Roland took the tiny drive she handed him. It was only about the size of his thumbnail.
“Just plug that into one of the high speed data ports. It will flash green while the data uploads. Then, you can take it out. It only has to upload two terabytes.”
Roland put the drive into his pocket.
“Then, after that, I can connect to my worm remotely and check all through their systems.”
Roland sat back in his chair. “Alright. Then what? Remove the drive and get back here?”
Skylar took a sip from her water bottle. “Yep. And don’t get caught. Now who should you swipe a badge from?”
“What about a maintenance guy or something? They should have access to all the facilities.”
Skylar’s brow furrowed as she considered the possibility. “I think that would work. But they probably won’t just let a maintenance guy go up there without a reason.”
“Can you put in a maintenance call somehow?”
Skylar turned back to her terminal. “I’ve got an idea. Maybe I could spoof a maintenance request. I have been able to see their low level emails.” She began typing quickly on her holographic keyboard. “Here we go. I found an office worker guy on the third floor of the datacenter who has been complaining about the AC being too cold.” She gave a few short commands to duplicate the email and change it up a bit. Then she tapped the Send button on her terminal. “I spoofed the email sender and the IP address to make it look like it was sent from that same guy.” She turned back to Roland. “This new request is for noises coming from the AC unit.”
Roland ran his hand through his hair. “Noisy AC. Alright. That should work to get me up to the third floor. What about actually getting into the datacenter room? I’m sure a maintenance guy can’t get in there.”
Skylar gave a nod. “Nope. You’re right. For that, you are going to need to borrow a guard’s handprint and retina scan.”
Roland grinned. “Borrow? He may be less than cooperative.”
Skylar patted Roland’s leg. “I wouldn’t recommend that he be conscious when you borrow them, but it will be easier than you think with the new plugins I made for you.”
Roland’s face changed to serious determination. “Whatever it takes…” He sat up straight. “Show me the new plugins.”
Skylar hit the upload button twice. “I just sent you two scanner plugins. One is for the handprint, and the other is for the retina. Remember how you grabbed Pixel and uploaded a virus to him?”
Roland leaned forward to look at her terminal. “Yeah. I remember. I grabbed his arm, and my hand got hot when you did the upload.”
Skylar took a sip from her water bottle. “Well, it’s the same idea here, but this time you will be receiving instead of sending.” She picked up Roland’s hand and held up against hers - palm to palm. “Like this. Now turn on the Hand Scan plugin.”
Roland gave the thought command to enable Hand Scan. A green transparent rectangle showed on the left side of his HUD. It began to blink.
Skylar watched the blinking, green rectangle on Roland’s video stream. “Ok. It’s ready to receive now. Give it the command to Scan.”
Roland did as she asked. His hand briefly felt warmer. A handprint showed in the middle of the green rectangle on his HUD. “Well. That was easy.” He turned to watch Skylar’s terminal.
Skylar typed in a couple of commands on her holographic keyboard, and then she pointed at the terminal. “Ok. It has scanned in the handprint. Hold on while I overlay it as your handprint.” She swiped to a new screen and typed in a few commands. She moved the screen over in front of Roland. “Ok, put your hand on this terminal. Let’s scan your hand now to see what handprint is showing.”
Roland put his hand up on the holographic terminal. A green line moved horizontally down the terminal as it scanned. When it reached the bottom, the terminal reset.
Skylar moved it back and swiped to another screen to run a comparison against Roland’s new handprint and hers. Then, she sat back in her chair. “It says our handprints are 99.7% the same. That’s really good. The margin for error has to be above 99.5%. Any lower than that, and it won’t work.”
Roland nodded. “Sounds good. So, I just scan a security guard’s handprint and then use it to open the datacenter door?”
Skylar nodded. “Yep. That’s right. Now, there’s just one little detail with this.”
Roland raised an eyebrow. “Ok…”
Skylar swiped to a new screen. It showed Roland’s scan and a countdown timer next to it. “The handprint degrades over time. It is basically an electromagnetic signal that overlays your natural handprint. It gets weaker the longer you have it.”
