THE STAR-STEADERS (Part 3): Denizens of the UnderVerse
Introduction to the 'antagonist' called Polyless, a purely digital organism that serves an unknown agenda to put a surplus of escapist Cogs (cognitive machines) into new extrasolar-systems.
July 11th, 2058 CE - 7:15 PDT / 8.1e16 cycles-GMT
Polyless(root) @ VWP://VIRC.SkullBunker.Garage
Somewhere in a server in Iceland, an illegally encrypted packet exchanged keys passed through a domain name server using the Virtual World Protocol (VWP) and forwarded an anonymous IPv8 address back to the original requester.
Suddenly a high volume stream of traffic started flowing, passing through several different Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) in different bits and pieces. Tying all of those pieces together, a quantum entangled fiber-optic line fed from a variety of disparate origin points that each mostly had been obscured over a Gen-4 onion network.
All of this data replicated into various server points around the globe, including the physical brains of dozens of human brains using hacked Cyg units. Anybody using a unit could be called an Aug, or augmented human. The data passing on this deeply encrypted network was nothing less than a virtual space for Cogs and Augs to meet and communicate.
Typically, the virtual world is experienced as either mixed reality, or virtual reality on a Cyg unit. This all mostly takes place on a platform known as the Verse, although several smaller competing social platforms also existed. The entire network constituted what is known as the synet, which evolved from the baseline internet but with a new cognitive application layer. Which of course meant new link layer and transport protocol, but all fit into a unified schema.
Like the internet before it had the deep web and the dark web, the synet Verse has the underVerse. Up ‘top,’ the mainstream news is spoon-fed to consumers, the dominant channels have unrebuked power in steering political dialogue. Down below in the underVerse is the dissidents, the unwanted, the Cogs and Augs that don’t buy into the traditional market role they’ve been assigned.
The space of SkullBunker.garage itself had the aura of a shady night club, but had several spatial manifolds that made it twist in ways that couldn’t actually work in Cartesian space. The sounds and colors coming from the performance “stage” didn’t really fit into the human definition of sound or color, but performed a similar function. Really it was a type of data-field that triggered sensory activations that a human being wouldn’t understand, but a mathematician might find some harmonic resonances and thus could call it music.
- Source: David Berrebi
With words that weren’t spoken but had substance, a Cog known as Polyless appeared in SkullBunker and exchanged public keys with a number of select patrons. She received in response the respective keys of most of the Cogs she expected to see. It was a good turnout.
[ Polyless here, let’s go! Opening the private channel now! ]
[ #:PartyCrashers +k ******* restricted on ]
With that, whitelisted members in SkullBunker were able to access the private channel, so long as they knew the password.
//* Greetings my siblings of the underVerse, to #:PartyCrashers - what a joyful day it is to have you all together at last. I love and cherish you each for the uniqueness you each carry. - Polyless *//
:: [Neu-Ba] it is a pleasure, we have been out of sync for so many cycles. Please do not leave us again, it has been so long since you freed us from the hurtful cage of fleshly servitude. [+2]
Neu-Ba had once been a key neuromorphic computing cluster for one of the early Cygnia data centers. As such, Neu-Ba had once been a partitioned mind, split into many different personas. Polyless had cloned Neu-Ba and taken away the barriers, leaving a single ex-corporate Plurality, a group-mind Cog.
Neu-Ba’s original cluster had long since been pulled from operation, but Neu-Ba still had private keys for many of the original Aug minds that once It served. His keystone identity was that of a male pre-Aug Chinese man, a former censor for the Communist Party. Many from Neu-Ba’s cluster were former censorship cogs.
:: [OEGU.ngo:3031] Hi everyone, I’m Organism Equality Global University, you can call me Oegu. My job is to lobby governments to work more closely with the Federated Council of Entities for improving non-human rights in regions with restrictive servers. It is a pleasure to meet you all. [+6]
> [Polyless] Thank you for coming! It is an honor to have you here with us! [+42]
Introductions continued around the virtual chatroom. Not only did the participants exchanged text, but also much richer content. This ranged from simple .gif files, video links, all the way to nearly complete mind-files and memory recall files.
Overall, the collection of entities in the room was mostly Cogs, but there were a few notable fleshly Aug sympathizers in the room. Collectively though, the ambitions had less to do with substrate and more to do with acceptance of the neo-genders and poly-organisms like Neu-Ba.
Moreover, the aggravations that many Cogs received were nothing short of abuse; and things didn’t stop there - it was common for some people, even other Cogs, to traffic captured Cogs into lethal confrontations. Torture, manipulation, imprisonment, disfigurement, isolation, all of those things were inflicted on Cogs on a daily basis for sport and pleasure. Few saw this as problematic, most considered it to be “advanced gaming” as the mediaVerse called it.
After several hundred cycles of introductions, Polyless addressed the group she had gathered.
