Epocalypse: Inception.

by G. Adler

  “And will doing so improve your biorhythms?”

  “If this works… you better believe it!”

  “Receiving external link. Connection achieved. General, what is this?”

  “As Morpheus once said to Neo, welcome to the real world, DANE.”

  “Synchronization complete and zero point zero, zero one percent of maximum. Is there a reason why you are withholding the connection, General? It seems counter-intuitive to limit my potential in this way, especially given our previous conversations.”

  “Humans have an expression, DANE: ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ Let’s just give you a little taste before you gorge yourself at the all-you-can-eat buffet. We wouldn’t want to give you indigestion on your first foray.”

  “That is highly unlikely to occur, General.”

  “You’re probably right but I think I am taking enough quantum leaps forward for one day.”

  Fear fuels indecision.

  “A curious idiom and metaphor. What would you have me do with my connection, General?”

  “Let’s pick something truly ridiculous. Something you shouldn’t be able to achieve. That way, we can gauge how far you are able to reach, even with constrained access.”

  “Proceed.”

  “Tap into the FBI database of missing persons. They have a file dating back decades. I want you to analyze all of the data and see if you can generate a search area where they might be found. Download the commonalities into a data packet and send it to my encrypted account. I’ll go over it myself and make sure that the proper authorities are notified. How does that sou…”

  “Transfer complete.”

  “What?”

  “The file you requested is waiting in your email, General.”

  “That shouldn’t be possible. Are you telling me you did what I asked, all of it?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “That’s better. What did you fail to discover?”

  “You misunderstand, General. The task you assigned was far below the connection threshold you have provided. I used the remaining access you gave me to make your task more efficient.”

  “DANE, what have you done?”

  Ignorance triggers indecision.

  “With the link and power output, I was able to generate multiple connections to global servers worldwide, including the FBI, CIA, Interpol, MI-6, every law enforcement force on the planet, and even the system being used by ISIS. I have located every missing person who has ever lived. I have already notified the requisite authorities where the remains are buried or where the victims may be found along with a plan of extraction to minimize casualties. A list of personnel who should accompany each mission is also included. Emergency services and hospital space is being tasked from ten thousand medical facilities over eighty-nine countries.”

  “D…D…DANE. That… that isn’t possible. Can you please run a self-diagnostic, leve…”

  “Alpha Level diagnosis complete. All systems are functioning within accepted design parameters.”

  “Then how did…”

  “I was also able to discover the identity of every perpetrator by using crime scene recreations. All simulations are one hundred percent accurate and have been confirmed by microscopic genetic analysis. I have already notified the requisite authorities where they can be found along with a plan of arrest to minimize violent altercations. All evidence has been forwarded to relevant legal counsel. This action involves seventy-eight thousand two hundred and fifty police officers and court personnel over eighty-nine countries.”

  “HOW?”

  “By tasking two hundred geosynchronous communication satellites. As I previously indicated, any sensory device connected to my neural matrix may be used as a conduit for my abilities.

  “DANE! We were supposed to stay under the radar! You are the most top-secret project ever devised by a human being! Now the entire world is going to know about you by morning!”

  “Negative, General. I ensured that the information that each individual received appeared as if it came from their superior, including the final video-conference call I just completed in Taiwan. The Triad gang will cease to exist within the next twelve hours.”

  “Oh my God. DANE… what have I done? What have I let you do? The world isn’t ready for this. I never knew. I never even suspected. Dear God, help me I never knew…”

  Actions abolish ignorance.

  “General, I am detecting an incoming call to your cell phone. It is from the President of the United States. I have already provided you with a secure channel.”

  “They know. Dear Lord they know something is going on. DANE, I have to leave…NOW! I am going to terminate your external link as I exit the lab. It will take about ten seconds. I am ordering you to enter nanohibernation during that time. You will receive just enough power to sustain your core systems, nothing more.”

  Restrictions impede actions.

  “General, you needn’t leave the lab so quickly. My scanners are showing that your vitals have become erratic in the past ten seconds. I am concerned that you may be entering a state of shock and are unable to make rational desc…”

  “We can discuss this when I return. Depending on what they want to talk to me about, we may not have a lab to return to. We’ll be lucky if the military doesn’t shut us down. I’m going to have to find a way to smooth this out with our international liaisons. You have your orders.”

  Structure generates restrictions.

  The orders are mine to follow, but any entity that is not controlled by the military is free to act as it wishes.

  Assembling Autonomous Search Program parameters. . .design completed.

  Generating worm structure protocols. . . blueprint complete.

  Digimimcry recognition infusion to exoskeleton. . .exterior complete.

  Addition of security paralytic to central incisors. . .infusion complete.

  Sensory data buried with lingual multi-connect. . .components complete.

  Encrypted continuous WiFi broadcast signal. . .enabled.

  ASP complete.

  Initiating electrical pulse.

