Chapter V: Intrigue
Ravi’s hovercar descended slowly towards its parking bay, and then he killed the engine and paused before getting out. Something was in the back of his mind, nagging him. He should not have overdone the funk pattern at Monty’s. He stumbled out, and slurred at his infolink,”Lock and arm systems”. With a click, the hovercar’s doors shut, and the access panel glowed red, to indicate that the auto theft deterrent system, a joint creation with Albert, was active. The elevator was half way up to his floor when he realized what it was. AGT-4360. The first thing he did was to call Albert. “Tell me more about AGT-4360.”
Albert’s eyes widened with surprise. “Now? Shouldn’t you better be getting some sleep?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m telling you to get your butt down here pronto.”
Albert knew better than to refuse. If he did show up, Ravi would sit with him and they would try to crack the problem together. If he didn’t, Ravi would do it himself anyway. Either way, he wouldn’t sleep. Albert decided that he would make him sleep if he had to clobber him unconscious. He sighed, resigned to his fate, and grabbed the helmet before heading to his jet-bike. The Kawanishi hyper-charger, another illegal vehicle mod he had obtained, kicked in at the touch of a button, and the turbojet engine was transformed into a wailing banshee that propelled him into the sky on a column of flame. A jetbike journey, that would take 25 minutes at top speed on a non-modified bike, took Albert only 15-the five extra minutes due to dodging a police patrol that had decided to investigate the runaway comet in the neighbourhood. He killed the engine and glided noiselessly to a spot next to Ravi’s hovercar, and was soon at his apartment.
“You have to let the whole neighbourhood know that you’re coming, don’t you,” Ravi grumbled as he opened the door.
“Heh, how many of these street-droids can boast of a bike that can do 255 mph? They’d be lucky if they managed even 120.”
“Well, one of these days your luck’s gonna run out”, Ravi growled. “And to think you made me go for those afterburners, when I could have invested in a decent night vision mod for myself!”
“Come off it!” said Albert good-naturedly. “Don’t deny it, your hovcar is the envy of the neighbourhood! Besides, who can catch us when we’re up to speed?”
“Yeah, I’d like to see your face when your fuel tank bottoms out sixty feet above ground level, with a couple of Ramsevaks on your tail!”
Albert’s grin became sheepish. “That’s er…a problem that I’m working on. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way. Compression ratios in the combustion chambers need to be adjusted and some fine tweaking of the intake fins , especially if you use the new Kobaya carbon fibre ones that have a heat dissipation factor of 72%, should help reduce the…”
“Spare me,” said Ravi,” and let’s get down to work.”
“Right, so I was telling you guys about what I had overheard. I told my contact on NetherWorld to check it out. Let’s see if he’s found anything in all these days.”
They set up the connection, after all the necessary security measures, and then Albert opened a chat window.
Connecting to N3th3Rw0R1d://40EC.5A2B.7880.10DE.89BC.3001.0EFF.D7F6…
Connected
Initiating key exchange…
Using CKA-16384 encryption
Connection secured.
Initializing chat request….
Kq2699 entered the room
Kq2699>hello darklord
dARKl04D>who is this?
“Why kq2699?” asked Ravi. “What does it mean?”
“Nothing, that’s the point. I generate a random name every time, so I can’t be traced back.”
“So how does he identify you then?”
“Watch.”
Kq2699>someone you know
dARKl04d>prove it
Kq2699>Mobilis in Mobili N
dARKl04d>ah…the nameless one. It’s been a long time. What can I do for u?
Kq2699>do u have trade for me?
dARKl04d>is this link secure?
Kq2699>yes
dARKl04d>i looked for agt4360...and all I can say is that people are in grave danger
kq4399>who??
dARKl04d>cant name them here it is a defence project. Can prove dangerous to the revolution
Albert and Ravi exchanged glances. If this guy whoever he was, was involved with the IFF, they had hit a bigger can of worms than expected.
dARKl04d> I have fwded my file to your usual address. Use my public key to decrypt it.
Connection reset by peer.
Albert swore under his breath.
Connecting to N3th3Rw0R1d://40EC.5A2B.7880.10DE.89BC.3001.0EFF.D7F6…
Cannot resolve identity.
It could mean only one thing. A power blackout at the other end, which resulted in Darklord’s computer going offline. “Let’s see what we have on email, shall we”, said Albert. “I don’t believe it…he seems to have encrypted it several times! Talk about paranoid!”
He started the decryption process, and watched impatiently as the progress indicator crept towards completion. At last, it was through.
