The Unstoppable Truth

[Reverend Del]

Fastjack sat in the public cortex access building, it annoyed him that hed had to pay to use the terminals, cortex access should be free to all, not cooped up in some capitalist monolith. Frankly hed rather have been doing this direct, jacking directly in to the cortex, not using some tortoise, but legwork needing doing first. He needed to find a way in so as not to raise the alarm before hed even started. Years of doing this had taught him that. The legwork saved lives.

He accessed the Data Archives public domain and looked at the information there, usual stuff but a few things to take back with him. He began to look at the source code, it was tough work to gain access to it, but the effort paid off. He found what he was looking for a minute flaw that would allow him access to the information he required. Tentatively he probed it, checking it for security features, anything that would give his game away. Surprisingly he found none, this was clearly an oversight but one he could use. It was time to do some real hacking. First, however, he would need somewhere to do it from.

After an hour of searching he found a place to access the cortex directly, a back alley. It had two inhabitants, sleeping beneath boxes. Most importantly it had a data line running down the external wall. Pulling out a pair of wire strippers from a small pouch at his waist, he set to work. First he stripped the insulation from the cable and then cut the wire beneath, reaching back into his pouch he pulled a small plastic device out and began to splice it into the cable. With that complete he rummaged around the alley for boxes with which to cover himself. Now came the important part, he reached back into the pouch and pulled out a wire with a plug at each end, one end was covered in a cellophane-like wrapper. He plugged the uncovered end into the device and then un-wrapped the other end, reaching round to the back of his neck he lifted a flap of skin away. He plugged the cable into an interface that connected to his nervous system; the interface featured a buffer that ensured his brain would not be hurt unless specifically attacked. The only way to defend against that was to ensure it didnt happen. Organising his active memory he loaded a number of programs into it. This would ensure they were readily available if needed. He was sure they would be. His preparations complete, he began his work.

The cortex appeared before him, electronic signals whizzing through the ether. Vast data trails criss-crossing a jet black backdrop. This was living, here his actions happened as he thought them, he didnt have to wait for synapses to communicate with neurons, with neurons to communicate the message to whatever part of his body was required, here it was just thought and effect.

He knew he was in the wrong local cortex grid, hell he was even in the wrong regional grid, which would have to be fixed first. He followed the data line to the local grid node, travelling faster than he could ever have walked, composed merely of electrical energy and light. His thought processes captured by the interface and converted into the most suitable vessel for this medium. He accessed the node and dialled the number for the RCG he needed. Instantly he was there. The cortex architecture here mirrored that of the real world, however here it was just data that composed the structures. It was not hard to find the building he was looking for, neither was it hard to find the data that represented the public access feeds. Finding his flaw he exploited it and gained entrance to the data beyond.

He followed the data trail to the nearest node, lightly secured it was easy to bypass, clearly unclassified and meant for low level employees. Browsing the data contained within it turned out to be a directory. It was very useful information to have. Especially as it allowed him to pick his next move carefully, he decided hed head for the security node that he would need for the actual run, he hoped this would contain the access codes required to maintain control of the security features required to remain undetected.

The node looked like any other within this construct, but the security was tighter, hed need a way past it and it would need to be quiet, he did not doubt that the system had noticed his intrusion by now, however the lack of a full alert status suggested it didnt quite know what to do with him, or whether he was actually a threat. Eventually that would change but there was no need to hasten that eventuality. Choosing his programs wisely he selected one that masked his presence, making it seem like he was just another data stream headed where it was meant to go. Once inside he browsed the node, looking for what he needed, 21 seconds in real time, what felt like an hour in here. He found it eventually downloading it directly into his memory. This would make the intrusions, this one and the real one, easier indeed. Exiting the node he chose his path to his next destination, Human Resources. Fastjack despised that term, as if people were just some commodity to be used up and discarded when finished with, but hed come to expect no less from the corporations.

Once again his path was blocked. The system would have detected his previous security bypass so that was out, and by now would have sent a probe to find out whether or not he was supposed to be here and not some Ageira corporate hacker testing security. He didnt have long, hot on the heels of that would be a trace countermeasure designed to find his location. He would have to deal with that one properly when the time came. He uploaded a simple program, with it he was able to sneak past the protocol and into the treasure trove within. However this program did not come without its disadvantages, it was not subtle. The system cancelled the probe and went to passive alert. Clearly this wasnt an employee per se, but it could still be a corporate sponsored hacker, so killing him was out until more data could be gathered. Just to be sure it scrambled all the data within a 10 second reach of that node. It bought itself more time to gather information.

Fastjack was annoyed, clearly this system was paranoid. Which meant it was semi-sentient at least, if it hadnt blown into a full AI by accident. If it was full AI he was in very deep trouble. As it was he was just in trouble. The entire node had been scrambled; meaning the data he needed could be anywhere. He could just download the lot but he doubted his headware memory could take that much data, and even if it could hed have to spend days sifting through it to find what he needed, days in real time. That would be almost terminally dull. Fastjack decided that it was better to sift now whilst the going was good rather than sift later when time might be short. The drawback was that he would not be able to stay one step ahead of the trace IC, which meant hed have to destroy it. He changed his programs and uploaded three attack programs into the active memory, at the same time he shifted all data downloaded so far into the storage portion of his headware. More room for more data. With that done he began to browse.

Sorting, sifting, browsing, all this took time, time Fastjack wasnt entirely sure he had. Precious seconds flowed past as he sought to recompile the data into something he could take with him, to find the pertinent data to the run. He began to panic, just a bit, but even that bit was too much. He stopped, took a deep mental breath more out of habit than necessity. It was at this point the trace found his cortex location. It had remained invisible blending into the background code until it was ready to strike; it was only because Fastjack had paused he was able to spot it in time. He launched an attack decompiling the trace as it leapt toward him. He knew know that the program would consider him hostile. If he hadnt been there would have been no need to destroy the program. This made his time short, and he still needed to erase the logs of the data downloaded. This was going to be close, very close indeed. He got back to work, sifting again. Another 20 seconds passed and he finally managed to compile the data he needed everything the boss had asked for and more. It was time to find the log files. Leaving the node he made for the data centre, a heavily secured node indeed even by the last ones standards. Fastjack didnt bother with subtlety, it was time for brute force and ignorance, the system knew he was here and knew where he was, it would take seconds for attack countermeasures to get here. Fastjack however had a few tricks up his sleeve yet. Smashing his way into the node he tripped every alarm going. The system was now on full active alert with all nodes going into lockdown, all systems were shutting down to ensure the threat could not steal anymore valuable data. This was fine by Fastjack he had what he needed, now he just needed to ensure they didnt know what he had. And he had just the tool for the job. Launching the last of his programs a custom made program designed to wipe data permanently from the node and every node within 4 connections. Anybody doing as he was right now would die. It didnt bother Fastjack; anybody doing what he was doing now was looking for him, probably with intent to cause serious mental damage. Frankly Fastjack liked his brain; he liked it rather a lot. He set the timer for two seconds and shut off the interface.

He vomited, a usual reaction when jacking out like that, however the nose bleed wasnt. He didnt have time to worry about that though. Chances were a trace had been launched anyway and the LPI were on their merry way to send him to Huntsville. He ripped the data-tap from the cable, detached the cable running to the interface. Dumping them back into the pouch, he stood up on shaky legs. Bracing himself against the wall he wiped the blood from his upper lip. It was time to leave.

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Saint Del is considered a holy healer of diseases of children, but also as a protector of cattle.