Now We Are Here, General Transmission #19
>C-link engaged
>PROSPERO network open/emergency/secpro: null/xprospero
>SUBJECT: SECURITY BREACH
>Core Security Breached!
>Unauthorised Access: Main Computer Module!
>Initiating Emergency Procedures!
>Initi>>>>>>
>CORE OFFLINE
><<>>>intru-
>Rerouting C-LINK to Cargo Pod 17
>Cargo pod 17 not found
>C-LINK OFFLINE
>C-LINK OFFLINE
>C-LINK REBOOTING...
>No AI found. Abort/Retry/Fail?
>(F)ail... switching to backup systems
>C-LINK DIST. 1%...10%...50%...90%...done.
>C-LINK ONLINE
>C-link engaged
>BACKUP network open/emergency/secpro: null/xcogburn
>SUBJECT: ATTENTION ALL HANDS
At 0132, ship's time, a security team entered the computer core and deactivated the ship's artificial intelligence, Prospero. This operation encountered no resistance, and no injuries were incurred or inflicted. The AI's core program has been suspended and a full level 0 diagnostic of all systems is underway. If there is a reason for Prospero's odd behaviour, we will find it.

Although we were able to secure the computer core, the Flight Crew quickly learned that Prospero had gone offline. There were some disturbances, most of which were quickly dealt with by my security staff. The one remaining problem is a hard core of approximately twenty-five Flighters who have retreated to a sealed complex of modules at the rear of the ship. I am confident that this last group can be pacified without significant damage to the ship or loss of life among the crew.

Many have questioned my handling of this situation. To them, I say this - we are in a precarious and fragile situation. We are alone on an alien world. Ganymede and the other Jovian moons are gone, swallowed up by a rapacious AESIR. The colony vessels that went out are the last vestiges of a free humanity - and we cannot hope that the other colony ships found such appealing and welcoming worlds as this one.

I was at Io when hostile AIs breached our computer network and took over Hell City's environmental controls. I watched friends die in agony, their skin sloughing off their flesh in sickly gobbets when they were flash-boiled. I've seen what happens when AESIR saboteurs get inside your defences. If we cannot trust our computers and our ship, we are done for.

It is my intent to have Propero's diagnostics completed as quickly as possible. If all is well, then the mission can continue as normal. If not, well, we shall deal with that eventuality when it arises.

The first problem, though, are the remaining Flighter insurgents. I believe the best approach is to send an EVA Assault Team out along the hull of the ship, and board their sealed section from the outside. It should be a simple operation. In the mean time, we should start ferrying the other Flight Crew to the surface, at least those who can stand the higher gravity of the planet. Having the Flighters concentrated on board an increasingly empty ship is just causing unnecessary divisions.

I have no intention of subverting the will of the consensus - but bold and forceful action is needed when the very medium of consensus is potentially untrustworthy.

Thank you for your co-operation in this time of crisis.
Cogburn

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