A LONG TIME AGO... ON A NODE FAR
, FAR AWAY (FROM PDPVAX).....

       D E C W A R S


THE FURTHER AND FURTHER ADVENTURES OF LU
KE VAXHACKER   EPISODE N+3

WHEN WE LAST LEFT LUKE, THE MILLIAMP FA
LCON WAS BEING PULLED DOWN TO THE OPEN 
COLLECTOR OF THE IMPERIAL AREM STAR WOR
KSTATION. DEC VADIC SURVEYS THE RELIC 
AS IMPERIAL FLUNKIES SEARCH FOR PASSENGE
RS...

"LS SCAN SHOWS NO ONE ABOARD, SIR," WAS 
THE REPORT. VADIC WAS UNCONVINCED.

"SEND A FULLY EQUIPPED NCHECK SQUAD ON 
BOARD," HE SAID. "I WANT EVERY INODE 
CHECKED OUT." HE TURNED AROUND (SECONDAR
Y CHANNEL) AND STALKED OFF.

ON BOARD THE MILLIAMP FALCON, .LUKE WAS
 PUZZLED. "THEY JUST WALKED IN, LOOKED 
AROUND AND WALKED OFF," HE SAID. "WHY DI
DN'T THEY SEE US?"

 .CON SMILED. "AN OLD MUNCHKIN TRICK", 
HE EXPLAINED. "SEE THAT PERIOD IN FRONT 
OF YOUR NAME?"

 .LUKE SPUN AROUND, JUST IN TIME TO SEE
 THE DECIMAL POINT. "WHERE'D THAT COME 
FROM?" HE ASKED.

"SPARE DECIMAL POINTS LYING AROUND FRO
M THE LAST TIME I FIXED THE FLOATING 
POINT ACCELERATOR," SAID .CON. "HANDY F
OR SMUGGLING BLOCKS ACROSS FILE SYSTEM 
BOUNDARYS, BUT I NEVER THOUGHT I'D HAV
E TO USE THEM ON MYSELF. THEY AREN'T 
GOING TO BE FOOLED FOR LONG, THOUGH. WE'
D BETTER FIGURE A WAY OUTA HERE."

----------------------------------------
AT THIS POINT (.) THE DIALOGUE TENDS TO 
WEDGE. BEING THE EDITOR AND IN TOTAL 
CONTROL OF THE SITUATION, I THINK IT W
OULD BE BEST IF WE JUST SORT OF GRONK 
THE NEXT FEW PARAGRAPHS. FOR THOSE WHO 
CARE, OUR HEROES FIND THEMSELVES IN A 
TERMINAL ROOM OF THE WORKSTATION, HAV
ING THRASHED SEVERAL FLUNKIES TO GET 
THERE. FOR THE REST OF YOU, JUST KEEP BA
NGING THE ROCKS TOGETHER, GUYS. --ED.
---------------------------------------

"HOLD ON," SAID CON. "IT SAYS WE HAVE 'N
EW MAIL'. IS THAT AN ERROR?"

"%SYS-W-NORMAL, NORMAL, SUCCESSFUL COMPL
ETION," SAID PDP-1. "DOESN'T LOOK LIKE 
IT. I'VE FOUND THE INODE FOR THE MILLIA
MP FALCON. IT'S LOCKED IN KERNAL DATA 
SPACE. I'LL HAVE TO SLIP IN AND PATC
H THE REFERENCE COUNT, ALONE..." HE 
DISAPPEARED THROUGH A NEARBY ENTRY POINT
.

MEANWHILE, RS232 FOUND A SERIAL PORT AN
D LOGGED IN. HIS BELL STARTED RINGING 
LOUDLY. "HE KEEPS SAYING, 'SHE'S ON L
INE, SHE'S ON LINE'," SAID 3CPU. "I 
BELIEVE HE MEANS PRINCESS LPA0:. SHE'S
 BEING HELD ON ONE OF THE PRIVILEDGED 
LEVELS."

---------------------------------------

ONCE AGAIN, THINGS GET STICKY, AND THE D
IALOGUE SUFFERS THE MOST DAMAGE. AFTER 
MUCH HANDWAVING AND GENERAL FLAMING, THE
Y AGREE TO RESCUE HER. THEY HEADED FOR 
THE DETENTION LEVEL, POSING AS FLUNK
IES (WHICH IS HARD FOR MOST HACKERS) 
CLAIMING THAT THEY HAD TRAPPED THE BOOK
IE EXECUTING AN ILLEGAL RACKET. THEY 
REACHED THE BLOCK WHERE THE PRINCESS WA
S LOCKED UP AND FOUND ONLY TWO GUARDS 
IN THE HEADER. --ED.
---------------------------------------

"GOOD DAY, EH?" SAID THE FIRST GUARD.

"HOW'S IT GOIN', EH?" SAID THE OTHER. "L
IKE, WHAT'S THAT, EH?"

"PROCESS TRANSFER FROM BLOCK 1138, DEV 1
0/9," SAID CON.

"TAKE OFF, IT IS NOT," SAID THE FIRST G
UARD. "NOBODY TOLD US ABOUT IT, AND 
WE'RE NOT MORONS, EH?"

AT THIS POINT (.), THE BOOKIE STARTED 
RAVING WILDLY, CON SHOUTED "LOOK OUT, 
HE'S LOOSE!" AND THEY ALL STARTED BLAST
ING PROMS LEFT AND RIGHT. THE GUARDS 
STARTED TO CATCH ON AND WERE ABOUT TO
 ISSUE A GENERAL WAKEUP WHEN THE PROM 
BLASTERS WERE TURNED ON THEM.

"QUICKLY, NOW," SAID CON. "WHAT BUFFER 
IS SHE IN? IT'S NOT GOING TO TAKE LONG 
FOR THESE..."

THE INTERCOM RECEIVER INTERRUPTED HIM, 
 SO HE TOOK OUT IT'S FIRMWARE WITH A 
SHORT BLAST.

"GUYS TO FIGURE OUT SOMETHING IS GOIN' O
N," HE CONTINUED...

TO BE INTERMINABLE...