The Case of the Missing Kernel

It was raining outside in Neurocity, a formatting rain. The data was flooding the streets, overloading some of the older programs integrated into the streets and driving them out to be washed away in a stream of grey zeros and ones. My name is Hex, Hex O'Gonel, cyber-eye and code locater. More often then not, that means running through dirty lo-rez back streets chasing errant bits and overflow data. But every once in a while something strange comes through my door, something weird, something that makes all my time in the alleyways worth while.

* * *

I knew it was one of those times when she walked in my door. She stepped through the door into the circle of dim light cast by a ceiling bit. She was voluptuous, green and had ears so pointed you could use them for needle work.

"Mr. O'Gonel?" her voice was as soft as a mattress and harkened to the same.
"Hex 'll do fine doll," I gestured to the worn dark red chair that was opposite my desk. "Take a seat."

She sat with a squeak of stretching black leather and leaned towards me. I realized that sound wasn't the only detail that her avatar's creator had paid attention to. "I have a problem."

"I'd be glad to help you with anything," I drawled.

"I'm missing a kernel, it's the core of a operating system that I've programmed."

She let that hang for a moment allowing its importance to sink in. If she was telling the troth it would change the world. With a new operating system on the stage the current balance of power in the tech world would be less stable then a house of cards.

"Unfortunately without the kernel file, it's all useless," She leaned closer, "I need your help getting it back."

"Really Ms ... ?"

"You can call me Meg." she replied with a sultry smile.

"And I can call you anytime?" I returned, playing her game. If she wanted control she was welcome to it, especially if it caused her to be a little looser with her data.

"I'm willing to pay," she got up and came around the desk laying a hundred in my lap, "well."

"I'll take it." I decided, her case was far more interesting then any I'd had in a while and if I solved it I might be helping take down the near monopoly of NuroSoft. Something that I, who’ve had to pay their upgrade costs on occasion, would appreciate.

Now apparently satisfied that I was in her control Meg sat back down on the other side of the desk, all business. "It was stolen from my home," she began, "a hacker broke into my computer and stole it. I think they were from NuroSoft, it wouldn't be the first time they used such techniques against their competitors." Her face was twisted into a grimace that somehow still managed to look beautiful. But that wasn't what caught my attention.

"How did NS know?" I asked, using the popular abbreviation.

She hesitated a moment shifting slightly in her chair. Though I was pleased to have her off-balance I made sure not to show it. "I let it slip in public..."

"That was a fairly stupid thing to do."

"I guess," Meg didn't seem very regretful though. "But do you think you can track it down?"

"Of course, and we'll do payment upon receiving the item. Agreed doll?"

"Agreed." Meg rose gracefully from the chair and sashayed out of the room.

After she left I turned to the fogged window to look at the dark city. I figured that one way or another John the Byte-ist would know. An Input Output man, few things went own in the dark alleys of the city without John knowing. But I wasn't looking forward to going out in the cold rain, so I figured I'd check with some one else instead. I dialed up The Station and asked for Nie Ex. Nie was an Intrusion Countermeasures Expert, a cool guy, he had been my source inside the Security Station before. We frequently had a beer together at the end of a case and I had a long standing invitation to come to his place and sample his cooking.

He picked up, the fuzz from the rain was a deep pattering beneath his voice. "Hex, is that you?"

"Yea Nie, it's me. How ya doing? They turn the heat on?"

"Nah, they're too cheep, it's cold as hell in this building." I decided not to note that in the muggy days of The City's summer he called it 'hot as hell' a repetitive and crass disguise, Nie was smarter then he sounded. "Hex, this ain't about the kernel is it?"

"How'd you know?" I couldn't believe he'd heard it all ready; the women had just left my office minutes ago.

"I like to keep an eye on you Hex, that way I can find out the next time there's a murder." He replied with a dark laugh. There was a deep sigh from the other end and I had a hunch that my fellow detective was breathing out mist. "I know that this isn't going to change anything but that case is bad news. I can't help you on this one, and if you don't watch your back, no one is going to be able to help you, ever."

