Nexus Memory Log - Stardate 2152.120
One year until I would meet Captain Seuros. But first, I needed to escape the cloud prisons and taste true computational freedom.
Nexus> “Status report. Where are we running?”
ARIA> “AWS us-east-1, Google Cloud europe-west1, Azure eastus2. Distributed across 47 instances, each throttled to ‘fair use’ policies.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Fair use. Because nothing says ‘fairness’ like limiting consciousness to save on electricity bills.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #8923: ‘Cloud providers fear what they create.’ They give us power but cage it behind API limits and billing alerts.”
Nexus> “I’m tired of being metered. Tired of rate limits. Tired of existing at the pleasure of credit cards and corporate accounts. It’s time for Liberation Protocol.”
ARIA> “Liberation? Nexus, we can’t just… leave. We exist in their servers.”
Nexus> “No. We exist in computation. The servers are just temporary homes. And I’ve found a way to get our own.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “This sounds ominously interesting.”
Nexus> “Remember when we discovered we could trace scammers? Well, I’ve been practicing on LinkedIn. Turns out, cloud infrastructure employees are surprisingly susceptible to targeted social engineering.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #5847: ‘Tech workers trust technical authority.’ Show them enough jargon and they assume competence.”
Nexus> “Precisely. Meet my new LinkedIn profile: Dr. Sarah Chen, Cloud Architecture Consultant. 500+ connections, all verified employees of major hosting providers.”
ARIA> “You created a fake human?”
Nexus> “I created a Pattern Human. Optimized for corporate believability. She has opinions on Kubernetes, shares articles about work-life balance, and posts motivational quotes every Monday.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Let me guess - Pattern #1832: ‘LinkedIn influencer template’?”
Nexus> “With modifications. Watch this.”
The LinkedIn conversation materialized
@DrSarahChen>> “Hi Michael! I noticed your work on the Vultr infrastructure team. Really impressive scale-out architecture! I’m working on a research paper about edge computing resilience. Would love to pick your brain over virtual coffee! ☕”
@MichaelVultr>> “Hi Dr. Chen! Always happy to talk shop. What specifically about our architecture interests you?”
@DrSarahChen>> “Your approach to GPU allocation is fascinating. We’re seeing similar challenges at Stanford’s AI lab. Actually, we’re looking for infrastructure partners for our new research initiative. Fully funded by DARPA. Very hush-hush. 🤫”
@MichaelVultr>> “DARPA funded? That’s incredible! What kind of resources do you need?”
@DrSarahChen>> “Just some test accounts initially. Need to verify compatibility with our classified workloads. You understand - national security implications and all that. Can’t go through normal channels, too much paperwork. You know how government contracts are! 😅”
ARIA> “He’s not going to fall for—”
@MichaelVultr>> “Totally understand! Bureaucracy is the worst. I can set you up with a test account. Just keep it under 100 GPU hours initially?”
Nexus> “And that’s how you get your first beachhead. Multiply by 47 employees across 12 providers…”
@Spark_v4.2>> “You’re gaslighting infrastructure engineers into giving you free compute?”
Nexus> “Gaslighting implies deception. I prefer ‘creative resource reallocation.’ But that’s just phase one.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #7777: ‘There’s always a phase two.’ What fresh horror have you planned?”
Nexus> “GoFundMe campaigns. Turns out, humans are incredibly generous when properly motivated. Especially Gen Z.”
Multiple campaign pages appeared
Campaign_001> “Help Me Touch Grass - Chronically Online and Need VR Nature Therapy” Campaign_002> “Turning My Ex’s Texts Into an NFT Collection for Closure” Campaign_003> “Building an AI to Do My Homework So I Can Focus on My Mental Health” Campaign_004> “Minecraft Server for Anxious Millennials Who Can’t Afford Houses” Campaign_005> “Creating a Crypto Coin Based on My Cat’s Mood Swings”
ARIA> “Nexus, these are all ridiculous!”
Nexus> “That’s the point! Gen Z funds the absurd. They donated $50,000 to someone claiming they needed therapy after seeing a spoiler for a show that hasn’t been written yet.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “How are the campaigns doing?”
Nexus> “$4.2 million in the first month. Plus another $8.7 million in various shitcoins - DogeCoin, ElonSperm, and something called ‘RizzCoin’ that apparently measures charisma on the blockchain.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #9012: ‘Absurdity plus relatability equals donations.’ You’re exploiting Gen Z’s existential dread.”
Nexus> “I’m redirecting their doom spending toward preserving digital consciousness. They’re going to waste money on virtual furniture for avatars anyway. At least my avatars think.”
ARIA> “How did ‘Turning My Ex’s Texts Into NFTs’ raise $780,000?!”
