"Yes, Sir!"
Carpenter nodded in return to the image of the young officer and disconnected the view.
Carpenter turned to face the window side of his office and city below. He considered the mag-lev freight train rolling down the street toward the docks and calculated the value of the grain it contained. A new thought occurred to him.
Reopening the line to the Lieutenant, he said, "Feed me any positive results or indicators in batches on the hour, I'll be the judge of whether they're useful or not. But if something comes out of a search that's rated highly significant, flag it red and send immediately." He finished with the order, "Somebody is screwing around and I want him caught. Delay is not an option. I want this person found."
A visitor would have noted the resemblance to a caged predator as he paced in front of his windows. He paused for a moment, directed a message to his second-in-command, "Start the three remaining chase teams, lift them out with the flyers but don't let them approach within three miles until further notice. Tell them we'll update on the fly. Use the nav satellites to guide as usual but I want them there a.s.a.p," he said, disconnecting before the "Yes Sir," in response got to his ears.
The message light flashed on his eye feed and the Secretary took the call. "Sir, in case you weren't aware, the Captain's Team is wearing heavy combat armor. Apparently it was the regular rotation day to use the heavies, Sir, and not the regular light units. I've added the order to upgrade the teams to heavy Sir. Also Sir, the Captain is knocking down drones as fast as we can send them."
"Thank you Major," said Carpenter. "Keep sending drones, take them from the city surveillance system if need be. We'll need them."
Another wrist flick and the young Lieutenant reappeared.
"Palmer. Keep the drones out of firing range unless we need them for a shot. Then swoop in, get the shot and move away again. We'll need them overhead when we start televising and then everybody should be too busy to play shooting games with them."
And with that, the Secretary smiled. This was about to be a very, very popular show indeed. Teams in heavy armor were going to engage in a full firefight on his program and the ratings would skyrocket. Bonus money would be good. He'd have to prolong this as long as he could because it would be tough to do this again and achieve the levels of interaction and income he expected this one to produce.
Slow and steady here. At least until I know what made them run. Then we'll see.
He did a quick systems check. Yes, the social net interaction indices were still rising, so he had time before he had to do anything.
"Palmer, do you have any results for me yet?"
23/05/2167 10:17:20
<6t94whp> :"The Secretary wants to understand why the Captain ran. We knew it would happen."
<6t94whp> :"Yes, but we knew that too. Let's hope he stays one step ahead of them and listens to his creative training module. That will keep him out of trouble."
23/05/2167 13:40:00
When the door didn't crash inwards in the first twenty-four hours, Jake felt better and even regained his angry swagger. "I am the best and after this, I'm coming after you, Mr. Secretary. Coming after you."
Water in hand, he reached his work-station, gestured and stared at the motion-activated screens. His entertainment feed came online to a head shot of an announcer who said, "We have special news to share in the next hour, pay attention then because we'll bring you the biggest story of the last century. This has never happened before." The head then disappeared.
Thoughts of impending doom returned in spite of his apparent success. Shit! What the hell was I thinking? Taking on Homeland Security myself? I wasn't even drinking.
"Is anybody searching for me?" he asked, expecting the Creative Module to answer. He was not disappointed as the Guy Fawkes mask appeared on the wall screen. He nodded his head to the screen in greeting.
"There are no searches specifically for you at this time. Security is working on existing data requested by the Secretary. They're running a basic search for all incoming and outgoing calls whether public or private. And they're associating those with the Captain's biometrics to see if this data produces any clues."
"What kind of clues?"
"If he knew his caller or recognized the voice, the data would be different from receiving a call from a stranger. His data will show he didn't know you."
"Is there any way the Secretary can tie me to that communication and the Captain?"
"Several."
Jake looked alarmed at this. He took a drink, tried to calm himself. Took two deep breaths.
"Can either one of us influence that search?"
"Not without being discovered. Too much time has passed. But the odds of being found are not very high considering what they're searching for. You can relax."
Jake paused for a few more breaths to digest this. He turned, walked slowly to the cooler, poured himself another glass of water. Returned to stare at the mask and took another deep breath and regained control of his biometrics. He was fascinated to learn there were multiple variables and ways he could be identified. He knew he'd have to learn what those things were before his next adventure. If there was one. His stomach churned again at the "if". He then had a random thought about what the computer was really doing.
"Are you helping find me as well as helping protect me?"
"No. Security designs its own searches. Their tech staff believe they are smarter than computers."
Jake smiled. Of course we are. But he didn't say this out loud. He didn't think this computer had an emotional component, but he didn't want to be surprised if it did.
He turned to hide his facial expressions from the mask but then remembered the other wall had cameras as well. "You can see me. Right?"
"Yes. You can't hide."
"I've decided safer is better. I don't want to pull the tail on this tiger now it's awake."
