Month: May 2020

Categories
Narrative

Of Bad Science and Solid Science

When Spruance Del Curtin had agreed to work on Dr. Doorne’s project, he’d been under the impression that he’d be getting to do something interesting and extraordinary. He’d been at it for three days now, and so far all he was doing was checking the validity of datasets. Talk about tedious.

He looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes, wishing he could Instagram it. But Dr. Doorne had been quite clear about the matter — one whisper about this project, and he was out. No questions asked, no excuses accepted, just a quick boot to the behind.

And speaking of Dr. Doorne, she would have to pick that moment to walk into her office. “Good morning, Mr. Del Curtin.” Although she kept her tone conversational, Sprue could tell she was not pleased.

Still, he’d best show no sign of annoyance, nothing that could appear “defensive.” A polite greeting, a pleasant question about how things were going for her.

But she was not going to be deflected by the outward gestures of politeness. “You seem rather unenthusiastic today. I had been under the impression that you were excited about this project.”

“Well, I was.” Sprue studied her, trying not to narrow his eyes too much in the process and look disreputable. “But I thought it was going to be something a lot more interesting than going through reams and reams of data. I mean, I know data sanitization is important, but does it have to be so boring?”

Dr. Doorne pulled out the second chair and sat down. “A lot of things that are worth doing are boring. For instance, Tycho Brahe spent years accumulating celestial observations that were as accurate as he could make them with the instruments available to him. I would imagine that meant a lot of boring nights in a chilly observatory. And when Johannes Kepler used Tycho’s data to work out the elliptical nature of orbits, I can assure you that meant hours upon hours of tedious hand calculations, every one of which needed to be done perfectly, which would mean doing them multiple times and making sure they matched.”

Sprue understood that concept — modern statistical packages made heavy use of such processes as regressions to minimize error when it couldn’t be eliminated. It was also why you kept backups, and worked only on copies of your data, not the original.

“OK, got that. But why are you having me go through all this data,” he gestured at the columns of figures on the monitor in front of him, “with no idea of what any of it is about? That’s what’s making it super-tedious.”

Was that a smile curling Dr. Doorne’s lips ever so slightly. “Remember what we talked about in our first class about bias and lying with statistics?”

Sprue had not forgotten that day. Dr. Doorne had given them what seemed like a dozen examples of statistics done badly, with dire warnings about the fate that would befall any professional scientist who committed those statistical sins.

“Then you understand why we need to be careful that we don’t end up cherry-picking what fits our hypothesis, or otherwise seeing what we expect to find.”

Sprue considered the concept. “So it’s kind of like double-blind tests in medicine?”

Yes, that was a definite smile. “Exactly. We want the data verified and sanitized by someone who understands the general principles of the process, but not enough about the purpose of this specific dataset to bias the process.”

Which meant this was something super-important. Now all he could do was get the job done as best he could and hope he’d be let in on what was going on as things progressed.

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Document

A Bit of History

Much as the air became militarily important in the World Wars and space became militarily important in the Energy Wars, cyberspace truly came into its own for the military during the Sharp Wars. Given that we are discussing an insurgency in one of the most developed nations of the time, which began in a region noted for its heavy concentration of tech companies and ultimately moved to one of its lunar colonies, the role of cyberspace should not come as a surprise.

Throughout the conflict, the control of information would be paramount, particularly because of the need by both sides to pull in the “silent majority” of people who were primarily interested in living their ordinary lives. However, as the conflict progressed and particularly when it extended to the Moon, cyberspace became a way to reach across the vast distances of space without risking one’s personnel to that unforgiving environment.

The most famous cyber-attack of the Sharp Wars is of course the malware attack on a number of landers at Slayton Field. However, there has been some ongoing debate on whether it was actually an operation of the Flannigan Admininstration, given that Grissom City was lunar tourism’s primary hub, and the settlement was under the command of a man in good favor with the Administration.

