Unexpectedly, my laptop rebooted and displayed an ominous image and a more ominous warning.
Looking around the room, I saw the rest of the computers in the room had done precisely the same thing. People sat staring at screens that a minute ago had important work on them.
Now all the screens showed a Green background and a classic pirate signal. The words blinking in different colors under the skull and crossbones said that the internet had been hijacked and demanded that certain terms yet to be announced would be met before it was returned to working order.
I knew I was in deep trouble.
I had told congress that it was impossible to completely disable the world’s internet because it was set up so no one entity could completely shut it down. Looking at my phone, I found it too had the same green screen with the same message on it.
People were franticly trying to make calls with their now disabled phones. I knew better. Whatever had commandeered the internet had also managed to compromise the satellites that supported phone systems, which in turn supported a vast majority of the internet.
I headed downstairs to the archives. Deep in a back room, I had seen some old radio equipment from World War Two. I pulled out a couple of base radios and antennas.
Up on the roof, I set up the radio. Having never actually used it before, it took me a bit to get it going. Once the tubes heated up and the aerials were up as high as I could get it, I tried broadcasting. In a few minutes, I got a response.
“It worked. They bought it.”
“Good, now send up the files, and we’ll get the money in your swiss bank account. by midnight.”
Looking around the room, I saw the rest of the computers in the room had done precisely the same thing. People sat staring at screens that a minute ago had important work on them.
Now all the screens showed a Green background and a classic pirate signal. The words blinking in different colors under the skull and crossbones said that the internet had been hijacked and demanded that certain terms yet to be announced would be met before it was returned to working order.
I knew I was in deep trouble.
I had told congress that it was impossible to completely disable the world’s internet because it was set up so no one entity could completely shut it down. Looking at my phone, I found it too had the same green screen with the same message on it.
People were franticly trying to make calls with their now disabled phones. I knew better. Whatever had commandeered the internet had also managed to compromise the satellites that supported phone systems, which in turn supported a vast majority of the internet.
I headed downstairs to the archives. Deep in a back room, I had seen some old radio equipment from World War Two. I pulled out a couple of base radios and antennas.
Up on the roof, I set up the radio. Having never actually used it before, it took me a bit to get it going. Once the tubes heated up and the aerials were up as high as I could get it, I tried broadcasting. In a few minutes, I got a response.
“It worked. They bought it.”
“Good, now send up the files, and we’ll get the money in your swiss bank account. by midnight.”
