MidReal Story
Cyber Decoded: Pursuit of the Network Mastermind
Scenario: A group of hackers in the 80s stumble upon a decoding device that can access any network and are pursued by a master ciminal who wants to use it for its own gain.
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I was twelve years old when I first hacked into the Pentagon.
It was an accident, of course.
I was just trying to get into my school’s computer system to change my grades, but I hit the wrong key and ended up in a classified government database instead.
I didn’t know it at the time, but that one mistake would change my life forever.
It all started on a hot summer day in 1984.
I was hanging out with my friends Alex and Lisa at a local electronics store, browsing through the latest computers and gadgets.
We were all huge nerds, so we spent most of our free time playing video games and hacking into random networks for fun.
Alex was the technical genius of the group, while Lisa was the social engineer.
Together, we made a pretty unstoppable team.
“Hey, check this out,” Alex said, pointing to an old computer sitting in the corner of the store.
“It looks like it’s from the 70s or something.”
Lisa rolled her eyes.
“Come on, let’s go look at the new stuff.”
I shrugged and followed her, but Alex stayed behind.
He was always the curious one, constantly tinkering with things and taking them apart to see how they worked.
In a way, that was what made him such a great hacker.
Nothing got past his watchful eye, not even an old computer collecting dust in the back of a forgotten store.
As Lisa and I browsed through the aisles, examining the latest gadgets and gizmos, Alex disappeared into the sea of outdated technology, eager to explore what other treasures the store had to offer.
The owner, Mr.
Jenkins, was a grumpy old man who hated computers and all their modern bells and whistles.
He’d opened the store in the 1950s, when radios and televisions had just started to become popular.
Over the years, he’d collected all sorts of oddities and antiques, some of which he’d managed to sell for a pretty penny.
Others, however, had been sitting on the shelves for years, gathering dust and taking up space.
It was those items that Mr.
In an effort to clear out some of his inventory, Mr.
Jenkins had put everything on clearance at ridiculously low prices.
Most people weren’t interested in buying outdated technology, but for us, it was like finding buried treasure.
“Look at this,” Lisa said, holding up an old VHS tape and laughing.
“This thing probably has more dust on it than the entire store combined.”
I chuckled and shook my head.
“What are we going to do with all this stuff?”
“I don’t know,” she replied with a sly grin.
“But I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
As we continued to sift through the piles of old electronics, Alex caught sight of something that made his eyes light up with excitement.
It was an ancient computer sitting on one of the top shelves, surrounded by other items that were much more recent in comparison.
It seemed out of place among the rest of the clutter, as if it didn’t belong there at all.
“What do we have here?”
Alex murmured, running his fingers along the dusty keyboard.
I glanced over at him, puzzled by his sudden interest in something that looked so old and outdated.
“Hey, Jamie,” he called out.
“Come check this out.”
Lisa rolled her eyes.
“I swear, if it’s another piece of junk, I’m going to scream.”
I chuckled and walked over to where Alex was standing, peering up at the computer on the top shelf.
“It’s an old Commodore 64,” he said with a grin.
“I’ve read about these things online.
They were one of the first personal computers ever made, along with the Apple II and IBM PC.”
“So, what’s it doing here?”
I asked, glancing around the store.
“There aren’t any other computers like this one in here.”
“It’s probably just a mistake,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“Somebody probably donated it to charity, and they ended up putting it on display here by accident.”
I nodded in agreement.
It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened, after all.
“Alright, I’ve seen enough of this crap.
“Let’s get out of here before I lose my mind.”
“Come on,” Alex said, ignoring her protests.
“I want to take a closer look at this thing first.
Who knows what we might find?”
I raised an eyebrow in disbelief and glanced up at the computer once more.
It didn’t look like anything special, just an old hunk of plastic covered in dust and grime.
But Alex was convinced that it was hiding something worth investigating.
And knowing him, he was probably right.
With a sigh, I turned back and followed Lisa as she made her way toward the exit.
“Don’t take too long,” she called out over her shoulder.
