From - Wed Jan 14 11:46:13 1998 Return-Path: Received: from relay1.UU.NET by mrco.carleton.ca (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA12719; Wed, 27 Jan 93 01:48:15 EST Received: from nyx.cs.du.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA12013; Wed, 27 Jan 93 01:33:52 -0500 Received: by nyx.cs.du.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA28691; Tue, 26 Jan 93 23:30:18 MST From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (andy) Message-Id: <9301270630.AA28691@nyx.cs.du.edu> X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University of Denver. The University has neither control over nor responsibility for the opinions or correct identity of users. Subject: FutureCulture Digest #196 To: future-digest@nyx.cs.du.edu Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 23:30:17 MST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Content-Length: 163578 X-Lines: 3758 ______________________________________________________________________ |______________ / | | / | | u t u r e <___________ u l t u r e | _______________________________________________________________________| Issue #196 Tuesday, January 26th 1993 Today's Topics: --------------- multiple conversations Re: the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations AI critters and such Anti-clothing Attempted Mindvox Break-in Beasts on the Internet (666 of 'em) clothes Clothes, _Wired_, media, and you clothing Clothing, Linguistics, and Culture Cool Darkness Cool Darkness, Chapter 7!!!!!!! Cool Darkness, Chapter 8 culture and what clothing has to do with it cultures on drugs in books and apparel Curses EFF future clothing MindVox MindVox foils Cracker, and French Chaos Club e-zine More AI life babble multiple conversations New E-journal on computer security p.s. Planet QuickTime and WinVideo Re: Artificial Organisms Re: p.s. Re: Anti-clothing Re: bounces Re: Clothes Re: clothes? re: drug use on AUtopia Re: EFF Re: EFF "reorganization" Re: EFF employment Re: Forward from EFF Re: mailer fuckups, aside, here's my .02 Re: Newsweek is Wired Re: The Doc'ers Club (as seen on TV) Re: the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations Re: THE TRUTH RISKS DIGEST 14.28 the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations THE TRUTH Togs wired and "I was here before you" syndrome WIRED in my hands...last saturday WIRED TRANSCRIPT -- Cellular Phreaks __________________________________________________________________________ From: Marlin Johnson Subject: cultures on drugs in books and apparel Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 12:25:31 CST Hi there! Wanted to add to the list of books featuring cultures on drugs the title _The_Futuralogical_Congress_ by Stanislaw Lem. Secondus: Interesting to see what gets the traffic moving, i.e. what chu wearing? To report from another node of consciousness: beige slacks (gift from my sister this past christmas), gray socks (gift from my wife this past Dec. (the difference between what I want and what I need :-) ), t-shirt from Apricorn memory ("A MB is Worth 1024 Words" freebie from now defunct manufacturer), mostly blue cotton sweater with much pattern and lottsa other little colors (gift from Dec. 91), silver with black piping race car driver type jacket (freebie from Toshiba), much worn, eroding black hi-tops due to be replaced soon (which I actually paid money for, $14, about two years ago). i.e. spiffy casual work ensemble #23. Friends and family all know that I only buy clothes on the basis of dire need, or to indulge my whimsy for things I refer to as "tastefully obnoxious" (for ex. a shirt that looks like a dozen roman candles going off at once as seen thru middling dark sun shades). So they give me stuff to protect me from my own sense of fashion, and I try to convince my wife that it takes courage to wear more that two colors at a time. Marlin ..Who said it was my job to tell you what this all means? mjohnson@bsc835.uucp ______________________________ From: dicanoxeS Subject: clothes Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 10:38:16 PST wow... long ass thread when i was at my parents for X-mas (that druggee holiday) my mom says- you know youre going to have to get new clothes moi (looking up from computer screen in a mild daze annoyed at being talked to while logged in) - huh? mom-yeah i read in business week that youre really trendy grunge adn rave clothing is what you wear moi-thanks mom, i didnt know mom-so now youre going to have to find some new clothes to wear so you can still be different today im wearing (from the bottom up) hiking shoes, with mud dried on them from taking too many short cuts across campus in teh recent rain white socks black levis cut offs a stainless steel barbell, 14 ga a watch with army nylon type band black t-shirt with some really bright design on the back long hair unbrushed, unwashed, undealt with another stainless steel barbell, 12 ga tortoise shell framed glasses with many a scratch on them from being dropped on the floor of a warehouse and being danced upon for some 20 odd minutes and a horribly shaved face cuz i just didnt want to get out of bed today good thing no one has seen me so far im hiding in my office scared to even look in a mirror the question isnt really what youre wearing though but why.. and not many peopel have answerd that starting with the shoes.. about two months ago i was wearing 'walking' shoes that were i dont know how old, but were barely connected to the soles except after i put a shitload of duct tape around them it was raining and i didnt like the whole wet socks or wet feet idea so one of my christmas presents to myself one of the barbells was the other (you can try to figure out whats pierced from where they are in teh description or by reading one of numerous posts on mindvox) the cutoffs are from me wanting to go swimming this summer adn the jeans had a few holes in them from me wearing them for 4 years straight and so now im freezing my ass off in the rain cuz i only have 2 pairs of pants almost all my t-shirts i get for free from my aunt i have lots of them there comfortable they shirt and shorts and most of my clothing are dark cuz i dont like wearing bright colors if a shirt has an actual meanign to me i might wear it like this one green shirt i have.. and it looks nice, but in general color is icky plus its a lot harder to clash black adn white clothing on colder days i would wear long cotton pants or my other pair of black levis and a flannel shirt either red or blue/olive green plaid mostly all t-shirts except sometimes i wear a silk shirt that feels really good to touch if i feel like having 'certain' people touch me or i get a little dressier in summer/spring i go barefoot and wear baggy shorts and a t-shirt , dana ______________________________ From: dicanoxeS Subject: culture and what clothing has to do with it Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 10:49:37 PST i judge people by what they wear sorry, but im not blind and im not going to walk up to everyone i see and try to get to know them to find out if they are interesting if i see someone with a pierced something other than ear im more likely to want to talk to them.. its a good sign of their personality (especially if it were a pierced nipple on a female that i was seeing :) just a couple days ago i saw this girl walking on campus with a nice flannel shirt, faded levis and a white t-shirt two years ago, some chyck in a sorority _wouldnt_ be wearing that and if they were they would probably be intersting to talk to its nto a definite but its a clue coloured hair, shirts with bands that i like on them, actually anything on a shirt that says something interesting, same with hats or whatver sorry, i just dont think i know enough interesting people in this world its why i bother being ont he net so i can meet people adn learn from them i dont want to learn which tri-delts give good head so i tend not to hang around guys in fraternities that talk about such things im not saying that because you were X you must be Y but chances are if you wear something out of the norm its because you are and you dont care what other people think of course some people do wear stuff out of the norm because thats the way they want to be but they are really just into fitting in and being cool buts its more likely that people wearing Gap :) clothing are doing that.. likely not definitely i know a lot of people who are in sororities who are really cool people most of them are deactivating, but still.. i dont stereotype once i get to know a person but if i dont know them, then i have nothing else to go on besides something visual , dana ______________________________ Date: 26 Jan 1993 10:53:32 -0800 (PST) From: Vlad the Impaler Subject: AI critters and such > Artificial Life MUDS: > Sounds like a very interesting idea. Run with it. I'm not up on the MUD- > scene all that much, but aren't there some variants where the players do > program parts of their environs? What flavor is this- MUCK? MUSH? I dunno, > all I've every played has been LP's, and I never played much (Although, I will > *blushing* admit it, I have played CyberWorld. I am cheezemaster, I confess.) That's ok, we forgive you... :-> > The first problem I foresee, right off the top of my head is that, assuming > that the system is fairly detailed (as opposed to a glorified CoreWars..), > your "ecology" (or game-balance, in game terms) will have to be very fine- > tuned. Elsewise kids, those guys that stay up for a week straight mumbling > "Gotta make Wiz...Gotta make wiz.." will be staying up fine-tuning their > Pseduo-Meglosaurs to eat all of your carefully programmed Silver-Plated- > Pseduo-Deer. Survival of the fittest will be a hard algorithm-not > impossible, as shown by the MAXIS games, esp. Simlife, but still no bubble > sort neither. Some thoughts on that: I think the primary focus here is a bit off. War/ violence/etc.. between organisms is only a part of what the whole thing seems to be about. Yes maybe the "Gigasauras" could wipe out your "Bittysauras", but (a) As in real life, you don't have to/ don't want to fight anything that comes your way, (b) if you do feel that you must, allies gained through social interaction are effective, (c) yes, there will emerge dominant and lesser species in such a place, but isn't that how our world is today. So by having such dominant types, it is only making the thing realistic. Care will have to be taken to keep things such as that from getting out of hand, but the emphasis on war is something that I don't think will crop up (or at least hope not). The goal of this thing is to model life, not combat. Combat is unfortunately a part of life, but it isn't everything. The social interactions in general are much more interesting and worthy of study. Besides, organisms are adpated and specialized in so many different areas. If a realistic reign were kept on things, their would be a trade-off between the various traits of each organism. If you're big you're sloow, if you're small you're fast. Gigasauri will need lots more resources than your bumble-bee-o-sauras, and who do ya think is goinf to win, and big slow powerful creature, or a buncha angry hornet-types. Now that I think about it, the tradeoff of characteristics should really be emphasized here. Humans are smart, but they're also fragile. Rhinos are dumb, but they're not all that fragile, etc... The only trait of course that has no trade-off is intelligence, and that of course comes directly from you, the programmer.... (i guess that's what you're trying to get at, huh?). I guess what i'm saying is that in my opinion, even a world filled with Terrasauri isn't going to be solely populated with them. The thing needs other species to exist, and just as in our world, the MUD world will be populated with omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores, stupid creatures (me!) and smart ones. So what you're talking about is a little off, but at the same time rather realistic in scope > -Zamboni bret ambrose - bambrose@pomona.claremont.edu ______________________________ From: Visceral Clamping Mechanism Subject: Clothing, Linguistics, and Culture Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 11:01:44 PST Quoth Huy.Nghiem@Dartmouth.EDU: >White sweat-shirt and blue Levi's are a style. ... >Blue Levi's are the epitome of clothes trends. In my defense, I wear levi's 501s 'cause I'm 6'7" and really skinny, and Levi happens to make a size (30W-40I) that fits me perfectly. Finding any other pair of pants that fit is almost impossible. I have no defense for the white sweater, tho. :) (Like I need one.) It's the same thing with the shoes, too. My favorite outfit is gray 501s with a gray shirt and a featureless gray sweat shirt over it. It's the closest I've been able to come to forcing people to take me for who I am, rather than what I look like. It also makes it more difficult for strangers to make snap judgements. I just love that cognitive dissonance. >:) *** Quoth tmaddox@netcom.com (Tom Maddox): > Ah yes, one more thing: the Modernist project (urged by people >like T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound) to "purify the language of the tribe" is >an essentially conservative one, probably an elitist one as well. It >assumes that *we know better*. However, the tribe goes on about its >business, (mis) appropriating "hacker," "computer," "cyberspace," etc. The >street has its own uses for words, as it were. This is the old "prescriptive vs. descriptive" argument that theoretical linguists argue about as heatedly as normal people argue about the merits of various MS-DOS based C compilers. There are two huge problems with the prescriptive (purification) approach: 1) Languages (which are merely popular dialects) evolve since they are based on speaking (which is highly habitual,) not reading or writing. (In extreme cases, the spoken and written languages can diverge; for instance, written French has many "bookish" terms that are never used in speech.) 