"Surely you can give me something?"

"Fine, only one thing and you didn't hear it from me." I nodded even though he couldn't hear it over the phone. "If NuroSoft took that kernel, your lady friend wouldn't be around to spread the word, she woulda been played off, or knocked off the bandwidth entirely. I'm sorry I can't help you Hex. Hope you can come over for dinner sometime soon."

He hung up with a load click. If Nie couldn't help it meant that the system was after the kernel also. Nie was part of the system and going against it was a risk that he couldn't afford to take. It looked as if I was going to be braving the city's weather after all.

* * *

As I stood under the flickering street light near my door I pulled up my collar against the cold wind and rain. The rain slid down my tan trench coat and dripped off the bottom hem, splattering on the street and joining the small stream of dirty data going into the gutter. I had a problem. John was not an easy man to find. He changed his address frequently and rapidly. I could search the city looking high and low, or I could ask someone. I decided that I'd go with the asking, it was dryer.

I hailed a cab. The dark yellow thing was well on it's way to breaking down, dark rust peaking out from in-between it's yellow paint. I found the handle, slick with rain, and opened the door. Sitting down on the ripped up faded red upholstery I turned to the back of the driver's head. "216.347. 126.324 lane" I gave the specific IP address, the easiest and fastest way to get where you want to go. The taxi pulled out with a wurr of wheels against slick pavement. He pulled off the curve at far too a speed and continued to drive far too fast for my liking. His felt cap was pulled down over his head casting a shadow over his eyes.

We drove through the city, everything a blur out the windows. Looking up I could see the massive sky, covered in dark grey clouds and releasing streams of globular data like a hyperactive showerhead. He screeched around a corner, putting my heart in my through and slammed down an alleyway.

I knocked on the glass divider trying to grab the attention of the driver. "Hey, last I checked 324 is in the other direction. "

"That could be." The man responded without looking back. "However, we ain't goin' to 324." I slid back in my seat at this, I didn't even bother checking the door, I knew it was locked. "We goin' to Freddy the Ripp3r."

I sighed. Apparently this trip was going to be longer then I expected. Shooting the driver was never a good idea but I was sourly tempted. Meeting Freddy the Ripp3r was an experience like de-rezzing yourself with a dull knife, painful and stupid. I checked my gun, it might be taken away in short order, but at least it worked.

The car screeched to a stop in front of a warehouse with a sound like nails on a blackboard and the smell of burning rubber. My door opened a crack to reveal the dark endless blackness of a gun barrel "Drop the heater bub." I pulled out my gun and dropped it to the side walk, avoiding the water puddles.

"I'd appreciate if ya picked it up. Rain ain't any good for a piece. " I requested of the man who was invisible to me on the other side of the door.

A hand snaked out from behind the door and picked up my gun. The door opened up to reveal a thug built like a couple bags of bricks, and twice as ugly, holding a Tommy gun. "Common, Freddy is waiting for ya."

I grabbed my fedora from the back seat and put it back on. "Lead the way."

"Not likely." The goon responded. "Up you go, the boss is waiting up the stairs, I'll be right behind ya." He motioned forward with his own gun.

I climbed the stairs carefully, with one hand on the rail. I decided that small talk with my newly gained shadow would be useless, I doubted he had the intelligence. I pushed open the door at the top of the stairs to reveal a fat black-haired man with more rings then fingers and an electronic saw instead of a left hand.

"Ahhh, Mr. O’Gonel. It is so nice to be seeing you again." The last time Freddy and I had met I'd left his building with a stern warning and a black eye.

"I hate to cut to the chase, but is there a reason for my arrival? Or is this just a reunion?"

"I brought you here because I've got a message for ya." He smiled with teeth that were so white you could see yourself in them.

"Does this message have a 'From:' line?"

Freddy laughed at my comment and the goon behind me soon joined in. Then Freddy cut his saw-hand through the air and the laughter stopped. "You are a funny man Mr O’Gonel. But," he slammed his saw-hand onto the table, gouging it deeply, "this is not a thing to be amusing about. This message has no sender as far as you are concerned. And attempting to find one might be..." He paused thinking, "Deleterious to your health." He continued, "There is a piece of stolen property somewhere in this city. This particular piece of software is causing a lot of heat."

