[Open] Programmers unite!

[firstcylon]

WHO: Open!
WHERE: School room on level 3.
WHEN: May 10, 13:30 and onwards

Minotaur. A beast of the fake religion, a man with the head of a bull, standing in the middle of a labyrinth. Zoe had had a look at the program on her way up to level 3, and it seemed fitting. A maze of games to get to the prize, but what prize?

She was still studying its code as she waited for Gaius and Commander Spock to arrive in the schoolroom. Hopefully, three brains together, they could get this over with before dinner.

Comments

[nomoremrnicegaius]

Gaius' ever-constant companion is mercifully not with him when he makes his way to the schoolroom. A familiar whir of the door opening marks his entrance and when he steps inside, he's surprised to discover that the room is empty, save for a singular dark-haired teenager.

"Is it just the two of us?" he asks as he joins her. "I thought there'd be more of us."

The question is more rhetorical than anything; frankly, he'd prefer to work solo, though he's certainly willing to work in a small group -- if only because it'd give him a much-needed opportunity to showcase his skills. "Did they tell you anything when you replied to their e-mail?" he asks.

[firstcylon]

"The only other reply I got was from a Commander Spock," Zoe answers him, without looking up from the screen as she switches from the code she'd been looking at to her messages, and then back to the code. "Still nothing else, and he hasn't said if he's coming or not. Have you looked at the Minotaur at all?"

She is focused in a way he hasn't seen on her yet, and before he even has time to answer she moves to the bigger screen embedded on the wall and turns it on to load the Minotaur there. Better than the tiny screen of their comms.

[nomoremrnicegaius]

"A little on my communciator," he answers. "It's a pain working on such tiny screens, though. I prefer to work on something larger."

Which thankfully, Zoe has just provided. Gaius looks up at the screen, eyebrows furrowed, his arms folded over his chest.

"I was assigned to complete levels 37 and 82," he says, still looking at the screen. "What about you? Have you tried playing at all?"

[firstcylon]

"I don't think that's the way it works, not from the code I was able to get to," she tells him, quickly displaying the code in question on the screen. Not too hard to get to, but it wasn't a language she was used to and it had taken her a while to get it. "Apparently we just need to go from game to game until the timer runs out. Try and get to the highest level possible. See this code here? It generates game after game, although I haven't been able to figure out its parameters yet. One of us could work on that while the other works on getting us through as many levels as possible. If we could rig it to give us the same game over and over again..."

She interrupts herself briefly when her comm beeps, and she checks her messages quickly, and speaks as she is typing an answer. "You know James T. Kirk? He wants to join the party. I'm telling him to come here."

Zoe is, right now, all business. She pockets her comm again, looks back at Gaius with a slight frown. "Where was I?"

[oneandtogether]

Spock followed the sound of voices and found Doctor Baltar sitting at a terminal beside a teenaged girl. Spock had not expected someone so young from the tone of her emails, but mentally chastised himself for it; logically there was no way to predict someone's age based upon their vocabulary. He had met human adults with less of a command of Standard than some Vulcan children he had known.

He came into the room and took a seat where he could see both of them. "Doctor Baltar," he said with a cordial nod, then turned to the girl. "Zoe, I presume. I am Spock. Have I missed anything of relevance?"

[nomoremrnicegaius]

"I know of him," Gaius replies. "We're not exactly friends or anything." Then again, Gaius couldn't honestly say that he had very many people he could call friend -- on the Proserpina, or off it.

"I think," Gaius begins, frowning up at the code. Already the gears in his head are spinning, trying to make sense of something as foreign to him as his work at the Ministry of Defense was to his father. But there's patterns there, and already his mind is beginning to try to piece them together.

But Spock's entrance is enough to pull the doctor's eyes away from the screen, if only momentarily. "Commander," he says, returning the nod of the head with one of his own. He turns his attention back to the screen overhead.

"We're discussing our plan of action," he answers. "And trying to decipher this code." Eyes still set on the screen, he makes his way over to the computer, then reaches for the mouse.

"This function," he says, highlighting a snippet of code. "Is repeated several times, just here on the screen alone." He highlights another snip, identical to the last, then another after it. "This likely means one of three things: either the person writing the code is a sloppy programmer and simply didn't compile the functions into a new procedure or the code for these levels is compiled from a number of different sources."

