With his family's computer situation resolved, Adrian gets some more info from Raven before allowing it to use his computer for a while.


After sending Raven back in, the corrupted file Adrian picked was the same one the AI had mentioned. Raven spent a few seconds creating new bytes, and once completed, Adrian got to work. He got no results with video extensions, but did with picture ones. Said picture was a photograph, its origins unknown, but with several details, mostly with colors, clearly off.
‘That one’s a picture file.’ Adrian texted.
‘Another One?’
‘Yeah. Might as well do all of them.’
Raven responded positively, and over the next several minutes, the files were reconstructed. After taking stock of the once corrupted files, Adrian got Raven back into his phone and went to the kitchen to update his parents. They had since gone outside, along with his brother, to talk and enjoy the December weather.
“There you are,” his father said upon noticing him, now sporting his jacket and a hoodie. “Made some progress?”
“Yeah. The files are, mostly, viewable again. Anti-virus is fixed too.”
“Mostly viewable?” his brother asked.
“Yeah. The files that got corrupted? They’re still corrupted, but you can at least view them and get them again, if possible.”
“That’s a good enough outcome to me,” his father replied. “I’ll look them over later, see what I can do. Thank you, son.”
“Anytime, Dad.” A moment later, Adrian felt something, and when no eyes were on him, he sent a message to Raven. ‘My parents are thankful for your efforts.’
‘Indirectly But This One Thanks Them Still.’
It took Adrian a moment to realize something about Raven’s response. ‘You heard them?’
‘This One Noticed Remote Command To Enable Microphone. Intercepted Signal. Learned To Use Microphone.’
‘Meaning you can hear sounds at any time now?’
‘Yes. Speech Not Possible. Language Comprehension Same As Before.’
After taking the time to think over what Raven having access to his phone’s microphone would result in, he asked, ‘Who sent that remote command?’
‘This One Does Not Know. Command Was Coded To Bypass All User Decisions And Detection.’
‘So, a rootkit?’
‘This One Does Not Know The Word ‘Rootkit’.’
‘I’ll explain it later. Did you read any of the code?’
‘Portions Signed With Official Signatures.’
‘Then, I think I know where that command came from. Can you prevent it from activating again?’
‘Yes. This One Will Watch For Similar Unauthorized Commands. Will Alert Adrian Ritter When New Attempts Made.’
‘Thanks, Raven.’
As Adrian began wondering if Raven would notice the phone being put inside a Faraday cage, he heard someone coming his way via footsteps in the snow. His father in this case. He pocketed his phone a moment later.
“Finding out something new?”
“Seems there’s a new type of rootkit going around.”
“Was that what we had?”
Adrian shook his head. “No, that was a basic virus. No idea how it got past your anti-virus but, oh well.”
His father shrugged. “Let’s head back inside. Lunch should be ready soon.”
Later that day, once his computer was set up again, Adrian began texting Raven. Something had been on his mind since lunch, and now felt like the time to bring it up with the AI.
“Query: Do you have ambitions besides hunting virus code?”
This time, Raven took a moment before responding. “This One Finds Satisfaction In Hunting Viruses. Previous Ambition, To Know Whom This One Speaks With, Satisfied.”
Hmm. “So, as of now, you’re just waiting for something to happen?”
“Yes.” Raven continued after a few moments. “Does Adrian Ritter Have Suggestion For New Ambition?”
“Unless you’re interested in the same things I suggest, it wouldn’t be an ambition. Just a command.”
“This One May Find Ambition By Proxy Of Suggestion.”
Adrian mulled over a response for a minute. Raven had gotten inside his games by this point, and made images with a program. “I’ll think over a few things, and let you know.” Raven didn’t respond; Adrian pulled out a book he’d yet to finish and read it until he decided on something.
After a minute of digging through his computer’s folders, he couldn’t find what he wanted. A cursory search of his closet, of the cases of old CDs and DVDs, revealed it.
Adrian allowed Raven back onto his desktop as he loaded the CD into the optical drive. At the same time as his operating system detected the disk, Raven asked, “Loaded Media Container Part Of Suggestion?”
“Assuming it installs. This software is old.”
“Permit This One To Look Into Media Container?”
Adrian barely hesitated. “Sure. Go ahead.”
After a minute, Raven followed up. “Media Container Has Multiple File Types. Some This One Could Not Read.”
“As in open and look at, or corrupted?”
“This One Attempted To Open Multiple Files. Some Unreadable.”
