Palm Sunday

by William R. Vitanyi Jr.

  “Justin, we’re going to have to ride in their car. Help me out–I think I broke my arm.”

  ***

  Norbert didn’t waste much time in his lab. He spent all of seven minutes locating the name and address of a person he very much needed to speak with, grabbed a few CDs, took one last look at his beloved computer center, and left the agency. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, he didn’t even shut down his own workstation. He simply walked away.

  Chapter Twenty

  They waited tensely in the FBI data center’s conference room, visitor badges prominently displayed on their lapels. But the badges were just for show. Sharon did not have them officially sign in, since he didn’t want to involve Roberts unless there were criminal implications. For the time being, his guests were simply another technical resource.

  There had been no further incidents in the data stream since Stanley and the others were arrested, which didn’t exactly inspire confidence in their story. But Sharon couldn’t discount the fact that they were here voluntarily, and so far he had found no inconsistencies in what they had told him.

  “So had it not been for your son finding the palm unit,” said Sharon, “none of this would have happened?”

  “That’s right,” said Stanley. “All I wanted to do was return it to its rightful owner. People keep important information in those things.”

  “But you couldn’t break through the security.”

  “Not with any measure of success, at least not in the beginning. We eventually managed to access agency communications, but even that was only partially successful.”

  Sharon nodded. He of all people understood the difficulty of deciphering the agency’s transmissions. That Stanley and his group got as far as they did impressed him.

  “One part of your story confuses me,” said Sharon. “When Slocum came to your house and demanded the palmtop, you were willing to hand it over, right?”

  “Of course,” said Stanley.

  “But after the agency men shot up your house, you didn’t you go to the police. Why not?”

  Stanley glanced quickly at Bobby. The boy had been largely ignoring the conversation up to this point, but now he looked at his father, obviously interested in the answer.

  “Looking back,” said Stanley, “I probably should have. But I have a history with the local police that discouraged me from involving them. Things happened so fast that night, and I just did what seemed to make sense at the time. I got Bobby out of there, and brought him to a place where I thought we would be safe, so I could think things out. Slocum found us, though, and convinced me to work with him.”

  “Is that when you moved into his apartment?” asked Sharon.

  “Yes. But then Slocum got captured, Bobby was kidnapped, and everything was a mess; it was hopeless. But Kayoko saved the day.”

  Sharon looked at Kayoko. “Why?”

  “Simple,” she said. “They were going too far. Even before the kidnapping I was becoming uneasy. Under Mason we moved from being passive observers, to active agents of change. That was never our mandate, and it was a dangerous evolution. It was my intention to affect a moderation from within, but the situation escalated quickly, and I had to take action.”

  Sharon leaned back, trying to place his arm, now in a sling, in a more comfortable position. “I’m impressed with what I’ve heard, but I need to do some checking on your story.”

  Slocum had been silent up until now. “As I understand it, you’re in charge of this computer center, right?”

  “Correct,” said Sharon.

  “So is this simply a technical matter right now?”

  Sharon smiled. “Right now, yes it is. And if your story checks out, that’s how it will remain. You folks are simply a resource, providing information for my technical investigation.” Sharon understood Slocum’s concern. He wanted to make sure they were kept out of the system.

  “How long will it take you to make that decision?” asked Katherine.

  Before Sharon could answer, the conference room phone rang. The call was for him. He spoke briefly, then thanked the caller and hung up.

  “I have to run downstairs and see someone. Excuse me, I won’t be long.” Kayoko was sitting next to him and helped pulled his chair back. “Thanks,” he said.

  She waited for him to leave before turning to the others. “What do you guys think?”

  “I don’t know,” said Stanley “You’re the psychologist. What do you think?”

  “Tough call. The way they’re treating us could be a good sign, but it could also be their way of drawing us in.” She looked at Slocum. “That’s the technique I used on you.”

  He smiled. “It was I who used a technique on you.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I escaped, didn’t I?”

  “With whose help?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Oh, sure. You tricked me into rescuing you.”

  “You didn’t rescue me at all,” said Slocum. “I rescued you.”

  “Robert–you need some serious counseling.”

  “Can you recommend someone?”

  Kayoko didn’t get a chance to respond, as Sharon returned to the room, and he had someone with him. Kayoko’s mouth opened in surprise.

  “Norbert!”

  “Kayoko! What are you doing here?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. I guess we both have quite a story to tell.”

  “Norbert has a story that you all need to hear,” said Sharon, indicating for him to have a seat. He introduced Stanley, Katherine, Slocum, and Bobby, and briefly explained their role in the unfolding drama. Norbert nodded to each in turn, leaning his elbows on the table as he began to speak.

  “Oh, boy. Where to start?” He looked at Stanley and Katherine. “You guys probably have no idea who Charles Mason is.”

  “Kayoko told us a little bit about him,” said Katherine.

