Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hacker Zi ❯ Part Six ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
DISCLAIMER: While Hacker Zi and its characters were created by me, some of the screen names were taken from actual people. Please DO NOT TRY TO CONTACT THEM. The story is purely fictional

When Nick entered her house, her brother still hadn’t returned home. She decided to make dinner for the two of them….then decided to make enough for Cormier, in case he decided to stay for dinner. By the time the two of them arrived, everything was already setting on the table. As soon as Marc entered the house, he fell directly onto the couch, letting out a huge sigh. Cormier stood behind the couch, looking down at him. When Nick entered the room, Marc made an effort to lift his head.
“….rough day?”
“Very. I’m beat. How was yours?”
“Well, you made me stay home for nothing. My computer crashed so I had to take it to a computer store.”
“….why didn’t you call. I could have taken it there for you.”
“I did. Your cell phone was off, so I left a message.”
Marc fumbled around in his pocket, searching for his phone. Not wanting to use any energy, he opened the flip phone by slightly lifting it with his thumb, then dragging it across his chin. Once the phone was open, he checked his messages. There were three - one from his sister, one from his date, and the third he was unable to recognize.
“….my bad. So how much is it going to cost?”
“It’ll cost about five hours a day.”
“Five hours a day? You got a job?”
“Kinda. They’re fixing the laptop for free, but they gave me a new laptop to use for the tme being.”
“…..I wish my job gave away laptops….we just get shiny guns….that we don’t even get to keep.”
Marc looked at the time on his cell phone, then struggled to stand up. He headed into the kitchen, and returned a few minutes later with three cans of soda. After tossing one to Nick and Rob, he began to make his way up the stairs. Stopping on the fourth step, he looked back at Rob and Nick.
“I’m meeting a friend for dinner tonight….Rob’s gonna stick around for a little bit. Why don’t you call some of your friends over?”
Before Nick had a chance to respond, Marc was already out of sight.
“He has a date? With who?”
“Member the nurse that gave you the aspirin and was checking on him at the hospital?”
“When did he get a date?!?”
“Beats me. I was as shocked as you were. I wonder if he’ll survive the night, being that he’s so worn out and all.”
“….want some dinner?”

While Rob and Nick were setting at the table, Marc slowly entered the kitchen. He had showered and changed his clothes. It seemed that even the hot water couldn’t bring his energy back. As he passed Nick he messed with her hair, then said goodbye as he walked through the front door.
For a while the two of them stayed in the living room watching random shows. Being a weeknight, there was nothing too interesting on television. At 8:30 Rob’s cell phone rang, and he took the call in the kitchen. When he returned, he informed Nick that he was leaving, and he thanked her for the dinner. Shortly after his departure, Nick headed to her room. After taking a shower, she logged on to the new laptop, and signed on to the internet. After reinstalling her instant messenger service, she sent a message to Neo.

Zi: I really owe you guys.
Neo: Don’t worry about it, our boss is cool.
Zi: Our boss?
Neo: You work there too. He’s going to want you to stay after you’ve paid off the laptop.
Zi: But I’m not that great with computers….I only know so much. You guys probably know a lot more about them than I do. I’ve only been at this for three years…if that.
Neo: We’ll teach you. That’s one of the best parts about working there, there’s always something new to learn. You’ll get there.
Zi: So I just come directly after school.
Neo: Yep. And make sure you bring the laptop. We usually have a lot of downtime. Except when we have to fix a lot of computers. Its like fifty computers crash on the same day, at the same time. And they all come to us.
Zi: Sounds like a hacker problem. Maybe you guys are causing them to break, so that the owner has to pay you to fix them.
Neo: Ha, that’s a good idea. I’ll have to let Brandon know that one. But its mostly parents or young teenagers who forget to use protection.
Zi:….XD
Neo: ^_^ it’s the truth. Most computers that are attacked by hackers and crash are usually because the user didn’t have an updated firewall and virus protector. There are only some exceptions, like with yours.
Neo: Oh, just thought I’d give you a heads up - Brandon might give you a little test tomorrow.
Zi: Seriously?!?
Neo: Its not hard…or at least it shouldn’t be. You’re a hacker, so you should do fine. Its just general know-how.
Zi: Wonderful. Well I’m going to go. As far as I know, my brothers going to let me go to school tomorrow. See you tomorrow.
Neo: Take it easy. ^_^

“What are the 10 most common past words?”
“Password…123456.…qwerty….abc123. …letmein….monkey….myspace1.…password1.…blink1 82...and a persons first name.”
“Name the difference between a hacker, cracker, and a phreaker.”
“..Phreaking deals with breaking into phone networks…crackers break into computer systems…and hackers like to explore the details of programs.”
“Whats a Vulcan Nerve Pinch?”
“Ctrl+Alt+Del. Soft-boots the computer.”
“Whats the Chernobyl virus?”
“It activates itself every April 26th, wiping out the first megabyte on a hard drive.”
“Pakistani Brain.”
“…is that the boot sector virus, that makes it so that you can’t turn the computer on again?”
“Close enough…..I’m out of things to ask, for now. Good job though, being able to name all 10 passwords. Ryan messed up on those his first time. Said a few from the movie ‘Hackers’. Now…do you have any homework?”
“….a little. Why?”
“You can join Ryan in the back. He’s finishing up some stuff for a class.”
Nick looked at her boss, confused. After seeing that he was serious, she headed into the break room. Ryan was sitting at the table, two books opened and a soda beside him. When he saw Nick, he grabbed another drink from the fridge and set it in front of the seat across from him.
“You have homework too, huh?”
“Yeah….why is he having us do our school work here?”
“To him, school’s more important. And its usually slow around here anyways, so we get a lot of down time. The great thing is, we get paid either way. So, how’d the quiz go?”
“He said I did a good job.”
“Named all 10 passwords, huh?”
“Yeah. He said you messed up on them?”
“It was the movie. It said God was one of them, I knew it didn’t make sense, most things require a 6 digit password - but it just came out.”
“….that’s an old movie.”
“Well, I’m an old fart. Older movies are better than the crap they shove out today. The greedy bastards….forgive the language.”
Nick could only laugh at his comment. She started to work on her homework. For the most part it wasn’t difficult. There were a few questions she didn’t fully get, but Ryan helped her get the answers. Within twenty minutes the two of them finished their homework and made their way to the front. Brandon was half asleep in his chair, the store was empty. It looked like it was going to be a very slow day.