#simulation0001

11:57pm

Three minutes.  He walked across the street toward the building where his target resided.  The sound of his boots crunched on the rubble around him, and he stopped to look up toward the top of the skyscraper.    It was funny to think so much debris still littered the street and city when the Net Meltdown was a long 6 years ago.   Corporation buildings of steel and glass rose from the rubble, glistening beacons among the wreckage of their world.  A shame that shine was only skin deep.

11:58pm

He booted up his eye-screen to ready the codes to enter into the private chat channel.   His fingers moved expertly through the air to type the digits into the corresponding boxes.  It was like he was conducting a symphony as he readied his programs and set up his needed information.

11:59pm

His thoughts wondered to his partner in this job and he paused.  Normally he worked alone, but this deal was huge.  His buyer insisted on the two of them working together, and the number of 0s following the 1 in his payout made him change his rule to keep to himself.   Of course, he almost pulled out when the name "Pandora" was dropped into his files.

Unspoken rivalry.   That was the easiest way to describe his interaction with the other hacker.  He did not know what they looked like, but their digital trail was distinct, and both were constantly racing for the same jobs, leaving little jabs at each other in their wake.

12:00am

With a flick of his finger, he signed into the private chat channel.  Being one of the elite hackers had it's perks as it gave you more protection and more privacy than most civilian's could hope for.  This chat channel was devised by himself for this job alone, and it was nice to know that it would take more than just the regular programs to pick up their signal.