Virago One: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (Ace of Space Book 2)

by John Triptych

  “Okay, update me when you got more stuff, bye,” Darian said before shutting down the call. She quickly dialed her boss’s number.

  To her surprise, NASA Law Enforcement Supervisor Martin Ballast answered almost immediately. “Darian, I was about to call you.”

  “Marty, Tyler has gone ahead and traced Anonymyst to Las Vegas, I need you to authorize us to get over there as quickly as possible.”

  “Hold on,” Martin said. “The FBI wants in on this case. I need time to coordinate with them because this is a delicate matter.”

  Darian rolled her eyes. “Oh, so because it’s in the US, now they want to be involved? This is my case, Marty. I’ve only got my first real big break a few weeks ago when the Russians sent out the suspect’s picture, now we got a good lead in Las Vegas, and I’ll be damned if I have to wait just because the FBI wants to get some of the glory in this.”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that, Darian.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Something happened in Las Vegas just last night,” Martin said. “It hasn’t been on the news yet.”

  “What?”

  “Remember that Chinese spy from ACE Corp?”

  “Herbert Eng something,” Darian said. “What about him?”

  “He was being transported to a Justice Department complex in Colorado by two FBI agents. Last night, their drone transport went missing.”

  “And?”

  “They found the two agents and the robot chopper out in the desert. Both agents were dead and Herbert Eng Wu is missing.”

  Darian placed her hand over her mouth. “Oh my god.”

  “I have to tell you, one of the agents was Kordell Jackson. The FBI thinks someone with very good skills hacked into their AI network to divert the transport, and they think it was Anonymyst who did it.”

  Darian only listened to the first part. She staggered out of the restaurant’s front door and into the sidewalk. Kordell had been a good friend, and she attended basic training with him in Quantico. Deep in her heart, she had some affection for him, and it secretly pained her when he invited her to his wedding a few years back. Now he was gone.

  Martin’s voice was still on the line. “Darian? Are you there?”

  She didn’t answer. Tears began to stream down her eyes as she walked listlessly along the lighted sidewalks of Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

  Chapter 8

  Crafted from local materials, the two-story house located in Boulder’s exclusive Seven Hills stood apart from the other homes in the neighborhood due to the numerous remote aerial drones constantly hovering around it. A few of the neighbors driving along the dirt road by the place would stop and stare for a few minutes out of curiosity, before realizing the drones had police markings on them. Since it was the norm for suspects under house arrest to have these unmanned vehicles constantly monitoring their activities, the worried neighbors told their kids to shun the house and its surrounding lot. Consequently, the only visitors that made their way up the hilly road to the house bordered by Colorado pine trees were either food delivery drones or Federal law enforcement officers who would periodically check up on its lone occupant.

  The ACE Corp VTOL drone transport arrived just after lunch, its squat fuselage settling down on the landing pad behind the house. The side door automatically opened once the ducted turbofans cycled down, and two men emerged. The first one had slicked dark hair and wore a crisp brown suit, while the taller one was dressed more casually in khaki cargo pants and a buttoned, short-sleeve denim shirt. Once their feet were on the ground they headed towards the back door of the house. A hovering drone descended and focused its camera sensors at the two of them. The taller, broad-shouldered man placed a smart monocle over his right eye and waved at the surveillance vehicle. The drone dipped its nose down slightly as if acknowledging his presence, before regaining its altitude to float just above the roof once more.

  Stilicho Jones quickly opened the back door to let them inside the house. He shook the taller man’s hand first. “Errol, it’s great to see you again. I only wish you’d come sooner.”

  Errol Flux smirked as he walked through the modern kitchen area and moved towards the living room. He spoke without glancing back at Stilicho, who shook the other man’s hand. “I’m sure you two know each other already, right?”

  Stilicho smiled while shaking hands with the man in the suit. “Sure do, glad to see you again, Fredo.”

  Alfredo Tocino, chief legal counsel for ACE Corp, adjusted his glasses and nodded. “No problem. How are things going with you, Stil?”

