"Are we going to talk about what just happened? That was an unmitigated disaster."

"I admit, I got out over my skis there. I knew Lynch was a schemer, but I underestimated the lengths he'd go to deceive me."

"You just burned our element of surprise for literally zero gain."

Robert chuckled softly. "A little more gain than that. He missed one. One of my back doors. Kind of a big one actually." Robert's eyes twinkled with self-satisfaction.

"Oh yeah? What'd you get?"

"The credit line."

"What, you can take on Space Core's debts?"

"Not exactly. I can tap it. Have tapped it, in fact. Space Core is on the hook for paying it back, but the 5 billion in credit they had access to? That's all mine now."

"Hold up. You just made a $5 billion withdrawal to your savings account? They'll just have the bank to reverse it - they're not going to let you keep it."

"It was a little more complicated than that. I back-doored this one at the infrastructure level, put a bug in Space Core's contract runtime. When I triggered it, it initiated a deluge of withdrawals to plausible but fictitious bank accounts. Those accounts all converted the fiat currency to crypto, then sent it to wallets I control."

"Bullshit. Bank funds take time to settle, no way you already withdrew it."

"Oh right. I found a 0-day a while back at Alliance Financial. Allowed setting accounts to a debug mode with fewer validations. They found and closed the loophole, but those accounts I mentioned? Still in debug mode. Here, look." Robert pulled up a cashflow diagram. Thousands of little streams converged into larger ones, building to a rushing torrent. Those in turn all bundled up into a veritable Mississippi river of crypto.

Above the diagram was a five, followed by enough zeroes that Alice's eyes kept slipping as she tried to parse them. She counted twice.

"That can't be right, the number up top says $50 billion."

"Oh yeah. There's also a race condition in the credit line that allowed for duplicate withdrawals. Someone's going to get fired for that."

Alice whistled appreciatively.

"Okay moneybags, much as I'd love to sit around contemplating your newfound riches, we have to get moving. What's our range?"

"Well, Paris to London is basically the edge of this thing's capabilities. We've been hovering here for half an hour-"

"When we weren't falling." Alice interjected.

"We've been hovering or falling here for half an hour," Robert clarified, "which means we have enough range to get to shore plus a couple miles up or down. So really the question is: what side of the channel do we want to land on?"

"Continental. I need access to Space Core's satellites to shut down Lynch, and that means hacking a ground station. Authorized control devices aren't even on the network - all those computers are hardwired for direct satellite comm, and air-gapped from everything else. There was one Space Core ground station in the British Isles, and that was in London. Given today's events..." Alice waived halfheartedly at the horizon, then trailed off.

"Right. I'll start us toward France now," Robert issued a few commands from his laptop. The helicopter sprang to life, still flying low. "Keep talking."

"So the ground stations are adjacent to major company offices. Those are crawling with Space Core personnel, and given your little stunt, we can be sure they will be waiting for us."

"So we're screwed then. I've audited our physical security systems, there's no way we're sneaking in. Not unless Lynch missed another one of my exploits."

"I have an idea there. Years ago Space Core planned a base station outside Budapest, before the Jobbik neo-nazis crossed the line and went full-blown kleptocracy. All the hardware was impounded by customs at the border, then the paperwork got 'lost.' Ultimately Space Core just wrote it off and set up in Bratislava instead. I'm probably the only person who even remembers the Hungary project. But I'm sure the kit is all still in boxes in a warehouse, and the mining facility is hardwired to accept its commands. If we can get it set up, we can shut everything down."

"Just so we're clear Alice, your proposal is to break into a customs facility run by actual Nazis, power up a shipping container's worth of untested hardware, and use it to reprogram Petbe before the gestapo catches you?"

"I wouldn't fault you for staying behind, but it's our only shot. We stand a chance sneaking past a couple racist customs agents. Space Core on the other hand... you said it yourself, we're just not getting in.

"And yes the Budapest rig has never been turned on, but the hardware is self-calibrating. Physical security at the warehouse should be minimal. The hardest part will be figuring out where it's stashed."

"Even if that magically works out, you're setting up the controls to a doomsday weapon in the heart of a violent racist dictatorship. The cure could be worse than the disease."

"What are our alternatives Robert? You heard what Lynch said. Those four strikes weren't his end game, they were his opening move. If we don't stop him, billions will die. The clock is ticking, I'm not going to sit on my hands while the world burns down around us."

"Why don't we just report him to the government? A couple senators owe me a favor. A handful of air strikes could take out all Space Core's ground stations, and then Lynch is cut off."

"If you were designing an armageddon weapon system, would you leave it vulnerable to a few bombs? Would Lynch? He must have planned for interference, and I give it even odds that he's also built in a dead-man's switch. If it's programmed to drop the whole rock at once... that would be an extinction level event." Alice shook her head. "It's just too risky letting anyone else try to handle this."

"Alright, we'll go to the local police, tell them what you told me. They give us an escort in to the Paris office, we can shut it down from there. No fiddling with Nazis."

