Effie knew this server was different. The four digital fairies passed through what seemed to be a boundary of some kind. Effie held close to Dennis, with Amy and Nadine holding hands in front of them.
"That's a firewall," explained Amy. "Not your typical kind. It's also a segregated partition." The elder digital fairy was quite amused at how everything here had a literal interface for them. In many ways, she felt she could get used to this. Admittedly she didn't know quite 'how' they were able to do any of this but... this is how it was, so that's how it was.
Nadia as a precocious child was interested in everything on the 'ground'. She occasionally picked up old data shells, or bits of code... still Amy had instructed her to be careful of what she picked up and scan it first. She didn't want the child to be infected with another virus. However children being children, there was no way to stop her from being curious about everything here.
Effie was still memorised by the 'stars' here. She looked up. While the previous server had singular lights, every point of light here was a different colour. Orange, blue, green... violet hues of strange rings. Some were large sizes- one in particular burned almost as bright as a miniature sun, with several others circling around it. Data would 'rain' down from these stars, while arcs of light would go back up again to the outer 'rim' of what was like a miniature solar system in the sky.
"Fractal information," explained Amy looking up.
"Huh what?" Dennis looked blankly. The DOS fairy didn't understand any of it.
"Information in a living server tends to exhibit fractal nature. You have a large 'sun' there, with several others dancing around it. They are actually user nodes. You then have all the other miniature suns, as each brings down information. Until... ah-" she rushed a little forward eager to show something.
Dennis, Effie, and Nadia all ran after her, when she suddenly stopped.
The Amiga fairy gestured downward. "yes- here... now be patient."
Slowly the lights above them rotated and centralised themselves above the bare spot. A new code was forming, streaming energy from the top, interacting with harmonious beauty on the processors at their level, as each contributed to the construction. The code solidified, brimming with light appearing as a halo, and was quickly copied. It branched out into hundreds, if not thousands of lights guiding itself as a road onto the smaller lights above.
It was one of the most beautiful sights Effie had ever seen.
"What... just happened there Amy?" Asked Dennis.
"Something unique was created, by the emergence of the users. When they all work in tandem as you saw." Amy explained gently. "The unique code is then distributed to all the other systems, enriching their experience and changing their process- hopefully for the better. In time, some of the smaller stars you see above, may one day become suns as the one above this server."
"It's amazing," said the young girl Nadia. She had been so frightened and scared to be cut off from her family... but seeing these wonders... and it was a wonder she was seeing. Still... she wished she could show it to her mom and dad.
"Ah- now look there," smiled Amy. She gestured to floating bubbles that seemed to bounce around the path that the lights had made in the sky. Flickers of curious energies that were clearly not moving in random. They acted in concert to some strange unheard rhythm like a flock of birds. "Those are the AI's interacting with this server. All adding their own information to the process occurring here, just as much as the Users above us... it's all quite wondrous really."
Effie nodded in awe. Compared to the 'dead' server, this one was alive... in so many ways. Everything was different. The code was re-vitalising itself. Idea's created more ideas, which created even more... but could it really keep going? Of course it couldn't... but Effie knew in her heart, she wished it could. "Must all servers die?" She asked softly. It was like the death of an entire world, to the perspective of a digital fairy.
"There are many kinds of 'death'" little one," chided Amy. In truth it was no more then the fact that the Earth itself may one day end... only they saw a world as a server. "Servers can become static and unchanging- they are in animated suspension. Those are not so bad, as they are often frozen at a point like this- When idea's have peaked, and it is done to avoid degradation by the final phase of their life."
"I don't know if I like that," sighed Effie.
Amy shook her head. "Such servers can sometimes become 'branched' servers. If you look up, those beams of lights can become inspired by the idea, and an idea can change. A new server could be made, seeded by the old. Thus the cycle can continue. Information is passed from place to place... it is simply the nature of things in our world. Come, help me with the current process."
Effie blinked. What in the world could they do here? Things seemed to be happening on their own... what did a digital fairy need to do?
Amy gently took hold of some unusual code, and realigned it to a darker star in the sky. "Sometimes a User needs a bit of persuading to provide an output... come on now, gently... and..." Slowly a small output was given when contact was established, symbolised by a beam of light. The star above shone a little brighter, joining into the fractal solar system of the sky. Amy nodded satisfied that the code was beneficial, as structures seem to change pondering and processing the significance of the idea.
the digital fairies got to work, helping the system where it could. What struck Effie was not that they were trying to make the system more 'efficient', just more creative. It was like turning information into art, which in a way was not far from the truth. Everything had a place, and it was important to alter user data that might destroy what they created- yet no output was completely destructive. Everything had a place, if one could find it.... destruction and re-processing were not that far apart.
Hours they spent, just... fixing things, creating where they could. Effie found herself getting lost at the love of this work. it felt so right... and nice. Suddenly it was like the ground underneath them had moved, circling in strange concert to the users above them. This server was so alive!
Amy eventually told them to stop. "Phew- I think we did more then we should have," She said grinning. "Well done children. I think this server will continue for a good few years yet without any crashes." she smiled happily.
Nadia quickly spoke up on something. "I found some deleted data- but I think it was done accidentally."
Amy inspected it. "Hm.. yes. That does seem a little too creative and unique to just end up deleted... place it in this hidden sub-file here... someone might get a little surprise later" She smiled. "Well I hope you enjoyed this little tour... remember children, there is always going to be something new under a digital sun- there's always a higher number... and this world is based on mathematics. There is always going to be something new. "
Effie nodded- the implications of this, not lost on her.
