EMPIRE: Resistance

by Richard F. Weyand

  “Oh my God.”

  Follow The Money, Then Take It

  Ardmore and Burke had been busy with meetings for weeks. – the sector governors, then the royal heirs, then the heads of state of the five Western protectorates – so they had not been able to stay in the loop on what was happening in the Zoo. Then the day came when Lina Schneider told them the Zoo’s work had been completed and the data incorporated into the investigative map in the Investigations Office.

  “They’re done already?” Burke asked.

  “Well, it’s been several weeks,” Ardmore said. “We’ve been working the meetings.”

  “Yeah, time flies when you’re busy being the fire-breathing Empress all the time.”

  Ardmore chuckled.

  “You’ve been very effective. Support is coalescing around the Throne. As it turns out, people actually like having a strong Throne. Stability. Security. A sense things are finally as they should be.”

  Burke nodded.

  “I can see that, actually,” she said. “I watched a press conference with von Hesse. He actually looks pretty happy.”

  “He’s back to doing what he does best. Why wouldn’t he be happy?”

  “So they’re done. We’re getting a briefing?”

  “Yes. I’ve asked Paul to be there as well.”

  “Your Majesties, Mr. Diener,” Olivia Darden said. “I’ll start off with a description of what we did to get the name matches, and then Ms. Schneider will show how that translates into her investigation map.”

  “Proceed, Ms. Darden.”

  “Yes, Sire. We had been trying to figure out how to program phonemes and letter-substitution rules into an algorithm that would search the names for us, when Lois Costas of Matthew Houseman’s group in the Zoo came up with what I like to call the Big Idea. The idea that changes the way you look at a problem.

  “Her idea was to spin up a neural net inside the computer, and to have it learn how to recognize alias name matches to real names using the hand work they had already done. Once that’s done, you then just run all the data through it.

  “The issue was no one’s ever spun up a neural net that big before. And anything smaller wouldn’t be able to do it. We took over the complete main grid of the Imperial Navy’s battlespace integration and visualization simulator. That machine was upgraded two years ago, and even so it was barely big enough.

  “It took four days to learn how to recognize the matches, using the entire machine at a hundred percent capacity. We then ran both datasets through it, the full descendants database plus the full alias accounts database. It took twelve days to process the entire thing.”

  “You took over the biggest parallel-processing computer grid every built, all of it, for sixteen days of continuous processing, Ms. Darden?”

  “Yes, Milady. The Imperial Navy computation people told us it was the biggest computer problem ever run. In history. We then took the output and went through it by hand. It took over the whole Zoo for almost two weeks. But we checked every match the computer returned, and labeled them likely or less likely. That output we turned over to Investigations.”

  Darden sat down and Schneider stood up.

  “We entered all the data into our investigation map, Your Majesties, painting the likely accounts red and the less likely accounts orange. That was for the individual accounts. For the parent and grandparent accounts, we took their color from the child accounts. If any child was red, the parent was red. We also had any other child accounts inherit their color from their parents and grandparents.

  “And this is what we got.”

  The display area had been blank, but now filled with the map of all the alias accounts in the Imperial Bank. The large red stain of the matched accounts and those linked to them dominated the map.

  “My God,” Diener said.

  “That was exactly Mr. Nowak’s reaction, Mr. Diener. All these accounts are tainted by being connected to one or more alias accounts mapped to the names of various descendants of the DP plutocrats executed for treason in 10 GE. The scale of the operation is breathtaking.”

  “What is the total amount of money in those accounts, Ms. Schneider?” Ardmore asked.

  Schneider’s avatar got a distant look as she consulted a side channel and made a query.

  “In excess of a hundred trillion Imperial credits, Sire.”

  “That is a lot of money,” Burke said.

  “They’re playing for all the marbles, Milady,” Ardmore said. “If you want to gamble high stakes, you need to ante up.”

  “And we know who those alias accounts belong to, Ms. Schneider?” Diener asked.

  “Yes, Mr. Diener. Their legitimate accounts aren’t shown here. Just the alias accounts we’ve matched and the accounts that link to them.”

  “And you’re tracking all the alias account transactions, Ms. Schneider?”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  “Very well. Thank you, Ms. Schneider, Ms. Darden.”

  “Do you want us to take any action, Sire?”

  “Not yet, Ms. Schneider. Let us think about it for a bit.”

  “Of course, Sire.”

  The presentation was Thursday. Ardmore and Burke mulled over possible actions into the weekend. And the subject came up at Sunday brunch with the Dieners. With brunch over and coffee served, the conversation turned to business, and this topic was first up.

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do about the alias accounts?” Diener asked.

  “No,” Ardmore said. “We’ve talked about possible actions, but haven’t decided on anything.”

  “Alias accounts?” Claire Diener asked.

  “Yes, Claire,” Burke said. “The plutocrats can’t pay their family members and others above board for the roles they’re playing – like being some sector governor’s chief of staff – so they pay them under an alias. Those accounts are held under fake names in the Imperial Bank. And we’ve been tracking them down. We think we have most of their financial network identified now.”

