The First Cyborg: Mindy: Magic On Earth - If Magic Did Exist, #6

By Matt Deckman

It's been a year since Melissa passed away. It’s been 15 years since Mindy joined the Black Squadron. Her plans are coming to fruition- to take down the corruption and bias in the world on a Global scale. However, there is only one problem.

There is a new, highly skilled computer hacker on the loose. Someone with elite computer skills that trump all others, even Keith and Trinity can't seem to slow them down. What's worse is that the hacker taunts them with videos and trial runs of viruses that do physical damage to computers. Keith, Trinity, Abigale (BlackDeath) and Sonya can't seem to slow this new hacker down or even trace them. How will the Black Squadron deal with this cyber threat?

Does Mindy have to put her plans on hold to tackle this new hacker? And as the title implies, does she really become the first android to hunt this new hacker down?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matt Deckman
• Release date: May 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386348085

Book preview

Notice

Copyright @ 2016 Matthew B. Deckman All Rights Reserved.

Only publishers indicated on this website are distributing this book.

This book has a very dark and twisted story line.

Links

The First Cyborg Mindy: Mindy Page: Here

Website: Here

Social Media:

Twitter: @moeifmgcdidexst

Facebook: ifmagicdidexist

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When you finish this book, I would really appreciate a review on the site you received the book from! Thank you.

The First Cyborg: Mindy

Chapter 1

Small sparks flew as the final touches were put onto the engagement surface.  The stub was complete and the engagement surface needed to be completely smooth.  The locking mechanism was finished and ready for attachment. The connections for the unit would click into place and once the device was attached, it wasn’t going to come off.

She looked at the unit, with its state of the art, curved LCD screen. The screen covered 40% of its total surface and curved just enough so it looked natural. For its size, the specifications of it were astronomical.  It was a System-on-a-chip design or S.O.C., and it had 32 cores in the CPU, a GPU to match, accompanied by a whopping, unheard for a S.o.C, 2 Terabytes of RAM. It was an unheard of design that never had been attempted before.

Most desktops anymore came with 16 or 32 Gigabytes of RAM, but this unit was mobile and only 5 or so cell phones wrapped together in physical size.  Most mobile devices had no more than 8 GB of RAM. This device had 250 times that amount. The only way it was achieved, was by custom design.  She had designed this device from its skeleton to its core, every microscopic transistor.  It had taken her the past 10 years, but she managed to do it. 

Picking up the device, she looked inside one last time to make sure nothing was in the way, looked at the stub and decided that it was finally time to see if what she had planned and designed, actually worked.  Every test, every scenario she threw at it for the past 6 months, it passed flawlessly.  No hiccups, hangs, errors or otherwise. 

She moved the stub and the anchoring device and aligned herself with the entrance of the computerized device.  There was a slight hiss of air escaping, but once she heard the click, she gave a slight twist and heard a definitive click.  Once it clicked, power surged and the screen lit up.  It ran a quick diagnostics and gave 100%, indicating green across the board.

She unclipped the device from the holder and lifted her arm.  She looked at it, amazed and tried to move her fingers- her new fingers that were attached to the device. 

The new computerized device was her forearm. Her forearm was now a mechanical arm, built with state of the art techniques, materials and coding.  The coding in the OS couldn’t be touched by anything anywhere else.  The entire contraption started 2 inches down from her elbow. 

She tapped the display and saw the screen react.  The dual band wireless was picking up every wireless signal in a 300 ft. radius. She could see the traffic transfers.  WPA2.5 Enterprise was the strongest out there and she chuckled at it. She knew this new computer could brute force its way into that wireless in a minute.

Why a minute?  The CPU cores were clocked at abnormally high rates.  She opened a case and took out a skin for the unit; a skin that looked and felt like normal skin. It had 99% identical properties to normal skin- all but the healing properties. It had fake hair, elasticity, texture, color.  She carefully applied the skin and heard the pins clicking into place. These pins were attached within the skin to hold it on.  There was a counter on the screen indicating which pins still needed to be put into place.  Once all were in, the unit locked them and the skin was applied.

She smiled as everything was working and she slipped on her long sleeve shirt and left her lab. She was happy and her experience had helped her get where she was.  She walked up the stairs to the sidewalk and looked both ways.  Her lab was several blocks from her house, where her husband was waiting for her.  She said she needed to work late, but it wasn’t at her ‘office’.  She did have an office, but it was locked and she had the ability to call from her lab and make it look like it was coming from the office. Henry didn't know about the lab and she planned on keeping it that way.

She wondered what he was doing at this moment. Probably watching the football game. She didn’t mind and set on back home.

