The Footprints of God

by Greg Isle

  The spymaster took another drag on his cigarette, then stood and smiled with appreciation. "You're an audacious man, Doctor."

  "And?"

  "You got yourself a plane ticket."

  White Sands

  Five minutes before General Bauer's plane touched down, shooting broke out near the Containment building. The sound of gunfire echoed across the compound, stirring Geli's blood. There was no sound on earth like shots fired in anger.

  Godin started awake and pressed a button that electrically raised his bed. "Your father must have ordered his men to try to open the Containment building."

  Geli wondered if an assault team was about to burst into the Bubble. "Your technicians are armed?"

  "Of course."

  "They won't be able to hold out against a determined force with the right ordnance."

  "I think you'll be surprised."

  "Sir, I know what I'm talking about. If—"

  "What time is it?" Godin cut in. "Have I slept? Has Levin called?"

  "You slept a little, but no one's called. They loaded your neuromodel over an hour ago. Why does it take so long to know something?"

  "It takes time to purge a neuromodel from the computer. Then there's a period of acclimatization after the new model is loaded. An analogue of medical shock, I expect, as the mind accustoms itself to separation from its physical body."

  "How long does that last?"

  "Tennant's model was in a confused state for over an hour. Fielding's for thirty-nine minutes. But the system was only functioning at fifty percent efficiency at that time."

  The phone rang. It was Levin. He sounded out of breath, and Geli heard shouting in the background. She held the receiver up to Godin's ear. Godin listened, then said, "Thank you, Levin. Good luck."

  He motioned for her to hang up, profound satisfaction on his face. "My model has fully acclimatized and is now resolving the final algorithms at the same rate Fielding was."

  "How long do you think it will take?"

  The phone rang again. This time it was John Skow. Godin refused to speak to him.

  "Geli," Skow said in a taut voice, "your father just touched down on the airstrip. He brought some serious firepower with him. That skirmish a moment ago was nothing. Small-arms fire. If someone doesn't persuade

  Godin to get Levin and his people out of Containment, the general will destroy the building and the computer."

  "I'll relay that message."

  She hung up. Godin watched her expectantly.

  "Skow says my father will blow up the Containment building if you don't order your techs out."

  The old man's face twitched against nerve pain. "I don't think he'll do that without speaking to me first."

  "How much does he know about what you're building here?"

  "He knows it's artificial intelligence. He knows I wouldn't waste time on something small. But he mostly knows what he gets paid to keep this place invisible."

  "My father will do anything to protect his career. If the president wants the computer shut down, he'll shit-can the whole building without a second thought, if that's the only way he can do it."

  The door of the Bubble opened with a hiss. Geli whipped up her pistol and found herself aiming at her own father.

  "It was bound to come to this someday," General Bauer said, a wry smile on his face.

  Geli gave him nothing. At fifty-five her father looked much as he had at thirty—trim and hard and blond—with gray eyes that brooked no nonsense from anyone, regardless of rank or position. He was wearing his Class A dress uniform with its bright splash of fruit salad on the breast, which told Geli he anticipated meeting the president's chief of staff. He was not wearing a sidearm, but she saw the bulge of a shoulder holster beneath his dark green coat.

  General Bauer moved close enough to the bed to make eye contact with Godin. "Sir, the president ordered you to cease operations. If you issued any such order to your technicians, they've ignored it. They've barricaded themselves in the Containment building and fired on my troops. I have two dead and five wounded. I ask you now to order your people out. If you or they refuse, I'll have no choice but to bring them out by force."

  Godin stared back at Bauer but said nothing.

  Geli knew her father was speaking for recording devices. Godin probably knew it, too. The eye contact between the two men spoke far more eloquently than their voices.

  "Did you understand what I said?" General Bauer asked. He looked as if he thought Godin might be so near death that he was past reason.

  "My technicians have been instructed not to answer phone calls," Godin said finally. "Not even from me."

