The Unseen (6 page)

Kari was breathless by the time she was finished reviewing the room. She knew that places like this existed at mega-corporations and government facilities but she had never imagined this much printing power freely available to a group of independent hackers. She had spent years of her life building a small factory of printers, hidden away in some customized storage lockers. She had been proud of her personal factory until now, when she saw what the Unseen were doing.

“I don’t know what to say,” Kari said to Joseth. She still hadn’t wrapped her mind around the fact that she was here, hanging out with arguably the world’s most talented hacker.
His exploits and contributions to the hacker community were so well known that Oedipus was a household name even in homes that didn’t embrace technology. Put simply, he was a legend; the best of the best and the (mostly) undisputed thought leader in the hacker community.
Kari had chatted with him a few times online, but she had never imagined he would be interested enough to go out of his way to bring her here. It was still overwhelming.

“So, you don’t hate it?” Joseth laughed, and Kari felt herself involuntarily joining him.

“No, not at all. This is all absolutely stunning, Joseth. Never in my wildest dreams did I think a place like this could even exist.” Kari wanted to say more, but she couldn’t find words to properly describe how in love with this place she already was.

“I’m glad to hear you like it.” Joseth led them away from the printing warehouse on the bottom floor and up a decadent staircase of rustic stone and granite, back to the main part of the mansion. Drones of various sizes, colors, and shapes buzzed around the air, expertly evading any contact. Crawlers and other robotics that Kari had never seen before walked around the massive mansion; some of them carried food or drinks, but many of them were following less obvious orders.

“How could I not?”

“I suppose that’s a good question,” Joseth said without looking back. They made it to the main floor and walked through the great hall. It was three stories tall. Decorated wood, artwork, and high-tech gadgets filled the space with the warmth of a high-end ski lodge.
A fire raged in the ten-foot fireplace at the center of the room, and groups of people huddled around, talking or leaning back in chairs while their mind chips overrode their senses. Kari couldn’t help but wonder who everyone else was. Joseth had already introduced her to dozens of other famous hackers, friends or acquaintances of hers from the online hacker communities.
Now I know where everyone’s been.

“I have one more thing to show you, but do you have any other questions?” Joseth said, walking beside her now. Kari made an “mmm” sound to let him know she was thinking. She was terrified of coming off as stupid or uneducated, so she took extra time to word her questions well.

“How did you build all of this?” Kari said, and immediately regretted it.
That’s the best question you could come up with? Really, Kari?

“Over time and with a little help. But it’s a project that I have been working on for years. I invited more and more people to contribute and work on it with me, and we’ve ended up with this. Good thing we did, too; I always thought it would be nice to have a place for the great hackers to gather for fun, but I never imagined it would be a necessity. When the war broke out, both governments started targeting hackers and tried to bring them under their control.”

“No need to tell me about that.”

“Right, so I started reaching out to people and bringing them here. I would have invited you sooner, but you went off the grid for a while with your incarceration.”

“You know about that, too?”

“Of course—you’re a legend around here. Sometime you’ll have to fill me in on how you pulled it off.” Joseth rounded a corner, pushed open a door to a room, and stepped inside. The ceiling was twenty feet tall, and the room had all the accommodations of a master suite.
This room is bigger than my house!
“Your room.”

“What?” Kari stuttered out while she looked over to see that there were several printers in the corner of the room, stocked with supplies for clothes, food, and projects. The bed was huge, easily the biggest bed she’d ever seen. “I . . . I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll stay and join us,” Joseth said. Kari looked at him, and he smiled again. His smile sent chills down her spine. Kari had never imagined that the famous hacker she had idolized would be so personable
. And good looking.

“What?”

“Say you’ll join us. Stay here at Valhalla. If there is anything else you need to be more comfortable, just let me know and we’ll get it taken care of for you,” Joseth said, touching her shoulder gently. Kari’s head spun as she tried to figure out what to say. “Look, you don’t have to answer now, you’ve had a long night, and you need some rest to clear your mind. Why don’t you take a nap and we’ll talk about it when you wake up.”

