Red bricks, yellow orbs, a curved roof, and the overhead restaurant name: Jedediah Sushi. Plus its Hiragana equivalent. Of the many food joints in Tokyo Town, Jessica, Shannon, and Valerie arrived by red brick and old-fashioned doors that, when opened, rang a bell.

"Irasshaimase!"

Red lanterns burned yellow amidst sparse rows of upholstery and oak. Two counters, one on either side of the room, hosted chefs who sliced and diced imitation tuna. They were just as meticulous with the Nigiri.

"Order!"

Topped at last with thinly sliced lemon, the dishes waited for the waitresses in French maid attire and eventually landed right on Jessica's table.

"What do you call them, again?" said Shannon, sitting directly across.

"Black Hats," said Jessica, clapping her chopsticks.

"What's so special about 'em?"

Jessica shoved a roll in her mouth and chewed while Shannon waited for an answer, then chewed, chewed, and chewed some more. Valerie leaned sideways, in front of Shannon, likewise anticipating a response. Shannon gently shoved Valerie's head out of the way. "I mean, they're hackers, right?" she continued.

Jessica coughed and took a sip of water. "The definition of hacker varies, you know? It has this elastic meaning, but I pay no attention to the connotations of the plebs. You could be a hacker; I could be a hacker; it doesn't mean we've done anything wrong – It's not a bad thing." She stood up and slammed fists on the table exaggeratedly "But there ain't no good deed that's not under the nutty hands of 'crackers'."

"What do crackers do?" said Valerie. "Besides be white, salty, and crunchy."

Jessica set her chopsticks down and cracked a knuckle. "Okay, so, you ever had a computer virus?"

"Maybe."

"No," answered Shannon. "At least, not in a long time. I always got the anti-virus running."

"That can work," replied Jess, making a jive. "But, see, software viruses originate from jerks, a.k.a. Black Hats. Computer savvy criminals are shit weasels behind everyday software issues. There are so many ways and so many reasons why someone could—may want to infiltrate your system. And it's not just brute force, like trying to decrypt your files. Too much work. Clever fuckers can always find ways around your security and get to your PHI. One way is social engineering, which is basically the stuff we see every day, like advertising pop-ups. Stay away from those."

"You mean to tell me," started Valerie, "that I should not claim my millions of dollars for being the billionth visitor to a site? A bunch of hot girls aren't waiting for my dick around the corner?"

Jessica shrugged. "They aren't always that obvious, Homegirl, especially if you're downloading Hentai all the time."

"Say you do get a virus," Shannon said sincerely, "do you know how to get rid of it?"

"That depends." She smirked.

"On what?"

"Are you asking me personally?"

"Why, it may be that I am, Miss Leibniz."

"Ooh, ah, let's see. I need a way to explain it without making it sound boring."

Valerie giggled. "You can do that?"

"Would you like me to beatbox?" said Shannon.

"Can you?" said Jess.

Shannon placed a tuna roll in her mouth and garbled, "Nope."

"Welp. When it comes to implementation, there aren't too many methods. Understanding a virus's identity, so to speak, allows decryption or circumvention. Never easy. Viruses replicate their source codes, and the encryption changes per creator, even the language itself. Someone always loses before a crack is patched. After sifting through malware, you can develop a tool to defend against future infections. But, when a new one shows up, the process starts all over again..."

Shannon had a full mouth. "So, when you're the target of a new virus, you're fucked?"

"You have to be really lucky... or really stupid."

"Explain."

"Well, if you're just some guy, no one's going to develop a quantum algorithm to break through your encryption. But, and this is a really big butt, if some random dude approaches, and you give them access to your hardware, then they don't need encryption. They just go right in and upload the virus. Trojan Horse, anybody?"

"And for you to let them use your hardware, they have to disguise their intentions, then?"

"So," Valerie rejoined, "It's like if they promised to wear a condom, but then they take it off and give you all these reasons why it's better without it until, against your better judgment, they convince you that they're right. But by the time you realize it was a stupid decision, it's too late, and you're boned with malware. Is it like that?"

Jessica buried her head in her hands. "I hate how accurate that analogy is."

"I get it now."

"But at that point, it's not hacking anymore."

"So if you can trick someone into letting you in, the best encryption in the world won't save you," Shannon mused.

"Maybe." Jess felt a strange whiplash for a moment. She decided to finish the sushi on her plate, hoping her friends would speak among themselves.

"Jess is still the smartest person I know," declared Valerie, sitting back. "No offense, Shannon."

"Psh! She's a fuggen genius!" said Shannon, laying back. "But from everything you just told me, does that make you a White Hat?"