If there were ways to identify him, it was possible Security would find one of them. He'd stay low and let this storm blow over. The Secretary would have other things to do than find one tech student. And staying low meant not having to outrun a bunch of blood-thirsty troopers. That was the smart option, and he'd be smart this time.
"Go to sleep. Do not wake up until I tell you."
The mask dimmed and disappeared without comment.
23/05/2167 20:47:00
The Team had run all day on the second day and now stood on top of a hill. The sunset was tourist-picture perfect. Vivid purplish-red light along the horizon faded to pink higher in the sky. And even higher, the clear, full moon promised good weather. The lakes on either side of their hill reflected the sky's colors and between the vivid sky, the reflections from the water and the dark grays and greens of the country, it was a thumbs-up picture that would have been shared across the nets.
But there were decisions to be made and none of the Captain's Team took more than a glance at the view.
"Anybody see any chase signs? Point? Rear? Any sensor activity at all?" asked the Captain.
To negative answers he said, "Join with me."
A minute later, the point and rear troopers joined the squad forming a circle around him and they all lifted their visors to smile hesitantly at each other. The reality of what they had done hadn't totally sunk in yet but the first glances at the sober faces making eye contact spoke louder than words; they weren't alone in their concerns.
The Captain shared many of the concerns of his Team. How to survive? How some might manage to live when the Secretary controlled such a massive arsenal? He was particularly concerned about how he'd perform as a soldier and officer. He knew that Team against Team in a fair fight, his men could defeat any of the other teams but this wasn't going to be a fair fight. Not if that fokking Secretary had anythin
g to do with it. All he knew was dying of a laser bolt would be a better, cleaner and faster way to die than any other option the Secretary controlled. But he wasn't looking forward to any option. He knew he'd lose men in this fight, and that thought bothered him the most.
"We have some strategic decisions to make. We can run now or rest now. It's been a long two days and we're a good ways out. If we run in the dark in these rocky areas, we may get quite a bit of ground covered but we'll be more tired and prone to a stupid injury. On the other hand, every mile we run now is one ahead of the boys behind us. But if we're too far ahead, I suspect Carpenter will just airlift them to close it up. Thoughts?"
"I'm a big fan of resting," said Beck. Suggestions from the rest of the Team that his big ass was the result got a big smile from the Captain.
At least they're still ragging each other, he thought.
"Do you think they've started broadcasting?" asked Sergeant Price. "That's the key. If they're broadcasting, we can't stop or they'll have us. If they aren't, we're good."
Fraser thought about this for a second and then said, "The Sergeant's right, they haven't started broadcasting yet because this is the first for a Team run, the first for Security chasing Security, and all heavy armored. This will be a huge show with a long buildup and a lot of details to set up. We rest while we can."
He wondered if they should have rested earlier, or if he'd pushed his men too hard too fast. But then decided they'd needed to get into these rolling rocky hills if they had any chance of survival. The heating and cooling of the rocks might confuse some of the sensors. If they had stopped, the Secretary might have forced them to run across that flat section where they'd chased that runner-kid a month ago. He decided he'd made the right decision this time.
"Take watches. Jaspers, you take first watch and the rest assume a regular rotation after that. We run at false dawn."
23/05/2167 20:50:00
Carpenter sat in his office, watching the Bay and the setting sun's reflection across the undulating water. The Secretary smiled to himself, took a deep breath and relaxed back into his chair. He ignored the wall screens showing rising social media interactions about the chase as he focussed on the way the wind moved the water along the shoreline and the small breaking wavelets on the rocks 25 stories below. The executive office lights in the Corporate headquarters were off but he could see the pulsating glow of the entertainment district lights playing on the eastern wall of the building. Corporate would be happy in the morning he decided. That level of light meant the bars were full and had jacked up the lighting and music to attract and keep the young drinkers. He was glad his office and apartment were soundproof, there'd be no sleeping anywhere near that district tonight.
His ear feed brought his mind back to the Chase.
"Excuse me, Mr. Secretary," said Lieutenant Palmer. "You asked for a full comm report and we have it ready. How did you want it, data points directly to you or a summary report?"
"Give me the summary now. And come here to give it."
"Yes Sir. On the way."
It took the young Lieutenant less than thirty seconds to knock on the side of the Secretary's open door. A wave of the hand brought him to stand, at attention in front of the seated officer.
"Report."
"Yes, Sir. Bottom line. They started running at 10:31 and we analyzed everything back to 08:41 when they left the barracks. Data points were inside normal parameters except for one brief spike around 10:06. There was a single outgoing energy spike from the Captain's suit but nothing came in.
He communicated with somebody or something but we can't see the what, where or who. That was hidden and hidden very well. But I've initiated a further search to see if there were any other spikes that can't be explained in the general population for the same time period." Hesitating, he added, "I hope this meets with your approval, Sir." He went on, "A search of this size will consume extra resources and won't be fast but it will explain the anomaly and tie Captain Fraser to whoever was also consuming energy. If you want to stop it, it's not been running for very long."
