FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Parasite is the third part of The Underground series

Chapter 14 of 29

Psychological Warfare

There came the automated sound of beeping as the safety siren of the flatbed truck was sure to make everyone aware it was moving in reverse.

Shaking his head, Mick swore he was losing hearing working in places like this. Looking at the papers, he noted his box's description; 'said to contain heavy construction equipment.' That made him laugh slightly at the irony, but it didn't matter. His bomb was inside the container, and he needed Jenna to crack it for him. The warehouse the truck had been backed into was pretty much vacant except for them. Jenna stood beside Mick, backpack around her shoulders. Apparently, it had made it past port security without issue. Go figure. This wasn't really a surprise.

Handing the driver a little tip to move along, Mick and Jenna were left alone in the warehouse with their bomb on the back of the semi-truck trailer. Flipping the latches to the shipping container, the doors swung open on the back of the metallic box. Getting one foot inside, Mick hoisted himself upward, then turned to offer Jenna a paw who accepted.

As she stood up, she placed her paw on the side of the trailer. "What is this? Lead lined?"

"Slightly." Mick replied, moving to the back of the container, several large wooden boxes were scattered about, multiple wires ran from one to the other. "It gives the scanners a rough way to go. Makes them think its a single density the whole way through, also helps hide radioactivity."

"And here I am, about to load the gun pointed at the head of Arcadia..." Jenna muttered, sounding less than pleased. Mick understood her anger, especially since she never wanted in on any facet of The Underground. Jenna simply kept getting caught in the undercurrent.

"Just for now." Mick reminded her, pulling the lid off one crate, and tossing it aside. Looking down, he reached into his brown suede blazer, pulling out the activation card. "I have no intention of letting this bomb go off..."

Before him sat a large control unit with a small slot to the side. This was the bomb's light switch so to speak. Slowly sliding the card into the slot, there came a click, followed by a sharp beep. A small green LCD screen lit up displaying: CODE, in plain bold letters.

"You're up." Mick said, turning around. "Schematics didn't say anything about typing in the wrong code too many times, so you shouldn't have to worry about that." He informed as Jenna pulled the Blackwell from her backpack. She flipped the awkward looking laptop open, thick and clunky by design. "Shouldn't being the key word in that statement." He finished, causing Jenna to shoot him a look over her shoulder.

The vixen rubbed her face slightly as the computer screen came to life, little green letters on a black background. Grabbing a cable specially ordered for this job, Jenna hooked one end to the Blackwell, while finding a programming outlet on the detonator. This caused the laptop's fans to whir to life as it began to communicate with the detonator's much more primitive system.

"You said the codes for this was set to change weekly?" Jenna asked, punching on some keys.

"Yeah." Mick replied, walking slowly back to the other end of the trailer, looking out to make sure they were alone. "Again, that's just what I read on the reports I've seen."

"That means it's just an algorithm... we just need to find a set of numbers that work."

"How difficult is that?" Mick asked, looking back at her.

Jenna shrugged, fixated on her work. "Depends." She replied. "Higher security, larger the algorithms with fewer possible answers. I'm working to crack military grade code, there's no guarantee's here... I told you we should have found someone else."

"What for?" Mick shrugged. "More people we include the more complicated things get. Besides, you came through the last time."

"That was different..." Jenna replied slowly. "That was utilities and a mediocre closed circuit feed. This is military, spy, terrorist stuff. Out of my league..."

"So why are you trying it kid, if you doubt yourself?" Mick asked with a slight laugh.

"Because," Jenna replied dignified, "it's like a battle of intelligence and I just got called out." She explained. "I've never had a reason to want to crack government code. But now that I have to, I want to see what they've got. Besides..." She trailed off, eyes distracted by the Blackwell's screen. "I've got one of the most badass machines in creation." She smiled slightly. "You know what I love about computers?" She asked, fingers typing faster. "We created the laws of cyberspace. It's kind of like our own little worlds of creation. Like we're gods or something. We created the rules..." She concluded. "So we can change them too."

