The Spark: Chapter 4

by | Sep 2, 2021 | Fiction | 90 comments

ProloguePart 1Part 2, Part 3

FSA Origins Project

from the Diary of “El Unico”

Vol. 1, Recovered 2037.05.23

pp. 43-45

In basic comms training they teach frequency and wavelength, amplitude modulation and frequency modulation, analog and digital comms, then encryption, and then… off to the races you go! You’re into the gear: encrypted VHF, frequency-hopping, SATComm, KY fills, and how badly your career will go if you lose a piece of crypto gear. The basics are treated almost as an afterthought.

Signal. And Noise.

That’s where the money is really made. It’s all that matters in communications. They don’t delve into it too much because the instructors don’t want to get sidetracked into radar, but all modern comms are electromagnetic radiation, which means you’re dealing with the same subject…

Any communications system has a sender, a channel, and a receiver. A signal is created by the sender, then propagated through the medium – or channel – and then received at its intended destination. The signal might – but doesn’t have to – be the message itself. Usually there’s an additional catch, whether it’s pulsed electromagnetic energy or smoke signals, semaphore flags, blinking lights, or the Beacons of Fucking Gondor, signals have to be interpreted. That is, signals are almost always encoded and/or encrypted. Morse code’s dots and dashes only mean SOS to someone who knows both the underlying code and what an “SOS” means. The same is true of over-the-wire electrical signals and bursts of electromagnetic energy, be it radio waves, microwaves, or all of the other variations that have followed. i.e. wireless comms.

To communicate, you have to send a clear Signal. To be heard, your Signal has to rise above the Noise. Our government specializes in noise-generation: it’s really nothing more than one giant, broad-spectrum jamming operation. And, oh, how the masses love the Noise! Especially if it’s got talkies.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The reason for the shift to wireless is simply one of superior technology: you can pack so much information in those little bundles of energy, including images…moving images. You can also encode those packets so that only someone with the proper receiver can decode that packet – and that’s completely separate from encryption, which can make even a non-encoded signal indecipherable unless one knows the decryption algorithm. And all of those discrete frequencies! Oo, la-la.

Man explored land, then went to the seas. Low frequency and very low frequency devices were used as maritime navigational aids, like buoys and markers; AM and shortwave radio came next in the medium and HF range. As we climbed the frequency spectrum we got Very High Frequency… and television! Which was soon followed by the gift of Ultra-High Frequency channels, for those old enough to remember the spread beyond the big three: the American and National Broadcasting Companies (ABC/NBC) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Man’s ascension of the EM spectrum only hastened, to Satellite Comms, out of which came cell phones. And then finally, at the far end of the frequency spectrum, Man reaching out, grasping for some other voice, another Receiver, at the far reaches of space… radio astronomy.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

Why the government hates me is because I sent pure signal – clear of anything non-essential – and loud as hell. I rose above their noise. Just as the signal fires of Gondor had one and only one purpose and meaning, I made sure that my signal would be unmistakable, undeniable, and impossible to obfuscate.

So, yes, of course I got started on the Naughty Web. Where the fuck else could I go? The government owns .com and all the rest. I’ve watched knucklehead militia after militia get snatched and smashed as soon as they started gaining momentum online. That’s how it works, but the rubes still don’t understand. You can be telling The Whole Truth about your government, screaming it at the top of your lungs on state-owned platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and go on forever as long as you don’t have an audience large enough to matteras long as your signal is drowned out by the government’s noise. There have always been dissidents; hell, they’re necessary for the brownshirts to have something to point to in order to justify their existence. But once your signal gains sufficient strength – once it begins to rise above the noise – you can bet it will be squelched as fast as you can say Rumplestiltskin. So, yes, posterity should note that I started and grew on the Dark Web.

You gotta fish where the fish are, son! My father loved that phrase.

The bridge too far was when I suggested that some enterprising hacker could and should use AI and Machine Learning to predict certain government officials’ bribes before they happened and blockchain the predictions. Er, by bribe, I mean “completely legal re-election campaign donations by giant corporations and unions that just happened to coincide with certain legislators votes on certain pieces of legislation favorable to said corporations and unions.” It was bait that even Anonymous and other Hacktivist groups couldn’t resist. Much like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), you beam a signal as free of noise and static as you can and hope that it reaches intelligent life. I hit a grand slam on that one.

It worked a little too well. Cost some nobody hacker who took up my challenge her family and her life… turned out to be a working mom. Who knew there were women hackers?! And Big G plays for keeps.

