Finn took a while to get up in the morning. The evening before they ended up staying out till slightly later than he used to, but what did it was probably the fact that it took him ages to go to sleep. He spent a lot of time thinking about the people they met at the church, at the conversations they had, and at what they had learnt about their past.

Before cycling off back to her place, Fae kept going on about the fact that she was not convinced that their father, or possibly even both their parents, had been paid off years prior to keep quiet and lead a more technology-free lifestyle. He didn’t remember noticing that because he was too young at the time, but she was sure that at one point there was an abrupt change in their lifestyle, and especially their father went from being fixated with electronics and getting them to learn about digital things to nothing at all, within a matter of days.

They were definitely going to confront their parents about all that later that day, when they were going to their old place in Fermoy for the last dinner with her parents before their trip.

And then there was DigiTech. That American company that kept popping up in his life, from the boxes containing electronic components at work, to the frequent mentions by her DigiPunk friends. He felt that it must have been one of those things they were going to keep quiet about when talking with “normies” as part of the gentlemen’s agreement they have had in place for years. If that was the case, then everyone was bound to hear about it more and more, as they seemed to reckon that now the agreement was essentially off.

“Penny for your thoughts?” asked Matt as his roommate kept eating his cereal quietly, obviously thinking about something that he wasn’t determined to share with him.

Finn just told him that he was thinking about his upcoming trip, and how they were cutting it dangerously close to sort out their crossing into Italy. Which wasn’t a lie, because that was the other thing Finn started thinking about: they didn’t have a ticket or any idea on how to cross the Alps and get to Italy from Lyon. They were basically stuck waiting for someone to contact them at this point. The evening before, they managed to give their Mesh nicknames to pretty much everyone that came to that meeting, and at least a couple of people said that they knew someone that knew someone that perhaps was going to provide a way for them to cross that last border safely, or at least do their best to help them doing so.

That’s when he wished he had an unbricked device like his sister: he wanted a quick way to check the Mesh and see if there was any echo message waiting for him. Surely Fae was going to do that from her DigiBook, but he felt he was missing out. Then, he remembered that someone also shared the locations of some… special public DigiBoot that he could maybe trying to use for that. He made a mental note of quickly trying to do that after work, before leaving for Fermoy.

As he ran out of his flat trying to catch the last morning shuttle for work, he couldn’t help notice a huge billboard right in front of the bus stop:

Indeed, he had almost forgot that his company was going to announce DigiCoin to the nation on that very day. And he remembered that the DigiPunks already knew about that; they had known for some time, it seemed. He was totally indifferent to the whole thing, just annoyed that he would have had to agree to get a portion of his salary in this new currency to keep appearances with his colleagues… and that felt almost like taking a pay cut.

“Get in here Fae, quick, or you’ll miss the start!” said Pete as he noticed his No. 1 reporter finally joining the rest of the staff in the common room. The TV was on and everyone was waiting for the big announcement by Orla K. Lynch, CEO of Éireann Digital Systems.

Fae was decidedly underwhelmed by the whole thing, as she already knew what they were about to announce and she wasn’t really that excited about it: she was no expert at digital currencies, but she figured that if she had to invest in one, the Ma$h definitely seemed less dodgy, and that was saying something.

“…and that is why I would like to invite here with me a very special guest to help me announce easily the most disruptive digital product for our national economy: Mr. Conor J. Byrne, our Minister of Finance.” said Ms. Lynch on TV, as all the journalists present at the press conference started applauding.

“It has been more than a quarter of a century since all our lives changed because of the Pulse. In all this time, Éireann Digital Systems helped the government and our nation rebuild a new, resilient digital infrastructure that everyone can rely on. It is safe to say that now there is at least one DigiBox in every household, which helps giving access to already a myriad of essential digital services like DigiMail or DigiNews. This is our neo-digital world: no longer blinded by flashy, wasteful, and fragile pre-Pulse wonders, but conscious of the necessary limits of digital technology and content of integrating just enough technology into our everyday lives. I am sure every one of you also own a DigiCard, our national passport to the digital world: you can use your DigiCard to access any device you have a license for, provide a digital proof of identity pretty much everywhere a DigiTerm is used for keeping digital records… and now, you can already use your DigiCard for… sending and receiving money! At any time, and anywhere.”

As she said those words, a projector was turned on displaying a big advert introducing DigiCoin, EDS’s new digital currency:

Orla started explained how DigiCoin worked, and how disruptive it was going to be for the economy. She mentioned that the exchange rate was set at 0.1 Irish Pounds, which was a similar value to the old pre-Pulse Euro, explaining that that was an effort to incentivize small transactions, although one DigiCoin could be fractioned down to 100 units. She briefly touched on the cost of transactions, which was quite significant, although she obviously emphasized the huge benefits that clearly outweighed those costs.