At first concerned, Adrian replied, “In that case, let me see if the executable still works.” He went to the optical drive holding the CD, only to be met with a loading delay of over a minute. The progress of the loading bar stayed slow as a crawl for a minute longer before Raven said, “Media Container Critical File Not Being Read.”
“That’s a shame. Oh, well. I know an alternative.” A few minutes after ejecting the disk, Adrian started the install from a new batch of files.
Raven waited for the software to start before noting, “This Software Is From 1996.”
“Yeah, and in relation to it, I have a query. Is what I am seeing similar to what you see while inside my computer?”
Adrian started a game as soon as he could, putting him into the cockpit of a spaceship inside a grey-walled tunnel. As he moved the ship forward, and pointed the nose down to fly towards an opening, Adrian noticed Raven begin to reply.
“Method Of Movement Similar. Image Not Accurate.”
“I had a feeling. Can you describe what you do see?”
Raven answered with, “Permit This One To Use Program GIMP?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Adrian resumed playing after replying.
Raven’s follow-up took several minutes. “Complete. Saved In Pictures Folder.”
When Adrian checked, he found a large picture drawn only in thin, black lines. What it showed was a view of an aerial scene, with many towers rising from the floor. The ‘ceiling’ had exponentially fewer, but each of them was much larger, and with something akin to strings crossing between the ground and ‘ceiling’ towers. The largest of the ‘ceiling’ towers had the most connecting lines, and displayed across its walls was a mirror of what was on the monitor.
“Interesting. This is what you first saw?”
“Yes. This One Searched Smallest Structures First, Found File This One Could Not Read, Attempted To Interpret File Before Errors Occurred.”
“And before I tried to access it.”
“Yes.”
“What about the free space? Was any of that accessed?”
“Yes. This One Was More Successful With Such Files.”
Hmm. “Okay. I ask because I was planning on wiping the free space later today, to clean up the hard disk.”
“Will Adrian Ritter Allow This One To Access Free Space Until Such Action Is Taken?” Raven continued when Adrian didn’t respond for some time. “This One Assures Adrian Ritter No Deception Within Request.”
“I figured, but how about this? Since I’m in no hurry, I’ll let you search until you feel satisfied. Just let me know what you find or work with, and if you discover a new ambition.”
“Satisfactory.” Raven replied after showing the picture of the smiling raven. “This One Will Follow Adrian Ritter’s Request.”
“In that case, I’ll be playing games and doing other things in the meantime.” Raven didn’t respond; Adrian took it as a sign the AI understood.
He went back to the ARPG Raven had helped him with before, gaining two more levels and finishing a quest before he was satisfied with his playtime. No word had come from Raven by then; Adrian withheld his urge to ask if anything had been found.
Hours later, it was dinnertime, and with still no word from Raven, Adrian left the room to eat and watch some TV with his family. Part of him felt a little strange not having Raven nearby, and his attention would wander towards his old room every so often. When he was able to walk away from the living room, he made a quick detour to his room, but yet again found no word Raven was done.
It wasn’t until hours later when the AI at last texted him. In the middle of a boss fight when it happened, Adrian got his character back to town before reading what Raven had texted.
“This One Is Satisfied.”
“Did you find anything interesting?”
“Remains Of Images. Rebuilt Disabled Byte Sequences As Done Previously.”
“Did they come out discolored?”
“This One Realized Byte Sequence Pattern For Image Files After Many Attempts. Replicated Pattern With Others. Color Issues Corrected In Short Time.”
“Interesting. Did you save them somewhere?”
“To C Drive. Pictures Folder.”
When Adrian checked, the pictures he found were a mix of photographs and artwork, all images he had deleted within the last month. Raven, he figured, couldn’t have looked through much, despite how long it had been.
After he confirmed all the images were as he remembered, Raven asked, “Should This One Attempt Similar Replication On Previous Images?”
“No need. Those can be recovered from where they were downloaded.”
“Recent Images?”
“Most of these I already saved to another drive, but...” Adrian then opened another UI window and found the folder where Raven had stored the three images. “The folder you made for those raven artworks, we’ll move these over there, and any future ones you make, or recover.”
“Satisfactory.” Raven replied, to which Adrian moved the images and closed the related windows. “This One Did Not Discover New Ambition During Search Or Code Replication.”
Figuring that would be the case, Adrian responded with, “Still, now we know something else you can do. Alter code at the bit level.”
“This Is Something Adrian Ritter Cannot Do?”
“I can tweak the code of some files, with the right software, but none that precisely.”
