August 2009

From Intimation

A table of links to events from other months is found at the bottom of this page.

Aug. 3 to 4, 2009

Although he is happy have found many of the skulls for the “task” we started July 31, Eridanos nudges us to look into what the NAVPATH on the “cornfield” page is supposed to do.

Twitter interaction:

(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 You're not going to believe this...we've rescued 14 already! We are trying to find out if there are more.
@dreamerblueon @7urducken Up past 14 already? Great work! Do we know how many more there are? 2:48 AM Aug 3rd from web
Sorry, I've been extremely busy the last few days. How's the progress coming with finding Essy? 2:48 AM Aug 3rd from web
I managed to find some of the skulls myself, but you are all far too quick for me! What about that 'navpath' entry? Any use for it yet? 12:49 PM Aug 3rd from web
(from @kilination) @eridanos01 That's quite alright. We found most of the children (we think). We also figured out what the sequence in the URL means.
@eridanos01 SAI-MEM = Sacagawea Artificial Intelligence Memory
@eridanos01 The NavPath page was only there to show us the first two skulls, and point us in the direction of the third skull.
(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 We've found 15 kids now, actually. We suspect there may be a total of 20. We hope finding these kids will help lead us to Essy.
@eridanos01 If you click the button by the Navpath box, a tiny purple rectangle appears somewhere on the page...clicking it = msg from Essy
@kilination But then what does the navpath entry do? @dreamerblueon I've seen that little breadcrumb appear before entering a navpath though 7:35 PM Aug 3rd from web
(from @kilination) @eridanos01 The NavPath page was there for the first two skulls and a hint for the third. If there is a password, it will reveal later.
(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 yes, we noticed breadcrumb w/o navpath, too. right now krystyn is out doing a GPS mission & found a 16th skull!
@eridanos01 We believe S5 wants the navpath from its current location to the breach in the wall, as it mentions stonewall penetration
@eridanos01 ...trick is, we first have to find out where S5 is starting from, if this is the case.
@dreamerblueon Hmm. Well, from my analysis, the navpaths on the network are routes from one node to another. Here, (cont) 3:06 AM Aug 4th from web
@dreamerblueon If I recall correctly, aren't we digging _into_ the AI now? I think the subroutines need a safe navpath to move forward. 3:09 AM Aug 4th from web
(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 Ah, I see...so the Stonewall & the nodes we've used to date aren't _in_ the AI, so they're not the nodes we need!
@dreamerblueon That appears to be the case, the way I understand it. The question is, what is the necessary navpath? There must be a way. 11:02 AM Aug 4th from web

krystyn completes one of the modified GPS missions on Aug. 3.

The Intimation trailhead thread on unFiction is moved from News & Rumors to Chaotic Fiction, granting us our own subforum.

Aug. 5, 2009

Eridanos tweets:

I'm going to review the information we currently have. We must be missing something if she really wants us to save her. 8:54 AM Aug 5th from web

He then posts a new blog entry: http://eridanos01.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/2009-08-05/#more-108
He spends most of the post summarizing where we’re at now, including repeating the Braille message we’d recently discovered as part of our arduous task. He also mentions that he is once again paranoid that he is being watched, followed, etc., and worries for the safety of his family; he hopes his fears are baseless.

As he sums up what we already know, he ends up clarifying some things for us:

“we’re now at the point where the AI has become so corrupt, so affected by … whatever is happening to it, that it appears it’s — she’s retreated into herself. The different parts of her, the personalities that were fractured, have fought for control, fought for survival. The child, who began by telling the story of Dreaming Eyes, who we now know was herself all along, has been essentially kidnapped by something much more violent, darker, afraid even? In that brief instant, Sys, the AI’s emergency system layer, was swallowed up as well.” In other words, the AI has not broken out to run loose around the world; the tentacle abducted Sys, then retreated deep into the AI itself.
“Now the question is: Where do we go from here? The page contains a request from the subroutines, from S5, for a navigation path. This is new ground here, unmapped. Considering it appears we were left ‘breadcrumbs’ by Dreaming Eyes, the only tip we have is to follow her clues. We’ve found the skulls, but how does that help us navigate?” This reinforces the idea from the previous twitter interaction that we cannot use the two-letter path names from the Stonewall maze to create the new NAVPATH, because we are now going to travel beyond the maze, not within it.

Aug. 6, 2009

Eridanos is excited to hear of progress getting the GPS missions done, and presses us to get them completed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, our ability to communicate with him is hampered by the DDOS attack that takes down Twitter for much of the day.

