POI: The Reasons Behind His Names: Leg Trap
Author's Notes (feel free to skip)
I'm estimating two chapters (this one and the next) with an epilogue to finish this story.
nouveau riche: Describes one who recently became wealthy and is now living a vulgar and conspicuously ostentatious lifestyle (French, meaning “new rich.”)
The Social Security database really was this easy to penetrate in the mid-seventies (although I deny any personal knowledge of this fact.) The format used here for a SSN database record is fictitious. Since POI uses Xs to mask digits on its depiction of the Machine's feeds, I'm doing the same here.
Compiler: a program that converts source code (what humans write using programming languages) into machine code (what computers execute) Programs are compiled before it first is run and whenever they are updated or modified (also known as 'recompiling.')
Hack: in this case, a piece of code that does exactly what it should
Ken Thompson is a Real Person (and he does have a Turing Award)
Moby: from "Moby Dick," something really impressive
The annual cost of tuition, room, and board for U.S. four-year institutions in 1976-1977 averaged $2,577. (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_320.asp)
Xerox Notetaker and Osbourne I: early portable computers. The Notetaker was a prototype; only ten were produced. Osbourne Computer Corporation sold 11,000 units in its first year of production (1981) with 10,000 sold per month at its peak. The computer weighed 23 pounds, had a 5" screen, two 5-1/4" floppy drives, a 69-key keyboard that doubled as the case lid, a 1200-baud modem, a parallel printer port, and 64Kbytes memory, and it cost around $1,800.
After he returned from Washington, D.C., Daniel resumed his usual summer activities. He worked at the tailor shop…
... also known as becoming knowledgeable about fashion, etiquette, gourmet food and wines, and all the finer things in life… Mr. Eregov certainly knew how to live well and look good doing it, and he was happy to teach me everything I wanted to know about enjoying wealth without appearing 'nouveau riche…'
He spent time with Pete…
… also known as working at LP….
He helped his parents with their Committee work…
… also known as spying on my country….
He wrote his pen pal Ensio…
…my long-distance friend….
He wrote his pen pal Alla…
… my long-distance temptress….
Also, when his parents were asleep or busy with their own activities, Daniel planned his escape from the future that had been devised for him.
No way in Hell was I attending Phystech in Moscow-I didn't care if it was free and if it did offer the classes I wanted… I wasn't even willing to attend the university Mom preferred in Austria… as much as I love my parents and as much as I owe them, I wanted to live my own life… the second I turned eighteen, I was done with being a spy and a traitor… and, by then, I planned to be accepted at the college of my choice with all the money I needed-whether I went as Daniel Sutterfield or someone else….
With that goal in mind, Daniel made his plans.
It took a while to work it all out in my head… I needed a fake identity, but it had to be foolproof-something neither the KGB nor the FBI nor anyone who knew me could uncover… it had to pass inspection by school and university administrators, data clerks and sysadmins, bureaucrats and functionaries… if I needed to disappear as Daniel Sutterfield and become my fake persona, that persona had to stand up to a lifetime of bureaucracy and paperwork-credit checks, employment background checks, college applications, passport applications-whatever I might face… this ID had to be rock-solid because I might be trusting my life and my freedom to it… my first step was to get a valid Social Security number….
Daniel's mother had showed him the standard method for this.
Mom's way required finding a child who was born in the same year that my fake persona was "born," but who died before receiving a SS number… once I have a name and birth location, I then request an official copy of that child's birth certificate then I use that certificate to get the Social Security Administration to assign a number to this child… the SSA does not check to see if the applicant is dead before sending a new card with that child's name on it… this method does work, but I don't have the time to hunt through newspaper obituaries and local cemeteries to find a dead kid born in 1958… plus, I want a name that isn't tied to where I live… fortunately, I knew another way….
The next time Mr. Sutterfield went in to work on a Saturday, Daniel went with him, using the explanation that he needed to test part of a computer text adventure he was writing.
