An Ecology of MInd Read Free Page A

and best
    hope of getting Don and you out of this."
    "Maybe I should go to the police."
    "I would recommend against it, trust me. I am your best bet, whether you believe me or not."
    Wendy hesitated, and then said, "Okay, I trust you on this. I should tell you what I know about what I'm working on."
    "No, don't. If you break security, it may cost you your job or get you jail time. I can access whatever it is myself and figure out what I need to."
    "It's at work Kim. There is no way you can access it. It's in NSA headquarters. I couldn't even access it from offsite, and it's my computer."
    "Yeah, not a problem. I will be able to access it if it is on a computer. Don't rat me out but I've been inside NSA systems a number of times. I'll see
    what the fuss is about as soon as I get to my computer."
    Wendy just looked at her for a moment. "Alright, I'll do what you said. I have your cell number, and I'll call you with any new developments. But Kim..."
    "Yes?"
    "He's my brother."
    "I know, Wendy, I know."
    Kim caught the waiter's eye and signaled him to bring over the martinis. The two of them drained the martinis quickly. Kim put a $50 bill on the table from
    somewhere; she never carried a purse, and the two left the restaurant. Outside they flagged a cab, and Kim put Wendy in it.
    She leaned down to Wendy sitting in the back of the cab. "Stay strong girl, I'm on it. I'll keep you posted. If we use a phone be careful what you say,
    they may be monitoring it. We don't know the full extent of their capabilities yet."
    "Okay, thanks Kim." Her eyes started to tear up.
    "Don't need to thank me girlfriend, again try not to worry too much and get some sleep, I'm on it." She closed the cab door and stepped back to the curb.
    Wendy gave the cab driver her address, and the cab pulled out into Washington's traffic.
    She worried about her brother and tried to think of something she could do but could not come up with any solution or plan better than Kim had offered. She
    was probably right that following what she was told and getting the code would not save her brother. She hoped Kim could do something but realistically,
    what could Kim do? But what else was Wendy to do? She didn't seem to have a workable alternative.
    She thought about Kim. Kim was by far the best computer person she had ever met. When she programmed she did it entirely in her head, even large complex
    programs. She could write the most complicated program in her head and then enter it directly into the computer as quickly as she could type and that was
    damn fast. She also programmed in machine language, preferring not to use compilers and other programming tools. When Wendy had a chance to think about it,
    she was not shocked that Kim said she had been in the NSA systems before, but she hoped she would not end up in jail over some of her computer activities.
    She thought of her brother Don, and didn't think of much else the rest of the ride home.

* * *
    After seeing Wendy safely packed into the taxi, Kim started right away on trying to fulfill her promise to her.
    Accessing the NSA computer system was easy for her. The first time she had accessed the system a number of years ago, she had made a number of pathways and
    entrances for future access. Kim was quickly able to locate Wendy's computer and the code that was at the centre of the problem. She could see why Wendy
    had been stumped. She had looked at it assuming it was computer code like she was used to. Wendy assumed it was just encrypted in some way and missed what
    she was actually looking at. Almost every computer expert on the planet would have done the same thing. Instead, the code was something else entirely.
    For one thing, what they had was incomplete. It was also not meant for a conventional computer, and its structure was totally different because of that. It
    appeared to be a portion of an operating system. Crude, by Kim's coding standards, but this portion of the overall operating system seemed