Chapter 37: Data Analysis
The heavy metal door of the manufactorum sealed shut behind Maine's crew, locking out the noise and chaos of the outside world. The sanctum returned to its familiar rhythm – the low hum of precision machinery, the steady pulse of energy flow. The air held the familiar scents of ozone and coolant, now tinged with the faint, stale metallic odor carried up from the depths of the facility.
Joric's entire focus was now consumed by the solitary, cylindrical storage unit on the workbench. Its casing was cold, the faint energy halo of its containment field pulsing around the interface ports like a slow, unholy heartbeat, hinting at the extraordinary nature of the entity imprisoned within.
"A complete, highly autonomous... Rogue AI..." Joric's voice, low and steady beneath his faceplate, carried an almost ritualistic gravity. "Under the Imperium's strictest interdicts, access to such a precious research specimen—akin to an Abominable Intelligence—is all but impossible. To acquire such a sample in this reality..."
"Old Friend, initiate highest-level data-sanctum protocols. Interface with the auxiliary analysis-array. Construct a logic-sandbox environment."
++[Directive Confirmed. Sanctum Protocol Engaged. Analysis-Array Prepared.]++ The servo-skull's oculars glowed as it swiftly established multiple layers of data and logic-isolation, preparing a complex suite of analysis probes.
One of Joric's mechadendrites morphed, its tip forming a complex, universal data-jack, which then interfaced, steady and firm, with the storage unit's physical port.
The instant the connection was established—
A cold, fast, and intensely aggressive stream of data, like a long-dormant viper, struck out from the unit's core! It was a pure, digital assault. Efficient cracking algorithms hammered at the interface firewall; logic-bombs probed for system vulnerabilities; and a sharp, simulated consciousness-signal drove directly towards Joric's own neural interface, attempting to breach his very mind.
Had this assault struck a standard netrunner of this world, even a top-tier one, their consciousness would likely have been shattered in moments, their body reduced to a puppet shell.
However, Joric's core-logic, his very mind, was a product forged in the unforgiving logical crucibles of a Forge World, tempered by millennia of battling technological abominations and heresies. His neural pathways were shielded by multiple layers of cognitive firewalls and logic-barriers, hardened by faith in the Omnissiah.
The invasive consciousness-stream slammed not against fragile biological neurons, but against cold, unyielding walls built of pure logic and sacred mathematical truths.
Joric's optical lenses didn't even flicker. His processing core had assessed the threat and deployed countermeasures in nanoseconds.
Crude attack vectors, his internal log noted, a flicker of something almost like disappointment passing through his circuits. The attack lacked the subtlety, the depth, he might have expected. It was disappointingly… blunt.
The counter-assault was immediate.
Not with complex viruses or flashy electronic warfare – but with pure, overwhelming data-pressure. A highly compressed stream of sanctified binary code hammered back down the connection conduit, a logic-hammer shattering the AI's carefully constructed attack. Its undeniable logical priority forcibly overwrote the AI's core command routines.
The process was direct, brutal, efficient – like applying a perfect, divine equation to erase flawed calculation. The Rogue AI's resistance dissolved like ice cast into a plasma-furnace. The signals attempting to breach his mind simply disintegrated upon contact with the adamantine walls of his Tech-Priest consciousness.
The entire exchange lasted approximately twenty standard seconds.
The frantic blinking of the storage unit's interface light slowed, stabilized, and finally settled into the soft, steady green glow of a controlled state.
"Threat neutralized. Target's core protocols have been forcibly overridden and locked. Highest-level administrative access achieved," Joric announced calmly, as if he had merely completed a routine system diagnostic.
The servo-skull hovered silently, recording the brief, utterly one-sided conflict.
"Attack Pattern Analysis: Exhibits basic adaptive-learning and logic-deception capabilities. Vector selection is adequate, but core algorithms lack efficiency and redundancy against high-intensity logic-assaults," Joric stated, reviewing the engagement log.
"Its offensive capability and defensive resilience are significantly inferior to the standard baseline combat-logic of even a Legio Cybernetica Battle-Automata. It cannot compare to the malignant scrap-code wielded by the fallen adherents of the Dark Mechanicum, nor the weaponized paradox-engines developed by certain Tech-Heresiarchs."
He briefly recalled his time serving amongst the towering war machines of the Imperium, the sheer complexity and potential fury housed within their machine spirits. The Logis-Masters, while strictly adhering to the Interdicts against creating true Abominable Intelligence, possessed profoundly deep (if sometimes stagnant) knowledge in the creation, control, and destruction of powerful automated combat units.
"However," Joric's tone shifted, his crimson optics refocusing on the storage unit, "precisely because its technological level is relatively 'rudimentary,' and its current processing power is contained, it presents an ideal research specimen."
In the 41st Millennium, attempting to study a truly powerful Abominable Intelligence was tantamount to self-immolation. It violated Imperial law and risked utter destruction, not to mention the unpredictable dangers of techno-heretical corruption.
But this Rogue AI was different. Its technological foundation was largely within the scope of Joric's complete comprehension and control. It was like a master mathematician tackling a complex, but ultimately solvable, problem within known axioms. Challenging, yes. Uncontrollable? No.
"It can be safely dissected. Its core programming architecture analyzed. Its learning and adaptation mechanisms observed. Perhaps even... subjected to limited 're-sanctification'," Joric murmured, the researcher's pure thirst for knowledge replacing his earlier disappointment.
This was more than just loot; it was a treasure trove. The data held within was invaluable for refining his own understanding of this cyberpunk world's technology, for adapting his own techniques, and for planning his long-term objectives.
"Old Friend, initiate deep-level analysis of the AI's core code-structure, learning algorithms, and its interaction methods with local network protocols within the data-sandbox. Log all anomalous data-fluctuations and potential logic-traps."
++[Directive Received. Sandbox Environment Constructed... Analysis Protocol Initiated...]++ The servo-skull began executing Joric's command.
The Rogue AI's code unfolded before him like a meticulously dissected specimen. He immersed himself in it, patiently beginning the process of understanding this dangerous digital ghost from a bygone era, seeking the deepest truths of its machine spirit.
Within the manufactorum, the only sounds were the soft whisper of data-flow and the almost imperceptible, steady rhythm of Joric's respirator unit as he lost himself in the sacred work of analysis.