A series ofwork attacks were the first thing that brought Juli’s attention to a problem. Or at least, a empotential/em problem. They were all attempts at remote ess, pretty tant attempts to bypass various security measures or to spoof legitimate connections.

    Juli wasn’t awork cultivator, but even she could tell the attacks were pretty pathetic. It was more of a sign of emfuture/em trouble. It was part of a trend where outsiders attempted to use tech to make moves against the Alliance. Unfortunately for them, their cultures weren’t steeped in tech for a millennium. Even if the Little Alliance was closer to half that, they weren’t working with scraps. They were built up from the bottom properly, including all skills they needed.

    Attacks from eminside/em were actually much more effective. Some determined individuals were quite good at hacking systems. Some might even be good enough to gopletely unnoticed. However, they were problems from within the culture of the Alliance. Outsiders weren’t that great yet.

    The problem wasn’t the present moment, but what the threats emmight/em be. Individuals or small groups could only do so muchpared to state actors. If the Exalted Quadrant focused a portion of their might to something, they would eventually cause problems. The sort that nobody emknew/em about.

    It was a good thing the Alliance had been security conscious from the beginning. Their foes couldn’t even hack into publicworks yet- partially because they wouldn’t risk approaching close enough for timeg to not be an issue. If they got their hands on the emerging instantms it would be another matter. However, such devices were inherently more secure, as they were only used at the top end of things.

    There wasn’t anything Juli could do on her own, but she emdid/em arrange to travel to Xankeshan. She had almost total certainty that theirworks had not beenpromised, but she was still only going to mention the details in person with Engineer Uzun and whatever team he rmended. Fortunately, the spatial distortions would make that trip a fraction of the time it would have otherwise been.

    -----

    “Oh hi Juli!” Suddenly being addressed, she spun around. She wasn’t so well known on Xankeshan that many people actually knew her. But of course, there emwas/em one person. “I noticed you left home recently but now you’re here. I thought you just went to some other.”

    It was Bear Hug. They would always approach people they knew well. Juli grinned. “This emis/em another.”

    “A close one!” Bear Hug swapped to energy sign. Vocalizations were hard, but better for grabbing attention. “What are you doing here? Can I ask? Is it a emsecret/em?”

    “Some of it. Watch your electronics.”

    Bear Hug pulled out a tablet and waited for a moment. “Is something supposed to be happening?”

    “No. Maybe I should say… if you notice anything strange, tell me.”

    “Oh. I’m not a good person for that. It’s emall/em strange to me.”

    “Just… be careful if you get any weird messages.”

    “Oh, I know about that!” Bear Hug nodded seriously. “I’m not supposed to get told what to do except in person. Or if I’m expecting something specific.”

    Good. Juli was d that the Bear Hug sized hole in various security protocols was being well taken care of. It helped that they weren’t being asked to help withmunication in the lower realms anymore- and soon in the upper realms. BHCP was listed as insecure anyway, but that didn’t mean people always followed the rules. She might need to bring it up with Uzun, though. “That’s great. Well, I should probably get going.”

    “Already? If you have to, that''s fine but I was going to ask you about hiveminds.”

    Juli tilted her head. “Why?” She stopped. She didn’t emhave/em to go and it was interesting enough. She just hadn’t been interested in smalltalk.

    “Because I know you. Have you ever been part of a hivemind?”

    “Nope. It’s not something you casually pop in and out of. I’d assume you would know that.”

    “I don’t know. I’m not a hivemind,” Bear Hug said. “I’m just me.”

    “... Huh. I hadn’t thought about that distinction,” Juli said. “Why did you bring it up?”

    “Because they shut down recruitment. Here in the upper realms, I mean.”

    “Were you… nning to join?”

    Bear Hug vigorously shook a head they created. “I have been advised that it would be a terrible idea for any number of reasons. I’ve been to visit, though. Both upper and lower realms.”

    “That’s neat. They’re not really in my area of specialty, so I haven’t really interacted with them much.”

    “They useputers though.”

    “So does emeveryone/em. At least, in the Alliance. Including you.”

    “Oh yeah.”

    -----

    “It might be nothing,” Juli admitted to Uzun. “But I thought I should bring it up.”

    “I understand why you avoided sending a message,” Uzun said. “I can send some specialists. If you’re right and all the attacks have been failures, it’s still good analytical experience. The Alliance hasn’t really had to deal with cyber warfare so far, but we emdo/em have precautions in ce. I don’t believe your caution was unfounded.”

    “Is there anything emI/em can do?” Juli asked.

    “Make sure that important junctions stay secure. They might try the easier option of sneaking in directly.”

    “Hmm. It would be difficult for them to send spies. Void ants would notice people with false auras, and have a pretty good sense of which methods are core to the Alliance. Not that they can know them emall/em, but there are certain signatures of the major sects.” Juli thought for a moment, “As forpromising people within, it would be hard to find many that foolish. But I might suggest some things to Velvet. It’s a project she could handle without roaming far from home.”

    This tale has been uwfully lifted from NovelFire. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    “Indeed, though few things are these days. At least within the boundaries of the Alliance.”

    Juli nodded. She remembered before the spatial distortions, as well as before she was even part of the Alliance. “Thank you for your time.”

    “We appreciate your caution. It is good that you brought this to emsomeone’s/em attention. Even if it’s just an increased frequency of failed efforts, we must consider the future.”

    -----

    “Hi! What’s it like being part of a hivemind?”

    Aveksen was startled out of his thoughts by a nt. “You’re asking… me?”

    Bear Hug nodded. “That’s right. I’m Bear Hug. I heard you told people all about that but you’re not doing it anymore.”

