The Rise of the Speaker

by Pete Driscoll

  “Wow…” Penny had long since stopped tapping at her screen, her attention fixed solely on me and my story of Maria. “…I know I asked for ‘personal’ but I never thought I would get this level of… well… personal!”

  I nodded, still remembering the warmth of that night and the depths of affection I have only ever experienced with Maria. I paused as I thought how to respond to Penny’s statement. “Principles, morals, ethical boundaries… they are a fiction!” I stated slowly, noting the brief look of concern on the writer’s face. She had picked her tablet back up now and was waiting for me to finish.

  “All of those things are fine in theory, and easy to stand by when they are only ever attacked in theory. But when they are attacked for real, you realised that they are a compromise… a balancing act between the strength of your convictions and the levels you are willing to go to defend them. At some point, you find yourself approaching the limits of your moral boundaries, then it becomes a choice… do you compromise your principles, or your boundaries?

  Penny hadn’t started typing yet, her knowledge of our nations brief history meant she knew the times when this compromise had to be made and as distasteful as some methods had been, she was self-aware enough to realise she was enjoying the fruits of their labour.

  “It was Maria who taught me that, or more accurately, it was my reaction to her…” I hadn’t spoken about these events in decades, the emotional hurdle being much harder to deal with than I’d hoped. Even after all this time, the pain was still… raw

  “… to her… death.” I swallowed the lump that had grown in my throat.

  “You see, Penny. As cliché as it sounds, I had found something in Maria, something I hadn’t even realised I was looking for. I was at the highest point of my life and it all fell apart in front of me, it wasn’t the fact that it fell apart, we will all experience grief at some point in our lives… it was the WAY it fell apart and what caused it to fall at all. My reaction to that is why we are all here. It all started with Maria… There was only ever Maria… and losing her changed the world.”

  “Marcus… I …”

  “Its ok, Penny,” I interrupted her, trying to choke back the tears that were starting to cloud my vision. “you wanted the human side of the story, and human stories come with human emotions. These ones are just particularly hard to deal with.”

  We were back on the balcony now, the afternoon sun high in the sky and its warm glow reflected off every visible surface in the city. Under normal circumstances I would have been awe struck by its beauty. But there was a part of me that knew that one incredible woman had to lose her life for any of it to exist and as beautiful and inspirational as Atlantia was… I wasn’t sure if I would’ve given it all up just to look into those eyes one more time.

  Three weeks later and the day of the big move had arrived. There was never a need for my ideas as Alice had pretty much everything covered, although I doubt the word ‘covered’ comes close to doing her plans justice.

  Alice had decided that moving her core to that cabin with no machinery, no help outside Maria and myself and no raised suspicions in either our staff or anyone watching us was impossible. She had then announced, much to my surprise, that she had devised a way to transfer her engrams – her consciousness - to another memory core of sufficient size providing it was attached to a power supply and completely blank, so we had toyed with the idea of building a new core at the cabin and her just ‘sending’ herself to it. But the practicalities of moving a core and building a new one seemed have the same problems so that idea was abandoned too.

  “Ok, well here is my last theory.” She had suggested to Maria and me after we reluctantly agreed that neither moving, nor burying, nor building a core were viable options. A flashing myriad of images, diagrams, schematics and circuitry maps started flashing across the large plasma screen as Maria and I sat staring at it – I had bought Maria an office chair for my lab as a playful one week anniversary gift and it had certainly come in useful.

  I was struggling to make out what we were looking at, there were lots of familiar schematics and diagrams but quite a lot more that were completely foreign to me. I looked over to Maria to see if she was understanding it any better than I was, her furrowed brow and bewildered look told me she wasn’t.

  “Nope, not getting this.” Maria finally said in surrender.

  “Maybe if I overlap them and compile the images like this…” Alice had replied, sounding more than a little proud of herself. The images started to morph and blend into a three-dimensional engineering blueprint of something that was starting to look familiar.

  My eyes shot open. “It cant be…”

  “It is” Alice answered smugly

  “but that’s…. impossible!”

  “and yet, here it is.”

  Suddenly, Maria realised what I was looking at and her jaw hit the floor. A Quantum memory core is one of those theoretically possible technologies that are usually only seen on TV shows; like warp drive, time travel and lightsabres. Yes, technically speaking, the science was sound, but the technology needed to realise those scientific principles was centuries away, so not many people ever gave them much thought. A quantum core used lasers, crystals and energy modulation and to store and compute absolutely incomprehensible amounts of data. It was cube shaped, the outside surfaces made of a polymer plastic which was both transparent and incredibly strong, in each interior corner of the cube was a blue laser aimed towards the centre where, suspended by six metallic looking rods, a very large clear crystal intersected all four lasers.