The file was an interactive blue print. Ravi’s hologram projector was activated. The words flashed
“AUTOMATIC GUN TURRET.BUILD 4360”
The words dissolved, and were replaced by a three dimensional view of the object in question. It was a large, spherical mounted turret, with a camera eyepiece located above a stubby barrel. Touching each part of the image led to a description.
They read the document in silence. Where it all fit in-Mona’s job designing rapid response servo systems, the database search feature, the image tracking system-was becoming hideously clear.
The AGT 4360 was more than an automated gun turret. It was capable of comparing the faces of people with those stored in a database of known criminals-and swiftly pinpointing and targeting them in a crowd. The gun in question was a dual mode minigun as well as sniper-it could fire a single high calibre shot from a distance, or spray a given area with armour piercing depleted uranium pellets. Moreover, the four of them had, between themselves, unwittingly helped design every critical subsystem that went into it.
The next paragraph chilled them to the marrow.
After highly successful trials against dummy targets, 50 units will be deployed in various public places around the Capital city. This should provide a boost to law and order forces, besides allowing a much-wanted field trial.
The deployment date was the next morning.
Mona unplugged her thermal jacket from its wall charger, and slinging it around her neck, went downstairs for breakfast. Her brother Zubin, to her mild surprise, was mixing a bowl of cornflakes for her.
“What’s up, stranger, don’t see you around at home much these days?” she asked.
“Need you ask? I’m attending extra classes. ”
“Uh-huh.”
It was the longest conversation they had had in quite a while. Zubin was unemployed. In a bid to acquire the sort of education that the State could not provide, he had signed up for a distance learning course from a European university. Officially, such courses were banned from being accessed over the Net, but the NetherWorld offered fully encrypted back channels over which he could attend his video-lectures.
The vidscreen was reading out the morning news, as usual, in the husky hot babe voice that her brother preferred. Then it grabbed her attention.
“For the first time, the city gets a new security system that will revolutionalize the work of the police force. As part of the ongoing National Security System, SuryaTech officials are installing the AGT 4360, a sophisticated crime deterrent system, at various places in the city. Click below for a live interview with Dr. Sehgal, one of the officials involved with the implementation of the system…”
Mona pulled on her jacket and rushed out of the house, leaving behind a half-empty bowl of cornflakes. She twiddled her infolink and set it so it would monitor the morning newsfeed and send all reports about the AGT 4360 to her earpiece.
The metro was crowded as usual. Mona sat down by the window and looked at the early morning traffic streaming in all directions over the ground and in the sky. Against the backdrop of the chilly dawn, the few flying vehicles that were out looked so much like insects going about their business. When she emerged from the metro station at her usual stop, she saw it for the first time. A couple of technicians were crouching near a large globe that was vertically mounted on the ceiling outside the metro station. One of them had plugged a console into the data port provided for the purpose on the wall. The globe swung easily and fluidly around as he punched test commands, while the automatic turret extended and retracted. One of the technicians was silently appraising Mona from behind. He tweaked the control so that the camera now had her in its sights. He held her in focus till she turned the corner and disappeared from view.
“Ok, I guess the last stage test performed flawlessly here too. Let’s load her up.”
The two men opened the box they were carrying and withdrew the large belt of 20mm ammunition it held. The loading mechanism clicked as it sucked in the five-metre long belt, and then a small red light went on. “Right, the minigun is ready for operation.”
A similar process was repeated for the integrated sniper rifle, and the two technicians rose and walked away. Two small red lights glowed near the retractable gun barrels, to indicate the system was online.
Prakash was at his seat, when the console indicated an incoming call. Dr. Sehgal’s face filled the screen. He seemed rather cheerful.
“ Morning, Prakash. First off, I’d like to congratulate you on your role in the successful implementation of the NSS. It was a good job you did, despite the restrictions that you no doubt must have faced.”
Prakash nodded. It was all he could do to prevent his left eyebrow from levitating. Since when had Dr. Sehgal started to hand out encouragement?
“I would like you to join me”, Dr. Sehgal went on,” in a short while today as we monitor the system during its first live trial.”
Prakash muttered that he would be there, and got up to refill his coffee mug. He tried to marshal his thoughts. The all night hack he had run was probably a waste-the system already had gone online. But then-would Dr. Sehgal still have released the documents for him to see? Anyway, he had made a copy of the file for himself, and transferred it to a secure location, for later perusal.
“Black coffee, go easy on the sugar, and don’t let it be too hot.” Prakash gazed idly around the cafeteria as he waited for the coffee machine to prepare his cup. There were very few people around, since it was quite early in the morning. A news item on the wall-mounted vidscreen nearby caught his eye.
