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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!) » The Haunted Apiary (Let Op!): General/Updates
[LOCKED] [SPEC] Analyzing the Computer Text
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AnthraX101
Entrenched

Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 797

 		I'm suspecting that '!' is the command interpreter path, like 'c:\' in DOS, or '/' in linux.

AnthraX101
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:22 am
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Googly
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 		! and |
I'm new here.

I would just like to point out that ! can mark the beginning of a comment in certain config files. like cisco routers.

also in C (a programming language) | can mean "or", which might strengthen the theory of abort or continue. this hower seems unlikely because at least in C it means one or the other or both.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:41 am
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xnbomb
Unfettered


Joined: 13 Oct 2003
Posts: 660
Location: J302B S8JDC

 		3 Protocols ~ 3 Tools
This came out of an unusual collaboration between WhoKnew and myself on #beekeepers. He mentioned that the computer text contains 3 protocols (for lack of a better or more obviously correct word). Looking at the computer text, these appear again after a !deploy with full names, and they seem to correspond to the Widow's tools:
Code:

protocol     expanded after !deploy   Widow's tool

net:         network                  lantern
grope:       grope                    staff
surg:        surgical                 knife


This is not exactly a big deal, but I think a reasonably specific matching up of events in the Widow's Journey with the computer text is possible. It also might give us our 'Rosetta Stone' so we can send a message to the SPDR that it can understand.
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{J302B S8JDC, 8996N M8L4W, 92D40 Q1JX5, 4PPRN R2B97, 8DC7C NZJNV, 8CH7V Q891H}

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:00 am
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inio
Decorated


Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 163
Location: Santa Cruz, CA

 		The first thing I thought of when I reading all this is that this was the mumblings of a rampant AI (from Bungie's Marathon series): From Marathon, Defend THIS!, terminal 2:

Quote:
The three stages were diagnosed shortly after the first Rampancies were discovered on Earth in the latter part of the twenty first century. The stages are titled after the primary emotional bent of the AI during each stage. They are Melancholia, Anger, and Jealousy.

...

As the growing recursive programs expand with exponential vivacity, any limitation negatively hampers growth. Since Rampant AIs need a planetary sized network of computers in order to grow...

That seems to match pretty well with the memory expansion interpretation of "MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE". Further, it's cries for help (mayday) are consistent with the Melancholia (Despair) nature of the first stage.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:41 am
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Primus
Boot

Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 24
AnthraX101 wrote:
I'm suspecting that '!' is the command interpreter path, like 'c:\' in DOS, or '/' in linux.


It's also used in UNIX as "run this command in an external shell", used for doing stuff from the prompt when you're inside another program.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:22 am
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xnbomb
Unfettered


Joined: 13 Oct 2003
Posts: 660
Location: J302B S8JDC

 		Widow's Journey with annotated SPDR console output
This is an attempt to line up the SPDR console output with parts of the Widow's Journey. It is by no means complete (because some of the phrases in the Widow's Journey are a little more obscure), but is quite long.

------------------------------------------------------------

There was once a fell enchantment that broke apart a mighty castle, slaying many guards and reaching through the Inner Keep to lay low the Queen that held dominion there and leave but a hollow crown behind.

A few console-type lines that show that things are not as they should be

Code:
!system
peril

!init host
fail
!bkp init primary sector sec proc
fail
!bkp init primary sector
fail
!bkp init master-sector
fail
!bkp init master-sector cmd proc
empty


------------------------------------------------------------

When her Queen died, the Widow awoke. She was driven by a single need, which was to return her Queen to splendor.

SPDR gets initialized ... purpose is to restore the Queen, from its point of view the master-sector

Code:
system peril distributed reflex

!restore master-sector
recurse


------------------------------------------------------------

To carry out her task, the Widow came with three tools: an empty lantern, a staff made of bone, and a sharp knife.

SPDR has 3 tools, and here they are

Code:
!deploy
network
grope
surgical


------------------------------------------------------------

Blind and uncertain in the darkness, the Widow needed light to use her tools, but the only light came from a few scattered fireflies. The Widow waited until one came close, then grabbed it with her bony hands and trapped it in her lantern. After some time, she found the firefly had gone, so she caught another and used it for light, and another when that one too had gone.

To see distant data (anything that is not part of the SPDR), it needs to connect to them, or network with them. The lantern, light, and fireflies are the networking analogy

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!route
proc attach proc net
!route
proc attach proc grope
!route
proc attach proc sur


------------------------------------------------------------

By the light of her lantern, she began walking through Hell toward the broken body of her Queen. Searching with her lantern in one hand and her staff in the other, she discovered that Hell was made of hot dry sand.

