Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 22: This is our fight
An attempt to access the network has repercussions
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Thank you, Bill
Last week, in chapter 21, Seamus had his last drink
Chapter 22: This is our fight
“What’s wrong, lover boy? Did I fart in my sleep?” Holly said.
Takeda’s eyes slowly opened as he realized he’d fallen asleep on the couch after talking to his mother. Triscuit’s head was draped over his ankles.
“I couldn’t sleep. Well, I was sleeping, but the yelling outside woke me. So, I came out here to play some games but ended up talking to my Mom for a while on vid chat.” He sat up groggily while Triscuit protested the movement.
Holly handed him a cup of coffee. He sniffed it and took a sip. “Wow, what is that?”
“It’s called ‘Mind Eraser.’ Decent coffee is hard to come by, as evidenced by your lack of it. I grabbed some from my stash. One of my jumper buddies has a connection and hooks me up occasionally. He never jumps into the shit without decent beans and a portable grinder, doesn’t care about the extra weight in his pack.” she said while twisting her bedhead hair into a ponytail.
“Damn, thank you and your buddy.”
“So, how’s your Mom? Did she talk about me?” she tilted her head, cupping her face with her hands, teasing him.
“I told her that we eloped and you’re pregnant.”
She almost spit out her coffee. “Well done. See, I knew you could dish it out.”
“Anyway, she seems to be doing fine. She just wanted to say Happy Birthday and stuff.”
“You tell her about not taking the job?”
He swallowed with purpose and put his cup down. “I left my email open on the laptop, didn’t I?”
“It wasn’t like I was trying to snoop. I went to close Netflix, and there it was. Hope you’re not mad.”
“Nah, I was going to tell you. There were more pressing things going on yesterday, as you know.”
“So does this mean that I might someday know a famous writer and not some dirtbag reporter trying to get the scoop on the kind of dress so-and-so is wearing to the who-gives-a-fuck-awards?”
“Heh, I don’t know about famous. But maybe you’ll know the world’s oldest pizza delivery driver and unpublished novelist.”
“That’s my boy. You’re supposed to be a tormented soul or something, though. It might be good to start drinking heavily. You’ll get famous, but it’s after you die, and that happens earlier than normal. They never put writer down on those lists of the world’s most dangerous jobs, probably should.” She took another sip.
“Have you considered motivational speaking? You have a gift.” Takeda said from the kitchen as he fed Triscuit.
“One of many, Takeda Hill, one of many. Enough bullshitting. Do you want to help me with researching the weirdness today? That’s what I’m calling it for now.”
“Sure, H. I’ll take Tris for a quick walk and meet you at your place in a few minutes. I’m sure you’ve got a better system than mine anyway.”
Holly stared out the window into the alley. She touched the glass where a remnant of the blood stain from the avian collision remained.
“Hey, you okay?” Takeda said.
“I was thinking about how amped up I was yesterday after all that shit. Then I sleep for a while and wake up to a beautiful sunny day. My brain is trying to make me think that everything is okay now, that none of that stuff was a big deal, that there’s a normal explanation, and that I should chill. But you know me, I can’t just chill. I have to have answers. This isn’t some stupid movie; it’s my life. How about you? What do you say in the light of day? Give a shit about this Chimera thing?” When she finished, she turned to face him and sat on the windowsill with her hands on her hips.
“Well, you know me, I tend to want to forget shit and move on. But I’m supposed to be a writer now, I guess. It seems like there are the makings of a good story here. Let’s hope it ends up in the fiction section,” he laughed.
The sound of Triscuit huffing, growling, and clawing turned their heads. They found her in the doorway to the bedroom, looking frustrated.
“What’s up with her?” Holly said.
“No idea. Never seen her do that before. Something’s wrong.” He put his hands on both sides of Triscuit’s head and looked into her eyes. She whimpered a little and tried to pull away.
“You hungry, Tris? Want to go out?” he said.
Triscuit sat in the doorjamb, then lost her balance and fell over. She stayed that way and snorted with exasperation.
“You ever get that falling over checked out? I’ve never seen a dog that just falls over.”
“Yeah, they couldn’t find anything medically wrong with her,” he said. “I’m going to take her out. Meet you in fifteen?”