However, much more important if less spectacular was the continual effort to cut Shepardsport off from the Internet, generally by various kinds of Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. By flooding the system with requests and overflowing the bandwidth of the connections between Shepardsport and the rest of the Internet, they hoped to prevent certain information from getting out.

For the Administration, this strategy was critical because Captain Waite had made the Constitutionality of Flannigan’s actions a central question from the time of the Kitty Hawk Massacre…

—- J Winthrop, “The Sharp Wars as an Information Age Insurgency.” Information Technology and History, Fall 2052.

Categories
Narrative

An Alarming Silence

Cindy had been up later than she’d intended the previous night, and now she could tell she was paying for it. Twice already she’d fallen asleep sitting up while trying to eat breakfast. At least Uncle Carl was still off on a mission and Aunt Betty was spending more time at her office than anywhere else, so Cindy didn’t have to deal with their disapproving looks. On the other hand, her cousins were most definitely noticing.

But what was I supposed to do? Especially since it was pretty clear Amy needed to talk, and I didn’t want to just leave Kitty to deal with it by herself.

Which raised another troubling issue — as of yet, Kitty hadn’t been able to contact Amy. She’d promised to text as soon as she got up for school, but there hadn’t been so much as a ping.

You weren’t supposed to be using your phone in the dining commons, since this was supposed to be a place for in-person socializing. But Cindy knew her younger sister had her phone on her lap, positioned just right to be able to see it, and was surreptitiously sending texts every so often.

At least her mandatory exercise hour didn’t start for another half hour, so she could take her time eating. Cindy was already running late for her shift at the receptionist’s desk at Shepardsport Pirate Radio. At least Autumn Belfontaine had given her a pass to run late if she needed to.

On the other hand, there was always the risk the boss would come in and find her absent. Especially the big boss, since Shepardsport Pirate Radio was technically considered part of Engineering, and Ken Redmond was notoriously unsympathetic about personal problems.

Which meant she’d better get going. Cindy leaned over to her sister and whispered, “When I get to the station, I’ll use the desktop computer to try to run some network checks. When I find something out, I’ll text you.”

“Thanks.” Kitty’s voice sounded unsteady, for all she was trying hard to put a good face on things.

As Cindy headed for the door, she wondered if she should just call in to the station and tell Autumn that she was going to take the day off. But with nothing definite to go on, it seemed way too much like self-indulgence to take the day off.

Just past the door, she was aware of someone sidling up to her. Dang it, but the Sheps were supposed to treat her as family, not someone to hit on.

But when she turned to tell him off, her gaze met a round face utterly unlike the long face of a Shep. “Uh, hi, Spence.”

Spencer Dawes smiled, not the big grin of a Shep, just an upward quirk of the lips that actually was more warm and inviting. “It looked like you could use the company. What’s wrong?”

Cindy moistened her lips and considered how much she wanted to say, how much was Kitty’s story to tell. “My sister’s having some trouble contacting an old friend back on Earth.”

That got her a nod of sympathy. “I’m hearing they’re having some communication troubles. If you’d like, I could have Juss see if one of his brothers would be able to stay with your sister.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Spence gave her another reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, it’s no problem. You’ve got lineage right to ask me for help. And I think you could use some company walking to work.”

Much as Cindy wanted to argue, she knew he was right. Spence was a clone of Edgar D. Mitchell, Alan Shepard’s Lunar Module Pilot, and therefore in the Shepard lineage. And right now, having to make small talk with someone would help take her mind off a situation she couldn’t do anything about.

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Narrative

Keep On Keeping On

All the way to the station, Brenda couldn’t stop thinking about the FaceTime call that had gone garbled and broke up. Not so much that she was worried about Drew’s safety, but what it meant for digital communications between Shepardsport and the rest of the three worlds.

And then she arrived at the front office and knew something very serious was going on. It wasn’t unusual to find a tech or two from IT working on something around here. Just about everything they were using was old stuff, and a lot of it had been repurposed in quirky ways to adapt it for audio streaming.

But to find the Head of Information Technology and two of her senior department heads in here — no, this was not a good sign. Especially the way they were talking among themselves in low voices.

