Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Hello ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

A/N: Thank you again for all the reviews! And a special thanks to Solaris, my beta reader. This is a brief chapter (sorry). Text in [brackets] is typed.

 

 

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 

The file installed and executed itself very quickly, and then two things happened. First, an icon appeared on my desktop called “Challenge.” Second, a window appeared that looked like a chat program - only I had no such program installed.

 

A message appeared almost immediately from “0010001100110001.”

 

[How are you today, Agent Yuy?]

 

I glared at the message even as my estimation of the hacker's skills increased. Not only had he managed to open a chat window with me, but he apparently knew who I was.

 

[I am fine. And you?]

 

[Wonderful, thank you for asking! I hope you don't mind that I worked out who you are. After all, you'll learn who I am eventually. It seems only fair that I should know who you are.]

 

[Eventually? You seem to be assuming that I will complete your challenge.]

 

[Well, for the moment, you don't have any competition. No one else has even found the correct file. The speed with which you did it lends credence to my theory that you will ultimately win.]

 

[I see.]

 

As I waited for his response, I set a number of tracer programs to work.

 

[We could play a game while you attempt to find me?]

 

I gritted my teeth.

 

[What makes you think I am trying to find you?]

 

[Because that is what I would be doing if I were you.]

 

It made sense, in a way. I decided that I had nothing to lose by humoring my opponent while my programs ran.

 

[Fine. What sort of game?]

 

[How about a get-to-know-you game? We take turns naming a place in our home. Say, for instance, the freezer. Then I list something in my freezer that I think won't be in your freezer. We go back and forth until one of us names an item that both of us have. We'll each name three places. Whoever manages to name the fewest common items wins. Acceptable?]

 

[Yes. Although you have a distinct advantage, since you at least know who I am.]

 

[True. Of course, you are getting potentially valuable knowledge to help defeat my challenge just by participating. So, I consider that fair. I will start. I choose the freezer. In my freezer is peanut butter and chocolate ice cream.]

 

I made a face that the hacker could not see. Yuck. I did not like ice cream in general; the only flavor that I have decided is tolerable is green tea. And even that I did not keep in my apartment.

 

[In my freezer is nattou.]

 

[Disgusting. In my freezer is a bottle of Stolichnaya vodka.]

 

[Clarification: what if I had a bottle of vodka, but not Stolichnaya. Would that be a common item?]

 

[Yes. Do you have some vodka in your freezer? I'm going to revise my opinion of you if you say yes.]

 

[No, I do not. I was merely curious. In my freezer is edamame.]

 

[Point for me, agent. I've got a bag of edamame as well. Your turn to pick a location.]

 

I frowned thoughtfully.

 

[What if one of us runs out of items?]

 

[Then point for the other. Whatever the location is will still hold air, and that's a common item.]

 

[Okay. On my bookshelf I have a copy of the Preventer's Personnel Manual.]

 

[Bookshelf, eh? On my bookshelf, I have an AC 150 Edition of the Kinsey Institute's Report on Sex.]

 

[On my bookshelf I have a piece of the Berlin Wall, from Earth.]

 

[No shit? Why? It must've cost a fortune.]

 

I glared at the screen. It felt as though the hacker was criticizing my choice.

 

[It reminds me of what mankind is possible of, of what is worth fighting for.]

 

[Oo-kay. On my bookshelf, I have a copy of Wychlanowski's How to Hack the Death Star.]

 

I had been wanting to read How to Hack the Death Star for over a year now. I doubted that it would have anything useful to me in it, but it was supposed to be quite an entertaining read. I debated for a moment whether to ask the hacker about the book. Why not? If anything, it might give me more information about him.

 

[Is it worth reading?]

 

[Sure. Won't teach you any new tricks, but it's a lot of fun. You don't even need to see the movie that it's referencing to get most of the humor. If you crack my program, I'll let you borrow it. It's still your turn to name an item.]

