Episode 18
Sharp was in shock. Of all the dirty tricks he was prepared to deal with, this one caught him off guard.
For a moment, Sharp’s thoughts turned round and round in his mind like a tumbleweed bouncing along the highway. Below him was the latest BitStorm ZeroCarbs cryptocurrency mining rig with its illuminated logo pulsating through a rainbow of color on its matte black finish. The flat rig had a slim, rhomboid shape that leaned to the back where the unauthorized network cable was happily connected in the back. A dual line of data transfer stripes illuminated green along the side as they cycled from front to back rapidly. ZeroCarbs’ design was intended to give the illusion of speed. It tested well with the male 18-30 demographic and sold by the millions worldwide. Sharp wasn’t sure if the masking tape with “Property of Sharp Hikoboshi” scrawled in permanent marker would impress the demographic as well—even with the curly ‘y’ descender—but he could imagine what the internet hate mobs would make of it.
“Okeh, that’s stupid.” Sharp noticed that one of his business cards with his public “@͎BitStormMe!” vanity WRL address was tucked underneath the rig.
This is an obvious frame job. If this is the best they could come up with, I need better enemies…
Sharp flipped through his AR screens and assigned a bot to add the errant device to the routing table, reserving its IP address. It was a stopgap measure since the ancient network switch it was attached to could cause the router to give it another IP address later, but until he could break into the mining rig and configure it’s IP address manually, this was the best he could do. He wanted to unplug the blasted thing and be done with it, but he didn’t dare touch it.
Switching to his communications screen, Sharp took a few photos of the rig with his AR contacts, as well as the network cable that snaked under the floor tiles, the handprinted label, and his old business card. Then he opened a encrypted group chat with Darity and Novell on his phone.
In scenic IT Hell. Somebody’s trying to frame me. Wish you were here
Sharp quickly sent the photos to the chat, then slid the floor tile back into place. He stood up to find Kyle and Apple looking down at him through the glass, trying to see what he had been doing.
“What are you doing?” said Kyle with some concern. His voice was muffled through the observation glass, but Sharp could hear him clearly over the intercom.
“Oh, I was texting my boss over at IT while checking the network.”
Apple had made way for Isabelle and the window warriors, all trying to get a look. Sharp felt somewhat relieved that the mining rig was too close to the wall. It was obscured by the viewing angle and the safety bar that ran along the wall under the window. As he began to count his blessings, his phone buzzed with an alert.
Novell: What am I looking at?!
Sharp: A secret crypto mining rig under the floor of your wormbox lab.
Darity: Who would do this?
Sharp: Apparently me. Notice the cute writing and my business card?
Novell: Don’t touch anythin
Darity: I’ll contact Surak
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Novell: Don’t touch anything!
Sharp: You already said that. Who’s Surak?
Novell: He’s our CISO.
Sharp: Good call. Also, don’t let him hang this on me.
Darity: Calm down. Nobody wants to hang you.
Novell: Actually…
Darity: Not the time!
Sharp: I temp solved their WMD network issue. It’s a mess down here. Look for details in my report. Have no reason to stay here anymore. Should I
“Uh, Sharp?” Loud rapping on the glass disrupted his train of thought.
Sharp: Just get back to me.
“Mr. Hikoboshi?” Kyle asked.
“Sorry. Your network was a mess. There was a lot to update my boss about.”
Sharp looked back up at the observation window. There was a mixture of curiosity and distrust in the faces bearing down on him. Admittedly, it was probably a bit strange to be working directly under the observation window when the wormbox was in the middle of the room behind him. Whoever placed the rig here had a bit of a clue, though their inept splice into the network had drawn Sharp’s attention. It was probably inept by design and intended to be discovered, but not by him.
Putting on his best, but slightly dented smile, Sharp took many steps back from the window and announced, “I fixed the network. We’re all set.” Just like magic, the entire office forgot about what he had been doing as excited cheers broke out spontaneously.
“No kidding! You fixed it? What was the problem?” Kyle’s enthusiasm seemed too sincere for him to be in on the frame job.
“Hey, I just finished setting up a wireless network. It’ll do the trick with no IP conflicts. Probably. Well, it should get you through the weekend at any rate. I’ll discuss a more permanent solution with my team, and they’ll get back to you on Monday.”
Sharp could see Apple and Syd had returned to their workstations, AR goggles in place as they interfaced with their software, though he could only see their heads. The rest of the room was hard to see from where he was standing. They were all likely testing the network as well to see if Sharp was as good as his word. Kyle began to shout out orders with a big smile on his face. The control room had fully reanimated, no more lifeless husks to bother giving Sharp any attention.
“You got us up and running. I knew you could do it.” A very exhausted Isabelle had come over to the window. Her smile was closed, but no less happier than Kyle’s. Sharp returned her smile with a cheeky grin. Finally, he could get home and start working on his own project and get something to eat before he ate Syd’s Amiga 500.
“Let’s run things through their paces. This is a network diagnostic only. Spot problems while we have Mr. Hikoboshi here.” Kyle moved from station to station as the sounds of the busy control room came over the intercom.
“All machines and workstations are responding,” somebody called out.
“The wormbox, mag amp, and graviton analyzer are all online,” Syd grumbled in sour acknowledgment.
“Running diagnostics now,” shouted out another worker.
“This is wonderful news,” said Isabelle with glee. Turning to Sharp, she said through the glass, “What was the problem?”
Sharp wasn't sure how to reply without revealing he had discovered the setup. Just as he was about to spin some nonsense about static versus dynamic IPs, the tone in the room began to change.
“Diagnostics not responding,” interrupted the worker. Isabelle turned back to the technicians. “Says the wormbox is already busy.”
“Busy? Who turned it on? We’re just doing diagnostics!” Kyle called out.
Over by the exit, Sharp heard a sound that was suspiciously similar to safety locks engaging, followed by a loud klaxon and dimmed lights.
“WARNING. WORMBOX TEST UNDERWAY”
“Uh, guys?” Sharp turned around to stare at the wormbox while the intercom became overloaded with alarmed shouts and cries. Lights that had been dormant while he worked around the WMD device were sparking to life at the back of the room. There was a hum in the air as the horseshoe-shaped bed of magnetic coils attached to the wormbox activated. A separate low sound began to throb that was almost indiscernible at first but could still be felt. It came from the center of the room where the wormbox itself gave off sparks.
Sharp rushed over to the door and tried to force it open. “Hey! I’m locked in here!”
“We’re trying to shut it down!” Kyle shouted over the din.
“Hurry!” The door refused to budge.
The safety protocols are going to kill me!
Sharp looked past the wormbox to the other doors in the lab. Before he could decide which one to take shelter behind, a sudden burst of cheers and whoops came from the intercom.