24. the cat burglars “Look at this … looks like an I.P. address” Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx said. “Yea. Violet says she has the V.P.N. set up. What else did you find?” Josy Lynx replied. “Sure enough, I found the binary file to activate the tracking system manually. I think. Hopefully, it has the same filename in the other unit. But if they are giving files names like "activate-tracking", and that’s what they’ve done all throughout this file system, we can hope they did the same with the new one.” “It sure would help if we could analyze the input and output of that file. Any source code you can find?” “Yes, an ".asm" file. I never went to those classes. Lets open it and see what it says.” They stared at the screen, cramming their heads together in the saucer’s small cockpit. “Ah, this is killing my back” Josy said. “But look here in the comments …” He took control of the display and scrolled down the screen. It was not a very long file. “Yea, this is a simple hardware interface controller. If the other unit uses the same logic … I could rewrite this file here to accept the input parameters without causing an error, and then do nothing, then send back this "O.K. - accomplished" data-control-code to the central control system. That way the system has no good excuse to lock us out. All we have to worry about then is whether the system can compile it. My guess is that it can, if it’s Linux.” They consulted with Violet. The target day when her friend would be working the security gate — hopefully — was only 2 more days away. They decided, at Josy Lynx’s suggestion, that he should sneak into the confiscation storage warehouse around midnight before the rest of the team showed up, and dig into the system and investigate. “I’ve canvased that property several times over the years. They are not putting money into it … and now with D.O.G.E.… I seriously doubt they could have in the last few weeks since I was there anyway. It’s been around since the early 1990s, and has old composite-video cameras that record to a video-tape loop, and many are dummies. There is no perimeter security, just the barbed-wire fence. It was never meant for high-security items.” “So the building itself? You say it has 40-foot ceilings? Vent windows at the top?” Josy Lynx asked. “Yea. What are you thinking?” “Could that saucer get me there and on the roof? Then I repel down to the windows and go in there, and repel to the floor. What about motion detectors?” “No. I discussed that with my friend over there one day. It was a while ago, but, like I said, they are not putting money into it. The warehouse is for large items. Security focuses on the drive-in drive-out door and gate. Night burglars can’t put these things in their pockets and sneak away. The only REAL challenge that I still see is walking though the front door in the morning past security, like I was saying yesterday.” Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx said “I also found a file with a name that looks like an I.P. address — an internet address — a website or a portal, or something. You say the V.P.N. is bulletproof?” “More or less. It uses special channels that are not internet-related, and are privately controlled by the F.B.I. itself. If the messages are encrypted, even if that leg of the V.P.N. is taken control of by the 5-point-star people as President Stumpie overhauls the government, it’s just gibberish to them. It makes it real hard to trace in real-time, virtually impossible if you are not in the F.B.I. Of course, given time, virtually any network connection could be traced, given access to the nodes, which they may have, but we will be on the Moon by then; it’s a 13-node V.P.N., and each node has millions of random transactions per minute.” They checked the contents of the file with the "I.P. address name". Its contents were a bunch of random A.S.C.I.I. characters — clearly seeming like a password. They found that the server at the I.P. address was set up for F.T.P., used the password, and started searching the files there. They quickly found the folder "gvt/7800/" and it had everything they were looking for — hoping for when they had first found tech-info on their newly acquired saucer’s computer. They identified their recent new catch as a GVT6000, two models below the new GVT7800, and saw its folder contained the same type of content as the computer in their newly acquired saucer. They also found the "activate-tracking.exe" file for the GVT7800, and its corresponding ".asm" file. “Simple.” Josy said. “This must be the base code software, and then if they sell it to the government, the military would enhance the system with both physical security to the computer hardware involved, and better software protection. ’Cause as it is here, and in the saucer, this is all a handout to a foreign government entity that captures a military vehicle.” The team prepared themselves physically and mentally for the next 40 hours, eating well, sleeping late, absorbing the peacefulness of lakeside living. The Panther sisters gave the team full body-care, and cooked wonderful big meals, one after the other. Pink Panther trusted herself enough to work on Jazmin’s Qi balance; she knew Jazmin could not trigger any scorpion Qi within her — Jazmin was simply too innocent and gentle, and there was no chance of emotional conflicts within herself from complex sociological issues — that’s the way Jasmin made her "feel". With the help of his magic green herb, Josy Lynx slept a good bit of the day before. Then in the late evening, Jasmine, Jazmin, Violet, Josy