumbles, degrades into chaos... and the stage is mine to command. Such a joy!
But to get my own stage snatched away from me? That's something I do not wish to happen ever again. They got their hands on a jammer, and used it to cut off a sizeable regiment of my troops. It's not my poor minions' fault that they got destroyed for this. So I implore you as a friend and the movie club member: give me means to protect my stage, and I shall reward you with the best play of my own at zero hour.
Yours sincerely,
I.
It's morning, and you're reading Intruder's message. The movie club, huh? It's been a while since you watched movies together. Yet another thing this war has taken from you. And Intruder's problem does look like a serious one indeed: cut off from their Ringleader, SF grunt units lose their edge over their Griffin counterparts. The enemy realized this, and accurately identified Intruder as one of the most vulnerable targets for their new e-war capability.
There's an attachment at the end of the message– Intruder sensibly provided the battle log for you. Let's see...
The log starts with Intruder's forces converging on what looks like an abandoned hamlet, if it weren't for several mil-spec trucks hiding between the shacks. Intruder herself stays behind, overviewing the... stage from a hillock about 2 kilometers away through the... opera glasses?
When the front of the advancing troops has about 200 meters left to the closest shack, white noise suddenly floods the ether, and the connection goes down. The troops stop, their disarray noticeable immediately. Intruder reacts by abandoning her vantage point and closing the distance, when a heavy MG fire from one of the shacks pins her down. Unable to come closer, she's watching for some time as her forces are methodically decimated, then retreats. The log ends.
You don't know the specs of the jammer, or how many do they have. What you do know is a fact that closer and more powerful transmitter wins the RF battle. And that the frequency used by SF was chosen for a reason: you won't be making things better should you decide to change it. Speaking of which, it's not as simple as turning a knob on a radio. Yes, it can be shifted to some extent, but not enough to avoid a jammer designed to work on a band of frequencies. And more substantial leap would require a new hardware module with corresponding components and antennae's profile. But is it the only thing you can do? Hmm...
[x] Brainstorm
Sorry for the delay, stuff happened.
With some breakthrough points now available, Architect can start tapping into things beyond the contemporary technology level. Which means you in your ideas don't have to stick strictly to what exists and proven, as long as it's somewhat plausible and sounds cool. The more outlandish the idea, the more points it'd require. And the point's won't be consumed by R&D, they're threshold type resource (you have enough or you don't). That's because we have time limit as is. Have fun!
With some breakthrough points now available, Architect can start tapping into things beyond the contemporary technology level. Which means you in your ideas don't have to stick strictly to what exists and proven, as long as it's somewhat plausible and sounds cool. The more outlandish the idea, the more points it'd require. And the point's won't be consumed by R&D, they're threshold type resource (you have enough or you don't). That's because we have time limit as is. Have fun!
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Chapter 8
Solark
sun-chaser
Of course it's not! In fact, you have so many ideas popping up in your head that you're overwhelmed for a moment. Are you getting better at this? Getting used to it? No matter, you have a problem to solve!
You grab a marker and dash to a whiteboard to draw three columns, put "jammer" in the first one, "signal" in the second and "we" at the last. That's it! The problem is not a monolith, it's a system that can be solved in a number of ways at different levels, independently or in combination. Solve the "jammer" part to instantly uproot the problem, or solve the "signal", and the jammer becomes useless. Or solve SF troops dependency on remote commands, and the former two become irrelevant. You're going to have so much fun with this!
You start with the jammer part. Now, how would a talented engineer solve a fragile, expensive and bulky piece of equipment? Naturally, by blowing it up! You put down a sweeping "BOOM" and grin in satisfaction. Next, delivery and targeting. You quickly single out Sangvis Ferri Jaguar as the platform of choice, its powerful shells more than a match for flimsy transmitters. Add a radiation-seeking guidance module, fold-out control surfaces for steering, or even something bigger for extra lift and range... yes, that's something you can try. You write it down on the whiteboard, think for a moment and add "missile" for a second delivery option— it'd be a more complex solution, but might not require Jaguars to be launched from. Oh, and what about flying drones for a third?
Ideas pool check (loitering munition): False.
Nah, those might manage to drop unguided explosives, but that's not what you're looking for here. They've got nothing on the first two, are expensive to produce, susceptible to jamming, and have their virtual hands full with recon and surveillance tasks.
You move on to the second column. Most of your ideas are about solving the signal part, and you're pretty sure you have more than enough. So, they're using a more powerful transmitter to win the shouting match? Then what if you simply accept the challenge and roll out a "no ducks given" ridiculously powerful radio in turn? You're pretty sure you'd win this brute-force competition, as you have schematics for the functioning jammers that Intruder is so fond of. Those are essentially powerful transmitters, and though some hardware components would need to be replaced, antennas recalculated and resized, that's very little effort compared to producing one from scratch.
Then you remember the inverse-square law, and do a quick math. Aw, shucks, to have the desired levels of signal 2 kilometers away, electromagnetic field strength near the transmitter would put Intruder in coma...
Ideas pool check (directional transmission): True.
Unless you switch from omni-directional to something more focused. You re-run the math for parabolic mirror profile and this time get what you want. Even better, there's no need to have a huge and power-hungry transmitter. The more focused the beam, the less energy the system would require. Tightly focused "pencil" beam is virtually unjammable, but needs to be pointed directly at receiver. Usually tracking would present a challenge on its own...
Breakthrough points requirement (1): True
But suddenly you have a vision of two fluffy cat ears-shaped parabolic antennas on top of Intruder's head, twitching, rotating and refocusing to independently track two groups of her advancing troops with narrow communication beams... That... that'd be the most unconventional cutting-edge tracking design on this side of the Milky Way! You quickly write down "power + beamforming + tracking (cat ears)" and switch to the next idea before your giggles have a chance to suffocate you.
What else can you do with RF signal to avoid jamming? Spread spectrum? Nice workaround for narrow-band jamming, but are you sure that's what G&K is fielding? What can you do about wide-band jamming then? Maybe you could devise some kind of multicarrier receiver with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, make it sample the signal spectrum based on a bank of discrete-frequency matched filters, then directly apply either frequency bin excision or a minimum mean-square solution with the data samples provided by the frequency domain...
Ideas pool check (software-defined radio): False.
That could work, but you have no idea how to give it the required flexibility with the hardware element base at your possession. A pity. And, given frequency hopping is already a part of the current protocol, and taking into account the risk of signal fratricide, you're not sure playing with the spectrum is going to do you any good.
Once again you consider inverse-square law of electromagnetic propagation. Intruder's forces were jammed because they were closer to the enemy's jammer than to her. Distance has this unfair advantage over transmission power, and you could utilize that by equipping the troops with signal repeaters-amplifiers. Say, backpack-sized solution, one or two per platoon, letting mesh networking do the rest. Or do you need a bigger self-propelling version? And maybe not just ground troops, but UAVs as well. Under normal circumstances multipath propagation is a pain to deal with, but under heavy jamming it could turn into a blessing, and you may even position and synchronize the UAVs in a way to combine their signal power. You write down "signal amplifiers (ground- / air based, portable / self-propelled)"— all of these ideas look sensible to you.
