Crow - The Awakening Page 5

He chose laptop parts rather than personal computer parts because like Steven's LED lighting, laptops typically used minimal power. This made it easy for him to run it for a long time, even on cloudy days - or overnight if he needed to on the battery setup he had put together. They were also rather cheap since many laptops were discarded after a couple of years, even though the reason for them to be discarded had been completely unrelated to the actual circuitry. That made them easy pickings from the scrap pile for him. It took a lot of work to figure the components out, of course. But he was already several years ahead in his schooling and seemed to grasp computing intuitively, so once he got started the path just sort of opened up to him.

  The operating system Steven had assembled was actually a cobbled together unix clone taking inspiration from several operating systems that were freely available, plus some utilities that he converted to work on his system. It was heavily customized and trimmed to just the tasks he intended. He only wanted a tool to give him access to the network and that had basic search capabilities as well as hacking and surreptitious networking functions and database connectivity capabilities. It had taken him many months of tinkering to write. At first, he tried freely available systems and then he started trimming them and customizing them until he knew enough to just write his own nearly from scratch. He was amazed at how much stuff he was able to trim from the system to get down to just what he needed. Even the free open source systems seemed bloated by comparison.

  He was giddy with hope and danced a circle giggling, shaking the tree house, excited about the possibility of finally getting his networking up and running. The painstaking journey was done surreptitiously, out of sight from his anti-computer godparents. But it was just the start for him. The computer was a tool to an even greater journey, that of searching for his parents the only way he knew how - digging into various databases for any sign or hint of them. Income tax records, loan records, job history, medical history, genealogical records and more were targets he planned to exploit for his search. He couldn't physically look for them, so this was the next best thing. The trail was ten years cold, however, and he was fearful of the difficulty of what he was facing. But no one else seemed to be looking, so it was ultimately up to him. He had spent time on Brandon's computer starting the search but quickly ran into limitations that motivated him to get his own. And now he was on the very cusp of success.

  Attached to the bottom of the counter was another large wooden box containing a salvaged off-grid battery charge controller used by many hunting cabins in the area. The cabin Steven got it from was in a severe state of abandonment and disrepair, but the charge controller had been protected in a case and was still in pretty good condition. This was attached to a pair of old golf cart batteries that were tucked under the counter in a little cage he had woven for them. This little system processed and stored the energy collected by his modest collection of solar panels outside. He peeked under the counter and checked the meter on the charge controller to make sure he had a full charge, then flipped a switch to activate the circuit. After diodes lit up indicating a good circuit, he returned to the computer. The little desk lamp came on when he connected the power, giving the little work area more light and he moved junk and spare parts out of the way to make more room to work.

  Once he booted into his own operating system, he extracted the files on the thumb drive Brandon had given him and got to work making his wireless network connection work. He was close enough to town to connect to the library's wireless network with the help of the tin can antennae he had placed on the roof of the tree house. Being able to connect using his own computer was his last hurdle for having a fully functional tool in his search for his parents. Up until now he had been sneaking around at the mercy of others and the search was very slow as a result. He typed in a few commands into his laptop and watched as text scrolled up the screen. He had written into his system binary compatibility with many of the free systems out there so it was trivial getting drivers and software to work on his system.

  Steven pulled out the notes that had formed the foundation of much of his work. His godfather was, at one time, an engineer for a computing company in Seattle and had made a discovery that horrified him and his wife enough to drop out of the computing environment altogether. Steven couldn't get him to divulge just what that discovery was, however. But Jonah had kept copious and detailed notes of his work and committed them to paper to ensure they weren't digitally lost. Steven had found those notes in a safe he managed to finally unlock. After skimming over them, Steven snuck the notes to the city library to make a copy for deeper reading. From the notes, it wasn't surprising that his godfather had dropped out of the tech world. He could imagine that certain people would be very unhappy he had made this discovery. That made the fact that his parents were missing all the more ominous, however.

  After reading these texts, he opted for ultimately writing his own software to better control how every aspect of the computer worked. The free systems were functional enough, but from what Steven had read of the work his godparents had done, they were as vulnerable as any other system and he had to take things up a notch if he was going to be sneaking into networks. The notes illuminated a scary, dark world under the hood of most computers, one that was extremely secretive and dangerous. They indicated that most software and even hardware were engineered to allow unknown hackers to freely enter into any system, regardless of the security measures put in place. A nearly undetectable back door existed, and from what the notes indicated, this "door" didn't require the computer to actually be actively on. Just plugged into the power. Most modern systems never fully turned off when plugged in, which made it easy to surreptitiously utilize the computer for non-sanctioned tasks.

  Someone was using these computers and spying on people on a massive scale and manipulating data and transferring resources and funds with no restrictions whatsoever. From what he saw, wars were even sparked by this dark network by exploiting the power of social media and forged messages to various diplomats. That sort of thing was easy enough already, but the power of a practically hidden network made it almost predictable. Being able to observe emails and digital conversations live and the ability to manipulate these communications without being detected gave these people tremendous power over world events. They were people that Steven wished to avoid, but at the same time investigate. They were surely behind the disappearance of his parents and the reason why his godparents were hiding out here in the hills.

