Chapter 9

The sun had just began to shine through the curtains in their hotel room. After a hard nights work the room was a mess of cables, pizza boxes, disk containers, tools and portable terminals.

"Looks like that's about it. Should we try to start her up again?"

"Ok Ken. You do the honors."


Ken removed the last of the cables and checked all routines before executing the commands. Before his brain could finish processing the thought, his eyes instinctly moved to the left, to give him a short glimpse at the door. The door frame lit up and sparks flew out into the room. Nanoseconds later the heavy door blasted clean off the door frame and fell to the floor. Ken had already pulled himself and Tanisha behind the bed, but Roger had no where to hide. He rolled backwards and took cover behind a small wooden table. Too late. The notorious CERT attack squad had already spotted him and rushed to put him to sleep with a stun gun. Ken didn't breath. Some of the guards started searching with infrared body scanners and soon discovered his body's heat from behind the bed. In fear that the CERT guys would disintegrate the bed and him with it, he slowly put his hands up. Two of the guards rapidly turned and fired their stun guns.

Ken woke with a tremendous headace as he felt someone touching his feet. As he opened his eyes he could not see anything. Either the stun gun shot had made him blind, or the room was utterly dark and light proof.

"Ken! Is that you?"

"Yeah. Is it that dark in here or have I just gone blind?"

"I think it's the dark. I can see my glow-in-the-dark shoelaces."


Ken stood up from the floor which was covered with some kind of synthetic rubber. It wiggled as they walked on it. Almost as if it were a huge sack of water. The felt their way around the room using only their hands and the glow from Roger's shoelaces. Ken stopped at a small indentation in the surface that ran all from what appeared to be the celing down to the floor. It appeared to be a door. But there was of course no handle on the inside. They started pushing the door and hammering furiously, but the surface that completely covered the room was designed to give off as little sound as possible. Suddenly they heard a voice from a speaker in the celing.

"Forget that! Just take a nap until the interogation people get here."

"Hey! What you mean by locking us up like this! And where is Tanisha?"

"Shut up!"

"Where are we by the way ?"

"You are in the detention block. In the CERT complex. Now shut the hell up!"


They heard tiny hydraulic pistons move and the door slowly opened. The light from the corridor outside blinded them totally and they where pushed back by two guards that rushed inside. The light in the celing slowly got brighter as their eyes adjusted to the surroundings. The guards pushed them out of the room and in to the corridor. At the end of the corridor they turned left facing a door. The sign on the door said Brefing Room B. The door opened and they where again pushed inside. Inside was a huge auditorium with hundreds of seats. The room was circular with a 3D video projector in the middle. Most of the seats where occupied with what looked like politicians and millitary personel. In the middel of the room beside the projector where two tall chairs. Ken and Roger where violently placed on them. They could see people starting to talk to eachother pointing their fingers at them. What on earth happened? What had they gotten involved in?

From the other side of the room a man appeared from behind a door. It was Jack Brenauzcky. Mister CERT himself. Ken and Roger looked at eachother.

"Ooops. We are dead."

"Doesn't look very bright."


As Mr. Brenauzcky got closer, the spot lights started to fade. The video projector lit up. Mr. Brenauzcky stepped up on the podium in front of it.

"Ladies and gentlemen. A more detailed presentation of these two individuals should not be necessary. You have all received their criminal records and profiles at earlier brefings. Last night we traced a network connection made to the mainframe of this complex to a hotel room down town. Inside these two individuals where playing Pong with billions of credits worth of equipment. We have had them over night in the detention block, and my men where just about to start interogating them when I decided to request this brefing. I know now that these two civilians where not responsible for the insertion of a WORM program in to the public EISDN network and from thereon most other networks of some importance. Unfortunately the destructive program continues to grow. The latest report from our scanners indicate that three new electronical mainframes have been stopped. In addition a total of seven new biological mainframes have also been taken down. Even though these civilians are not resposible for the mess, I suggest that they are prosecuted for the obstruction of the law that they have caused this department."


Mr. Brenauzcky suddenly received a message on his beeper and left the podium and headed for the door. Some of the military personel in the auditorium stood up and followed him. Ken and Roger felt the staring looks from the hundreds of persons in the hall. If they could have it their way, Ken and Roger would have been dipped in boiling oil for the damage the WORM had caused on the networks and mainframes that they where in charge of. The door opened again, and Mr. Brenauzcky came back in followed by the bunch of military personel. Mr. Brenauzcky stepped back up on the podium.

"After discussing the matter with my collegues and military personel we have decided that the two civilians are to be procecuted."


Ken gulped. They've had it. It was over.

"As they seem to have vital information on their protable computers, they will however be assigned to our scanner team until the WORM is removed from the networks. Our scanning team have detected routines that indicates that the WORM is not the work of a foregin government, like we suspected as first, but rather the work of a group of out-law hackers. These two civilians are familiar with some parts of the underground scene. They will be working under strict millitary police and CERT supervision."


The two guards beside Ken and Roger picked them up from the chairs and pushed the up the long catwalk and out of the auditorium.

"Did you hear that Ken ? We'll actually be working for the CERT! That's great!"

"No it isn't. No that great at all. We're still in prison, and what kind of work do you think we'll be doing ? My guess is that they'll keep us in the prison until they come across something they can't understand, then pull us out and beat the answer out of us."

"Nah. Do you think so ?"

"Yeah. And I think we should get out of here."

"WHAT!? Get out of here ? Escape ?"

"Keep your voice down, Roger! These guards aren't as stupid as they look. Hmm. I have an idea.. It's risky, but it's out only chance."


Whenever the guards were at safe distance they planned their escape. They reached their cell and fortunately the lights were on this time. As the first guard walked in after Roger, Roger curled down on the floor as Ken pushed the guard forward. The guard stumbled over Roger's back and fell face first on the hard floor. The second guard rushed in but rushed right in to Ken's right hand gut buster jab. Even though the punch had no effect what so ever on the artificially gene transplant muscle giant of a guard, he stumbled back. Roger stood up and they rushed down the hall. Instantly an alarm went off and red lights at the top of each section door started to flash. Closing every door behind them as they ran down the corridors through each section of the building, they followed signs marked Exit. They turned left and headed down a wider corridor with green wide stripes on each side. Some hundred meters in front of them they could see the entrance area. Unfortunately the building's many motion trackers had discovered their escape route, and the main security computer had already began sealing off the complex. Just before they reached the end of the corridor, a large iris shaped shield door closed in front of them. Behind them they could hear the sound of running guards.