Tales from the Academy
Chapter 16
"I think that's it, sir," said Alby, pointing at the computer screen. Lieutenant Dubrovin squinted and then nodded his head.
"I think you're right." Dubrovin studied the lines of code for a few minutes and then swore. "Damnation, that's one sophisticated little worm. This is no student prank, Alby. Whoever wrote this was good. Damn good. Way better than me. Maybe even better than you. If we hadn't know exactly what we were looking for we never would have found this."
"Can we get rid of it?"
"I don't think that will be a problem. The good news is that this seems to be designed to remain inconspicuous rather than to aggressively defend itself or spread itself around like most viruses or worms. In fact, look here: if I'm reading this right it is self-terminating! In another two months it will just erase itself leaving no trace. Damn, that's slick!"
"It does its job and then vanishes," Alby frowned at the screen. What it showed was a tiny bit of computer sabotage, sabotage aimed directly and specifically at Anny Payne. Someone had inserted a program that caused the computer controlling the simulator pods to subtly alter the input into Anny's brain. The altered input would be out of sync and produce symptoms that were indistinguishable from Simulator Rejection Syndrome. And it was clever, very clever. Not only did it have to be able to conceal itself from the frequent anti-sabotage scans that routinely ran through all the Academy computers, not only did it have to be set to affect Anny and Anny alone, but it had to be able to find Anny wherever she went. This wasn't just one bit of sabotage installed in a single simulator pod. The cadets weren't assigned specific pods. So it had to be able to instantly shift itself to whichever pod Anny happened to pick. The more Alby thought about it, the angrier he got. "Is there any way we can find who did this?"
Dubrovin shook his head. "I doubt it. Whoever did this was surely smart enough to cover his tracks."
"But we've got a pretty good idea of when the worm was inserted in the system: a week or so after Anny first started using the simulator. That will narrow down the search, won't it?"
"Maybe. We can try, although we really ought to report this to the authorities. They can probably bring better resources to bear on this than we can."
If they want to. Alby was only too aware of the fact that there were people, powerful people, who wanted Anny out of the Academy. They had tried one strategy the previous year which had nearly worked. Apparently they—the same or perhaps some other they—were trying something different now. He had no idea how the authorities would react if this was brought to their attention. He glanced at Dubrovin. The man had been skeptical when Alby first approached him for help. He'd have done it alone but he didn't have the proper authorization codes to get into the computers' controlling software. That wouldn't have stopped him, but he couldn't afford to get caught or leave tracks before he found his quarry. This was too important. So he'd managed to convince the Lieutenant to help. He suspected that Dubrovin had treated it as a sort of training exercise, not really expecting to find anything. But they had found something.
"Well, first things first," he said. "We need to erase this thing so that it can't affect Anny anymore."
"Yes," said Dubrovin, but then he paused. "Actually, I'm not sure we should…"
"What? Why?"
"This is a crime scene, Alby. This is a deliberate and malicious assault on one of the cadets. We really have to report this."
"But…"
"No choice, Alby." Dubrovin reached for the communicator.
"Wait, sir." Dubrovin looked at him and quirked an eyebrow. "We have to… we have to proceed carefully, sir. You're aware of all the crap that's been going on concerning Anny being here. And you said yourself that this worm had to have been put together by a pro. There could be powerful people behind this. Who were you going to report this to?"
"Well, the Provost would be the logical choice…" Alby frowned. The Provost was the equivalent of the village sheriff. He wouldn't know how to deal with this, so he'd start calling other people who would call other people… Which would put the whole thing right out in the open. Whoever was responsible could cover their tracks and even worse, plan some new attack.
"Excuse me, sir, I happen to know that there are also some very important people who are interested in seeing Anny Payne succeed here at the Academy. People all the way to the top. This isn't just an attack on Anny. I think… I think we need to call in some bigger guns."
Dubrovin turned pale. Alby could see that the man didn't like where this was going. He was just a lieutenant and not even Vor. "Like who?" he asked suspiciously.
Alby grinned.
[Scene break]
"Miles, what the hell am I doing here?" demanded Commodore Duv Galeni. "I'm the head of Komarran Affairs and this clearly has nothing to do with Komarr!" Alby watched the ImpSec officer square off with Lord Auditor Vorkosigan. He'd met both men several times at Vorkosigan House and he knew that Jer Naddel, as a Komarran himself, had had a few lengthy talks with Galeni. Both men, plus another ImpSec officer, were standing in a small computer lab on the Academy campus. Commandant Sylvanus looked on with a deep frown. Lieutenant Dubrovin was trying to become invisible.
"But it's family business, Duv," said the little Auditor with a strange half-grin."Anny is a very close friend of your mother-in-law. I'd think you'd grab a chance to score a few points with her."
Galeni rocked back with an I-hadn't-thought-of-that expression on his face. But then he growled: "My little daughter already has all the points there are to score. But all right, what do we have here and what do you want from me?"