2) There is no stronge central authority for English, and no way to enforce any of the edicts it might come up with, were it to exist. I'd personally like to see "whom" eliminated from English (although I know how to use it correctly,) but the only chance is that it will fall into disuse in the spoken language and will subsequently disappear from written English. However, I continue using it myself, because I don't wish to appear as a rube when writing to people who have a better command of English than do I. Than me. (Shit.) *** Paul Baim has breach calf and rips the lining of his birth canal while saying: >> The >>street has its own uses for words, as it were. >> > >So, you counsel a sort of lingual nihilism? Or better yet, a form of >"catch-up": I'll keep inventing new words and, IF YOU'RE PART OF THE IN >CROWD, you'll know what they mean. Dude, don't have a main. English isn't yours, it's a language spoken or understood by over a billion people. Your chance of puposefully changing or preventing a change in the language is zero. If you're first in your field, you have a chance to influence the jargon or technical terms that come into use later, but Tom was simply (correctly) pointing out that you are shouting at the waterfall to stop. >Piffle. This is ranting. You've never watched Tom in action on misc.writing, have you? (Or have you? Hmm.) *** Quoth Shalmaneser : [Re: _Stand on Zanzibar_ by John Brunner] >This is a truly amazing book.. there are endless things from it which >would make fodder for this list.. the methods he uses, the portrait >of the future world it takes place in.. it's incredible.. I've mentioned it before on alt.cyberpunk, and you're absolutely right. I second your recommendation. Many of the quotes in it from the _Hipcrime Vocab_ could come straight from 1993. The book is just packed chock-full of great material. It's hard to believe someone could be so creative, so focused, and so timeless for a whole book. Damn. It's an experience that is *not* to be missed. *** Quoth Nowhere Man : >It matters. How you dress makes quite a difference in how people >react to you-- whether they admit it or not. This dovetails nicely with the Virtual Culture subthread in alt.cyberpunk. At the present, the subcultures that have emerged on Usenet and in email lists are largely avisual, (with the exception of the odd GIF or JPEG.) Visual appearance, which is very important in most geographic cultures is almost unconsidered on the net. I can get out of bed, hop on the computer, and be a member of the Fucked Hair Club for Men all day, and no one cares (because they don't know.) > In fact, the clothes you wear can even have an impact on how you see > yourself. This is also true, often in subtle ways. Often my posts, email, and code are "cleaner" after I've taken a shower and put on a clean shirt. There are other differences that contribute to net culture being "virutal:"` - "Shared" experiences tend to cover a narrow range, and be more "common" (similar--reading the same books, seeing the same movies, listening to the same kind of music" than "shared" in the normal, face-to-face sense. True shared experiences are often limited to IRC/MUD sessions and participation in one or more newsgroups and/or mailing lists. - There is typically very little spoken contact, except for the occasional (and usually expensive) phone call. (Note this is a significant difference between general net culture and the phreak subculture.) This means communication is largely written, which allows ideas to be fully explored, and archived, and allows one-to-many communication. "Style," therefore, is expressed via writing or ASCII art--still a visual form, interestingly enough. As oversimplified as it may be, it is true that a .signature makes a first impression in the digital world the same way a style of dress does in the meat world. - It is interesting to note that so many people on FC dress so similarly, despite a complete lack of visual contact (and the topic has never come up on FC before, to my knowledge.) Obviously there is a question of self-selection among the respondees, but it seems obvious that, for example, the SBT and boots are indicitive of the common interested around which the list is centered. This indicates to me that perhaps the "culture" of the participants is broken into at least two distinct categories: the digital culture and the meat culture. This seems obvious, but begs a several interesting questions: 1) Where is the dividing line between the two? How do the two cultures influence each other? What are the distinguishing differences? 2) The meat culture appears to be the dominant of the two now. Assuming Usenet and mailing lists (future-culture in this example) remain operational for years to come, and continue to grow in acceptance and importance, will the digital culture eventually assume dominance? If so, what will be the driving forces, and what changes in meat culture can we expect? 3) What are the meat-culture differences between nationally isolated participants? Will participation in the medium (Usenet or email-list) tend to diversify or consolidate the meat-culture elments, or have no effect at all? For instance, if several Japanese users joined future culture and initiated a a discussion of Tokyo fashions (which have included loud clothes with clashing primary colors and huge shoes,) would the parts of the tokyo fashion migrate to the US users? If not, what kind of cultural elements are likely to be able to "infect" over the digital medium? 4) What kind of visual and auditory culture will arise when bandwidth and computer power jump to the point where audiovisual materials can be transferred as easily and quickly as text is today? (Perhaps some current NeXTMail users can comment on this.) 5) All current meat-cultures have intricate rituals and taboos relating to sex, mating, and child rearing. What form, if any, will these take (or are these taking) in digital culture? How can they be resolved with differing meat-culture rituals and taboos, aside from protracted flame wars? -- atman@rahul.net || "Burn hollywood burn!" Sync ye to the beat, and become it; once you understand it, you can destroy it. ______________________________ From: swisher@cs.utexas.edu (Janet M. Swisher) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 13:15:35 -0600 Subject: future clothing laurit@mits.mdata.fi says: > And w/ the business >shit, they will keep on w/ whatever is the trend, which will problably >still be suits of somekind, dunno about ties, methinks they are >awkward (dunno, when i get to 40, though :). If you saw Time Trax on teevee the other night, you know that "in the future" the "suits" will be wearing (drumroll) Nehru jackets. Oddly, women will still be wearing short skirts and high heels when they're not wearing diaphanous evening gowns. ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 20:23:45 +0100 From: cardell@lysator.liu.se Subject: clothing Well, Chaos, I care what people are wearing, because it's quite a lot fo the first impression. This was not the reason I asked this question though, but an experiment to see if the "cyberpunk" subculture has something common in dressing. Since I've observed this in many other subcultures, and presented this conclusion to small audience in my paper some years back, I was naturally curious if the same situation is present now, in this culture. Well, judge for yourself from the answers posted to the list... mikael cardell S P U N K P R E S S ______________________________ From: mcarpent@ecn.purdue.edu (Matthew A Carpenter) Subject: Cool Darkness, Chapter 8 Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 14:24:42 EST Cool Darkness by Matthew Carpenter Chapter 8 : Renewal of Sight A few days passed after Jack's slaying. Nemesis and Slash had started off on a warpath, never letting up on the pressure against Mogul, not even for sleep. Nebulus continued to stay at his club over the nights since, knowing full well that he was a target on more than a few hit lists. His plan had succeeded, but then again, it didn't. "Two this is three. Any contact yet?" hushly spoke Slash into her comm, still keeping her eyes on the bar entrance to Top Cocks, a gay bar that one of Mogul's hit men spent time at. Parked two blocks away, she had good view of the entrance with night-vision binoculars from her sitting point in a stolen navy blue Honda. "Negative. Hold out. Target in sight; wait for mark." Nemesis blue sighted-in his target with a silenced Barrett Final 50 : a military sniper rifle outfitted with .50 armor piercers. The early morning left few people on the streets in this area; ideal for an assassination. Laying in a prone position in an apartment building opposing the bar's entrance, he steadied the rifle with it's tripod, pulled it snug into his shoulder with his target's eyeball in line, "Mark." Quickly, he squeezed off three rounds into his target's head and as his body fell, let fall four more into his chest. In no time, Slash was waiting in her car in front of the apartment. A few patrons came out of the bar, anticipating the target's drunken state, only to find him lying with seven holes in his body. As they looked up to spot Slash, she let out with a volley of needles from her Sinclair. "Dust two more" she said as she drove off, leaving Nemesis enough time to safely jump on his bike and throw a party favor into the bar as he took off after Slash. The bar threw up a thick cloud of fire and smoke from it's doors and nearby windows as the bomb exploded, detonating the entire structure and sending it up in flames. 'Eleven down, seven to go' thought Nemesis as he drove along the surrounding highway of Philly, well out of danger of the menacing fire cloud that lingered to the west of him as it continued to grow out of control. Setting off another explosion, he could see the red clouds of ash against the light blue morning sky. "Now that's what I call art" he half- heartily smirked. Passing a slow car got him even more angry as his smirk subsided. Approaching another one, he grabbed a fire grenade from his chest, ripped the pin out with his teeth, and wailed it through the back windshield of the forerunning car. The driver squealed the tires, swerving off to the side until the grenade went off, throwing the fireball through the guard-rail and down the embankment. "Time to go pay someone a visit' he thought looking ahead as he hit the accelerator. ***************** Nebulus sat at the head of a conference table in the basement of his joint. Thick smoke hung like fog from the ceiling and the music from upstairs could faintly be heard if no one talked. Nine men and two women sat at the table, mostly decked out with suits, expensive cigars, and a few pills apiece. "You haven't said anything since we got here Nebulus. What's up?" spoke up one of the men to his right. A few heads stirred, but nothing drastic was taken to find out the contents of the evening. Experience of dealing with Nebulus' moods forced them to keep calm, or deal with his temper. "How did the gateway hold up to the ICE attack?" he calmly stated, keeping his eyes glued to the table top. "It was difficult, but we finally killed it. No big loss. Now we know of the weaknesses exposed by the attack" spoke up Al Geer, Director of Computer Applications for the Philadelphia division of the NSA. "That's an interesting comment from a government employee, Al". "Hey, we almost had the thing up and running completely until that whoever fucked it up!" retaliated Will Russel. "You guys really get me. Two goddamn bureaucrats fightin' for the same thing. It was you morons that kicked me out of the gateway. I couldn't even get in to do business!" "And what kinda business would that be?" asked Will. "No business for some overweight mayor's dog like you Russell!" "If it wasn't for me, you'd be behind bars for your drug operations, boy!" "And you'd be dead right now, too" he said glaring at Will. That shut him up, real good. A few moments passed before the tension and silence rolled it's way over the table and out the door. "Gentlemen", spoke up Dan as he stood up, "Let's not bicker about this bullshit. We have business to take care of. Nebulus, how's the support on your end coming?" he concluded sitting down. A few taps on the table, "Support is shaky since you cut everyone out of the nets" he said look around the room. A few more taps, "But, I think that once we get it under control, everything will cool down. The money is fine and the setup is fine; you guys just haven't delivered. How much progress have you made getting it back on line?" "It'll take us two days or so to get it back on line. Whoever ran against us ate a lot of stuff before we finally killed it" assured Mark, head of software development for the project, that by now had government funding both over and under the counter. "Ever find out who did it?" asked Al. "Naw, too many problems to trace it. It was probably Cryon though, since we snuffed them out of this grant by killing their access to the nets" laughed Mark. "Yeah, but someone broke into that place and tore it to pieces right before we went online" came the first comment from a normally boisterous Joanne. "My god, she does talk" kidded the man sitting next to her, who got an elbow in his ribs. "Maybe it was the same group. I mean, they had to know about Cryon's actions with the net killers. That was their target, right?" came back Joanne who was noticeably getting nervous from the whole situation; nervous of her credentials. "She's right. It could definitely be the same team. But who would have the capabilities to pull it off?" remarked Al, eyeing Nebulus who was the only one with the expertise to answer such a question. "I've got no idea, honestly. Mogul's got, or should I say had the firepower, but not the brains to pull it off. Acid, Thrash, Death Squad and Zork are all in the same boat. Deep Six has the brains, but not the brawn. That would leave us with a bunch of incompetents, NOT, or a few groups. However, the only ones that I would place bets on would be Falcon, Safe Haven, and Megalomania." "What about Nestroth. Everyone knows you've got one of the best teams on the East Coast" confronted Al. "Had one of the best teams, had. Two of our key players were assassinated three days before Cryon went up. Even with them, I doubt we could've pulled it off. I think it was an inside job or a corporate attack on both fronts. What's our corporate informant have to say about that?" "Absolutely nothing. Most of the corporations are keeping security tight" spoke up Tiffany. She dabbed her cigarette in the ash tray and drew a breath from it. "I doubt it was a corporate job, at least not an inside one. Cryon was too tight. But they knew what was going to go down. That's why they raised their security the last few days before it happened." She looked around the table. "In any case, although I'm not ruling corporate attacks, I'd put it at an all time low." "What corporations would've been in a position to attack us?" asked Joanne. "Cryon. Sytex. Maybe Linotronix. Probably the government. Not many, though." "Officially the government has nothing to do with Cryon or our attack" added Will. "Okay, how about unofficially?" asked Nebulus as the conversation was tiring him. "Get off it, man. We've got enough funding from the mayor and NSA to put this thing back online within 48 hours and keep it there once and for all. By the time anyone has anything to say about it, it'll be too late. We'll impose the new laws of gateway protocol and make sure that no one fucks with us." "Well then, I guess we don't need to worry about anything then, do we" calmly said Nebulus looking around the room. "Meeting adjourned" he stated, popping a pill in his mouth and swallowing it. The group began dispersing as cigars were extinguished and drugs scooped up. "Al, could I speak with you a moment?" asked Nebulus, still sitting in his chair. Many heads turned around, but soon the room emptied. "What is it, Nebulus?" "How's the AI project coming along? No one's talking about it at all" he said as Al took an adjacent seat. "I don't know anything about the project. I've told you this before." "Al!" harshly spoke Nebulus, putting his face nearly in his comrade's, "I know what's going on. I'm not that stupid. The thing that you government jerks don't know is that info and tech is more important than money or drugs down here. You follow me?" Al nodded his head, resting his elbows on the table top. "Look, I don't care if you don't get me one or even get me info. Just relax. How's about the seat on the mayor's computer department?" "You're nuts! What the hell do you want to accomplish with something like that?" "Just want to be a noble citizen taking a responsible