Computer Glitch
Posted on 04 Feb 2019 @ 6:55pm by Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater
Edited on on 22 Feb 2019 @ 7:12pm
3,110 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 07, Multi-purpose lab
Timeline: MD -22, 1400 hours
[ON]
Science station number seven was throwing an error and needed some attention. Whenever anyone logged onto the terminal, everything would freeze and nothing could be done. That was problem number one. Problem two was that the last user to work this station hadn't saved their data to the ship's central core computer processor. Instead, it was saved locally to this terminal and, since both Ensign Ullswater and LTJG. Plumeri were up for a duty shift now; it became their problem.
Matt walked in first to the lab. In two hours he would start his regular duty shift on the bridge but he volunteered to start here early to help with this annoying issue. He knew which terminal it was; it was the only one that was dark and had a red light flashing on the display. He touched the console and it came to life, offering him the chance to login.
With some degree of resignation Sofie had dragged herself down to the lab on deck seven. It was something about data on a computer console, but that was enough for the ensign to know exactly which terminal and what error was going on - it had already gained some minor infamy among the science staff as a recurring problem that just wouldn't go away.
As she stepped into the room she saw Plumeri sitting in the dreaded seat with the all to familiar blinking red display in front of him. She looked at him and then to the console and then back at him and then with a slight raise of an eyebrow and an overly dramatic air of exasperation she said "Not again?"
Matt pursed his lips and gave her a look of mutual resignation. Both hands went in the air as he sang, "Taa-daa!!" and sighed. He leaned back in the chair before getting up and taking a few steps towards the replicator, "If we're going to be tech support for the labs now...I need a drink!" He stood in front of the replicator, "Raktajino please and..." he looked over his shoulder to Ullsworth to see if she wanted a beverage.
She shrugged and gave an exasperated smile "A tea I suppose." Sofie then moved over to stand by the infamous computer. Grimacing slightly she inspected the console, outwardly there was nothing about it to suggest anything was wrong and even the display itself was welcoming enough. She called over to Plumeri at the replicator "So do you have any idea how we're even going to start with this?"
The replicator whirred to life and created their beverages from thin air. He took hold of the coffee and tea mugs and handed one to her. "Well, first step is we take our hot drinks and pour them into the terminal. After the sparks are done; it now becomes and OPS or Engineering problem." He took a sip from his mug and the hot Klingon coffee did wonders.
Sofie accepted the mug and cradled it in her hands, warming them nicely. "Now as wonderful as that solutions sounds something tells me that Lieutenant Sandoval might not entierly approve of it." She grinned, some days the banter was all that made this job bearable, especially on days like these with computers like this.
"We could say we found it like this?" He looked over at her after a moment and shrugged, "Well...maybe not. I'm telling you though. If we didn't have to get the data from the buffer then I'd certainly consider putting this workstation out of it's misery." He took a sip of coffee and added, "And ours." Setting his mug of raktajino on the table and folding his arms in front of him he said, "What if we skip the user interface completely? Let's just get at it using direct access from the core? Isn't the secondary core on this deck anyway? We just get to the terminal from the core and then transfer the data from the buffer to any working terminal. Then....never use the damn thing again."
The sensible thing for Sofie to do would have been to try to pry out a good idea from that suggestion and turn it into a working plan but at the same time she was enjoying too much the constant dunking on this malfunctioning piece of tech. Thankfully some sort of sensibleness seemed to prevail at this moment and so she resisted her impulse to initiate another diatribe against the poor machine and instead turned to Plumeri "You know we should probably do that anyway, at least before we start messing up the insides of this wretched thing."
"Right", he sighed and said, "Terminal 0714-D. Computer?" he said addressing himself to the omnipresent ship board computer, "Where is the closest user access panel to the computer core from this location?"
The machine responded in dulcet tones, =A= Deck four, section twenty =A=
Plumeri said, "Three decks off...hey, I'm new!"
Logging onto the terminal, Matthew was met with an audible confirmation, =A= Access granted. System online. =A=
Typing into the terminal he said, "OK...we're looking for...number...0714...D. If I remember? As he worked he asked, "So what's so important that we have to save this data anyway? What was being worked on here that is so critical to have?"
"Seven one four D, that's right." Sofie nodded and peered over his shoulder. "I can't imagine this critical data is anything too important though. Last time I was down in that lab it was just being used by one of the NCOs to sift through some astrometrics." It wouldn't surprise her, the amount of inane tasks that the sciences department were being given right now made anything possible. "That said though," she gave a cheeky smile "You never know, we might have stumbled upon some of the chief's secret research."
