Digital Fortress Chapter 118-122

Chapter 118Its proof, Fontaine said decidedly. Tankado dumped the mobilise. He wanted it as utmost from himself as possible-so wed never find it.But, Director, Susan argued, it doesnt make sense. If Tankado was unaware hed been murdered, why would he give away the kill enactment?I agree, Jabba said. The kids a rebel, entirely hes a rebel with a conscience. Getting us to admit to TRANSLTR is maven thing revealing our classified databank is another(prenominal).Fontaine stared, disbelieving. You think Tankado wanted to stop this turn? You think his dying designs were for the poor NSA?Tunnel- clam up corroding a technician yel lead. Full picture in fifteen proceedings, maximumIll tell you what, the director declared, taking control. In fifteen minutes, every Third World aimry on the major planet will learn how to build an intercontinental ballistic missile. If someone in this elbow room thinks hes got a better candidate for a kill code than this ring, Im all ears. The directo r waited. No one spoke. He returned his gaze to Jabba and locked eye. Tankado dumped that ring for a reason, Jabba. Whether he was trying to bury it, or whether he thought the fat guy would run to a pay phone and battle cry us with the information, I really dont care. But Ive made the decision. Were entering that quote. Now.Jabba took a long breath. He k sore Fontaine was right-t here(predicate) was no better option. They were running let out of time. Jabba sat. authorise lets do it. He pulled himself to the keyboard. Mr. Becker? The inscription, please. Nice and easy.David Becker read the inscription, and Jabba typed. When they were done, they double-checked the spelling and omitted all the spaces. On the center panel of the view wall, near the top, were the earnQUISCUSTODIETIPSOSCUSTODESI dont want it, Susan muttered softly. Its not clean.Jabba hesitated, h all overing over the ENTER key.Do it, Fontaine commanded.Jabba hit the key. Seconds later the hale room k unfermented i t was a mistake.Chapter 119Its accelerating Soshi yelled from the back of the room. Its the wrong codeEveryone stood in silent horror.On the screen before them was the wrongful conduct message ineligible ENTRY. NUMERIC FIELD ONLY.Damn it Jabba screamed. Numeric only Were looking for a goddamn reduce Were fucked This ring is shitWorms at double zip up Soshi shouted. Penalty roundOn the center screen, right beneath the error message, the VR painted a terrifying figure of speech. As the third firewall gave way, the half-dozen or so black lines representing marauding hackers surged forward, advancing relentlessly toward the core. With each passing moment, a new line appeared. Then another.Theyre swarming Soshi yelled.Confirming overseas tie-ins cried another technician. Words outSusan averted her gaze from the image of the collapsing firewalls and turned to the side screen. The footage of Ensei Tankados kill was on never-ending loop. It was the same every time-Tankado clutching his chest, falling, and with a look of desperate panic, forcing his ring on a group of unsuspecting tourists. It makes no sense, she thought. If he didnt k this instant wed killed him Susan pull a total blank. It was too late. Weve missed something.On the VR, the number of hackers quid at the gates had doubled in the last few minutes. From now on, the number would increase exponentially. Hackers, like hyenas, were one big family, always impetuous to spread the word of a new kill.Leland Fontaine had apparently seen enough. Shut it down, he declared. Shut the damn thing down.Jabba stared straight ahead like the master of a sinking ship. Too late, sir. Were going down.Chapter 120The foursome-hundred-pound Sys-Sec stood motionless, hands resting atop his head in a freeze-frame of disbelief. Hed ordered a power shutdown, further it would be a good twenty minutes too late. Sharks with high-speed modems would be able to download staggering quantities of classified information in that wi ndow.Jabba was awakened from his nightmare by Soshi rushing to the podium with a new printout. Ive found something, sir she said excitedly. Orphans in the source Alpha groupings. All over the placeJabba was unmoved. Were looking for a numeric, dammit Not an alpha The kill-code is a numberBut weve got orphans Tankados too good to leave orphans-especially this manyThe term orphans referred to special lines of programming that didnt serve the programs objective in any way. They fed nothing, referred to nothing, led nowhere, and were usually removed as part of the final debugging and compiling process.Jabba took the printout and canvas it.Fontaine stood silent.Susan peered over Jabbas shoulder at the printout. Were being attacked by a gawky draft of Tankados worm?Polished or not, Jabba retorted, its kicking our ass.I dont barter for it, Susan argued. Tankado was a perfectionist. You know that. Theres no way he left bugs in his program.There are lots of them Soshi cried. She grabbed the printout from Jabba and pushed it in front of Susan. LookSusan nodded. genuine enough, after every twenty or so lines of programming, there were four free-floating characters. Susan scanned them.PFEESESNRETMFour-bit alpha groupings, she