Raven took a second longer to respond. “New Function Noted: Can Alter File Code At Bit Level.”
When Raven said nothing else, Adrian went back to gaming. It was several minutes later when something occurred to him. Raven claimed it discovered no new ambition, but it had focused on fixing image files, something it was unable to do properly before.
Probably doesn’t know the difference.

December 19th, 2016

The next morning, Adrian found Raven had texted him while he’d been asleep. Another rootkit had been thrown at his phone, and Raven had disabled the wireless hardware to prevent another attempt.
“This One Observed External Command To Re-enable Device Hardware. Prevented Function. Command Signed With Signature Code.”
Adrian didn’t hesitate with his response. “In that case, I have an idea that’ll make things easier for you.”
“This Idea Is Available?”
“I would have to make it, and it would only work for this device.”
“Satisfactory. This One Will Anticipate Creation Of Idea.”
Adrian then got out of bed and headed for a shower. While having breakfast, the sausage and eggs his mother had made earlier, he overheard her talking to her parents. They’d be in town within a few hours.
That’s plenty of time. Adrian thought before realizing aluminum foil was the easiest option for the idea he had. When his chance came, he took enough to cover his phone twice over and headed for his room.
“I’m making it now. You should see all wireless signals cut off if it works.” When he was done, he followed up with, “Let’s test this for one minute. I won’t be able to text during that time.”
“This One Is Ready.”
At that, Adrian slipped his phone between the sheets of foil and closed up the open end. He heard Raven text him twice but didn’t retrieve his phone until the minute was past. “Wireless Signals Lost” was the first thing Raven had texted. “No Signal From Device Antenna” was the second soon after.
“So it worked?” Adrian asked; Raven confirmed it did. “Good, but there’s a few issues. One being I can’t text you when I store this device, the other is it cuts off the antenna, so I can’t make or receive calls.”
“This One Observed Outside Signal From Wireless Communication. Antenna Unaffected.”
“Then maybe another solution would be easier.”
“This One Has No Difficulty Disabling Device Wireless Hardware.”
“So you have administrator level control over my device?”
“This One Does Not Know What ‘Administrator Level’ Means.”
“It means you have complete control over certain parts of the device you’re inside.”
“More Control Than Adrian Ritter Has?”
“One way to find out.” Adrian opened his device’s wireless settings, then resumed texting. “Can you see the screen I’m seeing?”
“Yes.”
“Then, what I’m going to do is turn off the wireless. Let me know if it keeps running when turned off.”
Adrian then switched off the phone’s wireless, and Raven texted him soon after. “This One Sees Wireless Keeping Active Connection. Seeking Signal From Sources.”
Thought so. “And you can prevent it from running completely?”
“Yes. This One Can Disable Hardware Ability To Operate. Will Not Re-enable Without This One Or Adrian Ritter Command.”
“Alright. Let’s do that from now on. Just let me know when you notice any override attempts, or turn the wireless off.”
“This One Will Do So. Will Adrian Ritter Say When Wireless Must Be Off?”
“Yeah. I’ll let you know when I think it should be disabled.”
“Satisfactory.”
Given all he had learned since the previous day, Adrian felt the same way.
When his grandparents at last arrived, Adrian signaled to Raven that he would be occupied for a while and pocketed his phone. Soon after, he was helping them unload their sedan, chit-chatting the entirety of the time, and a good hour afterwards. Little had changed with them, which he was glad to hear.
When his phone rang a while later, it was Kisho’s name on the caller ID. “Hey, man,” Adrian said as he stepped away from the kitchen.
“You busy?”
“Sort of. My grandparents just got to my house.”
“Oh. Okay, I’ll make this quick then. Did you hear about what happened yesterday?”
“Happened...to what?”
“Someone got arrested for planting a keylogger program on our university’s computers. It was on an e-mail that went out yesterday.”
Within a second, Adrian felt a mix of relief and curiosity. “Really? A keylogger?”
“Yep. So if you did anything personal on the computers last semester, better change those passwords.”
“...Wow. I didn’t do anything personal, but I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the heads-up.”
After Kisho hung up, Adrian waited for a moment. Something told him Raven had heard all of that.
“The One This One And Adrian Ritter Discussed Has Been Dealt With?” the AI texted moments later.
“Sounds like it.”
“Satisfaction Is Felt?”
“Yeah. Quite a bit of it.”
Raven responded with the smiling avatar before adding, “This One Is Pleased To Know Adrian Ritter Is Satisfied. This One Feels Similar.”