Kayla entered the house in an unpleasant mood. That day her teacher had just assigned math homework that required a lot of research. As soon as she entered the house, the computer, recognizing her heat signature, started talking.

"Welcome, Kayla" the computer chirped, "Your VR Internet is ready."

"Thank you." replied Kayla, "Chair and VR please."

With that, the conveyor belt on the floor started moving toward the location of the VR. On her way to the VR, she took out her CIP (cyber-information pack).

The CIP was where all her assignments were listed. This is where her homework was done. And basically where she lived. All her information, from medical records to college bonds, to her SSN (the most important thing) was saved on that one CIP.

As she sat down at the VR Internet unit, she plugged her CIP into the appropriate spot. This was necessary because without the CIP the Internet would not work. The problem of "junk" on the Internet was so great that surfing without a CIP to monitor what site you were going to would always lead you to an inappropriate site. After the CIP was in, her head set came on and she was transported to the world of cyberspace.

****************

Elsewhere a light flashed. The button on the upper left corner of Mike’s headset was blinking. He observed what was flashing and a sly smile spread over his face. It was her. He had been doing this for weeks now. Tracking her, seeing what she was doing, reading all her personal files, and looking at all her pictures. Now, as he viewed his screen, he prepared to hack into her CIP. She was careless, like his other victims. She had not turned on all the security features on her CIP.

"Here we go again." Mike told his computer.

"Here we go." it replied.

"All right, enter code 008960."

"Entering code into host CIP."

"Host CIP requests password."

"Enter HEYGIRL, all caps, no spaces."

"Complying" said the computer. "Password accepted, connecting to host CIP. Please wait… Connected."

"Download data track SSN" said Mike to his computer.

"Downloading data track SSN." it replied. After a few seconds of still silence, the computer said, "Downloaded data track SSN."

"Yesss!" hissed Mike.

This was the key. This was her Social Security Number. Banks operated on this number now, in 2099. A SSN was so valuable that they were spread out over banks’ computer systems, cocooned in a shell of security only the person who knew the number could crack. Not only banks, but every other aspect of life operated on this number. Mike could now assume Kayla’s identity on the net.

****************

Kayla was overjoyed. She had just finished her math, but could not recollect if there was homework in any other subjects. She removed her headpiece and reached for her CIP. There was a light flickering on her CIP’s display screen. Under it there was a sentence flickering as well. The sentence read, "Interacting with foreign CIP." Her curiosity aroused, she put her headset back on to find out who possessed the "foreign" CIP.

"Access local CIP." she said to the computer.

" Local CIP accessed." The computer replied.

"Show current functions being performed."

"Current functions are as follows: 1. Accessing World Wide Web. 2. Providing information to user from CIP. 3. Interacting with foreign CIP. 4. Clearing data track of old data."

"More information on function 3."

"Function 3 is interacting with a foreign server. The following interactions have been performed. Connected at 6:26 PM. Uploaded data track SSN. Uploaded data track Medical Files. Uploaded data track Homework."

Kayla’s heart froze. Her arms fell limp to her sides as she realized the enormity of what had been done. Her SSN had been uploaded along with everything else. She understood how vital those nine digits were to her entire life. She was surprised at how easy it was to access information on the Internet. Her entire life had been taken by someone via, the Internet with just a few commands. The Internet had become a lethal place. She was terrified when she thought how this had happened, and how it would have been so much harder in the past. Her mind was still racing when she blurted out a command without thinking.

"Locate foreign server." She said abruptly.

"Locate foreign server." echoed the computer, "Trying to locate foreign server. This might take a while Kayla."

With that, the computer went into a trance and Kayla went to sleep. All her exhaustion finally caught up to her as she dozed off. She dreamed of a wonderland where she was the princess and the Internet, CIPs, and SSNs never existed. Just as she was going to be married to her knight in shining armor, the computer spoke.

"Foreign server located." The computer piped. These were three of the greatest words Kayla had ever heard. "Name of foreign server is MICROMANIAC_WASSUP. Operator is Mike. No further information can be accessed. All security features are on."

****************

****************

Kayla ran to her mom and dad. "Mom, Dad, you have to listen to this. My SSN was taken by some guy named Mike. I was doing my homework and when I logged off there was this little blinking light that said ‘interacting with foreign server.’ I decided to look into it and saw that some guy had hacked into my CIP while I was online and had taken my SSN and medical files. Therefore, I asked the computer to locate him and his screen name is Micromaniac something and his name is Mike. And I also…"

"Jane, call the police." Her dad interrupted.

Her mom was slow to react, she was still getting over the shock, but she reached for the Holophone and dialed 911.

"911, how may we help you?" questioned the operator.

"Our daughters SSN was stolen!" Jane trilled.

"We’ll have a squad car there as soon as we can, ma’am"

****************

"Did you have all the security features on?" drilled the police officer.

"No." squeaked Kayla.

"How long were you on the net?"

"About 2 hours"

"Do you know the screen name of this person?

"Yeah, I do. It is MICROMANIAC_WASSUP, all caps and an underscore between the MICROMANIAC and WASSUP. I also know that his real name is Mike.

"Thank you very much." said the officer suddenly, "Goodbye."

"That’s it?" Kayla asked, perplexed by the sudden dismissal by the officer.

"Ma’am, MICROMANIAC is a known Internet felon and there is a reward for his arrest. We were never able to find out his real name because he never took our baits with CIPs monitored. Now that we have that, we can finally arrest him because we have everything else we need. You are a hero miss. And by the way, don’t worry about that SSN number, we’ll nullify it and issue you a new one. You did the right thing by calling us."

The officer was wrong. Mike had slipped through. He had escaped once more. He was in a position to terrorize somebody else. A criminal was on the loose and Kayla shuddered to think how many more people like Mike were present right now in cyberspace.

They were faceless criminals that operated under the silence of their screen names. The Internet was a ripe fruit waiting to be picked. For criminals, this was the Holy Grail, the Mother Lode, and a temptation that cannot be resisted. Stealing on the Internet was a simple matter. Nobody controls the Internet; no one has any proper authority. Kayla finally realized the truth. The Internet was a façade that masked the identities of criminals. The Internet was replete with criminals, but was also a necessity of life.