Stone Blade (35 page)

While the machine worked Micah keyed in several bland queries. Filler and fodder. The datafractal representing hot memory spiked and stabilized as the other authentication module within it gave up its last bit of data and died. Step 1 complete.

Maintaining his connections Micah requested access to the orbital scan feed. Once again the net pushed a module and once again Micah accepted and forked it. Before long Micah had a small window showing positions and vectors on all the anomalous ships around Unity and even more dead-module data.

18:13. Micah's hot side formed a datafractal distilled from the other two yet totally insidious to their purpose. Micah saw it as eager to tackle the Dome net security.

18:15. Micah opened a port from hot memory to visible. The burnware slowly invaded his connection to the radar feed. There were several alarming spikes but Micah tweaked them into conformity. Something, no doubt, Ferrel could have done whilst yawning. A single drop of cold sweat trickled away from Micah's neck and started down his back.

18:16. Micah released the archive connection and slowly strengthened the other one. He could reconnect to the archive if necessary and he wanted no distractions now! As Micah thickened the connection he altered it slightly. Inside the security shell he opened a delicate connection directly to his burnware. Some security popped up and Micah began synchronizing with it. He felt the time ticking away and he hadn't even come close to finishing.

18:17:41. The holographic dots in orbit around Unity began moving. Several alerts flashed in the net followed by one in the gallery.

By six-eighteen everyone in the room knew something had happened. Conversation began buzzing and the guards, previously relaxed and almost bored, snapped to alertness. By six-twenty people started gathering in the room beneath the gallery. Micah could almost smell the anticipation. Not that he had time for it or any lack of it himself!

Micah fought for his connection. The initial alarm initiated a low-level sever module and the plan hinged on Micah staying connected. The sever chewed on Micah's tunnel and tried to collapse it. Doggedly and with fingers trying to tense up Micah fought it. So far he hadn't set off any major security but the sever would soon if Micah didn't placate it.

Micah roughened the surface of his tunnel and the sever melted into it. Several 'dogs began sniffing Micah's tunnel but with the sever neutralized he had no problem dealing with them.

Some official below was making an official announcement but Micah had no time for it. The Firsts should be arriving soon and Micah had to be ready for them.

Micah opened another port, spiked his warez and released them against sysaccess security. That set off several more 'dogs but, working through his established connection he distracted them long enough to burn through outer security. More sweat poured down Micah's back as he set off his mirror-backlash. Each of the 'dogs latched onto a ghosted image. Bare nanoseconds out of sync, each dog fought an ersatz counterpart. Once they all locked Micah shifted each trace and the 'dogs locked on each other. Free to act now, Micah synced with one 'dog in the ring and stomped it. Faster than sight the others winked out of existence.

Success came none too soon! One of the Firsts must have been within the Dome. User 'klitho' appeared and began querying areas well beyond Micah's clearance.

A flash in the corner of his eye brought Micah back to his burn. Several other users appeared but Micah had no time for them now. Some manner of security trace had its outer tendrils around Micah's tunnel. Micah's warez adapted but that only attracted more attention. Working with patience he wanted desperately to be speed Micah tried to sync onto the trace. No luck! It latched onto the tunnel firmly and began probing its structure.

Micah fired a connection from the net's non-secure area to Ferrel's datamart account. The slirp acknowledged him happily and formed a tunnel to him. The trace flattened and began sliding around the outside of Micah's tunnel. With a delicacy he hadn't used in years Micah slit the tunnel and peeled its outer layer. Micah forked the datamart tunnel sloppily, no time for finesse here, and wrapped the trace around it. The trace locked into place around the datamart tunnel. Micah carefully pushed it away from his terminal. The sysaccess area heated to a spiky turbulence as more security locked onto the slirp. Micah felt like shouting in frustration.

Success! Users 'jfrond,' 'qmaas,' and 'pjuch' were now logged in.

