"I've got another idea too Spike. I want to talk to Tom Barnett to see what he knows about Lexicon Industries. The more we know about them the easier it will be to figure this out and basically, all we know now is that their business has not been too hot lately and they may be in financial trouble."

"True. All right, calling Tom is a good idea. But this time, I want to be on the call with you."

"But Spike, who should I tell him you are? I'm not a good liar."

"You don't have to be. We'll be on the phone and all you need to say is that I'm your coworker."

"All right, I can do that. I guess we are coworkers."

Spike and Nancy spent the next hour pouring over the Lexicon Industries information and making sure they hadn't missed anything in the probe data file. Nancy also had to get caught up on some MicroLabs projects before she could free the time for the call to Tom Barnett's office. Spike poked around the net looking for signs of any other probe events but found none.

The one major discovery he did make was very bad news. Lexicon Industries had taken Ranger 6 off their net. It was physically disconnected or powered down or both. Had they discovered Spike's activity or was this just part of a normal routine for them? No way to tell.

By 11:00 a.m. they were ready to call Tom Barnett’s office at the San Francisco Chronicle .

"This is Tom Barnett."

"Hi Tom, it's Nancy McGill. I've got a coworker of mine on the line with me. His name is... Spike Webb. He's the one I mentioned may be able to help with our little project. Is now a good time to talk Tom?"

"No time like the present. I really need know whether this story is going to be a big one or not. We're looking at some major points if we get the scoop on something big."

"Tom we don't know what to tell you about that yet, but we do have some information to give you," said Spike.

"I'm glad to hear that young man. Do you know what they're up to at the FBI ?"

"I know they're still scrambling trying to learn what we already found out. Let me summarize for you. We've learned that they detected a probe of the Internet. A probe that seems to have been looking for weak spots in the system. The FBI thinks a terrorist plot is underway to disable the net by taking out certain sites. The FBI, however, does not know where to begin looking for the culprits or where to protect the system. Thus, their blanket approach to checking on net sites has led your people to believe they were planning to take control."



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