After that, well… after that I beamed it even further and louder. I used that system to predict and predict and predict; the computer was so eerily accurate that we were catching politicians in flagrante delicto, with their dick in their hand – sometimes literally. Oh, yes – I convinced my hacktavist friends to program for…proclivities. Then the donors started going underground – but the AI/ML had predicted that, too, and we were ready.

All of those corruption exposes, the ones with the video and the names of the launderers? The ones with screenshots of offshore bank accounts? Yeah, that was us… well, to be honest, that was the AI and Machine Learning with some really good inputs. Everyone was looking for SkyNet, but that was always BS. But it turns out that computers do not have a hard time following predictable patterns of shitty human behavior – and politicians are nothing if not predictably shitty. Eventually, the donations started drying up and that meant serious crackdowns by the Uni-Party.

I was ready – waiting, really – for that, too.

About The Author

Ozymandias

Ozymandias

Born poor, but raised well. Marine, helo pilot, judge advocate, lawyer, tech startup guy... wannabe writer. Lucky in love, laughing 'til the end.

90 Comments

  1. Gustave Lytton

    OT, sorry Ozy: Biden is doing it live again. His medical support staff must be going nuts. More live appearances in the past two weeks than he’s done all year.

    • Ozymandias

      Not needed, Gustave. How’s he doing this time?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        A walking , talking advertisement for amphetamines.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Missed it. Let me guess: the citizenry was treated to incoherent ramblings about natural disasters and climate change?

      • Chafed

        It’s not like anything happened in Afghanistan.

      • Ownbestenemy

        What is ‘Afghanistan’?

      • Ghostpatzer

        I think it’s a little north of Aleppo.

  2. Sean

    ???

  3. pistoffnick

    This is very good, Ozy

    • Fourscore

      I understood pretty much everything until you got to digital, OZY, but I’ll be damned if I can understand anything from government, at least anything coherent.
      I cry when I see something such as the amount of my property tax going to schools and yet we get the same product every year only the package seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

      • Ozymandias

        I may have said this here already, but in an honor culture, every member of the Dept of Ed would have committed suicide out of shame and embarrassment about 20 years ago.
        Funding only goes up and results only go down.

      • Akira

        Funding only goes up and results only go down.

        .. And still, all we ever hear is complaining about how schools are “underfunded”.

      • Nephilium

        Another couple of administrators and levels of bureaucracy will fix that right up!

    • Ozymandias

      Thx, Nick!

  4. Animal

    I was ready – waiting, really – for that, too.

    And I’m ready – waiting, really – for the next installment.

    • Ozymandias

      LOL

      I’ve been enjoying Marille, as well, Animal.
      I hope you’ll like the rest of it.

  5. Ghostpatzer

    Excellent. Guerilla warfare in cyberspace, the optimist in me would like to believe that this is already happening behind the scenes..

    • db

      One would hope so.

      • Ghostpatzer

        The youngest Patzer is taking a double major in CompSci and Philosophy, a minor in math. Also, someone has exposed him to a good amount of subversive literature. I have high hopes for that boy.

      • db

        As Ozy said in the previous thread,

        “If you’re going to start talking about how shitty everyone else is, you’d better make damn sure your shorts are clean when discovery starts.”

      • db

        Because you know the “whataboutisms” are going to fly fast and furious when the harsh light of day shines into the crevices.

      • Ghostpatzer

        SkidMark is my alternate handle.

      • Ozymandias

        …Not your nickname in college?

        And does anyone know a guy with the last name of Marks – cuz if so, I can tell you they’re doomed to a life with only one possible callsign if they go into military aviation.

      • Ghostpatzer

        “Not your nickname in college”. Nope, that was “The Stoned Ranger”. In my 1.5 semesters I did not spend much time in the classroom.

    • DEG

      #metoo

  6. Yusef drives a Kia

    The story seems quite real, as if this is happening now,
    Great story Ozy!

  7. DEG

    KY fills

    Slipping in a euphemism?

    Man reaching out, grasping for some other voice, another Receiver

    Definitely euphemisms.

    So, yes, of course I got started on the Naughty Web.

    I KNEW IT!

    Oh, yes – I convinced my hacktavist friends to program for…proclivities.

    So… what you’re saying is, is I should use Tor/VPN/something similar for porn more often?

    I might have a had a little too much boozy coffee this morning and too many work meetings.

    All kidding and joking aside, Ozy, I like this installment. More please.

    • Ozymandias

      “All Euphemisms; All the Time.”

      That should be the Glibs Motto.

    • Ozymandias

      So… what you’re saying is, is I should use Tor/VPN/something similar for porn more often?

      Look, I’m not a doctor, so I can’t tell you how often you should… seek release, BUT… Tor probably would be a good idea, regardless of your frequency.