Lynx, and Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx all crammed into the cab of the big box truck, Leaping Lynx sitting on Josy Lynx’s lap next to the passenger door, Josy’s arm across the back of the seat around Jazmin’s shoulders, with Violet driving, and they headed for East Philly. They found a low-key auto-parts store and parked in the back lot where there was no overhead lighting. Quickly, Josy Lynx flew the saucer out of the back door, as Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx had taught him back at the lake-house. The customs enforcement confiscation warehouse was only a mile away. He flew low over houses and businesses, not caring about the couple-few surprised people on the streets below that saw him. He landed in the back corner of the warehouse roof, thinking the structural integrity of the building was greatest there. This saucer was not so heavy, anyway; lighter than a Honda Civic they figured. He found an anchor spot for his rope to tie off to, clipped his repelling rack into his seat-harness, and jumped over the wall off the side of the building. The trick was slipping past the glass in the window: it hinged at the bottom, opened at the top. He had to climb over this glass, WHILE hanging from his rope. The window sill gave him a toe-hold, but not much. He was glad he was "a cat". Once past the glass, it was a smooth repel to the floor. However, he stopped a couple of feet below the window, and pulled out the hand-drawn floor-map Violet had given him showing the current (as of a few weeks ago) layout of the stuff stored inside the warehouse, and where the GVT7800 was stored inside its crate. The map mostly aligned with what he saw from his overhead viewpoint, and he saw the large crate. Once on the floor and unclipped, he quickly made his way to the crate, and opened the door that special agent Maxine Violet Leffleur had pried open when she came to check it out; customs officials that she sent to grab it had nailed it back closed again, after their initial inspection that flagged it for confiscation and further inspection. Inside, he found a giant egg, just bigger than Leaping Lynx’s van. It had a large viewing window that consumed about ⅓ of the outer surface, the front of the vehicle being the wider end of the "egg". He touched the glass, and as the instructions said, the window became a hatch and started to open, but quickly hit the roof of the crate, and slowly closed back. He grabbed the prybar hanging from his waistbelt, and started attacking the crate with it. He easily got the roof off, but then the crate became a bit wobbly. He manhandled the large section of wood that was the roof, and leaned it against the side of the crate, more or less out of site, not attracting attention. He squeezed himself into a corner of the crate, manhandled the crate door back into closed position, and touched the glass hatch again. It opened, and he climbed in. He found the computer system, hiding under a pry-away panel, and noted the board looked no different from a typical modern laptop. He identified the S.S.D., and worked on removing it. He installed it into a U.S.B. external enclosure, pulled his small laptop out of his backpack (that was the worst thing to get through the window), and explored the drive contents. Exactly as the F.T.P. portal had shown him in the days before, with a few extra bells and whistles. He added into the file system the ".asm" file he wrote, and re-installed the drive into the laptop board assembly. Then he dared power up the main computer. So far so good! He compiled the bogus "activate-tracking.asm" file he wrote, but the system blocked him from installing it over the current one. So he shut it down, pulled the drive again, and moved the new "activate-tracking.exe" file to the proper place using his laptop. He looked at the current filesystem on the GVT7800’s drive again, using his laptop. He found the "comm-central.asm" file and looked at it. He didn’t see this one at all in the base-code he had looked at yesterday. He determined that it really was basic-functioning; but necessary? He couldn’t tell. He looked for more clues, and found a Java source file that was titled "comm-manage". It was long, but he studied it. He realized that the main control computer wanted to communicate with a bigger system when it could, but it could limp-along on its own just fine. But the right "control-codes" needed to be sent between different programs, or errors would occur, and that MIGHT affect the system operation in a bad way. They didn’t need that on the way to the Moon. He quickly edited the "comm-manage" Java source-code, and just shut communications down altogether, leaving the operative "control code" data sequences in tact. Again, he re-installed the drive back into the GVT7800’s computer. He compiled the new "comm-manage" file he modified, and then used his own laptop again to move the created "comm-manage.exe" file into the correct folder, replacing the old one. “Security” he snickered to himself, chuckling, laughing. The sun was just about rising, cracking the sky, and Josy saw the light peeking though the windows he had repelled through. “Wow, that took for ever!” {{{remember story-readers, only crazy people and computer programmers talk to themselves}}} He only had another hour before the warehouse’s daytime security access team might arrive. He left the top off the crate — you could only really tell from an overhead view unless you were actively inspecting it, but closed the door of the crate. He went back to his rope hanging through the