SHIT. YEAH. I'M FROM THE COAST. That was an accident. I really don't care. I KNOW. IT MAY NOT MATTER. I MAY GIVE IT UP. I DON'T NEED MY COMPUTERS BEING BLOWN TO SMITHERINES TO TELL ME I'M BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE. Maybe it is the right tree. WHAT? Never mind. So, you said you told them? WELL, KIND OF. YOU SEE, THEY ARE VERY MUCH AGAINST HACKING. THEY ALWAYS TALK ABOUT PROSECUTING HACKERS, HOW BAD WE ARE. AFTER THE FIRST STATE ARTICLES YOU WROTE, A LOT OF PEOPLE ON THE CHAT LINE CLAIMED TO HAVE DONE THE JOB. NOT THAT WE REALLY DID ANYTHING. WE JUST LOOKED AROUND. ALL THESE GUYS ADMITTED TO HAVE DONE IT, SO I ADDED MY TWO CENTS AND SAID I DID IT. I THOUGHT IT MIGHT ADD TO THE CONFUSION. Apparently it did. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Let's say I had something to hide, and let's even say I was First State. SO So, a bunch of people claim to have wrecked havoc on a computer. What easier way to cover all the possible bases than to threaten them all. YOU MEAN EVERYONE WHO ADMITTED IT? OR CLAIMED IT? Right. Get to them all. BUT HOW WOULD FIRST STATE KNOW ABOUT IT? I'm not saying they did. Do you know any of the others who claimed responsibility? NOT PERSONALLY. ONLY ONE GUY NAMED DA VINCI I'VE TALKED TO. Can you call him? SURE, HE'S ON FREEDOM ALL THE TIME. Don't use Freedom. Is there any other way to contact him? On another BBS? IT WOULDN'T BE HARD TO FIND OUT, BUT WHY NOT FREEDOM? Look. This BBS may be the only link between the First State hack you and I were in on, by the way, did you use my name? DIDN'T NEED TO. YOU WROTE THE ARTICLE. YOU'RE GETTING VERY WELL KNOWN. Thanks for the warning. HA! At any rate, you check it out with this Da Vinci character and once you know, just call me at the office, and say something like, the Mona Lisa frowned. That means he got a message similar to yours. If the Mona Lisa smiles, then we can figure out something else. OK? SURE. HEY, QUESTION. Answer. SERIOUSLY. I'm serious. WHAT DO YOU THINK'S GOING ON? YOU BELIEVE IT'S HACKERS, DON'T YOU? bLet me ask you a question. How many surrealistic painters does it take to screw in a lightbulb? I GIVE. HOW MANY A fish. I DON'T UNDERSTAND That's the point. Neither do I. Yet. But you can help. Accord- ing to what you're saying, there may be some weirdness with Freedom. What do you recommend so I can dig a little deeper? Into the whole cult of hacking. And don't worry. I don't hang sources. Besides, I think we may need each other. HOW DO YOU MEAN? I think you should talk to the authorities. NO WAY Wait. I have a friend, ex-friend, who knows about this kind of thing, at least a little, and he might be of some help to you. I just don't think it should go unreported. Would you talk to him? LIVE OR MEMOREX? He probably would want a face to face, but I can't say for sure.