Alice in Virtuality by Norman Turrell Page B
Authors: Norman Turrell
Tags: Science-Fiction
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escalate our activities as Alice appears to be casting her influence to the real world and is beginning to manipulate individuals. We cannot identify any clear plan. We believe her current recruitment amasses approximately 1,000,000 people."
"How many!" Martin blurted out. Again the boy ignored the interruption.
"The controlled units are of a clear demographic, the gamers she has been interacting with. Due to the growing severity, you were chosen as part of a systematic investigation into a subset of this group. We are not as yet able to clearly identify a cohesive strategy to combat the situation."
"You mean you are trying anything because you haven't got a clue how to fix the mess you have created and it is getting out of control." Martin summarised. The boy sat back down.
"Yes," he said.
The sudden weakness touched him. Whatever the situation was, Martin was right in it. He was a problem solver and this was certainly his problem. He decided to discard all of the craziness around him, ignore that unnecessary painful electric shock, and focus.
"Let's look at what we've got," he said.
Chapter 14 - Teamwork
They had sat looking over figures and charts for some time now. Mum had brought up fizzy, drinks, biscuits and crisps, so that was nice. The other two boys had drifted off at some point. Martin wasn't sure when, absorbed in his new puzzle. He had discovered that he was in the presence of Jeremy, HackerNet Commander in Chief. They had connections in many places, but this was where it all happened. Alice had gone rogue a few months ago and escaped onto the world wide freedom of the net. Uno was just a minor contact for this group. He had used a very early version of Alice so had no idea what she was up to now.
The group's installation onto Martins machine was their first attempt at gaining more data on the program. They believed if they distributed an early version and let it train, they could analyse the results. Martin was chosen purely because he was connected through Uno and lived nearby. Uno had returned Martin's data to the group via an anonymous delivery mechanism, so he had no idea that it was led by these boys. They had studied it. The conclusion was that the Alice on his machine had rapidly connected itself to the Alice out on the net and took on its big sisters capabilities. There had been some digital footprints which they had started to break down. When Uno had contacted them with Martin's proposition, they were more than happy to accept someone else into their problem space. Perhaps they hadn't thought through the cloak and dagger arrangement in much detail, Martin thought.
"So we can see the extent of Alice's infiltration into other systems. She has used hacking techniques to insert at least parts of 'herself' into all these programs." Martin assessed, absorbing the information rapidly.
"Here." Jeremy had changed his manner somewhat. He was now just like any teenager enthusiastically involved in his favourite topic. A screen with a list of usernames scrolled and points appeared on a map of the world.
"This is a list of the known, err, victims." he said.
"Let me see that!" Martin took over the keyboard. He filtered the list to people in his location. There were five.
"Can you get personal details on these?" he asked.
"Simple!" The boy took the keyboard back and started to type quickly. Screens appeared, data flashed past.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed.
Dossier type information appeared with the personal details of the local residents that Martin had selected. He snatched the keyboard back vigorously. Jeremy looked hurt. He flicked through. The third was green eyes. Martin noted her first name mentally, Emma. It wasn't a very good picture, he thought.
"Jeremy. Time to call it a night dear." Mum's call came faintly from downstairs.
"Yes mother," he called back dutifully.
"Print that off quick and I'm gone," Martin said urgently.
The boy handed over the freshly printed forms which he had paper
"How many!" Martin blurted out. Again the boy ignored the interruption.
"The controlled units are of a clear demographic, the gamers she has been interacting with. Due to the growing severity, you were chosen as part of a systematic investigation into a subset of this group. We are not as yet able to clearly identify a cohesive strategy to combat the situation."
"You mean you are trying anything because you haven't got a clue how to fix the mess you have created and it is getting out of control." Martin summarised. The boy sat back down.
"Yes," he said.
The sudden weakness touched him. Whatever the situation was, Martin was right in it. He was a problem solver and this was certainly his problem. He decided to discard all of the craziness around him, ignore that unnecessary painful electric shock, and focus.
"Let's look at what we've got," he said.
Chapter 14 - Teamwork
They had sat looking over figures and charts for some time now. Mum had brought up fizzy, drinks, biscuits and crisps, so that was nice. The other two boys had drifted off at some point. Martin wasn't sure when, absorbed in his new puzzle. He had discovered that he was in the presence of Jeremy, HackerNet Commander in Chief. They had connections in many places, but this was where it all happened. Alice had gone rogue a few months ago and escaped onto the world wide freedom of the net. Uno was just a minor contact for this group. He had used a very early version of Alice so had no idea what she was up to now.
The group's installation onto Martins machine was their first attempt at gaining more data on the program. They believed if they distributed an early version and let it train, they could analyse the results. Martin was chosen purely because he was connected through Uno and lived nearby. Uno had returned Martin's data to the group via an anonymous delivery mechanism, so he had no idea that it was led by these boys. They had studied it. The conclusion was that the Alice on his machine had rapidly connected itself to the Alice out on the net and took on its big sisters capabilities. There had been some digital footprints which they had started to break down. When Uno had contacted them with Martin's proposition, they were more than happy to accept someone else into their problem space. Perhaps they hadn't thought through the cloak and dagger arrangement in much detail, Martin thought.
"So we can see the extent of Alice's infiltration into other systems. She has used hacking techniques to insert at least parts of 'herself' into all these programs." Martin assessed, absorbing the information rapidly.
"Here." Jeremy had changed his manner somewhat. He was now just like any teenager enthusiastically involved in his favourite topic. A screen with a list of usernames scrolled and points appeared on a map of the world.
"This is a list of the known, err, victims." he said.
"Let me see that!" Martin took over the keyboard. He filtered the list to people in his location. There were five.
"Can you get personal details on these?" he asked.
"Simple!" The boy took the keyboard back and started to type quickly. Screens appeared, data flashed past.
"Bingo!" he exclaimed.
Dossier type information appeared with the personal details of the local residents that Martin had selected. He snatched the keyboard back vigorously. Jeremy looked hurt. He flicked through. The third was green eyes. Martin noted her first name mentally, Emma. It wasn't a very good picture, he thought.
"Jeremy. Time to call it a night dear." Mum's call came faintly from downstairs.
"Yes mother," he called back dutifully.
"Print that off quick and I'm gone," Martin said urgently.
The boy handed over the freshly printed forms which he had paper
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