The information in this post may be considered spoiler information
for Survival Margin, and therefore for the Traveller: The New Era
background. However, I feel that the virus story as given in
Survival Margin has some deficiencies, and I would like to point
them out.
First, there is the problem of the spread of the Virus. As
written, the Virus is capable of infecting any computer, without
exception; some computers will take longer than others, due to
the Virus being unfamiliar with the operating system of the
target. There is a fundamental problem with this scenario: The
design of any computer program implies some distinction between
program code and data. Even current object-oriented theory still
has this distinction - the concept of the "method" is simply the
"code" portion associated with the data in a special way. But
for efficiency reasons, even in an object-oriented paradigm,
implementations only keep one copy of the code associated with
all instances of a given object type. This implementation
decision will logically extend to the exchange of information
between computers - if the target computer knows about a specific
kind of object, there will be no need to transmit the code, only
the data. Properly designed programs (and bear in mind, the
Third Imperium has 2500 more years of experience than we do to
draw on, even if the only experience drawn on is the Solomani
experience) will still have a definite separation between code
and data; thus, while the viral code could be transmitted (or
downloaded, as the Coronation Fleet did at Omicron) from one
system to another, it would be unlikely that the code would be
executed without question on the target system. Further, common
sense says that unknown code, if it is executed at all, should be
executed on a "sterile" and "silent" system - by which I mean
that the system should (a) be known to be clean, with a fixed
environment of exactly known characteristics (meaning not
containing an independently intelligent chip), and (b) not be in
communication or sharing resources with any system that, if shut
down or damaged, would be a major problem due to external effects
(starship control computers do not qualify as "silent" under this
definition).
Second, there is the method of self-preservation in an infected
system. The Survival Margin data indicates that the virus
modifies the target system hardware to "hard wire" itself into
the system, and avoid destruction if the host is powered down.
This requires that every computer be in essence a PROM burner,
and that every microcircuit and/or chip be in essence a PROM. I
consider this highly unlikely, as most computers, once designed
for a purpose, are not likely to be modified at the hardware
level. In most cases, it will be possible to implement changes
as software changes, especially in multifunction computers. Even
given that the Cymbeline chips can themselves function as PROM
burners, this is still going to be a hardware-based function,
rather than purely software. Hence, logically, no computer can
be infected permanently - especially if "system floppies" or the
equivalent are available. Which they should be, at all times, in
case of need. Not to mention the prudent practice of regular
backups...
Third, there is the matter of the Regency and Spinward States
protecting themselves. Given the limits to the speed of travel,
there is no reasonable way that the Regency could have avoided
infection, even if we assume that the virus story told by
"refugees" was assumed to be true in every particular, and that
everyone in the Regency immediately and unquestioningly obeyed
the orders concerning the changes in communications equipment and
procedures. There is also the further assumption that Spinward
States that were in suspicious or hostile relationships with the
Regency (Zhodani, Sword Worlds, ihatei fleets) nevertheless
immediately accepted at face value the statements made to them
concerning the Virus and the actions to take. Since the Virus
spread at the maximum speed possible (geometric curve of number
of ships infected, plus speed of travel and communication
limited), it is almost inevitable that the Virus would arrive
either with the refugees reporting it, or so soon thereafter that
the Regency and the Spinward States would not have had time to
take action. This last problem can be bypassed if we assume that
either the conspirator who was assigned to relay the information
to the Regency was not killed (though he was thought to be) and
hence made it through and delivered his message, or that he had a
reliable and credible assistant, who delivered the message in his
stead, without being noticed by Lucan's secret police. In either
case, the warning would reach the Regency at just about the time
that the Virus was first released by Dulinor's raid.
Fourth, there is the impossibility of blockading the Regency and
the Spinward States. Grant, for the purposes of discussion, that
the infection of "foreign" systems will be slower than the
infection of known systems. Grant further that the Regency and
the Spinward States act in concert to block travel across the
limited routes across the Great Rift. The problem now becomes
preventing the spread of the Virus into the Regency and Spinward
States by going around the Rift, through Vland and Corridor
sectors, _and_the_sectors_to_coreward_. Certainly, it would take
a sizeable fleet to blockade the Regency in the Corridor
approaches. But that ignores the fact that the Virus is also
spreading through the Vargr Extents. This means that the entire
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