"Well, mostly you're here as a witness, but I also needed the talents of your computer boffin, Captain Higgins, here," he waved at the other ImpSec officer. "And I didn't want to go entirely around the normal chain of command."
"Why not?" grumbled Galeni. "It's never stopped you before."
"Getting mellow in my old age, I guess," grinned the Lord Auditor. "But what we have here, if I'm understanding Lieutenant Dubrovin and Cadet Worth correctly, is a rather nasty bit of computer sabotage meant to drive Anny Payne out of the Academy." He dragged Dubrovin forward and made him explain—again—the computer worm and what it did. Galeni swore under his breath when the symptoms it inflicted were described.
"And the program is designed to make the symptoms grow worse over time," continued Dubrovin. "So far Cadet Payne has been able to endure the symptoms through sheer grit, but before much longer there's no way anyone would be able to stand it. Really nasty, stuff, sir."
"So," said Vorkosigan, "we're hoping that Higgins can track down whoever inserted this into the system. Not only is this criminal tampering in its own right and an assault on an Imperial officer-candidate, but it directly threatens Imperial policy—Gregor's hope to open Imperial service to women. I thought that ImpSec might be interested and, well, I figured I'd give you first crack at this." That strange grin was on his face again. Alby was still trying to figure out what to make of Vorkosigan. On the one hand he seemed easy-going, almost comical at times, but when he sank his teeth into some problem… watch out! Convincing Dubrovin to call Vorkosigan in the first place had taken every bit of Alby's persuasiveness. But now that he was here and taking charge, he thought that the Lieutenant was actually relieved to have passed the buck so completely.
"Yes, I guess I can see that," said Galeni. "But I'll have to report this to General Allegre, you realize."
"Of course. I'll do that myself. And to Gregor, too. You and the Captain are here at my pleasure."
"Right," said Galeni rolling his eyes. "Okay, Captain, see what you can find for the Lord Auditor."
"Yes sir," said Higgins, plunking down in a chair and grabbing the comconsole on the desk. He demanded Dubrovin's authorization codes to access the heart of the Academy computer network and the Lieutenant already had them written on a flimsy which he handed to him. Everyone stared for a few minutes and Alby looked on eagerly, hoping to learn a few things. But when there were no immediate cries of Eureka! from the Captain the Lord Auditor stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled over to the Commandant.
"Thanks for your cooperation, Colonel," he said. "I know that no one in your position wants folks like us invading your turf."
"I could hardly have done otherwise, my Lord Auditor," said Sylvanus. "But I have to admit that I'm rather disturbed by all this. I was aware of the… activities aimed at Cadet Payne last year, but since none of them were actually criminal in nature—well, almost none—there was little I could do about them. But this! It's not just illegal it's… it's… dishonorable." The man looked like he'd swallowed something very sour.
"Yes, it is," Vorkosigan replied, nodding. He turned to face Alby. "And I want to thank you, Cadet, for discovering this. Otherwise Anny might have been forced to give up and no one would have known the real reason. But…" he paused and looked thoughtful. "But for the time being I think it might be best if this not go beyond this room, eh? At least until we've got all the facts."
"Perhaps Cadet Worth should return to his normal duty," suggested the Commandant. "Lieutenant Dubrovin has him listed as on 'special duty' right now I believe." Alby nearly screamed in protest, but Vorkosigan smiled and shook his head.
"He's earned the right to be here. I remember how pissed I was when I was first working for Simon Illyan and I'd turn in some hot bit of intelligence to him—and then never hear anything about it again. You can keep a secret, can't you, Alby?"
"Yes, My Lord. But… but surely we're going to tell Anny that the simulator isn't going to hurt her anymore, aren't we?"
"It will be obvious enough to her the first time she links up," said Commodore Galeni. "I imagine she'll be so relieved she'll hardly question why."
Vorkosigan chewed on his lip for a few moments. "Let's keep this under our hats for the time being until we see how this turns out. We can always tell her later, okay?"
"Yes, sir," said Alby. He wasn't too happy about that. Anny might not hurt anymore, but she might well be in fear of it for quite some time…
A half hour passed and the Commandant sent for coffee. The Lord Auditor and Galeni chatted about family matters. The gruff ImpSec Commodore's face softened amazingly when he talked of his baby daughter. Vorkosigan smiled knowingly.
"My Lord? Commodore?" said Higgins suddenly. Every eye turned toward him. "I think I've got something." They all crowded around the comconsole.
"Yes?" said Vorkosigan.
"It's pretty much as the Lieutenant and the Cadet deduced, sir. Simple, elegant, and very professional. I'm of the opinion that it was locally produced rather than a galactic import. Our local hackers have improved dramatically in recent years. I can provide a list of possible suppliers that you might want to track down."
"That would be good. Any guess on how it was introduced into the system?" said Vorkosigan.