[to_boldly]

Jim comes into the room backwards, having somehow found it easier to balance the four cups of coffee in his hands. "Hey all," he greets, narrowly avoiding Spock's seat before he leans down, offering them each a cup. "Brought coffee. Or whatever these replicators think is coffee. I don't know about taste, but it's doing the job for me."

It's possible he's already had several cups, having spent hours with the game already. Sucking down another gulp, Jim peers at the screen over Baltar's head. "Yeah, I saw that, too. I was thinking, what if the code itself is a maze? Three needlessly repeated functions, three wrong turns, three steps closer to the Minotaur busting your ass."

[firstcylon]

Zoe realises - not that she didn't know it in advance - that she's the only girl and - not that she wouldn't have bet on it - the youngest of them all. It amuses her more than anything else. Pull together people from all sorts of worlds and still, nothing really changes. Coffee, or whatever passes for it, is a great idea, though, and she walks over to claim a cup, heels clicking on the floor with each step.

"Thanks," she tells the guy with a smile - James, she figures - but then she turns back to the screen. She's nothing if not focused, right now. "We're supposed to bust his ass," she murmurs, distractedly, thinking over what they were saying. "If that's the case," she starts up, more loudly, still watching the screen rather than the others, "it'd be two wrong turns, one right one. But it'd make sense for them to have turned the code itself into a game." It's what she would have done. "So we have two options. Either we hack through game after game, or we hack straight through this code." She turns back to them now, looks at them all, and has no problem addressing three grown men with authority. "We could work in pairs, each on one option. The second's a long shot for all our speculations, it'd be smarter to hedge our bets."

[oneandtogether]

Spock was not surprised to see Jim enter the room; he had been thinking on his way up to the school room that depending on who else was present and the level of skill they displayed, Jim's mind might be a necessary component to their success in this venture. Still, he raised an eyebrow in Jim's direction, accepting the coffee with a nod of thanks.

"It would take time, but not much effort, to write an algorithm to interpret the parameters of each level and solve them," he said. "Provided we are as inclusive as possible to the nature of the games. Then we could leave it to run on while we all try to decipher the source code." He glanced at Jim briefly, then back at Baltar and Zoe. "Hedging our bets is indeed wise, as we do not know what sorts of obstacles will be put in our path as we get closer to winning."

[nomoremrnicegaius]

Gaius takes a cup of coffee as soon as it's offered to him. It's not as terrible as it usually is, actually. Perhaps the replicator decided to show their foursome a little divine benevolence today and bestow them with coffee that didn't taste like muddy water.

He sips at his drink for a long moment, still looking up at the screen, only half-listening to what the others are saying. He's got to be the one to figure this out. He's the genius here. He wasn't going to let himself be bested by anyone younger than him -- and judging from the look of the others, he realizes with much discomfort that it is very likely he is the oldest one here.

Gaius' head immediately spins Zoe's suggestion. "I should be on the programming team," he says, very quickly. "I have three Magnate Awards in Computer and Information Technology. Before the Second Cylon War, I was the head of the Command Navigation Program and was completely responsible for its design. That included preventing backdoor attacks, which we may very well have to perform ourselves in order to force alter the parameters in the program if things become too difficult for our counterparts to handle."

He neglects to mention that his girlfriend helped rewrite most of it and in doing so nearly wiped out the entire human race, but who really needs to know? He wants on that team, and he'll say anything to do so.

"I also have more experience than anyone present," he adds as an afterthought.

If only by virtue of being oldest.

[to_boldly]

"Maybe so," says Jim, and it's only the two years worth of diplomatic training stuffed into his head over one summer that prevent him saying more. Or laughing, a feat that proves harder still when he spies Zoe hiding her face over the good doctor's shoulder.

"We're all here because it's what we're good at, no reason I can see we can't spread the work around. You know," he adds, leaning forward in his chair, which, incidentally, takes him right into Spock's personal space, "I wouldn't be surprised if this thing was collecting info on us as we play. I went through a few levels - no question, the games adapted to match my skill set, got more challenging in every area I proved quick to beat. The code itself might not be any different, it's almost like." He shrugs. "A getting to know you exercise between us and the ship."

He grins around the room, saving the last for Dr. Baltar. "Wonder what it'll learn about each of us."

[firstcylon]

Zoe is pretty impressed by James; she's pretty sure there is no way she could have addressed Gaius's little speech without laughing, or at the very least making fun of him in one way or another. Once she's done hiding her eyes behind her hand and focusing in order not to laugh, she looks up and gives James a thankful smile, listening to what he has to say.

