The Unknowing War (Optimum Project sequel)

Chapter 2

Writing the code

The massive amount of modifications made to the Titan in just the few days that had passed were mind boggling. New stealth mechanisms, more turrets, directional signal-jammers, and more ship acquisition weapons than every pirate within 1000 light years. Pix was desperate for any kind of lead on these unknown combatants, mechanical or otherwise.

But of course, all those new guns and toys meant that they needed calibration, and calibration meant engineers. The hallways were flooded with various engineers moving from terminal to terminal, running diagnostics and programming in software patches. I slipped in and out of the masses, flowing smoothly through the crowds and into my quarters.

I sighed and placed the signal receiver down on the table, collapsing onto my bed as I thought about what I had planned today, advanced hand-to-hand combat training wasn't for another hour or so, and Sarah and Bree had classes right now. I sighed and turned my head towards the receiver on my desk, triggering Tom's analysis matrix. Immediately different segments of the receiver lit up in outlines produced by tom, and digital diagrams filled my mind as I mentally dismantled it. The design was simple, a high capacity battery powered a small microchip that was connected to an antenna, easy enough.

I sat up and grabbed a screw-driver from my desk drawer dismantling the receiver until the board was exposed.  I sat and stared at it for a moment, liking my lips I took a deep breath, I hated this part. I grabbed the processor out and placed my finger where it used to sit, tom's nanites shifted and extended past my finger, linking with the board.

My vision blurred as lines of code scrolled through my vision and pressure started building up behind my eyes. I grimaced when it was over and pulled out my tablet, beginning to write the code for what I needed the receiver to do. There was a glitch in the code, a small one, but it opened a very big door. I spent the rest of my time writing the code, Tom putting in his two cents here and there, and then implementing it. I pulled the battery out of the receiver and shorted the board, wiping the firmware and then flashing my own.

The bug was a single line that verified to the board that it was official, the code that the board used to verify it couldn't be messed with without destroying the board, but the verification wasn't two way, if I copied and pasted that line into the firmware I just wrote, the board became mine. I finished with the flash and hooked up a fiber optic cable that I could connect to my tablet. I let the antenna run while it was connected, recording any information it received while I went to hand-to-hand combat training.