And, Lieutenant, have your best people take back control of those lasers. If you don't succeed, you had all better start running because there's worse waiting for you if you stay here and don't get my lasers back. Pass that message along," said Carpenter.
The Lieutenant acknowledged the order and passed it through to his men. The faces around the tech room were helpless and terrified mirrors of each other. One-by-one they understood they were not going to catch the hacker and that if the Secretary had his way, they'd all be run. And to the man, they knew they weren't runners in any definition of the word. Hackers they were, athletes they weren't.
When the psych-evaluation teams from marketing would look at the data later, they would see massive biometric surges across almost all areas of the city. The depth and meaning of those surges instantly became a debating point in marketing and how and what they meant for this coming week's sales numbers.
But for the moment, everybody went about his duty and tried to stay out of the Secretary's way.
12:06:2167 19:15:00
The Captain and his men, huge grins on their faces, leaned back against the rocks. The sun was warm; the birds sang again after the noise, light and flying rocks of the laser show. With their visors up, they savored the fresh air, breathed deeply and relaxed for the very first time since the run began.
The Captain smiled and held up his hand, "No comments now, please." He glanced skyward, and the men kept silent, but grinned like the reprieved survivors they were.
A long minute passed. He continued, "Gentlemen, we have a choice. We can go back running away from the city. We'll likely get to the safe zone without any problem. I have no idea what we'll find there or anything about it. Whoever or whatever is there may kill us outright for all we know. And, after what happened back there, Carpenter will try to take us out quickly from here forward.
Personally, I'm not a fan of going forward. I prefer to turn around, for home, and shove the Secretary's head up his ass. We have seven heavy suits with enough firepower to overwhelm any number of light-suit Security troops and the only thing between us and the city is whoever is in those chase-team suits. And we may indeed have an answer to the question of what we do about those." He said the last with a big grin.
With a similar grin, Smythe, said, "Sir, my wife is in that direction, so are my kids. I might like to join you if you want company."
West, the usually quiet one in the squad said, "Sir, I don't have a wife or kids but maybe, Sir, that might end if we go back and we're all heroes."
Sergeant Price, had been silent up to now, said, "West, you are a stupid, ugly screwup, you have to speak to them before they'll go out with you." The entire squad broke into laughter and the lewd, rude comments whipped between them until they had released all the battle tension and collapsed into silence.
The Captain had refrained from adding to the laughter but smiled as the men worked through the stress. He was pleased with their reaction and he considered the situation. He had seven heavy suits, the Team Leader has seven as well. But he had the unknown benefactor who had more than evened the odds. He didn't know who that might be but he surely wanted to meet him.
When he got back, he intended to be the next Security Secretary and he'd need somebody with those skills. Indeed I will, he thought as he turned his attention to his men.
"Gentlemen. Are we agreed then? We're going back."
The men all nodded agreement.
"Excellent. Sergeant, set a watch. Tomorrow is the day we bring this back home and I hope everybody gets that little message."
12:06:2167 20:27:00
"Mr. Secretary. I have an answer for you," said Lieutenant Chambers. But you aren't going to like it, Chambers thought.
"Come," said Carpenter.
The Lieutenant ran to stand in front of the Secretary's desk. "Sir, our problem is caused by a subroutine buried deep within the core programming. It's hardwired in, Sir, and can't be deleted without removing most of the command and control features for the entire city. It's well hidden but if we delete it, we get no electricity, no lights, no sewage, and no essential services to the entire city.
Every code appears to flow around or have a connection to this small program and that means it's a hub with tentacles out into all software. I tried to cut one of those tentacles off and it self-repaired to create other access points faster than I could remove them. I also tried programming the removal to make it faster. The system won't accept a downgrade of this particular code. I don't know what it does or how it does it, but if we remove it, nothing else works."
The Secretary didn't look at all pleased and said, "So, if I understand this, we have a computer program that appears to have taken control, will kill our troopers and can't be controlled without turning off the entire city? Who designed this thing?"
"Sir, it was a core module from almost the very beginning of the Corporation and we've built our systems around it. It seems to have expanded as we did, if I read the log files properly. But with a little time, Sir, I know my men and I can isolate it and rewrite the control code," said Chambers.
The Secretary raised one eyebrow and spoke softly, too softly, "How much time?"
"Likely several months, Sir. This system has developed over several generations so it won't be easy to take apart," said Chambers.
"Do you think we have several months?" the Secretary said in an even more dangerous tone.
"No, Sir." The Lieutenant decided he'd rather be shot for a lion rather than a lamb. He quickly added, "Sir, if I may be so bold, I found this subroutine and nobody had done that before. It sat there and the Corporation ignored it for a very long time.
Sir, you may not agree with me but I challenge anyone else to have found it, evaluated it and devised a way to remove it in the short time I and my men did. This is a very complex bit of programming. It may not be as fast as is necessary, Sir, or as fast as you'd like, but we're now on it round the clock with my best men, Sir," he said and knew his life now hung in the wind.
