Chapter 45: Reverse Hacking.

"Dumping tddp into Ghidra makes it pretty easy to find a function that calls recvfrom(), the call that copies information from a network socket. It looks at the first byte of the packet and uses this to determine which protocol is in use, and passes the packet on to a different dispatcher depending on the protocol version."

-Matthew Garrett, Remote code execution as root from the local network on TP-Link SR20 routers

Woundwort had just finished his tour of Darkhaven. It was a very different place from Efrafa: most of the "burrows" were actually large chambers above ground, built between various parts of the human structures. In addition to this, the structures were routinely used for training. In the middle of the warren was the large battle pit, where Darkhaven rabbits fought each other; these battles often resulted in the death of one of the fighters, sometimes both. There was no grass growing in the warren itself; to silflay, the rabbits had to either leave the pit, or stick with weeds. Woundwort's only worry were the humans working there, but at the moment, only two of them were present and, like all humans, they did not seem very intelligent.

Satisfied with what he had learned, he could move on the the next task. He briefly debated whether he should search for Blueberry now or check up on Silverweed first; he eventually decided on Silverweed. Vervain, having nothing else to do, followed him. Silverweed had just woken up, and was cleaning his ears.

-"Greetings General," he said. "How are you feeling right now?"

-"I want to know when you will be ready to search for the outsiders' warren."

-"I suppose I could start now, if you wish. But first, I must warn you: you may feel some sort of tickling in your mind while it happens. The best thing you can do is ignore it. If you pay attention to it, it will simply become more persistent, and it will distract me."

Woundwort nodded; Silverweed lied down and lowered his ears behind his head. He closed his eyes, and raised his front paws to the sides of his head.

The digging at Watership Down was going rather well. The rabbits were split in groups of three or four rabbits each; while no burrows had been entirely finished yet, progress was fast. The worst they had to deal with were the occasional complaints from some of the bucks. At the current rate, there would be enough burrows for everyone by sunset. Suddenly, Hyzenthlay shook her head.

-"What's the matter, Hyz?" Thethuthinnang asked.

-"There's some insect buzzing around my ears. I'll be all right, though."

In another burrow, Fiver was scratching the wall; he was not as fast as most of the others, due to his small size, but his contributions were still helpful. However, he had the vague feeling that there was someone missing, a rabbit who should be at the warren but wasn't. The feeling just wouldn't go away, so he took a short break from digging to wander around and check up on everyone.

All the rabbits who had arrived with Flyairth appeared to be present. He also located all the Sandleford refugees (with the obvious exception of Blackberry, Bigwig and Hazel). All four kittens were listening to one of captain Broom's tales, a rare audience for his ramblings. Clover and Cornflower were among the diggers (although Cornflower appeared to be among the slowest of them all due to her lack of experience). Blackavar, Flora, Spartina and Leo were also digging.

As he looked closer at Leo, however, he suddenly remembered: Blueberry. The mysterious hlessi had arrived at the warren with Leo, only to leave the morning after his arrival, allegedly to find some berries, but he had never come back. Fiver chastised himself for forgetting; a better Chief Rabbit, like his brother, would never have let that happen. To make things worse, the hlessi had only been at the warren very briefly; he clearly hadn't had the time to meet many other rabbits who could have spotted his disappearance and alerted Fiver.

He debated whether to take out a search party. But he didn't trust himself to lead one, and those he did (Hazel and Bigwig) were already gone on a search party of their own. He had only met Blueberry very briefly, immediately after a vision; as a consequence, he had not been able to get a good idea of his scent. Even if he had, the fog would make it nearly impossible to find him. As much as Fiver hated to admit it, any attempt at finding Blueberry would have to wait until after the weather had cleared.

His thoughts were interrupted by another strange feeling that seemed to fill the air around him. It had actually been there for a while, but he had only just noticed it. It felt vaguely like a buzzing insect; he shook his head, attempting to get rid of feeling, but it only became stronger.

-"I'm sorry it's happening like this," came a chillingly familiar voice. "Please don't resist, you'll only make it harder on yourself."

