Page 139 of The Atlas Maneuver
“There could be a fail-safe here,” Jeanne said. “We’ve seen them before. Use the wrong name or password too many times, or even one time, and everything is erased.”
“I’m not wrong,” he made clear.
And he tapped theENTERkey.
The screen went blank for an instant, then came back to lifeproducing a list of numbered lines with identification numbers, each followed by a set of letters, numbers, and symbols. Cotton scrolled down. The last line was numbered 4,312.
“How about that,” Koger said. “Those are the private keys for the bank’s wallets. Unlocked.”
“Move them to a flash drive,” Jeanne ordered.
And the woman before the terminal did that, removing the drive from the terminal and handing it over to Jeanne.
“We need to see if they work,” Trinity said.
He agreed and motioned.
Jeanne inserted the drive in the second terminal, which was connected to the bank’s internal system and the internet. The woman tapped the keyboard, then looked at them.
“It requires another password.”
He thought on that for a moment, then decided on the obvious.
For mankind is ever the same and nothing is lost out of nature, though everything is altered.
The epigraph itself.
He repeated it out loud and the woman typed, omitting the spaces between the words and running them all together. The screen went momentarily blank, then reappeared with typed text.
They all read.
CONGRATULATIONS, KATIE, YOU HAVE REACQUIRED THE KEYS TO OPEN THE BANK’S WALLETS. HOW? THAT’S HARD TO SAY SINCEI’M WRITING THIS BEFORE IT HAPPENED, BUT YOU HAVE APPARENTLY SUCCEEDED. THERE WERE ALWAYS TWO OUTCOMES HERE. ONE WHERE YOU REGAINED CONTROL OF THE KEYS AND THE WALLETS AND CONTINUED ON WITH YOURATLASMANEUVER. THE OTHER WHERE SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER HAPPENS. SINCE YOU ARE READING THIS MESSAGE THE LATTER HAS OCCURRED. IN THIS SCENARIO IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT YOU SOMEHOW FORCED THE ISSUE, GAINED THE UPPER HAND, WON THE BATTLE. BUT SADLY, YOU LOST THE WAR. ONCE YOU MOVED THE UNENCRYPTED KEYS FROM THE AIR-GAP SERVER TO THE MAIN SYSTEMAND SENT THEM OUT OVER THE INTERNET TO CONNECT WITH THE BANK’S WALLETS, SOMETHING ELSE TOOK PLACE. THE KEYS WERE AN ILLUSION, THERE TO SATISFY YOUR INSATIABLE NEED TO WIN. HOW DID IT FEEL? SATISFYING? INSIDE THAT ILLUSIONICREATED A PROGRAM WHERE THE KEYS ACTUALLY DID OPEN EVERY ONE OF THE BANK’S WALLETS, THEN REMOVED THE BITCOIN THAT WERE THERE AND CONCENTRATED THEM INTO A SINGLE NEW WALLET OF MY CREATION. FROM THAT NEW WALLET THE PROGRAM ASCERTAINED THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ACTIVE WALLETS THAT CURRENTLY EXIST FOR BITCOIN, DIVIDED THAT NUMBER INTO THE TOTAL NUMBER OF COINS THE BANK OWNS, AND THEN DISTRIBUTED THOSE EVENLY TO EVERY ACTIVE WALLET IN THE WORLD. GRANTED, GIVEN THE SHEER NUMBER OF ONLINE WALLETS THE AMOUNT OF BITCOIN SENT TO EACH IS MINUSCULE. BY MY CALCULATIONS CURRENTLY THAT’S ABOUT A ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH OF A BITCOIN TO EVERY WALLET. SMALL, BUT THE POINT IS MADE. THOSE COINS WHICH YOU PLANNED TO USE TO MANIPULATE ARE NOW WHERE THEY SHOULD BE, AMONG THE OWNERS. NOT YOU, NOT THE GOVERNMENT, NOT THECIA,NOT ANY SINGLE PERSON OR ENTITY WILL HAVE THEM. WHATICREATED CAN NOW WORK AS INTENDED. THIS IS MY OWNATLASMANEUVER. AND NORMALLY THIS WOULD TAKE MONTHS TO ACCOMPLISH, BUT THE PROGRAM YOU HAVE UNLEASHED IS SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BETTER THATICREATED. ALIGHTNING NETWORK THAT PROCESSES TRANSACTIONS AT A MUCH FASTER RATE. ANOTHER GIFT TO THE WORLD FROMSATOSHINAKAMOTO. NONE OF WHICH WAS DESIGNED FOR GREED OR PROFIT OR POWER. INSTEAD, THIS IS A GREAT EQUALIZER THAT RETURNS TO THE GOOD PEOPLE WHO WILL OWN BITCOIN THE FREEDOM THEY WERE PROMISED. IOWE THEM THAT. IOWE MYSELF THAT. ALL IS NOW RIGHT. YOU FAILED, KATIE.
“Can you verify what happened?” Jeanne asked.
The woman who sat before the keyboard tapped away, studying the screen, then tapped more.
“Our wallets are empty,” she said.
“All 4,312?” Jeanne asked.
The woman nodded. “Gone. Zero balances.”
“That’s over two hundred billion dollars,” Trinity said.
“She was way ahead of you,” Cassiopeia added. “Smart woman.”
Cotton smiled. “Yes, she was.”
CHAPTER 79
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER7
1:15P.M.
COTTON REMOVED THE BOOKS FROM THE TOP SHELF AND CAREFULLYstacked them on the floor. He’d been meaning to reorganize the history section for a couple of weeks now and decided today was the day. Running a used-book shop meant that the inventory changed daily. People would bring in their old books by the boxful for either sale or trade. He took great pride in recycling them from one owner to the next. Along the way he made a living—that’s what booksellers did—but he was careful not to price his wares too high. The idea was for every book to find a new home.