Dad thought that was so cool-and it was… but the test only took a few seconds of runtime… no one seemed to mind me using the department's mainframe on the weekends, but I was careful not to use too many computer cycles in case there were employees doing real work… when my test was finished, I accessed the Social Security database-you don't need the details of the route I used because it isn't available any more… since I knew what record I wanted, it took me no time to find it….
X'43D5393'31807XXXX*RET*WREN*HAROLD*ANSON*M*03181986*11051966*70*ROSSCITYIL*IL*IL*RT6BOX43*ROSSCITY*IL**
Since Social Security numbers are never reissued, I knew Mr. Wren's record will remain in the system forever… the only people who might prompt an access to it were Mr. Wren's family… Mrs. Wren died earlier this year so any Social Security benefits she was getting had ended… I couldn't go to her funeral because I was in the middle of final exams… Mrs. Wren's daughter sent me a copy of her obituary from the local paper… on our way to Washington, we visited the cemetery in Ross City and saw their graves… I owe both of them my life… I really wish I could have asked their permission for this… all I could do was hope Mr. Wren wouldn't mind….
Daniel changed the RET in the file record to ACT and the 03181986 to his own birth date minus 16 days. He blanked out the death date, location, and age at death in the record, then he changed the current address to that of an apartment he had rented near LaSalle College in a neighborhood of off-campus housing.
I needed an address so I could request a replacement card… receiving it would confirm I had made no errors while bringing 'Harold Wren' back to life… the apartment also gave me a hidey-hole in case I needed to bolt for whatever reason-not that I ever expected to need it….
Three weeks later, when a freshly printed blue card arrived at the apartment, Daniel grinned at his success.
But that was the easy part… I next had to turn 'Harold Wren' into a high school student… .
Creating Steven Nemo had been easy; all that took was a record inserted into the school's database and some fancy footwork and gossip in the hallways. "Harold Wren," incoming junior at Ferdinand High School, required a full set of records, both paper and computer, if "he" wanted to apply to the colleges Daniel wished to attend.
Fortunately, I had my own records to draw on… and access to the school's supply cabinet, copy and mimeograph machines, and its typewriters… add in Mom's special papers, forms, and inks, and I had everything I needed to build a student file… it took me almost six months to create all the paperwork, but even that wasn't the hard part….
The "hard part" consisted of reprogramming the school district's database software to update "Harold Wren's" records so that "his" grades, test scores, and information matched those of Daniel.
If I had to use this persona to get into college, I wanted the best shot possible-which meant using my grades… yes, it sounds boastful, but I was at the top of my class… so I wrote some code that would keep all data pertaining to 'Harold Wren' synced with my data…whenever my records were updated, my code would change the records for 'Harold Wren' to match them… when I was certain it would work, I got into the school district's mainframe from a remote location then I accessed the software that maintained the student database… there, I found a section of 'dead code' in the file update program-a routine that was not accessed anymore because all the calls to it have been removed during revisions to the software… I added my code to maintain 'Harold Wren' to that routine then I added a call to it from another section of the program… that way, the 'dead code' would show as active and not be deleted during a recompile … as soon as this was in place, I then hacked the compiler so it would check the file update program for my code and, if it did not find it, the compiler would reinsert all of it into the new version of the program… I also modified the compiler so that, if the compiler was revised and recompiled, it would reinsert my compiler hack into the new version of itself-this meant my code stayed resident with no traces in the source code… the likelihood of a programmer finding what I had done approached zero… yes, this means I anticipated Ken Thompson's truly moby hack of the C compiler by eight years… not that I envy Ken his Turing Award-not much, anyway….
Once the code was in place, all Daniel had to do was monitor its results. As his junior year of high school progressed, "Harold Wren" earned the same grades and plaudits that Daniel did.
I really wanted to tell someone about this… after all, what's the good of being brilliant if no one ever gets to see you shine? However, I knew better than to blab… a secret ID is useless if it isn't a secret….
