by Tony Teora
Mad Worlds Collide
All rights reserved © 2002 Tony Teora
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in Canada by Double Dragon eBooks, a division of Double Dragon Publishing, Markham, Canada.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Deron Douglas
ISBN: 1-55404-011-6
First Edition eBook Publication December 11, 2002
Mad Worlds Collide
By Tony Teora
WELCOME TO THE NEWS
December 11, 2001
By Dan Verton
Feds boost online surveillance activity
(IDG)
FBI officials are reportedly developing a combination computer worm/Trojan horse called "Magic Lantern" that is designed to capture keystrokes on a target computer and encryption keys used to conceal data.
"The availability of new surveillance technologies and the government's eagerness to employ them certainly do pose a challenge to traditional civil liberties," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. "There is some danger that the surveillance impulse will take on a life of its own, producing an unwholesome mutation of our political system."
December 11, 2001
By David Stout
WASHINGTON
FEDS conduct software piracy raids
(NY-TIMES)
Agents seized computers and hard drives in at least 27 cities in 21 states in raids on businesses, university computer centers, Internet service providers and many residences. Foreign law enforcement people staged about 20 similar raids in Australia, Britain, Finland and Norway.
The target of the raids was the "Warez" group, a loosely affiliated network of software-piracy gangs that duplicate and reproduce copyrighted software over the Internet. Of special interest today was a Warez unit known as "DrinkOrDie," probably the oldest and best known in the Warez network, officials said, adding that DrinkOrDie members take special pride in having cracked and pirated the Windows 95 operating system three days before its release to the public.
The Customs Service said today that members of Warez include corporate executives, computer-network administrators and students at major universities, government workers and employees of technology and computer firms. The agency said insiders aid the piracy ring in stealing the software and that the ring relies on elaborate computer-security devices to minimize the risk of detection.
A few years pass…
November 11, 2021
By John Birkman
NY-TIMES
Bush Dynasty continues as Newton Bush wins another contested election
(CMM-News)
Republican Newton W. Bush, son of retired President George W. Bush (2001-2009), yesterday won the presidential election over incumbent Democrat Tom Cruise. President Cruise, the first actor since Ronald Reagan to occupy the White House, conceded the presidency once Texas brought in the swing electoral votes. Initially the state’s electors went to Cruise but two polling booths missed a stack of ballots, bringing back memories of his father’s contested election in Florida.
Texas is the only state that has not moved to the new computer- based voting.
Although California’s 65 electoral votes eventually went to Cruise, Bush already had the magic number of 270. Cruise conceded, saying, "We achieved a lot for the working man in the last four years and although we concede to Mr. Bush, the mission will continue. For now, I pass the torch to Mr. Bush. Godspeed."
President Cruise, criticized by the Bush campaign for starring in two movies while in office, had trouble convincing the electorate of his seriousness. Bush focused on the issue of toughness, casting himself in the image of his father, George W. Bush. A non-profit organization called Truth in Politics ran advertisements showing how Bush’s father won World War III. President Cruise’s campaign countered saying that Bush’s father had started World War III.
Recent computer terrorist activities swayed the voting public to Bush’s favor.
Chapter 1: Your Life is in Danger
Date: January 14, 2021
Place: Earth
Location: MicroIntel, Seattle, Washington State
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." --Rich Cook
"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." --Albert Einstein
As a programmer, they didn’t make ’em much better than Robert Davichi. As a developer of super-intelligent computers Robert was the shit---number one in the world. When it came to everyday life that was a different story. And when it came to his marriage, well that was a story best not discussed. To say that Robert’s marriage to Susan wasn’t going well was like saying the Titanic had a fender bender with an iceberg.
The funny thing was, Robert never really noticed.
Robert focused his whole life on working to make it to the top.
Robert’s favorite phrase was "it’s a crock of shit". When he finally made it to the head of R&D, and Time asked how it felt to be the highest ranked engineer in America, working with Gill Applebee, the richest guy in the world, Robert’s answer was the same: "This job’s a crock of shit".
Many said Robert had cooked his marbles making it to the top.
The world economy didn’t help. Most countries could not pay they their national debt, let alone software licensing fees to MicroIntel. Everyone pirated MicroIntel software. MicroIntel could not stop the hackers on its own, so it worked with an organization despised by Gill Applebee, the US Government.
To stay on top, MicroIntel worked employees long and hard. A forty-hour workweek was considered a vacation.
Robert’s job seemed impossible, but Robert kept his cool. He’d say stuff like: "I’ve seen worse than that", or "that ain’t shit", or "they don’t know shit," or even "it won’t work, not in a million years"!
When Robert thought that things at work couldn’t get any worse, an e-mail arrived that fixed Robert’s life. It fixed his life as one might use a stick of dynamite to fix a clogged toilet.
Shit exploded and Robert’s life changed.
This is the story of one man’s struggle to fix his life and his world after discovering a dirty little secret about the Internet and computer evolution.
