Roland heard a commotion at one of the tables. He looked up to see the massive form of Duke, who was berating one of the cooks. Finally, the flustered cook just grabbed the half raw brisket that he was cooking and plopped it on Duke’s tray. Duke’s deep bellowing laugh filled the lunchroom. He handed his tray off to one of his lackeys on his team. Then Duke turned around to find a table. Duke’s smile vanished the moment he saw Roland.
Duke walked straight over to Roland’s table.
Roland calmly continued eating his burger as he watched Duke advance.
Duke raised up to his full height of seven feet six inches and crossed his blue metallic arms. “Well, looky here, ladies and gentlemen. We have the nano contestant.”
Roland bit into a battered onion ring.
Duke bent down and pointed his finger directly at Roland. “Leprechaun, you shouldn’t even be here. You couldn’t even finish the race by yourself.” Duke straightened and increased his volume for the whole lunch room. “Listen up, everyone - all you real Tech Games contestants. Roland had to be pushed across the finish line.” Duke climbed up onto a nearby table, which bowed from his weight. He spread his arms. “No one else had to get pushed across. How does that make you feel?”
The crowd began murmuring to one another.
Then a chiseled, digital racer jumped on top of a nearby table. He was wearing an orange and black hoodie. He pointed at Duke. “So Duke, you want to tell a story? Why don’t we tell the whole story?”
Duke turned to face the newcomer. “And just who are you?”
The racer in orange crossed his arms. “I’m Mark. I finished ahead of you. As a matter of fact, I finished ahead of every person in the race, except Spectra. I am the number two contestant in the Tech Games.”
The crowd murmured again. Many were pointing and whispering to each other. The top competitors usually did not mingle with the rest of the crowd. A contestant’s rank carried a lot of weight, both on and off the track.
Duke, for once, remained silent.
Mark turned to address the crowd, mocking Duke’s mannerisms. “Why would Duke single out Roland during the race? Could it possibly be because Roland, the nano contestant, was actually ahead of Duke?”
Several racers in the crowd gasped.
Mark continued with mocking flair. “Now, just why is it that Roland got pushed across the finish line? Could it possibly be because you knocked him down and then stomped his ankle with those big brontosaurus feet of yours, enabling you to barely cross the finish line in front of him?”
Duke’s face turned red, but he said nothing.
Mark hopped down lightly from the table, walked over near Duke and spoke in a voice as loud as Duke’s had been. “Fellow contestants, I submit to you that Roland got here in spite of everything that Duke did. He deserves to be here. Not only that, but Roland helped racers, and they helped him when he needed it.” Mark looked directly at Duke. “Duke, he has done something you’ll never do - make a friend.”
The whole crowd burst into laughter. They clapped again and then returned to their food.
Duke took his tray and went and sat at an empty table, surrounded only by his team.
Roland went over and shook Mark’s hand. “Thanks.”
Mark nodded and went back to his team’s table.
Bianca sat down at Roland’s table and held up her fork. “It’s a good thing, mon.”
Roland finished off his last few french fries. “What?”
Bianca made a jabbing motion with her fork. “It’s a good thing that the ugly one shut up. I was going to stab him with my fork, mon.”
CHAPTER FOUR:
SECURITY
AFTER LUNCH, THE contestants all gathered around the exit to the cafeteria. They were waiting on their tour guide. Pinnacle had arranged a tour to show off its amazing campus to the Tech Games contestants.
There was a disturbance at the exit door. A loud voice barked orders. “Pinnacle Security. Make way. Make way.”
The throng of contestants split to allow the security men through. A dozen men marched into the cafeteria. They were dressed in all black fatigues. Their utility belts sported electromagnetic handcuffs, pepper spray, a comm unit and a baton. From their bulky torsos, it was easy to make out bulletproof armor under their fatigues. Black knee and elbow pads covered their joints. Each man had a black helmet with a black visor that covered his eyes. Their stance and discipline demonstrated that they were each ex-military and highly capable operators. Every man in the group looked to be in peak physical condition with muscly sinews bulging from their necks and forearms. Most were highly tattooed and sported the insignias of their various former, highly respected military units.
