By year 10, he had become a serious hacker and was spending every
available moment at his computer. Sometimes he skipped school, and he
often handed assignments in late. He found it difficult to come up
with ever more creative excuses and sometimes he imagined telling his
teachers the truth. `Sorry I didn't get that 2000-word paper done but
I was knee-deep in NASA networks last night.' The thought made him
laugh.
He saw girls as a unwanted distraction from hacking. Sometimes, after
he chatted with a girl at a party, his friends would later ask him why
he hadn't asked her out. Prime Suspect shrugged it off. The real
reason was that he would rather get home to his computer, but he never
discussed his hacking with anyone at school, not even with Mentat.
A friend of Force's and occasional visitor to The Realm, Mentat was
two years ahead of Prime Suspect at school and in general couldn't be
bothered talking to so junior a hacker as Prime Suspect. The younger
hacker didn't mind. He had witnessed other hackers' indiscretions,
wanted no part of them and was happy to keep his hacking life private.
Before the Realm bust, Phoenix rang him up once at 2 a.
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