Robert and Nick both connect to the conference at the same time. Nick asks if Emtanon will actually show up for the call. Robert laughs and says he hopes so. Nick jokingly asks if Steven is "finally off his bender". Robert says he thinks so, because Emtanon dropped the code. Nick makes a joke about Steven "coding while drunk". Someone joins the conference call but doesn't speak. Robert asks who it is but apparently isn't too bothered. Robert then says that AS36 worked for a while but then stopped working, and J sent a test message while it was up. He says that he doesn't know who got the drop, but someone programmed the bootloader in without saying anything. He says he hasn't seen the source code, but apparently it didn't work properly anyway. Nick asks if it was a code problem, or if this is now a hardware issue. Robert isn't sure, and says it's possible that there's "something wrong with one of the line cards", but the hardware seems to be working because that's what they're using to talk at the moment, and AS36 did in fact work for a while and was synchronizing because it had been offline for a while, but is now down again. He says that he also noticed that the bootloader lock wasn't put on. Nick says that they specifically asked for that, and Robert agrees. They hope Steven will be on the conference and can tell them more.
Nick asks if Robert has actually seen the code. He says he hasn't got anything and the only thing he knows is that someone programmed it in. He says it was a "pretty quick drop, so it could take a couple of days to get here". Nick says that he doesn't know who it would have been because he doesn't know anyone "who works up there". Robert says that the message was sent out to everybody, so it's hard to narrow it down. Nick makes a joke about "some sort of Robin Hood" collecting the drop. Robert laughs. Nick says that usually there would be basic instructions with these things so someone must have just thought they had to go ahead and load it. Robert makes a joke about someone not knowing what the source code is and throwing it away.
Someone joins the conference - it's Josh from Emtanon. Someone called "Davis" joins also. Robert asks if he's working on the project too. Davis replies that he's a "new guy" on the project, he's helping out with the bootloader and trying to "squeeze out some of the bugs". Robert asks if he's working with Steven and Davis confirms that he is.
Robert starts the conference properly and lets Emtanon know that someone loaded the bootloader onto AS36, and that it worked for a couple of hours and then stopped working again. He asks Josh what happened. Josh asks Robert if he knows how the bootloader was loaded. Robert says that he put out a notification to everyone to collect the bootloader and he says that someone picked it up and programmed it on, but they don't know who. Josh says it was a "double line drop" so it could have been anybody.
Robert says that they need to figure out what happened, but he can't input the hex code himself as he doesn't have it. He says that the bootloader wasn't locked. Josh says that to enter it, call the 2029993337 number, and the correct bootloader ID has to be entered in order for the bootloader to lock correctly. He says for the ID, "check page 199 in the blue tides book". Robert goes to look, then comes back with the book, and says "so... 255?" Josh sighs and replies that he shouldn't have said it over the phone. Robert laughs. Josh says that the ID must be entered as a decimal byte and as long as that's done, the bootloader lock will be applied. Robert asks if they wrote the bootloader ID on the paper, and Josh says no. Robert says he'll have to put out a message with some instructions and hopefully someone can take care of it.
Robert says that he doesn't know if he's going to be able to see the source code and asks Emtanon if they can use another drop location. Josh suggests one, but there's a loud noise (a car?) over the top and it's hard to hear what he says. Robert replies "oh yeah, that's the main one". He asks when he can expect to get the source code again from Emtanon. Josh says that as they took longer than expected on the software development, "we can do it again just this once by the end of the week". Robert agrees with this. He then goes over that he has to tell the agents to enter the bootloader ID 255, they key that in and it should work OK. Josh confirms.
Robert schedules another conference call with Josh "for the end of the week" so they can go over the source code together. He says they can talk again in the week if they need to. He tells Josh and Davis that he's going to stay on the line with Nick so they can chat. Josh logs off the call.
Robert says that he only heard one person disconnect and Davis confirms that he's still there. Robert asks him to log off too, and he does. Robert then talks to Nick and says that he will send  a message out to everyone possible so that someone will enter in the proper bootloader ID, and says he's "not sure if these guys are blowing smoke up my butt" and hopes that it will be OK. Nick says he's amazed that it worked for as long as it did, and Robert laughs. He says that hopefully this will be it, but says that when he dialled it "there was no lock, it doesn't say melter or anything".
Nick asks what exactly the "tides book" is used for and Robert says it's a new book they just got, it's been out for "about a month now" and asks Nick if he has a copy. He says it's a big thick book. Nick asks if it's "the huge one, with the waves" and Robert says yes, with the waves on the cover. Nick then says they have it and "you know something funny though, well, whatever, maybe it's supposed to be like that". Robert asks what's funny and Nick says "I think it's fucked up somehow, but maybe not". Nick then asks what it has to do with the bootloader. Robert says that Josh was trying to pass the number to him without saying it out loud but it's only  3-digit number and he doesn't think it matters as they have the "bootloader lock code" and he wouldn't say that over the phone and he keeps that secret. He says that they've been "dropping this book quite a bit". Nick says they've got it somewhere and he's seen it around. Robert says it's bigger than the other books.
Robert then says he's going to put a message out to everyone and hopefully get it working. He says that "they're wanting to put the word out once it's running" and says they almost jumped the gun and got everyone using AS36 when it came back up, but thankfully they didn't as it stopped working again. He thinks it'll be a gradual roll out and AS27 is a piece of junk but "they're not willing to give that one up just yet". Nick says he was under the impression that they were giving it up, but he says whatever as long as the bootloader gets loaded, they can make a plan after that.
Robert says he's going to wrap things up and Nick asks if they set a time for the next conference call as he "wasn't paying attention". Robert says he was thinking of 5am UTC Saturday and he'll send a message to Josh saying that to remind him. He says he's not sure what Emtanon are doing and if Steven will be working on this project properly, and he wants to go over it all and understand what's going on because he doesn't know if he can rely on Emtanon. He says if it breaks again or they need to make changes, it would be nice to understand how it works. Nick says that they'll be giving them money anyway so they need to decide "is the work we're getting from them of negative value or positive value" and it's costing them money. He says that he thinks Emtanon will keep getting contracts so they'll have to learn to work with them.
Robert then says he's having a problem with his Abism prompt and Nick tries to help a bit but then says "oh, you're fucked" and laughs. Robert laughs and says he's going to pull the power on it.
Someone joins the conference (this was one of us arriving late!) and they both ask who joined. Robert says he's not expecting anyone. Nick says "oh, this must be Steven, are you drunk, Steven, can you speak?" Robert says Steven'll be on mute because he's "doing something very important". They both joke about how "special assignment" must be a brand of liquor and that's what Steven's been doing all weekend. Robert laughs and says he's not even sure if Steven exists anymore because they keep talking about him and he never shows up. Abism tones are heard in the background and Robert says "yay!". Nick says that he wonders if it's possible to learn the whole character set by ear. Robert laughs and says he's getting to that point and it's like "music in the background". They joke about making a song out of it and playing tunes with phone keys. Robert says he can play Mary Had a Little Lamb on his phone and they both laugh. He says he's going to change the mode and end the conference and Nick says he'll talk to him Saturday morning, and disconnects. Robert enters some more Abism, and then the call ends.