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In the darkness, they congregated in the living room. Sirens screamed in the night, steadily approaching the street. The curtains were too thin to completely block out the light, and the last thing anyone needed was for a suspicious cop conducting routine canvasing to notice them.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did they trace you?\u201d Tan asked.<\/p>\n
Heat flared in Alex\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t<\/em>. They traced you<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe never came close to your remote machine,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cYet they knew where to look. How do you square these statements?\u201d<\/p>\n Alex clenched his fists. Perched on his sofa, he rocked violently back and forth.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t use any of my botnets. I didn\u2019t crack any systems. I downloaded Zen\u2019s data shards using a VPN and proxy servers. That\u2019s all. It was the only exposure I had to the Net, and that took just ten minutes. They must have found you<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOr they were tracking electricity use,\u201d Fox said. \u201cIt\u2019s how the PSB finds hackers and terrorists, by identifying sudden, unexplainable surges in electricity and water consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know. That\u2019s why I sited my machine in an office building with an on-site data center that caters to the tech crowd. Everyone<\/em> runs their computers all day and all night in there. One more computer drawing on the grid won\u2019t attract too much attention.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe never entered your building either. So what gives?\u201d Connor asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThey must have spotted you on the streets. I told you about the cameras. You might have disguised your faces, but not your gaits. They patterned your movements and tracked you to this neighborhood,\u201d Alex said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the cameras were all-seeing, why didn\u2019t the hit team attack this<\/em> safe house instead?\u201d Mustafa said reasonably.<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be both,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThe New Gods know we were somewhere in Electric City. When they combed the streets and audited the grid, they noticed that the office drew a huge amount of electricity. They decided that we were using it as a safe house, or at least as a base to download and decrypt the data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt does fit into how the Singularity Network thinks,\u201d Wood said. \u201cThey measure their lives, and everybody else\u2019s, by power consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if they were looking for a hacker, they\u2019d look for the signs that would give a hacker away,\u201d Tan added.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the bright side,\u201d Yamamoto said, \u201cwe\u2019re all still alive and free. So long as we keep our heads down until the police are done canvassing the area, we\u2019re good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to leave,\u201d Alex said.<\/p>\n \u201cWeren\u2019t we under your protection?\u201d<\/p>\n He sucked in a breath. Rocked slowly.<\/p>\n \u201cYes. And I\u2019m telling you this for your own good. They will ask the neighbors about suspicious activity. They would have noticed strangers coming and going from this house. They will tell the police. The police will pay more attention to the area. To me.<\/p>\n \u201cI can hide my hardware, explain away the bots and the computers, but I cannot explain you<\/em> away. You must find another safe house. It\u2019s for everyone\u2019s <\/em>protection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI understand where you\u2019re coming from,\u201d Yamamoto said. \u201cBut we can\u2019t leave now. Not when the police are right outside.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, yeah. Just\u2026 get ready to get out when the heat dies down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you manage to get anything useful before you blew your machine?\u201d Fox asked.<\/p>\n Alex stopped rocking, finally. His lips parted into something resembling a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cYes. I decrypted the phone data belonging to the Court of Shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNice!\u201d Tan exclaimed. \u201cHow\u2019d you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n He shrugged. \u201cNothing special. I simply used a virtual private cloud, imaged the data a million times, and brute-forced them all using Hashcracker. And, yes, I connected to it using a secure data connection, closed to outside access. I\u2019m surprised you<\/em> didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would have done it too, but it\u2019s expensive. Nobody gets rich on the government dime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNobody honest,\u201d Yamamoto added.<\/p>\n Tan nodded vigorously. \u201cDamn straight. After our suspension, I was stuck with the hardware I had at home. Nowhere near as powerful as yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex lifted his nose into the air again. \u201cThis is why I don\u2019t rely on the government.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSame here. Anyway, send the data to me and we can figure out what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlready have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave you found anything interesting?