Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by B. Michaels

  “I’ll say we had nothing to do with Texas. I’ll recall some diplomats and tell the world that was our response to your cyber-attacks. All of this can disappear. We can sweep everything under the rug. We can both go back to improving our countries’ tomorrows.”

  *

  A visibly shaken President returned to the Sit Room. Shields had never seen him in such a state of angst.

  He detailed Rahmati’s demands. He told his advisors that Rahmati claimed to have damaging personal information on many in the room. From the corner of his eye, POTUS looked at the SECDEF and saw his aide wince. Shields’ heart raced at the thought of his own personal jeopardy.

  “Can we identify and take out the hackers in the next four hours?” asked President Goodson. “I’m apt to believe that Rahmati is not bluffing.”

  The CJCS answered, “We could definitely take out sites in Iraq, Persia, China, and Russia with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. Of course, there would be retaliatory strikes.”

  “We could drop non-nuclear, electromagnetic pulse bombs. They could fry all the computers and the electric grid. But, I don’t think we could hit all the sites in four hours.”

  “And, we don’t know if that would stop the cyber-attacks,” said General Shields. “Rahmati is using a massively distributed botnet to conduct these attacks. We don’t know where to send a nuke or an EMP bomb. It’s clear that his side has been preparing the cyber-battlefield for a long time. They’ve probably maintained trapdoors and Trojan horses in our critical infrastructure for years.”

  “Alright,” said the SECDEF, who was technically General Shields’ boss. “What can you do from a cyberwar perspective, General Shields?”

  “We can immediately take down the grids in Persia and Iraq. We can do the same in Russia and China, although it will take a little longer.”

  POTUS asked, “Are we sure that if we turned out the lights in those places, the attacks would stop?”

  “No sir,” responded Shields. “The botnet is utilizing corrupted computers from all over the world, including the UK, Japan, Germany, and Australia. If we had more than four hours, we could probably find better answers. We do know that the hackers are very sophisticated, and they cover their tracks exceptionally well. Rahmati may possess a distributed AI capability to continue the cyber-attacks, in the event of annihilation.

  “We could attempt to shut down the Internet, but this would have drastic consequences for US commerce and confidence. And Iraq, Persia, China, and Russia have taken steps to create their own Internet backbones.

  “Most importantly, Mr. President, we don’t know how they’ve compromised our encrypted military comms. It’s one thing to hack the Internet. It’s quite another to hack the GPS system and military infrastructure. They commandeered drones and degraded naval comms. The 5th Fleet is using signal flags to communicate. Even if you launched nukes, it’s possible hackers could redirect them. They completely own us right now.”

  POTUS processed the situation in light of the deadline. He thought about the ramifications of action and compromise. “If I agree to his conditions, then this will become his pattern—every time he wants something. However, a negotiated settlement would allow us to buy us some time.”

  After further deliberation, POTUS said, “This isn’t Munich; this is General MacArthur retreating from the Philippines to regroup. We’ll be back. We’ve got to ascertain how he’s accomplishing all this mayhem. Then, we can more adequately counter it. It’s clear to me that we’re woefully unprepared for cyberwar. And we’ve been resting on our laurels in quantum computing.”

  The President called Rahmati at 6:00 a.m. He agreed to stand-down American troop deployments to Saudi Arabia and to ignore the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. He negotiated with Rahmati to buy oil at a discount. Rahmati promised to keep everything quiet and reiterated his concessions, including the release of the CIA agents and drones.

  By mid-morning on June 1, 2021, the Texas Interconnection grid was back operational. The Federal Reserve announced the results of an emergency meeting. They would reduce interest rates by 50 basis points, and engage in a new round quantitative easing.

  While the stock market soared on the announcement, so did the price of gold and oil. The US dollar tanked. Commodities were priced in US dollars. When the value of the US dollar decreased, commodities; like gold, oil, and copper—skyrocketed.