"That was even simpler—and more elegant, My Lord. I couldn't find any trace of an intrusion from outside, the Academy firewall seems to be intact, so I deduced that the worm was introduced from inside." The Commandant made a growling noise. "The elegance here was that the worm didn't actually hide from the security software scans, it disguised itself as a legitimate bit of software. As you might know, military software all have unique code prefixes identifying them as 'friendly'. That's not our only defense of course, but well, never mind about that. Whoever designed this had access to at least one of these prefixes and attached it to the worm. Once introduced, the security software wouldn't be alerted by it. And since its effects were so subtle no one would notice its actions. Well, almost no one." He looked at Alby. "My hat's off to you, Cadet, that was a top bit of deduction on your part." He smiled. "When you graduate I'd be happy to have you in my department." Alby found himself blushing.
"But can you figure out the where, when and who of this, Captain?" asked Vorkosigan. "Who put it into the system?"
"Well, it's a good-news-bad-news situation, My Lord. The good news is that while the security prefix allowed the worm to survive within the system, it also left a recorded trail. I was able to trace it back to a specific chip-reader slot here at the Academy and the date it was introduced." He pointed to a code number on his screen. "Normally I'd call that pretty sloppy, but since the worm was designed to erase itself after its work was done and the chance of it being discovered so small I guess the programmer felt it was worth the risk. The bad news is that the trail ends there. Any ordinary computer data chip could have been used and all the perpetrator had to do was insert the chip for a few seconds and then take it out again. Anyone with access to the room the reader was in could have done it and I imagine the chip itself has long since been destroyed. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, My Lord."
"So, someone has the worm written—probably supplying the programmer with the prefix—and puts it on a chip and gives it to someone to bring in here and insert?" asked Vorkosigan. Higgins nodded. "So it could be almost anyone here at the Academy. Cadet, staff, even a casual visitor."
"A lot of suspects to work through," said Galeni. "Too many."
"Uh… M-My Lord?" stuttered Lieutenant Dubrovin. Everyone looked at him. He had a small computer pad in his hand. "The chip reader the Captain indicates is in Vorwood Hall."
"That's where most of the simulator pods are located," said the Commandant.
"Well, that would make sense, I suppose," said Vorkosigan.
"Except that entrance to Vorwood Hall is closely regulated to prevent any… unauthorized use of the simulators. That should rule out a lot of your possible suspects."
"All… almost all of them, sir," continued Dubrovin. "During the time period indicated by the Captain the room with that chip reader was being used by G Company, 3rd Battalion."
"That's my company!" exclaimed Alby. Every eye turned to him.
"Anyone particularly suspicious in your company, Alby?" asked the Lord Auditor.
"Uh… pretty much all of them, My Lord," said Alby. "But I could name a few more suspicious than the rest." And he did. Vorlevey was on top of the list. He didn't much like ratting on his erstwhile comrades, but damn it, they were attacking Anny! He had no doubts where his loyalties lay in an issue like this.
Vorkosigan made a few notes on his own compad and then nodded. "All right, I think we're done here. I'll be turning our findings over to General Allegre to investigate further. I ask all of you to keep quiet about this." He fixed his gaze on Alby who nodded nervously. "Have you disabled that worm, Captain?"
"Yes, My Lord. I left it in place just in case any… interested party has a means to check on it, but I altered its target to a random cadet who graduated last year but whose brain scans were still on file. The worm will sit there, warm, happy and harmless, looking for a target who will never appear."
"Good work, Captain," said Vorkosigan. "Good work, all of you."
"We still need to move fast, Miles," said Galeni. "It will become obvious pretty quickly that Anny isn't being affected by this anymore. That will tip off anyone who's monitoring this."
"Right. Well, let's get going, shall we?"
The Commandant escorted Vorkosigan, Galeni and Higgins out of the lab, leaving Dubrovin and Alby alone. Dubrovin looked ready to faint. "How'd I let you talk me into this?" he said, collapsing into a chair.
"This will be quite a feather in your cap I would think, sir," said Alby. "But you do look tired, sir. You should go back to your quarters and rest."
Dubrovin nodded and staggered out of the lab, leaving Alby by himself. He looked around. He really ought to get back to the barracks. Dubrovin had 'requisitioned' Alby's services from the G Company captain and he'd missed a whole day of duty already. And it was only another day until the big tactical exercise. He smiled when he thought about Vorlevey and the others' disappointment when Anny was unaffected by the simulator. They were probably expecting her to collapse right in the middle of the exercise. His smile faded. Those bastards! I hope Vorkosigan is able to hang them all by their own petards!
But as he thought about it he realized that the chances that any of them would face any real punishment were pretty slim. They were all Vors and no one would want this to turn into some huge scandal. No, it probably would be mostly swept under the rug. Somebody might pay but it would probably be the non-Vor hacker who wrote the worm rather than the Vor Anny-hater that paid him. Not fair at all. Welcome to Barrayar, as Anny would say. Oh for the olden days when you could challenge those scum to a duel. Not that Alby could beat any of them with a sword. Probably just as well that those days were gone…
Alby froze. Then he looked toward the comconsole. The flimsy with Dubrovin's authorization codes was still lying there.
I can't beat them with a sword… so how about if I chose a different weapon?