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Antibodies

Charles Stross

2005
Prediction Encryption Computers

Perspicacious look at our possible technological future. It starts as somebody discovers or devises a computer algorithm to crack all encryption in a much shorter time, rendering all financial and other secure computer traffic untrustworthy, and hence obsolete. Of course, the dark forces underpinning the fabric of our society are concerned, and the discoverer is soon found dead. However, the narrator has also seen the algorithm and had it verified, and goes on the run with some colleagues. Then, it gets really good, and strange, and mind-blowing, as we find out who our narrator really is... This is an absolutely excellent short story, and a thoroughly recommended read. This book and many others can be found in its entirety at http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/toast.html#antibodies