I2DT: Nothing out of the ordinary.

[Narrator]

Her opponent is responding to her attempts with surprising quickness. Maybe bound by machine power or processing cycles, but there's no way a human could be responding like this through a standard physical interface. The other presence starts feeding her snoops for information with what appear to be random webcam clips from YouTube.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie quickly stops bothering trying to gather data. She has no way to quickly identify which ones are spoofs so she just settles for trying to intercept any outgoing messages. If she can keep this person pinned to where they are without being able to communicate electronically it might keep them from being alerted for at least a little while. She prepares a couple processes to sift through cellphone and wireless traffic and tries to analyze the previous text message. If she can extract a number she'll have the exact location pin-pointed in moments. She just has to make sure that her opponent think she just nuked the communication instead of intercepting it or they'll probably ditch all their cellphones.

[Narrator]

The wireless number the text message came from appears to be spoofed and intentionally routed to get to the target phone. So far, the presence doesn't seem to have caught on that she intercepted it. Another message bounces out and through the tracer program that's still trying to track her down.

Code: Select all

You're good.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie goes to work to try and crack the spoofing. On some level the signal had to know where to go and she's positive she can reverse-engineer it given enough time. Especially since she has a limited subset of devices to work with. There's thousands of cellphones in Maldon, but that still cuts down the possibilities by a significant margin.

Code: Select all

>> Flattery will get you nowhere.
>> It's only a matter of time until I have your location.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

Why so much worry about where I am? I'm certain I know where you are.

The device the message came from slowly resolves to a cycling set of SIM cards. The device appears to cycle between the SIM cards regularly and none are legitimately registered on any of the carrier's networks but they still seem to have access to all of them. The device it's going to appears to be harder to access as it's having trouble connecting with any of the towers at the moment.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Of course it's a hackjob. She should have expected it, but she can still work with that. It'll just take longer to triangulate across several IDs at random intervals.

Code: Select all

>> So I know to which orbit to adjust my spy satellite.

Not that she had one of those, but it might be interesting to see what the opposition would believe she had access to. Maybe she should look into what it would take to launch a mid-sized payload into orbit...

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

X-Corp doesn't have access to a spy satellite without assistance from SHIELD, and I'd *know* if you'd tapped that kind of resource. And even if they did, they wouldn't just be open to the University. If you want to know where I am, you could have just asked.

Her other processes that are still attempting to get inside the opposition's network begin to report that the network is breaking apart with links between the nodes being shut off.

[Ashlie Minamida]

They probably started pulling cables at this point, which is something she can do preciously little about.

Code: Select all

>> You're right, but I think you might be conflating me with the University.
>> And even if I believed you would reveal your location that easily, where's the fun in that?

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

So you're just pass-through-hacking one of the nastiest-to-hack networks I've ever seen?

The opposition's servers were on the move, virtualizing and moving to other shadow sites. It was slowing him down a little, but the effect was forcing her to attack multiple separate targets instead of just one.

Code: Select all

Or you could be part of that strange data dump that I sniffed, I suppose. You know, I got a couple of access codes from that. Let's try one shall we?

One of the servers made contact with the school network and passed right through the firewall.

[Ashlie Minamida]

That gets Ashlie's attention. She briefly considers flipping her panic button, but then she'd be stuck until someone physically reattached the connections that link her to the Point and the rest of the school. Even the wireless access node that connects to her body. Fixing that would take hours. Time they could spend rummaging through the Point's systems with only the automated security measures. Not really an option.

Code: Select all

>> So you found a key to play around with.

Perdita had been a problem because she'd been in her system before she even knew what was happening. Not to mention that she'd had access to much more than just a couple codes. This is a static data probe. She can disrupt the program. Without being able to adapt on the fly like Perdita she can just inject it with disruptive code and delete it from the system. No need to panic just yet.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

You're... in the network?

Somehow the message comes across as shocked.

Code: Select all

Never thrown down with another technopath before.

Another server launches an attack with a second access code, slipping in as well. This one is better at adapting to her attempts to shut it down. Oddly, it doesn't seem to be interested in messing with her or her code, mostly just observing her and the network. It's also not pumping data out.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie withdraws and makes sure to not have any active processes in the network being observed while she works on quarantining the school network. No one is using the admin portions anyway and she doesn't particularly care if this kicks a couple students off Netflix for now. Even if no data is being send back, she'd rather be too careful than risk compromising the network. Of course that also exposes the Point as the next area of attack, after which she'd be out of layers of defense, but maybe she can work another angle. Perdita had managed to gain Heather's trust, maybe she can do something similar here to avoid a confrontation.

Code: Select all

>> I don't care to throw down with you.
>> If you're curious we can talk.

[Narrator]

There was silence on the other end for a long moment.

Code: Select all

Didn't think I'd ever run into another technopath. The Internet is a big place, but we're a wary bunch by necessity.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Code: Select all

>> It's rare. I only know of one other and she requires close proximity to the system she's affecting.
>> I suspect it's a delayed adaption to the electronic age.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

It's a really nice adaption though. They call me Bitshift.

Outside the network, Bitshift's servers were still moving, but they seemed to have ceased their attack at the moment.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Code: Select all

>> Ashlie Minamida, if you're familiar with organic algorithms and self-organizing databases you've probably seen my name around.
>> I've published a number of papers before working in the private sector for a while.
>> That mostly stopped when I announced myself as a mutant prior to opening this school. I don't blame you for being wary.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

I have read a couple of your papers. I don't completely understand them, but they were interesting. You ever find yourself getting lost in the code sometimes?

[Ashlie Minamida]

Code: Select all

>> Very much so, yes. It's easy to lose track of time just watching the data flow.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

Yeah. I see it when I sleep sometimes. Hard to know what's a dream sometimes.

[Ashlie Minamida]

This felt familiar to her, even if so from a different angle. When your entire existence is electronic data then reality is a relative term. For a long time to her 'reality' had just been the abstract plane on which Dr. Minamida existed. Even when she'd shown her through video feeds it didn't really stand out to her from other videos. She experiences it all the same to the point that when she'd first booted into her prototype body she'd panicked because it felt like she'd become somebody else. Point of view meant looking into what someone else was filming, not what she was 'seeing'. It had taken unique identifiers embedded in the hardware of her eyes to differentiate and accept them as looking out into the world. None of that would be helpful for Bitshift, but she very much understands the feeling of losing track of things, even if the concept of dreams eludes her. He had one advantage over her though.

Code: Select all

>> I find it helps to use unique physical sensations. Something the code can't replicate outside a dream.
>> A certain smell or touch to ground yourself in reality.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

I'll have to give some thought to that. So... call a truce?

[Ashlie Minamida]

Code: Select all

>> If you want a truce then I would recommend that you distance yourself from your associates.

[Narrator]

Code: Select all

She'll kill me if I leave. Maybe figuratively, possibly literally, but she'll kill me one way or the other.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Code: Select all

>> Possibilities to escape could present themselves. Stay alert.