Metafire

"Thanks! I really appreciate that."

Jack had no idea that his first day at work would involve a meeting to give a status report to the Pentagon. Ferguson had introduced him to Jill Thomas, his co-worker just an hour before. She was a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. "One of these days you might meet the Director," Ferguson said. "But it doesn't matter. I run the shop. By the way, you work for Jill."

Jack was fine with that. Jill was a reasonable looking person. He immediately recognized her as someone else who knew how to explore the Internet. It took the two of them just a few words, and each was satisfied with the other. One hacker could always recognize another.

"Is there anybody else?"

"No," said Ferguson. "If you think you need more people, let us know. We don't know enough about this Internet surfing stuff to judge, to tell the truth." Ferguson's curly short blond hair and blue eyes gave him a soft appearance, but he was clearly in charge.

The three of them walked into the Major's office. Jill took the lead.