Daniel also set up bank accounts in "Harold Wren's" name at several banks around town using money from his own accounts.
If worst came to worst and I had to become "Harold Wren," then I could withdraw the money, either in person or by wire transfer, and have more than enough to start a new life-not that I wanted to… all I wanted was for my parents to forget about Phystech so I could go where I wanted for college… I had plenty of options here in the U.S… if only my parents weren't spies….
Sutterfield Residence
Sunday, January 19, 1975
Day - 9,841
The news of Daniel's acceptance into the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering of the Soviet Academy of Sciences came in a phone call from Paul Lukin to Daniel's father. When the phone rang, Mrs. Sutterfield and Daniel were in the kitchen watching Mr. Sutterfield prepare his luncheon specialty, canned cream of mushroom soup with grilled cheese sandwiches using pumpernickel bread.
I took over on the griddle while Dad talked… after he hung up, Dad told us the 'good' news, and that Mr. Lukin had said to congratulate me and to tell Mom he was sorry… Mr. Lukin knew how much Mom wanted me to follow her brothers' footsteps and go to Technical Institute in Vienna... right then, I'd have happily volunteered to go there-anything to get out of going to the USSR… I wanted to tell Mom and Dad that-hell, I wanted to tell both of them I hated being a spy, but Dad was so proud of me… so was Mom, although she sighed and frowned a little when Dad relayed Mr. Lukin's apology… Dad saw her sigh, too….
Mr. Sutterfield waited until his family was seated at the table with their meals before them before addressing that matter.
"Paul said," he said in a cheery voice, "all Daniel's expenses-tuition, books, room, board, even his travel to Moscow--will be covered. Sounds like can we take his college money and use it for something else."
Mr. Sutterfield then turned to his wife.
"Clara, how much have we saved for Daniel's college expenses?"
"As of your last paycheck," she said, "the total is six thousand, two hundred, and ninety-two dollars and twenty-eight cents."
Mr. Sutterfield grinned as he pointed his soup spoon at his wife.
"That's one of the many things I love about you," he told her. "You are always on top of everything. Okay, we have six thousand, two hundred, and ninety-two dollars with a handful of change that is no longer earmarked for anything. Any ideas what we should do with it?"
Daniel opened his mouth to suggest the money be spent on a new Orange Flame Corvette with a black interior and a 350ci, 250hp engine, but he noticed that his dad was still looking at his mom. Realizing that Mrs. Sutterfield was being given first shot at the money, Daniel kept silent and waited for her to speak. To his surprise, she looked down at her sandwich for what seemed like hours. Daniel glanced at his Dad, who also sat quietly…
… except he had a big smile on his face….
Finally, Mrs. Sutterfield gulped and raised her head. Her eyes were damp, but she also was smiling.
"Wien," she whispered. "We're going to Wien."
Her husband's smile widened into a grin.
"Durned tooting we're going to Vienna. I'm booking a flight to New York City, a cabin on the Queen Elizabeth 2, a sleeper on the Orient Express then whoosh-we'll be in Vienna before we know it. Daniel, you mind if I take your mother to Europe without you?"
"I-I guess not."
Actually, I was jealous as all get out, but Mom was so happy to visit her birth city that I didn't want to complain… they went in April-took the entire month… and they sent me a postcard every day, starting with the one Mom mailed at the LaSalle airport before their flight left-how goofy is that?
Daniel was allowed to stay by himself while his parents were gone.
Pete's parents kept an eye on me… I ate most of my dinners with them… and I got to drive Dad's car to school… I hated giving that up when they got back….
In his parents' absence , Daniel handled their Committee work and he spent more time with Mr. Bennett and Pete at LPD.
We were starting our own line of computer products: CPUs, peripherals, cables-both assembled and DIY kits… sort of like the Altair, but with faster runtimes and less complicated assembly… I also was working on a portable computer-think Xerox Notetaker or the Osbourne I… had I managed to finish that project, I'd have beaten the Osbourne I to market by about five years….
