The Rebel Hackers of Point Breeze

By Nelson Hamel and Charles Sibley

Out of postcard-perfect Point Breeze, New York, a group of computer savants, the Rb Hackers ("the rebel hackers") use Quantum Technology and a Neural Network to defend both the Corporate World and Governments around the world against cyberattacks. T

• Language: English
• Publisher: RCHC LLC
• Release date: Aug 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088257586

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The

Rebel Hackers

of

Point Breeze

Nelson Hamel & Charles Sibley

Icon Description automatically generated with low confidence

Rebel Hackers of Point Breeze

©2020 Nelson Hamel & Charles Sibley

©Erasmus Cromwell-Smith

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-7330289-7-4

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS #: 1-9113847631

Editor: Elisa Arraiz Lucca

Proof-reading: Tracy-Ann Wynter and Janet Bratos

Cover Design and Interior: Alfredo Sainz Blanco

Publisher: Erasmus Cromwell-Smith

www.erasmuscromwellsmith.com

First edition

Printed in USA, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter 1

WHITE SPACES AT LAKE ERIE

Chapter 2

THE GATEWAY PLATFORM

Chapter 3

CODING BLUES

Chapter 4

PLAYING WITH LIFE

Chapter 5

LOST IN CYBERSPACE

Chapter 6

A DIGITAL TSUNAMI IN THE MAKING

Chapter 7

EARTH’S BLACK HOLE

Chapter 8

PLAYING WITH FIRE

Chapter 9

MAYHEM

Chapter 10

CYBER WARFARE

Chapter 11

TEETERING AT THE EDGE

OF THE PRECIPICE

Chapter 12

SYNTHETIC CONSCIOUSNESS

ISLAND OF BERMUDA

Chapter 13

NO WAY OUT

Chapter 14

SWIMMING AGAINST THE STREAM

Chapter 15

THE CYBERSPACE VIGILANTES

Chapter 16

PAYBACK

Chapter 17

CYBER OUTLAWS

Chapter 18

CYBER ARMAGEDDON

Chapter 19

REQUIEM

INTRODUCTION

A

t first, it was a far-fetched idea.Somethingsimply unfathomable. And yet, with a combination of unfettered ingenuity and sheer brilliance, we somehow made it happen, the problemthough,wasthatalongthewayand unwittingly, we started to play God. Theconsequenceswere commensuratetoourtransgression,andforceswellbeyond ourcomprehension,wereunleashed.Thus,notknowingat present where all of this is going to end up, I’ve decided to tell thisstory,hopingthatmytestimonywillhelpothersto not make the same mistakes we made.

This is the way we did it. Using a Quantum supercomputer to decipher and process all the data; we first built a machine-brain interface, followed by the development of an algorithm that enabled us to interpret brain waves, signals, and electrical impulses, converting them into natural language. In parallel, we digitalized the human genome by coding it into an operating system for the brain. Next, we built an artificial neural network emulating the actual brain functions and operations. The machine-brain interface coupled with the machine-learningalgorithm,enabledus,throughtheneural network running in the Quantum computer, to replicate human-intelligence. Simultaneously, the operating system built out of the human genome (DNA), deployed in the artificially replicated brain and coupled with the algorithm, allowed us to reproduce human-consciousness within the neural network. It was precisely at that moment, after realizing that DNA had to be part of the equation to create digital human life, that inadvertently, we separated human intelligence and consciousness from our physical bodies, and by doing so, we started playing God. That’s when we drove ourselves right off a cliff into an unknown and terrifying world where we couldn’t control our fall, much less get out of it. Perhaps at this point, I should explain myself better, go back to the very beginning, and how it all started…

(Introductory text found on a computer screen at Syracuse University’s Quantum Computer lab. What follows is the rest of the story.)

Chapter 1

WHITE SPACES AT LAKE ERIE

WHITE SPACE

White space,

a brief moment in time,

between heaven and earth,

not here or there.

Our brain is still intact,

but our body’s life has ceased

That’s where the white space lies,

a place we don’t govern or control,

where new life can be born

or sheer terror can trap us

into being forever lost in the universe.

