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***** The Adventures of Molly Modem *****
EPISODE #4
In our last adventure we closed on a scene filled with
turmoil! VonCriptic had totally destroyed the systems of CompuSpec.
And worst of all Doctor Node and Baud Job had taken Molly captive at
gunpoint. We return to find Bryn of CompuSpect trying to contact the
mysterious Blue Lightning!
Bryn had to dial Blue Lightning's number in manual mode!
This was one number he did not want prying eyes to discover in
QMODEMs directory. The twenty one digit number was necessary because
this was an international number in Europe. At last it was entered
and QMODEM went to work. The opening Screen showed a stylized blue
lightning bolt and the large block letters "T T L"! Underneath
were smaller letters that said "INTERPOL COMPUTER DEPARTMENT B5"
"TELECOMMUNICATIONS TERROR LOGISTICS"! Bryn hit return to get to
the main message area of the system. He then started entering a
detailed message to Allan Crime. Bryn had met Allan many years ago
when they worked in military intelligence. At the time Allan had
worked breaking NAZI and Russian ciphers. After the war Allan worked
with NATO for a few years before eventually joining INTERPOL. On the
other hand Bryn had found the lucrative pay of private business hard
to turn down. It was a bit of an in joke that Allan had kept the code
name BLUE LIGHTING from his war time intelligence role. Bryn left his
voice number and logged off. Now to wait for Allan's call!!!!!!
Meanwhile Molly finding Doctor Nodes gun in her ribs had no
choice but to enter the black limousine waiting at the curb. Baud Job
got in the drivers seat and they were soon speeding along the road
past Sooke. Without removing the gun from Molly's ribs Node started
talking. He told of his plan to duplicate millions of copies of
DOS3.3, and FLIGHT SIMULATOR to be illegally bundled with clones
shipped from Taiwan. He giggled as he told he that after making
millions doing this they would sell the 80666 to Toshiba for a ton
of platinum. Molly did not like the sounds of this one little bit.
She knew that she would have to appear to play along with these two,
otherwise she would be found floating face down in the Sooke river!
Molly had an ace up her sleeve. That morning intuition told her that
she needed more security to prevent the BEAST being used by the wrong
hands. She thought about substituting some component with a burned
out replacement. The problem was the BEAST was far from being a
standard machine. In the end Molly found an old Rubics cube that when
painted black closely resembled the 80666 CPU. The real chip and this
fake were in her shoulder bag back at the apartment.
At last Molly agreed to turn the BEAST over to the evil duo
for a cut of the profits. Molly knew deep down she would never live
to collect! When they reached Molly's Dallas Road apartment the three
of them took the elevator to the second floor. Molly fumbled for the
keys in her purse and was immediately pushed over the threshold
as the door opened. As soon as they were inside and the door was
closed Baud Job stepped over to Molly's desk. There lay the BEAST,
a few screws were out and the case was slid back. "Hey boss! There's
sumthin missing from this machine!!!" The gap left by the missing
80666 was quite obvious. Molly knew that she had to act fast. Doctor
Node and Baud Job the most ruthless pirates from Kowloon to Sumatra
would not show any mercy! In a flash she jumped over the sofa grabbing
her large shoulder bag in the same motion. In a wink of an eye she dove
for the balcony and flew over the rail!!!! Although Molly's apartment
was only on the second floor the twelve foot fall into the flower bed
knocked the breath out of her. Up she came already running, spitting
out dirt and leaves. Molly was in good shape, regular aerobic sessions
and jogging paid off. As she hit the sidewalk there was a thump from
behind! Molly knew she had to outrun Baud Job. Her only hope was to
try and make it to the police station, but that was too far. Yes the
Coast Guard station would do. Molly headed west down Dallas road with
Baud Job slowing gaining on her. Unfortunately Molly's feet in her
panic had a mind of their own!!! For some reason, perhaps habit she
turned onto the breakwater at the entrance to Victoria harbour.
She was trapped!!!! There was no other way off except by boat.