Roland crossed his arms. “So, how long will it last?”
Skylar held up five fingers. “You have maybe five minutes. After that it will have dropped below the margin for error, and your regular handprint will start showing through.”
Roland sat back and exhaled. “Ok. I’m going to have to move really fast then. Any little delay and they are going to know it was me that just tried to access their secured area. Can you put a timer on my HUD to show how long I’ve got?”
Skylar nodded. “Sure, no problem.” She swiped over to a command prompt terminal screen. A blinking cursor stared back at her. She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, and then she blew through command after command to add the timer to Roland’s HUD.
Roland watched her terminal as several screens of text flew by. “All that for a timer?”
Skylar finished and sat back in her chair. “It’s not like a regular countdown timer. I have to correlate the timer to the rate of the signal degradation from the electromagnetic overlay. There are a lot of variables.”
Roland smirked. “Good job being awesome then.”
Skylar rolled her eyes.
Roland pointed to his eye. “What about the retina scanner? Is it the same?”
Skylar gave a quick nod and gestured to her eyes while she talked. “Yep. Just hold your eye within two inches of the security guard’s eye and give the Scan command. The retina scan signal will hold longer than the handprint signal, because there is less detail. You’ve got about ten minutes with it before it degrades beyond the error margin.” She turned back to her terminal and typed in a few more commands. “There. I duplicated the handprint timer, so we have one for the retina scanner, too. I doubt we’ll need it though, because it will be useless without the handprint scan.”
Roland cracked his knuckles. “Thanks. Better to have it ready and not need it. What about getting passed the security cameras?”
Skylar smiled as she mimicked a french accent. “Ah, yes. My pièce de résistance! Skylar swiped back left two screens. She typed in a few commands. Then she hit the upload button. “I just gave you every cat burglar’s dream.”
Roland gave a half smile. “I’m listening.”
Skylar swiped to a new blank terminal and then turned back to Roland. “This plugin is called eStealth. It is a cloaking app that will remove and redirect your digital footprint. It takes an enormous amount of resources to use, so it’s not practical to use all the time. When you have it enabled, you pretty much won’t be able to use any of the other major plugins. There are a few minor ones that will work with it but don’t expect to use Leapfrog, Slow Mo, Grip or any others that you would use during a race. They won’t even turn on.”
Roland exhaled. “Wow. This thing is serious! How does it work?”
Skylar put in a command on her terminal and turned back towards Roland. “Ok. Pinnacle uses three types of security signals. The first is a radio wave. We will bounce the signal in wrong direction using eStealth, like those old stealth bomber planes did a hundred twenty-five years ago. The second signal type is infrared. EStealth will also allow you to soak up all their infrared signals with your nano cells. Thus, you won’t show up on their scans. Now, the third signal type is their video surveilannce and was much harder to get around, but I did it.”
Roland grabbed
a beef jerky stick and bit off a chunk. “You always do.”
Skylar swiped to a new screen, then she pointed her hi-def camera at Roland. The hologram showed Roland’s image. “Ok, I’ve got you on camera now. Go ahead and enable eStealth.”
Roland gave the thought command for eStealth. He shuddered as a cold chill ran through his body. “Whoa. Cold!” He looked over at the screen where Skylar had been videoing him. It only showed his empty chair. He turned around to look incredulously at the chair and then back to the screen. “Wow. You completely removed me!”
Skylar smiled. “Thought you’d like it! Ok, so basically, the cells in back of you are constantly transmitting everything behind you to be in front of you. So, effectively, it removes you from the camera. It’s not perfect though. Wave your hand fast.”
Roland waved his hand. The screen showed a static blur in the area where his hand had moved. “So I have to move slowly?” He waved again, but more slowly. The screen held steady.
