by Judd Vowell
The idea had been hatched long ago, out of a distrust developed from the discovery of his family’s past. More specific, a distrust of governments, and a disgust for the influence that money has over them. He told Jacob of his Cuban forefathers and how their self-made livelihood had been taken by their country. He talked of his father’s futile fight to redeem the family name, and of his mother’s abandonment under desperate American-bred circumstances.
He referenced past civilizations in world history. He asked esoteric questions, not looking for the actual answers. He just wanted Jacob to think differently, above his mind’s mathematical sanctuary.
“Is it coincidence that, until now, the greatest of the world’s societies have all collapsed or transformed?” Salvador posed. “Or was that natural order? What do we consider great about a society anyway? The Egyptians, the Romans, the Greeks. Flashes in the grand historical pan. Shouldn’t we be the same?”
The last thought lingered in the cool California night air before Salvador answered it himself. “Because our societies, our civilizations, are interdependent for the first time in the known history of this planet, one country’s economy cannot exist without the others, and the group cannot let even one fail. The collapse of one would mean the collapse of all. And so, the corruption follows. The global economy controlled by a select few, who are in turn controlled by the highest bidders and the biggest contributors. We are long overdue for a cultural cataclysm, but technology has eliminated any chance of it happening naturally. So what do we do? Continue on the same path until the whole of us is eliminated? I say no. I say we use that same technology to make the cataclysm happen on our own terms.”
The wheels of Salvador’s change were already turning. The information that Faultline’s secret division was gathering had already led to progress in the movement’s foundation-building. Key personnel roles within companies and agencies were being filled by Salvador’s people. His group influenced mergers, acquisitions, stock buys-and-sells. Even elections were being swayed on localized levels. And by creating the right computer program that could attack multiple secure servers simultaneously, he told Jacob that he felt like they were only a few years away from fulfilling the ultimate goal: complete global shutdown.
“Can you build that program for me, Jacob?”
Salvador had asked so many rhetorical questions in his presentation that Jacob didn’t know if he expected an answer or not. “Hang on, Salvador. I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this. After all, you don’t come across as the evil mastermind type. What you’re talking about is beyond anything anyone’s ever conceived.”
“Exactly as I forewarned you,” Salvador quipped. “Don’t get caught up in the details right now, Jacob. We will deal with those later. But the concept...can you build it?”
Simone had been right again. Jacob was overwhelmed. And a little drunk by then. But he was sold. It was logic in its most sensible form. Civilization was on a runaway steam train with no destination and no engineer, only firemen shoveling more and more coal into the engine. Salvador could become that engineer, even though he would have to derail the train to do it.
Jacob stood and regained a bit of his balance. “Of course I can, Salvador,” he said with his innate confidence. “But you’ve got to tell me what we’re gonna do once I burn this shithouse down.”
“All in due time, hijo,” Salvador said. He stood and went inside the house, and when he returned he held two long brown cylindrical shapes in his hand. He formed the infectious smile that came across his face quite often as he handed one of them to Jacob. “From my personal stash. To celebrate a new friendship. The best cigar you’ll ever taste in your life.”
14.
J acob and Salvador sat silently listening to the Pacific Ocean slam herself into the California boulders below them. Salvador understood how life-altering his proposal to Jacob had been. He gave the young man time to take it all in.
Halfway through his Cuban cigar, Jacob spoke. “So you’re telling me you’ve been planning this for years?” he asked. “And you’ve got people all over the world working for you in secret?”
“That’s right, hijo,” Salvador confirmed. “Revolutions take time. And organization.”
“Well, I guess it’s time for you to fill me in on the organization.”
◊◊◊
Salvador’s secret division had begun as a simple social circle, formed to discuss philosophy and philanthropy in weekly meetings. He gathered friends from government and business inside Faultline’s headquarters, where debates and arguments would arise and continue late into the night. Soon, he realized he had organized a group of similarly-minded individuals, each seeking a dramatic change in the country, if not the world. It was certainly not the first of its kind, but this group was different in that it had the means to actually affect a transformation. Salvador inadvertently found himself in a role of leadership at the gatherings, with everyone tending to agree with his broad-stroked ideas. The formation of ANTI- was a natural progression.
ANTI-’s mission from the beginning was to disrupt from within. Salvador inspired his new following to become a unit against the corrupted world and the sham its society had become with the rapid advance of technology. A unit from whom no one, no matter how powerful, was safe. ANTI-everyone and everything.
Recruitment for membership in the new division was quiet but aggressive. Throughout the world, unemployment and dissatisfaction was at an all-time high. And communication was moving easier than it ever had before. ANTI-’s leadership benefitted from it all. Then they began to reveal themselves, through protests and demonstrations. This only continued to increase growth among their ranks with people who sought liberation from a lopsided power-structure. And all the while, Salvador was developing something stronger than any protest, behind Faultline’s closed doors. He was creating a group that could detach the world from what it had become utterly reliant upon: the technology that Salvador believed was slowly destroying civilization.