"Wonder what we'll learn about it," she answers with an excited grin. She likes challenges; always had, and it's not often she finds one in the world of programming. "Spock's right. Getting an algorithm going will be pretty easy, so one or two of us should get started on that while the other get started on the source code. As soon as the algorithm's up and running, we can all four of us focus on the source code."

She smiles at Gaius, although it's clear she's preventing her lips from twitching up into a wider smile. "You can pick first, Gaius."

[oneandtogether]

Spock had no reply to Baltar's assertions of his credibility, having been subjected to them several times over the course of listening to his explanations of the tests he was running in the lab. Spock had not thought it possible for someone to have a higher opinion of his own abilities than Jim Kirk, but he had been proven painfully mistaken. He found himself sympathizing with Zoe's reaction, however, even if he did not show it.

It was Kirk's deft reply that caused him to raise an eyebrow in response, barely turning his head to catch the Captain's eye. He has had a very good tutor in diplomacy, he thought, and had to wonder who it had been. Pike, perhaps, if he had had the time; it caused a thread of unease for Spock to realize it might even have been himself.

He said nothing, however, just let Jim keep leaning on the arm of his chair and waited for Baltar to reply.

[nomoremrnicegaius]

Gaius doesn't like the idea of playing the game at all. That was part of the reason why he didn't start playing them to begin with. He doesn't know about the rest of their so-called programming foursome, but he'd prefer any weaknesses of his to stay private and not be subject to some computer program's tests. For all they knew, it was reporting the results back to whoever or whatever it was that brought them here, who no doubt planned to exploit those weaknesses later for who-even-knows what nefarious purpose.

If there's gaming to be done, they can handle it. Gaius has no intentions of sticking his neck on the guillotine this early in the game.

Ignoring the smiles of the rest of their team (who no doubt had no idea what it meant to win three Magnate Awards before the age of 30 -- three!), Gaius supplies his answer almost immediately: "Source code." There was no way he was going to allow himself to be outdone by the others. Programming an algorithm would likely be a simple task. Projects like that were probably better suited for Zoe, anyhow -- not for a man of his incredible intellect.

His allegiances declared, Gaius makes his way to the nearest computer and begins to work, his eyes scanning over the code for something -- anything -- that might look familiar.

[to_boldly]

"Spock and I can work on the algorithm," says Jim to Spock and Zoe and Baltar's back, "Shouldn't take us too long to sniff out all its little tricks. Then we can reconvene on the source code, see where you two have gotten us."

Leaning towards Spock, Jim adds in a quieter voice, "Or before. One of my many, many talents is multi-tasking."

[firstcylon]

Frakking great, stick her with Mr I'm-The-Best. Well, Gaius is about to be taught a lesson or two about exactly how much better than him Zoe Graystone is at computers.

She hopes so, anyway. The way he brags about it, it would be a shame if he actually was as good as all that. And Magnate Awards? She's pretty sure she could've won some already, if she hadn't worked in the shadows.

"Right," she says, with a forced smile at both men. "Please don't take too long."

And she walks over to join Gaius.

[oneandtogether]

"I do not doubt that we are more than equal to the task," Spock said as he and Jim turned toward the nearest terminals. "Whatever a Magnate award is, I question how it would compare to the distinction of hacking an unbeatable test designed by the only person ever to reject a place in the Vulcan Science Academy."

Though bragging was an illogical display of vanity, Spock did not think it bragging to acknowledge that he and Jim were incredibly intelligent. He also did not doubt that Baltar underestimated all of their capabilities, Zoe included.

[to_boldly]

"And here I thought that'd be a sore spot," says Jim, bumping Spock's shoulder with his own. "Does that mean I can brag about it now, too? I mean," he says, warming to the topic, "I was the first and only person to have ever beaten it. By thinking outside the box, might I add, but I still don't get why that surprised you."

Turning in his chair, he raises a brow at Spock. "In a universe with literally endless mathematical possibilities, it's just not logical to accept that a no-win scenario can exist."

[oneandtogether]

Spock's eyebrow mirrored Jim's, arched up as high as it would go. "My approval or disapproval has never stopped you from bragging of your success before," he said. "And it would have been illogical to anticipate someone hacking the test in order to win. Starfleet operates on a strictly regulated honor code system; you are perhaps the only person besides Captain Pike who would treat your actions as simply thinking outside the box."