First of all, let me introduce myself – my name is Jonas Cartwright (more about me later). At present, my digital self is inside and part of one Larry Willet (more about him to follow as well). As you’ll quickly realize, things aren’t going well …

Family Home, Point Breeze, NY

He is about to fall. Terrified of heights, his feet feel like he is standing on a slippery gel. Vertigo has all but seized him. The irony of it is that contrary to Larry Willet, my target, I do love the void and feel a passionate, fatal attraction to the abyss, cliffs, and precipices, specifically jumping off them. The problem though is that I can no longer do it, at least by myself, due to my own undoing.

Shaking and shivering, he is standing on the ledge of my bedroom’s second-floor window. There are no trees to help his fall but only a bed full of roses with giant pointy thorns awaiting him – directly underneath. The full moon only enhances the creepiness of his situation. Mine is the room of a cripple with a wheelchair and rails in the bathroom. I have numerous computers, servers, giant screens, and a tube to blow instructions at them. The Tudor house Larry is teetering from and on the verge of a dangerous fall, is my house. Bit by bit he slides his feet along the rail, with his back tightly against the wall. This debacle started moments ago, right when my mom came into the room.

Hi mom, I say approaching to kiss her.

What kind of a sick joke is this? Where’s Jonas? Where’s my son? My mom says.

All she sees in front of her is someone else!

Mom, it’s me!

Stop it young man! I know who you are. You’re the oldest of the Willet boys. Larry, right? I didn’t know Jonas and you were friendly enough that he would invite you over.

OK, where are you son? Jonas, where are you? Show yourself right now! My mom shouts as she searches the immense room.

Young man, I don’t know what kind of a prank the two of you are trying to pull off, but I don’t like it one bit.

Honey, can you come here, she says stepping outside of my bedroom to call my dad.

Instinctively, in a state of panic, Larry slips out of the room, through the window, onto the ledge.

‘My mother does not recognize me. What’s going on? I have no control over him. His personality has taken over and is pushing mine aside,’ I reflect fear-filled with a sinking feeling that the end of myself is near, due to a catastrophic error in the data transfer.

A giant hand suddenly grabs Larry’s right ankle through the open window.

Where’s my son? Who are you? are the angry words that cascade out from this scenario occurring in the darkness of the night. Larry turns his head toward the familiar voice.

‘It’s my father,’ I realize in frustration although I know that he’s not going to recognize me. Nevertheless, I try.

Dad, it’s me, Jonas, Larry pleads.

Honey call the police. You’re right. He’s the oldest of the Willet boys and he’s trespassing on our property, my dad instructs my mom aloud, not having a clue that I desperately need him to recognize me. That’s when Larry lets himself go or should I say us? He falls straight down, and I brace myself.

‘Not again, please!’ I clamor and plead in panic, ‘Dear God, please don’t let fate be repeated on my tortured new physical self!’

The thump is unexpectedly soft as Larry hits the canvas roof of the patio. As the structure collapses, we bounce slightly up and off it. Still in the air as he begins to fall one more time, Larry grabs one of the canvas’ supporting tubes which breaks the fall but leaves him hanging. Then, in slow motion, he descends onto the ground as the canvas roof collapses altogether under the impact of the fall and his body weight. Larry is in a state of panic and simply starts to run like a madman before anyone has even come out of the house. In the meantime, I can only watch from within his brain still trying to figure out how to get some sort of control of the situation.

24/7 Connor’s Hot Dog Stand, Point Breeze, NY

Reaching the small town center after a short run, Larry enters Connor’s Hot Dog stand, the local hangout, and collapses in one of its booths. Larry comes to, sweating and shaking.

Larry, look at me, what are you afraid of? asks the young waitress.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Larry’s personality has vanished, and I am the one in charge of our brain, but can’t figure out why.

‘This woman and I have hardly ever exchanged a single word. Why is she being so nice to me now and what’s up with calling me Larry?’ I try to make sense of it all as I feel myself fading into oblivion somewhere in Larry’s mind - my target. I turn to the worried face with a blank stare, feeling totally confused. I want to bolt and get out of this place.

I am a bit lost and don’t know exactly who I am at this moment, I babble anxiously, abruptly walking right past her.

What’s up with him? she mumbles while going back to her duties.

I bolt out of Connors and walk aimlessly along Old Lake Shore Road not knowing what to do.

The honk coming from behind me makes me jump. Three teenage girls in a red convertible Mini Cooper blasting Lady Gaga, stop right by my side.

Larry, where have you been? We’ve been looking for you all evening, states Karlie, Larry’s red-haired girlfriend for the last two years.