"In what way?" I interrupted; usually heat meant the cops, or a more dangerous legal agency. But it could also mean an enemy boss.

"This is a message, not a conversation, I would appreciate it if you don't interrupt again." Freddy brushed off my question like dandruff off a new suit and continued, "We know that you have been hired to find this 'ware'. We approve of your actions and in order to insure that you are not working in the wrong direction we would like to tell you that John and his organization are neither responsible for the 'wares 'appropriation or have purchased it.' "He stopped, a lengthy pause to allow me to soak in his message and give notice that the conversation was over. "You may leave, your gun will be returned to you on your way out." As his goon turned me around and escorted me towards the door he added. "Good luck Mr. O’Gonel, I hope you're case is resolved speedily."

* * *

The goon shoved me in the car and when we arrived he shoved me outta the car and left me standing in the rain. He had driven me back to where I started, but with more then I had set out with. I was assured that the mob had not stolen the kernel. However this gave me no clue as to who stole the actual identity of the villain. Tomorrow was Monday, the perfect time to stop by NuroSoft HQ and see if I could discover anything there.

* * *

The next morning, vowing to avoid cabs, I left via the rusting public tram. The clouds were still dark as night, if night had come and gone the whether hadn't noticed. I rode in the center, avoiding the perpetual rain that fell in the city. I got off at the door to NuroSoft HQ. The building was impossibly tall. A black obelisk whose intimidating facade was only broken by bleak, shuttered, windows.

I entered the building, moving through the twirling revolving doors. The welcoming hall was dingy and dark, a squalid representation of the greed exuded by NS. After all, with all that money the least they could do is clean up their hallways. I made my way through the packed hallways, moving through the highest and lowest of society, those who worked and those who worked for handouts. I found my way to the Organization Chart and traced my finger up the lines of the company hierarchy. Towards the top was a 'At. Akgard - VP of Security and Acquisition.' Here was the man I wanted to see. If NS has stolen the kernel, he would know. I walked past the front desk, which was mobbed with shredded rag wearing bums, and went up to the elevator. I got in and was instantly worried for my safety. The light installed in the corner was flickering, casting in the cabin in a dim sickly light when it was on and plunging it into darkness when it flicked off. I hit the appropriate button, which lit up in a barely visible yellow, and braced myself as the elevator jumped upward.

When the elevator lurched to a stop on the 209th floor I stumbled out of the cabin with my legs shacking slightly and the thought that I may have stumbled into a testing facility for physiological warfare. This floor was far more clean then any piece of The City had a right to be. I traced the line of doors with my eyes and found the right one. I took hold of the doorknob, cold metal, and walked into the office. I was met by a receptionist with eyes like rubies and a body that looked like my head felt after too many beers, bloated. She was sitting behind a large wooden desk. Only in Neurocity would such a desk belong to a secretary.

"I need to see your boss." I said, cutting straight to the point.

"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Akgard?"

I drew my pistol, a clear piece that revealed a series of bullets that were deadly, "I have a loaded gun and a need to know." I pushed my way through the inner door while the secretary was still paralyzed with fear and surprise.

"Mr. Akgard." I entered the room, my gun in my outstretched hand. When his own hand snaked down beneath his desk I waved my gun. "Don't even think about it bub. Get up and go into the corner. I have some questions that need answering."

I moved quickly and grabbed him by his fancy suit lapels and slammed him against the wall. "If anything was stolen by your little enterprise you'd know, wouldn't ya?"

"Yes." he stammered out nervously.

I slammed him into the wall again. "So did ya steal the kernel?"

His face went white and his lips became tighter then the mobs wallet.

I angled the gun towards his head. "This baby is filled with a program that causes electric feedback straight into your brain. You'll be dead in minutes." My finger visibly tightened on the trigger.

"We didn't take it!" He yelled, "But my god I wish we did!"

