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%title Ioan Bălan --- 2305 :writing:novel:chapter:fiction:scifi:post-self:qoheleth:
The first message was not long in coming, arriving about an hour after Ioan#c1494bf arrived home. At least it wasn't high priority; ey had the choice to accept then or experience later. Half duplex, though. Would be an actual conversation.
Ey sighed, closed eir eyes, accepted. The things ey did for work.
"Hi Ioan," came Dear's voice. It was still seated on the couch. "Long time no see, hmm?"
Ioan nodded, subvocalized, "Yeah, took you ages. Have something for me?"
"Maybe. We've got a file from someone down-tree. Or, well, hmm." It appeared to think for a moment before continuing, "Someone down-tree from me found a file, and she thinks it might be a file from the clade, maybe one of the original ten."
Ioan waited until the fox was done before responding, "Alright, send it over."
The file arrived promptly. Eir shoulders sagged. It began with -----BEGIN AES BLOCK----- followed by thousands of apparently random letters, numbers, and punctuation.
"What's an AES block?"
"An old encryption algorithm. And I mean old." Dear looked a little embarrassed. "We like old things. That's why she figured it's probably from one of us."
"You don't sound convinced, yourself."
"I'm not. You must understand that this isn't something any of the clade wants known. It's just a name, yes, but it is important to us in a way that is hard to overstate." Dear sighed. "Much of the clade is of the opinion that, if we could simply wipe the Name from our minds, we would."
"You're right in that I probably can't understand the importance here." Ioan frowned. "I'm trying to square your use of the poet's work in your very names with your desire to forget the Name itself."
"Names bear power."
"A memorial, then?" Ey hastened to add, "Sorry. It's probably not my place to understand. We can drop it for now."
"Yes. A memorial." The fox's shoulders slumped. "Let's come back to it later. I don't want to get too distracted now. Still, we will have to speak more on this soon. It would be good for you to have a more complete picture."
Ioan nodded. "So do you want me--"
"You don't need to worry about the file itself. That's why I didn't just forward it to you automatically." Dear paused, then added, "Though I probably should have. Amanuenses form an Umwelt, so this is part of yours, now. We'll talk about it at the end. Something to keep in mind, I guess. When we find the key, we'll let you know and send over the contents."
"Good. I gave AES a check, and you're right, that's ridiculously old. Can't you just crack it?"
"We could. Some of us probably already have. I want the key, though. It's probably a word or something, and may prove interesting in its own right."
"Interesting?" Ioan asked.
"Interesting in that the act of finding the key may turn up further clues."
"Ah. Good point. I'll do some digging on old cryptography, too, and see what all's out there. Keep in touch, yeah?"
"Good fucking luck. Cryptonerds were --- are --- very wordy. There's going to be a boatload to sort through."
Ey grinned, "I'll fork and research, then."
"Good plan. Gonna get back to the hunt, and hey, Ioan?" The fox gave an earnest smile. "Thanks. Even if I'm just running ideas past you, it's good to put in words."
"Of course, Dear." Ioan waved. Ey always felt silly interacting with sensorium messages. Would #tracker think em crazy? "Thanks for the project."
Dear bowed, signed off.
#tracker was, indeed, giving #c1494bf a bemused grin.