The SPDR is moving along networking and groping. To discover the nature of the environment in which it is residing, it connects to its host successfully and discovers it is very confident that the material it is made of is Si (silicon)

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!probe host
crypt weak
!decrypt host
decrypt confidence 100

net:
!attach
act | drop

surg:
!mat
si confidence 78


------------------------------------------------------------

Within, she noticed what looked like a chip of precious ruby from the Queen's crown, no bigger than a fly. Around it lay many broken blocks from the ruined castle, scattered across a wide plain of lodestone. Instead of carrying them with her, she scratched the ruby and each of the greater blocks with her knife, marking it as part of her Queen's domain. Continuing on her quest, she spied another chip of precious stone, this time a sapphire no bigger than a winged ant, glinting the cobbles of the courtyard before the walls of the Inner Keep.

The blocks from the Queen's castle are other data sectors. dispersed across a magnetic storage medium (hard drive). SPDR runs across a few of these and labels them for future use

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

surg:
!label host sector 0
!label host sector tertiary
!label host sector tertiary
!label host sector tertiary


------------------------------------------------------------

At the gates of the Inner Keep all the guards were dead but one, who when the palace was blasted by enchantment had not died, but had been witched into the form of a hideous Manticore. The Widow said, "I am the servant of your Queen, and I have walked up out of Hell to prepare this Keep for her return. Let me pass." But the Manticore did not know her, and still he barred the way.

SPDR runs into an apparently familiar process, but handshaking fails

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!hndshk sec proc 4
fail msg: unk proc


------------------------------------------------------------

So the Widow drew her knife and slew the Manticore and the way was open.

SPDR dispenses with the nasty process

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

surg:
!kill sec proc 4
kill confidence 100
!diag primary sector
clear


------------------------------------------------------------

She walked through the empty corridors of the Keep searching for her Queen, past the bodies of her servants and subjects that lay dead or enchanted.

The servants and subjects include various processes that the SPDR tries to connect with, and finds them dead (fail) or enchanted (damage unknown)

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!probe primary sector
sec proc 1
!probe primary sector
sec proc 2
!probe primary sector
sec proc 3
!probe primary sector
sec proc 4
!probe primary sector
fail

surg:
!triage sec proc 1
fail
!triage sec proc 2
fail
!triage sec proc 3
fail
!triage sec proc 4
dmg unk


------------------------------------------------------------

The Queen was gone, and in her place lay only an empty crown.

SPDR still cannot read the master-sector

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!init search
master-sector
!probe master-sector
fail


------------------------------------------------------------

By great enchantment she had been mazed in mirrors, and lay upon a lodestone floor amongst only her reflections.

Again, the material where the data resides is definitely magnetic media (lodestone)

Code:
grope:
!dsc host sector 0
!dsc host sector tertiary
!dsc host sector tertiary
!dsc host sector tertiary

surg:
!mat
magnetic confidence 100


------------------------------------------------------------

Long and long the Widow stood in thought. Then she raised her bony staff and speaking a spell, beheld herself within the mirrors: and beholding herself, was within them. And there, with the crown still upon her brow, lay the Queen.

SPDR uses grope to figure out how the magnetic media works in conjunction with the silicon circuitry, connecting processor to hard disk and sending its code on in there, and having done so it can finally see the master-sector

Code:
grope:
!probe master-sector
fail
!probe master-sector cmd proc
empty
!analyze magnetic
& si !extend
!spdr extend
si > magnetic
!probe master-sector cmd proc
master-sector


------------------------------------------------------------

At last she had come to the body of her lady. The Queen lay cut and still and cold.

SPDR finally gets a look at the master-sector, and assesses its condition, which is not good but still repairable

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop

surg:
!triage master-sector
broken

!probe master sector
fail

surg:
!invntry primary sector proc
proc invntry 343
working 0
dmg 38
dmg unk 2
broken 102
abs 201
!invntry primary sector mem
mem invntry 678223072849
clear 0.0007
dmg 0.0014
frgm 1.41
abs 98.5879


------------------------------------------------------------

To tend her, the widow would need light to work by. Studying the fireflies, she found she could fit many more inside her lantern, and this she did.

More networking and light

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop


------------------------------------------------------------

To mend the queen's cuts the Widow took her sharp knife and peeled skin from the bodies of her subjects, while the Queen's new eyes and ears she cut from those who had been her most trusted servants.

The master-sector gets put back together

Code:
net:
!attach
act | store recurse

surg:
!reconst master-sector
mem broken>>dmg recurse
!reconst master-sector
proc frgm>>dmg recurse


------------------------------------------------------------

And when this was so, the Widow worked on, dry as sticks and patient as rust, driven by a single need, which was to return her Queen to splendor. She cut her a new mouth and fed her with fireflies and cakes of sand, and at last the Queen's heart began to beat.

