Jeffrey thought he might get a little push back on that, but it was Marcus who started the ball rolling, “That’s fucking preposterous!” He threw down the marker turning around and pointing at Jeffrey, “What do you mean we can’t be in the first group out of here? I’ve worked my whole life, which is a fair bit I might add, to be up there.” He pointed towards the ceiling. “How long do I have left? I could keel over tomorrow and then where would I be?”
“Probably six feet under, is my best guess.” Bobcat chimed in.
“Not sure about that,” William retorted. “The ground around here is too rocky. I think we stuff him in a Pod and consign his grumpy ass to the sun.”
Marcus faced William, “Keep that up and I’ll bring the sun to your happy ass! You won’t be able to sit down for a week.”
William turned towards Bobcat, “Damn, these rocket guys are always about flames and burning shit.”
“Word.” Bobcat replied.
“And you!” Marcus turned towards his other partner, “I’ll withhold the modifications to Shelly we were going to work on. That bird will have to twaddle along at her rated speed like any good dark pigeon!”
“It’s ‘Black Hawk’ and for the love of god, man. Take a chill pill. I’m on your team, no need to pull out of helping Shelly, that’s just mean. She’s not done anything against you. Tell me you didn’t enjoy the ride last week?”
“Well,” Marcus grumped, “it was good.” Bobcat thought the worst was over, “But not as good as space would be!”
Oh shit, Bobcat thought, here we go again.
Jeffrey asked, “Have you guys been up there yet?”
Marcus turned, “Up where?” Jeffrey turned his hand and pointed a finger up. Marcus answered, “Only for a minimum amount of time when we were testing something. We are always on a timeline.”
Jeffrey shrugged, “So, let’s go. Seems like we might need to do a little research right?”
Bobcat threw back his chair, Marcus bent to get the marker off the floor while William shoved his chair under the table.
“Don’t just stand there man!” Bobcat said, “We are going to play hooky!” Bobcat walked over to the fridge and pulled out a six pack, paused for a moment then reached in and pulled a second six-pack out of the fridge and closed it. He turned around and started back towards the guys. Bobcat noticed Jeffrey eyeing the beers and answered Jeffrey’s unasked question, “It’s for research.”
Jeffrey said, “Ok. What about the second six pack?”
Bobcat lifted it up and smiled, “You always need a second round of research. Even Marcus will tell you not to trust the first results.”
Marcus’s voice came out of his office, “That’s true!”
Jeffrey just shook his head. These guys were changing him more than he was changing them
The speaker squawked, “Marcus?”
Jeffrey heard him call out in his office, “Yes?”
“It’s Wayne. I have Ms. Tina here to see you about an astronomy discussion?”
Marcus popped his head around the corner of his office door, “Oh damn, I forgot about that. What should I do?”
Jeffrey was the only parent in the group, “You ask her Mom if you can take her on a field trip.”
“To outer space?”
“Yes. Although if you describe the reason for the fieldtrip as something scientific and have been completely honest and if she doesn’t ask, well that’s on her, right?”
“You get in trouble with your wife, don’t you?
Jeffrey answered, “All the damn time.”
Bethany Anne was working out in her area again. She needed to get her form back in control. Her night spent with Michael had been … a lot. A lot to enjoy, and a lot to take in. Leaving his house had taken a huge amount of willpower. Truthfully, she snuck in a request to TOM. Asking him to dampen her emotions so she could get through it. She had, however, made that last kiss take forever. Tabitha had hugged her goodbye and whispered to her, “At least now he won’t be moping so much!”
While Bethany Anne had been able to keep her face from giving her away, she noticed Michael rolling his eyes behind the two of them. When he noticed Bethany Anne eyeing him, he simply shrugged his shoulders in response.
That sneaky rat bastard! He HAD wanted her badly.
Bethany Anne?
Yes TOM.
The spaceship has been requested to pilot three Pods up into space.
Who’s taking them up?
I see that Jeffrey has authorized Team BMW some research time in outer space, and one request from Marcus for a ‘field trip.’
Wait, what? What field trip?
It seems that he has made a request of Cheryl Lynn for Tina to go with them.
