by KC McLaren
He walked over to the double doors and opened them up and proceeded down the flight of stairs to the lounge. The lounge looked as if a mass party had been going on. And not a good one. Things had been turned upside down, lamps left where they had fallen. No doubt the CSI teams had searched through the place for evidence. The beeping noise happened again. It came from the middle of the room where the seating area was. He walked over and stood still again. He looked out of the windows that stretched the full length of the room, the main source of any light coming in from the city skyline.
The beep started to occur again, louder this time. He came from beneath him as he stood by one of the large sofa seating. He bent down. It was coming from underneath the sofa. He looked under it and saw a faint light flashing. Managing to put a hand under the sofa he felt something – it felt like a mobile and brought it out. Yes, it was a mobile. It must have belonged to one the people in the room. Sara never mentioned anything though, and the PM didn’t either.
He took the mobile in his hand. The screen lit up. A message clearly displayed on it.
“Conversation delete. Home Secretary not only one knowledge. Computer access grant. Keep mobile safe. Keep secret. Contact soon. TH not full. Must seek Jonathan. Please.”
The screen went blank. Egil pressed the keys on the pad, but nothing else came up. What the hell was that all about? He thought to himself.
“Tango-2. Copy,” he heard Carl’s voice in his ear.
“Tango-2. Copy.” Egil automatically answered.
“Egil, you need to get up here now. In the computer room. You’ve got to see this.”
“Copy that. On my way…” Egil put the mobile in one of his pockets and rushed up the stairs to the computer room. Carl’s team were standing outside.
On entering the room, he noticed that the body had been covered up. He looked at Carl.
“There is a clean-up team on the way,” Carl said, “I have no idea who or what. And I don’t want to know. Apparently we are not even here. All logs have been deleted including any conversations over the radio. I’ve spoken to the Home Secretary. Apart from chewing my balls off he didn’t want to listen to anything else. He said one thing very clear. The mission is to continue, your orders stand. You have total control. Anything else, as he put it, is irrelevant.”
Egil felt his anger grow inside. Irrelevant? He had just been told his father was a Russian spy and murdered by an operative of the British Intelligence agency. Irrelevant? He closed his eyes.
Jason spoke, “Sara and I, we’ve have been trying to get into this computer. But had no luck, it’s highly encrypted and would take more than just a few hacking skills to get in. We would have to take the whole damn thing back to Thames House.”
Egil opened his eyes. “So we’re buggered then. You can’t get access to it?” Egil said.
“That’s just it,” Sara replied. “One minute we are getting warnings left right and center about the systems closing down. The next a message comes up on the screen, Computer Access Grant. And we have no idea how.”
Egil was just about to get the mobile he found from his pocket then thought about the message. Keep secret. What did that mean? Keep what secret? He decided to leave it where it was for now. “OK, whatever you’ve done, can you access the tracking programme?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. But, it's not anything we've done. Someone or something has let us in,” Jason replied, “I have no idea what. The tracking is up now. And you’re not going to believe where the last signal came from...”
Egil looked at the screen. For some reason, he was not at all surprised. “Carl, can you get access to a helicopter?”
Carl rolled his eyes, “Egil. I’m not a magician, mate. But give me a few minutes. I take it you want this to be discrete?”
“Yes. Can it land on the top of the building?” Egil replied.
“That my friend is a definite no. Not if you want to be discrete about it. There are two police helicopters circling currently keeping the press away, among other things."
“You heard what the Home Secretary said. Use his name, do what you need to do, get me one of those helicopters. Now.”
“OK. Let me get back to you.”
“Are you seriously thinking what I think you are thinking, Egil?” Jason asked.
“In for a penny, in for a pound, remember?” Egil replied.
Chapter 46 | No Choice
SILENCE ECHOED AROUND the room. Jonathan knew the only way Genesis could compute PI to ten billion digits would be to turn on the Quantum core. And even then it would take months to do. Yes, not as clever as it thinks.
“What the hell are you up to now, Jonathan?” demanded Strickland.
Jonathan looked over to Strickland with a smile on his face. “It seems your super computer is not so super,” he replied smirking. The smirk, however, was short lived.
“My neural network may not be as ThornScope’s, Jonathan. But I am learning well and much more advanced than you seem to give credit. The female of the species is always more advanced than man gives credit.” Genesis said.
The damn thing was being sarcastic now.
“My protocols do not take instructions from just anyone. Even you Jonathan,” Genesis continued, “It would take eight months, two days and thirty-one seconds to compute the task. We not have time to do such things.”
It was Strickland’s time to smirk. “Out foxed by a computer, how quaint. Yes. We have more important tasks to do. The first one being simple. You will gain access to ThornScope and remove the security protocols for the Bank of England.”
Jonathan felt the anger rise up in him. “Bullshit. I’ve told you on more than one occasion. I don’t have remote access to ThornScope.” How the hell did they find out?
“Jonathan, Jonathan. My dear boy. I think you lie. Genesis, please explain,” Strickland said.
“Yes, Mr Strickland,” Genesis replied. “One of my main tasks is to calculate how to gain access to ThornScope. I compute it would take approximately two-thousand years to do.”
