Free The Sapporo Outbreak by Brian Craighead Page B

tell you."

    As he spoke, Skinner watched Hill closely, and saw the frustration briefly sweep across the lawyer's face before he gathered himself and cordially replied, "Yes, yes of course. Doctor - Professor. Please forgive me. Idle curiosity got the better of me I'm afraid."  

    Without waiting for a response, Hill turned and walked back to his seat.

    Santos leaned over the table, gesturing for Skinner to move closer until Skinner could feel Santos' breath against his face. Santos whispered, "So Ben ... what in the hell was that all about?"  

    #
    Midnight, Seattle Washington (Minus 22 Hours)

    "Hi everyone and welcome, wherever you are and whoever you are"

    Lewis Dodgson spoke with the practiced authority of a man in control. He'd been contacted by ANONet less than two years ago, and in that time had demonstrated time and again to be the very best in a group of brilliant software engineers. Dodgson's unruffled determination and complete conviction in the cause saw the others defer to him. Although it was never said, Dodgson was now considered the group's leader, and the man driving their last, big strike against oppression.

    Quickly and efficiently, eleven digitally manipulated voices responded to Dodgson's welcome. There was no small talk. The group understood the need to keep these conversations as brief and to the point as possible. Although extremely sophisticated software hid their tracks, no one underestimated the capabilities of the National Security Agency.

    Dodgson continued.

    "iSight 2 is a massive multiplayer online game built and operated by WhiteStar Corporation. The current version has well over one billion active players - it's the biggest online game in the world. In one week's time, WhiteStar will release the next version - iSight 3. This latest version is a huge jump forward - the software and hardware are way ahead of anything else out there. iSight3 also tracks every single action and worms its way across every players personal social network. It weaves paid corporate brands into the gaming experience without the player ever realising and, worst of all, all this information is then sold to any advertiser willing to pay. Internal documents show WhiteStar are predicting the new game will attract over two billion users. That's pretty much a third of the planet hooked on this game! One in three people worldwide that WhiteStar will know everything about. In short, iSight 3 is the largest assault on individual privacy any company has ever mounted. We must do everything possible to prevent it succeeding.

    That's the bad news. The good news, as you are all aware, is that WhiteStar has built in elements of Hartec's security software into almost every area of the new game. And that means we have a way in. I know - because I'm the one that built it!"

    A ripple of digitised laughter greeted Dodgson's aside.

    He continued. "Thanks to the efforts of this group, we have established a reliable way of accessing and modifying the iSight 3 code. In the last few weeks, a few of us have been running small tests in different WhiteStar testing labs around the world, altering game scenarios and virtual personalities. All of these tests have gone undetected. Therefore, having run several small, successful test attacks over the last month, I'd like to formally ask the group to make the last decision we will ever face as AnoNET. As always, we will only proceed if the decision of the group is unanimous. Does everyone understand?"

    Once again, Dodgson was answered by eleven altered voices repeating "Understood."

    Adrenalin surged through Dodgson's bone-tired body. After eighteen long, hard months of meticulous planning, endless all-night coding sessions, triumphs and disasters, they were ready.  

    He was ready.  

    Looking out of the big bay windows behind the monitors and into the dark winters night, the thick snow falling fast, causing the yellow street lights to flicker, he smiled to himself. This is it. No one