  After closing the door behind him, Stilicho sighed as he threw his arms up. “Well, I can’t really complain since the company lent me this house ever since I posted bail. Other than being bored out of my wits because I’m not allowed any com-link access, things are just peachy.”

  Errol sat down on the padded easy chair. The living room had a great panoramic view of the city down below. “Let’s talk over here, guys.”

  Stilicho walked over to where the CEO of ACE Corp was and sat down on a nearby tweed sofa. “Do you guys want anything? Coffee? Tea? Or maybe join me for another round of beer?”

  Errol shook his head. “I’m good, Stil. I just had lunch.”

  Fredo sat down at the opposite end of the long sofa. “No thanks. I would advise you to moderate your drinking though. If any of the drones spots disruptive behavior Stil, they could impose further penalties by forbidding alcohol in this place.”

  Stilicho grimaced. “What? Seriously?”

  Fredo nodded solemnly. “Yes, seriously. The Feds can pretty much make any rule they want to in cases like this.”

  Stilicho was exasperated. “I don’t believe this! I was blackmailed by an FBI agent.” He turned to look at his boss. “Errol, you have got to believe me when I say that she was the one who put me up to this.”

  “The agent in question had several audio and video monitoring devices in both her clothing and with her mundane possessions, so she documented everything the moment you picked her up at the hotel bar in Wyoming,” Fredo said. “I didn’t see any indication of entrapment. You were bragging to her about your exploits and she merely went along with it.”

  Stilicho held his palms up. “But she seduced me! She slept with me for chrissakes- isn’t there a law that cops or Fed agents can’t do that to their targets?”

  “Not really,” Fredo said. “They are discouraged to do so, but there’s no directive preventing them from engaging in sexual relations with their subjects. From what I read on her affidavit, it seemed that she liked you and did it willingly.”

  Stilicho rolled his eyes. “Oh wow, that’s just great! So she screws me over- not once, but twice.”

  “Why did you keep Maia, Stil? I told you to go ahead and delete her years ago,” Errol said calmly.

  “Because she saved my life numerous times when I was on Mars,” Stilicho said. “I figured I owed her.”

  “She’s just an AI suite, Stil,” Errol said. “Since when did you care about machines anyway?”

  “I care about her,” Stilicho said tersely. “If it wasn’t for Maia, Mars would have been evacuated and ACE Corp would have gone bankrupt. You know that.”

  “I do, and I’ve thanked you for it by giving you enough money and stock options to retire in luxury,” Errol said. “But the law is the law. AI suites like her have been banned by the entire world, and for good reason. We nearly lost Mars to a lunatic that had a similar AI module.”

  “Maia helped me in countless ways,” Stilicho said. “There’s no way I could just delete her.”

  “That was your mistake, and a big one,” Fredo said. “The Feds are going to come down hard on you, as an example to discourage others from developing an AI like Maia. We’re doing all we can to keep this from the media, but I can’t guarantee for how much longer. There’s already rumors swirling in the net about a powerful AI on the loose, and it’s making a lot of people very, very worried.”

  Stil
icho didn’t take his eyes off Errol. He had a scowl on his face. “I can’t believe you supported the UN to vote yes on that damned AI ban. You had a Maia yourself, could you not see how she could help the company out?”

  “An AI like Maia is an existential threat to humanity,” Errol said. “She’s just one step below the Singularity, when a machine intelligence truly becomes self-aware and replicates itself, and if that should happen then humanity could very well go extinct. I supported the ban because I couldn’t allow it to happen.”

  Stilicho rolled his eyes. “That’s total crap, Errol. Machines like Maia help humanity out. She never harmed anyone and stayed loyal to me the whole time.”

  “A program like her can easily be modified by adding a few lines of code into their core architecture and turning them into killers,” Errol said. “You saw what Silas Balsamic did first hand. What’s to stop another madman from doing the same thing?”