Skylar nodded. “Yep. So, don’t go sprinting or even jogging anywhere with this on. It will draw attention to you. If you do have to move fast, do it in bursts, so that their screens will go back to normal. We are encrypting all our signals, but they could probably decode this enough to figure out that something is going on, if they get their tech team involved. I don’t think they could ever figure out it was you, but these guys are very smart and have unlimited resources. Best bet, don’t give them an opportunity. Move slow. Remember, this only will keep you safe from electronic surveillance. It won’t help you if anyone actually sees you.”
Roland nodded. “No one will.” He gave the thought command to disable the eStealth plugin to conserve energy. Then he motioned to the locator in his arm. “Ready to get this thing out?”
CHAPTER SEVEN:
TWEEZERS
ROLAND PICKED UP a steak knife from the food tray. “I’m ready.”
Skylar swiped through a few screens until she found the one she was looking for. “Let’s get it out. Hold on. I will prepare it.” She typed in a few commands. On her holographic terminal, it showed a three dimensional x-ray of the locator in Roland’s arm. Nano cells were attaching to it. After about a minute, they were clustered tightly around it. “Ok. That will be enough to spoof your location. They will continue transmitting your DNA to the locator, which will be here in this room.”
Roland nodded. “Ok. Turn up the Pain Blocker.” He positioned the steak knife right above the locator on his arm. He pressed down onto the skin. The x-ray terminal showed the tip of the knife blade pressing into his flesh. He grimaced a little. “Ow. I can still feel that.”
“Stop. I haven’t enabled it yet.” Skylar shook her head as she pulled up another screen and hit the button to enable the Pain Blocker. Then she slid a small bar up on the screen to increase its power. “It’s at about twenty-five percent now.”
Roland didn’t even hesitate. He jammed the steak knife into his arm, watching the holographic terminal the whole time. It was like watching a live x-ray as the blade sliced downwards towards the locator. Bright red blood quickly exited the wound and began making a small pool on the tray.
Skylar looked over at Roland. She watched the six inch knife blade being buried two inches into Roland’s forearm. Roland clenched his jaw muscles as he concentrated on the terminal, moving the knife back and forth, trying to get the locator out. She started feeling queasy.
Blood was now pouring out of the wound in Roland’s arm. “Sky, I need your help. It’s stuck in there. I don’t want to hit a tendon or something.”
Skylar, trying not throw up, glared at him. She kept her lips pressed tightly together.
Roland began twisting the knife. “Sky. Seriously. I can’t get it. Aw, nuts. I think I just nicked the bone in my forearm.”
Skylar dry heaved, but she maintained her composure. She watched him gouging the steak knife left and right, trying to get the locator out. “Ok. Ok. Just stop. You’ll make it worse. You seriously can’t feel that?”
Roland shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”
Skylar reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of tweezers. She doused the end of them with rubbing alcohol. Then she leaned over Roland’s arm. He pulled the open flesh to the side with his knife. “See it there? Can you get it?” More blood pulsed out of the wound.
Skylar dry heaved again. She carefully reached down into the wound and grabbed the locator with her tweezers and pulled it out. She set it gingerly into a sterile dish that had been designated for the locator. Then she calmly laid her tweezers down and walked to the bathroom and shut the door.
Roland smirked as he listened to the sound of her vomiting. He bandaged up his arm and wiped up the blood from the tray.
After another minute, Skylar came out of the bathroom and sat down in front of her terminals. She pulled up the locator. “Your signal still looks strong. It’s receiving from the DNA surrounding it. You’re good to go.”
Roland pulled his hoodie on. “Thanks. You did good.”
Skylar held up her hand. “You know that I hate blood.”
Roland grabbed a small pack filled with screwdrivers, a washcloth and a vial of chloroform.
CHAPTER EIGHT:
BLUFF
ROLAND STUFFED HIS small pack of tools into his hoodie pocket. He looked over at Skylar. “Here goes nothing. Wish me luck.”
Skylar nodded. “Good luck. I’ll be here the whole way.”
