Chapter 4-The Hack

Buzz. Buzz. An incoming call on my iHolo awoke me at 5:30 in the morning. I had only been asleep for about 3 hours. It was from an unknown number again. I answered, and Huxley's voice came over the phone. "Elijah, I apologize for interrupting your sleep, but I need you here at the president's home. This is important." I croaked, "Yes, sir, of course. I will be over as soon as possible." "Excellent," Huxley said, "a cab is waiting for you outside the WPA facility. I will see you momentarily." He hung up briskly. I quickly slipped on clothes and combed my hair a little bit. I chugged some water to wake up more and hurried out the door. Mary Anne opened her door right when I walked by her place. "Oh, hey, are you going to see the president, too?" I asked. "Yes!" Mary Anne exclaimed, "He personally called me and told me to come to his home." It was cute to see her excitement. I didn't want to downsize her excitement by telling her she wasn't the only one who got a call, so I just smiled in excitement and grabbed her hand as we walked to the elevator. Outside, I could see Dr. Radcliffe getting in the front passenger seat of the cab. Mary Anne and I approached the vehicle and sat in the back, still holding hands. "Good early morning, you two," Dr. Radcliffe said. I could see the dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he hadn't slept much either. "The president did not specify to me what he wanted us for, but I imagine it has something to do with your message, Elijah." The rest of the car ride was mostly silent, as we were all still groggy. As we approached the president's home, we could barely see the sunlight coming from the Atlantic Ocean. The glowing lights from the president's home made the scenery even more beautiful. The same two guards opened our doors and escorted us to a room downstairs in the massive house. They led us to a set of double doors that opened to a windowless room. A massive oval table was in the center of it, and a hologram projection was in place across the table. Each space had a small holographic projection device fused into the table, acting as a computer setup. The keyboard was a hologram on the glass table. Huxley was sitting at the other end of the table, and several well-dressed and groomed officials such as the Vice President, secretary of defense, and other important people were there. "Dr. Radcliffe, Mary Anne, Elijah—good to have you here. You are here to view the network infiltration that will leak Elijah's message to the Allied States. Right now, our top experts are hacking into every major news network site as well as their government's emergency broadcast system so that every eye may see. Please, have a seat," Huxley said. I could not believe that I was sitting at the same table with some of the most important people in this nation—a seventeen year-old boy at the president's conference room table. A worker of the president's home came around and poured fine orange juice into the glasses of each occupied seat. On the holographic projection in front of us, all we could see was a massive display of coding and soft digital noises. The room was silent, and Huxley was sitting on the edge of his seat. The display then cut off for a few seconds to come back on to show a loading progress bar, labeled as "infiltrating…" The progress bar slowly climbed to 100%, then to display a "success" message. Everyone cheered. They had done it. We hacked into their system. The display split into several smaller squares, each of them showing different news sources and what was currently on them. Some were on commercial breaks while some were giving live reports about various events. In the center, the screen was dark, but at the top of the blank part, in small text, it said "EBS" which probably meant "Emergency Broadcast System." Huxley tapped into a device on his ear and said one word: "commence." All screens synchronously went blank and switched to my video. It was a bit scratchy and unstable at first, but then it stabilized. "Excellent," Huxley chimed in. "Now, Elijah, we are going to do something special here. Right now, all screens in the ASA are displaying this video, whether it be on the emergency broadcast or the news. When the video ends, which we have one minute until it does, we are going to broadcast you live. Read these words on the prompt that will show on the screen in front of you. Stay seated where you are." A camera rose out from the table, automatically focusing on me. "Don't worry, just do it like you did this video. Good luck." My heart was pounding again just because of the pressure on me right then. I waited for my previous video to conclude. When it did, static appeared on the display for a few seconds. The light on the camera flashed on, and my face popped up on the screens. "Okay, Elijah, you're live in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…" Huxley said. "What you saw a moment ago was real and told you what actually happened," I began, reading the prompt. "The ASA's attack on Birmingham was only to appease a fooled people: you. You have been lied to. I am well and living in the provinces with people who care about me, but more importantly, care about you. Stop. Stop letting them lie to you. Rise up. Fight for your freedom and your right to know the truth. Fight to stop the WCO from taking over the world. Hold fast, for help is on the way. I am Elijah, and we are here to rescue you." The camera cut off, leaving the display to show static once again. Everyone in the room smiled at me and applauded lightly. Mary Ann smiled and gave my hand a friendly squeeze. "Great job, Elijah," Huxley exclaimed. "We will keep those messages on repeat for as long as we can. We are unsure as to when they will regain control, but we have to utilize every second we can get. Upstairs, you will find an array of eateries. Please, I insist on you all helping yourselves to a well-earned breakfast." We all left as a group to walk upstairs. In the main area, a table with white cloth contained all sorts of breakfast foods—fried and scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, Belgian waffles, more than 10 kinds of fruit, toast, or for the basic people, cereal. Orange juice was kept in a fine glass pitcher. The dinnerware we used were ancient, like from the first American Revolution. It was in the top ten meals I had ever had.

Afterwards, Mary Ann, Dr. Radcliffe and I departed back to the WPA. Huxley had told us he would let Dr. Radcliffe know when we lost access to the ASA's broadcast systems. As of now, an hour after the initial broadcast, the message was still on every display in the nation. Although we did not return fire on the ASA physically, our cyber counterattack was sweet justice for sure. Now, their government was exposed. It would only be so much longer before they faced consequences for lying.