video; encrypted from ward & resnik 100%

[interns]

[ so, Gwen's been busy. really busy, in that working-on-one-thing-for-a-month way. since the discovery of the genetics labs, she's felt a new burst of enthusiasm ( rabid, scientific enthusiasm ) for the different things she'd been working on in the labs, mainly the research on the manticores. there wasn't much to go on at the start, samples from different specimens all generally looked the same, different strains of DNA that weren't quite human anymore, but nothing else solid to draw from. for all intents and purposes, she'd hit a dead end. how long could she keep staring at things under a microscope? but then they found the genetics lab, which was in shambles, sure, but it gave her a new place to look. new equipment, new evidence, new variables.

it took a while, and some serious convincing, but eventually she and Peter got down to the labs to pull apart some of the computers to bring back up to the safer labs, pulling broken file after broken file of the two in-tact hard drives they found. one was loaded with nothing but the virus, it nearly ruined her iPad ( because they weren't about to upload anything onto the Network device until they knew it was safe to, thank you very much ), but the second- that had a bit to work with. it was rough, it was strings of code and the virus and heavy, heavy encryptions. there were parts of the drive that looked cleared completely of any data, and others that were so dense with code it took them days to pick it all apart.

but now, she finally, finally had something that made sense.

it wasn't a perfectly clear answer to any one of her million questions, but it was a start. it was proof.

so when the video feed clicks on, she looks... okay, haggard is a strong word. but it's obvious she's worn herself out, her hair is a mess compared to the usual neat ponytail she wears in the labs, and she's surrounded by pieces of tech she's used to try and get a read on the hard drives. she props the camera up on something just ahead of her, so she has room to scroll through her iPad and use her free hand to show visuals ( oh yes, she has visuals ) on camera. ]

Hello, Tranquility. [ she waves ] I know it's still early yet, a month isn't a long time to search through labs that are as torn apart as the one we found a few weeks ago, but I was hoping to get in touch with anyone that's managed to pull some of the tech from those new labs. I remember someone - a man named Cambridge, yes? - made a request over the Network for people to find equipment he could look at in regards to the virus found on the computers down there - [ she might be flipping through her iPad until she finds her transcript for this transmission ( yes, she keeps transcripts of conversations she thinks might be important later, and here we are ) ] Yes! Right. I'm assuming some of you answered the request? So, I would love to discuss anything you might have found on those hard drives, especially if it looks anything like- [ she's reaching out to grab the text-book sized drive she found in the labs herself ] -this one. Um. [ okay all hard drives probably look the same if you're someone that hasn't been staring at a few for the past million days, oops ] I just mean, if you pulled them from any of the computers on the second floor of the genetics labs, specifically.

Because I've found something, but it's very obviously just a small piece of a much bigger file. [ much bigger discovery, but she doesn't want to seem like she's in over her head here. ] If you've found anything at all, any file that doesn't appear to be damaged or corrupted beyond saving, let me know. I definitely feel that we would benefit from aggregating our information, especially when it comes to something like this. It- It could open a lot of doors for us. When it comes to the original crew, of course. Maybe finding out what happened? This- This might make that possible, we just need to keep digging.

And if you've got the perseverance for finding more, let me know here as well. Peter and I can use all the help we can get trying to recover information from those labs, because I have no doubt we'll find our way back down there to look for more. So. Right!

-- Thank you!

[ here's a tired, ( but enthusiastic! ) Welcome-to-Oscorp! intern smile, then she's shutting off the feed. ]

[PRIVATE to TONY STARK ( OPR » 001 » 005 ), encrypted 100% ]

Are you busy? I need to show you this. Or- Look what I found. [ someone might be kind of exhausted and running on SCIENCE!!! adrenaline, so she's scrolling around her communicator so she can send him a file] It's safe, I promise, just a raw text file. I didn't want to show everyone else right away because - well, it doesn't look like much, does it? But look at it, there's- just look. [ oh my god please tell her to chill out ]

>>
>>FILE TRANSFER:
>>
>> PROJECT4241516PT1.EXE
>>

[PRIVATE to WHEATLEY ( SCI » 001 » 089 ) encrypted 100% ]

