The Media Candidate – politics and power in 2048
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CHAPTER SEVEN
Shark Bait
Joe was a data clerk. His job was simple. He received lists of codes and requests for data logs. Each code corresponded to a COPE identity number and a name, but Joe had no way of knowing the correlation. He also didn’t know what they were used for. All he knew was that he was supposed to perform a search of the Observables Data Base and put together a profile on the anonymous subject represented by the code. The profile was likewise coded, so it was difficult to know the identity of the subject. He could’ve been searching his mother, or himself, and he wouldn’t have known, unless he took the time to read the encoded descriptions.
The profile comprised key information about the subject such as detailed physical, biological, and chemical descriptions along with every imaginable fact about the subject’s personal life, family, and associates. Joe’s job was to find all the scattered pieces and then format the data.
He knew his job would someday be taken over by a computer since, in principle, there was nothing he did that couldn’t be done by a computer. The software simply hadn’t been developed yet, but it was just a matter of time. Joe figured someone at COPE was probably working on the software right now. But Joe wasn’t worried about job security. He knew it was so expensive and time consuming to clear someone to his level of security clearance that COPE would surely find him a job in one of the other classified compartmented projects. It had taken four years to get the security “tickets” needed for this job, and he felt these tickets were his greatest assets.
Joe sometimes wondered about the data he collected. It was just zeros and ones somewhere in the vast COPE computer network. The codes weren’t people, just identifiers; the profiles weren’t lives, just data. But he read the paper. He knew about the organized crime murders. He knew that COPE did much more than audit campaigns. But it was just a job.
Joe had performed the routine a million times. Any files he’d need later were collected on his removable memory and placed in a metal-matrix container marked “GX / SHARK BAIT / COPE TS.” The container was sealed with a Hall-Effect magnetic latch that only Joe and the Associate Director for Special Programs, the Asp, could open. The container was then placed in Joe’s personal safe, locked, and double-checked by another Shark Bait staff. Any files he no longer needed were erased and written over with random numbers several times, backwards and forwards. This ritual completed, Joe was on his way through security and then home.
On his way out, he met the Asp in the elevator.
“How’s everything in Profiles, Joe.”
“Just fine, Sir.”
The elevator stopped and let off the only other person in the elevator. As the door closed, Joe said, “Got an unusual request for a profile today—originated from a guy named Sherwood.”
“Yes? What makes it so unusual?”
“It’s just that Sherwood is a field liaison officer. Never got a request with a FLO origin before, but it had the proper ECR surveillance authority so I put it in the queue.”
“And you’re sure it was for surveillance only, not enforcement.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I see.”
“Just wondered if this Sherwood guy is okay. Seems like he’s at a pretty low level for any kind of ECR profile.”
“I think he’s okay, Joe.” A silence followed until the elevator stopped, and the Asp quickly walked off.