The day after we take #hackers, we're already researching the next targets.

   so mp3 and warez. who holds them

   checking now

  I open #mp3. 1,962 users. Scroll through the operator list.

  Maybe a dozen more operators. Different names, same tag. [syn].

   skrilla. syn crew.

   ive heard that name. established on efnet.

  I check #warez. Same crew. Same tags. More bots with the syn prefix.

   same crew holds both channels?

   yeah

   how many people we talking

   counting now

  I watch the channels over the next few hours. Take notes. Operators come and go, but there are always at least six bots with ops in each channel. And human operators—different people at different times.

  By the end of the day, I've counted twelve different human operators. Maybe more.

   at least twelve different people. probably more. this isnt one guy with bots. this is a whole operation.

   shifts?

   looks like it. different ops online at different times. coordinated handoffs.

   24/7 coverage

   yeah

   i'm wondering if we can trade with them to get ops there.

   give me a few mins, let me work my magic

  I spend the next twenty minutes crafting the perfect private message to SKriLLa. Not too eager. Professional. Offering value.

  [SKa] saw your crew owns #mp3 and #warez. looks like you have an impressive setup. i run bots and file servers—could contribute to syn's infrastructure if you need backup

  I read it three times before hitting send.

  The message sits there. No response.

  Five minutes pass. Then ten.

  [SKriLLa] not recruiting

  Two words.

  I stare at the screen.

  [SKa] not asking to join. just offering resources. just took #hackers, and we run our own fileserver, web page, and IRC server on irc.goodmonin2ya.net

  [SKriLLa] we're good

  I close the private message window.

  My face burns. My jaw clenches.

   we should just take their channels over

   what abt your magic? lol. not willing to trade?

   i just think it would be more fun to take them over. but were gonna need to watch them for a while. learn their patterns.

   agreed. this isnt like hackers. we cant just rush in.

  Over the next week, we watch. Document everything.

  Six to eight bots minimum in each channel at all times. Eggdrops running protection scripts—anyone tries to flood or attack, they're banned within seconds. File server announcements scrolling by regularly. Access control tight—new users get voice (+v) if they behave, ops if they prove themselves over time.

  Different human operators online at different hours. I start recognizing the patterns.

  ---

  Then, out of the blue:

   guys heads up - i cant do late nights all the time anymore

   why whats up

   parents are on me about grades

  Silence in the channel. Cursor blinking.

  I stop.

  Parents? Grades?

   wait what

   lol

   ...we doing this now?

  More silence. Then:

   im 16. junior in high school.

   17. senior.

  I sit there staring at the screen.

   ...im 15. sophomore.

   FIFTEEN?

   hahaha ska

  I feel kind of sick, what did I just do?

   yeah

   dude

   i thought you were at least 17

   i thought you guys were adults

   we thought YOU were an adult

   none of us are adults

  Laughter bubbles up. I can't help it. Months of maintaining the lie. Months of carefully managing every conversation, every detail, every slip. And we're all doing it.

   were all pretending

   yep

   the whole time

   how did you know i wasnt actually 22

   we kind of figured

   how

   the phone line drops. shared line thing. adults dont have that.

   and the dr suess references

   lmao the cat in the hat thing

   that was ONE time

   plus the timing. you were always offline during school hours. and back on right after 3pm.

   we just didnt know how young

   i didnt know at all. you guys seemed legit.

   dude i told you i worked night shifts at a warehouse

   hahahaha

   i dont have a job. i have a curfew.

   i said i was taking night classes at community college

   wait what

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

   yeah. to explain why i couldnt be on during certain hours. it was homework. regular homework.

   i made up a whole thing about my car breaking down once

   you dont have a car??

   i have a BIKE

   oh my god

   ska what did you make up

  I can feel my face getting hot. But also—who cares now?

   i said i was in a masters program

   A MASTERS PROGRAM

   YOURE FIFTEEN

   I KNOW

   in WHAT

   computer science obviously

   obviously

   at what fake university

   i didnt think that far ahead ok

   incredible

   truly elite deception skills from our crew leader

   shut up

  But I'm laughing. Actually laughing. The knot in my chest that's been there for months—the one that tightens every time I have to remember which lie I told to who—it's loosening.

   ok but ska. you said you had a girlfriend once.

   ...

   oh this is good

   i panicked ok. someone asked what i was doing friday night and i didnt want to say nothing

   so you invented a girlfriend

   her name was jessica. she went to a different school.

   the classic

   did jessica go to your fake masters program too

   i hate both of you

   no you dont

  No. I don't.

  The laughter settles. For a second nobody types anything.

  Three kids. That's all we are. Three kids who found each other.

  Makes me wonder about everyone else, though. Kaos on DalNet. All those operators I've been intimidated by. What if half of them are sitting in their parents' basements too?

  And Aimee69.

  I think about the flirty messages. The late-night conversations. The way I felt special when she noticed me.

  What if Aimee69 is some forty-year-old dude named Steve?

  Oh god.

  I push that thought away immediately.

   honestly this makes me feel better about syn

   how so

   theyre probably just kids too. like us.

   probably

   which means we can definitely take them

   walk in the park

  If everyone's faking it—if the whole scene is just kids playing at being hackers—then maybe this isn't as scary as I thought. Maybe we just need to out-play them.

   alright i should go do homework. like for real.

   lol same. history essay due tomorrow.

   ill keep watching skrilla's patterns. catch you both in a few hours.

   sounds good

   later

  I turn off my computer monitor.

  I pull out the biology textbook and the worksheet I've been ignoring for three days. Photosynthesis. Cellular respiration. An hour of reading and the worksheet is done.

  Mom appears in the doorway. "Studying?"

  "Yeah."

  She looks at the textbook. Relief on her face. "Good. Let me know if you need help."

  She leaves. I keep reading.

  Two hours later, I turn back on my monitor.

   ska you around?

   yeah whats up

   skrilla went offline about 30 minutes ago. bots still holding the channel but hes not actively managing

   interesting

   im back too. finished my essay

   so i was watching the daemon behavior when skrilla logs off

   the ircd forks a new process for the bot connections and the child process doesnt inherit the parent timestamp

   wait so each time he reconnects the channel timestamp resets on that server?

   exactly. like a 90 second window before it syncs with the network

   oh yeah that makes sense

   so if we catch a split during that window

   we have older TS. we win ops on the merge

   thats our in

  My hands hover over the keyboard.

   yeah

  One word. Safe. Doesn't reveal that I'm not entirely following the technical depth here.

   gonna take weeks of surveillance to map their patterns but i think this is doable

   agreed

   yeah same. lets keep watching

  They know I'm fifteen now. They know I'm in high school. They know about homework and parents and all of it.

  But they don't know that I don't fully understand half of what they're talking about. That I've been memorizing instead of learning.

  The skills matter, not the age. That's what I tell myself.

  Fake it 'til you make it. That's a thing, right?