Hacking Einsteiner (Einsteiner, Book 2)

by VK Fourstone

  They summed up the plan as Link went off to his room to assemble and test the timer. He had to buy an extra couple of small parts.

  Isaac consulted Wolanski on how to cash a check quickly, explaining that Bikie was going to sell his OE. It turned out there was no problem – it took ten minutes at the most and could be done from an ordinary phone. The banking system had updated its technologies following the appearance of the Collective Mind.

  Talking to Peter on the phone this time was much easier - they could get by without hints and code words. The downloading was planned for three days later, so they could prepare for everything without rushing. In the end Isaac hinted to Peter that this time it would all be over. One minute thirty two seconds – Isaac noticed that Peter didn’t hang up as before.

  Then Isaac dialed the number of the hospital. At last there was joyful news for him – Vicky had been brought out of her coma!

  He was not able to talk to her, she would not regain her speech fully for a couple of days, but they could already text each other. In his happiness, Isaac immediately called Pascal, who promised to deliver flowers and a phone to Vicky within an hour.

  And even though it was not her voice but only a text, Isaac finally got the first words from her in six months. “Isaac, my darling brother, thank you. Come back soon, I miss you terribly!”

  Isaac had tears in his eyes. It was good that Vicky could not see him. He blubbered like a little child as he sent her text after text with trembling hands, after waiting so long for her to be able to answer. She was alive and she was talking to him! Herself! His beloved little Vicky.

  Bikie went out first thing in the morning and was missing for almost the whole day. He said he was going to stroll round the city, drop into Central Park, have a beer and maybe pick someone up to round things off.

  He felt like he was going in for surgery: he realized that they’d rescued Pascal, so it was all reversible, and even if everything didn’t go right, there was still hope for him to return to normal in the future. But getting downloaded was still repulsive. What if his memory was totally erased?

  Early in the evening Bikie pulled himself together, called Isaac, and they went to the museum, where they were shown to the familiar minus one level.

  “Hello, I’ve come to fill out a contract,” Bikie began briskly.

  “Good evening”, the manager said with a smile. “Have you already filled out the questionnaire?”

  “I’ve even done the test already,” Bikie said and took out the sheet of paper that was printed for him after the measurement in the museum. “Make a note please, that I will be accompanied by my friend, Isaac Leroy. After the downloading we’ll go back to our hotel, and then fly to Paris.”

  “Are you French?” the girl asked.

  “Uh-huh. We can go back independently?”

  “Yes, of course, there is provision for that.”

  “And can I make an addition to the contract?”

  The girl picked up the certificate with Bikie’s test results and raised her eyebrows in surprise. 49020. They didn’t see that level of OE very often.

  “What kind of addition?” she asked.

  “One little condition. They have to give me the check before the downloading. I’ve never held that kind of money!”

  “That’s no problem!” The girl smiled. Another weirdo here. Downloaders usually preferred a wire transfer to their bank account. But weirdness was pretty common among people with high levels of OE. You could never guess what eccentric ideas they would come up with.

  All the necessary points, including payment of the fee by check were entered in the contract. Bikie signed it and one copy of the agreement went into his breast pocket.

  Bikie went back to the hotel in an elated mood and invited everyone to his room.

  “I can’t allow the world to have one biker less, even for one hour,” he began solemnly. “Who knows how all this will end? So I want to initiate Isaac as a biker!”

  He took a scuffed, black biker jacket out of a plastic bag, along with a bandana with the words “Harley Davidson” and a bottle of Aniversario Venezuelan rum.

  “A biker can’t live without a motorbike, so there’s a chopper as well. This kind for now!”

  Grinning slyly, he took a silver key ring with a motorbike on it out of his pocket. Isaac laughed, but meekly went through with the ceremony.

  “Isaac, you are worthy of being a biker. You might never have thought about it before, but you’re a right-on guy and the spirit in you is a biker’s anyway, believe me. You’ve stirred up such a mess of trouble for the sake of freedom, right now I can’t even believe it’s real! No one would believe it if they were told.”

