Randomly Accessing Memories

[all_wound_up]

Who: Nano Shinonome and Atsuro Kihara
Where: A computer lab in Monoceros Community College
When: May 28, evening
Summary: Even after her recovery, Nano's still got a memory that doesn't belong, and she's enlisting some help from someone she trusts.
Warnings: Action brackets because yolo

[Despite how deeply embarrassed and ashamed Nano is of how she treated Atsuro during the events of the past week, there's something she needs his help with.  While it's true that there are several other people she could have asked - Latooni and Ruri come to mind - she's decided that she really does owe him an apology, and this is just as good an opportunity as any.  So she's asked if she can meet him privately after hours at his job at the community college, and that she'd explain when she got there.  The whole invitation was rather hasty and awkward, with no small amount of blushing and fidgeting from her end before abruptly ending the call.

So late that evening - after dinner but before sunset - Nano shows up in the computer lab, knocking somewhat timidly on the door.]

...Hello?  Atsuro-san?

Comments

[otakuro]

I copied the files we were looking at directly into my own computer already. It might be dangerous to make alterations to these programs while they're... inside you, so I thought I had better just work on a copy.

[Here comes the rocket fist directed at his hard drive.]

If we didn't get the right files, I can hook you back up and grab some more.

[all_wound_up]

O-oh... all right.

[She might be considering it. But if she can screen them herself, it might still be okay.]

So, um. I can just look at these and tell you which one is the right one when I find it?

[...]

...And delete the others?

[otakuro]

Right! But, er... Make sure you don't delete anything... important.

[He is leaving you alone with his data Nano this is the highest level of trust Atsuro has to offer.]

You know what? We can just connect my laptop to this external monitor over here and access the files that way. We don't even have to paste it into a different computer again.

Go ahead; I'll just be... over here.

[With his binoculars watching you like a hawk.]

[all_wound_up]

Okay... I'll let you know when I find it.

[Nano nods. She's worked with computers a little bit for school, and between that and having watched Atsuro just now, she knows enough about the basic functions to avoid making any catastrophic errors. His data will not follow the same fate as the laptop's poor monitor.

She reaches out and turns the sound on the monitor's speakers all the way down before she starts playing the videos, just in case. And as she views each one, her face cycles through various levels of surprise and embarrassment as she hastily clicks each wrong one away.

But finally after a while...]

Oh, oh! Atsuro-san! I found it!

[Don't mind her as she just block-deletes everything in the folder other than that one file while he's on his way over.]

[otakuro]

[Atsuro is by her side again much faster than he should have if he were actually idly surfing the web as he had been pretending to be doing.]

You got it?! That was fast...! So our strategy worked...

[Three cheers for ingenuity is what he would be saying if he didn't keep glancing back at his poor mangled computer alas]

Can I see what it looks like?

[all_wound_up]

[The hard part was really cracking all the deep encryption and locating the correct folder in the first place. Once that part was over with, it was really just a matter of slogging through everything.]

Yes, hold on, let me play the video.

[Switching back to the other window, Nano plays this memory for Atsuro's viewing pleasure. It's unfortunately not very long and not very informative, but there it is all the same.]

That's all there is.

[otakuro]

Hm...

[Atsuro will put his hand on the mouse and replay the video a few times as he scans it for details.]

So let's sum up what we know about this video.

The strings -- our 'strings' -- were tangled. During this time, our memories began to be incorporated by our partners during the event - they were all pairs. What this means is that the strings aren't just a tether back to our worlds like they told us at the beginning. The strings actually encode data that comprise, at the very least, our memories, if not our entire beings. Data that can be manipulated by anyone who can access the strings.

[This is actually rather frightening to think about.]

It could be that this data is constantly being transmitted between our existences here and our home worlds - so we don't just create a vacuum when we vanish from our worlds and appear here. Without the strings, we probably wouldn't be able to exist in this world at all.

This extra memory doesn't come from the person you swapped with. It could have happened by accident - it could just be that when the strings were being tangled, you brushed briefly against one other person's string as well. So that's one possibility. But since only Visitors have strings, it would have to belong to one of us. In this case, the encryption could just be because it was a secret for the person this belonged to and it stayed in place when it passed over to you.

The other possibility is that someone deliberately planted a memory inside of you by manipulating the strings. If that's true, I'm not so sure they wanted it hidden... If they wanted to hide it for the sake of hiding it, you shouldn't have caught on so quickly.

Look here - you're working in a group. We don't understand the meaning of what you're supposed to be drawing, but it must be important. Whatever it is, you're doing it in secrecy, and you don't want to be caught.

[Atsuro pauses for a moment. He has seen a dim light at the end of his rambling, but he doesn't want to speak what he thinks yet for fear of upsetting Nano...]

What do you think?

[all_wound_up]

But most people can't just hook themselves up to a computer like we did here to look at their memories... if they put this one in me on purpose, doesn't that mean I got hacked? I don't want to believe that's what happened, because then they could do it again anytime they wanted to...

[Nano frowns and hugs herself again, shivering at the sheer thought of something like that. Someone she doesn't know having access to her thoughts and memories at all times is almost inconceivably terrifying to her.]

A-and if they put it there on purpose, wouldn't that mean they wanted it to be easy to remember? So there would be no reason to protect it with all of those passwords and things. I... I think it was an accident.