He guffawed with a laugh, "Yeah. Right. Well....lookie here. It's a program that's running. It's in protected memory. That's why we've not been able to simply reinitialize that terminal. Why would someone do that? Let me take a look at the resources. Do you know how to access that? I mean, how do I get access to look at what system resources this program is using?"
Sofie swallowed nervously. Computers were not, and had never been something she had been fully good at, especially not when it got down to this level - sure she knew how to turn something off and on again but when the actual questions started getting asked she tended to adopt a blank stare the likes of which now began to extend across her face. She gave him a look that said something along the lines of I have no idea please help me out.
Seeing that response he said, "Bah, no worries. I have a few tricks up my sleeve. OK...lemme think a moment" he said as he took in a breath and let it out slowly. He pondered a few - ahem - unorthodox methods of getting at the needed data. He could, for example, shut down the lab - basically unplug it from the power grid. In theory, the computer should take what was in protected memory and transfer it to another part of the protected memory core. That wouldn't work though...they still wouldn't be able to see system resources. OK. Next idea. What about...forcing a data copy? A data migration...say...put the computer into a full diagnostic cycle? A backup copy would be made....No that won't work either! he thought to himself.
He opened his eyes, "Hell with it. I'm going to isolate the lab and shut down every terminal one at a time. We can see those system resources. In theory, when I'm done, the only terminal left working will be the one we can't access with the data stream we can't read. So, we take a snapshot of that....I'm guessing that there will be log entries and requests for resources and access requests. Take those catalog numbers and query the computer for access times of those resources requests. Then, hopefully, we can get a ballpark idea of what's being used. Sensors, computer core, biofilter...whatever."
He looked over at her, "So...this probably isn't a protocol that is in the OPS manual. I'm pretty sure somebody in OPS is going to see this...procedure...and wonder what's going on? How's your..." he searched for the right words as he turned his hands over and back again in an attempt to weigh the consequences. "Your...acting skills? We need some 'Grade A' techno-babble while I do this and I am; not a great errr...improviser?"
Sofie looked back to Matthew with an incredulous but not altogether disagreeing expression "I have no idea what it is you are doing or how it works," She spoke slowly with mock gravity "but I will do everything, and I mean everything, within my power to see that you succeed in it." She gestured to the computer in front of them with an look of comical severity "You do what you need to do."
He smiled, broadly and laughed, "Nice! Let's see what happens ay? OK, logging into all the other terminals. There we go. Shutting them down. That'll take a few minutes." He looked up at her from the terminal and said, "So...in case we both get fired what do you plan to do if it can't be science Ensign?"
She gestured to a window that wasn't there. "I'm not sure there's anything out here to do anyway so I'd imagine any plan would involve us trekking back first - and its a long way back." long and lonely she thought and paused momentarily "I can't wait to get to this colony we're meant to be visiting though. It'll be nice to see some solid - inhabited - ground again."
"Oh yeah. Me too. Tired of breathing recycled air. I needs to get out and feel the sun - or whatever star we run into - on my face for a few minutes. Well, I'll just have to be careful then and not screw this up. Certainly don't want to spend the rest of the trip in the brig." He crossed his arms and leaned against the bulkhead. "What's the first thing you want to do when we locate the colony and after we help the people there?" he asked.
"Look at their rocks maybe?" she shrugged and realised she really had no idea what would actually waiting for them when they arrived "I don't suppose you know what there is to do there? Its not like these sorts of places hand out tourist brochures."
"Not a clue. If I had any brains at all though I'd be building some vehicle to go riding around in though. Oh yeah, sure we can beam anywhere we want too. But, there's nothing like an open top and going four-wheelin'. Get the sun and the air and really get the feel for the land. Since we know that there are at least two colonies; one can surmise that at least we have two places where we could possibly go ATV'ing. I'm not worried though. I'm not arrogant, at least I hope not. But I always land on my feet. So hey, if I reboot the main computer back to a 'Speak N' Spell' I know that I can probably find my way with the colonists. If nothing's happened to them. Of course."
Sofie suddenly cartwheeled into the almost whisper of conspiratorial talk "You don't know anything more do you?" with rumours floating up and down the ship for weeks now anyone might have heard anything and anything new anyone might have heard is something that everyone might want to know. Nervous voices in the refectory spoke in hushed tones words like Tholians and everyone was wondering about what might be found when the ship finally reached the Latari system.
