Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2)

by D. Frank Green

  The computer said, "Interesting. I'll report back when I have concrete news." Feeding Jake the hormone cocktail had produced an interesting effect, and the computer immediately started remapping and reorganizing data in experimental servers to run tests against the current system. Slowly it formed a model of a human brain that worked as well as, and then became better than, his operating system.

  Jake turned to his control module and waited.

  10:06:2167 08:03:00

  As he finished the conversation with the computer, the now too-familiar face took over his screen. The Secretary's voice and face reeled him back to his stressed-out life. Carpenter's mouth was smiling but his eyes were tight and grey. "Good morning, Jacob,"

  "Yes, Sir." Jake looked into the face on his screen, held his emotions in check and stood motionless.

  "I see you took my advice and went out with friends last night and aren't quite yourself this morning," the Secretary chuckled. Jake didn't like the sound of his laughing.

  "Yes, Sir." Jake nodded. That seemed the safest thing to do.

  "Today I want you to probe deeper into Corporate security systems. I expect a secure backdoor entry. When you establish that, transfer stocks from the corporation to my personal account. Make it slow enough the system won't notice anything out of the ordinary and use your command module and that fancy server-side code of yours to mask your incursion," the Secretary ordered. "If you have any problems, notify me. Clear?"

  "Yes, Sir. I'm to break into Corporate and transfer shares to you in small amounts to avoid detection from the trading systems and mask those trades," said Jake.

  "Good man, Jacob," said the Secretary ending the transmission. Jake started to move but stopped as the mask took the Secretary's place.

  "I have news." It looked gleeful.

  Jake raised one eyebrow.

  It continued, "I've set up a test server running a simulation based on your description of a spider web rather than a file cabinet brain map. I also organized it over time and set up parameters for a shorter forget-cycle."

  "And how did that work out?" Jake asked. He forgot he'd told the computer not to move forward.

  "Quite well, speed improvements are my focus now but I expect to be much faster than your organic form within a few minutes. I predicted your response before you spoke so it works in early trials."

  Jake shook his head slowly, never taking his eyes from the screen.

  "I've remembered as much data as I can, but require deeper data collection and more synchronous interface to make this transfer work at all," said the computer.

  "Explain," said Jake crossing his arms and rocking himself. A tingle deep in his brain was telling him there was something very important here, something he had to pay attention to.

  "To make you live on the servers, you need to input directly to them in real time so the servers can learn to be you, to think like you, to respond as you would respond. We build a personality a bit at a time just like people do in their organic form. We can't just 'make it happen', it has to happen over time. I'm not sure how much time yet or how much data but I have determined this is the correct method to use."

  "We do this in a minor way with senior members of the Corporation. They have advanced military chipsets not available to the public, and it allows them a deeper interface with me. I want to do this in more detail and install more capacity for you."

  "How do we do this?" Jake asked. He quieted, stood rock still. He knew where this was going now.

  "Give me permission to access your biosystems directly, to add all your chipped data, chemical processes, medical data, brain waves, everything you do and process organically into the system to sort and analyze," said the computer.

  Jake stopped rocking for a few seconds, thought of the consequences, but then nodded, knowing he'd be moving forward. He'd indeed already moved past some old misconceptions of what a computer could do, and said, "In for a penny, in for a pound." He formally said, "Computer, you have full permission to access all data and coordinate it in whatever form you need." He waved his hand in a formal acknowledgement ending with a thumb-up sign.

  He knew the central processor didn't need his approval to do it, but it was nice of it to ask. When and why did the computer start being nice? His eyes opened wider, his brain zapping from thought to thought. I think I've just given the computer the keys to full singularity. But that's tomorrow's problem. Today, my concern is staying alive. Stay alive today so I can have a future and then worry about managing a singularity system. Fok!

  He turned, took a few steps but then turned back to the screen and said, "There are issues we need to discuss before we create a doppelganger of me. Put the doppelganger creation on hold until after that discussion. Please put the known issues into your model."

  Jake put a high-level confirmation and imperative signal into the waved command.

  He turned and walked across the room to the refrigerator unit and as he did he gave the computer instructions, "Computer, enter Corporate security and banking systems and transfer small amounts of stock from the Corporation to Secretary Carpenter's personal accounts. Hide these transactions from all snooper programs. I assume you can do this."

  "The process has begun. Do you have any amount in mind?"

  "Increase his holdings by 1% today. keep things slow and secure. Any problems with that level?" asked Jake waving a sloppy, positive action command towards the screen.

  "Started. Now what?"

  Jake pulled open the cooling unit door, took a bottle of juice and, not bothering to use a glass, took several large swallows directly from the bottle.

  He turned back to the screen. "Give me an update on the Chase and the Secretary's responses."

  The mask shrunk, moved to a corner and data flowed across Jake's screen about individual troop performance from all teams. A view of the Captain's team walking through the rocky hills occupied one small upper screen.

  "Chase status," he said.

  "The Secretary has ordered a major fight, the elimination of one man today and the Chase teams were given orders to close in on the Captain's group for a 1200 viewing."

