The Holy Grail
since he went on the run across the US, and Electron knew just the right buttons to push.
‘I don’t know,’ Phoenix whispered to Par. ‘I’m sure he’s not really a fed.’
‘Well, I am wondering about that comment,’ Par whispered back. ‘UnderFED. Hmm. Maybe he knows something. Maybe it’s some kind of warning. Shit, maybe the Secret Service knows where I am.’
‘You think?’ Phoenix whispered to Par. ‘It might be a warning of some kind?’ It was too funny.
‘Can you check his originating NUA?’ Par wanted to know what network address the mystery guest was coming from. It might give him a clue as to the stranger’s identity.
Phoenix could barely contain himself. He kept forwarding the private messages on to Electron. Par was clearly becoming more agitated.
‘I wish he would just tell me WHO he was,’ Par whis- pered. ‘Shit. It is very fucking weird. UnderFED. It’s spinning me out.’
Then Par logged off.
Electron typed, ‘I guess Par had to go.
If Pad and Gandalf hadn’t kept their copy of Deszip, the Australians would be back to square one, beginning with a hunt for a system which even had Deszip. It was a daunting task and by the time Pad and Gandalf finally logged back into Altos, Phoenix and Electron had become quite anxious.
‘How did you go?’ Phoenix asked. ‘Do you still have Deszip?’
‘Well, at first I thought I had forgotten which system I left it on . . .’
Electron jumped in, ‘And then?’
‘Then I remembered.’
‘Good news?’ Phoenix exclaimed.
‘Well, no. Not exactly,’ Gandalf said. ‘The account is dead.’