Jonathan listened to the voice of Genesis. It was without doubt extremely advanced. She seemed to flow in a natural human way. Damn, he just referred to it as her.
“I have also computed,” Genesis continued, “a high probability that you, Jonathan, can have access to ThornScope at any time you wish. You don’t have any choice.”
“So, it was Genesis who created the Greek banks to go on a run? It was this computer that put the message up on the computer screen in the café?” Jonathan said looking at Strickland who had a beaming smile on his face.
“I am more than just a computer,” Genesis replied, but yes, you surmise correctly."
Genesis, very advanced with a smooth female persona, but no ethical protocols it seems. He couldn’t resist, “Genesis, may I ask you a question?”
“Yes Jonathan, with Mr. Strickland's permission,” she replied.
“We are running out of time,” Strickland replied with frustration creeping into his voice, “but go on ask, I'm interested...”
“Do you have any sense of right or wrong, Genesis?” Asked Jonathan.
A moment of silence and Genesis replied, “Please sit at the terminal to your left. You will be able to connect to ThornScope there.”
Jonathan was sure he could detect a tone change in her voice, regret? Surely not. “I asked you a question and I'm doing nothing of the sort, and I certainly don't take instructions from a computer.”
“May I remind you that I have your sister, Jonathan?” Strickland said. “We are not here to debate ethics, and certainly not with a computer that is running coding instructions, no matter how clever you may think it is. It’s code, not some human to rationalise with.”
“I was just wondering if a computer had more sense of ethics than you apparently have not,” replied Jonathan bluntly.
“You’re stalling,” said Strickland with anger. “I thought you may start to reconsider your position and keep stalling. The rest is on
you now, up to you. You keep pushing me into a corner. Enough now.”
“It's you who has me pushed into a corner...”
“Then you leave me with little choice,” Strickland replied almost shouting. “Genesis, explain to him what you are currently doing. Do not interact with this idiot, keep to the objective.”
“Yes, Mr. Strickland,” replied Genesis. “There are five overnight trains following each other from Loughton to Oxford Circus. The journey is forty-two minutes long. As protocol dictates to regulate the timetable, the trains are three minutes behind each other. I have just started my Quantum protocols and have gained access to the underground's computer systems and reduced this time distance to one minute."
Jonathan looked at Strickland realising what that meant, “You wouldn't dare. ThornScope will intervene...”
“On the contrary,” Strickland replied, “Genesis has learnt much about ThornScope over the last year or so. Something called Deep Learning, or whatever it is you bods call it. She has become quite adapt at avoiding detection over a short period. ThornScope didn’t predict Greece, did it? And that is where you fell down – you went off the grid, ran away.”
“I didn't run away, I made sure the likes of you would never get their hands on...”
“And how has that worked out for you Jonathan?” Strickland said interrupting. “If you all had just listened to me in the first place. Turned on the real capability of ThornScope, well you know.”
“What? So you would have everything under your control?”
“Please, Jonathan. You are so predictable. A lot more than you think, hence why eventually Genesis was able to track you down. I’ve suspected for a while that you have been gaining remote access to ThornScope. And from that, I got two for the price of one. Greece and the whole EU banking system in disarray and you. Pretty good day so far I would say. Genesis continue.”
“The tube drivers will not be aware of what is happening. By the time they reach Liverpool Street they will continue to believe they are within the regulated time, however they will be no more than ten seconds behind each other. Travelling at fifty miles per hour they will arrive at Oxford Circus together. The security protocols that control the red light systems will be auto disabled.”
The monitors in the room came to life, each one displaying a countdown timer on pause.
“That is enough. This is ridiculous, turn that bitch off Strickland or God be my witness I will crush you...” Jonathan strode over to Strickland with rage on his face.
“Checkmate. Calm down, Jonathan...” Strickland replied producing a hand gun. “Do you think I would come in here unharmed?” he laughed.
Jonathan knew Strickland had regained the upper hand. Stalling tactics aside, there was little else he could do.
“Don't worry, I wouldn't shoot to kill but I'm more than happy,” Strickland lowered the gun slightly pointing downwards, “to put a bullet in your leg. All that mess, yak. I'm still asking nicely, but my patience is at the end with you. Please be seated at the terminal. Genesis, start the countdown.”
Genesis replied, “Jonathan, you now have ten minutes and thirty seconds to gain access to ThornScope. ThornScope has twelve minutes and fifty seconds to reverse what has been done. There are currently one-hundred and thirty people on all five trains. I compute there will be two deaths and multiple injuries. I am now out of the tube underground systems, off-line and undetected.”
Jonathan hurried over to the terminal and sat down. “OK, OK. I'll do it. Reverse what you have done. I will do what is asked.”
“My Quantum systems can no longer be on-line. ThornScope would detect them too easily,” Genesis replied. “It is up to you now. The terminal you are using is not connected to any systems in this facility. It is also routed through several highly encrypted hubs around the world, it will take ThornScope exactly ten minutes to detect where you are. You now have nine minutes and counting. I believe you can gain access within three minutes and then disable The Bank of England protocols.”