Which raised the question of whether she should greet them as she came in, or just hurry past as quietly as possible so she didn’t disturb their concentration. Cindy wasn’t in yet, but given the situation with Kitty and her friend Amy down on Earth, it was possible she was otherwise occupied. Autumn had made it clear that Cindy was to be excused if Amy or her siblings needed an advocate.

And if that friend of hers is getting static from the child welfare people, she may end up needing a lot more advocacy than a teenager can provide. Heck, I’m not sure how serious they’d take me. Sure, I’m married and have two kids, but I’m still young compared to the average Houston mom. We grow up early here on the High Frontier.

Even as she was considering what to do, Steffi noticed her. “Hello, Brenda. Since you’re a little early for your air shift,” a significant glance at the clock behind the receptionist’s desk, “could you hold on for a moment?”

“Sure. What seems to be the problem?” Although Brenda was trying to keep her voice firm and professional, she couldn’t entirely suppress a little nervous quaver. That old fear that she would be in trouble for something.

“We’re having some network issues. I know your husband is posted at Slayton Field, so I was wondering if you could try to contact him.”

“I have.” Brenda explained about their attempt to FaceTime. “At first it seemed to be connecting fine, but all of a sudden it got really super-slow, like you get when you’re trying to talk with someone on a spacecraft that’s heading off to Mars. And then everything broke up, and I couldn’t connect again.”

All three IT people exchanged glances, nods of agreement. But there was nothing happy about their expressions, which meant they were recognizing that something very serious was going on.

Hardly surprising, after the cyber attack on the landers at Slayton Field. Drew had never talked much about it, which was unusual for a Shep, and suggested that it had been a particularly traumatic experience for him.

A bit of quick conferring with colleagues, and Steffi turned back to Brenda. “We’ve been thinking this was some kind of DDOS attack, since it seems to be blocking traffic with Earth. However, I’m starting to wonder if we’re dealing with a worm.”

Brenda had a basic idea of network security — everybody did, for the simple reason that everyone was at risk from having their critical accounts hacked by one or another kind of scammer. However, she wasn’t necessarily all that strong on the finer details of what distinguished different types of malware and cyber-attacks.

On the other hand, she did have a good sense of what might affect her air shift, which was rapidly coming up. “Then we’re going to be having trouble transmitting…” She gestured toward the DJ booth and the studios for pre-recording interviews and similar programs.

“If you’re worried about whether you’ll be able to do your air shift, we still have normal connectivity within Shepardsport,” a nod to the stereo behind the receptionist’s desk, which was playing the current livestream, “and the outlying settlements that are connected by overland cable to it. People here in town are depending on the station, so don’t let them down.”

With the time for hand-off getting close, there was nothing further for Brenda to do but thank Steffi and hurry back to start up Breakfast With the Beatles. Even a cup of coffee would have to wait for her first long set.

Categories
Narrative

Network Trouble

With pilots from other settlements no longer permitted to come up from the spaceport to the residential sector of Shepardsport, Drew had decided there was no real point in trying to get a permanent transfer to the regular run over there. Better to just stay on the orbital missions than to have Brenda and the kids so close but out of reach.

So here he was at Luna Station, waiting for the cargo handling robots to finish loading the lander so he could take it down. Live fish, according to the manifest. Probably one of the big agricorps that ran the South and West Farms was broadening their genetic stock.

Still, it gave him some downtime, and with the current situation he and his pilot weren’t allowed to go aboard Luna Station. Which meant no opportunity to hang out and visit with the pilot-astronauts from the other settlements.

On the other hand, it did give him other opportunities. Even if he couldn’t go visit Brenda and the kids in person, he could spend some FaceTime with them.

Or so he’d thought. He’d texted Brenda to make sure she and the kids were where they could talk, and she’d answered right back that they had a few minutes before she needed to get Randy to class and Leonie to nursery.

But when he tapped the FaceTime icon, it took forever to connect. When it did, the lag time was so bad it was impossible to carry on a conversation. The kids were getting frustrated, so Brenda had suggested they drop the call and try again.

