The Hackers of Silicon Valley

CHARACTERS


ARIEL        A twenty year old graphic design artist working for Apple computers. She lives with Jason and is the girlfriend of Brian and Joe. Ariel is into new age beliefs and is shy.

JASON    A twenty three year old code debugger, working for Apple computers with Ariel. He is logical, calm, trustworthy, and a good person.

ROGER    A forty year old cybercrime detective. He is the detective who is searching for the hacker of Ariel and Jason’s computers. He is very talented and comes from an Arab background.

BRIAN    A twenty five year old former cyber criminal, who is very honest and has seen the error of his ways. He is Ariel’s boyfriend and is a warm and positive person.

JOE    A twenty year old cyber criminal, who has violent ideations. He is the antagonist named ‘TheFalcon’ online. He has hacked computers in the past, but has never been caught.

SETTING

The play is set in an Apple computer programmers’ house in Eastern San Jose, Alba Court. In their house are three desktop computers on the south wall, with one laptop for Ariel. Towards the north wall and middle of the room are sleeping bags. There is a window on the east wall, which faces the audience. There is no west wall, as the room has only three walls and is open to view by the audience. The other setting for the play is in the Apple computers campus in South San Jose, which is the same room as the share house.




SCENE 1


ARIEL

What’s up, Jason? How are you crystal jock? You know we only have 30 days left before the deadline for the visualiser project.

JASON

Hi, Ariel. I’m just going through the code to find any errors you may have missed. Making the world’s first music visualiser, which transfers sound into images is bloody hard work. Especially, the debugging phase is very draining. You know I’ve looked through three hundred pages of code in the last 24 hours. I haven’t slept since the night before last.

ARIEL (sits down on her laptop to the left of JASON)

Do you like the graphics? They’re kind of cool, don’t you think? I mean I was going for a psych feel to it. Are you happy with that?

JASON

I don’t really like the psych stuff. I think that a futuristic cyberpunk layout would be better. As the prime code debugger I need something simplistic, which can be coded easily. A psych look will just complicate the coding process further.

ARIEL

I guess the psych look comes from my interest in black magic, the big dark, and wacky things like that. Would you mind if you gave me a joint, Jason?

(JASON hands ARIEL a joint of marijuana.)

JASON

Well, black magic might be your forte, but I really think that it’s all crap really.

ARIEL

Well, look who’s smoking. I haven’t even taken a puff and you’re calling me delusional.

JASON

Calm down, Ariel. I’m sick of your defensive attitude. That’s all I’ve been getting from you this last week. I might go to bed. It’s already eleven.

ARIEL

I’ll chat a bit on my laptop with the guys from Microsoft.

JASON

Goodnight, Ariel. Just keep the noise down.

(ARIEL starts chatting on the computer on an alt.yahoo.newsgroup briefly, which comes up on the multimedia screen above the east wall and goes to bed. The two wake up in the morning, with JASON starting his computer.)

JASON (sitting down on his computer on the south wall and checking his project)

Hey, Ariel. Do you know where the data is? I can’t seem to find the project. Do you have a copy?

ARIEL (grabs her laptop and sitting on a sleeping bag, legs sprawled)

No, I can’t seem to find it either.

(JASON looks through the logs on ARIEL’s computer.)

JASON

Who on Earth is ‘TheFalcon’? He said he was going to delete our files. You even joked with him about it. Look here he says: ‘Your coding is a pile of crap. I’m going to delete it, so Apple can die. I’m even going to kill Bill Gates while I’m at it.’ And you go: ‘Lol. I dare you to actually do it.’

(The conversation comes up on a multimedia screen at the top of the east wall.)

ARIEL

I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jason.

JASON

What are you playing at? Did you delete the files? No one else had access to it last night.

ARIEL

Why would you accuse me of such a thing? It’s my work as well.

JASON

Why did you talk to such a psychopath? He joked about killing Bill Gates. Is he your boyfriend or something?

