Tunnel Rat Chapter 374 (Patreon)

More fun with the Alphabet. I have to drink so much coffee to do their chapters.
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At the end of Ralph's hour, he packaged up a series of files containing all the data on a group of abused orphans and inserted them into Wally's memory next to a similar set of files he'd created for Milo. As usual, Ralph included a picture of himself on a beach, relaxing in the sun. Wally actually hesitated a nano-second before sectioning off part of himself and assigning that part of him the job of opening the files and dealing with whatever problems Ralph and Milo had created for him.

Sydney came running and pounded on the door to the isolated room. Steven and Samantha opened the door. They'd expected this and were already leaving.

"Wally is..."

"Upset and needs to see us. On the way. Get a fresh pot and join us, this should be good."

Wally was looking grumpy when they came in. "You let Ralph loose again."

Samantha grinned at him, unapologetically, "Sure did. And didn't have a choice. Milo and his family broke past security and asked to talk to him. And you saw how they were dressed. A very unsubtle warning about their current mindset. Do you want the Secret Society of Ninjas to have a contest to see who can break past your security measures?"

Wally brightened up, "Actually, that is a very good idea. I was impressed with the efforts one of them made to break into Claw Master. They love challenges. I'll have to issue them a challenge to get past my first level of security. I'm sure there are flaws they can help me fix."

"They have a lot they'll be working on, maybe make it an event with parameters? Break Into Wally Day? But are we creating a better group of hackers we'll have to deal with later?"

Wally shook his head, "I don't think so. They have no trouble breaking into any corporation except Technodyne, Symtech, or Claw Master. I only know about the two corporations because of them lodging complaints about the constant attacks they have to fend off. Everyone assumes it's another corporation, half-correct since the people breaking in own Rhebus, but they never launch any cyber attacks from there. The other corporations don't even know they've been hacked."

A pie chart appeared on the wall behind him. "I'm now devoting over 2% of my processing power to think about Milo and his family. The other 98% isn't allowed to even acknowledge they exist because of your and Ralph's ingenious machinations."

Sidney's mind was whirling at the thought of six Milos and knew she wasn't grasping the whole picture, but didn't think things were that bad. "Aren't his brothers and sister already doing good things? Rhebus does more disaster relief than more counties and their think tanks solve a lot of problems. At least we know why now. And Milo has been getting tamer. No fights with cyborgs or breaking into banks."

Steven thought he saw the problem. "Cross-pollination?"

"Exactly, Steven. Sidney, you are correct in your observations, but now things will change. Milo himself is a challenge to his siblings. They'll want to know what he's done and what he is planning. He has a different background from the rest of the group. Our lost boy is an Engineer, focused on machinery and fixing a habitat. The other ninjas will try to ramp up their skills to compete with him, and Milo suddenly has the resources of the best Biotech company in the world. Milo hasn't had the resources yet to do everything he wants. He's limited by the habitat. Now he can call upon Rhebus for computer power, labs, and who knows what else. And let's not forget about Belinda Seimovich. It seems likely that she will support Milo and by extension his family. I am hoping that they concentrate on the habitat that Genesis shares with them. The synergies we share could help a vast number of people."

Samantha brought up their new project. "I'm hoping their new project works and they can show how to treat brain injuries with time in a VR environment. It's an amazing application."

None of the humans in the room were prepared for Wally to pause for a few seconds before saying, "Yes, I will be watching that progress as much as I can. Its ramifications are far-reaching and involve theories about the over-mind concept. More for 2% of me to think about.

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Nina was the first to speak, "That was far easier than I ever expected. And it answers the question of what it would take to counter an AI like Wally."

Zander agreed, "Sure does. You just need to have access to his evil twin brother. Hmm, no, Wally has to be evil, Ralph is too happy."

Bork pondered that, "There is a flaw in your logic. You're equating happy with good. You'll need more proof than that."

"Well, Ralph only lives for an hour, and the Good Die Young, therefore Ralph is good, and Wally evil."

"And we can be neutral because we just cut a deal with both sides?"

Everyone was ok with that and for now, the Secret Society of Ninjas was defined as neutral. Such distinction might become pertinent in a game down the line or a late-night argument while playing games. But they were all happy to have some things out of the way, and the worry of Wally finding out their identities was now taken care of. They were exposed more but also protected more. Wally was now bound by the restrictions of not exposing their identities. There would be lots of discussion about the legalities and repercussions of their meeting with Ralph, but for now, they could move on to more important questions.

"So, when do we meet Mom and Dad? They obviously don't live here so you must have some part of Section E turned into a larger base of operations, right?"

