Tevun-Krus #107 - A Very Merry PiratePunk Christmas, Matey!

The Santa Claus Virus - A Story by @johnnedwill

The Santa Claus Virus

by johnnedwill

It was the day after the riots, and the air in the mall was still thick with the stench of gas and burnt plastic. The mix of chemicals was powerful enough that Inspector Corden's eyes watered from the fumes. She adjusted her AR goggles, tightening the band that held them against her face. It would have been easier for her to survey the scene from the comfort of her office, trusting to the sensors on a police drone to spot the evidence for her. However, Corden had taken the words of her ex-mentor - a policeman of the old school - to heart: Always go and see for yourself. Simulations and virtual reality are no substitute for actually being there.

The advice had served Corden well throughout her career.

"Tell me what happened," she said to the officer accompanying her.

The officer looked around the debris-strewn hall, orienting himself through the images his goggles displayed for him. "There," he said, and pointed towards a ruined storefront. The windows of the shop had been smashed in the chaos, reducing them to razor-sharp crystal shards. Ruined displays littered the space beyond, with only a few pieces of trampled merchandise remaining. "That was where the first of the autofacs blew its top. You should be able to access the files from the security cameras."

Corden glanced up towards the icon that had appeared in the corner of her field of vision. Automatically the file began to play, overlaying the video onto the scene in front of her. Ghostly figures appeared in front of her, going through the motions of the day before. Corden moved towards the back of the shop, where the autofacs had been, and watched as first one then another began to spew out boxes. The shop clerks panicked. Some of them crowded around the autofac control panel, pushing at buttons; others tried to hold back the crowds that grabbed at the goods and each other. Corden stopped the video. It wasn't going to tell her anything that she didn't already know.

"I want to hear it from you," Corden told the officer. "You were there."

The officer closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It just spread from here," he replied. "Before we knew it, every other autofac in the mall had gone crazy. Even those in the food court. We tried to shut them down, to contain the damage, but - ." He hesitated.

"But?"

"We just couldn't." His voice trembled, then died away.

Inspector Corden said nothing. Instead she started the video playback again and scrolled through the timeline. People scurried back and forth - a tide of humanity ebbing and flowing. It was almost laughable, except that five people had died as the crowd surged through the mall. Corden followed them, from one malfunctioning autofac to the next. "This incident. The autofacs didn't go simultaneously?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. We were just reacting to the crowd."

"You lost control. Understandable. Now, let me outline the situation as I see it going down. Something hit the first autofac. Then whatever did it spread through the network, subverting the others as it went."

The officer thought for a minute. "I guess that's what happened."

"Well, we'll get that confirmed. My department will send a list of components for examination. Controllers, terminals, that sort of thing. Everything else can be scrubbed clean - and I mean clean. But not until it's cleared up the chain. Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am." The officer tapped something into his data slate. "Is there anything else you need?"

"Not for now," the inspector replied. "We'll let you know when we do." Corden had only the vaguest of ideas as to where the investigation would lead, but she would follow whatever leads she could find. It was important that whoever was responsible for this was found and that justice was done. "Thank you, officer."

The officer saluted Inspector Corden. "Thank you, ma'am." 

* * * * *

Corden entered the data laboratory. "Alright, Ben. You said you had something for me?"

Ben glanced back over his shoulder at the inspector. His eyes were covered by a set of bulbous, black AR goggles. Sensor needles ringed the eyepieces, scanning the space around them in a mathematically-precise fractal pattern. The overall effect was to give Ben, the department datatech, the appearance of an insectoid cyborg. "Plenty, inspector. I followed up that hunch of yours - the one about the timeline for the malfunctions? Would you care to see?"

"That's why I'm here."

The technician made a series of gestures and summoned a three-dimensional image in he air between him and Corden. The image was a series of coloured spheres, linked by pulsing threads that appeared and disappeared in waves.

"This is a topological map of the data networks in the mall," Ben explained. "You can see the traffic," he pointed at the neon lines, "as it passes between the processor nodes. Now, let me show you what happens when the virus is activated."

"Wait?" Corden gave Ben a puzzled look. "A virus? Not an attack?"

"A virus. Now, observe how it subverts the autofac in the store." One of the spheres changed colour from green to an angry, flashing red. "Then the virus travels along the network to its next target." As Ben spoke, more and more of the spheres changed to match the first one.

Corden moved closer to the model, examining it closely. "May I?"

"Please. Be my guest." Ben stood aside to allow the inspector room to manipulate the image.

"It doesn't look like the virus is spreading through the autofacs."

"Very observant," the technician replied. "It's using the payment network. When a autofac requests confirmation of an authorised transaction, it's infected. If the virus had been better coded, then the autofac processors would not have overloaded. I found code fragments residing in the non-volatile memories of processor units that were recovered from the mall. It looks like the individual responsible for coding it was trying to bypass the DRM servers by spoofing them into authorising the autofac."

"You mean a pirate did this?" Corden's tone was one of disbelief.

Ben allowed himself a smug smile. "More like somebody was trying to play Santa Claus. They weren't diverting the money to their account; just making it so that nobody would be paying for anything."

"I suppose you're going to tell me you know exactly who this pirate is just by looking at the code?"

"No." Ben shook his head. "All the code modules that were recovered can be found in public depositories. Any script kiddy could have put this one together - and probably did, judging by the mess they made."

"So you're telling me there is no way to trace who did this?"

"I didn't say that. Remember what I said about the vector being the payment network? Well, whoever put the virus into the system used the authentication terminal to inject the virus."

Corden's face lit up as she realised what the technician was telling her. "And was your script kiddy stupid enough to use their own credit?"

"Would you like to know who it was?"

* * * * *

The suspect was standing in the middle of his bedroom, shivering in fear of the armed officers pointing their weapons at him. To Corden the scene was disappointingly familiar: a room full of the debris of teenage life - dirty clothes, old toys not yet discarded. There should have been no need for strong-arm tactics to make the arrest, but procedures had to be followed. She checked the identity of the suspect - fifteen years old; no more than a boy - comparing the ashen- faced individual in front of her to the image in her AR goggles. "Joseph Chen?"

"Y-yes," the kid stuttered.

"Joseph Chen. You are under arrest for the following crimes: electronic fraud, copyright violation, causing criminal damage, manslaughter ... " Corden read out the list of charges scrolling across her field of vision. "Do you have anything to say at this time?"

The teenager choked back a sob, and his voice wavered. "I just wanted everyone to have a happy Christmas."