Abacus Brief Ch 3: hacker cyberwar

They're ready for me. They have me turn off my 'tronics, and check me with theirs.

Shawny signals for me to be quiet and follow her. She must have seen at the restaurant how painful it was for me to walk after the prison crew had worked on my feet. As soon as we're around a corner, and a cousin signals we're not being followed, she provides me with a disguise. I'm plopped into an ancient, but well maintained, wheel chair. I guess my persona can't afford a personal floater. Some skin darkener is applied, and some wrinkles, scars, and tattoos are cosmetically added to my face, neck, and the back of my hands. A gray, long hair wig with a knot on top is placed on my head. A light blanket across my lap completes the picture. It takes just minutes, but the results are remarkable. At seventeen years old, I now look like Shawny's grandfather.

I'm wheeled to a business and family compound not far from the park. They check my pockets, removing a few things I'd just picked up from one of my caches. They take the keypad for my rental sphere, saying they'll return it for me. They take my stratosphere pass, and say someone will use it in my current name. I will be off island in the records.

When we arrive doctors are waiting. My disguise is removed and they provide a comfy recliner to lounge in. My pains are manageable, even though I refuse pain killers so I can remain sharp.

While it's nice to sit down and slouch, I still don't like putting my life in other's hands. Then I meet Shawny's real grandfather.

Age does not give wisdom, unless the aged have sought wisdom and understanding. Most old folks are just what they were when they were younger, but distilled into a stronger brew. Grandfather, he later honored me by asking that I call him that, was a fortified wine of decanted wisdom. I knew immediately this was a man I could follow, a war chief. a true leader. He started my interrogation.

He told me to call him Bill.

"You spoke the address 'cyberhug.me' to Shawny. This implies there is a need for hackers to unite in a cause."

"I was hoping to find a local hacktivist."

"How do you define hacktivist?."

"A hacker actively seeking to support individual human rights while fighting injustice."

"Are you a hacktivst, or did you somehow come to believe Shawny is a hacktivist?"

"I am a well-trained hacktivist, but due to recent unpleasantness I'm temporarily limited in my abilities, particularly with hardware hacks. What I saw in Shawny is that she's very intelligent. Her wisdom in handling customers also showed extensive training. I hoped to find help."

"You think her attractive?"

"Yes," I smiled, "I noticed that too -- I'm a bit sore, but not yet dead."

"What is your hacker handle, so we can check your work."

"I will not share that. You can contact King Jacob of Elldee, describe me, and he will affirm my credentials. Tell him the moon is hidden by the star's brightness, he will know it's me you speak of."

"Perhaps if this is true, we can help King Jacob as well. He's running Elldee as a version of the Federation Of Liberated Cantons. FLC style anarchy is a poor fit for Elldee; requiring too much effort from him. We too have had our kings, our people are comfortable with the concept. Our philosophers have fashioned a governance style they believe will fit us, they call it anarcho-monarchy. We would be glad to share it with your king. In essence the anarcho-monarchs job is to shout 'Stinking Fish Guts!' whenever anyone wants to establish common rules or committees. Those that insist on their ability to make decisions, to be forced on others, are committed to an institution that tries to cure their disillusions." He speaks to the air. "Mike, contact Elldee and build a relationship; Jason, find out if the kid truly knows hacking"

It turns out Jason was a team, much like a doctoral panel, but with more members. Calling teams by a common name was a simple subterfuge. I never did figure out who was in charge, perhaps it was a team called Bill. People came and went, other experts showed up when the questioning took a surprising turn. They surprised me as often as I surprised them. They even had their own programing language with a sole purpose to confound spies.

What becomes apparent is a difference in organization because of a difference in goals. They have one enemy, everyone that wants to control their island. That unites them and gives them structure. The Friends Of Hacker Jon have no structure, we fight despots and those that support them. Ethical hackers have no head to chop off, no CEO to threaten, no organization to infiltrate. We are entirely composed of volunteers dedicated to ensuring human rights. The islanders are therefore more vulnerable, and perhaps overly cautious by FHJ standards. I can help them at once by giving a cyberhug.me shoutout: a dispersed, suggestion for hackers to start investigating the ex-colonizers fighting for ascendancy. International concerns will follow exposure, pressure will increase against official torture and extortion. The totalitarian democracy running the island will find even fiendish friends backing off, afraid of being investigated themselves. The Friends Of Hacker Jon know how to apply pressure.

With the CyberHug.Me alert, other hackers will seek opportunities to enhance liberty and natural commerce for the island.

Bill and I agreed they would put some of their papers about anarcho-monarchy onto hacknet. They can help other nations conceptualize stable liberty suitable to different societies. or even tribe and family groups. I tell him he is approved to credit the ideas to Elldee until after a successful island revolution. Easier to ask King Jacob's forgiveness that try to get permission during an interview.

I've never owned a one-size-fits-many hat, but I've seen them in museums. If technology means anything, it is that anyone can personally craft their own custom solutions - and radically change them as needed. This should apply to everyone, every government, group, or person. Technology gives every person a voice in change.

Everything seems to get covered, general to specific, languages and hardware to war strategy and survival. I describe the planning of the jail break. They enjoye that, some of their people were freed also. The questioning takes three days, with several long breaks insisted on by my attending physicians. Shawny is always close, her questions penetrating, her support for me unquestionable and unfathomable. Maybe she's a Bill.

On the fourth day Shawny joines me for breakfast. "You have been accepted, now we'll tattoo your body so you can join the tribe."

Who needs coffee, I was suddenly very awake. That helped me frame an intelligent question. "Huh?"

She laughs, a beautiful laugh. "Not really, but after you heal enough we will head for home, my home - you will be welcomed as a tribal friend."

"What about your job?"

"A cousin is the new Shawny. She is using my name, doing my work, collecting my tips. Just as I did from the Shawny before me."

"So what will you do now?"

"I'm doing it. You are my project, I'm to help you, and keep you from inadvertently harming my... our people. We will learn from each other."

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Afterwards, I use Elldee's darknet to announce I've become a freelance hacker.

Susie, King Jacob's research assistant and head of assassins, has prepared a list of steps necessary to eliminate tyranny and give human rights a chance to thrive. Shawny, her family, and I are about to put Susie's research to the test.

I was invited to the island to address specific terrors wrought by government. The political class declared war on me without requiring evidence. The islanders want something substantial to replace waring, destructive parties of political pirates. The island needs sustainable liberty. This is not an uprising of the nobility like Elldee, it's a whole people willing to do extraordinary things to be free.

This is going to be fun.

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