Code Flicker

by Marlin Seigman

  He didn’t like this. The SRS had never pushed code in The Galleria, and it had always been a freelancer area. Even the SRS respected that. Why were they making a move to include it in their territory, and why would Steamers help them? He was also fairly certain that any code or decks coming from the SRS would be from the hijacking job. But why would NirvanaWare come after the SRS and still let them have decks and code?

  He stepped away from the monitors and ran the tips of his fingers on his temples. Too many things were not making sense lately.

  “Should I ask around with the Steamers I know and find out what's going on? Or at least who that Steamer is?” Two-Step asked.

  “That’s a good idea. We can’t have the SRS moving in here. I need to get in touch with the other code flickers and see what they know. We might have to ban together to keep them out. I’ve wanted to ask some of them about the bad code that’s going around anyway,” Jacob said.

  Xia gave him a concerned look. “Shouldn’t you wait until we finish this job first? You tend to want to take on too many things, and this is just one more thing to worry about.”

  Jacob smiled a half-smile. “You’re right. It can wait a few days. We’ll be done with Your Better Life in less than a week, and the SRS isn’t going to take over The Galleria in that amount of time. We need to focus on figuring out a way to test the flippers on a quantum processor.”

  “Back to square one,” Two-Step said.

  “Can it be an old one?” Xia asked.

  “An old computer? I guess so, I think they’re all pretty much the same speed,” Two-Step said.

  “Why?” Jacob asked.

  “There’s one in the Science Museum. It’s one of the early ones, but they have it running demonstrations all the time,” Xia said.

  Jacob and Two-Step exchanged smiles.

  “What do we need to do to connect to it?” Jacob asked.

  “Well, if it has wireless capabilities, I can link the flipper with it that way. At least I think I can. If it doesn’t, we have to directly connect to it.”

  “I’m sure there’s information on the museum's site. I say we check it out and take a trip to the Science Museum tomorrow,” Jacob said.

  Chapter 43

  The computer in the Science Museum hung from a frame in the middle of a room. The size of a large refrigerator, it was a maze of copper and silver colored tubes and wires, resembling a futuristic chandelier or an out of control Steamer design. Lining the walls of the room were stations allowing museum visitors to input problems to the computer. After inputting the problem, the guests were shown the results, along with an estimate of how long it would take a conventional computer to solve the problem.

  A woman at a desk near the entrance of the room handed out pads coded with a variety of problems to feed into the waiting stations. Jacob thanked the woman and took a pad as he, Two-Step, and Xia walked in. They were a bit out of place in the room. The only other adults were three sets of parents with their children and two teachers with their students, all of whom decided to keep a watchful eye on the trio as they stepped up to a free station.

  “I guess adults don’t care about science anymore,” Two-Step said.

  “At least no one will have a clue what we’re doing. The good thing is, we know it’s linked or these wouldn’t work,” Jacob said, holding up the pad.

  “Let me see that,” Xia said. Jacob handed her the pad and she scrolled through the list of problems. “How about an optimization problem?”

  “Sounds good. You input the problem and look interested while we try to connect with the flippers,” Jacob said.

  Jacob and Two-Step took the modified flip phones out of their pockets. The hack seemed simple enough. They would link with the computer and program it to cycle data through the phone, creating a sort of data logjam, slowing down the computer. If it worked. One problem was trying to type on the flip phones. The only keys they had were number keys. One of Two-Step’s mods took care of that. A low-level AI algorithm he pirated from a smartphone anticipated which letter was intended each time a number key was pressed. Jacob and Two-Step had been using the flippers for days, allowing the AI to learn their typing habits. The results were acceptable, but this was the first time they would be using the flippers in a live hacking situation.

  “Let us link with the network first,” Jacob said.

  “I’m in,” Two-Step said shortly.

  “Same,” Jacob said. “Xia, send the problem first. We’ll see how long it takes to get a response, then we’ll slow it down, and you send the same problem. We’ll see if this works.”

