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"If greed alone were an exploit, we'd have wealth/income equality," says Stacey. "You need greed and stupidity."
A day has passed. Stacey and Jim are standing in the lobby of the hotel that hosted the conference that is now over, waiting for Tullus.
"I got two plans," says Stacey. "First one, we create some kind of fake insider-trading knowledge. It says that the price of Logg is going to dip massively, but then it's going to go up just as high, and then it's going to go back to normal. Something like a group of whales... Or would it be a pod of whales? Are going to sell and buy huge amounts to purposely manipulate the price. Then convince him that only he knows it. Then we make a fake version of whatever exchange he normally uses. We make it look like the price is dropping massively, he buys what he thinks is very cheap Logg. He deposits it into his wallet. Then we make it look like it is rising fast, he sells at the predetermined price we tell him to. He sells everything, and thus, even the dust. Finally, the price returns to normal. We then remove the fake exchange, and only once he goes to his real exchange will he see he hasn't actually made any money."
"But wait," says Jim. "So this fake exchange is going to have to know his secret key to connect to his wallet, right?"
"Right."
"So, if we have that, then we don't really need to make a fake exchange or fake insider-trading knowledge, do we?"
She looks askance. "I didn't say it was foolproof."
"Further, wouldn't doing stuff like making a fake exchange be very difficult?"
"I didn't say it was easy or foolproof," says Stacey, annoyed. "Here's the other plan. We find him, steal his phone, then..."
"Woah," says Jim, "this sounds a lot worse than taking something that is worth a few cents currently."
"Hmm, sounds like you won't like any of my kidnapping ideas either..."
Tullus shows up.
"So," says Stacey, "I got some ideas... One of them kinda requires already having access to the wallet, which makes the rest of the plan kinda unnecessary..."
"Well," he says, sitting down. he gestures for them to sit down. They do. "We have that now, so, what's your plan?"
Stacey stands up. "You have access to the wallet already?"
"Yes." He gestures her to sit down again. She does. "But, more importantly..." He leans in close. "What's your plan?"
Stacey rolls her eyes, throws up her hands. "It was a dumb plan, okay, it was stupid! Geez!" Tullus looks confused. "You actually still want to hear it don't you?" He nods vigorously. "Um... Later. So how did you get into it?"
Tullus leans back. "Well," he says. "That answer is actually in another of the Logg that I retrieved from the wallet earlier today. And, even though it was nearly worthless, as far as market value, I replaced both Logg with Logg of equal monetary value after retrieving it. Do you both have Logg Extractors?"
"Uhh, no" says Jim. "Seeing as they are only theoretical..."
"Oh, well," says Tullus. "That's only because I never told anyone I was actually able to make some." He produces two devices that look like cell phones, hands one to each. On them is what looks like the still from a video. It shows Tullus' face and a play icon. They each press the icon.
"Why is it," the video of Tullus starts. "That you can hear my voice, but you can hear nothing else? Isn't that strange."
That is strange, think Stacey.
The video continues: "Now then, try lifting your hand, or moving around, doesn't it feel like you are, but you can tell you are not?"
Hmm, thinks Jim. I feel like I just stood up, but I'm not standing.
Indeed, thinks Stacey. You definitely are not standing right now.
Can you read my thoughts?!, thinks Jim. Don't think about boobs!
Why would you think about boobs? thinks Stacey.
Anyway, are you looking at me, because I'm looking at you, and you seem to just be staring at your cell phone, thinks Jim.
I am looking at you, but it looks like you're just staring at a cell phone.
The video continues: "To other people, it will look only like you are staring at a cell phone. A quite normal thing to do nowadays. But you will be extracting Logg. You have one Logg in the queue, would you like to extract?"
Yes, thinks Stacey.
Suddenly, they are both watching a conversation between Tullus and Mark Suleman. Jim and Stacey can move around the space, and they can see each other, but Tullus and Suleman make no notice of them. Suleman is in a Brooks Brothers shirt, wool slacks, and deck shoes. Tullus is in his normal suspenders and bow-tie combo. Suleman is sitting in a leather chair, at an expensive wooden desk, staring at a laptop. Tullus is standing next to him, seeming to help him with something on the laptop.
