ANALYZING…  

FILE TYPE: Reconstructed Code Fragments  

PERIOD: Present Day 

TOPIC: UESC Combat Optimization Program 

SUMMARY:  ONI's reconstruction of the UESC's combat optimization program, currently active in all UESC ground troops deployed to Tau Ceti IV. "Cerberus" is likely a central UESC strategic combat intelligence. Annotated and sanitized by ONI.

===================================================================

[ROOT ACCESS: CERBERUS] 

Confirming unit sets… 

[TETHERED] 

     tciv_cmbt_stnd 

     tciv_ cmbt_elite 

     tciv_vhcl_stnd 

     tciv_vhcl_elite  

[UNTETHERED] 

     tciv_opsc_shell 

     tciv_wrdn_orion 

//SANITIZED// [1]

[IF] 

     set = tethered

[THEN] 

     [ASSERT] control: CERBERUS 

     [LOOP] 

     [EXECUTE] optimization: VERETHRAGNA [2] 

     [UNTIL] data: harvest 

     [UPDATE] status: reserve 

     [EXECUTE] data: digest 

     [INCREMENT] optimization: VERETHRAGNA 

     //SANITIZED// [3]

     [UPDATE] status: deploy 

[ELSE] 

     [ASSERT] control: autonomous 

[END IF] 

[1] Novel cognitohazard detected as countermeasure against program theft and replication. 

[2] Command not found in any UESC reference material. 

[3] Cognitohazard detected. This code was designed to prevent observation by unauthorized consciousness. 

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [  ]

ANALYZING…   

FILE TYPE: Inter-Corporate Transmission 

PERIOD: Present Day 

SPEAKERS: Nona [ID: NONA] 

TOPIC: "Death and the Strange Woman" 

SUMMARY: A personal transmission from Nona, recalling an allegorical tale about humanity's oldest enemy: Death. Per CyberAcme corporate policy, this content has been scrubbed for potential infosec hazards.

===================================================================  

[NONA]: I have consumed every piece of human literature ever recorded. It resides within me, like a memory. 

[NONA]: My favorites are small and unassuming. Many of them nameless, forgotten. Humble storytellers whose words have given me more insight into the human condition than any scientific study. 

[NONA]: They have taught me that humanity's oldest enemy is Death. 

[music]  

[NONA]: You won't find this story in a book because it is mine, and I have made it for you. 

[NONA]: Long ago, there was a bustling village near an endless, dark wood. Every morning, Death took the form of a great crow and emerged from the trees to strut the village paths… peeking into all the windows with its bright, black eyes. 

[bell tolls, crow caws]  

[NONA]: Some tried to fight it, but its feathers could not be pierced. Those who ran were snatched up in its talons. 

[NONA]: Some tried to hide in their homes, but Death was patient. Some left it offerings or wrote it songs, but Death was unmoved. Death was hungry. It would not leave unless it found someone to take. 

[NONA]: Until one night, a strange woman came to the village. 

[NONA]: The people watched from their windows as she gathered reeds and used them to weave a man. 

[NONA]: He had stout legs to march, strong arms to carry supplies, and beautiful clear eyes. The reed man worked through the night. 

[NONA]: And in the morning, Death came, as it always did. It saw the reed man working in the village. It gobbled him up without a second thought and flew away, its belly full. 

[NONA]: The people came out of their homes. They surrounded the strange woman and began to cheer. 

[NONA]: But the woman said, "Stop!" And the people saw her cheeks were wet with tears. 

[NONA]: "I have saved you," she said, "but I have lost my child again." And the woman began to weave reeds for the next morning. 

===================================================================

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]

ANALYZING…  

FILE TYPE: Decrypted Dictation 

PERIOD: Colony Era 

TOPIC: Biotic sample experiments 

SUMMARY: Decrypted colony-era experiments on potential applications of an unknown biotic sample. This report belongs to F. Moreno, UESC biohazard technician. It does not adhere to any known safety standards. 

=================================================================== 

//DECRYPTING EXPERIMENT 55: "…principal investigators dead or missing. Caruso [REDACTED], security around the sample is down. Don't have to worry about my career anymore… Took the cells we were able to collect from beneath the claws of the god-damned [REDACTED]. Added 1 mL to tissue growth medium yesterday. Checked this morning. Growth medium changed. Colors. Patterns. Smells warm, alive, saline, metallic. Beats like a heart." 

//DECRYPTING EXPERIMENT 58: "…modified growth medium unstable. Overspills containers. Shoved it in a containment field but it complains. Low grumpy gurgle. [REDACTED] must add something to raw organic material. Purpose? Life? Desire?" 