As she walked home, she could feel the vibrations from the arm, indicating that there were wireless networks available. She smiled as she knew that she could get into any of the networks in under a minute.

As she approached her own house and network, her arm vibrated again.  She breathed and walked in. Her security was much more secure. Her husband greeted and kissed her on the cheek and told her that dinner was on the table.

* * * * *

So what are you looking up at the library that you can’t find online? Ethan asked Senya. He was driving her to the library. They lived in Sapluusana.

Some periodic tables that I searched for online to find, I had to find out where to find them and the local library indicated they had them, Senya replied.  They were the son and daughter of Kyle and Kim O’Connell.

Ethan was 18 and Senya was 16. Senya was an academic, an utterly brilliant academic. She was interested in everything that wasn’t fiction. Ethan was going to college in the fall, graduating high school this spring. He was going to go to college for robotics and math.  He was a highly inclined and gifted mechanic. He would pick up his mechanical engineering degree along the way with robotics.

While Senya was high gifted intellectually, she had an odd attire choice.  She liked to combine both gothic and punk styles and decided to top off her combination with the shrillex hair style.  However, to save her the need to regrow the hair that was supposed to be shaved, she simply made them relatively tight, small corn rows instead.

What are these tables for anyways? Ethan asked.

Bio-chemistry.

Ethan winced. While math was part of his strong suit, the bio sciences weren’t.  He pulled up the curb to let Senya out, give me a call when you need me to pick you up.

It’s not that far of a walk home, Senya raised a brow, it will take time to walk home, but it’s not forever.

No, but it’s better than walking the 12 blocks, now isn’t it? He gave her a look.

It was more efficient this way yes, and not a lot of walking, but you still do not have to pick me up, Senya stated.

Send me a text, later, Ethan waved and drove off. 

Senya shook her head and walked into the library.  She had been to it numerous times before and was familiar with its layout.  She headed over to the reference section, picked through one book and found the location of the table she needed, grabbed the indicated book and flipped to the page.  Once she saw the table, she smiled and went to a desk to sit down. 

Senya pulled out her mac book pro. It was the latest model and she had it filled with information.  Her father had done well for himself and could easily afford things like this.  Senya had her cousin, Sonya, made it so that the mac book pro synced with her iMac so she could be up to date with everything.  It synced at home or over the web.

She began to recreate the table of which she saw and also took a picture of it.  This would help her understand some of her reading material a bit better.  It would also help her with some of the college grants she was looking into.

It took her quite a while to recreate the chart and table.  But something about it was off and she looked up information on her home computer, referencing and checking. 

It’s either outdated or it’s wrong, Senya said and dialed the number in accordance with it, Yes, I’m calling to indicate that I’ve found a problem with a chart and table in one of your reference books…no there is definitely a mistake and I can point it out for you right now if you so wish to.

She had to wait for the person on the other to get the chart, column 5, row 20. Second description. Wrong element.  My source…I can email that to you.

Senya typed out the email and sent it with the source, It’s in transit. And yes I double checked with the author to make sure the information was correct, as I’ve heard and discussed this issue at length with several other like-minded people.

The person on the other end insisted that Senya was wrong and that she was being a nosey brat.  Once she got the email and read over it, she placed Senya on hold without warning, which lead to a disconnect after another moment.

Told you that you were wrong, Senya continued checking over the chart to make sure she had everything correct.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Sonya, Senya’s cousin, was working on her laptop.  Sonya was 15 and was like her father, a computer person. However, she wasn’t nearly as good and was studying all she could with computers.  She wanted to follow in the footsteps of the legendary Trish Mackeths, who had married the powerful Damian Mackeths.

While Sonya was good with computers, she was also an academic, but not as quick as Senya.  While Senya was at the library, Sonya was working on a website in dedication to her grandmother, Melissa O’Connell. There had been various websites going up in her honor, but Sonya had a different idea in mind. 

She was taking all the ideas of the other websites and combining them all into an interactive website that had video clips, discussion forums, image galleries, to show who her grandmother was. She had asked her brother, Zack, create some animations that depicted Melissa.  He had done a good job with the animations and she was using them all to help build the website.

She had been cruising for the last two hours with the website, getting a fair amount of it done, compiling pages and scripts, not having any sort of difficulty.  That was until a window popped up on her computer screen. It indicated that her computer was infected with a nasty malware bug.

Sonya let the system’s Antivirus take over and work.  However, to her surprise, very much to her surprise, the software could not remove the bug as it didn’t recognize the design.

What the? Sonya picked up her laptop, unplugged it from the power and mouse and went to her dad, Keith.

Dad, I’ve got a problem… Sonya knocked on her father’s study.