You search your mind for more RF-bound ideas and find none. But no one said the solution must be within radio frequencies exclusively. Asymmetric measures are your favorite, it's where you can cut loose with your craziest designs!
You immediately put down "laser comms", then subdivide it to "free space" and "fiber-optic". High throughput, unjammable, with clearly defined limitations... you can't go wrong with this one. Just by adding it as a fail-over channel to the varied types of the RF boosters you thought of earlier, you'd drastically improve resilience and availability of the comms. UAVs would solve most of the line-of-sight issues, and really you could target any object in the vicinity and take advantage of diffuse reflections. The best part is you wouldn't need any special receivers for this, as SF T-Dolls have eyes that are capable of perceiving such reflections, albeit at lower data rates. You'd need to update the troops firmware though.
Speaking of which, you can get around any data rate limitation by introducing a brevity code system. Divide operational area by sectors, assign numbers to squads and basic combat maneuvers... with this, one byte of data could contain more useful commands than a megabyte without. It's so efficient that Intruder could use signal flags to transmit it! And you don't have to invent anything here— it's a free bonus, the system can be taught to SF T-Dolls without the need of additional programming. "Brevity codes", here you go.
Now, about the fiber-optics part. You have a cable type that's thin, extremely lightweight— about 1,5kg/km, and very tolerant to bending. The downside is that it's unarmored and not designed for outdoors use, though you're sure it's about long-term endurance. You could easily have some T-Dolls unspool it from their... ah... no, why would you suddenly think of spiders? Well, fiber core does look like spider silk... but of course you mean from their MOLLE, or whatever piece of equipment a spool can be fastened onto. Or you could modify something of SF make into a dedicated cable layer unit. Dinergates maybe? Heck, even a missile with a spool could do the trick, quickly delivering the business end to where it's needed. "Cable layers", put down.
Do you think good old electric signal cable can beat fiber-optic for your purpose? Hmm, it's heavier and somewhat thicker. The only upside you can think of is that it can be field-repaired if damaged. Field telephones have been used for ages and nothing can jam them, but they can't transmit digital signals at any meaningful data rates. Still, there's something about those devices that triggers your classics appreciation instincts, and maybe Intruder would take to shouting orders into a handset? There's only one way to find out. "Field telephone".
What else... message runners? Hardly. Intruder is playing a real-time strategy here, not a game of chess. Those are too slow to control dynamic engagement.
Signal polarization? That could reduce jamming efficiency if the jammer doesn't have dual-stack antennas, but you'd be shooting yourself in the foot with the groundwave vs skywave propagation tradeoff.
Reflective balloons for the lasers? They'd make a beautiful sight, but are too finicky about weather and won't maintain position or altitude. Maybe you'd give them a try if you didn't have UAVs.
You let your imagination run wild, moving to even more extreme and experimental ideas. What about seismic hammers, earth-pounders of massive scale that'd make the ground quiver like a herd of sprinting elephants? You remember using seismic sensors in some border areas of the SF territory, and sigh in disappointment: they're only good enough to tell when heavy equipment is moving nearby, but are not very portable and lack resolution for anything beyond that. Even if you manage to assemble a contraption to transmit encoded messages by pounding the ground, your troops wouldn't be able to receive it due to the sensors limitations and secondary vibrations.
What about quantum entanglement? Oh, that'd be instant communication over any distance, something that's called "ansible" you believe...
Breakthrough points requirement (10): False
But you're pretty sure FTL quantum communication is impossible as every attempt to measure the state of one of the entangled particles inevitably ruins the whole system, making it Schrödinger's cat of sorts: it's only working when you're not watching. Of course, T-Dolls being ansible-level aware of their weapons is just one of the many fairy tales infantry grunts come up with to romanticize their job.
Maybe sounds? You imagine Intruder with a megaphone... nope, something bigger. That... could work better that seismic comms in terms of resolution, but no matter how you look at it, 2 klicks distance at typical firefight noise levels at the receiver is simply unachievable. Well, maybe a bullhorn could be useful for coaxing enemy T-Dolls to your side? Right...
Seems like that's it for the signal part. Now, the last column: what can you do about SF troops to counter jamming? Well, first and foremost, why did Intruder's troop turned into a helpless crowd as soon as the comms went down? You're sure that isn't how mil-spec T-Dolls are expected to perform. There's a huge gap here, and it'll only get worse as this shortcoming becomes more apparent and well-known. So, "Better autonomous behavior patterns", put down. You might need some help with this one...
And why did the connection break up immediately and completely? Are military communication protocols supposed to be this flimsy?
Ideas pool check (data rate / Shannon's limit): True.
You know the theory, and you're sure you could trade bandwidth for connectivity. Yes, you'd have to update the protocol, but after that the connection would be slowing down instead of breaking up completely. "Fault-tolerant protocol" written down, and you'll probably need help with this too, which might be a good thing...
You're doing pretty good solving Ringleader to troops part of the problem, but what about inter T-Dolls connectivity? Say, when your dedicated booster-carrying unit needs to relay the orders to her squad several meters around her under heavy jamming? Yep, as simple as it gets: they're going to speak! You discarded the sound option for long range, yet here it seems perfectly suited. Then maybe you can even spice things up a notch? Make the troops hiss and screech like ancient modems, transmitting digital data over audible sound waves? Or even make it ultrasonic? Interesting! "Oral comms", hehe!
Also, why was Intruder 2 klicks away in the first place? That's way too far for a Ringleader of any type, no wonder the signal was jammed. You're not sure how Intruder would react if you start teaching her how to fight, but hey, you have something that she'd definitely like! "Costumes and decoys", here.
You look the whiteboard over. Wow, that's a very... healthy amount of ideas! There's only one thing left to do before continuing to the next phase. You reach out into the network, and after a couple of seconds...
"Scarecrow here."
"Hi-hi, I have a favor to ask!"
You interlocutor looks a bit puzzled.
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? I thought it's about my request."
"Yours will be the next one, I promise! Just... this is important, and I'm not sure I can do it without you."
"Important? I'm listening."
And you tell her everything. About the request from Intruder, the jammer incident, and how you think SF troops and the communication protocol could be improved. The moment you attempt to transition from your ideas to convincing her to help you, she holds up her hand.
"Say no more, I'm in." Just like that. Serious, competent, collected. Sometimes you wonder if she'd do better job than Agent leading the war effort. Scarecrow's estimate is 2 day for the protocol and 1 day for troops behavior, which means it's 0 extra days for you as long as your own part takes 3 or more days. Though if you're to trust her with a part of your work, you'll have to take the blame should she screw up. Will you risk it? Meanwhile you put down your own estimates for each idea. That's it, now the final part: combine what you think is necessary to make an ideal solution considering the time limit.