Suddenly, there was an instant peak in intensity, as it seemed to him that whatever it was around him was attempting to break into his mind. It was trying very hard, and he was struggling to fight back. A terrible scream broke from him, as he collapsed to the ground and covered his eyes with his paws.

This caught the immediate attention of all nearby rabbits, who assembled around him.

-"The Chief is down!" Nelthilta shouted.

-"What's happening?" Nyreem asked. "It looks serious."

-"He's probably having a vision," came the voice of Pipkin. The small buck slowly made his way through the crowd until he reached Fiver. He instantly realized that this was no normal vision. On most occasions, Fiver's eyes were wide open, sometimes shining another colour, and he spoke in rhymes. This time, though, he was lying on his side, his paws over his eyes, and the only sound coming out of his mouth was a soft, constant moan.

Suddenly, the moaning stopped. Fiver remained motionless for a few moments, before carefully removing his paws from his eyes, and getting back up.

Meanwhile in Darkhaven...

-"Please stop paying attention to the probing! I just lost the connection."

-"I'm sorry, Silverweed," Vervain said, "but I couldn't help it. Your mind signal was just too strong, it tickled my mind..."

-"I understand that, Vervain, but you need to be more careful. You need something to keep your mind occupied while I work. How about digging?"

-"Digging? I don't want to dig. Bucks don't dig. Why would I dig? We don't need any new burrows."

-"You will be too busy paying attention to the dirt to pay attention to what I'm doing."

-"But..."

-"Vervain, if Silverweed says you should dig, you will dig," Woundwort said. "Am I making myself clear?"

-"...yes sir."

With Woundwort ordering him around, Vervain realized that there was no way out of this situation. He walked away from the two other rabbits until he was close to the burrow exit. He cast one last glance at them, before starting to scratch the ground.

-"So, did you find anything?" Woundwort asked.

-"I found a warren some distance from here, and there are a certain number of rabbits living there. I managed to find a few who seem gifted with powers from beyond like I am, and I tried to invade the mind of the most promising subject. His name is Fiver."

-"Fiver? Then you found the right warren! Do you know where it is?"

-"I'm afraid I don't. Vervain's interference disconnected me before I could find out more than the warren's name. It's called Watership Down."

-"That's not very helpful. Can you try to invade Fiver's mind again?"

-"I suppose I could try. It might be easier now that I have located the entry point into his mind, but now he knows I'm coming, so he might be better at fighting back. Could you go dig with Vervain, please?"

Meanwhile at Watership Down...

-"Fiver, what was that all about?" Pipkin asked. "I've never seen your visions affect you like this before."

-"It wasn't a vision," Fiver said, shaking. "I don't want to go through this ever again. Silverweed was trying to take over my mind."

-"Fiver, surely that's not what you mean? You look tired, you should probably rest."

-"I wish it was something else, but I can't see what else it could be."

-"Someone was trying to invade your mind?" Hyzenthlay asked. "Exactly how did it feel like?"

-"This is not the time..." Pipkin started to say.

-"It's all right, Pipkin." Fiver interrupted. "As for how it felt, it's one of those things that no words can describe. It was a bit like someone was repeatedly kicking me on top of my head, but that doesn't even come close to describing it."

-"Do you know the one who was trying to do this?"

-"I knew Silverweed once, but he's not in the warren where he used to be. Now he's at a place called Darkhaven, but I have no idea where it is, or why he's there."

-"Are you sure this is the same Silverweed? Could it be another rabbit with the same name instead?"

-"It's him. I'm sure of it."

-"Do you have any idea why he would want to invade your mind?"

-"We didn't get along very well, but I don't see why he would want to do this, especially since it's been a full set of seasons since we last physically met." Fiver thought back about his dream a few days before, about how he was being manipulated; this was something else he had not yet fully sorted out, but he couldn't see any link between that and the invasion attempt. "But what worries me the most is, I don't know why the attack stopped. It may start again."

-"I think I may be able to help you stop this. The next time this happens, don't try to fight Silverweed, just think of me."

-"How can that solve anything?"

-"This would essentially forward the invasion signal to me. So your mind would be fine and I would get invaded instead."

-"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nelthilta said.

-"I don't want you to suffer because of me," Fiver said.