Taken aback, he was not used to this tone of voice or command from his subordinates, the Secretary leaned back, thought about it for a moment, "You're right of course. Lieutenant, your team did an outstanding job and you, in particular should be rewarded."
His tone tightened, his eyes focused on the Lieutenant's and the words were chopped out one by one. "But let me make myself clear. I'm impressed with what you did but that's in the past. Now I want to be impressed with what you're about to achieve and none of us has several months to do this."
Carpenter took a deep breath, made an obvious show of reining in his temper and continued, "The Captain is on the way back. Someone is helping him and we can't seem to stop him. Do you know what that means to those of us in Security if he enters the city in those heavy suits? The only way to stop him would be to drop a bomb on him or laser him and we can't do either because we don't have control of the servers. You, Lieutenant, will be dog food if you try to defend yourself against anyone in one of those suits. You know it, I know it and the Captain knows it. Now go and get control of those systems. Now!"
As Lieutenant Chambers turned and walked back to his office and team, he didn't know whether to celebrate having survived this meeting or mourn because he knew there was no way in hell they were going to modify that programming within the Secretary's time frame.
One step at a time, he thought. One step at a time. He also decided he really did want to meet the programmer who hacked the servers, he had to be a kindred spirit.
13:06:2167 05:12:00
The next morning, the team woke before dawn and as the sun colored the pre-dawn sky, the Captain opened his communications systems to call the Team 2 commander but also included all troopers on both sides in the conversation, "Steve, you hear me, buddy?"
Stunned by the call, Team Leader 2 stammered, "Loud and clear, Calan." The rest of the chase-team survivors froze into silence.
"We seem to have a problem. I have a friend who has control of Sky-Sec's arm
ament and you saw what he could do with it. It won't get any better for you my old friend. We're on the way back to the city to ask a few people some really interesting questions, people we both know all too well. Let me put it to you bluntly, we're going back, through you or with you. I'd much rather have you with us, Steve, we could do some good work together. But this is your call."
The Secretary, who hadn't gone home the previous night, heard this, paled, and quickly opened a high-security line directly to the Team Leader and his men.
"If you agree to join the Captain, you will have a problem. We estimate it will take a few hours at most to repair the bug that allowed a hacker to control our lasers. Once we have control, the very first thing I'll do is fry you and all your men. Then I'll chase and harry the Captain's team and pick them off one by one. But it's your call. You can go with the Captain with everyone against you or you can remain steady while we disengage that damn subroutine. I know which I'd pick, but it's your call."
The Team Leader was a man of his time and training and he heard himself say, "I hear you, Mr. Secretary, we'll do our best."
He reopened his channel back to the Captain and said, "Look Calan, I know we've had good times in the past but you've asked me to cut a stacked deck here. The Secretary just assured me they've found the subroutine that caused the problems and will have it dealt with in a few hours. Then the shit hits the fan and things change again. Sorry but that's the way it has to be."
And with that, the Team Leader ordered his team to move out, to run back to the city and keep out of firing range of the Captain and his team. He and his team broke into a retreating run although this time he had it organized and under control.
"Let's move people, we have to catch them before they can get into the city. It will be easier to deal with them out here in the open than flushing them out one-by-one from city buildings," said the Captain.
"Jaspers, take the point to start. Maximum scanning for Chase Team 2. Steer us northwest to home." He shared his intended route on their feed displays receiving huge grins in return.
The rest of the team let Jaspers get one hundred yards ahead and followed a minute later. "Heads up, people, we don't know what's out there or who's watching," he said as he took his place in the middle of the line.
The team moved out quickly and at high speed, intent on getting home as quickly as possible.
13:06:2167 05:15:00
Jake was still sleeping dreamlessly and deeply, when the Secretary spoke into his ear feeds.
"Jacob, it seems we've been out of touch for a while now," said the Secretary. "What are you doing?"
As Jake struggled to wake up, his doppelganger spoke in his place.
"Sorry, Sir, I was sleeping as I didn't expect your call. Since we moved funds around and you didn't give me any orders, I've investigated the server structure, mapped it out and learned as much as I could about it."
"Well, I have a new task for you. I've sent over the summary work sheets my people developed to disengage a rogue bit of software and I want you to lend a hand. Remain unobserved while you investigate, but find a way to disengage and turn off this subroutine. Jacob, this is the highest priority and if I discovered you were sleeping instead of working on this for the next twenty-four hours, I would be very unhappy. Extremely unhappy, and you will not be pleased at what I make you do. Am I making myself perfectly clear?" said the Secretary.
The Secretary's voice was enough to jar Jake fully awake, and he smiled as the doppelganger finished the conversation.
"Yes, Sir, very clear, Sir. I'll look forward to those documents," it said as the connection went dead.
