`Damn,' Electron said. Then, `OK, I might have an idea.'
`No, wait!' Phoenix cut in. `I just thought of a site! And I have root too! But it's on NASA …'
`Oh that's OK. I'm sure they won't mind a bit. <grin>'
`I'll go make sure it's still OK. Back in a bit,' Phoenix typed.
Phoenix jumped out of Altos and headed toward NASA. He telnetted into a NASA computer called CSAB at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. He had been in and out of NASA quite a few times and had recently made himself a root account on CSAB. First, he had to check the account was still alive, then he had to make sure the system administrator wasn't logged in.
Whizzing past the official warning sign about unauthorised access in US government computers on the login screen, Phoenix typed in his user name and password.
It worked. He was in. And he had root privileges.
He quickly looked around on the system. The administrator was on-line.
Damn.
Phoenix fled the NASA computer and sprinted back into Altos. Gandalf was there, along with the other two, waiting for him.
`Well?' Electron asked.