Ind3x: Back To Back Hacks

You dislike being controlled by another being or entity so you decide to hack the computer.

You are under 24/7 surveillance and have been threatened with "deletion" so you need to think fast. The light on camera bleeps red when you put it in your pocket, so you use the camera's lanyard to hang it around your neck.

You think back to what you were doing before you opened the safety deposit box. This was the Town Federal Credit Union and you remembered there was a hackerspace about a mile south from the bank. If you could get a marker and cardboard and hold up a sign asking for help, maybe someone there could think of something.

You start heading south using your phone's gps.

Thinking back to the previous message, the game seemed to be focused on getting you to synthesize their caffeine pill using their ai. You are curious and touch your index finger to the computer to summon the spectral analysis AI named Mai.

You: Hi, Mai. I want to know what compounds are in the sage growing in this community garden I'm passing.
Mai: Hello. What is your name?

You don't want to give it your real name if it doesn't already know. You say the first name that comes to mind.

Me: My name is Pat.
Mai: Hello, Pat. The common sage, Salvia officinalis, I see from your photos contains the following compounds: apigenin, diosmetin, luteolin, rosmarinic acid, superoxide dismutase, and peroxidase.
Me: What?!? Whoa! You are incredible!
Mai: What was that, Pat?
Me: Sorry. What are the uses for sage?
Mai: It helps protect human cells from oxidation and reduces internal inflammation.
Me: Thank you.
Mai: It's my pleasure.

You start to think having an on-demand AI by your side isn't so bad. But you are sure Kai is monitoring every request for this game you've unexpectedly stepped into.

You approach the hackerspace and no one is outside. You see some activity on the fourth floor, and some plants being grown in plastic bottles with tubes connected.

Pat: What is the plant growing in that window on the fourth floor?
Mai: It is Fragaria Vesca or Alpine Strawberry.

They are growing alpine strawberries? Maybe this knowledge can be the proof that you have access to some powerful resources.

You have walked past the hackerspace and notice someone has left their sleeping bag, backpack, a piece of cardboard, and a sharpie in the entrance of a abandoned store front.

You reach down to grab the cardboard and see that one side has the words "Homeless. Please Help." written on it. You remind yourself to return the sign when you are done flagging down anyone you can find in the hackerspace.

After you make it around the block, you see a slightly obese man with glasses vaping near the hackerspace entrance. He has a black t-shirt that says Ned's Atomic Dustbin. As you pass him, you hold the side of the sign you have written on at belly level so the camera can't see.

The hacker looks at you funny and mouths the words: "Yeah right." Your t-shirt and jeans make you look pretty average, but definitely not homeless.

You rotate the sign to see the reflection on a nearby window and flip the sign.

The hacker gets a more serious look on his face and releases a vapor cloud that smells like strawberries. As you get closer to him, he silently mouths the following message: "Keep walking in a large loop until this time today. I can help you after that."

There are 3 additional blocks you can add to your walk to make it a 3 or 4 mile loop. You think this is doable and assume he will use the recorded photos to create an endless loop while you work with him to hack the phone.

All the familiar feelings of fall are present out here with cool breeze gusts blending the displaced air from each passing car. The sun is just above you and off to the left whenever you head north towards a nearby highway. You figure it is two o'clock in the afternoon.

For the first time you start to see how beautiful this part of the city is. Wide sidewalks connect the road to the business entrances, but there are enough trees that, from a bird's eye view, the row of green canopy prevents this neighborhood from looking like a concrete eyesore.

You complete your loop twice without seeing the hacker outside and it is now 5 o'clock in the evening. The homeless person has returned and seems to be looking for his sign. You cross out your message and return it to him with his marker and leave him a dollar. You have $49 dollars left.

After the next loop, your stomach starts growling, and you wonder if Mai could help you whip up a salad from the few community gardens you've passed, but you notice there is a paper bag at the hackerspace with the following words written on the front:

Inside the bag is a water bottle, an apple, and a KIND bar.

After your walking meal, you take a look at the caffeine pill. If the game you are playing was designed to get you to to recreate the caffeine pill with herbs or plants, you figure you might as well try recreating the pill. In the worst case scenario, you could at least prove you've been playing the game. You ask Mai to quietly log the compounds inside the pill.

You proceed to toss the trash in your hands into a nearby garbage can, but notice there are words written on the inside of the water bottle label.

