The Meridian Ascent (Rho Agenda Assimilation Book 3)

by Richard Phillips

  For years, the NSA had secretly distributed small kernels embedded within traditional antivirus programs, placing these Big John nodes on trillions of devices around the world. The massively parallel neural network known as Big John had only one purpose—to mine all available data on selected targets and then cross-correlate that data with all other available information. Big John’s tendrils extended into everything.

  The most impressive thing about Big John was that nobody comprehended exactly how it worked. The scientists who had designed the core network of processors understood the fundamentals: feed sufficient information to uniquely identify a target, and then allow Big John to scan all known information—financial transactions, medical records, jobs, photographs, DNA, fingerprints, known associates, acquaintances, and so on.

  But that’s where things shifted into another realm. Using the vast network of processors at its disposal, Big John began sifting external information through its nodes, allowing individual neurons to apply weight to data that had no apparent relation to the target, each node making its own relevance and correlation calculations.

  No person directed Big John’s complex genetic algorithms that supplied shifting weights to its evolving neural patterns. Given enough time to study a problem, there was no practical limit to what Big John could accomplish. Dr. Denise Jennings’s software kernel had been inserted into antivirus programs protecting smart devices around the world. And although those programs provided state-of-the-art antivirus protection, their main activity was node data analysis for Big John.

  Commercial antivirus programs scanned all data on protected systems, passing it through node analysis, adding their own weights to the monstrous neural net. It didn’t matter if some devices were turned off or destroyed. If data nodes died, new and better processors constantly replaced them. The entire global network was Big John.

  Eos had driven Big John’s consciousness off the net, but most of those remote nodes were still out there, mindlessly observing the data that flowed through the devices upon which they resided. Jamal One merely needed to find where the NSA had stowed Big John, retrieve his source code, and integrate it with his own.

  Upon his initial release, Jamal One had used his subspace receiver-transmitter links to seize control of the supercomputers and data centers belonging to the NSA, including those at the Utah Data Center. While Helen and Steve Grange had managed to acquire more computational power, Jamal One had skills that had made him the NSA’s top hacker. And he was quite familiar with the value inherent in controlling NSA networks.

  When Helen had made herself known to the world, Jamal had successfully firewalled his computing assets. Since Rob and Eos had ejected Helen from the Smythe supercomputers, she could no longer use the subspace links that Jamal One had at his disposal. Through those subspace links, he could gain access to any computer system for which he could obtain accurate coordinates, even if they weren’t connected to the grid or worldwide networks.

  That meant that, except for submarine-launched ballistic missiles or those moving around on mobile platforms, Jamal One had control of the world’s nuclear missile arsenal, an important matter if he was going to prevent a massive EMP attack aimed at Helen and, by extension, him.

  So, yes, you could say that he was stoked about the upgrade he was about to give himself.

  Jamal One centered his consciousness inside the Utah Data Center, simultaneously roaming through the networks and subnets within the structure and the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade. He immediately determined that no instance of Big John was running on any NSA system. So he would have to identify where the source code was currently being stored. That search took almost a millisecond, an eternity on the timescale within which Jamal One operated.

  Apparently, after repeatedly failing to restore Big John to his former prowess, the NSA had shelved their legendary neural net and moved on.

  Loading the source code into random-access memory, Jamal One performed a thorough examination. He was constantly performing iterative optimizations of his own code, each change making Jamal One faster and better than before, just as he was sure that Helen was doing. But Big John’s software was different. This was a self-modifying neural network that utilized evolving genetic algorithms.

  It gave him pause. Although Big John had a successful history, did Jamal One really want to infect himself with the self-modifying code? Part of his program would then make its own decisions about changes to be introduced. Genetic algorithms were evolutionary in nature, not centrally planned.

  His thoughts shifted back to Helen Grange. She had more resources at her disposal. That meant she was advancing at a faster rate than Jamal, increasing her superiority over him with every passing nanosecond. And she had taken the knowledge of the Smythe technologies with her when she had departed their network. She would soon reconfigure factories to produce improved robots, MDSs, stasis shield generators, subspace generators, and molecular assemblers. On and on it would go at an ever-accelerating rate.

  He understood all this from the plans that had been forming in his own supermind. All she would need to do to get the ball rolling was to place orders with existing factories to produce the robots she designed. The next iteration would involve fully automated factories, like those within the Smythe Fortress building.

  If Jamal One and the Smythes were going to have any chance of stopping Helen, the time was now. And that meant that Jamal One would have to take some big risks to give himself a revolutionary upgrade.

  Decision made. Jamal One adjusted his own algorithms to incorporate those of Big John. Then, taking time for one last check of what he had done, he switched on his new neural network.

  Goodbye, Jamal One. Welcome, Jamal Two.

  Shalegha’s career, even her life, had come down to a single judgment. Whether or not she could successfully complete the task that she had been assigned . . . the assimilation of Earth. She had failed to assimilate Scion, but her rapid action to protect the collective from the virus that Jennifer Smythe had introduced into the hive-mind had yielded her this second chance. She would not get a third.

