Counting from Zero (33 page)

“You didn’t say what this Ms. Jasinski was like?” Kateryna asked.
 
Mick shook his head, holding back a smile.
 
“What?” Kateryna said, starting to smile as well.
 
“Never mind.
 
Look, Mick, it’s your decision.
 
I’ll slide the passport under your door later on so you can see for yourself.
 
After my presentation tomorrow morning, my schedule is free.
 
I really want to do this.
 
I want to see this through with you.
 
But it’s your call,” she said, turning away from him and heading to the door.
 
Mick was still staring into space as she stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind her.

Mick was still
wide awake
when he heard the passport slide under the hotel room door.
 
Picking it up, he looked it over; he had to agree that there was a resemblance.
 
He held up the passport to the mirror and looked at it and his reflection, trying to mimic the same bored look as Kateryna’s husband, Milos, in the photo.
 
He just could not make up his mind on his course of action.

With the late hour and the time difference, it was a good time for a video call with Sam.
 
He smiled seeing her tousled hair and sleepy look.

“Are we going to finish the book tonight?” he asked.

“Definitely!” she replied, opening up the book to the last chapter.
 
When they were finished, they talked for a few more minutes.
 
“I know Frodo is going to succeed, but it is hard to see it right now with him captured by Orcs,” she commented.

“I agree.
 
Sometimes you just have to have faith that things will work out, even when things look black,” Mick replied, putting away his well-worn copy of the book.

“I hate cliffhangers, too.
 
Will we start
The Return of the King
next week?” she asked hopefully.

“We’ll see,” Mick replied.
 
“I might be a bit busy.
 
You know how unreliable we grownups are...”

“I know!
 
Well, I can wait a little while for you, but if you wait too long, I’ll just have to start it on my own.”

“Understood.
 
I really want to read with you, Sam, but you have my permission to go ahead without me if I can’t for some reason.”

“OK.
 
You look beat!
 
What time is it there?” Sam commented.

“Really, really late.
 
I need to hit the hay.
 
Hope to talk again soon...”

“Me too, Uncle Alec.
 
Good night!” she replied, signing off.

Sometime during the conversation, Mick had made up his mind, and quickly fell asleep.

That night, Mick dreamed that he was lost in a strange city.
 
He wandered the streets without being able to read any of the signs.
 
No one could understand a word he said, nor could he understand
their
language.
 
After a while, he started to notice that there were many ladders against buildings.
 
In desperation, he climbed a ladder, and was amazed to find a whole other level of the city.
 
He was about to start exploring this city, this new world as well, when his alarm went off.

Chapter 1F.

From the
Security and Other Lies
Blog:

No Q&A this week.

Instead, I want to thank everyone who has participated in this blog over the years.
 
It has been a lot of fun, and you have asked good questions.
 
And I’ve especially enjoyed the Raptor aliases you have created.
 
It just shows how something can quickly become a tradition online, and how culture can be created.
 
Or, maybe it shows how much you like dinosaurs!

This might very well be my last posting.
 
No, I’m not dying!
 
I’m just moving on to other things.
 
I have dedicated my life to Internet security, but now I think things may be changing.

Now, this might not be the end of this blog, however.
 
I’ve just reset my admin account to a password that does not meet my usual standards, i.e. it does not have enough randomness or entropy.
 
As a result, a clever or determined person might be able to break the password and take over this account.
 
If you do so, I’d just ask of you two things:

Ø. Keep the archive – there is lots of good information and good questions and comments over the past 4 years.

1. Keep the spirit of this blog
alive,
to help Internet users have better security.

So that’s it.
 
Good luck to everyone!

I’ll check in from time to time if I have a chance.

Cheers everyone!

Mick O'Malley
– knows that when you start a journey, you don’t always know where you will end up.
 
(14 comments)

Less than halfway between London and Paris, the view out the window disappeared, and the GPS stopped working.
 
The Channel Tunnel was an amazing piece of engineering, and Mick eagerly anticipated the experience of riding through it.
 
He glanced over at Kateryna, his ‘wife’ for the duration of this trip, and felt a twinge of nervousness.

They had left late that afternoon from St. Pancras station in London and boarded the Eurostar high speed train to Paris.
 
Kateryna’s presentation that morning went well, or so she had said.
 
Mick had avoided it and he told others that a short-notice business meeting meant he had to leave the conference early.

Kateryna shopped for glasses, and found a pair that was close enough to her husband’s.
 
Mick had shopped for clothes.

They checked out of the hotel separately and made the short walk to the station at different times.
 
Mick wore a hat to cover his dyed hair, and was relieved not to meet up with anyone he knew on the way.

When they met up at the station, Kateryna had laughed at Mick.

