The Reality Incursion (Deplosion Book 2)

by Paul Anlee

  Objectively speaking, even Jeff had to admit that Trillian had proven his worth in the ten weeks since the Reverend “recruited” him. The hacker had already infiltrated all of the major systems of the Vesta Project and placed backdoors into the BIOS chips of their most important computers. He’d accessed blueprints and engineering specifications for their Cybrids, the rockets, and the asteroid colony itself.

  The hacker’s most recent feat was subverting the project’s candidate selection system. LaMontagne could now bump anyone he wanted to the top of the evacuation list at any time.

  The Reverend was ready; he’d been operating his own covert recruitment process for months. Thanks to Trillian’s work, his hand-selected Church members would be guaranteed to form a disproportionate number of Vesta colonists.

  LaMontagne didn’t give much thought to John Trillian, the man, except in terms of what he could do for the Church. He believed that so long as he kept John challenged and busy, he posed little threat. He began to relax his guard around the hacker, even exploring and experimenting with the microverse technology when the man was in the room.

  Trillian observed the Reverend toying with all manner of floating microverses in the study, but he had no particular interest in the spheres. Since ingesting the dendy-virus capsule, he’d been lost in his own world, a world that was expanding daily as his lattice grew within him. His capabilities as a software programmer, hardware designer, and hacker were improving rapidly.

  He was loving his new work, the many challenges it presented, and the promise of exponential intellectual growth that came with his new lattice. For now, he was happy to stick to the hardware and software, and leave the physics, politics, and religion to the Reverend. Especially the physics; he wasn’t sure he could follow the advanced math, anyway. The other areas were mildly interesting in their own ways, but Trillian was more captivated by virtual reality than the real thing. His games and hacks, whether serious or for amusement, gave him deep satisfaction and joy.

  Across the room on the stiff, leather-bound sofa, a five-year-old boy disconnected from his internet “playtime” and shifted his gaze to Trillian, whom he immediately disregarded with bored disdain.

  In the brief hours when he wasn’t connected to LaMontagne’s lattice and having the Reverend’s every experience and thought forcefully pumped into him, the boy was permitted to read the classics. Greek mythology, the Bible, the Torah, The Quran, Socrates, The Prince, and The Art of War were providing him with varied windows into the human psyche.

  The Reverend had enough knowledge of basic developmental psychology to realize the importance of exposing the boy to some external influences. Providing they were closely monitored, of course. As “soul” father, he selected what the boy could read, and with whom he could talk and play. He wanted to foster healthy development, not independence. There had to be some limits; the one who would inherit his spirit must be carefully cultivated.

  LaMontagne enjoyed the way his own thoughts and memories were being duplicated inside the young boy’s brain. My true essence will be immortalized in a way the world has never seen. Once the boy was fully grown, the two of them would be more mentally, psychologically, and spiritually alike than any two people in the history of the world.

  LaMontagne let his current microverse fizzle and blink out. He looked up from the keyboard of the RAF generator.

  “What have you found for me, John?”

  “They’re going to blow up Vancouver,” Trillian said.

  That got LaMontagne’s attention. Even the boy perked up. “Who is? When? How?”

  “The Russians, Chinese, and us. In a few hours. Three nuclear cruise missiles with hundred-kiloton yields.” Trillian answered all three questions without a trace of emotion.

  “Why?”

  “A number of the world leaders have convinced themselves that Drs. Mahajani and Liang control the demands of Alum, or could actually be Alum. They also believe a large atomic blast could eliminate the Eater threat. It seems they’ve been planning this for a while.”

  “Why are you telling me this only now?”

  “I’ve just been able to assemble all the necessary evidence in the past hour.”

  “Show me,” commanded LaMontagne.

  Trillian pushed the RAF generator to one side and set his laptop on the desk in front of the Reverend. “I found video from a secure online meeting held last week among our friends. I was aware of their discussions but it proved impossible to listen to them in real time. Fortunately, the Japanese Prime Minister recorded the whole thing.”

  He opened his laptop and activated a saved video. “This is the most relevant section.”

  President Mitchell: Ms. Hudson had no problems with sharing the recording from the conference room at the G26. She’s convinced that Drs. Mahajani and Liang were in no way involved but, then again, she didn’t lose a trusted adviser. I had our people go back and analyze the changes in micro expressions of the two scientists’ right after the incident; they found sufficient reason to doubt Ms. Hudson’s conclusion.

  President Olev: The timing seems suspicious. It was too convenient. As soon as opposition to the plan is raised, some unexplained deep sleep overcomes the room? I don’t buy it. Our FSB experts don’t either. I believe what they said was, they hope those two are better scientists than they are actors.

  President Chu: We have agreed then, to abandon efforts to simply remove Drs. Mahajani and Liang?

  President Mitchell: If they’re holding us all hostage to their plans, how do we know they don’t have this Eater on a deadman switch? Killing them could threaten the planet. No, we must strike their weapon as well as them.

