Webmaster

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

Hup!
*hops onto your back, wrapping my tail around your torso to secure myself*

@Ignacious

W-woah!
*Stumbles for a few seconds and catches my balance*
Where to?

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

Hmm.
*Tries to bypass needing to know the key by forcing the system to read a false-positive access attempt*

<Snipped quote by Ignacious>

W-Huh?
*Shifts my stance but doesn’t really look over fully*
Do you need a hand?

@GalaxyRaider

*The data itself seems encrypted but the rest of the system including memory and records becomes available*

Myriad Reality

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That is a good idea. Lemme see if the room changes if I am in there or if I need to touch thw room for it to change.

@Ignacious

Sounds like a plan.
*Walks back over and stands by the entrance*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

Uhm…

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I’m not good at directing people…

@Ignacious

Uh, maybe... hop on my shoulders and point me where to go?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

…
*Looks into what credentials are needed to access*

@GalaxyRaider

*The file normally requires an extended key or a 12-character password*

Myriad Reality

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Why would you be securing findings right here, of all places? That screams “I found something important.”
*Reaches out and places a hand over the locked folder, attempting to dive directly past it by reading its data myself without opening the folder*

@GalaxyRaider

*The folder spews metadata about all instances when it was written to, where it was written from, and the size of each write, but its contents still emerge garbled*

Myriad Reality

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…
*Decides to simply read through these projects in their entirety, starting with the information on the harmful data and through the second category in its entirety*

@GalaxyRaider

*The first category is comprised of research branched off of a multi-decade field, including folders with hundreds of papers from various figures, leading to the in-office research on the effects of virus generations and how small code changes are propagated over time, but the results folder is locked; the second category contains sporadic example data architectures and code samples, some of which resemble those injected into the virus propagation studies, and contains sparse references to external papers outside antiquated, math and algorithm-driven documents from dozens of years ago*

Myriad Reality

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*Looks more deeply at the projects specifically around the times where shifts occurred- before and after the research focus initially started changing, as well as when it was at its most shifted*

@GalaxyRaider

*On closer inspection, the viral projects contain notes related to breeding, modification, and perpetuation of pseudo-malicious data, while the latter category focuses on self-modifying code and the identification and purging of foreign programs*

Myriad Reality

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*Glances them over quickly, looking for particularly interesting project titles or dates of relevance*

@GalaxyRaider

*The frequency of viral research appears to dip several months ago and is replaced by a tangible increase of tests on code extensions, before briefly evening out and going dark*

Myriad Reality

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That’s what I said!
*Walks away from everyone and over to the terminal near Cure*

@GalaxyRaider

*The terminal reacts to your touch and extends into a multifaceted interface with a handful of open projects*

Myriad Reality

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I’ll have a look, sure. But you all had better not hurt yourselves while I’m not looking.

@GalaxyRaider

I’ll let you know. How bad could it possibly be?