Eridani Edict Violation of the most Dismissive Kind...

ldwechsler wrote:

quite possibly a cat wrote:The current assassin nano can't be used to spy. It isn't able to extract any info from the target. If can't make the person type up secrets unless you already know what they are supposed to type.

If it COULD do that you'd have a way more potent weapon, and Manticore would be in much bigger trouble!

I was just trying to have a bit of fun. And there might be ways to do it anyway.

Just have the muscles sent out the latest intelligence info file to a set address. As part of the setup, the person must be alone and finishing an important analysis or report.

Possible? Possibly.

But having the guy doing the funky chicken is far more fun. OR the electric slide, if that's what you prefer.

Each time we saw the nanites used up and close, the victims were quite aware that their bodies were acting against their will.

In two instances, they had long enough to realise they were going to die(Rajampet and Grosclaude). Meares' mindglow also alerted Honor.

So even if it were possible to have an infected victim upload the contents of their hard drive to a predefined address - the victim in question would know what they had just done. As soon as the nanotech releases them, they can raise the alarm and the entire star system goes into lockdown before the message can leave.

munroburton wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:
Just have the muscles sent out the latest intelligence info file to a set address. As part of the setup, the person must be alone and finishing an important analysis or report.

Possible? Possibly.

But having the guy doing the funky chicken is far more fun. OR the electric slide, if that's what you prefer.

Each time we saw the nanites used up and close, the victims were quite aware that their bodies were acting against their will.

In two instances, they had long enough to realise they were going to die(Rajampet and Grosclaude). Meares' mindglow also alerted Honor.

So even if it were possible to have an infected victim upload the contents of their hard drive to a predefined address - the victim in question would know what they had just done. As soon as the nanotech releases them, they can raise the alarm and the entire star system goes into lockdown before the message can leave.

The nanobots might hold until the message does get out. And I never heard of a star system going into lockdown.

But the point would be as a psych weapon. Can you imagine having key people coming and admitting they had just committed espionage and had no control?

The Detweilers would have a screaming fit.

cthia wrote:Interesting. However, a light year out may not generally represent much travel time, but I think it would be risking too much to ensure your very small window of catching Meares in a situation on planet, vulnerable and unawares.

They miss, so what? They can try again later. It wasn't something that had to go off at a specific time.

Loren Pechtel wrote:

cthia wrote:Interesting. However, a light year out may not generally represent much travel time, but I think it would be risking too much to ensure your very small window of catching Meares in a situation on planet, vulnerable and unawares.

They miss, so what? They can try again later. It wasn't something that had to go off at a specific time.

Right. It was situational. Meares just had to be near a guard's weapon with Honor around. Could have happened a dozen different times.

quite possibly a cat wrote:The current assassin nano can't be used to spy. It isn't able to extract any info from the target. If can't make the person type up secrets unless you already know what they are supposed to type.

If it COULD do that you'd have a way more potent weapon, and Manticore would be in much bigger trouble!

ldwechsler wrote:I was just trying to have a bit of fun. And there might be ways to do it anyway.

Just have the muscles sent out the latest intelligence info file to a set address. As part of the setup, the person must be alone and finishing an important analysis or report.

Possible? Possibly.

But having the guy doing the funky chicken is far more fun. OR the electric slide, if that's what you prefer.

munroburton wrote:Each time we saw the nanites used up and close, the victims were quite aware that their bodies were acting against their will.

In two instances, they had long enough to realise they were going to die(Rajampet and Grosclaude). Meares' mindglow also alerted Honor.

So even if it were possible to have an infected victim upload the contents of their hard drive to a predefined address - the victim in question would know what they had just done. As soon as the nanotech releases them, they can raise the alarm and the entire star system goes into lockdown before the message can leave.

Actually, I believe, there was one instance where the infected victim was at least partially unaware that he was doing something he hadn't intended to do.

Torch of Freedom, Chapter 29 wrote: William Henry Tyler stood in the throne room, waiting patiently with the rest of the crowd, and rubbed idly at his right temple. He felt a bit...odd. Not ill, really. He didn't even have a headache. In fact, if anything, he felt just a bit euphoric, although he couldn't think why.

<snip>

He glanced down at his brief case and felt a brief, mild stir of surprise. It vanished instantly, in a stronger surge of that inexplicable euphoria. He'd actually been a bit startled when the security man asked him what was in the case. For just an instant, it had been as if he'd never seen it before, but then, of course, he'd remembered the gifts, for Queen Berry and Prince Ruth. That had been a really smart idea on Marketing's part, he conceded. Every young woman he'd ever met had liked expensive perfume, whether she was willing to admit or not.
He relaxed again, humming softly, at peace with the universe.

