Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by B. Michaels

  “But no! Why would you need a drone, when you had cruise missiles? Those were the same cruise missiles we used in our numerous attempts to kill Bin Laden. They failed every time. Then came 9/11. Finally, ten years after they could have been deployed, armed drones saw action. Imagine if a drone had killed Osama during the Clinton Administration. No imagination leads to unnecessary deaths!

  “Boys, you’ve stuck with your dreams. Your tenacity is a huge reason the Accelerator invested in you. I can see Swarmbots changing the face of warfare, especially wars against terrorism and counter-insurgency.”

  Ken gave an appreciative nod to the General. He removed a tablet from his backpack. “We’re ready when you are.”

  General Shields reached for a green button on the platform.

  *

  Since 7:30, Saul had been briefing the 11 junior members of US CYBERCOM. They worked at CYBERCOM headquarters on the Fort. All of them were young hackers, who should excel at video games. The all-male group consisted of four Airmen, three Sailors, three Soldiers, and a Marine.

  Saul began the briefing by reminding the men that this discussion was classified at TOP SECRET//FOGGY. Saul told the servicemen that they were testers for a new video game. The video game was fielded to teach SOCOM close quarters combat techniques.

  The Marine asked why the NSA was interested in video games for SOCOM. Saul told the Marine that he wasn’t at liberty to disclose that information. Saul explained that too many questions, beyond the game mechanics, would trigger their replacement. He reminded them that there were plenty of DoD personnel that would love to be paid to test virtual reality video games.

  The Gamers put on the VR Headsets, equipped with neural controllers from Prosthetic Thought. This made the headset look more like a helmet, than oversized goggles. The Prosthetic Thought controllers were supposed to scan the brainwaves of the Gamers, and translate their brain patterns into motion and action in the game. This allowed for a much more realistic VR experience, as Gamers wouldn’t have to move as much to influence their VR characters.

  Each Gamer also held two wireless controllers. They were for backup, in case the thought controllers failed. The Prosthetic Thought equipment was still erratic. Saul was interested to see how everything would come together in GAMESPACE and REALSPACE.

  Gamification Systems’ Chief Architect gave the team time to practice moving around. This Fog of War version was not tied to the Swarmbots in REALSPACE. After 20 minutes, the team looked good. Saul could watch the Gamers’ point of view on the flat screens attached to the SCIF’s wall.

  “Alright,” said Saul. “When the green light goes on, all of you have a very simple task. Guide your VR avatar through the Maze. Exit the other side. Walk in a single-file line.”

  Saul was a bit nervous. The last two months were a whirlwind. He’d lost ten pounds and not slept for more than three hours. How else was he supposed to respond when General Shields told him that the fate of the nation was riding on his technical skills?

  Only Saul and Samantha knew the full scope of the task. Saul was in charge of integrating Fog of War and the Swarmbots, with G-Bridge. Ali assisted Saul by working the Swarmbot side, in REALSPACE. But Ali didn’t know what was on the other end in GAMESPACE. Saul knew Ali’s first assumption was that GAMESPACE was Castle Chevaliers. But over time, the light seemed to click. Ali kept mentioning meeting Velocity Studios’ key management.

  Saul felt sorry for Becca. He couldn’t figure out why Samantha had not read her into FOGGY or SWARM. Saul thought Samantha was underutilizing Becca. He really could have used her help. She was very bright and determined.

  “Gentlemen, are you ready?” yelled Saul.

  *

  General Shields depressed the green button. “Here we go.”

  Immediately, the red light in the distance flipped off, and the green light flashed on. A swipe of Ken Sazuki’s tablet animated the Swarmbots. The spheroid drones looked alive.

  They rolled slowly across the room, from right to left. In a single-file line, they headed towards the Maze exit, on the far left side of the room. The first thing Samantha noticed was the deathly silence of the Swarmbots. Even when they nudged a rock or log, there was no sound. “This is like watching TV with no volume. How are they so quiet?” she asked, in disbelief.

  The second thing that struck her was the Swarmbot’s tremendous agility. They could start, stop, and rotate on a dime. In an instant, they could move in any one of 360 directions. Each Swarmbot moved methodically and independently. Yet, as they wheeled towards the end of the Maze, they seemed to communicate with one another. “They’re like a colony of ants, working for their queen,” exclaimed Samantha.