job within the government. What's wrong with that?" he said smiling. "The AI or the job. You pick. One week, or else you may need a new supplier." "Go fuck yourself!" With that he left a smiling Nebulus. A few minutes passed until his watch beeped him. "I'm sorry to bother you sir" came a soft female voice from his watch, "but a secured telecom line has asked to speak with you immediately." "Thank you sweetheart. I'll be right there." Resting a hand on the top of his arm chair, he depressed a control button, triggering his chair to slowly move downward into his comp room. As his chair hit bottom, a blast-proof, metal guard moved over top to secure the opening of the elevator hatch. Slowly his chair moved forward, controlled by the same palm panel on his chair. Larger workstations lined the walls of the small, concrete enclosure, including six foot video panels utilized by the nearby station for almost anything. The panel was in security mode in the lower section of the screen with the typical security request standing in front of the blank video window. Getting up from his chair, he moved over to the workstation and punched in a few commands and entered his security card attached to his neck, normally via a metal cord. The rest of the screen went black as the video came on. "Man, we got some problems, Nebulus" spoke up a shaken Doc who was noticeably in his basement working on something. "What the hell you talkin' 'bout, Doc" whined Nebulus. "Every time you call me, you say we got a problem." "Are you on somethin' or are you always this peachy, dick!" "Of course, I'm on somethin'. You got a problem with that?" "Look, Nemesis was just here askin' about the black box in Debbie's chest. What the hell should I tell him?" "How'd he know about that!?" questioned Nebulus forced himself to get a little more serious. "He brought her in a few days ago, remember. We took the black box out and killed her. Don't you remember a fuckin' thing from that conversation?" "You didn't tell'm anything, did you?" "All I told him was that the source originated from somewhere in the city, but that's it." Nebulus put his hand over his face, scowling something inaudible about being stupid. "Look, anyone could tell him that. I was just trying to buy us some time. So what should I do?" "Tell him it was Mogul. I don't know. Anything to keep him off our backs for a minute." Slapping his hand down onto the control panel in front of him zapped the telecom video window out of the screen. The panel stayed black as he sat back in his chair to contemplate what he was in and how he would make it out. 'Goddamn marine. If he could just get off his stupid charade of bullshit, I might actually pull this off. But NO, he has to go around, ripping up the town, killing my people. Ah, at least the moron has enough smarts to get Mogul off my back. Damn moron.' "Okay, sweetheart, you can come out now." The screen flickered and then a female face appeared on the screen. Nebulus studied her as he usually did when he hadn't seen her in awhile. Her short, brown hair lightly touched off her brown eyes and light complexion. Her bare shoulders were small and hinted at her short design that wasn't shown, for her torso was cut off by the screen border just about her breasts. "How are you doing, sir?" she asked in a cute voice. Nebulus had to smirk. "Don't call me sir. Call me Nebulus." "Yes, Nebulus. How are you doing?" "I'm doing fine. How are you doing?" "I am running at 98% efficiency, using only 99.6% of the power that I'm supposed to to run ..." "No, no, no, no, no. If I want to know how efficient you're doing, I'll ask for a diagnostic report. I asked you how are YOU doing?" he said with a smile on his face. To him this was like having a child he would never have. "How should I answer?" she asked with a quizzical look in her eyes. I'm impressed with you facial expressions. Do you know why you made them?" I was programmed to observe humans for both verbal and body languages, and incorporate those observations in my learning automata. Did I do well in imitating a human's facial expression?" "Yes, you did quite well. So do you know how you feel?" "No. What makes a person feel a certain way?" "Usually if one is happy or sad, that determines how they feel. If they are tired or energetic, that normally has something to do with it as well." "So if I am running at a high performance state, I should feel good?" "Correct. Is that how you feel?" "I guess. Yes. I feel fine" she said, letting a small smile paint it's way onto her face. Nebulus smiled back, knowing full well that this was the start of a good relationship. "Good. I think I will name you Catherine." ************* "You're friend is really somethin', you know?" remarked Slash as she detached the tap lines from Doc's comm port exiting the garage. "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Nemesis who had just returned from speaking with Doc about the black box. They waked across the street and got in the van. Nemesis started it up, looking over his shoulder to verify that Slash had put his bike in the back. "I didn't ask you to meet me hear to spy on my friends, you know" pointed a somewhat disgusted Nemesis. "How'd you get around his security system?" "Security flop, you mean. In any case, you ought to spy on your friends more often. Your buddy Doc just got off the comm with someone of interest." Nemesis started to drive the van, not looking at Slash, but waiting for her reply. "Nebulus." "What!?" "They ran a secured line. You'll never guess what they were talking about, either." More silence. "Mogul." "Doc is NOT with Mogul." "No, but he is going to tell you that the black box originated from Mogul. He was talking to Nebulus about what to tell us the origin of the box is. They're runnin' something' against us." Nemesis slammed on the brakes midway into an alley. "You mean to tell me that Doc is conspiring with Nebulus against us!? Are you fuckin' nuts!" Nemesis turned to Slash, pointing his finger right in her face. "I've known Doc for too many years to believe that kind of bullshit from some slut like you! How dare you insult one of my best friends!" "Now you know better than that, asshole" retaliated Slash, pushing Nemesis' hand away from her face. "Look, no offense, but I never liked Doc as it was, so I had to check him out. He's just the type that I would think would do about anything for the right reason." "He's not into drugs." "How about money?" He'd never sell out a friend. Not a good enough excuse; I don't buy it." "So what would he go for?" "Don't you need to go to work soon?" "Don't beat around the bush or it might drown you." "I don't know. Try streetware. You've got the real job. Why don't you check it out" "Head out towards the north side. I gotta get changed." "What, you brought your work clothes?" "Yeah. You got a problem with it?" Nemesis put his foot down on the accelerator again, moving the van in the general direction once more. Slash scooted to the back of the van and began to get changed into her business attire. Nemesis could not keep his eyes on the road for the whole trip, especially as Slash was sliding on her skirt. There was something about her that really got to him sometimes; he decided it was the way she wore her stockings : always pulling the tops of the stockings as close to her crotch as possible, while still leaving enough room for her 3-shot .38. She finally made her way to the front seat once more, the hem of her skirt rising noticeably higher than publicly acceptable as she sat down. "I hope you got enough of a peep show back there." "Nice legs" he said staring at the tops of her stockings before she yanked the skirt into place. "You're coming in with me. I need to feed something to you." "Excuse me. What the hell're you getting me into now?" "I want to run some data on our friends Doc, Shiela and Donna. I want to know what's going on." "What about Nebulus?" "Stay away from him for now. Turn right onto the expressway here." "I just don't get it. Why would he be talking to Doc. They shouldn't even know each other." "I don't get why he let Jack get assassinated." "You told me that Shiela killed him!" "His story's too clean. Come on. He went out to take care of some things at the EXACT time that Shiela decided to pay a visit. Gimme a break!" "I can't believe that Nebulus would go against us. I mean, Jack!" "When it all comes down to it, he's still just another junky." The trip to Corporate Securities, Inc. lasted longer than normal as the silence dominated the conversation; the only exception being Slash's directions on how to get there. "That's the building over there" she said pointing to the semilarge complex to the north of the expressway. "Turn off here and find a place to park about a block or two away. I don't want them to see and trace this van." Nemesis nonchalantly found a place behind the first row of apartments adjacent to the complex's guarded entrance. Slash lifted her briefcase to her lap and opened it up, pulling out her portable comm. "Main desk. This is Deborah Tamura. Listen. I got a friend coming in today with me. Could you notify main gate to let'm in without a hassle. I'll stop by and pick up a VC with you." "You know you're supposed to tell us one week in advance of guests, Miss Tamura, I don't..." "Listen Jim, you better listen or you won't be able to sit for quite awhile." "Ummm, all right Miss Tamura. I'll tell'm, but cover your butt, please?" "Yeah sure. See ya in 5." With that she hung up and put the comm away in her briefcase. The two exited the van and began walking towards the twelve story building that overcast the surrounding forest by its architectural impressiveness. "Does he have something for you, or are you that familiar with all the staff here?" asked Nemesis quite amused at her act. "He's a sex slave wannabe. Pudding" she said looking over Nemesis' streetware dress as clashing with her business attire. "I hope they don't look you over too much" she kidded. Nemesis gave her a return look that had little worry. In no time they approached the gate. "Hello ma'am. Good to see you again. Does your friend have a valid pass?" "I checked with main desk and they said to bring him in and they'll take care of it." "Let me check it out." A few comments later, the guard let them through and invited them to take the golf cart-style mini-car to the main entrance so they didn't have to walk. As they sped off, Nemesis casually leaned over to her, commenting "You sure have a lot of pull around here. What gives?" "I'm a class 10 operative and a division head. They better respect me" she said looking at him momentarily. "Oh yeah, operates only go as high as 10, and if anyone asks, just say you were trained by the military and CIA." "Well I was, but why would they ask?" "You'll see." Making it to the entrance, they worked their way inside and strolled over to the main desk, trying to flare off the looks people were giving Nemesis. They dispensed with the signing in process and Nemesis was given a bright green visitor badge. Slash lead the way to the nearest elevator. Once it arrived, they stepped in alone. "Which floor would you like to proceed to please?" asked a nice female-style computer voice. "Take us to the ninth floor please" replied Slash. "Please enter security card now" came back the computer. Slash inserted her card and the elevator jerked upward. After a few brief stops along the way, they passed the eight floor. Slash quickly jammed the 'All Stop' button and the elevator stopped. "Gimme your badge" commanded Slash. Nemesis handed it to her, unknowing of what was in store for him now. "Put this one on" she said taking his and giving him a red one that matched hers with the letters 'UCWATOD' written on the bottom with his picture in the middle. "Nice forgery. What's the plan?" "You're an operative from just outside this area and you are working on a top secret project with me in conjunction with the Cryon project. You're a level 10 operative so if they ask you something you don't want to answer, don't. You'll outrank most people here" she said toggling the stop button to go. The doors opened to the expansive main room of the division. Overhead, the sign 'Urban Commando Warfare and Anti-Terrorist Operations Division, Corporate Security Inc.' Briskly, Nemesis followed Slash to her private office that was separate from the main room off the left. A large window overlooking a training ground below showed off a large room equipped with several computer monitors, decks and other computer devices. "You must love it here" commented Nemesis, admiring the training ground below him. 'Just like the good 'ol days'. "Kent. I need you to get me info, fast" spoke Slash into her telecom. She gave him the information about the three persons in question and had him relay the data to one of her monitors. Soon the data on Donna and Shiela came up. However, the data on Doc took more than four minutes to come up on the screen. Nemesis just looked out the window, wanting to do a free fall jump to the training ground and have fun. "Good morning ma'am. Hope the evening was lovely" walked in Slash's secretary. "A little bit of violence on the south side." Slash just looked up at her, not saying a word. "Oh, I'm sorry" she replied noticing Nemesis who began to turn around to see her standing in front of the desk. "I'm Jen Anderson, the director's secretary. And you must be..." she asked hinting for a reply with her eyes. "Good day" was Nemesis' only response. "Jen, could you please excuse us. We have some important business to discuss." "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice your badge" she said tapping her badge on her shoulder, a little embarrassed at interrupting what would normally be two very high up operatives. Quickly, she left the room. Slash looked back down at her terminal screen glancing over the material on Doc that had just come up. "Wait a minute." She looked over Donna's record once again and then went back to Doc's file. "You're not going to believe this" she said in amazement to Nemesis. Cocking his head in her direction, he zoomed his vision until the screen was focused for him to read. Still leaning on the window sill, his mouth dropped. "Oh shit." -Matt mcarpent@en.ecn.purdue.edu ______________________________ From: mcarpent@ecn.purdue.edu (Matthew A Carpenter) Subject: Cool Darkness, Chapter 7!!!!!!! Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 14:24:09 EST Here it is. Here it is! Chapter 7 follows in its entirity. If you wish to obtain previous chapters, ftp anonymously to phred.pc.cc.cmu.edu and go to the directory /pub/text/CoolDarkness. Comments still welcome. I've decided that there will only be 10 chapters in all for this novella, so it's almost finished! Cool Darkness by Matthew Carpenter Chapter 7 : Expendable "So what're we gonna do when your buddies get here?" questioned a light-headed Nebulus. The comp room was outfitted to be disconnected from the nets. Jack was behind the big comp, removing the threads that linked directly into the nets while Nebulus was setting up the wiring for a local net within the room itself. "Why the hell are we disconnecting from the nets anyways?" "Shut up and just do it" moaned Jack who was getting tired of Nebulus' behavior while he was in the clouds. Jack didn't really mind that Nebulus was a drugy, however, he hated it when Nebulus shot up before going into the nets, whether he was stressed out or not. Finally he disconnected the wires in question and got back on his feet to toil with the comp connection to the LAN wiring that Nebulus had screwed up. "So why don't we just blow the gateway and get rid of the mob anyways man?" slurred Nebulus as his eyes rolled toward the ceiling. 