‘First, my dad does not recognize me and now I run into Larry’s friends,’ I mull in frustration. A sick feeling continues to spread all over me. I look at her loving green eyes and try hard to make sense of it all. ‘Who is she?’ I ask myself as my eyes become panicky. Next, I start to run towards the park by the lakeshore.

Karlie jumps out of the car and starts to chase me.

Larry Willet, where do you think you are going? She yells.

But I keep running away frantically and out of control as I become a small dot in the distance.

Come Karlie, jump in, let’s go and chase him, says her friend, Emma.

Driving through the park’s grass lawn, they catch me in no time.

What’s wrong with you? Karlie yells while driving along Larry’s side.

Leave me alone, I’ve never met any of you before! I reply suddenly stopping just for a second in between breaths.

The three friends are stunned by the intensity of my words as I am screaming hysterically. Instinctively, Emma stops the car and the three sit there in silence. Totally confused, I continue to run towards the lake.

Did you see his eyes?

Sheer madness and fear.

Larry walks aimlessly along Point Breeze Beach. His eyes seem confused and yet intense. People think he’s gone crazy. The gorgeous backdrop of Lake Erie over the picturesque beautiful little town, sitting right near Niagara Falls, are all well known to me, but the unnerving problem is that all the friendly inhabitants of this petit paradise of Point Breeze seem to know me as Larry. However, I don’t recall any of them. No wonder my reactions of disbelief seem to puzzle and then worry those that cross my path. The collective thought and quickly spreading rumor is that something’s gone severely wrong with young Larry Willet.

The Rebel Hacker

As for me, Jonas Cartwright, I am a hacker day and nigh and live on the fringes of society; hence I am not nearly as well known in town as Larry is. In cyberspace, I’m known as Chief Rb. Here is the predicament I find myself in – as much as I try to steer my target, I can’t. Larry does what he pleases. The problem is that all his memories for the moment have been erased and the ones he now has, are only those of my own life. But his personality is still in place and has taken over mine.

‘I’m trapped,’ is the realization that finally dawns on my stubborn self.

Through a blind and unstoppable obsession, I’ve managed to achieve the impossible – being alive inside someone else’s mind. It all looked straightforward beforehand. But my key assumption was wrong. I thought that downloading all the information out of my target’s memory banks and replacing it with mine, would have put me in control of his brain. Well, the first part worked all right, but what I didn’t count on was that  his will, conscience, character, feelings, natural tendencies, and instincts, would all still be there. In other words, I’m not in charge. His personality remains in control. However, it’s driven only by my life memories and data banks. In the meantime, what’s left of me is a fading sense of who I amin the form of a data string, sitting in the memory banks of someone else’s brain. The data string depicts another life, in the mind of my confused target, a life that does not belong to him. To top it all off, my body is dead. So even if I knew how to get myself out of the mess I’m in, I have no place to go as my corporeal mass is long gone, buried six feet under.

One year ago:

Myself, Jonas Cartwright, and one of the Rb Hackers at the Point Breeze Town Movie Theatre

Blowing a tube, I drive myself on my motorized wheelchair to the front row of the theatre and park on the aisle next to the stage. As for me, besides my limp and atrophied body, I’m a 19-year old, college dropout with curly blonde hair, bluish- grey eyes, and a permanent expression of surprise. I live just a short distance away from the theatre.

Of all the traveling entertainers that visit us from time to time, whether magicians, ventriloquists, laser shows, etc., none was as entertaining and memorable to me as the one about the space that we occupy when we are between earth and heaven. Everything began in the town’s small theater with the presentation about white room experiences narrated by our visitor …

Perhaps one of the most notorious white room experiences is that of Marnie. It occurred in 1977 after a vehicular accident during the monsoon season in Hawaii. Marnie was a young girl who was thrown from the car. She did not suffer a clinical death. She described the experience as wonderful. She lost awareness of her body. Time stopped and lost all meaning. She said that she saw a bright light that hurt her eyes. She described the light as ultra-bright with no shadows and no color. There was absolutely no sound. She felt at peace without fear or happiness. She felt enlightened. She sensed incredible joy and united with all the people of the world. She suddenly seemed to understand everything about the universe, the mysterious visitor at the town’s theatre narrates to the capacity-filled auditorium of 150 seats.

As I listen, an idea starts to form in my head. ‘Perhaps …’ But my thoughts are interrupted by one of my fellow hackers that is accompanying me. He raises his hand to participate.

