08 Conifer Village / A Computer of Light, Pt 1

Previously, on Usagi Days: The girls find themselves in Evergreen Lodge. Ruby and Anemone hide the Usagi under a tarp. At night, Ruby hears a strange howling noise …

- 8.1 - Ruby Brings Up the Howling -

Ruby: "You guys really didn't hear that?"

Ivy and Violet, mouths full, shaking their heads: "Nuh-uh."

Anemone: "I was passed out pretty good, Ruby. The bath knocked me out."

Ivy and Violet, mouths full, nodding vigorously: "Uh-huh."

Anemone, quietly, in a low whisper: "… Are the nightmares back?" (Ruby: "I mean, they're always there, but no … it wasn't that this time …")

Eimi, who happened to be within hearing range: "Oh, there's all sorts of wild animals around here. There's an entire forest surrounding us, don'tcha know. Ah, but nothing to worry about. They never come into the village to bother us. They might sneak into the chicken coop at night and steal our eggs, but that's about it. Just don't go wandering off into the backwoods. Not that I have to worry about you girls doing that. All the roads leading to those areas are boarded up. Now don't get too adventurous, ya hear? It's for your own safety!"

Then she winked at them, before rushing off to help another table.

- 8.2 - A Confrontation at the Warehouse Entrance -

The line at the warehouse was even longer than it had been the previous day.

Ruby, determined to at least get a peek of what so many people were so interested in, made her way to the front of the line, and stood on the tips of her toes, trying to see over the heads of the crowd grouped together at the entrance.

Crowd Member #1: "Hey, hey. You girls. Get in line!"

Crowd Member #2: "Yeah! Back of the line! I've been waiting here since before the sun came up. You're not skipping ahead on my watch."

Ivy, Violet, apologetically: "No, no, we're not trying to cut ahead—we're just taking a look …"

Crowd Member #3: "Oh, I've heard that excuse before."

Crowd Member #1: "I mean it. You better move away before I move you away. I swear, kids these days just don't respect their elders …"

Ivy: "Ah … Wait. Hey! Don't do that!"

Anemone: "You touch my friend again, and you're going to regret it."

Ruby: "What's your problem, dude?"

Violet: "Just leave us alone!"

Crowd Member #1: "Yeah? What are you going to do about it?"

- 8.3 - The Professor's Assistant Steps In -

Before Ruby had time to show him exactly what she intended to do, the lady in the blazer from yesterday appeared, and stepped in between the two parties.

She cleared her throat, adjusted her glasses, and said to the stranger who had put his hand on Ivy: "I'm terribly sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to ask you and your friends to leave. The warehouse has a strict zero-tolerance policy toward physical violence or intimidation. Your pass will be refunded in full, of course. Now please vacate your space in the line for our other guests. Thank you."

The men scoffed in disbelief, then spat on the ground before storming off.

The lady bowed to the Usagis. "I sincerely apologize for the unruly behavior of the other guests. My name is Misa, I'm the Professor's assistant."

Ruby: "Ah, no, it's … fine … Thank you for that."

Misa: "If you are still interested in a live demonstration, you are all welcome to follow me into the warehouse."

Ruby and her friends looked at each other. They nodded, and then followed Misa inside.

- 8.4 - Inside the Warehouse -

The girls marveled at the enormous, labyrinthine device that occupied most of the space inside the warehouse.

An intricate network of what appeared to be metal tubes stretched across the length of the warehouse from front to back in a dizzyingly chaotic yet meticulously ordered structure that rose nearly to the top of the roof.

Ivy, craning her neck in awe: "What … is it?"

Misa smiled. "You're looking at SOLA9in3, the life's work of the brilliant Professor Kay."

Ruby, repeating what she thought she'd heard: "Solo … Nine?"

Anemone: "What does it do?"

- 8.5 - Misa Explains SOLA9in3 -

Although the bulk of the machine took up much of the space in the warehouse, there was enough room along one side of the warehouse, wide enough for them to walk comfortably.

There were a few workers scattered throughout the warehouse, busy examining different parts of the machine. Some were even on ladders, working on higher sections of the machine.

Misa explained, as she lead the girls down the path: "The SOLA9in3 is the result of Professor Kay's efforts to build a working, functioning computer."

Anemone: "People have tried that before. Entire organizations have dedicated themselves to the goal of getting computers working again."

Misa: "And the Professor is the first one to have succeeded."