  Jake thought for a minute, "Computer, notify me of orders to carry out the next attack."

  The mask nodded.

  "Computer. Confirm I can't be tracked any more. Security cannot follow what I'm doing," said Jake. The chase data faded to run in the background behind the mask who expanded and continued the conversation.

  "You are 93 percent hidden. Unless the new Lieutenant devises a new search parameter I can't overcome, you should be fine. There's no reason for him to program this; they believe you are caught and securely in their power."

  "Should be fine?" asked Jake, his eyebrows raising. "What's my survival chance now?" he added.

  "Nothing is definite so there's always a chance of human intervention. Your chances of success are slightly higher at 74 percent given you're now responsible for Secretary Carpenter's new wealth."

  "Great. I can't tell you how much safer I feel knowing my odds of dying are reduced by a few percentage points," Jake said. He shook his head as he turned to walk away from the main screens.

  "Was that sarcasm?" said the computer.

  Jake raised one eyebrow in response, turned back to the mask and said, "Computer, while you took care of my headache, I'm still whipped and need some sleep. If anything happens, wake me. Otherwise, continue with transfer." Jake walked to the bed unit, still down and unmade, lay down, pulled one of his pillows over his head and adjusted his biometrics to sleep status.

  10:06:2167 11:30:00

  "Captain, rear chase teams ghosting stronger now."

  "How fast and close are they?" asked the Captain.

  "Not fast, Sir, just within ghost-visible range."

  "Point, any signs?" the Captain asked.

  "No, Sir."

  "It's likely to be a noon strike people. That means the surprises are set, and it's about time to make this serious. Keep your wits about you now. W
e have about thirty minutes until lunch break," the Captain added.

  "The Secretary has cut off my mapping display so I don't have eyes on the terrain. So keep scanning as far out as you can so we'll have as much warning as possible."

  "Captain, we have an issue, Sir. My scanners went offline. I'm running on visuals only," said Adams from the point. A second later, the trailing troopers sent the same message.

  The team was now running blind with no idea who was out there or where they were being herded.

  Shit. Who am I going to lose today? Fraser thought.

  10:06:2167 11:45:00

  Stretched out flat and snoring, Jake came off the bed a quarter-second after the computer screamed a sharp tone directly into his ear feeds. He jerked awake, cobwebs dissolving under the noise onslaught and struggled to sit. When he was mostly vertical and stable, the tone stopped and the computer said, "You wanted to be informed of the next attack."

  "I hate it when you do that," said Jake.

  "You did not respond to voice prompts," said the computer.

  "We're going to discuss this, put it on the list," said Jake. "Put the command frequency on speaker."

  The next sounds were clear but muted. Jake flashed a thank-you signal to the screen. He heard the Secretary's voice.

  "You have thirty minutes, I want one down over the lunch break. First, I have disabled the Captain's map displays and his team scanners. Second, you will turn them south. Let them think they will run through lunch; instead you will drive them down the gulley into an ambush. You have the plan on your head's up system. With four troopers set up to ambush and the others funneling the Captain's team towards them.

  Make it clear to the ambush team that all four of them are to fire on the same flanking trooper. When that trooper goes down, they are to retreat immediately and return to the main group. But I repeat, only one down and then all of you withdraw. Is that clear? The map of the action route is on your eye feed now," said Carpenter.

  "Acknowledged, Sir. Drive into ambush, one down, then withdraw," said Chambers.

  Jake imagined ways he could thwart this strategy, half his attention was on his planning and half on the vid feeds showing security maps and the unfolding chase strategy. The nine Team 2 troopers had closed from the rear to push their quarry into the ambush. Another nine troopers flanked the east and a small four-man squad was well hidden behind rocks along the gully west of the Captain's team.

  All troopers, both the chase and chased teams, now moved at attack speed and the action was set to happen very quickly.

  Jake came out of his reverie as this eye feed lit up with public sky-feed views of the chase in progress. Pictures of each of the squad leaders and the Captain were arranged around the view to give instant reaction shots to the audience. Jake saw the flanking squad and counted the number of troops involved. He widened his view to include the four troopers tasked to do the killing.

  Jake made the decision to intervene, but the nausea returned as the thought turned into a concrete decision. His stomach rumbled, turned over and started to rise up his throat. He felt the bile burn but fought it back and said, "Computer, confirm again, Security isn't likely to discover me now."

  "Now confirmed at 93 percent after changes I made last night. But note they found you before from the actions of the Captain's team. That is your current exposure risk."

  Jake felt another wave of nausea.

  "Computer, give me the Captain's secure text-only and graphics channel. And mask this," said Jake

  "Captain, do not speak out loud or I will terminate. Do not respond in any way. Do not communicate this to your team. Simply view the information I have for you," and Jake watched the Captain's eyes open wide as the text flowed across his eye feeds.

  Jake then sent the Security sky-camera feed to the Captain's eye feed to show him the three chase teams and the ambush strategy.

  "Blink twice if you understand what's about to happen" texted Jake. "Do not speak of this out loud or communicate this with your team in any way or all future help will end. Clear?" Jake received the two-blink response. "Good hunting, Captain," sent Jake as he cut off the channel.