He typed as he spoke, one eye on Kirk, one on the screen. "In a universe with endless mathematical possibilities, it is illogical to rule out any of them. No-win scenarios must exist. You merely proved that for you, the Kobayashi Maru is not one of them." Spock spoke without rancor; he had stopped resenting Kirk for cheating his simulation even before he arrived on the Proserpina. But that did not mean that he would back down from the chance to prove a point when it was offered to him.

[to_boldly]

"Honor code. Maybe I just think doing what's necessary to preserve intelligent life is honorable," Jim replies, and for a moment he's back in the auditorium, bristling all over again beneath the charge of academic dishonesty. "You knew the program required a cheat to win when you wrote it."

Frowning, he looks back to his screen, fingers flying rapidly over the keys to produce another string of code.

[oneandtogether]

"That is not entirely accurate," Spock said. "I designed it to be unwinnable. There is a difference." Perhaps it had been foolish and illogical for him to expect that no one would ever seek to bend the rules, but the scenario had had a singular purpose, one which had sprung from the minds of the Admiralty. Everyone had always accepted that they would fail, because everyone before them had failed. He had not anticipated Jim Kirk; no one in Starfleet had.

Spock paused in his typing and glanced over, reading agitated irritation in Kirk's face. "I am not attempting to provoke you," he said. "I am merely stating the intended parameters of the test."

[to_boldly]

Jim is silent for a long moment, pretending to concentrate on the code, though in truth, he could write the beginnings of the algorithm in his sleep.

"No," he agrees eventually, partly because he knows it's true, and partly because he has no real desire to get into the subject of provocation. Not when he still feels like scraped shit for bringing up Spock's mother on the bridge all those months ago.

"I am merely stating that I am disinclined to submit to the parameters of a no-win."

[nomoremrnicegaius]

Gaius doesn't know exactly how good the others are, and that is exactly why he is so anxious to get started. He was heralded as a genius back on the Twelve Colonies, but for all he knows, his intellect may pale in comparison to the genius of a more advanced civilization.

He does, however, remain thoroughly convinced that he knows more than a teenage girl. Less because she's a girl and more because she's from the distant past. Technology had progressed significantly since the days before the First Cylon War, so at the least, he had the advantage there.

Coffee cup in hand, he looks through the line of code the way an archaeologist might sift through hieroglyphs, looking for something repeating, something familiar.

He's halfway through his third coffee (which unfortunately, has both the texture and taste of muddy water -- apparently, the replicator's benevolence was as short-lived as Gaius' tastebuds would be after the drink's consumption) before he finds himself wishing desperately that Caprica were there. She was brilliant at these sorts of things. Maybe even as brilliant as he was.

Gaius doesn't know exactly how to handle Zoe -- in part because she's quite brilliant actually, especially for her age. There were several times where in the midst of reviewing the code that she pointed out something that he had missed.

"Oh, that," he would say, trying his best to play it off as nothing, though it almost certainly Was Not. "I saw that earlier, actually. I'm looking for something else."

And would then promptly rewrite the snippet of code Zoe had so helpfully brought to his attention.

He steps away from the computer long enough to dump the remainder of his coffee in the trash and returns to find Zoe sitting in his chair, hands on the keyboard, typing away furiously.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asks dully.

[firstcylon]

"Going a lot faster than you," Zoe answers, without so much as glancing at him. She's been sitting by his side and she's had just about enough condescension for the next year or so. Now she's done waiting. He relinquished his seat, and now she's going to get some work done.

It isn't that Gaius is bad at it; he really, really isn't. But she still hasn't met anyone that's quite as good as she is, not in the Twelve Colonies anyway. Maybe Spock or James over there, but she still doesn't know, too focused on what they're doing.

Well. What she's doing now.

[nomoremrnicegaius]

Gaius frowns. It is the same small, scrutinizing frown he gives anyone when they question him ever. Immediately, he leans over her, trying to find some error in the code she's ammending so he can throw it back in her face, but every line of code she types out is immaculate. There is no error.

She's the daughter of Daniel Greystone, he tells himself, in hopes of dampening the blow his ego just took at being bested by a seventeen-year old. Of course she knows how to code. She lived with the master of coding himself. The man who designed the very first Cylon.

"Well," he says, indigiantly. He opens his mouth as if about to say something else, but then he shuts it again. A half-minute later, he opens it again and then shuts it once more.

Zoe Graystone has stunned him speechless.