  The concept was that data was written onto the crystal in the same way that data was written onto a CD, expect the data could be overwritten trillions of times by simply modulating the energy frequency of the lasers. Think of it like a book; you write on a piece of paper, then turn the page and write on the next, the information on those pages is in the same book, but physically separated by the thickness of the paper. The same principle applied in the crystal, but the data was separated by the frequencies used to write it; the same part of the crystal could be written on over and over again in just a slightly different frequency of energy without deleting what was already there and each piece of information could be accessed almost instantly.

  The reason why this had been practically impossible until now was that the crystal itself had to be completely free of impurities, something which simply didn’t happen in naturally forming crystals. So, she had developed a way to grow synthetic ones. Modern lasers were not precise enough to be modulated on such a tiny scale, so she had designed new ones and current microchips that would be needed to control the whole process were completely redesigned with her new coding language as part of their matrix making them, not necessarily faster, but defiantly more capable.

  What this meant was that a quantum memory core the size of a standard desktop computer could hold trillions upon trillions of terabytes of information. This was a system that could store the entire contents of the internet a million times over and still be less than half full. It could be built at the lab, transported by a normal courier service to the cabin and even plugged in on the other end by the damned mailman if we paid a little extra.

  She’d done all of this in one night… then played chess against herself.

  “Yeah, maybe you should have led with that” I slumped back into my chair after Maria and I had gawked at the schematics for a few hours, only the odd exclamation of surprise and astonishment breaking the stunned silence.

  “One of my ideas might still be worth considering.” I proposed after we had all settled on the new plan. “But I don’t think you’re going to like it.” I added looking at Maria.

  “well that sounds ominous” she replied.

  “I’m thinking we should placate the military with something, get them off our backs for a bit.”

  “You’re right,” she said, her eyes squarely on me, “…I’m not going to like this.”

  “Look, hear me out, if you say no
then I won’t push the matter. What if we gave them Alice’s encryption algorithm? The one she used to secure our files. It can’t be cracked, can’t be reversed engineered, they wouldn’t even be able to access the internal working parts of the program without Alice’s help – which they wouldn’t get – and it can only be used to secure their own files. How much damage can that do?”

  Maria paused for a second, surprising me by not dismissing the idea outright. She turned to Alice, “you tell me, Alice. How much damage could they do with your algorithm? Could it be weaponised? Could they reverse engineer the code and use it to access any system they want like you do? Could it be used to do harm, to anyone, in anyway, at all?”

  “Not much, no, no and I doubt it.” Alice replied contritely.

  “You’re gonna have to better than that” Maria scorned.

  “Ok, it can’t be weaponized, and, as Marcus has said, they couldn’t reverse engineer the algorithm or even gain access to the code without my assistance – which I would not provide. The only way I could imagine it being used to cause harm was if the military encrypted someone else’s systems to stop them accessing their own information. But, as each matrix is monitored by me, that would be easy to prevent. The most likely application this algorithm would have would be to encrypt their own communication systems.” She answered, heeding Maria’s withering glare.

  “Which could be used to call in airstrikes on hospitals.” Maria retorted.

  “They can do that with the technology they already have” I cut in, choosing not to address the obvious fallacy that the military has even bombed a hospital intentionally. “Our tech won’t make that any easier for them.”

  “I would also be in a position to monitor all encrypted military communications,” Alice added, “so if they were planning anything against Itek…” she left that hanging there.

  “Plus, giving them something they can definitely benefit from might get them to leave us alone with any other technologies that they might benefit from.” I could see Maria’s expression soften a bit as the logic dawned on her. “Eventually, if we keep playing hardball with them, they will just come here and try to take it, or they will get a court to order us to give it to them. Then they get everything.”

  “ok,” Maria finally said after a long and thoughtful pause. “I see your point; I will give it some thought. But first we need to get Alice out of here and to relative safety. There is no guarantee that giving them the algorithm won’t simply pique their interest and they come sniffing to see what else we have.”

  “agreed.” I answered quickly, this possibility had occurred to me as well, especially once the military realised that they couldn’t access the source code of the algorithm and wanted to explore other applications for it. They might not come sniffing for other techs, but there was a distinct possibility that they would come to get a better look at the one they already had.

  Chapter 6

  Blake and Reaves

  Over the following weeks, Maria and I had toiled relentlessly over the new core. Building new components to Alice’s incredibly specific specifications. We watched as – over the course of a few days – a mixture of chemicals and carefully modulated energy pulses coagulated and formed into a perfectly pure and surprisingly beautiful misty coloured crystal. The whole thing was assembled – an oddly simply phrase to describe the complexities of building a completely new piece of tech that I hadn’t designed myself - packed into a shipping crate with a power lead sticking out of one corner, handed off to a courier and sent on its way. The delivery driver had specific instructions to take the crate inside the cabin when he got there and plug it in to any wall socket he could find. We were holding back all payment until Alice told us the core was online.

  Two days later, I sat in my lab, watching the security feeds in bated breath, as Maria had her meeting with the military. A couple of generals, some adjutants and a lawyer sat on one side of the table in our newly minted conference room, while Maria – alone – sat opposite them. Her face was a picture of calm, collected confidence despite me knowing that was the opposite of how she felt.

