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Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Southeastern U.S.
Gender: Male
Posts: 137
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Mind Hacker, Chapter 1, Part 1 (Sci-Fi)
I had to post chapter one in two parts b/c it was too long to fit in one post. I'm posting b/c I want feedback and criticism from other writers so please feel free to post. Thanks.
CHAPTER ONE: INTERVIEW WITH A MIND HACKER
by T.J. Cruse
Kellie twisted golden curls with her pinky as a tiny laser scanned the guards retina. An emerald beam flashed across the entrance and the small party entered Eglin prison. Kellie drew shallow breaths through her mouth to avoid, at least partially, the stench of moldy concrete and cold steel. Still, the odors of the prison penetrated not just the nasal passages but the entire body.
In the previous century, before the Cyberwars, Eglin Prison was known as “Club Fed”, a sanctuary of sorts for elite white collar criminals. Court marshaled military officers, CFOs run afoul of the Exchange Commission, politicians fallen from grace in shady real estate deals. Felons who could not survive inside the hardcore facilities were hidden away in Eglin to repay their societal debts. Things were different then, Kellie reflected. There weren’t sophisticated electromagnetic shielding devices between those good old boys and the rest of the world.
“Wait behind the red line please,” the guard said at the corridor end where a row of steel bars blocked their progress. The guard slipped his thick hand across the wall sensor and Kellie felt an underground lever release. The bars rolled away with a ratcheting clatter and whoosh of stale air. Inside, another guard approached, holding a weapon sensor. One by one, Kellie’s crew submitted to having the sensor passed methodically around their bodies. The guard finally turned to Kellie and flashed a gold-plated smile.
“I’m a big fan of yours.”
“Oh, thank you very much,” she said with as much sincerity as she could muster. The guard made his scan quick and professional but did not deny himself an up-close review of Kellie’s voluptuousness. Kellie stifled a grin. Real-time Genetic Anti-aging Therapy was a miracle of modern medicine at least for the wealthiest FreeWorlders. Her fans rarely questioned the fact that Kellie hadn’t aged much in twenty-five years. Clean living, she mused, along with a couple of trips to the R-GAT each month. And, what would the love-struck guard think were he to discover that the comely news anchor causing his heart to flutter was a grandmother pushing seventy?
As if sensing her thoughts, the guard straightened and retreated sheepishly to his kiosk. He nodded to Kellie’s escort. “Clear.” Kellie humored her admirer with a quick smile as she followed yellow tracer lights into the cell block.
Kellie avoided eye contact while she moved between the cells. Not that she was treading through some catcalling rogues galley of cutthroats and serial rapists. If only that were the case. Kellie had a reputation for putting unruly men in their place. However, Eglin never housed roughnecks and since the Cyberwars escalated, even the executive criminals were evacuated to make room for master hackers, digital mobsters, and cyber-warlords. Eglin transformed itself into a virtual if not physical fortress and the new Eglin brotherhood differed radically from the good old boys of the Twentieth Century. The knit shirts and clean-cut hairstyles of the old crews gave way to ripped blue jeans, tattooed torsos, and shaggy soul patches. The only similarity between the generations was power. The men in these cells were fearsome indeed within the boundaries of the MindWay in much the same way their predecessors had dominated Wall Street boardrooms and campaign trails. However, the elite hackers were completely isolated while incarcerated at Eglin. And for that reason, Kellie pitied them. Inside these shielded walls, they could not thoughtcast in the MindWay, the digital realm where they were gods and kings. And, for the majority of these captives, MindWay withdrawal was a fate worse than death. The sullen, utterly lost prisoners who monitored her progress through the cell block cared little for her celebrity or beauty. They would gladly trade their lives or hers for a few days back in their world. Severe depression was common among the modern denizens of Eglin. They wore it on their faces like Greek tragedy masks. Thus, she would not look them in the eye. She would not dwell on the knowledge that she passed among ghosts.
Kellie arched an eyebrow at the guard when they reached the end of the hallway to find Santos’ cell empty.
“In the conference room already,” the guard said. She nodded and glanced at her crew. The guard opened the door and they walked into the conference room.
Seated at a black aluminum table in the center of the room was a slender man of dark complexion. Draco Santos. His eyes were black and focused, displaying no trace of the hopelessness shared by the other inmates. Kellie decided Santos was such a recent addition that he wasn’t suffering any withdrawal symptoms. Not yet anyway. She anticipated an easy, first or second round, knock-out against a detoxing MindWay junkie. Perhaps she should have given him another week to unravel as the harshness of reality overcame him. But, his story was too hot to wait and his agreement to do the interview with her was a windfall. So, she didn’t worry. Santos might favor her a nice workout but she doubted he could go the distance. He was way out of his league.
Kellie cleared her throat and took a step toward the table. “Mr. Santos?” She extended her hand in a friendly gesture. Santos shifted his eyes to the guard who nodded and demagnetized the table allowing the prisoner to lift his handcuffs and shake Kellie's hand.