She then invited Mr. Byrne to say a few words:

“Thank you Ms. Lynch for this amazing announcement. I for one I am very thrilled at the thought of being able to use DigiCoin for payments anywhere in Ireland very soon, as I am sure everyone that is following this announcement is.

First of all, I would like to make it very clear that DigiCoin is, as of today, a legal currency recognized by the Bank of Ireland: although you cannot touch it, it is real money. Furthermore, it will be instrumental in the upcoming years to become the preferred currency for transactions above £500, as it provides the necessary traceability that is mandated for such transactions, with the difference that it will make paper receipts and invoices a thing of the past, as such things are automatic, they are built-in DigiCoin.

Also, we are drafting a bill to dispose that every commercial activity should offer and accept DigiCoin, and require it to ensure traceability of even lower amounts. Because this would require special DigiCard readers to process the payments, the bill is proposing a government investment of £10.7 million to subsidize those readers for every commercial activity or merchant with an average annual revenue of £8000 or higher.

And there’s more! As you may probably know, certain countries in Europe already started providing something similar to DigiCoin, like France for example. It will be in our immediate interest to ensure that DigiCoin becomes widely accepted throughout Europe in the near future…"

Fae zoned out for a while, as Ms. Lynch carried on with her sensational explanation of all the wonders introduced by her new product. She however had her eyes glued back to the large CRT TV when the CEO and the Minister were about to start a sort of demonstration of a DigiCoin transaction. Two brand new DigiTerms were brought on the stage an connected via cables to two large projectors, so that the audience could see what everything was typed on each terminal.

“Now, let’s say I would like to buy Mr. Byrne here a pint. That would probably be… let’s see, let’s make it five DigiCoins…

** Éireann Digital Systems
** DigiCoin - National Digital Currency
   v2050.1.0.0
   Licensed to: Orla K. Lynch
   Balance: 1000.00 DC
   
>> send 
## Enter amount:
>> 5.00
## Select recipient:
** 1 contact - Page 1/1
   1 - Conor J. Byrne
>> 1
## Do you want to send Conor 5.00 DC? [y/n]
>> y
## Enter PIN:
>> ******
** Initiating DigiCoin transaction...
** Contacting server... OK
** Validating transaction... OK
** Applying transaction fee: 0.25 DC
** Registeng transaction... OK
** Transaction completed.
** New Balance: 994.75 DC
>>

Then, the audience looked at the other terminal, on which a rather uneasy Mr. Byrne was trying to remember the exact things he had to do.

** Éireann Digital Systems
** DigiCoin - National Digital Currency
   v2050.1.0.0
   Licensed to: Conor J. Byrne
   Balance: 1000.00 DC

>> 
!! DigiCoin received from Orla K. Lynch.
** New balance: 1005.00 DC
>> show
!! Unknown command. Did you mean 'log'?
>> log
** 1 transaction recorded:
   1 - orklyn97@dublin.eire - 5.00 DC 
>>

A long applause started in the audience as Ms. Lynch explained how obviously smooth that whole payment experience was and how everyone was going to soon be able to send and receive money just as easily. The stage crew was ready to disconnect the two terminals and take them off the stage, when suddenly the applause stopped. Everyone was staring at the terminal on the right, Mr. Lynch’s, which seemed to have received another transaction:

>> 
!! DigiCoin received from Orla K. Lynch.
** New balance: 1010.00 DC
>>

“Go on, check! What is that?”

Shouted someone in the audience, while Ms. Lynch was desperately trying to get the stage crew to complete their jobs. Mr. Byrne looked at her, and then at the audience. He really needed to show what had happened.

>> log
** 2 transactions recorded:
   1 - orklyn97@dublin.eire - 5.00 DC 
   2 - orklyn97@dublin.eire - 5.00 DC 
>>

The audience started murmuring. At the same time, Ms. Lynch’s terminal was showing a new balance of 989.5 DC, just as she had sent another five DigiCoin to Mr. Byrne. Except that she obviously didn’t.

Mr. Lynch started sweating visibly and Ms. Lynch tried to minimize what just happened joking that she would be paying for two pints after all, mentioning some temporary glitch that would have been corrected in the next few hours. The terminals were immediately disconnected and the event was wrapped up rather quickly after that, leaving the audience – both those on site and those watching on TV – wondering if such glitches were really just glitches or something more serious.