“Make it thirty. I’m going to take a long hot shower... no, you’re not invited.”
“I didn’t say anything!” he protested.
“Tak, pah-lease. See you in a bit,” she said, closing the door behind her.
Takeda knocked on the door and heard her shout, “Come in, doofus.”
The living room was sparsely appointed, with a basic couch near the window. On the wall behind it was a large framed poster of Huey Lewis and the News from the album FORE!. Holly sat in front of her laptop, flanked by monitors on either side. Her father’s leather chair rested in the corner of the room near a small table. A reading lamp illuminated a photo of her parents and a worn copy of Anna Karenina. Across the room, a pile of hiking and firefighting gear lay in a heap. The burning incense didn’t hide a faint smell of cigarettes.
“Come sit,” she said, and he pulled a chair beside her.
“Found anything yet?”
“No,” she said with frustration. “I’m finding it a little weird that any combination of keywords I use gives me basically nothing. I mean, what the hell, watch.” Holly opened a new browser window and typed, ‘trees, red, bird, leg, birthday.’ She hit enter and got ‘No Results.’ “Those are pretty generic words. I should get something back, even if it’s completely unrelated.” She leaned back.
“Maybe it’s down or broken or something. Try searching for something else.”
She typed in ‘Takeda Hill’ and hit enter. Several results showed up. “See, it works. There’s your school profile, gamer profile, and links to stories about your Mom. Oh, this looks good; someone talked shit about your pizza delivery!” she laughed.
“Stupid internet.” He’d seen the link before. Unhappy customers loved to complain online. He’d posted a request to take the review down, but that was over a year ago.
“Try only the words tree and birds,” he said.
She typed them, got nothing, and stared at the screen for a moment. “That’s impossible.”
“More like improbable… can you try a different search engine?”
She did and got the same result.
“Tak, give me your phone.” He did and watched her try the same search - getting the same results.
“So you want to play. Fine,” Holly said to the air. She opened up her Virtual Private Network application to mask her identity, then tried the search again.
She still got nothing.
“Someone has to be doing this, Tak. There’s no way this is an accident. And blocking me when I’m using VPN isn’t child’s play. I’m no hacker, but I know a few things because of my Mom and Grandpa.” She drummed her fingers on the desk.
“What about the dark web?” he said.
“Yeah, that was my next thought too. It’s such a shit show in there, but what the hell.”
Holly brought up a command prompt window and started in. After a minute, her system blinked once, twice, and then on the display, ‘WELCOME HOLLY’ appeared in white letters on black.
She brought up a window that said ‘haXor srch’ with a skull comprising the letter o. She tried the same search again, typing trees, red, bird, leg, birthday, then hit return. A single result filled the screen over and over:
.:** WE WILL NOT BE BLOCKED OR SILENCED. THIS IS OUR FIGHT **:.
GOVERNMENT MIND CONTROL IS REAL
“What the sweet, merciful fuck is this?” Holly said, her mouth slightly agape.
As they watched, the repetitive results started disappearing, one at a time, from the bottom up until ‘0 search results’ flashed. A second later, the same results began to reappear from the top down. It was like they were watching a tug-of-war with data. Holly took out her phone and shot a video of the screen. Keeping the camera running, she turned it to face Takeda. “Thoughts?”
“Hello, if you’re watching this, we’re probably already dead,” he laughed, trying hard to be funny. “H, I think we should try clicking on that link the next time it rebuilds.”
“Good idea. You click it; I’m going to keep the video rolling.”
He stood up and reached for the mouse, then moved the cursor to where the link would reappear. Takeda leaned back as if clicking it might trigger an explosion.
“Ready?” he said.
“Do it.”
The links appeared again. He clicked the first one.
They didn’t explode.
But that might have been less confusing.
“I know I’ve been saying this a lot, but what, the, fuck?” Holly said.
The screen was black except for a red bird’s leg constructed of ASCII characters. The top of the leg faded off into the dark background. Centered, bold text proclaimed:
CONGRATULATIONS
INITIALIZE HANDSHAKE WITH MOBILE AUTHENTICATION KEY
The text was in red, and the second line was blinking. Holly stopped recording and put her phone down. She left the room for her bedroom and returned with a pack of cigarettes a moment later. She lit one up and opened the apartment window, then sat back down next to Takeda and sighed.
