Hacking the Sun [Old Version]

Chapter 14 Calculating in Your Sleep

Pitch darkness would have characterized the room if not for the marvelous computer arrangement in the center. Nothing but a crooked series of seats, wires, and converted toasters.

Crammed between the hardware of the dark tent sat an inconspicuous woman glued to her black, vintage monitor. Another stranger whose red hair gleamed under green glass, absorbed in her computational task. The sound of tapping keys persisted elsewhere, steering Jessica to a black-haired boy in a beanie. Perhaps no older than thirteen, he sequentially snapped his fingers six times then switched hands before returning to the keyboard. Likewise glued to the screen, his head persistently lulled on his shoulder. 

He's autistic.

A few steps ahead of Jess, Amon peered over his shoulder at her. "The others are sleeping, but that's Beelz," he said, indicating the fairer redhead. "She won't notice you when she's focused." He pointed to the boy. "Same goes for Boros over there, except he's always that way."  

Amon stepped beside Boros and had his hand smacked away, the moment he fingered the stack of crackers on his plate.

"And this is our humble lair," Amon finished, waving his arms. "There's an unused setup you can use, Lynx"—he pointed to a small, black box console flat on one of many desks—" which you may use to log into Ghost Wire. No one needs to suspect that Lynx and Jessica are the same person. Password for login is the latest crypto coin."

"Fitting," Jessica remarked. "Why do I get the feeling I was always meant to come here? This place. Dissent."

"Fate?" Amon shrugged. "An inconvenient set of permutations in the unknowable sequence we call life? A higher power was probably involved. Either way, I have data to review." Jessica curiously observed Amon settle next to the mysterious Beelz. She didn't seem to notice him, either.

"Now that we're in the bat cave," started Shannon, "how do we start fighting crime?"

Valerie yawned. "I'd rather we do that in the morning. I said I'd lead us to a safe place, and this is as safe as it gets. We can, por lo mejor, get some sleep until Monarch figures out the next plan."

"I'm kinda worried about that," said Jessica, starting toward the computers.  "First thing's first, housecleaning." She set fingers on the console keyboard when a virtual screen beamed a bright blue ray upon them. She logged into Ghost Wire. 

Online, the life of Lynx seemed like a carefree one. Everywhere else, it was real. In studying the website, she discovered that Procel and Helios had completely fallen off the grid, so pondered how their disappearance might relate to Goliath, then contemplated further whether Helios and Malvis were one and the same.

"BitCoin's value has gone up," she said. "Ain't that some—" 

"What are BitCoins?" asked Valerie.

"Cryptocurrency."

"Uhuh?"

Jessica held a  microchip between her middle and index fingers. "You know how the slightest touch of a web lets the spider trace the origin? Say it's a horsefly—whatever. In cryptocurrency, the unending stream of digital transactions is the web, while the trapped fly is a transaction, and those of us who give and take, weaving the unending blockchain, we are the spider. The web never ends; the fly never leaves."

"That is an interesting analogy," said Shannon. "I'm still not sure I understand."

Jessica inserted the microchip into the console. "I'm so happy they have solid keyboards here." Her fingers eventually triggered a single audio playback. 

"We are not inept dogs."

"Who is that talking?" asked Valerie.

"I hoped you'd recognize it," said Jessica.