  Bikie poured rum for everyone.

  “To Isaac and to bikers’ traditions!”

  “You are still the good old Bikie I know, even now! I am not sure about the traditions, but I’ll make them up and stick to them,” Isaac said and drained his glass.

  Bikie gave Isaac a stern look.

  “I meant, I’d learn them.”

  The rum was totally mind-blowing.

  “The best I’ve ever had,” Isaac remarked.

  “Venezuelan,” Bikie explained. “Discovered using the method of multiple trial and error. My favorite.”

  Isaac looked pretty good in the biker jacket.

  “Never thought it would suit me so well… To bikers!” Isaac proposed, and everyone drank again.

  Link was lighting up a big cigar on the balcony.

  “Maybe I should quit smoking?” said the Professor when exhaling smoke.

  “The important thing is not to give up drinking,” Bikie put in, pouring the remaining rum into the glasses. “Professor, how come alcoholism wasn't cured?”

  “It is cured. There's a cure. Only nobody wants to use it.”

  “What a sobering thought!”

  When the bottle was finished, Isaac went to his room. Three missed calls and a message from Wolanski were blinking on his French phone. Isaac dialed Peter’s number.

  “I got my inheritance!” Peter told him delightedly. “So I’m ready to hire you back again!”

  “Congratulations! We’ll have to see about the job. The day after tomorrow Bikie’s going to download his OE. Today was his last boozing session. We tried once already, but it didn’t work out.”

  “You already tried? But you promised to tell me when you went for it!”

  “Sorry, Peter, I forgot.”

  “That’s important! Okay then. Not a telephone conversation, I want to speak in person. Good luck. Everything will be fine.”

  “I hope so.”

  “I think we’ll see each other soon.”

  “God willing.”

  Wolanski said goodbye and Isaac decided to have a chat with Michelle - alcohol had put him in a romantic mood.

  The next day they relaxed and didn’t do anything related to the project. Downloading with alcohol in the blood was against the Agency’s rules.

  Isaac spent all morning texting Michelle and Vicky.

  Link brought the hacking device. He wanted to brief both of the guys, just to be on the safe side. During the previous attempt he was planning to do everything himself, this time Isaac and Bikie would have to operate it alone.

  Link’s hacking device was built into the housing of an old smartphone, which was rather bulky compared with the modern models. Pascal’s compact amplifier easily fitted in there as well. The alarm function was used as a timer.

  The hack did not beam back creativity itself, but it switched off the server’s magnetic field temporarily. The creative energy sensed the magnetic field of its original owner and skipped back to that person, which only took about ten seconds.

  Not knowing if it would be possible to switch on the hack in open view, Link had covered all the keys with tape, except for the “on and off” key. Isaac slipped the smartphone in his pant pocket, felt for the key and pressed it several times. It was simple and worked easily. Then Bikie practiced for a while.
They did not know who would actually activate the timer, so both of them practiced how to do it.

  Now they were fully prepared. However Isaac still felt uneasy about Bikie becoming a Veggie, despite his friend’s determination and Link’s confidence.

  It was something he couldn’t help.

  18

  In the morning Bikie was awakened by a knock on his door.

  “Who is it?”

  “Link.”

  Bikie opened the door and saw the professor standing there, holding out a Dictaphone.

  “Here, take this with you. It might come in handy,” said Link. “Hide it deep in your pocket.”

  “A Dictaphone? Wow, a really cool number! Like the one in the movie about Commissioner Jackson,” Bikie tried to switch it on.

  “No, no stop! Don’t you press anything on it for now, it’s not quite what you think, just your little insurance policy. This is just a moulage. I’ll explain later. Better keep it in your jacket, or you’ll lose it.”

  “OK,” said Bikie, shoving the Dictaphone down deep in his pocket.

  “Keep in mind that the hack and your insurance policy both have to be on the minus two level!”