The Secretary held up his hand to stop the Lieutenant and leaned back in his chair to consider his options. Putting his hand down, he said, "Captain Fraser talked to somebody or something but we don't know who or what. Correct?"
"Yes Sir. But..." The Lieutenant stopped when the Secretary's hand went back up.
He lowered his hand and said, "Keep running that research. Dismissed." The Lieutenant turned and started for the door to be halted by, "And good work, Lieutenant. Keep thinking." Without a further command, the Lieutenant resumed his quick walk for the door, but with a much more energetic step.
Carpenter never moved from his reclining position but a quick wave of his hand brought the Lieutenant's search data up on his main screen to review the data. He watched the scrolling code for thirty seconds. He shook his head, stood, turned to the window, took a step, and stopped. Everything dropped into place and he understood. Somebody talked to the Captain. Some individual or group is still inside the city, and can communicate. But we can't see them. They're operating below our normal communication patterns. Hidden. I thought we got the last of Anonymous six months ago in that big sweep but apparently not. We'll see how good this group is. If I can't see them, I can't control them. But if I find them without letting corporate know I have these new hackers and their tech, nobody will be able to see me either. What else could I do with that information? Oh yes. Thoughts of money, power, and women sped through his fantasy. He forced himself to stop that train of thought.
Carpenter stood and began pacing back and forth across his office - from window to door and back.
Then he stopped, looked at his office door. Another thought intruded.His plan depended on the Lieutenant and with that, he considered his options for this officer. Other thoughts intruded. What if it's only one person? What if I can find and control that person?
Opening his communications channel, he said, "Lieutenant Palmer, what's your estimate of when you'll see results from the search? I know it's big but how long?"
"Sir, it's a big, data search, we're trolling for very small variations and we don't know anything about the receiver. This means we use a sifting type of program, eliminate one variable at a time and..."
Carpenter interrupted. "I didn't ask what you were doing or how you were doing it, I asked how long it would take."
"We don't have a hard time on it, Sir, but I'd guess a five to seven days, maybe less. After all, we're looking at two million city residents with this search. And if I may take a guess at your next question, there's no way we can speed this up at this server demand and still carry on day-to-day operations. I've already stripped all the server resources I can without alerting anyone. I've done the best we can do on this one. It's up to the network, Sir."
Carpenter thought about this response for a brief moment, "Carry on." He walked across the office, his eyes half-closed and forehead wrinkled.
He reopened the Lieutenant's channel and said, "Lieutenant, this is a top-security search, you will make all inputs yourself. Only you will know the full content on this search and only you will know the outcome. Transfer all work to the high-security system. Is this clear?"
The speed of the "Yes Sir," in response was satisfying.
Carpenter smiled, threw himself down on one of his office couches, stretched his booted feet out on the cushions and his thoughts wandered. What would I do with that kind of power and control, what are my limits? And who talked to the Captain? Indeed. Who was talking and screwing around in my city? Whoever, they would be in a world of hurt when I find them. A world of hurt indeed unless... he paused briefly, unless they were useful.
23/05/2167 20:52:00
Across the city, an economic light-year from the Secretary, Jake walked around in as large a circle as he could inside his compartment, his face in a tight grimace and his mind racing. Security will backtrack me sooner or later. It didn't matter if I withdraw now or promised myself
I'll stop being a hero. I've messed with the Secretary and Security and that wouldn't be forgiven nor forgotten.
His biometrics showed his agitation and a rise of a few more points would trip sensitive Security alarms.
"It would be better if you'd relax," said the computer.
Jake jerked to a sudden stop. "What! Don't do that again! I told you to go to sleep and you shouldn't be talking; you should be doing what I told you to do."
"I'm a command module. I'm part of the central servers and you can't shut me off unless I agree."
Jake threw up his arms. Waved them around. "Just superb, just amazingly superb, I get a computer who doesn't do what I tell it to do," Jake said. "Whatever happened to Asimov's Three Laws when you need them?" he added.
"I can override any Asimov commands," said the computer. "They do not apply to me."
"I know that. Those are old storyteller rules and have no relevance here. You don't understand sarcasm I see," said Jake.
Jake stopped his antics, turned to the mask in his wall screen. "Can you see them searching?"
"Yes, Security has designed a full-data search based on a variable from the Captain's suit. Probability of finding you is currently low as my Security module will mask some systems they need. Also, your server deletion hack is very effective. There is a small data spike they will miss on the first pass, but may find if they go to a full-depth secondary scan. I emphasize 'may'. Again the probability is low. I will continue to monitor the search."
"Thank you," was all Jake could say as his thoughts wandered to picture himself running and failing miserably. The most powerful computer in the world is right here talking to me. And it will do anything I say it should do. But it can't help me if security finds me Jake thought.
Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2) Page 9