“All right,” Kari said, but already she knew she wanted to stay.
Who wouldn’t want to stay here?

“Great, I’ll have Lars brought up from the dog sitters, and I’ll talk to you later.”
Joseth left the room with a touch of her arm that gave her chills once again. She jumped backward onto her incredibly large and soft bed and sighed out all of her stress.
I can’t believe Oedipus knows who I am!

Despite how incredible Valhalla was, Kari was more awestruck with the Unseen’s leader. Oedipus was responsible for nearly all the popular hacking tools available on the Net. He had never taken credit for any major hacks, but there were dozens ascribed to him.
The man who single-handedly brought down the great firewall and sparked a revolution wants me to stay here. How can I say no?

The light coming from her windows was weak by the time Kari woke up to the sound of someone entering her room. She wanted to be startled, but she couldn’t find the energy for it, so she just sighed and looked over to her guest. Joseth was carrying a platter of hamburgers and wine while sporting a grin.

“Sorry to wake you,” Joseth said. His voice was cheery and interesting. There was something about his accent that she wasn’t able to place. It had a hint of Spanish, but there was also something comforting, like a southern accent. She liked listening to him.

“Oh, no worries—I should probably wake up anyway.” Kari rolled over and sat up.
In the corner of the room was a miniature version of Valhalla that fit Lars perfectly. He was inside its open doors sleeping soundly next to an empty bowl.

“I figured as much. Given the report from the auto-auto, I believed you’d be tired and hungry, so I let you sleep, and now I come bearing gifts of food.”
Joseth walked to the back wall and stood in place while tall French doors leading outside to a balcony opened automatically. The setting sun lit up the sky like a launch screen for a video game, and outside on the balcony were some comfortable-looking chairs and a round table. Joseth waved her over as he set the tray of food down on the table outside. Kari took the seat on the right and settled in, enjoying the beautiful view.

“How’d you know?” Kari asked.

“About what?”

“That I wanted a burger for dinner.”

“I’d love to say I just had a hunch, but, honestly, it was the recommendation my algorithm gave me after examining thousands of data points on you.” Joseth shrugged as he took a bite of his burger.
Explains the odd pairing.

“How thoughtful,” Kari said, taking a bite of her juicy burger.

“It kind of is if you think about it; I mean, the human mind can only process so many data points. I could have gone with a hunch, or offered you something I enjoy. But instead, I did a much more thorough analysis, which resulted in the optimal outcome. To me the extra effort and a successful dinner are far more thoughtful than guessing.”

“Well, I guess that means you admit to wanting to make it an especially thoughtful dinner.” Kari looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. He just about choked on his bite of food before awkwardly laughing the moment away.

“I just wanted to make sure you know that you are wanted here.”

“Right.” Kari eyed her red wine before taking a sip.

“So, have you made a decision yet?” Joseth said.

“What do you think?”

“Well, my algorithms predict with a ninety-four percent level of confidence that you will accept my offer to stay with us at Valhalla, but they’ve been wrong before.”

“Have they really?”

“No, I guess they haven’t. But there is that margin of error.”

“Isn’t that the worst?”

Joseth laughed deeply and looked Kari in the eyes. He wanted her to be here, she could tell.
How crazy is that? The world’s best hacker is interested in having me stay here with him.
He was by far the most famous person that she had ever met in person. A movie star had stopped by her class in middle school once; everyone she knew had gone crazy over seeing him, but Kari couldn’t have cared less. She had thought herself immune to fawning over the famous, but now she knew she was just as susceptible to fame as everyone else.
It just has to be someone who is actually worth the respect.

“It really is,” Joseth said. “So you’ll stay?”

“If you answer a couple of questions for me, I might be able to overcome that urge to side with the six percent.”

“Ask away.”

“Why did you name this place Valhalla?”

Joseth blushed a little and looked out over the rapidly dimming landscape. Kari couldn’t understand why Oedipus would be blushing in front of her. If anything, she should be blushing for asking the question.

