Dreams of a Red Horizon

3 - Hosea

Have you ever wanted something so desperately that it consumes your entire life? Wanted it so intensely that you think about it every second of every day? That you frame your entire life around the fulfillment of your dream? That in all of your moments of rest you catch yourself thinking about this thing you want? Have you wanted something that fervently for months, or even years? The first thing that I wanted like that was the ability to see.

She was the second thing I wanted that badly. I knew it from the first time I saw her hack. Even before everything that would happen between us, I knew that I wanted her.

I had been tracking other freelancers on the net, looking for talent for a job. And then I found her one day. Most crackers were forceful, attacking with haughtiness and wanting to broadcast their accomplishments to the world. Even though they hid behind pseudonyms and online personas, they wanted everybody to know who they were and what they had done. But she didn't. She hacked in a way that nobody noticed her, and the nets she cracked could probably never tell. She was graceful. It was like watching a talented dancer perform in an empty auditorium.

She was exactly what I was looking for.

124.86.12: If that was your way of nonchalantly telling me you know what I'm doing, you're not very good at this.

The words came blinking on my screen after I had finally decided to contact her. She knew what the ping meant, then.

//J0S3PH: Hey, I'm the one who found you.

124.86.12: Oh did you now? If you found me tell me which level I'm on.

I hesitated for a moment. I needed to capture her attention. I needed to be careful too, hackers were notoriously skittish creatures. But I had seen her show off and now it was my turn to do so too.

//J0S3PH: In an apartment in the residential block of level 3 listed under a Kirstin Nise. I'm guessing that's not your real name though, since the word ‘Nise’ just means fake.

124.86.12: ...how did you do that?

//J0S3PH: If it makes you feel better it wasn't easy 'Ms. Nise.' There's probably only four other people in the world who could find you.

124.86.12: Well, tell me your Humbleness, what do you want? Let me guess, take off my clothes or you turn me into the cops?

//J0S3PH: Sorry to burst your bubble princess but my interest in you is a little more professional than that.

124.86.12: What? What are you talking about?

//J0S3PH: I have a job. I'm recruiting.

124.86.12: What kind of job?

124.86.12: You know what, I don't care. I'm not interested.

//J0S3PH: You won’t even hear me out? Don't be so dismissive ‘Ms. Nise.’ Life is so much more boring when you're dismissive.

124.86.12: ...

124.86.12: I assume this job has something to do with the activity I was just doing.

She was careful and wasn't going to just come out and say it. That was good, she wasn’t just talented; she was smart too.

//J0S3PH: Yes. It’s a freelance job.

124.86.12: Hmm.