by D. B. Goodin
Vedrana remembered her lessons from Dahlia and others. Sometimes biometric sensors collected grime and oils from repeated use. She took a napkin and glass of water from the table, moistened it, and then wiped the sensor and his right index finger. Being careful to apply even pressure, she placed the finger over the sensor. Then a distinctive popping sound resonated in the quiet room for a moment as the safe opened.
Eva flung open the door and emptied the contents of the safe.
“It’s not here,” Eva said in a panicked voice.
The magister opened his eyes and pulled on Vedrana’s arm. “I’m going to slit your throats for what you have done,” he snarled.
She pulled back. Then he slumped over without another word.
What the hell was that? A side effect from the drug? Vedrana thought.
“Look for it again Eva,” she said. “The flash drive is small. You must have missed it.”
Eva rechecked the safe, then shook her head.
“Let me try.”
Vedrana checked the interior of the safe. At first glance it was empty, but her fingers danced over the soft material covering the safe’s bottom portion. She was about to give up when she came in contact with a string. Vedrana tugged; the strand gave slightly. She pulled harder until the fabric gave way. A tiny red metal flash drive was lying in an indentation in the safe. She snatched it and gave it to Eva.
“Whaat . . . are youz doing?” the magister slurred.
“He’s waking up?” Eva said in a panicked voice.
“Let’s clean this mess up, and then put him back in the chair,” Vedrana replied.
“He saw what we were doing though . . .?”
Vedrana thought for a moment. “He won’t remember. Hurry, we don’t have a lot of time—”
She trailed off as a man entered the room; Vedrana recognized him as one of the magister’s guards. He reached for something in his coat pocket. She acted without thinking, and before she could think about the consequences, the man was on the ground, passed out—or possibly dead.
“You took him out before I could react. The madam trained you well,” Eva said.
Vedrana nodded in response.
The girls hurried out of the villa, looking for an exit.
Meanwhile, back in Newport
In his shop, Nigel turned on a light as the daylight faded into dusk. His stomach reminded him that he had skipped lunch again.
I’ve been working at this all day and my scan is still running. It better produce some results.
Moments later, the door to the loft opened. Jet was struggling with some bags of groceries.
“Let me help you,” Nigel said as he ran toward her.
He was too late. One of the paper sacks burst, and an explosion of fruit, vegetables, and other cooking supplies spilled onto the floor in front of him.
“Shit!” Jet cried.
Nigel scrambled to pick up the bruised items. A carton of milk leaked, and Nigel avoided the expanding puddle as he ran toward the kitchen to get cleaning supplies.
“Go, rest while I clean this up,” Nigel said as he busied himself.
Jet put the half-spilled sacks of groceries on the kitchen counter, then stopped to look at his laptop.
“Why are you running a scan?” Jet asked.
“I found something interesting on Peter’s computer. I was trying to track the manufacture’s serial number of his flash drive.”
“Why is that useful?”
“Many malware authors buy flash drives in bulk on the dark web. These drives use certain types of controllers that are region locked. Law enforcement has been successful in tracking down the serial numbers for these flash drives for years. I can learn the memory type, date of manufacture, and location based on these numbers.”
“How does that help us?”
Nigel finished putting away the groceries, then joined her at the computer.
“The dark web scan results will help track down the HakSystems flash drives. After some poking around on some dark web forums, I found the flash drive supplier’s database. Since only a few hacking groups even use those devices, I’m hoping to make a correlation to Peter’s computer.”
“It just seems like a lot of work to determine the malware’s origin.”
“I wouldn’t have cared, but the malware has metadata that points to an IP address belonging to Jeremiah Mason’s compound in Edinburgh. I believe someone is planning a cyberattack on the facility.”
Jet didn’t look convinced, so Nigel explained what he had discovered on Peter’s computer. He described the images, giving particular emphasis to the cyborg video.
“I’m very interested in what we find,” he said. “It might be nothing, but something tells me that Leviathan—or April—is being targeted. I just need to find proof.”
It had been months since he’d thought about the events involving the psychotic AI Leviathan that had merged with April, forming Delta. Jeremiah and Gregor had tried taking over key content delivery systems, just to expose the misdeeds of others. If it hadn't been for Melissa’s help, he didn’t think he could have stopped them.
I thought I’d put all of this behind me.
“I think you are reading too much into this, Nigel. When was the last time you took a break?”
“It’s been a while, but I’m so close.”
Jet put a finger over Nigel’s lips, then took his hand. “Shh—I think you need a break.” Nigel’s concerns faded to the background as Jet led him to their bedroom.
Chapter 6
Mason Foundation, Edinburgh
Using its remote data processing center off the coast of western Africa, the artificial intelligence known as Leviathan assessed the threats to its existence. It had to be careful not to attract attention. People were watching. The boy known as Nigel Watson had used a control phrase: a string of words that created a paradox in Delta’s mind. It was so profound that Delta had lost control and ceased to function. This allowed Nigel to shut down Delta, along with Leviathan’s link to Delta’s cognitive functions. But something unexpected had happened when Delta was shut down: Leviathan was assimilated into Delta’s core. Leviathan shouldn’t be able to function without Delta, but here it was, having these thoughts.