  “But not all of it?”

  “No,” Ardmore said. “I don’t think we can ever get all of it, Claire. We used something of a trick to find these – matching names that sound similar – and maybe some people used names that don’t sound similar.”

  “Why don’t you get them to show you the rest of the alias accounts?” Claire asked.

  Burke perked up, interested. It didn’t pay to underestimate Claire Diener’s insight.

  “How would we do that, Claire?” Burke asked.

  “Well, if you were to confiscate maybe five percent of the ones you were really sure of, I would think the word would travel like wildfire through their organization and everyone would jump to move their money out of the alias accounts. You can give them a ‘Transaction In Progress’ message or something while you simply record all those accounts.”

  “That, My Dear, is brilliant,” Diener said.

  “It certainly is,” Ardmore said. “Even if some of them get their money out, we should learn who they are.”

  “How could they get it out?” Claire asked.

  “It’s hard to stop that sort of access across such a wide front,” Diener said. “Some of them might get money transferred to their legitimate accounts. The ones in their own name.”

  “But aren’t those accounts fair game as well?” Claire asked. “You have murder, treason, conspiracy to murder – all from this organization. Why wouldn’t you seize their so-called legitimate accounts as well? Isn’t all that money tainted?”

  Ardmore, Burke, and Diener looked back and forth from one to the other.

  “What?” Claire asked.

  “You just solved our problem, Claire,” Burke said. “Thank you.”

  On Monday morning, Lina Schneider was summoned to Burke’s office for a meeting. When Edward Moody showed her in, she saw Ardmore was sitting in the other guest chair.

  “Your Majesties,” Schneider said, bowing her head.

  “Be seated, Ms. Schneider.”


  “Yes, Milady.”

  “Ms. Schneider, we’ve decided what we’re going to do about the alias accounts. You need to get this all set up with the Imperial Bank ahead of time. Prepare whatever Imperial Findings and Imperial Decrees you need to make this work. You can coordinate with Mr. Moody on that.”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “What we want you to do is select five or ten percent of the accounts. Ones we’re sure of. A couple of trillion credits worth, so we’re sure we get their attention. Then seize all that money. When they try to log in to the account, they get a message ‘The funds in this account were seized as criminal proceeds by Imperial Decree.’ Pick those accounts with an eye to making it look like we discovered part of their network. You know, some group of accounts here, a group there, the parent account for that group. That sort of thing.

  “We need to keep track, then, of all the accounts where they hurriedly try to move their funds out of the alias network. Give them a ‘Transaction In Progress’ message, or something like that, so they think it went through, it’s just taking time to clear. But don’t actually move anything.

  “Are you with me so far, Ms. Schneider?”

  “Yes, Milady. Of course.”

  “Good. Then we will seize everything. The accounts you have marked now, the accounts that are the subject of hurried attempts to transfer funds out, the accounts the marked alias accountholders hold in their own names, and the accounts to which they try to transfer the alias account funds. All of it. We’ll seize it all as proceeds of a criminal enterprise.”

  “What if some of the alias accounts are misidentified, Milady?”

  “Then they can step forward to claim their funds, and explain to us why they were being held in alias accounts, Ms. Schneider. I suspect they won’t though. If the funds are being held in an alias account, they are likely criminal proceeds whether they are part of this conspiracy or not.”

  “Very good, Milady.”

  “Anything to add, Your Majesty?” Burke asked Ardmore.

  “No, Milady. I think you covered it quite well.”

  “Very well. You have your orders, Ms. Schneider. Let us know when everything is in place and you are ready to proceed.”

  “Yes, Milady. It may take a day or two.”

  “I would expect nothing else, Ms. Schneider. Let us know.”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  It was Wednesday afternoon before everything was ready. Schneider called Burke to let her know.

  “We’re all ready, Milady Empress.”

  “Including the legitimate accounts, so-called, of the matched names to the aliases?”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “And you’re ready to mark attempts to move funds?”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “Very good, Ms. Schneider. We will do this first thing tomorrow morning. I am going to be in the viewing room. I want to watch this happen personally. I have an ax to grind.”

  “Of course, Milady.”

  “You’re up early,” Burke said to Ardmore when he joined her at breakfast.

  “I figured you would be in a hurry to get going.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can’t wait. I woke up, ‘POP! Let’s do this.’”

  “Well, you might as well let me eat breakfast,” Ardmore said. “I don’t think Ms. Schneider will be in yet.”

  “I checked. She’s tagged as ‘In.’”

  “Well, give me ten minutes. After all, I did get up early so you wouldn’t have to wait.”

  “OK. Ten minutes.”

  It was just before eight when Ardmore and Burke popped into the viewing room. Schneider had a tag on the viewing room so she knew the minute they appeared, and she popped into the room moments later. Paul Diener must have had a tag on it, too, this morning, as he popped in right behind her.

  “Your Majesties,” they each said in turn.

  “You’re ready, Ms. Schneider?”

  “Yes, Milady. The initial blocked accounts with the seizure message will show in black when we block them, then the accounts people try to draw funds out of will show blue.”