Just before this passage Harper S. Ferry, Judson Van Hale and Genghis, who were on guard duty in the room, had noticed Tyler, precisely because he was the only one of the about 30 people waiting for Berry to be carrying a briefcase. Now as soon as they noticed him, Genghis was asked if there was anything off about him. And he said no, of course, this was across the room from Tyler, up close he might have been able to pick up on Tyler's euphoria.

Now when Berry entered the room Tyler's programming went to the next phase. We don't have any more of Tyler's POV, but from the textev he must have realized he wasn't in control of his actions.

Torch of Freedom, Chapter 29 wrote: ...Tyler looked up and saw Berry. Unlike any of the other commercial representatives in the room, he took a step towards her the moment he saw her, and Genghis's head snapped up in the same instant.
The cat reared high, ears flattened and fangs bared in the sudden, tearing-canvas ripple of a treecat's war cry, and vaulted abruptly from his person's shoulder towards Tyler.
Tyler's head whipped around, and Harper felt a sudden stab of outright terror as he saw the terrible, fixed glaze of the other man's eyes. There was something...insane about them, and Harper was suddenly reaching for the panic button on his gun belt.

My point is, that carrying that briefcase, which had never been part of his (as opposed to the MAlign's) intentions didn't set off Genghis's warning senses. Of course, Tyler had probably spent most of his career carrying briefcases to meetings with potential clients, it was second nature to him.

As an aside, my epub version of ToF actually does say "Prince Ruth," I hadn't even noticed it before now, and since I don't currently have access to my dead tree copy I don't know if it also contains this typo.

The Tyler nano was actually a more advanced/complicated variety. I believe it was mentioned that this nano is more error prone.

quite possibly a cat wrote:The Tyler nano was actually a more advanced/complicated variety. I believe it was mentioned that this nano is more error prone.

He was abducted and worked on in person. He was drugged, psychologically programmed, and then injected with the complicated nanites. So his behavior was caused by a cluster of causes, not just a spray in the face.

Loren Pechtel wrote:

cthia wrote:Interesting. However, a light year out may not generally represent much travel time, but I think it would be risking too much to ensure your very small window of catching Meares in a situation on planet, vulnerable and unawares.

They miss, so what? They can try again later. It wasn't something that had to go off at a specific time.

I still think it would represent too many moving parts. It is obvious that they wanted to take Honor out. They couldn't count on knowing when Fearless would be in Manty orbit plus catching one of Honor's "close proximity" crew in a compromising situation. When would Fearless be back in orbit? When would a key player be ground side? Too many variables to play the waiting game THEN miss an opportunity. I think it is more likely that the plan was setup on planet prior to Fearless assuming orbit and raring to go the moment a pigeon came ground side.

Ch. 37 SoV

Spider ships with spider drives and graser torps with spider drives too? Game over man! Game over!

The Silent Service!

The shuttle was the next best thing to a hundred thousand kilometers from Hephaestus, but its optical heads had zoomed in until the space station’s crazy quilt geometry completely filled the display. Even if they hadn’t been designed to be the stealthiest attack platforms yet built by human hands the graser torpedoes which had slashed past Bernike were far too distant and far too tiny to appear in any optical display. The missile pods following on their heels were somewhat less stealthy, but they were also coming in on a purely ballistic trajectory, far astern of Oyster Bay’s vanguard and falling steadily farther astern as the torpedoes’ spider drive accelerated them towards their targets.

The goodness of SoV

TAdmiral Topolev’s task group had continued in-system for just over a month after its stealthy arrival, until it reached its deployment point, one light-week from Manticore, with a velocity of twenty percent of light-speed relative to Manticore-A. That was when it deployed its missiles and its torpedoes and then disappeared tracelessly back into hyper. The weapons it had left behind had continued coasting through space at their initial launch velocity, their sensor heads protected against particle erosion by special nose caps, until they reached their pre-programmed attack locus. Then they blew the protective caps, receipted the tactical updates from the incredibly stealthy scout ships which had been sent ahead to gather that data for them, and updated their targeting queues.

Instead of using dedicated CSAPPS computers this time, the MAlign used scout ships to relay updated targeting info once the torps were ready to do business.

How close did those scout ships get?