[ computer(s) text / potential college computer lab action? ]

[struckout]

[ Kallie's never been the type to enjoy the first of April much, that cursed day after her birthday. Twenty-one years so far of gag gifts and flat-out birthday-themed pranks - no matter how intolerant she is of them - will do that to a girl. A cautious and frowny sort on the pseudo-holiday, she's generally pretty set on distancing herself rather than running the risk of becoming a victim.

When she absent-mindedly puts in the number that's been occupying her mind all day into her iPad between classes, at first she thinks she's stumbled onto some sort of joke- inadvertently accessing some sort of app designed to confuse.

Then she realizes that these sound like people instead of AI... and her iPad isn't connected to the internet.

Rather confused now (needless to say, a state she's reluctant to admit to herself), she simply fiddles around without replying for a while. Rereads and listens. On a slowly-growing hunch, however, it's then she tries the number on her iPhone as well. Same thing.

A few minutes later she's settled down in front of a distinctly Windows-based desktop in one of the university's computer labs. Number put in, same thing. She briefly quizzes some of the other people there over noticing anything weird, but obviously they're busy with their own things and don't know what she's talking about, so... ]

Is this some joke by the compsci dept or something? hacking into all the wireless devices on campus? I JUST got this ipad and its not even connected yet.

[ And with that she's frowning and running a hand through her dark hair, staring between both desktop and the tablet computer sitting beside it- wondering just what in the world is going on as the same messages continue showing up on both. ]

Comments

[Text]

[chalicejoker]

I've had it happen on my phone and on a cash register, both far from campus.

Whoever's responsible is asking to get his ass kicked.

[Text]

[struckout]

A cash register?

[ Not sure if that's better or worse than a TV and/or fax machine. Somewhere in the middle? ]

[Text]

[chalicejoker]

Yeah. It's new. I just got it today, and at first I thought it was just a weird defect.

[At least the cash register in question is one with a full keyboard...]

[Text]

[struckout]

[ At first it seems such an innocuous answer, but after her first reply to him, Kallie finds she has to sit and think about it for a minute. He said he'd tried both his phone and the aforementioned cash register- just like she'd first experienced the weird effect on her disconnected iPad and then both her own phone and the lab computer she's on now... ]

You put in a number?

[Text]

[chalicejoker]

[A number? Oh...right. Right! THAT number.]

Yeah. I did. Not that I was thinking much about it at the time. But I think it made both of them start acting weird.

Did you?

[11ady]

You too, huh? I just hope my system isn't infected. This is the only laptop I can afford right now.

[struckout]

It's on everything. Even my ipad.

[11ady]

I got strange texts on my phone as well.

[struckout]

People are saying it's not just on campus too.

[ Something she offers deliberately without comment. She doesn't know what to make of it. ]

[ text; typed into computer ]

[secondcomingof]

If this is all a joke, it's certainly an elaborate one. And I doubt even the most enterprising of freshmen could manage to tamper with devices on a city-wide level.

[ Or hack into a military base, but that goes unsaid for obvious reasons. ]

Something else is at work here. I'd say it smells like a conspiracy, but... far be it me to aggravate my generous American hosts for slinging such dire implications about.

[ text forever ]

[struckout]

[ Yeah, 'conspiracy' is a heavy, eye-rolling kind of word, and Kallie frowns the moment she sees it. 'Generous American hosts' too. C'mon. ]

I take it you're not at LCU then.

[ Had it been spoken, her words would have been desert-dry here. That said, she's not sure how else to reply. ]

[secondcomingof]

[ Dude, he's British. C'mon. Some smarmy attitude is to be expected. ]

It's been awhile since my academy days, yes. Still kicking, though.

[struckout]

Right... You think we're being targeted by someone, then?

[ That's... not entirely a serious question, though. Ah, the things lost in the translation from thought to text. ]

[action]

[northless]

[Robb's only swinging by the lab because, well, he's been talking to people he doesn't know (and to people he does know) all day somehow, and thanks to that it's only just now occurred to him that, hey, he's got to get started on that paper.

And, oh, hey, it's that girl at the health center. He would've passed her by, but he fishes out his phone for a quick glance and--oh.

So he settles into the seat beside her instead.]

If it is a joke, then the compsci department must be beyond talented.

[action]

[struckout]

[ At that Kallie jumps slightly, her deepened concentration abruptly broken. For a moment mild scandal at being interrupted when she's clearly 'working' on something in the computer lab crosses her face... before it finally sinks in that he's actually referring to the weird network thing too- the first other person she's met so far who seems aware of it at all.

... He looks vaguely familiar, but not in a way that has her immediately placing him. Sighing through her nose, she just crosses her arms, leaning back in her chair. ]

I don't know what else it would be.

[action]

[northless]

Neither do I, but I managed to talk to one of my high school teachers on it. Whatever it is, it's too elaborate and complicated to be some kind of joke.

[At least, he hopes so. He lets out a sigh, glancing at her computer. He still needs to get started on that paper, but...well, maybe another time.]

[struckout]

[ Her eyes drift down to her tablet as well, lingering there in a narrowed gaze. A problem: on the network itself, if she sticks to text nobody can really tell the reason why there's a pause in between her replies. In person, however, it's clear she's totally uncertain beneath the frown and generally closed-off body language. ]

... Then what is it?

[text first, action later maybe

[reapsthewind]

[Chris is indeed in the same computer lab, but is so focused on frowning at the computer that she doesn't notice Lightning over there at all. ]

By our compsci dept.? Hell no, I'm the only competent one there and I'm only grandfathered in because they needed someone intelligent to teach Ruby and BASIC. They couldn't program a prank this elaborate if they fucking tried.

Also, I'm in the department and they didn't tell me about it, but then, I'm a grad student, so that's not fucking surprising.

[text]

[struckout]

What do you think it is, then?

[ Annoyed as she is, if this new person is actually so much savvier in the realm of computers, then perhaps they actually have some sort of answer as to what's happening here. Kallie could really use some explanation, preliminary theories or otherwise.

Ideally, a theory that doesn't have to do with subliminal numbers and weird bursts of electricity with no source. ]

[text]

[reapsthewind]

Haven't a clue. I've been trying to figure out the underlying structure of this thing, but it's not like anything I've ever encountered. There's some people claiming they're accessing this through paper, so yeah, I thought prank too, but...

See, here's the part that's weirding me out. This thing isn't pinging a server, it's not actually pulling any data in any way that I can see. Images aren't hosted anywhere or linked to anything, neither is video. I can't crack it because there's literally nothing TO crack. So if this IS a weird prank, it's by somebody with more tech prowess than I've ever seen in my life. I'm admittedly not an expert hacker, but I know my way around a system, damn it, and this isn't anything I've ever seen. I can't even pull anyone's actual IPs, just their weird number things, and that doesn't tell me jack shit.

[sulking]

[struckout]

[ That's a lot of words and Kallie's certain she only fully follows about half of it. In fact, as a tiny part of her mind is quick to insist that this person could be one in on it, she almost doesn't want to follow. Abruptly she's finding herself going back on the desire to find out more when it turns out that there might not be a logical, this-makes-sense-as-we-modernly-understand-it reason.

Not answering at first, she simply leans away from her computer - all three of them including her phone sitting near the tablet on the desk - and frowns at the screen with her arms crossed. ]

Maybe it's magic then.

[ If anyone asks, she's only being sarcastic. ]

[Hand Written]

[shendude]

Jokes are typically funny.

[text]

[struckout]

No objection here.

[shendude]

I am beginning to think that unfortunate timing is making us more inclined to think it is a poor joke.

[struckout]

what do you mean by that?