Now it was just ringing and ringing, like it couldn’t connect. He’d tried three or four times, and the window of opportunity was rapidly closing. Not to mention that he’d just gotten a notification that loadout was winding up, so he’d better start prepping for undock and descent back to Slayton Field.

But first he wanted to see if he could find out what was going on. He didn’t usually listen to Shepardsport Pirate Radio while he was on a mission, but right now he wanted to see if they were reporting any kind of network issues.

However, when he entered their web address, he got a 503 error. A second try got a 502, and after a few other assorted errors, he had to conclude that there was something seriously wrong with their network connection.

On the other hand, given that they were now one of the best sources of honest news reportage, if something serious had happened and the Administration was trying to cover it up, it was completely possible that their servers were getting swamped. When he got back to the Roosa Barracks, he’d have to connect with some people in Grissom City’s IT department and see if they had any ideas.

In the meantime, he needed to put those concerns out of his mind and concentrate on getting ready to fly this bird back home. Brenda was a smart cookie and knew how to take care of herself in a pinch.

And she had a top-notch commandant in Reggie Waite. If Drew couldn’t trust his clone-brother to protect his own, who could he?

Categories
Narrative

What Is the Matter With Those Phones?

Steffi Roderick was at the dining commons, finishing her breakfast, when her phone rang. Unusual, since most people would text first at this hour, to make sure she was available to talk.

She pulled out the phone, saw the name of the head of the helpdesk department. If. Bob were calling, something serious was going on. Better go ahead and answer.

Bob Quires was a man of phlegmatic temperament, and she’d chosen him for this job because very few things could rattle him. However, today his voice had an under tone of alarm under the surface appearance of calm. “Steffi, we’ve got a problem down here. The phones are ringing off the hook, and my people are working like a bunch of one-legged men at an ass-kicking contest.”

The expression telephones ringing off the hook had always amused Steffi. In theory it could actually happen with analog telephony, particularly if a few unusual malfunctions were to occur. But with modern digital telephony it would be logically impossible for a ringtone to be initiated during an active call instead of the interrupting call going to voicemail.

But there was no time to reminisce about how curiosity about an expression had begun her journey into electrical engineering. Right now she had a problem to solve. “What are we looking at?”

“Right now it seems to be a dog’s breakfast of problems. People getting cut off in the middle of early-morning teleconferences. Researchers unable to access datasets they need. Websites suddenly becoming unavailable or unreliable, especially financial ones.”

“That’s not sounding good. I’ll be down as soon as I can. In the meantime, get the traffic analysts on the job. I’m thinking there’s got to be a pattern in there somewhere.”

The conversation finished, Steffi finished the last few bites of her meal. Even after that desperate first year of the Expulsions had become just a memory, wasting food was something one simply did not do. As soon as she’d cleaned her plate, she scanned herself back out so the bots could take away the dishes and make her place ready for the next person to sit down at it.

As she walked down to the IT offices, she did some tests of her own. Although she wouldn’t be able to access the sophisticated diagnostic software until she was at her work computer, there were some basic things she could do from her phone, like checking various websites.

It didn’t take long to notice a pattern. Anything on the local servers was no problem to access. Servers elsewhere on the Moon were hit and miss, while anything on Earth got her nothing but the spinning circle.

She could think of several kinds of accidents that would produce this sort of situation. However, it was also possible that someone was deliberately trying to cut off Shepardsport’s ability to communicate with Earth. Ever since they started up the radio station and telling the truth behind the Flannigan Administration’s lies, they’d been dealing with intermittent DDOS attacks.

Although this didn’t look like a typical DDOS attack, there was no way to be sure until she could get to her diagnostic software, which didn’t run on a phone OS. But in the meantime she’d better let Betty Margrave know, just to be on the safe side.

Categories
Narrative

In Suspension

After her discussion with Autumn Belfontaine, Cindy had gone through the day in a sort of haze. At least none of her work involved dangerous equipment or vital systems, but she knew all too well this world was a place where you needed to keep your wits about you.