  Xia nodded and typed on the pad.

  Twenty seconds later, the pad dinged.

  Xia read the results. “It says it would take a conventional computer 1,000 years to solve that problem. Crazy.”

  “All right Two-Step, let’s do our thing.”

  It was easy. Too easy, really. The computer didn’t have a firewall or any other defense systems. Why would it? It wasn’t linked to an outside network, so there was no need for security. Getting into the system was the easy part. Programming the computer to send all data to the phones was a different matter. Despite Two-Step’s program, typing code with the phones was slow going. It was clear that when the time came to hack the Your Better Life system, Jacob would have to find a workaround if he wasn’t able to directly link.

  When the code was finished, Jacob sent it to the computer. Immediately his phone’s screen began to blink and fill with an incomprehensible stream of code. “Look at this,” he said, showing the phone to Xia and To-Step.

  “It’s working,” Two-Step beamed.

  “It seems like it. We have to see if it is actually slowing the thing down. Xia, send the problem again,” Jacob said.

  Xia tapped on the pad. They waited. Thirty-seven seconds later the pad dinged.

  “Holy shit, it worked,” Two-Step said a bit too loudly. Mothers and teachers shot looks of disapproval. “It wasn’t much of a slow down, but it worked,” he said more quietly.

  “Let’s disconnect and get out of here,” Jacob said.

  They exited the museum feeling good, for the most part.

  “I’m still worried about how long it takes to code on these things,” Jacob said, holding the flipper with his thumb and forefinger.

  “Yeah, that didn’t go so smooth,” Two-Step said.

  “Any ideas?”

  Xia said, “We could write the code first and have it loaded in a packet on the phone when you go in.”

  “That might work,” Jacob said, “but getting past the system security is going to be the hard part.”

  “You’re not going to link directly with the system?” Two-Step asked.

  “I will if I can. I’ll be by myself there. When I’m linked, I won’t be able to tell if someone comes into the room. I’ll be a sitting duck.”

  “Kat can monitor for you from the outside,” Xia said.

  “That’s the plan, but I want to be prepared for anything. You can never have too many good options,” Jacob said.

  Chapter 44

  As they neared The Galleria in the van, Two-Step asked to be dropped off at The Tower so he could go to The Market. Jacob pulled into a parking lot to let him out. “I’m going to cook dinner for Haley tonight,” he said before he opened the door. “You remember that customer, Bahir? He bought some old laptops a few weeks ago. Anyway, he came in the store the other day and said his uncle was getting some real goat meat. I asked him to hold some for me. Real goat meat. I haven’t had real goat meat since I left home.”

  Xia reacted as if she had bitten into a rotten egg. Jacob laughed.

  “What?” Two-Step asked.

  “The idea of eating an actual dead animal is disgusting,” Xia said.

  “Not as disgusting as vat-grown meat. Meat grown in a lab just isn’t right. I don’t know how people can grow up and never taste a real chicken. Or a steak. And rabbit. Real food. That’s the only thing I miss about being back home. Fresh fo
od all of the time. It was the best. The garden is decent, and Pigeon Eater’s pigeons are fine, but nothing like home.”

  “Don’t even get me started on eating pigeon,” Xia said.

  As they spoke, Jacob noticed a crowd gathering at one end of the parking lot. “What’s going on over there?” he asked.

  Xia turned to look. “I can’t see.”

  “Maybe we should check it out,” Two-Step said.

  As soon as Jacob opened the door of the van, he heard the screams. The sound was unlike any he had heard, a guttural moan turning to a wail and back again. He still couldn’t see what was happening, but everything about it told him it was another overload. Grabbing his code deck, he started running toward the crowd.

  He got to the crowd, pushing people out of the way. A teenage boy lay on his back, staring at the sky. His body didn’t convulse, it was tense and rigid except his fingers. As he moaned and wailed, he tapped the tips of his fingers, one at a time, in rapid succession on to the tips of his thumbs.