At the Examiner newspaper office, people continued discussing the event as they slowly got back to work. Some people were wondering if the whole DigiCoin thing was just a scam, while others sided with the EDS CEO and kept saying that it was just a momentary technical glitch that it would have been straightened out soon.

Fae had just sat back down at her desk, when a delivery boy showed up in front of her with an envelope.

“Special delivery for Ms. Consoli” he said, as Pete, the Editor in Chief, decided to stop by and hag around as Fae opened the envelope. It contained a single sheet of paper with a short letter, that she read immediately (with Pete literally looking over her shoulder):

---

Fae,

What you saw on stage was presented as a live payment. It wasn’t.

The DigiCoin transfer between the CEO and the Minister was a pre‑signed demonstration transaction, prepared in advance so the launch could not fail. The terminals on stage did not generate a new payment; they simply released a transaction that had already been approved, signed, and cleared for use.

That transaction was created days ago and stored inside DigiTech’s validation infrastructure. It includes a fixed sender, recipient, amount, terminal identity, and authorization signature. There was no randomness added at the moment of the demo.

This matters because DigiCoin’s replay protection is not enforced by the central ledger itself. It is handled only by the regional validation gateways, which track “already used” transactions locally and temporarily.

The central ledger does not record whether an authorization has been used before.

As a result, the same signed transaction can be submitted again through a different validation path and will be accepted as a new payment.

That is what happened.

Shortly after the demo transaction was approved, the exact same transaction data was resubmitted unchanged. The system validated it a second time and recorded a second settlement with a new transaction ID. From the ledger’s point of view, both payments were legitimate.

No encryption was broken.
No credentials were stolen.
No systems were interrupted.

This was not a failure of security, but a failure of design.

A centralized currency that relies on pre‑approved transactions but does not enforce single‑use authorization at the ledger level allows duplication by anyone with access to internal transaction data. That access already exists for testing, auditing, certification, and demonstrations.

If DigiCoin can duplicate a demo payment, it can duplicate real ones.

Enclosed you will find: - the transaction hash shown during the demo
- the second settlement record
- timestamps showing both were processed minutes apart
- confirmation that the transaction payloads are identical

DigiTech will likely describe this as a “controlled demonstration artifact” or a “non‑production edge case.” It is neither. The same validation rules apply to all DigiCoin transactions.

A currency that can be replayed is not money. It is a centralized promise that depends entirely on trust in the operator.

You were meant to see a flawless system today.
Instead, you saw how much it depends on not being questioned.

— A friend DigiPunk

---

That was another high-impact article begging to be written. As Fae folded the letter and put it back into the envelope, she noticed Pete behind him. He had read the entire thing.

“Fae, my office, now!” He ordered.

Pete closed his office door immediately after Fae walked in. He was visibly excited but somewhat worried for some reason.

“I know what you are thinking Fae. This is another killer article, and you damn should be writing it. I know, I would do the same, except… sit down, will you?”

Fae complied, waiting for her boss to complete the sentence.

“See, after your article was published, we definitely got a lot of attention. The public loved it: it feels we are on the cusp of something big, really big. People have been trusting @eds with everything as they led everyone in the neo-digital age, they put up with a lot though: subscriptions, licenses, limited services. And your article literally opened so many eyes – mine included.

You clearly have been chosen as the mouthpiece of this… organization? Now everyone wants to know about the DigiPunks! But… well, this stuff is hot. Perhaps a bit hotter than we can handle really."

“Why do you mean? Why? You just saw what they are doing… DigiCoin is yet another scam, and a dangerous one. They are literally going to lawfully steal money from us!”

“Wait wait wait a second.” – Continued Pete – “I am with you. Mostly. See, I got a call from Randall from corporate the other day… and, well, he don’t seem too pleased. People in Dublin didn’t like your DigiPunk article too much. They liked the sales, sure, but… see, it’s government stuff. We gotta be more careful, we can’t just publish everything you know? It is becoming political, and I guess EDS is one of our major stakeholders.”

“You don’t think…”

“I don’t know Fae. I am with you: we should publish this, or someone else will. That’s what I told Randall, and he did understand. He said we can publish the truth, of course, just… well, maybe review it a little bit. Be more careful next time, you see what I mean?”

“No, I don’t: the truth is one, and it doesn’t need reviewing…”

“I know! But child, hear me out. We gotta be more impartial. Or maybe more partial, but not in the direction you want. Take this letter now… it is not necessarily the truth! It is a version of it, sure, but not the only one! You should ring @eds maybe, see what they have to say. I think we should go with their version first, and then, maybe… speculate based on what you heard on the street, or something, see what I mean?”

