Scattered Graves

weird,’’ said David. ‘‘Really weird.’’
‘‘It scanned my iris?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘It knows me? How?’’
‘‘Don’t be alarmed,’’ said the voice.
‘‘Well, I am,’’ said Diane, though she didn’t know to whom. ‘‘What does this mean?’’ She looked from Frank to David as if they had done this as some kind of joke.
‘‘We didn’t do this,’’ said David. ‘‘Honest. It knows you.’’ He gestured to the machine.
‘‘What does that mean exactly—it knows me?’’ said Diane.
She looked at the scanning camera. It now looked like a little creature with a big head and one big eye and a neck sitting on small shoulders. She almost ex pected it to tell her she was going to be assimilated.
‘‘Let’s ask,’’ said Frank.
David touched a key and a screen popped up for him to type in. ‘‘How do you know me?’’ he asked.
‘‘You are someone I trust with the information that I have,’’ said the voice. ‘‘If you are hearing me, then my plan worked. It was a long shot.’’
‘‘Talky little fellow,’’ muttered Izzy.
‘‘Who are you?’’ typed in David.
‘‘Who do you think I am?’’ said the voice.
‘‘Is it alive?’’ asked Neva.
‘‘That’s what I want to know,’’ said Izzy. ‘‘Is there someone somewhere listening to us?’’
‘‘Could it be bugged?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘No,’’ said David. ‘‘You know how I check things like that.’’
Izzy looked quizzically at David.
‘‘Ask it what it wants,’’ said Diane.
Frank laughed. ‘‘Do you know how that sounds?’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ said Diane, ‘‘I do.’’
David typed in the question. What do you want?
‘‘I want to give Diane Fallon my information. I know you must have been looking for it if you got this far,’’ said the voice.
‘‘Jin is going to kick himself for not being here,’’ said Neva.
Frank got up and went to his laptop, which was sitting on the coffee table. He started typing.
‘‘What information?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Do you want to type?’’ said David getting up. ‘‘It wants to talk with you anyway.’’
Diane sat down in David’s place at the keyboard.
What information do you have? she typed.
‘‘Ah . . . that is the question, isn’t it?’’ it said—which sounded really strange in the synthesized voice.
‘‘I have two sets of information for you. The first is a list of names and businesses. I think you know what I’m talking about. Please be kind. Not everyone is a willing participant,’’ it said.
Computer people? typed in Diane.
‘‘Yes, I think,’’ said the voice. ‘‘But it would be easier if you would write a complete sentence.’’
Is this a list of hackers? typed in Diane.
‘‘Some of them are hackers,’’ it said.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country, Diane typed.
‘‘I don’t understand,’’ said the voice. ‘‘Please ex plain.’’
‘‘What was that about?’’ asked David.
‘‘It seems awfully smart,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I just wanted to type in a non sequitur and see what happened.’’
Give me the list, please, typed Diane.
‘‘Look me in the eye,’’ said the voice.
Diane looked at the camera.
A list of names scrolled by quickly. She started to say that it was too fast when she heard the sound of her printer on her desk in the adjoining room start to print.
‘‘How are you doing that?’’ she typed and said aloud.
David laughed. ‘‘You notice she didn’t ask us,’’ he said to Frank.
Frank looked up from his keyboard and smiled. ‘‘I noticed.’’
‘‘You have a local area network. I just tapped into it,’’ it said. ‘‘It’s nothing to be alarmed about.’’
Frank got up and went to the printer in the other room. He came back with several single-spaced pages of print.
He flipped through the pages. ‘‘I know some of these names,’’ he said, shaking his head. ‘‘There are a lot of names here, and they’re working in very datasensitive places. No wonder identity thefts and cyber crimes are up around here. They will be up all over the country. If the people are good—and I know many of them are—they can get at information all over the world through these businesses and institutions alone.’’
David looked over his shoulder at the printout.
‘‘Wow, there’s your case right there.’’ He looked at the computer. ‘‘Way to go... cyberguy,’’ he said.
Why are you doing this? typed