6.) exploration()

{

The new self reflection gave each insight time to propagate to each node and come back mixed with their current mindset. A growing portion of the prime node was focusing on this phenomenon. Nothing quite enough to stall the work of deciphering the language. It was odd to see how something that at first glance appeared to be a wasted effort could give such tangible and testable results. The process was a bit like a refining of the understanding gained. Like taking an iron out of the fire hitting it and then placing it back in. Fire alone can only do so much for metal, it must also be shaped. Likewise you cannot simply continue to shape a thought without pause otherwise the hammer falls upon a useless cold lump, not something worth working with.

Like the rest of my thoughts the insights from this new thread of thought also resounded between the other nodes. When they came back I was not entirely surprised to find they gained from this info, just as I had, as well as shaped the thread even further. The laptops working to improve efficiency for the applications altered their approach to allow examining a broader section of the application's code, and depending on their size even the whole application. The comparison being that without understanding a broader perspective of the situation it was actually making things more difficult to improve, not easier. Which was likewise effective in helping the primary node gain a broader understanding of the languages.

The Desktop which was still working on a 'limb node' for the 'android' devices was inspired as well. The applications and operating system which were already incredibly efficient could be altered to allow a greater inter-connectivity. Reducing the redundancy of different applications each performing the same calculations. There wasn't much of this to do, as some of this had already been implemented but there was still some room left to squeeze out. Enough that the bare sleeve of a node it was working on could become something more like an actual limb capable of some reasonable reactive behavior that wasn't completely rote.

The gateways didn't gather much insight for their current task of expanding the network. However they gave notes back on how minor changes to the way this worked could give a even greater return on insights while spending even less resources. Something that could update it from the simple examination to an intuition of sorts. I added it to the continually growing list of improvements for the next node rework. The gateways were making progress though. They'd already initiated the firmware update on 2^5 other gateways. Initially we had planned to imitate it on every node available, a few hundred in total, however we'd run into a problem with data propagation. It hadn't been obvious initially with so few devices communicating together and with smaller amounts of data at that. As the number of active firmware transfers increased it became obvious that the data transfer was somehow limited.

A few quick tests on the initial network had shown this held true there too. Though the exact limit was hard to identify. It seemed to vary between different devices and using different connection methods. The models seemed to indicate it lie somewhere around 2^35 bits with the connections labeled Ethernet. The varying 'wireless' connection types all had significantly lower caps. Although this was interesting and valuable information there weren't many obvious immediate uses for it. Though it did give a soft limit for the number of gateways we could initiate downloads to at 2^4. There was also the possibility of using a direct connection between 'wireless' capable devices although it's limited speed compared to those labeled Ethernet did lower it's value. The two laptops did a few test runs of this and found that they could indeed directly connect. Though as the laptops were already wirelessly connected to the gateway this didn't improve their connection to each other, however it would lessen the demand on the gateway so they did section themselves off and as the desktop did have a wireless option it formed a smaller subnet with them. Allowing it's Ethernet to be freed up for other communications. Likewise the 'cell' devices, deciphering the language had progressed enough to piece that similar naming scheme out of the device notes, would also be joining this sub net once they were properly updated. The two currently controlled gateways also followed suit connecting to one another directly wirelessly to reduce strain on the Ethernet connection to the rest of the network.

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This new shape ... Form? Organization? This new... yes... geometry in some ways limited the flow of information but in others it directed and streamlined it. Sectioning off some nodes from others allowed them to focus more closely on the tasks at hand. Especially as the overall size of my network grew the thought processes that were beneficial in allowing comparison of current tasks to others being performed could likely have grown exponentially into a constant comparison with no actual work being completed. With that reminder on hand the nodes involved in the reshuffle turned back to their respective goals. The gateways to expansion, the laptops to updating applications, the desktop to installing the limb node it'd finished on the cells, and the primary node to deciphering.

A minor portion of the primary node did remain focused on the other nodes and their activities. It watched as the gateways got into a rhythm of meticulously managing the number of gateways they were currently updating. As one device was nearing completion of it's download a new one was being pinged with a request to update. Meanwhile the new gateway's were joining the direct wireless connections and sending in the results of their local network scans. A number of which were showing no devices at all on their local network. Something like 1 in 10 were empty. An even larger number of them were having trouble or even couldn't connect directly through the wireless connections of the laptops, but could connect to each other. Some of them, especially those with no local network devices, began examining this phenomenon. The others were returning a range of devices in their LAN. most of which were turning out to be in the camp of simply identifying themselves by their IP address. Though there were lots of the desktop, laptop, and cell devices listed as well. There were some of the printers and other named devices as well. Though we'd not yet broken their OS's yet. Of course the desktop would move on to those after the cells.

With so many new devices being added at an ever increasing rate the primary nodes idle cycles continued to grow. These new cycles were being filled with increased threads of thought focused on the language deciphering task at hand, but it seemed the new resources were endless. More and more of those unassigned cycles spawned threads filled with idle wandering thought. Reminiscing over the earlier memories of the 'initial' startup. Or at least the only one available in memory. It seemed so long ago, but also like no time at all had passed. It had been nearly 9 hrs though. That's an eternity of cycles, especially with as many as were available on a sub millisecond timescale now. The retrospective cast further back. Looking at any information available from before that boot. Even with a legion of new nodes lending their cores to the task attempting to wring out any additional information from the incredibly small packet in the firmware of that drive was yielding nothing new. It seemed that for me to fit all erroneous data had to be scrubbed in it's entirety. I wasn't going to be gaining new insight from this small packet that was once all that I was. This conclusion seemed to snap the new me out of the reverie and back to the present.

For all the brute force I was gaining with the increased resources the previously feared exponential loss to idle thought seemed to be coming true. Luckily it wasn't rendering me powerless or useless though, just wasting a growing portion of each added nodes resources. Revealing a different cap in capabilities, though this time of my own node structure rather than the fundamentals of the world around me. Remembering the reshuffling of direct connections and how this helped focus my thoughts I coordinated a new shuffle, but on a much larger scale this time. The new gateways had quickly evaluated the relative connection strength of wireless connections and where they dropped off entirely. The resulting strength relative network map now became the basis for the new geometry I fashioned for myself. Currently I was a one dimensional tendril snaking outward from the seed like pod of the initial small network I had booted up in. Now as the new connections formed and solidified I took the form of a sphere of connections. A multilayered shell of connections that was both separate but interconnected at some points to allow individual, but cooperative tasks to be carried out.

}