UN Recovery Base...

Colonel Allister was chewing on a cigar. Not smoking mind you. Just chewing. He had to give up a lifetime of smoking or leave the service. Chewing was the closest he could come. That might change with the way his body got upgraded, but that would have to wait until the next physical.

The army was slower to change its regulations than for evolution to change mankind. At least in this instance.

In front of him stood three officers. The flirty Brit, the lackadaisical Seal, and the reliable Canadian. They weren't flashy the Canadians, but by God, you can rely on them to get the job done.

Or you used to. This one has become flashy and the jury was out on the reliability issue. Send a man out to bring back a rock, and instead, he brings a spaceship.

"What's this I hear that you Canadians hacked the system already?" He glared at McLean waiting for an answer. He knew the officer had no answer to give, but you had to keep the people who served under you on their toes.

"How do you mean sir?" McLean was a bit confused. Andy didn't really care and Eleanore wasn't intimidated by Colonel Allister.

"The Pentagon and the UN High Command and just about everyone above my grade are screaming at everyone for answers. They think that just because you came back with a spaceship, you might have something to do with this." The glare became stronger.

Captain Richard McLean was no longer intimidated by such tactics, but he still respected the job he was doing. He kept calm and tried his best to get a coherent answer, "How do you mean 'Hacked' sir?"

"Don't play dumb with me Captain McLean. Didn't you receive the system chat request to join the global chat, your national chat, your city chat? Hell, I even got a request to join the Boyscout chat. I haven't been a boy scout in over fifty years." Colonel Allister bit through the cigar he was chewing. He caught the chewed bit in mid-air without even blinking.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Yes, sir. I did." McLean admitted. He also received chat invitations for his unit and all the way up the chain of the Canadian armed forces.

"Then Captain McLean who is this Canadian super-hacker? Who is this Rene Wilder?" He didn't think that the captain had an answer. Canada was a big country. Not like he would be expected to recognize every Canadian in the world.

"I knew a Rene Wilder. He was in my security course at Algonquin college." He shrugged. Nah it couldn't be him, could it?

"Seriously?" Lady Eleanore laughed at the absurdity of it.

The other end of the cigar dropped from Colonel Allister's mouth. This time he didn't try to catch the soggy bit. "Come again, Captain? You mean you know this super hacker?"

"Mailman. Sir." McLean almost whispered quietly.

"Hunh uh" Allister cleared his throat not quite sure he heard what he heard. The British flirt was laughing her ass off. Lieutenant Andrew Price kept a straight face. "Explain yourself, Captain?"

"The Rene Wilder I know is a mailman sir." McLean was bemused at the various reactions. In all honesty, he didn't think that the Rene he knew was the same wanted person.

"You can't be serious Captain. The most sought after hacker in the world is a mailman?" Colonel Allister's reaction was normal. If someone had told the hacker was a chicken he would probably have the same reaction.

"It may not be him, sir." McLean was curious, but it was no skin off his nose who this hacker was. If it was Rene, good for him. Rene was a nice enough guy.

"This is such a typical Canadian development that it wouldn't surprise me in the least bit." She continued to find amusement in this situation. She decided to stick with Richard just to see where this would lead. Her bell-like laugh filled the room.

"Captain Hastings this is not funny!" The base commander barked.

Lady Eleanore took a moment to regain control of herself, "Oh Colonel Allister, I assure you it is." She laughed again. It was too much. This was such an amusing apocalypse.

"What exactly did they teach you in this security course you took Captain McLean?" Colonel Allister took out another cigar and jammed it in his mouth.

"Sir to become a security consultant you first need to know what you are defending against. Most of the course was about, "How to hack a network.", Then when you can hack they teach you how to defend. And Rene came from an IT background. At the time he was a casual employee of Canada Post. When we graduated, he was offered full-time employment. So he continued with Canada Post because the pay was significantly higher. Again, sir, I don't think we are talking about the same person. Rene's a nice guy. He does some IT consulting on the side, but he's no hacker." McLean did his best to dissuade the Colonel from hanging a target on Rene's back.

"This is out of my hands Captain McLean. Ridiculous as it sounds this is the best lead I've heard of on this matter. Take the same squad and go find out if this is our man or not. If he's not it's best this comes from you rather from Lieutenant Price's team."

McLean reluctantly agreed. He saluted and left the building. The others followed. 

Once outside Andy broke down and started to laugh hard. He could no longer hold it in.

"There, there Andy. Just let it all out. I thought you were a good boy to have held it in this long." Lady Eleanore smiled and linked arms with Richard McLean. "Come luv. show me the old home town. The last time I was there, Ottawa was quite a boring place. Very little nightlife to speak off."

Richard shrugged. She obviously didn't go across the Ottawa River. Everyone knew that the real party place was usually in Hull.