[By 'think' she means 'hope.' She's also hoping Atsuro will concur.]

[otakuro]

...I think it's more likely, too.

[And he did.]

But Nano... I don't think we can't ignore the other possibility, either. If that's so...

[Was it fair to say this to her? She was a robot, sure, but... she was still only a young girl. The events in Hinoto-Ri were difficult to get through, but they were difficult on a different scale. If what he was thinking was correct... the events that might transpire would require a type of fortitude on a different scale altogether. Atsuro averts his gaze for a few moments before meeting Nano's eyes again.]

I think it's probably accidental.

But if it's not, then they took an incriminating memory, encrypted so it looked like it was meant to be a secret, and planted it into the only person - one of the only people in this town whose memories can actually be extracted.

And they've already been trying to set us against the people here...

[all_wound_up]

Atsuro-san!

[All of the color drains from Nano's face at that. She'd managed to put together the possibility of having been hacked by herself, but the idea that someone was trying to set her up for a fall... it was too scary to even contemplate.]

I-if that's what happened, it's too dangerous for me to keep this memory, isn't it? What if the government finds out? What if they think I'm helping the Anoli?

[otakuro]

T-That's just the worst case...! The absolute worst case. I don't think it's really true. We don't know how important this graffiti is - if it's important at all - we don't know that this wasn't some bizarre accident, we don't know that they can even do something like this purposefully. I don't have any idea how anyone could even begin to hack you through your String...

But the Anoli are dangerous, and it's better to be prepared. Deleting it won't work - computers never fully erase data; they just indicate that there's available space that can be overwritten. Any hacker could recover it if they knew what they were looking for. And reformatting you is definitely not an option.

[Atsuro pauses for a moment to think.]

...The easiest thing would probably be to tell someone right now. If you trust them enough. Otherwise... there are a few other ways I can think of to protect you.

[all_wound_up]

Well... I just told you. And I trust you, Atsuro-san.

[Unless he meant someone else. There are other people she trusts in town, after all.]

What other ways are there to protect me?

[otakuro]

Oh, I... I meant more the government or the police or something.

[Honestly he didn't even really trust them right now.]

The other thing I was thinking... is to just play this video clip to everyone. Then it wouldn't be surprising at all that you'd have traces of it inside of you - you'd have seen it.

[all_wound_up]

[Nano still trusts them, but she was really thinking smaller than that.]

To everyone? You mean over the network?

[otakuro]

Right. I could try to conceal the COMP it was being transmitted from - I know we have an 'anonymous' option, but who knows how secure that is?

...If this image is something important, I'm sure we could end up using this to our advantage somehow, too.

[all_wound_up]

But what if the person it belongs to sees it too?

[otakuro]

Then they'll know we're onto them and not to pull a stunt like this again.

...Oh -- but you're right. That would still put you in danger...

[Atsuro lapses back into thought.]

[all_wound_up]

Is it better just to keep it a secret? Or if you keep a copy of it, do you think maybe you could tell where it came from?

[otakuro]

Yeah. I'm just afraid if we keep it a secret and it does turn out to be important, it would look bad for us...

[For Nano really.]

...I'll definitely keep a copy. But yeah. Let's try and see where it came from.

[all_wound_up]

Do you need to reconnect to me to do that?

[Nano eyes the USB cable, wondering.]

[otakuro]

[Atsuro has to consider this for a moment or two.]

I think so. It shouldn't be hard to find the original file now that we know what it's called.

[He glances at the folder title: 2a2f00b44760a8b7534430320002544d.]

...I'm not really sure how to approach this, to be honest. I mean... it's not like it's coming from a machine...

[all_wound_up]

[Nano nods, plugging the cable back in and propping her foot back up on the chair. She'd left her toe drive on the table during all of the earlier confusion just in case.]

Whenever you're ready, then.

[Now he knows where he's looking and what he's looking for, so she's not really worried about anything awkward coming up on the screen anymore.]

I believe in you, Atsuro-san. I know you'll be able to find something.

[otakuro]

Eheh... Well, here's hoping.

[Atsuro hooks the other end back into his smashed laptop and glances up at the larger display. Once again, the endless stream of files pops up into view...

It's as simple as typing in the name of the folder so it would automatically jump into view. Atsuro opens it up directly.]

Let's see what we can get out of this.

...Hey, Nano? Can I ask you something? Who did you end up swapping with?

[all_wound_up]

Hm?

[Nano hesitates for a moment, wondering if she should say, but ends up deciding that it's fine as long as she doesn't reveal any of the other party's secrets.]

It was with Xion.

[otakuro]

...It sounds like she has her job cut out for her.

[He doesn't actually know this person, but... with how panicked Nano had been acting that night, he felt a vague pang of sympathy for her, regardless.]

Ah, well... It's probably none of my business. Here.

[Atsuro pulls up the file again and the raw bits of data he had been able to collect into the movie clip. He frowns slightly as he examines them.]

...It looks like altering the data is under another level of encryption, even beyond just accessing it. This looks a little tougher...

[He'll glance at the clock behind them and push his chair away from the computer.]

It's getting pretty late. What do you say I work on this for now and get back to you later? ...And we can think about the... other stuff in the meantime, too.