  “Let me give you some more detail.” Norbert painted a picture of his former boss. “Mason runs a real tight ship. Everything has to be done a certain way–his way. To all appearances he’s a normal, somewhat uptight, upper management type; pretty standard for his position. Unfortunately, somewhere between keeping the world safe for democracy and running his own little empire, he totally flipped out.”

  “He had a breakdown?” asked Kayoko.

  “No, not really. There wasn’t any one moment when he started running around naked with a lampshade on his head, or anything like that. In fact, right up until the end he was very calm and collected. He was completely normal in appearance, but looking back I can see now that he was planning this for some time.”

  “Planning what?” asked Stanley.

  “Our agency has a massive capability to monitor the Internet,” said Norbert. “I’m not talking about getting into peoples’ individual computers–although we can and have done that–but actually tapping into the physical infrastructure that carries Internet communications. We have devices installed that allow us to capture huge quantities of Internet transmissions, for analysis.”

  Sharon looked at Kayoko. “So it’s all true.” She nodded.

  “What did Mason do?” asked Stanley.

  “These guys,” Norbert pointed at Sharon, “got too close, so we had to shut them down for a while to make some modifications. There was too great a danger that they might detect what we were doing. At that time I developed a special program to penetrate this center’s computers and keep them down long enough for us to make our adjustments.”

  “That was you?” asked Sharon.

  “Yeah. It was at that point that Mason must have had his brainstorm. He said that since the FBI had probably figured out the program that shut them down, we needed something newer, more potent, in case we needed to do it again. He also wanted the capability to target it against one or more organizations, to specify a level of destruction, and an activation date. With that kind of weapon you could insert it days, or even months or years before activating it. And then you coul
d have it do as much or as little damage as fit the situation.”

  Sharon was growing concerned. “What’s its maximum capability for damage?”

  “Unrecoverable total system destruction. Only replacement of the infected system and restoration from backups would provide temporary respite. Unfortunately, the agent is persistent. It would redeliver itself once the system re-initialized.”

  Sharon shook his head. “How is that possible?”

  “Once delivered, the program lives in the targeted system or network. Removing the affected computer solves the immediate problem, but once the computer is replaced the program retargets that node from other nodes within the local network. Even if you replace every local computer, the program still remains active in the Internet, taking up residence in some distant server or router. Eventually it will retarget its original destination.”

  “Sounds like a nasty bug,” said Stanley.

  Norbert continued. “Here’s the bad news. Mason insisted on having the program, which he named Pascua, under his control. Somehow he learned how to modify and recompile the source code, and apparently he removed a number of the built-in safeguards.” Norbert looked around the room. “Yesterday afternoon Mr. Mason launched Pascua.”

  “Why? What was the target?” asked Sharon.

  “Why? Because he’s insane. The target?” Norbert lowered his eyes; he couldn’t look into their faces. “Everywhere.”

  “How?” asked Katherine.

  “Pascua is targeted based on IP address, or IP address range. I wrote in a security protocol to prevent the widespread distribution of Pascua, just so something like this couldn’t happen. That protocol no longer exists, and Pascua is loose.”

  “But we haven’t heard of any major computer problems,” said Sharon.

  “That may be the good news. There should have been isolated cases of serious disruptions, but so far, nothing. It leads me to believe that he chose a specific activation date, and I believe I know when it is.”

  “And?” urged Sharon.

  Norbert hesitated. “You have to understand that a lot of this is guesswork, but I think it all gets back to what he named the program–Pascua. It’s part of the phrase Pascua Florida, which means Easter in Spanish. I believe this ties in with Mason’s theme of atonement. He went into a long spiel about it when he was bragging about what he’d done. I think the activation date will be on Easter itself, but our deadline to stop Pascua will be a week before that, on Palm Sunday. That’s when it will enter its incubation period.”

  “What’s that?” asked Stanley.

  “Pascua has to instantiate, or copy itself, many times over. Each instance represents a unique object, with similar, but distinctive properties.”

  Slocum interrupted. “I’m not a computer expert. What are you talking about?”

  Norbert paused while he tried to come up with a suitable analogy. “Let’s say you want to build an army, and you have a machine to manufacture soldiers. Each soldier comes out of the machine exactly the same, but some you need to be infantrymen, others drive tanks, and so forth. So you start with the same object–an army man–but then you give him special properties. Some have greater strength, others have superior marksmanship, superior depth perception, whatever. So now you have an army of soldiers that can be targeted to specific tasks. That’s how Pascua works. It starts with a basic destructor object, builds special properties into it depending on the target, then attacks.”

  “I see,” said Slocum.

  “Is the attack sequential, or simultaneous?” asked Stanley.

  “In this case it really doesn’t matter. The instantiation process will be finished long before the activation date.”

  “So catching it while it’s still breeding isn’t an option?” said Sharon.

  “No, not really. Mason has sent Pascua on a very large mission. It will have to replicate itself many millions of times to complete its mission, but the process is very fast.”

  “How certain are you about the Palm Sunday deadline?” asked Slocum.