  "Then I'll have you moved outside. You can use a megaphone to contact them."

  Godin smiled faintly, as though he enjoyed this chess game with his secret employee. "The Containment building is soundproof, General. It's also built of reinforced steel and concrete. It has its own water and air supply, plus its own electrical generators."

  "I can reduce that building to dust in a matter of seconds," Bauer said. "My men are setting the explosives now. The president would like your computer to survive, but if you refuse to cooperate, I won't hesitate to destroy it."

  This threat seemed to move Godin. "I expect my lead engineer to call me at any moment."

  The general glanced at Geli, then relaxed his ramrod posture. "What the hell are they really working on in there, Peter?"

  "The most powerful machine ever built by man."

  "Was Dr. Tennant's e-mail accurate about its capabilities?"

  "It would be impossible to overestimate them."

  A shadow of doubt crossed Bauer's face. He looked at Geli for confirmation, but she looked away, nauseated by disgust. Her father was standing there like a champion of right, an emissary of the president, but he'd been part of Trinity from the beginning. She did not relax her aim. If her father thought killing Godin would protect him from political repercussions, he wouldn't hesitate to try.

  "You leave me no choice," General Bauer said. He glanced at Geli's pistol, then turned to go.

  The ringing telephone stopped him. Geli picked up the receiver with her free hand and passed it to Godin. Again she heard frantic voices in the background, one saying something about ammunition. Then very clearly Zach Levin said, "Trinity state has been reached, sir. . . . I repeat, Trinity state has been reached."

  Godin closed his eyes and sagged back into his pillow. "Thank you, Levin. Carry on."

  He dropped the phone on the mattress.

  "Why the hell did you tell him to carry on?" General Bauer asked.

  When the blue eyes opened, the triumph in them was absolute. "Trinity state has been reached. There's nothing you can do now."

  "Peter, for God's sake. What does that mean?"

  "Trinity is in control."

  "Of what?" The general looked at the door of the Bubble as if he could somehow see the Containment building. "What the hell are you talking about?"

  "We've known each other for a long time, Horst. You know I'm a man of my word. If you attempt to enter or destroy the Containment building now, you'll be destroying the country you swore to defend."

  Bauer's eyes narrowed in a mixture of suspicion and confusion.

  "You'll understand soon," Godin said. "I advise you to be patient and prudent, for your own sake."

  The general stepped closer to the bed and spoke softly. "You know I've always supported your cause when I could. But this isn't the situation we talked about. This is a king-size clusterfuck with worldwide media on the way to cover it."

  Godin waved his hand indifferently. "I'm sure you'll find a way to extricate yourself. You always do."

  General Bauer sighed, then turned and left the Bubble without a glance in Geli's direction.

  She felt the same foreboding she had as a child. Her father did not handle uncertainty well. She turned back to Godin and saw that he was weeping. The sight stunned her.

  "What's the matter, sir?"

  G
odin raised a shaking hand and touched his face as if making sure it was there. "I've done it. You're looking at the first man in the history of the world to exist in two places at once." Wonder shone from the old man's eyes. Wonder and peace. "I'll die in this bed," he said. "But in Containment I'll go on living."

  Geli didn't know what to say. Even if Godin were right, the computer was unlikely to survive for long.

  "Take my hand, Geli. Please."

  His eyes pleaded with her. She gave him her free hand, and he squeezed it like a child.

  "I can let go now. I can let this body die."

  Another burst of gunfire echoed across the compound. Geli gritted her teeth and fought the urge to pull her hand away.

  Chapter 37

  El Al Flight 462, Five Miles over the Atlantic Ocean

  Major General Kinski of the Mossad had reserved the entire upper deck of an El Al 747 for our trip back to the United States. Passengers and flight attendants were barred from ascending the staircase by a Mossad agent. When the airliner reached New York, Rachel and I were to be transferred to a private jet that would fly us to Albuquerque, New Mexico. From there, a chartered helicopter would ferry us to the gates of the White Sands Proving Ground.

