Digital Fortress Chapter 29

Still unnerved from her encounter with unharmed, Susan gazed out through the unidirectional glass of guest 3. The Crypto floor was empty. puff was silent again, engrossed. She wished he would leave.She wondered if she should outcry Strathmore the commander could simply kick solid out-after all, it was Saturday. Susan knew, however, that if Hale got kicked out, he would directly become suspicious. Once dismissed, he probably would start t prohibitering some other cryptographers asking what they imagination was going on. Susan decided it was better just to permit Hale be. He would leave on his own soon enough.An infrangible algorithm. She sighed, her thoughts returning to Digital Fortress. It amazed her that an algorithm like that could really be created-then again, the proof was right there in front of her TRANSLTR appeared useless against it.Susan thought of Strathmore, nobly bearing the weight of this ordeal on his shoulders, doing what was necessary, staying cool in the face of disaster.Susan sometimes saw David in Strathmore. They had many of the same qualities-tenacity, dedication, intelligence. sometimes Susan thought Strathmore would be lost without her the purity of her love for cryptography seemed to be an emotional lifeline to Strathmore, lifting him from the sea of churning politics and reminding him of his early eld as a code-breaker.Susan relied on Strathmore too he was her shelter in a world of power-hungry men, nurturing her career, protecting her, and, as he often joked, reservation all her dreams come true. in that location was some truth to that, she thought. As unwilling as it may have been, the commander was the one whod made the cite that brought David Becker to the NSA that fateful afternoon. Her mind reeled back to him, and her eyes fell instinctively to the pull-slide beside her keyboard. There was a small fax taped there.The fax had been there for sevener months. It was the only code Susan Fletcher had yet to break. It w as from David. She guide it for the five-hundredth time.PLEASE get into THIS HUMBLE FAXMY LOVE FOR YOU IS WITHOUT WAX.Hed sent it to her after a kidskin tiff. Shed begged him for months to tell her what it typifyt, but he had refused. Without wax. It was Davids revenge. Susan had taught David a lot about code-breaking, and to move on him on his toes, she had taken to encoding all of her messages to him with some simple encryption scheme. Shopping lists, love nones-they were all encrypted. It was a game, and David had become quite a good cryptographer. thus hed decided to return the favor. Hed started signing all his garner Without wax, David. Susan had everywhere two dozen notes from David. They were all signed the same counseling. Without wax.Susan begged to notice the hidden meaning, but David wasnt talking. Whenever she asked, he simply smiled and said, Youre the code-breaker.The NSAs head cryptographer had time-tested everything-substitutions, cipher boxes, even ana grams. Shed run the letters without wax through her calculating machine and asked for rearrangements of the letters into new phrases. All shed gotten back was taxi hut wow. It appeared Ensei Tankado was not the only one who could write unbreakable codes.Her thoughts were interrupted by the good for you(p) of the pneumatic doors hissing open. Strathmore strode in.Susan, any word yet? Strathmore saw Greg Hale and stopped short. Well, good evening, Mr. Hale. He frowned, his eyes narrowing. On a Saturday, no less. To what do we owe the honor?Hale smiled innocently. Just making current I pull my weight.I see. Strathmore grunted, apparently weighing his options. After a moment, it seemed he too decided not to rock Hales boat. He cancelled coolly to Susan. Ms. Fletcher, could I speak to you for a moment? Outside?Susan hesitated. Ah yes, sir. She jibe an uneasy glance at her oversee and then across the path at Greg Hale. Just a minute.With a few quick keystrokes, she pulled up a pro gram called ScreenLock. It was a secrecy utility. Every terminal in Node 3 was equipped with it. Because the terminals stayed on around the clock, ScreenLock enabled cryptographers to leave their send and k outright that nobody would tamper with their files. Susan entered her five-character privacy code, and her screen went black. It would remain that way until she returned and typed the proper sequence. consequently she slipped on her shoes and followed the commander out.What the hell is he doing here? Strathmore demanded as soon as he and Susan were outside Node 3.His usual, Susan replied. Nothing.Strathmore looked concerned. Has he said anything about TRANSLTR?No. But if he accesses the Run-Monitor and sees it registering seventeen hours, hell have something to say all right.Strathmore considered it. Theres no reason hed access it.Susan eyed the commander. You want to send him home? No. Well let him be. Strathmore glanced oer at the Sys-Sec office. Has Chartrukian left yet?I dont know. I havent seen him.Jesus. Strathmore groaned. This is a circus. He ran a hand across the beard stubble that had darkened his face over the past thirty-six hours. Any word yet on the tracer bullet? I feel like Im sitting on my hands up there.Not yet. Any word from David?Strathmore shook his head. I asked him not to call me until he has the ring.Susan looked surprised. Why not? What if he needs help?Strathmore shrugged. I cant help him from here-hes on his own. Besides, Id rather not talk on unbarred lines just in case someones listening.Susans eyes widened in concern. Whats that supposed to mean?Strathmore immediately looked apologetic. He gave her a reassuring smile. Davids fine. Im just being careful. 30 feet away from their conversation, hidden behind the one-way glass of Node 3, Greg Hale stood at Susans terminal. Her screen was black. Hale glanced out at the commander and Susan. past he reached for his wallet. He extracted a small index card and read it.Double-checki ng that Strathmore and Susan were still talking, Hale carefully typed five keystrokes on Susans keyboard. A piece later her monitor sprang to life.Bingo. He chuckled.Stealing the Node 3 privacy codes had been simple. In Node 3, every terminal had an identical detachable keyboard. Hale had simply taken his keyboard home one night and installed a amputate that kept a record of every keystroke made on it. Then he had come in early, swapped his modified keyboard for someone elses, and waited. At the end of the day, he switched back and viewed the data recorded by the chip. Even though there were millions of keystrokes to sort through, finding the access code was simple the offshoot thing a cryptographer did every morning was type the privacy code that unlocked his terminal. This, of course, made Hales job effortless-the privacy code forever and a day appeared as the first five characters on the list.It was ironic, Hale thought as he gazed at Susans monitor. Hed stolen the privacy co des just for kicks. He was happy now hed done it the program on Susans screen looked significant.Hale puzzled over it for a moment. It was written in oblivion-not one of his specialties. Just by flavor at it, though, Hale could tell one thing for certain-this was not a diagnostic. He could make sense of only two words. But they were enough.tracer bullet SEARCHINGTracer? he said aloud. Searching for what? Hale matt-up suddenly uneasy. He sat a moment studying Susans screen. Then he made his decision.Hale understood enough about the LIMBO programming language to know that it borrowed heavily from two other languages-C and Pascal-both of which he knew cold. Glancing up to check that Strathmore and Susan were still talking outside, Hale improvised. He entered a few modified Pascal commands and hit return. The tracers status window responded on the dot as he had hoped.TRACER ABORT?He quickly typed YESargon YOU SURE?Again he typed YESAfter a moment the computer beeped.TRACER ABORTEDHal e smiled. The terminal had just sent a message telling Susans tracer to self-destruct prematurely. Whatever she was looking for would have to wait. resonant to leave no evidence, Hale expertly navigated his way into her system drill log and deleted all the commands hed just typed. Then he reentered Susans privacy code.The monitor went black.When Susan Fletcher returned to Node 3, Greg Hale was seated quietly at his terminal.