From: joshua@dmccorp.com (Joshua Lellis)
Subject: Ground Hog's Day
Date: Fri Feb 03 02:36:59 MET 1995

Ok, folks. This *is* the continuation of _The_Alaskan_. You do, of
course, remember _The_Alaskan_, right? Good. April 1st will be the one
year anniversary of the writing of Harry's Vice, which is the prologue to
_The_Alaskan_. You will, of course, be receiving the entire novel once
again on April 1st, the special one year anniversary edition! :)
You will have to be checking yer newsreaders then, folks, cause that's
gonna be one that you'll want to read.
Why?
Because I am wavering right now on whether or not to write a
continuation. (NOTE: Continuation, not sequel. The Alaskan ended just
fine how it did, and the next novel in The Alaskan(*) series is going to
be about Rich, if it's about anyone.)
so, email me whether you want more or not. joshua@client.dmccorp.com
I'll read each and every email, and respond to all I can.
until then, re-read The Alaskan, re-read Dragon's Fire, and pray to God
for a continuation.

* - for lack of a better title



Ground Hog's Day
By Joshua Lellis
Copyright 1995 Joshua Lellis

   Anarchy was supreme and everyone was running wild. Paradise was in the
world, lovers loved, men were men, women were women, and children were
more than just children. They were hackers. This was their secret world.
   Many entered, not that many returned. The average one was sixteen,
white, and male. It was, for the most part, a male dominated game. Anyone
could join, of course, there were no recruition requirements, besides
owning a computer and a modem. The modems evolved, the computers evolved,
the human's stayed normal.
   This was all a secret world, of course, and no one knew. No one knew
what was going on behind these zeroes and ones, and the letters that were
typed out, a strange language: slang, computer jargon, and english rolled
into one.
   The FBI came.
   The FBI didn't like this game, and they began a crackdown. NAILS was a
secret government project, and when a man tried to infiltrate the Montana
base of operations, the FBI found a string of conspiring hackers. This
included some hackers that you'd only know by their handles: Maximillion
Forte, Gene Splicer, Optical Overkill, and OCFNYC's sysop. You wouldn't
know their real names. You didn't need to.
   They're serving their time now, and the entire incident of OCFNYC has
died down in the hacker community. Only rumors remain, stray rumors, and
some people asking if anyone was an original user of OCFNYC. Suddenly
copycat boards began to spring up, OCFH (Open Computer Facility of
Houston), OCFNO (Open Computer Facility of New Orleans), OCFSF (Open
Computer Facility of San Fransisco, and OCFLA (Open Computer Facility of
Los Angeles).
   Rumor had it their were other people's involved in all of this, people
that the FBI didn't want you knowing about.
   "Sure," said one hacker in his posting. "I knew all about this stuff
in Oregon, hacker called himself Ralph. He had killed two people and was
on the run and stuff. Some weird shit, man, and they fucking told me to
shut up. I ain't scared of them or nothing. Shit. If I saw one of the
G-Men, I'd fucking come out shooting."
   There were rumors about hackers in the OCFNYC incident that had came
out shooting. All rumors, of course.
   Then there was the one rumor that came up once, and for days no one
said a thing. One of the hackers *involved* directly in the OCFNYC
incident had escaped. Not escaped, actually. But he'd gotten out of the
sight of the FBI for enough time. The post itself seemed a meaningless
rant.
   "About the OCFNYC incident, guys, I heard that this store owner in the
Alaskan town actually made it out of the FBI's reach and escaped. I
wonder if he's holed up somewhere, and if he is, where."
   Then the poster got an anonymous letter in his OCFNO mailbox.
   "I don't think you understand the nature of what your post has done.
The OCFNYC incident was not the reason the FBI found the hackers they
found. There is more to it than you think, Orleanie."
   Orleanie was interested, quite interested.
   The reply to it bounced, and Orleanie didn't know what to do next.
Maybe the hacker was holed up somewhere near. Maybe he was right down the
street, or maybe he was somewhere far away. Wherever he was, he was the
last one of the OCFNYC people directly involved in the crackdown. Maybe
Orleanie could meet this hacker. He was a living legend amongst the
underground.
   Maybe on Ground Hog's Day there would be more Hog's in the ground.
Maybe there would be Rich, hiding behind his keyboard in a small
apartment somewhere.
   Maybe Rich would show himself again.
   Maybe the underground would find itself in the midst of another raid.
   Hogs in the government come out to play once more.



--
Hate your enemies              Joshua Lellis -- Jacob Latter -- Stauf
Save your friends                     joshua@client.dmccorp.com
Find your place                  Stauf @ CE (telnet 204.156.18.1 5000)
Speak the truth