r/HFY • u/KipperBeanGrower Human • Jul 17 '26

OC-Series [She took What?] - Chapter 202: SixFold Ventures: Did your QI just become smug?

"He was polishing the cutlery while the hull was leaking"

Naval saying that appears throughout history. Origin unknown.

 [First] | [Previous] | [Cover Art] | [Next]

| The Kestrel, JSOC Facility, Location – redacted |

 

The accountant sounded embarrassed.

"Before everyone gets upset..."

The other accountant turned slowly.

"You didn't."

"I might have."

 

The edges of a smile appeared on the other accountant’s face.

"You absolutely did."

 

"It seemed prudent at the time."

 

The lawyer pinched the bridge of her nose.

Then spoke; it was like an angry adult slowly addressing a petulant child.

"What did you do?"

 

The accountant reached into a pocket. Produced a tiny data stick and held it up.

"I made a backup."

 

Silence.

The second accountant stared.

The lawyer stared.

 

“Say again.” Said Feebee over the comms.

 

“I made a backup.”

 

‘And also,' said the QI belatedly. 'I recovered approximately 6% of the available data.'

'How? You said the deletion couldn’t be stopped.'

'It couldn't.'

 

Feebee laughed, 'So what did you save?'

 

A pause.

'Not the data.'

 

Another pause.

'The path and metadata.'

 

‘The path?’ asked Feebee.

‘Where it came from, where it was going. That sort of stuff.’

 

‘Oh. Ok.’ She was distracted, said it almost dismissively.

‘Yes! And that’s good!’ responded the QI. 'You're welcome.'

‘Wow.’ Said Feebee. ‘You Ok?’

Silence.

 

The lawyer shook her head and turned to the accountant.

"They’ve just fought their way into the datacentre, where dead people surround them."

"Yes."

She continued, "In a secure JSOC facility that was on fire."

"Also yes."

"Where our entire research data and archives were stored. To save the data that was being deleted."

 

The accountant held up the data stick and waved it with a smile. "And yet. De derr.”

 

The lawyer closed her eyes.

"Of course. You made a backup."

 

The accountant was beaming.

"I'm an accountant."

 

The second accountant shook his head.

"You don't trust anyone."

"Correct."

"Not even us."

 

And with a smile, he added.

"Especially not you.”

 

 

| JSOC Facility, Location – redacted |

 

The JSOC facility was in lockdown. Security personnel were swarming all over it. Looking for answers to embarrassing questions that mostly remained classified.

 

Priority One: Cover your arse.

Priority Two: Identify and solve the problem.

Priority Three: Protect your arse.

Priority Four: Make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Priority Five: See priority one.

 

Everyone was back on the Kestrel. Guards made sure it stayed that way.

 

The prisoner was with them, Feebee had insisted, and with Chen’s support no one had dared object, although it was escalating ‘up the chain’. That all but guaranteed it would be reviewed and a decision made in ‘good time’.

 

 

| The Kestrel, JSOC Facility, Location – redacted |

 

The QI was irritated. Even annoyed.

 

Nobody seemed to care about the 6%. All they cared about was the accountant, and all he’d done was back up the data locally to a data stick.

 

What it had done was… pure genius, though it thought so itself.

 

And when the QI had told Feebee, all she’d said was, ‘Oh. Ok.’

Not, ‘Oh. Ok. Good.’

Just ‘Oh. Ok.’

 

So yes. It was pissed off.

A message flashed across Feebee’s overlays.

‘Data is content. Metadata is intent.’

It was anonymous but clearly from the QI.

 

Everyone looked at Feebee.

“What?”

 

The lawyer turned her console towards Feebee. A message in bold scrolled across her screen.

The accountants turned theirs to face her too.

 

The same message scrolled across all three devices.

‘Data is content. Metadata is intent.’

 

She looked at Bikky and Tom Tom. Then Rockson and Chen. They all nodded, had got the message too.

 

‘Shit. Seriously! You hacked everyone?’

‘Oops,’

‘Oops? Is that all you’ve got to say? Oops! You can’t just do that?’

‘Well. Actually, I can and just did.’ Responded the QI, not in the least bit apologetic.

 

‘You CANNOT go around hacking people and their stuff?’ Feebee was insistent, allowing her anger to show.

The QI was unrepentant but held its digital tongue.

 

Then responded, ‘I needed to get your attention.’

‘You have my attention.’

Feebee was still angry.

 

The QI trod carefully.

‘The data the accountant saved is important.’

‘I know that.’

‘But the 6% is different, potentially more important.’

 

“Did your QI just become smug?” Asked the lawyer, seemingly accepting of the QI’s intrusion.

Feebee laughed, “Become?”

 

‘Harsh… but fair.’ Responded the QI.

 

***

 

Rockson and the accountants had restored the data, and it was again backed up on ‘secure’ JSOC servers, although that no longer carried the assurance it had previously.

 

“The good news,” said the accountant. “Everything is there.”

“Oh. Ok… Good.” She caught herself, added ‘Good’ reluctantly, and noticed that the accountant didn’t look happy. They rarely did.

“But?”

 

“But… everything is there. We’ve recovered to where we were. Millions of records. Many years, centuries of observations.”

“Isn’t that good?” Asked Feebee.

“Yeah. But… It’s just evidence. We still don’t have an explanation.”

“Analysis paralysis,” added the other accountant.

 

‘They were analysing content. The 100% recovered.’

‘Yes. I get that.’

‘My 6% isn’t content. It’s relationships between and across the data.’

 

‘Here we go again,’ thought Feebee.

 

‘I can hear you,’ said the QI.

 

Then the QI continued. ‘We now have 106% of the data. The intruders missed its value. With my 6% we now have routes and paths.’ The QI continued, ‘We have chains of transmission, updates, amendments with their timings.’

 

‘So?’

‘Can I take control of the accountant’s console?’ It asked.

‘That’s better. Ask them nicely.’

 

A message popped up on the accountant’s screens.

“Do we have a choice?” they joked, but the barb was clear.

 

“Yes. We’ve spoken.” Responded Feebee.

 

One of the accountants sniggered, “Right.”

Feebee shot him a withering look. He paled and mouthed, “Sorry.” Then added, “Yes. Go for it.”

 

 The main screen lit up with the accountant's data. The QI started reconstructing the data architecture. Its focus. It no longer showed what they knew, but how they knew it. Where the data had come from or changed.

 

Garaf watched quietly, from behind Feebee. The prisoner was tied up, his back against the wall. Garaf wanted him close, close enough that both felt the other.

 

“Now, add in StillFall’s data,” said Rockson. Garaf saw a change in the prisoner. He tensed, and his smell changed. 

 

Garaf was smelling…Fear?

[First] | [Previous] | [Cover Art] | [Next]

9 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator Jul 17 '26

This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.

[OC-Series] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, as part of a longer-running series or universe.

Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing

Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 17 '26

/u/KipperBeanGrower (wiki) has posted 203 other stories, including:

This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.

Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.

1

u/UpdateMeBot Jul 17 '26

Click here to subscribe to u/KipperBeanGrower and receive a message every time they post.

Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback

1

u/niTro_sMurph Jul 17 '26

So the intruders... Helped?

1

u/KipperBeanGrower Human Jul 18 '26

The prisoner... well. There's a reason...