    Aveksen blinked. He was emaware/em of Bear Hug. A rather famous figure, in certain circles. Strong enough that simply being on the same was sufficient to be acquainted with their aura. Apparently Bear Hug… transmitted information? Somehow? Aveksen hadn’t been involved in anything that required their input. “I’m not retired.”

    “But you emare/em tired. By which I mean, uh, they paused recruitment right?”

    “... How did you find out?”

    The suspicion of Aveksen was far overwhelmed by a few other parts of the hivemind. None of them had emtold/em Bear Hug, though.

    “Some people wereining about their cohort being canceled after everyone started yelling. And some emother/em people somewhere else, also after people passed out everywhere.”

    “... How many of you are there?” Aveksen asked. He thought they’d done a pretty good job of limiting the spread of that information.

    “That’s ssified!” That was the normal response, apparently. The answer rang through the members of the hivemind that had met Bear Hug as a truth. “It’s a bunch. It’s probably fine to say there are a couple of me in the region. But sometimes people mean only two and sometimes it’s more and I won’t say which!”

    Aveksen centered himself. “Being in a hivemind is like having arge number of allies you can reach out to at any time and that you trust with all your heart.” It was so difficult to say that at the moment. Not that he didn’t trust the hivemind, but because he didn’t trust those who might be influencing them. Or spying on them.

    “Whoa. Maybe I emam/em a hivemind! But I’m pretty sure it’s still different. Are you everyone?” Bear Hug looked around.

    “No,” Aveksen said. Technically, there were also people that weren’t part of the hivemind around as well. It was just a high proportion of the poption. “I am just me, and a part of something more.” Aveksen had a thought. “Is there a reason you are here?”

    “I’m looking for weird things and bad things!”

    “Like what?”

    “I dunno! But having to shut down recruitment is probably weird and bad. I should tell someone.”

    “Can you… not?” Aveksen asked.

    “Why?” Bear Hug asked, tilting strongly. “I won’t let you get up to any skull-digging if that’s what you’re up to!”

    “Skullduggery?”

    “Yeah!”

    “I’m not doing anything bad. But… who would you be telling?” Aveksen was keeping too much information from flowing to the hivemind, just in case.

    “The Alliance! I get paid, you know.”

    “That sounds suspicious.”

    “I swear it’s legit! Why don’t you want me to say anything?”

    “Because I’m trying to find the culprits.”

    “Um. I’m pretty sure you can just start recruiting people again,” Bear Hug said. “Aren’t you one of the guys in charge of that?”

    “Some people did something bad, which was why we had to stop.” Why did Aveksen trust this… nt? Why did the hivemind trust them? “I’m trying to look into it.”

    “Oh, cool! I can help. I’m like, a super spy. Who did the bad things? What do they look like?”

    “They’re dead.”

    “Then the problem is… ghosts?”

    The conversation was nearly as frustrating as his own thoughts running in circles for the past couple of months. So… still better than not having it, he supposed. “Not ghosts. Though, we can’t rule out possession.”

    “Tell me more.”

    Aveksen could have not done it. That was why he chose to. If he felt like he was beingpelled or manipted, he would have avoided it a lot more. Instead, it was like working with a kid. A pretty old kid. The attitude was refreshing.

    He shared what he remembered. Different cultivation methods. No matching features of any kind. He even mentioned how it emfelt/em.

    “I don’t like that at all,” Bear Hug said. “What if they get inside emmy/em head?”

    “Do you… invite people in?”

    “I do not. But what if they wore me like a suit?”

    Aveksen waved his arm at the form in front of him, vaguely gesturing to all of Bear Hug. “Is your consciousness… in your strands?”

    “Only sort of! Anyway, it sounds like they used a mean technique. Did you say their heads exploded?”

    “It felt like it,” Aveksen said. “But no. Any damage they suffered was a result of retaliation.”

    “That would have made it really hard to train,” Bear Hug said. “If they exploded when they did it. Maybe anyone can learn the mean brain thing?”

    “That’s… possible,” Aveksen admitted. “What would we do then?”

    “Weed out people who aren’t nice,” Bear Hug said. “You should do that anyway.”

    “We try,” Aveksen admitted. “But it’s hard to go in depth with everyone. Especially over many differents.”

    “I don’t have enough bodies for that either,” Bear Hug said. “There are a lot of humans. Have you tried asking void ants?”

    “We… have not.”

    “Why?”

    “People are afraid.”

    “You should meet some! They’re so nice. Has anyone been hurt by a void ant?”

    That was a good question. Aveksen consulted the hivemind. He got back horrifying images of people being swarmed. However, it wasn’t anyone from the hivemind. They would be dead, after all. It hadn’t even been their friends. Just enemies. “Not directly.”

    “You should meet some. They’re like fishies, probably. You think they’re trying to eat you but they aren’t. Well, maybe a little.”

    “Was that… supposed to make us feel better?”

    “You don’t? I love fishies! I’m pretty sure void ants don’t eat people’s energy unless they have permission. Or if the people are enemies. That’s way better behaved. Maybe emthat’s/em what’s missing here! It’s in between the Little Alliance and the core, and you didn’t get a lot of nests here, did you?”

    “Not… that many,” Aveksen admitted.

    “Let me know if you want me to talk to someone, because I can,” Bear Hug said. “They like setting up colonies. I can also help you look for sneaky people, though maybe you need to pretend you’re letting people in again?”

    “... I’ll consider it,” Aveksen said. He couldn’t make such a decision alone, but he didn’t know if it was safe to do it as a group either. One mistake, and they could lose so much more thanst time.