“I’ll be waiting outside.”
“Lame,” Lisa muttered under her breath as she pushed open the door and stepped outside into the bright afternoon sun.
“Whatever,” I replied with a laugh.
“More for us.”
I winked at Alex and made my way over to the counter to talk to Mr.
Lisa and I had known the old man for years, ever since we’d first started coming to his store to buy parts for our computers.
He was grumpy and hard to get along with, but he had a soft spot for us and always made sure to give us a good deal on whatever we were buying.
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
he asked as I approached the counter.
I pointed up at the computer on the top shelf and smiled.
“How much for that Commodore 64?”
“Oh, that old thing?”
he replied with a chuckle.
“I was going to throw it out with the rest of the junk in the back room.
But if you like it, you can have it for free.”
I grinned from ear to ear.
“Are you serious?
“That’s very generous of you,” he said with a nod.
“It belonged to a man who used to come in here all the time to buy parts for his projects.
He was an engineer who worked for a defense contractor, so he had access to some pretty amazing technology.
Anyway, the poor guy passed away a few months ago, and his daughter donated all his old stuff to the store.
I’m sure he would be happy to know that it’s going to a good home.”
I nodded in agreement and glanced over at Alex, who was still examining the computer on the top shelf.
“Hey Alex,” I called out.
“Bring that thing down here so we can take a closer look at it.”
He looked up at me with a wide grin and nodded.
With Mr.Jenkins’ permission, he unplugged the computer from the wall and carefully carried it over to the front of the store, setting it down on the counter next to where I was standing.
The old man gave us a curious look and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
“What are you kids going to do with that old thing?”
“We’re not sure yet,” I replied with a shrug.
“But I have a feeling that it’s hiding something very interesting.”
He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief.
“Well, you’re welcome to take it if you want it.
But don’t blame me if it turns out to be nothing more than a glorified calculator.”
Alex let out a low whistle as he pulled off the computer’s cover and examined the contents inside.
“There’s some pretty interesting hardware in here,” he said as he pointed to a small circuit board that was attached to the motherboard.
“It looks like some sort of decoding device that was added on after the fact.
I’ve never seen anything like this before.
It must be custom-made.”
“What do you think it does?”
I replied as I leaned over to get a closer look.
“It’s hard to say,” he said thoughtfully as he examined the device.
“But based on the components and the way it’s designed, I’d say that it’s some sort of algorithmic processor that can break a code or encryption key.
This thing is fast.
Like really fast.
It would be able to crack any network in a matter of minutes.”
Lisa and I were speechless.
We had always thought that hacking was something that took hours or even days to pull off.
But what Alex was describing sounded like something out of a science fiction movie.
If what he was saying was true, then this device would be able to break into any network—even those protected by military-grade encryption—within seconds.
And with no one being any wiser.
“How is this even possible?”
Lisa asked in amazement.
She didn’t know much about technology, but even she could tell that what Alex was describing was something revolutionary.
“Most hacking techniques work by trial and error,” Alex explained.
“They keep trying different passwords or encryption keys until they eventually stumble across the correct one.
And while these methods can be effective, they can also take a very long time—sometimes hours or even days—depending on how strong the encryption is.
But this device is different.
It uses a custom-built algorithm that can break any code or key in a matter of seconds.
It doesn’t need to know anything about the system or how it’s set up—all it needs is access to the network and boom!
It’s in, and no one’s ever going to know it was there in the first place.
“Do you know how valuable something like this is?”
he added as he looked up at us with a mischievous grin on his face.
“With this device, we could hack into some of the most secure networks in the world and steal all kinds of highly classified information without anyone ever being able to trace it back to us.
We’d be able to find out all those secrets that powerful entities don’t want us to know about, and there’d be nothing they could do to stop us.
Don’t you see?This isn’t just a computer; it’s a game changer!”
Lisa and I were both silent as we absorbed what he was saying.
On one hand, we couldn’t deny that this device had incredible potential and would allow us to do things that were previously thought to be impossible.
