Synch

by sunnypack

23 - The Silence of a Lamb

It didn't take long for the preparations to be done after Dmitri had given his approval. The occasion had merited the arrival of Martin Hernandez, the head of Synch Engineering Division. The normally young and fresh-featured man looked unusually drawn today as he surveyed operations. I supposed I should have felt honoured, being so close to one of the leading members and researchers of the Synch device. He was somewhat of an idol for me and his presence suddenly made me nervous, though I had been far beyond emotional reach for the better part of the week.

Dmitri stood in stark emotional contrast to Angel, his normally passive frown strained, and he smiled disconcertingly every time I glanced in his direction. I guessed it was his way of showing encouragement. Angel, however, refused to meet my gaze and I felt a stab in my chest every time she looked away.

She and I had not spoken one word since our parting at my confession. She followed me like a ghost but refused to acknowledge me or respond to any queries and questions I had about my system software design. I knew she was mad at me and I thought this was her way of dissuading me from continuing. I could not turn from this course of action though, there was but one path, one direction, one ultimate way.

The wraiths of the damned had left me alone after I had made my resolution and I was glad of the peace and quiet. It seemed that the guilt weighing down had left me temporarily so that I would enjoy my last meals, sleep my last sleep and live my last few days in peace.

My plan had been simple in execution but dare I say brilliant in conception.

My Black Box project, something I had long forgotten as a relic of my time spent with Emilia and the gateway to my internship, had given me an idea. We simply did not have the computing power to overcome the complexities of backtracking the Synchrony program. My Black Box project was scrapped mainly due to the security patch that Angel and I had released during the first week of interning. It disabled the exploitation that I had been able to use to gain access to Synch devices.

This meant that all Synch devices had been effectively immune to my network recruitment program and the Black Box was essentially useless. Inspiration had struck when I realised the entirety of all Synch units were now completely accessible as part of the Grooble recall, we had access to 300 million Synch units worth of processing power.

All it required was a single user orchestrating the direction of Black Box.

Let me explain.

When Emilia and I had developed Black Box it was both a gateway and a command centre for all the security penetration processes run by the Black Box network. In order for Black Box to run correctly I had to command it with my own personal Synch device, however the irony was in order to backtrack Synchrony, I had to run it on my local device whilst simultaneously running Black Box.

Simply put I would be running Synchrony while wearing Synch. I would either find the source and overcome it or be lost to Synchrony. It was a gamble for my life as I knew it.

So far this had been the best plan that could be conceived. For some reason Synchrony had been able to detect when a real user was using the Synch device housing the knot. If it ever found out that it weren't, it would delete itself forever.

Synchrony was a program that almost looked like it was hunting humans. Some days I would contemplate this but would dismiss it mostly as conjecture, however the disturbing feeling would always stay with me.

When the rest of the Synchrony crew set up the equipment at the monitoring site, I was lead to the centre to begin the Black Box sequence.

I tried breathing exercises to gain a semblance of calm. I took in the room, spending what could be my last moments on Earth categorising and memorising the array of technology around me. It soothed me somewhat to admire passively the brilliance of technology. The room had been packed with monitoring equipment but there was a small screen placed off to the side to indicate the number of Synch devices recruited into the Black Box network.

There was a small window to the side, revealing Martin, Angel and Dmitri. They all gave a spectrum of varying emotions ranging from sadness, hope and despondency. I glanced at the corner of my vision seeing the dull red dot that indicated my personal Synch was in standby mode. I gestured a few times and the interface flowed across my vision.

Quickly and efficiently, I navigated to the Black Box folder and ran Emilia’s old program.

A quick logo flashed and Black Box started, immediately jumping to the Synch headgear strategically placed next to me. All the Synch headgear prior to this had been downgraded so as to maximise the effectiveness of Black Box.

The numbers on the screen rose rapidly.

1… 2… 4… 16… 256…

Soon as it reached over a thousand, the newest security patches no longer mattered and Black Box crunched through all the protection so much as like a boulder crashing through wet cardboard.

At over a million recruited, no system was safe anymore.

At three hundred million, Black Box was unstoppable and I was at the centre of it all.

I had the world’s processing power in my grasp. I realised with Black Box I quite literally held all the world’s computers in the confines of my head.

No security was safe. I had unrestricted access to the world’s information and in the Quantum Age, information was power. I was essentially the most powerful man on the planet.

The temptation was there, as it would be for any human but I resisted easily with Emilia, Angel, Dmitri, and Paul and over a quarter of a million voices urging me to complete my one task.

I poised upon the precipice of either victory or defeat.

Will I be lifted into a choir of angels?

Will I be cast into the inferno?

Will I become something else?

There was only one way to tell.

I braced myself and launched Synchrony.

…And then… nothing.

-----

Dmitri, Angel and Martin stared in astonishment as the circlet dangled comically in the air for a split second before plummeting to the ground.

The system had experienced a major power surge before I had disappeared and they were at a loss to explain where I had gone.

Depressed, most scientists and engineers assumed I had disappeared in an elaborate act. They theorised I was suffering from stress and snapped, creating this expensive hoax to vanish from society and the mounting pressure.

Nobody wanted to accept that fact, and those closest to me had admonished the scientists and engineers responsible for that rumour mill. They pointed out that Synchrony no longer existed. It had been erased from the Synch devices. It was sad and unfortunate though that none of the quarter million had better outcomes, it seemed that Synchrony and its creator had disappeared, along with me.

To those who had bore witness to my final act of bravery, missed me. To those who had heard of my act, commended me. To those who had never known me, moved on with their lives without a hitch in their plans.

I had saved the world from Synchrony and had secured the future of technology but it had cost me, as I found out later.

It had cost me dearly.

Author's Note:

Phooey that was a doozy!

Thanks for reading this emotionally charged (I love that phrase) segment.

This finally shows (the beginning of) the mechanics of how our main character ended up in Equestria but it still leaves open two things (which have been suitably foreshadowed in this chapter) who was the creator of Synchrony? Why is our main character the only one to get to Equestria?

Next chapter: The royal pony sisters accidentally set off an age regression spell- wait wrong story -The royal pony sisters discuss how to get ahold of the null.
Also Solid Evidence goofs up again (that mare needs a lesson in common sense), Iron File face-hoofs and Twinkie goes spelunking (unwillingly).

Comments

[RainbowDragon]

I'm calling memory loss

[Xzaves]

4813528 Fucking Magnets!

[Nightdasher1]

*reads short description*
Okay you just took a hammer to the geek side of my brain, I'm interested

[sunnypack]

4813554 Indeed. Magnets.

4814005 Tech is love. Tech is life.

Thanks for all your comments, they inspire me to write more and hopefully better!

Synch is getting more and more fleshed out and it has diverged slightly from the original premise (though it was just the devil in the details). I'll be sure to update the description to something still as catchy but a lot more reflective of the content as time goes by. If I'm to keep up with my breakneck updating pace I'd appreciate an experienced proofreader or editor (I'm horrible in those categories), just so I don't drown in the sorrows of my workload. If anyone is interested and would like to apply, shoot me a message and we'll work out a system.

In other news, the newest chapter has been a pleasure to write, ah the intensive dialoguing and action. Not much on the emotional side but at least there will be fun!

As always, thanks for reading!

[DerpTape]

Have to admit, I saw it coming up a very different (and less interesting) path. Think I prefer yours