by Aman Gupta
Tilly started the 5-minute countdown in his wristwatch that he had received as a gift from his father. So did Alessia.
The reflectors on the dome started working after taking a few seconds to boot. Soon, the shade that made the dome visible vanished without a trace. Soldiers posted outside the Gate saw Sierra disappear before their eyes. It brought back a smile on their face. They were sworn protectors of the city, and the security of the people inside the city mattered a lot to them.
As Alessia expected, the hacking resumed as soon as the systems came online. The IT team started locating the source of the virus, which was multiplying every second. Jason knew it was a fool’s errand to stop the hacking. Rather, he started storing the patterns in which the systems were being taken down. It was a necessary intelligence gathering operation to create an AI capable of stopping Josh. How Josh attacked the systems would help them exploit its weaknesses.
Victor was staring at his new phone. He hadn’t turned off the notifications, as he wanted to know everything. His phone started lighting up pretty soon. Five minutes felt like five hours. Josh was dismantling his life’s work before his eyes. Again. And just like last time, he couldn’t do anything to stop it. It was a battle between two archrivals, each wanting to control the world.
Three minutes passed.
Alessia was done staring at the screens of others who were working hard to salvage whatever information they could about the hackers, and the viruses that were installing in the system. Multiple sirens could be heard coming from the server buildings located nearby, as the systems began heating up. The viruses were heating the cores using recursive high CPU centric commands. Alessia started digging into the hacker’s location. There were millions of IP clusters being used by the attacker to not only conceal their identity but also bypass the firewall restrictions. Alessia inspected the data being received from those IPs. It was trillions of packets, containing few bytes of data that seemed harmless. Like a ping to check if the IP was online. But it wasn’t a ping, but a concealed weapon to bring down the prey. The firewall was letting through the data, since it believed the data originated inside Sierra. Those trillions of packets contained billions of lines of code that spread through the system like wildfire, after accruing at the destination. Alessia realized she was wrong in her assumptions after she saw it with her eyes. Over 1000 Triple Layered Firewalls were broken within seconds, several of which she had written herself. It couldn’t be a single hacker or a group. It felt huge. Like a country. Even Alien.
“Maybe they are exploiting the weaknesses of our OS,” uttered Alessia.
There was only one problem with that. Sierra used a proprietary OS that they created, written in a relatively new programming language that was never released to the public.
She looked at her watch, which showed only ten seconds were left. The last ten seconds were dreadful. She had failed in her mission. The damage those last ten seconds could do was too huge to fathom.
“Shut it down,” she yelled to Tilly, who almost dropped the radio.
“Down!” said Tilly.
The workers were ready. It took another sixty seconds to turn off Sierra completely, due to the residual charge inside the modern cables that powered some of its servers. Like being buried in the wrong grave, only to be pulled back up and thrown inside the second one.
Alessia walked towards the staircase and saw through the window. She could spot fire and smoke. A few more seconds and the entire defense system would’ve been completely taken over. As per the plan, Alessia had decided to restart the entire city to make sure that the hackers could proceed with the original plan. The longer they tried to manipulate and take over the system, the better were the probability of them making a mistake.
General Horath and his soldiers had manually deactivated and disarmed all weapons, missile launchers as well as machine guns mounted to the fence, early morning after hearing Alessia’s plans. They had little faith in Alessia.
In the evening, while Alessia and Victor were discussing the future, they were told by Sylvia that it would take another 5 days to put down new power cables. The existing power and electric infrastructure were connected with the mainframes and datacenters more dynamically as earlier thought of.
“The system had been designed that even if one of the switchgears is active, it will route optimum power to the datacenters housing the mainframes and the backup sites,” said Sylvia.
“So, the mainframes are always the first thing to boot if we turn on the power?” asked Alessia.
Sylvia looked at Alessia but didn’t answer. She looked back at Victor and said, “We can’t bring Sierra back online as of now.”
“What if we cut all the power cables leading to the datacenters? It sounds barbaric by today’s times, but that always worked for me when I was a kid,” said Victor.
“There are a bunch of central power cables that originate out of the power plant. It goes to Level one at Sierra – B, where it is divided into individual power sources and spread throughout Sierra – A and rest of Sierra – B. That was the original blueprint,” said Sylvia. “However, last year when we added more resources to our system to upgrade our capabilities, we took a direct line from the power station and routed it through the datacenters and the utility building before terminating it at Yolk which operates the dome.”
“I think I missed the point,” said Alessia.
“What she is saying is that we made a mistake last year when we took a shortcut and directly connected the power station to the datacenters and the dome,” said Victor. “If we want the dome to work, we will need to turn on the auxiliary cables, which will turn on the datacenters. And yes, we need the dome which powers the gate as well as enables our self-defense systems that operate out of Yolk.”
“Yes,” said Sylvia. “Also, since Anti-Jays are now in possibly every system, they might have access to the in-house servers that are placed inside the various buildings. Without them, the buildings are just lights and air-conditioning.”
“Anti-Jays?” asked Victor.
“That’s what everyone is calling whoever attacked us,” said Sylvia.
Alessia smiled as Sylvia looked at Victor.