  “Don’t worry, I got it …”

  “The floor and ceiling insertions weaken their signals. So bear in mind that if you can’t carry them in, we cancel the operation! Or you’ll be stuck as a Veggie!”

  “Everything’s understood, professor.”

  He was in no mood for discussing what kind of insurance policy this was. He felt too nervous about the downloading; it was his life now at stake.

  The professor insisted once again that the hack and the safety-net device had to be on the minus two level and had to be activated there.

  Link left and Bikie went to the bathroom, took a shower, trimmed his stubble and called Isaac’s number.

  “Hey! It’s time, get ready and let’s get going. I don’t want to drag it out, or it gets too frightening.”

  Bikie and Isaac walked into the museum through the separate entrance, on the left – a special one, meant for those who came to download. One didn’t have to buy a ticket there, just to present a picture ID.

  Isaac put the phone aside and walked through the metal frame. Bikie followed. The metal detector started beeping. The security man looked at a monitor.

  “Something in your jacket pocket.”

  “Ah, yes, sorry, the Dictaphone,” said Bikie, recollecting.

  Isaac gave Bikie a quizzical look.

  “The professor told me to bring it,” Bikie replied in a low voice. “An insurance policy.”

  Taking back their things the guys went down a broad stairway and found themselves on the minus one level, at reception.

  Bikie was assigned a staff member as an escort and told to go to the lift. When Isaac set off after him, he was stopped. Bikie immediately stopped too, pulled out his contract and stuck it in the security man’s face.

  “He’s with me. My chaperone. It’s all in the contract.” Bikie was all ready to blow.

  The security man checked and let Isaac through. Once they were in the lift, Bikie slapped his pockets twice, checking that everything was in place.

  The doors opened at the much-anticipated level minus two. How simple! No metal doors or grill work, no sub-machine gunners, no bulletproof vests. Of course, who would ever get the idea of attacking an orange energy server when there were at least three copies in other parts of the world?

  Bikie tramped calmly along after the Agency man. They walked into a large, well-lit office, where a man in a nice beige doctor’s gown was sitting with a young woman in white, a nurse or laboratory assistant. They seated Bikie in an armchair, with Isaac facing him on a sofa. The lab assistant quickly checked the donor’s pulse and blood pressure and pricked his index finger.

  “A trace of residual alcohol, within the normal range, no traces of drugs, all other values also normal.”

  “Well then, we can get started. Do you wish to make any changes to the contract?”

  “No,” Bikie replied curtly.

  “Isaac Leroy has been appointed your temporary guardian. Accommodation at the Versailles Fields boarding house in Paris.”

  “That’s right,” said Bikie, getting slightly nervous. “Get on with it.”

  “Here’s your check. Congratulations, young man, you are extremely wealthy now.”

  Bikie glanced at the seven digit figure on the neat little piece of grey paper. He gave a crooked grin and stuck the check in his pocket.

  “Can you leave us alone together for a couple of minutes? To say goodbye.”

  “All right, take a moment alone,” said the man in the beige doctor’s gown. “But relax. You’re not in any danger, it’s absolutely safe and doesn’t hurt at all. You’ll still be a normal person, only with low creativity. Believe me, there’s nothing terrible about that.”

  Seizing the moment, Bikie slapped his pockets again. The timer on the hacking device was set for thirty minutes, all he had to do was switch it on. Bikie handed the check to Isaac, closed his eyes and pressed the key.

  The doctor in beige soon came back, accompanied by another colleague in a gown, who was going to carry out the downloading of Bikie’s energy.

  “Shall we begin?”

  Bikie nodded.

  They put a helmet on Bikie’s head and connected several sensors to it.

  “Let’s roll!” Bikie exclaimed with affected gaiety.

  Isaac took hold of his hand. His macho friend usually didn’t like any signs of weakness, but this time everything was different.

  “Start. Engaging the field… three, two, one,” the man in beige counted down and pressed a button.