Uh oh, that can’t be good… He spun around in his chair and saw the laptop screen Sonya was presenting him with.  He motioned for her to give it to him.  Once he had it, he opened the file and looked at it. 

Huh, that’s unusual, I’ve never seen this type of bug or file extension… he sat the laptop down on a table and quickly searched for what a .mlg file extension was.  Even with the immense knowledge and thoroughness of several websites, he came up empty handed.

Keith copied over the bug to a jump drive and used a dedicated beta testing laptop to open up the virus to look at its code.  What he saw shouldn’t have existed. He couldn’t read it, but he knew of the language.

Keith went back to Sonya’s laptop and manually deleted the file and trashed it.

Dad…what’s going on? Sonya raised a brow.

"That was something that shouldn’t have existed but did. It was a virus programmed in a language that’s known as Malbolge.  It’s basically a language built to be a spoof on computers and only computers should be able to analyze and create programs as there are only a few people on earth can even read or write in it.  I can’t, that’s for sure, but I can recognize the language.  Either someone got a compiler to make this, or someone that’s very good at computers, did this. I have to reach out with a snippet of the code and see if anybody knows about this…" her father explained.

He handed back her laptop as he went online with the code and explained the situation.  Sonya headed back to her own room and looked into this language, this Malbolge code.  She quickly understood the complexity of it and why only computers have been able to do anything with it.

Sonya? Sonya heard her mother call and looked at the door as her mother entered.  There stood Trinity, her mother, the leader of the Black Squadron.  She seemed better now, having dealt with the death of her mother.

Yeah mom? Sonya asked. She watched as her mother placed an envelope on her desk.

This came for you. I think it’s your SAT score, her mother winked and smiled as she left the room.

Sonya put aside the laptop and went to open the envelope.  As she opened the envelope, she glanced around for her phone and once she read through the contents, she quickly sent a text message to her cousin, Senya.

The letter had indicated that she had received a 1700 out of 1850.  She waited for Senya to get back to her and when she did, Sonya read that Senya had gotten an 1803.

Drat, still 100 points under her, Sonya muttered.  She was trying to keep up with Senya, but it was proving difficult. She studied twice as much, read as much as her brain could take, but still, it wasn’t enough. 

So, how did you do? her mother leaned on the door frame.

I got a 1700 out of 1850.  Senya got an 1803. Sonya said. 

Yes, and Senya has a higher IQ. She also reads nothing but non-fiction. She’s also a little more socially in-ept. You however read fiction, are better than her with computers and are more socially capable. It’s a trade-off and a good one I'd say, Trinity reasoned with her.

But I want to be as good as her, Sonya stated.

And I’d rather have the street smarts and be computer savvy than be completely book smart and a nimrod with social cues, Trinity gave her daughter a look, You can learn book smarts, you just can’t learn street smarts as you can book smarts. Be grateful for who you are.  Be who you are, act like yourself and you’ll go further in life. Trust me.

Her mother left her room, gently closing the door as Sonya went back to getting the website up and running again.  Sonya couldn’t help but think about what her mother said. Being street smart vs book smart.  Her mother thought she was more street smart than book smart, which was true and would rather be street smart. 

As Sonya thought about it, she realized what her mother said was true.  You couldn’t just learn street smarts, it took reading the situation, facial cues, tones, etc. While it could be broke down into a science, it still relied on individuals and the person’s ability to perceive and read it.

It requires the ability to know P versus P. People versus People. The human mind knows it, but science can’t break it down…yet anyways, Sonya realized and now understood why her mother said she was fine the way she was.

Sonya felt better about herself.  Her mother was incredibly smart, highly intelligent and able to make sense of the world.  But then again, she was also Trinity, one of the best academics on the planet. Sonya wondered if her mother had to learn street smarts.  Her mother did say 'trust me'.

She thought better of it to ask later than to ask now.  She had to work on a website that wasn’t going to work itself out.

* * * * *

Senya finally called Ethan, who was looking around for some parts for his car in a magazine, Yeah sis?

"I need a ride home…you said to call and here I am, calling," Senya stated on the phone.

Yes, yes, here you are calling. I’ll head over. It shouldn’t be more than a five or so minute drive, Ethan walked out to his car and started it up.

Ethan made his way to the library and saw Senya waiting patiently on the sidewalk.  When he came into view, she stood and waited for him to stop the car.

Thanks, she said as she buckled the seat belt.

Welcome…and tomorrow, free your schedule… Ethan said.

Senya knew what he was talking about, she had kept tomorrow, Sunday, free on purpose, It’s been free for the past two months. I don’t exactly like that you’re making us do this, but it’s an ideal and beneficial situation for the future.