The Day the E-mail Came
It was a typical day at MicroIntel, people going nuts, tight schedules, and meetings about deadlines slowing everything down even more. As the top dog in the neural computing division and head of R&D, Robert cut through the shit and got everyone to work together. Right before the Friday afternoon Project Status Meeting, Robert received an encrypted e-mail. Maybe from Gill? thought Robert, though this one looked different. It was missing the MicroIntel President’s return address. Impossible, thought Robert, as only MicroIntel employees or the National Security Agency had access to the special encryption system. In order to get an encrypted system login ID at MicroIntel you needed Robert’s permission and his access code, which made the e-mail even stranger. Robert logged on and read the following:
LOGIN: robertdavichi&alpha346
Password: ****************
>Login accepted to MicroIntel Mail System
>connect to encrypted
Ø Connecting…connected
Ø ENCRYPT CODE? ****************
Ø Login
OPENING NEW E-MAIL—MESSAGE 1 of 1
To: Robert Da
vichi
From: PIT
Subject: Private
YOUR LIFE IS IN DANGER! TAKE TWO-WEEK VACATION STARTING TOMORROW AND GET OUT OF TOWN. IF YOU TELL ANYONE YOU WILL BE AT GREATER RISK. TRUST NO-ONE.
DEFENDING…DEFENDING…DEFENDING…
********END OF MESSAGE
What a crock of shit,thought Robert. He looked at the e-mail aware of things most wouldn’t realize, like you could never know a return e-mail address for sure. Anyone could send regular e-mail with a phony return address. Simple shit any fifteen-year-old could cook up. And with regular e-mail there is no privacy, most of it goes on the net and gets stored on some government fish net for review at some later date, and oh, don’t forget to use the right words or you’ll be filtered out by some terrorist-tracking-snooper-pooper-scooper server. If you matched all the right criteria you would pop a Christmas bell in some alphabet agency’s server that would require some alphabet agent to actually read your e-mail, then you might get on a government list if you were lucky. If not, someone might knock on your door. Most folks never even suspected this, but Robert knew it because he helped the government build some of those snooper systems.
What irked him most about the e-mail was that this was an encrypted and data secure company-wide network mail system. Robert had built the project. If there’d been trouble in the system they would have contacted him to fix it. An e-mail like this at MicroIntel meant the main server was hacked; that the silicon encryption CPU was changed. To do that was virtually impossible, had to be since MicroIntel marketed that server to the NSA who used the system for super sensitive work. Hacking a server like this by changing the encryption CPU in the most powerful and secure system in the world meant big trouble.
Robert tried to trace the source---untraceable. Whoever did this was good, really good. That unnerved Robert more than the message, and the message was unnerving enough. Maybe it was time for a vacation. Susan wanted to go away and it had been almost three years since Robert had taken off two weeks. Two weeks might be nice but the message’s contents started to hit home. No explanation, just: "Life in Danger"! What the fuck! Not a good situation. Tell the cops? But it said if you told someone there would be greater risk. Not a good situation---goddamn crock of shit! Maybe a good time to take the kids and wife away for a little trip thought Robert. Yeah, get out the old fishing pole, or maybe a nice trip to the mountains. Could always bring a notebook computer and log in via wireless. Fuck! People work too goddamn much on stuff that really has no meaning. Vacation, here I come!
Two weeks later, back at the MicroIntel Campus…
MicroIntel dug its headquarters into the green woods of Seattle Washington, creating the world capital of software development. Forty-five thousand programmers crammed into cubicles at the eighty-story Quad Crystal Towers, which rose high above the two-story MicroIntel College Campus. Surrounding the campus stood Oak Forest and HeiwaZuki’s meditation park next to Frog Lake. A razor wire electrified fence surrounded the compound. Fifteen feet from the razor fence stood an outside perimeter fence. The area between these two fences housed four hundred –(give or take a few) slightly inbred female Doberman guard dogs that lazily circled the three hundred-acre enterprise of MicroIntel.
Robert Davichi just returned from two weeks of vacation and made his early morning walk through Oak Forest outside the perimeter fence with Buddy, his English Bull Mastiff dog. Robert and his family had spent two weeks resting in a friend’s cabin in a Washington State forest with Buddy; two weeks of trying to figure out how someone could have hacked into the main server. The death threat or warning had to be a scam, but some things in life are better not tested. Life is nothing but a crock of shit too, thought Robert as he walked his best friend, Buddy. Buddy reminded Robert of a small bear he’d once seen in the mountains of Oregon.
Many dog owners felt a Bull Mastiff was too big but Robert had wanted one since childhood. He had decided that life was too short to hold back on the things he’d wanted. He saw Buddy in the local pet store and decided immediately. Susan complained about the Bull Mastiff puppy since Bull Mastiffs had potential problems. She’d readthat they had difficulties like snoring, drooling, flatulence, bloat, hip dysplasia, eye problems and gastrointestinal disorders.