window, grabbed his "frog" ascending gear from his harness-belt, and climbed back up the rope like a good caver would. Again, it was a trick to get through the window, except he intentionally left the prybar in the crate; that made it a bit easier. Never-the-less, there was no toe-hold this time; he had to use his fingertips on the top of the window-frame to hoist himself through the opening at the top of the glass. He returned to the saucer, and flew back, just feet over the treetops, to the pre-agreed meeting spot. A group of homeless people in the ally where he met the box-van gawked in amazement as he flew in the back of the truck, Leaping Lynx quickly closed the back door with both of them inside, and the truck drove away. They chilled at a breakfast place for a while with the box-truck parked out of sight of the street, behind the building, waiting for the morning to fully awaken, so they could go to the warehouse as a team and, hopefully, walk right in. Josy drove the truck there, and dropped them off at the front gate, and drove away. Former special agent Maxine Violet Leffleur led Jasmine and Jazmin to the front drive-in gate. There was no "pedestrian" entrance. “Maxi!” the security guard called out as they walked up. “Tony!” (former) special agent Maxine Leffleur replied. “You’re back! I was worried they would lay you off.” “No, I’m too important.” She grinned a wide, toothy grin at him. “Good; so how’s it goin’ over there? All’s O.K.?” Tony the security guard asked. “Yea, mostly. Rough waters for sure, but you know. That’s the job! … Hey, speaking of rough waters, remember that egg-thing I came to look at a couple of weeks ago?” “Yea, that looks like a vehicle or something? Did you ever …?” “Well, I have a couple of witnesses here, and I want to show them and see if they can get me clues. But this is REALLY hush hush. Even in the agency. No one is talking about it. So, please, really, don’t mention to ANYONE that we were here. Tony, this could be my life. I’m counting on you.” “Ah, babe, you know I got your back.” He smiled a sly smile at her. He grabbed her hand, and kissed the backside. Her eyes closed just halfway, and she subtly bit her lower lip, as she looked him in the eyes, then glanced down at his crotch. “These witnesses need top protection. I really don’t want to log in, especially with them. Can you accommodate us today?” “Yea, it’s supposed to be quiet today. No deliveries or pickups, inspections are all caught up, nothing. Just don’t get me in trouble, right?” “Of course not.” “So when will I see you again. I mean, off clock?” “How about after this project is completed. The faster I figure that egg out …” she smiled at him. “But protecting these witnesses right now is my top priority.” “O.K. Yea, I saw you come up in the rental truck, and figured it was an under-cover thing” he replied, and opened the gate-arm so they could walk-through easily. “You remember where we stuck it, right? I’ll call Jimmy and tell him to let you in, and you don’t need an escort.” “Thanks, Tony!” They found the egg’s crate, opened the door, opened the hatch, and stepped inside. Violet immediately started playing with the controls, as Leaping Lynx had just taught her. Then she stepped out, and tied a small section of caving rope to an obvious anchor point on the outside of the otherwise smooth-surfaced "egg". The landing gear were retractable, so they were not an option for a tie-off point. She hopped back in the GVT7800 egg, and closed the hatch, … and waited … Meanwhile, Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx came walking down the street, and showed up at the security gate moments after (former) special agent Maxine Violet Leffleur and her "witnesses" entered the warehouse. “Hi! I have a vehicle to pick up” she said, handing Tony the security guard a stack of paperwork. He looked through it, made a copy of one of the pages, and handed it back to her, saying “well, we weren’t informed of this ahead of time. I have to call central and confirm, but go to that door over there and Jimmy will let you in and and take you to your car. Confirmation may take an hour or three, just to warn you; or maybe 5-10 minutes. We’ll get your vehicle ready in the mean time, so you can leave as soon as we get the word back.” She went to the door, and entered the warehouse, with Jimmy escorting her. They found "her car" parked near the giant roll-up warehouse doorway, and readied it to drive out. Jimmy opened the roll-up door, and the sunlight beamed into the warehouse. That was (former) special agent Maxine Leffleur’s cue. She activated the GVT7800, and the screen showed it was ready. She flew it strait up out of its crate, and over the top of the items stored there, towards the open door. As she approached, Jimmy turned around and saw her coming. He just stood in shock. "A flying egg!?!?!?" he thought to himself. Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx grabbed a figure-8 — repelling gear — that was hidden from under her baggy-style shorts. Maxine Violet Leffleur flew the GVT7800 directly over Leaping Lynx’s head, where she grabbed the rope that was hanging down, attached the figure-8 to the rope, clipped it to her repelling harness hidden under her baggy shorts, and tied it off, in under 4 seconds. She grabbed onto the rope, as Violet lifted her, and flew out the door, heading down the street 25 feet in the air, as Leaping Lynx yelled out to Tony, who was standing just outside the gatehouse staring up in surprise: “We owe you one!” They met Josy Lynx in a parking lot a mile away. Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx repelled down the end of the rope to the ground, and Violet lowered the vehicle to the ground. Josy Lynx was on it, and untied the hanging rope. Violet opened the hatch, and they all grabbed food and other supplies out of the truck, filling the GVT7800, and they all hopped back in. And with Yellow Yama Leaping Lynx as the pilot, they flew out of there within 3 minutes. Only 10 people had gathered around to watch. They all used their cell-phone cameras. Leaping Lynx flew low, but directly over New York City, heading for the open ocean. The U.S. military was already on high alert, as their new A.I.-powered monitoring system with the high-temporal-res satellites had noticed Josy Lynx flying the saucer around East Philly in the middle of the night; its temporal resolution for that area was 10 frames per minute, with high-resolution imagery details. Somehow, they missed it landing, and the A.I. just thought it was part of the warehouse building, that was just installed in seconds. Gotta love A.I.s! It was after dawn before humans actually started to investigate the 8 hours of imagery, and they didn’t realize the before/after pictures of the warehouse roof showed the saucer parked there, until BOTH the GVT6000 saucer and the GVT7800 egg were long gone from there. They hit the open ocean, and Leaping Lynx kept it low, a couple of feet above the waves, and picked up speed. “Wow, we are really moving! And I’m just beginning to give it speed.” Then they saw the fighter jets on the horizon, heading on an intersective course with the GVT7800 egg. “With the basic low-level communications cut-off software that I installed, we won’t be able to hear them try to contact us. You know they will demand we submit and follow their escort.” Josy said. Leaping Lynx sped up more. She was worried that going that fast, that low through the atmosphere, would not be good for the vehicle. The fighter jets matched her speed, and the intersection looked inevitable. They were approaching the speed of sound, and quickly nearing the 12-mile offshore border of the U.S. The four jets were upon them, flanking both sides, and another 2 above them, boxing the GVT7800 egg in, wingtips only feet away from the egg. At that speed, that low above the ocean, the turbulance created giant 20-foot high waves directly behind them. “Have you noticed, we don’t feel the acceleration? Or the turns?” Leaping Lynx asked Violet directly. “I wonder how fast they can slow down?” She suddenly took her craft’s speed down to the speed of a stroll through the garden in the morning dew. The military fighter jets simply disappeared into the sky ahead of them, as the turbulent waves crashed over the egg, doing nothing to its stability. She kept her course, and sped back up to 500 M.P.H., heading for international waters. She was about to cross the line, when the jets returned, coming head on. They fired a barrage of 40 missiles at the GVT7800. The A.I. system came to life. As each missile reached the GVT7800, the A.I. system created a miniature black hole just outside the walls of the egg. It was a fully contained black hole. It did not have a large gravity field surrounding it, just like this GVT7800 craft could create a gravitational field inside that simulates the Earth’s gravity, but outside, you would just float away into space. Warping the gravitational density: that’s how it creates black holes. And each missile hit the black hole created just for it, exploded, and all was consumed. It was cool watching the "fire works" show just outside the window, as each missile expanded almost a whole foot in diameter and volume as it started to explode, then quickly contracted under the intense gravity and disappeared, all in less than a half-second per missile. Josy Lynx spun his seat around, and looked out the small back window-portal. He saw dust from the debris of the missiles, as the matter was released from the black-holes, as the vehicle sped away, unable to maintain the extreme gravitational density at that distance. The system had simply guided the black holes around the vehicle after it created them and they sucked up the missiles and crushed them to sub-atomic particles. With the return of normal gravity, the sub-atomic particles that were trapped in the black hole simply created new, random molecules: the dust Josy Lynx saw. Jazmin was completely astounded. This was all so overwhelming, she didn’t know what to think. She didn’t grow up with movies full of special effects. Jasmine sat in her chair and watched, realizing the danger they were in, but remained calm. Violet just said “ah, the good ol’ days of exciting cases.” “We’re across the line, into international airspace. I’m heading up and outta here” Leaping Lynx said. She pulled back on one of the GVT7800’s control arms, and towards the sky then went. She pushed the other control arm forward, and the vehicle crashed through the sound-barrier and approached 1800 miles per hour, sending a gigantic sonic boom that they could hear at Jones’ Beach Park back on Long Island. “And we’re not even at cruising speed yet” she said, as they reached the upper atmosphere. She pushed the control arm forward a tad more, and they hit 3800 miles per hour, heading for the far side of the Earth. It was almost noon in New York. The Moon was near its "full" phase, hanging out over China at the moment. Josy Lynx looked out the window, down at the ocean, then at the screen showing the vehicle speed. “Get it girl!” he said, as Leaping Lynx took it to 4800 M.P.H., without even nearing top speed.