GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (43 page)

He l
ook
ed
down at the equipment
,
which
was
also
completely covered in dust.
There was no keyboard or monitor attached
to the computer
.
He examined
the back of the computer as a green light flickered on and off
,
transferr
ing data to the hard
drive
.
It is possible
that,
by opening up the port on the switch a few minutes ago,
I
sparked this box into action and somebody or some program was now accessing it
.
Could it be Apostol?

Massimo looked back in the direction of the entrance as he heard Francesca
’s
footsteps echo
ing
in the small alcove
of
the communication room
,
where the switches were located
.
He
walked to the edge of the curve and saw Fran stoop
ing
a little a
s she
enter
ed
the passageway, her female silhouette
providing stark contrast to the hard walls
.

‘Hey Fran
,
it’s about time you turned up
!
You can stop looking for Pope
—h
e has run
off
on holiday somewhere.
Anyway
,
you are late and I
am ready
to go home.’
Although he chastised her,
he could not wait to tell her of his find
.
‘Come up here for a moment, I have something to show you!
Up here and around this corner. Follow me!
You’ll need your light on, have you brought it?’

She moved inside
.
‘Come on gorgeous, hurry up
!
’ Massimo
dashed back down
the passage.
The girl followed
,
her steps crunch
ing
against
the
crumbled
dry ground.
Massimo was still astonished
by his find.
He looked along
down
the passage way and
saw that
it seemed to fork into the gloom beyond
.
H
is beam would go no further
,
and
he
presumed that one channel went upwards and to the right, probably towards the Church
,
while the other
probably
back
-
track
ed
to the government building.
It was not important. Rubbing his dusty eyes
,
the technician could not see any further. He was still standing partially upright because of the low ceiling
, and he
star
ed
above the old computer and then sat down onto the old woode
n
stool
that had
probably
been
brought in from the storage room. Who put it there
,
the boy would never know.

From the corner
of his eye
,
Massimo
saw Francesca coming
a
round the bend with her head and shoulders crouched a little
,
due to the low arch.
Fran did not have her head lamp switched on
, and had been following the glow of his lamp
.
Massimo examined the flickering lights at the back of the busy computer
and decided that
someone was accessing it at this moment for sure.
All he would need to do was connect his laptop and then
determine
who it was.
It was so s
imple
...
.
Distracted by this task
,
Massimo encouraged Francesca
to come
over as she opened her small briefcase taking out her headlamp.

‘Hi Fran
!
M
mm
...
you smell nice, your perfume is a pleasant change from th
e
rotting odour
of
this place
—
I think it is a dead rat or something. What kept you
—
it
’
s bloody freezing
!
Oh
,
and by the way,
look what I have found
!
I
t’s the system that you
’
ve been searching for
.
’ Massimo grinn
ed
like
the
Cheshire cat
, his teeth white in the darkness
. The young man was
filled
with delight
now that he had
company.
He angled his narrow beam at the concealed system. The
woman
approached slowly and stopped.

‘Hello
,
is it working again?’ she asked
,
clicking on her
headlamp
.

‘
Si
,
and I think that Apostol is accessing it right now.
Who else could it be?’

‘No one
,
’
the woman agreed.

CHAPTER VI

THE FREEMASONS

Before she joined Massimo at LGB2,
Francesca had swi
tc
hed herself into the computer room and was greeted with the usual sounds
—
the hums and whines of numerous
s
ervers and data switch fans. Adding to the din was the air conditioning
,
which
switched on and off
,
maintaining a low temperature
of
sixteen degrees Celsius.
Like soldiers on parade
,
the s
ervers
stood stock upright
within the
many metal racks positioned along the middle of the floor.
The disciples sat preaching the Vatican
’s
bureaucratic doctrine at the far end of the long room.

