Phoenix

by Alex Lukeman

The transmission was routed through multiple satellites and concealed within normal communications traffic.

  "What's your best guess?"

  I do not make guesses, Stephanie.

  Stephanie wasn't sure, but it almost sounded as if Freddie was annoyed with her.

  "Speculate, based on what you have determined about the transmission."

  It is likely the signal originated with a government entity.

  "Is there any indication of which government might have sent it?"

  The encryption is similar to the Chinese hacking protocol known as Iron Door.

  "Iron Door?"

  That is correct.

  "Can you break the encryption?"

  I have already done so.

  By now, Stephanie was used to Freddie's literal perception of things. He wouldn't tell her what was in the transmission unless she directly asked him.

  "What does it say? Or rather, what was the effect of the transmission upon the Wayne?"

  The transmission penetrated the security firewalls surrounding the navigational server on the ship and infected it with a virus. It set up an encrypted communication link and instructed the server to give it control of the navigational system.

  "Someone took over the navigational system and steered it into the freighter?"

  That is correct.

  "And you are unable to identify who that was, or where the transmission originated?"

  That is correct.

  "Please continue to search for the point of origin."

  Processing.

  She got up and went upstairs to the office. Elizabeth looked up as she came in.

  "You'd better sit down, Steph. What's up?"

  Stephanie sat on the couch across from Elizabeth's desk.

  "Our suspicions were right. The transmission sent to the Wayne before the collision installed a direct link into the ship's navigational servers. That allowed someone to take control of the system. Whoever set up the link steered the Wayne into that freighter. The freighter may have been affected in the same way. That would explain the Chinese ship's erratic movements."

  "Were you able to pinpoint the origin?"

  "No. Freddie says it could have been any one of a number of locations. He thinks a government is behind it."

  Elizabeth picked up her pen and began tapping it on the desk.

  "There's no clue as to which government?"

  "The encryption used is similar to one developed by the Chinese called Iron Door. It could be them."

  "That's not good enough," Elizabeth said. "I can't go to the president with a supposition. I need proof, if it was the Chinese."

  "It doesn't have to be the Chinese. Someone else could have done it. Everyone is using some variation of Iron Door as a basis for developing their own hacking protocols, including us."

  "How good were the firewalls protecting navigation on the Wayne?"

  "It would be difficult to get through them. Whoever designed them has rare skills."

  "Coming from you, that's quite a compliment," Elizabeth said. "If someone could take control of the navigational system, could they also get control of the missiles?"

  "Not necessarily. The computers controlling the missile systems are separate and have their own security protocols. Those are very high level."

  "But the possibility exists?"

  "Yes."

  Elizabeth set her pen down.

  "The president is not going to be happy to hear this," she said.

  Director Harker.

  "Yes, Freddie?"

  I have determined a possible point of origin for the transmission.

  "Yes?"

  Would you like to know where it is?

  Elizabeth sighed. "Yes, Freddie, I would like to know where it is."

  There is a ninety-seven point nine percent probability that the transmission originated within the Arctic Circle.

  "What part of the Arctic?"

  I am unable to identify the exact location at this time.

  Stephanie and Elizabeth exchanged glances.

  "Better call the team in," Stephanie said.

  CHAPTER 7

  Selena lay on a table in the gynecologist's office, waiting for the sonar scan to begin.

  "This is going to feel odd," her gynecologist said. "The gel is cool and slippery."

  Doctor Engstrom was in her fifties. She was a pleasant looking woman with dark hair and large glasses. She applied gel and began moving the sending unit over Selena's abdomen.

  Nick sat nearby. Selena had her head turned toward the monitor. All three watched the screen. Nick peered at the monitor. Two shapes formed a Ying/Yang symbol inside Selena's womb.

  Nick half rose out of his chair. "Is that what I think?"

  "Twins," Engstrom said. "Congratulations."

  "Twins?"

  The doctor moved her instrument around Selena's abdomen.

  "Looks like...a boy and a girl. A little hard to be sure, but I think they're different sexes."

  "Are they healthy?" Selena asked.

  "Development looks normal," Engstrom said. She continued to move the device around.

  "Mmm."

  "Mmm? What does that mean?" Nick said.

  "There's a complication," Doctor Engstrom said. "It's nothing to be too concerned about, but it will bear watching."

  "What complication?" Selena asked.

  "The placenta is quite low in your uterus. It's partially covering the cervix."

  "What does that mean?" Nick asked.

  "It means we have to keep an eye on it." Engstrom's voice was patient. "It can block the cervix. It should move out of the way as the pregnancy develops."

  "What if it doesn't?" Selena asked.

  "Then we'll have to do a C-section. The condition is called placenta previa. It's fairly common. Yours is marginal. If it stays that way, it shouldn't be a problem. Have you noticed any bleeding?"

  "No."

  "We'll do a follow-up scan in a month," Engstrom said. "Chances are that as the uterus expands, the placenta will retreat from the cervical opening. Don't worry about it."

  "Easy for you to say," Nick said.