  To pay for these arrangements, I'd spent the past three hours sitting on a stool up front, briefing five Israeli scientists on Project Trinity. A video camera recorded my words, but most of the scientists took their own notes. General Kinski seemed amazed that I would discuss such a sensitive project so freely, but he had failed to grasp the essential reality of Trinity. The existence of a single Trinity computer had negated the old paradigms of national security. For mankind, there was no security.

  Rachel sat two rows behind the scientists in an aisle seat. As I spoke, her expressive eyes betrayed a host of emotions: anxiety, sadness, disbelief, anger. I wanted to walk her to the back of the plane and reassure her, but the Israelis had other ideas.

  General Kinski periodically walked to the rear of the upper deck to take satellite phone calls. From his reports I learned that my e-mail from the Strudel Bar had created the chaos I'd sought to cause. The theories behind Project Trinity had quickly been validated by the world's top computer scientists. In an attempt to put the story in perspective, many media commentators were comparing the story to the cloning controversy of 1998. But the implications of Trinity made the idea of cloning almost passé. The sixth time General Kinski returned from the rear of the plane, he touched me on the shoulder, his face taut with concern.

  "What is it?" asked a scientist from the Chaim Weizmann Institute. "What's happened now?"

  The Mossad chief rubbed his tanned chin. "Various computer experts around the world have started to notice something happening on the Internet."

  "What something?"

  "An unknown entity has been systematically moving through every major computer network and database in the world. Corporations, banks, government offices, military bases, remote defense installations. Existing security such as firewalls barely slows it down. People are publicly speculating that it's the Trinity computer."

  "Perhaps it's only a talented hacker," suggested another man. "Or a group. Is this entity destroying files?"

  "No. It's simply viewing everything. Almost as if it's creating a map of the computer world. Some amateurs—hackers—claim to have traced the source of these probes to New Mexico."

  "Then I think we have to assume that it is Trinity," said the Weizmann scientist. "What I don't understand is why somebody hasn't simply shut off the power to this machine."

  I shook my head. "Godin's been planning this for a long time. I suspect that turning off that machine would have catastrophic consequences."

  General Kinski was clearly ahead of the scientists. "We've talked a lot about the design and capabilities of this computer. We haven't discussed what its intent might be."

  "Your best chance at understanding that is to understand Peter Godin," I said. "If a model has been successfully loaded, it's Godin's."

  "You knew the man for two years. What can you tell us?"

  "He's brilliant."

  "Obviously."

  "He has strong opinions about politics."

  "Such as?"

  "He once said that the principle of one man, one vote, had made America great, and that the same principle would ultimately destroy her."

  Kinski barked a laugh. "What else?"

  "Godin has read deeply in history and political theory, and he has a knowledge of philosophy. He's not religious."

  "I assume that like all very successful men, he has a strong ego?"

  I nodded.

  "I know this much history," said the Mossad chief.

  "Give a brilliant man unlimited power, and you've got big problems."

  The scientists nodded soberly, but the general's gift for stating the obvious made me smile.

  "Tell me something, Doctor," Kinski said. "Why do you want so desperately to get to White Sands?"

  "To stop him. To stop Godin."

  "How do you propose to do that?"

  "By talking to him."

  "You think you can stop him by talking to him?"

  "I'm the only one who can."

  Kinski shook his head. "How do you know that?"

  "You don't want to know."

  He looked at me as he might at a deranged man in the street. "But I do."

  "I misspoke, General. I should have said Godin is the only one who can do it. He'll have to stop himself."

  "The American president may have different ideas about that. Not to mention his generals."

  "That's what I'm afraid of." I rubbed my face with both hands. "I'd like to rest now, if I may."

  Kinski patted me on the shoulder. "Soon, Doctor. A few more questions first. Gentlemen?"