  PM Akira: Our scientists are confident we can destabilize and collapse the matter-absorbing capabilities of this Eater with a sufficiently large thermonuclear explosion. Their analysis of the descriptive formulae suggests a payload of around fifty kilotons, to be effective. I’ve had them transmit their calculations to your people for confirmation.

  President Chu: Yes, our physicists agree, based on the mathematical characterization as provided by the Pacifica scientists. But instigating such an explosion over a populated area like Vancouver would be considered an Act of War. Could we avoid a subsequent escalation?

  President Mitchell: We’d have to act in concert and demonstrate to PM Hudson that this was a limited strike for the good of humanity. We still have friends in high command within the Pacifica military structure. If asked, I’m sure they could give us the time we’d need to convince her of the wisdom of avoiding any retaliatory nuclear exchange.

  PM Singh: The Vesta Project is making a mockery of all our efforts to reduce global deficits and return our economies to sustainability. We can’t afford this leap into space colonization; it’s insanity. These two Pacifica scientists are holding the entire planet hostage to their schemes. Once we make our evidence public, the world will agree with the necessity of our actions.

  PM Akira: Our nation is as much against the unnecessary use of atomic force as any on the planet. That said, I’m convinced of the necessity for this action. If we don’t destroy the Eater, the entire planet will be consumed and everyone will be killed. I support the detonation of the Eater. Immediately after the missiles strike, we’ll read a prepared statement to advise our people of the catastrophic nature of the threat and reveal how we were all, the whole world, being held hostage by two people who would sacrifice the entire planet to build a space colony. Sacrificing one city to thwart their plan and save the world will be seen as a sad, but trivial and necessary price.

  President Mitchell: I propose we send three one-hundred kiloton cruise missiles by three different means, to assure at least one meets its target. We can arrange an overland launch from Idaho.

  President Chu: We have a suitable submarine within striking distance of the Vancouver area.

  President Olev: One of our long-range bombers can easily reach the city from Kamchatka.

  PM Akira: Shall we say, one week from toda
y at 2:00 pm, Pacific Time? We can request that both Drs. Mahajani and Liang are available for a conference call from the laboratory at that time.

  President Mitchell: That would kill two birds with one stone, wouldn’t it?

  President Olev: President Mitchell, your American English has so many… delightful…idiomatic expressions. [laughs]

  Trillian pressed Stop and watched LaMontagne for a reaction.

  “Their level of confidence in their conclusions, and their willingness to carry out this attack based on those conclusions, is remarkable,” the Reverend commented.

  “Given how wrong they are.”

  “Well, it would seem they’ve fingered the wrong people. I don’t know about stopping the Eater, though. Have you checked their analysis?”

  “I’m not up on the physics but I can forward it to you,” Trillian offered.

  “Yes, do that.” The Reverend stroked his chin while he thought. “Can we do anything about this attack?”

  “Yes, I have a direct line to their nuclear arsenals at a variety of levels. I can make the missiles self-destruct, issue a Cancel order, or redirect them as you wish.”

  “Good.” The core of a plan was beginning to form in LaMontagne’s lattice-enhanced brain. “Greg and Kathy have been working on this a lot longer and with a lot more neural horsepower than all the rest of the physicists in the world. I trust the two of them more than an army of unenhanced scientists.”

  Trillian had to agree, especially now that he’d begun experiencing for himself what a difference dendy enhancements made in his own work. “If we needed to alter the narrative around this potential attack, I could arrange that.”

  “That might be helpful,” agreed LaMontagne. “Could we present evidence to show that other leaders were jealous of Pacifica’s prominent role in the Vesta Project? Perhaps, envious of their scientific and engineering lead?”

  “Yes, I can make that work,” replied Trillian. “I can select various intercepted communications and design a program to synthesize audio and video to make the leaders say almost anything we wish.”

  “It would have to be completely plausible, and flawlessly assembled.”

  Trillian smiled. “Then it’s a good thing you’ve given me the ability to do that.”

  “How long would it take to put something like that together?”

  “I can have it done before the missiles are launched.”

  “Excellent. Perhaps we could also arrange some kind of indication of personal motivation for the attack.”

  “Financial graft?”

  “Could you do that?”

  “How substantial would you like the motivation to be?”

  “Say we showed a few tens of millions of dollars diverted from the Vesta Project into personal offshore accounts. Perhaps we could demonstrate how Greg and Kathy discovered these missing funds and ordered some potentially embarrassing audits.”

  “I like the way you think, Reverend.”

  “Thank you, John. Can you come back with a completed scenario in about an hour?”

  “Of course. Would you like me to set Abort or Self-destruct codes on the missiles?”

  “No. Let’s send them back to their launchers.” The Reverend stroked his chin, an action the boy copied across the room. “We can have Alum communicate his displeasure in the criminal actions of these politicians on all public and private channels. He can expose their envy, their greed, and their hubris. To think they’d bomb a city and kill all its citizens just because they aren’t benefiting enough! This will be a fine opportunity for the people to learn that Alum is looking out for their welfare.”

  “Very good. I’ll be back within the hour.”