[x] home-on-jam mortar bomb for Jaguar: 1d
[x] home-on-jam MLRS kit for Jaguar: 4d
[x] home-on-jam T-Doll portable missile: 2d
[x] cat ears tightly focused RF beam tracking kit: 2d
[x] regular SF jammer-turned-transmitter loosely focused beam without tracking: 1d
[x] ground-based portable signal amplifier (backpack): 1d
[x] ground-based self-propelling signal amplifier (repurposed Tarantula bot): 1d
[x] air-based signal amplifier (UAV): 2d
[x] laser comms, free space: 2d
[x] laser comms, T-Doll-unspooled fiber-optic: 1d
[x] laser comms, Dinergate-unspooled fiber-optic: 1d
[x] laser comms, missile-unspooled fiber-optic: 2d
[x] laser comms, diffuse reflections addition (requires laser comms, free space): 1d
[x] field telephone: 0d
[x] oral comms, regular speech: 0d
[x] oral comms, modem-like digitalized vocalization: 1d
[x] oral comms, modem-like digitalized ultrasound vocalization: 2d
[x] better autonomous behavior patterns (Scarecrow): 0d (1d)
[x] fault-tolerant protocol (Scarecrow): 0d (2d)
[x] brevity codes (discussion with Intruder): 0d
[x] Intruder's positioning (discussion with Intruder): 0d
[x] Costumes and decoys (discussion with Intruder): 0d
Vote by plan.
You grab a marker and dash to a whiteboard to draw three columns, put "jammer" in the first one, "signal" in the second and "we" at the last. That's it! The problem is not a monolith, it's a system that can be solved in a number of ways at different levels, independently or in combination. Solve the "jammer" part to instantly uproot the problem, or solve the "signal", and the jammer becomes useless. Or solve SF troops dependency on remote commands, and the former two become irrelevant. You're going to have so much fun with this!
You start with the jammer part. Now, how would a talented engineer solve a fragile, expensive and bulky piece of equipment? Naturally, by blowing it up! You put down a sweeping "BOOM" and grin in satisfaction. Next, delivery and targeting. You quickly single out Sangvis Ferri Jaguar as the platform of choice, its powerful shells more than a match for flimsy transmitters. Add a radiation-seeking guidance module, fold-out control surfaces for steering, or even something bigger for extra lift and range... yes, that's something you can try. You write it down on the whiteboard, think for a moment and add "missile" for a second delivery option— it'd be a more complex solution, but might not require Jaguars to be launched from. Oh, and what about flying drones for a third?
Ideas pool check (loitering munition): False.
Nah, those might manage to drop unguided explosives, but that's not what you're looking for here. They've got nothing on the first two, are expensive to produce, susceptible to jamming, and have their virtual hands full with recon and surveillance tasks.
You move on to the second column. Most of your ideas are about solving the signal part, and you're pretty sure you have more than enough. So, they're using a more powerful transmitter to win the shouting match? Then what if you simply accept the challenge and roll out a "no ducks given" ridiculously powerful radio in turn? You're pretty sure you'd win this brute-force competition, as you have schematics for the functioning jammers that Intruder is so fond of. Those are essentially powerful transmitters, and though some hardware components would need to be replaced, antennas recalculated and resized, that's very little effort compared to producing one from scratch.
Then you remember the inverse-square law, and do a quick math. Aw, shucks, to have the desired levels of signal 2 kilometers away, electromagnetic field strength near the transmitter would put Intruder in coma...
Ideas pool check (directional transmission): True.
Unless you switch from omni-directional to something more focused. You re-run the math for parabolic mirror profile and this time get what you want. Even better, there's no need to have a huge and power-hungry transmitter. The more focused the beam, the less energy the system would require. Tightly focused "pencil" beam is virtually unjammable, but needs to be pointed directly at receiver. Usually tracking would present a challenge on its own...
Breakthrough points requirement (1): True
But suddenly you have a vision of two fluffy cat ears-shaped parabolic antennas on top of Intruder's head, twitching, rotating and refocusing to independently track two groups of her advancing troops with narrow communication beams... That... that'd be the most unconventional cutting-edge tracking design on this side of the Milky Way! You quickly write down "power + beamforming + tracking (cat ears)" and switch to the next idea before your giggles have a chance to suffocate you.
What else can you do with RF signal to avoid jamming? Spread spectrum? Nice workaround for narrow-band jamming, but are you sure that's what G&K is fielding? What can you do about wide-band jamming then? Maybe you could devise some kind of multicarrier receiver with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, make it sample the signal spectrum based on a bank of discrete-frequency matched filters, then directly apply either frequency bin excision or a minimum mean-square solution with the data samples provided by the frequency domain...
Ideas pool check (software-defined radio): False.
That could work, but you have no idea how to give it the required flexibility with the hardware element base at your possession. A pity. And, given frequency hopping is already a part of the current protocol, and taking into account the risk of signal fratricide, you're not sure playing with the spectrum is going to do you any good.
Once again you consider inverse-square law of electromagnetic propagation. Intruder's forces were jammed because they were closer to the enemy's jammer than to her. Distance has this unfair advantage over transmission power, and you could utilize that by equipping the troops with signal repeaters-amplifiers. Say, backpack-sized solution, one or two per platoon, letting mesh networking do the rest. Or do you need a bigger self-propelling version? And maybe not just ground troops, but UAVs as well. Under normal circumstances multipath propagation is a pain to deal with, but under heavy jamming it could turn into a blessing, and you may even position and synchronize the UAVs in a way to combine their signal power. You write down "signal amplifiers (ground- / air based, portable / self-propelled)"— all of these ideas look sensible to you.
You search your mind for more RF-bound ideas and find none. But no one said the solution must be within radio frequencies exclusively. Asymmetric measures are your favorite, it's where you can cut loose with your craziest designs!
You immediately put down "laser comms", then subdivide it to "free space" and "fiber-optic". High throughput, unjammable, with clearly defined limitations... you can't go wrong with this one. Just by adding it as a fail-over channel to the varied types of the RF boosters you thought of earlier, you'd drastically improve resilience and availability of the comms. UAVs would solve most of the line-of-sight issues, and really you could target any object in the vicinity and take advantage of diffuse reflections. The best part is you wouldn't need any special receivers for this, as SF T-Dolls have eyes that are capable of perceiving such reflections, albeit at lower data rates. You'd need to update the troops firmware though.
Speaking of which, you can get around any data rate limitation by introducing a brevity code system. Divide operational area by sectors, assign numbers to squads and basic combat maneuvers... with this, one byte of data could contain more useful commands than a megabyte without. It's so efficient that Intruder could use signal flags to transmit it! And you don't have to invent anything here— it's a free bonus, the system can be taught to SF T-Dolls without the need of additional programming. "Brevity codes", here you go.