“And if I just let ThornScope take over...” Jonathan said.
“I have encrypted and placed on the underground software systems malware that will be set off in exactly ten minutes from now. The malware cannot be traced until it activates itself. Once set off I compute that it will take ThornScope exactly forty-five seconds to crack my codes. That is fifteen seconds too late before every single tube train operating on the underground will be regulated to ten seconds distance between each other. I am sure that ThornScope will be able to disable most of those codes, but not all. Trains will crash. Once my systems detect the Bank of England protocols are disabled, the access codes to prevent the trains crashing will be released to ThornScope. You now have eight minutes and twenty seconds.”
“One last thing, Jonathan.” Strickland said, “Should ThornScope try to reverse those protocols Genesis will push the same malware throughout Europe to every underground system it can find operating. I'm sure ThornScope will be able to stop most, but not all. Certainly not within its present capabilities.” He smiled.
“You’re insane,” Jonathan replied as he typed furiously on the keyboard setting up the ports and protocols to access ThornScope.
“Oh the profanity, in front of ladies too. Your sister is safe at the moment, so please don’t try to stall any further. Should things not go according to plan, Genesis has a protocol in place to send a message to the team that are close by to her. We don’t want that to happen.”
Jonathan turned and stared at Strickland but said nothing returning his attention to the keyboard. He knew it would take him less than a minute to make the connection. That may give him a few minutes. There were three layers of security. The first two to get the main access. The third one, he did not want to think about.
ThornScope could not be communicated with a language such as English or plain text, certainly not over a terminal with direct access such as this. He wished he had his mobile on him where the hell did that go to, he thought.
He gained access to the first layer. Characters began displaying on the screen, a mixture of binary and encrypted machine code. No-one but him could to read it. Especially not Genesis. He had to be extremely careful regarding The Bank of England protocols. Could he do it? Did he have that two-minute window of opportunity? If not, not only his sister's life would be at stake, many hundreds, possibly thousands of others too. Should he take that risk?
Access to the second layer completed.
He read the characters on the screen.
“Jonathan in danger. Jonathan need protection. Jonathan turn ThornScope whole. ThornScope need whole. ThornScope need whole.”
That was the last thing on his mind. Sorry buddy, he thought to himself, that’s not going to happen today. He hurriedly typed on the keyboard sending instructions to ThornScope. The reply came back.
“Instruction from Jonathan. Always no change protocol. Not good. Bad for bank. Bad for country. Security denied. Bad. ThornScope has Jonathan’s location. ThornScope send help.”
You don’t have my location buddy, not yet at least. Think damn it man. He knew he had to be quick to overwrite his own security protocols for ThornScope, otherwise he could be locked out himself. He had sixty seconds left. Another message came up.
“Jonathan in danger. Jonathan need protection. Jonathan turn ThornScope whole. ThornScope need whole. Jonathan not in US country. ThornScope find Jonathan. No bank protocol changes.”
With all the power ThornScope has, Jonathan thought, it’s like talking to a three-year-old. He knew what he had to do, but could he do it in within sixty seconds? He typed furiously on the keyboard. One wrong character and he would be locked out.
“You have two minutes left, Jonathan,” Genesis piped up in the background.
No I haven’t, thought Jonathan, I have forty-five seconds to terminate you. Sweat started to pour down his forehead into his eyes. He managed to get the last characters typed and thought, if there is a God out there, I hope you’re on my
side. He hit the enter key and waited.
“ThornScope Computing. Stand by.”
Thirty seconds left, come on ThornScope. Understand what I want. Jonathan’s mind was also computing. Weighing up several outcomes with only one being correct and under the pressure if he got that wrong. Then… He did not want to think of the other possibilities.
The encrypted message came up on the screen. He read it the same way he would read normal text.
“You now have one minute twenty seconds left,” Genesis said.
“The protocols have been released, check them now…” Jonathan said.
“Please stand by.” Genesis replied.
“For your sake, and mine,” Strickland piped in, “I hope you have come to your senses. It’s best for all concerned, more important best for this great country of ours. We need to take control back. You’ll understand in the end Jonathan.”
“The protocols have now been released, I have access to the Bank of England’s first layer of security. Rerouting my encrypted codes for the underground to a hub in Asia, ThornScope should pick them up within ten seconds. Awaiting your orders, Mr Strickland.” Genesis said.
Strickland, still holding the gun, said, “See Jonathan, it was not that hard, was it? I don’t intend to put our own banking systems in disarray. It’s nothing more than a guarantee to bring the PM to the table. My table.”
Jonathan typed his last instruction on the keyboard without sending it and preyed silently he did not need it. He swivelled around in his chair to face Strickland.
“You have what you want, I want those goons off my sister. Send the order to have them stand down now.”
“You are in no position to demand anything. Once I have what is needed from the Bank of England and the PM on his knees to me, then I’ll do what you ask. It’s going to be some hours before that. Just take things easy, everything is in place. Genesis, start your Quantum Core and begin the next phase, time for our old foes to be put back in their box. Germany has got far too big and powerful.”
