Starring:
Summary: Niki and Micah go to a library for some mother and son … spying. (It's for a good cause!)
Date It Happened: March 24th, 2008
Techno Heroics
New York City Metropolitan Library
Where does one go in New York City when you need a large amount of resource material? Columb…wait, what? No! Not Columbia University. No, the NYC Metropolitan Library. Not only do they have a rather extensive collection of reading material, but they also have a large section of public computer terminals. And internet. The perfect place for Micah to attempt to briefly access the Pinehearst network again.
Accompanying her son to this mecca of knowledge, Niki more or less lets him lead the way. Computers and Micah are like magnets. Presently, as those public computers are zoned in on, she inches a chair close to the one meant for Micah — with as little noise as possible, of course — and sits down. She's has been agitated ever since she picked him up from school, but it's not his fault; she's not upset with him in the least. Whatever she was doing this morning, though, seems to have set her mood for the rest of the day. She slouches over her knees, looking from computer genius to computer. "And you're sure it's safe this time, too?"
Micah slings his backpack off his shoulder and drops it to the ground beside his own chair. Lightly, though, as the laptop is stored in the pack as well. "Trust me, mom." he says, turning and giving her a grin. Eyes tend to twinkle just a bit. This is what he does. He knows. "The library has over thirty terminals. All running through multiple routers. but to the outside world, it's one IP address. So even if they did detect us, it would take them time to find out which machine it came from." Yeah, that probably made a whole lot of sense to his mom. As the computer loads, he moves a hand over the old-style keyboard.
"… I should just bring you to work with me." 'Work'. She's gotten used to calling it that at home, but her ventures at Pinehearst are not exactly conventional 9-5. "Okay, I'll believe you. But next time, we'll go somewhere far away." She leans in closer, watching the screen as everything on it comes to life. "Try finding anything Nathan Petrelli signed his name on," she says. "The more they tried to hide it, there better." She glances at Micah for a second with a twinkle in her own eye. She wouldn't normally tell her son to be naughty and access restricted files, but…
But…as Kirk quoted Spock in Star Trek III, "Sometimes the needs of the one, outweigh the needs of the many." Micah grins as the computer finishes loading. "I could probably get better access to stuff from inside the place, mom. Less security I'd have to get through." As the hourglass cursor disappears, the computer starts it's searching. ~Nathan Petrellii. Crossreference~ is inserted into the computer's instructions. "There's over two thousand hits, mom. Anything more specific?"
"Jesus," Niki mumbles under her breath, eyeing the screen. "Um." Her brow furrows as she tries to come up with something. "That formula thing," she suggests; a glance is thrown over her shoulder around the library after the fact, cautious, before she adds, "If he has a hand in it, I wanna know how."
Micah nods and glances back at the computer screen. After a moment he frowns. "There's a block on some of the files. Hold on a sec." he says, narrowing his eyes at the computer screen for a moment. "Simple encryption. 64-bit. Decrypting." The screen flashes a bunch of random characters for a moment before the files start coming up. "Is this what you were looking for, mom?" he asks, as the screen displays an internal memo in regards to a "formula". The memo uses words like "experimental", "treatment", "candidates", and "synthetic". There's also a file that lists names of several Senators, and CEO's of major corporations.
A stormy expression overtakes the features of Micah's mom, whose eyes are locked on the library computer, trying to sort it all out. Is that what she was looking for? Better question: "What… is this?"
Niki sits back in her chair, pose straightening with tension. She answers Micah without taking her focus off the screen — the names, the words, the implications she doesn't quite grasp but which seem foreboding all the same. "People who want to change the world." Not for the better, if her tone is any indication. "But I'm not going to let them."
Micah follows the movements of his mom with curious eyes. For a moment he almost seems to be considering the next set of words to come out of his mouth. "Let me help, then." he offers, knowing full well he'll get shot down. It always tends to happen that way. But seeing as how she asked for his help this time, it might be different. "I can use my ability to help you take them down."
Niki actually seems to consider, which is the crazy thing. "I can't let you anywhere near there," she says by contrast. Her voice is kept low within the walls of the library, where noise travels and echoes. The lowered tone makes it all the more serious, all the more insistent, urgent. "It's too dangerous. But we could use your help. What else can you do?"
"It's not just computers, mom." Micah explains, moving his hand away from the keyboard. Strangely enough, the screen doesn't change. Micah's close enough to the machine and growing in ability that he really doesn't need to hover over the keyboard. "If it uses technology, I can talk to it. Make it do things. Cell phones. Pagers. Radios. Even cars."
"You could really…" Niki trails off, almost in alarm — but she's on the verge of something, some thought or revelation. When it comes to a company so reliant on technology, adding a factor like Micah into the mix…
Niki is poised to answer when an elderly lady in a pink coat with her toddler grandchild shuffle past. When they pass, she leans in closer to Micah. "Can you control any of the stuff inside the building from the outside?"
Micah nods his head quickly at the trailed off though. But just as he is about to answer, the lady and toddler pass by. Once cleared, his attention shifts back to the matter at hand. "I can try. But I've never really been more than a few feet from something I've tried controlling." There's a thoughtful look on his face as he ponders things for a moment. "If any of their systems are automated by computer I might be able to gain access from the outside and control the computer."
"Probably," Niki says with a shrug of one shoulder; she doesn't really know, but it seems logical. Pinehearst has a lot of computers. She's unsettled, still, by the concept of Micah being involved; even this is risky business, as far as she's concerned. "How much time do we have now?" she says with a concerned look to the monitor. "We need that list of employees."
If anyone can handle himself, it's Micah. But he's still gonna have to prove that to his mom. Flicking his eyes, he grins. "I've got their security program playing 'wild goose chase'. It thinks I'm in a completely different system." Evil Micah. As the list is mentioned, he glances around. The printers are all in a central location, so it's possible for someone to get to the printout before they do. "Give me a minute, mom, and I'll have the list for us. We can print it out at home." With that, he closes his eyes which can be seen flicking back and forth under his eyelids.
Niki's head drops to the side, tilting, and a smile finds its way onto her otherwise weary face. "It's like magic." She stands up, whisking around her chair and Micah's to wrap her arms around his shoulders while he finishes his techno mojo.
Micah's eyes slowly open back up, and notice that his mom has moved. Head. Tilt. Up. Oh hai! "All done." he grins, as the computer screen goes blank and the computer reboots itself. "I pulled the list and bounced it through about fifteen different servers in fifteen different countries. They'll have a hard time tracing that if they discover it. It's in an email account I can print it from when we get home." Yes. Definitely magic.
"My hero." Only this particular list isn't so much about saving the world as much as it is about saving herself from HRG's wrath, but you know — it might stop her from being thrown in a cell. So hey, it's heroic. Plus, did he say fifteen countries? "Okay, that's enough super-spying for one day."
Laughing, Micah wriggles himself out of his mom's clutches and stands up. "So…..we can go get ice cream now, right?" he asks, the grin on his face almost going from ear to ear. Reaching down, he slings the backpack back up on his shoulder.