Her finger crashed down on the button labeled 'execute' on the keyboard.

Lines of code, and digital computer output that was nonsense to Mick began flashing up on the screen. The detonator's LCD screen had gone completely blank as Jenna worked to find a set of matching numbers.

"So... Mick started slowly. "Seen Abby lately?"

"Yeah, sure." Jenna replied absentmindedly. "I worked last night."

Mick blinked. "She uh..." He said slowly. "Anything new with her?"

Jenna shrugged. "No, not that I know of. Just doing her Abby-like things, I guess." He noticed her pause. "Why do you ask?"

Shrugging quickly, Mick shook his head. "Just haven't seen her in a while, that's all."

"Well, I'll be sure to- got it!" Jenna spontaneously switched topics. "That was a pain in the ass, but we got the bitch... The card has every real code, but a bunch of bogus codes just to be a pain in the ass..." Jenna explained, eyes focused intently on the Blackwell. "The trick is finding which ones are real, and which are fake."

"How hard is that?" Mick asked, actually getting curious about Jenna's work.

Shaking her head, she shrugged. "I've got all the time in the world to figure it out, all I needed is one working code. Should I find the deactivation codes as well?"

Mick shrugged. "I mean, it couldn't hurt."

"Right... So, it's armed?" Jenna asked as Mick walked up behind her, but Jenna shook her head.

"No. You do that manually from this," he indicated to the control unit, "or it's corresponding satellite relay." Mick explained. "You can set this for a time delay here, but that's it."

"So, if this goes off, it's my fault?" Jenna asked, pulling the cord and shutting the computer.

"If this goes off," Mick corrected, "we'll all have had a paw in this." For a few moments silence passed between the two of them before Jenna spoke.

"So... what did Isis have you all do last night?" She asked, however her eyes were fixed on the Blackwell.

"Nothing fun..." Mick replied assuming that Alias hadn't been in the mood for much conversation when he got home last night. "Blood money... and you know how Alias gets about stuff like that. Isis really fucked him..."

The blue vixen's typing suddenly stopped as she turned around, brow furrowed. "She what?"

"Like screwed him over." Mick clarified. "It wasn't a pretty job, especially with The Nine hanging around." He scoffed at the thought of the rag-tag merc group. "Thank God we're done with them for now..."

Jenna stepped back for a moment, looking around at the various C4 charges and the lead-lined container that was holding the payload of hot radioactive material. "What'd you say this thing did?"

"They call it a dirty bomb." Mick explained, bending down to check some of the wired connections.

She raised an eyebrow in question. "As opposed to all the clean ones?"

"This is just me, but I call it a dirty bomb because it's like a dirty trick." Mick explained slowly. "Even though it does shoot up a ton of hot material into the atmosphere, the likelihood of this actually killing you from radiation poisoning is very slim. Isis knows it too. The real danger is being around when all this," he looked around at the yellowish clay blocks of explosives, "goes off. That would suck to be here when this thing blows."

"A big boom and no followthrough." Jenna replied, punching a few keys, reading the Blackwell's output; the random lines of code like a secret language to Jenna's eyes. "I can see why Isis picked you for the job."

"Harsh, Carrington..." Mick jousted with her. "But what one needs to remember is that it's awesome if you're just looking to cause mass panic." Mick clarified. "I don't think Isis has any desire to attack Arcadia is the thing." He shrugged pensively. "I just don't know what you'd gain from it... there's more to this."

"I guess that's what' we'll have to figure out later, because I'm finished here." Jenna replied, shutting the Blackwell's folder.

"Don't you need the codes?" He asked, confused at why she closed her computer.

"Blackwell is sorting them out." She rubbed the case sentimentally. "She works while she's shut... doing the dirty work. Finding which of the codes are real... and which are fake."

"Damn..." Mick said, rubbing the back of his head. "That thing can do all that, on its own?"

