Ch 7 Part1: Soto Saves Lives
Written by Kavya and Concept by Sidhant First go to previous blogs if you have not already....
The following morning, Miss Cloe found both Absko and Soto asleep at their desks, having spent the entire night working tirelessly on the case. She raised an eyebrow and muttered under her breath, “They stayed here all night?” But her expression softened, for she knew the stakes were high, and both men had become fully immersed in the hunt for answers. Soto, driven by his need to uncover the truth, had not once considered rest, while Absko had found himself intrigued by the strange historical connections that had surfaced during their investigation.
The two had also become unlikely confidantes. They spoke of their lives, their troubles, and their motivations in a way that only two strangers could. Soto confided in Absko about his self-imposed isolation, his hikikomori lifestyle, and his struggles with human connection. Absko, in turn, spoke of the strange series of mysterious "cue letters" he had been seeing in various places. It was odd how people could share their deepest secrets with someone they'd only just met, yet it had happened. Their camaraderie had blossomed in the midst of their pursuit of justice, and they were both committed to bringing the truth to light.
Though the morning light crept through the windows, neither of the two men had gotten any sleep. Both were consumed with their findings. As Miss Cloe entered the office, she noticed the pair of them, still hunched over their desks, their faces drawn with exhaustion. She looked at them, stern as ever, and said simply, “Good morning, gentlemen. Meeting in ten minutes in the conference room.” With a groan, Soto stretched, while Absko blinked awake, rubbing his eyes. They quickly freshened up and made their way to the conference room, their hunger gnawing at them.
Mr. Daniel, having been informed of their overnight work, had ordered a hearty breakfast for the pair, setting the table with rye bread topped with butter, cold cuts, cheese, and vegetables, along with warm porridge sprinkled with sugar and butter. It was paired with strong Finnish coffee. As they ate, Miss Cloe gave them a few moments of respite, but her expression was grim. She needed answers, and she was depending on the two of them to help her get there.
Once the meal was finished, Cloe returned, and without missing a beat, she cut to the heart of the matter. “Gentlemen, I need answers. Now.”
Soto stood first, his voice steady and measured. “Madam, I may have something that will help you,” he began. “Last night, I managed to scan the software running on each of the robots involved in these deaths. What I found was disturbing. There were several vulnerabilities in the system that would allow someone to take control of the robots remotely. Specifically, I discovered a stack-based buffer overflow in each of the robots’ Modbus TCP services. This means that anyone with knowledge of this flaw could send commands to the robots, as root, disabling their safety features and injecting their own code to manipulate the robots’ settings.”
Soto paused for a moment to ensure that Cloe grasped the magnitude of what he was saying. She nodded, though her eyes betrayed her concern. “And the identity of the hacker? Do we know who did this?”
Soto’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Not yet, but I do have one lead. I traced the system back to an IP address. Anyone using this address could have been the one pulling the strings. I don’t have the tools to investigate it further, but if we get this IP traced, we might be able to find the person responsible.”
Cloe’s posture stiffened, and she immediately handed the IP address to Mr. Daniel. “Take this to the experts. We need this traced immediately. Thank you, Soto. You’ve done well.”
With that, the attention turned to Absko, who had been listening intently. “Absko, any developments on your end?”
Absko cleared his throat, then began, “I was looking into the historical aspects of the case, particularly the references to Kenya. Kenya became independent on December 12, 1963. The country was under British rule, and the queen’s influence was significant at the time. I’m not sure how this all is linked yet, but there’s a connection. We’ve seen it in the Waaq references, and there’s the matter of the Kenyan Independence Day. There might be a larger geopolitical connection that we haven’t uncovered yet.”
Cloe absorbed his words with a furrowed brow. She had an inkling where Absko was going but could not yet say it aloud. The death of Princess Diana flashed briefly in her mind, but she chose to remain silent. The mention of Kenya, the queen, and the independence date could indeed hold more weight than they realized.
Before Cloe could respond further, Mr. Daniel returned to the room. “The IP address has been traced, and we have a location. It’s a Finnish gaming company, Romeo Entertainment. They are the developers of Angry Birds. The computer is located in the office of their head game developer.”
Cloe immediately stood, signaling to Absko and Soto. “We have no time to waste. Let’s go.”
I will pause here more coming up next week.......
