Crumbs

I need to interrupt the intended AcMo post to deliver an announcement.  I take no pleasure in it, but this is a Mulder moment for me.  There are a lot of skeptics out there who think I've been fabricating drama and digging holes around HQ1 without a purpose.  None of that is true, but I haven't felt the need to defend my actions until now.  We had another bird fatality today.  I checked with the next of kin and they consented to allow me to release a picture of the victim.  I'm only doing this because I figured out how to block Fred's MAC address in our network, and it is an attempt to silence the doubters.  Please respect that this bird died doing something stupid, and it has already paid the ultimate price.

Another bird gone before its time.  These senseless deaths must be prevented.

This is a sign that I must accelerate development of our bird strike mitigation tool as soon as I can figure out what that tool should be and how it might work.  I guess I should develop a better understanding of birds before I try to make the tool.  Our bird population is at risk each day I fail to create a working prototype.  If you could share a moment of silence for this bird and all of the others that have died after assaulting our windows, someone would appreciate it.



Now with that unpleasantness out of the way, I move to the current unpleasantness surrounding AcMo.  Bits and pieces of the puzzle have been coming together during my investigation.  I am starting to form a clearer picture of the threat against AcMo and the responsible parties.  It is much bigger than I imagined, and I'm not sure AcMo can handle the attack without assistance.  I'm going to need to accelerate the deal with Snob Duben so I will have someone to sacrifice on the front line while I scramble to bolster our defenses.  That should provide enough of a buffer for the short term at least.  If not, I may have to draft in new limited responsibility partners.  There are a lot of moving parts to this and a lot of tough decisions that need to be made.

I was out for an afternoon walk yesterday when I should have been in the office, but it was too nice outside to waste my life indoors.  Besides, I wasn't getting anything done.  I spent most of the morning staring out of my window trying to create a bird strike mitigation device that didn't kill the birds I was trying to save.  So far none of my designs have been Fred approved.  He is so negative sometimes.  It sucks that he knows he's the franchise, and he never lets the rest of us forget that.  I wasted most of the remainder of the morning trying to avoid dealing with our issues.  It is a lot of work avoiding work.  I was so tired by noon.

I also needed to clear my head since the backlog of problems was becoming overwhelming.  Sometimes I put on my headphones, start a podcast, and just walk.  I don't know where I'm going, or when I'll stop.  I have on more than one occasion ended up in a different state without remembering how I got there.  That is one of the reasons we establish so many bases of operations.  I walk so far that I can't possibly make the return walk, so I need somewhere I can replenish my energy and survive until I can get back to HQ1.  Since revenue stream generation is a priority, establishing a base where I need to sleep seems efficient and profitable.

Hitchhiking has also provided great stories and some bizarre experiences during my travels.  It truly is a lost art finding a safe driver who isn't looking to abduct me and turn me into a prisoner.  I try to limit the amount of rides I accept to reduce my risk to acceptable levels.  So far I have a perfect survival rate.  I hope to continue that.

Anyway, my walk yesterday took me past Omnicron Corp.'s secret research facility.  Oh yeah, they have tons of those, but Omnicron isn't aware that I've been mapping them for months.  I need to have as much intel on my enemy as possible if I'm going to have any chance of winning this conflict.   Simultaneous surgical strikes on their network and facilities will help even the odds as well.

This particular facility is fashioned to resemble a department store.  They aren't fooling anyone with that since there aren't any items for sale inside, and they don't have anyone on the floor.  What they do have is an outdoor break area for "store employees".  I was shocked, alarmed, and upset to see my old nemesis, Bill, the product liability specialist milling about with some of the Omnicron Corp. scientists.  Bill mocked my Law & Order law degree one too many times in the past.  As far as I was concerned, he and Omnicron Corp. deserved each other.

The sighting was not a heart stopper, but what I learned next almost sent me over the edge.  Bill was working with JJ, the missing telepresence robot.  I didn't have my binoculars on me, and because of the surveillance cameras I couldn't get too close to the building, but I'm certain it was JJ.  He had that same dead stare and smug expression that I've always hated.  His methodical slow roll with the hiccup from his damaged left front wheel was also there.

If Bill and JJ were working together inside an Omnicron Corp. secret lab, it could only mean that I was right to fire Bill and attempt to decommission JJ.  I wanted to stay and follow Bill so I could finally figure out his last name and determine his pressure points, but I had other issues.  Even though I shut off all communication devices when I left on my walk, I was still receiving urgent priority messages that required my attention.  I can only delay the onslaught for so long before it breaks through and ruins my day.

The first thing I did when I returned to HQ1 was to delete all of the urgent messages off of the server.  If it was truly urgent, they would send another message.  The next and more important task was to commission the software team to write an exploit that would corrupt JJ's code and force him to turn against his benefactors at Omnicron Corp.  I would have one of my most hated enemies doing my work for me from within the organization.  The good news was that the team said they could have the exploit ready to execute within a week.  The bad news--because there is always bad news--was that someone would have to physically insert the exploit into JJ's operating system.  Why can't anything ever just be easy?

At least I now have one soft target at Omnicron Corp. in the form of Bill, and I have confirmation that JJ is evil.  This also establishes a concrete link between Omnicron Corp. and the police department since they must have known JJ was in this lab the entire time he was "missing".  In fact, I bet Bill got him out of the ceiling and took him straight to the "secret" lab.  I'm surprised Bill had the strength to lift JJ.  Actually, he probably dropped him from the ceiling which is how his left wheel may have been damaged.  I hate to admit that I didn't think Bill had it in him, and I didn't know JJ's programming allowed for independent thought.  There are a lot of things I need to learn.

Bill is never going to know what hit him.  He shouldn't have mocked my Law & Order law degree.  That crosses a line.  Bill entered the danger zone when he did that, and it will be his end.  I'm going to enjoy dismantling Omnicron Corp. from the inside while taking back AcMo's property.  They started this conflict, but I will be certain to finish it.