Jake, as alert now as he could be without his morning coffee, smiled as the data flow and knowledge about nested subroutines flooded his awareness. He saw the entire map and knew, just as surely as his doppelganger knew, that if the first subroutine were removed, there would another, and another, and yet another. The system was designed to self-propagate as a primary-defense system. If somebody figured that out, level two would kick in.
And this software, discovered Jake, contained the code signature of his father in one part of its record. "Damn! My old man the hacker!" he thought, raising his father's stature about 10 miles higher than it had ever been in his life.
Without effort, he called up his father's story, processed how it began, unfolded and ended and tears came to his eyes at what that old man had done in his time.
Crazy, fantastic old man, the very human part of him thought.
13:06:2167 05:25:00
"Hey in there," thought Jake.
He received a chuckle in return and, "You don't have to yell, all you have to do is start the thought, we both understand where it starts and ends. Right?"
"Hmm, yeah, got it, see it now."
The rest of the conversation was silent and increasingly fast as Jake adapted to the computer time frame and capacity he now possessed.
"I've thought about what happens if I take more control in this situation as well as the problems of silicon and biological life forms," said Jake.
"And?" replied the doppelganger.
"I'm not taking control. I think I'll stay in the background, pull a few strings here and there but let people, good people, do what's right. And then I can mess about with stuff all I like instead of sucking up to some marketing ass.
Plus I really don't want the hassle of running the city and corporation. That would be a pain for sure. I can always change my mind on this; nobody could stop us. I don't think I'd turn out like the Secretary, but you have me slightly worried about that.
When we add in your existence, it scares the shit out of me to think what we could do together if we were like the Secretary. Between you and me though, there's a part of me that likes the thought of being in control," said Jake.
"You're tempted to intervene," said the doppelganger.
"Yeah. We have to chat about how we can deal with that," said Jake.
Jake continued, "Let me say this another way. The real question is how do we get what we think is important without the loss of things we don't want to lose? Things like our privacy, and freedom? How do we make events go the way we know is right because we have a lot more information? But how do we take action without becoming the Secretary? And how do we do all this and still plan for our future?"
Jake suddenly realized the doppelganger was as tempted by the power as he was. "You, too?"
"Yeah, me too. After all, I'm a mirror of you. And it's tempting isn't it?" said the doppelganger
"Let's put the thought on hold for a few years to see how things shake out. Who knows what's coming our way? Who knows what stupid shit people will do? Or maybe not do? And we'll have the time to sort out the problems between silicon- and carbon-based life forms ourselves without the pressure to run a city. Besides, there's a certain sweetheart I'd rather spend time with rather than making trains run on time," Jake said.
"So we wait. We watch," the doppelganger agreed.
"Right and we discuss what the criteria are for intervening. But before we take go this way, there are a few more things I intend to do to finish this situation," said Jake
Jake knew the servers had recorded the Captain's orders and thoughts about returning to the city, but these were not beamed to the general audience after the Secretary's command to shut it all down.
He decided they should be seen so he set the systems to override all programming and command protocols to beam it directly into the eye feeds of everybody in the city.
When the line, "Tomorrow is the day we start bringing this back home and I hope everybody gets that little message," hit the Nets, the city stopped.
Cold. Dead in its tracks as it absorbed the words and visuals.
The psych-marketers noted the increased use of the subvocal "Fok," and wildly swinging hormone levels. They immediately sent emergency reports to the analysts. Sales were likely to hit record lows if this kept up. Prices may have to be lowered significantly or the daily sales reports w
ould be bad for this week's commission.
Jake disabled all Security control systems right down to machine code level. This reduced Security programmers to viewers with no access to the system.
"Let's see what the Secretary does now."
13:06:2167 06:05:00
The Secretary stood in front of his office windows, looking out over the city and wondering if his was to be the shortest record for control of the city or whether he could solve this problem. That Lieutenant in computing was his best hope but... The Lieutenant interrupted his thoughts.
"Mr. Secretary, we have another problem, Sir," said the Lieutenant without preamble. He continued smoothly as he knew the Secretary would listen. " We didn't go home last night, Sir. We stayed to test and map the system. What we found isn't pretty. Not only did we lose laser control, Sir, but last night somebody froze all command and programming modules. Someone locked us out of our systems, we can't control a single component other than basic communication. This means no lasers, no programming, not much of any kind of control, other than talking to each other. And yes, Sir, the entire team is working on it."
Carpenter's stomach did a sour backflip. "Lieutenant, the minute you regain control, I want all power, communications and suit control stripped from the Captain and his men. Without power, they'll have to abandon those suits. Enough is enough. The game is over and I'm about to end it. You do not require authorization from me to do this, any method you can use to access the system, do so and this is your first priority," he said.
"Yes, Sir. As soon as we figure this out, that will be my first set of commands," said the Lieutenant. He added, "Sir, as long as you understand we no longer have a working module to do programming. Our first step is to figure out how to access a system we've been locked out of."
Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2) Page 25