“A suspected IFF terrorist was found dead of unknown circumstances in his house, this morning. The police are investigating …”
The video clip accompanying the item showed a figure slumped over a keyboard. Prakash shrugged, picked up his coffee cup and walked back upstairs. It was time to meet Dr. Sehgal.
Albert’s eyes widened with surprise. “Now? Shouldn’t you better be getting some sleep?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m telling you to get your butt down here pronto.”
Albert knew better than to refuse. If he did show up, Ravi would sit with him and they would try to crack the problem together. If he didn’t, Ravi would do it himself anyway. Either way, he wouldn’t sleep. Albert decided that he would make him sleep if he had to clobber him unconscious. He sighed, resigned to his fate, and grabbed the helmet before heading to his jet-bike. The Kawanishi hyper-charger, another illegal vehicle mod he had obtained, kicked in at the touch of a button, and the turbojet engine was transformed into a wailing banshee that propelled him into the sky on a column of flame. A jetbike journey, that would take 25 minutes at top speed on a non-modified bike, took Albert only 15-the five extra minutes due to dodging a police patrol that had decided to investigate the runaway comet in the neighbourhood. He killed the engine and glided noiselessly to a spot next to Ravi’s hovercar, and was soon at his apartment.
“You have to let the whole neighbourhood know that you’re coming, don’t you,” Ravi grumbled as he opened the door.
“Heh, how many of these street-droids can boast of a bike that can do 255 mph? They’d be lucky if they managed even 120.”
“Well, one of these days your luck’s gonna run out”, Ravi growled. “And to think you made me go for those afterburners, when I could have invested in a decent night vision mod for myself!”
“Come off it!” said Albert good-naturedly. “Don’t deny it, your hovcar is the envy of the neighbourhood! Besides, who can catch us when we’re up to speed?”
“Yeah, I’d like to see your face when your fuel tank bottoms out sixty feet above ground level, with a couple of Ramsevaks on your tail!”
Albert’s grin became sheepish. “That’s er…a problem that I’m working on. Don’t worry, I’ll find a way. Compression ratios in the combustion chambers need to be adjusted and some fine tweaking of the intake fins , especially if you use the new Kobaya carbon fibre ones that have a heat dissipation factor of 72%, should help reduce the…”
“Spare me,” said Ravi,” and let’s get down to work.”
“Right, so I was telling you guys about what I had overheard. I told my contact on NetherWorld to check it out. Let’s see if he’s found anything in all these days.”
They set up the connection, after all the necessary security measures, and then Albert opened a chat window.
Connecting to N3th3Rw0R1d://40EC.5A2B.7880.10DE.89BC.3001.0EFF.D7F6…
Connected
Initiating key exchange…
Using CKA-16384 encryption
Connection secured.
Initializing chat request….
Kq2699 entered the room
Kq2699>hello darklord
dARKl04D>who is this?
“Why kq2699?” asked Ravi. “What does it mean?”
“Nothing, that’s the point. I generate a random name every time, so I can’t be traced back.”
“So how does he identify you then?”
“Watch.”
Kq2699>someone you know
dARKl04d>prove it
Kq2699>Mobilis in Mobili N
dARKl04d>ah…the nameless one. It’s been a long time. What can I do for u?
Kq2699>do u have trade for me?
dARKl04d>is this link secure?
Kq2699>yes
dARKl04d>i looked for agt4360...and all I can say is that people are in grave danger
kq4399>who??
dARKl04d>cant name them here it is a defence project. Can prove dangerous to the revolution
Albert and Ravi exchanged glances. If this guy whoever he was, was involved with the IFF, they had hit a bigger can of worms than expected.
dARKl04d> I have fwded my file to your usual address. Use my public key to decrypt it.
Connection reset by peer.
Albert swore under his breath.
Connecting to N3th3Rw0R1d://40EC.5A2B.7880.10DE.89BC.3001.0EFF.D7F6…
Cannot resolve identity.
It could mean only one thing. A power blackout at the other end, which resulted in Darklord’s computer going offline. “Let’s see what we have on email, shall we”, said Albert. “I don’t believe it…he seems to have encrypted it several times! Talk about paranoid!”
He started the decryption process, and watched impatiently as the progress indicator crept towards completion. At last, it was through.
The file was an interactive blue print. Ravi’s hologram projector was activated. The words flashed
“AUTOMATIC GUN TURRET.BUILD 4360”
The words dissolved, and were replaced by a three dimensional view of the object in question. It was a large, spherical mounted turret, with a camera eyepiece located above a stubby barrel. Touching each part of the image led to a description.
