09-06-2016, 02:22 PM
The Fake White retrieved his Wallet from beneath his jacket; the hint of a holster flashed from the other side. Identities were easy to fake, Jaxen showed off the CCD card, name and picture registering as legitimate Custody issued. It wasn't completely foolproof, if Custody Security Service were to investigate it, but short of that, Jaxen was confident these two morons would buy it.
Oriena on the other hand, would need to show her true identity, a nam the Atharim didn't need on their list. "I vouch for her."
The Fake White said, resting one hand on the desk top as the other tucked the Wallet back inside. His gaze rested squarely on the one doing the talking, "No more second chances,"
warning issued, he proceeded to the elevator, waving Oriena to follow in his footsteps.
The elevator doors closed and Jaxen laid eyes on the control panel for the first time. Previously, he entered the Atharim strong hold by climbing down the elevator shaft and overriding the lock from inside. This time, they had to physically enter a key code on the touch pad in order to activate the lift. Using a key code that Jaxen didn't have.
He knelt low, eyes studying the screen, squinting to look for oil smudges from finger prints. He recognized the manufacturer for the touchpad, and knew it would require a four or maybe a six digit code. There were two systems that could make it work. First, every Atharim that used the elevator used the same key code to unlock it. That would be risky for the organization because every time a code was changed, which it should be on a regular basis if Mr. White was in charge of ensuring its secrecy, then disseminating that new update to every Atharim was an inherent risk. Imagine an email titled "New top secret passcode change" every seven days. Eventually some moron atharim would leak it.
That meant that each user to enter the elevator would register an unique keycode. If it was anything like bank pin numbers, and even if a hundred Atharim were in the system, chances were high that basic statistics would apply in the situation. That was, someone out there was stupid enough to use 1234, or maybe 4321 as a passcode. Just in case, Jaxen tried both, but neither worked. He glanced at Oriena, smirking. It was worth a shot.
But even if the most basic of codes didn't apply, that didn't mean other patterns didn't hold. Most people used even numbers. Repititon was common. Fingers moving on the grid so a person hit the buttons with their index and middle finger (2580, for instance) were all worth checking. However it was likely that enough failed attempts would lock the system completely. Jaxen wasn't going to risk blindly trying numbers. Although it worked in many other instances.
Had the touch pad been a key pad, with actual buttons to depress, a piezo-electric circuit could tell him what buttons were pressed most often. From there, the basics of password psyche could figure out the sequence with only a few attempts.
But this was a touch screen. Which meant crystals and liquid.The manufacturer of this particular screen was Perceptive Pixel. Jaxen recognized the PP logo on the screen border. The evolution of touch screens over the years spanned resistance to crystal depression to conducting micro currents, a circuit that was closed when human skin touched the screen, to finally, technology called frustrated total internal reflection. Touching the screen scattered light within the frame. Cameras on the interior surface detect the optical change, and send a signal a local computer for analysis.
There was no way to know what the most recent light scattering patterns were from the last person to enter the elevator. But the computer was totally hackable.
Kneeling on the floor of the elevator, he pulled an old fashioned pin from a pocket and picked the lock hiding the controls to the keypad that required access for local service. The interior of the elevator panel was a mess of boards, circuits, fiberoptics and wires. The same technology that allowed for content sharing between Wallets by touching them together allowed him to hack his way into the controlling computer.
Two minutes after getting in the elevator, he successfully reset administrative passcodes to manufacturer default, broke the link, locked up the control panel and entered the nine-digit code that Perceptive Pixel used. The elevator began to descend. The Fake White glanced at Oriena, but withheld the grin of success. One more barrier remained.
The elevator doors opened into the white room he remembered, but thankfully, nobody started shooting at him. A pair of more competent looking security sat behind a more beefy-looking security desk, monitoring screens, cameras and thermal imagers recording body type signature. Jaxen knew the Fake White would be a little off. He was just a little too short, a little too narrow in the chest. His heartbeat was more rapid than it should be. But given the face that he wore, nobody would think twice about his visit.