 

[On my bookshelf is …]

 

I looked at my bookshelf, trying to decide what might be unique.

 

[… a collection of paper cranes.]

 

[Cool. On my bookshelf is a bottle of sunblock.]

 

[On your bookshelf? Is it decorative?]

 

[Ha ha. We can't all be neat freaks.]

 

[True. On my bookshelf is a copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War.]

 

[Another point for me then. You should stop underestimating me, Agent Yuy.]

 

[Apparently.]

 

[All right. In my pantry is a three pound bag of M and M's.]

 

I rolled my eyes. Yuck again. [In my pantry is homemade trail mix with eighty-eight percent cacao dark chocolate pieces.]

 

[Yech. That must be really bitter. In my pantry is a can of cream of mushroom soup.]

 

I smirked.

 

[Point for me. I use it for cooking.]

 

[Damn. Your turn to pick a location again.]

 

I looked around my apartment thoughtfully. What location to pick next? Somewhere where I had a lot of unique items, but where my opponent might not…. Clearly our tastes in food were very different. Since we had already done the freezer and pantry, I would go with what was left.

 

[In my refrigerator is a jar of salted octopus.]

 

[O_o. Really?]

 

I chuckled.

 

[Really.]

 

[Wow. Uh, in my refrigerator is a jar of hot fudge. It tastes way better than octopus.]

 

I rolled my eyes.

 

[To each his own. In my refrigerator is a package of fish cake sausage.]

 

[Remind me never to eat over at your place. In my refrigerator is a can of whipped cream.]

 

[In my refrigerator is a jar of pickled quail eggs.]

 

[Okay, I've had those before. They're actually okay. In my refrigerator is a twelve-pack of Mountain Dew.]

 

[Point for me, based on your vodka example. I have a twelve-pack of Ramune soda in my refrigerator. Now we are even, and it is your turn to pick.]

 

[Fine. I'm guessing you don't have a lot of variety in your medicine cabinet, Agent Yuy. In my medicine cabinet is a bottle of Astroglide.]

 

I fought the beginnings of a blush and realized that I was most likely going to lose this round. In fact, I was having a hard time thinking of anything that even had the potential to be unique.

 

[In my medicine cabinet is….]

 

Shaving cream? Razors? Aftershave? Tylenol? Then, I remembered something that I had bought as part of my meditation experiment.

 

[… Japanese incense.]

 

[Incense? In your medicine cabinet?]

 

[Yes.]

 

[Huh. In my medicine cabinet is a box of condoms.]

 

This time I could not prevent the flush that spread up my neck. I wondered briefly if the hacker actually had condoms or if he was just trying to provoke a reaction from me.

 

[In my medicine cabinet is a box of Q-tips.]

 

[Ha. Point for me. I knew you would have trouble with the medicine cabinet. Your turn to pick a location - last one.]

 

I had come up with my final location while pondering what was in my medicine cabinet.

 

[In my cd case is a recording of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.]

 

I was hoping that our musical tastes were different enough that I might win this one.

 

[In my cd case is SugarSpace's newest album, L-3 Boy.]

 

[In my cd case is the soundtrack to Chikyuu Shoujo Arjuna.]

 

[In my cd case is Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral.]

 

I allowed a small smirk in triumph.

 

[Then we will have to agree to tie. I also have that cd.]

 

[I'm surprised, Agent Yuy. I would have thought it a little angry for your tastes.]

 

[Perhaps you do not know me as well as you think you do.]

 

[Perhaps. Alas, I must leave you for the night. We'll talk again. Good luck cracking my program!]

 

And as suddenly as it had opened, the chat window disappeared. I realized that I felt irritated at how abruptly my opponent had cut off our conversation. I was surprised when I evaluated the evening and realized that I had actually enjoyed our game.

 

When I looked at my tracer programs, I was unsurprised to see what they had found - nothing, as usual.

 

It was time to run the Challenge program.