  I glanced at Rachel. She shook her head, then got up and walked down the aisle to the back of the plane.

  White Sands

  Ravi Nara watched in amazement as troops from Fort Huachuca constructed a state-of-the-art command post around him in an unused area of the Administration hangar. Skow hadn't bothered to introduce General Bauer, but Ravi had picked up a lot just by listening.

  Military Intelligence had long ago created a portable Situation Room that could be set up anywhere in the world. Centered around a large oval table were huge plasma display screens fed by racks of computers and communications terminals. Satellite dishes outside connected the Situation Room to every American intelligence agency and surveillance satellite on or orbiting planet Earth.

  When Skow asked General Bauer how he had known to bring the specialized equipment, Bauer had chuckled bitterly.

  "Dr. Tennant's statement was pretty specific about the abilities of this computer. And I know Peter Godin. He'd never voluntarily relinquish that much power. That's Nietzschean reality." The general gave Skow a look of disdain. "I can't believe you thought for one minute that Containment was really isolated from the rest of the world."

  "But that was the whole point in building it," Skow said.

  Bauer snorted. "What the hell were you doing in North Carolina? Playing golf? Godin's engineers had the run of this reservation for months. He flew cargo planes in and out. They could have done anything in here. If you believe that computer isn't connected to anything, I've got some oceanfront land by Fort Huachuca I'd like to sell you."

  Ten minutes later, the general's signals experts discovered a pipeline running deep beneath the sand around the Containment building. The iron pipe appeared to be a water line, but it gave off electromagnetic radiation. The pipeline ran due north for many miles and in all likelihood carried cables connecting the Trinity computer to the OC48c data backbone that served the White Sands Proving Ground.

  Certain other facts had become known during the construction of the Situation Room. First, that a squatter's village of journalists and TV trucks had appeared outside the main gate. Second, that computer professionals around the world had detected a mysterious presence on the Internet, a force
that moved through networks and databases with effortless speed and exhaustive thoroughness. Third, that Ewan McCaskell had lifted off from Andrews Air Force Base some time ago in the backseat of a supersonic jet and would soon arrive at White Sands.

  When one of the half dozen soldiers manning the consoles in the Situation Room announced that McCaskell’s plane was about to touch down on the White Sands airstrip, General Bauer turned to Skow.

  "I want Godin brought in here."

  Skow shook his head. "We don't want him talking to McCaskell."

  "I don't give a shit about that. Godin knows things I need to know. He can die here as well he can in the hospital."

  Skow reluctantly walked away.

  "Tell my daughter I'll personally vouch for Godin's safety!" Bauer called. "She can lie in his bed with her pistol if she wants."

  After Skow left the hangar, General Bauer looked up at a display screen showing a floodlit view of the Containment building. He stared at it for a few moments, then looked at Ravi.

  "You're the neurologist, right? Dr. Nara?"

  "Yes, General." Ravi walked toward the oval table.

  "Is Godin out of his mind?"

  "No, sir." Ravi figured the general would appreciate a sir, even from a civilian. "He's quite sane."

  "What about his brain tumor?"

  "He's had it for some time, but our Super-MRI detected it when it was very small. The tumor was inoperable even then, but it wasn't affecting his mind. I don't think it is even now."

  General Bauer looked hard at Ravi. "But you might testify differently at a congressional hearing."

  Ravi averted his eyes. "That's quite possible. It's a complex case."

  "Skow told me you tried to kill him. Godin, I mean."

  Ravi wasn't sure how to respond.

  Bauer gave him a grin. "Stick around, Doctor. I may need you."

  Ravi bowed his head.

  Ewan McCaskell strode into the Situation Room flanked by two Secret Service agents. Like Skow, McCaskell hailed from Massachusetts, but he'd left the affectations of the Ivy League far behind him. The chief of staff had black hair and wore a navy suit so dark it looked black. He took the chair at the head of the table and motioned for General Bauer to sit to his right.