  Though mostly kept from the public; hedge fund managers and the big Wall Street banks received reports detailing the extensive damage done to US domestic oil and natural gas rigs. This destruction occurred predominantly in Texas, North Dakota, and the Marcellus Shale running from Pennsylvania to New York. The rigs were fried. It would take six to nine months to return to the pre-6/1 oil and natural gas production levels.

  In the following week, oil shot to $225 a barrel. This, in turn, priced gas at nearly $7.50. The drastic rise in energy prices seriously threatened to slow the US economy. Gas prices were the highest they’d ever been in the US.

  Chapter 42 – Awaking the Sleeping Bear

  6:30 p.m. (EDT), Friday, July 16, 2021 – Columbia, MD

  Suite 602, Conference Room, Defense Innovations Accelerator

  Samantha Powers shuffled through her financial reports one more time. She was preparing for Gamification Systems’ Board of Directors meeting. Lin Liu shared the conference room with her.

  General Shields entered. “What are we doing in here? I thought we’d be meeting in my office, like always.” Then, Shields noticed Lin.

  “General,” replied Samantha, “I thought I’d have Lin attend this meeting so she could take the meeting minutes. It’s been a while since our last board meeting. We have a lot to discuss.”

  Shields closed the door. He sat down at the head of the table.

  “Are you alright, General?” asked Lin. “You look…well, you don’t look too good.”

  Shields leaned back in his chair. He raised his arms to his head, and firmly grasped his hands behind his skull. Then he exhaled deeply. “6/1 rocked the very foundations of our government. President Goodman is doing a good job in public of downplaying everything that transpired. But behind the scenes, we’re scrambling to architect a game plan to use against Rahmati.”

  POTUS ordered a 120-day gold review panel to ascertain root causes of the power outage. He selected people he could control. The utility and energy companies were told to keep quiet for national security reasons. The President gave all the CEO’s secret, written assurances that he’d suspend Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for them and their firms.

  The New York Times was set to run a story detailing the extensive damage done to the fracking rigs, and tie it to reports of degraded military comms and the power outage. Both POTUS and VPOTUS called the Times’ Editor and persuaded him to kill the story.

  “I have to hand it to the President, behind the scenes, he’s using 6/1 as a rallying cry for his Administration.” Shields impersonated Goodman with a Texas accent he’d developed while working as Commander of AFCBYER in San Antonio. “Ladies and gentlemen, we just got our ass handed to us, like a rodeo clown in an outhouse.”

  “Eww,” said Lin. “I can’t even imagine what that means…but it sounds bad.”

  Shields continued, “It’s up to us to make damn sure that the twenty-first century is the Merican century. We’ve all been worried about China overtaking the US. We should’ve been thinking about the Middle East.”

  POTUS got congressional funding for a multi-billion dollar TOP SECRET project named, LEVIATHAN. He likened LEVIATHAN to the Manhattan Project that created the nuclear bomb to end World War II in Asia.

  Project LEVIATHAN’s goal was to rapidly build a fully functional, quantum computer. Two teams were selected to compete independently in a race to create the winning design and implementation. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California housed one team. The other competitor was stationed at the
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois.

  An umbrella TS/SCI operation, code named MOLESKIN, was established to contain the many projects and operations dealing with Iraq, Persia, and Rahmati.

  GWENIVER was the code name assigned to a particularly important project under the MOLESKIN umbrella. GWENIVER’s purpose was to determine the nature and whereabouts of Rahmati’s quantum computer. It was given the additional caveat of VRK, for Very Restricted Knowledge.

  This meant, between the NSA and CIA, less than 20 people were read into GWENIVER; including, Becca, Josh, Lin, and Shields. Any communication related to GWENIVER had to be handwritten and delivered in person. Samantha was not read into MOLESKIN or GWENIVER.