Now, about the fiber-optics part. You have a cable type that's thin, extremely lightweight— about 1,5kg/km, and very tolerant to bending. The downside is that it's unarmored and not designed for outdoors use, though you're sure it's about long-term endurance. You could easily have some T-Dolls unspool it from their... ah... no, why would you suddenly think of spiders? Well, fiber core does look like spider silk... but of course you mean from their MOLLE, or whatever piece of equipment a spool can be fastened onto. Or you could modify something of SF make into a dedicated cable layer unit. Dinergates maybe? Heck, even a missile with a spool could do the trick, quickly delivering the business end to where it's needed. "Cable layers", put down.
Do you think good old electric signal cable can beat fiber-optic for your purpose? Hmm, it's heavier and somewhat thicker. The only upside you can think of is that it can be field-repaired if damaged. Field telephones have been used for ages and nothing can jam them, but they can't transmit digital signals at any meaningful data rates. Still, there's something about those devices that triggers your classics appreciation instincts, and maybe Intruder would take to shouting orders into a handset? There's only one way to find out. "Field telephone".
What else... message runners? Hardly. Intruder is playing a real-time strategy here, not a game of chess. Those are too slow to control dynamic engagement.
Signal polarization? That could reduce jamming efficiency if the jammer doesn't have dual-stack antennas, but you'd be shooting yourself in the foot with the groundwave vs skywave propagation tradeoff.
Reflective balloons for the lasers? They'd make a beautiful sight, but are too finicky about weather and won't maintain position or altitude. Maybe you'd give them a try if you didn't have UAVs.
You let your imagination run wild, moving to even more extreme and experimental ideas. What about seismic hammers, earth-pounders of massive scale that'd make the ground quiver like a herd of sprinting elephants? You remember using seismic sensors in some border areas of the SF territory, and sigh in disappointment: they're only good enough to tell when heavy equipment is moving nearby, but are not very portable and lack resolution for anything beyond that. Even if you manage to assemble a contraption to transmit encoded messages by pounding the ground, your troops wouldn't be able to receive it due to the sensors limitations and secondary vibrations.
What about quantum entanglement? Oh, that'd be instant communication over any distance, something that's called "ansible" you believe...
Breakthrough points requirement (10): False
But you're pretty sure FTL quantum communication is impossible as every attempt to measure the state of one of the entangled particles inevitably ruins the whole system, making it Schrödinger's cat of sorts: it's only working when you're not watching. Of course, T-Dolls being ansible-level aware of their weapons is just one of the many fairy tales infantry grunts come up with to romanticize their job.
Maybe sounds? You imagine Intruder with a megaphone... nope, something bigger. That... could work better that seismic comms in terms of resolution, but no matter how you look at it, 2 klicks distance at typical firefight noise levels at the receiver is simply unachievable. Well, maybe a bullhorn could be useful for coaxing enemy T-Dolls to your side? Right...
Seems like that's it for the signal part. Now, the last column: what can you do about SF troops to counter jamming? Well, first and foremost, why did Intruder's troop turned into a helpless crowd as soon as the comms went down? You're sure that isn't how mil-spec T-Dolls are expected to perform. There's a huge gap here, and it'll only get worse as this shortcoming becomes more apparent and well-known. So, "Better autonomous behavior patterns", put down. You might need some help with this one...
And why did the connection break up immediately and completely? Are military communication protocols supposed to be this flimsy?
Ideas pool check (data rate / Shannon's limit): True.
You know the theory, and you're sure you could trade bandwidth for connectivity. Yes, you'd have to update the protocol, but after that the connection would be slowing down instead of breaking up completely. "Fault-tolerant protocol" written down, and you'll probably need help with this too, which might be a good thing...
You're doing pretty good solving Ringleader to troops part of the problem, but what about inter T-Dolls connectivity? Say, when your dedicated booster-carrying unit needs to relay the orders to her squad several meters around her under heavy jamming? Yep, as simple as it gets: they're going to speak! You discarded the sound option for long range, yet here it seems perfectly suited. Then maybe you can even spice things up a notch? Make the troops hiss and screech like ancient modems, transmitting digital data over audible sound waves? Or even make it ultrasonic? Interesting! "Oral comms", hehe!
Also, why was Intruder 2 klicks away in the first place? That's way too far for a Ringleader of any type, no wonder the signal was jammed. You're not sure how Intruder would react if you start teaching her how to fight, but hey, you have something that she'd definitely like! "Costumes and decoys", here.
You look the whiteboard over. Wow, that's a very... healthy amount of ideas! There's only one thing left to do before continuing to the next phase. You reach out into the network, and after a couple of seconds...
"Scarecrow here."
"Hi-hi, I have a favor to ask!"
You interlocutor looks a bit puzzled.
"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? I thought it's about my request."
"Yours will be the next one, I promise! Just... this is important, and I'm not sure I can do it without you."
"Important? I'm listening."
And you tell her everything. About the request from Intruder, the jammer incident, and how you think SF troops and the communication protocol could be improved. The moment you attempt to transition from your ideas to convincing her to help you, she holds up her hand.
"Say no more, I'm in." Just like that. Serious, competent, collected. Sometimes you wonder if she'd do better job than Agent leading the war effort. Scarecrow's estimate is 2 day for the protocol and 1 day for troops behavior, which means it's 0 extra days for you as long as your own part takes 3 or more days. Though if you're to trust her with a part of your work, you'll have to take the blame should she screw up. Will you risk it? Meanwhile you put down your own estimates for each idea. That's it, now the final part: combine what you think is necessary to make an ideal solution considering the time limit.
[x] home-on-jam mortar bomb for Jaguar: 1d
[x] home-on-jam MLRS kit for Jaguar: 4d
[x] home-on-jam T-Doll portable missile: 2d
[x] cat ears tightly focused RF beam tracking kit: 2d
[x] regular SF jammer-turned-transmitter loosely focused beam without tracking: 1d
[x] ground-based portable signal amplifier (backpack): 1d
[x] ground-based self-propelling signal amplifier (repurposed Tarantula bot): 1d
[x] air-based signal amplifier (UAV): 2d
[x] laser comms, free space: 2d
[x] laser comms, T-Doll-unspooled fiber-optic: 1d
[x] laser comms, Dinergate-unspooled fiber-optic: 1d
[x] laser comms, missile-unspooled fiber-optic: 2d
[x] laser comms, diffuse reflections addition (requires laser comms, free space): 1d
[x] field telephone: 0d
[x] oral comms, regular speech: 0d
[x] oral comms, modem-like digitalized vocalization: 1d
[x] oral comms, modem-like digitalized ultrasound vocalization: 2d
[x] better autonomous behavior patterns (Scarecrow): 0d (1d)
[x] fault-tolerant protocol (Scarecrow): 0d (2d)
[x] brevity codes (discussion with Intruder): 0d
[x] Intruder's positioning (discussion with Intruder): 0d
[x] Costumes and decoys (discussion with Intruder): 0d
Vote by plan.
Omg, this is the biggest update size so far!
For making me read a ton of whitepapers and scientific articles, I'm in turn making you deal with this huge number of possible combinations, mwahaha!
Seriously though, for your outstanding ideas I'm giving you a number of 0-days cost options.