  “People like me- that’s who,” Stilicho said. “For every one of those nuts out there we can counter them by having our own AIs to neutralize whatever scheme they do.”

  “You’re not exactly the most ethical of people,” Fredo said, but Stilicho ignored him.

  Errol pursed his lips. “That would work with an occasional lunatic maybe, but what if governments decide to mass produce these things for something like the military and it got out of hand? We’d be hard-pressed to fight them all. It’s a losing war.”

  Stilicho crossed his arms. “And how do you know that the military isn’t working on an AI like this already? You think a UN ban is going to stop them or the Chinese? What about the Russians? Since when did they ever abide by a UN treaty that limits their capabilities?”

  “As a matter of fact I know the military is working on a combat AI as we speak,” Errol said softly. “We are helping them out, but by limiting its capabilities rather than enhancing it.”

  Stilicho was ready to leap out of the couch. He was utterly disgusted by the swirling hypocrisy. “I knew it! I had a feeling the FBI specifically targeted me in order to find out if I was still using Maia, and yet you’re working for the government, in direct contravention to the ban.”

  “Calm down, Stil,” Errol said. “You’re not listening to me. I said we are working with them to limit their AI capability so that it doesn’t get to Maia’s level. ACE Corp is working within the law.”

  Stilicho’s lips trembled with barely suppressed rage. He was losing respect for his boss by the minute. “Did you tell the FBI to come after me?”

  Errol shook his head. “No, but at the same time I didn’t warn you when one of my contacts in the Bureau told me you were under investigation. I figured you’d have the smarts to stay quiet and let things pass. I was wrong. Your hubris is what got you into this mess.”

  Stilicho didn’t answer. The sense of betrayal had made him mute.

  Fredo figured that he needed to have his say. “Let’s focus on your immediate situation, Stil. The government wants to press criminal charges on you, but I think they could be amenable to a plea agreement.”

  Stilicho was looking out into the landscape of pine and high prairie, a sign of bored resignation on his face. He lifted his right hand over the sofa’s armrest before putting it back down again. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.”

  “I think we could convince them that you will make a pledge to delete all copies of Maia and vow never to use an AI suite ever again,” Fredo said. “There will also be fines that have to be paid.”

  “I just don’t want any jail time,” Stilicho said. “I can’t stay cooped up for long. Sitting in this house for the past few weeks is already driving me nuts.”

  “The Feds have told me that you will be effectively banned from using the internet,” Fredo said.

  Stilicho’s mouth dropped. “What? For how long?”

  “It’ll be a lifetime ban,” Fredo said. “None of your devices will have encryption either, and will be continuously monitored by the authorities.”

  His hands balled into fists. “They can’t do that to me!”

  “It’s going to be tough for me to negotiate that demand away,” Fredo said. “They think you’ve got copies of Maia hidden away somewhere for future access.”

  “You know,” Stilicho said. “If the government really pisses me off I could go to the media. I can tell them the whole truth on what really happened on Mars.”

  Errol shook his head slightly. “I don’t think that’s the kind of attitude you want to take in this, Stil. The government is already mad at you. Their punitive power is virtually unlimited.”

  Stilicho drew in a deep breath. Better to give in for now, and he could work something out later. His voice was now a raspy hiss. “Very well.”

  “One other thing,” the lawyer said.

  “What?”

  “The Feds are also freezing your assets under the RICO Act,” Fredo said.

  Stilicho could barely find the words. “T-they can’t … do that!”

  “I’m afraid they could,” Fredo said. “The Fed prosecutors think that much of the money you’ve made was due to electronic hacks using Maia. They have filed a notice of seizure for your bank accounts, houses, cars, and everything else.”

  This was one shock too many. Of all the things they could do to hurt him, this one was the most painful of all. Stilicho’s shoulders trembled a little as the mental shockwave coursed through his body. His biggest fear when growing up was to be poor. To give up his life of luxury meant that he would be just like every other schmuck out there. It felt like a cosmic injustice since he had already achieved his dream of making it big. Now everything was in ruins. The last thing he wanted to do was to start all over again.

