Ange--Journal Entry

Dear Journal,

Last night, I went to Jolu's so-called party. It was actually something called a web of trust key exchange. It's where we use encrypted messages to talk to each other, but need a cipher to decrypt the messages. The ciphers are called keys, and we each take people we trust and create keys, then exchange them. It's a lot of fun, actually! It being a party was actually just a cover-up story, in case the cops found us. They would just assume that it was a drunken beach party (complete with real alcohol!).
     One guy stood out. He and Jolu (whom I have known since kindergarten) were the ones behind this secret key exchanging party. The guy's name was Marcus. He really seemed to know his stuff. At first, I didn't understand this web of trust thing, but he explained it like it was a breeze, and he didn't make me look (or feel) stupid. He seemed very nice.
     They took out a laptop that they had built in one night (wow! In one night!!!), and opened it up to show us a key generating program. We just hit a few random keys, and the machine did the rest. All we had to do was take a picture, then walk around to let the other people take pictures. He made it seem all super serious by saying, "Oh, guys! You have to delete the photos once you type them into your computer!" It seemed like we were now part of a super awesome secret society!
      When everyone was done (a considerable amount of time later), he stood up on a rock. He said, "What if you can't trust me? What if you can't trust this computer? What if I saved all of this stuff on it? Well, I'll tell you what. If I had done that, then I could turn you all in to the DHS! You'd be done." Woah. Not anticipated. What if he really was lying about all of this trust stuff? Maybe I had done the wrong thing!
     "But I'm not lying!"
     How can you prove it, mister? I didn't ask, because I knew the answer was coming.
     "And that's why I'm gonna prove it!"
     Then he did something I did not see coming. Marcus hopped off of the rock, and slammed the computer down onto it. He grinned and pulled a hammer out of his belt. He started smashing the computer to pieces! The crowd cheered and cheered and cheered. I cheered my throat raw without even realising it. I now knew that I could trust some people. It was a great feeling.
     After he had smashed the poor computer to smithereens, he shook out a big garbage bag with miniature holes poked into in. He dumped whatever he could pick up into it, though the smaller bits of computer were harder to grab, so he just left them. "Now!" Marcus announced, "I will go down and soak the computer in salt water for 10 minutes!" I laughed and went with him. We were alone, and it was a beautiful view. I think it was...a spiritual moment. Nothing happened between us, but in spirit, we exchanged something. I don't know. But, I do know that it was a beautiful moment.
Off to bed, now!
Sincerely,
Ange ;)

Ange was Marcus's girlfriend in the book. They met on that day, which was important because if it didn't occur, Marcus wouldn't have met a significant character in the book.
     Ange helped maintain M1k3y's blog and email, acting as him a lot of the time. She also affected Marcus's life a lot (she really helped him out with a lot of the decisions he made). She also affected his life: he wanted to stay with her instead of starting a safe life underground, with Zeb. Eventually, she decided to go with him, and they pulled a stunt to get the DHS's attention away from them, so they could escape. Marcus escaped, but Ange wasn't so lucky. If it weren't for Zeb, Marcus would've gone back to Ange and would've gotten caught as well.