dream me back to the time I used to be....
Two and a half bikilocycles ago...
The sky glowed beautifully above the twin processors of Mainframe, or at least it did so on the domed roof of the Community Center for Compilation in the Sprite Processor half of town. Inside the auditorium, sprites and a few binomes set up the last of the scientific displays while a middle-aged sprite with green skin stood in front of a podium practicing his speech. Next to him on the stage was a strange ring-shaped device on a stand as well as several display jpg's of his theory. In front of him, a young teenager stood looking at her father, Welman Matrix, as he tried out his speech on her.
"...And, by creating a link between two systems, we can open a door, or a-a gateway, that allows up to pass through." He looked towards the gateway and gestured towards it with his arm. "But first, we have to find another system. Now I, I know I have my critics--that some sprites say there are no other systems, but, just stop a cycle and process that statement. Can you really believe we are alone?" He looked towards his current audience, his daughter Dot, as Enzo chased a red and yellow puppy through the empty auditorium. "That Mainframe is the only system in Cyberspace? I think not. My machine will detect new systems and link to them. It will prove that cyberspace is not an empty void--" the professor started to really get into this part of the speech, stuttering a bit with his excitement and nervousness-- "but a, a, a, a, wonderous place filled with inhabited systems and peoples and friends. We are not alone."
He paused and looked at the young girl in front of him. "How was that?"
"Nnnot bad." She glanced aside to the datapad in her hands and spoke into her headset. "Uh, drop the main light two points and raise the fill a half." Dot looked back up at her father. "Mm, I think you need to spend more time on how we detect other systems."
"By casting a network of signals or-or 'pings' into the void." He pressed a red button on the podium, which send of a series of noises like a radar beacon, and looked back towards her. "These signals are programmed to lock onto energy bursts. Once we have a lock, we can open a gateway to the source of said energy."
"Dad!" Dot threw her head back, she had had to remind him of this earlier. "I know that, but no one else in the audience does!" She glanced to the empty seats, no one was there YET, but it never hurt to fix a problem before it started.
"Oh! Right. I see."
"You want to try some questions?" She asked quickly.
Welman took a breath and smiled. "Okay, I'm ready for anything."
Dot cleared her throat and asked in a more formal adult voice. "Professor Matrix, if you've proven the existence of other systems, why do we physically have to visit them?"
The professor immediately got flustered stammering, yet again. "Good question. Good question. Um... excellent question there. It's uh, um, well, uh, because-"
"For proof! That's why the Gateway command has two functions, search and link!"
"That's right! Good answer." He paused, watching his teenage daughter. "Dot, you will be here for me, won't you? By my side, just in case?"
"Of course, Dad!" Dot laughed, smiling at him as she went to collect her little brother before he and his dog caused too much trouble.
The sky glowed beautifully above the twin processors of Mainframe, or at least it did so on the domed roof of the Community Center for Compilation in the Sprite Processor half of town. Inside the auditorium, sprites and a few binomes set up the last of the scientific displays while a middle-aged sprite with green skin stood in front of a podium practicing his speech. Next to him on the stage was a strange ring-shaped device on a stand as well as several display jpg's of his theory. In front of him, a young teenager stood looking at her father, Welman Matrix, as he tried out his speech on her.
"...And, by creating a link between two systems, we can open a door, or a-a gateway, that allows up to pass through." He looked towards the gateway and gestured towards it with his arm. "But first, we have to find another system. Now I, I know I have my critics--that some sprites say there are no other systems, but, just stop a cycle and process that statement. Can you really believe we are alone?" He looked towards his current audience, his daughter Dot, as Enzo chased a red and yellow puppy through the empty auditorium. "That Mainframe is the only system in Cyberspace? I think not. My machine will detect new systems and link to them. It will prove that cyberspace is not an empty void--" the professor started to really get into this part of the speech, stuttering a bit with his excitement and nervousness-- "but a, a, a, a, wonderous place filled with inhabited systems and peoples and friends. We are not alone."
He paused and looked at the young girl in front of him. "How was that?"
"Nnnot bad." She glanced aside to the datapad in her hands and spoke into her headset. "Uh, drop the main light two points and raise the fill a half." Dot looked back up at her father. "Mm, I think you need to spend more time on how we detect other systems."
"By casting a network of signals or-or 'pings' into the void." He pressed a red button on the podium, which send of a series of noises like a radar beacon, and looked back towards her. "These signals are programmed to lock onto energy bursts. Once we have a lock, we can open a gateway to the source of said energy."
"Dad!" Dot threw her head back, she had had to remind him of this earlier. "I know that, but no one else in the audience does!" She glanced to the empty seats, no one was there YET, but it never hurt to fix a problem before it started.
"Oh! Right. I see."
"You want to try some questions?" She asked quickly.
Welman took a breath and smiled. "Okay, I'm ready for anything."
Dot cleared her throat and asked in a more formal adult voice. "Professor Matrix, if you've proven the existence of other systems, why do we physically have to visit them?"
The professor immediately got flustered stammering, yet again. "Good question. Good question. Um... excellent question there. It's uh, um, well, uh, because-"
"For proof! That's why the Gateway command has two functions, search and link!"
"That's right! Good answer." He paused, watching his teenage daughter. "Dot, you will be here for me, won't you? By my side, just in case?"
"Of course, Dad!" Dot laughed, smiling at him as she went to collect her little brother before he and his dog caused too much trouble.