Roland saw the familiar Marine Corps’ eagle, globe and anchor on several of the men. He also saw one with a surly green frog smoking a cigar and holding a golden trident - a Navy SEAL. The man in the back had a tattoo on his left forearm of a skull with a green beret clutching a dagger between its teeth.
The man giving the commands walked to the front of the group. He bore no marker of rank but none was needed for his group. He was clearly in charge. He had no tattoos except for a single small triangle on the side of his neck with a dagger running through the center of it. The side of the triangle looked like a lightning bolt.
Roland watched Pinnacle’s security leader with interest. He had only seen a tattoo like that, one other time. He knew it to be worn only by the elite delta force members. This security detachment was not the average mall cops.
The security leader walked purposefully over to Mark. As soon as he stopped, his other men silently encircled Mark. “Sir. You need to come with us.”
Mark crossed his arms. “No. You tell me what this is all about first.”
The security leader gave a slight nod to his men behind Mark. Two burly men each grabbed ahold of Mark’s shoulders, ensuring that he would not run off. “We have concerns about your whereabouts yesterday. Come with us.”
Mark struggled against the two huge paws on his shoulders. “I haven’t done anything wrong. Let go!” With agility rarely seen outside of the Tech Games, Mark swiveled sideways to dislodge their grip and went airborne. He broke through their circle momentarily.
In the span that it takes to blink once, a dozen men moved as one to grab Mark and force him to the ground. Two men grabbed each of Mark’s legs and pulled them out from under him. Two other men whipped his hands behind his back and shackled him with a pair of electromagnetic handcuffs. The cuffs were a dark colored metal with a blue LED light that shone around its edges once the magnetism was activated. The security group stood Mark back up on his feet with his hands firmly behind him.
The security leader smiled broadly. “Come with us, now.” Then he turned and headed for the exit. His men deftly lifted Mark off the ground a few inches and hauled him out of the cafeteria in short order.
A man in a black safari outfit appeared by the door. Pinnacle’s logo was embroidered in green on his shirt. “Ladies and gentlemen. I will be your tour guide today. But first, how about that Pinnacle security? Can I get a round of applause for our security team?”
The crowd of contestants seemed rather confused but clapped anyways.
Roland did not clap. He leaned his head right and spoke softly. “What just happened?”
Skylar shook her head. “I have no idea.”
CHAPTER FIVE:
TOUR
ROLAND WALKED AT the back of the tour group. He carefully looked over all the doors, windows, locks and security cameras. Skylar made notes as he went.
First the tour guide took the group out of the building that the cafeteria was in. They entered an outdoor courtyard. The courtyard was centered in the middle of Pinnacle’s complex of skyscrapers and laboratories. Lush, exotic plants and trees were placed around the edges of the courtyard and near the picnic tables. They took a meandering trail through the courtyard as the tour guide described how Pinnacle had saved some of these plants from extinction, how
special they were and how the Pinnacle lab was the only one in the world to be able to manage such a feat.
Roland looked past the manicured trail to the buildings which surrounded the courtyard on all four sides. They were enormous complexes covered in solar panel glass, which converted the sun’s energy to electricity yet still allowed the occupants to see out. The solar panel glass had a transparent opaline color. The colors shifted and changed depending on your angle of viewing and the current cloud cover overhead.
Next the tour guide took them inside a tall, box-shaped building. “Welcome to Pinnacle’s datacenter. This is the brain of our operations here.”
Roland looked around the building. He was standing in the grand lobby. The grand lobby’s expansive opulence stretched to the top of the ten story building. Each floor had a glassed balcony which faced the entrance. He turned sideways, away from the group. “Sky, you getting all of this?”