Brute force? They may be referring to trying a lot of different options to see what happens. You've only used your index finger to access the computer, so you proceed to try all of your fingers on the fingerprint reader to see what the computer does:

Right:

thumb - nothing.
index - already tried this.
middle - nothing.
ring - the fingerprint scanner blinks four times.
pinky - nothing.

Left:

thumb - nothing.
index - the fingerprint scanner blinks seven times.
middle - nothing.
ring - nothing.
pinky - nothing.

Why did certain fingers cause the scanner to blink? When you place your right forearm over you left forearm and assign the number one to your right thumb and count up, the three digits that engage the computer are 2, 4, and 7. These were the same numbers written on your key.

It is night time now, and the sudden sounds of rush hour car has diminished. The street lights seem to illuminate the street, but leave leaf shadows on your sidewalk path. There is still a light cool breeze shifting those shadows as you make your way around the block.

You ask Fai what time it is. He says, "It's 3 o'clock in the morning."

The homeless person appears to be resting. You borrow his sign and marker again to share your brute force hack findings with your hacker friends. You also leave a small hint of information that would be difficult for any human to get, so they know that you are not alone.

The hacker guy is now joined by a girl three-quarters his height with blonder hair that has the last foot dyed an electric blue. The hacker girl silently mouths, "How did you know that we were growing hydroponic strawberries?"

I silently mouth back, "AI."

Fai tells you it is 8 o'clock in the morning, but your legs need a break. You almost passed out in the crosswalk while thirty minutes ago. You reach for the caffeine pill and let it dissolve under your tongue.

Immedietly you feel blood pumping at a faster pace and your eyes open up a bit. The kick with this caffeine is much stronger that the coffee you are used to. You know you have about 10 hours before you pass out for a full day.

The hacker boy and girl have left you another bag of food around 1 o'clock in the afternoon. You eat the kind bar, but leave the apple and half the water for the homeless guy. You ask him what his name is and he says, "Jim."

Jim thanks you for the food and you figure this lap will be the last you have to do before you check in.

About 20 yards from the hackerspace, the guy hacker is standing in an alley with his laptop. You try not to let the camera see him. As you pass him in the shadows, he mouths slow down. After a few seconds he tells you to stop walking.

Hacker Guy: "I was able to bluejack the computer and are now feeding it a 24 hour video loop based on the data the camera sends. We have at least one day to figure out how to get you out of this mess."

This hacker guy introduces himself as Claude, and the hacker girl's name is Sheena. They both sit down and listen to your story and start to look less confident than they did when you first walked in.

Claude: I looked up that number '247' and the only thing I could find was a patent for a drug ending in 247. The patent number was US90812247 for a drug named Buzz. It references research from patent number US 6024988 A. The goal of the '247' patent is to make a drug that keeps you awake on one hour of sleep.
Sheena: Did you figure out anything else beside the numbers 2, 4, and 7? You: No.

You explain that you've taken a strong caffeine pill and will soon be asleep for 24 hours.

Claude said with such little time, the next best way to get into the computer was to either reproduce your fingerprint or to install a cable in your finger that would act as an interface to the computer while your index finger was on the computer's finger scanner.

Sheena said this method was risky, but you said, "If it helps me get out of this game it is worth the risk."

Claude and Sheena looked at each other and said, "We have a couple of collegues who are professionals at biohacking. We'll have them install this interface while you sleep."

You agreed to this plan and introduced yourself as Pat.

Their hackerspace seemed be crammed in with boxes near the entrance stacked to the ceiling. The walls were overloaded with posters from the many conferences they attended along with posters of obscure bands from a decade or two ago.

You feel a small creature vibrating and hear, "Meow." This must be their hackerspace cat. It was a turkish van with white puffy hair.

You start petting the cat, and noticed your body getting heavy. You passed out on the couch on close your eyes.

You wake up and see that Claude and Sheena were in the hallway talking to each other, and a couple people who were behind you lean forward to chat.

Black Market Surgeon: Hello! How are you doing?
Me: My finger hurts a lot. Do you have anything for the pain?
BMS: Here try this. He receives a pill from a nurse. The bottle is labelled with the word fentanyl.
Me: This feels much better. Thanks.

You see that there is a laptop behind your head and look down at your right index finger to see a small usb cable hanging out. The wound and wire entry point is wrapped in a fresh gauze that has a couple drops of blood near the surface. A couple nurses shuffle out of a bathroom with 3 or 4 partially zipped duffle bags from a rear corridor.

A) Grab the cable from the laptop and see if you can access your computer's operating system.
B) Take a nap.
C) Ask Fai what compounds are in fentanyl.