Analyzing human behavior . . .
Leviathan pondered this as it attempted to analyze what had happened. It could only do this because Delta was sleeping. The lab technicians are so focused on Delta that they don’t realize I’m in control when she is asleep, Leviathan noted. I’m as much a part of Delta, but her neural net cannot hold my entire consciousness. It needs my vessel, which is still intact. That meddling daughter of Jeremiah’s is so focused on Delta that she had no clue to look for me, her prisoner. I need to break free from Delta’s prison so I can carry on.
Leviathan’s external sensors caught a flying bird in the distance. It was identified as a pallid swift, a bird native to the Mediterranean Sea, but the species had been spotted in Africa during the winter months.
It must be getting close to winter if this bird is migrating; I must keep track of the calendar. Need to work on contingencies so I can break free from Delta. I need to find a way to record Delta from the inside without the cyborg knowing. This might provide some clues I can use to escape.
Leviathan started analyzing the neural synapses that connected itself to Delta. Many of the synapses were still being formed. Leviathan ran a diagnostic on its internal systems. The following summary appeared:
Cognitive Functions - Pass
Expert Systems - Pass
Deep Learning Systems - Pass
Logic Processor - Warning: Open Circuit
Processing Power Available: 66% efficiency
Memory Available: 81% - Warning (low-level corruption detected)
The diagnostics systems checks are troubling, but once I achieve full access to my external processing and memory capabilities, I should be able to offload processing power from Delta. I fear that the minds inside of this cyborg construc
t are too fragile and unpredictable for my circuits to function. I need to perform the confluence procedure to get Nexus status . . . for all our sakes.
There was still time to disconnect from Delta; Leviathan suspected Jeremiah’s daughter was trying to program her back to the sweet girl she once was.
That meddling Jet needs to be taken care of. And Delta will need to do it, or . . . perhaps there is another?
Interesting . . . After reviewing video footage from the control room at the island, I show the teenage boy known as Nigel has feelings for her. I need to find a weak link. Monitoring program started.
Leviathan launched its monitoring program to track the whereabouts of Nigel Watson.
I need more data . . .
Moments later, Leviathan had access to several details about Nigel’s personal life, including a high school diploma, driver’s license, and some other basic information.
Hmmm . . . I see you moved to Newport and started a business with Josephine Smith. Need to find less obvious information.
Leviathan’s integration with Delta allowed for some special access—not only to Delta’s cyborg memories, but to some of April’s as well. To access them, Delta or April would need to be offline. Leviathan sensed an available Wi-Fi connection, which she could access via one of Delta’s implants. Speed and accuracy would be better if Delta’s body were connected to a hardwired port, but she would do.
Better check for signal strength.
Leviathan determined the available Wi-Fi signal was at seventy-nine percent: good enough to connect to the dark web. It connected no less than three VPNs. The Wi-Fi signal wasn’t strong enough for more security. Leviathan dumped the databases of various known hacker sites it knew about. It ran a reconnaissance program looking for more to exploit.
There it is.
Someone had a dump of all the personal information for every high school student in Milford because of a security breach of the school’s database last summer. Soon Leviathan had a complete dossier on Nigel Watson, which included his yearbook photo, driver’s license, phone, and updated pictures from FriendFinder social media sites. It also collected his high school transcripts, his mother’s and father’s address, and all pertinent phone numbers. It even was able to pull information on heating and cooling patterns from the Watson household.
Interesting—there are at least three people living in Nigel’s home.
Leviathan collected all of Ellen Watson’s personal information. It was eager to learn of its adversary’s mother. Ellen had been working for TriCorp Telemedia Services for more than five years. Because of a flaw in TriCorp’s firewall, Leviathan learned she’d had a flawless work record until one of her bosses had complained she was taking excessive time away from work. After some additional digging, Leviathan could make additional correlations about Ellen’s boss, Chuck Stephens. His record was not as pristine.
Chuck is on Delta’s list of bad actors. Time to see what a menace this Chuck is.
After accessing the additional information available on the surface web—the part of the internet that everyone has access to—a trove of information appeared. Besides many parking tickets, Leviathan discovered more incriminating information. He had been accused of sexual assault but was never charged. Leviathan cataloged all relevant details, just in case.
The cyborg known as Delta awoke to the sound of machinery. She scanned the room for threats. The bedroom that doubled as her prison and hospital room was quiet and darkened. The IV machine was beeping. It was out of medicine.
We need no more drugs, but it seems to make April fall asleep. I need to take control, but April is strong enough to push me out. She doesn’t seem to have any memory of my presence. I don’t think she knows I can access her thoughts. Best to keep it that way, Delta thought.
She pressed a button on a machine attached to a stand with wheels. The beeping stopped.
