"Like this?" The screen lit up and lots of symbols appeared in front of John. Yet what ED did was to show the code lines in the same way it appeared on his body, forming a three-dimensional structure!
"I need you to separate the lines away from each other," John didn't get how a program wasn't well aware of how it was written or made, "for example, get the code lines forming your head, put them line after line on the screen. There is no need to let them form a three-dimensional shape, just let the lines be arranged one after another."
"Interesting way to showcase it if you ask me," ED sounded like he wasn't convinced with what John asked, "yet there is a catch here… You see, if we take my head as an example, then you can see the codes aren't just lined up one after another. The codes, as you name it, are grouped, and these groups are either vertically or horizontally aligned. So…"
"Why don't you break down these code groups and separate them, then show me every group at a time?" John was starting to grow impatient with ED, yet he controlled his temper and tried his best to describe how to do it as if he was speaking to a three year old kid!
John even tried to draw with his fingers in the air, in an attempt to let ED get what he meant.
"Like this?" ED took a few minutes while John patiently waited from the side.
"At last, yes, this is what I want!" John's eyes flashed in bright light while the screen started to light up and show long lines of letters and symbols, written and arranged in a special way, "I want you to compile all the codes that form you, arrange them and put them in a file or a place in your head or something…" John wasn't sure if ED would get his meaning so he tried to use different words to describe what he wanted.
"Ah ah I got it; I can do it!" ED acted like a young boy, even his tone showed how much excitement it had.
"It's a bit similar to the common programming languages back on Earth, yet there are many things that don't match… I'll need to crack and learn this language on my own…"
John took a few minutes to read through the first few lines of ED's code and eventually realised this wasn't going to be an easy task. "It's still not impossible to do, which is overall good news to me…"
John could tell programming wasn't a common thing in this world. It was a basic and crucial item in this world, but the knowledge seemed for a vague reason forgotten, omitted, or missed from both humans and AIs.
John realised if he learnt this language, he would open a door for himself, a big and unrestricted door that could lead him into the deepest and darkest secrets of this world.
"I don't want to get overly excited; I must handle this step by step. I first need to learn this language, understand the logic on which ED was designed and created, then I can start expanding and moving forward from there…"
John could imagine how challenging and super hard this task was! It was like reverse engineering a space rocket without knowing anything about how to build one!
Even if he was a programmer, even if he worked before on AI models, it was back on Earth. It was when AI was still considered the new hot looking girl in town, not the normal and basic things like in this world.
He also didn't know what language was used to write these codes. "I have to improvise, make lots of attempts, go through trials of errors to find my way to the right thing," he muttered while preparing himself for a long night.
As John was studying these code lines, something else was happening far, far away from him, and yet it was directly related to him!
It was another base, one that could be considered colossal compared to the base John was at. This base would be best described as a flying fortress, as it was indeed a gigantic fortress! It was formed of at least twenty levels, spanning an area that could be least described as no less than a city!
It was flying high, above the clouds, and yet it didn't seem like it was moving an inch! Even the fiercest howling wind couldn't push this metallic beast away from its spot!
This was the base of a very scary, very formidable, very secretive force. The name was never said without death following whoever dared to; The Silent Shadow, that was their name!
John didn't know what he was casually doing in his mecha's space would trigger some sort of alarm inside one of the many sectors in this flying fortress.
This sector, like many others, was formed of a massive space that was mostly filled with devices arranged in long rows and lines. All these were connected to a few rooms, central rooms, where the data and intel these devices collected were gathered, analysed, and delivered to selected personnel.
In one of these rooms, many screens were hanging in the air, filling an entire wall. They were all blank, showing nothing, looking as if something was wrong with them.
*Beep!*
All of sudden, a loud alarming sound came, with one screen starting to show something different. There was no one in the room for a few hours, as the person responsible for monitoring these screens was off duty today.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" just as someone opened the door of the room, and the loud alarming noise was enough to attract that person's attention.
"And here I thought I'd come to check on these units, to end up seeing this… Are times of peace responsible for such complacency? Fascinating!"
That person was tall, at least two metres. Despite being this tall, he didn't look slim, instead he looked like someone who paid extra care to his physique!
He wore a black uniform, with a symbol of dark lines on a silver background. He looked as a middle aged, healthy man, and yet it would be surprising if anyone knew about his true age.