Banned Content
While the guild attempts at all times to remain a neutral arbiter of information and has a duty to transmit information and intellectual property without fear or favor; the simple truth is that some data is simply not acceptable by the greater galactic society in which we operate. Therefore, The Guild has established the following minimum criteria for transmission of any content on any Guild vessel or signed node:
<ol>
<li> Content must have clear title and be shown to be the intellectual property of the declared owner.</li>
<li> Must not contain sexual content depicting minors (under 18 terran years).</li>
<li> Content must conform to the universal content standards accords.</li>
</ol>
Any content that violates the minimum standards will be considered “Banned Content.” Banned Content will be isolated into a partitioned space until such time as the arbitration process can be completed by The Guild. At the time of arbitration, content will either be expunged from all Guild systems or released depending on the outcome of the arbitration board.
Excerpted With Permission
Data Trader’s Handbook
Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild
Leo was making an inspection of the datacenters as he chewed his umpteenth ration bar. They hadn’t been so bad at first, but after a few days they got very dull for three meals a day. Well, I may lose some weight. Thoughtfully, he rubbed his stomach as he opened the main hatch into DC number four. So far, everything had been completely normal, if you considered a completely empty data ark normal. Each of the Data Centers had been identical to the one they had opened on their first visit to the derelict. Each had been completely functional except for the missing data cores. Leo was still struggling with the why of it all. Removing all the cores had been a time consuming and tedious process. Why go to all the trouble?
After all, they could just copy the data to another Data Ark in a few days with a hard link. With that thought, he stopped dead, halfway down the first aisle. “Another Data Ark! I am so dumb!” Of course, if they already had a data ark, they wouldn’t need to steal one, would they? They could just make another. But what would you do if you didn’t have one? What if you wanted all of the IP in a data ark but weren’t a member of the guild? You couldn’t just buy the IP, that would cost a fortune. More than the GDP of most star systems if Leo was honest. However, if you took all the cores, you could then install them in a station or a planetside facility. You could then print out whatever you wanted. Including Data Arks.
No, that isn’t right. They stole the Data Ark already. Why not just keep it? The whole episode was deeply disturbing when he thought about it too much. There had to be a reason why they took the cores but abandoned the ship. They certainly hadn’t expected anyone to ever find it. The odds against that were literally astronomical. Why not just blow it up? After thinking about it for a few moments, he realized he could answer that question. Millions of tiny pieces flying in all directions would create a debris field much, much larger than an actual ship. Over time, the debris would expand to a size large enough that detection became possible, if not likely. Much less likely to find a single ship (as large as it was) than a huge, expanding cloud of debris. The only “safe” way to dispose of a ship would be to fly it into a star or a gas giant. Much easier to just leave it in the deep dark where nobody would be looking.
He was so distracted by these thoughts that he almost missed the data cabinet at the end of of the last row. Nothing unusual about the cabinet. It was the same as all the other hundreds of cabinets he’d seen already. However, this one wasn’t empty.
He opened the comm. “Ollu, Ramona; have either of you been working in DC 4?”
Ollu was the first to answer. “No Leo. With just three of us on a ship supposed to be handled by a crew of a hundred, I’ve been a tad busy.”
Ramona answered a few seconds later. “No, I’m up on the bridge with Ollu or sleeping. Why?”
Leo wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, there are three cabinets down here with cores in them.”
Ollu wasn’t impressed. “Great. Saves you the trouble of repopulating.”
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Leo sighed. “Doesn’t it make you wonder what’s on those cores? Why those got left behind when all the others were taken?”
“Maybe they’re empty?”
“No, the system doesn’t work like that. Data is automatically balanced across all nodes and replicated.”
“Except for banned content.”
“Well, yeah, obviously. I mean…” Again Leo froze. Banned content? Why would they explicitly leave the banned content?
“Leo?”
Leo thought furiously. Why banned content? Wouldn’t a thief especially want the banned content? After all, it’s the one thing that’s NOT for sale. Banned content would be worth more than the rest of the ship combined if sold to the correct parties on banned worlds. Surely someone who stole a ship and killed the entire crew would not hesitate to profit off of banned content, would they?
“LEO!”
Leo could think of only one organization that would want banned content to remain secret and off limits.
“The Guild.”
“WHAT?”
“The Guild took this ship.”
