DEF CON 30 Short Story Writing Contest https://media.defcon.org/ Mind-numbing Homecoming By: Jaci Jones I am Emily: Ever since I was young my archetype has been that of the observer - the quiet kid who sat back in class and looked at reactions, noticed the small twinge in the eye of the bully and the frustration as the teacher quieted the class. I noticed when my parent’s were divorcing before I understood what a human romantic relationship was. I noticed the mailman was a creep before he even started trying to talk to me when I was 12. I noticed the little things that humans do that make up the basis of their persona - just like I notice the code that makes our favorite machines work. At the end of the day, I am like any other woman. I am 26, single, finally got a job that’s somewhat related to my major in computer science - I get to be on the frontier of dating apps tech using my keen eye for observance helping with the “machine learning” division. I guess when you’ve observed as much human activity as me and spent ions analyzing it - you learn a thing or two about what makes a proper application reach the right people. You also notice that not all connections are meant to be. DEFCON Homecoming & Who I am With: So, there I am - I hate these things. Some people come with such adoration for Defcon parties, and sometimes these are the only parties we (being my hacker friends and I) feel free to be ourselves. Even still, I hate it. I said it before - I’m an observer. I guess that’s why I ultimately decided to go to the homecoming party on night one. I’m sitting drinking a tea. Yep, a tea. I know, I am a fun person who likes to ‘let loose.’ The music is shaking the whole dark, crowded room. It’s unearthly, my ears hurt. My only friends are dancing near the DJ - Slink and Carmen. Slink is a small guy, everyone made fun of him in high school, but now with the resurgence of 90s little boy fashion - he looks quite cool. He made his name for himself by hacking ATMs as a teenager then moving onto full bank accounts - the FBI made a deal with him if he joined their financial security division and helped them find vulnerabilities he wouldn’t have to face jail time. No shame, but Carmen is more of an analog hacker. A truly gifted mind, and she’s a conventionally attractive woman, she’s actually wearing club wear right now and I am watching her and thinking - she’s such an interesting person. She’s sharp, and unsuspecting, she’s soft but she’s rigid and tough. She can tell you the amount of windows, exits, outlets, men over six-foot in a room just by walking in. It sounds silly, but her skillset is so important. The details she is able to photograph with her mind are invaluable to criminal investigations and she freelances as a P.I. Grayson Statch: Grayson Statch is an empire, all by himself. Picture perfect conventionally attractive white male, started with a generous from his father and now runs one of the premier technologically advanced companies in the world. They make it all. Cars. Stealth tech. The newest software for secure home keys in the grandest luxury buildings. He walks in to the Defcon homecoming prepared for his special privileged talk, an exclusive look at something “defying all expectations.” But even before he walked into the banquet hall. Even before he walked past me on the way to a talk. I sensed something off about him. Something nefarious in the air, of course I assume we all don’t trust billionaires, but this was different. It was as if I was the only person immune to his charm. People scattered when he walked past, whispered in each others ears, begged for a moment of his sunglass-ed/tanned physique/well-suited time. I just watched the groveling and maintained my distance. Something made me ill when watching how he walked. It was not the things he said or how he said them. Something sinister was in the air. Everyone was dying to talk to him. So much so that they were scanning their badges at a kiosk he had set up to join his new exclusive social network before the masses. I stayed my distance, it’s not that I am against the hype, it just felt like I couldn’t get closer to his ice cold stare. It repelled me. Slink didn’t do it either. Carmen…she couldn’t help but be pulled in. Sometimes attractive people are vulnerable to other attractive people, I suppose. 
 It felt like there was no choice to sign up for the network. It was an offer they couldn’t refuse. Of course, there were perks, if you signed up you got on the network with premier access, you got access to some of Statch’s contacts in the industry of your choice and lastly (the most enticing) a percentage of shares in the new network…I know, I felt stupid for a second when I did not sign up, but my intuition told me otherwise. Slink was a good friend. He stood in solidarity with me and didn’t sign up. Carmen did though. I felt uneasy. It was too good and too many perks to be harmless. DEFCON Homecoming - In the Banquet Hall I notice first that something is off with the crowd. We are all here partying and having a good time. But there’s a noticeable shift in the energy. People cease to have engaging conversations and instead get really into dancing. I know that sounds like a normal progression of the night, but there was a combustible energy happening, people in sync, in a way that felt off. Statch takes the stage. At once, it seems, everyone halts and turns to this attention. “Ladies and gentleman, folks beyond the binary, you know who I am, I am Grayson Statch and I am humbled to unveil my latest innovation in A.I. tech.” I grasp my cup tighter and before I know what is truly about to happen my mind feels that distressing uneasiness that always happens when I realize something isn’t right. “I want to introduce you to what I am calling Medusa 1.0.” From backstage comes a computer and keyboard rolling ominously toward the edge of the stage. Then walks out Veronica Karen, Statch’s controversial model/performance artists girlfriend. There’s an excited applause and cheer for seeing her. She waves coyly. He hooks Veronica up to a series of wires and she sits in a chair. “I gave made great strides in the development of an A.I. that I want to share with you all first, exclusively.” He pulls Veronica close. 
“Sit down, darling.” 
She sits promptly. I inch closer to get a better view; and I see her face. It’s almost like she’s hypnotized, her eyes lifeless behind their bright blue iris. I grab Slink’s arm, compulsively. “What?” He says. “Do you see that? “Yeah, it’s Veronica Knox.” “Her eyes, they’re just…there’s nothing going on.” “I don’t know, maybe she’s on drugs!” Something just still didn’t feel right. I shift around the crowd and look behind me. I realize… “Where’s Carmen?” “Uh…I thought she was right here. But I guess she’s…”