Yes, you’ve reminded me several times, Ethan said as he pulled out of the library’s parking lot.  He was going to help his sister and his cousins Sonya and Ed, pick out cars. He would help inspect, repair and educate them in how to maintain the cars.  His father thought it was important to know how to maintain your own machines, as he had to do it over the years. 

His Uncle Keith wasn’t as mechanically inclined as his father was, even though he took care of most of his own problems, he also had a lot of computer stuff to take care off, as well as helping the Black Squadron out. So it also boiled down to mostly lack of time.

Ethan had spent a lot of time helping his father and learned quite a bit about cars, and when he had gotten older, he started expanding the size of the machines, from little toys to giant diesel engines.  He also worked on other mechanical machines.

Ethan planned on pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Degree, which he hoped he could turn into a Robotics Engineering degree and a computer science degree with math as a minor.  He wanted to build more advanced engines and machines and heap on computer codes and algorithms to make them more efficient.  He had seen what the combination was capable of and decided to go for it.

As Ethan pulled into their driveway, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a few numbers, Ed, this is Ethan. We still good for tomorrow? …Excellent. See you at 9.  He immediately dialed Sonya as he had no idea if those two were both at home, Sonya…oh ok, just checking.

Senya raised a brow as she leaned on the driver’s side door. She had already gotten out and walked round, Sonya tell you she’s already aware and has the entire day off tomorrow?

Yeah, she was anticipating my call, Ethan chuckled.

I did tell you that we all had planned our schedules around this, Senya stood and walked towards the door.

Ethan was about to respond but kept his mouth shut. He didn’t like to argue with Senya.  Sometimes, she could be so robotic and linear to the point of being creepy.

* * * * *

Before 9am the next morning, all four cousins met up at Ethan’s place before piling into his car and heading down to the used car dealer and junk yard. They were going to find cars, parts and get everything they needed and spend the rest of the day learning and building.  It wasn’t what Sonya or Senya would have liked but both fathers insisted that they understand what they could about cars.

As Ethan pulled into the junk yard, he saw Dun there, waiting patiently.  Both Sonya and Senya perked up slightly.  However, Senya was able to hide it better than Sonya.

Dun, what’re you doing here? Ethan raised a brow as he got out of the car.

I figured that two mechanics would stand more of a chance than just one.  You’re 18 and I may only be 17, but, I figured that a little extra mechanic power wouldn’t hurt.  He can’t contradict two mechanics, Dun explained.

I know the guy well enough. I’ve bought parts off him before, Ethan explained, but saw Dun’s eye’s glance towards the girls for but a split second.  Ethan wasn’t an idiot like his sister when it came to social cues and recognition. Nor did he give anything away. 

He had known that Sonya and Senya found Dun to be attractive, but he didn’t know until recently that Dun had developed some sort of interest towards the girls. He wasn’t going to do anything. The cues were there, just very subtle. Either way, he saw the glance and let it go, however, he could also see a big pay day if I buy too much from him… he thumbed back to Ed and the girls.

Exactly, Dun confirmed and downplayed the real reason quite well.

The five walked into the shop, Ethan waved to the owner and headed out the back.  They emerged into a junk mania lot and saw quite a few cars; some that were mangled beyond recognition to some that were nearly in brand new condition.

Ok, here’s the thing; I’ll be looking over the cars as you find them of…let’s call it interest.  I’ll tell you yay or nay and we move on. If you want to know why, I’ll point out a few things and we’ll go from there.  I can tell you this up front, anything with a cracked or broken block, transmission or more than three shattered windows is going to add up quickly. We’re talking between one and five grand.  We don’t want to spend more money fixing than actually buying the car, Ethan quickly went over things.

As they walked through the yard, Senya was recalling what she had seen in the books that Ethan had around his room and quickly glanced through the cars. She was fairly independent from Sonya and Ed. 

Sonya had gone through at least four cars already and was getting discouraged as she continued to walk around.  Ed had picked out three cars and two were acceptable to Ethan. Ethan had to decide which one was going to be less hassle to help Ed fix.  Sonya looked around but couldn’t find Dun.  She figured he either left or was around somewhere, deeper in the junk yard.

She turned a supposed corner and came across a car that was odd.  It was short but looked in relatively good condition and had an old Nissan emblem on it.  Only the rear window was cracked.  Sonya looked around the rest of the car and pulled out a penny to test the tires. Each one was good.

Cool, she opened the driver side door and found the interior to be in relatively good condition.  It looked like it only needed a cleaning.  Once she found the hood lever, she pulled and the hood popped up.