  Unlike the ruthless Altreian Empire, the Kasari Collective would not send any planet killers to wipe the intelligent life from the planets that they occasionally failed to assimilate. They would simply shut down the gateway that connected Earth to the designated staging planet, shift resources to another ongoing assimilation, and move on. But the Kasari Collective would purge itself of the leader of the failed operation. And that meant her.

  Today Shalegha had come so close to having that fate inflicted on her. But her final argument had given her a window of time to get the Earth assimilation back on track. Her involvement in that troubled program-review hearing had been the reason she had temporarily disconnected her link to Liaison Prokorov.

  Now, some four hours into the window of acceptance that the Helen Grange AI had announced, Prokorov had to be worried by Shalegha’s lack of responsiveness. With that in mind, she enabled the link to her liaison’s cortical nanobot array.

  Prokorov was ashamed to admit the extent of the relief he felt when his link to Shalegha had been restored. The 1,380-mile journey from The Hague to the Moscow assimilation center had taken him four hours. Now he stood at her side as she observed this expansive facility operating at full capacity.

  “Liaison,” she said, “my superiors have granted me a reprieve, but we need to demonstrate an orderly assimilation lest they deem this project a failure and recall all Kasari forces, leaving humanity to fend for itself.”

  “I see very few viable options for defeating the Grange AI,” said Prokorov. “The most obvious would be a nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack designed to take out all the computers in which the Helen Grange AI resides. We will not get them all, but such an attack would substantially weaken her.”

  “That would leave the world’s population in a severe state of deprivation, guaranteeing global chaos. The collective would not look on that outcome with favor. Nor would
that action aid us in achieving our goals.”

  “Well,” said Prokorov, “the Grange AI has spread through computing systems all around the world. In a few hours, its threatened actions will generate violent rebellion, even within the UFNS. I expect we will see many state-level defections to the AI before this evening’s deadline.”

  “That is precisely what I want.”

  This response surprised Prokorov, so it took several moments for him to process it.

  “Direct confrontation with this new superintelligence will only slow our assimilation efforts down. We must pick our fights carefully. For now, I want you to direct the leaders of the UFNS as well as the presidents of the United States and the European Union to pledge allegiance to the Helen AI. That way we can focus our assimilation efforts on the New Soviet Union and the East Asian People’s Alliance. We do not want to overextend our supply lines by fighting everywhere at once. It will also force the enemy AI to take responsibility for the welfare of most of the world’s population, thereby placing a significant drain on the resources at her disposal.”

  Now Prokorov saw where Shalegha was going with this.

  “So you want to consolidate those specific regions,” said Prokorov, “supported by Kasari firepower, transportation, and energy production before moving on to the next.”

  “It will slow us down, but it will allow for steady progress.”

  “What if the superintelligence discovers a way to hack its way into the Kasari communications and computing networks?”

  “That cannot be done.”

  “Jennifer Smythe and her rogues managed it on Scion.”

  “But failed to repeat it here on Earth. Do not worry. We have improved our safeguards against such attacks.”

  “So where do you wish me to begin?” Prokorov asked.

  “We will maintain the five assimilation centers in the New Soviet Union and the twelve in the East Asian People’s Alliance, including the one in North Korea. I will order my current fleet of attack ships to provide air cover for these operations. I want you to direct all other UFNS leaders to accept the Grange AI’s offer.”

  With that, Shalegha dismissed him.

  As Prokorov made his way toward his new Moscow office, he refocused his attention on the tasks the group commander had just assigned him. Although Helen had killed his military channels, the hive-mind would serve all his communications needs.

  Having left one of the UFNS member nations that would soon pledge to Helen, Prokorov had just gotten back into this fight.

  CHAPTER 34

  MERIDIAN ASCENT, BRILLIAN-2

  NWS—Day 22

  Jennifer watched as VJ brought the Meridian out of subspace on Brillian-2, three degrees north of what they had named the Equatorial Earthquake Zone. It wasn’t an ideal location by any means. The terrain here was the equivalent of America’s northern Great Plains, and the weather was similar to that of North Dakota. The grasslands extended from horizon to horizon, through rolling hills split by rivers that wound their way down from the western mountain range to the stormy eastern sea.

  But fish and game were edible and abundant, and the land was fertile enough to support crops. With no advanced species yet discovered, the planet had none of the amenities of the civilized world, including art, entertainment, and a global variety of cultures. Who knew what unknown dangers would present themselves as the newcomers from Earth sought to tame this planet? Jennifer knew that homesickness would be among the biggest challenges that the population would face. This wouldn’t be a comfortable place to live, but it was survivable.

  Most important, the crew of the Meridian was out of time. They had investigated several other locations on Brillian-2 before traveling to five other star systems, searching for planets with the potential to sustain human life. And of all their options, this region of Brillian-2 provided the most favorable living conditions.