  “We’ve sent them paperwork stating that you acquired your assets legally through corporate bonuses and stock options, but they’re not believing it,” Errol said. “I’m sorry, Stil.”

  Stilicho’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t thinking too clearly. There must have been a reason as to why both Errol and Fredo had shown up to tell him about this. He needed to focus on what the real message was. He quickly made eye contact with them again, carefully studying their faces. “There’s a catch, isn’t there?”

  Errol’s eyes flicked over to Fredo. He figured his young protégé was smart enough to read between the lines and he wasn’t disappointed. He silently gestured at the lawyer to continue.

  “The government has not overlooked what you did on Mars,” Fredo said. “Errol and I stressed this during the negotiations. You were in line to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but since the government hushed it all up, it didn’t happen. If you’re willing to help them out, you’d not only regain the government’s trust, but it should help out with the forfeiture negotiations as well.”

  A slight calmness settled Stilicho’s pounding heart. There was a chance, but knowing them, he would have to expose himself to danger once more. “Tell me everything.”

  Errol leaned back on the high-backed chair. “You remember the last job you did for me?”

  Stilicho gave him a dirty look. “Yeah, you told me to hunt for a mole within the company.”

  “Correct,” Errol said. “Herbert Eng Wu, one of my top fusion engineers. It was your investigation that uncovered he was a spying for the Chinese government.”

  Stilicho shrugged. “What about him?”

  “Six days ago he was being transported right over here, in Colorado,” Fredo said. “The Feds wanted to process him for trial. He never made it.”

  Stilicho leaned forward. “What do you mean?”

  “Someone with very sophisticated skills hacked into the FBI’s AI network and diverted the drone chopper to a remote location in Nevada,” Errol said. “Two FBI agents who were escorting him were killed. Herbert on the other hand is nowhere to be found.”

  “Jesus,” Stilicho said.

  “There was a discreet request through unofficial channels that you might be of some help to the Feds if you are willing to work with the
m as a consultant, so to speak,” Fredo said. “If the government succeeds in re-apprehending Herbert, they might just overlook a number of charges arrayed against you.”

  Stilicho didn’t hesitate. “Okay, tell them I’m in. But I want it all in writing.”

  Errol suppressed a smile. This was the guy he was familiar with. “That can be arranged, I think.”

  Chapter 9

  Ever since the Great Quake, Los Angeles had been steadily rebuilding its infrastructure. New advances in construction techniques promised more earthquake resistant roadways and residential units. Much of the city’s classical architecture had been lost, and almost every building was brand new. But despite all the positive news and support from the politicians and the business industry, large swaths of the new metropolis remained under-populated. The survivors of the most catastrophic disaster in the country’s history had steadily moved away to the other states, vowing never to return. Consequently, there was a thirty year housing slump with no end in sight.

  The nondescript, six-bedroom house was located in Bel Air, once home to rich moguls and actors for the city’s formerly thriving entertainment industry. Even though much of the neighborhood had been rebuilt quickly, many of its former residents had already moved away. When a bid for renting a vacant house near the country club was entered through its network, the financially beleaguered real estate company that managed it was only too happy to accept cash paid in advance, in addition to a caveat that required its renters were not to be disturbed or be logged into their com-link records. With instructions to leave the house keys in a safety deposit box during the turnover, the real estate agent did as she was told and drove away without ever seeing who the renters were.

  Herbert Eng Wu got up from his bed and walked out of the room. He opened the bathroom door and entered, staring at his swollen face in the mirror. The pain had mostly subsided and the puffiness in his cheeks made it seem that he was undergoing a severe allergy attack. Taking a small container of pills from the counter by the sink, he twisted it open and popped a couple in his mouth. Just as he contemplated returning back to the bedroom to get more sleep, he heard a car parking itself on the driveway.