(ARIEL collapses to the floor on her purple sleeping bag and curls up in a ball, while crying hysterically.)

ARIEL

I’m so sorry. I would never delete our files. You know I wouldn’t.

JASON

I better call the police and report it. I don’t know for sure if you did it, Ariel. But, I think it probably would be someone working for Microsoft. ‘TheFalcon’ guy seems pretty suspect and disturbed. We need to alert our boss and the police to find the perpetrator.

(JASON calls the San Jose police department on a landline phone and asks to talk to a cybercrime detective. JASON paces the room as he waits for an answer.)

ROGER (positioned on the other side of the south wall, sitting on a chair with an old school telephone)

Hi, I’m Roger. I’m the chief cybercrime detective for San Jose police. What’s up?

JASON

Hi, Roger. Me and my friends are working for Apple computers in Silicon Valley. Last night someone deleted our work. The only person we suspect was a man or woman named, ‘TheFalcon.’ They joked with our friend Ariel about deleting our work and killing Bill Gates. We need to know who was on the server at the time and if they have a history of cybercrime?

ROGER

Sure. First, I’ll use AltaVista to find if ‘TheFalcon’ is on any sites online.

(Sound of clicking on a keyboard, as the multimedia screen shows the search engine.)

ROGER (cont.)

I can’t find any info on this guy. I’ll check who was on the Apple server last night and crosscheck that with the cybercrime database.

(Sound of clicking on a keyboard. The database comes up on the multimedia screen.)

ROGER (cont.)

We have a match. A man named Brian Dilloway was on the server last night. He has a history of framing twelve Apple employees for theft, by stealing their credit card details in 1991. He is twenty five years old and has been on a good behaviour bond for the past two years. We need to interview him at the Apple campus.

JASON

Alright. I’ll drive over there in my car and meet you in half an hour.

ROGER

Goodbye.

(JASON hangs up the phone and gets into his Mazda 626 Car to drive to the Apple campus. The car is on stage to the right of the room and is made of cardboard.)

END OF SCENE 1




















SCENE 2

ARIEL

What do I do, Brian? You’re in trouble now for being on the server. I know that Joe is the ‘TheFalcon’ and the hacker. He’s paranoid, delusional, and psychotic. I’m really worried that Joe will beat me up if I tell the police the truth. He beats me with his fists at the slightest misunderstanding. I can’t just break off our friendship cold turkey. I prefer you Brian, but if he finds out I’ll be in real trouble. If I don’t give them the info you might have to go back to jail. I’m even a suspect now for chatting with him online. I think I need to tell the police what’s going on. When you get interviewed Brian maybe you can tell them? Do you want to head off for the East coast of America and go into a witness protection program, so he can’t track us down?  There are computer companies in Florida, who can take us on. But you know, I don’t want to bone out. If Joe gets caught he’ll fly into a psychotic rage. I don’t want to die or lose my job by being involved with him. I’m only twenty two and if I get framed I’ll be in jail. My Bachelor of IT will be worth nothing. I’ll lose my graphic design job or Joe will kill me. Please, can you help me Brian?

END OF SCENE 2











SCENE 3

ROGER

Hi, Brian. Are you aware that the Apple server was hacked into last night? Jason and his friends lost all their programming data. You have a history of hacking computers and are still on a good behaviour bond. Do you admit guilt or have any info regarding the hacking?

BRIAN (turns his head around to respond)

No, I do not admit guilt. At the time of the hacking I was on the server at my parents’ house in North San Jose, but it was on idle. My mother Belinda and my father Bruce can vouch for my location. I do have information about who the hacker is. I think the man who committed the crime is Joe Stolwitz. I have witnessed him joking online about sabotaging programmers’ work and killing Bill Gates under the username, ‘TheFalcon.’ I’ve seen him on the alt.yahoo.newsgroup late at night. That man is like a tin of fermented sardines. You can’t trust him, he’ll just stab you in the back if you get close.