Milo knew that if he answered that question, they'd be here talking for another day as he explained months of background. There was an easier way. "This is where I lived up until a few months ago. It's still an important part of my system and all my surveillance cameras, the Roomba security, drones, and clog-eaters are run from here."

Bork was tapping away on a keyboard, trying to break into Milo's system and becoming frustrated. "Speaking of your system, you wouldn't mind divulging the password, would you?"

Milo shrugged, "I don't see why not, I'm already in yours. To access all my security in Section E, depress the B, R, I, and E keys all at once on the keyboard with the two chips in it. Then type HOLLOW on the keyboard with the Mickey Mouse sticker on the back."

Bork turned and stared at him in awe, "Only you could get here, and you had a password that difficult? I need to up my game. I was foolishly restricting my thinking process to just one keyboard. Oh, this makes so much sense now. Using the little heli-drones to drop off passive cameras kept me from detecting any signals."

Nina turned to Milo, "We need to get going, he's about to start redesigning our entire security system."

Bork was indeed becoming focused on that problem, "It needs it! Badly! We were invaded by the Dreaded Pink Ninja! Upgrades must be completed before they strike again!"

Milo looked around, so glad he'd found a way to reach out to his family. But Nina was right, "Bork, you are lacking in very important details. The Dreaded Pink Ninja has secrets to reveal. Secrets of the type that realign your thinking about new security systems."

Bork looked up. "I do like secrets. But I'm assuming this is a ruse to get me to come to dinner, and when the secrets fail to impress you'll bribe me with a tasty dessert or video gaming to make me forget your betrayal."

Algernon nodded wisely and spoke with all seriousness, "It is well established that when dealing with the Dreaded Pink Ninja, betrayal is inevitable."

"But not until after dinner."
"And desert!"
"And videogames."

Milo shrugged, "I will supply one or the other or both and guarantee at least partial satisfaction in one form or another."

Onyx pulled up his hood, "That's the best offer we are going to get from Pinky. Lead us to your secret supervillain lair and we will judge your secrets."

"How do you know I have a secret supervillain lair."

"Oh, we don't. It's probably a few hidden rooms in the basement of the Hab. We won't hold it against you. You didn't have the time to set things up properly when you had to hide a lot of people. But we will be happy to you out, and we have a lot of room at Rhebus if you want to move everyone over to us."

Milo kept his face straight. "I'll consider it. Now, hoods up, it gets dusty in some of these tunnels. I'm taking you a way I don't usually go."

Bork asked, "And why is that?"

"My normal route goes to one of the big drops. I usually climb up with walls of the shaft with my claws. It's a hundred feet to the top and a drop of over a hundred stories. We can go that way if you want to try it."

"No, no. Dusty is fine! I think we all agree with that." Five ninjas nodded affirmative and followed Milo as he took them through an unused section of medium ductwork, up three ladders, and finally across part of Section E to finally emerge from the ceiling in an empty suite of offices near the top of the Habitat. As they dropped to the floor, the other ninjas became aware of four Roombas hidden in the furniture. They were currently scanning this batch of intruders to confirm their identities. Each of the security robots was armed with a heavy laser, and one larger Roomba had a mean-looking automatic weapon that sent shivers down their spines.

Milo waved to them, "Hi guys. We're heading down. This is Bork, Onyx, Algernon, Zander, and Nina. You have their files and data already." He turned to his family. Take off your hoods and helmets, we're good here, and it will let my guys get a good look at you. Trust me, you want to keep them on your side. They are lean, mean, fighting machines."

All of them did so. Nina went over and looked at each one. "They are so handsome. I love the upgraded guns." She turned to the rest of the ninja, "How come we don't have Roomba like this at Rhebus? Ours just pick up dust. We need to upgrade." She patted the heavily armed Lemi on his chassis. Lemi and his friends booped in appreciation.

Zander snapped his fingers, "They have independent AI of some sort. She's making friends."

Onyx rolled his eyes, "Which is smart. I want to be on the side of the security robot with a mini-gun, too."

Milo touched three spots on a blank wall, and it slid back, showing the heavily armored metal door of an elevator. "Ready to go down."

The ninjas looked at each other, they just come up, traveling through the tunnels, and now Milo wanted to use a strange elevator. Each of them was intrigued. This was a new variable. So was the material of the doors.

Zander was staring at it, and rapped his knuckles on it, producing little send from the dense metal. "Milo?"

"Hush. We're late for dinner. Mama is waiting for us." The alphabet entered the elevator and it dropped down the shaft at high speed as Milo hit the 'Express' button. He was hungry.