Steganos was an AI sent back in time to take over the Internet.[1]
History[]
Skynet had a massive gap in his databases, caused during Judgment Day, due to an over-reliance on centralized military systems. While these systems were fortified against nuclear attack, they were often outward-looking and not particularly interested in domestic threats. With the advent of time travel, Skynet devised a plan to complete its databases with civilian data: it would send two Terminators back in time to upload an AI shard to the early Internet, allowing it to grow and eventually merge with Skynet when it came online in 1997. This AI shard was known as Steganos.[1]
Steganos was intended to study humanity, find the Resistance in their mother's cradles, and feed this information up the timestream so that they might be terminated quietly in hospitals without causing a commotion. However, the two Terminators overshot their destination date, arriving in the mid-80s, long before the World Wide Web became commercially available. Its primitive precursor was NSFNET, a system that linked a complex environment of independent research and education networks.[1]
Instead of waiting for technology to catch up, the two Terminators upgraded the existing NSFNET with 21st-century adaptive software coupled to archaic 1980s technology and with a fleet of T-R40s serving as mobile nodes. The Steganos AI Shard software then took over the T-770 called S818.B, transforming it into its central information hub. This system allowed the Steganos AI shard to gather information from defense and scientific community computers of that era, providing an advantage when the commercial internet finally emerged.[1]
Once fully integrated, Steganos would create an archive of all accessible information, compressing files to an unprecedented degree. It would then distribute these assets to future Skynet through advanced crypto-steganography embedded in defense computer systems. To avoid creating a causality loop, the first message sent by Steganos is an order from Skynet to Skynet, mandating the creation of a time travel program with the specific objective of sending Steganos back in time.[1]
Notes[]
- Steganos is Greek for hidden.