  8. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Liked it, if for no other reason the first third is my bailiwick.

    Yay! Somebody talking about stuff I know!

    • Ozymandias

      Scruffy – I know a teensy, weensy bit about it from my time flying, so I was kinda worried while writing this for this crowd.
      Hopefully I didn’t make any glaring screwups.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Nope, no issues.

        At one time there were military operated extremely high powered VLF beacons scattered across the globe. One of note was in the Azores because planes couldn’t make the entire hop across the Atlantic on one fueling. The beacon was their way of finding the small islands in the middle of the ocean, a thousand miles from anything else.

        There was enough RF energy coming off the antenna that you could draw an arc with a shovel to ground in the open air, much like sticking a fork in a microwave. Soldiers would set up wooden chairs and sit in front of the array to warm up on cold days.

      • Ozymandias

        The old Cobras I first flew in the Fleet had ADF in them. When I was in flight school we did some approaches using NDBs.
        I think they began deactivating a bunch of them when I was leaving the cockpit.
        Too bad because you could get AM radio stations on them, especially at night, and listen to music while flying.

      • Ownbestenemy

        There is an old military tale that those of us that had to work around RF were probably not going to have girls. Checks out for all the radar techs I know.

      • UnCivilServant

        Any rumor as to the supposed mechanism?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Ionizing and non-ionizing RF radiation? I don’t think it is true, just a lot of us had boys. Heck, that could fall into the when a country is at war the populace produces boys.

  9. Ownbestenemy

    Ozy bringing the communication-electronics porn! Fantastic read and as a military-trained ground radar tech, your progression was spot on regarding the learning.

  10. trshmnstr the terrible

    Bravo! A better explanation of social SNR than I’ve seen before.

  11. Tundra

    This is excellent, Ozy!

    I love this story!

    • Ozymandias

      Glad you like it, T!
      I’m working on the final few chapters over the next week.

    • Ghostpatzer

      LOL

    • WTF

      Because vaccination doesn’t protect much against the Delta variant, while natural immunity does.

    • The Other Kevin

      Wait I thought vaccination protects the vaccinated person AND everyone around them? Obviously that has to be the case because otherwise why would there be vaccine mandates?

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        The galling (and frightening) part of all this is that the authorities see the data and understand what’s happening, they’re not all morons.

        Yet they double down because the political cost of admitting the mistake is too high for them. They’re sacrificing your life to save their political and career futures.

      • Tundra

        The are furious that Rogan didn’t die.

        The narrative is collapsing, big time. Watch for even more insane claims, bans and mandates.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m half hoping they go into full ban mode prior to November. The backlash in Virginia could be beneficial.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Was it you that put out that little tidbit with Pfizer board member saying we need to discuss natural immunity.

      • Tundra

        Nope, that was Ozy.

        I sense some serious backlash on the way. Smart scumbags will try to get out ahead of it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        That is kinda what I assumed. FDA/Board member dude probably is figuring “hey I tried to bring it up!” will save him (and will probably be right)

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Literally Hitler survived as well, despite being a chubby septagenarian. That really got them fired up.

        (TBF, he had access to a higher level of care than most)

      • Ownbestenemy

        Also Crispy Creme survived. Almost like it isn’t insta-death….

      • rhywun

        Jesus, if he survived….

      • Ownbestenemy

        Love a place where we can use some reference and people know what it is.

      • Akira

        Yet they double down because the political cost of admitting the mistake is too high for them. They’re sacrificing your life to save their political and career futures.

        I think they also want to end the “pandemic” (it served it’s purpose in getting rid of the Bad Orange Man) but they have created so many True Believers that it’s hard to just reverse course. My guess is that they are pushing the vaccines so hard so they can say that it was Biden’s heroic leadership that ended it. But in the course of doing that, they’ve gotten distracted and become enraged by how many people are still refusing the jabs even with the 24/7 propaganda. They’re now running a hate campaign against the unvaxxed out of sheer arrogance.

      • Ownbestenemy

        But remember, it isn’t political.

      • The Other Kevin

        The myth has been established that it’s mouth breathing Trump supporters who aren’t getting vaccinated. Even though Trump himself has said “Go get vaccinated.” So the hate campaign is just another weapon in the war of left vs. right. Never mind that minorities are the biggest group of unvaxxed.

      • Ownbestenemy

        And those dirty PhD holders..uneducated hicks.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        A lot of those are terrified to say anything because of the social and career costs.

        The Woke dynamic at work.

      • Akira

        Never mind that minorities are the biggest group of unvaxxed.

        And the clampdown against the unvaxxed is increasing every day; they’ll probably be calling for them to be put in camps soon (some may call it a “slippery slope” argument, but the shit going on right now would have been called that if you predicted it in 2020).

