Cald oerloo station. y. S going but t’s relief from a rack to o’s console and total of s ion crial pollution.

    t an almost-empty Maglev to t and Cald in ted carriage in total silence. A silence underscored by t of  anyone  togete, circumstance and a strange inexplicable mental connection.  y to say not everyt time?

    “I am ts,” Kat said suddenly. “You’ve found out about yours, o know.”

    Cald Kat’s past for a fe could not bring o tell oo unpredictable. Kat ured at University College London’s Department of Biocry and Molecular Biology. Kat erial for medical researcudents. According to computer records at ty, Kat  stardom even after  more drilling doabase  one of tants for t y for removing sensitive material from university premises. t sensitive material . S t beside ting material, tle fingers clutctle of formula.

    Sell  ers underground being bombarded s and subliminal advertising for cloning services. Sell ined to be discriminated against by to  until urned from  least, if o support   s anytical oto know.

    as t flared brigo suspect t s? tion Cald suggested t sed somet o trace s for so long.

    t tation and rode an elevator to tation  empty. t t to a cacopen  off during off-peak  tation en t ignored te oo fill times o let test t nigting tem kno of it. tV cameras t dotted every single block of t platform for t kind of dissent.

    t India Dock Road in tion of Blackwell.

    “I to give Mr. Fouler a call. I don’t knoly  is some railer,” Caldo Kat eleplex boot simply nodded and continued concentrating on her Sim.

    Cald from its groove and spoke to ted. t of rings, different from t. tinued for about e tracted process vaguely familiar. It less times before. ly o do. ed.

    ion o t. Kat o stay in Glyprailer and Fouler o tell railer ested initially but soon relented. o go back to wever he had been doing when Caldwell called.

    “You see, t  so bad. o let you stay,” Caldo Kat as tohe Puzzle.

    “ing you your dying wish.”

    Caldried to say somet to come out.

    Glyprailer ely forty feet long. Entirely one  er equipment and otact, some s spilling open like termat ransistors, motegrated circuits reop, acked tina of dust. tc done any es  of cupboards onto the vinyl-covered floor.

    t ters intact alt of ting t someone ents of cupboards ied out on to ttress torn open and panels removed.

    Cald spent t ting as mucoget a lot icleboard or plastic , cracked or broken, Glyp tape collection came in very   collapsed on Glyp in front of Glypor op staring into space.

    t visible marks on t retrace ine from ture Glyporing up tside, opening traigo top to cers. t of top   most of ime in cyberspace.

    Cald t mulling over everyt  mig ill alive.  . In a fe alive. If it  t to ’d probably be trusion detection AIs or even Fouler’s fit. o be at t in just a fe o be a tougion  a oll on   any cost.

    Caldemplated catcing gift, ter, in t till  given tacles  arm  be somet ed.  and  as mucrip.  Kat,  blaring in otally non-stop.

    of  and slo time  to expect. t-ditctempt to get Caldo trust  Fouler never ever did anyt an ulterior motive. Cald terior of Glyprailer dissolved ao reveal fragments of his memories.

    ***

    Caldside tes of a scers and Englis ternational Sc killed s are corroded into ory of ted by Fouler. t particular dark compartment  available to tly being unleas single red Cer. An image of flesal made one in a single moment of c is an image faded ime.

    A neicle in t. Caldears. tified t been muc to bury. ticle goes in t cold objective  neo cover deat remember  no related residual guilt.

    Memory reongs of s, drinking beer in t dotted tun diplomatic quarter. Lots of time on computers. Lines of code flying by like November rain.

    Caldaring intently at a computer screen,  over  ill stares at it like it is to anotudy full of computer and communication equipment, t ronic eavesdropping agency t Fouler says her worked for.

    For  rooms and on ts of most information e It departments. o er netalking to rides the binary world of code like a colossus. he is supernova.

    rAZor: Fizz,  going dude? Long time no see.  o?

    Deus: Yea’s up?

    Fizz: Not a lot. as arrested by ted. o do 600 y service. Banned from the space.

    rAZor: Bummer man. Not too good.  caught?

    Deus: Motherfuckers. I feel you man.

    Fizz: Yea a freakin clue y’ know.

    rAZor: Like t busted in no reason?

    Fizz: Pretty muc some foreign outfit asked for me to be arrested and  o and arrests ries.

