Authors note: This story may become a series of journal entries as we try to characterize the extent of the Blake effect.
*
My study of frequency modulation as a means of remote manipulation of individual and specific transistors in modern processors has generated results that I hadn't expected.
I have demonstrated the theoretical ability to commandeer the transistors of a device using little more than standard RF. Specific frequencies modulate certain transistors or groups of transistors in ways not intended by the host computers programming. In essence it's a CPU hack, but the potential goes far beyond hijacking a computer. Since that early success I've created a device that can modulate transistor gates on the nano-meter scale from distances of several meters.
That is not why I'm writing these entries. The discovery I've made has nothing to do with hacking CPU's. I am so far out of my element that I will simply describe my observations so that I can go back and make some sense of them later.
My early experiments had shown a lot of promise and I was working on refining the quality and extending the range of my CPU hack. I developed a small directional antenna to increase the range and focus of the device. Tonight's experiment was determining the limits of the machines range. My workstation and antenna were set up at a distance of 3 meters from my subject workstation. 3 meters is all the room I had in my lab.
Lab feels like the wrong word. It's sort of a co-op of offices connected to each other where researchers pursue their interests. Some are proper businesses and others are hobbyists who need a place for their stuff. My space is a mess of computers, parts, test equipment, multi-meters and soldering gear. The office sits between other labs train car style so it's not unusual to walk between offices if they are open rather than going out to the hall.
The space is so crowded, that the controller was crammed into one corner and the subject machine sat at my desk in the other corner. I aimed the antenna and set the test pattern to run; it would cycle the same tests over and over until I stopped it, then I could check how many CPU gates I had taken control of and how reliable the control was. I wanted to let the pattern run through several cycles so I had plenty of data to study later.
I checked my phone. 11:45 pm. And I was hungry. It was late enough that there wouldn't be many people in the lab but I decided to post a printout reading: experiment in progress do not touch. The lab's shared printer was three rooms away, so I walked through the open offices to the print room. When I got there it was (of course) out of paper. After a minute of reloading paper and another minute of watching page after page of someone's data print I had my sign.
I walked back to my lab and froze in the doorway. Sitting at my target workstation was a woman from a couple of labs down. I had seen her around but we had never actually met. I couldn't remember her name but I was pissed to see her messing up my experiment. I was about to yell 'Hey!' but my anger quickly gave way to confusion then a wave anxious fear.
She was sitting motionless at the target workstation with my antenna pointed directly at her. The frightening thing was that she wasn't looking at monitor. Her face was pointed up into a corner of the room, her eyes were tightly shut and her lips were parted as thought mid-word. I could see she was drawing in a deep slow breath. Her fingers held the desk tightly and her entire demeanor was like she was frozen in place.
I quickly stepped to my transmitter and pulled the cable from the antenna. Before I could cross the room to her she had wheeled around yelling. "No! What are you doing? What happened?"
"Are you okay?" I stammered, surprised by her attitude.
She seemed surprised too. She looked around almost unsure of her surroundings? "What the hell are you doing in here?" she asked.
I shot back "I should be asking you that, you came into my lab and fucked up my experiment."
She looked at me, the cable I held, and the antenna. "Oh, I, I'm sorry. I thought the lab was empty and I needed to use a..."
She looked at the machine next to me. I could see her studying its antenna.
"Most people warn the lab when they are running an experiment. You could have locked the door or sent an email or something."
I showed her the sign. "I thought the lab was empty too. I walked down to the printer to get it."
She looked at the device again. She was cute, late twenties, with large dark eyes and dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. That was all I could tell about her physically. She wore over sized Stanford sweat pants and a Cal sweatshirt, also over sized.
"What is that thing?" she asked with an inquisitive tone.
"Are you OK? You looked like you were in the middle of a seizure when I walked in."
"A seizure?" She laughed. "No. Definitely not a seizure. Please tell me that thing isn't dangerous. You didn't just give me cancer or make me forget how to play the piano or something?"
"It uses RF just like your cell phone and the hundreds of WiFi transmitters you walk by every day. Its power is less than half of what your phone transmits. No, it is not dangerous" I said.
"Good." She replied.
She sat staring at me and I at her. An uncomfortable passed.
"So, you didn't feel anything when you sat in front of it?" She added.
"I've never sat in front of it, I only point it at computers." I replied.
"So you have no idea what it just did to me?" She said slowly.
"It shouldn't have done anything... unless you're an android" I said, immediately regretting the nerd comment. "I mean, it's just RF. You're bathed in it everywhere you go. There's no way it should have done anything to you."
"Well then let's do it again." She said.
"No." I said. "I have no idea what you experienced and I'm not comfortable with repeating it."