  “POTUS was taken aback by the failure of the Intelligence Community to anticipate Rahmati’s attack. Even today, we’re still aren’t dealing with absolutes, only probabilities. Rahmati’s actual capabilities are still a mystery. President Goodson considered this failure to be on par with Pearl Harbor and 9/11. He’s furious with DARPA. They were supposed to make sure we didn’t get blindsided any technological advance. He’s fired both DARPA’s Director and Deputy Director.”

  General Shields’ greatest source of work stress was the quest to develop quantum-proof, encryption algorithms. The Fort had minimally deployed encryption algorithms they thought were quantum-secure, mostly on JWICS. But, it looked like Rahmati had been able to crack those new codes.

  Quantum-secure algorithms did not rely on the factorization of prime numbers or integer substitution. They employed lattice and multivariate cryptography. However, it was impossible to test the quantum-resistant algorithms fully, until LEVIATHAN was a success.

  “The President’s greatest immediate worry is the economy,” said Shields. “Jobless claims keep ratcheting up, week after week. The July employment report showed a marked rise in the unemployment rate, and that’s only a month after 6/1. All the post 6/1 stock market gains have evaporated.”

  Many of the lost jobs were in the energy sector. The number sent the market into a tailspin. Already at zero, the Fed responded with negative interest rates in an attempt to stabilize stocks. However, the dollar debasement furthered the vicious rise of commodities. Oil hit $275 a barrel, gasoline spiked to over $9 a gallon, and gold neared $4000 an ounce.

  “People are losing their retirement savings and can’t afford to drive their gas cars. To make it worse, Rahmati continues to release embarrassing revelations regarding the US and the Saudi government. Files going back to the 90s, show the depths of Saudi complicity with Jihadists; and the complicity of the US with the Kingdom.”

  “Here we’ve been fighting with these guys since 9/11, and Saudi Arabia has been funding the ideology shared by Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS, and the Caliphate. We’ve always known that the Kingdom used charities to funnel money to these organizations. But the depth of the collusion has remained hidden from the public. Until now.”

  “At least,” said Lin, “the disclosures have allowed the President to save face. Without them, it would’ve been a major embarrassment to stop the troop deployments to Saudi Arabia.”

  “That may be so,” replied the General, “but the Kingdom is in a complete meltdown. The protests are officially out of control. The handwriting is on the wall. The Saudi government can’t crack down on all the protestors. The police and military will no longer carry out their orders. The House of Saud is going to fall.” The House of Saud was the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, established in 1744.

  “I can’t understate the danger to the United States. Since the 1930s, the giant oil fields of Saudi Arabia, including Ghawar Field, have been deemed critical to our national interests. Protection of Saudi oil was a top priority of every Administration since the 1930s, on par with the Monroe Doctrine. Ghawar looks like it will come under Rahmati’s control, any day now. We’re trying to get UN forces deployed to protect the fields, but Russia and China keep overruling our efforts.”

  “Not only will Rahmati seize Saudi oil, but if the putsch goes his way, he’ll get his hands on one of the most advanced militaries in the Middle East. For decades, the quid pro quo with Saudi has been that we buy their oil, and they buy our weapons. That’s the very definition of a petrodollar.”

  While the US was moving towards energy independence, and alternative technologies were chipping away Saudi importance—in 2021, Saudi oil was still crucial to the world crude oil market. This was especially the case while US fracking rigs were still inoperable.

  The General’s gaze fell on Samantha’s angry eyes. As stressed out as Shields was professionally; his personal life was far worse. Lisa confronted the General about Samantha. Lisa was devastated. General Shields was ashamed. He hadn’t told Samantha about Lisa’s discovery of the affair yet.

  “General Shields,” said a furious Samantha, “I’m very concerned about the economy. Enterprise software does not fly off the shelves in a recession. And, I’m concerned about the state of the world. But most of all, I’m concerned about the company I run. Can we start the board meeting, or would you like to reschedule?”

