If you look at the sky, it may seem blue and cloudless, but\nbehind it the yawning blackness of the virtual network space awaits and a merciless\nwar reigns at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a war in which there is no good and no evil, hackers\nand defenders change their roles depending on their point of view, governments\nand lobbies conquer or lose their supremacy – but first and foremost it’s a war\nagainst the bugs, the dark, parasitic creatures that are constantly on the\nlookout for destruction and spread unstoppably throughout the universe. Where\nthey came from, nobody knows \u2013 there are rumors of a parallel dimension,\nbecause how else can you explain how they appear at any place unexpectedly? And\nthen there’s the rumor that the developers themselves opened Pandora’s Box and\nbrought the plague into this world, but these are just rumors…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But one thing is clear: once the bugs arrived, they don’t go\naway so easily. They have to be destroyed under a joint, time-consuming and\nlife-threatening effort of all forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the task of specially trained development teams all\nover the world. Just like team Alpha, which in our story was sitting in its\noperations center staring at its screens. In the background of the room there\nwere monitors showing the status of the systems monitored by the team, mainly\nin green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without warning, some of the panels displayed suddenly\nchanged to their complementary color and showed bright red – at first a few,\nbut then the red color spread as quickly as a virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alarm sounded followed by an announcement: “Team Alpha to\nthe Bridge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One after the other the team members glided down the fire\npole. Every move was rehearsed a thousand times in case of an emergency like\nthis. As soon as the belts of the armchairs, in which the team took a seat in\ncombat gear, were closed, the powerful engines started and the landing spoilers\nwere retracted, while “Debug 404”, the mission space ship, gained\nheight and left the firewall, which surrounded the planet as a protective\nshield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Internet Stellar Wormhole<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As soon as they were in free space, various e-mail message\nprobes headed for them. They contained the latest detailed information about\nthe affected systems: a massive bug outbreak in the Gamma Draconis system. The\ncustomer’s order ships could not get through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the screen appeared the weather-tanned face of the\ncustomer’s fleet commander, Enex Deldate: “Crack! I hope for your sake\nthat you are already on your way to solve this mess. You have assured us 99\npercent free passage…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was talking to Captain Crack McZacken, the team leader, who\nreplied calmly and seriously: “That’s how it is, Enex, we’re still in the\none percent and already on the road. The next Internet-stellar wormhole has\njust opened. We’ll be at the endpoint in fifteen chronoseconds.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I’ll give you ten,” the commander replied,\n“The fire corridor closes in a centime. So, if you intend to give\neverything, step it up a notch! I want a detailed report every fifteen\nchronoseconds. And one more thing: pack some additional docker containers of\nammunition – it’s getting hot!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Suddenly you could see something like despair in the\nrock-hard face of the veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As soon as the image of the commander had disappeared, the\nhuge wormhole No. IEEE 802.3 took the entire field of vision. Bluishly\npulsating it opened its huge mouth, ready to swallow everything that dared\ncoming closer and to spit it out fully digested on the other side. At this\nsight the crew suddenly felt sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Coordinates calculated: 40 hops to the endpoint of the\nsystem ‘Gamma Draconis’ – this will be a wild ride. Hold on tight,” Matt\nPoweronoff, the DevOps engineer, shouted grimly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Initiate virtual transfer. Merge our branch into the\ntrunc of the channel. Let’s rock and roll” ordered Crack. With this, the\nmission ship floated through the huge portal of the space tunnel to the slowly\nswelling sounds of “Thunderstruck” by ACDC, until suddenly it got\nswallowed whole and burned up as a small dot on the black firmament of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bug Barbeque<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A flight through the SSH tunnel can be imagined as if all\nyour molecules were torn apart and then reassembled, which in the end is\nexactly what happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paralyzed by the impact of arrival, the crew hung in their\narmchairs, each occupied with their own out-of-control bodies. Stand By, the\nyoungest member of the crew, threw up noisily. Immediately, a robot helper\nrushed over to mop up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “My stomach can’t stand these SSH tunnels. The encrypting\nand decrypting of the atoms always makes me think that a different person arrived\nthat the one that set off.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re here, it’s about time,” Crack said, not\nlooking at him, “There’s the Traefik station. It takes us to the endpoint.\nWe are dealing with a virtual middle-class solar system with three monolithic\nplanets, accompanied by up to twelve microservice-trabants. Behind them is a field\nof microservice asteroids. Over there we can already see the customer’s\nspaceships racing back and forth between them. And…yes, over there, at the\nbig planet, some of them are positioning themselves. They have raised their\nshields and are under heavy fire. That must be our problem child…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Correct,” Matt confirmed, “I’ll send some\nping drones to circle the outbreak… ah, ok, some haven’t come back. That must\nbe quadrant 333…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We have to narrow down the area even further. Sending\nsome analysis log probes over the surfacing database cities…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Captain,” Dschuhr Figgs, the first officer, said\n“I just got word that our support troops are already on site. They have\ninitial analysis data and are limiting the damage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Well, do we have time for the landing oft the regular\nupdate infantry troups?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Unfortunately, no, that would take at least twenty\nChronocentimes and we don’t have that time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “So direct hotfix deployment. Then let’s grill some\nbugs. Take us down, Porter!