-"I won't suffer," Hyzenthlay explained. "I have a plan, that might put an end to this invasion for a while."

-"What is that plan?"

-"It's complicated. Just trust me."

Fiver was about to reply, when suddenly he started to feel his attacker again. The invasion seemed to be stronger than before, and Fiver knew he would not be able to hold on much longer. He was left with no choice but to try Hyzenthlay's suggestion; while he remained doubtful of the chances of success, he couldn't think of any other option. As he focused his thoughts on her, he felt as if the invader left his head, but remained present all around him. A few moments later, everything suddenly vanished. There was no trace of the invader; it was as if nothing had ever happened.

-"Sire, how long do I have to keep going? My claws are killing me."

-"Patience, Vervain. Patience."

Vervain was slowly digging the hole, as he had been ordered to. Further away, one could see Woundwort's tail and hind legs sticking out of another hole; he too was digging so Silverweed could work in peace.

-"But sir, I don't know how long I've been digging, and it's starting to get dark," Vervain complained.

-"It's still day, you're just getting dirt in your eyes."

-"Sire, please. Can't you check to see how Silverweed is doing? This is taking him so long, something must be wrong."

-"Very well, Vervain. I'll go take a look."

Woundwort hopped out of his scrape and made his way towards the corner, where Silverweed was lying down, eyes half-open. While Silverweed often took up weird poses when using his powers, this was clearly not normal.

-"What's happening?" the General asked.

-"I'm drained..."

-"What is that supposed to mean?"

-"I don't know exactly what happened. I was making good progress and I had reached the part of the database that contained the required information, but suddenly I realized I was invading another rabbit entirely. At first I thought it was a doe, but I was actually invading my own mind, which resulted in..."

-"Enough with the technical details! Did you learn anything new?"

-"Nothing I didn't know already."

-"Can you try to invade him a third time?"

-"No." Seeing Woundwort's angry look, he added to his reply. "I mean, not at the moment. My powers are drained. I need to rest for now, but I should be able to try again later tonight, or tomorrow morning."

Woundwort sighed. Letting Silverweed rest meant more delays in finding the location of the warren, but he had no choice. If he were dealing with any other rabbit, he could simply bully them until they did what he wanted, but with Silverweed this was not an option. Woundwort therefore silently walked back towards the scrapes.

-"Well, sir?" Vervain said.

-"You were right, Vervain. There was something wrong, but it's resolved now. Don't gloat about it."

-"Oh, I wouldn't think of doing such a thing, sir!"

-"Just a warning. Now, if you don't mind, we have a kitten to search for."

-"Do we really have to..."

-"Are you questioning my orders?"

-"...no, sir."

-"Then let's get going."

Fiver had gotten up, unsure exactly what had happened. He scanned the area, searching for a signal from Silverweed, but was unable to pick up anything.

-"That was amazing, Hyzenthlay, it worked!" he said. "Thank you so much. Just what exactly did you do?"

-"When Silverweed tried to invade your mind, you thought about me, passing the signal over to me," Hyzenthlay explained. "Then, I thought about him, so the signal went back to him, causing him to essentially invade his own mind."

-"Did it hurt?"

-"It didn't hurt me. As for him, he will be tired for a while, but until he recovers you're safe from invasions."

-"There's just one thing I don't understand. Why couldn't I send the signal back to Silverweed myself? That would have saved you the torment of getting invaded yourself."

-"I tell you, none of this hurt me in any way. But the reason you couldn't do it yourself was because connections only work one way. You can't try to invade him while he's invading you, because the signal is blocked. However, the connection between me and him was open, so by forwarding the signal to me, I could send it back to him."

-"I still have no idea what you're talking about," Nelthilta said.

-"If it makes you feel any better, I don't know either," Flyairth added.

-"And for once, I agree with that crazy doe," Hawkbit mumbled.

-"I suppose that makes sense," Fiver said, "Thanks for everything you did."

With that, Fiver hopped away; while he would have liked to continue helping with the digging, the incident had left him exhausted; he needed rest. Just as he was about to leave the burrow, however, he remembered something else.

-"Does anyone know what Blueberry smells like? Uh, sorry, that came out creepier than intended..."

-"Who?" many of the other rabbits present asked.