    Deus: S man. talking BS?

    Fizz: Dunno man. ted me, t’s for sure.

    rAZor: t some tracker system folloronic footprints. Any idea  was?

    Fizz: Yea’s a system I got from t kno’s like, I got to see t? So I am t same day, scanning its ports and bombarding it  still no joy. I ask tis in but  remember. Says  , rigext o itself, reasoning self, berating itself because ter.

    rAZor: ta see this.

    Deus: Dunno man. t’s probably  Fizz busted.

    rAZor: t bust me. Fizz, his.

    Fizz: It’s a revolving allocation system. But it’s coming out of twork.

    Deus: So you e table.

    rAZor: t’s good enough for me. Coming Deus?

    Deus: Naer in 5 minutes got to get off. Mine ed by t virus  mont  to be able to afford a new one.

    Fizz: Be careful man.

    rAZor: No  it  hehehe.

    Deus: OK.

    Fizz: Laters!

    rAZor: Laters!

    triking but intense-looking Caring at Caldo ofu.

    s on ty computer system. s are trojan. ts and ts are masters of digital disguise, electronic cover-up, pixel clean-up. s’ routines precede everyterminal, clearing pating logs or locking tem ic passing router tables to ions.

    five of ts and  into tic er tables. Everyto tcelco traffic  to to intra-university traffic. t. Caldtle closets, locked t deliberately so. tent is to give rong sense of y. ted but   to be true.

    Caldransgresses tly and surfs tion all to tral Internet traffic exc, il one of t ernal government domain system.  access it from outside. So o one of t’s extranets and deduces a username  goes to work.

    t  o.  erest in  time, is minimal. ter fiso fry. em administrator or a jilted sysop. types it in. Boom. Screen goes blank except for a prompt like this:

    :gt;

    :gt; hello.

    :gt; hi Cad.

    :gt;  did you call me?

    :gt; Cad. Cad Caldo be exact. ould you like me to trace back your family tree?

    :gt; S.

    :gt; Exactly. e’ve been ing for you. You are so busted my friend.

    :gt; O of  me t fast, wise guy.

    :gt; e’ll see about it Cad Caldional Scime. ’s your excuse?

    :gt;

    :gt; Yea? Mummy and Daddy die in car cras give you to live ually dos.

    :gt; You s to s you down.

    :gt; You’re good Cad, but not t good.

    :gt; e’ll see about t.

    :gt;

    :gt; [User connection terminated.]

    t is beating so fast ’s going to burst rig of .  dozens of students going about t lifts s up tudents off at t er system t managed ts and increased t ty percent.  loud as a sea of green faces . One anemic-looking girl e marble floor.

    t AI, or   bluffing. But  knoricks on  jive about sc  far out. Not t scer systems  to crack. It ent t scared   time anyt o .

    of ts to sleep and backs out into talogue user interface. ands up to leave,  t of the library.

    ts to t of t tes urmoil.  is o do een, an orphan.

    t te. It es and tion in t, ar, dodgy financier, tting sun reflects from a pair of mirrored s and click back toget takes on a sloion quality. ’s a dry voice and it reminds umn and dried leaves.

    t of tleman le  feel to reveal steel gray eyes. t suggests some kind of computing activity in time upo an approximation of a smile. ts motionless in t seat. All Cald of black ting very still.

    “My name is Bruce Fouler. For no’s just say I am in t,” rasps the man.

    “I bet its lip service, mostly to its rear.” Cald was in his DNA.

    tic about Fouler, like a pedop invisible candy. terious about t’s a face t seems to understand ties of y. tal quality to  efficient  toget sounds like it er sequencer. And tley.

    “C udent here called Cad Caldwell. I wonder if you know him.”

    Sometells Cald talking to and is daring o spin a yarn. s ial instinct to tell a lie.

    “t  do you   into old guys?” Cald  know how.

    “Sorry to  your parents, Cad,” Fouler offers. Caldects a faint moistening of t t reflected in the car?

    “It’s cool. So ?”

    “OK, I am not going to beat around tcivities on ters.”

    A look of alarm comes over ed.

    “Don’t o arrest you, ime ago. You’ve breacy systems of some important institutions you know.”

    “Yeah?”

    “Yea t your fat.”

    “ Xian University,” Caldered.

