Scott knew he was onto a story, but he had no idea what it was. He had in his possession damning data, from an anonymous source, with, thus far, no way to get a confirmation. Damn. He needed that for the next time he got lawyered. When he presented his case to his editor, Scott's worst fears were confirmed. Doug McGuire decided that a bigger story was in the making. Therefore, we don't go. Not yet. That's an order. Keep digging. "And while you're at it," Doug said with the pleasure of a father teasing his son, "follow this up, will you? I need it by dead- line." Scott took the AP printout from Doug and read the item. "No," Scott gasped, "not another virus!" He threw the paper on his desk. "I'm up to my ass in . . ." "Viruses," Doug said firmly, but grinning. "Have a heart, these things are such bullshit." "Then say so. But say something." **************************************************************** Chapter 7 Thursday, September 17 New York City Times Christopher Columbus Brings Disease to America By Scott Mason Here's a story I can't resist, regardless of the absurdity of the headline. In this case the words are borrowed from a story title in last week's National Expose, that most revered of journalistic publications which distributes half truths and tortured conclu- sions from publicity seeking nobodies. The title should more appropriately be something like, "Terror Feared in New Computer Virus Outbreak", or "Experts See Potential Damage to Computer Systems", or "Columbus Day Virus: Imaginary Panic?" According to computer experts, this Columbus Day, October 12, will mark a repeat appearance of the now infamous Columbus Day Virus. As for the last several years, that is the anticipated date for a highly viral computer virus to 'explode'. The history behind the headline reads from an Ian Fleming novel. In late 1988, a group of West German hackers and computer pro- grammers thought it would be great fun to build their own comput- er virus. As my regular readers recall, a computer virus is an unsolicited and unwanted computer program whose sole purpose is to wreak havoc in computers. Either by destroying important files or otherwise damaging the system. We now know that that these Germans are part of an underground group known as CHAOS, an acronym for Computer Hackers Against Open Systems, whatever the heck that means. They work to promote computer systems disruption worldwide.