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Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!haddock!jimc
From: jimc@haddock.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: Prefix numbers, or how to destroy a
Message-ID: <16200039@haddock.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 31-May-85 12:26:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: haddock.16200039
Posted: Fri May 31 12:26:00 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Jun-85 07:30:19 EDT
References: <297@tilt.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:tilt:-29700:haddock:16200039:000:1365
Nf-From: haddock!jimc    May 31 12:26:00 1985


> I was thinking about admiral Kirk's trick of lowering the 
> Reliant's shields in STTWOK the other day, and suddenly 
> realised that the Federation will soon be in for a nasty 
> surprise: it won't be long before some Klingon/Romulan hacker 
> comes up with the following piece of code for their battle 
> computer: 
>
> for (prefix_number=00000; prefix_number<100000; prefix_number++) {
> 	shields_lowered = lower_shields(prefix_number);
> 	if (shields_lowered) {
> 		while (!enemy_ship_destroyed) {
> 			lock_phasers();
> 			fire_phasers();
> 		}
> 	break;
> 	}
> }
> 
> 	.
> 	.
> 	.
>
> I realise that the whole trick lies in figuring out what 
> lower_shields() does, but I wouldn't think that the Federation is 
> so spy-proof that they can keep it secret for long.  

Any comments on that?

Observant!  But there might be more complications than the 
lower_shields().  There is the question of what frequency to use 
in the code transmission.  Also, it is not clear that a starship 
has to be that vulnerable all the time; Khan just didn't seem to 
know enough about the Reliant in order to be aware of this 
"remote control" property of the starship.  Otherwise, he would 
have disabled it by either setting the equipment accordingly or 
blowing up the transmission reception to Kingdom Come.  

				Jim Campbell
				...!{harvard, ihnp4}!ima!haddock!jimc