Servo 28:1
Servo 28:1
Hours later I came up for air. My brain hurt. Rory and Suz had fallen asleep. I’d taken up station at the small table and Dad was observing my actions. The code protecting the main firewall was extensive and it’d taken me two hours just to crack it. After, it was burrowing deep into the files and message traffic just to find out who was in charge. It turns out the chief enforcement officer was none other than William J. Cadburgh—a former friend of my father!That news definitely shocked dear ol’ Dad. “Cadburgh? Are you sure?” he said, his voice rising slightly.I turned the tablet his direction. “What it says.”“We were friends—went to school together. He even worked at Servidyne for a while.”“Maybe this pays better?”“Not on your life!”“Then why would he wanna work there?”Dad rubbed his golden chin. “Dunno.”“Did he have anything to do with battle bots?”He was silent for several long moments. “Ah!”“Yes?” I pried.“You’re right; he did work on the project.”“Maybe that explains their heavy presence on the streets.”“Probably. But why did he change jobs? It seems silly giving up a lush salary from Servidyne and signing on to an average paying public employ. Doesn’t make sense.”I said nothing for several minutes, my fingers ticking away madly. Finally I looked up from the screen. “Makes perfect sense.”Dad cocked his head. “Oh? How so?” “He’s an undercover agent for Servidyne.”“You’re sure?”“I just hacked his bank records. He gets a discreetpayment from them every month. Enough that he’s living very comfortably.”Dad shot out of the chair, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash. “He’s working with them to start the next war!”“You think that’s the case?” I glanced over to see Rory and Suz staring bleary-eyed at us.“It has to be.”“What time is it?” Suz moaned.“Sorry to wake you; go back to sleep.”She groaned, rolled over, and pulled the covers tight. Rory sat up. “What’s going on?”“We’re unraveling the plan to start the next war.”“Oh. How are we going to stop it?”Dad folded his arms. “It all hinges on me getting into Servidyne.”“To upload the virus?”“Yes. And I think having Otto working with us will be beneficial.”“I’m trying,” I said, probing deeper into Cadburgh’s account with the Ministry of Enforcement. “Maybe one more firewall to get past and then I’ll be in his email.”“Good, good,” Dad got up and paced around the room. “Can you get a message to Otto?”“Through the cell information panel?”“Yes.”“I can try.”“Draft the email and then contact him.”“Okay.” My fingers were a blur on the tablet. A few minutes later I’d cracked the firewall and was now perusing various emails drafted by Cadburgh. Two pages into his mail, I found a letter requesting release of a prisoner from another detention center. I copied the text and then worked on finding who the recipient of the message would be. Fortunately that didn’t take long. There were dozens of messages to a Phillip K. Dinsworth, Warden of the New Philadelphia Detention Center. Bingo! I opened a new message and quickly pasted the text—making sure I changed the name of the facility. Then I checked the time on my tablet: 3 a.m. This was not good. The message would have to be sent during normal business hours; so I set up a delay until 8:30. Upon finishing that task, I dove back into the prison library server and tried to find where Otto was being housed. If he’d accessed any books, it would have record. “How’s it going?” Dad asked, leaning over my shoulder.“Email for Otto’s release has been sent. Now I’m trying to find him.”“As much as I wanted to discourage your hacking, it’s proving useful.”I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I said nothing. Whatever reason they had for throwing Otto in jail, it probably didn’t hold any merit. My fingers slowed from fatigue. I was now trolling through the center’s inmate records for the last month. Something struck me as odd; the rolls of prisoners seemed awfully large. Normally the Inner States had negligible crime. Everyone was wealthy enough to live there. What was going on? As I neared the bottom of my search query, I saw an unusual entry:
Male, reported age: 18, unregistered, offence: petty theft. Sentence: 1 year.
That had to be Otto. All other entries had I.D. numbers; this one did not. “Dad, I think I found him.”“Excellent.”“He’s in Block 7, cell 109.” I felt surprisingly renewed with energy and typed away vigorously. “I’ll try and get a message to him.”“Good. Tell him when he’s released to wait outside the center.”“Okay.” With a few more keystrokes, I’d accessed the information panel in his cell. The message he’d see in the morning was this:
Otto Arkman, you will be released from the New Philadelphia Detention Center today. You are to wait outside the center for further instructions and transportation. SB*JB*RB
Signed,William J. Cadburgh, Chief of Ministry of Enforcement
“Message sent. I hope he figures out the little code I put at the end.”“What did you do?”“I put our initials.”Dad shook his head. “I hope they don’t figure it out.”“I ran a ghost account from Cadburgh’s, so I doubt they will.”“Once we get Otto, then it’s time to start phase two of the plan.”“What’s that?” “Get me a new body.”