\u201d Yamamoto asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy bots are still trawling the raw take. But if you look at the titles of the documents alone, there are many interesting items. \u2018Contracts and Liquidations\u2019. \u2018Five-Year Strategic Direction\u2019. \u2018Lubricant\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Lubricant\u2019?\u201d Connor repeated.<\/p>\n \u201cOdd, isn\u2019t it? Even more so when it is a budget spreadsheet, tracking payments over months and years. A spreadsheet that lists the names of many politicians, government officials, and high-ranking police and PSB personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHoly shit!\u201d Tan exclaimed. \u201cWe have it! Proof of corruption within the PSB!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not everything,\u201d Wood said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t explain why everybody else is after us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt could be on the data we recovered from the Golden Mile,\u201d Yamamoto said.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you crack it too?\u201d Tan asked.<\/p>\n Alex firmly shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can reconstruct it from the blockchain and try again on a fresh\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, you don\u2019t understand. I can\u2019t<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n Alex rocked again.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the file format. .VOID. It can only be read on computers running the VoidOS operating system. The OS the Void Collective created specifically for their own computer networks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLast year, you told me you found a way to read .VOID,\u201d Tan said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd just now, I blew up the only machine I had that could.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPardon my ignorance, but you can\u2019t just get another VoidOS computer?\u201d Mustafa asked.<\/p>\n Alex sighed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you know of .VOID?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d Mustafa admitted.<\/p>\n Another sigh. Louder, this time.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Void Collective doesn\u2019t use ordinary computers. They use hybrid biocomputers, combining the functions of both a classical and a DNA computer in the same machine. .VOID isn\u2019t just a regular file format; it functions like a bridge, seamlessly transitioning data between both computing models as necessary. Text, video, audio, it\u2019s all encoded as .VOID before being uploaded on the computers. I have no idea how they did it, it shouldn\u2019t even be possible, but the New Gods are in the business of the impossible.<\/p>\n \u201cVoidOS isn\u2019t simply installed in a computer. It is grown<\/em>. It is hardcoded into the DNA computer component, and on startup, it self-propagates into the classical computer component. It begins life in as a molecule of DNA in the biochip, and on startup, it somehow crosses over into silicon. Again, I don\u2019t know how they did it, and no one I know does, but as far as I know that\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n \u201cThe VC exercises strict technology control. It is extremely difficult and expensive to obtain a VC biocomputer, and even more difficult to reconfigure it to be compatible with non-VoidOS machines. My suppliers do not have any VoidOS-compatible machines available in stock.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox shook her head. The VC took technology control to the next level, even for the New Gods. She wouldn\u2019t be surprised if they developed these biocomputers solely to prevent outsiders from penetrating their systems.<\/p>\n \u201cI presume you can\u2019t make your own biocomputer hybrid?\u201d Mustafa asked.<\/p>\n Alex shook his head firmly.<\/p>\n \u201cImpossible. We need to know the DNA sequences for the VoidOS software and the biochips. Codes that the VC jealously protects. And before you ask, attempts at reverse-engineering were unsuccessful. The DNA sequence is hidden in a batch of dummy DNA sequences. Processing the wrong sequence will generate a null result or upload a virus that will brick your computer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018We\u2019?\u201d Wood asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy\u2026 associates.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour fellow crackers.\u201d<\/p>\n Alex shrugged. \u201cWe are in the same or similar lines of work, yes. But we operate on both sides of the law. The government and<\/em> the underworld are keenly interested in VC biotech, and they collaborate on this issue more often than you may think. Not that these efforts have paid off so far.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s the solution to this problem?\u201d Yamamoto asked. \u201cWe steal a VC biocomputer?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re welcome to try, but I think we don\u2019t have to,\u201d Alex said. \u201cWe can recreate the data directly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn a VC biocomputer, data is stored on the biochips while the integrated circuits handle calculations. The silicon hardware needs to know which DNA sequence corresponds to which program, document, whatever, to retrieve the information. Whenever the user creates a new file on the biocomputer, the system will also create a plain text file that describes the DNA sequence the data is encoded into.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have those plain text files. With them, we can regrow the DNA sequences and recreate the data.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s do it, then,\u201d Connor said. \u201cWhat do we need? Can we buy the equipment from Electric City?\u201d<\/p>\n Alex held up his hand.