Roland turned and went out into the hallway. The pain killer was wearing off on his arm. It was a not so subtle reminder of how much was at stake here. Sky needed access if she was going to find anything useful against Pinnacle. He also needed to avoid getting caught. One false move would undoubtedly bring in Pinnacle security by the truckloads. He exhaled slowly and continued down the hallway towards the courtyard.
Skylar watched Roland’s video feed as he moved. She also had another terminal pulled up to closely monitor his vitals and energy levels. “Hey. Slow it down a little. You’re almost power walking.”
Roland nodded and slowed his pace to a more normal walk. “Where’s the nearest maintenance guy?”
Skylar leaned back in her chair as she watched Roland’s video streaming in. “Turn right down the next hallway. I saw a plumbing request get acknowledged for service.”
Roland turned and saw a maintenance man, pushing a small tool cart and carrying a plunger, exit one of the storage rooms down the hallway. Roland nodded. “Perfect.” He walked a little faster to catch up to the maintenance man.
The maintenance man paused briefly at a room and waved his employee badge in front of the RFID reader. The tiny light flashed green on the reader, and the door clicked unlocked. The man parked his cart next to the wall and went into the room.
Roland stopped just outside the door. He could smell an odd mixture of sewage and disinfectant cleaner. He heard the man grumbling as he worked the plunger. The plunger responded with loud sucking and splashing sounds.
Roland rounded the corner of the room. The maintenance man’s back was to him. He could now make out the man’s grumbling. He was insulting the previous occupant’s complete lack of intelligence on proper toilet use.
Roland wasted no time. He quietly moved up behind the man and slipped his right arm tightly around the man’s neck. With the maintenance man’s chin at the crook of his elbow, Roland used his opposite hand to begin applying pressure to the back of the man’s neck. He was careful to not apply too much pressure and risk damaging the man’s larynx permanently. Five seconds later, the man passed out from Roland’s textbook execution of the sleeper hold. Roland removed the man’s coveralls and put them on over his workout clothing. Then he put the man’s Pinnacle ball cap on. Roland grabbed a roll of duct tape from the cart and bound the man’s hands and feet. Then he put a piece of duct tape over the man’s mouth. He exited the room, pulling the door closed behind him. He kept his head down and began pushing the maintenance cart towards the datacenter.
Roland pulled
the ball cap down a little lower and put his head down as he moved forward. Two executives in expensive suits passed him. They chatted loudly about their quarterly sales meeting. They didn’t even look in Roland’s direction. Roland began to relax a little after they passed.
Skylar watched the suits go by. “Looks like the maintenance uniform also makes you invisible.”
Roland nodded as he approached the large glass doors of the datacenter. “Hope so.” The doors opened as he neared them so he kept right on going.
Skylar pulled up the spoofed email she had sent earlier. “Roland, tell them you are here for request number 156 for the noisy AC unit.”
Roland slightly nodded. He pushed his maintenance cart up to the security desk.
A thin framed secretary, with frizzy hair almost under control, stood up. She popped her chewing gum a few times. “Whatcha here for, hon? Let me see your badge please.”
Roland unpinned his maintenance security badge and passed it to her. “Request number 156 to have the noisy AC unit looked at up on the third floor.”
The secretary unconsciously popped her gum again as she scanned Roland’s badge with a handheld scanner. The scanner beeped and turned green. “Boy, you’re much faster than the last maintenance guy. It took him a day and a half to get over here.” She handed the badge back to Roland.
“I was in the area.”
The secretary looked back at her terminal. She motioned for the burly black clad guard to come over. “Tom, I’ve cleared the maintenance guy to go up to the third floor. You wanna check his cart?” She popped her gum again and sat down.
Tom eyed Roland suspiciously and then began looking over everything on the maintenance cart. He picked up a one gallon jug of ammonia on the shelf of the cart and thrust it into Roland’s face. “Are you aware this is a potentially explosive item? This must be signed in as a hazardous material.”
Nano Contestant - Episode 3: Combat Obstacles: The Technothriller Futuristic Science Fiction Adventure of a Cyberpunk Marine (Nano Contestant Series) Page 3