comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

. . . technoMancers . . .
The security guard gave Jinx a suspicious look. She watched calmly as he ran her ID a second time,
frowning when it passed again.
“This facility is EM-restricted. You must surrender your commlink and all other networking electronics.
Any attempt to—”
“I know the drill,” she said, handing over her commlink and a few other gadgets. The guard gave her a
don’t-backtalk-me-bitch look and waved her into a scanner corridor. She noticed that his right hand never
wavered from near his firearm. Guess my corporate drone look isn’t so corporate after all.
“This scan will detect all cybernetic implants, concealed weapons, and wireless-enabled electronics. If
there’s anything you’d like to declare as contraband, please do so now.” He paused, as if he actually expected
her to admit that yes, she was armed and dangerous. Yeah, right. Too bad I’m not.
He continued his bluster. “It will also fry any arphid tags and detect your EM emissions if you are an
unregistered technomancer.”
Thanks for the warning, she thought, gritting her teeth at the effort of keeping her living persona in
play-dead mode. She waited the scan out, then flashed the guard her sweetest smile as she sauntered into the
facility. She couldn’t see the wireless-inhibiting material built into the walls, but she knew it was there.
She took her time stalking the halls, making it look like she belonged there and knew exactly where she
was going. The effort of running silent was killing her. Her skin crawled. Her brain itched.
Finally, she reached her destination: an out-of-the-way storage room, hidden from cameras in a low
traffic spot. It was guarded by a simple but effective maglock. Her mind cried out, wanting to reach through
the ether and caress it, but she didn’t dare. No emitting, she reminded herself. They’re keeping too close an eye
on radio transmissions inside the facility. Good thing I don’t need to. She reached her hand out and touched
the maglock, calling up an echo of the Resonance in her mind. Her skin’s bioelectric field permeated the device,
creating a connection. She felt it.
The maglock’s AR interface came to life in her mind’s eye. The device was slaved to the security nexus—
exactly where she wanted to be. Her complex forms sprang to life, pulsing small waves of Resonance at the
firewall, feeling for its weak spots and flaws. It was strong, and she could feel its electronic gaze seeking her
out, hoping to transfix her with its digital spotlight. It closed in. There, she thought. A minor crack in the
firewall’s code. A programming error, creating a loophole to be exploited. Her complex forms reached in and
widened the hole. She was through.
Still standing in the side corridor, touching the maglock, her biological radio muted, Jinx was in. She
mentally surveyed the chokepoint node she had penetrated without alarm. Her forms took note of spiders
and IC patrolling the system. So far, she remained invisible to them.
She called up, Gizmo, her sprite, who appeared in a burst of glyphs and code fragments. “We have thirty
seconds before the team strikes,” she motioned to him. “Let’s trash this place.”
Unwired
129
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9