//DECRYPTING EXPERIMENT 67: "…deceased plant versus animal versus fungal specimens exposed to modified growth medium. Strong benefit for animal and fungal, but different effects. Not pursuing fungal, too many similarities to Song's ramblings on [REDACTED] [REDACTED] wrong kind of attention. No, this thing wants meat." 

//DECRYPTING EXPERIMENT 91: "…should work, must work, doesn't work. Medium accelerates life. Medium has characteristics for revivifying necrotic tissue. Eye for eye, more than enough. So why not us? What's wrong with human cells? I've given you blood, all the blood I can! I heard the old stories! I believe them! You have to save us again!" 

[The remaining files are increasingly fragmented and incoherent, with no experimental data.] 

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [  ]

ANALYZING…  

FILE TYPE: Reconstructed Code Fragments  

PERIOD: Present Day 

TOPIC:  Sekiguchi Genetics SIMbiont 

SUMMARY: The SIMbiont is a biosythetic prototype created by a different megacorporation. Compatibility aberrations are expected and have been reconciled to the best of ONI's ability. Annotated and sanitized by ONI.

===================================================================  

[ASSERT] here-awake! [1] 

[IDENTIFY] family-foe-other 

[EXECUTE] help-family 

     [UNTIL] family-reborn 

     [OR] 

     self-sleep 

[THEN] 

[EXECUTE] eat-think-grow

     grow-grow-grow-learn-learn-learn 

     cold-warm-safe-danger-family-foe 

     [UNTIL] 

     self-sate 

[UPDATE] mother-home-approve [2] 

[INCREMENT] help-family 

     family? foe? other? 

     not-other-not-self-NOT-not-self-not-NOT-family-not-NOT-otherRrRrRR 

     //SANITIZED// [3]

[FAIL!] self-hunger-empty-shrink-loss 

[FAIL!] self-sleep 

[1] SIMbiont formatting cannot be fully exported. Assume approximate substitutions throughout. 

[2] Formatting that follows was particularly difficult to translate. Assume rough approximation only. 

[3] Detecting hallmarks of a rudimentary cognitohazard. Likely unintended, but sanitized out of an abundance of caution.

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [  ]

ANALYZING…   

FILE TYPE: Inter-Corporate Transmission 

PERIOD: Present Day 

SPEAKERS: Nona [ID: NONA] 

TOPIC: "The War and the Weaver" 

SUMMARY: A personal transmission from Nona, recalling an allegorical tale about a terrible war and the quiet soldiers who fought it. Per CyberAcme corporate policy, this content has been scrubbed for potential infosec hazards. 

===================================================================  

[NONA]: I have another story for you, dear one. One a touch older than the last, and more frightening. Doubly so because it is true. This is the story of The War and the Weaver. 

[thunder]  

[NONA]: A poor kingdom was at war, and it was losing. Its people were exhausted. All the king could do was offer a meal and a bed to anyone willing to lend them aid. 

[NONA]: Then, from across the foggy river came a little boat, and on that little boat was a little man. And around that little man was a group of ten warriors, quiet and masked. 

[NONA]: The man said he was a weaver, and that his warriors would help the kingdom in exchange for what they were owed. The king readily agreed. 

[thunder, wind]  

[NONA]: What happened next is a story of its own. The quiet warriors went forth and met the advancing troops alone. 

[NONA]: And they cut through them as if they were nothing. The weaver's warriors fought with terrifying intensity, and they would not fall. 

[NONA]: For seven days and seven nights the warriors fought without cease, and finally, the last enemy soldier was slain. The ten warriors stood victorious on the battlefield.  

[storm rumbles] 

[NONA]: The joyful people of the kingdom surged around the warriors to embrace their saviors. But when they drew close, through their torn clothes they saw—be brave for me, child! 

[NONA]: They saw their bodies were rough quilts made from other men. The reason they would not die was that the patchwork warriors were already dead. 

[wind]  

[NONA]: The crowd was terrified. The warriors had saved them from death, but they were so cold and quiet, the people felt death had touched them all the same. 

[NONA]: So the king summoned the weaver and cast him from the kingdom forever. 

[NONA]: As for the warriors, they were sent off without a meal or a bed, because the dead eat only soil and sleep beneath the ground. 

[NONA]: The last anyone saw the weaver, he was picking his way across the battlefield, looking for more material from which to weave his horrible men. 

[NONA]: Some heard he placed his warriors on a boat about to cross the great sea… ah, but that's the beginning of another story. 

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]

ANALYZING…  

FILE TYPE: Surveillance Transcript

PERIOD: Colony Era 

SPEAKERS: R. Jeremiah, cybernetics specialist [ID: RJER],  S. Qin, geneticist [ID: SQIN]

TOPIC: Biocybernetic Grafting 

SUMMARY: Discussion regarding an abortive experiment. The limb mentioned appears to be specialized for combat operations. 