Violet: "Computers? You mean those square boxes with the glass surfaces? We seem them all the time when we rummage through office buildings. Occasionally we seem in abandoned houses."

Misa: "Technically those are the displays to the actual computers. But yes, you're mostly correct. Before the Orcs came, computers were crucial to the functioning of everyday life. They ran everything from the electrical grid, to supply chain logistics, to—"

Ivy: "—video games! I've read about those, you know. You could control characters on the screen, make them do all sorts of stuff. Fight dragons with swords, o-or shoot bad guys with laser guns …"

Misa: "You're right. They were indeed also used for the purposes of entertainment. But we also used them for storing and transmitting knowledge. We had a way of interconnecting every computer in the world, across the entire globe. You could talk with anyone, anywhere, at any time. Could you imagine that?

"Well—we're not quite there yet, with SOLA9in3. Perhaps one day. Small steps. That's what we have today." Misa paused, and realized the irony of her words. "Well, maybe not so much 'small'. But you get what I mean."

Misa stopped. The machine terminated here, near the back of the warehouse.

- 8.6 - Interfacing With SOLA9in3 -

The entire back side of the machine was flush, and seemed to be covered in a reflective surface that stretched from the bottom to the top of SOLA9in3's height. Neatly spaced lines of short, white text, with the occasional number, ran from top to bottom.

In front of this reflective surface was a table, where a man sat, typing into a keyboard. As he typed, the wall display seemed to change, all by itself, based on what he was typing. Ivy and Anemone both tried to read the white text, but it seemed like indecipherable gibberish.

RIght now the display read something like:

mov al, ebx
add al, 1
jmp sub_1
sub_1:
push ebx

… and so on.

The man sighed in frustration. He seemed to be stuck on a difficult problem.

Misa addressed the man. "Valued guest, your time is almost up."

The man groaned. "Can't you give me a few more minutes?"

Misa: "I'm afraid your payment only covers up until the hour. I'll have to ask you to wrap up your work so we can allow the next guest to come in."

The man sighed, "Fine." He started typing again, and all the white text disappeared from the surface. He sat up, stepped away from the keyboard, and began walking back to the entrance, seemingly still thinking about whatever problem he was working on.

Misa: "We sell time with the computer. We allow anyone to interface with it, for a price."

Ivy: "So all those people lining up … They're all here just to sit and type? Does that mean all those people know … how to write in that weird language?"

Misa laughed. "Oh, no, no. That man was a hobbyist. Computing is his hobby. He writes computer programs, for fun."

Violet raised an eyebrow. "Fun, you say …"

Misa: "That's the beauty of SOLA9in3. Or really, computers in general: one person might enjoy working directly on the bare metal, like what you just saw, while another person, less technically inclined, might only care about asking it general questions in plain language to learn about different subjects."

Ivy: "It … can do that?"

Misa: "Of course!"

Misa walked over to the vacated table, took a seat at the keyboard, and began typing. Words appeared on the back wall as she typed.

> SOLA, can you tell us when the Orcs left Earth?

The girls watched in rapt attention.

After a few seconds of waiting, the answer came back. The back wall updated itself, each letter appearing rapidly one after the other.

> Answer: According to my most recent update, the hostile alien race known informally as Orcs, or Space Orcs, departed Earth on July 2, 2024.

> As a result, this date is celebrated across the world today as Orc Banishment Day, a summer holiday that commemorates the Orc's departure from Earth.

> Would you like to know more about Orcs?

The girls were speechless.

Mika turned in her seat to face them. "That was one example, but you can ask it anything, really. It can even write you, oh, I dunno, a poem. You could ask it for a recipe on how to make an oven-baked pizza. You could ask it how to treat a broken bone, how to make fever medicine with the herbs that grow in these mountains. The possibilities are endless. You can see why people are so desperate to get time with it."

Ivy: "What about the people who can't read or write? There aren't that many people who can do it these days. Like Ruby here."

Ruby, defensively: "I can read! … A little."

(Violet: "Looking at the pictures in manga doesn't count.")

Anemone: "How is any of this possible? There's no electricity, there's the SDF … How can any of this work?"

A voice rang from high above. "Fundamentals, my dear!"

The girls looked up.

A tall, lanky woman with short, messy hair and dark bags under her eyes emerged from the top of the SOLA9IN3. She had been working inside, and her face was covered with sweat. She cleared the damp hair from her eyes, and smiled.

"… Fundamentals," she repeated. "As long as you understand what the SDF is, you can work around it."