Fae was furious. She couldn’t believe that Pete was siding with EDS and that he wanted her to lie about these things.

“It’s not a lie… you may just want to… withhold some of this information you have, maybe? I mean, you write something, we can figure it out later.”

Fae looked at him in disappointment, and she felt that really he was actually sympathetic, just had his hands tied by corporate. She had to play her cards more carefully from now on.

She looked at the time, and she realized she had to get going and grab something to eat for lunch.

Finn managed to arrive quite bit earlier, for a change. He was going to meet his sister at the bus stop to catch the 18:06 bus to Fermoy, where they would have then taken their old bikes to cycle to their parents place.

Incidentally the DigiHub near the Parnell Place bus stop was one of the ones that – so he had been told – could be safely used for accessing the Mesh. He felt the adrenaline kicking in as he thought about trying that out: people from the meetup at the church talked about that as a standard thing to do when they were on the go: it is true that pretty much everyone had a device or two they could more liberally use at home, but they also said that using liberated DigiHubs was a standard practice.

The DigiHub was located in a small kiosk on a side street a few meters from the actual bus stop. Finn noticed that it must have been hand-picked because of its location slightly more away from prying eyes than normal: it had been placed almost strategically in a corner, it had blacked out windows for privacy, and the terminal inside it was facing towards the street, so that you could see who was walking around nearby from both directions without even turning your head to the side.

Finn opened the door of the small green-and-cream kiosk and sat on the little chair in front of the DigiTerm inside. He immediately recognized an older K6 model that had been especially refurbished multiple times to ensure continuous operations even… well, even six years after its initial installation, Finn guessed. EDS had a dedicated team of technician basically going around the city to maintain DigiHubs, and refurbishing old models was their primary job. Thinking about it now, it was weird that EDS mandated all consumer devices to be essentially replaced every two years while they were fare more lenient with those for public use. Indeed, public DigiTerms to be used in DigiHubs had a four-year “government” license to start with and then their lifespan could be further extended by qualified EDS technicians afterwards.

As Finn turned on the terminal, he tried to remember the keyboard shortcut he was supposed to use to reboot using xywOS. The standard CTRL+xyw didn’t seem to work, so he tried a couple more that he wrote down on his notepad the evening before, until one finally worked.

*** Welcome to xywOS v3.7.21 ***
* Checking devices...
* System...   OK
* Clock...    OK
* Terminal... OK
* File...     OK
* Beeper...   OK
* Network...  OK
* Crypto...   OK
* Printer...  OK
*** System Ready ***
$> run echo
*** Echo Global Messaging v3.5.6 ***
* Connected to node @ieork via HubLink 06.
> fetch
* fetching 1 message...
* OK.
> list --unread
* 1 unread message
* 1 - Safe Passage - j3anjax@frlio
> read 1
* ID:
  1FBAD4C5946002232C5183B5BB7B8B8E
  E39596EEC6CFE10E336F9A940F054C6F
* From: j3anjax@frlio
* To: free~phaerie@ieork, berry~finn@ieork
* IZT: 805878717 (Sun 2050-12-08 15:41:09)
* Subject: Safe Passage

  Bonjour,
  
  I heard about your situation and I think I would be able to help you two. Ronan told me that you'd be needing safe lassage through the Alps, from Lyon to Turin, around the 15th of December? 
  
  I could arrange that. I need someone to carry... a present to... some friends in Italy, and I would welcome a new but trusted face to do the journey. Normally it is safe, the police aux frontière typically lets us through, but it would be safer if you two do it, especially now that checks are going to get tighter.
  
  If you are interested, just send me a quick note and I will start organizing things. Let me know when you get to Lyon and I can give you more details.
  
  Good luck!
  
  ~jjx
> reply 1
* To: j3anjax@frlio
* Cc: free~phaerie@ieork,
* From: berry~finn@ieork

Hi jjx!

Thank you for the offer, we are definitely interested. We will contact you once we get to Lyon, as you said.

What is the present, by the way?

Thanks,
Finn
* Send message? [y/n]> y
* Generating message ID...
* OK: 
  42CAF44330DD6A83E7B5DE9BCD51E440
  EBA56F0F8CAC43EC6DB94938ED328A33
* Storing on HubLink 06... OK
* Message successfully queued for dispatch.
>

Finn felt relieved: things were finally falling into place.

Once he turned off the DigiHub, he looked at the time and he realized that he only had seven minutes to get on the bus! His sister would have had definitely already arrived, as usual.