  “I’ve been called worse things than a queen,” laughed the General.

  It was the first smile Samantha had seen on General Shields’ face in weeks. Within two minutes, all the Swarmbots completed the Maze. They assembled at the exit.

  “How fast do they go?” asked Samantha.

  Ken looked at the General inquisitively. The General slightly shook his head no. “I can’t disclose that precisely. I can tell you that they’d outrun you.”

  “I don’t know, Ken. I’m pretty fast, even in heels.” Ken lost himself for a second as he gawked at Samantha’s toned legs. Lin wasn’t the only one who could work it, thought Samantha. Of course, Ken wasn’t tall, dark, or Australian.

  “It’s as if each one is looking at me. It’s eerie,” said Lin.

  General Shields chuckled. “I don’t want them looking at you. I want them to look straight into the eyes of Abu Mosulaydi.”

  The Swarmbot executives were all smiles, even though the demonstration seemed incredibly simple to them. All Ken knew was that someone was remotely controlling the Swarmbots. Ken wasn’t read into FOGGY; he didn’t know anything about GAMESPACE.

  Over the past five years, Swarmbot’s CEO had seen this sight many times. First, was the wild excitement and promises. This was followed by the disappointment of unanswered calls and unreturned emails. The sales cycle for Swarmbot in the DoD and IC was brutal. If it weren't for the law enforcement market, Swarmbot would have gone bankrupt.

  “General,” Ali said, “it went perfectly. I don’t know how it worked on the other end, but in REALSPACE, everything performed smoothly.”

  General Shields pushed the red button.

  Ken, Hideki, and Chris moved from the viewing platform, back into the Maze. Each reconfigured a different segment of the Swarmbot labyrinth. The new Maze pattern allowed the 11 Swarmbots to traverse the Maze, not in single-file, but as a team. Looking at the larger Swarmbots, Samantha asked, “Why are those bigger?”

  “Oh, you’ll see,” answered Shields, with a twinkle in his eye.

  Within 10 minutes, the Maze was reconfigured. The Swarmbot team was back standing on the viewing platform. As Samantha’s eyes traveled the path of the Maze, she spotted a dead end. A wall stopped progress in the middle of the Maze.

  “How are the Swarmbots going to get over that?” she asked, pointing to the obstacle.

  *

  In GAMESPACE, the scenario had gone just as well, although the Marine was grating on Saul. The Leatherneck asked, “What’s the big deal was about a first-person VR shooter, in which we warriors, simply walk in a single-file line through a maze?”

  Saul informed the Marine that he could leave whenever he wanted.

  When the Marine asked when he got to shoot something, Saul went ballistic. Saul told him to leave. The Marine begged for forgiveness and asked to stay, saying, “If that’s what it takes to keep America safe from terrorists, I’ll walk through a maze all day long. Hoorah!”

  I’d never make it as a Marine, thought Saul.

  He told the Gamers that the second scenario was more collaborative. The Gamers were to work as a team to collectively navigate the maze. “One team member’s failure is everyone’s failure,” b
ellowed Saul. He tried to parrot General Shields as much as he could.

  *

  Back in REALSPACE, the General was close to hitting the green button again.

  “Ken, are you guys ready?” asked the General. “We’re going to see some magic on this run, right?”

  “Yes, sir.” Ken gave his command tablet to Chris Fischer.

  Chapter 17 – Swarmbot Demo 2

  9:20 a.m. (EDT), Wednesday, September 30, 2020 – Columbia, MD

  The Maze, Sixth-Floor SCIF, Defense Innovations Accelerator

  The General hit the button to initiate the second demo. Chris Fischer swiped his tablet.

  In the next instant, the Swarmbots were imbued with fluorescent coloring. The nine softball size Swarmbots glowed neon red. One of the soccer ball size Swarmbots was green; the other was yellow.

  “For this portion of the demo,” said Chris, “we’ve configured the adaptive camouflage of the Swarmbots for different colors. It’ll help you follow the action better.”