  Even through the helmet Isaac recognized that melody. Bikie seemed to be asleep already. The whole downloading procedure took a minute at the most.

  “That’s it. Now he’ll sleep for fifteen to twenty minutes,” the man in the beige gown said. “You can wait here or upstairs, on the sofas by the lift. There’s a no-charge coffee-machine and a cooler; please, feel free to help yourself.”

  Isaac thanked him and asked to be shown upstairs. Once he was alone, the first thing he did was cash the check and transfer all the money to Bikie’s account. Then he glanced at his watch. Another ten minutes.

  The lift doors opened and out walked a member of the Agency staff and suddenly…..the professor. Link had used the same makeup and costume as on the first day of the conference.

  “There’s his chaperone. You can wait here,” said the staff member. “You know each other, don’t you?”

  “Yes, yes, of course. This is Isaac, my nephew’s friend.”

  Isaac nodded.

  “Link? How did you get in here? What for?” Isaac asked when the staff member left.

  “I couldn’t help. It’s all too exciting for me.”

  “I see. Sit down. Bikie’s already been downloaded, they’ll bring him here soon. How did you manage to get down to this floor?”

  “I just waited for the first member of staff who approached the lift. I told him I’d just come from the railway station and got lost. Said I was the uncle of the downloader being processed right now. They explained that there was a different entrance for that and checked that Bikie really was being downloaded. Then they escorted me here, straight from zero level, not driving the venerable old uncle round via the street…” – professor winked.

  Soon a lab assistant came to get Isaac and they went down to the downloading room on the minus two level. Bikie had already woken up.

  “Well, how did it all go?” Isaac asked him.

  “Alright,” Bikie answered with a feeble smile.

  Isaac felt an unpleasant deja vu of his conversations with Pascal the Veggie. A perfect copy. The lab assistants muttered something about not wanting to detain them.

  “Of course, you still have a couple of minutes,” one lab assistant said. “But you can wait as long as you like near the lift on the next floor up. I’ll show you the way.”
>
  “Thanks.” Isaac glanced at his watch. He had to stretch this out for another seven or eight minutes. “Where’s the restroom?”

  “Along the corridor on the left.”

  Leaving Bikie in the room, Isaac went out, counted off eight minutes and came back. The lab assistant looked annoyed, but Isaac couldn’t care less.

  He slapped his friend on the shoulder and asked:

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m all right,” Bikie replied curtly, not showing the slightest sign of interest.

  He was clearly still a Veggie…

  “Let’s go then,” said Isaac, thinking about how to play for time. The lift was already too close, but they couldn’t leave the minus two level, no matter what.

  Isaac stopped, retied his shoelaces and went on. Obedient Bikie tramped after him.

  “It’s all fine for him,” Isaac thought nervously. “For him these minutes are simply passing by. But for me every one’s like a year.” Glancing at his watch, Isaac discovered that he’d gained another thirty seconds. The lab assistant was calling the lift.

  Isaac began creeping along the wall, already prepared to fall on the floor and act out a heart attack, clutching at his chest, but at that moment someone pinched him on the backside! He swung round – Bikie was almost stony-face, but it was clear from his eyes and the corners of his mouth that he was struggling to resist laughter!

  There hadn’t been a power surge, the lights hadn’t blinked, in fact, there hadn’t been any visible results of the hack at all. But by this time it must have happened.

  “Did it work? But of course it worked! Why would a Veggie pinch anyone?” Isaac thought anxiously.

  “We can manage on our own from here if you like,” he suggested out loud to the lab assistant.

  “No, I have to escort you up, that’s the rule,” said the lab assistant, walking into the lift.

  In the lift Isaac could barely restrain his joy. Could it really have worked? All they had to do now was cut and run.

  Getting out on the level above the protected zone, the guys leisurely sat down on a sofa. Bikie pretended he hadn’t recognized the professor, but Isaac caught on quickly.