  Norbert shrugged. “He made a really big deal about the name, and he went on and on about atonement for all the garbage on the Net. Because of how Pascua replicates, we have to get to it seven days before activation, or else it will be too late. I’m not a hundred per cent sure, but my money is on Palm Sunday. Pascua Florida minus seven.”

  “I’ve heard that name before,” said Stanley. “When I was first trying to get into the palmtop, one of the phrases I came upon was ‘pascua florida’. I thought it was a place.”

  “Nope. It means Easter,” said Norbert.

  Stanley laughed at this. “I’m supposed to be so logical, yet it didn’t occur to me to research the entire phrase. I never even checked.”

  “You know,” said Kayoko. “This means he was planning it all along. Maybe not exactly this, but something similar, and he wanted it to happen on Easter.”

  “Norbert,” said Sharon. “Do you know how to stop this thing?”

  He shook his head. “Unfortunately I do not. I had a program that could potentially kill it once it got inside its target, but Mason now has that as well.”

  “Do you want to be on my team?” asked Sharon. “To help us find a way to stop it?”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  “Good,” said Sharon. “Stanley, Katherine–we’ll need you, too. Slocum and Kayoko, I know you aren’t computer experts, but I suspect you may have other insights that could prove valuable.”

  “I’m at your service,” said Slocum. Kayoko nodded her agreement.

  “Let’s get down to the computer center,” said Sharon. “I want to introduce you to my staff.”

  ***

  Mason knew it was time to move on. He had accomplished what he had set out to do, and it wouldn’t be long before the place would be crawling with federal agents. But first he paid a visit to the computer center, which was empty. He assumed that Norbert was off on an errand, so he helped himself to the unsecured workstation.

  He copied a number of files onto CDs, and then found an empty cardboard box and loaded it with numerous folders from Norbert’s file cabinet, placing the CDs in the box as well. Then he opened the safe. The removable hard drive containing the test version of Pascua was an irresistible morsel. With a smile, he gently removed it and put this, too, in his cardboard box. Finally, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his standard agency palmtop. He pressed the button and watched the cover flip open–he loved doing that–and selected the menu option to transmit a message. He giggled as he composed a brief note to his one and only contact outside the agency, sent it, and then closed the palm unit and put it away. Picking up his cardboard box, Mason left the agency.

  ***

  They came from widely disparate backgrounds, but the group that Sharon now had at his disposal would be hard to match for pure technical ability. Better yet, their temperaments blended well, and everyone seemed to naturally follow Stanley’s lead. Norbert provided the lion’s share of raw information, since he had first-hand knowledge of Pascua, and his ability to recall detail was uncanny. Justin facilitated the merging of these skills with the data center’s resources, while Walthrop and Katherine coordinated the hardware interface. Neither Slocum nor Kayoko were able to contribute much to the technical endeavor, but they offered encouragement, and where needed, insights into agency thinking.

  With this combination, a viable counter to the anticipated Pascua attack was developed with twenty hours to spare. The solution would involve a massive distribution of the anti-Pascua program, which Katherine had humorously dubbed ‘Antipasca’. If they could deliver the program as widely as Pascua itself, or nearly so, then Mason’s plan would be thwarted.

  A pulse would be generated by Walthrop’s system, as had been done on the two earlier occasions. This time, though, it would be linked to the data stream via Slocum’s palmtop. It would be disseminated in much the same way as Pascua itself, but it would target the Pascua elements before they became activ
e.

  Sharon addressed his hastily assembled team. “I’m proud of you guys. I wish you could all be permanent members of my unit.”

  Justin looked at his watch. It was nine-thirty in the evening. The door to the computer center opened, and Roberts walked in, accompanied by two security men, and followed by a team of technicians.

  “I want everyone out,” he said. “Under orders from the Attorney General, I’m placing this room under level one quarantine.”

  Sharon was stunned. “You can’t do that! You don’t understand what’s going on here. Listen to me, Roberts, you haven’t been briefed on…”

  “Oh, on the contrary, I’ve been briefed, and I know exactly what’s going on.” He looked at the group of programmers. “Thank you, Justin. You’ve done a tremendous service to your country. Please stay.” Roberts motioned for the guards to escort the others out. When they had left, Roberts took Sharon by the arm and led him to the opposite side of the room, while Justin worked at a console with the newly arrived technicians.

  “Why, Roberts? What’s going on?”

  Roberts smiled. “Sharon, you are so damn naïve. Did you really think you could run the computer center like your own personal kingdom?”

  “You don’t understand why.”

  “Yes, I do. I know your friend got killed investigating National Communications, and I know about Pascua. Justin has kept me well informed.”

  Sharon glanced at Justin on the other side of the room. He couldn’t believe how easily he had been fooled. “What now? If you know about Pascua, you understand that it has to be destroyed.”

  “It will be. Just not everywhere,” said Roberts.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Justin feels that the program your group developed can be tweaked a bit.”

  “Tweaked?”

  “That’s right,” said Roberts. “Instead of firing the pulse at six a.m. on Palm Sunday, we’ll fire it closer to noon.”