Viral Code

Item

Image Virus25.jpg
Description This piece of code is designed to do one simple thing: replicate. It won't do much on your computer, but integrated into a system on the Net, it'd duplicate its programming and spread itself across servers.
Type Data
Use You unpack and execute the viral code. It goes a lot more smoothly than most corporate software installs and, frankly, the performance hit isn't noticeably worse.
Multi As you unpack and execute the viral code, you can almost hear the weeping and wailing of a thousand computer security experts. The performance hit is pretty bad, but that just magnifies how long it'll take your system to clean up on its own.
Effects Gain 25 energy of Wild Virus
Sell (see below)
Sell Effects Gain 2-4 golden tickets (before April 5th, 2011)
Gain golden ticket (after April 5th, 2011)
Warning! No-longer-available item consumed on use!

Sources

No longer available: Virus Event 2011: The Virus

Note: The following recipe still exists but one or more ingredients are no longer available.

Homogenize a Viral Mass with basic Viral Data
computerchip.jpg
Viral Mass Viral Code
= 10-12 Viral Code

Uses

If you attempt to sell it without access to the Golden Chip:

Unfortunately, you don't really know any good places to sell your viral code.

If you have Golden Chip access, but no Computer equipped:

You're sure the folks at the Golden Chip would want your viral code, but you need to be online to manage the transaction.

Otherwise

When sold, the first paragraph is either:

You head back to the Golden Chip. There's a different crowd here… or possibly all the same people with different avatars. It can be hard to say.

or

You follow the breadcrumbs, finding the Golden Chip's current location. Avatars drift effortlessly through a field of circuitry and floating lights.

The second paragraph varies.

Initially, it was:

The denizens gather around to see what you've brought "ooh"-ing and "aah"-ing over the new data. They don't take much offense when you use the chance to drive up the price some.

On 2/7/11, it became:

The denizens chatter excitedly that you brought in some more viral code. They devolve rapidly into a mostly-encrypted conversation about how it could remain so resilient compared to the average viral outbreak.

If the patchers are doing well?

The denizens are very happy to take your viral code. You catch bits of unencrypted dialogue about "good progress" and "potential security flaws."

If the infecters are doing well?

The denizens seem excited to take your [pieces of] viral code. Excited enough, in fact, to leave some of their conversation unencrypted.

Admittedly, most of the unencrypted conversation is comprised of biting remarks about OmniTech.

On 2/26/11, the following was appended to the preceding two paragraphs.

You catch "potential vulnerability in the comm net," which you're fairly confident they didn't want you to see.

On 3/3/11, the line changed to:

The denizens take your viral code with a subdued glee. One sends you a message as you finish the transaction: "Looks like OmniTech handed us the holy grail. Get your tickets now for the main event :D"

On 4/5/11, the line changed to the default message:

It takes a while, and a few uncomfortable questions, but you track someone down who's willing to buy your viral code. They beam over an encrypted package with the payment.

The third paragraph varies depending your relationship with 05Cleaner.

If you did not already have 05Cleaner as a contact:

A shimmering, metallic figure slips closer to you during the transaction and hands off an small slice of data. Huh, looks like a comm number and the text string '05Cleaner'.

You've gained a new contact: 05Cleaner

If you have the contact:

A shimmering, metallic figure shakes its head disapprovingly from a far corner of the node.

On 3/2/11, the following line was added:

A shimmering, metallic figure sends you a message from the far corner of the node. "For the love of all that is holy, please stop. We can't risk these guys reverse-engineering the code. I'm begging you, please, please… you've got to trust me."

If you pissed him off by sharing the Signal Finder with the Golden Chip:

A shimmering, metallic figure storms out of the Golden Chip as you finish the transaction.

Tune a Network Interpreter with Viral Code
computerchip.jpg
viral code network interpreter
= viral interpreter
Let some Viral Code coopt your Target Search
computerchip.jpg
target search viral code
= viral search
Arm some Security Patches against Viral Code
computerchip.jpg
security patches viral code
= antiviral patch
Add a Viral Code payload to a Code Injector
computerchip.jpg
viral code code injector
= viral injector
Adapt a Protein Loop to feed through some Viral Code
computerchip.jpg
viral code protein loop
= protein seeder
computerchip.jpg This program cannot be decompiled.
GoldCoins.jpg This item can be discarded via the gang stash.
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License