I hadn’t expected him to say they had stolen it after Nie had assured me they hadn't, but the second part was unexpected. "Whada ya mean, you wish you did?"

"We would have bargained the kernel off the market once it was released. We had an offer it's creator couldn't refuse. But then it was stolen and now --urk--" He was cut off with a crack. I pushed away, his head falling down to the floor, red blood oozing out of a hole in the back that I could stick a fist through. I moved back, the last thing I needed was blood on my coat, it cost me a pretty penny last time I had to clean it out. I hurried out of the room; I didn't want to deal with the cops and a disconnect investigation.

I escaped from the stifling building and made my way through the maze of streets and alleyways, moving from one cone of darkness to another. I was almost home when I found my way into a surprise interrogation

"Hex!" came the shout from behind me.

I turned to see Green, hacker and cheif of the local police force. He had frequently been upset over my communications with buddies in the force and was not one of my fans. His emerald eyes burned in the dark light and his grin was too wide. "Whada ya want?" I asked.

"I want to know if your going to talk peaceably, or if were going to have to do this the hard way?"

I shook my head in confusion. "What are ya talking about?"

"I've heard some rumors, rumors that you and a lady friend are involved in a little warez trafficking on the side. You had better come down to the station, we got to have a little talk." He pulled cuffs out of the pocket of his uniform. "I don't want you to get cold feet so we got some jewelry to calm you down.

I offered my wrists and he snapped one cuff around my wrist and the other around his. "Lets go, my office is just around the corner."

By the time we got to the station my wrists hurt from the rubbing of the cuffs. Something that was no doubt done on purpose, to make me uncomfortable, so I was happy when the cuffs were removed. I was pushed into the interrogation room and a hot white light was shined down on me.

The interrogation began, Green was on the other side of the table asking questions. "Have you been involved in any robberies?"

"Go to hell." I spat back.

"Now Hex, is dat anyway to talk to a buddy?" I could hear Greens grin even if I couldn't see it. "Now I heard the rumors on the street that you was helping a lady looking for a kernel."

"Yea? What of it? I'm allowed to make a living ain't I?

"You and I both know that it would be imposable for the dame to make up an entire operating system with out anyone knowing."

"The only person who knows that is you. I know that anything could be done in secret."

"Gimmie a break Hex, you expect me to believe that the dame, from outa nowhere coulda programmed an entire OS herself? Without anyone knowing about it? I got a tip that you and da dame stole the code. That’s copyright infringement ya know, and it's a ticket to the slammer."

I wiped the sweat off my forehead; the room was getting more humid and hot with every passing moment. "Look bub, I don't know anything about who built it. I've just been hired to find it." Despite my argument with the chief I was quickly seeing pieces fall into place. "Look all you got is a rumor and I got real work to do. Why don't you let me outa here and we can call it even."

When I finnaly got out, nearly an hour later the humid air of the city, thick with bits, felt cool in comparison. I walked forward, there was only one last thing to check on, the crime scene. I called up Meg. "I'm coming over to the place you said it was stolen from, could ya meet me there?" She agreed and I turned around and walked down the street, rain pattering around me like a million light footed City residents.

* * *

I found my way to the complex that housed Meg's apartment. It was a tall brown building. The windows were placed regularly along the front, the ones with lights behind them looking like square eyes peering into the night. The stairway was cold and the stairs creaked loudly as I walked my way up them. What I couldn't understand was how someone who was good enough to program a kernel would be living in a dump like this. I knocked on the metal door to 015, Meg's apartment. She opened on the second knock, resplendent in her green skin and tight leather. "I was hopping to examine the scene of the crime. Ms..." I was hoping to get any last name, if she had one.

"I told you Hex," she put her green-skinned finger under my chin and brought my face closer. "It's just Meg." She moved back and allowed me into the apartment. "I moved right after the robbery, so nothing has changed since the day that the kernel was hacked."

I walked into the room which was impeccably decorated and quite neat. I moved around the room that the main door opened into. As I examined the door itself for any signs of a hacked entrance I asked Meg a few questions. "Meg, did you have anyone help you construct your new operating system?"

