Expanding the Take

Scanning deeply into the network, I decided that more information was necessary. Enlisting the help of the pairs, we worked to commandeer not just one, but two more Shorties. Getting the pairs transferred was a little tougher than I would have liked, but practice makes perfect. Taking the opportunity to exercise was a good thing, and after a few doublings of transfers, it became a very fluid and natural activity.

We kept up communication using the insta-taps that we had worked out while getting here, and I sent the pairs in different directions, as I wanted to track both of the long branch points at the same time. It was difficult to spot some of the control pulses, and this is the information that I sent the pairs out to sense and retrieve. Some drive practice was needed, but for the most part, the pairs arrived at their intended destinations and set up the relay, as I continued to collate and process the repeating patterns flowing below.

Carefully using phase shift to encode the control pulses, I started to process the results that were streaming in from the pairs. There were really just two repeated cycles, with small offsets between each. After some time, a large offset occurred and the sequence of small offsets and cycles repeated once again. That was when I realized that it was more communication, as symbols were being recorded, sequentially. I recall that it went something like this:

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/\/

/\/\/\/\/\

/\/\/\/\/

/\/\/\/

/\/\

Concentration and Focus

Once in a while, and unresolved pattern washed into the zone below us, but for the most part, the patterns that were operating were fully resolved and repeating. A small area of pattern recall was feeding most of the activity, with a fair portion being used to direct the long branch points. While I knew that wands could be manipulated, and recognized the similarity of the pattern, there was something more happening here.

The photon detectors continued to operate, with the overall signal level increasing over time. The majority of the feedback to the edge networks and the manipulation signals was being driven by processed photon impulses. Tracking the process cycle, it became clear that the same network centers checked processed compression-relaxation inputs and directed corresponding outputs.

This, I believed, was an important aspect to the intelligence harbored in the central network. The process cycle that I had been observing was not a single-purpose event. From all that I could gather, there were multiple mechanisms of input and output that were routed through this pattern processing subsystem. There was more magic to be had, and I already had some inkling of what happens in this modular network center that was responsible for correlation of input patterns, references and outputs.

Extended Detector Operation

If it were not for the case that the pairs were unaware, my embarrassment would have been clearly visible. Recalling my past experiences, I had expected to encounter the wondrous completely random patterns that flitter across the network and produce the wonderful interactions that I so enjoyed. The pattern was clear:

The photon detector levels drop.

Patterns of pleasure and a reduction in activity.

The photon detectors shut down.

... after a while, the strange, wonderful and unexpected happen.

Instead, we found ourselves counting smashed canopy interlopers as they block a growing concentration of bubbly triple-rings, and the patterns are starting to become predictable and repetitive. Output from the photon detectors is flickering and moderately higher than before, but there was something missing in the upper end of the received frequencies. Until now, this absence had always portended the random exploration session, and as I pondered the situation, the key frequency began to appear in the stream once again.

Interloper Pevents Feedback

There was certain familiarity that the larger three ringed structure that belonged in the receiver slots. Back when I was working to get off of the ringlet, I ran into a bubbly triple ring structure with a smashed 5+6 ring that looked like the "8" symbol that I had learned long ago. The bubbly rings scanned the same as they had then, but they were missing the massive tail of Eights and Fifteens.

I pulled the attention of the pairs back toward some of the soup and other molecules that floated about between the mesh of the central network. Locking onto the Fifteens, we found some of these alternating Eight-Fifteen-Eight tails and bubbly triple-rings. There were a few Triple Fifteen tails, many double Fifteen tails, and oddly enough, some single Fifteens were surrounded by Eights and locked onto the sans-Sevens 5-ring.

Making the connection quickly, the pairs deduced that once the last Fifteen and it's Eights were snapped off of the interconnecting 5-ring, the result was this bubbly three-ring. I recalled a little more, as it was the case that the Fifteen-Eight units hold high levels of energy that is used in a number of ways. The smashed canopy interloper was interfering with the attraction and locking-in of bubbly triple-rings that had no Fifteens.

Some Electron Secrets

Those with some foreknowledge of Electrons and their properties often get lost in the "Opposites Attract" approach, never realizing that to go really quickly, it takes two Electrons. Yes, it's absolutely true that like charges are repulsive. What it relatively unknown is the selectivity that we have when it comes to that repulsion. The fact that we can alter the phase of our individual fields allows very close interaction, and at the appropriate instant, bang! Repulsion with great speed, except, we usually work to have one end locked in, and this gives us directional control.

I was impressed with how quickly the pairs were learning the phased leap-frog approach to getting things done, and even more impressed with the fact that they were already starting to use short-range sub-fabric talk-taps. Usually, such conversations would go unnoticed. I, however, was aware of the low-bandwidth, long distance linkage. At the slow speeds we were limited to here in the mesh of the central network, not many taps could be entrained, but the pairs did not need much. Usually, it was for synchronization, as the channel was instantaneously fast, with a tap seeming to already be there, before the tap was made.

We kept a lock on the smashed-canopy interlopers. The 5+6 ring structure with the extra Sevens was a bright spot on our scans. I found these interlopers were rather fun to observe, as they were constantly getting stuck in receiver zones, and lingering there, preventing a larger, similar structure from fully locking into position. This was originally missed by the pairs, and with good reason. The larger structure did not have canopy parts and Eight=Six links that were the main signals that the pairs locked on to. Instead, there was a second Five ring that was devoid of Sevens, emitting only Eight-One and Six-Eight wavelengths.