However, she couldn’t stop thinking about her sister’s friend and everything that had gone down last night. Even with only the slender channel of text messaging, she felt as if she’d gone through the whole horrific episode herself.

Autumn had reminded her that there were people she could talk to if it was really bothering her — probably because Autumn knew that she and Kitty had lost their parents when they were younger. However, knowing that what she was experiencing was probably an echo of those first frightening days when a neighbor had taken them in until Aunt Betty could fly out and collect them, Cindy didn’t really feel like she should take up a counselor’s problem. She knew what was going on, so she should be able to manage on her own.

Except she kept wondering what had happened to Amy’s parents. The last she knew, they were being loaded into ambulances as Amy watched, and then Amy had to go over to her friend’s place to stay until things could get sorted out.

Cindy fingered her phone in her pocket. Should she text Kitty and ask whether Amy had sent any further messages?

On the other hand, Kitty would be in the middle of her teaching responsibility right now, working as a junior TA with the beginning reading class. Text messages weren’t as intrusive as actual phone calls, but it wouldn’t be good for Kitty to have her phone chime while she was in the middle of helping a first-grader work through a basic reading text.

No, better wait for a more opportune time. Even if she had to wait until suppertime, it wasn’t like she could make a huge amount of difference in the meantime, not when she was up here and Amy was down on Earth.

Behind her, someone called her name. She turned to look squarely into a broad chest covered by a t-shirt that proclaimed: You can’t scare me. I’m a troubleshooter.

Cindy craned her neck to look up at Justin Forsythe’s grinning face. He was a clone of Ed White, and although he hadn’t quite gotten his full growth yet, he was already tall and well-built.

And has a girlfriend, so there’s no use making cow-eyes at him. He’d broken a lot of hearts around Shepardsport when he’d hooked up with the Dornhoff girl.

“Hi, Juss.” And she turned to face his companion. “Hi, Spence. What are you two up to?”

“Wondering what’s eating at you.” Spencer Dawes was a DJ, but Cindy didn’t know him all that well because his air shift was late in the evening, long after the front office closed for the night. “It’s like you’re in another world.”

“I guess you’re right.” Cindy hated having to admit it, but she knew Spence had her in one. “I’m up here, but half my mind’s down on Earth.” She explained about Amy’s situation. “I know worrying isn’t going to do her or her folks any good, but I can’t get my mind off her.”

Juss gave her a sympathetic smile. “Ken Redmond would say that means you don’t have enough work to do, but I think you just don’t have enough work to do right now. How about helping us study for our digital logic exam.”

Cindy cast a quick look around, considering how to get out of this one. “Um, I really don’t think I’d be much help to you. I mean, I don’t know much of anything about digital logic.”

“Actually, that makes it all the better. You can quiz us on stuff without accidentally cueing us to the right answer. And sometimes the best way to make sure you understand something is to explain it to someone who doesn’t know anything about it.”

Cindy could tell she was out of excuses. With her gym time shifted to the evening to make room for Constitution class, she no longer had any obligations until suppertime. “OK, I guess we’ll see how that works.”

Categories
Narrative

A Moment of Awkwardness

All day Spruance Del Curtin kept thinking about his talk with Dr. Doorne. He’d gone to her office thoroughly expecting a bawling out, perhaps even being told that he would get a bad grade in the class. Instead, she was bringing him onboard in a major project, one that might even get him a publication credit.

Except he had to keep it an absolute secret. Not a word about it until she personally cleared him to discuss it. In some ways that restriction was almost worse than being bawled out or getting downgraded. Where was the fun in being involved in a really cool project if he couldn’t tell all the guys about it at supper? Or worse, couldn’t brag to the girls about it when he was trying to hook up with them?

It was still bothering him as he set up a set of songs so he could get out of the DJ booth and take a stretch. Especially since he couldn’t look like he was keeping a secret — it was pretty clear from what Dr. Doorne had said that arousing curiosity would get him into as much trouble as actually blabbing. Everything had to look perfectly normal, or he would be in even worse trouble than if he’d gone and announced it on the air.