Molly reached the end of the breakwater and stopped. Turning she saw
that Baud Job was taking his time. He knew now that he did not have
to hurry. As he got closer he snarled "Give me the chip! You can't get
away now Miss Modem!" Molly snatched the black cube from her shoulder
bag. Holding it over her head she hollered "STOP or I'll throw it in
the ocean!" Baud Job paused, he knew this would destroy the device.
The salt water would penetrate the chip corroding the circuits
irreparably. The Wang-Noh-Guchie master inched forward ready to
unleash his deadly SIDE KICK and grab the chip. Molly acted!
A millisecond before Baud Jobs foot shot out she hurled the black
cube as far as possible and dove after it. Molly did not hear the
plunk the cube made when it hit the water and sank. Her eyes, ears
and nose were full of very cold salt water. When Molly surfaced she
slowly started swimming farther out into Juan de Fuca strait in case
Baud Job came after her. She could faintly hear his cursing. "DOUBLE-DOS
DAMN@#%&&&*~~~!" Fifteen minutes later she was farther from shore but
still many miles from the safety of the American side. Would she make
it across? Not likely! Another hour at the most and she would fall
victim to a killer as deadly as Baud Job. HYPOTHERMIA!!!! Besides the
strong ebb current was sweeping her out the strait past Race Rocks!!
Molly's mind became crystal clear. "Will this be my end? Will I never
get the chance to try OS/2 to see if it beats DOS?" Molly's stroke was
very slow. Now she could hardly raise her arms from the water.
"Now I'm even starting to hear things" thought Molly "what's that
gurgling noise?" Molly looked over her shoulder. Looming above was
a large indistinct shape. Just before Molly passed out she made out
the name on the starboard side of the hull! The name "SEA MOSS" in
graceful flowing letters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile back at the offices of CompuSpec Bryn grabbed
his phone on the first ring. It was Allan Crime on the line. They
exchanged greetings and how long it had been since they had worked
together. Bryn quickly got to business, international phone rates
were not cheap. Allan said that he had done some checking under the
name VonCriptic but had come up blank. He did not think that The
person calling himself VonCriptic was a true criminal type. Rather
he was most likely a clever disturbed youth, with a grudge against
society. Allan went on to give an analysis of this type of individual.
VonCriptic was probably in his late teens or early twenties, small
nonathletic and having a bad case of acne. Allan suggested that if
they could catch VonCriptic a psychiatrist would be better than calling
the police.
"But what can we do to protect ourselves in the meantime" asked
Bryn Jones.
Allan thought for a moment before replying. "There is a system
that both NATO and SAC use. It's called a COHERENT PASSWORD GATE. You
will need a special unit on the mainframe as well as a board for
each terminal or PC. The unit in the mainframe has thousands upon
thousands of passwords stored in RAM. Every ten seconds the mainframe
changes the password it will accept in seemingly random fashion.
The board in the PC or terminal works in a similar manner. The two
boards are synchronized on a WWV time signal and work in tandem
Even if someone gets all the passwords it won't do them any good.
This system is sold by the Gamma Communications Corporation on
Vancouver Island. I think it's at a place called SUCK."
"That's SOOKE with a double O" replied Bryn. "I'll call
them up right away!!!"
"They also have another fancy system available, Think it's
called TELESKETCH. I hear this has an optional scanner that sends
a thumb print or retinal pattern to the mainframe for verification.
Talk to Doctor May, I'm sure he can help you out. Give me a call if
you need anymore help."
Bryn thanked his old friend Allan Crime and hung up the phone.
"Sure hope the boss does not go through the roof when he finds we have
to buy all this security hardware" thought Bryn.
Will Molly escape frigid death in the strait? Will Doctor Node and
Baud Job guess that the real 80666 is safe in Molly's bag! Kept dry
in a Zip-lock sandwich bag. Will Farwest be VonCriptics next target?
Will Bryn get the COHERENT PASSWORD GATE? For answers to these and
many other exciting questions stay tuned for episode #5 of