Chapter 6: The Hacker and the Gu
Adam Stiels, now officially the world's least impressive private investigator, leaned back in his squeaky chair, the Miami sun a distant memory outside his dusty window. The air in his office smelled of old paper and new beginnings, a weirdly fitting combination. He had a mission, a real one, not a "survive the apocalypse" mission, but a "find a hacker" mission. He had to find Skye.
According to his meta-knowledge, and the little mental timeline he'd been meticulously constructing, Skye was still with the Rising Tide, a hacktivist group. She was the one who could find anything, anywhere, and that made her the perfect target for his first recruit.
"Okay, Adam, don't mess this up. This isn't like finding a Wi-Fi password. This is about finding a person who is basically a digital ghost. You need to be clever. You need to be… well, you. Sarcastic, pop-culture-obsessed, and a little bit unhinged. She's going to see right through a normal approach. This needs to be a hacker's game of chess."
He booted up his new laptop, the one he'd bought with his precious Coins, and opened up a browser. He didn't have to look hard for the Rising Tide. They were loud, obnoxious, and proud. He found their digital hangouts, their forums, their encrypted chat rooms. He was a lurker, a ghost in the machine, watching, waiting, and listening. His Liquor Worm Gu, a constant, low-level hum of focus in the back of his mind, was a godsend. It helped him filter out the noise, the fake personas, the wannabes, and hone in on the one he was looking for. Skye.
He found her digital footprint, a series of complex, almost artistic code that screamed "I'm a genius and I'm bored." He smiled. This was it. He had a target. Now, for the approach.
He crafted a message, a simple string of code that was both a challenge and a riddle. It was a reference to a deep-cut sci-fi movie from his old world, something he knew she wouldn't have heard of, but the code itself was a puzzle. It was a digital breadcrumb trail, and the end of the trail led to a hidden chat room, one that only he and she would be able to access.
He sent the message, and then he waited.
[Side Mission: Impress Skye. Objective: Gain her trust through a digital challenge. Reward: 5 Coins.]
The system's mission popped into his mind, and he grinned. "Bring it on," he muttered to himself. "Let's see what you got, hacker."
Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, in a cluttered, coffee-stained apartment, Skye was having a very similar day. She was trying to crack a new security system, a boring, government-funded thing that was a mess of firewalls and encryption. It was tedious work, and she was getting bored.
She was about to give up and make another pot of coffee when a new message popped up on her screen. It was a string of code, unlike anything she'd ever seen. It was elegant, clean, and utterly impenetrable. It was a beautiful piece of art. And it was a challenge.
"What in the world is this? Who sent this? I've never seen code this clean. It's like... it's like the code is alive. It's not just a bunch of ones and zeros. It's a statement. And the message... what is it? A clue? A challenge? 'The red pill is a lie. The blue pill is a lie. The only truth is the spaghetti.' What is that even from?"
She frowned, her fingers flying across the keyboard. She ran the code through every decryption program she had, every firewall, every backdoor. Nothing. It was a ghost. It left no digital footprint. It was as if it had been created in a vacuum, a message from a machine with no owner.
This was intriguing. This was exciting. This was exactly what she needed. A new challenge. A new mystery. She spent the next few hours trying to crack the code, her frustration growing with every failed attempt. This person, this mysterious hacker, was good. Too good.
Finally, a few hours later, she found it. A small, almost invisible loophole in the code, a tiny digital fingerprint that led to a single, hidden IP address. She smirked. She had him. She typed in the address, and a new window popped up on her screen. It was a chat room, a black background with a single, white text box.
She typed a single message. The spaghetti is a lie.
The response was immediate. Ah, you found it. The sauce, the meat, the cheese... all a lie. Took you long enough.
Skye blinked. This person was... a smart-ass.
Who are you? she typed.
You know me. I'm the guy who just won. Now, are you going to ask me my name, or are you going to keep staring at the screen with that look of utter bewilderment on your face? I can almost see it from here.
She leaned back in her chair, a slow smile spreading across her face. This was going to be fun.