Introduction
Nanotechnology: Technology based on the
manipulation of
N-Teks: An entity adapted for living by means of nanotechnology, separate in function but dependent on one another.
ThoughtScreen Productions presents
Engines Under Ursus
By
Copyright ©
Martin Brady
One
They’d taken Fowler out of the Tank. He’d thought hard and worked fast in his cyberspace prison, doing his assigned tasks, knowing all the while that his body was wasting away in the real world. Occasionally, they’d let him out to exercise but each time he returned, he felt successively weaker and more physically debilitated. Fowler didn’t know which was worse, working in cyberspace or learning how to walk again. Each time he returned to his body, he’d check his N-Tek implants, asking them if they were okay. They were polite and courteous. They had little choice but to be nice to him. He was in the Tank because of them and they knew it.
“Warden wants to see you,” said Hessler on day one-hundred and fifty one of learning how to walk again.
Fowler hadn’t complained about the break in routine. Working in cyberspace for such prolonged periods of time had caused many unpleasant side effects. He asked the guard why he was wanted but had forgotten to use his voice.
“What’s up?” asked Fowler, remembering to use his actual voice. His lips, jaws and larynx felt stiff.
Hessler said nothing, bringing Fowler to the warden’s door, knocking twice politely. The lights in the hall shimmered slightly but were then restored. Fowler noticed the shimmering lighting effect. He looked at the thin lines that resembled pencil marks stretching across the ceiling, before being brought into the room. The N-Teks are even here, thought Fowler. There seemed to be no escaping them.
Warden Bill Mooney looked up from his desk as Fowler walked in, flexing his jaw line. The warden usually never saw prison in-mates. It was always left to the others in his employ. He was a climber, looking for the next move up. On the back wall above the warden was a plaque awarding him with the highest colony award; the Diamond Citizen’s Award. He had received it for his profitable running of the prison service in a lucrative deal with Citynet. Jacking the prisoners into Cyperspace and having them control low level machinery meant the prison paid it way and more. Fowler looked at the other hologram on the warden’s desk, sitting in pride of place. It was another power picture. The hologram captured the moment where the warden shook hands with the most powerful person on Erstol, Sandra Verner, CEO of Citynet. Behind her, Fowler saw Delcass, Vice President of the company who was standing to her right. It was one of those cheesy corporate pictures designed to portray an image of cool confidence. Fowler flexed his jaw and looked away, meeting the warden’s insistent stare as memories were rekindled when he had been Citynet’s CTO. They had air brushed him out of all the company photos after his sentencing.
“You know why you’re here?” asked the warden.
Fowler shook his head. “I don’t get out much.”
“The N-Teks have infiltrated Citynet. Well what do you have to say for yourself?” There was a clear accusation in his voice.
Fowler shrugged. “What do you expect me to say? It was all in my research report. You people should learn to read.” He sat forward as if to get up. “Is that it? Can I go now?”
“No.” The warden clenched his fists, knowing he needed Fowler. “We need to talk about this.” Fowler could tell he’d been leaned on by Citynet. The warden was sweating a little under his expensive suit.
“Have the N-Teks monopolised your power points yet?” asked Fowler.
The
warden nodded. “Over
a
Fowler hid his surprise. Whatever Citynet had tried in the meanwhile had clearly failed. There was a veiled sound of desperation in the warden’s voice.
“Have they formed any cyberspace nests yet?” asked Fowler.
“Yes but they’re re-encoding themselves with shared encryption keys as soon as they’re discovered and then they morph.”
Fowler hadn’t observed this behaviour when he had studied the NTeks. They were adapting again. “What server’s have been compromised?” he asked.
The warden clasped his hands and looked down. “Citynet. Upsite particularly; the investment sector.”
“Well what do you know,” replied Fowler, grinning to himself. “And they said Citynet could never be breached.”
“This is not funny Fowler! This entire colony depends on Citynet. Millions of families rely on these servers to run everything from food production to our life support,” shouted the warden. He raised his hand and pointed it accusingly at Fowler as if the whole problem was his fault. The pointing finger curled to form a fist. “You will stop them or so help me, I’ll make sure you’re jacked into every on-line assembly machine in this city!” The warden’s clenched fist struck the table unceremoniously, causing the hologram to shudder.
Fowler remained unfazed. “Where’s Walt? I though he was your new golden boy.”
“He’s brain dead. The N-Teks burned out his neurons when he attempted to remove them!” The warden took a deep breath. His blood pressure was clearly up and was trying to lower it as he let his breath out slowly.
Fowler shook his head. “That’s impossible, they’re not aggressive. It’s not their style,” insisted Fowler.
“Well then, what is their style?” demanded the warden.
Fowler rubbed his stubble ridden chin thoughtfully. “They’re pacifists.”
The warden was losing his patience with Fowler’s philosophical out-look. “You talk about them as if they’re alive. They’re nothing more than a glorified virus.”
Fowler smiled. “They’ve outsmarted Citynet security. I think that’s a good enough definition of an intelligent life form.”
“Look, we’re getting off the point here.” The warden looked flustered and angry with Fowler.
“Which is?”
The warden put his hands together, getting to the point. “We want you to find out what they want.”
Fowler sat up in his seat. “Who exactly is we?”
“Citynet.” The words were like manna from heaven for Fowler. Citynet needed him again, after having abandoned him. Still, he felt cold comfort. “I know what the N-Teks want.”