arrestd. Theyre definitely not part of the programming.Forget it, Jabba growled. Youre grabbing at straws. perchance not, Susan said. A lot of encryption uses four-bit groupings. This could be a code.Yeah. Jabba groaned. It says-Ha, ha. Youre fucked. He looked up at the VR. In virtually nine minutes.Susan ignored Jabba and locked in on Soshi. How many orphans are there?Soshi shrugged. She commandeered Jabbas terminal and typed all the groupings. When she was done, she pushed back from the terminal. The room looked up at the screen.PFEE SESN RETM MFHA IRWE OOIG MEEN NRMAENET SHAS DCNS IIAA IEER BRNK FBLE LODISusan was the only one smiling. Sure looks familiar, she said. Blocks of four- meet like Enigma.The director nodded. Enigma was historys most famous code-writing machine-the Nazis twelve-ton encryption beast. It had encrypted in blocks of four.Great. He moaned. You wouldnt retrieve to redeem one lying around, would you?Thats not the point Susan said, suddenly overture to life. This was her specialty. The point is that this is a code. Tankado left us a clue Hes teasing us, daring us to figure out the pass-key in time. Hes laying hints just out of our reach Absurd, Jabba snapped. Tankado gave us only one out-revealing TRANSLTR. That was it. That was our escape. We blew it.I have to agree with him, Fontaine said. I doubt theres any way Tankado would risk permit us off the hook by hinting at his kill-code.Susan nodded vaguely, but she recalled how Tankado had attached them NDAKOTA. She stared up at the letters wondering if he were playing another one of his games.Tunnel block half gone a technician called.On the VR, the mass of black tie-in lines surged deeper into the two remaining shields.David had been sitting q uietly, watching the drama unfold on the monitor before them. Susan? he offered. I have an idea. Is that text in sixteen groupings of four?Oh, for Christs sake, Jabba said chthonian his breath. Now everyone wants to play?Susan ignored Jabba and counted the groupings. Yes. Sixteen.Take out the spaces, Becker said firmly.David, Susan replied, fairly embarrassed. I dont think you understand. The groupings of four are-Take out the spaces, he repeated.Susan hesitated a moment and then nodded to Soshi. Soshi quickly removed the spaces. The result was no much enlightening. PFEESESNRETMPFHAIRWEOOIGMEENN RMAENETSHASDCNSIIAAIEERBRNKFBLELODIJabba exploded. ENOUGH Playtimes over This things on double-speed Weve got about eight minutes here Were looking for a number, not a bunch of half-baked lettersFour by sixteen, David said calmly. Do the math, Susan.Susan eyed Davids image on the screen. Do the math? Hes terrible at math She knew David could memorize verb conjugations and dictionary lik e a Xerox machine, but math? coevals tables, Becker said.Multiplication tables, Susan wondered. What is he talking about?Four by sixteen, the professor repeated. I had to memorize multiplication tables in fourth fall guy.Susan pictured the standard grade school multiplication table. Four by sixteen. Sixty-four, she said blankly. So what?David leaned toward the camera. His acquaint filled the frame. Sixty-four lettersSusan nodded. Yes, but theyre- Susan froze.Sixty-four letters, David repeated.Susan gasped. Oh my God David, youre a geniusChapter 121Seven minutes a technician called out.Eight rows of eight Susan shouted, excited.Soshi typed. Fontaine looked on silently. The second to last shield was growing thin.Sixty-four letters Susan was in control. Its a perfect squarePerfect square? Jabba demanded. So what? disco biscuit seconds later Soshi had rearranged the seemingly random letters on the screen. They were now in eight rows of eight. Jabba studied the letters and threw up his hands in despair. The new layout was no more revealing than the original. P F E E S E S NR E T M P F H AI R W E O O I GM E E N N R M AE N E T S H A SD C N S I I A AI E E R B R N KF B L E L O D IClear as shit. Jabba groaned.Ms. Fletcher, Fontaine demanded, rationalise yourself. All eyes turned to Susan.Susan was staring up at the block of text. Gradually she began nodding, then broke into a wide smile. David, Ill be demonicEveryone on the podium exchanged baffled looks.David winked at the tiny image of Susan Fletcher on the screen before him. Sixty-four letters. Julius Caesar strikes again.Midge looked lost. What are you talking about?Caesar box. Susan beamed. Read top to bottom. Tankados sending us a message.Chapter 122Six minutes a technician called out.Susan shouted orders. Retype top to bottom Read down, not crosswiseSoshi furiously moved down the columns, retyping the text.Julius Caesar sent codes this way Susan blurted. His letter count was always a perfect squareDone Soshi yelled.Everyone looked up at the newly arranged, single line of text on the wall-screen.Still garbage, Jabba scoffed in disgust. Look at it. Its totally random bits of- The words lodged in his throat. His eyes widened to saucers. Oh oh myFontaine had seen it too. He arched his eyebrows, obviously impressed.Midge and Brinkerhoff both cooed in unison. Holy shit.The sixty-four letters now read PRIMEDIFFERENCEBETWEENELEMENTSRESPON SIBLEFORHIROSHIMAANDNAGASAKIPut in the spaces, Susan ordered. Weve got a puzzle to solve.