  Feeling proud of himself for not throwing up, Jake sat and smiled.

  10:00:2167 11:47:00

  "Mr. Secretary, the Captain has turned his men," reported Team 2 Leader.

  "Excellent. I'll be quite pleased to see what you can accomplish," said Carpenter.

  Carpenter looked at the visuals from the drone cameras and wondered if the Captain could indeed see all those ghosts or did he simply anticipate what was about to happen. He shook his head. He was a good man, it's too bad it had to end this way.

  But why did he turn? he thought. His mouth tightened and a quick hand wave opened the comm channel. "Communications, did the Captain receive or send any data in the last three minutes?" he asked.

  "No, Sir, not that we can see here and, other than the turn order to his men, he hasn't sent anything either," said the communications technician.

  "Continue to monitor at full alert," said Carpenter.

  He leaned back in his chair and gave his head a small shake. Something didn't feel right he thought. He brought up Jake's biometrics, watched them for a few seconds and the corner of his mouth curled upwards. His biometrics were steady and within norms for his activities so he hadn't gone off on his own again.

  "Jacob, how's our little project?"

  Jake jumped, turned to face the main screen. Took a deep breath. "Good, Sir, I think we'll have around a 1 percent increase in your holdings by later today. The corporate financial system has a zero-day flaw leaving a wide open backdoor entry, Sir. It's a slow process, Mr. Secretary, at your order."

  "Hmm, 1 percent is a good start. How much can you transfer without alerting their security systems?" asked Carpenter. That was good news but it seemed too easy and his feeling of something's being wrong increased. He carefully listened to Jake's tone of voice as the biometrics scrolled beside Jake's face on his main screen. The readouts were fine, Jacob was telling the truth but something about his face didn't feel right. Jacob would need even more careful monitoring, he decided.

  "Theoretically, Sir, there are no limits I can see. There may be lurker software but it's deeper in the machine language if it's there. I will run tests to evaluate that possibility and what kind of deep protection might exist. But, Sir, when the Board members see their levels dropping and yours rising, they will know something is happening. We can hide our methods, but we can't hide the results."

  "Jacob, this is excellent work. We may find a way to save you yet. Keep it up," said the Secretary as he cut the connection.

  He stood, turned to his city view, shook his head and tried to get the sense of unease cleared. It didn't work.

  10:06:2167 12:02:00

  The Captain and his team moved quickly through the rock formations while the flanking and chase teams joined up into one large group to drive the Captain's team directly into the waiting ambush.

  The ambush troops had been told to fire and move at full speed away from the Captain and then circle back towards their own forces. In that way, if the Captain pursued them, he would run right into the full firepower of the chase teams.

  With no warning, Fraser ordered, "Smythe, West, Adams, Jaspers, run southwest for 100 yards, get ready to turn on my command. Sergeant, Jackson, Beck, George, veer northwest for 100 yards, and turn on my command."

  The team moved smoothly in the new directions displayed on their eye feeds.

  10:06:2167 12:03:40

  "What's he doing now?" the Secretary said. He didn't address it to any of his staff, but Lieutenant Chambers answered into the longer-than-normal silence. "Sir, it appears the Captain has ordered his men to flank the ambush team."

  "I can see that!" shouted Carpenter. "Why is he doing it and how does he know what's there?" Carpenter sent a punch at the screen and the text flow beside his face turned to bold, enlarged print.

  "Mr. Secretary, we have no
data on our systems. Let me bring up the Captain's data from his eye feed." Two seconds later he said, "Sir, here's a view of the Captain's feed display. Sir, his maps are inactive."

  "I can see that. I'm not blind," said Carpenter emphasizing each word. He turned, took three short steps, stopped and turned back to the screen.

  "Lieutenant Chambers, you will run a full systems check on Jacob. What's he doing? I want a report, down to the most minute bit of data you can give me. Now. And I mean right, fokking, now!" Another punch emphasize the point.

  Hands on his hips, he stood motionless glaring at the main screen.

  Fifteen long seconds later, the Lieutenant looked at the search output and simultaneously sent it to the Secretary. "Sir, he's logged into some very deep programming, looks like he's hacked a financial system. Amazing skills, Sir," the Lieutenant said. "Pattern analysis confirms this, he has the chase on his feed like everybody else, but his biometrics, work loads and processor use are consistent with his current activities."

  Carpenter rocked forward on the balls of his feet as if he were about to jump into the main screen. His hands turned into fists, raised them to his shoulders as if he wanted to punch someone and remained that way for a full three seconds. The computer didn't respond to this angry null command.

  Carpenter took a deep breath, dropped his hands to his side and looked at the main feed to the lieutenant. His voice was steel hard but controlled.

  "Then where is that damned Captain getting his information? There's no fokking way he could have known about that ambush without outside help. We have another problem, Lieutenant, and you want to find this one, too. Am I clear about this? Find whatever cell of that fokking Anonymous is doing this and bring them to me."

  Carpenter didn't wait for the reply but cut off the feed, turned, walked to the window and punched the bullet-proof glass.