Hi. We've never actually spoken, but, I've noticed you spend a lot of time in the labs and I know this is possibly way too presumptuous of me, but I was hoping you might be able to assist me in further researching the tech down in the genetics lab. Or.. maybe just answering a few questions for me. Please. [ BIG SHEEPISH SMILE. ] If you have any interest in doing so, I mean. Of course. [ duh. way to go, Stacy. cool manners, bro. ]



[ ooc: SO. I was going to make a separate ooc post, but I realized it's pretty much all explained here, and shown here ( click on le file she sent to Tony to see what she found ). basically yeah, Gwen's got a tiny bit of metaplot of the info variety, but she has no idea what it means ( and neither do I ahhhhhh ), so she's basically just hoping someone else found something similar to it. yep! any questions, feel free to ping me about it, but the only info the mods actually sent me was that image, hahaha. and they let me know that it would take a shit-ton of work to get to that tiny piece of file, too. sneakysneaky ship trying to hide things!! -- if you're interested in having your character find another piece of the genetics experiment puzzle, contact the mods! :D ]

Comments

video; same encryption;

[learnedtosmile]

[There's a lot of stuff there, most of which is beyond him. Used to be a time when he'd be a little embarrassed that someone so clearly younger than himself could have that kind of knowledge, but he's way past that now.]

I'm not a scientist, but I know a couple of people who have tech skills. I've been to that lab a couple of times, now, so if you're planning to go back, I'm willing to go along as security escort.

Those rats don't mess around.

video; same encryption;

[interns]

Security escort. Perfect. Thank you for the offer, that's actually- I probably should have included that in the transmission. [ she points and grins again, yes, marking that in her memory. she would feel bad asking Mordecai to bring her along more than once, if not just because she knows it's not exactly fair of her to say "here, you take on those rabid rats while I poke at this computer", so. the more offers the better. ]

I do wonder if the rats are worth looking into, too. I assumed they were test rats, but- maybe it's something different.. [ and now she's lost on a trail.. of.. thought... ]

video; same encryption;

[learnedtosmile]

[Her, well, enthusiasm is nice to see. His lips twitch a little.]

I wonder if the medical team has figured anything else out about that disease they carry? If it might've been engineered, too.

not here

[culver]

[but stalking this post so hard]

[corp]

Finding files on hard drives is my area of expertise. I can't say I'm much good for a fight down there, but I do know what to look for.

[interns]

--Really? That's great. That's actually really great. [ yesss. all techies, please come out of the woodwork ] It took me a long time to sift through the encrypted files to get to the actual data they were trying to hide, but in the end I think it was worth it. Or rather, it will be once we piece together more of the project file.

[corp]

Next time, it'll probably take much less time. Just need the other pieces of the bigger file, I'm guessing. [ He's pretty confident, anyway. ]

[voice]

[ryuuzaki]

You found "something."

What?

[He calibrates his tone so that this sounds more curious, politely interested, than demanding.]

[voice] encrypted 100%

[interns]

[ no, she's not trying to hide behind her encryption, she means it when she says she wants to pool resources, but she doesn't completely trust the open network with details. ]

As far as I can tell, it's a small piece of a file that contains the results of an experiment they were running in the genetics lab before we all starting arriving here. It's not much, but it's a start.

Would you like to take a look at it?

[voice; private; encrypted 100% on her encryption; forever]

[ryuuzaki]

Certainly.

Why the secrecy, by the way?

voice|

[firstofficer]

Would you be averse to the creation of duplicates to your file?

voice| encrypted 100%

[interns]

[ just a second of thought- ]

No, I don't mind. My only concern is that I know looking for information on this ship is sort dangerous, since.. 'the ship' likes its secrets so much, but. As long as people keep an encryption on the file, that should be okay, right?

voice| encrypted 100%

[firstofficer]

[ the encryption goes up, and the faint tilt of spock's chin is one of approval. ]

One can only hope.
Unfortunately, evidence to suggest that the ship is limited in any capacity is in short supply.