  "Your wife is in excellent physical condition. Everything seems to be progressing nicely. This is just something to monitor. Continue with your normal routines. If you notice any bleeding, I want you to call me. Are you watching your diet? Getting enough exercise?"

  "Of course," Selena said.

  Outside the doctor's office, Nick took a call from Stephanie.

  "Harker wants the team back at headquarters," he said to Selena.

  They climbed into Nick's suburban and started for Virginia.

  "This previa thing," Nick said. "You're going to have to take it easy. No more workouts in the gym."

  "I'm not made out of glass, Nick. I'm not going to change what I do because of it. You heard what she said. It's only something to monitor."

  "Yeah, but..."

  "You worry too much. I'm fine."

  Nick could tell from the tone of her voice that he should drop it. He changed the subject.

  "Is there a history of twins in your family?"

  "Not that I know of."

  "Twins. Talk about an instant family."

  He pulled out to pass a red pickup.

  "You sound ambivalent about it," Selena said.

  "I'm not ambivalent. I just got used to the idea of one baby. I wasn't expecting two."

  "But you're all right with it?"

  "Sure. Hey, maybe we should paint one side of the nursery pink and the other side blue. Think of all the shopping you can do. Twice as many things, in different colors. Different styles. Different toys."

  She punched him in the arm.

  "Smartass."

  The rest of the team was sitting on the couch when Nick and Selena entered Elizabeth's office.

  Ronnie Peete wore a Hawaiian shirt from his collection. Ronnie had a long closet filled with shirts, some dating back to the 1940s. Some of his shirts would make a blind man
cringe, but this one was fairly subdued. It featured a smiling woman in a hula skirt and lei playing a ukulele. She was somewhere on a beach with a green palm tree. Blue ocean stretched away in the background. The scene repeated over and over on the shirt. The tan material of the shirt blended with Ronnie's Navajo coloring.

  Lamont Cameron sat next to him, relaxed in khaki pants and a loose black shirt. Lamont's face was disfigured from a shrapnel wound he'd taken in Iraq. The scar crossed his forehead and trailed down across his nose, a pink snake marring his coffee colored skin. It gave him the appearance of a man to avoid. That was good advice, if he was coming after you.

  Ronnie had been a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines, part of Nick's Recon unit. Lamont had put in twenty with the Navy SEALS. When it came to survival, there wasn't much the two men didn't know.

  "Hey, guys," Lamont said.

  Nick and Selena sat down on the couch with the others.

  "What's up, Director?" Nick asked.

  "Freddie has identified where the transmission came from that interfered with the USS Wayne. It's in the Arctic."

  "Where, in the Arctic?" Nick asked.

  "We don't know yet. Wherever it is, we're going to have to do something about it. I wanted to give you a heads up. Start thinking about a mission to the region."

  "We can't do much if we don't know where the target is."

  "You can get your personal gear together and prep your weapons. It's spring, so the weather isn't bad. Daytime temperatures are right around freezing. It gets cold at night, but nothing you haven't handled before."

  Lamont shook his head.

  "It had to be someplace cold, didn't it? "

  CHAPTER 8

  Senior Engineer Li Jiang ran the midnight to noon shift at Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. Li was proud of his job and proud of his country's achievement. The dam was the world's largest power station, generating almost a hundred terawatt-hours of electricity every year, a symbol to the world of China's engineering superiority. When Li was on duty he was in charge, responsible for the operation of the dam and the safety of millions of his countrymen.

  The reservoir behind the dam stretched for more than four hundred miles. The dam itself was almost six hundred feet high. Power was generated by thirty-two enormous turbines. Li spent most of his working hours in front of a bank of computer monitors and watching the big board that dominated the main control room. He monitored the operation of the locks that allowed shipping to navigate the dam, the condition of the turbines, the amount of water flowing through the floodgates, the amount of electricity being produced, and more. The board and computer screens provided an instant picture of the health of the dam.

  The main control room was spotlessly clean. Li sat at a long wooden work table lacquered in red. The main board formed a semicircular wall at the front of the room. The symmetrical layout of multiple graphic displays, switches and lights would have mesmerized any sufferer of OCD.

  Li didn't have OCD, but he did have an almost obsessive attention to detail and a nearly photographic memory. He was finely attuned to the pulse of the dam, to the daily rhythms of the massive structure. For Li, the dam was like a living entity and he was like a physician assigned to monitor his patient's health. Mostly, things took care of themselves, as long as the proper maintenance was applied.

  If the dam was a living entity, the beating heart resided in the turbines. Part of Li's job was to make sure the turbines operated properly. Everything was controlled by the computers. With a touch of a key, Li could alter the performance of the giant engines. Whatever he did, it was important that the generators turned in harmony with one another.

  Harmony was one of the fundamental virtues in Chinese thinking. It applied to human relations and it applied to the working of a complex system like the dam. Without harmony, there was discord. Discord was unwelcome, especially between machines that stood six times the height of a man.

  The first sign of trouble appeared on monitor two. Li adjusted his glasses and peered at the screen. Turbine four on the north side was showing anomalies. He called another engineer over.

  "Zhang, take a look at this."