(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 we are halfway through the next navpath (found the Viola skull), but as I said, we must wait on a GPS mission. Hope UR well!
@dreamerblueon Yes! That is excellent! So there are four updated GPS missions? Are the rest being tended to as we speak?
@dreamerblueon If all four are done as soon as possible, then we won't have to wait when we need the next one.
(from @dreamerblueon) @eridanos01 @Nyst and @RobMagus are about to run a couple missions (St. Louis & Vancouver), yes!
@eridanos01 We still have to find someone to run the New York mission...someone ran it before it got modified, in May, but he has been MIA
@eridanos01 sorry, not @Nyst...I'll look up the actual Twitter account
@eridanos01 @xBLiTZxKRiEGx (a.k.a. Nyst) is doing the St. Louis mission today
Digging deep into a complex, crazy AI subconscious. I wonder how deep that rabbit hole goes.
(from @7urducken) @eridanos01 WE HAVE FIGURED THE NAVPATH FOR CORNFIELD 1 AND 2
@7urducken Cornfield, eh? Fitting, I guess. Cornfields are spooky places at night, what with crop circles and all that.
Damn, Twitter, why do you have to be so difficult? If we lose Essy because of you, well then :@(

Aug. 7, 2009

Eridanos asks us for a status update, and also talks to us a little bit about our fears for the S* subroutines (which we believed were taking damage due to the percentages listed with them decreasing more and more as we proceeded into the AI):

So how far are we now? I've managed to get in to the third safe zone, but the Luna skull isn't unlocked yet.
How are those other GPS mission locations coming? New York, St. Louis, and Vancouver, yes?
I wonder sometimes how Essy's doing, what's going through her mind right now. It's like she's regressed, rolled up into a tight little ball.
She could escape right now through that hole. But she's not. She's being held captive by herself, or something, yet wants to be rescued.
Complex artificial psychology! I wonder how the rest of the inner-Stonewall space would be visualized, where the subroutines won't go.
Maybe I don't want to know. At least it looks so far like Pandora's doing her job.
(from @7urducken) @eridanos01 We have @xBLiTZxKRiEGx (nyst) grabbing luna later today in St Louis, then hopefully we'll have the 4th pages skulls alreadyfound
@7urducken Excellent!
(from @ancalime) @eridanos01 Think there's any way to restore process integrity for the S* tentacles? At this rate we're not going to get past 9 pages...
@ancalime I really don't know. At this point, it looks like they're our only way to even have a chance at rescuing Essy.
@ancalime I don't think they're getting damaged, I just don't think they're advanced enough, and can only go so deep before stopping.
(from @ancalime) @eridanos01 I follow, it's just that we've been losing 60 percent pts. per skull-pair on avg and that won't last long enough for 13 pairs.
@eridanos01 Here's hoping the remaining processes are hardy enough to last, I suppose...
So do I, @ancalime, so do I.

Aug. 9 to 10, 2009

Eridanos tries to urge people to do the Central Park, New York mission:

@shaqattack2037 How's that GPS mission coming along?
@halo422mk I hear you're the one to talk to about the New York GPS Mission? How is that rescue coming along?

Aug. 11, 2009

Eridanos tweets:

I can't believe how far I've come. Even joining Twitter for this. I really hope we save Essy.
My son wants to meet her. How strange is that. To meet a supposed AI from the future.

Aug. 13, 2009

Eridanos gets an idea: why don't we create pignose artwork and videos to send to Essy to cheer her up, since she has an affinity for that emote? See Creating pignose art for information about this little project.

Aug. 14, 2009

Eridanos creates a Flickr account for us to upload our pignose artwork (see Creating pignose art), and inquires again about whether any of us are heading out to do the Central Park, New York revised GPS mission (see Retrieving Skulls and Navigating into the AI for info about the revised GPS missions).

Eridanos then suggests that we put the URLs of our creations into the NAVPATH box on the "cornfield" page we're stuck at. Eventually, this leads Essy to hide pignose graffiti images on that page, reading "SAVE ME", "HELP", AND "NOAH". Tentacle activity is noted by the subroutines, and we eventually realize that ALL the remaining GPS missions have been updated, allowing Noah's skull to be found through a GPS mission completion in ANY of those cities.

Aug. 15, 2009

Much is accomplished in the Retrieving Skulls and Navigating into the AI task as dreamerblue runs the Toronto GPS mission and the navpaths for several more cornfields are found.

After successfully navigating the remaining cornfields, a page is reached with a sitting/sleeping picture of Essy, a NAVPATH-style input box, and the question, "WHO... WHO AM I?" This leads to the puzzle Finding Essy's name.