As she propped up the hood, she looked down and saw Dun looking up with a flashlight on the underside of the car, Jesus, she said slightly startled to find him staring back.

Yeah, kind-a scared me to.  I found this car about 3 minutes ago and it looks like it’s in really good shape. I mean really freaking good, give Ethan a call,

Sonya pulled out her cell and dialed Ethan’s number, Yeah, Dun said to call you about a car we found…

Really, must be a lucky find…where are you? Ethan asked.

Give me a second, Sonya said and looked at her cell phone. With a few taps, she sent her GPS location to his phone.

Shit, I’ll never understand how you can do all that nifty stuff, Ethan said and hung up, while keeping the GPS location on the screen.

Within seconds, Ethan turned the corner and saw the car.  He recognized it instantly, Dun, please tell me there isn’t much to fix on this thing…

Dude, Dun rolled out, got up and pointed, wipers, plugs, a few rubber hoses, replace all fuses, some cleaning, cracked back window…everything else is in decent condition and useable right now…

Ethan looked at the exterior and saw a scratch and dent, These are nothing, he looked under the car then in the engine, Sonya, do you want this thing? Ethan looked at her.

It seems to be in good shape and I like the look of it…is it a special car? She asked.

It’s about 15 years old…and yes, for the lack of a better word, it is a special car. If you don’t buy it, I’m going to and you get mine… Ethan stated.

I’ll take it. Sonya answered.

Good. It’s a Nissan Juke R. Remember that. You’ll take it AS-IS. That’s important to say, Ethan took out his phone and tapped the screen, And now Sonya is done.  Senya found her car, a ford and Ed found a dodge.

As they each bought their car, the owner looked at the Juke again, You sure you want to take this thing, it’s ugly. I don’t want someone coming back because the car they bought was ugly.

What one person may find ugly, another will find attractive, Sonya smiled. 

The owner nodded and rung them up.  Ethan was going to get the needed parts for Sonya’s at a dealer.  The rest of the parts that were needed were going to come from the junk yard or a dealer, which ever was cheaper or less hassle.

Once they were all at Ethan’s place, he distributed the driveway up between the three cars and parked his on the yard and Dun parked his on the street.

Ok, Dun, which do you want to take care of? Ed or Sonya. Senya has a handle on her stuff as she’s already working.  I think she may have read my automotive books and knows the text book version. So she can handle herself, Ethan talked quietly to Dun.

Dun thought for a second, You mind if I take Ed…

I’m surprised you didn’t pick Sonya…or assisting Senya… Ethan looked at Dun. They were both still in the garage. Sonya was working on cleaning out the Juke and whipping the windows down.  Ed was reading over the instructions with the parts. Senya was already replacing parts and gripping the wrench in her hand extra tight.

And Senya’s already pissed, Ethan sighed.

She is? Dun asked.

She’s gripping the wrench in a death grip, which means something isn’t working out like the book said, Ethan shook his head, Look, I know you…looked at one of them today.  Senya went on her own and you helped…you like Sonya…

And what makes you think that? Dun asked him.

If you liked Senya, you would have walked with her or gone over to her now to see if she needed help.  Sonya you helped with the Juke and you turned down the chance to help her just now, Ethan stated, I may not be like my sister, but I know enough…

Keep it on the DL please. Anyways, I’m gonna go help Ed…

Before you do, Ed isn’t stupid, if he catches you watching Sonya, he’ll get the clue, Ethan looked at Dun.

I know man, I know, Dun went to help ed.

Ethan went to Sonya to get her started on the parts.  He popped the hood and showed her where things were and how to replace them.  It was a fairly easy situation. Most of the parts that needed to be replaced were easily done so.

Sonya did glance over at Dun a few times, wondering why he choose to help Ed and not her. She clearly needed more help as she didn’t really know where to begin.  She was cursing herself for not reading the sites Senya linked her to.

Dun kept his focus and helped Edward with rebuilding parts of the car and getting it back to operating order.

That’s the third time Sonya has looked over here… Ed stated, What in the world does she want?

No clue, Dun kept his focus on what he was doing.

Senya, you need help? Ethan called.

Not anymore, I found out what was wrong, she replied.

The book or the part?

The part wasn’t wrong, the book wasn’t wrong.  The book is simply outdated, she gave the answer.

Ethan shook his head in amusement as he continued to help Sonya replace the parts.  The windshield was going to be last and would need both him and Dun to do so.

The repair work took the rest of the afternoon, getting the cars up and running.  Sonya’s was obviously the first to crank over and once it did, she was happy.  She continued to clean the car out while Ethan and Dun helped Senya and Ed get theirs to the point of turn over.

Ed threw his fist in the air when his cranked, and Senya smiled when her car started.  They had both felt accomplished.