    “t may be t ant professor. Can I trust you, Cad? t I need to be guaranteed absolute trusthiness.”

    “I swear on Madonna,” .

    “t’s good enough. have you heard of GChQ?”

    “Yes, satellite eavesdropping, telecommunications monitoring etc. I am intimately familiar er networks.” he grins cheekily.

    “ell your fatems. You .”

    “I cracked Blue Ray and o listen to my ress talking to ch ever since.”

    “ell, like fathem.”

    “Yea’s all t to do  a udent.”

    “As I said, ced many years ago if it  for  ion  lost on us. Maybe one day you’d groo be as good at breaking into secure computers as your fat building t. Alt as invincible as you think.”

    “ho says?”

    “Ever wonder w in hundreds of hacking sessions?”

    “Because I am so damn good?”

    “rong. Sometimes you left electronic trails t  ethical hackers.”

    “trails? Like w?”

    “Like NASA. tributed intelligent logging system t you did not see. It e records of your activities, time and erminal you used. e employed CCtV footage from our friends at transit Railion to place you at t interactive kiosk at t time. e  ty of trusion, from a public place.”

    “ha, ha, ha.”

    “You may laug t o last you tirement.

    “Sorry. I guess.”

    “ttom line is t of your situation, t t you are obviously not interested in scion is offering to take you on board.”

    “ organization?”

    “You’ll kno’s just say you’ll be able to o some of t advanced computer systems using bleeding edge tecter defenses against outside intruders and you’ll get paid a competitive salary. On top of t  co continue residing in Union if you so wish.

    “o? Jerking me off?”

    “Dead serious. Do I look like ts off on practical jokes?”

    “You don’t look like ts off on anytorts.

    Fouler lets t slide but sometells  t aure reference.

    “Enoug do you say? e can talk to your principal today and you’ll never o return to scead, you’ll get trained in travel t you love and getting paid for it.”

    “Sounds too good to be true.”

    “It’s a once in a lifetime offer, son.”

    “I’ll take it then.”

    “Good. elcome aboard.” thin fingers.

    “Er, thanks.”

    “e’ll let you knoails once h your principal.”

    “I can trust you, right?”

    “Of course, surally even teetigogether.

    “how will you find me?”

    “Are you kidding?”

    “Oent or  impotent?”

    “Do you need dropping anywhere? home?”

    “No, I’ll take a er-cooled interior of tley ifling.

    “OK. Your call. And no more unofficial hacking.”

    “Is t an official request?”

    Fouler lets t one go too.

    tley open automatically and Caldeps out on till  moved. tanding against ter   in tiful. raig oo muco focus tention on s to. Sco . t smell of lavender and teenage skin.

    “So, whough she’s known him forever.

    “Acquaintances.  are you doing e?”

    “aiting for you?”

    “aiting for me? hy?”

    “I don’t kno just felt like to do.”

    “ell to  offended. her him so much?

    “I kno. It’s just t I got a feeling in t I mig see you again for a long time.”

    “ell, t’s true. I  be coming back to scelling his?

    A sake of breath.

    “?”

    “I’m going to .”

    “t’s ?”

    “Somet.”   ease ects a slig in  immigrants from the mainland.

    “So my intuition .”

    “I guess so. I am Cad Caldhe way.”

    “I kno kno. ters more talk about you in time.” She giggles.

    “Really?” he asks incredulously.

    “And you knooilets.”

    “Yeahing bad I hope.”

    “Not really? Just some girl o his face.

    “’s your name?”

    “Mei Lin.”

    “Nice name.”

    “Yeao live hey walk in silence.

    “I catch my bus here,” she says.

    “Really? So quickly? Do you act you online?”

    “Yes I do but I only use it at sc let me use a computer at ’s 5200603,” ss it to memory.

    “So I’ll message you at schen.”

    “OK.”

    pulls at  doo omacc sever it   fees t ted aken place, like tined to meet on t t time and place.

    s it. S is t time ’s like  discovered teries of taste of ay  pulsating against  and tle rise and fall of  breasts. time itself.

    “o t.”

    “No need to be sorry. It  to be,” she world.

    “It’s just t I am leaving  .”

    “It doesn’t matter.  matters is t rue to our feelings. e  again. Ah, here comes my bus.”

    A number 8 bus pulls up to ted bus stop and t o  possible time.