(ARIEL enters the computer room and puts her arm around BRIAN’s shoulder and takes a seat next to Brian on her laptop.)

ARIEL

Why are you interviewing my boyfriend, Brian? I can’t believe that you think he is the hacker.

ROGER

Ariel, we are interviewing him because he is a suspect. I heard from Jason that you chatted with ‘TheFalcon’ at the time of the crime. Brian has just revealed that he believes that ‘TheFalcon’ is the hacker. Can you support his claim?

    (ARIEL is silent for 15 seconds.)

JASON (standing beside ROGER)

I think that Ariel knows something about this that she isn’t letting on. She isn’t answering your questions. She was on the chat with ‘TheFalcon’ and basically egged him on.

ARIEL

Sure, I egged him on. But I don’t know who he or she is. To destroy my work would be kamikaze suicide. I would never do such a thing.

BRIAN

I don’t think that Ariel had anything to do with it. She actually confirmed my suspicion that Joe is guilty in a conversation earlier.

ARIEL

I didn’t confirm your suspicion, Brian. I don’t know why you would say that.

BRIAN

I still believe that Stolwitz is the man. He’s very aggressive and disturbed. I suspect that this case will end in violence on his part. Me and Ariel need protection from this man. Perhaps you can provide us with security, Roger.

ROGER

I understand your concern, Brian. But, we need to investigate both you and Stolwitz first. If Ariel can confirm this information, we may be able to secure an arrest and give you protection if needed.

(A young man enters the room and stares down BRIAN.)

BRIAN

That guy is the hacker! It’s ‘TheFalcon.’

(ROGER brings out his taser gun and points it at Joe, ready to tackle him while listening intently.)

JOE (talking animatedly with his hands)

Brian, get the hell away from my girlfriend!

BRIAN (points aggressively at JOE and his hand shakes a little bit)

She isn’t your girlfriend. You’ve ruined her life. You’ve been cheating on me with Ariel. She told me what you were up to on the server. What have you got to say for yourself, scumbag?

JOE

Ariel isn’t your girlfriend. Brian, you take the high moral ground, but essentially I’ve done nothing wrong. I did joke about killing Bill Gates, but I haven’t acted on any of my threats.

ARIEL (gesturing to her chest)

I need to get something off my chest. Roger, Joe is the hacker. I’ve been concealing his identity, because he’s my boyfriend. I don’t want anything to do with him ever again. Joe, you stole my friend’s lives. I thought I would hide and protect you out of love, but now I realise that you are scum.

JOE (in tears)

I thought you were my friend, Ariel. You guys are framing me for a crime I didn’t commit. You’ve both betrayed my trust and will pay for it.

ROGER

So you are the hacker of the Apple server? I have grounds for your arrest.

(ROGER tackles JOE and tries to handcuff him. JOE escapes his grip and punches at BRIAN. BRIAN punches back, but ROGER gets on top of him and manages to get the handcuffs on JOE, who is screaming.)

JOE

I’ll get you, Brian! This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, scumbag.

BRIAN (laying of the floor and injured)

You get what you deserve pig. Joe, Ariel is never for you.

JOE

I’ve got friends who’ll hurt you dude. I know people who will pay you back.

ARIEL (screaming and pointing at JOE)

Just shut up Joe! I don’t want you anymore.

(ROGER leads JOE out of the room.)

JASON

I’m really sorry, Ariel. I shouldn’t have doubted you.

(JASON pats ARIEL on the head as she cries.)

JASON (cont.)

Brian, are you okay dude?

BRIAN

No, I feel sick. I think I need to go to the hospital.

JASON

We’ll head off there now. Ariel, you look really sick and in shock. I think you should come with us.

ARIEL

I’m so sorry, Jason. It’s all my fault.

JASON

It isn’t your fault, Ariel. C’mon, we need to go off to the hospital.

(JASON helps ARIEL and BRIAN to walk off stage as they come out of the dark oppression of the computer room.)

END OF SCENE 3