P/N:froggygrl101: Thany you for being the only one to review is so many chapters. I dedicate this updtae to you. P.S: It is just a lot of research
Chapter 77: Tech Heaven
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." – Arthur C. Clarke
"Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand." – Putt's Law
"For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three." – Alice Kahn
"You look tired sweetie," Sydney said after they had talked awhile after breakfast.
"Mmm…yeah…I'm tired…" Vaughn admitted.
"Why don't you take a nap?"
"Are you gonna stay?"
"If you want me to…"
He smiled, "It's ok…I can sleep by myself for a while…"
"Ok honey, I'll check on you in a bit."
"Ok," he said yawning and watching her go. He was asleep in no time.
Sydney decided to take a look at some of the work that her father had given her and that Will had come up with. She pulled up a chair at the kitchen table and opened a few of the files.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number for the CIA operations office. A receptionist answered, "Dispatch."
"This is officer 2300844, may I speak with Will Tippin please?"
"One moment," the woman said and Sydney heard hold music.
Soon after, the music stopped and Will said, "Uh…Tippin here," by the way his tone rose at the end of the remark, Sydney started chuckling.
"Not sure who you are Will?" she said.
"Oh, it's you Syd…good…I thought for a minute it might be someone important."
"Hey!" she said.
"I'm just kidding, but seriously, other than like, Fran, you're one of say, five that have called me. And it's usually not work related…" he paused, "Gee, now that I said that, I'm really hoping they monitor all of calls so that I can get into trouble for personal calls."
"Don't sweat it Will…"
"Yeah, that's easy for you to say, Super Spy…I'm just a grunt, so, I don't think we have the same leverage."
She chuckled again.
"Everything ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's fine, I was just going to get started on some of these files, and I need that IT guy to hook me up, patch me into the CIA system."
"Oh, sure…I'll have him give you a call…you can probably do it over the phone…I'm sure you can handle minor tech-ware…"
"Yeah, I think I can," Sydney agreed.
"Ok, well I'll call him now, and he should give you a buzz in a little bit…"
"Great Will, thanks."
"You bet."
"I'll see you later tonight."
"Call me if you have any more work-related questions."
"I'll do that…"
"K, bye Syd."
"Bye Will."
Sydney hung up the phone smiling. She went back to the files waiting for the IT guy to call.
She was on about the third paragraph of one of the intelligence files when the phone rang. She grabbed it instantly, not wanting it to wake Vaughn, and she was rather proud of herself when she caught it before it rang twice.
"Hello?" she said.
"Hi, may I speak with Kate Jones please?" a woman on the other line said.
"Speaking," Sydney said happily.
"May I have confirmation please?" the woman added.
"Codeword: master key."
"Thank you, patching you through on a secure line, please hold."
Sydney got up and went to the computer, waiting for the hold music to end again.
She sat down and heard a man on the other line, "Agent Bristow?"
"Yep, right here…"
"Hi, I'm Brody Denison…Will Tippin asked me to give you a call, help you set up your computer to patch into the CIA mainframe network."
"Hi Brody…"
"You familiar with computers?"
"Enough."
"Good."
"Ok, I'm gonna give you a list of prompts to type in, k?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Ok, go to Start, Run, and then type Command – all caps, then click Ok."
Sydney followed the steps, "Ok."
"You should see screen now that says MS-DOS prompt."
"Yep."
"Ok, good, now where it says C:WINDOWSDesktop , type ping 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER."
"Ok."
"What do you see?"
"Four replies, something about–"
"That's fine, you're good…"
"Ok."
"Now repeat the ping command, type ping ping 127.0.0.1 and press ENTER."
"Ok."
"Now type ping 127.0.0.2a."
"Ok."
"Now, you're gonna see some stuff flashing on your screen, it's just me…"
Sydney watched as various windows popped up and down at lightening speed. She could hear rapid typing on the keyboard through the phone as he weaved his way through her computer.
After a few minutes, he said, "Ok, I've checked the whole hard drive for any security leaks, and there don't seem to be any. I put up a special security section that we use here to protect any information that you're downloading there or uploading here, so no one should be able to get to the information…if you look in your folder on the desktop, the one that's marked 'Sydney,' the link to the CIA mainframe is in there…it's labeled, 'Insurance Quotes.' I figured anyone who might access your computer wouldn't look there…who'd want to look at someone else's insurance quotes…"
She chuckled, "Ok, let me go there…" she clicked on the link, "Uh…Brody?"
