Rawel's Logs

[Tachyon 0]

Official Computer Status Report

Challenger Project

To: Commodore Moose, Commander Moore

CC: Obsolete since we use electronic transmissions instead of carbon paper anymore.

Subject: Computer Status Report (the official release)

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Um . . .

 

The Challenger computer is nearly completed. Thanks to the help from the extra Starberg technicians, we are back on schedule. The entire software system will be finished within the week.

 

I'll be going to Mars to personally oversee the installation. To whom do I report when I arrive on Challenger, and with whom will I be working during the installation?

 

Installation should take approximately two to five hours. Integration can be completed by your system technicians, and will take no less than a day. The computer will be fully operational within a week.

 

End Report

 

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Rawel sighed and sent the report to wherever such reports got sent. He felt uncomfortable with these . . . back at Starberg he had reported only to the CEO and the Project Planning Division. Then again, at Starberg it only mattered if your product was a success. Here, he was working against a clock.

 

Perhaps it had been the wrong decision to join this project . . . but it was certainly a challenge he couldn't refuse.

 

There was no time for second thoughts. The computer would have to be ready. So it would be ready.

 

He sighed again and shut off the computer when it got to the sixteen millionth digit of pi. Then he made an urgent note to the lab technicians that the word 'pi' or 'pie' was now a forbidden word when in range of a computer console, and indeed should not be used on the premises.

Edited August 4, 2004 by Tachyon

[Tachyon 0]

Rawel looked up as one of the 'technicians' came over to him.

 

"We're finished."

 

That was the announcement he had been anticipating for days. They were finished. The computer system had been finished in its entirety, albeit slightly behind schedule.

 

The technician stayed there, waiting for further instructions. They were really waiting for Rawel to let them dump the code into the transport modules. Once entered, the data could not be overwritten, and they would be stuck with a corrupted computer.

 

Rawel nodded, "Thank you. That will be all."

 

"But--what about the transfer?"

 

"I'll supervise that myself. You and your crew can pack up and return to Starberg, I'll make sure that each of you receive bonuses."

 

The technician nodded and hid his frustration. They would just have to trust that Rawel would transfer the code without scrutinizing it. All of the extra technicians packed up and headed out for a transpart back to 'headquarters'. Rawel had no doubt that they were reporting to their superiors.

 

That left Sam, Pat, Morris, and him to finish the data transfer. They gathered around the centre workstation, where the two transport modules lay side-by-side. Both were identical, exact copies. The modules were torus-shaped, but instead of a hole going all the way through the middle, the top had a depression coated with panels and blinking lights.

 

They had agreed to duplicate the code, putting one in each module. That way if one module was destroyed or captured, the other one would survive. Both modules had been programmed to corrupt the code beyond all hope of recovery if the data was not transferred from them within 48 hours. Rawel thought the time limit was too large, but he knew that they weren't going to Mars for at least another 24.

 

With the others watching tensely, Rawel connected both modules to the main station. He made sure that the new, pristine version of the code was transferred, and not the junk that the technicians had created. Both modules blinked with green and red lights when the transfer was complete.

 

Sam took one module and placed it in a silvery briefcase. Morris took the other and did the same. Pat made sure that the corrupted code was deleted, giving the impression that it had been transferred. And Rawel slumped in his chair, feeling that some of his burden was lifted.

 

"Thank you, all of you," he said to them. They nodded, unable to say anything that would successfully break the silence. Rawel leaned back and closed his eyes. "Turn off the lights when you leave, please."

 

They left. The lights went off, and the room was flooded in darkness.

 

Rawel got up out of his chair. Swiftly gliding to the briefcases, and careful not to make any noise, he opened one case and removed the module. Then he crossed the room to a hidden panel and opened that. Rawel removed something that was shaped like the module from the hidden compartment, putting the module in its place. Then he put the module-shaped item within the empty briefcase and locked the briefcase.

 

Rawel took both briefcases and left the lab. Before going home, he went to the spaceport. There he put one of the briefcases in the cargo bay of a certain ship. The captain of the ship nodded and told him that it would be safe there. Rawel thanked the captain and handed him a PADD with certain instructions on it.

 

Then he returned home, one of the briefcases safely in hand. Soon he would go to Mars, his chapter in this saga would be completed, and he could finally rest.

[Tachyon 0]

Rawel sat in his temporary quarters on the orbital station, looking down at the red planet beneath him. There was an odd sense of silence and tranquility that he did not get when on Earth. Maybe the slightly heavier gravity was just getting to him.

 

Rawel turned back to the log he had been trying to write for some time, but just couldn't bring himself to express the recent events in the right way. He sighed and changed the classical music selection that had been playing the background.

 

Then he reviewed what he had written, erased a little, and finished his log. He didn't notice the hours slip by as he finished it, then left his quarters for a cup of tea. He walked through the corridors of the station and back to his quarters in no particular hurry, taking the scenic route and observing the station in closer detail.

 

The log on his screen said:

 

This will be my last log as Chief Computer Programmer for the Challenger project.

 

The computer operating software has been installed in the body of the starship. I am completely confident that the engineering crew responsible for the ship can complete any further integration processes.

 

To be honest, there were times when I wasn't confident my part of the project would succeed. I'm a little depressed that the rebels thought my part would be the easiest to infiltrate, and I find myself wondering if they were right. Luckily, those of us who remained managed to produce and install a good copy of the computer, without corrupted code.

 

Through careful examination, and not a little bit of luck, I learned that all of the supposed 'technicians' from Starberg were actually rebels. They were sabotaging the project, and I knew that if I revealed any knowledge of their true identity, they would not hesitate to dispose of me.

 

Luckily, three of my original technicians were still around. I could not have finished the project without their help. We restored and rewrote the operating system, careful to conceal our actions from the rebels.

 

But we were not wholly safe. I found a note given to me anonymously, which I thought pertained to the already discovered rebels amongst our group. But it only served to finally put together the last part of the puzzle, and I realized that there was a further traitor, one of my original technicians.

 

I didn't know who it was. So I took a gamble. One of the module containing code I removed and replaced with a banana cream pie. I sent that module to Challenger on a Starberg ship, confident that it would arrive safely. Then I went on a Starfleet shuttle, along with Morris, to Mars. I carried the decoy case.

 

It was purely by chance that Morris--the traitor--was the one who came with me. They drew straws, and Morris won. The others would remain behind, and so not threaten the project. That meant that either Morris was loyal or not . . .

 

The guards aboard the shuttle were rebels as well, and probably would have seized the case from me if Morris had not been aboard. But Morris' presence was ironically what saved me--he hesitated. When he opened the case to see his prize, it gave me the opportunity to temporarily incapacitate him and flee.

 

I proceeded to Challenger to install the computer software. Starfleet security officers--real ones--arrested the rebel impostors. I do not know what became of them, that is not my concern.

 

This project has been difficult, to say the least. I am not used to working within a strict chain of command, being the chief programmer at Starberg I usually had resources available. Plus, other than industrial espionage I was not used to this much competition. I did not expect to have to combat rebels as well as build a computer.

 

So I close this file, attach my last log, and I wonder what the future will bring.

 

Below the entry, two buttons flashed. One was marked Send, the other, Delete. A finger hovered over them each.

 

Then it pressed Send, and it was all over. Rawel could finally relax.