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  1. #1
    Michael Redfill's Avatar

    Michael Redfill
    Michael Redfill

    Pre2 (scholarly)
    Aspect of the Predator active outside Elysia

    1
    PRE

    Bigpaw

    OOC


    California State University is quiet at night. The grounds are empty and there is only a handful of windows with the lights on. And Gods only know in how many of those something academic is going on. As likely as not, some students who work part-time for their Department, are hosting a Starcraft tournament. Outside, the dark green grass and all the vegetation emit the distinct odors of the summer night. Inside, the corridors are dim-lit, and there is no one except an occasional guard or some professor with bloodshot eyes pulling an all-nighter. It all feels like an academic mausoleum.

    The guard at the entrance is surprisingly awake for this time of night, which may be due to the fact that he has a laptop with a particular game on. A game that doesn't exactly allow your brain to sleep. Having received a call from Dr. Redfill, he expects a certain brunette to enter in a few minutes.

    Inviting a girl to the University in the middle of the night. Is that bloke so buried in his books that he doesn't understand what it looks like?

    Still, one doesn't question the judgment of men who are supposed to be way smarter than the rest of us. The guard glances up from his laptop a bit more often then usual, curious to see what kind of a woman this Aileen would turn out to be.
    Pre2 (scholarly), BP1
    Aspect of the Predator active everywhere because Deputy
    Status(Academia) 3 (PhD Scholar)
    Sanguine Scribe of Terror
    Default Vitae: 9/10

  2. #2
    Aileen McFarlane's Avatar

    Aileen McFarlane

    1
    PRE

    Parking hadn't been hard, for most students tended to avoid the University at night, for which Aïleen was glad. As she walked through the ground, she noticed a few lights here and there, computer-y. Work ? Fun ? Who knew... she smirked, and wondered if she could check, somehow... might be challenging.

    The Mekhet quickly dismissed the thought, though, and walked toward the entrance, keeping in mind her destination. Tahoe Hall, third floor... Waving to the guard as she spotted him, she announced her goal, and he let her pass with what he thought was a knowing smirk. Thinking nothing of it, she walked through the grounds toward Dr redfill's indicated place. The usual weight of the laptop by her side was comforting.

    Soon, she found the building, and a few more strides brought her to the only room with any light in this wing.

    "Dr Redfill ? Evening, this is Aïleen..."
    she spoke out loud, venturing her head in the doorframe to check.

  3. #3
    Michael Redfill's Avatar

    Michael Redfill
    Michael Redfill

    Pre2 (scholarly)
    Aspect of the Predator active outside Elysia

    1
    PRE

    The guard seems somewhat disappointed as he lets Aileen inside. Clearly he was expecting someone more impressive. Still, there was something weird about her and the whole nightly visit thing. Shrugging his shoulders, the man returns to his game after telling her where to go.

    As the Mekhet approaches one of the Department of Economics' rooms where Redfill apparently is, she can hear some sort of buzzing that gradually grows louder. At her knock the door swings open.

    The room is in typical academic chaos: there are six computers and books are thrown about everywhere. The source of the sound immediately becomes apparent as all the computers are switched on and the fans are working at top speed trying to cool down the CPUs that are in an infinite loop set up by Mike. The result is that it's noticeably warmer inside the room than in the corridor and the sound is enough to make overhearing them from outside nearly impossible.

    Michael himself sits near the window behind a notebook. Tonight he's wearing fairly casual clothes made of expensive fabric.

    "Please, come in, Miss McFarlane. Just close the door behind you."

    He gestures her toward a seat opposite himself and waits.
    Pre2 (scholarly), BP1
    Aspect of the Predator active everywhere because Deputy
    Status(Academia) 3 (PhD Scholar)
    Sanguine Scribe of Terror
    Default Vitae: 9/10

  4. #4
    Aileen McFarlane's Avatar

    Aileen McFarlane

    1
    PRE

    Aïleen walked in a room taken from a cheap series. Lots of computers linked together and working on god-knows-what. Dr Redfill was there, working on some project of his, whatever it may be. The Mekhet did as bidden, and walked to sit in front of the Gangrel. Savage just wouldn't do.

    "Thank you, Dr Redfill. You seem very busy, I hope I'm really not bothering you. What are you working on, if I may ask ?" it only seemed the polite thing to do, after all.

  5. #5
    Michael Redfill's Avatar

    Michael Redfill
    Michael Redfill

    Pre2 (scholarly)
    Aspect of the Predator active outside Elysia

    1
    PRE

    Michael looks quite distracted for about 20 seconds as the coolers in his laptop roar violently.

    "Crap, I really need to buy a cluster for such programs."

    He then looks up at Aileen, smiling apologetically:

    "I'm sorry, there is a bit of trouble with my research", - he hesitates a few seconds before adding, - "I'm currently developing a Monte Carlo simulation to model historical upheaval. The method is similar to the mathematics used to study earthquakes. So..."

