comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

106
. . . software . . .
“We don’t have time for this crap!” Medusa barked over the team’s channel.
“Cool down, snakes, this firewall I’m scanning ain’t no sponge,” Slamm-0! snapped back. “Unlike that
technowanker you used to employ, I don’t just improvise code out of my virtual ass. So slap on a patch and
take a deep breath, I’ll be back before your buzz wears off.” Remaining in the outer node of the Aztechnology
gene farm he had just hacked, he opened a new connection to an address he’d received just an hour ago via
digital word-of-mouth.
He toggled his VR perception to the new node, dropping into a sculpted warehouse lined with endless
non-descriptive wooden shelves, each packed full of millions of items of obscure, useless kitsch. “I don’t have
time for this.”
“Over here, boss!” the baseball browser program yelled, highlighting a small plastic dinosaur in a clutter
of icons several dozen shelves over. Slamm-0! fed the dinosaur an encryption key and passcode, causing a
small door to appear next to him. He stepped through the backdoor and into the new node.
“Welcome to Hacker House! We’re online 24-7-365 to fulfill your hacking needs. All downloads are
guaranteed virus free. We accept registered or certified cred, black escrow accounts, and one-time account
transfer authorizations.”
Slamm-0! discarded the intro menu. “Send priority PM to Netword: Need immediate expert advice.
Pronto.”
A small tornado made of millions of alphanumeric characters appeared, coalescing into the anagramic
persona of Netword. “What’s up, spitfire? Got yourself in trouble again? What do you need?”
“I’m mid-run as we speak, so straight to the point: I need a cutting edge shroud to keep myself warm
in an arctic node. Not that I wouldn’t mind testing my new bats out on some spiders, but this time I need to
pull an Artful Dodger in some Azzie system without the bells ringing. So what can you offer?”
Netword pulled up some program specs displaying a well-known dragon-head logo. “You’re a lucky
bastard. I just cut a deal with a German hacker who happened to get a hold of the Stealth program that
S-K’s eavesdropping worms use—y’know, the ones that scour the ‘trix for precious info for the dragon?
Anyway, it’s premier code I won’t offer on the boards—draws too much attention, you know? Just finished
cracking the source-code and recompiling the program yesterday. You can have a copy if you’re interested, but
not for free. I’ll accept that new Black Slugger you’ve been showing off in return. It would be a fine addition
to my collection.”
Slamm-0! hesitated. “You gotta be kidding! Do you know how many months it took me to crank out
that code?”
Netword shrugged. “Take it or leave it. I’m not the one risking my life in the next few minutes.”
Slamm-0! sneered, then made the swap. His new dragoncloak was already loaded when he popped back
in the Azzie node and messaged his team. “I’m back, ladies. Let’s hack and haul. I’m going in.”
Unwired
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9