  Jacob knelt beside the boy. He scanned the boy’s tattoo and tried to link to his subdermal chip, but his chip poured large packets of data into the cloud and blocked Jacob’s attempts.

  Xia knelt next to Jacob. “Any luck?”

  “I can’t link for some reason.”

  He looked around at the gathered crowd. “Does anyone know what code he’s doing?”

  Another teenager said, “It was just a simple upper.”

  Jacob could see this kid was also on code and a bit freaked out. He had the look of someone who has seen something coming for him and doesn’t have time to get out of the way.

  “Thanks,” Jacob said, still unsure of what was causing the boy’s chip to do this. Simple amphetamine code wouldn’t explain why the chip was streaming data. He’d never seen code of any type make a chip act this way. “Do you have your deck?” he asked Xia.

  “I do, but I can’t use it for this. We can’t chance me getting fired.”

  Damn, she was right.

  “Two-Step, give Xia your deck,” Jacob said over a wail that continued to build until the boy ran out of breath.

  “I can help,” Two-Step said, taking his deck out of his backpack.

  “Xia’s better at this sort of thing than you are.”

  Two-Step didn’t argue and gave her the deck. Xia logged in on Two-Step’s deck and work with Jacob to establish a link.

  “What in the hell is going on?” Jacob asked, looking at his deck’s display. The only medical code he saw was a small amount of a simple amphetamine analog, just as the other boy said. He couldn’t see anything that would create a reaction like this.

  Then he saw it. It wasn’t the medical code that was the problem. Another command was instructing the chip to send terabytes of data. It was like someone was siphoning his brain to the cloud.

  “Xia, are you seeing this?”

  “I just linked. I see it, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Me neither. Let’s try to stop it.”

  “Should we direct link?”

  A direct link would allow them a better chance of quickly finding out what was going on and stop it, but it could be dangerous. Without knowing why the chip was uploading data to the cloud, they couldn’t take the chance of being caught in the same situation as the boy.

  “No. Too many unknowns. Besides, we may not be able to. What will it do to him if we get into the chip’s system and force a hard reboot?”

  Xia considered as the boy’s moan started its build back into a wail. “Normally, I would say he will be fine after a reboot, but I just don’t know.”

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice. I don’t know how much of this he can take. Two-Step, pull the van over here in case we need to get him to an emergency room.”

  Two-Step ran to the van. Jacob and Xia worked to infiltrate the chip’s operating system.

  “I’m in,” Xia said. “This system looks familiar.”

  “I see it.” It was the same operating system running the hijacked NirvanaWare chips.

  Two-Step parked the van as close as possible, forcing the crowd to part. He got out and opened the back. “I’m ready,” he said.

  “Okay, on three we do a system shutdown. Then on three, we reboot,” Jacob said.

  Xia nodded.

  “One. Two. Three.”

  The wailing stopped mid-note and the boy’s body relaxed, his fingers going limp.

  “One. Two. Three.”

  They waited in what was now an eerie quiet. It was as if the entire crowd gathered around was holding their breath, waiting for a signal to exhale.

  Then, the boy blinked. The crowd exhaled.

  “Are you okay?” Jacob asked.

  He blinked again, his mouth forming words without sound.

  “It’s all right, don’t try to talk yet. Just rest for a minute,” Xia said, putting her hand on the boy’s shoulder.

  Jacob found the boy's friend in the crowd. “Do you have a car?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does he have insurance?”

  “Yes, his dad’s corporate.”

  “Good. We’ll help you get him in the car so you can take him to a hospital.”

  “All right.”

  After the teenagers drove off, Jacob and Xia sat in the front of the van, passing his nic-stem back and forth while Two-Step went off to get his fresh goat meat.

  “How could a chip malfunction like that?” Xia asked. “I’ve never seen one do that before.”

  “It was a bit like a data upload after a lab test. But out of control.”

