Spyder Web

49

In the MARC computer lab, an alarm sounded, announcing that the Spyder was once again active. Harbke and Ullrich gathered around Grin’s station to watch the action unfold. The Spyder had just passed through the university network into another computer system. Grin punched a couple of keys and the alarm went silent.

‘Liz,’ Ullrich said, turning to her partner, ‘let our monitoring teams know that the Spyder is on-line.’

Harbke dialed out and passed the word while Grin and Ullrich watched the Spyder traverse several private networks.

‘This thing still amazes me,’ Ullrich commented as she watched the Spyder punch through one computer system after another.

‘It’s a slick piece of work all right.’ While despising the people who controlled the Spyder, Grin still respected the technology behind the device.

Harbke returned after making the calls. ‘The CompuServe team reports that someone recently sent a file to the Spyder’s E-mail box.’

‘Maybe that’s where it’s headed,’ Ullrich replied.

Fifteen minutes passed as the Spyder penetrated system after system, finally stopping at CompuServe.

‘Looks like this is it,’ Grin announced. ‘Let’s see what they want the Spyder to do today.’

Grin split the laptop screen to display the CompuServe screen in one window and what the Spyder was seeing internally in another.

‘All right, he’s logged on and he’s checking the mail,’ Grin said, announcing the play-by-play. ‘Bingo, it’s found the message. The message is blank, but there’s a file attached to it. He’s downloading the file; everything’s fine. He’s logging off; he’s done and closing up the connections.’

The laptop’s active-matrix screen flashed quickly as the Spyder logged off the computer networks that had covered its electronic tracks. Once the Spyder had returned to a dormant state, Grin loaded up the diagnostic program from Moy Electronics.

‘Now let’s find out what our friends in London are planning.’

Grin switched off the monitoring program and enlarged the bypass window to full screen.

‘Grin, what’s all that gibberish?’ Harbke asked.

Grin checked the program status bar at the bottom of his screen. ‘That file it downloaded was encrypted. What we’re watching is a translation-in-progress.’

The odd-looking characters were rapidly converted into a new instruction set for the Spyder.

‘Can you hand me that blank optical-disk cartridge?’

‘Sure thing,’ Ullrich replied.

Grin fed the cartridge into the laptop’s external drive and directed the bypass to copy the new instruction file. Unlike their initial attempt to dump the Spyder’s core program, an effort that had almost cost Nolan and Kelsey their lives, the Spyder’s internal security was completely oblivious to the information flowing out through the bypass.

After a few minutes, Grin ejected the cartridge and labeled it. ‘Now let’s see if we can get Iverson on the phone. I assume that the FBI is interested in knowing what the Spyder has just been told to do?’

‘Hell yes,’ Ullrich replied.