Robert had a tough time communicating with Susan, and only saw trouble after he said to her, "He’s got the same problems as you, honey, and I didn’t kick you out of the house now, did I?"
Susan shut up and continued her iceberg watch onboard her Titanic. Robert bought Buddy, and now at two years of age Buddy had eaten his way up to a hundred and twenty-five pounds.
"Go get ‘em Buddy!" yelled Robert through the woods.
Yelling felt good, and the smell of fresh pine trees opened up his nasal passages. Robert scanned the woods, pretending to be calm. Funny how a death threat makes people think differently about things, like sounds in the woods.
Buddy ran through the path’s undergrowth making snapping sounds. Ahead stood the MicroIntel Security Compound entrance. If anyone could fit the profile of a hit man, a guard had the right educational background, but hell, anyone smart enough to hack the main server would have a much better job. Shit, thought Robert, they must have the money to hire one of those screwballs working in security. Stop thinking of all this stupid shit. It’s just a hacker fucking with you. Relax.
Ring…Ring…Ring… Ah shit! ...Just the cell phone. Robert pulled out his miniature PocketPal phone from his shirt and hit the On button.
"Hello, Robert speaking."
"Hi Robert, it’s Susan. Where are you?"
"I’m walking the dog, what’s up? Where are you?"
"Oh, sorry to bother you, just Lisa and I are at the mall and I was wondering if you wanted anything."
"I’m fine honey."
"Well you don’t have to be rude, I was just wondering if you needed anything, I was just trying to make you look nice at work. You know that the top guys are always dressing---"
"Honey, I’m fine. I appreciate the call, but I don’t need anything. Look I have to go catch Buddy-- he’s running away." Women-- always buying stuff—it’s a disease, he thought.
"Nice try Robert. You know Buddy has a leg problem added to all his other problems. If you don’t want to talk to me just say it."
"Honey, I’m having a tough time at work, I really need some private time."
"Well, what do you call the two weeks with me and the kids? That wasn’t good enough? It’s fine you don’t want to talk to me. You never want to talk! It’s always you or your job! Don’t worry about Lisa and me. We’ll be fine." CLICK.
Robert looked at his cell phone as if he was holding a miniature nagging wife. He dropped it on the ground and crushed it to pieces with his Chippewa steel-tipped boots. Goddamn thing’s a fucking electronic leash, he thought. Never liked them, and I don’t care anymore. This new attitude toward the hacker’s e-mail was like a breath of fresh air. After years at the helm of software development, Robert wanted something besides the corporate life, and he was slowly realizing it.
Buddy ran proudly toward a black crow encroaching on his path. The bird flew to the safety of an oak tree. Buddy turned back, wagged his tail, and farted. He had a gastrointestinal disorder.Robert had one too. Buddy passed gas as often as he ate and Robert passed gas whenever he had to work with Gill, the President of MicroIntel.
"It’s OK Buddy boy!Get it all out. If you can’t catch them, gas them." Robert petted Buddy. Robert knew that Buddy’s chances of catching a bird were the same as those of Robert getting a better boss.
Robert and Buddy walked past security guards dressed in phony police type uniforms. The guards reminded Robert of Nazi soldiers. That was MicroIntel: a worker’s concentration camp, but Robert had new plans and a new mindset, and he didn’t give a shit anymore.
Buddy ran toward the guard named Fred Junket. Fred petted Buddy as the dog wagged his tail, jumping around Fred’s feet.
"Hi Fred, how are you doing?" asked Robert.
"Yeah, the one with the mermaid and ‘Mary’on top, yeah that’s a nice one."
Fred pulled a stick from Buddy’s mouth. "Yeah, I’m having Mary’s name covered over though. We broke up on Sunday."
Why the fuck would you put somebody’s name on your arm? "Don’t do that just yet Fred, maybe your next will be named Mary too. Or, maybe you’ll get back together."
"Hey Robert --that’s right! No wonder everyone says you are the smartest guy in the company."
"I’m sure that’s not all they say. Hey, sorry about the trouble the other week."
"No trouble, just those nasty Dobies -- you know they can sense anyamount of fear. The arm is healing fine."
Though Robert had heard Fred had once shot himself in the balls going frog hunting, he’d finally given in to Fred’s relentless requests, and allowed the guard to watch Buddy for a day. Fred’s partner Jimbo, another Seattle frog hunter, let Buddy into "Doberman Run" during a lunch break but couldn’t get him back out. Fred tried retrieving Buddy who was easy to spot as an overgrown brown Bull Mastiff with half an ear missing mixed in withsmaller black Doberman females.
Fred never trusted the dogs as some were in heat. Fred knew not to fear dogs, because he’d been told as a kid that if they sensed fear they would eat his balls. With one shot off, this axiom became more relevant. Fred got Buddy out of the pen, but not before a Doberman took a chunk out of his arm.