He did nod slightly as they passed right by and entered the Atharim headquarters proper.
Oriena on the other hand, would need to show her true identity, a nam the Atharim didn't need on their list. "I vouch for her."
The Fake White said, resting one hand on the desk top as the other tucked the Wallet back inside. His gaze rested squarely on the one doing the talking, "No more second chances,"
warning issued, he proceeded to the elevator, waving Oriena to follow in his footsteps.
The elevator doors closed and Jaxen laid eyes on the control panel for the first time. Previously, he entered the Atharim strong hold by climbing down the elevator shaft and overriding the lock from inside. This time, they had to physically enter a key code on the touch pad in order to activate the lift. Using a key code that Jaxen didn't have.
He knelt low, eyes studying the screen, squinting to look for oil smudges from finger prints. He recognized the manufacturer for the touchpad, and knew it would require a four or maybe a six digit code. There were two systems that could make it work. First, every Atharim that used the elevator used the same key code to unlock it. That would be risky for the organization because every time a code was changed, which it should be on a regular basis if Mr. White was in charge of ensuring its secrecy, then disseminating that new update to every Atharim was an inherent risk. Imagine an email titled "New top secret passcode change" every seven days. Eventually some moron atharim would leak it.
That meant that each user to enter the elevator would register an unique keycode. If it was anything like bank pin numbers, and even if a hundred Atharim were in the system, chances were high that basic statistics would apply in the situation. That was, someone out there was stupid enough to use 1234, or maybe 4321 as a passcode. Just in case, Jaxen tried both, but neither worked. He glanced at Oriena, smirking. It was worth a shot.
But even if the most basic of codes didn't apply, that didn't mean other patterns didn't hold. Most people used even numbers. Repititon was common. Fingers moving on the grid so a person hit the buttons with their index and middle finger (2580, for instance) were all worth checking. However it was likely that enough failed attempts would lock the system completely. Jaxen wasn't going to risk blindly trying numbers. Although it worked in many other instances.
Had the touch pad been a key pad, with actual buttons to depress, a piezo-electric circuit could tell him what buttons were pressed most often. From there, the basics of password psyche could figure out the sequence with only a few attempts.
But this was a touch screen. Which meant crystals and liquid.The manufacturer of this particular screen was Perceptive Pixel. Jaxen recognized the PP logo on the screen border. The evolution of touch screens over the years spanned resistance to crystal depression to conducting micro currents, a circuit that was closed when human skin touched the screen, to finally, technology called frustrated total internal reflection. Touching the screen scattered light within the frame. Cameras on the interior surface detect the optical change, and send a signal a local computer for analysis.
There was no way to know what the most recent light scattering patterns were from the last person to enter the elevator. But the computer was totally hackable.
Kneeling on the floor of the elevator, he pulled an old fashioned pin from a pocket and picked the lock hiding the controls to the keypad that required access for local service. The interior of the elevator panel was a mess of boards, circuits, fiberoptics and wires. The same technology that allowed for content sharing between Wallets by touching them together allowed him to hack his way into the controlling computer.
Two minutes after getting in the elevator, he successfully reset administrative passcodes to manufacturer default, broke the link, locked up the control panel and entered the nine-digit code that Perceptive Pixel used. The elevator began to descend. The Fake White glanced at Oriena, but withheld the grin of success. One more barrier remained.
The elevator doors opened into the white room he remembered, but thankfully, nobody started shooting at him. A pair of more competent looking security sat behind a more beefy-looking security desk, monitoring screens, cameras and thermal imagers recording body type signature. Jaxen knew the Fake White would be a little off. He was just a little too short, a little too narrow in the chest. His heartbeat was more rapid than it should be. But given the face that he wore, nobody would think twice about his visit.
He did nod slightly as they passed right by and entered the Atharim headquarters proper.