The Citadel

The Citadel


The Citadel was a  building on the south coast. Although it had the look of a castle, this was an illusion. The battlements were far too small to be of any use to men-at-arms. The protection was provided by state-of-the-art equipment. The modern-day men-at-arms in the Citadel were fighting a cyber-war. They were protected by eight protocols which were changed on a random basis.

Naturally, the protocols were top secret. This means they were available to anyone with a computer and access to the internet. Hackers are no respecters of persons.

My son, who worked at the citadel, was coming home on holiday that weekend.

“I am forbidden to tell you which protocol will be in action. I am not allowed to inform you.”

All of his phone and WhatsApp messages were monitored of course. I didn’t need him to tell me which protocol was in action.

One protocol was called ALAL which, as you can see, repeated itself. The fact that he had engaged in a little tautology was all I needed.

I passed this information on to my daughter who is a bit of hacker in her own right.

That weekend the citadel was destroyed. It was obliterated. It has ceased to exist.

My son is seeking employment and looking for work!

Postscript – In other news, Uncle Vladimir sent us a smashing Christmas present.


Derek McMillan is a writer in Durrington in the UK. His editor is his wife, Angela. He has written for print and online publications in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada. His latest book is an audio-book with the cheerful title, "Murder from Beyond the Grave" which is available on eBay.




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