“What?” he asked, a little annoyed.

“Nothing...” she replied, regaining her composure.
 
“It’s just, I’ve never seen you wear such clothes before.”

“Are they that awful?” he asked.

“No, not bad at all.
 
Just...
 
different,” she replied, looking him up and down for a moment.

“It’s the cravat, right?
 
I’m going to take it off.”

“No, leave it.
 
It looks fine.
 
It’s sharp actually.
 
I’m sorry – I will behave myself for now on,
Milos
,” she replied.

Kateryna purchased the tickets for herself and her ‘husband’ for the first two legs of their trip.

The GPS had shown the train was fast, but not as fast as the Shinkansen – they had only touched 25Ø km/h so far.
 
Probably they would go faster on the other side of the English Channel.
 
With nothing to see out the window, they conversed.

“It is a shame we won’t really have any time in France,” Kateryna commented.

“I know.
 
I love Paris.
 
And, I always find Parisians friendly.”

“Me, too.
 
But perhaps that is because I always mangle their language,” she added.

“The rudest display I ever experienced was when I was in a group with a French speaker, but he was French Canadian.
 
The waiter was incredibly rude, but the food was great, still.”

“We can still get some coffee, though, before we catch our connection,” Kateryna replied.
 
“Do you have any pictures or stories from your transatlantic crossing?”

“Of course!
 
I’ve got them right here,” he replied, pulling up the pictures.
 
He told stories about his adventures with Ian and Mariana.

“Ah ha!
 
Your ‘fresh’ fish dinner!
 
I just figured that out!
 
And
your
‘life isn’t all smooth sailing’ post!
 
You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Kateryna chided him.

“Only sometimes,” was his reply.

The train arrived on time at Gare du Nord station, with a top speed of 285 km/h recorded on GPS.
 
Mick wished he could share the trip with his friends, but knew this was yet another experience he would not be able to share with anyone.
 
Except, of course, with Kateryna, who seemed much more relaxed than he did.
 
He suspected she had not noticed
wagon-lits
printed on their ticket for the next leg.
 
He had looked it up and confirmed that their ticket was for a sleeping car on their Paris to Berlin overnight trip.

Mick enjoyed the short walk with Kateryna from Gare du Nord to Gare de l’Est station where they were to catch the Perseus train to Berlin.
 
They stopped at a café and lingered longer than they needed to drink their coffee.
 
Paris, even this far from the Seine and the tourist hotspots, still had a unique feel and flair to it.

At Gare de l’Est, Mick let Kateryna check them in so he could watch her reaction to the traveling arrangements.
 
He caught a slight look of astonishment as the lady behind the counter explained their accommodations, but Kateryna quickly recovered.
 
Mick wondered if she were covering it up for the benefit of others, or for his benefit.
 
He couldn’t resist a small smile afterwards when she glanced at his face.

“You knew!” she whispered, punching him in the arm.
 
Mick shrugged, rubbing his arm.
 
“You should have told me...
 
I was surprised back there and had a hard time covering it up...
 
Ah, I see...
 
that was the point, wasn’t it?”

“We shouldn’t fight in public,” Mick replied.

“Yes, we should – French couples often argue in public and think it strange if others don’t,” Kateryna countered.

“I have no idea what you are talking about…
 
Allez!
” he said to her, grabbing the passports and tickets from her hand and heading towards the platform.

As darkness fell, their train pulled out of the station, heading north by northeast.
 
Mick mused that the compartment was larger than some hotels in Nihon he had stayed in.
 
Of course, he had been alone then.
 
They ate simple baguettes for dinner.
 
Mick walked down to the dining car and brought back decaf espressos.

They sipped the coffee as Kateryna read her book and Mick worked on his newly built computer.
 
He was very happy with its performance.
 
He had yet to charge the LeydenTech battery, and it was showing no signs of discharge.

They were due to arrive in Berlin at around eight the next morning.

How long are we going to stay up?

“Shall we turn in?” Kateryna finally asked, closing her book.

“OK,” Mick replied, shutting down his computer for the night.
 

Mick opened up the bed; it folded down over where they had been sitting, taking up nearly all the space in the compartment.
 
Kateryna rummaged in her bag, then took out a few clothes and things and slipped into the tiny bathroom.
 
Mick took advantage of the situation and quickly changed himself, putting on his tracksuit pants and a black long-sleeved shirt.
 
Kateryna came out a moment later.
 
Mick glanced in her direction, and was relieved to discover she was also in a tracksuit – in white and day glow green.

Expecting lingerie? I'm such an idiot!

He went into the bathroom to wash up.
 
When Mick came out, Kateryna had already climbed up in the bed and was lying on her back under the covers, with her mobile reader in hand.