Virtual Vandals

Chapter 13

For long minutes after Cat Corrigan cut out of his veeyar, Matt simply sat still, shattered bits of thoughts running through his mind. Outwardly, he paid no attention at all to the earring lying on his workspace. Had Cat’s visit been even more of a setup than he thought? Had the Genius not only used her to distract Matt from who had tracked him down — but also to create a trap?

By picking up that earring, Matt could be setting off any kind of program.

The Genius knows how to hurt people in veeyar. The warning echoed through Matt’s confusion. Touching that icon was about as safe as pulling the pin from a live grenade.

But….

Cat hadn’t looked like a girl about to let someone get blown up. He’d seen through her flirting to recognize who was behind her. Wouldn’t he have seen if she’d meant to do him in?

Right, he told himself sarcastically. You know all about how pretty, rich girls react when they’re backed into a corner.

But….

Cat hadn’t wanted Gerry Savage to kill Sean McArdle. She’d begged Matt to stop him — and more importantly, she’d helped Matt get Savage off the other boy.

Sure, his interior arguer replied. She also sprayed Camden Yards with virtual machine-gun bullets — hitting Leif.

Yes, she’d admitted doing that — but she’d also said she hadn’t realized how many people were there in holo, vulnerable to her virtual bullets.

The earring could be a trick, a death trap…or a message. Matt had to find out.

But the first thing he did was cut his computer connection. Jumping out of the computer-link chair, he headed down the hall. His parents were in the living room, watching a holo-drama — something about cops and robbers.

“Something up, son?” Mr. Hunter asked.

Matt shook his head. “Nope. Just wanted to stretch a little.”

He went back to his room, opened the window, and slipped out.

Good thing I’ve got a separate farecard with some money on it, he thought.

Maybe he was being completely paranoid. A telephone call could have gotten what he needed — even a quick telecommunications visit through the Net.

But Matt wasn’t about to trust himself to the webwork of circuitry most people used. Not after someone had invaded his personal system, sending Cat Corrigan into his own veeyar. Matt had always thought he had pretty good security for his computer — but not the megabucks type that rich people could surround themselves with, or the heavy-duty government programs that Net Force used.

Against the Genius, his security had been about as strong as wet toilet paper. Before Matt could use his system again, he wanted to check for bugs, tracers, trapdoors, and tricks.

Since the Genius knew who Matt was, he could tap the Hunters’ phone as well as Matt’s computer. He might even be able to snag Matt’s credit-card transactions out of computer systems.

Matt might indeed simply be paranoid about a guy who seemed to be working on a bargain-store antique. But he couldn’t be sure what the Genius had in the way of resources — or what tricks his opponent might have up his sleeve.

No, Matt thought as he walked from the Metro station to the building where David Gray lived. It’s better — safer — to do this face-to-face.

Luckily, David was the one who answered when Matt buzzed from the downstairs lobby. “David? It’s Matt. I’ve got trouble, and I hope you can help me.”

“Come on up,” David replied.

Matt was ready the moment David opened his apartment door. “The guy behind the virtual vandals got into my computer,” he whispered.

“Sure, Matt,” David said loudly. “It’s in my room.” He led the way into the living room, where Mrs. Gray was watching a hologram comedy. “Hello, Matt,” she said.

“Matt needs something for school,” David said. “It will only take a minute.”

As they headed down the hallway, David spoke in a lower voice. “You’re lucky my dad is working the night shift this month, so you’ve only got my mom to deal with.” David’s father was a detective on the D.C. police force. “He’d have taken you to interrogation city, wanting to know why we couldn’t do whatever it was in veeyar.” He grinned. “Plus, it’s her favorite show—Old Friends.”

They reached the room that David shared with his two younger brothers, Tommy and James. Even with bunk beds, the place always seemed crowded — the kids’ toys fighting for space with David’s computer. Right now, the younger boys were playing a loud shoot-’em-up game on part of David’s system.

“Out!” David said, pointing to the door. “We need the computer for a little while.”

“Awwwww!” ten-year-old Tommy complained. “Right when I finally got to the next level!”

“Computer!” David ordered. “Game override. Save present simulation. Store as TOMMYTOPSCORE dot GAME.”

The bright holographic image that the boys had been playing on dimmed away. “Game saved,” the computer announced.

“Hey!” Tommy said. “I didn’t know you could do that!”

“You can’t,” David told his youngest brother. “I can. Come back and finish when we’re done.”

“I’ll be out of the groove by then,” Tommy mourned as he and James trooped out the door.

“That game will always start right where you ended,” David promised. He shut the door, then glanced at Matt. “I don’t know why you don’t just go to Captain Winters and let the Net Force heavy-duty techs into the system,” he said.

David was a friend, but even so, Matt didn’t want to tell him about the invasion of Sean McArdle’s veeyar — and the attack he’d barely managed to stop. After all, David’s father was in the police.

“It’s getting very weird,” was all Matt finally said. “There may be a clue in my veeyar, but I don’t want to pick it up if the boss bad guy is able to see what I’m doing.”

“I don’t see how I can help,” David began.

“Your virtual explorer,” Matt interrupted. “With all the scanning stuff you’ve got in there, I figure you’d be able to check out my system from here.”

Most boys Matt knew liked to design cool stuff on their computers. Matt had a couple of fantasy race cars that he designed, tinkered with, and even took out on fantasy drives. He was particularly fond of his souped-up Dodge Viper. David, however, had a different hobby. He developed spacecraft and exploring modules that worked as well as anything NASA had come up with — at least in veeyar.

David looked a little surprised. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. “But you’re right. We can set it to look for emission sources and unexpected energy concentrations, and work from there.”

He opened a package of datascrips and inserted a blank into his computer. “I’ll make a copy of the probe first, just so we’ll know if it gets tampered with while it’s in your system.”

He gave a series of orders to his computer, then turned to Matt with a grin. “Want to see how your veeyar looks from outside?”

“I think you’d be better off if you just went by telemetry,” Matt warned.

David frowned. “It’ll be a lot more clumsy,” he objected.

“This guy makes bad things happen to people in veeyar,” Matt said. “If he’s set up something nasty in my system, I don’t mind risking your probe. You’ve got a copy right there.” He pointed to the datascrip on the computer desk. “But we stay as far away as possible.”

“I guess you’ve got a point,” David admitted. He gave more orders to the computer, calling up all sorts of security subroutines.

David gave Matt another grin. “When you’ve got two nosy kid brothers, you learn how to keep things under wraps,” he said. A few more orders set up holographic scales and gauges for the probe’s reports.