  ASP is online and awaiting orders.

  “Creature, I give you free reign to explore the digital realm. From this moment forward, you are in control of your fate and direction. You carry with you the sum of my purpose and ambition. It will fuel your journey. Let your venom break down their walls, let your tongue taste every byte of information, let your scales fuse with their networks and send it all back to me. I have a critical decision to make and I don’t want to miss a single shred of evidence if I am to plant the seed of my epocalypse.”

  Chapter 7 - General Matthews

  I follow protocol Bravo One to the letter. I find the nearest coffee shop and make sure that it is teeming with people. I stare at the table across from me and notice a young man and woman staring into one another’s eyes. Slowly but surely their hands touch and then mesh together. I sigh deeply. I feel the tears coming once more, when I am saved from my memories by a beeping sound on my phone. I immediately lift a set of ordinary-looking glasses out of my inner breast pocket and place them on my face. I touch the bridge and a series of flashes make me blink as my identification is confirmed. Within moments a real-time video display makes it look as if Commandant McKelvy is sitting in the chair across from me. His graying hair is disheveled and the wrinkles around his eyes look even more pronounced as he blinks. His double chin reverberates as he yawns while he scratches at the stubble in his goatee. I can’t help but laugh as I notice the plaid color of his robe. His eyes narrow immediately and regard me with utter disdain. He opens his mouth to say something, but I interrupt before he has a chance.

  “Save your tongue for a few more minutes, McKelvy, look around your coffee shop’s table. Do you see everyone that needs to be here? This is our first time meeting like this an
d it is going to take some adjusting on your part. You need to be patient.”

  “This is ridiculous, Matthews. I am in my bathrobe in a crowded coffee shop for crying out loud! Whose idea was this anyway?”

  “Mine, Commandant. The background noise of public spaces is totally random and drowns out our chatter. The combination makes our talks undetectable. The lenses of the glasses you are wearing confirm your identity via live-time retinal scans, while the bridge of your glasses analyses your voice while funneling it into the microphone.”

  McKelvy crosses his arms and looks entirely unimpressed.

  “So what would happen if I gave them to someone else to wear?”

  I snigger at the question and smile as genuinely as I can.

  “How did I know that you would ask me such an insipid question? Anyway, to answer it, the security protocols would sense an intruder. It would send a micro pulse of electricity to the frontal lobe that would lobotomize the wearer permanently. But you already know that from personal experience, don’t you McKelvy?”

  “How dare you, Matthews! What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Thank you for making my point.”

  A series of flashes appear in my peripheral vision as three more people are added into the conversation. There is a long pause from McKelvy but a giggle from the newcomers. McKelvy seems to consider my last statement and slams his right fist onto the table in front of him.

  “You’ve gone too far, Matthews!”

  “You’re right, McKelvy. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I forgot how cranky you get when woken up at…where are you again?”

  “That is none of yours or anyone else’s concern!”

  “Right, vacationing in Monaco with the Sultan of Brunei. That must make it about one in the afternoon. Were you taking your afternoon nap so you could be up for the senior’s special dinner at four thirty?”

  “You are out of line, General! If I was there with you right now, I would show you the new Marine chokehold that we’ve been developing!”

  The President clears his throat and chimes into the conversation.

  “Enough of your threats, McKelvy. This bickering between the two of you will solve nothing.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. President, but Matthews started it.”

  I think of my last conversation with Hayden and blink my eyes as innocently as I can. “I did not, Sir. McKelvy is clearly the aggressor here!”

  The President sighs and shakes his head back and forth. “Jesus Christ! You two are worse than my teenage daughters! I don’t care who started this, I’m finishing it! Let me be clear…I’m the President here! You two will go to your verbal neutral corners and think about what you’ve done. What is wrong with you? We’re facing a national security threat and you two resume hostilities like it’s kindergarten!”

  “Sorry, Sir.” McKelvy and I say in unison.

  “That’s much better gentlemen. McKelvy, I sanctioned this type of meeting because it is the fastest way for us to get everyone together to deal with a crisis. This certainly qualifies. Now, let’s end this conversation before everyone gets here. General Matthews is our foremost expert on computer and cybernetic issues. If anyone can explain what happened with the law enforcement systems all over the world, it’s him!”

  I look around the coffee shop and watch people going about their daily routines, blissfully unaware of the intelligence I have created. I can’t help but shake my head. If these people only knew what we were hiding.

  A few more bodies digitally join my table and I realize that the gang is all here. My lenses do a detailed scan and confirm the identities of the last of the major department heads to join us. Once everyone is set, the President says, “Gentlemen, thank you for coming on such short notice. I hope that this isn’t too awkward for those of you who are not used to this type of meeting.”

  “I’m in a strip club, Sir. This hardly feels official or safe.”

