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Justin Greyhound stared at the latest data supplied by Charles Markovik. The visualisation was powerful and gutwrenching. London, Amsterdam, Trondheim, Berlin, Paris, and an outlier in San Diego. It was like a landslide. Before this event, they had a mere two related Californian casualties that had seemed insignificant given the year and a half of serious entrapment history they had at their fingertips. The comparatively tight European cluster of Wildcard-related deaths seemed almost maliciously directed; even if the Reykjavik, Strasbourg, Liverpool and other Amsterdam connection so far remained stable. What were they seeing? Was it worth risking a forced disconnection on the remaining European Citizens, or was the geographic cluster a coincidence? Instinct was trying to push him to pick up the phone and dial for the remaining families. He'd have to inform the group either way - but he was left with the question what precisely he was going to report. He forced himself to remain calm - this data was already a few days old now, aggregated confirmations from Aeonis, Amidigital, halaju, Monsoon and D-band. Cause of death: Disconnection. That wasn't something a coroner got to write in their report every day, was it? And if the remaining green blips on the European part of the map were stable, as the lack of initial reports from the families suggested, what cause did he have to panic now? The course of action was clear, at least. Markovik could get him the data he needed to dispel his worries. Time for a chat. pax.pangora: Could you map the latest data to network routes for me? being.john.malkovich: Hi, Justin! Sure, I can do that. Anything you're hoping to find? pax.pangora: Rather. Something that tells me that we're not looking at a directed attack. I vaguely recall that geographic tendencies don't necessarily map to network routes, do I have that right? being.john.malkovich: Yes. being.john.malkovich: Hmm. being.john.malkovich: Actually, didn't I mention that in my slides? pax.pangora: The ones from April? You might have. It might be where I'm remembering it from, really. Want me to check? being.john.malkovich: No, that's all right. I'll give it a look later. being.john.malkovich: If it's not in there, I'll sneak it in for future lectures, if we'll have any. being.john.malkovich: Definitely should be in there if it's not. pax.pangora: Okay. pax.pangora: Any estimate on when you might have the network map? being.john.malkovich: Give me two hours? pax.pangora: Oh! being.john.malkovich: No good? pax.pangora: No, that's fine. I just thought you had something to quickly visualise the map with the connections superimposed. I guess you shouldn't believe everything you see in movies, though. being.john.malkovich: Haha! Well, yes. I need to write a custom cartogram script for our database first. We don't usually bother to visualise the nodes. They don't have the relevance of subway connections, after all. pax.pangora: Poof. There go my dreams. being.john.malkovich: In future I'll pretend we have a super secret, limited access quantum super-computer for your convenience, then. ;) pax.pangora: You're too kind. being.john.malkovich: I try. It was probably nothing. Six deaths, five ISPs. The infrastructure would probably be arbitrarily scattered. He was infinitely grateful for Markovik's help, though - a visualisation would help dispel the nightmarish one he'd just numbly stared at, trying desperately to forget that each marked a real life. One thing was certain, though - this marked the end of the network's obscurity. If not by own momentum... he'd make sure of it. Hopefully that was a good thing. |