Ice-Make: Software

Drunk Dialing

Gray punched his desk, upsetting the coffee cup that he had already finished hours ago.

"We're never going to defeat this damned E.N.D. virus."

Lyon rolled his chair over to Gray's cubicle and patted his shoulder in sympathy. The new computer virus had hit the company hard, known only as E.N.D., Extranet Network-security Destroyer. Who created it and what purpose it served, no one knew, but it was one of the greatest threats to Dragon Enterprises in many years.

It had completely shut down Project ICEMAKE that Gray, Lyon, and their team were supposed to be working on, and it had threaded its way into just about every system. Now, other departments were reporting abnormalities. Financing could not access VPN, graphic designers were struggling with sluggish mouse responses, even the computers at Human Resources were glitching out.

And Gray knew, it was all designed to shut down his team's progress.

"I'll talk to Invel," Lyon offered. "We're going to need something stronger."

Gray collapsed onto his desk. Only one week, but this feeling, working so hard on this software only to have it attacked, was depressing. He knew ICEMAKE was a strong software, and his tools to combat viruses were some of the most powerful in the industry.

What more was needed?

He raised up and rubbed his face. Something about E.N.D. was blocking the program, burning away the security parameters like a fire in a cotton factory, yet it did not seem to be destroying anything vital to the program itself. It shut them out of it, but his investigations showed that, hidden behind the codes of chaos, the program itself was untouched.

What was so damn important about ICEMAKE that someone would attack it, but not destroy it? Sure, it was an amazing program, created by his own mentor, and he was a master of software security, in a sense preserving his mentor's legacy.

Was this attack random, or was it personal, by someone he or Ur had known?

Did she perhaps have enemies he did not know about? Did he?

Did Natsu? Was this attack aimed at Natsu's newest pet project as a way to punish or threaten him?

Gray could not let that distract him. His job was to root out the program and rescue the data. He could not worry about what E.N.D. was or who created it; he first had to kill it.

Natsu entered the building in lively spirits. He had been away on business for nearly a whole week, and it was good to be back. In particular, he was excited to see Gray again. Their relationship had deepened just before he left, and he was eager for more.

Just as he saw the cubicle farm, a tall figure stepped in his way with a swish of green hair.

"Freed," Natsu said in surprise.

"Sir, we have a situation. I could not tell you about it over the phone."

Natsu's eyes briefly flicked over to the room. He could see Gray by a coffeemaker, but he could not call out to him, not here at work.

"Is it about the company?"

"Yes, sir. It's urgent."

Natsu sighed. His reunion would have to wait. "Okay, I have an hour before a video conference call to the prime minister of Kohinur. Fill me in."

Eve Tearm walked over to Gray and Lyon, and the two straightened up.

"Hey, it's Friday," said the small man with a boyish face. "I was thinking the team could go out drinking. Quite frankly," he said, with a guilty shrug, "I think we could use it after a week like this."