  “We were surprised to receive your offer Dr Gonzalez.” One of the generals started, “we had come to the understanding that you and your company were somewhat …. Hostile…. To the US government.”

  Maria feigned a confused look which was surprisingly convincing. “I’m not sure how you would come to that conclusion. To my knowledge, neither me nor my company have ever had any dealings with the US government.”

  “Let’s not play games here doctor,” the second general spoke up. “Everybody in this room knows we have been interested in your solar panel technology for some time. From our perspective, it seems that you have gone to an inordinate amount of trouble to prevent us from getting it.”

  “Ah… that” Maria replied after a pause. She then went on to tell the tale of James Donovan, his development of the original solar panels and their purchase and subsequent burial by the now defunct oil company. “You see…” she continued, “the oil company, by their use – or more accurately, their lack of use – of this technology, allowed damage to be done the environment. That is something that we at this company feel very strongly about, so we added in a clause to all of our contracts to ensure this didn’t happen again. We didn’t even consider how it would affect a contract with the government. It was an oversight on our part…”

  “…and one that can’t be remedied until the license expires… in about 23 years.” The first general nodded in understanding.

  Damn, this woman was good.

  “Be that as it may, Dr Gonzalez,” the second general interred again, “but your views on the military, and how our use of certain technologies offends your delicate sensibilities, is well documented!”.

  “That’s enough Doug.” The first general interrupted with a calm yet authoritative voice.

  “Well, I haven’t heard a denial.” The second general – Doug – persisted

  “Doug…” the first general’s strained patience evident in his tone.

  “I’m waiting for…”

  Doug didn’t get to finish his sentence. “Dr Gonzalez,” the first – and now obviously the higher ranked – general interrupted, “I hate to make requests in another person’s house” the man’s southern drawl and the southerners famously well-mannered personality now shining through, “but would you be kind as to give us the room for a few minutes? My colleague and I need to have a little chat.”

  Maria simply nodded and left the room. Alice and I were still monitoring the room through the security feeds from my lab.

  “Look Morgan,” the second general started, “that fucking bitch is….”

  ‘Morgan’ raised his hand, instantly silencing ‘Doug’. “First of all, this isn’t the golf course.” The senior man’s tone was now razor sharp. “You will address me as General, or sir! Second of all, this department is now under MY command. We tried things your way for years, they didn’t work. Now it’s time to try them my way!”

  “I don’t just report to you General”, Doug said with no attempt to hide irritation or contempt in his voice for Morgan’s title, “I have been ordered by the deputy director of the CIA to get this technology by any means necessary.”

  Morgan rose from his chair in one swift motion, turning and bearing his full gaze down on the now silent Doug. “Well, Doug, I will see your Deputy Director of the CIA and raise you the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, The Secretary of Defence, The Secretary of Homeland Security and – by association – the President of the FUCKING United States! Now, I will say this for the last time, you tried the stick, I’m trying the carrot, if I want your opinion on that – or anything else – I will god damn give it to you! Are we clear?!?”

  “yes.”

  “Yes what!”

  “Yes, Sir”. The man had visibly shrunk in his seat.

  “Right,” Morgan said, sitting back down and turning to one of the aides, all of whom were busy trying not to be noticed
, “Can you please ask Dr Gonzalez if she could re-join us.”

  A few moments later, Maria re-entered the room and took her seat, she gave a brief glance at Doug, who in turn was trying to look anywhere other than at his superior or Maria.

  “I apologise for that Doctor,” Morgan started again, his voice amazingly calm considering the berating he had just handed out, “I think we…” he stopped himself, apparently rethinking his line of conversation. He sighed, took off his glasses and placed them on the table in front of him. “Look, Dr Gonzalez, you’re an intelligent woman and I’m not going to insult that intelligence with platitudes. My colleague here is part of the ‘old guard’, the way they handled negotiations like this – especially if they didn’t go their way – has given the military something of a reputation; a well-deserved one, I’m sorry to say.”

  Maria said nothing, waiting for the man to continue.

  “But the world is changing,” Morgan continued, “and so is the way we wage war. We have – for example – been at war with China and Russia in almost every sense of the word, for decades. Trade wars, political and diplomatic war and – more relevant to our meeting here – cyber war, without even a single shot having been fired. We have over 2,000 ICBMs in silo’s all around the country, a thousand or so more if you include bombs and sub launched missiles, but they may as well be paperweights if a kid with a laptop from North Korea can shut down Norad.”

  Maria’s face was still expressionless as she continued to listen.

  “In the past 12 months alone, the military and the NSA have thwarted over a dozen cyber-attacks on the civilian infrastructure of this country. Hospitals without power, airports without air traffic control, stock market crashes, election manipulation and that’s even before we consider attacks on military targets. The days when ships, aircraft and brave soldiers with rifles determined a nation’s ability to defend itself are long gone. There is more combat being fought in the halls of Langley and Fort Meade, today, than this country has seen in its entire history.”