The next day a PM from SteeZ appears:

  [SteeZ] yo join #goodmonin2ya

  [SKa] whats that?

  [SteeZ] private channel. just me and spacegoat. coordinating ops, building tools, no bullshit. think youd fit

  I join the channel. Three users: SteeZ, SpaceGoat, SKa.

   welcome to the crew

   we got shells, we got skills, we got jokes

   mostly jokes

   so whats with the name? goodmonin2ya?

   oh man. you dont know?

   its from when we first started working together. spacegoat would always show up like 5am his time

   ranch life. up before sunrise. id log on and steez would still be awake from night before

   id see him connect and just type "good morning" sarcastically. like dude when do you sleep

   and id say "good monin to ya" back. became our thing

   goodmonin2ya. one word. our channel

  I smile. Inside joke I'm not part of yet, but they're letting me in. That's what this invitation means—not just access to a channel, but access to their history. Their crew.

   so where you two actually at?

   cattle ranch. middle of nowhere texas. nearest town is 40 minutes

   seriously?

   yeah. family ranch. why you think i have so much time online? theres literally nothing else to do out here. cows and dirt

   damn dude. im in the projects. you're on a ranch. ska you probably in some suburb

   yeah. chicago suburbs

  A DCC file transfer request from SteeZ appears. Picture file. I accept it.

  The image loads slowly—a window view. Brick buildings, fire escapes, urban density.

   my view. bronx projects.

   ska: btw whats your a/s/l?

  There it is.

  I've lied to Kaos. To the #mp3 crew. To everyone on IRC. But this feels different.

  SpaceGoat has given me shell access—trusted me with root on university systems. SteeZ has invited me to their private operation. We're actually working together, not just trading favors.

  Tell the truth and lose everything? Or keep lying to people who might actually become real friends?

   22/m/chicago

   cool. im 22/m/texas

   23/m/bronx here

   ska you got that eggdrop running yet?

   yeah just started it

   lets test coordination. spacegoat create a channel

   on it

  SpaceGoat creates #testground on EFNet. Empty channel. Just for us.

   all join

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  We join. Three users in an empty channel. SpaceGoat has auto-ops since he created it.

   on three. lock it down. 1... 2... 3

  SteeZ ops SpaceGoat's bot. The bot ops SteeZ's bot. Four operators in under two seconds.

   1.4 seconds. not bad

   try it again. faster

  We run it five more times. By the sixth run, we're under one second.

   channel takeovers. if you can op faster, you win

   and this is how you do it?

   this is part of it. theres more. waiting for net splits. positioning bots on different servers. dos attacks

   but coordination is everything. one person messes up the timing and you lose the channel

  That's it. Each of us brings something different. SpaceGoat has the infrastructure and bots. SteeZ has the scripts and knowledge. I have timing and the willingness to learn.

  No hierarchy. No ego. Just three people learning together.

  We keep coordinating. SteeZ is explaining botnet linking strategies when—

  Click. Modem screech. Connection dies.

  Mom picks up the phone downstairs.

  Panic.

  "Dinner is on the table."

  Crap.

  "I'll be right down!"

  "Now, please!"

  Ugh. I acquiesce and go downstairs.

  After dinner, I sit on the floor in the living room, back against the couch. Mom and Dad on the couch behind me. The Seinfeld finale on TV.

  The episode ends with a montage — the Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer in scenes I have memorized — stitched together while Green Day's Good Riddance plays. The same characters I've been watching since I was six years old.

  "Can you believe it's been nine years?" Mom says.

  "Nine years," Dad says. "Wild."

  Credits roll.

  I sit there for a moment with tears in my eyes. Yadda yadda yadda. That's it.

  I head back upstairs, a bit out of sorts emotionally, and reconnect to IRC.

  [SpaceGoat] ska: you there?

  [SKa] yeah sorry. phone line. roommate situation

  [SteeZ] that sucks man

  [SpaceGoat] yeah

  Brief pause. They don't push it. But I see it—they've noticed. Another crack in the adult lie.

  Adults have dedicated lines. Or they're on shells 24/7 where it doesn't matter. Shared phone line problems are... teenage problems.

  Filed away. Not questioned. Not yet.

  On the shell, my bot is running. On my Linux machine, BitchX is connected. On DalNet, my old channels are still there.

  Building infrastructure across networks. Building relationships across the country.

  All of it on a foundation of lies.