A Memory in the Black (The New Aeneid Cycle) by Michael G. Munz Read Free Book Online Page A

would wait until the percentage had reached a certain point, and then make their runs.
    It was an uphill climb. The first diversionary hits raised it to twenty percent before it leveled off. They set more intrusion programs running, all designed to eat up system resources with tests and tasks. Marette did not understand every detail, but she understood enough to know that they were feeding more and more into the system, piling their own processing power atop it in an attempt to make it buckle, and constantly adjusting existing attacks while sending in new ones. Marette quietly linked one of the main ESA computers into Marc's already augmented rig and added its power to the onslaught.
    The read out reached eighty-five percent and Nigel spoke without looking up. "I think that may be as high as we're going to get it. Go."
    Nicholas and Namura acknowledged. Their eyes shut. They were in.
    Marette wished she could see what they saw or do more beyond standing by the wall. The two hackers called out instructions and status to each other as they began their intrusion.
    "We can't make a dent in this sodding thing yet," Namura said after the first few minutes. "Can you punch it up a bit, Nigel?"
    "No promises."
    Marc turned his head toward Marette. His eyes might have been open and focused on her, but that cursed visor prevented her from being sure until he motioned to the A.I. sending data to the AoA. His eyebrows raised in a question. She could guess at what the question was. Allowing the A.I. to discontinue the transmission and add its full resources to the effort might give the second team some breathing room.
    She nodded. Marc made the switch. ESA was making its own records. The AoA would have to get its copy later.
    The system readout reached ninety percent .
    "Yeah, I got something! " Nicholas called a moment later. "What the hell, this is some screwed up structuring in here."
    Marette watched the storage disks fill with a few hundred megs of data that would instantly be copied and shunted to protected storage.
    Namura shouted in triumph and the storage increased by a factor of one hundred. "Ha! You got the first bite but I got the big one!"
    "Yeah, we'll see about — Ah, shit!" Nicholas shouted.
    "What happened? " Marc shot, giving voice to Marette's own thoughts.
    "I'm kicked out!"
    "Same here," Namura said.
    "We're all still in over here," said Nigel. Everyone providing the distraction remained connected.
    "Yeah. I don't give up that easily."
    "Right behind you, " Namura called. "Arseholes and elbows."
    Marette glanced at the system readout: ninety-two percent.
    "Uh, hang a bit there," Nigel warned. " I'm getting some odd readings."
    "Define odd ?" Namura asked.
    The readout jumped to ninety-eight percent.
    "Uh, Marc ?" Nigel's sounded confused.
    "I'm getting it, too," Marc said. "Hang on."
    "Yeah, getting what?"
    "Guys, I'm showing one hundred-seven percent system operation. Something's not right."
    "So your estimator's off," Elsa said. "We're still good to go."
    Namura licked her lips. "Closing in on another big file here."
    "Sure, take all the juicy ones you rself, yeah?" Nicholas told her.
    "You got it, love."
    They both forged ahead. The readout jumped to one hundred thirty percent.
    Marc shot Marette a look that she felt through his visor. "Suzanne, back off! This A.I.'s— Shit, something's not right."
    "Marc's right, something's bollo cksed," Nigel called.
    One hundred eighty percent.
    Marette took a step forward and then stopped herself. She'd have to wait for Marc before she could act without blowing cover. Merde .
    "Hang on, yeah? She's almost got it."
    "We're supposed to be testing this thing," Namura said. "Just hang on."
    "She's right." It was Elsa again. "Push it!"
    "No!"
    "I've almost got it!"
    "Right behind you," called Nicholas.
    The readout went blank.
    "Y ou don't understand!" Marc grabbed the link to Nicholas's rig and ripped it out of the socket.
    The young man 's eyes snapped open. Surprise flashed to