When his parents returned from their trip, Daniel considered discussing with them the matter of his going to Moscow.
We really didn't talk about in January… maybe I did too good a job of pretending I was thrilled… maybe Mom was hoping things would fall through and I would attend university in Vienna like she wanted me to do… and maybe Dad knew how disappointed Mom was so he stayed far away from the subject….
The discussion with his father did not go as Daniel hoped.
"Dad, can I talk to you about me going to Moscow?"
"Sure. You worried about being so far away from home?"
"That's part of it, but-"
Mr. Sutterfield put his hand on Daniel's shoulder to reassure him .
"I was scared when I joined the Army, and I was shaking in my boots right before my unit got sent to France. There's no shame in being scared, but don't let your fear eat at you."
"Dad, it's not that I'm scared. It's more like-"
"Frankly, " his father said, "I'm relieved to know your future is taken care of. Mom and I could never have swung this on our own. You know how little we were able to save towards your college education. Without Phystech, there'd be no way we could pay for the sort of education you deserve. If I was a praying man, I'd be on my knees in gratitude for this-I really would."
He patted Daniel's shoulder then smiled proudly at him.
"Put all of this from your mind for now. You only get to be this age once so enjoy life and have fun."
It was good advice-not that it helped any… I then tried to explain things to Mom….
"Mom, about my going to Phystech-"
"That is a long time from now, Daniel. Let's not think about it until then."
"But, Mom-pretty soon everyone will be applying to colleges-"
"And you need something to explain why you're not also sending applications?"
"Well, not exactly-"
"You should tell them that you have been accepted to the Technische Universität Wien as I wish had happened. I doubt any of your friends or teachers will go to the trouble of a long-distance call or letter to verify your story."
Daniel noticed how his mother's lips thinned as she made her suggestion.
It was like she was forcing it through clenched teeth....
"Mom, do you want me to study in Moscow?"
Mrs. Sutterfield let out a long sigh.
"You know we cannot risk any examination of our life-not even so much as an application to an out-of state university or a request for a tuition loan. If you had not been accepted to the Soviet Academy of Sciences, you would be attending a local college, and we both know no school in this state is good enough for you."
She paused to give her son that fond smile that always accompanied a statement of her pride in Daniel and his accomplishments.
"But we no longer need to concern ourselves with your education and that is good. It is very good."
Sure, it was good, but only for my parents… they never thought to ask how I felt about it-oh, you think I could have been more forceful? You think I should have stood up for my rights and demanded the to go to a U.S. college? That's easy for you to say… you grew up in a secure home with loving parents… for me, there was always the fear that my parents would turn on me and kick me out just like my foster parents often did… intellectually, I knew it would never happen… but that fear was seared into my soul-a scar from my childhood that never truly healed… add to that the constant, very real threat of discovery by the Feds and, as much as I wanted to protest, the words never were said….
MacDonald's Restaurant
Ferdinand, MO
Thursday, August 28, 1975
Day -9623
MacDonald's was not Daniel's first, or even eighth choice for a place to eat, but Pete swore by their fries so, after classes that day, Daniel grabbed a corner table away from the counter while Pete got his crispy potato fix.
We were there because Pete wanted to tell his parents about his college money-he had almost forty thousand dollars saved up-and that after he had purchased his Datsun 260Z … 2.6 liter engine with 162 horses and 157 four-pounds of torque, zero to sixty in eight sections with a top speed of 127 mph-and we ran it to the redline plenty of times on the straightaway west of town… Pete picked the Green Leaf Metallic paint job despite Mr. Bennett's warning that all green sports cars fall apart in six months… he called it the British Racing Green Conundrum… anyway, Pete thought we should tell our parents at the same time-make a grand celebration of it....
Daniel listened to his friend make his case then he launched into his standard cover story.
"Pete, you know I'm going to that tech school in Vienna. It’s not like I can surprise my folks about that fact."