  By writing his own system software, Steven was able to block most of the hardware exploits indicated in the notes and eliminate the software security holes while at the same time opening those doors for his own exploitation. He even wrote his own microcode that ran on the central processors, closing up even more vulnerabilities. He constructed the system specifically to enter into other computers in his search to find his parents, allowing him to access databases, medical records, real estate records, tax records and more using the very hardware and software exploits that his godfather had discovered. He grinned at the mischievousness of it all, but a part of him remained apprehensive. There was always a chance of being discovered. However, by identifying the secret networks thanks to the notes, Steven was sure he would be a ghost out there.

  A part of him was still afraid, however. These people detected and abducted his parents after all. But what choice did he have? If no one else was looking, what could he do? But he felt confident. His parents may have not known of the threat until too late. Steven had the benefit of the notes and their experience to be better prepared.

  Steven closed the notes and put them in their own box and relaxed a bit to let the anxiety pass. He daydreamed of spring days and the fresh explosion of growth that resulted from them. The late summer season was seeing a rapid slowing of growth and everything was starting to get ready for winter. He hated that season because soon nearly everything except for the pines went brown and was covered by deep snow for months. He resorted to his imagination to acc
ommodate for that, seeing green growth where snow and winter had made brown and white, making for himself his own little world amidst the desolation of the season. That time wasn't long coming now. Inspired, he took his sketchbook and absentmindedly sketched what he saw. Living plants, flowers, insects, and life of all sorts filled his pages, as well as things he saw in his dreams and people he knew or that stood out in his memory. It was for him a way to record what he most wanted to remember and to make sense out of things that troubled him.

  As he passed the time while recompiling his networking software, he looked out one of the portals and noticed that a neighboring tree had fallen, opening up the view a bit. He was happy about that - the other tree was looking rather ratty and was tall enough to cast a shadow on his solar panels during part of the day. He started sketching the new view when a beep from his laptop captured his attention and he looked at the readings from his networking application, bouncing on his chair in anticipation. He had been trying to connect to the library's wireless for a few weeks now but errors in the wireless software and hardware had proven difficult to overcome. Abruptly, a flood of data scrolled across the screen and Steven jumped up whooping and jumping around, causing a flutter outside the tree house as nearby birds were startled into flight.

  Suddenly he froze in mid jump, a quizzical look clouding his face at something he had just noticed about the fallen tree. Steven cocked his head, his memory tickled by something he found strange. He looked back out the portal at the space opened up by the tree that fell. The view of the clearing had been blocked by that dying tree and saplings that got broken by its fall, but he could clearly see it now - a large meadow with a towering, light gray pine snag poking out of the center.

  His mouth dropped at the sight. He fumbled for his sketchbook and flipped through pages until he found the detailed drawings he had made of his nightmares. The vampire and werewolf were prominent along with drawings of his parents, but he had also sketched what he remembered of the clearing and the ghostly white dead tree in the center of the clearing, which remained the same from dream to dream. Excepting a few details, what he drew matched the snag in the meadow branch for branch.

  "No... way!" he exclaimed as he peered out the porthole, straining to see more of the meadow. Most of the view was obstructed, but the lifeless tree was easy to see. Steven sat back, dumbfounded. Memories of the nightmare flooded back and he shivered at the terror and hopelessness he felt, as well as the sense of abandonment that had washed over him. He found it hard to believe that it could possibly be a real tree. But then, his parents were real, so why not the tree? He had no idea what the vampire or werewolf represented but his psychologist friend in town had some constructive input on that. Fear of abandonment seemed to be his predominant theory. That and separation anxiety.

  Another beep from his computer distracted him. He glanced over, typed in a few commands and got to work creating a stealthy wireless connection, all the while thinking about the snag. Once he had hacked into the library's network by way of a back door he had created while at Brandon's using his friend's computer, he initialized scripts on their network router that gave him unfettered and unlogged Internet access. "Yes!" He expected it to work because it was so trivial to him, but was always pleased when the pieces fell in place perfectly.

  Once finished setting up his surreptitious presence on the internet, he logged into a remote corporate server he had given himself access to and activated his little private network of accounts on various servers from which to conduct his search for his parents. A little web of servers came to life, all completely unlogged and hidden from the owners. The strength of his system was not in his own homemade laptop, but in the distributed computing power he had assembled. Sitting back, he suddenly was at a stopping point. Up until now his entire effort was getting his system to work. Quite suddenly, he had it up and humming quite nicely and waiting to be put to work. Now he had to switch gears and get into search mode. His parents were real, and anyone who lives in this day and age leaves a history that nowadays is logged in one database or another.

  But the snag weighed on him. He was split between going out to the meadow or setting up his searches. Steven opted for the middle ground, downloading several census databases to the waiting servers and running a search program on them from the servers he had hacked into. Satisfied, he shut his laptop down and sat back. He could revisit the search tomorrow. It was time to see this clearing with his own eyes. He looked again out the portal. What could this mean? He had never been there that he could recall. And yet he was having dreams of it. Standing up, he put his sketchbook and a handful of pencils back in his backpack, then hesitated. If the tree was real, and the meadow was real, what about the monsters? What if they weren't psychological constructs as Dr. Dougherty had hinted at? He looked out with a little trepidation this time, not sure he wanted the answers. But, it had to do with his parents and he had to know for certain.