"Let's think through how that would play out. I am head of asteroid mining, and you are the cofounder of a company that just blew up 80 million people with space rocks. Interpol has almost certainly issued Red Notices for both of us. Once we're in police custody, we won't be in a position to stop anything. And depending on who takes us in, we might well disappear. Lynch already tried to kill us, if we stick our heads up he will try again."

"Hmmph." Robert sat in silence for a minute, then went back to typing commands for the helicopter. "Well, according to the flight planner I can get us as far as Wimereux, a French seaside town. We're already flying low, I'll drop us down a little more. That'll keep us off of some radar, but there's no real cover here so we have to assume anyone looking hard will see us coming. Once we land I'll decide what our next move is."

"With respect Robert, you're not in charge anymore. I'm keeping my Space Core badge as long as it could be useful for stopping this nightmare, but I have no allegiance to you or your firm.

You've proven your worth; if you want to keep helping I'll work with you. As partners. But you don't tell me what to do. And don't even think about pulling another impulsive stunt. If you can't work with me, I suggest you lay low, and stay out of my way."

Robert's eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched. He gave Alice a long, even appraisal. She met his gaze head on, eyes clear and hard. A tense moment passed, then Robert looked away. His head dipped. When he looked up, the anger was gone.

"I guess I deserve that. Alright, partners. But it goes both ways, you need to consult with me, not run off half-cocked. Have you given any thought to how you'll get in to Hungary? It's not exactly an open border anymore."

Alice's cheeks flushed slightly. "I'll figure something out. I always do."

"Uh huh. Look, if you're right about us being a target, moving around is going to be hard. Europe talks a big game about banning facial recognition, but I know there's a market for real-time camera footage on the dark web. You can bet Lynch is buying all of it.

"I have a contact that might be able to help us - there's a hacking collective in Krakow that I used to... collaborate with. They do a little trafficking on the side. They should be able to get us discrete transit out of France, maybe even figure out a way into Hungary."

"Working with criminals huh Robert? Are you sure that's wise?"

"A man named Wiktor runs the place. We've known each other since grammar school. He may not always operate inside the law, but he is a man of honor. We can trust him. Plus I can outbid any competing interests." The last Robert said with a smile.

Alice looked out over the ocean, chewing her lip. "Okay, let's do it."

Robert fired up his IRC client and logged on.

@bobafête | /query wikipieniądze

@bobafête | Hey wik, I have some cargo in need of rush delivery. Can you make arrangements?

@wikipieniądze | Of course, always happy to help a friend. What do you ship?

@bobafête | A pair of rugs need to get from Wimereux to Budapest. They're quite delicate, they must be kept out of the elements on the journey.

@wikipieniądze | I see. Specialized transit is difficult today. People are nervous.

@bobafête | I wish it could wait. My client is paying triple. Can you do it?

@wikipieniądze | There is little we cannot do. I will check with my people, what time is pickup?

@bobafête | The rugs arrive outside Wimereux in ten minutes. I need them out of the sun ASAP.

@wikipieniądze | Such short notice. One moment, I check with others.

@bobafête | Thanks Wik - much today has not gone as planned.

@wikipieniądze | Okay, couriers arrive in twenty minutes. Not my men, I advice prudence in all dealings.

@bobafête | Noted. Where do you want payment? Same address as usual?

@wikipieniądze | Yes.

@wikipieniądze | Payment received. Thank you Bob. Please send rendezvous coords.

Robert punched in a string of numbers then closed the window.

"Nice work Robert. Can we land a little bit away from the meet up? Preferably somewhere sheltered. I want to be far away by the time anyone finds the helicopter."

"Hmm. Looking at the topo it seems like there are dunes a little to the south. There might be a place to stash it in there, if no one spots us coming in. I'll set the course and update Wiktor." Robert tapped away for a few moments, the helicopter banked right

Alice stared out the missing door, mesmerized by the sunlight shimmering across the waves. Today was supposed to be a moment of celebration. Instead it was all ashes, her life's work twisted into a super weapon. How had she missed the signs? She was a hunted woman and a fugitive, and wished to god she didn't feel like she deserved it.

The shoreline slid into view, coarse sand and white foam breaking her trance. Dunes marched up from the shoreline, gradually transitioning to grass as they reached the highway above.

The beach was mercifully free of people as the helicopter zipped to the landing site. Robert glanced anxiously between his computer and the window, fine tuning their approach. Then they were hovering in place, fifty feet above the dunes. The helicopter dipped five feet down, then bobbed back up with a grating beep. Robert frowned.

"It's no good, I can't bring us down. The dunes aren't recognized as a valid helipad, and anti-crash sensors won't let me descend without a safe site to land."

Alice was still looking out at the shore. A lone pickup was moving fast down the coastal road. As she watched it slowed, then stopped even with the helicopter, about a quarter mile distant. Two men hurried out and around to the pickup bed, then wrestled out a large green tube. It reminded her of something from a movie. A war movie. One of the men dropped to one knee, facing their direction. The other helped position the device on his shoulder.

"Robert, missile! We need to get down now!"