RE: Llankor Mhy and the Cage

From: bernuetz.oliver_at_...
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 10:02:24 -0400


Hi Pete,  

Nice story, do you have a home for it on the web? If not I'll gladly add it to my Mything Links site.  

Oliver

-----Original Message-----
From: Pete McAveney [mailto:mcaveney_at_...] Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2002 5:04 PM
To: HeroWars_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: Llankor Mhy and the Cage

The Mostali side of the story:

Maintenance Log for Unit 118NK0RMH, a class Y processing node

This node performs preventive maintenance upon the Machine by absorbing leaks
of essence class Y. It then classifies, separates, and recycles those leaks,
restoring them to their proper places in the Machine. It has been malfunctioning.
The scavenging controller has allowed the unit too much latitude, resulting in inappropriate absorption of raw materials not designated for recycling.

Manufacturing defects in the node are not possible; it is a first generation component, designed and assembled by Mostal. A defect in its programming must
have been introduced through sabotage by an external agent. The defect is most
likely viral in nature, creating further defects in programming, and is probably
associated with the disorder rune. Defects of this nature have been classified
under the moniker "Curiosity." The defect caused the intake of contaminated materials, which altered its programming to seek out more contaminated materials.
The alterations include the original defect itself.

Repair on the unit was attempted. First a team of Gold and Silver mostali located
the defective unit and specified the diagnostic procedure. This was repeated
several times due to the ambulatory nature of the processor. That nature and
its wide scope of operations necessitated the use of a special tool for the containment and isolation phase of the repair effort. A Complete Altitude-and-Girth
Encincture (CAGE) was carefully placed around the node by the supporting B38 squad prior to the diagnostic effort. Unfortunately this tool suffered a failure
due to manufacturing defect as detailed below.

Elemental forces associated with disorder acted in resistance to the diagnostic
effort and most of the unit was assigned to neutralization and cleanup. Unfortunately
presence of these forces triggered another change in the unit's programming. It provided a set of new instructions to squad B38. Since the unit's instructions
did not include a handler for the type of interrupt provided by the defective
unit, the squad experienced an error condition and halted to await diagnosis and repair. This halt affected the latch of the CAGE unit, resulting in a breach
of containment. All progress towards the repair was lost.

The viral nature of the defect creates further obstacles to repair. Any and all units in contact with the defective node may have been contaminated by "Curiosity"
and must be retrained at a minimum. Optimal repair requires removal and recycling
of the affected components. Fortunately squad B38 suffered severe disorder at the hands of the elemental forces leading to their disassembly. Great gains
in efficiency have thus been realized by proceeding directly to the recycling
phase! However complete repair requires removal and recycling of the following
additional components:

  1. The gold and silver mostali involved in specification and planning, including the unit composing this review.
  2. All tools, programming, instructions, and other written material related to the repair, including this document.

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