Skylar’s fingers were a blur as she took notes and grabbed still images from Roland’s video stream. “Oh, yeah. This place is a definite hotspot of information. I’m watching your signal scanner, and I’m getting just about every kind of signal.”
Roland nodded and turned back to the tour.
The tour guide stepped up onto a small stage in the middle of the grand lobby. “This datacenter is the most secure building here at Pinnacle. May I have a volunteer please?”
A few contestants’ hands went up.
The tour guide motioned for a digital in the front to come up on the stage. “Our datacenter has the most advanced scanning technology in the world. We successfully defend our data from cyber attacks on an hourly basis. Most are remote, but sometimes we get a digital who gets on the premises to try and hack into our systems locally.” He gestured towards the digital on the stage. “Please go ahead and run one of your best cyber attacks now.”
The digital, a dark-haired female, cracked her knuckles and grinned. She began swiping and motioning through the air, as though she was working on a holographic terminal. Her terminal though, was invisible to everyone else and ran only in her mind. Her eyes were half-closed. Then, her eyelids began to flutter.
The tour guide waved his hand in front of him and a large holographic terminal appeared above the contestants. It showed a large Pinnacle logo and a dozen lights that were flashing. Each light on the hologram began to flash with a higher rate of intensity.
Beads of sweat began to form on the woman’s temples and forehead as she increased her attack. Her eyelids continued to flutter. She swiped through invisible terminal screens, pressing buttons and giving commands.
The tour guide crossed his arms. “Ah, yes. She has initiated a standard DDoS attack.” A dozen more lights lit up from her efforts on the large holographic terminal above the contestants. “A Distributed Denial of Service attack is regularly effective against other companies. Pinnacle, however, gets about a hundred or more of these a day.” He yawned and tapped his small earbud. “Ok, boys. Shut her down.” He refocused his gaze on the crowd. “And, we also crush each and every one of them.”
The digital’s eyes flashed open. She looked surprised. “Whoa! I completely lost connectivity to everything, including my NAV!”
The tour guide grinned this time. “That’s right. We’ve completely disabled your comms. We went easy on you. Normally, we initiate a full-scale retaliation against every attacker. You’ll need to go ahead and reboot yourself in order to come back online now.” He tapped his earbud again. “Ok, boys. Let her reboot.”
The digital stepped down from the stage, shaking her head as she made for the back of the crowd so that she could reboot.
The tour guide tapped his earbud once more. “Security!” Two groups of a dozen security men each, jogged in from opposing side doors. The black clad security guards lined up shoulder to shoulder behind the tour guide. They looked to be of the same caliber as the ones that had shown up in the lunch room, but instead of a baton, they carried fully automatic rail guns. “Of course, we also have a very strong physical security presence here, too.” He turned to face the burly men. “Thank you, gentlemen.”
Without a word, the security guards jogged back out the same doors they had entered from.
The tour guide led them out of the datacenter and back into the courtyard where they veered to their left. The next building they went into was more narrow than any of the others but much taller. “Pinnacle’s finance department occupies the lower three floors. The upper floors are home to our executives and CEO.” He guided them down a long hallway. The walls of the hallway were computer displays from floor to ceiling. Each display was a panel about four feet wide and nine feet tall. At the top of each screen, it showed a globe with a particular region highlighted. Below the globe, the entire screen displayed financial transactions that flowed constantly down the screen. The tour guide gestured towards the hallway displays. “All of these transactions are occurring in real time in every country in the world using Pinnacle software and devices. Thus, Pinnacle is one of the wealthiest companies in the world, as you can see here.”
A contestant in the crowd said in a loud voice, “Yeah, for a fee!”
The tour guide smiled and nodded. “Oh yes. For a fee. Since our software and devices have had such penetration in the world market, we have found it to be very profitable.”
Skylar watched the transaction screens through Roland’s video stream. “Roland, I knew they were a wealthy company, but this is unreal. They charge a few cents for the transaction fee and a percentage of every single transaction for the use of their tech.”