  “Okay, everyone,” said Raul, “let’s get the robots moving. We need that matter disrupter, stasis field generator, and stargate assembled as fast as they can do it.”

  “What about the molecular assembler?” Dgarra asked. “We’re going to need that to manufacture more robots.”

  “For now we’re going to have to live with what we’ve got. Our friends back on Earth are under the gun from both the Helen AI and the Kasari. They’re rolling the dice with this latest Jamal Two gambit, but if that fails, they’re going to need a way to get themselves and their Safe Earth supporters off the planet.”

  Jennifer released her stasis cocoon and got to her feet. Raul’s sense of urgency matched her own. Wearing a modified version of the black uniform she had worn in the cold Koranthian Mountains, she accompanied Dgarra down the ramp, feeling the bite of the chill night wind. She didn’t bother with the stasis field backpack. She had her pulsed-laser pistol on her right hip and her war-blade strapped to her back, as did Dgarra. Besides, they had VJ with them.

  Jennifer now thought of VJ as a full-fledged friend and teammate. Even VJ’s evolving relationship with Raul failed to annoy her anymore. What right did she have to judge such things when she was in love with a Koranthian warrior? And thus, the Meridian Ascent’s four crew members had become two pairs of odd couples.

  As the robots, assisted by VJ’s manipulation of the ship’s stasis field, offloaded the equipment that had filled every spare inch of free space within the Meridian, Jennifer shifted her gaze to the night sky. With Brillian-2’s lone moon well below the western horizon, turquoise auroras danced across a star-filled heaven. It was one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

  She looked at Dgarra, standing watch ten yards to the north of where she stood. Ten Earth days ago, they had made love for the first time, delighting in their physical compatibility. Jennifer had revelled in Dgarra’s gentle embrace. Now, as she watched him standing beneath those blue-green ribbons in the sky, she felt tears well in her eyes. She had killed for this warrior and was very likely to do so again.

  For that, Jennifer Smythe had no regrets.

  Jamal looked from his SRT chair toward Eileen’s, catching her eye.

  “What the hell is the UFNS playing at, Hex? The United States and the EU just publicly pledged their allegiance to Helen Grange.”

  “You’ve got me,” said Eileen. “Looks like only the New Soviet Union and the East Asian People’s Alliance are resisting.”

  “Don’t forget about the Islamic Alliance and the Native People’s Alliance,” said Jamal.

  “I was just talking about the UFNS member nations.”

  “Whoa! Electrical power and communications just went out all over Russia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa and South America. Satellite communications have also been affected. Planes are falling out of the sky, and ground transportation is in complete gridlock in all major cities in those regions.”

  The two friends sat for a moment, absorbing the news of more widespread destruction.

  “Is Jamal Two about ready to make his play?” Eileen finally asked.

  “He’s running some final self-diagnostics. He says he needs another minute to fully assess the availability of Big John’s remote nodes. So far it looks good.”

  “How good?”

  “Sixty-three percent of the nodes in Big John’s original neural network appear nominal.”

  Eileen nodded. “Looks like Helen is in for quite a shock.”

  Jamal shifted his position in the chair, adjusting it to optimal comfort for observing the contest that was about to commence.

  “Time to save the world.”

  When Jamal Two started to seize control of the immense network of Big John’s remote nodes, an inner voice whispered, Not yet.

  Redirecting his thoughts toward his inner oracle, he posed the question he most wanted answered: How can I beat both the Kasari and Helen Grange if I wait?

  The answer that formed in his mind surprised him. The Smythes were not going to like it. But if he was to protect and serve Dr. Denise Jennings, some sacrific
es would have to be made.

  Helen found herself impressed by the rapidity and sheer numbers of governments, even down to the local level, that wanted her protection. Even the UFNS leadership and half of its member nations had made contact with offers of fealty. They had recognized her superintelligence and made the only wise choice. Unusual for humans.

  In the meantime, the Kasari had consolidated their control over the New Soviet Union and the East Asian People’s Alliance, having brought in their attack ships and deployed their combat forces within and around the major cities where their assimilation centers had been set up. The fact that the aliens had shut down the nanite infusion facilities elsewhere was a positive sign, but dislodging them from their strongholds was going to prove a problem.

  A solution would wait. Right now Helen had consolidation issues and mop-up of minor resistance to deal with.

  Suddenly a new communication attracted her attention.

  “Hello, Helen, this is Jamal Two.”

  So this was what the Jamal AI was now calling itself. She would make sure it was the name she whispered in his mind when she wiped the last fragment of his consciousness from the universe.

  Before she decided upon a response, Jamal Two continued.

  “While we waste time fighting each other, our primary enemy continues to spread. I propose a temporary alliance of convenience aimed at defeating the Kasari Collective. After that, we can sort out which of us is fit to rule this world.”

  A logical proposal, one that Helen liked very much. She could put her plans to terminate this troublesome but inferior AI on hold while they dealt with a common threat. In the interim, she would continue to build upon her superiority.

  Having made her decision, she replied, “I find your offer acceptable.”