Working with exacting precision Micah focused on Frond. He found the connection easily since the Firsts hardly needed to hide on their own net! Micah wrapped a delicate probe around the connection and synchronized with it. He followed it to the satellite feed area. Once outside sysaccess Micah tightened the probe and, using a technique similar to dealing with the trace, forked the connection. He then sealed it and attached it to his terminal. Forking away the other two connections offered no additional difficulty but did require precious time. Micah looked at syaccess dismally. By now human burners were scanning and checking things. That Micah still had a connection told him they'd not seen it yet but that could change very quickly.

Slowly, very slowly, Micah shrank his sysaccess tunnel. With equal care he dismantled his other connection. He didn't need either now and he definitely didn't need attention! The three forked tunnels lay quiescent: a balm to Micah's nerves.

The UNA connected slowly. Understandable with the news happening. After a long delay Micah managed to activate Ferrel's chat module. A chat opened instantly.

'K: Things are heating up here.'

'S: Good. I have three.'

Micah waited with little patience. Several functionaries moved around the floor below with official types directing them. One man read the current official release while several reporters tried for questions.

Micah widened his connections to the three Firsts almost to the width required to pass data. And he waited.

'K: How's the floor there?'

'S: Fine.'

'K: Have the secondary information ripples started yet?'

'S: No idea. Been busy.'

'K: Are there any...'

Mica's screen flashed with the connection he'd been wanting.

'F: In and hot. Security's a bastard tonight.'

Micah wasted no time connecting directly to Ferrel's machine. Ferrel himself was jacked into an automatic teller in Unity's largest bank. He accepted Micah's forked tunnels and attached them to his terminal.

'F: Care to watch?'

Micah tried to suppress envy as Ferrel smoothed out the tunnels, shaped them and forked them again; all three in less time than it had taken Micah for one. With that done he let them dangle loose as he connected to Kidwell.

Kidwell, now burned into the Unity Stock Exchange as a broker, caught Ferrel's tunnels and merged them. More easily than had Micah but less so than Ferrel.

Now Micah started to relax. The tunnels widened and data began flowing along them.

'F: I want you to know it grates on my soul to slurp this much loot without taking any!'

'K: *whispermode* Go ahead, F. I'm sure S won't ... Oops! Did I just post that?'

'S: Bottomfeeder. *cucumber mode'

'F: Dogs are sniffing! Transaction complete enough. Phase 3?'

'S: Do it.'

Micah terminated the chats. The three tunnels, no longer connected to his terminal, pulsed with the data flowing through them. He slid a careful probe along one of them into the satellite feed. Nothing! No 'dogs.

Feces!

Micah narrowed the probe and slid into sysaccess. Still nothing!

Mentally muttering profanity against the infinite irony of the universe Micah thickened his probe.

Finally! Several 'dogs began sniffing. Micah tweaked one and led it to Juch's tunnel. Then another to Maas' and finally to Frond's. Micah sent a small, spiky pulse down each trace. Then he logged out, powered down and jacked out.

Rustling chaos ruled the floor below them. Several of the reporters around Micah left the room only to return with chog a few minutes later.

Micah rose, stretched and followed one sharp-eyed reporter to the chog machine. Micah ordered one double-strength, amazed that he actually needed it.

Next came the longest three and a half hours Micah had ever endured. With the burn in place and the evidence planted he still could not leave. To do so in the middle of a news event would rouse suspicion and worse. Micah waited.

After a time things calmed. With no hostile League maneuvers the Unity forces stood down. Several official spokesmen reported this several different ways, speculators speculated and interviews blossomed wherever a newshawk could find someone in official Unity garb. Micah saw the snoring lady talking officially to the cleaning crew.

With the floor mostly clear Micah and about half the cadre there headed for the exits. Some to try for an unofficial official word or ten, others for other tasks. Micah merged with the latter trickle and left the Dome.

***

“... called physical security,” explained Ferrel, “Even though he wasn't in an office he was still on the local net. Not totally internal, but... Micah!”

Ferrel and Kidwell both looked up. Each had a glass of something that looked potent. Micah helped himself to one of Kidwell's strong 'sticks and plopped into a chair.

“Well,” smiled Ferrel, “Are your shorts clean?”

“Barely,” said Micah, “and you'd better have another glass or one of you is doing without!”