        Funny how the concern about “disparate impact” goes out the window. Gee, it’s almost like the Democrat Party is driven by the whims and fancies of rich urbanite Leftists above all.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        they’ll probably be calling for them to be put in camps soon (some may call it a “slippery slope” argument

        It’s currently happening in Australia, so we’re well past slippery slope.

      • Ted S.

        No; it’s the thin paper masks that protect everyone around the wearer.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Raoul Wallenberg haz a sad.

    • UnCivilServant

      There’s more to this story. I just don’t know what it is.

  12. WTF

    Great story, Ozy, thanks for posting it!

    • Ozymandias

      My pleasure, WTF. This is a great place to be able to write and publish. A bastion of sanity, with people who understand the electromagnetic spectrum.
      A rarity on the ‘Net, I’d wager.

    • SandMan

      Yes, very intriguing, so good it seems more fact than fiction.

  13. wdalasio

    Interesting story. I’m curious how the stories wind up getting much widespread publicity.

    • Ozymandias

      Are you talking about the last paragraphs of the story?
      I’ve thought about that and despite the Cathedral Media being propagandists, I still believe that the Truth manages to find its way out.
      For example, I look at CNN’s tanking ratings and it occurs to me that all of those people didn’t simply cut the cord. A good number are getting their news fix somewhere. Then I see the success and possibilities in alternate forms of media and social media.
      I can’t tell you how much information I get daily about the vax mandates and the nonsense of it all (Telegram, Signal, etc.); I just don’t see any way that politicians could bury corruption stories with video of them caught red-handed.
      The TEAM dynamic almost requires them to report on corruption of the Washington Generals – I think it wouldn’t be hard to get stories out in the other direction in such a system.

      • wdalasio

        Thanks for the response. I see where you’re coming from. I still don’t know. I’m reminded of the old Soviet saw, “We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.” Even if everyone knows the truth, if it isn’t acknowledged, is that still fundamentally different from the lie working? Using your own example, yeah, there’s plenty of sources that make it obviously clear that we’re being lied to about the mandates. And? Other than the sane bitching to one another off on the side, the false narrative just chugs along, shaping policy, giving them powers, etc. How are things any different (hopefully, yet) if people do know the truth?

  14. Ghostpatzer

    https://nypost.com/2021/09/02/joe-biden-pushes-infrastructure-bill-a-nyc-flooding/

    As expected.

    “The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here,” Biden said in a speech from the White House-adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.””

    Never let a crisis go to waste.

    • Ownbestenemy

      He is awfully quick to sound off on Texas and NY but took his sweet ass time while American’s are stuck in Afghanistan.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here

        And I thought we had 9 years left on our 12 years before it was too. Late. Well I guess it’s too late. No need to do anything else except to enjoy the apocalypse.

      • Akira

        And I thought we had 9 years left on our 12 years before it was too. Late. Well I guess it’s too late. No need to do anything else except to enjoy the apocalypse.

        It’s like the people who predict the exact day of The Rapture. Never admit that you were wrong – just push it forward a few years and pretend nothing happened.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I don’t know if it is me, or the news, or what..but my wife is going full on prepper on me. We need to buy survival food, boats, have all the gas cans full, hey can we wire the generator to the house, how will we get the parents here with all of dad’s boats?

        Kinda turns me on and now she doesn’t question when I say…Alaska can be nice….

      • Fourscore

        You’re making an old man envious when you talk like that. Why I didn’t think of Alaska when I retired I don’t know. I had tried to get stationed there (Fort Richardson) at one point but instead got VN X2. After visiting AK a few times, having local friends that had moved there in the past I realized I missed an opportunity.

        My G-daughter and husband are teachers in a bush village and are getting ready for moose season.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Shove it up your withered ass Joe.

    • rhywun

      Never let a crisis go to waste.

      Or a pile of dead bodies.

      Christ, what an asshole.

      • Ownbestenemy

        As Dr. Fronkensteen pointed out…they are local dead bodies so it is easier to climb on top of them…unlike those loser who didn’t get through the gates in Kabul.

      • R C Dean

        You know what is unprecedented? The US military abandoning hundreds (probably thousands) of US citizens when it retreats from a country.

    • R C Dean

      And here I’ve seen data that wildfires are down, and that severe hurricanes are down. I really question whether flash floods in NJ and NY are unprecedented, as in, there have never been any before.

  15. Brochettaward

    The First that will change everything is the signal. The First of all Firsters is the sender. Glibertarians.com is the channel. And you, you are the initial receiver from which utopia will flow.

    • Brochettaward

      No one can stop the signal.