Emergent, p.18
Emergent, page 18
part #1 of Cerenovo Series
Ridley was perplexed. “All she’s done?”
“I just meant that she’s been here a long time.”
Stars appeared in a pitch sky. Diane stood. “It’s late. I should go.”
She walked out into the dark street as an owl called in the distance. Rather than follow, he turned out the lights and went to bed.
John held a beer in his hand as he stretched out on Diane’s sofa. “Did you learn anything?” he asked.
“No.”
“How is he?”
“As aloof as always. I’m sorry I stayed so late. He gets so needy sometimes. I feel like a bad friend when I leave.”
John remained unconcerned. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t want to get between the two of you.”
“I think I slipped talking about Fiona. I covered it up, but…”
“Did he catch it?”
“No.”
“Don’t worry about it. She’s been the subject of tabloid gossip for decades.”
Diane said nothing. She sat on the opposite end of the sofa from him with her arms crossed. John inched closer. She remained cold. “What’s wrong?” he asked, “Did I do something?”
Diane realized that her anger was misplaced and put her arms down. “It’s not you. Did you hear the news tonight?”
“On what? That?” he said, pointing to the cacophonous wall-screen.
“Oh, right.”
He held up a tattered paperback. “I was reading Stephen King in a dark and lonely cottage. You got here just in time.”
She debated how much to tell him. In the end, she confessed that she had been a temporary millionaire.
John listened attentively. “I didn’t take you for rich, but I figured that you had sold a few patents. I wouldn’t sweat it though. The way I look at it, you’re right back where you were two years ago. You were happy then. Right?”
She refused to answer. Diane slouched, practically melting into the sofa.
“You can get a job anywhere,” he continued, “Do what you love. You can still sell more designs.”
He was a puppy begging to play. She tried not to dwell on the loss. “That processor was groundbreaking. What if that design was all I had in me? What if the digital world never comes back?”
“I don’t believe that,” he said, “In fact, that’s gotta’ be the biggest load of horse-shit I’ve ever heard you say. This is a setback. Not the end of the world.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“And on top of it all,” he said as he tickled her knee, “You’ve got me now. The Army says I’m worth a million dollars. I just gotta be dead first.”
“That’s no consolation.”
She leaned into him as he offered a protective embrace. In his arms, the world drifted away. “Sixty-million, huh? I didn’t know I had met my sugar momma.”
She teased, “Not any more. I’m gonna’ need those Army benefits.”
His hand moved to her thigh. “Gotta’ marry me for that.”
“Is that a marriage proposal?” she asked.
Neither had seen the words coming. He looked at her expectantly. “If you want it to be.”
His thoughts had slipped out, a secret emerging into the light. She squirmed as she sat upright and turned to him. His face was filled with earnest expectation. “I like you, John. I do… But it feels too soon.”
He sat upright and faced her. “I know. But I mean it. You’re under my skin. I couldn’t shake my feelings for you if I wanted.”
She tried to bring her feelings into words. This handsome soldier had stolen her away from an increasingly bleak reality. All the while, she wondered if John was a temporary distraction. “We’re good together,” was all she could muster, “But there’s no reason to rush.”
He tried to brush the moment away like a piece of lint on a clean uniform. “Just a thought. Not something to dwell on.”
Diane needed to reassure him somehow, but she hesitated. “This money thing… I’m going to toss and turn. I don’t want to keep you awake.”
“That argument again? If I’ve learned anything these last few weeks, it’s that life is short. A night spent next to you is worth losing a little sleep.”
His sincerity frightened her; his words coming at her like an artillery barrage. While her heart raced, her mind told her to slow down.
He took her hand before she could say anything. “Grab your pillow.”
“My pillow?”
“I don’t think either of us is going to sleep. Let’s go into the backyard and stare at the stars.”
John spread a blanket on the damp lawn in the tiny fenced yard. They curled up together in the cool air and stared into the brilliant spectacle above them. The Milky Way was brighter than ever, a blizzard of distant worlds.
“Whatever happens,” he said, “We will always have this.”
They stared longer. She whispered, “Do you think we will ever go up there?”
His smile was huge. “If you ask me, we’re already there.”
As the elevator remained untrustworthy, Fiona still held staff meetings in the atrium. “I’m sure that most of you have heard that bank records are gone. This means we don’t yet have a way to pay you. Samuel has kept a paper accounting of all hours worked and we’ll continue this practice as long as necessary.”
Samuel polished a pair of cufflinks with a handkerchief. “The Treasury has secondary backups stored offline. It shouldn’t be long…”
Fiona slapped the back of his head.
“What?” he asked.
“This virus was thorough. It often copies itself onto every available sector of disk storage. Unless those records were put on archival storage media, they’re gone.”
The programmers understood what Fiona meant. Cerenovo’s primary servers had been obliterated. Design schematics, patient records, staff performance appraisals, photos, and even training videos remained only on a single backup drive, which could not be powered on without the risk of corruption. For all they knew, the backup might already have been destroyed. Other companies, in their zeal to restore normality, had not been so cautious and had seen even tertiary backups corrupted.