Takeda could feel the look of bewilderment on his face. Before he had a chance to speak, they both saw the screen change. The text disappeared and was replaced with:
20 SECONDS REMAIN
FAILURE TO INITIATE HANDSHAKE WILL
TERMINATE THIS SESSION FOR 24 HOURS
“Do you know how to get around this?”
“No. This is way above anything I know how to do. As it states, it’s looking for hardware, a mobile phone, a key fob, or something to let us in. Honestly, I’d be a little scared to try any hack. Shit’s spooky.”
The message left the screen, and a moment later, it was replaced with a new one.
NO KEY RECOGNIZED - SESSION CLOSING
USER LOCATION HAS BEEN LOGGED. ONE FAILED ATTEMPT.
5..
4..
3..
2..
1
The screen flipped back to the haXor srch page. Holly tried entering the same search terms again and got zero results. She clicked the search button a few times with growing frustration. She clicked the back button in the browser, but it was disabled; then checked the browser history page, but it was empty.
“I want my Mom,” she said.
A little surprised, Takeda looked at her, “You’re scared?”
“Well, yes, but I mean because she’s better at programming and stuff than me. I’m as much a hacker as you are a writer,” she winced as the words left her mouth. “Tak, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. I’m a little flustered.”
“It’s okay, H. I’m not calling myself a writer until I publish something beyond the day’s pizza.” He walked to the kitchen and opened her refrigerator, “Listen, I have… what the heck, all you have in here is bottled water? Do you actually live here?”
“And that’s why I’m in great shape. Don’t think I haven’t noticed those emerging love handles, buddy. Fewer Flyer rides and more pedal power would do you some good.”
“Health advice, you’re smoking a cigarette.”
She laughed and crushed it out in the tin ashtray perched on the windowsill.
They heard yelling coming from out in the hallway. Takeda looked at her, “That Mrs. Emerton?” Both of them scrambled to the door.
“MA... MA! IT’S ME, KYLE... YOU CALLED ME REMEMBER?”
In the hallway stood a replica of Seamus. Although, less fifty pounds, fifty percent of his hair, and plus one tailored suit.
“I DON’T KNOW YOU! WHERE IS MY SON, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HIM? DID YOU TAKE HIM? I’LL CALL THE POLICE, I WILL... DON’T YOU TOUCH ME!”
The man wasn’t touching her; he was standing in her doorway, looking mortified.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Emerton?” Holly and Takeda managed to say at the same time.
“Hi, uh, do you know my mother?” the man said, turning to them.
“She’s the landlord, technically. Who are you?” Takeda said, squinting, even though it was pretty clear based on the resemblance.
“I’m her son Kyle, Seamus’s brother. Have you seen him by any chance? He takes care of our Mom, uh, you probably know that. Anyway, she called me, but I don’t think she remembers. I mean, obviously, she doesn’t. She never calls me, and I rarely ever come here. But I got worried. She was raving on the phone and not coherent. Where in the hell is he? She’s not supposed to be alone,” Kyle exclaimed in one breath.
“We haven’t seen him since yesterday afternoon. I also tried calling him and texting, but he didn’t reply.” Holly said, eyeballing Kyle and watching Mrs. Emerton drift back into her apartment.
“You tried calling him? How come? If you don’t mind me asking?”
Holly looked at him with distaste.” You have some ID?”
“ID? You’re serious?” He motioned to his face.
She crossed her arms and glared.
“Sure, if it’ll make you feel better.” He fumbled through his wallet and pulled out a driver’s license and a business card. Kyle handed them to Holly, who took them without breaking eye contact. He took a half step backward.
“You’re a lawyer?” she scoffed.
“Kyle Emerton Esquire at your service,” he gave a quarter bow.
Holly raised her eyebrows at the bow and handed Takeda the license and business card.
“Okay, Kyle… well, something odd happened yesterday, and we wanted to see how Seamus was doing.”
“Something odd? Like what? Something happened to Seamus?” he shot back.
“Mr. Emerton... Kyle,” Takeda broke in, “yesterday, a bunch of birds flew into the building and died. Holly saw Seamus cleaning up the disgusting mess in the alley and wanted to see if he was okay. It was a disturbing scene, as you might imagine.”