“I’ve always had a thing for mythology. Valhalla is where the Norse gods take the greatest warriors and champions to stay as they await the battle at the end of the world.”

“The Ragnarock?”

“That’s right!” Joseth said. “So, I thought it a great name for a place where the world’s greatest hackers could assemble. Slash, I couldn’t think of anything else.”

“That makes sense. Explains where you got your handle from as well.”

“Yeah?” Joseth was intrigued that she knew so much about mythology.

“Oedipus from Greek mythology, right?”

“Right again. And I have to say, Kari Tahe, I am most impressed with you.” Kari blushed this time; even the slightest praise from him caused her to swoon.

“Please tell me you didn’t choose it because you have some serious mommy issues,” Kari said. She didn’t remember the finer details about Oedipus, but she knew he was famous for having children with his biological mother.
Those Greeks had some messed up imaginations.
Joseth almost spat out his latest mouthful of wine, but managed to swallow it before bursting into laughter.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Joseth protested. “Nothing like that. Gross.” Kari let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. “I chose it because Oedipus is blind.”

“After he stabs his own eyes out.”

“Yeah . . . but blind nonetheless. As a blind person, I felt it was therefore an appropriate handle.”

“You’re blind?” Kari bit her lip after asking the question.
Not the most tactful response, genius.

“Yes, I am. I’ve never seen a spec of natural light.”

“Wow! I’m sorry, I would have never have guessed.”

“Well good, that’s what I’m going for. These are my eyes, but I had a number of complex surgeries performed where I had cameras and other sensors inserted into them. I can see as well as anyone else, better even, but it’s all digital,” Joseth said. He held her gaze despite Kari’s urge to look away.

“I’ll stay,” Kari said, when she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Excellent! You’ve kept my predictive streak alive.”

“Is that the only reason you’re happy to hear me say yes?”
What am I doing? This is Oedipus the famous hacker, not just some boy I met at school. I have to stop letting his fame get to my head. Play it cool!

“I don’t think it’s fair that you get to ask all the questions,” Joseth said. They both watched as a group of drones carried an electric net into the air before dropping it. Kari couldn’t see what they had dropped it on, but a small explosive sound and smoke made her want to lean over the edge to see what the victim was, but since Joseth didn’t move, she didn’t either.
This place is too cool.

“What do you want to know?”

“How about you tell me why you chose Freelancer as your handle?”

“I don’t like having a boss,” Kari said. “I wish I had a better, deep explanation like yours, but, really, I just don’t do well taking orders.”

“I can appreciate that. I don’t like anyone telling me what to do either. But luckily for you, there aren’t any bosses here.”

“So you all just . . . hang out?”

“We do whatever we want, whether on our own or with other guests.”

“So what are you working on?”

“Want to see?”

“Yes!” Kari said, embarrassed that she answered his question so eagerly.
Really, acting like you belong here as a peer, Kari? How about you tell him how big of fan of his you are while you’re at it.

“Great. Here, I’ll send you an invite to join my dev session.” Joseth’s eyes rolled back in his head as he closed his eyelids.

“Ummm . . . that’s going to be a difficult session for me to join. I’m afraid my processor dropped offline thanks to some of those flashy blue lights the Middle Staters had back at my place.”

“You mean you’ve been going this whole time without a functioning mind chip? Why didn’t you say something sooner? I swear I’d go mad without one.”

“I was a little busy with the house tour and everything.”

“Well, I’ll order one up for you, and we can do some pair programming in the next couple of days. But tonight, maybe we’ll just talk.”

“That sounds nice,” Kari said. She took another small sip of wine.
Funny his algorithm didn’t tell him that I hate wine, but that’s a pretty small complaint when literally everything else is perfect.

Kari sipped her cup of coffee and slowly walked around the grounds outside Valhalla. She felt like she had woken up early, but by the time she was ready and had printed some breakfast, it was already midmorning.