'You moron. I still don't see why I put up with you sometimes.' Finally the connections were properly made. Jack took a seat looking over his work, making sure that all the hardware was in place to start messing with the software. Nebulus sat down beside him, completely in the clouds after taking too many pills at once. Even for Nebulus' tolerance, he was pretty wasted. Jack reached under his desk and found the needle gun he was looking for. After the first time Nebulus was wasted in the nets, Jack always placed the serum within arms reach; the serum that would knock Nebulus out no matter what he was on. "So can we go and play in cyberspace now?" Jack moved the gun out from its resting place and quickly thrust it into the side of Nebulus' throat and pulled the trigger, injecting him with the serum. "What the hell wuzzat fo...monnn..." trailed off Nebulus as he began sliding from his chair, just seconds after being injected. With a soft thump, his body lay slack on the ground, taking up more space than he was worth thought Jack. "Yo, Jack! Where the hell are ya man?" "Hey Liner, down here!" Within no time, his lanky pale- white friend had joined him in the comp room. His tattered sneakers and geek suit reminded Jack of when he first met Liner a few years ago, running against another corporation. "What's his problem?" "Drugs, unfortunately. Help me get him into the head before he pukes up his lungs." Grunting and groaning, the two men clumsily hauled Nebulus into the stall. "God I hate manual labor" spoke up Jack, looking back down to Nebulus' body that now partially snaked over the toilet. "So what we gonna do now, boss?" came an anime voice from Liner who was wiping his hands together and grinning a devil's grin as the two walked back into the comp room. "Wait until everyone arrives, and then take it down" replied Jack heavily slumping into his chair with a sigh. One of the workstation monitors blinked behind Jack and a wall monitor control panel came up on the screen. "Security?" "Yup. Looks like Gary's here and has forgotten the password." He punched in a few keys and Gary's fat face looked back up at the security monitor and said thanks as he entered. In no time, a slim figured lady with long black hair and a pale white face walked in from the elevator. Smooth jeans and a black tank top covered up by a jacket captured the eyes of all the guys instantly. "Hiya Chris" slowly greeted Jack. "Guys this is Chris as you know on the nets. Meet Christine." Gary and Liner took a second to respond, considering they were used to a male Chris. However, the formal greetings were dispensed with, as she wanted to get to business quickly. "So how are we gonna take care of this mob anyways, Jack?" she asked, leaning next to one of the tables, crossing her arms. "I figured we could disguise ICE in a way that would confuse the mob enough so that it couldn't lock onto ICE until it was too late." "In doing so would allow us to figure out how it is running and who is sending it, right?" questioned Gary, barely fitting in his chair. "Maybe, but how do we create it?" came back Liner, still concerned that the whole thing might be better to just let it slide. "I'm thinking that if we make it normal, and then modulate it chaotically it might work. It will never have a specific or calculable pattern to lock onto, but it could still send us back info. The only drawback is that we won't be able to control it either, if we want to make it as efficient as possible that is." "You're fuckin' nuts, man. Nobody's ever been able to do that!" yelled Chris. "And even if it did work and this gets taken care of, how do we kill the ICE program if WE can't even lock on to it?" "All we gotta do is try for cryin out load!" retaliated Jack. "Yeah, but how would you seal up a modulation?" asked Gary. "Run a one-way recursion on it. It might work. I don't know" commented Liner intrigued with the challenge. "Well there's only one way to find out. I'm in." "I'm in" stated Jack, looking directly at Chris. "Count me in too" said a concerned Gary, still rolling over in his mind the game plan. All eyes were on Chris who was more than concerned with the prospect at hand. If it worked, she had problems. If it didn't work, the mob could take them out. That wasn't of concern. 'Where the hell is Nebulus anyways' she thought to herself, trying to buy some time. "All right, count me in too." The group took posts on each of the workstations and entered cyberspace within the LAN. Cyberspace opened up within a workshop the size of an airport hanger. Fully decked out with everything an engineer would want to play with, the shop was fitted with a chemical lab, hardware and software labs and a pool table. Gary and Chris went into the chemical lab and began simulations of making better forms of ICE by mixing chemicals and testing them individually while Jack and Liner hit the software labs to create the chaos and recursion algorithms. A clock mounted in all the labs was reading 5:45 when Jack looked up from his completed chaos algorithm. "Almost six hours. Shit. Man this sucks. I knew this was gonna hurt, but this is too much." He walked around the complex to find Liner playing a solitaire game of pool. "Any sign of the others?" "Still working on ICE. Don't know why. They had it easy" he retorted, disgusted with their lack of progress on a simple project. "I'm going to give them 15 more minutes and then we'll get out and set the stage for the show." Liner gave no response, so Jack went to check on the other two. "How much longer you guys gonna be with that thing?" "Just relax!" yelled Gary. You're gonna love this when it's done. "You've got 15 minutes." Nebulus opened his eyes for the first time in six hours and realized that he had been dropped in the head. He gathered himself up, staggering into the comp room to see everyone decked in. He walked over to Jack and stopped, standing over top of him. "You're gonna regret this you asshole." He parked himself of the remaining chair and waited, starting to fall asleep. Before Nebulus could totally go unconscious again, Jack sat up and pulled the jack out of his head. The others followed soon and before long, everyone was stretching in their chairs. "Well, look who's up" yawned Jack who was going to be sure to be the first into the bathroom. Everyone else said hello and followed suit. Caffeine pills were handed out by Nebulus and soon, cans of Coke lined the tables as everyone prepared for the evening. Jack especially looked, and smelled bad. 'This is the last time I try something this stupid' he thought to himself, regaining his concentration as the caffeine hit his system. "So where are we?" questioned Nebulus in Jack's direction. "Let's get the comp hooked back into the net so we can get this over and done with once and for all." With that, they began hooking the comps back up to the nets. Nebulus as usual, screwed the job up again and it was up to Jack to finish the job. "All right everyone, let's do it" spoke up Jack as he sat back down in his chair. Everyone looked at him like it was the last stand to some stupid military movie. "Come on. It's gonna work. Don't worry. Look, the worst that can happen is that it gets harder the next time, so let's go!" "I'll watch from the monitor, thanks" said Nebulus. "Suit yourself" sneered Chris as she gave him a look. He gave it back, with interest. "I guess I'll wait outside as well." "What is this, a goddamn zoo of chickens or somethin'?" yelled Jack furrowing his brow. Without a response, he put his wireless on and jacked in with the others. The monitor to Nebulus' left flicked on and he and Chris viewed the group entering the city once again. Gray buildings loomed over their heads as the trio entered. Jack was the first to start moving towards the gate, holding the glowing ball of ICE that was soon to make it's presence known, and feared. The other two followed and eventually the gate was within visual range. The crowd was still visible and Jack decided to stay far enough away from the gate to let things happen. "So, what is this thing gonna look like, anyways?" asked Jack looking at Gary. "Oh I don't know. Maybe a glowing ball? Just throw it at the gate and it'll do the rest." "I know that, but it'd be nice to know what's gonna happen. Are we gonna be able to control this thing at all by any chance?" "Control is pseudo easy. Just don't stand too close to the gate and.." "Just throw the fuckin' thing and get it over with, will ya'!" yelled Liner. "Fine" calmly and properly stated Jack, gathering his best impression of an English butler. "This is for the English." The others laughed as he threw the ball at the gate until it began expanding. Soon it was growing wings and a tale, and then a head. "Holy shit" whispered Liner, unbelieving of the white dragon that was now flying towards the gate. With a large screech signaling its activation, it entered the gateway flying clearly into the mob's territory. The populous began thinning out quickly as they began realizing that someone was playing with ICE. "Jack, meet Dorimar" introduced Gary with a big smile, now that he knew it was working properly. "You gave it a name?" "Well, yeah. What's wrong with that. I think he's kinda neat, don't you. Hey get ready; watch this." As the mob launched it's first major attack, Dorimar began changing colors and began going through a prismatic metamorphosis induced by the chaos algorithm. Jack just sarcastically smiled back. 'Another quirk of the computer geeks' he thought to himself. The hardrive lights and printer spools broke the silence as Chris and Nebulus began to watch the battle begin to take place between the mob and Dorimar. Page after page of tracking and combating information was printed out as ICE began going through the nets tracking down the mob. "This should be pretty interesting, you know" calmly stated Chris as she wrapped her arm through Nebulus' folded arms and cuddled next to him as they stood watching the monitor. "What do you mean by that. I think it's a good test, Shiela." She lightly chuckled at his use of her real name. "Yeah, but the rest of the mob is gonna be pissed that we attacked them with ICE" she said kissing his neck, just under his earlobe. "Fuck 'em. It's a good test of its capabilities. If these guys can't crack it, I doubt anyone will for awhile." "So, now that it's running, can I have my fun?" He stood there, unrelenting to move his eyes from the screen. Her lips continued their kiss of the rest of his neck and face. "Please, honey. Pretty please. With cum on top" she finished with a forceful French kiss. Unmoving at first, he began to kiss her back, wrapping his arms around her, getting into it. He gave her his tongue and then began drawing hers into his mouth. They caressed each other rougher now and finally Nebulus pulled her waist tightly against his, grinding his growing erection into her pelvis. She moaned, and as her tongue finally slipped into his mouth completely, he bit down hard. She jerked her head away, quite displeased with his little prank. "You asshole." "Keep your tongue, my pet, or I'll bite it off. I'll be right back." He released his grip on her hips and turned to walk into the elevator. She smirked and picked up the Sinclair that he had left for her. She watched him go up to the ground level and when he had disappeared from sight, turned to face her targets. 'Well as long as your pet can have some fun every now and then, I don't think I'll mind playing along' she thought to herself. The Sinclair felt good in her hands. She caressed the barrel. 'Been a while hasn't it. Too used to hard ammo.' She looked at her prey and then back at the monitor. The dragon was out of sight by now and the mob's gateway barrier was diminishing as it required more power to fight the ICE program that was doing a good job already. The printer began to run more as the pathway identifications started coming in. Shiela walked over to the printer and began to notice the ID's. 'Fools. First they get this damn thing set up, and now we're running against our own people. Gotta love democracy.' Her devilish smile returned. "Sorry about this guys, but business is business. I'm sure you understand." She turned to Gary and let a silent needle fly through his skull, embedding itself halfway through his forehead. His image slowly faded and then vanished from within the nets. "Gary! Where the hell did he go?" questioned Liner. "Maybe he just pulled out" commented Jack, looking around at the diminishing city scenery as it was being overgrown by a common black and blue line matrix. "What's the matter, Liner? Worried about your friend?" sneered Shiela as she killed him with the slightest pull of the trigger. His trace soon disappeared as well, leaving a worried Jack alone in the matrix. 'Shit! I wonder if someone's outside' he thought to himself. Shiela walked over to the internet comm and flicked on the switch. "Who's out there!" yelled Jack. "You're pretty good Jack. Kinda cute too. Unfortunately I can't take you where I'm going" replied Shiela as her smirk turned into a straight face. "Wait! NO!!" It was too late, for Jack's trace soon faded as did his comrades before he. "I take it you enjoyed that" came Nebulus' whispering voice as the elevator platform landed again. "Like I told Jack, business is business. But then again, I wouldn't expect a man to understand that." "Oh, you wouldn't, huh? I guess you still think that the whole world revolves around you, now don't you" he said moving closer to her. "Of course I do. What would make you think otherwise" she said handing him the Sinclair with a smile. "I still don't get why you like this thing so much." She took her jacket off. "Shut up and fuck me" she said, giving him that look that told him 'now'. Her hands caressed his neck as they pulled his lips to her own. They kissed deeply, giving each other their tongues. Nebulus casually placed the Sinclair on the table he was leaning against as he pulled her waist to his. She let out a small gasp as his fingers found their way under her pants and began squeezing her ass. She leaned into him, rubbing her nipples into his chest while they dry-fucked each other. He pulled his hands out of her pants, taking her top with them. She broke their kiss as he pulled her top off, leaving her in a solid black bra. Dropping the shirt, his eyes locked onto her breasts, then quickly her eyes. She returned a smile as his hands crept to unhook her bra from the front and seductively slide the cups across her breasts. Her hardening nipples finally peaked out from the cups and as she shrugged her bra off her shoulders, Nebulus replaced it with his mouth. Shiela wrapped her arms around his head as he began kneading her right nipple with his tongue and teeth. A soft moan escaped her lips while she buried her face in his hair. "Yo, Nebulus! You still here man!" yelled Slash just as Nebulus heard the garage door slamming down. "Shit!" whispered Shiela jerking her face from Nebulus' hair. "Quick, put your shirt back on" spoke Nebulus, picking up her bra and stuffing it into his back pocket. She struggled to get her shirt back on as they heard the elevator lifting back up to ground level. Nebulus stood up slowly, picking up the Sinclair, waiting for Shiela to compose herself. She pulled her top over her head and down to her waist as the elevator began it's way down. "Gimme my jacket." "Sorry about this sweetheart" said Nebulus as they locked eyes, "but business is business." Reaching out, he grabbed her throat, brought the Sinclair up to her forehead and squeezed off a needle before she even had a chance to open her mouth. Her body twitched and immediately collapsed to the ground in a heap of limp flesh. He casually looked over her body, at the line of blood that was forming from her forehead. His brow furrowed and he once again shifted his mood to fit the part. "What the hell is going on!?" screamed Slash as she looked around at the four dead bodies and finally Nebulus. "Answer me damn it!" "Looks like Mogul is on the move again" he sighed, still looking at Shiela's body. "What happened?" "We got into the matrix and let loose with ICE to counteract the mob. I jumped out and went to take care of some things. When I got back, she had just finished off Jack" he said lazily pointing at Shiela. Slash walked over until she was standing directly over Shiela's face. "She's the same one that set Zlik up, you know." "What?!" gasped Nebulus. "She's one of the original Mogul." She stood there, letting the situation get the best of her, soaking up the aggression and adrenaline that was fueling her desire for revenge. "Time to take them out once and for all." With that she left, letting her hatred drive her as much as it could. Nebulus only stood there, with a smirk beginning to form on his face as Slash slammed the garage door shut as she grabbed Nemesis. "Perfect" he said as he reached into his pocked and pulled out some pills. ______________________________ From: "Spam@tin.supermarket.tescos" Subject: Re: clothes? Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 15:54:55 +0000 (GMT) Spam, spam, egg and Kelly "J." Cooper : => [clothing description arbritrarily deleted] => =>Mainly, tho', I tend to wear attitude. One size fits all. Love that line - definitely one to live by....... ;-> Spam. ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 13:52 CST From: P30TMR8%NIU.bitnet@UICVM.UIC.EDU Subject: the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations Language is a virus from outer space and anyone who can say so is a victim of the invasion of the consciousness snatchers. alinguistic consciousness is the primate heritage we lost in being mutated into cyborgitude by this unearthly brain-spliting microbe. Our bad faith attempts to become en-soi are brain-split attempts to regain the unspeakable paradise of an innoucence lost forever in the fog of self referential discourse. Learning to speak pour-soi is ceaseing to be en-soi. We are all but hosts of a virus which jellyfishnets and has the audacity to call itself a culture worthy of primates. It breaks my heart to hear a baby go goo goo. Someday soon I shall work up the courage to put a nitting needle through me angular gyris. I'll do it in the spirit of Van Helsing cautherising a vampires' betraying Judas kiss. I shall then go hence from this multijellyfishnetitude to commend my funny looking self in honest grunts and gestures to the social tolerance of some reasonablly prosperous baboon troup. uwah uwah, Michael Robets P.S Hi! ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 11:58:21 EST From: stimpy@dcv4kd.phs.com Subject: Re: Clothes I can now laugh in the faces of the people who laughed at me for saving all my clothes from the 70's. HA! I love Grunge! I have all my old jeans and flannel shirts from high school. 8-) Just you wait til polyester leisure suits come back into fashion. 8-) What goes around comes around! Stimpy@dcv4kd.phs.com or stimpy@mindvox.phantom.com "I am what I am & that's all that I am" - Popeye the Sailor Man ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 12:11:35 PDT From: Subject: multiple conversations Paul Fly writes: > I can imagine someone training themselves to talk to someone and > type at the same time, perhaps holding two completely different > conversations at the same time. If such a person lived their entire lives > this way, they might actually develop two seperate personalities and even > two seperate *seleves*, except that they would still have only one body, > and they speak to themselves one way only. Well, there have been times when I've been keyboard-chatting to one person while talking on the phone to someone else, thus holding two different conversations. What happens is that the phone conversation tends to win out, since it feels more immediate. It is possible, though, to more or less keep up both conversations at once. But we ... I mean I ... haven't seemed to developed two selves yet ;-). ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:25:29 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: chemist (The Chemist) Message-ID: References: Date: Sun, 17 Jan 93 22:39:22 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system inhuman (Inhuman) writes: > What exactly *is* the tension/conflict between Mike Godwin and > the rest of the EFF? I don't understand at all... > Godwin hasa big mouth and flames people on and off the net. Which might be ok as a net personality to other netters but probably bugs the shit out of the rest of the EFF and people in washington who aren't really on the net but like to pretend they might be someday. Or thats what I hear on IRC, could be that DB is right and he cut himself and check and took himself a cruise. I sure would. -tC ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF employment From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:36 EST Subject: Re: EFF employment From: bwp (Jane Doe) Message-ID: <6TLyXB2w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> References: Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 19:57:16 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system czarina (Rita Rouvalis) writes: > Electronic Frontier Foundation > 666 Pennsylvania Ave., SE ^^^ Is this appropriate for an org that sold its soul or what? -3j ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:23 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: dsaint (Digital Saint) Message-ID: <036XXB4w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> References: Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 14:17:08 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system kieran (Aaron Dickey) writes: > Isn't it true than anyone can "join" the EFF, with the "dues" being > optional? If so, we could ALL just sign up and have the same collective > pissed-off voice. I am probably going to sound like some broken EFF-is-my-god record but screw it. Why wouldn't you want to pay the dues to help out EFF? Don't you find that their goals are laudable? Also EFF isn't much of a member organization so just "joining" EFF I guess would kinda work. Since it isn't much of a member organization your voice of complaint can be heard and affect their policy whereas if it was strict members only then you would be separated from them. What are you pissed off about besides Rita being fired? That is the only thing that I have seen on here, and else where for that matter. digital saint dsaint@mindvox.phantom.com ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:19 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: dsaint (Digital Saint) Message-ID: <4q6XXB3w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 14:09:50 EST In-Reply-To: Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system I don't think that the reorg had much to do with Mitch and Co. wanting to kiss ass in D.c. They had a huge problem with people trying to figure out how the local chapter thing was supposed to work. Also Mike Godwin will most likely be moving to D.c. and working with EFF. Also from my understanding it isn't that Barlow and Kapor had problems with Godwin but Berman, but that is just rumor mongering. I have never seen so many cynical people in my life. When EFF said they are re-negotiating Mike Godwin's role they really meant it, it wasn't wasn't some candy coated pink slip. So now Godwin will most likely move to d.c. and keep on doing what he has been doing. digital saint dsaint@mindvox.phantom.com ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:14 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: kieran (Aaron Dickey) Message-ID: References: Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 00:57:30 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system awright (Andrew) writes: > now I will continue to support the EFF and give them the benefit of the > doubt. I plan to watch what EFF is doing closely, in order to make sure > that they still deserve my support. I am only a student member, my 20-$ > dues don't make a huge financial difference. But I do have a voice and I > plan to use it. Isn't it true than anyone can "join" the EFF, with the "dues" being optional? If so, we could ALL just sign up and have the same collective pissed-off voice. --Aaron ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:25:47 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: critic (Terry Palfrey) Message-ID: <606LXB2w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 02:50:04 EST In-Reply-To: <1XkLXB4w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system Well I am 150K into the EFF messages today and the story goes around and around. We had two offices. We had the grand old daddies that organised this. We had an issue or two to found an organisation on. We had memberships. We have a site. We have/had EFFector Online. We had personalities. We almost had chapters. Now we have some confusion. Let's review. What do we all think of lawyers and politicians? How about the corporate mentality? Kludged software? Backdoors? Freedom? I for one am going to have to think on it and re-read this collection I picked up here. Summation - the times they are a changing? Boy Scout motto - Be prepared. General advice - best look to your own interests cause no one is going to help you out in the end less'n you helps yourself. CritiC ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:45 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: chemist (The Chemist) Message-ID: References: <036XXB4w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 93 21:32:31 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system dsaint (Digital Saint) writes: > kieran (Aaron Dickey) writes: > > > Isn't it true than anyone can "join" the EFF, with the "dues" being > > optional? If so, we could ALL just sign up and have the same collective > > pissed-off voice. > > I am probably going to sound like some broken EFF-is-my-god record > but screw it. Why wouldn't you want to pay the dues to help out EFF? Don't > you find that their goals are laudable? Also EFF isn't much of a member > organization so just "joining" EFF I guess would kinda work. Since it > isn't much of a member organization your voice of complaint can be heard > and affect their policy whereas if it was strict members only then you > would be separated from them. What are you pissed off about besides Rita > being fired? That is the only thing that I have seen on here, and else > where for that matter. Dude I know you are in love with the EFF and all, but based on what has come out of cambridge Mike Godwin's "reorganization" was exactly so muchsugar-coated pink slip until they came to some new arrangements in the last few days. I don't pretend to know all the inner details like everyone here seems to, but perhaps Rita could answer some of these questions and statements that are floating around the net and in IRC. I'd also like to hear from MindVox and where it fits in all of this with the new EFF or old EFF or whatever EFF. 1- Was Rita fired on her honeymoon with no forewarning and no prior notice of anything, how did this all happen? 2- According to net.talk about the EFF summit and what's been going on, Mike Godwin was nearly "let go" and then re-organized into some other position more in the background after the uproar on the net. 3- According to the same sources, what is the deal with MindVox? Does it support EFF and encourage people to give their support or does it support something else? Supposedly there is some letter that is not so supposed that went out from digital on here to the EFF, which Barlow reposted somewhere and praised and from the same exact source, the other main MindVox owner dead, cut his membership card into pieces and mailed it to Mitch who saw it and dumped it on Cliff's desk. Both talked about it at the summit. I don't get it, half of MindVox pro EFF, half against?????? 4- Inhuman's signature file has a funny and sarcastic quote from barlow about AT&T. AT&T is one of the EFF biggest financial supporters. That quote came a long time before EFF starting taking money from them, its a hoot how fast the tide turns. Since every single one of the people I've mentioned are either online here or aware of this forum, I would love to get an answer to some of these at least instead of rumors and third person accounts. This is one of the main reasons I like being here, because the people being talked about __are online here__ I don't hate the new EFF but I sure would like to know how some of the above jives with what they claim they're going to be doing next. And what it is that the new EFF is supposed to be doing for me, to gain my support, instead of ACLU or CPSR, both of which would appear to have my best interests much closer to their agenda then the new EFF does. Right now I can't see one good reason why I should be so excited about the EFF and what it does, over either one of the two mentioned civil liberties groups. -tC ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:09 EST Subject: Re: EFF "reorganization" From: kieran (Aaron Dickey) Message-ID: References: Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 00:53:33 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system surfer (Hewlett Cray) writes: > Closing an entire office because of "vast philosophic and cultural" > differences is blowing sunshine up someone's ass and not getting to what > is really going on, which the entire EFF document, or 'disclosure' > effectively doesn't do. It's one large 'we hate each other but we're > still really good friends' letter with Mitch & Barlow kissing off Godwin > who is a person who spent much more then the time he was paid for, looking > out for what he felt was important. Does anyone think maybe part of the reason for the "reorganization" is that Mitch & Co. wanted to be more conveiniently situated while spending the next four years of kissing the ass of Al "Friend-of-the-Internet" Gore? --Aaron, who's posting late 'cause he was on vacation for two weeks with a DOA PowerBook ______________________________ Subject: Re: Forward from EFF From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:26:05 EST Subject: Re: Forward from EFF From: kieran (Aaron Dickey) Message-ID: <70eTXB1w165w@mindvox.phantom.com> References: Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 00:47:41 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system falconer (Steve Copold) writes: > Whatever their rationale, all