The warden frowned. “And what is that?”
“To do whatever the hell they want,” said Fowler, meeting the warden’s stare.
“Well then they’ll have to be destroyed before they bring everything down!” said the warden, having heard enough. “It’ll be the end of humanity in this sector if we don’t do it. It’ll give our enemies the ammunition they need to say we shouldn’t be here at all.”
The lights in the room flickered and the holograms rippled.
“Take me to Citynet,” said Fowler. “I want to talk to Sandra. Then we’ll deal.”
....................................................................................................
About the Podcast story and the author
In 2005 I
purchased an iPod and listened to some music on it. I got my hands on a
piece of software called iPodder which allowed me to subscribe to audio
episodes called PodCasts. Then within a year, Apple integrated PodCasts
into iTunes and I moved over to that format for subscription. I started
listening to Audio Novels while I commuted to work and I really enjoyed
them. Then one day I listened to Scott Sigler who is the pioneer in the
area of episodal novel writing along with J.C.Hutchins in my mind. For
me it was a rebirth of radio in a modern context. The power was in my
hands to listen to what I wanted. Then while driving to work, I began
to think about my dust-gathering writing. I had been a member of the
Irish Science Fiction Association and been part of a gang of wannabe
writers who eventually went their separate ways. There was close
collobaration between the artists and writers and we even published our
own Magazine. In the end, the ISFA dissolved and I with it but I'd
written a short story called Digby's Bluff which had been set on a
place called Erstol. For me, this was my idea of a classic SciFi world.
In 1997 I wrote Engines Under Ursus and completed it in one year. I
sent it off to TOR and they sent me a response six months later
scrawled on a piece of paper which I couldn't even make out. I'd
suffered years of this type of reply. I was pretty cheesed off to put
it mildly. So, I put my manuscript away and decided to keep on writing
because it's what I do to relax. I have other stuff which I won't go
into here but suffice to say, in 2006 there is finally a way for an
author to find out if your stuff is really any good! To a certain
extent I feel like the Internet represents democracy in its truest
form. Here, an individual - if one chooses to - can attempt to make a
difference. Millions of us 'ordinary folks' can have our voice heard if
we choose to, literally. All it takes is a little know how and a lot of
desire. We're storming the modern day Bastille buildings. Are we really
making a difference? Who knows, only time will tell. I've seen the
Internet grow from a small seed to a billion dollar industry. If it
frees us up to do cool stuff and make new communities, it can't be all
bad. Anyway, rant over, here's the story. I hope you enjoy listening to
it as much as I have making it.
History of the Digital Camcorder
The first camcorders were introduced in the early 80s, and they were expensive and bulky but efficient. They were operated by using one's arms or a tripod. Later, miniaturization allowed camcorders to get smaller and smaller. By the time the 90s arrived, camcorders had their own recording format called VHS-C, or a tape called 8mm that was less compatible with VCRs. It wasn't until the late 90s that the first digital camcorders started arriving with the MiniDV (1996). This was an even smaller tape than before that allowed one to edit the tape on the computer. It's much easier to use and made higher quality tape than previous recording formats. Most new digital cameras use MiniDV, though new formats and cameras continue to arrive. The history of the digital camcorder is sure to change as time progresses.
Camcorders are important becuase of the convergence of media and can be used for publishing your own PodCasts. There are techniques required to make good program which require an understanding of timelines and how to keep a video presentation entertaining which is more difficult than it seems. A Camcoder I bought recently was the Panasonic NV-GS150. This camcorder has three CCDs. These are normally only available in professional models but I was able to buy this digital camcorder on EBay in the US. The Camcorder came with a bevy of extra such as a tri-pod, filters, hook for a microphone, remote control and so forth. The only misgiving I have about this camcorder is that I record onto a tape and not a disc. On looking up the reviews, it appears that the disc technology is not quite mature in the world of camcorders however the picure quality is excellent for a camcorder of this price range. Camcorders are very useful for example if you want to record your own show for PodCasting and so forth and are one of the creative tools at your disposal.
Today we take for granted the fact that we can buy a Camcorder at a reasonably inexpensive price. It's not so long ago that only television cameras were capable of recording our images and the humble 8MM tape based camera. The Camcorder was introduced in the early 1980s, first by Sony and then by Kodak. VHS won out this battle although it was technologically inferior but was more available. You could use 8MM becuase the quality was higher but lost the compatability with the VHS device. The introduction of the first handy-cam changed all that and added portability to the format. These days we have miniDDV format and has improved audio and video quality. Digital Cameras still have their place even with this format. Camcorders have not replaced the Digital Camera but complimented them. Next we move into an era of solid state Camcorders and all the promise that it holds.
Technology Behind the Camcorder
CCD (converts the photons to a signal), Imager (viewing the picture in question) and Lens (for focusing). Modern Camcorders are Digital storing their data as electronic bits.
History of the MP3
The German company Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft developed MP3 technology and now licenses the patent rights to the audio compression technology - United States Patent 5,579,430 for a "digital encoding process". The inventors named on the MP3 patent are Bernhard Grill, Karl-Heinz Brandenburg, Thomas Sporer, Bernd Kurten, and Ernst Eberlein.
In 1987, the prestigious Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte Schaltungen research center (part of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft) began researching high quality, low bit-rate audio coding, a project named EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB).
MP3 Players
.