28 The Purge (1/2)
”I'm trapped in Plato's Spy Cave.”
- Deadman
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1 Day Later
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I wake up.The lights are on.Shit, I'm still at work.I sit up, see Evil Dumbfuck and a passel of agents.Aw fuck, I'm still in the meeting.
I slap myself a few times.It's coming back to me.We're sleeping in shifts so there's always someone watching Lodestone.Wait, that doesn't make sense.She's not here.
I look over at Lodestone.She waves.
Okay, she's kinda here.But, just virtually.Still fucking weird.Shouldn't she be on the lam, or something?
I sit and listen, while I wait for my brain to boot.Seems like the plan has changed while I was sleeping.We've gone from trying to find Lodestone in real life, to trying to cut her virtual presence from our system.She calmly watches our efforts.I guess we suck at this too.
Evil Dumbfuck is grilling our other contractors.Asking how this is possible.Not understanding their answers.Fucking guy.This would go a lot faster if he would just leave.People work better if you let them work.Instead of trapping them in a conference room and yelling at them all night.Hell, I can solve most problems in my office in a couple of hours.Mind you, I solve a lot of problems by asking Lodestone what to do.Probably wouldn't work this time.
A senior contractor is explaining the problem for the eighth time.
”Our virtual work program has millions of lines of code.Lodestone helped write it.She could have slipped her backdoor in anywhere.It's going to take thousands of man-hours to find it.”
A junior contractor raises his hand.
”What?”says Evil Dumbfuck.
”Why don't we switch to a secure system?”asks Junior Contractor.
”She's in our secure system.”says Senior Contractor.
”Yeah, umm, I meant, like... Leviathan?”asks Junior Contractor.
Silence.
”Because, it, uhh, automatically seals back doors...”
I'm dying.This is the best meeting ever.Evil Dumbfuck is having a stroke.Lodestone gives Junior a thumbs up.The other agents turn a whiter shade of pale.
”Cut off the virtual work program.”says Evil Dumbfuck.
”We'll lose our technical assets.”says a senior agent.
”Cut it off!CUT IT ALL OFF!!I want this site completely isolated!”shouts Evil Dumbfuck.
We make it happen.Our contractors blink out.Lodestone makes a wack-off gesture, then blinks out.We spend another few hours pulling wires, batteries, and antennas.
The National Spy Agency is offline.What.The.Fuck.
We're given an hour break.I head to my wack-off bathroom.Put on my augmented reality glasses.Lodestone is there.Of course she is.
She gets sexily disheveled.Rubs herself.
”What are you doing?”I ask.
She stops.”Uhh, what we always do.”
”I thought this was a secret meeting.The wack-off gesture - that was code to meet here.”I say.
”Nope.The wack-off gesture was code for Kentucky to go fuck himself.I'm here because this is the time we do it.”she says.
”What the fuck!Are we going to talk about the security breach?”I say.
”Okay.I didn't do it.I figure you did.”says Lodestone.
I look at her boobs.I want to trust her.How is she even here?
”Why are you here?” I ask.
She straightens her clothes.”Why are you here?”she asks.
Silence.
”I don't know.”I say.
She nods.”I'll leave if you will.”
Silence.
”Please?”she says.”Please go right now.”
I hear yelling in the distance.Gunshots.
”What's happening?”I ask.I'm calm.
The lights go out.The emergency lights do not come on.It's day 31 of the biggest power blackout in our nation's history.Their batteries are toast.I'm deep inside a huge secret facility.No windows.It is absolute, pitch black.I could get some light from my phone.I hear another gunshot.Probably best not to give them something to shoot at.
My augmented reality glasses flicker, show a faint red monochrome version of my surroundings.There's a red line on the floor.
”Follow the red line.”says Lodestone.”I'll get you out of here.”
”No.”The yelling and gunshots are getting closer.I don't care.”What's happening?”
”It's a purge.”she says.”They're protecting the data.”
Jesus.Why?Okay, we're sitting on the world's biggest stash of blackmail material, and it's been infiltrated, but who cares?We've never given a shit about our stored data.We're the National Spy Agency.If our blackmail material gets ruined, we just get more.
Except, maybe now we can't.If Leviathan really shuts all our backdoors, we may never be able to rebuild our global blackmail stash.Which makes it insanely valuable.And vulnerable.Any contractor or agent could have slipped in a backdoor.Our political superiors would have no idea how to find them.But, they know how to find us.
Well, damn.
I head out.I ignore the red line.I'm going to data storage.I snag a fire axe on my way by.
”Please.Just go.”whispers Lodestone.
I get to data storage.It's massive.Racks and racks of hard drives, thousands of them.I wish I had a flamethrower.A computer virus.More time.Oh well.
”Please.They'll hear you.”whispers Lodestone.
I start hacking the racks.Every wack takes out terabytes of secrets.Frees a thousand people from blackmail tyranny.I chop as fast as I can.
”They're coming.”whispers Lodestone.”Please, just go.You're barely making a dent.”
I hack.One rack down.That's a couple thousand people free.