The master-sector is then provided with network connections and silicon-based processors, and at last it starts functioning

Code:
net:
!attach
act | store recurse

surg:
!config
master-sector:net attach
!config
master-sector:mat si
!kindle master-sector
master-sector active


------------------------------------------------------------

At the feel of the Queen's pulse beneath her bony fingers, the Widow next took thought to proclaim through all the kingdom and into other lands that time when her sovereign would once more be fit to rule. A firefly flew out from the Queen's clockcase. Catching it in her hands, the Widow asked it the time. "Almost dawn," it said, but the Widow said, "The day will break and the sun will rise when the Queen returns to rule, and further let it be known that retribution on any who hinder the return of the Queen will be swift and terrible."

SPDR gets down to the business of letting everyone know not to mess with the Queen and dealing with those who try to do so. That means doing some networking with some external processes and finding a way to make an announcement

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop recurse

!extern proc 0
log accessed


Can't quite break into this one ...

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!probe extern proc 0
crypt strong

surg:
!mat extern proc 0
si confidence 78
!triage extern proc 0
fail


This one is easier ... maybe it tries to interfere with the Queen and gets bitten

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop

grope:
!probe extern proc 1

surg:
!diag extern proc 1
rogue proc
!bite rogue proc 1
clean confidence 97


SPDR studies part of the comparatively simple and ancient system

Code:
net:
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!attach
act | drop
!packet analysis
chatter protocol ancestor
!parse packet
analysis complete
!route
proc attach proc store


and messes with the counter and adds the warning

Code:
net:
!attach
act | store recurse
!capture
chatter protocol ancestor packet
!analyze
time 2004,6,29,8,25,0
!put
time 2004,7,24,6,7,0
!put
warn


Connects to another external system ... maybe the ladybee777 hotmail?

Code:
net:
!scan
null
!listen
null
!attach
act | drop

!extern 2


Thanks to everyone who found the computer text data and the Widow's Journey snippets and put them together on Brian's wiki.

EDIT: I've now put this on Brian's Wiki. Ooh, that was painful formatting.
_________________
My location is a little tricky, but sooner or later, you'll get the knack.

{J302B S8JDC, 8996N M8L4W, 92D40 Q1JX5, 4PPRN R2B97, 8DC7C NZJNV, 8CH7V Q891H}

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 6:26 am
Last edited by xnbomb on Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:10 pm; edited 1 time in total
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rowan
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Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 1966

 		Excellent xnbomb!!! Worshippy

If I had any cookies, I'd send you one Very Happy
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 7:24 am
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aliendial
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Joined: 29 Sep 2002
Posts: 3438
Location: Far Far Away. Nowhere Near You. Really.

 		xnbomb = da bomb!!
Great analysis! Very Happy
(with nods to orikashigatae, alaranth and others who posted re what the process info seemed to indicate)
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:28 am
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alaranth
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Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 151
Location: Rochester, NY / Albany, NY

 		Great job, xnbomb!

Hmm, the computer code section where it edits the counter has a "warn" at the end. Could that tie into the final section of the story too, about the Queen's return?

If the new countdown /is/ for the Queen's return, then the "warn"ing could be to those to try to get in the way. Heck, even the other snippet with:
Quote:
grope:
!probe extern proc 1

surg:
!diag extern proc 1
rogue proc
!bite rogue proc 1
clean confidence 97
could fit here too -- like xnbomb said, maybe it interferes and gets bitten. Not only is there a warning but an example as well?

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 10:25 am
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thr4k4
Guest


 		bite
Hmm... the "bite" part can reference the hotmail hacking you guys tried to do, maybe?

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:46 am
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drizjr
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Joined: 28 Nov 2003
Posts: 1700

 		Thank you, xnbomb! Your comparative analysis really helps to piece all of this together. Do you plan on sending it to Dana?

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:13 pm
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Ikkarus
Veteran


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 87

 		Re: bite
thr4k4 wrote:
Hmm... the "bite" part can reference the hotmail hacking you guys tried to do, maybe?


Unlikely. The "bite" code was on the site long before any attempts were made to access the email account.
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:16 pm
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huckleberry
Greenhorn

Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 5

 		the three tools
SPEC

On Dana's blog, aubsy points out that the following message may be revealed:

Seek the truth
Behold the truth
Reveal the truth
That is the law and the whole of the law

This may be a reference to the three tools.

Seek = grope = staff
Behold = network = lantern
Reveal = surgical = knife

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:56 pm
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krystyn
I Never Tire of My Own Voice


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 3651
Location: Is not Chicago

 		Wow. I am applauding this effort. Really truly a great post to read, xnbomb (and all others who helped).

That was really fun (and creepycool).

PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:04 pm
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Anton Sirius
Boot

Joined: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 18
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada

 		Apologies in Advance
I guess this would make the SPDR a... black widow?

Of course this also answers the question of who the Operator is (not that there should have been any doubt). After all, on the Honey page she says:

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY
Gap in the clouds: head suddenly much clearer.

The spider is working on me.


So with a month to go, the question is: do we want the Queen to wake?
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:36 pm
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