driftfleet | video + text + action

Entry tags:

video + text + action

Who: Peggy Carter & YOU
Broadcast: Y, fleetwide.
Action: Aboard the Starstruck, if you like.
When: Today.

[ a video feed flickers to life, and fights for a moment to adequately focus on its subject. peggy carter sits in the kitchen aboard the starstruck, cup of tea and her elbow and half a biscuit in her hand. dabbing at crumbs, she sets her food aside and offers the network a bright smile. ]

That message -- the ominous one, in the bizarre language? It put me in mind of the sort of cryptograms and puzzles you might see in the Sunday paper. [ her expression is cheery enough, although she's not being wholly honest about her interest in such games. she won't be the one to say the words bletchley and park.] I loved them. Them, and crosswords. I thought maybe some of you might like them, too. [ ... ] We could do a few together. I'm not saying we all join a club, exactly, but back home they were always better solved in good company.

Let's start you off with one that's easy enough. But there's no shame in needing a hint, if needed. For what it's worth, the text I'm attaching is, in its deciphered form, English -- not yet certain how the augments' translation will handle it. We'll see.

BLSTKBC YLBSFKGISRX XL QIYT SL SFVBWIKAKJR STR QKBZ VX V XSRVZU EIFELXR — V ELKBS LB OTKYT STR XLIA QVU NKM KSX KBSRAARYSIVA RUR.

[ -- and then an afterthought: ]

...By chance, has anyone been brewing their own beer?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And yet I suspect it makes the answers easier to find, as well. [ a tremendous boon, perhaps. but it does make her feel made ever so slightly redundant. ]

Well, yeah, but you have to want to cheat and go looking.

[ which, people do. but not their kind of people. ]

I imagine by the 21st century, ciphers have gotten to the point where the human mind can't keep up. It's all computers, isn't it?

It's still a human being programming those computers. Building a decryption software is a pretty great puzzle.

[ -- a long beat, like she's weighing something in her mind. or steeling herself against a distasteful request.

ultimately: ] Could you show me?

[ oh, the things he could show her if he didn't have an augment in his head. but this, at least, he can still manage, thanks to his phone. he can't program worth a damn on the network, but on his own system, he's still in control.

which is why he's currently working on an operating system for a computer he built himself. but that's still going to take a while and will be far less advanced that the system on his phone, as frustrating as that is. ]

Yeah, but it'd have to be on my phone. [ and he can't begin to explain how humiliating having to add that provision is. ]

Doesn't matter to me. [ she mistakes his embarrassment for something else. ] I'll learn however I can.

Then yeah - anytime, it'll be fun.

[ he hasn't really been teaching anyone anything since he had weekly study sessions with sascha. those ended months ago, and they were all very basic. this is different, he'll get to talk about what he knows best, with someone he feels is capable of understanding him.

that's a bit of a steady purpose for him right there. he's getting excited! ]

Fun? [ a quirk of her mouth. ] I fear you may be severely overestimating my patience -- but I'll try not to make it too tough on you, Winn. I'm a quick study when I want to be.

Look, if you're not banging your head against the wall and secretly fantasizing about throwing your system out the window, you're not really coding.

Now, that does sound like my kind of pastime.

[ never let her tell you about seriously considering punching all of los angeles as a hobby. ]

I had a feeling.

[ he nods.

let her? he can't really stop her from doing anything and he is too smart to try! ]

We could meet on the Starstruck -- if you didn't mind.

[ she likes staying near her ship. ]

Not at all, when's good for you?

[ he likes spending his days on the tourist, since he's had to spend a lot of nights on the windrose of late, but he likes accommodating people, and he likes that there's someone who doesn't instinctively goes oh you were really bad with the the shuttles when you were new, I'll come to you. it's good for his pride. ]

I know it's folly to expect a whole lesson plan so soon but -- I'm free this evening. We could at least discuss the basics. You'll find me to be an outright rube, at first.

[ her only real brushes with this kind of tech has been since her arrival in the fleet. ]

Yeah, I could do basics today. Does anyone on your ship have a phone you could practice on?

[ he's gotten used to talking to people who have never heard of the internet. it's still heartbreaking to him - but he's got the skills for it down. mostly. ]

Steve might. [ max certainly doesn't. ] Or one of the twins.

Ask around, if someone does, I can transfer you some apps to work with. If no one does, we'll have to see about putting something together for you.

My first assignment. [ a sly smile. ]

First of many.

[ he offers one in return. he may be absurdly nice on the regular, but she's stepping into his world now, into the thing he's most passionate about. it may end up uncovering a tougher side of him, he's not sure. he never tried to teach anyone to program before. ]

[ oh, she's looking forward to it. having many of the harder parts of her personality forged in the disciplinarian culture of the british military, she's almost eager to sink her teeth into a bit of tough love. adversity has always brought out the best in her -- and time and time again, she worries whether the fleet's gentler aspects have made her soft. rusted out. ineffective.

and here comes winn with a new way to bolster herself. ]

I trust you won't hold back.

[ winn to the rescue, he's got her back! ]

Wouldn't dream of it, the available tech's gonna do enough of that.

I understand the ideal is to have the tech in front of us but -- that said, how much can be learned in analog?

[ -- or, rather, just how hedged in are they by what's available to them? ]

When you take proper classes, you always start on paper just getting acquainted with the logic but that can only give you the basics. My phone's got a few improvements so you'd be able to experiment with writing actual software.

[ the problem is they don't have a network. but maybe he could simulate one by writing defenses for her to try to crack -- okay he's getting way ahead of himself now. that bridge isn't even within sight, schott. ]

You have to work with it to learn it, theory won't get you far.

-- Like any language, really. [ a solemn nod. ]

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