He shook his head negatively, "Hey, I just work here. Just like you. I hear people talking all the time. Everybody wants to know but all I know is that we've lost contact with the Latari system. Starfleet sent a regular, routine supply run to check in on them and they haven't checked back in either. But, you know, these things happen right? Sometimes colonies that are far flung end up with less than ideal circumstances and they tank." He crossed his arms and leaned forward over the console as the computer finished the shutdown sequence. "Even so, there's no sense in worrying about or trying to 'prepare' ourselves for it. If there was a major problem, Captain would tell us about it. And I haven't seen anything in her behavior or that of the XO to warrant getting worried about. Maybe it's a downed transmitter? And the only person who could fix it went fishin'? Maybe it's a workers strike or the colony decided to go Vegan. Not a damn thing we can do about it till we get there. You like to cook?" The question seemed to come from no where.
Sofie gave a rather quizzical look, as far as she could tell it had come out of nowhere. "No, should I be?"
"Should you be? Well, that's up to you of course. If you like to cook, as in prepare meals apart from the replicator, then you know that in every recipe, at some point, you have to stop fussing over it and let it be. In our world, as science types, I think it would be like growing a bacterium or series of spores. The more you fuss and fret over an experiment or a good pot of chili, the more likely you are to muck it up. That's the way I look at missions. I just - go with the flow as much as possible." he said in a calm and relaxed way. The terminals now signaled that all of the other science terminals in the multipurpose lab on deck seven had been powered off.
Sofie shook her head with a wry smile "I must admit a different philosophy," She said "So long as there is information to be found I will be doing my best to find it. Curiosity may have killed the cat but it inspires the scientist." Then she shrugged adopting a more jokey tone "And for all I know lieutenant you might have all the answers and just aren't allowed to tell me." She gestured to the computer "So what do you think, is the captain going to let us live long enough to find out what's really happened on Latari?"
He looked down at the diagnostic terminal and then wrinkled his nose in a bewildered look, "Huh! The...whatever...experiment running in the lab has used over four-hundred and ninety kiloquads of holographic data. It's got direct access to the ODN grid that runs holodeck two. Not administrator access, it's just writing data to any unused open optical storage node. What the hell's? It can read forward sensor array and aft sensor array and it's set into continuous failover clustering." He looked up to her, eyebrows furrowed, "Why would anyone be recorded the senors arrays like that and then just leave them open? Thousands, now thousands of hours of data that filled the lab storage nodes and had to be moved the holographic storage nodes?"
Even for the unconventional Sandoval this seemed to be streching the envelope for how data collection should be don. Sofie leaned in over his shoulder - pretending she knew what most of the stuff on the screen really meant - and furrowed her brow. "That can't just be some novel way of data collection - you wouldn't want to just store information from the sensors like that, we already just filter out anything interesting from the rest." Though as the last few months could attest to interesting might be too kind a word. She leaned back and thought for moment "Nobody needs that much data - maybe someone just made a mistake when setting up the sensor diagnostics." The more she thought about it the more it seemed like the sort of mistake she could very easily have made.
"Well, then let's get rid of it and see who squawks about it." He entered a few commands and then, satisfied that the problem was finally resolved, he logged off the interface and closed the terminal. "There we go. Easy enough. I'll bet that it was an automated process you know? Someone wrote a script to take a sensor sweep at defined intervals, got distracted or just forgot about it. Anyway. Done." He said as they left for the multi-purpose lab.
Once back at the lab, he attempted to log in to the workstation and after a moment, a login screen greeted him. "So far so good. Here goes nothing." He typed in his credentials and it worked! He was in and the system came online.
"=A= Accessing Library Computer Data. This computer terminal provides full access to the LCARS computer network. It can be operated both by voice and keypad commands. =A="
Matt said, "I never thought I'd be happy to hear that intro again."
Sofie, seeing the console responding as it should do and feeling somewhat relieved let out a sigh and leaned against the wall of the lab. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined a future in which she was not running round a tiny starship under a possibly criminal captain fixing other people's mistakes and system incongruities all the while feeling like she was doing nothing of any real value to anyone. "Looks like you fixed it eh?" she chirped happily. Imagining that world was a fine idea, unfortunately all she could picture were all the things she didn't like about this one.
"Meh. I don't know about that. I did delete the data though. I'm good at that" he smiled playfully and logged off. "I need a drink. Join me at the bar?"
Sofie sighed and gestured over to another console. "I'm still meant to be working here for at least the next hour. I'll see you when I'm done though." She gave him a cheeky grin "Hopefully nothing else will break before then."
[OFF]
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LTJG. Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
Ensign Sofie Ullswater
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
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