  “Wait,” said the Reverend. “You know, this might be a good time to demonstrate Alum’s reach. It’d be nice if we could conquer this dissent once and for all.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I believe we have our enforcement assets in place in each of these countries. Let’s activate the batrachotoxin spiders and eliminate these problems for good. If we take out the most prominent conspirators, the others will be more reluctant to follow in their footsteps. People will learn that Alum is not to be trifled with. When he says something must be done, it will be done.”

  Trillian smiled and gave a shallow bow, “As you wish, Reverend.”

  * * *

  September 9, 2041, GNA (Global News Alliance). Seattle, Washington, Pacifica.

  The world was stunned today by the explosion of three nuclear bombs, only minutes apart. Two of the weapons detonated over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Pacifica. The third exploded in the wilderness of Idaho.

  The explosions destroyed the respective launchers, which are believed to be a Russian bomber, a Chinese submarine, and a New Confederacy missile carrier, along with their respective crews.

  According to video released by the mysterious Alum shortly after the explosions, all three missiles were targeted to strike Vancouver, British Columbia, Pacifica.

  Alum also released video of a secret meeting last week, email correspondence, and records of bank transactions, showing how world leaders from China, Japan, Russia, and the New Confederacy conspired to shift the major economic benefits from the Vesta Project to their own countries. These records show the leaders conspired to profit by destroying Pacifica’s scientific and technological capabilities.

  According to information released, the alleged perpetrators considered the lattice-enhanced team of Dr. Katherine Liang and Dr. Garugamesh Mahajani, protégés of famous scientific polymath, Dr. Darian Leigh, to be intolerable competition.

  The conspiring leaders intended to justify their use of nuclear weapons by referring to an unspecified threat to global security from the government of Pacifica’s Prime Minister Francine Hudson and Project Vesta. Ms. Hudson was visiting the Vancouver Headquarters of Project Vesta at the time of the intended attack.

  The leaders argued that the threat could only be stopped by a significant nuclear explosion. PM Hudson has categorically denied the existence of any such threat in the Vancouver area.

  Drs. Liang and Mahajani had recently become aware of financial improprieties involving the conspirators and ordered audits of the project.

  Project Vesta is the brainchild of the Pacifica scientists, who aim to colonize the asteroid belt, and provide new economic benefits and growth to countries around the globe.

  Pacifica’s pivotal role in releasing important new technologies for the benefit of all mankind has upset many established global oligarchies. Some have been unhappy with the distribution of those benefits according to population instead of by level of economic wealth.

  Developed nations, especially those involved in the conspiracy, have resisted the flow of contracts to emerging economies with larger populations. Leaders of the developed nations have struggled over the past months to maintain so-called strategic industries in the technology and energy sectors.

  A number of political analysts have voiced surprise so many nations agreed to the original project proposals presented by Drs. Liang and Mahajani. Today’s actions clearly demonstrate how superficial those agreements were.

  In a public broadcast overriding scheduled programming around the world, Alum officially condemned the actions of the conspirators, saying, “God supports the plan to move human civilization and His Holy Word into space.”

  He later added that, “This conspiracy has demonstrated the evil that still rules the hearts and minds of many world leaders. This small, but powerful group put their own national and personal interests ahead of the common human good. More importantly, they put their own desires ahead of God’s Plan for His People. The Lord has shown His Will, His Power, and His Vengeance today.”

  The comment is thought to be a reference to the discovery that every one of the leaders participating in this conspiracy died within minutes of the explosions, all of mysterious causes.

  Pacifica Prime Minister Francine Hudson denied involvement in any retaliatory
actions, adding that she was, “as mystified and in awe of God’s Power as anyone.”

  Today’s events have only served to deepen the mystery around the man known as Alum. Some call him a prophet. Others suggest he is not so much a holy man as a very human spokesman for an Anonymous-like group that has recently broken out of its internet-based activities to take a more active global role.

  The question on everyone’s minds is whether today’s events are the act of an omniscient, omnipotent God or of a vigilante global organization with an advanced level of technical and scientific capabilities.

  37

  The apartment intercom went off at 3:00 am. Darya’s inworld self was asleep, fulfilling its simulated biological needs.

  She’d considered eradicating this needless waste of time, just for herself and no other players. In the end, she decided to stay true to the rules of the Alternus inworld, however inconvenient. The lost time was small enough and if something really pressing needed consideration, she could always exit into her outworld trueself and let her Alternus body sleep.

  Sleeping was a little like the long voyages in space when she reduced her processor activity to nearly zero and let random lattice processes flood what minimal consciousness remained. She found she rather enjoyed dreaming with no particular goal in mind.

  The insistent buzzing of the apartment doorbell penetrated her sleeping inworld consciousness. She rolled over and squinted at the control panel on the night table beside her bed. An obviously distraught Mary looked back at her from the downstairs lobby view screen.

  Darya pressed the answer button. “Mary, what’s wrong?”

  “Gerhardt’s dead!”

  Darya’s first reaction was confusion. Gerhardt dead? What? People died inworld all the time; it was no big deal. Why would Mary be so upset?