* * * * *

Sir, we’ve got a problem, a computer analyst said.  His supervisor was making the rounds again in the lab.  It was a room underground at the pentagon and this analyst’s job was to keep the firewall secure.

What’s the problem? the supervisor asked. He was dressed in a military uniform.

The pentagon’s firewall has been breached, the analyst explained.

Breached? That’s impossible…that can’t happen, the supervisor stated.

And yet, you see this? It indicates someone is in our system, snooping around. It’s an outside line.  I’ve tried and I’m trying again to purge them with brute force, protocols, algorithms, etc. Nothing is responding. The analyst tapped on the keyboard.

A window popped up, Nice try. You’re 50 years behind me. You can’t stop me with what you’re using. Brute force or otherwise. And don’t bother tracking. You can’t follow my onion.

Within seconds it was gone, I hope you got a snap shot of that! the supervisor ordered.

When the print screen didn’t work, the cell phone did… the analyst said, showing his supervisor the picture.  The phone was also in airplane mode.

Get Keith Schneider on the line right now. We have a problem.

* * * * *

Keith got the call in 30 seconds as was already talking to the super and the analyst via video chat.  The snooper was gone and they couldn’t find the lead, Ok. You tried brute force, you tried protocol and everything else?  Keith asked.

"Yes sir. We couldn’t get them out.  Every attempt failed." The super said.

I managed to go through the log print outs and found a few clues that may help us out though, the analyst shuffled through some notes.

Are those notes from the log? Keith asked.

Will you hurry up please?! We don’t have all day for this! the super got testy.

HEY! Keith snapped, You can either shut up or get off the call! He found the breach and you’re simply over-looking it. I’ve already done my homework on the both of you. You’re lucky you still have your job! He’s better than you! You kick him off the case, I go above your head and kick you out of your assignment. Then I get him promoted and talk to him. So let him speak!

Keith had gotten enough attitude of the US government’s tech supervisors over the years and had refused to talk to half of them anymore because of their arrogance. 

The super shut up, as he knew the history of how Keith handled things. Keith was their go to guy for things now and if he said to do something, it was done.

Anyways, there are 15 pages of just numbers, and 1 page of actual log.  I couldn’t make sense of the 15 pages until I looked at them on the floor.  I think it’s one number…and it’s freaking long. I’ve run it in a few programs and I think it’s a possible Mersenne prime.  And the other page indicates no useable language on earth.

Show me the page, Keith asked.  The analyst held it up and also sent Keith a copy.

His eyes went wide, This isn’t possible… He pulled up the coding for the virus that Sonya got.

What is it Keith? the super asked.

"We may have an absolute computer genius on our hands. The coding used to breach your wall, you wouldn’t have been able to stop it even if you had every computer on earth connected and dedicated to stopping it. No protocols would have even slowed it down. The attacker used Malbolge. My daughter’s computer was attacked by a virus that was coded in Malbolge, hence why my anti-virus didn’t catch.

Gentlemen, we have a hacker that can use Malbolge as easily as C++. Keith stated.

What is Malbolge? the super asked.

Look it up. Keith killed the connection and called Trinity and Mindy, we’ve got a problem.

Chapter 2

It was early in the morning; the sun had barely crept over the horizon as Keith was looking out the window.  It was 6 am in the morning.  He and Trinity were already at the Black Squadron base, in a conference room, waiting for Mindy to show up.

The double doors opened up as Mindy walked through, your message sounded urgent. I got here as soon as I could…

Keith turned to her, We’ve got a serious issue, he pointed at the screen and white board. Mindy crossed her arms and took a look.

What am I looking at? Mindy asked.

You’re looking at Malbolge, a computer language. I got a virus code printed out, as well as an intrusion log that was found at the pentagon. The attacker that got into the pentagon’s mainframe, used Malbolge.  They also were able to actively bypass all security measures without issue.  The pentagon was actively defending their information while attempting to push out the hacker. The hacker was able to simply ignore it all, Keith explained.

Mindy looked at Keith, That’s impossible…

The Pentagon techs used brute force, protocols, encryption; virtually everything that they could think of and nothing, literally nothing stopped the intruder.  They tried everything short of pulling the plug. Keith stated.

But that’s the pentagon, they have the resources to purge anything, even if protocols fail, they still have brute force, Mindy replied, it can’t be possible that brute force failed to stop it?

It is, so believe it… Keith went over to Trinity, And that’s why Trinity, you and myself are here, to figure out what’s going on.  We literally have the three best computer people on the planet in this room.

Keith went to the window, If we can’t figure this out, then nobody can.

