Chapter 20: Virtual Gwen

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My mind works faster than my hands can type. So I lean back in my chair and ditch the keyboard and mouse. And the monitor. Seriously cool. BrainTech's X-chip is supposed to be the future of BCIs or brain computer interfaces, but Excalibur is all I need.

A way to connect my brain.

Probing the backdoor I left from hacking Fydor's account is like hanging out in an abandoned alley late at night, hoping to find a secret passageway out without alerting zeros and ones that go bump in the night—dark and creepy. I catch myself squeezing a stuffed mermaid; I may have kept one or two. 

Exaclibur is immersive, heady stuff.

I find the access point—not a direct link to his account, but to the main system where all accounts are created and managed. But that's not what I'm looking for. I pivot and search for all interconnected IOT devices on the academy's network.

As Professor Atlas suggested.

I know he was talking about BrainTech, but right now my friend needs help. Thermometers, lights, surveillance cameras, alarms, door access pads...everything I need to control The Breakers is there in front of me.

When I can't find Luke on any of the surveillance feeds, I grab the knobbed whelk seashell of my shelf and sit on my bed. After creating a new account with my mind, I manually add the account to my phone and send him a private message.

@makesomenoise: Luke—go to your war room.

@LukeLandry: Who is this?

@makesomenoise: Does it matter?

I squeeze the poky seashell in my hand, waiting for a reply or for the dots to let me know he's typing. Nothing. And then I detect motion from the hallway monitor on my neural feed. I can see Luke in my head like I would on a computer monitor. Except the graphics are way better—like I'm there with him as we walks down the hallway.

He passes my door, and I almost yell out to him—just for fun—and cover my mouth to stop myself. I switch to a new feed as he enters the stairwell and another one when he exits onto the fourth floor.

@makesomenoise: Scan your badge.

@makesomenoise: When they ask—you did this.

Luke stops and looks at his phone. Then he checks out the common area. He's alone. Except for the PCs behind locked doors. I can't help from laughing at how spooked he looks as I crash back on my silky mermaid pillow.

I guess mermaids aren't all bad—especially silky ones.

And then the dots appear...

@LukeLandry: Are you stupid...no one will believe me!

@LukeLandry: How do you know I'm here!!!!!!

@makesomenoise: Doesn't matter...

@LukeLandry: No. No way!

After sending his message Luke turns and heads for the stairs.

@makesomenoise: STOP

And he does when he sees the text. Luke spins around slowly. 

"Ok," he says out loud, "whoever this is better come out because I'm going to kill you!"

@makesomenoise: You're alone.

@makesomenoise: Sooo be nice!

@makesomenoise: IOT devices key to hack

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