◊◊◊
There were eight men and three women who made up ANTI-’s tech team. They operated invisibly and without affinity. Their programs, and their viruses, were sleek and inventive. Their actions were direct yet undercover.
“This is the group that you will join, Jacob,” Salvador told him. “This is the team that you will lead.”
“Lead?” Jacob asked with aversion. “No, no, no, Salvador. You don’t understand. I work alone. Always have. I’m better that way.”
Salvador leaned forward in his chair and stubbed out the last bit of his cigar in the ashtray next to him. “I told you earlier, hijo, that I know you. Believe me, I do. And I know you’ve got the strength that a leader needs, and the patience that this project will require. Trust me, and believe that you can be something greater.”
Jacob felt inspired. And he was beginning to understand how Salvador’s revolution had grown so large after all.
15.
F or the first year of his employment under Salvador, Jacob shadowed each member of the ANTI- technology team. Collectively, the group had accomplished much in the few years since Salvador had assembled them. But individually, they could be better. Jacob silently watched their work, then reported to Salvador every few weeks. At the end of the year, Jacob was announced to the team as their new director.
Jacob’s task was basic, but far from simple. He would need to design the program that would eventually infiltrate and overtake the servers of every developed country in the world. He designated the project, and the program, “The Domino Infection.” His intent was to create something more organized than the typical computer virus, and he envisioned the infected servers falling in systematic rhythm like a series of dominos.
After Jacob took over the tech team, he met with Salvador monthly to review their progress. It was also because Salvador enjoyed Jacob’s company. He saw a lot of himself in the young hacker, even though they came from such different places and times in life. Most of the meetings wer
e long and detailed, and some developed into drawn-out discussions about the future and fulfillment of revolutionary destiny. In every meeting, Jacob reminded Salvador of the patience needed to write code and to program. The Domino Infection was going to take more time than even he had predicted. Salvador showed concern, but understood. And he could wait patiently because, unknown to Jacob, he had other projects that were moving forward much more efficiently.
◊◊◊
Part of the ANTI- strategy all along was to place as many of their own into various company and government agency positions. “Inside” men and women throughout the world. Then, when it was time for action, they could overtake from the inside out. Salvador had been the original architect of the concept, and its execution was nearly flawless. ANTs, as the insiders had begun calling themselves, were entrenched and in disguise everywhere. The world would never see it coming.
It was in one of the Domino Infection meetings when Salvador told Jacob that something was happening within the hidden ANT strategy. Salvador was excited – Jacob could see it on his face.
“It’s the financial world, hijo,” Salvador said with lighted eyes. “Wall Street. Hedge funds. Investment banks. We know exactly what they’re doing.”
“Ok, so what exactly are they doing?” Jacob asked apathetically. He knew investment bankers were legalized frauds. So why was this so exciting?
“Let me back up, Jacob, and take it slowly. I know you’re in a programming fog. But hear me out, because this could completely eliminate our need for the Domino Infection.”
16.
S alvador and ANTI- didn’t push America into the Great Recession, but he did see it coming. And he did all that he could to help make it happen. The ANTs he had in place across various financial institutions and investment banks sold derivatives and credit default swaps just like their co-workers. And their government counterparts had been signing off on less and less Wall Street regulation for years.
“This is it, Jacob,” Salvador said with giddiness when they met that day. “The natural world is adjusting for the madness. The artificial pillars that this materialistic society has been building itself upon are buckling under the weight of its growing rapacity. I thought it would never happen.”
“But what does that mean for us, Salvador? For ANTI-?” Jacob couldn’t contain his disappointment. He wanted to be the ANTI- hero, the one to bring about the collapse.
“You don’t see it, hijo? You don’t see how much work this saves us? We are just as prepared to take over when the dust settles as we would be if this was our own doing. I have our people at the ready, across the planet, waiting for the moment when chaos emerges. Waiting to fortify, to defend, to create a new society.” He looked at Jacob deeply. “ANTI- is the only thing that will survive the coming apocalypse. We may not be the cause, but we will still be the answer.”
◊◊◊
The global financial collapse didn’t quite turn out the way Salvador was hoping. Government bailouts saved most of the banks and corporations that were determined to be “too big to fail.” Money was printed and interest rates were lowered. Regulations were considered but eventually set aside. The income gap grew ever bigger. Jacob began to think that Salvador had been right all along. That there was no endgame except total extinction, unless some outside force intervened.
Transforming his disappointment into inspiration, Salvador started a new campaign of sorts. He kept his ANTs that were entrenched in place, but he began hyper-aggressive online recruitment for ground troop ANTs, too. He organized more protests. He siphoned more money to human rights groups. He staged more elaborate theatrical displays of government opposition. ANTI- expanded exponentially. The disenfranchised of the world joined the movement by the millions. And while all of it attracted more and more media attention, no one ever discovered what was really happening behind the ANTI- curtain.