“Gross,” Kyle grimaced and wrinkled his nose. “And you haven’t seen or heard from him since?”
“No.” Holly and Takeda said at the same time.
“KYLE! WHEN DID YOU GET HERE? AREN’T YOU EVEN GOING TO SAY HELLO TO YOUR MOTHER! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU KIDS!” Mrs. Emerton screamed down the hallway.
“Coming, Mom!” Kyle yelled back over his shoulder. “I’d better catch her now while she still remembers me. You have my card; please let me know if you hear from Seamus.”
“UNGRATEFUL LITTLE MONGRELS!”
“Will do, Kyle,” Takeda said. They watched him go into her apartment.
“Now Seamus is missing?” Holly threw up a hand.
“Hang on, he’s a grown man, and he’s only been gone a day. Maybe he met up with some old Army buddies or partied and drank too much. He’ll be back soon, I’m sure. I bet he’s downing aspirin with hair of the dog somewhere as we speak.”
“Or was eaten by a tree man!” she shouted and immediately regretted it.
“Shhh, let’s keep the tree man stuff to ourselves for now,” Takeda said, covering his mouth.
“Okay, okay. But don’t ever shush me again, dude.” She punched him in the shoulder.
“Gotta get you a heavy bag or something.” he chuckled, rubbing it.
“Well, what do we do now, Tak?”
“The first thing I have to do is to call into work. I don’t think Ralph will mind; I’ll say it’s Birthday hangover. I haven’t taken a day off in a very long time. Or, maybe I’ll say we need to keep an eye on Mrs. Emerton since Seamus is missing.”
“You sure you want to do that? I don’t want you getting fired over this shit. Whatever this shit is. We could meet later.”
“Nah, what I was about to say, before all that,” he waved his arm down the hallway, “is that I have an idea for something to try next. But you have to keep an open mind.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were aboard a Flyer.
"You think someone at The Center can help us?" Holly said while flipping through menus on the video screen before her.
Takeda took a sip of the onboard coffee and patted Triscuit, who nuzzled between them. "Maybe, it's just a hunch."
Holly brought up a search engine on the video screen and tried the same keywords as before. She got zero results for her effort. "Dammit." She hissed.
"If someone is tracking us, then I bet they know where we are from the ID scan when we boarded," he said.
"I should ask someone else onboard to try the search, for the hell of it." She looked at the other passengers.
"H, if someone is messing with us, wouldn't they target and block the whole Flyer?"
"They... who the fuck are they!"
Triscuit huffed and looked at her with worry. "Sorry, pup." Holly stroked Triscuit's head, which reassured the dog.
They rode along in silence, passing burned-out parts of town, where people skittered over the surface like kitchen ants searching for crumbs. The Flyer detoured to circumvent a riot outside of Coady's Megastore. The grocery chain had been one of a number to suffer assaults from the hungry and those who wanted to break things. Riot control police with shields marched in formation to separate and disperse the crowd.
The Flyer settled in front of The Center, and the three got out. Takeda held Triscuit like a baby. They rubbed their eyes as the bright sun and heat of the day contrasted the cozy confines of their transport.
To his delight, Takeda saw what he was looking for.
Before he could tell Holly what that was, a group of party girl revelers spilled out of The Center in animated conversation. It was clear that one of them had experienced a Replay. She danced over to Holly and Takeda and said, "You are both so beautiful; isn't it all amazing! Look at you!" The girl put a hand on both of their faces gently. "And you! Oh, I love you!" She said to Triscuit, who wagged her whole backside.
"Come on, Paula! We're going to miss the Flyer, girl!" One of the women shouted to Paula and raced back to take her by the arm. "Sorry! It's her birthday, you know…."
"It's cool," Takeda said as he watched them board. Paula took her seat and looked out the window at them. She blew them kisses until one of her friends got her attention, and the Flyer glided away.
"So why are we here, Tak?" Holly asked with rising impatience.
"Him." He pointed to the man holding the tattered GOVERNMENT MIND CONTROL INSIDE - SLEEP sign he'd seen yesterday.
"Let's talk to Scott."
Next week in Chapter 23, “The Tech Team,” We meet the rest of the PDCO team, and the avian remains arrive in Maui.
A very well-crafted chapter, Bill.