“Just Draco, Miss Thomas” he said as they shook. The lines in his tanned face seemed to soften as his mouth curled in a slight smile. Kellie found herself unprepared for the gentle tone of his voice and his soft, warm hands. She immediately sensed an odd duality in this most infamous of hackers.
Kellie flipped a wisp of blond curls behind her ear and turned to her crew members who were preparing the recording equipment for the thoughtcast. Since Eglin blocked any transmissions to the MindWay, the crew would have to save the interview to solid state memory and transmit to the MindWay from outside.
“Well,” Kellie fidgeted with her silver wristwatch and then returned her eyes to Santos. “Draco, I want to thank you for agreeing to do this interview.”
At this Santos merely nodded and Kellie glanced to check the progress of the crew.
“You know there is a tremendous amount of public interest in you.”
Santos lifted his wrists slightly as if to remind Kellie that he was shackled both physically and for the purposes of using the MindWay, mentally as well.
“Right,” Kellie said. “But, I guess you knew that before you were incarcerated?”
Santos nodded. “I didn’t spend much time monitoring the major media thoughtcasts. However, I was aware that, at least among the cyber cops there was a good deal of interest in finding me.” Santos spoke in an even, easy cadence without even a trace of bitterness or anger.
Kellie raised an eyebrow. One of the crewmen touched Kellie on the shoulder. “Oh good,” she said as he handed her the thoughtlink. “I guess we’re ready.” Kellie lifted her blond locks from the back of her neck and deftly pressed the thoughtlink device against the base of her skull where it adhered easily. She was grateful to have access to the latest generation of Global thoughtlink devices. She shuddered at the thought of wearing one of the first or second generation devices that had to be surgically implanted and often resulted in purplish rashes or sometimes even infections at the base of the cerebral cortex. “How is the signal?” she thought.
The crewman touched his earpiece and checked the visual feed on a small device he held in his palm. “Looks good,” he said. Another technician then slipped on his own thoughtlink device to monitor the interview instantly feeling the coolness of the metal chair as Kellie sat to face off with Santos.
“Alright, Draco. Are you ready to begin the interview?”
“Sure Miss Thomas,” Draco leaned forward until he was eye-level with Kellie.
“OK, so here goes...”
“I’m inside the walls of Eglin Prison where notorious hacker Draco Santos is being held by the Federal CyberForce until the date of his initial court hearing. We have been following the story of Santos’ arrest and incarceration and have been granted an exclusive interview with the master criminal who has agreed to answer our questions about his career as the pioneer of what has become known as mind-hacking, and of course about his involvement with and eventual arrest because of the Global Mind-seeding scandal. Now, let’s hear from Santos in his own words.”
“Mr. Santos, you are currently considered the world’s most notorious hacker, number one of the Federal Cyberforce’s Most Wanted List.”
Santos acknowledged the statement with a slight nod but remained silent.
“You are also credited with the pioneering the discipline of mind hacking. Would you share with the audience please what lured you away from a legitimate career in software engineering and into the nefarious world of underground hackers?”
Santos smile broadened and he arched an eyebrow at Kellie as if amused by her grandstanding. He raised his shackled hands to his mouth and coughed.
“Well, Kel...uh...Miss Thomas, I would have to say that I’ve probably always been a hacker of some sort. Like most hacks I’ve known, I was always the kid who wanted to pop the case off the game console or PC and take a peak inside. I’ve always been driven by a passion to look under the hood, peel back the covers and see what’s hidden underneath.”
Kellie fired back immediately. “I see. So, this benign curiosity somehow led to things like Mind-hijacking and thoughlink Zombies?”
“Whoa!” Santos raised his hands as if fending of a right cross. He chuckled. “Slow down, OK?”
Kellie nodded but her eyes indicated that she was not about to turn down the intensity of her interview.
“Kellie, there have always been hackers. Even before the MindWay existed, or the Internet or other computer networks. Even before computers. But, no one paid the average hacker much attention except maybe the Army if he could crack encrypted messages. But, then we moved into the Internet age and suddenly hackers were stealing commerce cards and defacing government web sites. Now hackers were suddenly a problem and really smart people, other hackers, had to deal with the problem and they did. But, each time they dealt with a problem, there was something new like wireless networks, and the hacks were always a step ahead of the security gurus because the corporations were so greedy they couldn't wait to get new technologies to the market.”
“Oh, the corporations are to blame for MindHacking?”
“Not exclusively, but let me finish. Each time a new technology hit the market, hackers found the holes and other hackers patched the holes. But, each time the damage was done and the bigger the jump in technology, the bigger the holes and the longer they took to patch. Eventually, direct neural input became a reality and reality has never been the same has it? The convergence of DNI, terabit wireless, and processing power of quantum computers has ushered in the MindWay Age.”
“So,” Kellie said. “What you’re saying is that the MindWay is the most hacker-prone technology that ever existed?”
Santos nodded. “Basically, that’s true.”
Kellie raised a hand dismissively. “So that gives you the right to turn people into zombies who rob banks?”