[voice, piggybackin on that encryption thar]

[testgasm]

[Wheatley kinda sorta stares at this ping for a very long time, half-wondering what it is he's done, exactly, to receive a message like this. There is a moment of realization, part 'oh my god, they think I do science', part 'oh my god, they think I do science' and all implications therein.

ha ha ha oh god.]

Well, uh. I'm not a geneticist, really, but I do have some--some personal interest in what may or may not have been going on down in that department. What is it you want to know, exactly?

[voice, piggybackin on that encryption thar]

[interns]

[ AHA, she's just glad he responded, and seems willing to help. ]

Well, it's more about the technology down there than what it was actually used for - I was wondering if you could help me take a look at a few more of the hard drives that are still in the computers. By 'take a look at' I mean, strip and decrypt the coding through each one to see if there's anymore information to find on this project I've stumbled on.

Interested?

[testgasm]

[He is about to shut down in pure terror--mostly because he is not at all qualified for this sort of thing--but the actual description of the project gets his attention.]

Right, so--wasn't going to say anything, but I do, in fact, dabble in hacking. Sort of--sort of comes with the territory, you know. Do you have the hard drives, or are we going back to the labs to get them?

voice; private

[nothlit]

What kind of experiment?

[he spotted that conversation with L before he responded]

voice; private

[interns]

There's no way to know for sure, but judging by the state of the labs and the creatures we've encountered here on the ship, I'd.. guess it has something to do with the manticores. At least, I don't think they would have tried so hard to protect a file describing an experiment they conducted on the rats. [ hn. ] Maybe.

voice; private

[nothlit]

[Tobias is quiet for a moment, because in his experience, you start with a rat but you don't stick there.]

Or maybe something bigger than a rat?

text » stark encryption

[starked]

[ not that he doesn't like your encryption, gwen, it's just he feels a little more safe under his own. ]

Depends on how you define busy. [ that's the first text that's sent before he actually looks at the file she sent him. ]

It's— I wouldn't say it's nothing. Not by a long shot. Kind of useless when it's missing pieces, but not nothing. If nothing else, it's confirmation of experiments going on down— on actual people. Unless they're talking about male and female animals which— isn't entirely off the table at this point either.

Breathe by the way.

text » stark encryption

[interns]

[ alright she'll switch to talk-to-text then, because her hands are busy but she doesn't want to talk when he's texting and right, focus Gwen- ]

Definitely not nothing- it was hidden under too many encryptions for it to be nothing. I just wish there was more of it. I'm hoping the same case file is on multiple hard drives, but maybe different parts of that same file are still salvageable. This drive is wiped clean now, I'm sure of it. We spent about a week looking it over even after we found this piece, just to make sure.

I'm going to keep looking into it.

-- And breathe, too, I'm breathing!

[andblockbuster]

We're all gonna become hellbeasts and die.

[That is what the serious scientist here is taking out of it.]

[interns]

[ F R O W N S!! ]

As long as we don't attempt to replicate the experiment, I'm sure we'll be fine.

[ her tone is more curious than anything else, because she's sure she's seen him in the medical bay before ( and on the Network but shhh creepystalking doesn't count ), so she's not about to dismiss the comment as just a joke. ..or a serious conclusion either. ]

I don't think anyone here would even remotely entertain the idea. It's horrific. Not that we even have that kind of detail, but.

-- I'm sure you didn't even mean that, did you? Sorry, I'm a little scattered.

[ AND SHEEPISH EHEH ]

voice

[idkmybffbloodwing]

Glad you got somethin' useful outta that mess, even if it's not much right now. Lemme know if you wanna head back there at any point, an' at the very least you can come with me when I'd normally be there anyway. Though if you think goin' there's somethin' you wanna do much of, you might wanna learn some self-defense, just in case.

voice

[interns]

[ aah, Mordecai. she definitely knows that voice by now, she doesn't even have to check her comm. ]

I'm not exactly sure when we should head down again, though I'm guessing it won't be at least until after the next jump. I need to catch up on some sleep before I dive back into more coding. Definitely need to sleep. [ tiiiiired. but he brings up another interesting point- ] What would you suggest? As the best type self-defense for this sort of thing. I mean, I've thought about it a little bit, but never.. seriously.