Chapter 1 - Math Lessons
The room was dark but the three large computer monitors of my hacking rig cast ample light for me to see my desk and its contents. The monitor on the left held my e-mail and chat windows, a recent unread message still highlighted and was clearly spam with a subject line of "Lilian, 30 days to a bigger member!"
The monitor on my right had browsers and sites displayed but it was the one in the middle that held my attention at the moment.
Playing right there in front of me was a recent episode of "Bimbo or Billionaire", my new found addiction. Though not in the way most people seemed to be addicted to the show. Instead I was on episode 439 or the 461 shows broadcast so far and was carefully recording the case numbers and what they contained in to a database.
The database was my ticket to the billion dollar prize.
My obsession had started off as mere curiosity... how did they randomize the cases?
The question had led down a rabbit hole of intrigue and mystery, the show's technology was impressive and they clearly kept everything secret, including how the cases were picked.
I had spent several days hacking at the main firewalls of the shows servers to no avail and decided to approach the problem from a different angle. The cases where brought in from offsite just before the show started and the opening credits clearly showed them being transported in an armoured car. That's where I had hit pay dirt.
The armoured car company had tight physical security but they were lax on their servers and I'd penetrated it after just a few hours. It turned out the cases actually came from three different locations.
The first was the physical cases, picked up from a distribution warehouse by the airport. The second was a major accounting firm in the city and then finally to a law firm across town.
I suspected the accounting firm must be in charge of ensuring the right number of cash and bimbo symbols were in the cases, which left the law firm to attach the numbers to each case. Splitting it between two firms made sense, no one at either office knew for sure which cases contained which symbols and that ensured there wasn't any cheating by either firm going on.
Hacking the accounting firm had been more complicated than the armoured car company but it none the less fell to my skills. It didn't provided any additional information to me, though it did confirm they managed the symbols.
The law firm was more difficult, much like the show, they had top notch security. To get access to the second half of the process, I had had to go back to basics and the good old standby of the social engineering hack.
At just over 5 feet tall with traditional Asian features and thick rimmed black glasses I passed easily through what limited physical security they had in place and looked perfectly at home walking among the countless interns, legal assistants and junior partners.
A quick stop at a cubical with a computer that had been left unlocked as the tenant had taken a break delivered my virus on to the network and in minutes it was sending back to me everything I would need.
After pouring over the information from both firms I had come to one conclusion, while the cases appeared random, there was a flaw in how the firms picked the random numbers and it was possible to tip the odds in the players favour as the information I had could be used to predict the cash cases.
Which had led me to my current binge watching of all 461 episodes of the show.
Once completed I'd be able to crunch the numbers and confirm my theory. Then the hard work would start. The mathematical formula to predict the cases was complex and I'd have to be able to do it in my head as there was no way to smuggle a computer on stage, not with the costume I'd be wearing.
And worse yet, the formula needed to have some data to work with before it could be used to predict the cash cases. That meant that even the best case scenario was that I had to open at least 14 cases to get the pattern. That was 2 rounds and if I was unlucky I may not have enough focus left to do the math.
But it was a risk worth taking, the averages said I'd have to open 7 bimbo cases before I could use my knowledge and that would mean I'd have to accept all the physical changes that came with that fact. I was happy with my small breasts and thin tomboyish frame, but at 28, while I looked young, time was starting to take its toll.
The mental changes concerned me though. I'd probably have to have a least one or possibly more to get through the first 14 random cases and having watched so many episodes, I now understood how insidious the show was. It took every opportunity to undermine the contestant's mental faculties with every change, not just the last six that were labeled as mental ones.
But a billion dollars...
Chapter 2 - Opening Credits
The studio curtain raised as the theme music blared from the speakers with the applause of the live studio audience. I was still off stage and was going over the math in my head yet again using the mnemonic technics I'd come up with.
I had seen the collar of fate so many times in the episodes I'd watched and there seemed to be two different reactions to it. The first was to ignore it and the second was to fidget with it. I'd spent the better part of the last week trying to stop myself from fidgeting with it and now as the show began my hand was once more moving it about as if it was made of wool and irritating my skin.
"Yes folks it's time to answer the question that is on all of our minds... Is she a... Bimbo or Billionaire!" the announcer's voice came across the PA system and the audience roared in response.
Soon I'd have to start opening cases and the work would begin, but before that there were introductions to do. I need to make sure everything went smoothly, while I wasn't actually cheating the game, I certainly didn't want to give them any reason to stop the show or disqualify me before I had won.
"Thanks Dan, now to get to today's contestant... Lilian!" the crowd cheered as I walked on to the set, smiling and waving, trying to be as confidant in my appearance as I was in my math skills..
"Hi Lilian, are you excited to be here today?"
"Sure am Jack, excited and ready to play all the way to the end!"
"That's great Lilian, now on your information form under career, you list 'hacker', is that true?"
"Sure is Jack, I spend the last 10 years working in the information security field, hacking in to some of the most secure networks in the world. Of course all legally, having been hired by those same firms to prove their security!" Expect my recent forays in to the show, but they didn't need to know about those.
"Wow, Lilian, that's quite impressive. That might make you one of the smartest contestants we've ever had on the show! It's says here you're a member of Mensa and graduated 2 years early from university. That's an amazing accomplishment, if you don't mind me asking, what's your IQ?"
"Well Jack, that's kind of a personal question..." I said winking, "but I guess I could let you know, 149." Cheers came from the audience, I knew they liked nothing better than seeing a highly intelligent woman lose.
"That's incredible Lilian. Well we will get to some more about you later in the show, but now I have just one more question for you... are you ready to play?"
The crowd echoed Jack's question as he asked it and I knew it was time to get serious again.
"I'm ready Jack, let's get going!"
"Ok Lilian, let's get a few housekeeping items out of the way and we can get going. First off I'd like to bring everyone's attention to our case girl Chrissi!"
As always the spotlight highlighted Chrissi and the buxom blonde bimbo waved and giggled as the crowd cheered and whistled. I had heard the next line so many times I almost lip synced along with it.
"Chrissi was the unluckiest contestant to ever play our game here and opened twelve bimbo cases in a row. But we just couldn't let her leave with nothing so instead we didn't let her leave at all and she's been with us ever since!
In the back of the studio we also have the fine technical folks who are operating the Collar of Fate tonight, we won't get a chance to see them but we'll certainly see their work on stage!
And of course we cannot forget our generous benefactor, who has put up the billion dollar prize! Our mystery man that we simply call 'The Accountant'". As always the pitch black area above the columns of monitors was backlit revealing a person sitting at a desk but obscured in darkness.
"Of course you all know our board, two sides with twelve steps each, revealed one at a time as the cases are opened. As always the cash side starts at a penny and works its way up to one billion dollars!