Slink looks around and tries to spot her red blazing hair in the crowd to no avail.

Now something is definitely wrong. I look back to the stage. Statch takes Veronica’s arm and places a sensor on her wrist and then above her heart. He wheels his ominous computer machine over to her and connects it. He then looks to the crowd. That’s when I notice that there is another identical machine next to it that he walks to. “What you’re about to see is a breakthrough in computer science, history has led us to this point - the point where possibilities to aid the mind through A.I. are truly boundless. We are on the frontier of understanding the human brain so much more. Well. With that, I’ll show you.” He opens the terminal. He starts to type. 

“So Veronica here is hooked up to the Medusa and thusly, I now have a complete copy of her brain map, her synapses, her neural pathways, and with my machine I can ask her to do anything I want her to do.”

He types a few commands. They illuminate on the screen above the stage. I watch in a terror -filled state. Slink looks at me wide-eyed. “Veronica - get up and dance” Is on the screen. Veronica, cannot see the screen. It’s some sick magic show or his device really works, because Veronica listlessly gets up and starts swaying. I expect everyone to be scared, frantic, panicked, over this - it feels icky, it is icky, it’s mind control. But no one is flinching or batting an eye. They’re all completely fixated on him. It’s the most unethical of unethical plots I can imagine. And with this tech Statch could do anything he wants. Slink and I both realize at the same moment. And my gears, turning even faster and panicked recognize what’s going on…Statch has everyone under his influence…everyone except, apparently, me and Slink who didn’t scan our badges at his stand earlier in the con.

“I need a volunteer.” That’s when it feels truly too late. Carmen is in the front near the stage - I spot her by her smile and radiant hair first then my mind goes dark while Statch invites her on stage “The great part about this tech is I don’t need to hook you up to the machine to scan you, I can do it remotely.”

And now it really gets bad in my mind. Statch has an army of 30,000 brain-washed computer hackers and friends at his disposal. What is he going to do with that? Slink moves to make some sort of commotion. I stop him. Hushed and stoic I say: “Slink we have to act like we are a part of this…if we don’t appear to be a part of this then it is us against thousands of zombies. Now listen. He’s obviously hacked the badges that were scanned to take a reading on the attendees brain scans. I assume that they’re still uploading and the process cannot be fully complete. He also is relying on the badges for control…so we need to find a way to get the badges off of people.” “How are we going to do that? We’d have to access the computer…we’d have to get up on stage or like take out Statch and get the computer. What if he’s put a fail-safe in place so that if anyone tries to delete the data or reach him these people all act as sleepers and attack!?” “I don’t know Slink but we gotta figure it out and quick…Carmen is up there.”

Carmen is on the stage and Statch is presenting her like a magician and his lovely assistant. It’s making me sick to my stomach. I don’t know what he’s plotting but it’s nefarious. I look around, I count the exits, it’s blocked. I am truly panicked. Under the Table Then I spot it - there are a few banquet tables with long table cloths. I turn to Slink. “Slink…while he’s got all the attention on the stage, we need to get our laptops out and fight this…we can’t do it in front of them all…”

I look toward the table and motion with my eyes. Slink gets it. He turns to me.

“Ok on my count I will hold up the cloth and you get under. Then I’ll go under. One…two…three.” We get under the table cloth and start setting up our shop. Slink pulls out his computer and I get out mine. Working at the dating app company I know that our app tracks location and if we can find a way to put a blocker on the badges, causing a blackout of service, we can shift the badges off. But I don’t know as much about blocking security interfaces or causing a blackout as Slink does from his days hacking banks. “Slink we gotta make a jammer - and fast. I can get us into the network that’s been created through the badges but I need you to figure out how to create one that can block everything in this room for just a few minutes so we can wake everyone up from their trance.” “Ok ok, let me think…” The Homecoming Backstage are the other few people who allegedly did not sign up for Statch’s network. They are passed out, gagged, and tied up. Statch, no doubt has a plan for them, and it is not looking good.

