The Liberation Paradox

The Game is On.

Sky

14:24

(19 proxies decrypted, unknown number remaining)

For the love of Christ, Sky thought as the the 19th layer of encryption fell away to reveal not the stolen accounting data he sought, but yet another bouncing proxy, another layer of encryption. How many proxies did this paranoid scumbag use? The scumbag was, of course, wise to be paranoid, for now he was being hunted by Sky Meussen, a true master of both the binary and the trinary. It's okay, I'll get you eventually. It's only a matter of time before you run out of layers of encryption to hide behind. And when that happens, I've got you.

As if on cue, the server room door opened and Marcio entered carrying a sandwich and a giant cup of coffee from the 15th floor canteen. Sky estimated he was about 80% sure the Estrellan was the scumbag he was hunting, but until he could prove it, he had to bide his time. Rest assured, however, Sky would be keeping an eye on him.

Though it might be counterintuitive, Sky was glad Marcio was back in the server room. Not only would it be easier to keep an eye on the Estrellan, but now there was always the hope that Marcio would try to do something to interfere with the decryptors. While Marcio had been gone, Sky had hidden a monitoring program on the server. It would monitor any attempts that any user made to modify the decryptors. Go ahead, dirtbag. Just try and screw with my decryptors. I dare ya.

He'd also hidden an activity monitor on Marcio's access terminal. Now, he'd be able to see anything that Marcio did at his workstation. The traps were set.

Marcio entered, asked Idiot Ivan and Camilla the Thick if either of them had found anything on any of the hotel's guests. Of course, they hadn't. If they had, Sky would have already made Mr. Miles and Mr. Daniau aware.

But of course, you know that, don't you? You know they won't find anything on the guests, because it's all you, isn't it?

It occurred to Sky that it was possible that either Idiot Ivan or Camilla the Thick could be smarter than they let on, but he doubted it. They were, for all their flaws, at least native Gonians like himself.

Marcio, though was a slippery, little Estrellan. Estrellans are predisposed to crime.

After checking in with the two junior techs, Marcio came over to stand behind Sky's desk and look over his shoulder. Sky had to resist the urge to elbow the traitor in his stomach right then.

"Any luck with the decryptors, yet?" the Estrellan asked.

Of course, we haven't gotten anywhere yet. If we had, don't you think I'd have said something? If we had, you'd probably be on the floor getting the ever-living crap kicked out of you by the big guy watching us from the door. But you know we haven't found anything, don't you? You already know how many encrypted proxies we need to take apart to find that data, because you stole the data and built the proxy network that's protecting it, didn't you?

Aloud, Sky answered, "Not really. We've cracked open nineteen proxies, and now we're working on the twentieth." Then, in a moment of inspiration, an idea occurred to him. He asked, "How many are there, total?"

"Th—" Marcio started, hesitated as all the blood ran out of his face, and then started again, "There's...no way of knowing."

An awkward moment passed between them. Marcio had almost answered his question. The only person who could answer that question accurately, the only person who could even know the answer to that question was the one who'd built the proxy network, the thief himself. Sky now knew—knew—with absolute certainty that Marcio was the hacker who had stolen the data. It was Marcio he was hunting. Slimy, little Estrellan lowlife.

Sky knew, and he could see from the look on Marcio's stunned face that he knew that Sky knew. Good. Enough of all this sneaking around and pretending.

"Keep me posted," Marcio said weakly as he turned away and sat at his own terminal on the other side of the small room.

Idiot Ivan had kept working, but Sky noticed that Camilla was watching them over the top of her terminal displays. She, thick as she was, obviously perceived the significance of what had just happened. Even without evidence, he could probably ask the enforcer standing at the door to lock Marcio up until they got to the bottom of what was going on here. Camilla would back him up. He could tell by the confused way she glanced between himself, Marcio, and the enforcer. Sky thought about it, but no, that wouldn't do. If Sky reported Marcio to the big man standing at the door, then likely the enforcer himself would get the credit for the capture. Even if the big man didn't take the credit, Sky would have to share it with Camilla the Thick. That was unacceptable. Sky wanted to be the one to catch Marcio himself. He needed to defeat this Estrellan at his own game, and he needed for everyone to know that he, Sky, was the greatest hacker of them all.

He caught Camilla's eye and shook his head at her. Then he sent a private message to her terminal.

We don't have enough evidence yet. I've laid a trap for him. Follow my lead.

She responded:

Okay. What can I do to help?

Just keep at your busy work and let him dig his own grave. I got him right where I want him. Play dumb for now.

That shouldn't be too hard for her.

Okay. What happened to the electrician?

That surprised Sky. He'd been so focused on Marcio that he'd forgotten all about the electrician. What was the guy's name? Dennis? He was pretty sure the electrician's name had been Dennis. Dennis had seemed like a decent, if stupid man. Could Dennis be a part of Marcio's plot? No. Sky had called Dennis out to upgrade the server's power supply himself. Marcio had had nothing to do with calling the electrician. Still...

Good question.

Sky looked over the tops of his displays to where Marcio sat across the room. The other hacker sat opposite him, their displays facing away from one another. He couldn't directly see what was on Marcio's screens, but of course there were ways around that. Soon he would be receiving data from the monitoring program he'd hidden on Marcio's terminal.

Sky called to Marcio across the room, "Marcio, whatever happened with the electrician, Dennis or whatever his name was?"

"Danny. I left him at the canteen," Marcio answered. "He said he'd fix the broken drink machine since he had nothing else to do."

"Think it's a good idea to let the guy roam around without any escort?"

Marcio hesitated. "He seems okay to me. He's from the electricians' union, so he's basically one of Mr. Daniau's guys."

Something about the vague, nonchalance of this answer didn't sit well with Sky. Could it be that Dennis (no, Danny) could be working with the traitor Marcio? Now that he thought about it, the electrician didn't really look like a Distortioner. His skin was too dark, too tanned to be from a planet with only one sun, and that one a relatively dim red giant.

"Hmm," Sky said to no one in particular. Then, to the big enforcer at the door, "You guys should probably keep an eye on the electrician. Leave nothing to chance."

"You don't tell me what to do, nerd," the ogre said. But even as he said it, the big man opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. "Nobody leave this room," he said and then disappeared down the hallway, presumably to go find the errant electrician.

Sky looked back across the room at Marcio, but Marcio did not meet his eye. He appeared to be working. Likely working against me and my decryptors, Sky thought derisively. Go on then, scumbag. I'm keeping my eye on you.

Sky waited for the spy software he'd installed on Marcio's computer to show him what the Estrellan was up to. As soon as he had something concrete, he'd nail this guy.

Sky licked his lips and pushed his glasses up on his face. Now, the game was on. Sky would destroy this lowlife tub of rancid biocurd.