  Zhang was an experienced engineer who'd been working at the dam almost as long as Li. He was a round faced man with a rounded belly. He reminded Li of a Buddha, though no one would ever say Zhang was enlightened. The two men were friends, and often talked over beers at the local café.

  Zhang looked at the monitor. "That isn't right. The speed is fluctuating. What could be causing that?"

  "Worn bearings, perhaps?" Li said.

  He called up the maintenance schedule on turbine four.

  "The bearings were replaced two months ago. There shouldn't be a problem."

  "See if you can get it to stabilize," Zhang said.

  Li entered a string of commands on his keyboard. On the monitor screen, the oscillation disappeared.

  "Looks like you got it," Zhang said.

  "Yes, but we have to find out what caused it."

  A red light began flashing on the main board. Both men looked up. As they watched, two more lights started flashing.

  Zhang looked at the monitors. "Turbines two, three, and nine are all showing anomalies. Their speed is fluctuating."

  The lights in the control room flickered. More turbines began displaying speed variations. Red lights started to flash all over the board.

  Li's fingers sped over his keyboard, entering commands. There was no visible response on his monitors. Somewhere under his feet, he felt a mild vibration.

  "I'm going to shut them down," Li said. "Inform central power authority."

  "They're not going to like it," Zhang said.

  "They'll like it a lot less if those turbines self-destruct."

  Li entered more commands. There was no effect. He felt the first touch of panic.

  "I can't shut them down," he said. "Nothing happens."

  Zhang pointed at one of the monitors. "The spillway gates. They're all opening. This can't be happening!"

  Three Gorges had been designed to withstand a tactical nuclear strike. The sheer size of the dam almost guaranteed its survival in the event of war. But like any man-made structure, it had a potential weakness. In this case, that weakness was the underwater spillway design of the dam.

  There was always a risk of cavitation when water moved at high speed through a spillway. Cavitation occurred when vacuum pockets appeared in fast-moving water. When the pockets collapsed, they had an explosive effect. The resulting shock waves would vibrate through the structure of the dam and the rock foundation upon which it was built. Severe cavitation created the potential for catastrophic collapse.

  It was bad enough that the spillways suddenly opened. It was worse that the out-of-control turbines were sending erratic vibrations through the structure.

  The vibration under Li's feet became more noticeable. A pencil on his worktable rolled off onto the floor. The dam was beginning to shake. Li looked at the big board. Everywhere, lights were flashing red.

  The two men looked at each other.

  "Sound the alarm," Zhang said.

  "Yes."

  A red metal box painted with yellow stripes was bolted on the corner of the worktable. Li ran for it, flipped the lid open, and pressed a large, red button set inside. On top of the dam, a siren began to sound, screaming a warning to head for higher ground.

  A mile down the valley below the dam, Wang Kuo was enjoying the early morning coolness of the day, working the rich, black earth in his small plot. In the old man's hands was a hoe that had belonged to his grandfather. Wang's family had always lived here in the valley. There had always been the land and the bounty it provided. Somehow the family had managed to retain their small plot, even during the difficult years of the revolution and the chaos that followed,

  The wailing sound of the warning siren split the still morning air. Wang lifted his head to look. The dam stretched like a great wall across the river and the valley, a towering triumph of e
ngineering.

  Why are they sounding the siren? Surely, it's a test.

  Wang stared in disbelief as cracks began to appear across the face of the dam. Water trickled from the cracks, leaving dark trails across the grey-white surface. A sudden gout of water shot outward, followed by chunks of concrete crashing into the river below.

  Wang stood rooted to the ground, unable to tear his eyes away from the disaster unfolding before him. As he watched, the central part of the dam broke apart in a tumbling cascade of twisted steel and shattered concrete. A wall of water six hundred feet high burst through the gap, a white capped, snarling, tidal wave of death. The wave swept toward him with the roar of a great beast.

  Wang clutched the hoe to his chest. He had enough time to think of his grandchildren, before the water smashed into him.

  CHAPTER 9

  Stephanie sat at her console, sipping coffee and skimming through a computer magazine. There were always new twists, new gadgets, new programs. She was reading an article about using light to communicate data instead of circuit boards and chips. The result was a processing speed undreamt of before now. It was still in the experimental stages, although she knew DARPA already had a working model. If the technology could be made reliable, it would make conventional computer architecture obsolete.

  Stephanie.

  Freddie's voice startled her.

  "Yes, Freddie?"

  Something is happening in China. I am uncertain what it is.

  Stephanie set her magazine down on the console. This was new behavior. Freddie had never expressed uncertainty before. It was a human concept. Sometimes he was unable to come up with an answer for a problem or discover requested information, but this was different.

  He's evolving, she thought.

  "What is happening, Freddie? Can you describe it?"

  The Three Gorges Dam in China has collapsed. Catastrophic flooding is now occurring.

  Stephanie almost dropped her coffee.

  "Three Gorges? Are you sure?"

  I am sure. That is not what creates uncertainty for me.

  "Wait one, Freddie."

  Stephanie turned to her intercom and called Elizabeth upstairs.

  "Yes, Steph."