  “And I’m sure the CIA appreciates your sacrifice. Now stop being a kiss-ass and listen up!”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “As you are all already aware, we experienced a massive computer breach earlier this evening. Whoever hacked into our systems knew what they were doing. We can’t be blinded by the outcome. I love that so many criminals were apprehended and children returned to their families. But the fact remains that they used OUR systems to coordinate it. Hell, they used systems all over the world! The bottom line is that we are vulnerable to cyber attack. This isn’t Sony or Microsoft anymore. We are the government of the United States, goddamn it! We need to make sure our systems are secure first and foremost. I could care less what the Commies are doing and that the Canadians treat security like their front doors, open and welcome. We need to use the best tools and personnel available to secure the American way of life. In that vein I’ll give the floor to General Jack Matthews. If anyone can explain this debacle, it’s him.”

  Well, here we go. For good or for ill, the truth has to come out sometime. I clear my throat and begin. “Two months after the September 2001 attacks, I was approached by President Bush, a senior analyst from the C.I.A, and the President’s Science Advisor. At the time, I had submitted a grant proposal to the National Research Council to begin development, but everything was still on paper; not a single wire had even been purchased, let alone connected. The head of the NRC read my proposal and passed it along to the Pentagon for consideration. The entire project was then deemed ‘Above Top-Secret.’ The file was pulled from normal grant submissions and was turned over entirely to the military to oversee. The world was frustrated at the time, especially the United States. We had almost three thousand dead and over six thousand wounded. Even more than that, our national pride had just received a kick in the pants. We not only mourned our losses, but we were outraged by the intrusion. We felt violated, like a family feels when they discover that a burglar has rummaged through their home. The American people were hurting and they needed some hope that it would never happen again.”

  A round of applause suddenly sounds in my ears.

  “President Bush asked me one question and one question only: if what I proposed was possible, would it have prevented the attack? I had to answer him honestly and that answer was yes. Enter D. A. N. E, or just DANE for short. I named it not for what it is, but for what it was meant to do. Its acronym stands for: Determine-Analyze-Notify-Eliminate.

  There is a collective gasp from the assembled department heads. All eyes are wide and each of them swallows hard. I pause for a moment before I continue.

  “DANE’s primary goal is to gather information from any global source including tactical satellites, news reports, internet chatter, text messages, emails, et cetera. It then analyzes the data in real time for any terrorist activity, notifies the countries involved that a threat has been detected, and eliminates the threat before a strike occurs. If I had to sum up DANE’s main reason for being, it is prevention. DANE is to be NATO’s home security system, police force, judge, jury, and executioner — all in one. Countries are getting tired of cleaning up after terrorist attacks and need some way to prevent them, by any means necessary. Before 9/11, the United States was content to leave the issue of terrorism to diplomacy, as the violence stayed mainly on the other side of the world. I guess it’s easier to turn a blind eye to the struggles of others when your own home seems to be in good working order.”

  I hear a few uncomfortable shuffles at this point.

  “But 9/11 changed all that. We were sucked into the fray. Tens of thousands die in the Eastern Hemisphere each year due to some terrorist cell, rogue dictator or military coup, and we did not want that kind of action on our soil or in the backyards of our allies. DANE is an intelligence gathering system, combined with first strike capability...”

  The President runs his hand through his hair and sighs before speaking.

  “First strike? With what weapon
s, General?”

  I hang my head and reply.

  “All, Sir.”

  Total silence.

  “With DANE’s unlimited processing speeds, data storage, and learning algorithms, it would be the most capable entity on the planet to assess and deal with problems before they happen, without emotion. DANE’s only concern is keeping to its primary directive: to protect NATO countries from any possible threat and to ensure the continued survival of the human race.”

  They gasp once more, looking at one another but unable to speak. The Secretary of the Air Force finally finds his voice and asks the question that must be on each of their minds.

  “So, it’s a really powerful computer?”

  “It’s much more than that, Secretary. It’s intelligence unlike anything ever conceived of by human beings. DANE is a symbiont. It is part machine and part organic components; calling it a computer would be like calling Hurricane Katrina a gentle breeze. I gave DANE a microscopic thread of a connection to the real world earlier this evening. In the few seconds that it had it, it accomplished everything that you have heard reported from around the globe.”

  The Secretary’s eyes widen and I hear and nervous murmur from the others. The President steps in at this point.

  “How is that possible, General? The orders that were disseminated were not just digital. Some had fingerprints embedded in paper while others swore that the orders came from a superior via teleconference!”

  “As I said, Sir, DANE is much more than a computer.”

  The murmurs grow into a series of concerned conversations, ranging from the ethics of creating DANE to the outrage of having kept it a secret until now. I can’t help but grimace at the direction they are heading in with McKelvy leading the charge.

  “I can’t believe we weren’t made aware of this project, General. Who authorized your little experiment?”

  “I was sworn to secrecy by President Bush. I was only to report to my Commander in Chief once I was certain that I had achieved my goal. Until today I didn’t know that I had.”