Santos sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Listen, I never used the zombie hack on anybody. For the record, I wrote the software that exploited the poor security of the first-gen Global thoughtlink, thus opening the door for the Zombie hack. However, it was never my intention that it be used to harm anyone or commit a crime. In fact, I only released the code on the Mindway after Global refused to acknowledge the bug and fix their code.”
“Hmm, I see.” Kellie paused to drink from her water bottle. Those experiencers who would receive the Mindcast would taste the sweet cold water that her sponsor had provided for the segment. As Kellie set the water bottle down beside her chair, she heard something like static or perhaps a stray interference signal on her thoughtlink. Except it was someone calling her name.
“Kellie?”
She straightened up quickly and spun around to look at the crew. Zack was already zoned out, deeply immersed in her transmission of the interview and the other tech just regarded her with a curious stare.
“Did you call me?” She asked, slightly unnerved.
The tech shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. When she faced Santos again, he wrinkled his forehead. “Are you feeling alright Miss Thomas?”
Kellie nodded quickly. We can edit this out later, she thought. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, you were about to tell me how you got your start in...”
“Kellie?”
This time Kellie froze. It was the same voice again. And this time she recognized it. Santos! Somehow he was getting into her thoughtlink. Kellie's heart begin racing. Her throat constricted with panic. She was all too aware of Santos’ terrible powers. And, she did not want to be turned into a vegetable in the middle of a thoughtcast which would be received by a billion experiencers. She reached back to flip her thoughtlink as far away her skull as she could.
“Wait Kellie. Don’t panic.”
Kellie stayed her hand for a moment. Unsure, she spoke back via her thoughts, no longer concerned with the thoughtcast.
“Santos! What are you trying to do to me? How can you even be doing this? You’re not even wearing a thoughtlink!”
“I’ll explain but Kellie, I need you to know the truth and I can’t tell you this on the air.”
Kellie slid a trembling hand back from behind her head and placed both her hands in her lap. Although her heart was still thumping, the newshound in her had its curiosity aroused.
“Why don’t we just shut down the thoughtcast and you and I talk in a closed room?”
“Again, I’ll explain in a second. For now, just continue asking me questions the way you were before so we don’t attract any more attention from the guards.”
“But...”
“No, go ahead, I can keep this private thought channel separate.”
Kellie took a deep breath and forced her mouth to move. “Uh, um, Mr. Santos you were saying that... You were about to describe how you got your first idea about mindhacking.”
Santos nodded pleasantly. “Yes, Ms. Thomas. I was about fifteen or maybe sixteen and there was a good bit of speculation in the black hat community about how insecure the Global mindlink software really was...”
“Perfect Kellie. Now you’ve got the hang of it.”
“But, how am I going to listen to two conversations at once?”
“Kellie how well did you script out your questions?”
“I always have a pretty firm strategy.”
“Then, trust yourself. You’ll ask the questions. If it will make it easier, we can take our private conversation to a different location so you don’t get confused.”
Kellie realized she was experiencing each conversation individually which was both disturbing and exhilarating, like being in two places at once. When she concentrated on one conversation, the other seemed to be in the background of her mind, transparent in appearance but also muted in volume and dulled in the other senses.
“You said a different location? Do you mean kind of like the Mindway?”
“I mean exactly like the Mindway.”
“But...how?”
The avatar image of Santos stood and separated itself from the physical version which droned on about the details of building the first mind hack device with an antenna, tinfoil, and spare electronic components. The Santos avatar stepped away from the table and waved his hand. The wall behind the table disappeared and Kellie saw an escalator in its place.
“How do I know you’re not going to blow my brains out in the Mindway and leave my body here to drool?”
The Santos avatar, an exact duplicate of the flesh and blood model, shrugged his shoulders and met her gaze.
“Kellie, I need your help. Desperately. You’re just going to have to trust me.”
Kellie sighed and surprised herself by lifting her own avatar from her physical body. She followed Santos up the escalator. The escalator opened up into a stunning view of the Earth from space as the avatars of she and Santos ascended the space elevator. Brilliant dashes of orange and pink burst across the blue curvature of the Earth as the pair rose gently into the lower landing station.
“Nice setting,” Kellie said.
“Yeah, its one of my favorites especially the sunrise scene.” Santos opened a portal in the landing station and led Kellie through to the nearest observation deck where a round coffee table overlooked the Artic sunrise. Santos produced a silver coffee carafe and poured a cup first for Kellie and them for himself.
Kellie watched him closely as she accepted the steaming beverage. The acrid sent filled her nostrils. “Chickory?” she asked.
Santos nodded. “Yeah. I spent some time in New Orleans. Before the Last Flood.
Kellie sipped. If she closed her avatar eyes and concentrated, she could still eavesdrop on her conversation with Santos back in Eglin. After satisfying herself that the real interview was not floundering, she opened her eyes. “So, I bet you bring all the girls up here.”
Santos smiled grimly. “We don’t have much time. I promised an explanation. So, here goes.”
END OF CHAPTER ONE, PART ONE, LOOK FOR PART TWO IN THIS FORUM
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