Two years after the downfall of Napster in 2001 a plethora of P2P software had emerged fill the void left by the fallen file sharing giant. While Napster had only allowed users to share mp3s, the new software that had risen from Napster's ashes allowed users to share all sorts of files between one another. Music, TV shows, movies, images, etc were all being shuffled between users on these partially decentralized networks.
But this story isn't about the rise and fall of Limewire or Kazaa, rather it focuses on a little known and little used software named T.S.094. The origins of T.S.094 are a bit murky, but the core group of users suspect that the software first showed up on a windows PC located at a remote observatory in Utah. From there the software appears to have spread via multiple P2P clients to users around the globe. The seed for the original exe was only available for a few weeks, but that was long enough for the software to reach at least a handful of computers in practically every country on earth. After the original T.S.094.exe seed went offline, inexplicably all of the downloaded installers quit functioning leaving the software installed on a few hundred computers scattered across the globe.
The people who were curious enough to boot up the mysterious software were greeted by a rather simple GUI that was littered with some sort of gibberish. The next day each one of those curious people who had booted up the software found an odd package at their doorstep. Inside the package was a short note, and a device that looked similar to a digital camera. The note, which was always written in the person’s native language, explained what T.S.094 was, how to use it, and how to use the device. It of course also included how to switch the GUI out of the gibberish language. What the note didn’t include was any information on who, or what, had created T.S.094.
At its core T.S.094 is just another P2P file sharing service, except it only allows users to share .HSAT files. In addition to file sharing, T.S.094 also interfaces with the odd digital camera like device that each user received the day the after first booting up the software. The device was practically alien technology... In fact many of the core users suspected that it was in fact alien technology, because no other explanation made any sense. The device has two main functions; capture and deliver. The capture function allowed users of the device to target individuals and record specific traits from that individual. Those traits could then be transferred to a PC where they could be shared between T.S.094 users, stored long term on a hard drive, or uploaded back onto the device. Any trait stored, or uploaded, to the device could then be dispersed to a target via the deliver function.
As ridiculous as this all sounds it's true. Just don't ask anyone about T.S.094, because the handful of users who tried to spread the word out about T.S.094 literally disappeared from the face of the earth...
But this story isn't about the users who couldn't keep their mouths shut. This story is about an abandoned satchel containing a laptop with T.S.094 installed on it, the device, and a hand written note...
But who pray tell finds the satchel?
