When his modem hit another,
Mendax would rush to his computer and note the telephone number for
future hacking exploration.
By adjusting the device, he could also make it simulate a phreaker's
black box. The box would confuse the telephone exchange into thinking
he had not answered his phone, thus allowing Mendax's friends to call
him for free for 90 seconds.
On this night, however, the only signal Mendax was sending out was
that he wanted to be left alone. He hadn't been calling any computer
systems. The abandoned phone, with no connection to a remote modem,
had timed out and was beeping off the hook.
It was strange behaviour for someone who had spent most of his teenage
years trying to connect to the outside world through telephone lines
and computers, but Mendax had listened all day to the hypnotic sound
of a phone off the hook resonating through each room. BEEEP. Pause.
BEEEP. Pause. Endlessly.
A loud knock at the door punctured the stereo thrum of the phone.
Mendax looked up from his book to see a shadowy figure through the
frosted glass panes of the front door. The figure was quite short. It
looked remarkably like Ratface, an old school friend of Mendax's wife
and a character known for his practical jokes.
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