Hawking''s Hallway by Neal Shusterman

Author:Neal Shusterman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2016-02-09T05:00:00+00:00

When a slot machine hits the big bucks in Vegas, there are enough bells, whistles, and flashing lights to induce a seizure. Security is called in, the machine is temporarily shut down, and the Jumbotron in front of the casino projects a smiling middle-aged face, proclaiming BERTHA JOHNSON JUST WON $500,000—YOU COULD BE NEXT!

But in the world of digital banking, money moves with deathly silence and lightning speed.

To Zak’s utter amazement, the account he had just accessed began to fill with virtual money that seemed to spill from the heavens. Or, more accurately, the Cloud. Approximately $750 million worth.

Zak stared at it, bewildered.

“Quick!” said Mitch. “Pull it out before it moves again! You’ve only got twenty seconds!”

Snapping out of his stupor, Zak opened the “trapdoor” account he had created and dumped the entire fortune into it—all except a single penny. When the twenty seconds were up, the Accelerati algorithm kicked in again to send that penny ricocheting away.

The rest of the money was now theirs, hiding in an account no one else could access. And there it would stay. They had stolen the Accelerati’s stolen fortune.

Nine-point-three seconds later, Zak’s algorithm spit out the number that Mitch had written on his hand. Then the screen froze, the server crashed, and around the computer room there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mitch grinned proudly, and Zak stared at him as if witnessing the Second Coming.

“Who was on the phone?” Zak asked again, almost afraid of the answer.

“Me,” Mitch told him happily. “One hour in the future.”

Unlike Zak, Mitch was not bound by linear logic. The moment he thought about jumping ahead of the money, he also thought, Wouldn’t it be funny if I called myself on the Teslaphone to give us the number? No sooner had he thought that than the phone rang, so he wasn’t surprised at all to hear his own voice on the other end giving him the number. All that remained now was getting back to Vince’s house so he could place the call to himself in an hour.

“Tell me I’m not a genius,” Mitch said. “I dare you.”

But Zak was still too stunned to comment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.