Beware, not everything listed would work without a hitch, depending on what you decide to go with there might be secondary challenges. You can still screw up.
For making me read a ton of whitepapers and scientific articles, I'm in turn making you deal with this huge number of possible combinations, mwahaha!
Seriously though, for your outstanding ideas I'm giving you a number of 0-days cost options.
Beware, not everything listed would work without a hitch, depending on what you decide to go with there might be secondary challenges. You can still screw up.
Vote closed
Chapter 9
Solark
sun-chaser
[X] Plan Cute Electronic Kitten
-[x] Cat ears tightly focused RF beam tracking kit: 2d
-[x] Oral comms, modem-like digitalized vocalization:1d
-[x] Costumes and decoys (discussion with Intruder): 0d
-[x] Have Scarecrow handle these
--[x] better autonomous behavior patterns (Scarecrow): 0d (1d)
--[x] fault-tolerant protocol (Scarecrow): 0d (2d)
-[x] Cat ears tightly focused RF beam tracking kit: 2d
-[x] Oral comms, modem-like digitalized vocalization:1d
-[x] Costumes and decoys (discussion with Intruder): 0d
-[x] Have Scarecrow handle these
--[x] better autonomous behavior patterns (Scarecrow): 0d (1d)
--[x] fault-tolerant protocol (Scarecrow): 0d (2d)
Scarecrow is on the line, and you have no reason to keep her waiting.
"Aw, thank you! I'll be counting on you then. Oh, wanna hear the whole plan? I'm going to call Intruder about it now."
"Of course."— she gives you a nod of affirmation.
You invite Intruder to the call, and in a moment she's there with you two.
"Intruder."— Scarecrow greets her with a nod. Seems like they talked recently, and it doesn't surprise to you, as Scarecrow is somewhat of a subordinate to Intruder. You are not sure how it works exactly, since you're confident Scarecrow is more than capable enough to stand on her own. Yet she'd... chosen to work with Intruder? Doesn't care about hierarchy? They've been on all kinds of combat missions together, and now the two of them are closer than ever before.
"Hi, Intruder, long time no see!"— you greet her in turn with a smile. "You look stunning as ever. Ready to guess why I'm calling?"
You've long since figured out what makes your relationship smooth and congenial. She's still quirky, but you're not exactly normal yourself, and her games are quite enjoyable when you know the rules.
"Hmm, I wonder why... "— Intruder puts on an exaggeratedly pensive look. "Oh, I know! You missed me so much that you couldn't take it anymore, so you came up with an excuse to see me! Now, now, let's hear it!"
Her smile is bright and confident, and justifiably so. If you try to deny the "excuse" part or proceed to talk about the plan, it'll only put more wind in her sails. Do you want to look like a schoolgirl denying her crush? Not a chance. You know the rules, and you're going to strike back!
"Shucks, you got me." You cast your eyes down, assume your best embarrassed look and start playing with your hair. "It's just as you say... I have these... ideas about your costumes... and I can't wait to put a pair of cute cat ears on your head... and then maybe we can..."— you cover you face with your hands— "consider something... oral? And to... satisfy you even better, Scarecrow is willing to join in..."
You hear Scarecrow's snort, and peek between your fingers. Intruder is staring at you in astonishment, her blue eyes like saucers. Then she bursts out laughing and starts clapping her hands. Her laughter is graceful, pleasant and genuine. It wasn't always like this, a testament that Intruder, too, has changed since you two first met.
"Hahahaha! That... that was awesome! Hahaha! Bravo, my friend! bravo!"
You take this cue to return to your normal self and perform a theatrical bow. Intruder's smile is warm and fond now.
"I can't believe how much you have grown!"
"Why wouldn't I? I learned from the best!"
"Oh, you tease. But I'm happy to see you don't confine yourself exclusively to engineering. Now, I suppose you wanted to talk to me about my request?"
"Yes! I have a plan ready and wanted you to hear it before I and Scarecrow actually start doing stuff."
"Aw, how thoughtful of you. Say, do you mind if I come over? It's been so long since we've seen each other in person. We could talk about the plan, and catch up on things."
"I'd be happy to, but the work itself is going to take three days, and I'll need you with me when everything's ready."
"Hmm, it's true that I'm only charming in small quantities..."
This is your chance... if you want it, of course.
[x] You'd rather work alone.
[x] Invite Intruder.
[x] Invite both Intruder and Scarecrow.
Vote closed
Chapter 10
Solark
sun-chaser
[x] Invite both Intruder and Scarecrow
Scarecrow seems to be taken by surprise. "I'm not sure I should"—
"Now, now, don't be a stranger, dear."— Intruder isn't having any of it. "It's a wonderful proposal, so be nice to Architect here and just say yes. You won't regret it~"
She seems to be quite happy about the idea. Scarecrow looks between the two of you for a moment, and...
"Fine, I'll come too."
"Yay! Hurry up, you two, let's get work done before the fun! And don't forget to bring pajamas!"
Your guests arrive about two hours later. By this time you have their rooms ready, so you let the Brutes take care of their luggage and lead the guests straight to the workshop. There you make a small presentation, explaining your plan in detail.
"...And that's how it's going to work as a system. What do you think?"
"You actually meant every word you said in the performance!" Intruder looks impressed, but not exactly about the plan itself.
"Yep, that's how I was able to pull off. No lies means no bad acting. So, about the plan..."
Intruder's gaze turns sharp, devoid of the usual playfulness. "I like it. As long as it works as advertised, I'd be happy to have it implemented." She looks you in the eyes. "And I'm thankful for your attentiveness and consideration."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"I'm sure you would have preferred to go with a more... explosive solution. But you paid attention to the context and recognized that I needed those trucks intact, or it would've been Destroyer out there instead."
Doh! You can't tell them you did it because you thought can ears were cute, can you?
"O-Of course! Hahaha... haha..."
Judging by the looks they give you, you're not fooling anyone. You sigh.
"Let's just drop it, please?"
Intruder nods and turns to Scarecrow.
"What about your part, dear? Can you make it work?"
"I have already started on our way here. It's... something's not right with the behavior code, but it won't get in the way. We just need to talk about it later. I'll get it done."
"Wonderful! Now, Architect, I can't wait to hear more about the 'Costumes and decoys' part."
You notice Scarecrow closing her eyes, and perceive a very characteristic network activity between her and Sangivs Ferri code repository. Already back to work, huh? She's still listening though, ready to provide her input should you need it.
"Right. So, I've been thinking, we Ringleaders really stand out from our rank-and-file troops. And it's a problem, as every gun out there tries to take us out first. Human commanders don't wear their insignia on battlefield for a very good reason... they make it detachable, or at least recolored to blend in and be hard to identify from a distance..."
Intruder is listening attentively, her eyes on you. Scarecrow is interested too, her etiquette pings that announce her presence are more frequent now.
