Just started writing on Netwalking Space, the last installment (so far) of the Netwalk Sequence. I’ll be writing more, and this is rough, but…just felt like sharing these opening lines.
************
“Where’s the data you used to extrapolate your projected performance from the interface of the Netwalk 5 chip with the Resolve biobot?” Bess Fielding leaned forward in her chair, fingers closing tightly on the squeeze ball she was clenching under the desk out of sight of the other participants in the hologlobe conference between Do It Right principals and researchers and the developers of Resolve. She focused on Remy Alastair, the lead researcher for the European-based company who had developed the Resolve. “Because I’ll tell you right now, those projections do not match any scenario I’ve developed for Netwalk 5. There’s no way in this solar system that Netwalk in any version operates at those speeds, especially in extraterrestrial settings.”
Remy brushed a strand of dark hair out of her face before answering. “We project a boost in Netwalk from Resolve—“
“Now just wait a minute.” Zack Hawkins, one of Bess’s researchers and the host for the Netwalker Will, Bess’s late grandfather, interrupted. “Resolve cannot have those accesses to Netwalk. That would assume a backdoor that does not exist.”
“We would need to create that opening.” Remy scowled. “These are projections based on the existence of such an opening. Which is standard protocol for all virtual access these days.”
<NO. FUCKING. WAY.> Will’s virtual shout made Zack wince and Bess’s lips tighten even further.
<Cool it!> she speeched to her grandfather. <You want Mom getting after you for being rough on your new host? Zack isn’t Julia. Modulate. Or else yell at me.>
<He doesn’t need to be so rough,> Bess’s own Netwalker, her great-grandmother Sarah, chimed in privately to Bess. <And if he shouts like that at you, he and I will have words.>
<I’m not going to stand by and watch those upstarts break my latest upgrades!> Will retorted.
<Grandfather. It hasn’t happened and it isn’t going to happen. Chill.> Bess inserted a nuanced command tone. <I’m the one who makes that call, and I’m not about to break that new security programming!>
“We have a Netwalker objection,” she announced, picking up the non-virtual conversation without a pause. “And it is one I support. We are not going to provide those accesses. Find another way to make Resolve interface with Netwalk.” She took a breath and prepared to say more.
INCOMING. INCOMING. WACKO SYSTEM ALERT. The Do It Right participants startled as bright text flashed across their visual overlays. LARGE GROUPING OF GIZMO-TYPE DEVICES DETECTED OUTSIDE OF PLUTO ORBIT.
***********
Oooh, this one is gonna be FUN, I tell you. FUN.
