WYRM by Mark Fabi

Author:Mark Fabi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

“Well, that was pretty anticlimactic,” Art commented as he prepared to log off. He and Al had spent a few minutes typing at their keyboards after everyone else had quit.

“What’s the big secret?” Robin asked.

Art smiled mysteriously. “Just cooking up a little surprise, that’s all.”

“Ooh, good. I like surprises.”

“I didn’t really care for the one we just got,” Art said, apparently in reference to the dragon heart.

We were playing in the snake pit, with me in Krishna’s previous position, not that I was really necessary. I’m sure Krishna could have played his own character while simultaneously monitoring the technical parameters, but it was nice for me to have something to do. And because I was “riding shotgun,” I was in a position to notice something that none of the others did. “Not so fast, Art,” I said. “When you got the heart, you downloaded a big file.”

I was able to tell him what directory the file had landed in, and Art called it up. “Looks like total spooge,” he said.

“Encrypted, I bet,” Krishna said. He had come to look over Art’s shoulder at the monitor.

“If you say so. Krishna’s our resident cryppie,” Art explained. “You want to take a crack at it, Krish?”

“Definitely.”

It was one of those rare occasions when Al and I were headed in the same direction, so we were able to fly back to New York together. Triple Witching Hour was approaching, and we were discussing what to do about it.

“I have an idea,” I told her, “but I don’t like it very much.”

“Tell me, then. Maybe I’ll like it better.”

“You know how the firms with Macrobyte OS’s seem to be resistant to the TWH virus? I was thinking that it was like phylloxera.”

She nodded. “The phylloxera louse kills the European grapes, but not the American ones, even though it infects them, too.”

“Right. So if you want to grow European vinifera grapes, you have to graft them onto an American labrusca rootstock.”

“Okay, I think I see what you’re getting at. . . .”

“I doubt that many firms would be willing to switch their whole operating systems, but if we could give them sort of a Macrobyte graft ...”

She was nodding enthusiastically. “I do like it. How much of a graft do you think it would take?”

“That’s the part I don’t like so much. I’m afraid it would take just enough to give Wyrm a foothold.”

“Worms don’t have feet.”

“Yeah, so it’s a lousy metaphor. You see what I mean, though?”

“I think so, yes.”

In the end we couldn’t think of any better alternatives, so we offered it to our clients and passed the word to other firms. The response was cautious, but the firms that had already been burned were eager to try something.

Meanwhile, Al and I experimented to find out just how much of Macrobyte’s OS we’d have to import to do the job. We also had to work out some licensing agreements with Macrobyte, but they were fairly magnanimous about it, apparently seeing it primarily as an opportunity for favorable publicity.

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