"If I had to resort to labels," said Jess, pushing her plate aside, "I guess I would use the term smith."

"Smith, like smithing? Archaic metalworking and shit?"

"As a smith, you craft, fix, temper. A locksmith, they understand the ins and outs of a barrier and operate with diligence!" Jessica's energy rose as she spoke. "Decrypting, managing a lock, forging, coding, molding, building, computing, shaping, you create something or you work around it for a solution, without breaking the lock. There's no brute force or shortcuts, just knowledge and creativity, and their implementation."

"Sounds a lot like art," Shannon said with a grin. "I dig that. You're an artist."

"It is like art in that perception is a factor. That said, we don't relegate the language of numbers to computers because they're an art form."

"It's too bad I don't really understand neither," Valerie said somberly. "I'm just tuning in and out of this. If I were a person reading this conversation, I think I'd be mad."

The red hem of the waitress bloomed forth, and she asked in her best English whether any of them would like more servings. When kindly refrained, she stacked the plates and departed,

"The founders of the Anglo-alliance were predominantly Deists," Jessica said, "and Deism qualified a deity that did, in fact, create the human race and this planet, but as a master clockmaker. Basically, He set things in motion in a sort of planned path, where everything that happens happens as part of an inevitable sequence, a function of some intelligent design. I think of that concept as the precursor to an algorithm.

"Everything in life is part of a finite sequence of action, causality, inevitability, and rationality vs. irrationality until there is one result or spectrum of results. Imagine that principle with mathematical functions, what we use every day to build and automate our solutions. Life is like an algorithm."

"If life is like an algorithm then what am I, a variable?" Valerie scoffed.

"'Life is like an algorithm'." Shannon meditated. "That's not to say people are like numbers, is it?"

"No? No!" Jessica sat upd. "I'm just saying; we're always a part of something bigger. Constant."

"Cool. Cool. I can take that and understand it. Probably not as well as you do," she chuckled politely, "but I don't think I'm far off."

"Hey, Jess," Valerie said, leaning forward. "Do you know anything about black hats?"

Jessica's brow rose. "Besides how they take what's not theirs?"

Homegirl glowered. "What if it's to help others?"

"How do you mean?"

Val leaned forward again, pushing the limits of her blouse. "I mean, say someone has secrets. Many secrets, secrets that mean life and death. Would it be wrong to steal those secrets then?"

Jessica's eyes rolled up. "Like the transfer of private knowledge to the public domain?"

"What if hacking meant breaking the law, but it was for the greater good?"

"That!" interceded Shannon, "is a matter of perspective, Val."

"So, what does it mean if a so-called cracker screws over someone to benefit someone else? Where does the hacker distinguish right or wrong, is my question. Who decides?

"Like I said..."

"Hold on!" Jess hushed. "You're probably not thinking of a Black Hat."

"Then what the Hades am I thinking of?" Valerie fell back in her seat, Shannon grabbing the backrest to make sure she didn't fall.

"This is why I hate labels." Jessica sighed. "There's always a possible grey area, Homegirl.

"What do they call Black Hats in the grey area?"

"Take a guess."

"How am I supposed to know?"

Jessica eyed Shannon, inviting her to chime in. With a smirk, Shannon said, "I don't answer obvious questions. It's like trying to validate not being stupid."

Val properly glared at Shannon before returning her demonic gaze to Jessica. "Sabes que? It doesn't matter! All I know is that hacks have been messing with mobile navigation. Can someone fix that?"

"There has been a string of cyberattacks, recently." Jessica checked her watch which, as if reading her mind, navigated to internet news publications. "The Wire says New Sumer's digital network disconnected from the hub for a bit, and the recycle bots displayed curse words. I don't watch enough television. Beth watches more TV than me." She gulped more water.

"These private dating sites were broken into," Valerie coughed, "and a buncha people's info got leaked. A friend told me."

"See! That's when I get pissed," said Shannon. "When random people get screwed because hackers need to make a show. Crackers I mean."

"You don't care for the reason?" said Valerie.

"It's not about reasons. You just don't play God."

"So's that why you wear that hat?" Jessica pointed to the cap on the table.

"What about it?"

"WWJD: What would Jesus do? You don't like people who play God."

"Oh, no." Shannon laughed. "It's What would Jackson do? Samuel L. Jackson."

Jessica and Valerie shrugged.

"The twentieth and twenty-first century's gift to the art of cinema."

More shrugs.

"You guys ain't my friends! I don't know you!"

After Shannon managed to cool down, Jessica developed deep thoughts. Her mind drifted to her second life, the secret life of Lynx.

"You guys ever wonder what Azareans do with their spare time?" she asked.