[from here]The room across from Professor Stein’s old office was furnished, if only sparsely. That made Tsubaki think there had to be a doctor using it, which gave her hope
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“As long as you trust him to be discreet, I don’t see why we can’t share most of the details when it’s safe… um, well, assuming this thing gives us something more to share, of course,” she said, watching the monitor with some uncertainty. “The soldiers must have expected we’d talk about our missions. If they didn’t want us to, they would’ve done something to make sure we couldn’t.”
But they probably didn’t expect we’d be stealing their secret information so that we could warn other people with it… Tsubaki thought to herself. That was assuming she and Rapunzel even had the skills to make sense of the disc if putting it in the computer worked.
She was still thinking as much when the monitor started up, something that resulted in Rapunzel breaking into amazed laughter and startling Tsubaki in turn. Oh no! Maybe she should have said something beforehand? Surprises weren’t exactly conducive to stealth assignments, even good ones. Tsubaki supposed the other girl’s reaction was to be expected, though, if her technology was so much different than what could be found in the hospital. What were just photographs and computer login screens to Tsubaki were something much more enthralling to Rapunzel.
Tsubaki strained to listen in case something had been alerted by the noise they were making, but she couldn’t hear anything, and after a pause she reached out to move the monitor closer. It served to both make it easier for them to get at, and for Rapunzel to see.
“It does sort of look like that, doesn’t it?”
But what the screen looked like didn’t change the fact that it was clearly password protected, though. Tsubaki didn’t know enough about what they were doing to tell if that mattered.
“Let’s try the disc out and see what happens next…”
Rapunzel tried to keep in mind everything Tsubaki said about being discreet and about what the military did and didn't want them to share, but honestly, it was too hard to keep a clear focus on that when she was still getting used to the brilliant light picture in front of her. She leaned in when Tsubaki pulled the screen closer, and it took her a few moments to register that Tsubaki had spoken again.
"Oh, right! Yeah, let's try it," said Rapunzel, fumbling with her hair and finally pulling the disc out from within its strategically placed loops. She handed it over to Tsubaki, who inserted it just the way Albedo had said they would be able to.
It was nice to see Rapunzel’s happy reaction to the computer, but unfortunately there was still a job to do; enjoying it was of lesser priority than the disc.
Once the disc in question was placed into the disc drive, there was nothing left to do but press the button and see what happened when the computer tried to read it. This was the most important part, and Tsubaki chewed her lip while they waited. What if the disc set off some kind of alarm? What if it didn’t work? On the other hand, what if it did work but they needed the password to the computer to do anything about it?
The light on the tower began to flash frantically and soon after a window popped up on the monitor screen. Her mouth fell open slightly.
“Something’s happening!” she exclaimed in a rushed whisper.
As if it had a mind of its own, lines of text began to unfurl in the window, most of it random words and letters that looked like what happened when her word processor couldn’t open a file correctly. Still, Tsubaki was hopeful. The disc really did have information on it! Maybe it was code? Or if it had been broken in the explosion, maybe it could be fixed?
It was then that her eye caught something, a small beacon in an ocean of garbled text. A line, a word. Letters in correct order. Right away Tsubaki reached for the mouse and used it to center the text on the screen for the both of them to see. Out of the nonsense surrounding it, there was a message, clear as day:
...monitored transmissions from planet 48-71 shows no outward signs of hostility; however, we have detected use of a new code that will take some time to break. No traces of communication with the home planet's rebel factions as of yet, but we will continue to survey the situation until further notice...
..We have considered organizing reconnaissance missions on planet 48-71 using Next Wave subjects, but current evaluations show they are not ready. Keep them here for the time being…
But they probably didn’t expect we’d be stealing their secret information so that we could warn other people with it… Tsubaki thought to herself. That was assuming she and Rapunzel even had the skills to make sense of the disc if putting it in the computer worked.
She was still thinking as much when the monitor started up, something that resulted in Rapunzel breaking into amazed laughter and startling Tsubaki in turn. Oh no! Maybe she should have said something beforehand? Surprises weren’t exactly conducive to stealth assignments, even good ones. Tsubaki supposed the other girl’s reaction was to be expected, though, if her technology was so much different than what could be found in the hospital. What were just photographs and computer login screens to Tsubaki were something much more enthralling to Rapunzel.
Tsubaki strained to listen in case something had been alerted by the noise they were making, but she couldn’t hear anything, and after a pause she reached out to move the monitor closer. It served to both make it easier for them to get at, and for Rapunzel to see.
“It does sort of look like that, doesn’t it?”
But what the screen looked like didn’t change the fact that it was clearly password protected, though. Tsubaki didn’t know enough about what they were doing to tell if that mattered.
“Let’s try the disc out and see what happens next…”
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"Oh, right! Yeah, let's try it," said Rapunzel, fumbling with her hair and finally pulling the disc out from within its strategically placed loops. She handed it over to Tsubaki, who inserted it just the way Albedo had said they would be able to.
Now to see if anything happened...
Reply
Once the disc in question was placed into the disc drive, there was nothing left to do but press the button and see what happened when the computer tried to read it. This was the most important part, and Tsubaki chewed her lip while they waited. What if the disc set off some kind of alarm? What if it didn’t work? On the other hand, what if it did work but they needed the password to the computer to do anything about it?
The light on the tower began to flash frantically and soon after a window popped up on the monitor screen. Her mouth fell open slightly.
“Something’s happening!” she exclaimed in a rushed whisper.
As if it had a mind of its own, lines of text began to unfurl in the window, most of it random words and letters that looked like what happened when her word processor couldn’t open a file correctly. Still, Tsubaki was hopeful. The disc really did have information on it! Maybe it was code? Or if it had been broken in the explosion, maybe it could be fixed?
It was then that her eye caught something, a small beacon in an ocean of garbled text. A line, a word. Letters in correct order. Right away Tsubaki reached for the mouse and used it to center the text on the screen for the both of them to see. Out of the nonsense surrounding it, there was a message, clear as day:
...monitored transmissions from planet 48-71 shows no outward signs of hostility; however, we have detected use of a new code that will take some time to break. No traces of communication with the home planet's rebel factions as of yet, but we will continue to survey the situation until further notice...
..We have considered organizing reconnaissance missions on planet 48-71 using Next Wave subjects, but current evaluations show they are not ready. Keep them here for the time being…
“A report…?”
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