Pete waved a ketchup-tipped fry at Daniel.
"But college in Austria has to be expensive," he noted, "so why would your parents be upset about you paying for all of it?"
Daniel filched a fry and nibbled on it to give him time to think.
My parents think I agree with them that capitalism is an outdated and failed materialistic value system… if I announce that I have more money saved and invested than I could have earned from tailoring, tutoring, and helping out Mr. Bennett, they will ask where it came from… when they learn I own one-third of a corporation, it will break their hearts… so, if they can't be proud of me, I'd rather they didn't know… but that doesn't help me right now with Pete….
"Look, Pete," Daniel finally said, "I waiting for the right time to tell them I'm not going to Vienna."
Pete froze with a ketchup-covered fry dangling before his lips.
"You aren't going to Vienna?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I'm staying here. I plan to apply to Stanford and MIT and a couple other good schools. Once I have their acceptance letters in-hand, I can talk to my parents about earning my Bachelor's here and then maybe going to Vienna for advanced studies."
Or something like that… more like nothing like that at all….
The fry found its way into Pete's mouth as he considered Daniel's plan.
"Think your folks will go for that?" he asked.
Daniel shrugged.
"Don't know, but I'll be more persuasive with a fat bank account and a fistful of acceptance letters than I will with just the money-that's how set Mom is on my going to Vienna."
Pete stopped chewing to gape at his friend.
"Man, your mom is one determined lady. My mom would let me major in underwater basket-weaving if I told her she didn't have to pay a dime toward my tuition."
"Your mom and my mom are two very different people, Pete."
"I'll say. Hey, does this mean you don't want to be there when I tell my folks?"
"Probably not. I don't want Mom or Dad suspecting anything until I'm ready to tell them."
Pete groused a bit about my decision, but everything else went just like he hoped… his mom cried… his dad kept clapping Pete on the shoulder as though he wanted to hug him but feared Pete was too old for that sort of thing… I have to admit I was jealous, but I still had time to do things my way… I wasn't due to leave for Moscow until the end of May, two weeks after graduation….
Over the next few months, Daniel applied to many colleges and universities: Stanford, MIT, Purdue, Carnegie-Mellon, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Florida Atlanta University-if the school had a computer science or computer systems program, then he send in applications for both him and "Harold Wren." The schools in which Daniel was most interested also received applications from "Harold Wren."
The closer I got to Spring 1976, when seniors were expected to have their colleges lined up, the more I feared I'd have to use my false persona… yes, I should have told my parents the truth, but I simply could not do it… just like I couldn't write Alla and tell her what I thought of her machinations… I settled for writing her polite letters ending telling her how I looked forward to seeing her soon-so, between the expectations of my teachers, Alla's insistence that we'd be so happy once I got to Moscow, my parents being so thrilled about Phystech, and their stupid Committee work that forced me to apply in secret… bluntly, I spent my senior year feeling like a fox being hunted by trappers… one false move and I'd step on a trap….
Sutterfield Residence
Tuesday, March 16, 1976
Day -9422
Daniel was upstairs in the radio shack trouble-shooting a buzzy speaker when his mother called him down to the kitchen. He took the stairs two at a time to find her standing by the last step, a thick business envelope in her hand. Her frown warned Daniel that he had been busted so he put a brave smile on his face before pointing at the letter in her hand.
"Is the mail here?" he asked. "I checked on my way in and didn't see any."
His mother held the letter out, its address facing Daniel.
"Why is Carnegie-Mellon University sending mail to you?"
The question sent his stomach into his throat. Daniel swallowed against the nausea before replying.
"Because I sent them an application."
"Why?"
Somehow, my mom dumped a boatload of demand and concern and threat onto that one syllable….
"Because, Mom."
Daniel reached for the envelope. Mrs. Sutterfield snatched it back from his hand.
"Because why?"
He sighed, using the breath as a cover for some rapid thinking.
"Because everyone else is sending out applications, and I want to get more acceptance letters than they do."