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The person addressed, Porter Ex, the interface specialist, pulled\na lever, whereupon the spaceship went down and penetrated the atmospheric fog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Prepare Warn-Selects…Fire!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “No reaction,” noted Sudo Line On, the frontend\nengineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then even complex join selects won’t do much good.\nLoad the update torpedoes and the insert missiles into the launch\nshaft…fire!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n One after the other the projectiles left the launching ramps\nof the spaceship and left a wide trail of devastation in the approaching masses\nof bugs. Flyway pipelines ensured a steady supply of ammunition. But no matter\nhow many of the bugs were destroyed, more and more of them followed and took\nover the positions of their fallen brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Legacy Core Brain Bug<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s as if they can foresee all our steps…Wait a\nminute…yeah, that must be it – somewhere down there is a brain bug, I’m sure\nof it,” concluded Yunique Dump, the database planet expert. “It’s\nbeen a while since I last met one. And I had hoped to be spared another encounter…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Ok, let’s see if its actions show a pattern so we can\ncalculate where it’ll strike next…” Crack commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But after a few more attempts even Yunique threw in the\ntowel: “It’s obviously a Legacy Core Brain Bug – it’s hard to get! Here we\nneed the S.W.A.T-Team on site. From up here we can’t do anything anymore. The\ntask force has to locate the brain bug and mark it. We’ll do the rest with the\nDelete torpedoes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Ok, I will give the ‘Go’ to the team. Request\ncommitted. They’re on their way…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just a few moments later, a small WLAN glider landed in the\ndesert region among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The voice of the commander of the S.W.A.T. team sounded\nrough and grumpy on the bridge: “You already know that you risk the lives\nof my men if we go through with this plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Believe me, if there was another way, I’d take it, but\nthere’s no other way, Commander Kiosukis. Now it depends on all of you…”\nCrack replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Ok, now we’re penetrating into the subterranean cave\nsystem of the Bugs. May God have mercy on us, the critters won’t…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence reigned for a long time. Then, when Crack already\nthought that something must have gone wrong, Stand By reported: “The\nS.W.A.T. team has set the mark, I can see the signal clearly on the radar!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Fire” with this word, Crack initiated a massive\nbombardment that lasted for several minutes. When the clouds of smoke had\ndissipated, he said: “Commander Kiosukis, please report, Commander\nKiosukis, come in!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This is Commander Kiosukis: the target has been\nsuccessfully eliminated. I repeat, the target has been successfully\neliminated!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n This message caused cheers on the bridge of the digital\nspaceship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Good work” praised Crack, “As always! Jump\ninto your glider and go home – your beer for a job well done is waiting!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s a trap!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Um…” Yunique spoke with an ominous sound in her\nvoice, “The glider of the S.W.A.T. team has just started without a team\nand is heading straight for us…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Excuse me? How can that be?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again sounded the voice of the S.W.A.T. Commander: “We have\nbeen had! We marked a major bug, but not the brain bug. It seems to have\nescaped with our WLAN glider!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s heading straight for us and wants to dock!” Porter\nshouted desperately, “I can’t prevent it, there’s no block algorithm for\nour own systems!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It wants to take revenge. It is said that a Brain Bug\nsucks out the brains of its victims,” Stand By interjected, “we have\nto evacuate the ship!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Everybody stay where you are” ordered Crack,\n“We’ll face it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But that’s suicide!” Stand tried again, but\nnobody listened to him. Slowly the spaceship turned to initiate the docking\nmanoeuvre. A little later, the entrance lock opened and a monstrous beast\ncrawled inside, leaving a slime trail that shone ghostly in the light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Stop!” Crack’s rock-solid voice resounded,\n“not a step further!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What do you want to do against me, human being?”\nthe creature taunted telepathically, “I am a Legacy Core Brain Bug. No one\ncan stop me!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That only applies to your world,” Crack replied\ncalmly, “you left it of your own free will. Now you’re on our territory –\nand here our rules apply!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n With these words he operated a lever, whereupon a pneumatic\nhissing sounded and sliding doors closed from all sides around the Bug. Before\nhe knew it, he was sitting in a hermetically sealed capsule and blockchains\nclosed around his limbs. He raged in anger, but couldn’t do anything against\nthe titanium walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “You planned this from the beginning?” Stand By\nopened his eyes in amazement and reproach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That’s right. Commander Kiosukis, we have it. Many\nthanks for staying the course. We’ll send the glider down by AI\nautopilot.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Damn! Cleaning it from the slime will take a whole\nweek at least! But it’s good to hear that the plan worked out and we can\nfinally take off. Its getting quite uncomfortable here.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spaceship started the engines and headed for the\nwormhole, while Crack informed the customer that their spaceships could get\nthrough again. As they flew past, they saw Fleet Commander Enex Deldate\nstanding at the front window. He saluted with respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Bring us home, Matt,” Crack commanded as he\ndropped exhaustedly into his armchair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you look at the sky, it may seem blue and cloudless, but behind it the yawning blackness of the virtual network space awaits and a merciless war reigns at all times. 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