Hours later I came up for air. My brain hurt. Rory and Suz had fallen asleep. I’d taken up station at the small table and Dad was observing my actions. The code protecting the main firewall was extensive and it’d taken me two hours just to crack it. After, it was burrowing deep into the files and message traffic just to find out who was in charge. It turns out the chief enforcement officer was none other than William J. Cadburgh—a former friend of my father!That news definitely shocked dear ol’ Dad. “Cadburgh? Are you sure?” he said, his voice rising slightly.I turned the tablet his direction. “What it says.”“We were friends—went to school together. He even worked at Servidyne for a while.”“Maybe this pays better?”“Not on your life!”“Then why would he wanna work there?”Dad rubbed his golden chin. “Dunno.”“Did he have anything to do with battle bots?”He was silent for several long moments. “Ah!”“Yes?” I pried.“You’re right; he did work on the project.”“Maybe that explains their heavy presence on the streets.”“Probably. But why did he change jobs? It seems silly giving up a lush salary from Servidyne and signing on to an average paying public employ. Doesn’t make sense.”I said nothing for several minutes, my fingers ticking away madly. Finally I looked up from the screen. “Makes perfect sense.”Dad cocked his head. “Oh? How so?” “He’s an undercover agent for Servidyne.”“You’re sure?”“I just hacked his bank records. He gets a discreetpayment from them every month. Enough that he’s living very comfortably.”Dad shot out of the chair, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash. “He’s working with them to start the next war!”“You think that’s the case?” I glanced over to see Rory and Suz staring bleary-eyed at us.“It has to be.”“What time is it?” Suz moaned.“Sorry to wake you; go back to sleep.”She groaned, rolled over, and pulled the covers tight. Rory sat up. “What’s going on?”“We’re unraveling the plan to start the next war.”“Oh. How are we going to stop it?”Dad folded his arms. “It all hinges on me getting into Servidyne.”“To upload the virus?”“Yes. And I think having Otto working with us will be beneficial.”“I’m trying,” I said, probing deeper into Cadburgh’s account with the Ministry of Enforcement. “Maybe one more firewall to get past and then I’ll be in his email.”“Good, good,” Dad got up and paced around the room. “Can you get a message to Otto?”“Through the cell information panel?”“Yes.”“I can try.”“Draft the email and then contact him.”“Okay.” My fingers were a blur on the tablet. A few minutes later I’d cracked the firewall and was now perusing various emails drafted by Cadburgh. Two pages into his mail, I found a letter requesting release of a prisoner from another detention center. I copied the text and then worked on finding who the recipient of the message would be. Fortunately that didn’t take long. There were dozens of messages to a Phillip K. Dinsworth, Warden of the New Philadelphia Detention Center. Bingo! I opened a new message and quickly pasted the text—making sure I changed the name of the facility. Then I checked the time on my tablet: 3 a.m. This was not good. The message would have to be sent during normal business hours; so I set up a delay until 8:30. Upon finishing that task, I dove back into the prison library server and tried to find where Otto was being housed. If he’d accessed any books, it would have record. “How’s it going?” Dad asked, leaning over my shoulder.“Email for Otto’s release has been sent. Now I’m trying to find him.”“As much as I wanted to discourage your hacking, it’s proving useful.”I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I said nothing. Whatever reason they had for throwing Otto in jail, it probably didn’t hold any merit. My fingers slowed from fatigue. I was now trolling through the center’s inmate records for the last month. Something struck me as odd; the rolls of prisoners seemed awfully large. Normally the Inner States had negligible crime. Everyone was wealthy enough to live there. What was going on? As I neared the bottom of my search query, I saw an unusual entry:
Male, reported age: 18, unregistered, offence: petty theft. Sentence: 1 year.
That had to be Otto. All other entries had I.D. numbers; this one did not. “Dad, I think I found him.”“Excellent.”“He’s in Block 7, cell 109.” I felt surprisingly renewed with energy and typed away vigorously. “I’ll try and get a message to him.”“Good. Tell him when he’s released to wait outside the center.”“Okay.” With a few more keystrokes, I’d accessed the information panel in his cell. The message he’d see in the morning was this:
Otto Arkman, you will be released from the New Philadelphia Detention Center today. You are to wait outside the center for further instructions and transportation. SB*JB*RB
Signed,William J. Cadburgh, Chief of Ministry of Enforcement
“Message sent. I hope he figures out the little code I put at the end.”“What did you do?”“I put our initials.”Dad shook his head. “I hope they don’t figure it out.”“I ran a ghost account from Cadburgh’s, so I doubt they will.”“Once we get Otto, then it’s time to start phase two of the plan.”“What’s that?” “Get me a new body.”
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