Mika (Part III)

For those who missed Part I and II here are the links
Mika - Part I
Mika - Part II

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Hardly had she logged in that the little blinking star appeared again. She clicked it and a window popped up.

"Hi, your system still has a vulnerability that enables me to login via the ssh port on your system :). If you want to counter it here is the webpage that describes the steps." An browser window opened up on her system.

Mika was surprised. True, she had wanted to find out the person was but this person was tracking her every move. She tiptoed to her brother's room and peeked in. Her brother was still soundly asleep and the system switched off. So, it was not one of her brother's pranks. Who was it then?

She came back to her chair in her room in a very pensive mood and placed her fingers over the keyboard.

"Hey, whatever be the security holes on my system, I think it is rude to intrude into other's privacy like this!"

"Oops ... sorry guy/gal .... I just was ambling around the network to see what vulnerabilities various machines were exposed to. Found yours one of the toughest machines to crack :) ... looks like you have set up some pretty good defenses on your machine ... so I just found it a nice challenge to find a loophole ... and once I did find one .. I wanted to inform u so that you could gear up for it."

"Oh, you are some sort of a cyber evangelist are you?"

"Now that you do mention it, I feel I just help people help themselves."

Mika felt her tension melting away as soon as it has risen. "hey", she said to herself, " here's a guy I wanted to thank for making me feel much better and the first thing I do is to bark at him and yet he handles me with ease"

"Hey, by the by, I wanted to thank you for the message you left on my screen in the morning. It was nice."

"wow, an admirer ;) ... thx .. I've always liked that one"

Mika , for the first time, realized that she had been chatting to him in an application window that she had never seen before. It displayed his name as "neo". Rightful name for such a hacker, she thought. This also suggested that the person was a "he".

Mika: "Hey, do you have a yahoo or gmail id?"
neo: "Umm .. of course, I do .. but .. I guess it would betray my identity to you ;)"
Mika: "Aha, do you know me? or viceversa :) .."
neo: "I only know you as much you have told me since the last five minutes .. no more, no less"
Mika: "Umm .. u expect me to believe that?"

There was a long pause from the other side.

neo: "You got to realize that giving out personal details to an unknown person is quite an uneasy job .. for infact you might be anyone"
Mika (thinking - "does this guy really not know me or is he just pretending!)": "Well, you potentially had and still do have access to my whole system. Have I not sympathised with you for so long that you can't even give me a small info I want"
neo: "What you essentially are asking for is an act of faith ... I need a bit of time before I can make that decision .. . you will hear from me very soon on this "
Mika (realizing she probably had been a bit too hasty) : "Hey, no problem at all. If you dont want me to know your identity then let it be like that .. but on my side, I dont mind giving you my contact details since I would like to be friends with you ... Here's my yahoo id mika.sparkles@yahoo.com"
neo: "well .. uh .. am a bit stunned ... I hardly have friends ... and you are the first person whose reached out a hand to me ... I deeply appreciate it ... "

Mika too was a bit stunned at her own courage in giving her mail id to someone whom she hardly knew. Yet there was something in this "neo"'s character that so deeply connected to her. She did not feel uneasy at all. His reply sent her wondering as to why so nice a person hardly had friends. She could almost feel that his heart was searching out for companionship and yet none had come. Mika decided that she would be his friend.

Mika: My name as the id indicates is Mika. I live at Chennai by the beach.

At that moment, Mika heard her mother coming up the stairs calling her.
"Mika, can you come down here. I need you to help me with the preparations for the party"

Mika (quickly typed) : Hey, my mother's coming up .. I am going to sign off ... catch you later
neo: Looks like I am a secret friend ;)
Mika: Yup :) bye
[Mika closed the window]

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26th December 2004

Mika woke up early again and went out to the beach early in the morning. She was beginning to love the time spent in quiet contemplation savoring the beauty that the world had to offer. She realized she had unduly imposed restrictions on herself after the incident. In fact, Anand had done nothing wrong from his side. In fact, going through her relationship with him, it had been she who had harbored wrong intentions from the relationship. All this meant something more to her, it meant she had to just go on and enjoy life, it was not life who had let her down - it was herself.

Mika looked towards the sea and saw a small girl playing in the water with her grandfather. The grandmother was sitting on the sand watching them play. An old fisherman in a catamaran passed along quite close to the shore. The little girl waved her arms at him and he returned the gesture. Mika felt a strange peace floating around her. The people, the sea, the sun rays .. everything around her seemed to radiate the same feeling.

A slight vibration in her pocket brought her out of the trance. It meant that she had received an SMS. She reached out for her cellphone in her pocket and brought it out. She opened the message - it was sent to her yahoo id. She had configured her yahoo messenger messages to be delivered to her cell when she was offline. She read the message wondering what it meant. Strange things seemed to be happening to her suddenly. She re-read the message and looked at the sea again. The tide seemed to have retreated further into the sea. She then realized the truth in the message. She jumped up and ran towards the child and her grandfather. The message had said ....

"Tsunami . Any moment . Warn people! - neo"

Continued at Mika - Part IV