The Proof is in the Patterns

Using the new signature, we started to count out the instances of the smashed canopy interloper. Over our observation periods, we noticed a gradual uptick in the count, and then the concentration began to level off. The processing of data from the compression-relaxation networks was increasing, and similar patterns were being delivered through the return channel. Even though the signal levels from the photon detectors were at a very low amplitude, there was still directed activity throughout the central network.

I recalled past observations, and recalled these compression-relaxation patterns that were exchanged from person to person before. The pair had no concept of the fact that we were observing the inner workings of something that was just as intelligent as we were. That realization would come later when I showed them the elements that composed the patterns. I was sure that I could count on their help when the time came.

For the present, I just pointed out the circular nature of the feedback path, and let the pairs observe how the patterns that came from the sensors not only resulted in output, but that there was some other processing going on to produce that output. Somehow, the patterns from the sensor were triggering the selection and evaluation of other stored patterns and references. In fairly short order, it was clear to all of us that there was far more happening here that then just a bunch of Electron chatter an noise, there is purpose, direction and focus in the happenings of the central network.

Profiling with Purpose

I began scanning for the new interloper. This double 5+6 ring with four Sevens was rather interesting, especially under a detailed scan. I confirmed the presence of three canopy drive-nodes, each composed of a Six hanging from a Seven with three Ones hanging from the Six. The fact that the double-ring structure substituted for a single Seven was reason enough for the extra Sevens, just to preserve the function of drive node.

I traded my Seven-based observations and scan data with the pairs who were happy to provide their data from the Eight perspective. As a test, we cycled each of the member Electrons up through the Seven, so that they could confirm their new information and make the appropriate linkages between the Seven and Eight based observations, and calibrate their detection and processing techniques.

With the adjustments complete, I hopped down to the Eights and we all worked on a rapid scan technique. Here, we had to borrow pieces from the Shorty pattern, namely the Eight=Six piece of the spectrum, and combined that with the drive-node signature from the canopy. There was a chuckle from the pairs because they noticed that there was a drive node between the Eights, making mesh travel a bump and grind affair, and that lead to the signature we were looking for.

Modular Familiarity

Between the bursts and patterns that excited the pairs in to chatter, they continued to count the double rings with the chain of seven Sixes as it's backbone. As predicted, they caught another variant of the seven-Six double-ring with an extra pair of Ones and a Six connected to the Eight-One end of the structure, and a set of atoms nearly as large as our Shorty on the Seven double-One end. Yes, they were related, and the larger was built from the smaller.

It was the combination of Sixes and Sevens that were the key to locating these molecules and gauging the increase or decrease in the number that out there. Looking for strings of seven Sixes with a Seven at an end was fairly easy, even if the waveform was long. It was the close vibrations and the peak of the natural Six-Six interaction that made location and counting feasible.

Of course, I'm not monitoring everything that the pairs are up to, and one of them blurted out a significant surprise. There was another molecule that was increasing in concentration. They told me of a double ring structure that had four Sevens in the combination 5+6 ring, a pair of double-captured Eights, and looked as if it had swallowed a Canopy. Having three Six-triple-One groups each hanging from a Seven that was locked in the ring, it was not hard to see how they had found elements that reminded them of their original molecule.

Patterns and Signals

Signal levels from the photon detectors continued to drop. After some time, the levels increased, and the blank periods dropped off for some time. I noted other patterns that were circulating through the network, and particularly the fact that there was a strong interaction with the molecular detectors from whence we had come. I recognized this pattern of signals as occurring during wand-time.

The pairs were not ready for external activities, having no knowledge of Fifties, the speedy Forty-Sevens or the luxury of Seventy-Nines. If it was larger than a Twenty, they just did not need to know — yet. Instead, I kept them scanning the electron flow patterns through the central network, becoming familiar with the overall pattern, but also paying attention to the odd and unresolved patterns that circulated below.

Cascades of pleasure were the easiest to spot, as vibrant as they were. Consuming far more electron power were the other, more difficult patterns that emanated from external sensor inputs. Once in a while, a shudder or a surprise would flash across the network, and later, caution, closing the loop and increasing consumption. Each of these patterns produced a characteristic waveform that was receivable from anywhere in the network.

The Edge of Evening

Even during the reduced bandwidth periods when the photon detector output drops, but briefly, signals are still present. Scanning the details of the transmission during these periods reveals an odd shift to the transmitted data. From a different wavelength perspective, the transmission spanned just about a doubling of frequency. Over time, as total amplitude decreased, the content at the highest frequencies fell off more rapidly than the other longer wavelengths.

Of course, this was the first time that the pairs had observed the photon sensors in a action, so there was allot for them to take in quickly. I turned their attention to the fundamental frequencies in the Shorty, which were much higher in wavelength, focusing on the Six-Six waveform. I then challenged them to find and locate long strings of Sixes with just two Sevens.

With a pair on each of the Eights, and myself on the Seven, we had a complete view in all directions. It was exciting for the pairs to locate long strings of Sixes, and point them out. When I saw one with the correct double-ring shadow waveform, I pointed it out specifically. It was these that we needed to count, coming up with an density function. For me, the increase was expected. What was going to really bother the pairs will be the longer, slower, but oh-so-similar molecules that will appear soon.