Infoquake by David Louis Edelman Read Free Book Online Page A

him too. "So you think Natch
knew a black code attack was coming?"
    "Maybe. You know that he's hip-deep in the black coding culture."
    "Jara, I've seen those `black coding groups' on the Data Sea that he
follows. They're a Joke. A bunch of kids talking about mods for
bio/logic programming bars, how to boost OCHRE transmission frequencies, shit like that. If one of those people launched an attack on the
Vault, then I'm a Pharisee."
    "Well, it's either that or ..." Jara let the sentence trail off.
    The engineer leapt to his feet, face as pale as the droplet of
ChaiQuoke piloting its way down the grooves of his chin. "Come on,
Jara. There's no way he could've done that black code himself. I mean,
yeah, Natch is one of the most brilliant programmers out there, but to
break into the Vault? The Pharisees and the Islanders and who knows
how many other lunatics have been trying to do that for decades. You
think he just cobbled together some black code to crack open the
financial exchange system in his spare time? He's not that smart. No one
is.
    Jara grimaced, conceding the point. Humans had limits. It was an
axiom she felt she would be wise to remember. "Okay, okay. So what
are the other alternatives?"
    "Are the messages fake?"
    "I don't think so. They look authentic to me. The signatures check
out."
    "Maybe he's involved with the Pharisees. Maybe somebody warned
him ahead of time. But wait-that doesn't make sense either. The
Pharisees don't use ConfidentialWhisper or multi or-or anything.
They'd have no way to get in touch with him." Jara could see Horvil
sliding back down into the mental quicksand. He was flailing his arms around in increasingly wide arcs to match the mounting decibels of his
voice. "You know Natch likes to ride those tube trains in circles for
hours on end. Maybe he's going to the Pharisee Territories ... or
meeting the Pharisees halfway ... or-"

    "That's ridiculous. Natch is not holding secret meetings on the
tube with a bunch of violent lunatics. He just isn't."
    "Then maybe he has a source in the Defense and Wellness
Council."
    Jara snorted. "Horvil, we're getting nowhere. Natch doesn't have
sources anywhere. The only people he talks to are you and Serr Vigal.
Everyone else trusts him even less than I do."
    They were both standing now, venting their inner turmoil at each
other. Jara turned away from her fellow apprentice and stalked to the
other side of the kitchen. Suddenly, the news began flooding into her
consciousness once more, overrunning the hastily erected barricades
she had put up so she could concentrate on her conversation with
Horvil. Drudges of all political stripes were bickering in public about
the sums of money that had vanished. The Council was maintaining
complete silence about the situation. Jara's younger sister in Sudafrica
sent her a panic-stricken message asking for advice. And then, without
thinking about it, Jara opened a message from the Vault authorities.
PLEASE PROTECT YOUR HOLDINGS
    The Vault has detected a DNA-assisted decryption attack directed at your
account. Your holdings have not been compromised ...
    The fiefcorp apprentice smacked her hand loudly against the wall
and stomped off to the living room. Jara instantly regretted it. Blank
walls weren't so bad in the kitchen, but in living space they seemed
like an accusation. She didn't want the world to come to an end before
she had made some kind of mark on this place.

    "You know what we have to do," Jara said grimly to the engineer,
who had followed her out of the kitchen.
    "What's that?"
    "We have to go to the Council and tell them what we know. They'll
listen."
    Horvil's jaw dropped. He was too stunned to speak.
    "Horvil, can you live with something like this on your shoulders?"
she bellowed. She started to pace, Natch-like. "I mean, deceiving
greedy fiefcorp masters is one thing. Even deceiving Primo's. But what
about those people out there who are going to suffer the