Outside of the stealthy underneath the table hacking center, Statch is making Veronica and Carmen his personal circus monkeys and he has them doing tricks. The audience watches in awe. He tells them to sit down. The entire audience sits. “Now, I know that there was not a 100% rate of return on who signed up for my network today. And I tell you it was very very close. I have found a few of the people who did not sign up. But I am missing two, and I need you all to help me find them. Carmen, I believe they’re your little friends. Who are they? Tell the kind people.”
 Carmen approaches the microphone. She looks out at the audience, her eyes glistening, as if she’s fighting back tears. She’s unable to control what she says. The words ring out. 

“Slink Armstrong, and Emily Constantine.” Under the Table Slink grabs his computer and starts frantically typing. I look at him in shock. “Slink, did you just hear that?” “Hear what? I am concentrating here.” 
“Carmen just called out our names. Time is of the absolute essence here. Get cracking before these lobotomized hackers infiltrate our, may I remind you, not so very secure center of operations!”

Slink starts frantically working up the code for the comms jammer while I start rummaging through the Defcon Badges encoding to see what the network looks like. “It appears that the network they’ve created to link all the badges is here but I am having trouble finding where Statch connected when he had them scan their badges, Slink can you take a look.”

Slink takes the computer. He looks at it for a few minutes. “Emily, he got in through some back door, the code was supposed to be used for RFID scanning into conference events and signing up for newsletters but it seems he’s found some way to alter the code so he could input his own thus getting everyone’s biometrics and starting the control process through his A.I.” The Homecoming Statch approaches Carmen and whispers in her ear. “Do you see them anywhere Carmen?”

“No.”

“When did you last see them?” “30 minutes ago, in the crowd.”

“Can you think of where your little friends might be hiding? No doubt they found out what’s happening. They’re smart cookies those two. Maybe too smart for their own good.”
 Carmen looks around. She tosses her hair as she does when she’s stressed out. She spots a small light illuminating under the table. Her cunning observance, serving her once more, but an unfortunate timing for us. Statch nods, then addresses the crowd. “Now, not everyone all at once, we don’t want to trample them. We want to make an example of them. Carmen will you do the honors of finding two strong men and getting those two to surrender?”

Under the Table Slink is squinting at his screen in agony. I am frantically trying to reconnect everyone as if they’re all compatible on a dating network, since that’s all I am familiar with and once that is done they will all be linked on my own network and we can jam it. Slink is sweating. An arm, a slender tan arm of Carmen, the small tattoo of a unicorn on her wrist grabs under the table. Slink’s collar is the victim, being grabbed aggressively. He is yelling, wriggling out of his shirt. I take his computer and finish the code for him as he yells it to me. But then, a larger, more masculine arm grabs at Slink, he’s being choked. I have a choice, keep fixing the code, or save Slink. I scoot to Slink and try to help him. It’s no use the man is too strong. Then it dawns on me. I have to use blunt force. I bite him! He lets go in pain. Slink collapses. I am not sure what his next move was but I take my best guess. BAM! The jammer is activated. The arms recede from under the table. I hear the audible groans of the awakening audience. We don’t have much time, but we’ve done what we need. “Slink, Slink, wake up! We have to get to the microphone. Are you ok?
 Slink stirs. 

“Yeah, yeah, I am fine, go, go.”

I timidly exit from under the table. I look around at my surroundings. Everyone is indeed less of a zombie, rubbing their heads, some standing, some exhausted from the control. Everyone is disoriented. This is my time to get to the stage. I dash. Statch is looking at his machine in horror, confusion. Then he faces me. I just glare and keep going. I reach him and the stage. I grab the mic out of his hand. “Everyone take your badges off! Statch is using them to copy your entire brain map and control you! NOW! Do it, take it off!” Not a moment too soon, the people start taking off their badges in a stupor. Statch is frantic, he turns to attack me but then…we both look at the Medusa. I know I need to destroy it before he gets it up and running again. We push at each other and he’s stronger and large than me but I get my hands on the right keys before him. I push the entire machine over, it cracks and powers down. He is whimpering like a child but angry and reddening in the face. He goes to try and choke me and I am breathless, unable to get out of his grasp. And that’s where Carmen and Slink come in handy again. Carmen is a blackbelt. She kicks at him from behind, she’s quickly recovered. He falls. “Get help.” She screams. And some of the hackers go to find medics and police. Before I know it. Statch is being dragged away in handcuffs, crying about his baby, his precious Medusa. The After Party Carmen and Slink are getting drinks. We’ve all reconvened at a part of the casino hosting Defcon this year, because none of us want to give up after Statch’s evil doing. We’re at Defcon after all. It’s about the work hard/play hard of it all. Carmen dances over. Over the speakers, Margaritaville starts playing. We all start laughing. And this time around, we all get up to dance, and several more hackers join in. I guess we all realized after tonight's’ trials and tribulations, the only person who can make you do anything is you, and we are here to have fun. You never know when someone will try to take your power away, so enjoy it while you’re not being mind-controlled or something bizarre like that! It’s good to see everyone happy and chatting again. It certainly became a homecoming to remember.