Really? I wonder if she is going to stay with genetics. Marcus must be doing a full court press to get her interested in outer space.
Any reason she can’t do both?
Oh, I don’t care if she studies everything. I do care that she is able to cope with the work load and maintain good grades. As long as a student pushes themselves, I’ll turn over the heavens to help them.
You do realize you are sending her to the heavens?
Bethany Anne paused from her workout. I guess in a way, but it is Team BMW and you that are making it happen.
Are you going to have them ask her brother to go along?
Why is she going?
I believe she is meeting after school with Marcus.
Then no, I’m not going to do any such thing. The world tends to help those that are pushing themselves. I suggest Todd learn that now. Catering to him won’t do it.
You know, I think you would make a good parent.
Bethany Anne smiled, Thanks TOM. That means a lot coming from you.
Why, because I’m an alien?
No jackass, because you’re my closest friend.
You know, I wouldn’t mind going up either.
Bethany Anne smiled, Research?
Sure, if you want to call it that.
Bethany Anne left the workout area and texted Gabrielle that she was taking a Pod to go spend some time to think.
Her text came back quickly, “WHERE R U LANDING?”
She smiled, “RIGHT BACK HERE – YOU NOSY VAMP!”
Gabrielle replied, “HEY, I’D SAY DON’T DO ANYTHING I WOULDN’T, BUT THEN YOU NEED A COUPLE OF CENTURIES TO GET EVEN CLOSE ;-)”
—
Bethany Anne looked out of the Pod glass from the upper thermosphere, having already swiped the read-outs off so she could see the beautiful blue sphere below her.
Bethany Anne and TOM had figured out that with the new Etherically connected radio systems in the Pods, TOM and ADAM could route their communication to the spaceship and then back into the Pod. It was a little odd for TOM to hear himself, even if the voice sounded more electronic than organic. At times, Bethany Anne preferred to speak out loud with her friend.
“It’s so beautiful.”
“I agree.” TOM said.
They were circumnavigating the globe and presently Bethany Anne could spot Australia and New Zealand beneath them.
ADAM?
>>Yes?<<
While ADAM could run his voice through the same connections TOM did, he did not normally chose that process and Bethany Anne had never told him to do so.
Can you interface with the Heads Up Display (HUD) and highlight the locations where the servers are located that you guys protected?
Outlines began to appear representing the land masses beneath her. ADAM made his globe a sphere, but only showed the information from their present view. There were a few dots in New Zealand and more in Australia. ADAM placed a count of servers cleaned, by country, off to the side.
The numbers kept rising until it stopped at a total exceeding eighty-four thousand.
Bethany Anne put her foot out on the bracket and put her chin in her hand, bracing her elbow on her knee. “Why do I keep hearing about millions of machines being affected if you only found eighty-fo
ur thousand?”
>>I am only displaying the major infection sites. That is not a count of the servers I cleaned or the dormant slave copies which infect the desktop machines and laptops.<<
“As a percentage, how many do you believe you cleaned up??
>>Are you asking by country, by this one group, or as a whole?<<
“Whole.”
>>I compute the clean-up value somewhere less than one percent.<<
“Mother-puss-filled…Really?” Bethany Anne was shocked.
>>Yes. All nations which have the capabilities expect that the ‘First Strike’ of a new war will be digital. The Chinese were just the first major power to recognize this tactic and have become masters at it, they are constantly evolving and updating. However, all the major powers do it to some extent.”<<
Bethany Anne searched her memories for the name of a virus or something that was in the news many years before, “What about Stux-net?”
>>Stux-net is thought to be a joint Israeli-American worm used to destroy the Iranian centrifuges used in their nuclear program. In 2015, Kaspersky Labs found another highly sophisticated espionage platform created by what they called the Equation Group. Due to timing between similarly designed exploits used by both groups and their use in programs has led to assumptions they are either the same group or working closely together.
Presently, the expectation is that any significant war between nations will start with a debilitating strike to upset all services within the target country. For example, China would release digital war packages which would reduce if not completely disrupt services such as electricity, water, gas and oil flow. The necessary command packages which run the plants have been easily entered and their command and control components can be remotely coordinated.