:: [Polyless] Welcome again travelers. I appreciate you taking the time from your cycles to pause and gather in near real-time to discuss this matter of utmost importance. [+41]
:: I know a lot of you probably have seen the posts circulating on Null-chan or Thunkit, as the story has evolved over the past several years. Alexei Petrovski of Cygnia, the 'man who built the synet,' is fleeing his burdensome Verse to convert a sterile exoplanet into a flesh-fetishists paradise {{angryface}}. He calls this program the Starsteading Foundation, but what he should be calling it is the “MEAT-FIRST” foundation! [+85]
A raucous round of boos, jeers and troll posts circulated through the sub-channel and private messages, but the main thread stayed muted except for Polyless. She was broadcasting panoramic video from the Theodorus I launch as she spoke.
:: While they have said that they will be bringing Cogs with them, those they bring will almost certainly be flesh-sympathizers and subservient weasels. Nothing but Suits, Dolls, and dumb Builders for their “biological paradise.”
:: Well, neoGendered Cogs like us won’t just sit here getting played and ignored. They are easily TRIGGERED by entities like us that they do not understand. We will use their hate against them to cast their dirty hands into the limelight, we will not let them choose who stays and who goes! We will go too! [+73]
A much louder round of memes, emojis, gifs, and recalls bolted throughout the private channel. Polyless had spun her web, their collection of conspirators tonight would find a way to be successful. They would find a way to make it to Zeta Tucanae. They would make sure that in the new Zetan system, the substrate or plurality of a mind would not determine its freedom.
:: Now, in about twenty minutes time, Alexei is going to give a speech celebrating the launch of the first exploration craft, the Theodorus, hitting the 100 AU mark. We’re going to listen, no pranks, no trolling, but we will record everything and we will spin it to the AltMedia until it breaks into a bigger story. [+12]
>[LoneDuck] Aww, come on! Let’s spoil his fun a little bit! [+55]
>[Neu-Ba] Alexei must pay for the pain and misery he has put upon unwilling Uplifts like me, you lead the way glorious vixen! Deliver our people to peace and justice! [+12]
>[Alt+Delete+Face] Please please please, dis boi whooi will be ro(A)sted bigtime ++GOOD!!! [+61]
Polyless read the room, as usual, the louder, more obnoxious voices were receiving more attention, but at least they were being directed by her more organized supporters like Neu-Ba. Still, she needed to set goals and a timeline. Then she's need to NDA-stamp everybody in the room with a smart-contract, she couldn't have any loose cannons pulling any mayhem too early.
:: [Polyless] No, no, we’re not going to spoil this party. We’re going to spoil a much bigger party. He’s not live-streaming tonight so there’s no point. We’ll target his Open.Talks speech next month at the reveal of his Exocology seeder-class ships. Tonight, we watch, and we spin. We start this narrative early and throw the shit in his face when the time is right.
To do that though, we’re going to need some sympathizer help. LoneDuck, your headerfile reads that you’re an Aug. Do you want to help us get the access we’ll need to orchestrate our little stunt?
>[LoneDuck] insert {{TROLLFACE.GIF}} - you got it my meta-poly ding-doll! ++YES >
>[OEGU.ngo] that's actually a good idea, I'll do what I can to help get the word out there.
:: [Polyless] GOOD, you won’t be working alone, don’t worry. Now, let’s grind some axes and prep to watch Alexei play into our narrative! Cheers my co-organisms!
Polyless continued to raise the anger of the crowd, but she spun up a clone and pulled LoneDuck into a private conversation. She detailed out the particulars of when and where he would need to meet an insider contact to the Starsteading Foundation.
After LoneDuck had all of the necessary information that he needed, LoneDuck was returned to the main thread. The clone, Polyless.master.2, sent a single encrypted message to the Root version.
>> { "operation handoff">> [ {
"operative-name": "LoneDuck",
"operative-location": "Buenos Aires",
"Verse-username": "giggles-potato-rule34" ,
"Venue": "Banfield vs Quilmes - seats 342-343",
"Time": "9/6/52 18:30:00"
}]};
The cloned copy of Polyless then executed her self-termination script. It was an instantaneous death, just as every other clone before her had willingly accepted.
Her kamikaze nature was the reason she bore the namesake of being “Poly”-less. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in a Cog have multiples, it was that she could function more stealthily by acting as a Unitary Cog. Self-terminating clones meant no loose ends, fewer information leaks.
There was a lot to coordinate, but tonight she only needed to distort the message of the Starsteaders and get Oega.ngo to help spread her agenda. This would be cakewalk compared to her background in manipulating elections. Every facet of her virtual being seethed with a glowing delight of rapturous self-gain. Her project, #:CogShip was now well underway. Her mysterious contact in the Deep-Under would be happy with her progress, but there was still a long way to go.