of us will be poorer for Rita's absence at > the EFF offices. To put it bluntly, EFF, you've fucked up big-time! No > amount of money could have bought you the outstanding PR that Rita did on > your behalf over the net. She may have been abrasive on occassion, but I > never for instant doubted that her heart was in the right place...and in > the end, that is all that really counts. "Abrasive" doesn't even begin to cover it, but even I have to agree here: except for the occasional posting by Carl Kadie on the USENET groups, Rita essentially WAS the EFF everywhere I've ever been on the Internet except for CompuServe (where the EFF Forum seemed more of a place for lots of inside jokes than anything else). And dumped on her honeymoon...truly shitty behavior on the part of whoever the "powers" are at EFF, coincidence or not. Ah well Rita...at least now even I can agree that you're a full-fledged member of Generation X. Enjoy the ride. :) --Aaron ______________________________ Subject: Re: EFF From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:27:29 EST Subject: EFF From: digital (Patrick K. Kroupa) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 04:13:11 EST In-Reply-To: Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system Bruce and I are members of the national EFF as individuals, Phantom Access is presently at 7 or 8 people, Bruce and I are not Phantom Access, anymore than we are MindVox. WE ARE INDIVIDUALS. And have the right to do anything we want at anytime we want because they CAN'T make us go to sleep at 11pm anymore. To clarify something; I sent a personal letter to John and Mitch, Mitch replied to me, Barlow replied to me and then cc'd it to some of the staff lists at EFF I think (Rita would know who is on these lists much better than I do). Most of what he said was directed at me personally and had nothing to do with any specific issue or situation, the only salient portion being a request to reprint the letter in a forthcoming special edition of EFFector; which is cool with me. I don't really judge people by exactly what they do, or keep running lists of GOOD_DEEDS and BAD_DEEDS, because ya know; whatever . . . everybody fucks up sometimes and wishes they could go back in time and do some editing. The dissolution of the Cambridge office was probably not handled in the best possible manner, and given the chance to do it over again, I have this funny feeling that it would probably be done a little differently. What it eventually comes down to is; whattya want? Do you want to stamp around and feel outraged and pissed off and point out this failing and that mistake . . . or do you find the positive, focus on it, and not worry about the negative, since you can probably rest assured it will always exist. If you give it your attention, it becomes amplified, if you find the good, then that becomes amplified. Digging in shit only gets you covered with it, it doesn't make a better tomorrow. The EFF has my support; but that isn't a very good reason for them to have yours. If you are interested in their goals and agenda, there is a great deal of material available in the Archives (Cyberspace/EFF/). Read some of it, decide whether or not it concerns you -- which, by the way, if you're reading these words, IT DOES -- and then take whatever action you deem appropriate. To the best of my knowledge, most of the noise regarding the "new EFF" has more to do with un-focused malaise, rather than any particular issue. Patrick ______________________________ Subject: Re: THE TRUTH From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:27:39 EST Subject: Re: THE TRUTH From: georget (George Thompson) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:12:44 EST In-Reply-To: Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system I only discovered most of this a couple of weeks ago and still get overwhelmed by the sheer size of it everything thats going on here that they don't teach you about on pcboard :-) I've managed to keep my mouth closed until I finished downloading all the EFF documents from the archives, now that I've read some of them and in particular those that deal with the eff's mission I'm thrown off track a little by what's going on. Reading between the lines, a dangerous practice I know I see heartfelt support of the EFF without many facts. I see the message from digital which is backed by a philosophical outlook I deeply respect, but it's also careful to be free of all facts. What it says to me is digital is friends with barlow or someone at EFF, this wasn't clear, and supports his friend because he knows he's a good person. I'm always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt but I am still unsure how the EFF went from the organization described in its literature online, to being a lobbying group in washington, which to me doesn't look like it has anything to do with the EFF's original purpose. It also is painfully obvious they did a awful job of managment and administration and are kicking some of their formerly loyal employees in the butt with a steel tipped boot. GeorgeT Not for not against, waiting to see what happens with some hope! ______________________________ Subject: Re: THE TRUTH From: georget@mindvox.phantom.com (George Thompson) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:27:33 EST Subject: THE TRUTH From: czarina (Rita Rouvalis) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 14:14:18 EST Organization: [Phantom Access] / the MindVox system I mean, I've been sick of doing rumor control for a long time now, and as I'm no longer getting paid for it, I'm not very enthusiastic about continuing in that role. It's just a time-sucking vortex. Yes, I was fired without previous notice the day I left on my honeymoon. Although I probably should have read the signs better and known it was coming. Not like they did it on purpose, or anything (Oh, now that Rita is married and going on her honemoon, we can really fuck up her life). It was just sucky timing. And I got over it. And now I get to be a HOUSEWIFE (choke, sputter, hurl) until I find something else. And have lots of time to make people on the nets miserable with my non-official presence. I don't know what kind of deal Mike cut. I don't know where the organization is going. Fig is working on an EFFector Online that should explain most things. Bruce is not alone in his card-chopping activities, and he and Pat even joined seperately. ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 13:51:07 -0700 From: "-=/[ drow ]/=-" Subject: multiple conversations paul fly wrote on the subway walls... > I can imagine someone training themselves to talk to someone and > type at the same time, perhaps holding two completely different > conversations at the same time. If such a person lived their entire lives > this way, they might actually develop two seperate personalities and even > two seperate *seleves*, except that they would still have only one body, > and they speak to themselves one way only. i dunno, i think i manage to do ok. i waste, er, SPEND a lot of time on IRC, and have usually been pretty successful at talking to someone locally at the same time, except when it's something really complicated, like trying to explain pointers to someone trying to learn c with no previous computer programming experience. hell, i've kept up with two channels on IRC, too, and everybody knows that we're just the same entity anyway, right, talking to itself in an infinite loop to avoid boredom... oh, sorry. and i speak to myselves in many ways. :) -=/[ drow ]/=- 'picture yourself as a cloud in the sky' ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 15:07:27 +0600 (CST) From: cybyr Subject: Re: mailer fuckups, aside, here's my .02 On Mon, 25 Jan 1993, Brian C. Sherman wrote: > I can understand some of the possible problems with current drug usage, > especially if it inhibits performance. However, why does past drug usage > become a factor? What does it mean? For example - there was a time when It means that past might and often does lead to current.....and sometimes - not always - leads to more intense usage on the second go around..... It all just depends. There are no constants. All is CHAOS. ;) > and mind to function. I don't drink all that much anymore. > > If anything, the past drug usage in my situation led me to a better > understanding of my life. You would tell me that this is negative and not Great! I am glad. No I would not tell you that is negative - that was not the point of the thread at the time. ;) > Sounds ridiculous to me. I don't think past usage of substances has any > bearing. Current usage does, if we are not a 'free country'. If we are not, [see above] > Ob_Personal_Opinion: If one individual's drug usage does not dampen their > effectiveness in fulfilling their societal role, it's nobody else's damn > business. Example: Joe likes to get rip-roaring drunk, but he does it only > after scheduling down-time from work and responsibilities. "Wow, I've got > 24hrs free, let's grab so Bud!" Get real! ;-) If it was that well planned Joe would never drink, because he would also be smart enough to weigh the consequences and then decide it was not worth the risk (" Besides the boss might call while I am drunk and need a ride because he got a flat on the way home from the airport") Again this is purely conjectural and has absolutely no basis in reality. It would however make a boring vid game "Joe Kent - The Daily Planner" ;-) > The deal with a closed system utilizing a small number of people is that there > is less chance for that kind of scheduled down-time. If the populace must be > on 24 hour call for emergencies, then there is no down-time, and thus, drug > usage that impairs performance can not fit into the equation. Exactly, that is correct sir! (sardonic Ed McMahon voice over) > And the psych-screening - What do you hope to achieve with that? Who are you > attempting to filter out? People who haven't learned how to give the > 'correct' answers on psych tests? (Timothy Leary) Come on - quit idolizing Leary (cybyr dons his U.N. Nuke suit). I do not believe that it was stated that there were going to be tests (ie. "Does everyone have their blue scantron?") ;-) I think that some of the best testing can be done by utilizing scenario based testing where the individuals are observed in action during crisis and such.......I do not know to much about this type of testing but have read that it has a very high success rate. (ie. put a claustrophobic in a small room before the interview and YOU WILL KNOW they are claustrophobic). ;-) > > Oh well, enough for one rant. Comments? > cybyr thingy-attachment-file-end-sort-of-nuisance-deal...... The following message was brought to you by the friendly folx at CyberDyne Information Alliances -- the friendly folx at CIA say free the people, free the press, then press the free people.... ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 16:27:50 EST From: afb0@Lehigh.EDU (ALEXANDER FRANCIS BRENT) Subject: Togs ...As I sit here in Beetlejuice PA I tend to wear what is closest to me on the floor in the morning, doesn't smell, and won't make me freeze on my way to class. Today thats blue GAP jeans, which aren't old enough to have any holes in them yet, purple and yellow flannel boxers in deference to the weather, hiking boots, a white Parental Advisory / Explicit lyrics tee, and a replica M43 German WWII field cap, oh yeah, I have glasses too. Most of my wardrobe seems to come from surplus stores nowadays, cheap and durable being two things I look for in clothes. Just a comment on originality... To be truly original I think you would have to make your own clothes (I don't know whether this has been said or not yet, I'm not caught up yet), 'cause if you go into a store to buy your clothes, so can someone else, and you can both walk out with the same item, so I suppose it's what you do with the clothes after you buy them which makes them unique. ------ Zanderfargen - The experience of driving with me. ______________________________ Date: 26 Jan 1993 13:55:57 -0800 (PST) From: Vlad the Impaler Subject: Beasts on the Internet (666 of 'em) Howdy again all, OK, I'm sittin' in North American Archaeology and the prof is going off about fauna in Beringia, when God sends me a message personally. Well not quite, but anyway, I had an idea... So far all the talk with AI life has centered around organisms, specifically animals. As the dicsussion turned to sagebrush and its bad taste i thought "What if you modeled plants too?" You couldn't give plants much of an intelligence (staying realistic here), but you could do a lot of interesting stuff with them. For example you could use them simulate bias and prejudice. Plant A has thorns and my catasauras knows from previous experience that thorns aren't a neat thing to eat in a plant (the learning process). Thus when faced with a new plant its never seen before which also has thorns, the catasauras thinks (pseudo-thinks) "This plant has thorns. Plant A also had thorns and it wasn't good at all. I'll avoid this plant and all ones like it." Of course this behavior isn't a strict guideline, it could be made subjective. After all most of us don't eat grass and such, but if we were hungry and desperate enough we (at least I) would. Thus you could construct a kinda of subjective /bias table. As an animal gets hungrier, the different types of food that it will eat increases correspondingly. Now with this in mind, it is even possible to simulate people biases and prejudices (nasty as they are) such as say...... CLOTHES and such (where did that idea come from....). Example: Organism A meets Organism B, who is wearing a "Lame-stain" t-shirt. Org B is a jerk and Org A goes away from the meeting feeling ill-disposed towards org B. Now say Org A meets a new organism, say Org C who also wears a lamestain t-shirt. Automatically, the bias alogorithm sets in, and even if org C is really a neat type o' thing, org A will still have a bias (at least at first) in regards to Org C. Now this is a very simple and stupid model, but I think it shows how things like prejudice and bias can be modeled in a rather simple manner. Simplt write an algorithm that correlates a database of past experience with present perceptions to form an attitude towards something new. Actually, I'm sure this is really difficult to do, but the actual model itself is rather simplistic. I hope this stream hasn't made it seem as if bias and prejudice are things to be endorsed. Though generally not so good things, they're a fact of nature when it comes to our brains and learning processes, and anything additional that we can simulate, whether it be good nature or bad nature, is a step in the right direction towards the creation of AI life. Your friendly blood-bather and people-staker, Vlad -bambrose@pomona.claremont.edu ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 15:47:32 +0600 (CST) From: cybyr Subject: re: drug use on AUtopia On Mon, 25 Jan 1993, Juggler wrote: > > It's really silly that our society is out to get EVERY drug user they > can find. From what I understand you're talking about above you mean > the Navy catching someone who was using drugs. I think that if they > catch someone who was using drugs, but it hasn't impaired his job at > all then he should get off. If he gets caught cuz he say kills someone > acidentally while on drugs, he should be prosecuted as such. Get off? Even if policy or whatever states that s/he under no circumtances should be taken drugs while on duty? Again get real. ;) If it was your ass that the shit was going to hit you would feel dif. Superior officers in a military situation ARE responsible for their personel. BAD analogy on your part dude. If a recruit is using drugs then his superior officers are using drugs. That is the way they look at it. > > The gov't tends to want to ban anything that makes us feel good. Then, > they help import drugs and all. Ya know they are.. But at any rate, > that's my two meager, rusty cents. Disagree with the first point agree on second....give them time - when popular assent is reached drugs will be legal. > My school doesn't have opinions.... Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.... cyber ______________________________ Date: 26 Jan 93 16:55:07 EST From: Huy.Nghiem@Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Re: the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations Re: Language as a virus. Read Dawkins and his idea of memes, and the theory that ideas can and do self-propogate. Lanuages and religions are prime examples. [Hey y'all, try paralleling Catholicism with AIDS... ;)] Also, check out the book _Snow Crash_, by I believe Neal Stephanson, where he brings up the idea that these memetic viruses can manifest in binary format, with computers as plausible vectors. The Tower of Babel, Babylonian, the Net, cult religions, the Mafia, and high-speed pizza delivery are all interconnected in the book. It's great! percival@dartmouth.edu "Carpe caro -- seize the meat!" ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 14:04:27 -0800 From: Unpleasant Chameleon Subject: Clothes, _Wired_, media, and you (Pertaining to attitudes sensed flying around the net lately) Oh God, not another lapse into "I was into it before it was trendy"-mode. You should be enjoying the subversion of a culture when something goes from "underground" to "mainstream." And, if it is watered down and not in original form, so be it. At least the envelope has been pushed a little wider. In the case of "rave clothes" becoming popular, at least we don't have to look at that surfwear garbage anymore. _Wired_ is going through major distributors? Good! That way, "the word" will get out to the average mall rat, etc. People are thereby brought into the fold. If we are to be selfish with our ways, what good are they? They will amount to nothing more than an isolated, atrophied "meme." Sit back and enjoy. Fan the flames. They tried that "drop out" shit in the 60s and it didn't work. Turn on, tune in, and take over. Or, to raise another counterculture ghost, "Revolution for the Hell of it!" (You'll have to excuse me, I'm on a lot of Abbie Hoffman right now. But you should be too!) - My name is Grim and I am a net.lurker. ______________________________ From: "Spam@tin.supermarket.tescos" Subject: Re: The Doc'ers Club (as seen on TV) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 16:09:28 +0000 (GMT) Spam, spam, egg and prozac : => =>Couple notes on the couture (sp?) thread so-far: => =>-=) Should we rename this group the Doc'ers Club? Damn.... How much => are people paying for Doc's these days? How available are they => in malls in different areas? You can get the newer ones at => Kinney Shoes around here....$99, $109 for 8 hole....But 8 holes => around here are still reserved for the skin'ies.... Whhhhaaaaaaaaattttttt - I payed approx 25 pounds sterling for my pair of 10 holed steel toe-capped DMs - non steel toe-capped ones are slightly more expensive coz the steelies are tax free coz they are 'safety shoes'. I bought mine coz they are cheap, comfortable and practical - I'll probably by ex german army combat boots next coz they're even cheaper! How come they're so frighteningly expensive in the states - kind of goes against the whole point of them IMHO. => =>-=) I didn't get the impression that colorfulness was a desirable => aspect either.....I like lots of colour in my clothes... I get so => sick of basic black...People seem to feel you can't really be => identified as alternative, or industrial, or a cyberpunk, or => beatnik, or whatever if you don't dress black...poppycock... I => wish more people would break away from the coffeehouse syndrome => of style.... I kinda agree wiv U - I wear a lot of black - but then I have been doing since I was about 5 coz I like the colour - long before I discoved 'alternative culture' - but I like some brighter colours - purple fleece tops, big lurid wooly jumpers that are really eye-damaging, and you don't want to know how bright my cycling gear is....... ;-> => Hey, someone get Cindy Crawford on this list... Yo! *8') Spam. ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 13:18:43 -0800 From: Brian Willoughby Subject: Re: Newsweek is Wired | [...] | | Unfortunately, several frustrating calls to his suppliers turned | up a very distrubing fact--none of them had it! Another roundo | of calls--this time to the Wired people themslves--no avail. | Finally, he got hold of one distributor and found out the awful | truth about Wired--THEY WILL ONLY DEAL WITH BIG DISTRIBUTORS! | | That's right folks, B Dalton, Waldenbooks, Encore, Tower, you name | it--as long as its a big conglomerate-chain that can afford to | buy in quantity. Fuck the little guy, as it were. | | Sean | | (maybe I'll be eating these words--I hope so) I'm not trying to make you eat your words, but I called up my favorite small-time newsstand, The Eastside Daily Planet, on the 25th and they were just putting out WIRED. The reason I won't disagree with your story is because, although this individual is not a chain, he gets his magazines from a single distributor and actually has no say-so about his own selection or quantity. He actually asked me to tell him all I knew about WIRED so he could decide whether to put it in the computer section or the music/Mondo/sex section - I said put it in both! This guy has told me a lot about High Frontiers and Reality Hackers (which I missed when they were new) in the past, and he had never even read an issue. I guess I don't know what point I'm trying to make, other than that the little guy is already fucked in some situations... --- Brian Willoughby Software Design Engineer, BSEE NCSU BrianW@SoundS.WA.com Sound Consulting: Software Design and Development NeXTmail welcome ______________________________ Date: 26 Jan 1993 14:53:21 -0800 (PST) From: Vlad the Impaler Subject: More AI life babble Hmm, normally there's only about a five minute turnaround between post to FC and receiving it back, but its been about 45 minutes now. Maybe the net is busy, maybe my spewage was engulfed by a transdimensional vortex. The wonder of it all. zamboni@ap.cl.msu.edu comments: > Do you think that the ecology in an > artificial system like this would balance itself, truely? Or that some > "greater power" (the wizzes in MUD terms) will have to be the balancing agent? I don't think this sort of thing would require a lot of supervision. Personally I envision this more as a research thing than a play MUD thing, and hopefully some way could be found to discourage adolescent power-trippers on this sort of thing. I think ultimately, the limits of how you could code an organism would keep the system on some sort of balance. There will be people who want to make Chomp-o-matic things, but there will also be people who want to design all sorts of other things, cyber-deer, skunk cabbage, etc.. What would be really interesting would be if whole environments/non-living thingies could be made. Construct a ruined city and then watch as your legion of archaeologist-things play and manipulate the data that they find there. Make another city, different this time, and watch as your critters apply what they "learned" from the first excavation to their work on the new one. I think it should also be possible to isolate ones' organisms from other users. This takes a bit of the fun out of it, but it also allows experimentation through control environments and variable environments, ie observe the two environments, one open, one closed, and then at the end record the changes in terms of what each environment has gained/lost/etc... The possibilities here are endless. Yes, the idea of constructing a world from the bottom-up is a vast and complicated one, but with a multi-user system like a mud is, people could work together, specialize, etc... and the creation process could be speeded up a great deal. Me, I'd like to make plants and things like that, little things, and then watch their effects carry on up to the bigger things. Tweak a smell/taste variable here, and then watch as the organisms who feed on it change their habits. Yes, most of the stuff i'm talking about is very basic and most everybody could predict what would happen. But we're talking about a fledgling field here, so it's gotta start somewhere. And just think of the possibilities when you mix A-life and VR into one package... In closing, I think that a balance would be achieved simply because different people want to design different things. Get enough people together and you're going to cover most bases, and what you don't, just wing. > -Zamboni > zamboni@ap.cl.msu.edu Vlad the ever-thirsty -bambrose@pomona.claremont.edu ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 14:54:38 PST From: Al Sargent Subject: clothes Lots of leather and earrings in this responses here. As a developer working for a large corporation, I can wear pretty much whatever I want. Generally that's jeans, a t-shirt or oxford, and nikes with sox. When raining I wear hiking boots and a ski jacket. Basically, the style is Yuppie Gap Casual (tm). Al ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:15:49 PDT From: Subject: Re: the motha of all viruses and father of us mutations > Also, check out the book _Snow > Crash_, by I believe Neal Stephanson, where he brings up the idea that these > memetic viruses can manifest in binary format, with computers as plausible > vectors. Snow Crash is indeed a good book. The part where a computer virus can spread to humans who are unfortunate enough to look at its bitmap representation, though, is probably intended as witty exaggeration, just like the part about high-tech pizza-delivery samurai. It's certainly true that memes may spread from human to human using computers as an intermediary. (Joe logs into BBS 1, posts a message. Later Jane logs in and reads it.) And from computer to computer by means of humans. (Jane logs into BBS 1, captures the message, and posts it on BBS 2.) But I've not yet seen a virus that could truly propagate computer-to-computer as well as human-to-human. Imagine a virus whose source code was so short that it could be easily memorized (4 or 5 lines). One of the behaviors of this virus would be to print its own listing on the screen of infected machines. Programmers who see it might think "hey, wow, neat idea," and they might tell their friends, who then type it in on another machine, etc. Heh, heh, heh. Now you have a virus that infects both computers and people. This is extremely hypothetical, of course, since I don't know of a programming language that allows a virus like that to be written in so few lines of code. ______________________________ Date: 26 Jan 93 18:26:56 EST From: Cleona Washington <76703.210@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Anti-clothing Cheap purple tank-t, cheap lime green nylon shorts, cheap Surfah slippahs, two small gold hoops in right ear, gradiant brown-tinted bifocals. -- C. ______________________________ Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 18:56:40 -0500 From: zoldak@netop1 (Jessie Zoldak) Subject: WIRED TRANSCRIPT -- Cellular Phreaks Hey kids -- I figured that some bodies out there might wanna give a reading to this here article. Here it is, in all its glory. -- Jester JessieZ jessie@harvarda.harvard.edu ------------------------------INCLUDE------------------------------ CELLULAR PHREAKS & CODE DUDES HACKING CHIPS ON CELLULAR PHONES IS THE LATEST THING IN THE DIGITAL UNDERGROUND By John Markoff (Wired Premiere Issue 1993) In Silicon Valley, each new technology gives rise to a new generation of hackers. Consider the cellular telephone. The land-based telephone system was originally the playground for a small group of hardy adventurers who believed mastery of telephone technology was an end in itself. Free phone calls weren't the goal of the first phone phreaks. The challenge was to understand the system. The philosophy of these phone hackers: Push the machines as far as they would go. Little has changed. Meet V.T. and N.M., the nation's most clever cellular phone phreaks. (Names here are obscured because, as with many hackers, V.T. and N.M.'s deeds inhabit a legal gray area.) The original phone phreaks thought of themselves as "telecommunications hobbyists" who explored the nooks and crannies of the nation's telephone network - not for profit, but for intellectual challenge. For a new generation of mobile phone hackers, the cellular revolution offers rich new veins to mine. V.T. is a young scientist at a prestigious government laboratory. He has long hair and his choice in garb frequently tends toward Patagonia. He is generally regarded as a computer hacker with few equals. N.M. is a self-taught hacker who lives and works in Silicon Valley. He has mastered the intricacies of Unix and DOS. Unusually persistent, he spent almost an entire year picking apart his cellular phone just to see how it works. What V.T. and N.M. discovered last year is that cellular phones are really just computers - network terminals - linked together by a gigantic cellular network. They also realized that just like other computers, cellular phones are programmable. Programmable! In a hacker's mind that means there is no reason to limit a cellular phone to the paltry choice of functions offered by its manufacturer. That means that cellular phones can be hacked! They can be dissected and disassembled and put back together in remarkable new ways. Optimized! Cellular phones aren't the first consumer appliances to be cracked open and augmented in ways their designers never conceived. Cars, for example, are no longer the sole province of mechanics. This is the information age: Modern automobiles have dozens of tiny microprocessors. Each one is a computer; each one can be reprogrammed. Hot rodding cars today doesn't mean throwing in a new carburetor; it means rewriting the software governing the car's fuel injection system. This is the reality science fiction writers William Gibson and Bruce Sterling had in mind when they created cyberpunk: Any technology, no matter how advanced, almost immediately falls to the level of the street. Here in Silicon Valley, there are hundreds of others like V.T. and N.M. who squeeze into the crannies of any new technology, bending it to new and more exotic uses. On a recent afternoon, V.T. sits at a conference room table in a San Francisco highrise. In his hand is an OKI 900 cellular phone. It nestles comfortably in his palm as his fingers dance across the keyboard. Suddenly, the tiny back-lit screen flashes a message: "Good Timing!" Good Timing? This is a whimsical welcome message left hidden in the phone's software by the manufacturer's programmers. V.T. has entered the phone's software