Post by Kaine Chandler on Mar 15, 2010 0:47:17 GMT -8
When they say its your job to save the planet, you sort of take it with a grain of salt. I mean, ok, I occasionally, and I do mean very occasionally, grow extra fur and claws and about 3 extra feet of height, but other than that I'm just a normal girl. I'm 19, I love my laptop, my clothes, and well, my pack. And I'm supposed to save the world.
The story of what we went through last week has been told, needless to say, I worry now that even my best grade Acid isn't going to do any good for me any more. So here I am, back in the real solid world, this one, no Umbra, no Mirror Universe, just me and my apartment. But all is not well.
Around my battle to save the world, yeah, I said it again, I found a hacker of such magnitude that I was pushed to the very edge of my creativity and skill to handle. I found him when doing a routine check on my systems. I almost missed it, in fact, further investigation revealed that I *had* missed it for some time. The point of entry was the repair I'd done on Ellis's botched hack into the police database. Gaia save me from inept Glass Walkers, however well meaning. And now my entire system is compromised and I gotta trash it.
I put black electrical tape over each one of the web cameras, even the non-functional machines, I have one at home I used through my neighbor's IP, but that was a one shot emergency use, now no computer in my home is possessed of a modem or wireless card, I've taken them all out.
So blah blah blah, I set barriers, he breaks through, I break his stuff, he breaks mine, I'm barely seeing the inside of my apartment between being dragged off to fight, dragged in to the umbra, and the hop skip and jump I'm doing from wi-fi hub to wi-fi hub around the cities thousands of cafes. Seattle well may have at least one coffee shop for every 3 citizens. He got a virus INTO my laptop, the only thing that still gets on-line. Damn hacker must have put out a couple hundred hooks to catch that one. I know I've been careful. Go around the world, so when he sees me on the web, he has to run around the world in a (nearly) random pattern to find me and my machine, and by the time he gets to the end of the bread trail, I'm somewhere else.
But he knows me now, he knows where I go, and even if I go the side way or the back way or the figure eight way, there are only so many ways, and he put traps in them all. If I hadn't caught the virus when I did, it would have turned my wireless card into a GPS broadcasting device. Instead, it's forced me to turn the whole laptop into a paperweight.
Normally, I would shun Starbucks, I mean, Seattle has enough small business cafes that I don't like to give my money to any huge corporation if I don't have to (yeah, ok, its hypocritical, I know, deal) anyway I'm not entirely unconvinced that there's not some wyrm taint in that junk they put in the frappacinoes. But, here I am at yet another nearly-identical-trying-to-be-unique-tan-and-green-ikea-furniture-filled-burnt-coffee-smelling Starbucks, trying to wheedle my way into some very exclusive chat circles, and sure I could hack them, but then I'd only be able to watch passively and where's the fun in that?, when crackle, whine, pop and the electronica pouring out of my ear-buds goes dead as my screen is taken over by a video window.
The image is this total hottie, but as I look at him closer, I can see its a digital avatar.
"Hello Tak", he says, his voice ringing deep through the ear-buds, "Its been alot of fun these past few weeks, but I'm afraid it has to end. You see, my superiors feel I've become to attached to you, so I'm being transfered. I'm going to miss you, but to prove I'm still a good company man, I have to finish this."
Realizing this is HIM, I go to slam the laptop closed and cut the connection, but before my hand even reaches the top of the screen, the power in the coffee shop starts to flutter and spark. Time seems to slow down as I become aware of the electricity moving through the walls, along the wiring, faster than anyone should be able to see, faster than I can move, and then it comes out of my computer and grounds in me, filling me with pain beyond belief.
I am aware of being face down on my keyboard, having slumped over in my seat, but I can't see or feel anything. I reach out to my pack but I cannot feel them through our link. As I struggle to move or feel or cry out for help, I feel the darkness closing in filling my mind with the cotton wads of unconsciousness.
The story of what we went through last week has been told, needless to say, I worry now that even my best grade Acid isn't going to do any good for me any more. So here I am, back in the real solid world, this one, no Umbra, no Mirror Universe, just me and my apartment. But all is not well.
Around my battle to save the world, yeah, I said it again, I found a hacker of such magnitude that I was pushed to the very edge of my creativity and skill to handle. I found him when doing a routine check on my systems. I almost missed it, in fact, further investigation revealed that I *had* missed it for some time. The point of entry was the repair I'd done on Ellis's botched hack into the police database. Gaia save me from inept Glass Walkers, however well meaning. And now my entire system is compromised and I gotta trash it.
I put black electrical tape over each one of the web cameras, even the non-functional machines, I have one at home I used through my neighbor's IP, but that was a one shot emergency use, now no computer in my home is possessed of a modem or wireless card, I've taken them all out.
So blah blah blah, I set barriers, he breaks through, I break his stuff, he breaks mine, I'm barely seeing the inside of my apartment between being dragged off to fight, dragged in to the umbra, and the hop skip and jump I'm doing from wi-fi hub to wi-fi hub around the cities thousands of cafes. Seattle well may have at least one coffee shop for every 3 citizens. He got a virus INTO my laptop, the only thing that still gets on-line. Damn hacker must have put out a couple hundred hooks to catch that one. I know I've been careful. Go around the world, so when he sees me on the web, he has to run around the world in a (nearly) random pattern to find me and my machine, and by the time he gets to the end of the bread trail, I'm somewhere else.
But he knows me now, he knows where I go, and even if I go the side way or the back way or the figure eight way, there are only so many ways, and he put traps in them all. If I hadn't caught the virus when I did, it would have turned my wireless card into a GPS broadcasting device. Instead, it's forced me to turn the whole laptop into a paperweight.
Normally, I would shun Starbucks, I mean, Seattle has enough small business cafes that I don't like to give my money to any huge corporation if I don't have to (yeah, ok, its hypocritical, I know, deal) anyway I'm not entirely unconvinced that there's not some wyrm taint in that junk they put in the frappacinoes. But, here I am at yet another nearly-identical-trying-to-be-unique-tan-and-green-ikea-furniture-filled-burnt-coffee-smelling Starbucks, trying to wheedle my way into some very exclusive chat circles, and sure I could hack them, but then I'd only be able to watch passively and where's the fun in that?, when crackle, whine, pop and the electronica pouring out of my ear-buds goes dead as my screen is taken over by a video window.
The image is this total hottie, but as I look at him closer, I can see its a digital avatar.
"Hello Tak", he says, his voice ringing deep through the ear-buds, "Its been alot of fun these past few weeks, but I'm afraid it has to end. You see, my superiors feel I've become to attached to you, so I'm being transfered. I'm going to miss you, but to prove I'm still a good company man, I have to finish this."
Realizing this is HIM, I go to slam the laptop closed and cut the connection, but before my hand even reaches the top of the screen, the power in the coffee shop starts to flutter and spark. Time seems to slow down as I become aware of the electricity moving through the walls, along the wiring, faster than anyone should be able to see, faster than I can move, and then it comes out of my computer and grounds in me, filling me with pain beyond belief.
I am aware of being face down on my keyboard, having slumped over in my seat, but I can't see or feel anything. I reach out to my pack but I cannot feel them through our link. As I struggle to move or feel or cry out for help, I feel the darkness closing in filling my mind with the cotton wads of unconsciousness.