“The Federal Reserve made a foolish and impatient decision,” she said, “Look at how many new computers the workgroup has infected already. In spite of what the Army says, anything getting power from the grid, or even exposed to the grid, is at risk until the botnet is defeated.”
A technician raised his hand. “What happens if they can’t restore the information?”
She shrugged. “Who knows. This is unprecedented. I appreciate everyone’s patience until the government sorts things out. But, we have work to do. Our patients need our assistance more than ever right now.”
John sat in the back of the college auditorium with a green notebook and ballpoint pen in hand. His thoughts kept returning to Diane. If they deployed, would she understand? Would she wait for him?
Colonel Detrick’s speech was resolute. “Congress acted quickly last week because they had to stabilize a nation that is now at war. The insurgency in India has taken advantage of the chaos of the last few months. They launched an attack against the government in Jaipur. They also bombed the US Embassy. They now control India’s nuclear arsenal.”
“Our intelligence is spotty. Fortunately, the insurgency cannot launch a missile without computer controls. That said, if they strip the warhead or drop it from a high-altitude drone, it could be detonated anywhere. Shipped into any port or carried into any city in the world. Our satellite surveillance is dead. One of these warheads might be on its way to Los Angeles, San Diego, or Seattle at this very moment”
John tried to place Jaipur on the map.
“We know you’ve been through a lot,” the Colonel said, “But the President has given the order that we defer our mission here and deploy.”
In a normal year, the soldiers would have returned to a ceremony filled with spouses holding welcome home-signs and children hugging them about their legs. In the following weeks, the unit would have reset their equipment, trained in the field, and enjoyed the downtown bars until late in the morning. Instead, they were being deployed across the Pacific Ocean.
A First-Lieutenant raised her hand. “How long do we have sir?”
“We wrap up here this week and then back to post to regroup. We fly out on the 22nd.”
Had it not been for unit discipline and the grave danger that faced the nation, there might have been a collective groan. The men and women were tired and missed their families. John wondered how he would tell Diane. He was also frightened by the thought of leaving Seattle with work left undone.
The Colonel added, “Until the botnet virus is removed completely from our systems, we use only analog technology. The use of drones is suspended. This is going to be a door-to-door fight. Horseback if necessary.”
Like the hospital, many of the military’s tools had been rendered useless. Their smart uniforms, fitted with sensors, information displays, and beacons, were now only fancy pieces of cloth. Overhead and ground-based drones were useless. Without information, what was already asymmetric warfare was even more unbalanced. The religious zealots, who beheaded school children in the streets, would see them coming.
With few options remaining, participation in the workgroup dwindled. The determined programmers sat together in Ridley’s lab. Sandy slept at Ridley’s feet.
“I’m beginning to think it’s not possible,” Yuri said.
“It has to be possible,” Fang countered, “Or we go home.”
“Then what do you propose that we do?”
“We’ve tried everything you wanted to do,” Ridley said, “Now, let’s take my approach.”
“It can’t be alive,” Yuri said.
“Humor me at the very least,” Ridley replied as he stood and walked to the whiteboard, “I think we need to fight fire with fire.”
Diane fidgeted with a pen. “Another virus?”
“We need something smarter than the botnet,” Ridley proclaimed, “A friendly intelligence that can get into every nook and cranny. One that can adapt faster than the botnet.”
The room became silent. Yuri was incredulous, “You want to let loose an even more dangerous AI?”
“It’s the only way.”
“You’re not talking specific intelligence,” Fang argued, “You’re talking actual sentience.”
Yuri scoffed, “We’ve been trying to accomplish sentience for decades. It’s a fool’s errand.”
“No, not sentience,” Ridley said, “I’m talking instinct. Think of it like a predator, a friendly t-rex.”
“To create a friendly intelligence that does what you propose is beyond what is practical,” Fang said, “Or safe.”
Diane contemplated Ridley’s idea. “Ukon’s smart algorithm identified this anomaly before it even started. We couldn’t stop it because we didn’t understand it, but now… If we created a friendly AI that adapted…”
“How?” Fang asked, “How do you create a polymorphic virus that is smart enough to hunt down another polymorphic virus?”
Ridley looked at Sandy. “If this thing is a life-form, we let evolution work for us. We use the virus itself. It will be like taming a wolf. You feed a wolf, breed it, select the friendliest puppies, eventually you get a dog that chases off the other wolves.”
Yuri had his doubts. “And just how do you tame a computer virus?”
Ridley sat down at the desk. Sandy had responded to his gaze and jumped into his lap. “That’s the question now, isn’t it? You can feed a dog. You can select for friendliness in puppies. But how do you do that with a computer virus?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Congress passed the bill without the public’s input or knowledge; the President signed it late on a Friday evening, just as the nation was distracted by the first pro sports game since the quarantine was lifted. The Mariners played the Astros in Houston.
The media had not yet recovered in any meaningful way from the Collapse. 24-hour news-cycles had been reduced to abbreviated evening reports. Word of the law did not reach the public until Monday morning. An angry group of protesters distributed a copy of the text on a street corner a few blocks from the Cerenovo building. Chatter emerged as the copy spread through the building. With wide eyes, Wes handed Ridley the copy. “Have you read this?”