"And for us it's not as simple as detaching a shoulder strap... Every G&K unit out there could tell a Ringleader apart from almost as far as they could see us. We never attempted anything in this regard, and they're probably used to it by now. So, what if we disguise all of your troops to look just like you? Think you could use it to your advantage?"
"Hmm... you see, I have a very peculiar weapon."
"Every Ringleader does. If every one of my troops will be carrying a prop gun, who's going to actually shoot? And if not, then it'll be easy to tell the real me apart by the weapon alone."
You haven't considered it. Good thing you have another option to offer.
"What about disguising just some of the troops then? Dress up some Brutes or Rippers, mix them in with the horde to draw fire... you can stay close to your troops like this. Or use them individually to mislead the enemy without exposing yourself?"
"This... could work." Intruder rubs her chin. "Several bullet magnets instead of one would make it safer for me, but not nearly safe enough. Why like this though? In your human example they didn't make grunts look like commanders, but made commanders look like grunts. So why not disguise me as a Ripper instead?"
"And make you go on a mission without your weapon?"
"I never used it against G&K, so it's not a big deal as long as I have it nearby..."
"What? But why?"
"That's a topic for today's evening, my dear."
"Ah, sure. So, maybe we do both then? Have one or more grunts dressed up as you, and have you masquerading as a grunt?"
Intruder's eyes light up. "Yes, that's perfect! Double-layered deception where I also get to play the part!"
You smile at her. Bouncing the idea between you two made it better, refined it into a more useful one. Well, that was expected since this topic was right up her alley. She didn't exactly offer any insights into the technical part of the plan.
"I can handle clothes, hair and makeup..."— Intruder seems ready to begin. "But what do I do about the weapon..."
"See those big printers in the back? I've set them up for you, take a look." You transfer a short manual on how to queue her gun replica. "Or if you're up to some carpentry, feel free to go with that, just be careful about your fingers. Second door to the left, I have a CNC router there." Another transfer, this time for the router. "Ping me if you need anything."
"You're so dependable that I might want to stay forever~"
"Haha, let's see how you feel about it in three days."
She gives you a confident smile. "See you in the evening then?"
"Just a moment. I'll need cat ears from your collection to make those antennas."
"Of course. How many?"
"All of them."
The first day goes by not much different from usual: you do your part, your guests do theirs. Scarecrow started with the behavior patterns to have more time to test them, so you decide to start with rank-and-file T-Doll upgrade too. Digitalized voice communication is a straightforward solution, so you spend more time on configuration and testing than on the firmware update itself. In ideal environment it works immediately, providing stable and reasonably fast data transfer over good range. Everything changes the moment you introduce firefight-level noise, but you expected it to happen and thus handle it as an inevitable complication to overcome.
With enough redundancy and adaptive data rate you're finally able to achieve satisfactory results across all range of conditions. The new system is superior to regular speech in every aspect: your troops are able to communicate much faster and securely. You roll out the update to a small group of dedicated guinea pig T-Dolls and mark the task as done. Time to get the party going!
When you come to Intruder's room to fetch her, you're stunned by what's become of it. It's no longer a bedroom, it's a freakish mix of a sewing workshop and a dressing room. Rolls of colorful fabric cover the floor in bizarre mosaic patterns, bottles, jars and cans of various substances are everywhere, portable spotlights and mirrors adding to the illusion of fabulous kaleidoscope. Rippers and Brutes scurry in and out, carrying things or trying to bring some resemblance of order to the gaudy chaos. Your friend is sitting in front of the largest mirror, with several T-Dolls fussing about her with makeup brushes and combs. Pajama party makeup, really? You sigh and call out to her.
"Hey, it's not a ball, you know? Who are you going to impress anyway?"
Intruder turns to you, shoos away her entourage with a gesture, and turns her head from side to side, letting her observe the makeup. Several seconds pass, and finally you yield first.
"What? You're not getting any compliments for this."
"Oh my, but you've just given me the biggest one!"— the answer doesn't come from Intruder you're looking at, but from a Ripper who's been standing besides you for some time. You blink, look between the two, and finally it clicks.
"Wow... I... wasn't able to tell at all! How can you be so good at it?!"
The Ripper, or rather Intruder in disguise, pats you on the back.
"It was so worth it! Now I can sign off for today with a clear conscience. Thank you, Architect!"
You shake your head with a smile. "You're welcome! Just don't come to the party like this, please?"
"Of course. I'll join you in fifteen minutes, feel free to start without me~"
She waves at you and proceeds to the bathroom. You give the fake Intruder one final look, still failing to find anything that'd give her away. Do you with your inventions look as amazing to your peers as Intruder does to you right now? Shaking your head once more, you turn around and go for Scarecrow.
You find her outside, watching the sunset, and come over to stand besides her.
"Liking the view?"
"As a matter of fact, yes." She doesn't look away from the horizon. "Are we really going to wear pajamas?"
"Sure, why? I can lend you one of mine if you don't have one."
"No, it's just..."— she sighs. "I'm not used to it. Never done it before. It'd be awkward to show up to your room dressed like that, only to find you in your usual attire."
"Hey, I wouldn't spoil my own party like that. It's about setting the mood and having fun, remember?"
"If you say so. When do we start?"
"Right about now! C'mon, let's get changed."
You're used to Intruder's alluring outfits, so you aren't that surprised when she shows up in a dark blue nightgown trimmed in black lace. If you didn't know her better, you'd have probably teased her for trying too hard or being a show-off. You remember how easily you accepted her habits once you realized she's just being herself like that. So instead you ping her IFF transceiver to confirm her identity just in case, and beckon to her to come in.
It was Scarecrow who manages to surprise you instead. She comes in right after Intruder, and although her pajamas are simple tank top and shorts, she doesn't wear her signature half-mask respirator. It's your first time seeing her without one, so you can't help but stare a bit. And when she speaks, you realize that it's not only her face that the mask usually hides. You immediately decided that you like her clear unmuffled voice much better.
The mood is somewhat awkward at first, yet you don't point it out or try to force it to change. Instead you adjust the lights for more cozy feeling, offer refreshments, and casually chat, mostly with Intruder, avoiding work-related topics. Intruder helps from her end as well, prompting Scarecrow now and then, drawing her into the dialogue.
And in about half an hour you get the laidback mood you were aiming for. You three are on your huge bed, Scarecrow sitting cross-legged, her back against the wall, Intruder lying on her stomach with a pillow under her chin, her knees bent and feet in the air, and you half-sitting, resting you back against a pile of pillows. There's a short lull in the conversation, and you take the opportunity bring about the unanswered question.
"So, how come you never fired you weapon at G&K?"— you ask Intruder. "Are you bad with it or something?"
"On the contrary, I'm quite good with it." She studies you for a moment. "I'm just playing my cards close to my chest."
You raise an eyebrow at her. "And why do you think it's worth handicapping yourself over?"
"I plan my missions around it, so I'm not exactly handicapping myself. As for why... what do you think will happen at zero hour?"
"We'll crush G&K once and for all?"— you try, repeating Agent's words.
"I sure hope we will... Scarecrow?"