It was a
noisy and untidy area
,
with long grey, red
,
and yellow network cables lying precariously across the floor surface, waiting to trip an unsuspecting technician.
There was never enough time in the day to tidy
up the place
.
N
umerous patch panels connect
ed
the
s
ervers to switches from here to everywhere else
in
Vatican City.
Most
of the
Vatican
’s
vital services
were provided by the data that travelled from this central location
.

Francesca scanned the electronics end to end for any unlabeled or out
-
of
-
place computer equipment as she walked
towards her dedicated computer terminal. Sitting down
,
she
logged into the specialised computer terminal and immediately brought up a top level design of the Vatican network. This
design
launched her protocol analyser.

Concentrating on
multiple
screens
,
the systems administrator drilled into the virtual
s
erver room area,
examining the spot
where she was sitting
.
An
image of the room was displayed online.
There were many computers and data switches in various states of operation. She had done this before
,
but this time Francesca
k
new what to look for.
It must be hidden somewhere
in here....

After spending
several
minutes analysing the detailed data sets of information in the active computer display
,
she
conclud
ed
that this room did not have any suspicious computers.

She sighed
,
slightly demoralised,
realising that her
search
would
take some time; it was like looking for a needle in a haystack!
Hunting for a clue, any clue, Francesca search
ed
for the computer with
the
unique address identification by the numbers 212.100.5.60
.
Maybe it
wa
s hidden behind something else
,
like a smoke screen, communicating only so far?
Maybe that something is not working at this moment
...
w
here is it, where is it?

S
uddenly
,
there was an explosion of air into the room.
The noise was incredible!

Whoossss
hh
!

Whoossssss
hh
!

It was the air conditioning fans going mad again!
They thundered into action right above her head
,
blowing away
the
loose papers
on
the floor and wafting her long auburn hair.

B
loody fans
!
T
hey are so annoying!
Francesca dismissed th
e
rude interruption as the cold air pressed down on her neck
,
al
though she was trying to shake
the
rising and unexplained trepidation inside herself that she
had
experienced the other night.
There was no logical explanation
for the feeling, but she felt that she was not alone in the room
...
.

Fully focused
,
Fran continued her search
,
searching
the lower floors where her colleague was working.
She
watched in real time as Massimo was in the process of taking
“
Mathew
”
offline
.

“
Mathew
”
’s icon on the screen was shaped like a tall computer which had
transformed
to a wobbly and misshaped image
.
I
t then turned to a different colour from its current
state of yellow
alert
, which
suggest
ed
that attention was required
,
moving
to an unstable yellow colour and then
to
red.
Finally transitioning to a black solid colour,
the icon indicated that “
Mathew
”
was now completely powered off.

There are two switches downstairs in the small comms cabinet,
and
only one was suspect
ed
of malfunctioning,
Francesca
guessed.
This was why Massimo was there in the first place.

The top data switch in the dungeon was the main communication
s
switch
that
connected most users via a fast link to St Peter’s Basilica.
She could see its status from where she presently
sat
.
The dungeon was therefore a critical link to the rest of the old city
—
the second data switch in the dungeon room
was linked to the top switch as a redundant backup
.
N
o one should really be using the backup
,
it was
just
for a spare
.
However
,
it has malfunctioned and so still needs replaced.
No good keeping a flat spare in your trunk....
Francesca looked at the switches remotely from where she
sat
.

Mmm
...
I see.
There is an individual data port which indicates
that
data switch two on the gig fibre channel
is faulty
. Something has caused it to malfunction and disable itself.

No sweat,
she shrugged.
I
t should affect no one,
since
the main top switch is functioning perfectly
.
T
he dungeon seems to check out ok
ay
once Massimo
is done
with the
s
erver.

Francesca felt guilty
about not
assisting Massimo at this moment
, although she thought he might have been comforted by the fact that she had checked in on him. Still,
time was passing
and
it was getting quite late.
Sighing again
,
Francesca
logged out
,
dreading even more where she was going. It was unfair to leave the boy by himself
to
remov
e
and replac
e
the data switches
—it
was a two
-
man job.