Ridley read the text in disbelief. Written in response to the destruction of financial records, “The National Financial Reconciliation and Restoration Act” declared that all debt — whether federal, corporate, or personal – was null and void. Unless supported by paper or salvaged banking records no older than six weeks before the collapse, individual and corporate fortunes were reduced to zero. Individuals would retain personal assets — homes, businesses, cars, gold – but nothing more. Statutory requirements for the universal basic income were also waived; all citizens would be paid regardless of their military service, age, fertility, or education.
With the stock market a mere memory, the law also resolved the question of corporate ownership, to the detriment of shareholders and to the benefit of organized labor. After all shares that met documentation standards were accounted and approved by a federal court, employees would be rewarded the balance of a given corporation’s outstanding shares. More surprisingly, foreign ownership, even if documented, was completely dissolved.
The President ordered the Treasury to begin printing paper currency. Conveniently and suspiciously, the Treasury’s presses had only been mothballed, left intact for this type of crisis. Pallets of cash were shipped across the country within hours. The nation had declared bankruptcy. Congress had seen no choice but to press the national reset button and start over.
Cerenovo’s employees chatted about the law with each other throughout the morning, culminating in a heated discussion in the cantina. “There will be rioting in the streets,” Fiona predicted, “Not even a few hours have passed and people are already protesting on street corners.”
“Because they might have to get jobs,” Samuel mocked, “The UBI won’t be enough.”
Ridley disagreed. “No one is going to riot. People were already in hock up to their eyeballs. The only people that will be rioting will be those that held the notes.”
Fiona swirled ice in a crystal tumbler. “Like me, you mean. It galls me to think that financially we are now equals. I know better. I know how hard I’ve worked over the years. And for it just to be ripped away and given to a twenty… how old are you?”
Samuel practically screamed. “This whole universal basic income crap was always just a giveaway to the lazy and stupid. Pure unadulterated communism.”
“We were on the verge of another revolution. Congress had to do something,” Wes argued, “People were angry to begin with. Without money, how were people supposed to buy food?”
“I don’t know,” Samuel said, “Barter. The economy would have solved that. But why punish me for their problems? I’m bankrupt now.”
“Everyone is bankrupt,” Wes argued.
“Assuming the records really are gone, how would you have resolved it?” Ridley asked, “Just take people’s word for how much money was in their bank account?”
Samuel picked at a compressed soy patty with disdain. “There had to be a better way.”
Ridley pressed further, his voice tinged with sarcasm, “What, don’t you remember that one-hundred-million dollars you owed me? It was in the banking records.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
Fiona waved her hand in disdain. “Be realistic, Ridley. People like you would never have had that amount of money. And now you’re owners in this corporation? Ridiculous. Even with the UBI, most people can’t even feed themselves because they’re too busy wasting their assets on lottery tickets, Marijay cigarettes, and sex-bots.”
“Where do you get ideas like that?” Ridley asked, “Only a small fringe use their money on those things.”
“Congress wanted to right the economy,” Wes said, “With all the rioting that occurred this winter, maybe they thought this was the right time to do something drastic.”
“There was no other choice,” Ridley argued.
Samuel remained frustrated. “It was an idiotic decision. This is basic economics. Industry is already at standstill. Inflation will go through the roof now that every idiot will have money in his pocket and very little to spend it on.”
Everett and Wes ate a salad of vegetables from Ridley’s garden. “We just lost a huge percentage of our population,” Everett argued, “I don’t think inflation is going to be a concern.”
Fiona put her drink on the table. “Why do you think we’ll have excess production when the factories are still shut down? The robots and drones are idle.”
“We’ll bring them back,” Ridley said confidently.
“And just how are you going to do that?” Fiona mocked, “When we can’t even salvage bank records. People are going to starve. And then maybe you’ll believe me.”
Wes argued, “You forget how many people are unemployed. They can do what the robots were doing.”
Fiona threw her hands in the air. “Why would they? They get money anyway.”
“The UBI isn’t enough to live off,” Wes said, “Everyone knows that.”
Ridley wiped his mouth. “The government had to find a way to get cash in circulation again. This seems as fair as can be given the circumstances. Money is just a construct anyway.”
Fiona wagged her finger at him. “There is nothing fair about any of this. Look at Ukon’s owners overseas. They won’t even get shares. It was ridiculous to dissolve foreign ownership. How can they do that? I mean really,” Fiona complained, “This is going to start a trade war with the Chinese.”
“A lot of people think the Chinese released both the flu and the botnet,” Wes speculated, “As it was, they already owned half the nation and were beginning to recall debt.”
Fiona looked at Samuel “Won’t the courts be involved? I can’t imagine this nonsense standing.”
Samuel nodded his head. “It’s probably already in the Supreme Court. Now, whether they get anywhere is a different story. As much as I don’t like it, someone declared war on us. We were attacked. The 35th Amendment gave Congress and the President broad powers to address acts of war and terrorism.”