  The red Swarmbots stacked up in three rows, of three across. The jumbo-sized green and yellow Swarmbots completed a rear row. The Swarmbot collections spun forward. Rocks impeded the some of the drone’s paths. These Swarmbots spaced themselves appropriately. As they moved through the Maze, they easily worked their way around the barriers.

  “We call that the Rushing Water Move. It reminds me of water, flowing by a submerged branch in a stream,” said Chris. Chris knew that the demo got more exciting as it progressed. Fischer joined Swarmbot after their jump in revenue from law enforcement. Chris resigned from Marvel Defense Systems to join Swarmbot. At Marvel, Chris was Chief Engineer for the Marauder line of remotely piloted aircraft.

  The Marauder was a cash cow for Marvel. Chris spent his free time working on mini-drones. But Marvel was more interested in ever-larger, more powerful, more lethal, and more expensive drones. The mini-drones Chris pursued were biologically inspired—the size of birds initially. Chris kept engineering smaller and smaller drones. His ultimate vision was to build robots based on nanotechnology.

  Ken and Hideki convinced Chris to jump ship. They told him he’d be in complete control of the fourth generation—4Gen—Swarmbot platform. Ken and Hideki said they’d continue to market 3Gen to SWAT teams. Chris was tasked to make 4Gen more compelling to the DoD and IC markets.

  This promise of total control over 4Gen was important to Chris. He knew that Ken and Hideki had a profound aversion to weaponizing the Swarmbots. They wanted the drones to work just as an advanced ISR platform.

  Chris knew this was naïve. Though he had complete control, many arguments still ensued about enabling the Swarmbots to prosecute kill missions. Despite the disagreements, Chris fashioned 4Gen to include lethality modules. Chris sounded like a broken record, as he told Ken and Hideki, “Drone sales only took off when we made them capable of launching missiles.”

  The lethality modules were only one of the many modifications that Chris made to the 4Gen Swarmbot platform. At the General’s urging, Chris met with Flashcharge. They had a standing meeting at the Accelerator twice a week. Shields directed Chris to incorporate Flashcharge’s wireless charging capabilities into the 4Gen’s batteries.

  One of the conditions of the Accelerator’s $6.75M investment was that Swarmbot promised to market 4Gen only to the United States’ DoD and IC, for a period of five years—no sales to non-US entities.

  Ken negotiated a provision to nullify the agreement if sales from the US DoD or IC didn’t materialize within two years from the time that 4Gen was ‘commercially available.’ He also haggled hard with the General to allow Swarmbot to sell to Australia. Ken had high-placed contacts in that country.

  But, the General was adamant. He was investing a substantial amount of US taxpayer dollars. No foreign country, even if they were a member of the Five Eyes, was going to benefit from the investment.

  In fact, any TOP SECRET//FOGGY or TOP SECRET//SWARM document was always marked NOFORN. This meant that only properly cleared United States citizens could access FOGGY or SWARM information.

  The three red Swarmbots on point, that is the three Swarmbots in the very front, came to the wooden obstacle in the Maze. All red Swarmbots stacked up. They looked like eggs, in a three-rowed egg carton.

  The green and yellow Swarmbots rolled over their smaller brethren, with the green Swarmbot on the right leading the way. As the green Swarmbot hit the barrier, it started to roll up the wall. At the same time, the yellow Swarmbot came from behind and nudged the green Swarmbot. It fell over the wall onto the other side. All of this occurred in absolute silence. Even when the green Swarmbot dropped to the other end of the barrier, there was no noise.

  In GAMESPACE, Saul watched the Marine help an Airman over a brick wall.

  The smaller Swarmbots rotated to form a single-file line, which seemed linked together. The yellow Swarmbot moved to the back of this connected line.

  Samantha asked, “How do they become one like that? Is it magnets?” Chris smiled. He shook his head no.

  There was a single red Swarmbot, now on point. It rolled back from the barrier and on top of the Swarmbot behind him. Now, he was no longer making contact with the ground. The lead, red orb completely supported itself on the Swarmbot underneath him. This process repeated itself, until the Swarmbots looked like a dancing piece of rope.

  “That’s our Cobra Move,” said Chris, building his excitement up for the crescendo.