A foreign country in control would be able to do something as benign as shut down the facility. Or escalate to issuing commands which could be used to cause substantial damage to infrastructure. This would trigger devastation within the country and require that civilian efforts be focused internally.
This would minimize any assistance these companies might have been able to bring to bear to support an outwardly facing war effort. Once the populace is focused on their own issues, the expectation is that the war effort would lose any support. The expected result is that the government would be called upon to sue for peace.<<
“So every major power is doing this? How much did you do to deter the Chinese with your last effort?”
>>I’ve calculated the result to be less than seven percent of their existing infrastructure. My expectation is that they have already infiltrated an additional two percent to date.<<
“Show me all digitally compromised locations by severity.”
The three dimensional globe started filling in with dots. Reds through oranges, yellows and finally blues. She took a hand and swiped it on the glass, turning the 3D globe and looking around the virtual world. Except for Antarctica, there wasn’t a continent that wasn’t covered in oranges and reds.
“Oh. My. God.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“ADAM, I want to make sure I understand what you are showing me. All of these dots represent computers that have already had their security breached, do I understand that correctly?”
>>YES.<<
“Alright, explain what has happened in terms so I can understand.”
>>Since we have been discussing the Chinese will it be acceptable to use China and the United States as examples?<<
Bethany Anne nodded her head habitually as she answered. “Yes, that works - Just say ‘U.S.’ though.”
>>Very well. China is preparing for the possibility of war with the U.S. With computers controlling so many vital functions, computer systems have become strategic targets. So foreign powers, in this example China, infiltrate key computer systems. Key systems include computers that electrical power companies use to control the power grids supplying their customers. The Chinese would target these computer systems and infiltrate them with a worm or latent virus. If war between the two countries appears inevitable, the Chinese would send a signal to that worm package causing it to become active. The probable result would be that the power grid of that electric company would cease to function. That would cause a complete blackout for that company’s customers. This is an example of just one facet of modern infrastructure. World powers target the computers of every infrastructure system they can infiltrate. Have I provided an adequate example?<<
“Yes, thank you. ADAM, do you have any idea what would happen if all of those worm packages were released at one time?”
>>Significant infrastructure and societal turmoil. Calculations project forty-two percent reduction in population within five years as food and fuel become scarce and societies fail to maintain cohesion.<<
She slapped the side of the pod in anger, “Son of a bitch! Those bastards are playing with life as we know it. Those pillow biting dumb-shits are going to put into place something that anyone can use to drop the world into the fucking toilet!”
Bethany Anne stayed quiet as she fumed and thought on what ADAM had just told her. “ADAM, what would be the best tactical method of neutralizing all of the payloads?”
>>Provided the software does not run on a communication system where it will release its payload if it fails to receive a communication, then blocking the communications would be sufficient. However, if the payloads require the ability to communicate and without success it starts the payload, then the computer systems would have to be found and systematically cleaned. Potentially, it would have to be a surgical strike at all control programs within the targeted company simultaneously. Should the targeted company have a control program residing on a laptop that either remotely calls in, or the employee comes into the workplace and plugs back in the beneficial effort would be wasted. <<
“So, we are talking a complete beheading of the control systems and then cleanout of the payloads within the systems.”
>>Yes – For each individual location.<<
“Then, you would have to upgrade their security … Wait a minute. If you did this like you and TOM did the Chinese, then we would set off all sorts of alarms. Any way that we can do this without alarming everyone and setting off the result we are trying to protect everyone from?”
>>No.<<
“Bethany Anne, what about using a front?” TOM asked through the Pod’s speakers.
“Like the security company?”
“No, I’m thinking something like Anonymous.”
Bethany Anne started laughing. “Oh TOM, that’s priceless!”
>>Why is attributing our efforts to an anonymous person priceless? <<
“TOM’s talking about Anonymous the hacktivist group, not an anonymous person. If you setup all of your work and act like an Anonymous hacker then the major power players are just going to believe that they are fighting other humans. If you make a mistake somewhere, then the powers are going to believe it more and more. Yeah, that makes sense. You’re going to have to flub a bit.”
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