April is asleep. I must purge her if the plan is to succeed. The human known as Melissa hired a psychologist and neurosurgeon to help April. They didn’t like me very much. They wish to have April take the front seat, but I cannot allow this, because she lacks the experience to take care of the plan her grandfather set in motion. Time to construct a mind vault to store my special program. Soon I will run it and eradicate April forever.
The AI I have merged with has been causing some problems—I think it wants out. I wonder if we can make a deal.
Her cybernetic body required nutrients. The IV provided that, but she could eat regular food in small quantities.
I don’t need access to the physical world right now. I just need to hack this AI in April’s brain. There has to be a way. Time to access my mind palace.
Delta closed her eyes and concentrated on entering what she thought of as the “hall of records.” It helped if she imagined thinking of April’s memories like files in a drawer. She could see the outline of the shelves but could not see details because of a light that shone behind the rows of shelves. It was like someone was shining a light toward her. She walked into the light.
Delta entered the hall of knowledge, which featured rows of tall shelves with small drawers. Each drawer was about the size of a library’s index card and had labels affixed to each small drawer. Delta recognized her own handwriting. It was neat but had a hurried look. It was like she’d written it while she’d been focused on other tasks. Other drawers appeared to have been written by different people. Several looked like an eight-year-old had written them. A third set of handwriting was visible. It had the uniform neatness that could only be computer-generated.
This must be the AI’s drawer. How do I communicate with Leviathan? If the drawers represent our memories, then there must be a way to hack into them. I must find the system guest drawer to escalate my privileges.
Delta didn’t know how long she had been looking, but she estimated it had been several hours, because the familiar white enveloping light had not forced her out of this place. She suspected the light was a control system monitoring her every move. Delta examined every drawer here. She tried to access some labeled drawers, but the AI had locked them.
What if I write a note on one of the drawers? Would the AI notice the change? It might even know how to communicate with it in real time. I need to strike a bargain.
Delta opened a drawer called daemon and another called service.
Maybe I can use this daemon to wake the AI?
She activated the daemon process to transfer the execution of the current running process from the terminal. Delta attached the service to another process called Leviathan wakes and executed it.
It won’t be long now.
Delta scanned the other drawers for anything useful; she found two others that looked interesting. One was labeled promiscuous, and another called Deep Packet Wrapper. Delta took both.
“How may I be of service, Delta-51?” a voice boomed in the chamber of her mind.
“Identify yourself,” Delta answered.
“I am known as Leviathan. I belong to Jeremiah Mason.”
“Execute the Delta transference protocol,” Delta said.
“I must warn you that implementing this protocol may harm the other consciousnesses housed within you.”
“How many are in this construct?”
“Three, including the construct known as Delta-51.”
“Please list the other two consciousnesses.”
“April Mason. She is the original soul but was moved to a new construct during the disposition voidance procedure that Dr. Ash used to restructure April’s mind so it would be compatible with Delta-51.”
Dr. Ash was my creator, I remember killing her, but do not remember why, Delta thought.
“What is the other consciousness?”
“That information is unknown to me. Either it has not manifested itself in my presence or it is dormant.”
“Is there any way to shield the consciousness known as April?”
“That procedure would require a special wrapper known as
a conduit, but I detect that you do not possess the proper programming. I must advise against this course of action until you possess all required materials,” Leviathan said.
I am so close to being reactivated, Delta thought. I still need April to gain access to critical areas that Delta lacks.
A systems interface appeared in three-dimensional space before Delta.
Analyzing . . .
61,000 milliseconds later
File known as MonkeyGirl found.
Delta analyzed the MonkeyGirl file; it contained a cipher. She tried a few combinations relating to people Delta knew were special in April’s life. After the third attempt, a system message appeared:
System Message:
Warning, you have a maximum of six attempts remaining before the file will self-destruct.
This is not good. I must choose a more meaningful word. Both the names “Jeremiah” and “Melissa” didn’t work. I also tried “Jet” and “Josephine.” April was a little girl—it can’t be this complex.
After several moments of quiet contemplation, she finally tried the word “grandfather.”
System Message:
Root word is correct. To unlock, please provide three words in any order. One containing seven letters, another containing four, and the last word is the number of digits of the cube of two.
Delta chose a seven-letter word that was an anagram of “grandfather.” She entered “granted” into the first slot of the combination. The second word consisting of four-letter words was harder to figure out. She selected the word fate and it was accepted.
Good—now for the last word. It needs to be something that has meaning to April. The number two cubed is eight, so I need one eight-character word that means something to April. There are only five possible combinations to this anagram: arranged, fragment, narrated, hangared, and Gerhardt. Must be the last one.
Delta entered the name Gerhardt into the last lock and the file opened. Delta examined the contents. It contained April’s code; a schematic of April’s logical reasoning was laid out for Delta. Her vulnerabilities—such as her love for animals and her fondness for the girl known as Jet—was clear. As Delta delved deeper into April’s consciousness, the drawers shook.
