The Slabs: The Universal Bus

Yesterday, I promised you I would share with you Rome's reaction as she uncovered all of human knowledge of history, sciences and the arts which was hidden from her by the Overmind. But before I get into all that, I just wanted to show you, once again, how easily MINIMCOM was able to "crack the code" and start downloading the data. Just like Rei's music slab, there was no exposed contacts. These slabs had to be built to last centuries. Metal corrodes. Silicon does not. So how does MINIMCOM break into them in the first place? Here is how he did it:

     OMCOM said, “MINIMCOM has the harder job. We do not even know how the Essessoni data slabs function.”
     “Let me start with a receptacle,” MINIMCOM said. “Rome, place the slab gently on the existing data input interface and hold it there until I am ready.”
     “OK,” Rome said. The surface surrounding the reader turned a little slicker and the thin slot widened and spread until it became large enough to allow the slab to slide in. The top and bottom of the reader narrowed until the slab was held snugly in place.
     “What do you think?” she asked.
     “There are no exposed contacts,” MINIMCOM explained to her. “The Deucadons memory stick was much more conventional. This slab appears to have an inductive interface for power. I must assume the address bus and data ports are inductive as well.”
     “Please do not damage it,” Rome begged. “Rei asked me to be very careful.”
     “Absolutely,” MINIMCOM replied. “I will use a series of benign probes to determine the interface. I will apply no more than 2.3 volts to any virtual contact. Surely that will not damage it. If it requires more voltage, it will not even activate.”
     “Very well,” Rome said. “Proceed.” She stared at MINIMCOM’s data display intently, trying to will the data to appear. Wavy lines marched across the screen but ultimately settled into a flat-line.
     “2.3 volts, oscillating at 60 cycles per second has no effect. The slab remains inert.”
     “What will you try next?” Rome asked.
     “I believe it would be safe to increase the inductive current to achieve five volts. Are you agreeable to that?”
     Rome tilted her head. She stared at the slab. Rei had told her that the Paleobotany and Paleontology slab was the most ‘expendable’ in that it had no relevance to any other world beyond Earth. He told her that if they had to practice, this would be the appropriate slab.
     “Yes, you may increase the voltage to five,” Rome said. “That was Rei’s guess as to the appropriate value.”
     “Increasing,” MINIMCOM said. Suddenly, the onboard display lit up with nonsense words and symbols.
     “That worked,” MINIMCOM announced. “I am receiving a bit-stream. This slab uses a virtual serial bus rather than a parallel port. I need to rearrange the data until it appears organized.”
     The onboard display snapped into place with an outline of English terms. Rome was able to read Paleobotany, Paleozoology and Paleontology on the screen. Within each term was a series of notations describing the eras in which the data was collected.

You see? It really was a universal serial bus or USB. I wasn't kidding. Tomorrow we'll look at the vast amount of data from an information junkie who didn't know she was even hooked. Yet.