<\/p>\n \u201cNot so simple. While you can grow DNA in a home kit, for our purposes, we need maximum precision. We need an industrial-grade DNA printer in a controlled lab environment. Fortunately for us, I have a contact who works at the nanobiotechnology lab of the BITE. The Babylon Institute of Technology and Engineering. He will give us access to the lab, and he\u2019s trained the girls to use the equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo we have any other alternatives? A black lab somewhere, maybe?\u201d Wood asked.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the only option I can offer you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the New Gods know that we have the DNA sequences, then they will monitor all locations in Nova Babylonia known to have the capability of growing cells,\u201d Connor said. \u201cIf we got to the BITE, the New Gods will spot us. We\u2019re not in the business of dragging innocents into this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no innocents in Babylon. Never have been, never will be,\u201d Alex said.<\/p>\n Fox wondered what a man would have seen to make him say something like that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just that,\u201d Fox said. \u201cThe New Gods have all agreed to hunt us down. If we go to the BITE, we will risk the wrath of the New Gods.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou say that as if it\u2019s a bad thing,\u201d Yamamoto said softly.<\/p>\n Everyone looked at him.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you shitting me?\u201d Connor asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re saying we should fight all<\/em> of the New Gods at once.\u201d Connor shook his head. \u201cBrother, I like a good fight as much as anyone else, but c\u2019mon, we\u2019re biting off more than we can chew.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot necessarily. You noticed they don\u2019t get along? Their agreement is just superficial. And there\u2019s something about this mess that doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe offended the Court of Shadows and the Void Collective. By all rights, they should be coming after us. But where are they? Why haven\u2019t we seen them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe New Gods each have their own turf. Maybe they don\u2019t want to spark a war by intruding into someone else\u2019s,\u201d Wood mused.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly. They don\u2019t want any misunderstandings. At the same time, though, they all<\/em> want the data. Which doesn\u2019t make sense. They know<\/em> we have the data. The VC and the Court can take countermeasures to render that information irrelevant as much as they can. They can change their plans, send their agents into hiding, conceal their slush funds, whatever. They\u2019ll still want to punish us, but they wouldn\u2019t worry so much about the data. And yet the Seekers, they didn\u2019t kill Zen. At least not right away. They wanted the data from him.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means there\u2019s something fundamental about that data, something in there that the VC or the Court cannot change. But the Seekers know that if the New Gods know that they have that data, the New Gods will dogpile them. That\u2019s just how they work; they can\u2019t stand any one faction having an advantage over others. Further, the involvement of the Singularity Network and the Liberated tells us that the VC and the Court believes that they alone cannot handle the situation\u2014but at the same time, they know that if outsiders get that data ahead of them, they will use it against them.\u201d<\/p>\n Mustafa shook his head. \u201cMan, this is making my head spin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I\u2019m saying is, the VC and the Court believe we are too formidable for them to handle alone. At the very least, they must deconflict with each other and the rest of the New Gods or risk an outright war. On the other hand, the other New Gods each want a decisive advantage over the VC and the Court. On the third<\/em> hand, the New Gods know that if one of them is seen as possessing that advantage, they will be targeted and attacked.<\/p>\n \u201cThis entire affair is not about recovering the data. It already belongs to the VC and the Court. We only copied it; we didn\u2019t delete anything. It\u2019s about the New Gods preventing each other from gaining an advantage over everybody else.<\/p>\n \u201cThe VC and the Court want to make an example of us and ensure that their data doesn\u2019t fall into anybody else\u2019s hands. The best-case scenario for the Seekers, and the other New Gods, is to recover that data and make a copy of it without letting the other factions know about it. But the outcome everyone will settle for is the destruction of the data we <\/em>hold, and us<\/em>, witnessed and verified by all<\/em> other factions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re all crabs in a bucket, pulling each other down,\u201d Fox observed.<\/p>\n \u201cExactly. They don\u2019t trust each other at all. Any agreement they have is temporary and fraught with suspicion. It won\u2019t take much to drive a wedge between them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow do you propose to do that?\u201d Wood asked.<\/p>\n Yamamoto grinned.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a few ideas. But Alex?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI need to borrow your girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Babylon Blues is a cyberpunk horror saga told in five stories. Back BABYLON BLUES: REMASTERED on Kickstarter <\/a>today to read the entire collection in a single easy-to-read volume,\u00a0plus<\/em> a bonus story!<\/p>\n![\"Cheah](\"https:\/\/www.benjamincheah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Cheah-Kit-Sun-Red-3.png\")
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