Ok, minus the Malbolge part, what else did they use to get into the pentagon? Mindy asked.

An onion network. We were able to track the signal for about 20 hops before we completely lost it, Keith started.

How many times do you think they bounced the signal? Mindy asked, looking over the rest of the whiteboard.

We suspect that they used at least 40 if not more, the algorithm was pretty complex.  And there’s another thing, Keith pointed at the other pages.

They used a Mersenne prime. We’re still running calculations, but we’re not entirely sure, Keith said.

Mindy’s eyes widened, a Mersenne, how many digits?

Quite a few, the 15 pages is only a fraction of the entire number, Keith stated.

That will be the easiest part of this entire problem, Mindy started, The Mersenne search is just calculations for the computer to run through. I’ve got some software that will confirm it. The onion network, good luck. Unless I can get unrestricted access, then I can’t find anything. And for the Malbolge, I’ll have to start looking into that.

The Black Squadron has been given quite the availability to resources, Keith nodded.

Mindy left to set up a computer and allocated resources to begin the search.  The other computers didn't have enough physical resources or the right software. Keith followed her, Any idea how long it will take?

Well, I have to load the entire number, then crunch every possible multiplication between 1 and it to find out whether or not it’s a true Mersenne. It could take days or even weeks, Mindy stated.

Keith waited patiently as Mindy loaded the number into the computer she setup.  Mindy waited as the computer loaded all the digits and after what seemed like an hour, it beeped and returned a window of stats.

The program indicates it’s…wow, 32 million digits long, Mindy looked at Keith, the last one was 19 million and that was the 51st prime. Who knows where this one sits, if it’s a Mersenne prime, Mindy turned back and began the crunch.

Let’s see how long it takes to crunch, Mindy stated.

I’ll let them know that we can only go so fast. I’ve got a lot of people expecting answers. And I’ve got to get everybody out there that can even use this language in any degree, here, to help figure this out, Keith explained.

I’ll start looking into it.

As the Mersenne confirmation happened, Mindy started to look into the Malbolge code, it’s origin and what its intent was. As she read into it, though it was doubling research really, she found that a guy named Ben Olmstead invented the language and named it after the eighth circle of hell, Malebolge, from Dante’s Inferno.

She realized, for the second time, that it was designed to be nearly impossible to program in. She read that it played on the entangled histories of computer science and encryption.

As she gained knowledge, again for the second time, about the language, she wrote up a quick summary of it and presented it to Keith.

It’s damn near impossible to program with, being that the first program was not developed by human hands…it was generated by a beam search algorithm developed by a guy named Andrew Cooke and implemented in a lisp. I looked at what was available and it’s going to be a difficult, up-hill climb to learn this language, Mindy explained.

I’ve already made phone calls, provided samples and I’ve got only 3 people out of the 10 or so that know it, who are willing to come here and try to figure this out, Keith added.

For the next two weeks, not only were Keith, Mindy and Trinity busy with figuring out the Malbolge language and attack, Ethan was getting ready for college while the other three, Sonya, Senya and Ed, got jobs for the summer.  They were also very happy with their cars, even though only technically Senya could drive. Ed and Sonya had to not only take turns driving, but Trinity had to be in the car as they were still only 15. They would turn 16 fairly shortly, which would free up Trinity.

The five cousins did understand and realize that they could have all bought new cars, but as a group, they decided that it was best to work from the ground up like their grandmother, mothers and fathers had done and build something out of nothing to appreciate the hard work.

At the tail end of the two weeks, Keith received a series of phone calls from various governments, indicating he was getting not only man power, but also financial assistance.  The US government allocated him a dozen of their best programmers and tens of millions of dollars to figure the issues out.  China and NATO also chipped in and give man power and financial resources.  China was scared that it’s infrastructure would be compromised.  They realized quickly how dangerous an intruder could be if the language wasn’t known to the computers.  This was only because of a carefully worded email that Keith wrote and had translated

* * * * *

Keith, Mindy poked her head into his office, The search is done. It’s confirmed. Mindy went back to her seat at the main computer.  Keith followed.

So it’s a Mersenne prime then? He asked, looking at the results.

Yes. It’s placement however is unknown since we already have 51 and the last one had 19 million digits. This one has a confirmed 32 million. It can potentially crack any security on the planet, Mindy said.

Do you know anything else about the attack? Keith asked.

"I’ve been going over the logs and whatever else I can find. I was given full access to every device and I’ve come up with this; the attacker was using nothing but highly, and I can’t stress this enough, highly advanced algorithms. No brute force was used. A laptop with windows XP and 256 MB of RAM could have gotten through in seconds. All would have been needed was a dial up connection and a minute of time. 