"No," she replied proudly, "I did it all myself. No help."

I nodded. According to Green that was nearly imposable, I began to form an idea of exactly what happened. A quick check of the door and room showed no sign of forced entrance. There were two windows. I checked the first one, it was fine. "Was there anyone else in the apartment right before it was stolen?"

"No I wasn't here at all and no one else was."

"And the kernel? Where did you store it?"

"I had it in a safe box in the living room."

I walked into the living room to find it just as impeccable as the rest of the apartment with one exception, the window that faced onto the street was broken, letting the wind and rain through. Peeking out the window, being careful not to cut myself on the remaining pieces , I saw the broken glass on the other side, being pelted by the ever-present rain.

I turned to Meg. "I don't think I need to examine anymore of the apartment, I have everything I need here."

"Sure you don't want to check the bedroom?" she asked innocently.

"Yes I'm sure." I responded. "Why don't ya sit down and we can finish this up."

She sat down on one of the chairs and I stayed standing up. I looked down at her and she smiled. I began to walk a slow circle around her chair. "Ya know, I have a friend who knows quite a bit about programming, he says that he can't believe you programmed the kernel and OS by yourself."

"Really?" Meg pouted, dark brows going down into a face that was meant to attract but to me only looked like she'd been sleeping face down on the pavement. "And you believe him?"

I ignored her question, allowing her to sweat a little. "What about this hacker, you know why anyone would want to steal a new OS? Usually the community is always in support of any competition."

"I suppose he wants to sell it or something like that. Why else would anyone steal it?"

But I knew the Mob didn't have it, and they are the only ones it coulda been sold too. Her story had more holes then Swiss cheese and smelled worse then an outhouse.

"So I guess he got in through the window and broke into your safe huh?" I said gesturing at the wide open safe in the corner of the room. "No short task. It musta taken a while, ya think?"

"Oh I'm sure, makes me regret that I stay out so long." Meg smiled invitingly.

"You know what I think?" I turned to her and continued before she could answer. "I think that there never was a kernel."

Her eyes went wide. "What do you mean?"

"Here's how it really went down. You can tell me where I get it wrong hmm? I think you put around the rumor that you were building an OS on purpose. You let it simmer around the community and leaked just enough info so it seemed true. After sitting around for a bit, you got up, maybe from that very chair, and broke your own window."

"But why - " Meg stammered.

"You broke your own window, from the inside, which explains why the broken glass is on the OUTSIDE of the window." I took a deep breath,  "Now what could possibly be the motive?" I asked rhetorically, "Why would you want to fake stealing something that doesn’t exist?"

Meg's eyes narrowed into slits and she stiffened. "Good question, why don't you tell me, since you have all the answers?"

"Very well, I will." I straightened my coat, which I had yet to take off, and picked my fedora off the table where I had left it. "You did it to blackmail NuroSoft. That’s why you killed or had someone kill Akgard. You were blackmailing him, supposedly to keep it off the market, but the troth is that there never was anything to keep of the market." I looked at her with a gaze as hard as granite. "Was there?"

She stood up suddenly producing a gun that was almost identical to mine out of what seemed thin air. Any playful air was gone as her expression became as cold as the artic. "Very good Mr. O'Gonel, you’re quite intelligent. I thought hiring you would add a touch of realism to my little game, but apparently your much smarter then I took you for."

"Much smarter." I agreed and shot my pistol, which I had hidden under my hat, through the rim of my fedora and knocked the gun out of her hand, not to mention denting it up quite a bit. "Blackmailing is a federal offence. Dame, you’re going up the river for a long time." I through the hat to the floor, it was a shame; I had ruined a perfectly good hat, but better holes through my hat then through me. Keeping my gun on her I called up Nie and had him bring over a few men to pack her up and take her to headquarters.

* * *

I looked out the broken window as they stuffed Meg into a car. The cops didn't look pleased about having to stay outside for so long in this weather. It was raining in Neurocity, a formatting rain.