Pure Bollocks Issue 22_020

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

Pure Bollocks

 · 5 years ago

  

 
                         ---------------------------- 

                         *  F  E  A  T  U  R  E  S  * 

                         ---------------------------- 

                            THE PRESIDENT'S BUNKER 

 

Recently, a telephone fanatic in the   northwest made an interesting discovery. 
He was exploring the  804  area  code  (Virginia)  and  found  out that the 840 
exchange did something strange. 
    In the vast majority of cases, in fact  in  all of the cases except one, he 
would get a recording as if  the  exchange  didn't exist. However, if he dialed 
804-840 and four rather predictable numbers, he got a ring! 
    After one or two rings, somebody picked up.  Being experienced at this kind 
of thing, he could tell that the  call  didn't "supe", that is, no charges were 
being incurred for  calling  this  number.  (Calls  that  get  you  to an error 
message, or a special operator,  generally  don't  supervise.)  A female voice, 
with a hint of a Southern accent said, 
    "Operator, can I help you?" 
    "Yes," he said, "What number have I reached?" 
    "What number did you dial, sir?" 
    He made up a number that was similar. 
    "I'm sorry that is not the number you reached."  Click. 
    He was fascinated.  What in the world  was  this?   He knew he was going to 
call back, but before he did, he tried  some more experiments. He tried the 840 
exchange in several other area codes.  In some, it came up as a valid exchange. 
In others, exactly the same thing  happened  --  the same last four digits, the 
same Southern belle.  Oddly  enough,  he  later  noticed,  the  areas worked in 
seemed to travel in a beeline from Washington DC to Pittsburgh, PA. 
    He called back from a payphone.  "Operator, can I help you?" 
    "Yes, this is the phone company.  I'm  testing  this line and we don't seem 
to have an identification on your circuit.  What office is this, please?" 
    "What number are you trying to reach?" 
    "I'm not trying to reach any number.  I'm trying to identify this circuit." 
    "I'm sorry, I can't help you." 
    "Ma'am, if I don't get an ID on  this line, I'll have to disconnect it.  We 
show no record of it here." 
    "Hold on a moment, sir." 
    After about a minute, she came  back.   "Sir,  I  can have someone speak to 
you. Would you give me your number, please?" 
    He had anticipated this and he had the payphone number ready. After he gave 
it, she said, "Mr. XXX will get right back to you." 
    "Thanks."  He hung up the  phone.   It  rang.   INSTANTLY!  "Oh my God," he 
thought, "They weren't asking for my number -- they were confirming it!" 
    "Hello," he said, trying to sound authoritative. 
    "This is Mr. XXX.  Did you just make   an inquiry to my office concerning a 
phone number?" 
    "Yes.  I need an identi--" 
    "What you need is advice.  Don't  ever  call  that number again. Forget you 
ever knew it." 
    At this point our friend got so  nervous  he  just hung up.  He expected to 
hear the phone ring again but it didn't. 

    Over the next few days he racked  his  brains trying to figure out what the 
number was.  He knew it was something  big  --  that was pretty certain at this 
point.  It was so big that the  number was programmed into every central office 
in the country.  He knew this because if  he  tried to dial any other number in 
that exchange, he'd get a local error  message  from his CO, as if the exchange 
didn't exist. 
    It finally came to him.  He had  an  uncle  who worked in a federal agency. 
He had a feeling that this  was  government  related  and  if it was, his uncle 
could probably find out what  it  was.   He  asked  the  next day and his uncle 
promised to look into the matter. 
    The next time he saw his uncle, he  noticed a big change in his manner.  He 
was trembling.  "Where did you get that  number?!"  he shouted.  "Do you know I 
almost got fired for asking about it?!?  They  kept wanting to know where I got 
it." 
    Our friend couldn't contain  his  excitement.   "What  is  it?" he pleaded. 
"What's the number?!" 
    "IT'S THE PRESIDENT'S BOMB SHELTER!" 
    He never called the number  after  that.   He  knew  that he could probably 
cause quite a bit of  excitement  by  calling  the  number and saying something 
like, "The weather's not good in  Washington.   We're coming over for a visit." 
But our friend was smart.  he knew that there were some things that were better 
off unsaid and undone. 

          (A fucking great story from the Official Phreaker's Guide) 

                                  ----------- 
                                  Jolly Roger 

 
            ------------------------------------------------------