“Okay,” said Victor.
Sylvia didn’t leave. Victor could see she wanted to say something.
“What is it?” asked Victor.
She looked at Alessia, and stepped aside, almost gesturing that it was time for Alessia to leave.
Alessia started playing with the Red Button sewed to her collar.
“Jason wants a word,” said Sylvia.
“Jason works for me. He can say it while I’m here,” said Alessia.
“Leave,” said Victor.
Alessia smiled.
“He means you,” said Sylvia.
Alessia’s smile disappeared. She turned around and looked at Victor. He nodded. She got up from the chair and left the room.
A minute later, Jason stepped inside the room, sharing a look with Alessia as she walked past him.
“I think we may have something,” said Jason.
“What?” asked Victor.
“I think we’re a step closer in figuring out how we can defeat Josh,” said Jason.
Victor’s eyes lit up. He smiled, which brought a smile on Sylvia’s face as well.
“Take a seat,” said Victor. “What do you have?”
“Are you familiar with Chaos Theory?” asked Jason.
***************************************************
Adam was nearing the end of his day shift around 6 PM when he heard a car approach the gate. He looked through the hole in the gate. He recognized the number plates on the car. It was Vik’s. He had returned on the 8th day. Adam opened the gate and let Vik through. Vik stopped the car at the gate and rolled down the window.
“Hey,” said Adam.
“Hey,” said Vik.
“Been a long time,” said Adam.
“Yeah, more than a week,” sighed Vik.
“A
re you alright?” asked Adam. “You look a bit disappointed. Is it the town?”
Vik chuckled for a second.
“No, happy to be back,” said Vik.
“Did you find what you ever went looking for?” asked Adam.
“Yeah, I did. But I think I failed,” said Vik as he rolled up the windows.
He stepped hard on the accelerator and sped away. Cursing at the traffic to vent out his frustration, he drove straight to his home. Throwing the keys at the nightstand far away while knocking down a vase in the process, he stepped inside the bathroom for a hot shower. Rubbing his face and hair with hot water coming from all sides apart from the top, he sat down on the floor. He realized he hadn’t taken off his clothes. With his back against the tiled bathroom wall, he bent his knees and relaxed his head on the bridge created by his hands resting on the knees.
Several memories rushed through his mind as the hot water landed on his skull. He had found Natasha, but couldn’t convince her to join his mission. He didn’t blame her, as she had her own daughter to take care of. In their short meeting, he had already put her in harm’s way. But the meeting wasn’t a complete failure. He had managed to pick her brains on a lot of things. Now, it was up to him to use that information to fulfil his mission.
Around 9 PM, he reached the hospital to check in on Emily. She was expected to be under observation for 2 weeks. He saw Emily lying on her bed when he looked through the window. Her face was calm, but Vik couldn’t help but notice the oxygen mask on her face. The last time he saw her, she was able to breathe without the mask.
He enquired with the nurses working in the corridor. Two of them didn’t know about Emily’s case until Vik found the one who did.
“There was a complication nearly 48 hours after the surgery,” said the nurse.
“What complication?” asked Vik.
“Her body stopped responding to the medications. She lost sensation in her right leg, and slipped into a coma,” said the nurse.
The horror on Vik’s face was blatantly visible. He began panicking. The nurse’s words were ringing in his ears.
“But she’s not in a coma anymore,” said the nurse.
“Oh thank god,” said Vik as he surrendered to the floor.
He gathered himself and got up again.
“She’s still numb below the waist,” said the nurse. “It’s still too early to say anything, but the doctor thinks we’re looking at a lower body paralysis or paraplegia.”
“But she can recover, right?” asked Vik. “With rehab or other programs?”
“In these cases, it could go either way. If she exerts too much pressure, it could even worsen her condition,” said the nurse. “But we can look into experimental treatments after a few months.”
“Okay,” said Vik. “Thank you.”
“Her sister has been told everything. She knows all the details,” said the nurse.
Vik nodded.
He went inside Emily’s room and sat there for an hour before leaving. He was even more focused on his mission to get back Katie. He felt Emily paid a huge cost for his mission, and he must see it through now. While he was walking out, he ran into Claire.
“I just heard,” said Vik.
Claire was seemingly upset about her sister’s situation, but she could fake emotions better than her.
“She’ll be fine,” said Claire. “I will take care of her.”
“If you need anything, just let me know,” said Vik.
“Yeah, of course,” said Claire.
They hugged.
Vik made his way down to the parking lot, seemingly lost. As Vik was about to leave, Claire called out his name and walked up to him.
“What happened?” asked Vik.
“If it’s not too much to ask, could you help me set up a small rehab room for Emily? I resigned from my job to take care of her full time. Emily gave her entire life savings to her staff,” said Claire. “I shouldn’t be asking you for money, but currently, I don’t know what to do. It’s not just about the money. I don’t even have any experience in such cases. I’m so scared. She has always been my rock. Now I feel so alone, and I don’t know who to trust. We always had only each other. She won’t even tell me how it all happened.”
Claire began sobbing. Vik consoled her as she broke down in tears.