Jenna nodded. "I'm telling you, she's a beautiful machine."

"And she's a she now too I see..."

"Of course." Jenna replied as if this shouldn't even be a question.

Mick's brow furrowed. "How can you be so sure it's not a man?"

"Because a man couldn't be this perfect." Jenna explained simplistically, causing Mick to roll his eyes.

"Well, I've had my fill of computers with the supposed female persuasion..." He muttered sarcastically.

"Don't take your anger with Isis out on the Blackwell." Jenna chided, sounding like she was standing up for an actual person. "She didn't control which direction..." Jenna giggled, "your zipper went."

"Oh, come on!" Mick let out, feeling exasperated at having to defend himself on this one. "In what reality would you ever take into consideration the possibility that the attractive, even though older, woman at the bar who's been throwing you kinky looks all night is actually a psychopathic Gameboy!"

"Not many Gameboys have this tight a clutch on your balls, eh Mick?" Jenna replied in a snarky tone. Then she paused for a moment, looking perplexed. "But don't you think it's weird?" She asked.

Mick stopped for a moment, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"Isis... I mean the way she's all over you guys and everything." Jenna clarified.

"Oh..." A sly grin forming on his lips. "Are you jealous of said Gameboy?"

"The hell I am..." Jenna replied bitterly. "Working at Delirium, I don't suffer from lack of male attention." Her eyes shut, shaking her head in frustrated exasperation. "Believe me..."

Mick shrugged, wondering what brought this about. "I don't know... I mean I guess Isis has her urges... like everyone."

"But that's just my point." Jenna replied, scowling in her own confusion. "She's not like everyone... she's a program."

"A.I." Mick corrected, even though he still thought the notion was ludicrous. However, Jenna and Alias seemed convinced.

"Don't use my own terms against me, Stallard!" Jenna shot back, eyebrows forming an agitated V. "You know what I mean. Isis isn't real. She's just an awareness... just so happens to have a parasitic relationship with Leigh Trilby." She continued, normal sharp tone reforming in her voice. "Think about it. Why? It goes through the process of downloading into a body. Do you have any idea how complex something like that is?"

Mick shook his head. He didn't.

"Yeah... neither do I! But I'm sure it's pretty complicated." She admitted while gathering her things, and putting them in her backpack. "To come across cyberspace and manifest into the physical world... to be a slut? I mean why?"

Jenna had a valid point, even though Mick never really thought about it before. Why did Isis act so catty? No pun intended. Why was she always rubbing all over anyone who was within arm's reach. Mick assumed it was possible for Isis's... awareness to seek physical pleasure, but Jenna was right. That alone seemed completely pointless.

"Maybe she's just trying to stick it to Trilby. I'll be honest..." Mick finally said. "I never really thought about it until now."

Jenna scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Why am I not surprised..."

"Quiet, you." Mick dismissed in a dry tone, walking with Jenna to the front of the container, jumping down. "This coming from a girl who thought a gothic black fox in a trenchcoat with guns hanging off him was trying to pick her up at a five-star club in Palamont."

Jenna opened her mouth to say something, still standing in the doorway of the shipping container, looking down at him. However, when Mick read her expression, he knew he had her beat... this time.

"I..." She started to defend herself, but fell quiet. "I couldn't see his damn guns..." She grumbled, jumping down next to Mick.

Mick couldn't help but laugh as he trumped Jenna. He usually found himself on the short end of her sarcastic stick. All the same, he'd grown a liking to Jenna that first day. She reminded him of like a younger sister or something. Someone who always thought they had a grasp on reality, but constantly proved how much they still had to learn. She was a sweetheart, and she was the only person he'd met so far who could keep Alias's piss-poor attitude in check.

"So what happens now?" Jenna asked, closing the first door to the container in proper order.

Gripping the second door, ready to swing it shut, Mick turned to look at her. "Now we light the fuse," he replied, thinking of what was to come, "and run away." He finished, heaving the heavy steel door shut with a loud bang.