    The doctor looks into her eyes:

    "I'm the type that prefers to discuss business first, lest I get distracted with the pleasant company." - he gestures, inviting her to speak.
    Pre2 (scholarly), BP1
    Aspect of the Predator active everywhere because Deputy
    Status(Academia) 3 (PhD Scholar)
    Sanguine Scribe of Terror
    Default Vitae: 9/10

  6. #6
    Aileen McFarlane's Avatar

    Aileen McFarlane

    1
    PRE

    Listening to the sound of the coolers, Aïleen would have ventured they had been tweaked to optimize performance. What Dr Redfill said didn't actually mean much to the Mekhet, but at least she understood he was trying to find some mathematical model that would simulate the past. And thus perhaps predict the future... that seemed like a huge undertaking, fraught with uncertainties, but with great potential. She nodded in quiet admiration to his attempt.

    "I see...

    I asked for this meeting because I know you worked with M.Ankers on some digitization process for our mutual Library. I have recently developed my skills to a level that may be of help. I wish to help, and keep honing said skills."
    Since she didn't know how safe were their surroundings, she didn't use any vampiric vocabulary.

  7. #7
    Michael Redfill's Avatar

    Michael Redfill
    Michael Redfill

    Pre2 (scholarly)
    Aspect of the Predator active outside Elysia

    1
    PRE

    Michael tilts his head and seems to consider something for a few moments before nodding:

    "Sure. Could you give me your e-mail? I'll send you the tech manual for our Scanrobot and also a link to the page containing the source code of the program that we modified in order to obtain secure encryption of the data. Once you get familiar with it, we can meet at our club and I'll show you exactly how things work. To be honest, I'd welcome some help. Combined with my other pursuits, maintaining the digitization project in proper shape is taking quite a bit of time. Anything in particular that you wanted to ask me about the system?"
    Pre2 (scholarly), BP1
    Aspect of the Predator active everywhere because Deputy
    Status(Academia) 3 (PhD Scholar)
    Sanguine Scribe of Terror
    Default Vitae: 9/10

  8. #8
    Aileen McFarlane's Avatar

    Aileen McFarlane

    1
    PRE

    When she realized she was given the opportunity to join the project, Aïleen started getting more open, more enthusiastic.

    "Great ! Here, take this mail, please." <insert adress>

    The fact that she would have some reading and homework to do before being able to be an active member on the project was no deterrent to her, and in fact she had expected it. The more she learned about computers, the more those things were under her control, and did exactly what she wanted. It was nice to be able to exerce control over something, even a mere computer, and she relished increasing her nascent skills.

    "I don't know. I'll read through what you'll send me, and I'll see if I have questions from there. I already know you've chosen to keep it local and wired for safety reasons, right ? Apart from that, I don't know. I guess you're using some kind of SQL database to make queries on the books and find what you're looking for, that you've developed an user interface of your own, that the scanrobot has some measure of OCR included, right ?" Those were less technical questions, and more general stuff to get an idea of the structure of the program, the frameworks she'd been working with.

    "You have ensured Ms Villiers and Mr Raluca's continuing permission, I guess ?" Again, something purely academical. Of course, he had had.

  9. #9
    Michael Redfill's Avatar

    Michael Redfill
    Michael Redfill

    Pre2 (scholarly)
    Aspect of the Predator active outside Elysia

    1
    PRE

    Sorry, Bigpaw , this completely slipped my mind.


    The doctor considers divulging more, before nodding:

    "What we did was basically modify a bunch of open-source software. We have the ScanRobot for the digitization process itself, all the data is encrypted with TrueCrypt and accessed with Evergreen. The system has no wireless access, no means to upload anything to, let's say, a flash drive, and nothing is stored in unencrypted form. If you have ever tried to use the electronic library, then you know that Dragons are asked to memorize new random encryption keys every month."

    He smiles at her question about continuing approval of the Grand Wyrm:

    "The project was actually carried out with Ms Villiers' blessing along with that of the former Grand Wyrm. As long as we maintain this level of security, we are good."
    Pre2 (scholarly), BP1
    Aspect of the Predator active everywhere because Deputy
    Status(Academia) 3 (PhD Scholar)
    Sanguine Scribe of Terror
    Default Vitae: 9/10

  10. #10
    Aileen McFarlane's Avatar

    Aileen McFarlane

    1
    PRE

    OOC


    While she had no knowledge of either ScanRobot, or Evergreen, Aïleen had at least heard about TrueCrypt. She wouldn't be starting from nothing, and that helped reinforce the Mekhet's confidence that she could bring something to this project.

    "I see... this is well thought-out, as expected. I look forward to working on it."

    As a matter of course, Martha had been part of it, eh ?

    "I'll try and even upper the level of security. While I hope it would be useless, we're better safe than sorry. Shall we speak about it again at the Chapterhouse in the future ?" and she smiled at the Gangrel scholar.

    With little else to discuss about this topic, she wondered if she should broach the topic of the Great Work, or the other things she might be interested to learn from him, Resilience and Protean... but what could she offer ? It was becoming an only too frequent question... she would have to find satisfactory answers to that, if only for her own self-confidence.

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