Sir, I had a white room experience, announces the youngest member of the Rb Hackers. Enter Johnny Albert Peralta, a/k/a Shorty. He’s a shy and nerdy 5’3" 16-year old. He’s also a self-taught exceptional hacker and computer genius. Johnny is a high school senior and a loner who’s always hiding behind a mane of chestnut hair that drops all the way down into his eyes. Legally emancipated from his parents, Johnny lives with his grandparents on a big farm a couple of miles out of town. He moves around town pedaling a top of the line mountain bike with a couple of laptops in his shoulder bag and wearing a fluorescent cycling helmet.

Why don’t you tell us what happened! the host states.

"The day started out like most other days - running with my 3- year old golden retriever. The run was at Wendt Beach on Lake Erie. Wendt Beach consists of 174 acres of lakefront property which includes soccer fields, woods, grassy/sandy dunes, and the Wendt family mansion that has guest cabins and stables. My dog, Riley, enjoys running along the sandy beach dune area, running after driftwood, and prancing in and out of the water. As I picked up a piece of driftwood, I inadvertently disturbed a nest of yellow jackets and got stung by three of them.

I have been stung by single bees as a child and had a bad reaction. However, this time I was stung by three. I had a decision to make, either to see my friend Matt, for lunch or seek medical assistance. As I began to feel woozy and funny feeling, I determined that I wasn’t going to make it to lunch. I put Riley in the backseat and began to drive towards the hospital, 10 miles away. I was about halfway there when mentally and physically I determined that I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital, so I pulled into a roadside doctor’s office. I walked, in and sat down, and explained to the receptionist that I had just been stung by bees and not feeling well. The next thing I remember was being in the white room."

As my hacker buddy, Johnny, pauses for air and a drink of soda, I start to think and dream.

‘The entire White Room concept hits me like a lead balloon. It’s as much of a discovery as it is a revelation! The brain is still alive, but the body has ceased to exist. Some come back, but most don’t. What about taking advantage of such a moment? Downloading all the data from the brain before it becomes a lifeless object. One challenge is to decipher and digitalize the totality of the brain’s data, but, why not? After all, that’s why we all became hackers and that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll hack the brain during the time between life and death. I, Jonas Cartwright name it ‘thewhite space’.

Out of this experience is when, for the first time since my accident, I visualize myself walking again. That’s how I start thinking about extracting data from my own brain to download it into one of a physically able person willing to do so. It all sounds quite straightforward, but it won’t be. None of it will be. A thrill ride, yes! But, sheer terror as well! In the meantime, as he continues, I can hear Johnny’s voice in the background.

… I came out of the white room to a large and diverse audience. There were at least 10 people standing around a 10x10 room participating in the medical emergency. The in- house doctor’s staff were to my left and the paramedics were to my right. One paramedic was leaning with his hand on an EpiPen that he had just used on my right leg. The adrenaline from the EpiPen had quickly taken over my body and I was in a state of shock. I was put on a stretcher, wheeled outside to the ambulance, and taken to the hospital.

Clearing his throat, Johnny continues … The white room is not really a white room but that’s the best short verbal description I’m able to provide. The white was intense, not blinding as there’s no color or sight in it. Although it was well lit, there were no lights, sounds, smells, vision, or reality. The white room had no edges or borders. There was no awareness of memories either as nothing earthly exists within it. There was no sense of time, as time doesn’t exist in the white room. It was just a perfect, clean white room, not eerie or scary, just silent. The room had no beginning or end. It was absolute perfection and utter bliss. Plain and simple, it was almost beyond my sensorial perception capabilities.

Six months ago:

Rb Hackers’ Center of Operations (Headquarters),Lake Shore Cottage, Point Breeze, New York

I’m in, I’m in! I announce to my fellow hackers as we’ve just broken into one of our customer’s, supposedly unassailable, key-set of computer servers.

The whole hacker bunch gathers around me as the computer screen flashes red security alerts.

High fives!

Start the clock; let’s see how long it takes before they see the breach.

Within the hour we are booted out. Almost simultaneously, my cell phone starts buzzing.

Hiding in plain sight Jonas? says Google’s CEO.

Yep!

For weeks my team waited for you, but at the wrong hours.

In the wee hours of the morning? Wouldn’t that have been too obvious, Sir?

So, you chose the opposite, the busiest and most obvious or should I say less evident, time of the day!

You got it.

I’m told you were in for an hour.

"57 minutes,