From: I1700004@UNIVSCVM.CSD.SCAROLINA.EDU (Phase)
Subject: Second attempt... something different, please comment!
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 95 01:04:43 EST

* Dream State * Copyright (c) 1995 Jason Allen Etheridge
 
     Benjamin smiled as he walked into the alt.misc.technology
newsgroup, nodding to those who were not locked into conversation.
Over in the distance a few were watching the recorded persona of one
the group's net.gods giving a speech on the dangers of matter-transfer
and advocating traditional mag-lev mass transport.  Some would
probably post holograms of their own, agreeing with her, and possibly
bringing up philisophical quandaries concerning identity and self,
while others would try to flame the popular figure, with insults at
one extreme and sarcasm and logic at the other.  Ben wasn't there for
debate however, nor any flame wars.
     He approached one figure who was standing away from the others.
Like many, this one had forgone assuming a human persona and instead
chose to be seen as a 3 headed creature, resembling a man sized cross
between a human being and a dragon.
     "Are you Phase?" he asked.
     "Yess, Phase FX at yer sservice." the green scaled creature bowed
low, while tucking its wings tight at its back.  The long toothy jaws
of its three heads atop long necks seemed to be synchronized as they
curled into subtle smiles.  Glowing red orbs in the eye sockets eyed
Benjamin eagerly.
     "Do you have what I need?"
     "But of coursse... do you have the..." Phase would have said
'money' or 'payment', but though they were relatively safe from
attention in all that bandwith, there was no reason to speak aloud
certain keywords.
     "Yes." Ben acknowledged, simultaneously transfering half of the
previously agreed upon sum to the dealer in anonymous ecash.
     "Ex-cellent." the creature hissed softly, counting the encoded
packets.  "As I promiss-ed." He then gave Ben a 1 megabyte decryption
key.
     "I'll be right back." Benjamin then said, suspending his view of
the current environment, and replacing it with the virtual view of a
warehouse, an anonymous ftp site.  He rushed to the upload section,
and found the crate marked 'Pee-Wee Meets Barney.'  Ben grinned, the
download count was zero.  Perfect.  He transferred the package to his
personal memory, erasing it from the site.
     "Here we go" he spoke into the void to no one in particular, his
words traveling quickly to their death in the bit bucket.  He then ran
the data through his decryption software, using the key Phase had
provided him.  Inside was the software he was after.  He scanned
quickly through the gigabytes of source code, recognizing bits and
pieces from when he still worked at Micronsoft and was part of the
development team.  It was the real thing.
     He put the usenet back into the foreground.  Phase was there
waiting, of course.  "Ssatis-fied, yess?"
     Benjamin grinned, and transferred the rest of the substantial
payment.  "Yes."
 
To be continued...
 
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      Jason Etheridge                 _____ żo o/ _____
......................................żo o/..(-)..żo o/..........
etheridg@science.psc.sc.edu            (o)  Phase  (o)
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Chun Li Archive --> http://129.252.40.100/~etheridg <-- SF2 Links
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