The drink was definitely stronger than Unity ale. From whence it came Micah did not ask nor did the other two tell.

“The Exchange was mighty hot for off-hours trading,” reported Kidwell, “Even without our subtle manipulations there should be some favorable moves tomorrow. I can't model chaos well enough for exact numbers but some of the stocks should skyrocket. Charlie even worked in some automata contingencies if they don't.”

“Bank security was hot and tight,” said Ferrel, “No offense, my brother, but it was definitely for the best that I was there. I didn't have any trouble slicing salami. The hole I made will be full by close tomorrow and well before backups. Once I actually had the accounts open they were a lot easier to manipulate. I still wish you had let me tap another bank for the transfers.” On seeing Micah's expression Ferrel made a placating gesture. “But I didn't so we're still cryo. I did add a small time-sync variance for the transactions. I had time and it wasn't hard.”

Micah nodded. “The Dome burn went well.” He handed Ferrel the logs and began detailing the burns.

“Not bad, Micah, my brother! We'll make a burnmaster out of you yet! You too, Vera. I'll compress everything and have 'em ready to blip in twenty. Anything you want to tell Ted?”

Micah thought for a moment and began composing his message.

By nine the next morning Micah and Kidwell wandered purposefully, measuring crowds outside the Unity Exchange. Transactions from the previous night wouldn't begin execution until ten but Micah wanted to be in place with a good read on the crowd. When the Exchange opened they took places in the visitor's gallery. A small refectory dominated one corner so Micah grabbed a table and ordered tea.

Micah monitored several sectors closely. The Unity Exchange, as any stock exchange, representing the heart and blood of commerce and the economy, reacted uneasily to rumors of war. Though stable, relatively, during times of peace or times of conflict, the market wavered wildly during transitional periods. During peace some sectors prospered, during war others did.

The day began with a marked downward trend. Nervous holders began dumping certain shares, some of the ones Micah chose among them. That fueled another small dip which recovered as quickly as it started as aggressive investors purchased shares at fortuitously reduced prices. Kidwell returned to the table a little before ten, almost-smiling.

“We're doing well, lover,” she said, sipping her tea, “Any word?”

“Charlie blipped a while back. Ted managed a rogue monitor on the Exchange. They can see it but they can't do a thing about it.”

“All the better!”

When the transactions began rolling at ten the market exhibited all the volatility Micah had hoped to see. By the time the last one completed Micah saw eight downward trends they  anticipated and a few more they hadn't. After half an hour the market settled to a slow downward trend.

“There's too much pessimism,” said Kidwell, “It should be rebounding by now. This is not good.”

“It's within parameters,” said Micah, “We have to allow for inertia and events to catch up. Besides, it really doesn't matter what happens now.”

“Except to the people with their fortunes here,” gloomed Kidwell, “We really don't want to ruin them.”

Micah shrugged. Better, still, than the alternative.

The rumors began just after lunch. Most of the shares Micah selected showed uncharacteristic variance and a host of others reacted sympathetically. The noise from the floor increased and the Exchange began moving faster.

Kidwell, seated and eating at Micah's insistence, called up a newscast.

“Flaming sweet,” she said after checking several other 'casts, “There is a delicate aroma of scandal in the air. No official word yet but more than one unflappable source is flapped. Blip Ted. Now is the time to lower the heat a bit.”

Micah had the message composed and waiting. Blipping took mere seconds!

***

Fresh news moved with winged feet! Half the League forces in orbit had withdrawn to a secondary position. Though still present, they represented much less of a threat now. The Exchange reacted sluggishly but well. Rumors of League withdrawal began even without Kidwell's help. The Unity forces reacted by reinforcing their positions which elicited no League response whatsoever. Micah's terminal bleeped.

“Urgent blip from Charlie. Shall we depart?”

They met Ferrel near the Dome. The crowds buzzed with various bits of news and Micah could feel the relief, palpable and strong.

“Double-A blip from Ted,” said Ferrel, “Our friend Brother wants to talk.”

“Send a meet point,” said Micah, “You and I will take it.”