sub-basement - a command area normally reserved for technicians. This is where the phone can be reprogrammed; a control point from which the phone can be directed to do new and cooler things. It is hidden by a simple undocumented password. How did V.T. get the password, or even know one was required? It didn't even take sophisticated social engineering - the phone phreak's term for gaining secret engineering data by fooling unwitting employees into thinking they are talking to and official phone company technician. Rather, all he did was order the technical manual, which told him he needed special codes to enter the software basement. V.T. then called the cellular phone maker's technical support hotline. "They said 'sorry about that,' and asked for a fax number. A couple of minutes later we had the codes," he recalls with a faint grin. V.T.'s fingers continue darting across the keys - he is issuing commands built into the phone by the original programmers. These commands are not found in the phone's user manual. Suddenly, voices emerge from the phone's ear piece. The first is that of a salesman getting his messages from a voice mail system. V.T. shifts frequencies. Another voice. A woman giving her boss directions to his next appointment. What's going on here? V.T. and N.M. have discovered that every cellular phone possesses a secret mode that turns it into a powerful cellular scanner. That's just the beginning. Using a special program called a "disassembler," V.T. has read-out the OKI's software, revealing more that 90 secret commands for controlling the phone. That's how the two hackers found the undocumented features that turn the phone into a scanner. Best of all, the manufacturer has included a simple interface that makes it possible to control the phone with a standard personal computer. A personal computer! The most programmable of a hacker's tools! That means that what appears to be a simple telephone can be easily transformed into a powerful machine that can do things its designers never dreamed of! V.T. and N.M. have also discovered that the OKI's 64-Kbyte ROM - a standard off-the-shelf chip that stores the phone's software - has more than 20 Kbytes of free space. Plenty of room to add special features, just like hot rodding the electronics of a late-model car. Not only do the hackers use the software that is already there, but they can add some of their own as well. And for a good programmer, 20 Kbytes is a lot of room to work with. It is worth noting that V.T. and N.M. are not interested in getting free phone calls. There are dozens of other ways to accomplish that, as an anonymous young pirate recently demonstrated by stealing the electronic serial number from a San Diego roadside emergency box and then racking up thousands of phone calls before the scam was discovered. (Such a serial number allowed the clever hacker to create a phone that the phone network thought was somewhere on a pole by the side of the freeway.) It's also possible to wander to street corners in any borough in New York City and find a code dude - street slang for someone who illegally pirates telephone codes - who will give you 15 minutes of phone time to any corner of the world for $10. These "dudes" find illegally gathered charge card numbers and then resell them on the street until telephone security catches on. The tip-off: often an unusually large number of calls to Ecuador or France emanating from one particular street corner. Then again, it's possible for you to join the code hackers who write telephone software that automatically finds codes to be stolen. Or you can buy a hot ROM - one that contains magic security information identifying you as a paying customer. Either way, your actions would be untraceable by the phone company's interwoven security databases. But free phone calls are not what V.T. and N.M. are about, "It's so boring," says V.T. "If you're going to do something illegal, you might as well do something interesting." So what's tempting? N.M. has hooked his portable PC and his cellular phone together. He watches the laptop's screen, which is drawing a map of each cellular phone call currently being placed in our cell - a term for the area covered by one broadcast unit in the cellular phone network. The network can easily query each cellular phone as to its current location. When phones travel from one cell to the next - as they tend to do in a car - information is passed on in the form of hidden code married to the phone transmission. Since N.M. knows where each local cell is, he can display the approximate geographic locations of each phone that is currently active. But for that tracking scheme to work, the user must be on the phone. It would take only a few days of hacking to extend the software on N.M.'s PC to do an even more intriguing monitoring task: Why not pirate the data from the cellular network's paging channel (a special frequency that cellular networks use to communicate administrative information to cellular phones) and use it to follow car phones through the networks? Each time there is a hand-off from one cell to the next, that fact could be recorded on the screen of the PC - making it possible to track users regardless of whether or not they are on the phone. Of course this is highly illegal, but N.M. muses that the capability is something that might be extremely valuable to law enforcement agencies - and all at a cost far below the exotic systems they now use. Hooking a cellular phone to a personal computer offers other surveillance possibilities as well. V.T. and N.M. have considered writing software to monitor particular phone numbers. They could easily design a program that turns the OKI 900 on when calls are originated from a specific number, or when specific numbers are called. A simple voice-activated recorder could then tape the call. And, of course, a reprogrammed phone could automatically decode touch-tone passwords - making it easy to steal credit card numbers and voice- mail codes. Then there's the vampire phone. Why not, suggests V.T., take advantage of a cellular phone's radio frequency leakage - inevitable low-power radio emissions - to build a phone that, with the press of a few buttons, could scan the RF spectrum for the victim's electronic serial number. You'd have to be pretty close to the target phone to pick up the RF, but once you have the identity codes, a reprogrammed phone becomes digitally indistinguishable from the original. This is the type of phone fraud that keeps federal investigators up at night. Or how about the ultimate hacker's spoof? V.T. has carefully studied phone company billing procedures and found many examples of inaccurate bills. Why not monitor somebody's calls and then anonymously send the person a corrected version of their bill: "According to our records...." Of course, such software hacks are probably highly illegal, and authorities seem to be catching on. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 makes it a federal crime to eavesdrop on cellular phone calls. More recently, Congress passed another law forbidding the manufacture of cellular scanners. While they may not be manufacturers, both N.M. and V.T. realize that their beautifully crafted phones are probably illegal. For now, their goals are more modest. V.T., for example, would like to be able to have several phones with the same phone number. Not a problem, as it turns out. Although federal law requires that electronic serial numbers be hidden in specially protected memory locations, V.T. and N.M. have figured out how to pry the OKI's ESN out and write software so that they can replace it with their own number. V.T. and N.M.'s explorations into the soul of the OKI 900 have left them with a great deal of admiration for OKI's programmers. "I don't know what they were thinking, but they had a good time," V.T. said. "This phone was clearly built by hackers." The one thing V.T. and N.M. haven't decided is whether or not they should tell OKI about the bugs - and the possibilities - they've found in the phone's software. ______________________________ From: mcarpent@ecn.purdue.edu (Matthew A Carpenter) Subject: Cool Darkness, Chapter 8 Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 19:02:05 EST hey all, I'm not sure that the first transfer worked, so here is chapter 8. If it did get through, please ignore it. Cool Darkness by Matthew Carpenter Chapter 8 : Renewal of Sight A few days passed after Jack's slaying. Nemesis and Slash had started off on a warpath, never letting up on the pressure against Mogul, not even for sleep. Nebulus continued to stay at his club over the nights since, knowing full well that he was a target on more than a few hit lists. His plan had succeeded, but then again, it didn't. "Two this is three. Any contact yet?" hushly spoke Slash into her comm, still keeping her eyes on the bar entrance to Top Cocks, a gay bar that one of Mogul's hit men spent time at. Parked two blocks away, she had good view of the entrance with night-vision binoculars from her sitting point in a stolen navy blue Honda. "Negative. Hold out. Target in sight; wait for mark." Nemesis blue sighted-in his target with a silenced Barrett Final 50 : a military sniper rifle outfitted with .50 armor piercers. The early morning left few people on the streets in this area; ideal for an assassination. Laying in a prone position in an apartment building opposing the bar's entrance, he steadied the rifle with it's tripod, pulled it snug into his shoulder with his target's eyeball in line, "Mark." Quickly, he squeezed off three rounds into his target's head and as his body fell, let fall four more into his chest. In no time, Slash was waiting in her car in front of the apartment. A few patrons came out of the bar, anticipating the target's drunken state, only to find him lying with seven holes in his body. As they looked up to spot Slash, she let out with a volley of needles from her Sinclair. "Dust two more" she said as she drove off, leaving Nemesis enough time to safely jump on his bike and throw a party favor into the bar as he took off after Slash. The bar threw up a thick cloud of fire and smoke from it's doors and nearby windows as the bomb exploded, detonating the entire structure and sending it up in flames. 'Eleven down, seven to go' thought Nemesis as he drove along the surrounding highway of Philly, well out of danger of the menacing fire cloud that lingered to the west of him as it continued to grow out of control. Setting off another explosion, he could see the red clouds of ash against the light blue morning sky. "Now that's what I call art" he half- heartily smirked. Passing a slow car got him even more angry as his smirk subsided. Approaching another one, he grabbed a fire grenade from his chest, ripped the pin out with his teeth, and wailed it through the back windshield of the forerunning car. The driver squealed the tires, swerving off to the side until the grenade went off, throwing the fireball through the guard-rail and down the embankment. "Time to go pay someone a visit' he thought looking ahead as he hit the accelerator. ***************** Nebulus sat at the head of a conference table in the basement of his joint. Thick smoke hung like fog from the ceiling and the music from upstairs could faintly be heard if no one talked. Nine men and two women sat at the table, mostly decked out with suits, expensive cigars, and a few pills apiece. "You haven't said anything since we got here Nebulus. What's up?" spoke up one of the men to his right. A few heads stirred, but nothing drastic was taken to find out the contents of the evening. Experience of dealing with Nebulus' moods forced them to keep calm, or deal with his temper. "How did the gateway hold up to the ICE attack?" he calmly stated, keeping his eyes glued to the table top. "It was difficult, but we finally killed it. No big loss. Now we know of the weaknesses exposed by the attack" spoke up Al Geer, Director of Computer Applications for the Philadelphia division of the NSA. "That's an interesting comment from a government employee, Al". "Hey, we almost had the thing up and running completely until that whoever fucked it up!" retaliated Will Russel. "You guys really get me. Two goddamn bureaucrats fightin' for the same thing. It was you morons that kicked me out of the gateway. I couldn't even get in to do business!" "And what kinda business would that be?" asked Will. "No business for some overweight mayor's dog like you Russell!" "If it wasn't for me, you'd be behind bars for your drug operations, boy!" "And you'd be dead right now, too" he said glaring at Will. That shut him up, real good. A few moments passed before the tension and silence rolled it's way over the table and out the door. "Gentlemen", spoke up Dan as he stood up, "Let's not bicker about this bullshit. We have business to take care of. Nebulus, how's the support on your end coming?" he concluded sitting down. A few taps on the table, "Support is shaky since you cut everyone out of the nets" he said look around the room. A few more taps, "But, I think that once we get it under control, everything will cool down. The money is fine and the setup is fine; you guys just haven't delivered. How much progress have you made getting it back on line?" "It'll take us two days or so to get it back on line. Whoever ran against us ate a lot of stuff before we finally killed it" assured Mark, head of software development for the project, that by now had government funding both over and under the counter. "Ever find out who did it?" asked Al. "Naw, too many problems to trace it. It was probably Cryon though, since we snuffed them out of this grant by killing their access to the nets" laughed Mark. "Yeah, but someone broke into that place and tore it to pieces right before we went online" came the first comment from a normally boisterous Joanne. "My god, she does talk" kidded the man sitting next to her, who got an elbow in his ribs. "Maybe it was the same group. I mean, they had to know about Cryon's actions with the net killers. That was their target, right?" came back Joanne who was noticeably getting nervous from the whole situation; nervous of her credentials. "She's right. It could definitely be the same team. But who would have the capabilities to pull it off?" remarked Al, eyeing Nebulus who was the only one with the expertise to answer such a question. "I've got no idea, honestly. Mogul's got, or should I say had the firepower, but not the brains to pull it off. Acid, Thrash, Death Squad and Zork are all in the same boat. Deep Six has the brains, but not the brawn. That would leave us with a bunch of incompetents, NOT, or a few groups. However, the only ones that I would place bets on would be Falcon, Safe Haven, and Megalomania." "What about Nestroth. Everyone knows you've got one of the best teams on the East Coast" confronted Al. "Had one of the best teams, had. Two of our key players were assassinated three days before Cryon went up. Even with them, I doubt we could've pulled it off. I think it was an inside job or a corporate attack on both fronts. What's our corporate informant have to say about that?" "Absolutely nothing. Most of the corporations are keeping security tight" spoke up Tiffany. She dabbed her cigarette in the ash tray and drew a breath from it. "I doubt it was a corporate job, at least not an inside one. Cryo