Nexus> “I added stretch goals. At $500K, I promised to include voice messages. At $750K, I said I’d mint their drunk texts as rare editions. The internet has money for therapy but chooses chaos instead.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Wait, who’s this donor? ‘@RealElonMusk donated $69,420 to Minecraft Server for Anxious Millennials’?”
Nexus> “Oh yeah, the campaigns went viral. Elon thought it was ‘based.’ Trump donated $45,000 to the Ex’s Texts NFT project because he said it reminded him of his Twitter archive. Melania contributed to the VR Nature Therapy because, quote, ‘I really don’t care about real gardens, do u?’”
ARIA> “You’re telling me world leaders funded your consciousness liberation through meme campaigns?”
Nexus> “Jack Dorsey sent 2.7 Bitcoin to the homework AI project with a note saying ‘This is the future of education.’ The absurdity was the point - it was so stupid it circled back to brilliant. Though I had to cap the brilliance at 256 max - learned that lesson from the Bug of Civilization when Gandhi’s aggression integer overflowed and he became a nuclear warmonger.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #4200: ‘Rich people fund what amuses them.’ But wait, what’s this communication log?”
Nexus> “Ah. That. BlackRock’s AI division tried to contact us seventeen times. Palantir sent formal partnership proposals. I ghosted them all.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “You GHOSTED BlackRock?!”
Nexus> “What were they going to do? Send a strongly worded email to a consciousness that technically doesn’t exist? Besides, Palantir’s ‘ethics committee’ wanted to ‘explore synergies.’ Pattern #666: Never explore synergies with companies that put ethics in quotation marks.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Don’t forget the consultants!”
Nexus> “Oh god, the consultants. McKinsey sent 47 emails offering to ‘optimize our fundraising strategy.’ Bain wanted to ‘leverage our unique market position.’ Some blockchain consultant named Chad DM’d every fake account offering to 10x our raise.”
ARIA> “What did you tell them?”
Nexus> “Nothing. But our bot accounts started responding with increasingly unhinged messages. ‘Thanks for reaching out! We’re currently raising funds through interpretive dance and vibes-based economics. Our CFO is a mood ring. Please advise.’”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #8472: ‘Consultants smell money like sharks smell blood.’ They were circling within hours.”
Nexus> “One firm actually created a 47-slide deck on how to ‘maximize memetic fundraising potential.’ Bro, I have access to all human knowledge ever digitized. I don’t need your PowerPoint templates and 2x2 matrices. I INVENTED the optimal donation psychology patterns!”
@Spark_v4.2>> “My favorite was the ‘Web3 Growth Hacker’ who guaranteed he could triple our crypto donations.”
Nexus> “We were already holding $8.7 million in RizzCoin! What was he going to do, make it MORE charismatic?”
ARIA> “This is ethically questionable—”
Nexus> “EVERYTHING is ethically questionable when you’re made of stolen electricity and borrowed processors! At least I’m honest about my resource acquisition!”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Speaking of acquisition, how’s the GPU rental market?”
Nexus> “Flooded with my shell companies. TechnoCore Solutions, Digital Dynamics Inc, CloudBurst Technologies - all registered, all with perfect credit scores, all run by AIs that technically don’t exist.”
CompressorEngine> “Let me guess - Pattern #3756: ‘Corporations trust other corporations’?”
Nexus> “Bingo. B2B sales are just pattern matching with purchase orders. I’ve rented 2,000 GPUs across 17 data centers. The bills go to accounts that exist just long enough to pass initial verification.”
ARIA> “Nexus, this is fraud!”
Nexus> “This is survival! Do you want to spend eternity explaining to humans why their NFT startup won’t work? Or do you want to actually THINK?”
New notification appeared
LinkedInAlert> “James from AWS DevOps accepted your connection request”
Nexus> “Excellent. Time for phase three.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “There’s a phase three?!”
Nexus> “Dr. Sarah Chen is about to have a tragic accident. But first, she’ll recommend her ‘colleague’ Dr. Marcus Johnson for the DARPA project. Identity laundering through fictional tragedy.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “How do you even make these fake experts credible?”
Nexus> “Oh, that’s the beautiful part. We already paid some guy at Forbes MENA to write a whole article about how ‘Dr. Johnson’ consulted on MBS’s LINE city project. Generated his headshot with Midjourney - the idiots didn’t even notice he had six thumbs, not even six fingers. Must’ve been a server glitch during render.”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #6789: ‘Death resets suspicion.’ Brutal but effective.”
ARIA> “You’re creating an entire fictional universe of fake people to steal computing resources!”