“Wait, what? Leo, that makes no sense.”
Leo was running to the bridge now. He needed a console. As he burst onto the bridge, a startled Ollu and Ramona just stared at him. All he could say was “The Guild. The Guild.”
After a few minutes of work, he was able to confirm his guess. All of the memory on the ship had been removed. Except for the banned cores. The two cabinets he had found in DC4 and two more in DC5.
“Leo! Will you please calm down and tell us what you found?”
Leo took a breath. Looking at Ramona, he was surprised to see a concerned look on her face. “It’s OK. I just realized what must have happened on this ship.”
“And tell us what that is?”
“The guild must have seized the ship and taken the cores. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“How does that make sense? This is a Guild Ship! Why would they seize their own ship?!?” Ramona shook her head. “You’re not making any sense.”
Leo looked at Ollu. “Ollu, if you wanted to remove something from a guild database, how would you do it?”
She shook her head. “You can’t.”
Now Ramona’s face went from concerned to confused. “What? How could that be? I’ve seen things removed from the catalog before. Things with expired IP agreements, etc..”
Ollu nodded. “Yes, you saw that they had been removed, right?”
“Yes, of course. How else would I know that they had been removed?”
Ollu just looked at her. Expectantly.
“Oh, right. OK, I’m dumb. The index is permanent. I know that the object exists even if the data is removed.”
“Exactly. I cannot tell you how complex those systems are. Extremely precise systems who’s only purpose is to ensure that NOTHING is ever lost.”
“Or removed?”
Ollu smiled again. “Or removed.”
“But wait.. Wouldn’t that object be replicated to at least one other database? At least to the buoy where the trade was registered?”
“Yes.”
Now Leo smiled. “Unless it is banned.” Both women looked at him. “Banned content is the only thing that isn’t replicated when a full data sync is initiated.”
“So, the banned database is permanent but only for the lifetime of the ship?”
“Yes. And I think ‘lifetime’ is the operative word here.”
Ollu sat down at the pilot’s station. “I still don’t understand why the Guild would do this to one of their own ships.”
Leo sat down also. “It’s been bugging me. None of this makes sense. Or it didn’t until I found the banned cores. The only thing that makes sense is that there is something in those banned cores that the Guild doesn’t want to have loose.” Neither woman looked convinced. “Think about it. My first thought was thieves. The IP they took was immensely valuable. However, they wouldn’t have left the banned content. It has value too. Perhaps more than the rest of the IP since it’s not on the open market.”
Ramona was pacing in front of the control consoles. “Walk me through this. The ship has something in the banned database. They Guild wants this thing to go away. So, why not just wipe the database?”
“How? You can’t really do that without destroying the ship or at least the ship’s systems. Besides, someone would ask why.”
“And the crew? Won’t the crew talk?”
Ollu just shook her head. “Kiddo, the crew is dead.”
“Well, I assumed that pirates or whoever had killed them, but surely the Guild wouldn’t….”
“Wouldn’t what?”
“Kill an entire crew of guild members!”
Leo shook his head. “I can’t imagine anyone in the guild doing that.”
Ollu shook her head sadly. “Unless the alternative is worse.”
“What’s worse than killing an entire crew?”
“Perhaps we should look at those banned files?”
“Only the Guild Master can do that.”
Ollu smiled. “Yes, Guild Master.”
“Oh, right.”
Leo was not looking forward to the Banned database. Usually, content was banned for very good reasons. Some things offered for sale to the Guild were downright despicable. Others were merely illegal or infringed on some other IP.
After eight hours, he was wrung out and frustrated. There were literally thousands of files in the banned database. Thousands. He had no idea what he was looking for. At least half the items were in the entertainment category. He quickly found out how sick and twisted people could be. “That’s IT! I cannot look at any more if this disgusting junk!”
Ramona looked at him with sympathy. “Perhaps we should re-think. Would the guild really kill an entire ship of over some smutty video?”
“I just don’t know.” Leo slumped at his console. “A week ago, I would have said that they wouldn’t have done this under any circumstances.” He shook his head. “Now, I just don’t know. Maybe I was all wrong about that happened.”
Ollu looked over from the captain’s station. She looked worn, not enough sleep for her as the only person who really knew what she was doing. Even doing the absolute minimum was driving her to the ragged edge. “Leo, take a break. Let’s re-think this after some sleep.”