His mother peered even harder at him, a stare Daniel knew was a demand for more information.
"Mom," he said, "for me, it's a game, a way to keep score. When the school holds its honors assembly for the seniors, they'll announce how many college acceptances each student received. I'm the valedictorian, top of my class. People will wonder if only Technische Universität Wien is interested in me."
He pointed at the envelope.
"You taught me the most important thing is to never look suspicious. That acceptance letter, and all the others I receive, make me look like everyone else. That's why I did it."
Mrs. Sutterfield glanced at the letter in her hand.
"How many of these acceptance letters do you have, son?"
"Seventeen."
Harold Wren has sixteen-I don't know why FAU turned him down….
"Why don't I know this?"
Because I've been getting the mail every day for the last ten years… for all I knew, Mom had forgotten where our mail box was… but I didn't tell her that….
"Like I said," Daniel said as he shrugged, "it's only a game."
His mother glanced at the letter again. Something in the way she frowned at it and in the way she gripped it so tightly made Daniel wonder if she had seen through his story.
If she did-if she asked, I would have answered honestly… I hated lying to her and Dad… .
Seconds passed without his mother saying a word.
If anything, her grip on that letter got tighter….
Finally, without raising her gaze from the letter, she spoke to her son.
"Daniel," she said, "the important people who arranged for you to be educated in Moscow expect you to do what they want. If something happens to prevent that, their anger will not be good for you, or for your father and me."
Daniel gasped at the threat. Mrs. Sutterfield nodded then she looked straight at him.
"I see you understand."
Daniel faked a smile.
"Then I guess it's a good thing I like their plans."
He waited for his mother to smile back. To his surprise, her gaze shifted to the envelope still in her hand.
"Daniel," she whispered as though fearing her own words, "If you truly want to go to college here, I will prepare false papers for you. Many teenaged boys run away-I read about them in the newspaper. We can make it look like you-"
Daniel jerked back from his mother.
I knew what she was offering me-freedom, but at a horrible cost to her and Dad… if the Committee ever suspected Mom had been disloyal, both she and Dad would also "disappear…" for them, that meant either a bullet to the back of the head or a long stay in prison… but my freedom-my future-would never be worth their lives….
"No, Mom," he said, his voice raised in a shout, "no way. How could you even think something like that? Don't you mean all that stuff you taught me?"
It wasn't the most grammatical sentence ever spoken… but it convinced Mom I truly was horrified by her offer… she handed me the letter then she shook her head as though shocked by her words….
"I don't know, son. Somehow, I had the idea you weren't happy about going to Moscow. This is wrong?"
Daniel took the letter from her then he faked a smile.
"Mom, you're way off-base, Mom. You must be thinking about some other son of yours."
This time, Mrs. Sutterfield did smile…
… that goofy, fond smile that meant she was so proud of me… the one that always made me feel warm and good… only now, it felt like a trap snapped on my leg… I couldn't even gnaw it off and run away-okay, gnaw it off and limp away-because doing so would condemn my parents to prison or death….
After dinner, Daniel sneaked into Cedar Street Elementary and used the office computer terminal to transfer "Harold Wren" to a high school in Helena, Montana.
Transferring "Harold" was safer than deleting his records… I had enrolled him in MIT just in case I had to bolt in a hurry… if I managed to get out of attending Phystech, I could withdraw "Harold" then use my own acceptance letter to enroll as myself… all "his" correspondence with MIT was hidden in a hidey-hole I'd made at the apartment I used as a mail drop… my plan was to destroy everything linking me to "Harold" before the lease ran out the end of May….
The next day, during his work period in the school office, Daniel filed the transfer paperwork for "Harold" in the appropriate file cabinets.
I hated doing this-I hated it so I almost threw up on the files… but, after what Mom told me, I no longer had a choice… I was going to Moscow-to Phystech… the trap had been locked on my leg and all I could do was learn to enjoy the pain….