  As he was about to climb down, the glint of sun through the window momentarily blinded him. The angle reminded him that it was getting late. He stood up and looked out. The sun was getting low. "Oh, man!" he exclaimed, disappointed. Getting in trouble for being out too late was out of the question. Any chance of being grounded from the forest would set his search back significantly and he was so close to getting things seriously underway. He looked at the white snag in the meadow longingly. He really wanted answers, to touch it and know that it was real. But he knew he wouldn't be able to go right away. Disappointed, he opened the hatch and climbed out, glancing at the snag as he climbed down until the rest of the trees obscured its visibility. There was always tomorrow, he thought to himself.

  Chapter 3

  She watched him from behind the trees as he climbed down, staying just out of sight in the boughs of the neighboring trees. The boy climbed down rapidly, very sure of himself. Sometimes it looked like he was falling more than climbing as he just barely slowed his descent by grabbing bark and branches with his hands and bare feet. At some points he was gripping just the bark and crevices of the tree trunk rather than branches, looking like a large squirrel and not slowing his pace as he clambered down the trunk. With nearly twenty feet yet to go to the ground, the boy pushed off and fell the rest of the way, landing on the soft forest floor with barely a thump. Without hesitation he started running, tearing almost silently through the brush as he grabbed his staff in full stride. Then suddenly all was silent except for the birds twittering in the waning sun, getting ready to tuck in for the night.

  Looking over at the tree house, the little girl that wasn't quite a little girl admired its construction. Sirel pushed off from the trunk behind which she had been hiding and daintily pulled herself through the branches as she floated weightlessly over to the ingenious domicile that looked as if it was as much part of the tree as the branches. She caressed the exterior, savoring the tight basket weave of the split branches, and tugged at the dense thatch of the roof, which remained solidly attached. She giggled and floated around the exterior, peeking into the windows and feeling around their frames where they were firmly attached to the structure, fascinated at the craftsmanship demonstrated by the ten year old child. She had spied on him back when he was building the tree house and wondered if even Penipe could have done a better job. She noticed the little solar panels, arranged on the branches as if large leaves of a tree. Then there was the odd tin-can antennae the boy had attached to the tree higher up.

  Sirel slipped leisurely through the little fan of branches at the bottom of the tree house and found the hatch. It was closed, but not locked - just enough to keep squirrels and other climbing creatures out. No Terran passing by would climb up there, much less notice the tree house that was so thoroughly hidden from view from the ground. But, she wasn't Terran. Smiling, she pushed open the hatch and pulled herself smoothly into the tree house. Once inside, her skin glittered and sparkled, casting a blue glow that illuminated the interior. Contemplatively putting an index finger to her lower lip, she
took the interior in. On the wall were hung several drawings of the boy's parents. Curious, she pulled one of the pictures off and inspected it closer. Steven had never seen his parents, and yet here they were, drawn with such skill that they could have been photographs. "Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser," she whispered to herself as she carefully put the drawing back on the wall, making sure it hung just the way it did before. She looked at the drawing for a moment more, cocking her head. Part of the meadow was drawn in the backdrop.

  Moving on, her fingers trailed on the counter as she walked lightly around the perimeter of the tree house. Sirel found the woven seat amusing. "Really?" Chuckling, delighted by the fine detail of the craftsmanship, she sat down on it, letting her full weight bear on the seat. It barely gave, just a little springy and startlingly comfortable. The bark of the trunk that made up the back of the seat was worn smooth, hinting at countless hours of use.

  In front of the seat on the counter rested a box that was larger and flatter than the rest. It was expertly made of hardwood, dovetailed together and lightly stained with oil. The clasp and hinges were brass and very sturdy. Sirel could sense the technology within the box and tenderly opened the lid, admiring the cobbled together computer contained within. "He's been a busy boy."

  There was no power on in the tree house. But the solar panels hinted that there should be, so she looked around and saw the battery setup under the counter. Grinning, she followed the wires to the charge controller and inverter module. Sirel shook her head at the inventiveness of it all and toggled the inverter on. An LED lamp on the counter lit up and she clapped her hands in glee. "What a little genius!" she exclaimed.

  She powered up the computer and was impressed at how fast it booted up. It took just seconds, so quick that the screen may have taken longer to power up than the computer did booting up. Lifting the inner cover the keyboard was attached to, she looked at where the boy had bypassed the bios chip with his own programmed chip, part of his solution of getting around the surreptitious hacks that commercial chips have built in. She tittered in amusement, delighted at what Steven had created. She caressed the mainboard components daintily with her fingers, impressed by the ingenuity of it all. She put the keyboard back down and watched the screen. A database scan was being performed, distributed to the many nodes that he had formed on the commercial servers out on the network. "Hmmm, not bad for a kid." She opened another window and began typing, her eyebrows furrowing as she concentrated.