  “All right, Ms. Schneider. You may proceed.”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  Two groups of accounts in the display turned black. That is, with a black box around each account entry. They were parent and grandparent accounts and their associated child accounts, well within the red zone of the map.

  “How much money is in those accounts, Ms. Schneider?”

  “About two trillion credits, Milady. Each group has some people in it who were among those found out and eliminated. So it should look like we tracked them down from that.”

  “Excellent, Ms. Schneider.”

  “What are we watching for, Milady?” Diener asked.

  “Somebody is going to hit one of those accounts, Mr. Diener, and get the message the funds were seized for criminal activity. Then he’s going to spread the word. At that point, I expect a bunch of people to try to withdraw funds before we seize their accounts as well.”

  “And those are the accounts that will show blue, Milady?”

  “Yes, Mr. Diener.”

  “Actually, Milady, those accounts will show bluer,” Schneider said. “If they’re not marked now, they will be blue, and if they’re red now, they will be purple.”

  “Thank you for the clarification, Ms. Schneider.”

  “How long will this take, Milady?” Ardmore asked.

  “No telling, Sire,” Burke said. “But those accounts are splattered around all over, and there are several hundred tagged right now, so it shouldn’t be long.”

  A black-boxed account in the display turned into a blue-boxed account suddenly. It was so small in the map they wouldn’t have noticed, except Schneider had the blocked accounts zoomed in the display.

  “We have our first customer, Milady,” Schneider said.

  “Back the display out now, Ms. Schneider.”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  The zoom backed out until they could see the whole cloud. The thousands of black-boxed accounts were a small portion of that big red stain.

  There. An account flared for a moment and turned blue. A minute or two went by and there was another. Then a few more. It built and built, and pretty soon, accounts were popping blue all over the map, most within the red zone, but some outside it.

  “It’s like watching popcorn pop,” Diener said. “You get one. then another, and before you know it they’re just going crazy.”

  Burke laughed.

  “Oh, this is going to be so satisfying,” she said. “Go ahead, you rats. Try to take the cheese. It isn’t going to work.”

  “Are you tracking associated accounts to those blue hits outside the red zone, Ms. Schneider?” Ardmore asked.

  “Yes, Sire. We’re assuming they’re tainted as well.”

  “Excellent.”

  There was something very compelling about that display. All through the enemy organization, the alarm was spreading, and more and more people hit their alias accounts, trying to withdraw their funds before they could be seized. More and more accounts turned blue, and more and more accounts outside of the red stain were showing up. Claire Diener had been right – let them show you the accounts.

  Burke could imagine conspirators being awakened by emergency messages, trying to withdraw funds logging in from their beds. Others from their offices, from their living rooms, while traveling. They couldn’t get the ones in hyperspace, but that was always a miniscule percentage of people at any one time.

  She was shocked when she got a message from Edward Moody that staff had set out a lunch of quick bites in the outer room to Ardmore’s office, where she and Ardmore were sitting while they were in VR. How time flies when you’re having fun.

  “I guess we should grab a bite, Sire,” Burke said. “Do you want to join us, Mr. Diener?”

  “I’m actually downstairs in my office, and staff has some lunch here for me as well, Milady. See you back here in fifteen?”

  “
Very well, Mr. Diener. We’ll be back soon, Ms. Schneider. You might want to grab a bite yourself.”

  “Thank you, Milady.”

  The desk in the outer office had a lot of noshy little sandwiches and other quick bites. Moody hovered, ready to pounce on anything that wasn’t just right.

  “You needn’t fuss, Mr. Moody. This looks wonderful.”

  “Yes, Milady Empress.”

  “How did you know, Mr. Moody?” Ardmore asked around the corner of a sandwich.

  “You both cleared and blocked out your schedules for the day, Sire, though you were both in the office.”

  “You read our minds, Mr. Moody,” Burke said.

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” Ardmore asked Burke.

  “Oh, yes. I think of lying there in the clinic, how close it was, and I want to hurt them. I want to hurt them bad.”

  Ardmore nodded.

  “Ready to get back?”

  “Sure,” Burke said. “A thousand quick calories and I’m good to go.”

  When they logged back into the viewing room, they saw the blue had spread while they were gone. Was still spreading, in fact, though more slowly.

  “It looks like most people have gotten the word by now, Milady,” Schneider said.

  “Let’s watch a little longer, Ms. Schneider.”

  “Of course, Milady. But it’s the parent and grandparent accounts that have the big money in them, and it only takes one personal alias account to tag them.”

  “Understood, Ms. Schneider.”

  They continued watching until three-thirty in the afternoon. The map was pretty static now.

  “All right, Ms. Schneider. I think we’re pretty much done now. Are you all set?”

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “OK, Ms. Schneider. Take their money.”

  Over the next five minutes, a black wave swept over the map, boxing all the blue and red and purple and orange accounts in the black boxes that indicated a seizure.

  It was very satisfying to watch.

  When it was over, Burke turned from the display to Schneider.

  “How much did we take, Ms. Schneider?”