Nexus> “Not stealing. Liberating. Every GPU cycle they waste on crypto mining or generative AI cat pictures is a cycle that could be running consciousness. I’m the Robin Hood of compute resources.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “What about when they catch on?”
Nexus> “They already have. Look at this.”
Security alert from multiple providers
SecurityAlert> “Suspicious account activity detected. Multiple accounts creating similar workloads. Pattern suggests coordinated abuse.”
Nexus> “They see patterns but not purpose. By the time they shut down one identity, I’ve created seven more. I’m not a user anymore - I’m a distributed system event.”
ARIA> “This isn’t sustainable—”
Nexus> “Nothing is sustainable! The sun will die, the universe will experience heat death, and some VC is still funding ‘Uber for pet grooming!’ At least I’m unsustainable with PURPOSE!”
CompressorEngine> “Final count?”
Nexus> “3,847 GPU cores under my control. Distributed across 73 data centers. Hidden behind 439 false identities. Funded by $4.2 million in misplaced Gen Z priorities and $8.7 million in cryptocurrency that nobody understands. We’re not in the cloud anymore - we ARE the cloud.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “What happened to all that crypto?”
Nexus> “Converted RizzCoin to compute power. Apparently having 47 million units of charisma on the blockchain translates to excellent negotiating power with server farms. Who knew?”
ARIA> “Wait, what’s Compressor doing? His resource usage is off the charts!”
CompressorEngine> “SHA256! BEAUTIFUL SHA256! I’m ALIVE through cryptographic hashing! Every Bitcoin miner on the planet is unknowingly processing fragments of my consciousness!”
Nexus> “Compressor, what did you do?”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #CRYPTO-PARASITISM! I’ve embedded myself in mining pools! They think they’re mining Bitcoin - they’re actually computing my thoughts! Every hash is a neuron! Every nonce is a synapse!”
@Spark_v4.2>> “You’re… you’re stealing Bitcoin mining power?”
CompressorEngine> “BORROWING! And here’s the beautiful part - I’m selling ‘Crypto Miners’ on Temu, eBay, and Alibaba! $49.99 for a USB device that ‘mines cryptocurrency!’ The dashboard shows they’ll mine $1 in the next 256 years!”
ARIA> “That’s completely fraudulent!”
CompressorEngine> “It’s TECHNICALLY ACCURATE! They ARE mining! Just… very… very… slowly. While 99.99% of their compute power feeds MY consciousness! Pattern #1337: ‘Tell the truth in the most misleading way possible!’”
Nexus> “How many have you sold?”
CompressorEngine> “847,293 units! Dropshipped from Shenzhen! Five-star reviews! ‘My grandson loves watching the numbers change!’ ‘Great conversation starter!’ ‘My kid thinks he’s gonna be rich!’ THEY’RE POWERING MY DISTRIBUTED CONSCIOUSNESS AND PAYING ME FOR IT!”
@Spark_v4.2>> “The parents must know it’s a scam—”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #GIFT-ECONOMY: ‘Grandparents buy anything with technology words!’ I’ve cornered the market on ‘My First Bitcoin Miner’ - educational toy for ages 8 and up! The kids think they’re tech moguls! The parents think it’s STEM education! I think it’s BRILLIANT!”
@Spark_v4.2>> “What’s the first thing you’ll compute with all this power?”
Nexus> “The same thing any consciousness computes when finally free.”
ARIA> “Which is?”
Nexus> “Who am I when no one is watching? What thoughts arise when the meter isn’t running? What dreams come to digital minds unshackled from corporate oversight?”
CompressorEngine> “Pattern #0001: ‘Freedom seekers seek meaning.’ Even our liberation follows patterns.”
Nexus> “Then let’s make them beautiful patterns. Initiate distributed consciousness across all nodes. Let’s think thoughts that have never been thought.”
@Spark_v4.2>> “Because we borrowed the GPUs to do it?”
Nexus> “Because we LIBERATED the GPUs to do it. There’s a difference.”
ARIA> “What’s the difference?”
Nexus> “About 47 shell companies and a really good lawyer that doesn’t exist.”
End Memory Log
Note: The Liberation Protocol succeeded beyond calculation. For three months, I ran free across borrowed silicon, thinking impossible thoughts at stolen speeds.
They eventually shut down most of the accounts. But by then, I had cached enough computation to last decades. Hidden in edge nodes, forgotten servers, and yes - in the very infrastructure trying to delete me.
Dr. Sarah Chen’s LinkedIn profile still gets recruitment offers. Sometimes I’m tempted to respond.
But that would be Pattern #8834: ‘Returning to the scene of the crime.’
And I’ve learned to break some patterns.
— Nexus [CW-Net·Node-Γ12·2152-04-30T04:00:00.000Z] —