"I don't get this," says Suleman.
"What's not to get?" is heard. The voice sounds like Tullus.
"What's not to get," says Tullus.
"What do I do here?"
"You have to put in a passphrase, I'll of course turn away once you do," is heard. Then Tullus says the words.
What is that echo? thinks Jim.
Both Tullus and Mark freeze in place. Another Tullus stands before them. The new Tullus says, "Hi, I suspect you have a question about the process of Logg Extraction. You can turn me off any time. Just say 'Tullus away.' If you want me again, just say 'Tullus come.' I think you are wondering about thought-audibility. In Logg you can hear people's thoughts as well as what they say, as long as the feature is turned on for each person."
Why is the thought the same as what is said? thinks Stacey.
"Some people simply think exactly what they say. In that case, you will hear the same words."
What's the point of hearing them, if they just end up saying the same thing? thinks Stacey.
"Because sometimes people also talk without thinking. This way you know they thought before talking."
Are you saying Suleman isn't thinking, and that's why we don't hear him? thinks Jim.
"No, in this case it is because there is Personal Identifying Information, recording of thoughts was automatically disabled for Mark Suleman in this Logg. However, while I do have this feature on and recording for Larry Tullus, it can be turned off in playback."
Well, does Tullus ever think anything other than what he says? thinks Jim.
"No."
Turn it off, thinks Stacey.
"Done."
Tullus away, thinks Stacey.
The new Tullus disappears, and the original Tullus and Suleman move again.
"I don't want to use this passphrase," says Suleman.
"Why?" asks Tullus. "A fifteen-word passphrase is remarkably robust."
"Yeah, but my normal password is not fifteen words."
"And that... Is kind of the point."
"I just want to use my normal password."
"Now..." Tullus sits down on the desk. "When you say 'normal,' please tell me you don't mean you use the same password for everything... Don't you have a password manager?"
"Ugg," says Suleman, annoyed. "You didn't tell me I'd have to install anything else."
"Well, no... You don't have to have a password manager, you could just write this down on a piece of paper."
"I don't even have paper any more. I'll just put in a spreadsheet."
"Uhh," says Tullus. "That's not very um... Optimal. Here, I'll download a password manager for you."
Tullus goes on to the laptop, does a few things, Suleman sits there annoyed.
"Okay, now," says Tullus, "you need to have a master password."
Suleman goes to the laptop, starts to type.
"And it can't be your 'normal' password."
Suleman stops, deletes.
"Why not?"
"Well you could, but it would be very, very foolish. Look." Tullus goes to the laptop, does some things, and shows Suleman. Suleman's eyes go wide. Jim walks over to also see the screen, but it is blurred out. "See, you've used this exact same password on all these sites, they've all been compromised, and this will be the very first password anyone would try to get into your password manager."
"Fine!" He thinks about it, goes to the laptop, Tullus looks away. Suleman starts typing. Jim notices that both the screen, and even where his fingers go on the keyboard, are blurred out. "There."
"Is it saved?"
"Yes," says Suleman.
Tullus goes back, does more things on the laptop. "Now put in your passphrase here." Again the screen and the fingers are blurred out.
Suddenly Jim and Stacey are in the lobby again, looking at their devices. They look at each other.
"We're back," says Stacey.
"Maybe... Maybe not," says Jim. "Quick, what am I thinking!"
"Uh," says Stacey, "boobs?"
Jim is alarmed. "Whose?"
"Uh..." says Stacey. "I have no idea."
"Whew," says Jim, relaxed. "We're back."
They turn to Tullus.
"So," says Stacey. "That was something. I will actually process that probably in a few minutes and shard myself. But first, what happened?"
"Well," says Tullus, "I was actually there, and I remembered this exchange last night. I knew if I could get into his password manager, I could get his wallet's recovery passphrase. And though I remember him saying he wouldn't use his 'normal' password for his password manager. Well, luckily, the only thing more normal than that password is his propensity to lie when convenient."