They read the document in silence. Where it all fit in-Mona’s job designing rapid response servo systems, the database search feature, the image tracking system-was becoming hideously clear.
The AGT 4360 was more than an automated gun turret. It was capable of comparing the faces of people with those stored in a database of known criminals-and swiftly pinpointing and targeting them in a crowd. The gun in question was a dual mode minigun as well as sniper-it could fire a single high calibre shot from a distance, or spray a given area with armour piercing depleted uranium pellets. Moreover, the four of them had, between themselves, unwittingly helped design every critical subsystem that went into it.
The next paragraph chilled them to the marrow.
After highly successful trials against dummy targets, 50 units will be deployed in various public places around the Capital city. This should provide a boost to law and order forces, besides allowing a much-wanted field trial.
The deployment date was the next morning.
Mona unplugged her thermal jacket from its wall charger, and slinging it around her neck, went downstairs for breakfast. Her brother Zubin, to her mild surprise, was mixing a bowl of cornflakes for her.
“What’s up, stranger, don’t see you around at home much these days?” she asked.
“Need you ask? I’m attending extra classes. ”
“Uh-huh.”
It was the longest conversation they had had in quite a while. Zubin was unemployed. In a bid to acquire the sort of education that the State could not provide, he had signed up for a distance learning course from a European university. Officially, such courses were banned from being accessed over the Net, but the NetherWorld offered fully encrypted back channels over which he could attend his video-lectures.
The vidscreen was reading out the morning news, as usual, in the husky hot babe voice that her brother preferred. Then it grabbed her attention.
“For the first time, the city gets a new security system that will revolutionalize the work of the police force. As part of the ongoing National Security System, SuryaTech officials are installing the AGT 4360, a sophisticated crime deterrent system, at various places in the city. Click below for a live interview with Dr. Sehgal, one of the officials involved with the implementation of the system…”
Mona pulled on her jacket and rushed out of the house, leaving behind a half-empty bowl of cornflakes. She twiddled her infolink and set it so it would monitor the morning newsfeed and send all reports about the AGT 4360 to her earpiece.
The metro was crowded as usual. Mona sat down by the window and looked at the early morning traffic streaming in all directions over the ground and in the sky. Against the backdrop of the chilly dawn, the few flying vehicles that were out looked so much like insects going about their business. When she emerged from the metro station at her usual stop, she saw it for the first time. A couple of technicians were crouching near a large globe that was vertically mounted on the ceiling outside the metro station. One of them had plugged a console into the data port provided for the purpose on the wall. The globe swung easily and fluidly around as he punched test commands, while the automatic turret extended and retracted. One of the technicians was silently appraising Mona from behind. He tweaked the control so that the camera now had her in its sights. He held her in focus till she turned the corner and disappeared from view.
“Ok, I guess the last stage test performed flawlessly here too. Let’s load her up.”
The two men opened the box they were carrying and withdrew the large belt of 20mm ammunition it held. The loading mechanism clicked as it sucked in the five-metre long belt, and then a small red light went on. “Right, the minigun is ready for operation.”
A similar process was repeated for the integrated sniper rifle, and the two technicians rose and walked away. Two small red lights glowed near the retractable gun barrels, to indicate the system was online.
Prakash was at his seat, when the console indicated an incoming call. Dr. Sehgal’s face filled the screen. He seemed rather cheerful.
“ Morning, Prakash. First off, I’d like to congratulate you on your role in the successful implementation of the NSS. It was a good job you did, despite the restrictions that you no doubt must have faced.”
Prakash nodded. It was all he could do to prevent his left eyebrow from levitating. Since when had Dr. Sehgal started to hand out encouragement?
“I would like you to join me”, Dr. Sehgal went on,” in a short while today as we monitor the system during its first live trial.”
Prakash muttered that he would be there, and got up to refill his coffee mug. He tried to marshal his thoughts. The all night hack he had run was probably a waste-the system already had gone online. But then-would Dr. Sehgal still have released the documents for him to see? Anyway, he had made a copy of the file for himself, and transferred it to a secure location, for later perusal.
“Black coffee, go easy on the sugar, and don’t let it be too hot.” Prakash gazed idly around the cafeteria as he waited for the coffee machine to prepare his cup. There were very few people around, since it was quite early in the morning. A news item on the wall-mounted vidscreen nearby caught his eye.
“A suspected IFF terrorist was found dead of unknown circumstances in his house, this morning. The police are investigating …”
The video clip accompanying the item showed a figure slumped over a keyboard. Prakash shrugged, picked up his coffee cup and walked back upstairs. It was time to meet Dr. Sehgal.
posted by Rex at 10:16
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