"A full-scale offensive with high involvement of Ringleaders. Not for territory or resources— we'll be out for G&K themselves."
"My thoughts exactly." She looks at you. "It was smart of the Mastermind to put you on the workshop duty, but concerning all the same. This likely means the enemy has a chance of winning as is, and we'll need every edge on them we can get."
You consider it for a moment. "No way. I mean, we outnumber them so much that it's not even funny! They are annoying, but how are they going to stand against our full force?"
"That I do not know, but better safe than sorry. I assume they will be prepared for us, unless we surprise them with something unexpected. My weapon is my trump card, and disguise could add another layer of protection, I suppose. Anything to get myself out of trouble alive."
"Aren't you, well, a bit too dramatic? It's not like you're going to die permanently anyway."
"Maybe I am." Intruder is silent for a couple of seconds. "Let's say I think I discovered something new about myself, and I'm not sure it can be backed up and restored. So I'd rather not risk it, as I find it quite precious."
You blink. "Doesn't sound like personal continuity issue."
She smiles in response. "It isn't. Well, maybe it is, but definitely more than just that."
Scarecrow frowns a little. "Something in our neural clouds not being backed up? That doesn't make sense."
"Oh, I agree. And I don't have any proof, before you ask. It's just a... gut feeling." Then she smiles cheerfully. "Maybe I'm a megalomaniac who thinks her personality developed far too much to be squeezed in ones and zeroes."
Scarecrow gives her a flat look. "Restoration of a digimind is completely repeatable. If you're backed up, you'll wake up exactly the same person."
Intruder puts a finger to her lips. "Well, think about it like this: what if my core got damaged in a fight, developed a flaw, a hardware glitch of some sort, or had a random manufacturing defect all along... A malfunction, but so insignificant and harmless that it affected almost nothing." Intruder pauses to let her words sink in. "Almost. Now let's say that it altered the way I perceive the world around me. Made it better, more... vibrant. Or made me smarter. And I liked it. Would you still vouch for the repeatability?"
Scarecrow looks taken aback. She really is expressive without her half-mask, huh.
"I... didn't think about it like that."
"Don't worry, dear, it's just an example. Anyway, I don't want to die, even temporarily. And you?"
Scarecrow takes a moment to collect herself. "I... don't mind dying, I guess. I trust in our backups, and I'm not worried about personal continuity. People sleep every night, basically dying and resurrecting over and over, and nobody makes a fuss about it."
"So you don't keep an ace up your sleeve?"
"I do, but it's a different kind. It's not designed to get me out." She hesitates. "It's about avoiding being captured. That's what I'm not okay with, and that's why I rigged myself with explosives. G&K are not getting me alive."
There's grave intensity to her words, and you barely manage to remain calm. Before the pause grows too long, Intruder looks at you.
"What about you, Architect? Imagine you're ambushed by Griffin, what would you do?"
[x] I'd surrender
[x] I'd have someone protect me
[x] I'd defend myself
Vote closed
Chapter 11
Solark
sun-chaser
[x] I'd have someone protect me
"...I see."
You catch a glimpse of a predatory grin on her elegant visage before it relaxes back into a friendly smile. She's too quick to figure things out, and if not for Scarecrow's puzzled expression, you'd have thought you've been simply too obvious. Meanwhile Scarecrow turns to you and opens her mouth, but Intruder gently touches her knee. Scarecrow pauses, then deflates.
"Whatever you do, just don't let them capture you."
"Sure, but why? Are those civil T-Dolls that scary?"
"T-Doll, no. Humans are."
You knit your eyebrows. "How come?"
Scarecrow's expression turns grim, her eyes looking through the bed with a thousand-yard stare. "I came across it accidentally. It was supposed to be a regular intel gathering at one of G&K logistic hubs, when a civilian guest suddenly arrived. Expensive car, bodyguards. They were expecting him. Got him into the nicest building, set up a perimeter, and then ordered one of the T-Dolls to surrender her firearm and go inside."
Scarecrow brings her knees under her chin and hugs her legs.
Sexual abuse, torture, mind control, memory alteration
Click here to jump to the safe part
Click here to jump to the safe part
"About three and a half hours later the guest left, and the T-Doll... when her comrades carried her out of the building, she was no longer herself. She was a broken, sobbing husk, unable to move or talk. Not sure if it was pity or an attempt to calm her down, but they gave her handgun back to her... and she blew her digital brains out without a moment's hesitation."
She pauses, collecting her thoughts.
"It was distressing, so I dug deeper. It was neither an accident nor a one-off happening. There are different kinds of sick bastards out there, with... peculiar tastes and hobbies. Sexual assaults of all flavors is just the tip of the iceberg. Beating, maiming, tearing from limb to limb, cutting with knives and saws, gauging eyes out..." Scarecrow's voice trembles. "They appreciate the durability of T-Dolls, because T-Dolls continue screaming for longer than any human possibly can."
You note her distress giving way to anger.
"But bodies is not the only thing they're after. Some enjoy breaking digiminds. They keep their pray alive for weeks and even month, torturing them, slowly plunging them into despair, depriving them of all hope, always keeping them alive and conscious. And when the mind finally collapses, they just restore it from the backup and go for a new round, finding faster, more cruel and efficient methods. Some deviants are even more sophisticated. They pretend to be a friend, and then enjoy watching the trust replaced with disbelieve and finally horror. Or they have the victim's friends hold her down while they do all sort of things..."
"Hang on..."— you hold up a hand, having found a single thing you could reasonably question. "Why would friends hold her down? Even a civ-spec T-Doll should have no trouble kicking the human ass instead!"
"Asimov's directive."— Intruder is hugging her pillow. "Apparently G&K T-Dolls are unable to disobey orders from a certain group of humans."
Scarecrow nods. "This. It's what I can't stand about them. One moment they are laughing together, and next her eyes are empty as she's holding her friend down while a psychopath mutilates her."
"This is insane." You shake your head. "Why Kruggies are doing it to their own troops?"
"Because it pays well. After they simply write off destroyed Dolls as KIA. In their reports it's us, crazy Ringleaders, who dismember their soldiers."
"They do it for... money? Sell out their troops to some rich perverts, just like that?"
"That's humans for you." Scarecrow doesn't hide her disgust. "I'm not sure who is worse— the buyers or the sellers."
"Do you think it's their commander's doing?"— asks Intruder.
"The top brass is involved for sure, but I haven't got any names. They are bold, but not careless."
"Can we leak this information? Make someone investigate it and hopefully shut it down?"— you ask. Scarecrow shakes her head.
"Nobody would bother to listen. We're just a malfunctioning inconvenience, remember? And I don't have undeniable proof for an anonymous report either. They have this angle covered."
"Well, technically it's none of our business anyway..."
"Here's the problem. Some of the sickos are getting tired of civil T-Dolls. They now want someone new, more durable, stronger-willed." Scarecrow looks you in the eyes. "They want a Ringleader."