17.
A fter the world avoided what would have been a natural collapse, Salvador came to Jacob with defiant determination in his tone. “Jacob, listen to me. We need the Domino Infection now more than ever.”
Jacob felt renewed validation. “Yes, Salvador, I know. I won’t let you down. But it will take time.”
“Everything that’s historic does, hijo. Don’t ever forget that.”
◊◊◊
Jacob’s tech team worked more earnestly than they had thought they could. They built replica government servers to exact specifications in order to match trial viruses against the security they would be facing. They studied the ways in which various countries defended themselves against cyber-crime. They destroyed each other’s programs to learn their own weaknesses. In the end, they left nothing to possibility. Jacob demanded perfection, and when they were done, the Domino Infection was perfect. Once Jacob and his team had completed their years-long work, he went to Salvador and told him that it was ready.
“Wonderful, Jacob,” he said approvingly, much like a proud father would have. “That means we can put the rest of our plan in motion. It won’t be long now.”
◊◊◊
Jacob sent Salvador a short message on the day after the dominos fell. It represented the proudest he had ever felt about anything:
Salvador,
The Domino Infection is complete. Total electronic shutdown has been achieved. ANTI- is in control now.
Thank you for everything.
FtSoH
Jacob
PART THREE: GETTING OUT
1.
I t doesn’t hurt as badly as you might think. Getting shot, that is. I found myself focusing on a fly that kept buzzing past my face. Every few seconds. Zzzew one way. Zzzew the other. I don’t know why that was my last mortal thought. A nuisance housefly. But it was.
2.
J eff had to be restrained. The two Leftys he had been stationed with on the grid’s border that horrendous morning held him down and zip-tied his wrists and ankles. They told Daniel that it had been a miracle they caught him before he made it down the stairs of the building where they had been positioned. And after watching the ANTs murder his brother Paul, there was no doubt that he would have attacked them once he got to the street, blinded by familial loss and vengeful rage. At least we had saved one life that morning.
I, on the other hand, wasn’t as violently reactive. After Daniel stopped my instinctive effort to get to my children, I was consumed by despair. I collapsed on the fifth floor of that abandoned building in a heap of helplessness.
I had known in my heart that it was a bad idea. But I let Daniel and Anna convince me otherwise. Jessica and Henry, too, even though they weren’t old enough to distinguish between courage and wisdom yet. Hell, I had pushed aside a portion of hard reality for the entire expedition. Truth be told, the chances of us getting the medication for Meg and then getting it back to her in time were slim at best. I knew that all along, but I had ignored it. Maybe that’s what hope really is.
Daniel had instructed the other groups along the border to rendezvous two blocks west if anything went wrong, at the same building we had used as a rally area the night before. I had no idea how much time had passed when he began to shake me from my daze to tell me it was time to move.
“Gordon! Gorrr-dooonnnn!” His voice sounded far away, but I could hear it. Everything had been a silent ring up until then, much like I imagined one of those flash grenades would induce upon explosion. “Gordon, snap out of it! We have got to move!”
I wasn’t fully cognizant, but I suppose Daniel felt like I was alert enough to make it the two blocks. He and the other Lefty soldier stood me up and dusted me off. “Gordon, we’re going to walk now. Down the stairs, back to the rally point. Stay on my ass, step for step. You got it?” I muttered something that must’ve sounded like an “OK.”
When we arrived at the rendezvous, one of the other groups was waiting. Within a few moments, a single Lefty from Jeff’s threesome appeared. He related the situation with Jeff, and how he had left him at their position with his counte
rpart. I was beginning to see and hear clearly again. Daniel was calm and direct.
“No second-guessing at this point, everyone. We still have three people inside that grid. Still alive and in need. Priority now becomes getting them out of there. But we have to be smart.” He paced a bit, thinking deeply. “Three of us will stay here, keep the grid under surveillance. The rest will head back to Overlord and regroup. We need to get Jeff and take him with us. Keep him subdued if needed.” He walked up close to me. “Gordon, I promise: we will do everything in our power to get your kids out of there.”
I had gathered more of my senses and emotions while Daniel spoke. My despair had grown into something more tangible: controlled fury. “You bet your ass you will, Daniel. I don’t know what kind of war you’ve been planning, but I know this: it starts right here, right now.”
3.
W e double-timed our way back to Camp Overlord. Jeff had calmed himself and agreed to go with us. He walked in silence. We all did.
We reached the camp by early afternoon, and Daniel set to strategizing immediately. “Give me an hour, Gordon. I’ll talk with my best people, and we’ll come up with something. Go eat, shower, sleep...anything to keep yourself occupied. I’ll run the plan by you as soon as we’re done.” He gave me a firm handshake, then took off into the former prison’s interior.