  “Do you think it was one of the chips from the hijack?”

  “It must have been. It had the same operating system.” Jacob took a drag from the nic-stem. “If it was, then we know the SRS is pushing them. It makes sense. Steamers would be an excellent choice if you wanted someone to implant black market chips for you. That would explain why Yuri and Chen were handing off backpacks to a Steamer.”

  Jacob handed Xia the nic-stem. She waved it off. “That all makes sense, but what in the hell did they do wrong that would make it go crazy like that?”

  “I don’t know. And right now, we don’t have time to find out.”

  “Here comes Two-Step,” Xia said. “I still can’t believe he’s going to feed someone a dead goat.”

  Jacob shook his head and started the van.

  Chapter 45

  Jacob sat the serving dish on the table and uncovered it. Sandy looked impressed.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Sautéed chard and parmesan.” His apartment was small so he only had to turn around to get the next dish and place it on the table. “And of course, roasted pigeon with carrots and potatoes.”

  “Nice. You still haven’t told me what the occasion is,” Sandy said as Jacob sat down.

  “We are about to pull off the job of a lifetime, and I thought a nice meal before we do would be great.” He served her a roasted pigeon and a helping of chard, neatly placing two carrots and two potatoes on the plate. “And to be honest, I didn’t want to be outdone by Two-Step.”

  “Two-Step?”

  “Yes,” he said, fixing his own plate. “He made dinner for Haley, and I thought it sounded, I don’t know, romantic.”

  Sandy looked around. Jacob had the lights low and had set up several small LED lights around the small apartment. “I think it’s very romantic. I’m not going to ruin the mood and mention it took Two-Step doing something to get you to be romantic,” she said with a smile.

  “Thanks. Wouldn’t want to ruin the mood.”

  She laughed, “I’m kidding. I don’t care why you did it. I think it's great.”

  “Well, don’t say that until you try it. I’m no cook.”

  Sandy took a bite of the chard, followed by a bite of the pigeon.

  “Wow, this is good. Where did you get the recipes?”

  “Pigeon Eater. He’s been streaming a cooking show. He said it’s part of, how did he put it, a com
prehensive marketing plan to take pigeon mainstream.” He took his first bite, chewing thoughtfully. “Your right, it is good,” he said, trying to hide how surprised he was.

  After they finished eating, Jacob washed Jacob with the dishes while Sandy sat at the table with a satisfied look on her face. He dried the last dish and put it away. Sandy got each of them a beer and they went out on the small patio. The apartment had once been a room in one of the hotels in The Galleria, and the patio had just enough room for two folding chairs. It was cramped, but the night air was refreshing.

  Sandy leaned on the railing, looking at the city. In the distance, the brightly lit frame of the Your Better Life building twisted up into the city skyline. “Hard to think we are going to break into that place. What the hell are we thinking?”

  Jacob leaned on the railing next to her. “I’ve asked myself the same thing once or twice. When I first met Johnson, he told me he thought I would take the job because I was desperate, and desperate men do desperate things. He might have been right at the time, but now I’m doing this because I know we can. And maybe a little bit of revenge. Not for losing my corporate job, but for other reasons. Gomez probably would have lived if that hospital had taken him right away. So there’s that. But there’s so much more to it. You know, I look out over the city and see two worlds, and we’re not part of one of them. We’ll never be because we don’t want to play their game. At least I don’t. I don’t want to have to live in their housing or vote for their candidates or sign their contracts. I just don’t. Not anymore. The whole time I was on probation, I felt trapped and like my life was over. But not now. In a couple of days, I’m putting my freedom and my life on the line, and I’m taking my best friends with me, but I feel like I have a future for the first time. I know, it sounds crazy.”

  “No, it doesn’t. Part of me feels the same way.”

  “Thanks. It’s good to know I’m not the only crazy one.”

  Sandy reached over and pushed his bangs back off his forehead. “You’ve changed a lot over these last few weeks,” she said.