“I’ll take care of everything,” said Vik. “Give me a couple of days. I will arrange everything. She’s my closest friend. She’s my family. You’re my family too.”
Claire cried some more. A few minutes later, she wiped away her tears. She kissed Vik on his cheeks and went inside the hospital.
Vik drove to his home and made some calls. He had hidden Emily’s share of the heist in his home, while given the rest to Eric before leaving, after unloading the trucks at his home before meeting Xavi. He used his connections with the local builders and renovation experts and asked them to work on his project.
Around 11 PM, he visited the home of Dr. Derek Kiole, an 80 year old neurosurgeon who had retired a few years ago. He had a small nursing home in Morrow, which had since been abandoned. He often used to have disagreements with Anthony Arnold, and so Anthony Arnold had made sure that the nursing home never received another buyer.
Dr. Kiole used to live alone after his wife passed away seven years ago due to skin cancer. Vik rang the doorbell couple of times. It was drizzling.
Dr. Kiole came to the door to receive his unexpected guest with a rod. He looked through the peephole and saw Vik standing on the stairs with a bag in his hand.
“Who are you?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“Dr. Kiole, I need to talk to you. It’s urgent,” said Vik. “My name is Vik Miller.”
“What do you want? I’m not letting you in,” said Dr. Kiole.
“It’s about Kiole Nursing and Healthcare,” said Vik.
“What about it?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“I need to buy it,” said Vik.
“I don’t want to sell it,” said Dr. Kiole.
“Just hear my offer. You won’t regret it,” said Vik.
“Unless you have a couple of gold bricks in your bag, get lost,” said Dr. Kiole.
“I have 5 gold bricks,” said Vik.
“Show me,” said Dr. Kiole.
“Open the door, and I’ll show you,” said Vik. “I don’t have any time to waste, sir. My friend needs urgent care on a full-time basis. I need to buy that nursing home. Today, it’s 5 gold bricks. Tomorrow, it will be 5 bullets. Either way, I’m getting that nursing home.”
“I don’t negotiate like that,” said Dr. Kiole.
“Neither do I,” said Vik. “I’m going to count to 3.”
There was a pause of a few seconds. Vik didn’t utter a word; neither did Dr. Kiole.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Start counting,” said Dr. Kiole
Vik turned around and started walking down the stairs. “I already did. In my mind.”
Dr. Kiole immediately put down the rod and opened the door. “I accept your offer. Come on in.”
He poured hot coffee for Vik as they sat down on the couch. Vik could tell the guy was a neat freak. Everything in his home was perfectly placed. Not a single object seemed out of place. Vik couldn’t spot a dust particle either when he traced his fingers down the furniture. The attention to detail was astonishing. The rugs were clean, without any scuff marks. The drapes were neatly tied. There were dim yellow lights placed on the ceiling to give a more cozy feeling to the home.
“So, why do you want to buy my nursing home?” asked Dr. Kiole as he sat opposite to Vik.
“My friend needs a more permanent environment for her rehabilitation. The hospital cannot keep her for long,” said Vik.
“Yeah, greedy fellas,” said Dr. Kiole.
Vik smiled.
“What?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“Nothing,” said Vik, as the doctor couldn’t see the irony.
“Who takes care of the paperwork?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“I’ll get th
e county clerk to visit your home tomorrow,” said Vik. “You’ll just need to sign.”
“Your friend, who is she?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“She runs a restaurant in Morrow. Used to,” said Vik.
“Like Emily’s?” asked Dr. Kiole.
“Yeah, you know the place?” asked Vik.
“Yeah, I used to visit it. Then back problems sort of hampered my movements,” said Dr. Kiole. “What’s your friend’s name?”
“Emily Silverstein,” said Vik.
“You mean the owner of Emily’s?” asked Dr. Kiole.
Vik nodded.
“Oh. She’s a fine woman. Such a tragedy!” exhaled Dr. Kiole.
“Yeah, she is suffering from lower body paralysis. Her sister is here to take care of her, but we need more secure and proper arrangements to facilitate the rehabilitation,” said Vik. “I have already asked a couple of people to take care of restoring the nursing home to its former glory.”
“I’m not letting anyone enter the premises and take down my walls,” said Dr. Kiole.
“That’s why I want to buy the place instead of just breaking in,” said Vik.
“I see,” said Dr. Kiole. “So, where are the gold bricks?”
“I don’t have gold bricks, but something equal in terms of its liquidity,” said Vik as he picked up the bag and opened it. “A 1000 fuel storage belts. You can trade them easily to any local vendor.”
“Okay,” said Dr. Kiole. “It’s yours. The nursing home. On one condition.”
“What?” asked Vik.
“The name stays the same,” said Dr. Kiole. “It’s my legacy. I’m selling you the building. I’m not selling my life’s work.”
“Of course,” said Vik.
“And I get to visit anytime I want,” said Dr. Kiole.
“We will leave your old office, untouched. You can come in and practice medicine just like the old days if you want. Morrow could use someone like you again,” said Vik.
Dr. Kiole nodded.
“Thank you. I will get the renovators scout the place tomorrow and arrange for the county clerk to visit you in the evening,” said Vik.
Vik left the bag on the couch, shook hands, and left.