So he walked down the corridor singing ZZ Top’s “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” along with the streamed broadcast playing from the stereo in the front office. Make it look like he was enjoying himself in typical Shep fashion, all about being hot with the girls.

And there was Lou Corlin, apparently dropping off some files, given the USB sticks he was handling. He broke off his conversation with the programming director. “Hey, Sprue, do you really think it’s wise to be bragging about driving around with four kitsune?”

Trust the DJ for the Rising Sun J-pop Show to think of “fox” in terms of the Japanese yokai rather than a smokin’ hot girl. Especially considering Chaffees were notoriously straight-laced, right there with Roosas and Glenns.

Except treating it like a dumb mistake on Lou’s part would only make things worse, especially considering the afternoon receptionist was a girl he might actually try for a date with. Unlike Cindy Margrave, who lived in a fellow Shep’s household and had to be regarded as a blood relation, Lexie belonged to the Schirra lineage, which made her fair game. Gotta play the cool dude in front of the chicks.

“That just makes things more challenging, don’t it?” Show off that big Shepard grin, get just a little closer to emphasize the height advantage.

Lou mumbled something about just joking, but it was clear he didn’t have a good comeback. Not that he’d be worried about scoring points when he had a steady girl over at Grissom City. Called herself Emiko and was a bigtime weeaboo.

Still, it was good to know he’d just made Lou back off. It almost made up for not being able to tell Lou about the real prize he’d gotten today.

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Paying the Bills

The Chyrsalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit community of religious and genetic fundamentalists, always on the alert for any deviation from the norm of God’s creation. Abnormal plants are publicly burned, with much singing of hymns. Abnormal humans (who are not really human) are also condemned to destruction—unless they succeed in fleeing to the Fringes, that Wild Country where, as the authorities say, nothing is reliable and the devil does his work. David grows up ringed by admonitions: KEEP PURE THE STOCK OF THE LORD; WATCH THOU FOR THE MUTANT.

At first he does not question. Then, however, he realizes that the he too is out of the ordinary, in possession of a power that could doom him to death or introduce him to a new, hitherto unimagined world of freedom.

The Chrysalids is a perfectly conceived and constructed work form the classic era o science fiction, a Voltairean philosophical tale that has as much resonance in our own day, when religious and scientific dogmatism are both on the march, as when it was written during the cold war.

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Narrative

A Sudden Awakening

A familiar melody pulled Cindy Margrave out of her slumbers. However, it took her a moment to realize that she was hearing the ringtone on her phone.

Dashing the sleep from her eyes with one hand, she retrieved her phone and squinted at the lock screen. In a horrific flash of understanding she comprehended two things at once: the time and the identity of the caller.

Oh my god, I completely forgot to set my alarm last night. Cindy’s mind raced even as she fumbled to accept the call, to gabble out some kind of a greeting all mixed with an utterly useless apology.

Aunt Betty would be so disappointed in her. Already Cindy could hear her aunt saying I raised you better than this and what would your parents think if they knew?

Except Autumn Belfontaine wasn’t annoyed at her. Far from it, she was actually rather sympathetic. “Just get down here as quickly as you can, and be ready to give me a full report when you do.”

From some people, a full report would mean giving an account of herself, and it better be properly contrite and free of anything that could be considered “blame-shifting” or she’d catch it double. But when the Shepardsport Pirate Radio news director wanted a full report, that meant she considered the matter newsworthy, or at least a lead on a newsworthy story.

Which meant she’d better use the time it’d take to get from the residential sector to the station offices to organize her thoughts and prepare to deliver an organized account of last night’s nightmarish SMS exchange and everything that had come of it. At least with Autumn she could talk about Kitty’s and Brenda’s roles without worrying about dragging them into her own trouble.

But first she’d better see if she could still get an order in to have her breakfast sent to the station. There was no way she could get to the dining commons, and she didn’t exactly like the idea of having to go all the way until lunch without eating.