Hacking is Glorious. Hackers in the sci fi anthology grydscaen: tribute run the gamut of freedom fighters, whistleblowers, crooks, and activists. The short stories focus on the hackers in the series with a focus on Faid the leader of the Packrat hackers. I wanted to show different sides of the hacker community.
We start with Raven who has two stories in the novel. Raven is known for getting away clean with stolen data. He ends up being a mule in a flashback in the short story “5000cc’s of Black Market Neurocyne” smuggling a case of the psi inducer drug neurocyne. He is running this gig with Faid who has only just started the Packrats. Raven is compromised on the mission and intercepted with the case by the Zone Police. This trip up takes its toll on Raven’s reputation. Later in the story we see Faid with a look of disgust when he meets up with Raven again in the Packrat Sprawl. But that one mistake sacrifices Raven’s reputation.
In “By Any Means Necessary” we again see Raven but he is in a very different place. Having compromised his reputation he has resorted to data jobs and obtaining credit card dumps. Even though he is still hacking, he has to resort to different tactics now that his reputation as a hacker has taken a hit. Raven also is seen in this story on a job and it is this very job which occurs before the job mentioned in grydscaen: beginnings in Raven’s chapter where he gets tagged by the Psi Faction.
We see guild halls and data grabs, social engineering, infiltration and stealing top secret information from the SenseNet. The social engineering aspects of grydscaen show various topics from lock picking to stealing electronics in IDs, to impersonating lab workers to gain access.
Faid is the lead character through the stories in grydscaen: tribute. He gets help from his lead john named George who sits on the corporate board of the SenseNet. George procures an ID, gets Faid to steal SenseNet secrets and has him at his beck and call as his personal agent and hacker. Faid as a host is obliged to follow the orders of his lead, as George pays him well to do his bidding.
One of the other hackers we encounter is named Acolyte. He was originally second in command of the hackers in the Terror Hack but defected and took his people with him to the Packrats because they understood psychic power. All Packrats are psychic but the Terror Hack lost Acolyte’s respect when they didn’t keep that in mind.
Besides social engineering, data jobs, selling data and infiltrating systems, the Packrats are also, some of them data messengers. They will transfer and hand off stolen data to the highest bidder as long as the price is high enough and the neurocyne, a psi inducer drug, the right grade.
There are also government hackers and the cyber security of the Zone Police who go after the hackers in the story. I wanted to show multiple sides of the same coin, it all matters on your perspective and where you stand.
Yes hacking can be negative. Black Hat hackers out to steal personal, government and corporate data. But hackers can also be of the white hat variety supporting these corporations, law enforcement or acting as hacktivists. It all matters on how you see things. White, Black, Red. Hackers Unite! Whose side are you on?