"Yeah?"
"When I click the link, I really do get an insurance quote."
He giggled through the phone, "That's my own personal touch…click the back button…"
She did, and another screen popped up that read, 'Do you want to accept this quote?'
Sydney said, "Ok, now I have some message about accepting the quote…"
"Uh huh, nobody's gonna accept a quote for you that'd be accessing your files, would they?"
"Um, no."
"Good, then click 'accept.'"
She clicked accept and the CIA log in screen came on, "Cool," she admitted.
"Thanks…ok, then you should be good to go…when you want to log off, just do what you'd do normally at Ops and it should be fine. On a daily basis, the front for the site will change, but it'll always be something like a quote for insurance or something you'd have to buy – clothing, sporting goods, something like that…just always click the back button and accept the offer…then you'll be able to get in."
"That's really amazing Brody…is that what you do all day? Change the ISPs?"
"No, that only takes about an hour…"
"What do you do with the rest of your day?"
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you…" he giggled after a moment of silence, "I've ALWAYS wanted to say that!"
She chuckled, "I'm glad I could help…"
"If you need anything, just give me a call."
"I'll need your help with a laptop later…we have one of those here too…so we'll have to link that one too."
"Vaughn's laptop?"
"Uh…yeah…how do you know about that? Did Will tell you?"
"No, Vaughn and I worked together for awhile after our training at the farm…his is already set up…has been for years."
"Oh."
"Yep, he used to take mission specs home with him and stuff, so I helped him set it up."
"Ok…well then I'll call you if I have any questions."
"Cool, I'll be here…tell Vaughn I say hello."
"I'll do that…thanks for your help Brody."
"Not a problem. Later," he said.
"Bye," she hung up and stared at the screen; the technology they employed was phenomenally fascinating. She could just imagine a room full of techies, all looking like Marshall, pouring over new and exciting ways to use the internet as a front for the CIA. She smiled thinking of all the dastardly things they could come up with if they wanted to.
She went back to the kitchen table and picked up the file she'd been reading before Brody had called.
She was about halfway through the second file when she heard, "Syd?"
She got up instantly and went into the bedroom, the only place the sound could have emanated from.
She came in to find that Donovan had made his way to the bed, lying at Vaughn's feet, sleeping soundly. She hadn't seen him that morning; Will and Francie must have had him in their room last night again.
She smiled at Vaughn, "Did you have a nice nap?" she asked, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah…"
"You ok?"
"I believe so," he said smiling.
"How's your back?"
"It's sore…but it's ok."
She reached out and touched his face, "it's almost lunch time, you hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, what do you want?"
"What'cha got?"
"Well, I pretty much stocked up on everything that you could eat known to man. I don't think I told you…when I went to grocery store, the check out kid asked me if I had kids at home, and I asked him if he wanted to come over for dinner…"
Vaughn laughed, "That's bad Syd."
"He knew I was kidding."
"So, what I am I a kid now?"
"No, of course not…I just bought a lot of stuff that would be easy for you to eat on your own, that's all."
"Syd, I was kidding…"
"Oh…sorry…well, I don't want you to feel like I'm treating you like a child Vaughn. You don't feel that way, do you?"
"Uh…I don't think children do, or they aren't supposed to be anyway, what we do a lot of nights," he stopped, "Nope…don't think I could ever feel like a kid when we do that…"
She smiled and kissed him.
"You know," he said, "you said 'we'll see' about the whole boxer issue, after Tom left...did you make up your mind?"
"Let's eat first, ok?"
"Sure!"
She laughed, "K, let me go see what we've got." She moved off the bed and called for Donovan to follow her. She filled his food and water dishes and then let him out in the backyard.
She then remembered her conversation with Brody and came back into the room, "Brody from the IT department says hi…"
"Cool…I haven't talked to him in awhile…"
"Yeah…he helped me hook up my computer to the CIA mainframe. He said yours already was…"
"Uh huh…I used to take files home…"
"Mission specs? Brody said," she explained.
He smiled, "Yes, Sydney, I used to take mission specs home on the missions you went on…"
She smiled and kissed him; "You're so sweet…" then got up and went back to the kitchen.