  Now, five red Swarmbots were stacked on top of each other. They stood straight in the air. The other four remained on the ground, in a single-file line. They were anchored by the larger, yellow Swarmbot. It surprised Samantha that, apart from the different coloring, the 10 Swarmbots moved as one. It was as if the individual Swarmbots had melted together.

  The cobra Swarmbot moved forward. It began crawling over the barrier. The head of the Cobra then linked to green Swarmbot, which had climbed over the wall earlier. Now, he was the head. The green Swarmbot drove aggressively forward, pulling all the other Swarmbots over the wall. The snake with a green head, red body, and yellow tail finished the Maze.

  In GAMESPACE, the Gamers were all ascending a long ladder.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Samantha. “How’d they do that, Chris?”

  Chris laughed and said reservedly, “They did that because that’s what your system led them to do.”

  “Now, we’re moving to the finale,” shouted Ken.

  “So obviously,” said Chris “you’ve heard—or should I say, not heard—our sound suppression technology. When sound suppression is active, Swarmbots are nearly silent. I’m going to show you the ISR capabilities of the green Swarmbot.” He swiped his tablet and passed it around. The thin computer displayed the video feed, from the green Swarmbots’ point of view.

  “That’s creepy,” said Lin.

  “I can’t wait to use these things on the Caliphate,” crowed the General. The tablet screen also contained a dashboard with numerous graphs and charts. This included real-time air pressure, temperature, and soil composition.

  Chris continued, “We completely redesigned the innards of the 4Gen Swarmbots to be much more modular. We can outfit them with a configurable array of surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, including thermal imaging and 360-degree facial recognition.

  “It can also house a bevy of hacking tools. Or, you could use it to laser-paint targets for fire support. Paint the target and then boom, here comes the artillery or missile. Another option is to use its acoustics package to geo-locate gun fire. And remember, you don’t need to endanger any serviceman or woman to perform any of these tasks.

  “But, my favorite feature is this.” Chris swiped the tablet again. “Watch the green and yellow Swarmbots.” Chris depressed a virtual button on the tablet. The larger, green and yellow Swarmbots unlinked, and spun ahead of the red Swarmbots. Then they stopped. Their sides seemed to cave in on the
mselves, until the orb was now a half-circle. This action revealed a platform on each Swarmbot. There was something on the platform, but it was hard to make out. Immediately, that something rose from the platform. It started flying across the room.

  Chris looked directly at Shields, “Here’s your mini-drone, General.”

  Lin gasped. Both of the mini-drones flew over to the viewing platform and hovered. The mini-drones were the size of a large insect. The beating of the Swarmbot’s wings sounded exactly like a dragon-fly.

  Chris looked at the flying Swarmbot’s with satisfaction.

  “They can fly for 90 minutes, before they need a charge from their mother Swarmbot. My next big goal is to outfit them with a Flashcharge battery. Then the mini-drone Swarmbots will be charged by microwaves, just like the other Swarmbots.”

  The flying Swarmbots darted across the room for several minutes. They returned to the platform on their host Swarmbot. The two jumbo Swarmbots’ sides raised. Now, they were full-orbs again.

  In GAMESPACE, two of the Airman released backpack-sized drones. The drones hovered in front of their target, before returning to the Airmen’s hands.

  “And now, for the grand finale,” yelled Ken, enthusiastically. All the Swarmbots moved forward for a few seconds. With another swipe of Chris’ tablet, they completely disappeared.

  Lin shrieked, “Where’d they go?”

  “They’re still there,” beamed Chris.

  Samantha and Lin completely freaked out. Lin started swatting imagined buzzing insects from her face. After about a minute, all the Swarmbots reappeared on the other end of the Maze. “Holy…,” said Samantha. “How’d you do that?”

  “It’s magic,” replied Chris, “the magic of adaptive camouflage. It makes them nearly invisible.”

  General Shields punched the red button.

  *

  General Shields asked the Swarmbot team to meet him in the SCIF conference room. He nodded to Samantha. Samantha thanked Ali for his hard work, and told him that he wasn’t needed for the follow-on meeting. After Ali had left, the General instructed Lin to be on the lookout for Saul.