UNDERGROUND

‘That FTP bug has been fixed at Purdue,’ Pad answered.

‘Can’t use that to get in again.’

Disappointment permeated the atmosphere on Altos.

There were, of course, other possible repositories for Deszip.

Phoenix and Electron had already penetrated a computer at

Lawrence Livermore National Labs in California. They had

procured root on the gamm5 machine and planned to use it

as a launchpad for penetrating security expert Russell Brand’s

computer at LLNL, called Wuthel. They were sure Brand had

Deszip on his computer.

It would require a good deal of effort, and possibly another

roller-coaster ride of desire, expectation and possible dis-

appointment. For now, the four hackers resolved to sign off,

licking their wounds at their defeat in the quest for Deszip.

‘Well, I’m off. See you l8r,’ Pad said.

‘Yeah, me too,’ Electron added.

‘Yeah, OK. L8r, m8s!’ Gandalf said.

Then, just for fun, he added in typical Gandalf style, ‘See

you in jail!’