Brutus Clay was sitting in a comfortable real-leather chair, checking once again the details of the plan while listening to and old Sol song. It was part of the music samples the settlers chose to bring with them on the sleeper ships. The file somehow ended up on an illegal Neural-Net channel ran by a Junker. The type and encryption were archaic, but after buying it from the Junker, Brutus managed to convert it into a non-prehistorical extension and had it play on Cochrane internal sound system.
His Neural-Net implant was analyzing Satansoft as he was verifying the steps, automatically supervising the virus' recompilation. Satansoft was designed as a self-evolving malware, and as such, was permanently modifying its code. No one can catch what is perpetually moving. The first step, completed long ago, was the easiest. Stealing a licensed CT-39X and duplicating transponder codes so that it would read as a standard Ageira shuttle, transporting a tech team for the weekly maintenance. The second part of the operation remained unclear, but the third one involved making profit from the astronomically large mess their homemade virus was going to create.
Brutus' implant stopped its analysis to let a call in.
- Clay, this is Svengali. The shuttle is ready. Transponder ID uploaded, new overriding docking codes set, seemingly authentic IFF.
- Got it. Do you have the guns ?
- Yes, your Bactrian brought the crates from Mactan. Meet at the bay.
- Alright, I just have to finish the check-up first.
...encryption.in.progress...hack terminated...
Clay put on an holo-tainment band that was lying on a chair nearby, and activated it. After a few seconds, it connected with his implant and started displaying real-scale images. The Lane Hacker Professor was not in Cochrane lounge, nor was he flesh and blood anymore. He was surrounded by visual representations of human-size files and folders. The stream of data that was now his physical existence moved swiftly from directory to directory, analyzing them from every angle. Then he moved away at tremendous speed to get an overview of the whole program. Everything was where it belonged.
- This is better than any VR video game.
He turned off the band, grabbed his bag and headed to the bay.