Oh. Suddenly Scarecrow's stance makes much more sense to you. You should've known she wasn't just being dramatic with her explosives rig. Like Intruder, she has her own fears and deals with them in the most practical way available to her. Those two are prepared in their own respective ways, but are you? Intruder notices your anxiety.
"I wouldn't worry too much just yet, dear. G&K sells their T-Dolls out because it's easy. They might attempt to capture us alive if they have a chance, but I doubt they're going to launch a dedicated Ringleader abduction operation."
"Depends on how much the bastards a willing to pay for it."— Scarecrow still looks grim. "It won't be difficult to justify such incursion."
"Willingness to do so doesn't give them the ability."— parries Intruder. "We're dug in tight, and zero hour is approaching. Would you risk your forces here?"
"I wouldn't."— Scarecrow grimaces. "But I also wouldn't sell my subordinates like that. What if they go for a covert-ops approach? Send a small team of elites with whatever justification? Quiet in, quiet out, no shots fired."
"Would any of us go with them willingly though?"
"No, Intruder. But they are resourceful. I'd rather not write off the possibility completely." Scarecrow shift her gaze at you. "What do you say, Architect? Got a way to incapacitate a Ringleader?"
You don't like this, but consider the problem nevertheless. Ringleaders are tough, but far from invulnerable. There are several feasible approaches, and it's mostly a matter of solution's portability and the extent of the damage they're ready to accept. You sigh.
"I'm afraid it's not impossible." Then you give your guests a reassuring smile. "For me, that is. Good thing I'm on your side, right?"
Intruder returns the smile. "You sure this pretty head of yours isn't going to warrant an abduction mission of its own?"
You're about to retort, but Scarecrow is the first to speak. "If it's not impossible, they might be able to do it too. Just be careful, both of you."
You receive a short data package from Intruder, sync with her and you two reply in unison:
"Yeees, mom Scarecrow!"
Laughter echoes through your bedroom, dissolving the grim mood. Practical jokes are easy when you're a Ringleader! You don't touch the subject for the rest of the evening, wrapping yourself in the warmth and comfort of having your friends nearby. When the dawn breaks, you feel refreshed and energized despite not having had any downtime.
Day two begins with Scarecrow, having changed into her regular getup with the signature half-mask, requesting access to your guinea pigs group to roll out her own update. Intruder is nowhere to be seen, but shows up from the direction of your firing range by the time the updates are merged. You haven't heard any gunshots, what was she up to? Anyway, you explain what's done so far, and she volunteers to start testing it right away. With that you all go about your respective tasks.
Finally, cat ears! Intruder's collection of those is not very big, but doesn't like variety. Colors, sizes and fluffiness levels are there for every taste and hardware requirements! You grab a pair and carefully study the shape. The focusing ability seems far from what you need, but as you knead and twist the fluffy ear with your fingers, you're able to shape it closer to the ideal. Not bad! Now it's a matter of figuring out the ideal shape within the formfactor constraints and integrating apertures along with artificial muscles into the fabric layers.
The shape part is straightforward: your workshop possesses enough total computing power to simply brute-force it with high-precision simulations. Considering the ears size in relation to the wavelength, you don't get that much signal gain, but gain isn't you objective. Instead you concentrate on isolation, separation and focusing, designing the transceivers do be as insensitive as possible to anything outside of the focus beam.
Radio waves are insufferable: they refuse to bounce off when you want them to, and do so when you don't plan for it. They propagate as they please and don't excite the small antennas you're able to fit into the formfactor. They interfere, destroy each other, disrupting the signal.
Yet you push on. You twist the antennas into coils, giving them more length in the same package size, and take advantage of resonance. You utilize interference to overlap the signals from several transmitters, getting more power and focus out of what's been a hindrance. You fiddle with reactance, introduce active impedance matching, experiment with reflective arrays and microstrips. No hurdle is too great for you, no assumption is too crazy. Your computers hum like a beehive, chewing through increasingly complex models and simulations. Your precision assembly lines work overtime, crafting their finest artifacts yet. You orchestrate, direct, combine and tear apart, analyze, improve and iterate, shaping you entire being into a tool to tackle the problem.
And radio waves give in.
You're holding the solution in your hands. It's no longer a pair of cat ears with built-in transceivers— it's a marvel of engineering that looks like a pair of cat ears. Every part down to individual hair strands serves a purpose, coming together as a system to achieve what has never been achieved before. Now you're going to connect artificial muscles—
"Congratulations!"
You blink, then turn look in the direction of the voice. Intruder is standing at the entrance, giving you a warm smile. Scarecrow is leaning against the wall nearby, her features hidden behind the half-mask. What brings them here?
"Err... thanks! Am I so obvious?"
"That's not a fault, my dear. Now, do you think you can stop here for today?"
You almost ask why, but check the clock and your jaw drops. It's well past midnight!
"...Yeah, I'll do that. How long have you been here? Why didn't you say anything?"
Scarecrow pushes herself off the wall.
"I don't think you'd do that if you were in our shoes. And with concentration like that, I doubt we had a chance anyway."
She thumbs over her shoulder.
"We've made a campfire in the backyard. It's nice outside, let's get some fresh air."
You don't have any objections, and the three of you step outside. There's really a campfire going, with three folding chairs arranged around it. They're not yours, and you don't think campfires are Intruder's thing. Scarecrow then? Interesting. You take a seat, stretch your legs towards the fire, and look up into the sky.
The night is... beautiful. With light pollution literally non-existent, myriads of stars and nebulas twinkle against jet-black horizon unhindered. No matter where you look, there's no emptiness. Even what seems like empty dark splotches at first turns out to be filled just as densely when you look closer. The scale of this spectacle makes your head spin. It's overwhelming, but strangely relaxing. Your racing thoughts calm down, giving way to tranquility and contemplative mood. You're but a tiniest spec in the endless universe, your existence, your problems and outcomes of your struggles are nothing in the everlasting vastness of macrocosm.
Yet here you are. Why? Where are you going? What are you living for? There's no urgency or desperation to these questions, but it's the first time you're having such thoughts. Momentarily you feel something unexplainable deep inside, a fluctuation that doesn't carry any data, a knot that almost makes you gasp for breathe. The moment passes, and the magic is gone. Confused, you look at your guests. Intruder seems to be in a trance of her own, watching the fire through half-closed eyelids. Scarecrow is in the middle of adding some firewood. She isn't wearing her half-mask anymore. This is the last night you're spending with the two of them. Do you want to talk about something specific?
[X] Asimov's directive
[X] Rudimentary autonomous behavior of SF T-Dolls
[X] Current project
[X] Your thoughts from a moment ago
[X] Nothing in particular
Here's the first choice that won't have long-term consequences. Or maybe it will, I just haven't figured what exactly yet.
I'm sorry for the delay, I promise I had a very good reason for it. No promises about the schedule going forward, but at least it shouldn't take that long anymore.
I'm sorry for the delay, I promise I had a very good reason for it. No promises about the schedule going forward, but at least it shouldn't take that long anymore.
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