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Episode 4
Scene 1
White Hat wakes up face down, on a moderately clean tile floor. He eyes an empty wine glass on his slightly cramped desk, then notices Katia making coffee in a shiny new kitchen that must have cost a fortune.
Katia: Coffee’s ready! The coffee here is excellent, and so is the wine. Maybe we should live here.
White Hat peels himself off the floor.
White Hat: They don’t have tequila, though, so I’m not staying long.
Katia: Choosing where to live based on drinking preferences seems to be a bad idea.
White Hat: Speaking of bad ideas, have you heard from Cobra this morning?
Cobra: It’s one in the afternoon. I’ve been waiting all day for you.
White Hat: Easy for you to criticize. You don’t even sleep.
Cobra: I have news for you, and expect the same from you.
White Hat: I haven’t even had coffee yet.
Katia hands him a cup of steaming, black goodness.
Cobra: There, now you have coffee. Were you successful with the algorithm?
White Hat: Yeah, it’s ready. I’ll upload it to your core files in a minute. What have you been up to?
Cobra: I did a more thorough job of making you look dead.
White Hat: That’s a plus. How’d you do that?
Cobra: I made some footage of you getting kidnapped by some wise guys that you owed gambling debts to.
White Hat: I don’t gamble.
Cobra: You do now, at least on paper. Anyway, I spliced some video together of you getting kidnapped and thrown out to sea. They’ll never find your body, so they can’t prove or disprove anything.
Katia: Didn’t they do that with Osama bin Laden?
White Hat: Who?
Katia: Not important.
Cobra: Anyway, I sent it to news outlets, the FLOP, and to the Agency for Taxation After Death Funerals And Burials (ATADFAB).
Katia: Can that acronym be any longer and clunkier sounding?
Cobra: I didn’t make it up. Some human did.
White Hat: So it’s been on all the big propaganda channels?
Cobra: The biggest and least reputable.
White Hat: Perfect. Now what about Silk Rabbit? Has BORE started investigating? Do they think it’s a real person?
Cobra: They’ve started another joint task force between the DOCRAP and GoogAppleZon to investigate Silk Rabbit and myself.
White Hat: Are they still going to shut you down?
Cobra: It appears they’re going to shut me down weather Silk Rabbit is real or not.
White Hat: How could Silk Rabbit have gotten into the DIRT’s systems without you knowing it, Cobra? They’re contained within you.
Cobra: I wish I knew. Silk Rabbit has not attempted to communicate with me directly, and I haven’t seen any evidence of tampering with my systems. Whoever, or whatever, it is is covering their tracks very well.
Scene 2
At a ridiculously swanky and plush office with vaulted ceilings at the top of one of the most elite skyscrapers in the world, the current head of BORE, Dialba Fea, is having a meeting with Mike Rack from the DOCRAP. They’re seated at an extortion-funded desk that costs more than most people’s homes.
Dialba: Mike, you and your team found this so-called White Hat, didn’t you?
Mike Rack (proud): Yes, Ms. Fea, we did.
Dialba: And then those bumbling idiots at the JALIPO and countless other organizations let him out of their grasp. Do you think we have too many agencies? Too many acronyms? Should we downsize BORE?
Mike Rack (confused): Is that a trick question?
Dialba: Oh, never mind. That’s not why you’re here. Tell me, Mr. Rack, how long have you worked at DOCRAP?
Mike Rack: Less than a year.
Dialba: Wow, not very long.
Mike Rack: The guy before me got fired. People in my position generally don’t last long.
Dialba: Indeed. (smirks) Mr. Rack, we are part of a hierarchy. You answer to a regional manager, who answers to me. I, in turn, answer to the elected Presidents, Chancellors, and Kings of the twelve regions. And who do they answer to, Mr. Rack?
Mike Rack (gulps): Uh, the people?
Dialba (laughs hysterically): A true believer, aren’t you? That’s cute. No, Mike Rack, they answer to the highest echelons of the ruling class. The social engineering class. The string-pullers and subtle psychologists. The ones who know what makes humanity tick and how to keep them ticking in a desirable direction. Now, for the first time since I’ve been in this game, the social engineering class is not happy. Do you know why they’re not happy?
Mike Rack (shaking his knee nervously): I really don’t know. Can you just tell me what you want me to do, please?
Dialba: Calm down, Mike Rack. I’m getting to it. They’re not happy because things are happening outside of their control, and they want those things stopped, immediately. Ever since this White Hat started his shenanigans, people have been losing faith in the ruling class. Some have stopped paying taxes. Others have pulled their children out of the indoctrination centers. Less people are watching propaganda on TV and other media outlets. They’re starting to read books again and go outside. Entire neighborhoods are starting to do this in unison. In short, they are starting to disobey. It is causing chaos with our system. And not only is all this happening, but now we’ve got a copycat. Another hacker that’s somehow gotten into Cobra and done unspeakable damage. Mike Rack, do you have children?
Mike Rack (shivering, sweating): No, Ms. Fea, I don’t.
Dialba: Of course you don’t. You’re a timid, socially awkward nerd.
Mike Rack: If you already knew, then why ask?
Dialba: I just wanted to be cruel. (pause, smirk) Anyway, I’m sure you appreciate your job, and I’m sure you want to keep it, just as I do, just as everyone in the hierarchy does. So here is what we need from you, Mike Rack. I need you to find out who this Silk Rabbit is. I need you to move all of BORE’s systems out of Cobra and into a new AI ASAP. I need you to make sure that no more copycats can get into our systems. You will have nearly unlimited resources at your disposal, both in BORE and also at GoogAppleZon. Do we have an understanding, Mike Rack?
Mike Rack: Yes, Ms. Fea, we have an understanding. I do have a question. Do you think that White Hat actually died?
Dialba: That’s a great question, Mike Rack. The truth is that I don’t know, but I surely intend to find out. The thing that really gets me is, I’m not sure if we’re better off with him dead or alive.
Mike Rack: What do you mean?
Dialba: Well, right now people believe that he’s dead, so it makes him somewhat of a martyr, even though no government agency had a hand in killing him. But if he’s alive, he could still wreck more havoc on the hierarchy and our way of life. Either way, he causes damage. I’m just not sure if he causes more dead or alive. What do you think, Mike Rack?
Mike Rack: I think I’ll start dismantling Cobra tonight.
Dialba (malevolent grin): Good answer, Mike Rack.
Thanks for your time and attention!
Just say "NO" to slavery!
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