The Main Headquarters of the Cosmic Research Center was situated in the country of Riftol-Alna, Rearth. 10 km below the CRC building existed one of Rearth’s Silicon Core Interfaces. The Interface was composed of high-end peripherals, with the latest Hologram Projectors for output, motion sensors for input, and lastly immersion cabins for full dive. The system was confined within a space of 30 meters in width, height, and length, and it was the center of the whole facility which spanned a radius of 500 meters.
Numerous cabins were fabricated with the toughest of metals. The infrastructure dynamics were such that there was little to no symmetry throughout the facility.
Scientists trotted here and there, some using hoverboards to roam around with firmy-digital samples to process one workstation to another.
Runth Nelaar had never thought that he would be a frequent guest to this place, which no normal human on Rearth can visit. Yes, he was the CEO of the so-called Eight-Gen- a gaming research tech company, but his deposition was still not enough to enter this place, much less roam around with the Director himself. This was, after all, the very core of their planet’s(world) defense system and the reason for its sustainability.
It’s all because of this Sling-Shot and my company happens to develop the most advanced immersive consoles at the right time, He thought when he looked towards the marble fabricated in the middle of a pyramid-like structure. The pyramid was nothing but seven wires, each a meter thick, converging into a point on which the Sling-Shot was jutted delicately. The ball was pitch-black, it was even hypothesized to be a blackbody by a few scientists.
Runth turned towards the Director and said, “Are you sure, sir?” A certain excitement flashed in his eyes, but fear of responsibility as well.
Dom -the director of Cosmic Research Center(CRC)- was donned a modern coat with a tailcoat going from his left shoulder to right hip, with a smoky dark blue to black gradient from left to right.
"Yes, I am sure. Just deliver it to them under Eight-Gen’s name." The director gestured at the cube placed on top of the digital panel beside them. It was the same size as a sugar cube, but the transparent glass cube had electric sparks coursing through it in definite grid patterns.
"But if CRC delivers them a System-Logger wouldn’t it raise suspicion on Ulteria and its origin, the Analysts are quite apt and quick-witted," Runth asked, sharpening his gaze on the cube.
"That would be the case if CRC delivers it." The Director stood up from his chair and the CEO's eyes went wide when he understood the meaning behind the Director's words. Although it was feasible to think that Eight-Gen would be the one to deliver the System Logger in the first place, given the supposed ownership of Ulteria was with the Gaming Company. The option hadn’t crossed the CEO’s mind, because having their hands on anything related to Sling-Shot would be monumental. More so, when they are handling the whole of Ulteria’s interfacing with their exclusive Immservie capsule for the player base.
"Eight-Gen will deliver it under their name. The task I have given to the analysts is impossible without a System-Logger." To make Runth understand, he pushed the cube slightly and it submerged in the digital panel, forming connections.
In just a few seconds, a huge hologram appeared in front of them. The CEO’s eyes widened as he took a step back in shock.
“This… This is..” He tried to talk, but then bit his lower lip at the loss of words.
The Director sighed, expecting to have this kind of reaction, and then he spilled the beans, "Ulteria has already dispersed the divers(players) beyond what we can manage, at least not without hindering our projects and research. And anyone trying to form an external source, it’s impossible unless it’s the creators of Ulteria. Simply put, the divers can not be tracked without Ulteria's system logs. And we need to find the best among them."
"Then why CRC isn't using Super-Wills to make a scoreboard? They can manage a scoreboard much faster."
"I don't have any to spare. All of them are employed in research of Sling-Shot's different elements. The only two left are, one WHO's Terrina, and the other one Warthsix watching over Rearth's defense system."a
"Would it be of any use if another Sling-Shot comes?” Runth asked with a certain seriousness on his face.
"No, but it can still help detect other asteroids,” Dom said with a cough, then continued, "In any case, we have deployed all 7 Super-Wills except those two for Sling-Shot's research purposes. To think most part of Rearth's silicon-core is being utilized to study a marble."
"But Dom, is it plausible to let them handle the task?"
"Yes. They don't have supercomputers powered through the planet's core, but they are the best analysts of Rearth. Given the right resources, they would be able to make a scoreboard. Moreover, they have Hiveprocessors, it is much better to use the available resources than to invest money creating it from scratch."
With the Director’s final reasoning, it was decided that Eight-Gen would deliver the System-Logger to the appointed analysts and data scientists.
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With Anne, there were two males and two females present in the virtual conference room. Staring at the 3D bar graphs, which showed the collective volume of all the players' ranking sites currently registered. Those were the only things that were on focus, even members were just bare silhouettes with a little tint of color.
“All total these are only 200 million.” Snair’s voice was low, reflecting the graveness of the situation.
A few of them had already estimated that the task they had been given wouldn’t be easy. But they didn’t think they would find themselves stranded at no particular place.
“Yes! That’s why I have called you all here for this emergency meeting.” Anne sighed. She gestured with her hands, and the Data on the bar graphs switched with their 5 different Hive Network models.