Roland nodded slightly as he watched the transactions fly by on the screen next to him which displayed Bolivia. “Every. Single. Transaction.”
The tour guide took them down the hallway into a large, round room. The walls of the room were glassed in with many showcased displays. Each showcase displayed one of Pinnacle’s latest technologies. The cases were well lit and each piece rested on its own pedestal. Each pedestal was covered in crushed, purple velvet. “This is one of our showrooms. While you observe the displays, refreshments will be served.” He held up his hand and snapped his fingers.
A small army of formally dressed waiters and waitresses entered from the side doors with plates of h’orderves and flutes of bubbling champagne.
After the servers had moved through the crowd, the tour guide stepped up on a small stand to address the contestants. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have saved the best for last. I would like to present the CEO of Pinnacle Corporation, Vincent Bishop!”
Vincent walked in holding his Cuban cigar in his left hand and immediately began shaking hands with his right. He mingled and made small talk with each of the contestants.
The muscles in Roland’s jaw clenched tight and worked back and forth as he tried to rein in his emotions. He was seething on the inside at the realization that he was standing in the same room as the man who had sentenced his father to death. He dropped his voice to barely above a whisper. “I could kill him now.” Roland felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Then, he smelled the sickly, sweet smell of the Cuban cigar smoke.
Vincent extended his hand towards Roland. “Hi. I’m Vincent.”
Skylar watched Roland’s vitals. His heart rate was rapidly climbing, and his neural activity was spiking. “Deep breath now. Get control of yourself. He’s not the objective. Getting your dad out is.”
Roland took a deep breath and shook the man’s hand who had put his father on death row. “I’m Roland.” Somehow, he got the words out despite all he could think about was strangling the man with his bare hands.
Vincent’s smile looked genuine. “I’m told you are our first nanotech contestant to make into the Tech Games.”
Roland nodded. “That’s me.” He faintly heard Sky’s voice in his head telling him to breathe.
Vincent took a sip of his champagne. “Well, congratulations for making it. Best of luck to you.”
Roland nodded again and somehow managed a smile.
“Thanks.”
Vincent moved on to shake the next contestant’s hand, and the scent of the Cuban cigar began to fade.
Roland turned his back to the other contestants and let out a quiet sigh. He snatched one of the champagne glasses from a passing waiter and downed the whole thing in a single gulp.
CHAPTER SIX:
PLAN
ROLAND CONTINUED TO seethe as he went back to the team’s overnight room. He turned on the O2 plugin to add more air as he tried to calm himself down. Exhaling loudly, he grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to Skylar. “Where’s Coach? Is he still at his meeting?”
Skylar turned towards Roland. “Yep. He’ll be gone for the next couple of hours. You stink. Why don’t you go take a shower?” Then she held up her hand for him not to move.
Roland nodded. “Ok. I’ll hit the showers.”
Skylar hit a button on her terminal to begin playing the loud sound of cascading water. Next, she pulled up a terminal with a news feed going and cranked it up loudly. She nodded at Roland and spoke in a low tone. “We can talk quietly now. I have a plan, but I’ll need your help.”
Roland moved his chair closer to hers. “I’m ready. What do you need?”
“I need physical access to one of their servers in the datacenter, so I can upload my worm into their system and access it remotely.”
Roland nodded. “Ok. The datacenter is a fortress. What’s the plan?”
Skylar winked. “I created a few new plugins to help keep you off their security grid. We’ll also need to remove the Pinnacle locator from your arm. Next, you’ll need to swipe an employee badge from someone who can get up to the third floor in the datacenter building. Then, you’ll have to get past the personnel at the security desk. You’ll need to make your way up to the third floor. Finally, you are going to have to get into the room with the servers and insert my flash drive. If you could get just about thirty seconds with their hardware, my worm will upload itself to their system.”
Nano Contestant - Episode 3: Combat Obstacles: The Technothriller Futuristic Science Fiction Adventure of a Cyberpunk Marine (Nano Contestant Series) Page 2