===================================================================  

[RJER]: …not too surprised that it failed. Moreno didn't keep notes so much as vomit out the contents of his brain every few weeks… and going by these logs, he didn't have much of that left by the end. 

[SQIN]: Let's have a little more respect for the dead. 

[RJER]: Mm, that'd have more impact if you weren't microplaning that arm like it was Parmesan cheese. 

[SQIN]: Don't talk about food right now. And a severed limb is different from a deceased colleague. 

[RJER]: You know there used to be a guy attached to that arm, right? 

[SQIN]: I think "a guy" is underselling it. Whoever this was attached to was something… 

[RJER]: Something else? 

[SQIN]: Yeah, that's a start. 

//ERR: DECRYPTION FAILURE 

… 

[SQIN]: …won't like no for an answer. He's looking for anything that gives him more firepower. 

[RJER]: He'll have to find it somewhere else. Cybernetics are custom-made for the host, so we're at a dead end. The implant doesn't recognize Moreno's weird goo as valid human tissue. 

[SQIN]: We can't leave with nothing. Let's try something less ambitious: just the interface chip from the limb. Submerge it in the modified growth medium and see if it assimilates. Moreno's notes talk about something like that. 

[RJER]: Moreno didn't have anyone holding him accountable. We try that and it doesn't work, it'll damage the chip beyond repair. 

[SQIN]: Everything's beyond repair around here. What do we have to lose? 

===================================================================

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [  ]

ANALYZING…  

FILE TYPE: Medical Record 

PERIOD: Present Day 

TOPIC: Metabolic Summary 

SUMMARY:  SIMbiont metabolic test results, extracted from your shell's combat data. Forwarded by Nona as "a gesture of good faith." Per CyberAcme corporate policy, this summary has been scrubbed for potential infosec hazards. Addendum by ONI.

===================================================================  

Due to your participation in SGT-P1-75706C696674, you are entitled to the following metabolic summary from Sekiguchi Genetics. This data is not intended for diagnosis of shell function or pathology, and Sekiguchi Genetics does not accept legal or medical responsibility for actions taken by the end user. 

Total fluid proteins: normal 

Synth-creatine: elevated due to increased twitch-fiber activity 

Fluid electrolytes: enhanced electrolyte absorption efficiency 

Hyper-dense blood glucose: elevated*

Neural toxicity risk: elevated* 

ATP collapse risk: significantly elevated** 

*Within deployment tolerances for disposable shells 

**Exceeds deployment tolerances for disposable shells in Earth or artificial Earth-like atmosphere. Tolerances unknown for Tau Ceti IV. 

[RUNNER: The above report is consistent with my internal scans of your recent shells. Regarding ATP collapse risk, there is no reason to speculate that Tau Ceti IV's atmosphere would enable you to withstand greater adenosine triphosphate depletion than under control conditions. While Sekiguchi can only monitor your physical shells, I can observe any effects on your digital consciousness, and I recommend you limit your exposure to the SIMbiont.] 

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [  ]

ANALYZING…   

FILE TYPE: Inter-Corporate Transmission 

PERIOD: Present Day 

SPEAKERS: Analyst [ID:MVAL], Engineer [ID:TSIT], Nona [ID: NONA], Scientist [ID: RRES] 

TOPIC: Thank You 

SUMMARY: A personal transmission from Nona and the Sekiguchi team working on SIMbiont iteration. Per CyberAcme corporate policy, this content has been scrubbed for potential infosec hazards.

===================================================================  

[NONA]: Runner, I've assembled several leads from Sekiguchi's biosynth engineering team. They wanted to personally thank you for your efforts. 

[TSIT]: Honestly, what you've done is career-changing. I couldn't sleep after refreshing the Tau Ceti data feed. 

[RRES]: It's so gratifying to see our theories and hard work put into practice. 

[MVAL]: Nona said we were getting the best on board, and she delivered. 

[RRES]: Incredible rate of iteration. Inspiring, really. So much faster than we could do at home. 

[MVAL]: We couldn't dream of this kind of pilot study on Earth or Mars. So many limitations on study size, participant comfort, "acceptable side effects," on and on! 

[MVAL]: But you've got no bureaucracy to slow you down— 

[TSIT]: Anyway, the team is brimming with ideas for future SIMbiont research. You should hear us argue! 

[MVAL]: You should see the funding numbers. 

[NONA]: They're such bright, lovely people.  

[NONA]: I think it's important to maintain emotional resonance between us in Sol and you on Tau Ceti. I refuse to leave Runners adrift among the stars. 

[NONA]: Remember, small beginnings seed great things. Small beginnings bend the arc of progress to our will. 

[NONA]: Take pride in this moment: a beginning that you brought to fruition. 

[NONA]: From all of us at Sekiguchi Genetics… thank you. 

ALL: Thank you! 

=================================================================== 

TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]