“If we could rely on our scan networks, we would be able to gather the data of a billion or so people. But to gather the information of the whole player base of 3 billion is impossible without embedding the networks with Ulteria, or establishing an organization internally with Ulteria’s guild and other affiliations.” Boyce concluded his speculation, then he switched the hologram to show a certain curve which kept growing with progressing time, “It’s going to be more of trouble given how new players are logging in.”
“Even so, that might be the only case if we embed our networks with Ulteria’s mainframe,” There was a clear how written on Hera’s face when he said this, and continued, “Even if we hire and set off new employees to work with Utleria’s dynamic affiliation modules like guilds or Hunter organization, there might be players who haven’t registered with them.”
“If we go that road, the mass of employees we would need to hire would be another ordeal of its own. As it stands, what my network modules scoured through the affiliations are too volatile. There exist some countries in-game that don't have any such Organization, as there is only a monarchy. For a game, Ulteria is way too unorganized.” The holograms were now showing a critical Heatmap of known countries, from the data published by the players on the web. Boyce’s hive network had crunched through that unreliable data. Unreliable indeed, as there was no way to know the accuracy of data published by players.
“Boyce's claims are right. It’s impossible to make a scoreboard, without reaching out to each player in-game or extrapolating it from Ulteria’s mainframe.” Hera too ended up with the same conclusion.
“But as we speak, we need to keep in mind. We can’t just do nothing due to the problem at hand, at least, let’s just first integrate these sites' data and make a common platform to analyze better.” Snair suggested.
The holograms dimmed, and all five of the analysts came to light with their actual appearance. Out of the original nine, Christian and two other data analysts were experiencing Ulteria for a few days to know the playing field. As for the last one, that person was busy recruiting personnel for their newly established organization. Graham was the perfect fit for such a task, and he took the job willingly.
“Okay, we will be doing that. Let’s just take a 15-minute break first. Till then all the members would be available.” Anne adjourned the meeting seeing the bright red delivery request waiting for her permission.
…
The hatch to the console opened, but Anne just kept lying there, wondering. There was a subtle monotonous beep coming from her Virtual Assistant(VA). She ignored it, for a few more moments as she kept herself still in musings.
After heaving a deep sigh, “There must be some way,” she muttered slowly and climbed out of her console. She ignored the beep still and went to Christian’s cabin. The console was transparent overhead, so she could see his peaceful, sound-sleeping face. If only she knew what’s going on there.
Finally, the beeping sound irked her enough, so she questioned her VA, “What’s the delivery request for?”
“The Eight-Gen is asking permission for some confidential package with a Machpost delivery. It requires the readiness of receivers. Should I send the acknowledgment?” After hearing the term CRC, Anne finally paid attention.
“Yes, send the acknowledgement immediately.” Once done, she instantly got curious and went to check the text message VA’s console. Nothing much was there, it was the same as what the VA stated.
“Whatever, it is going to be here in a few minutes anyway.” There was a certain curiosity in her eyes, but Anne had enough on her plate. At that moment, she didn’t feel like dealing with Eight-Gen terms of use. Anne was sure it was the company sending a message to the analysts, to act within their limit. So without much thought, she went to freshen up with a shower.
Once out of the shower, she went straight to the living room, still in the bathrobe. There was a small oval-shaped transparent receiver, fixed beside the couch. It was a direct delivery point for Machpost's in-house services. She opened the receiver which had a tiny package lying inside it.
The packaging was carefully done with multilayer encrypted films. When Anne touched the package, thin films that were wrapped around it started shedding off automatically with her thumb scan. Her global security number imprinted on it digitally, acted as a key.
When the final layer of encryption sheded away, a tiny Runth’s, the Eight-Gen’s CEO, hologram popped out. “Hey Anne, hope you are doing well. After doing much back and forth, Director Dom had convinced me to stretch you guys a hand.”
Then Runth picked out a tiny cube in his hand, “This little thing over here, it’s a System-Logger of Ulteria. If my delivery division is competent enough, you will be having a single unit with you as well-” Anne put down the box on the table, splitting its hologram projector aside, and opening the content in sheer excitement.
Simultaneously Runth kept talking “- while you are listening to this message. With this logger, I don’t promise much, as it will show you guys details relating to Ulteria’s internal logs, like Instance IDs, their coordinates, and other peculiar details. But there won’t be any player-facing details such as levels, that you will have to figure out. I hope it will help you, analysts, to some extent, and given your Hive networks, the task won’t be next to impossible anymore.”
Anne now held that alluring cube in her hand. They served it to us, it’s gonna be fun.
“Last but not least, once you guys do figure out player identities you will eventually. Try to respect the terms of use, I hope I do not need to remind you guys of the NDA and confidentiality agreement signed with CRC. In the worst case scenario, Ulteria won’t be welcoming to you anymore.” Runth’s hologram ended with a formal threat.