I’ve traced the attacker back 32 hops. After that, the path gets more cluttered than the last 5. It’s insane, I could try, but I doubt I’d find it, Mindy finished.

Do what you can, but if you can’t proceed any further for another day, that’s all we can expect. I’ve got at least 50 people coming in and around $80 million to play around with. Keith explained.

Governments around the globe are being generous aren’t they? Mindy chuckled.

Once I explained the global threat in terms they understood, they quickly handed over whatever I needed, Keith smiled.

Mindy knew otherwise.

* * * * *

Ethan had made several trips to his chosen college to setup his dorm and start learning the layout.  While he had done that, Sonya and Senya were getting settled into their new jobs, as well as Ed.

Sonya and Senya were working at an office. Senya was doing clerical work, from filing papers, making photo copies and organizing the office itself, Sonya was an apprentice IT support technician. 

Senya was forced by the office to unravel her corn rows and wear her hair normally, which wasn’t an issue for her.  She felt she had outlived the shrillex hair style anyways.  Sonya’s hair was getting longer and she felt it was getting time for a trim.

I think I need a trim, Sonya was outside during lunch. She played with her hair as it brushed her collar bone and shoulder line.

Let it grow, you’ve had too short of hair for a while, Senya said.

Sonya raised a brow, Why, I hate having long hair…

It’s just the ends of the hair that are poking and tickling your skin. Give some more time and you won’t notice it and you may attract a few guys… Senya gave a quick smirk and brow lift. It was a deliberate, textbook hint.

And what would you know? Sonya asked.

Sometimes short hair isn’t the answer, Senya was confident, I have longer hair and it projects femininity. Yours projects tom-boy. Senya gave a higher pitch to hers while a lower, flatter pitch to Sonya’s.

Wow, you’re being human… Sonya raised a brow.

I think it’s the social cues and aspects I’m starting to pick up on here… Senya shrugged. The office was a very social environment.

Or the receptionist could finally be beating the lessons into you, Sonya teased. The receptionist was trying to work on Senya’s manners, wondering why her mother didn’t teach her properly.

I gave up trying to fight the woman. My mother never had trouble with me being impolite, Senya stated.

She also gave up after a while.  We know how you can be, you’re not the easiest to coax into doing something, especially if it's something you don’t want to do it, Sonya rolled her eyes.

Are you saying I’m difficult? Senya looked at Sonya.

You redefine the word cousin, Sonya said flatly.

Senya raised a brow and could see Dun driving down the road, Dun is here. And I’m going to see if I can’t get a ride to the burger place down the street.  Senya got up and walked over to the curb as Dun pulled up.

I packed my lunch, Sonya answered, already knowing what would be asked.

Does Sonya need lunch? Dun asked Senya as she leaned onto the car through the passenger window.

No, she brought her own. However, I didn’t bring enough. Mind driving me to the burger place? Senya asked.

Sure… he looked at her and saw that her hair was down, the office make you lose the shrillex hair cut?

Yes, they indicated that it wasn’t professional enough. So I undid the corn rows, washed and combed it out.  A bit annoying, but I was also done with the style. Senya explained as she climbed in.

She brought lunch, Senya added. Dun nodded and drove off.

You know dear, said the receptionist on a smoke break, that boy is cute, and for the amount of times he’s driven here, he doesn’t seem all that interested in Senya, she puffed some smoke, I think he’s here for you.

Sonya raised a brow as she turned towards the receptionist, Seriously? Me? I’m dull compared to Senya…

Dull is usually classified from the self, not the beholder, she let out another puff of smoke before grounding her cigarette and disposing of it in the cigarette disposal unit.

Sonya thought on what the receptionist said.  If Dun was showing up but didn’t have to and wasn’t showing interest in Senya.  Sonya’s face went red at the thought. She made the connection that maybe Dun liked her.

Senya had gotten her meal from the walk in and was buckling herself back in when Dun started the car again. He didn’t mind driving Senya to the place, but he wanted to talk to Sonya before their lunch was over. 

Just before he put the car into reverse, Senya got his attention and made a quick peck on his lips before kissing him deeper. He didn’t exactly back away from the kiss, but didn’t lean into it either.

It was a momentary kiss before Senya broke it and sat back in her seat.  Dun blinked and drove out of the parking lot. When they got back to Senya’s work place, he dropped her off and drove away.  He had to figure out what just happened and didn’t want to be embarrassed in-front of Sonya.

Sonya just put her lunch back together and was heading inside when Senya smiled.

What happened to you? She raised a brow.

Oh nothing, Senya said. She was confident now. She liked the way Dun tasted and wanted more. A