  The General’s face went flush red. “Lin, let’s reschedule this board meeting. Would you please excuse us?” Lin left brusquely.

  “What’s your problem?” said the General, scowling. “You’ve been at my throat for weeks. Check that, months. And what’s with inviting Lin without my approval?”

  “Bernie, my problem is that I’ve made a terrible mistake. I’ve allowed my feelings for you to hinder me from soundly managing Gamification Sytems. Now, I feel trapped in a relationship with you.”

  “Samantha, our relationship has been strictly business for weeks. I’m not going to pressure you. We’re both adults.”

  “I know. The problem is, you’re a married adult. It’s a mistake I profoundly regret. It was selfishness on my part. You were an escape. I’m mad at myself for falling in love with you. I mad at myself for letting our relationship influence my leadership of Gamification. I should never have let you dictate my personnel choices.”

  “Investors dictate personnel decisions all the time. And not just in start-ups.”

  “Maybe so,” Samantha replied. “But carrying on an affair with my lead investor…has got to be the stupidest business decision I’ve ever made. I’ve disappointed myself, and I’ve failed people I care about.

  “General, I loved you. But, we’re over.”

  *

  Shields walked back to his office. Alone. He poured a scotch. Clutching the drink, he turned around and looked at Charlie.

  The General tossed the scotch in the sink. He went back home to his wife.

  Chapter 43 – Reconciliation

  1:30 p.m. (EDT), Friday, July 31, 2021 – Columbia, MD

  Suite 502, ElectricMind’s Offices, Defense Innovations Accelerator

  The offices of ElectricMind were spartan, consisting of cubicles Josh bought from a second-hand furniture store.

  Not counting Becca, Josh had hired five other employees. He possessed the capital to employ more. But Josh wanted his team to be fast and agile, as they worked to extend eM’s neural network to understand text better. His biggest takeaway from CyberAI was the fact that cash was precious.

  In addition to continually refining the NLP-based neural network, the next highest priority was constructing a separate neural network that made sense of images—like recognizing faces, objects, and the like. This ability would also help the neural network with navigation of autonomous robots.

  While the process to create deep learning algorithms for understanding words and pictures was the same; the architecture of the neural networks were decidedly different. Creation of varied neural networks was a key element of ElectricMind’s business strategy, as it moved into stronger AI and discovery. General Shields was more than happy to push Josh in this direction.

  Specifically, the General wanted eM f
or the Swarmbots. He dangled a lot of money in front of Josh to deploy eM for autonomous operation of the Swarmbot’s, once the quantum-resistant encryption was ready. He wasn’t happy with the results of the Gamification Systems’ split-test. eM would allow him to replace the need for Gamers altogether. With enhanced AI, Swarmbots could become truly autonomous robots—not drones.

  Becca noticed that Josh was in a contemplative mood. She took a seat in his cube. “Just think how much has happened, since we first met. You were fired, I quit, you developed the best deep learning algorithms in the world, we hid from the NSA, found the Ark of the Covenant, watched our friends die, went back to the NSA, and started ElectricMind.”

  Josh laughed. “That would make quite a book.”

  “You should see the sequel,” said Becca, raucously.

  Josh looked at a diagram of algebraic matrices on his white board. “I’ve been thinking about how I can use a quantum computer to refine eM’s neural networks. I also can’t wait to use it advance the Swarmbot’s swarm intelligence.”

  The bell rang in the reception area. Josh hadn’t hired a receptionist.

  “I’ll see who it is,” said Becca, as she walked toward the sound of the bell.

  “Hi,” said Samantha. “Would you please talk to me? Can we take a walk by the pond?”

  “Fine,” said Becca, frostily.

  The elevator ride down was equally uncomfortable, as Samantha tried to make small talk. “Your new look compliments you very well.”

  As they walked around the pond, Samantha said, “I just wanted to apologize to you. I’ve done some good things as CEO of Gamification Systems. But, I’ve also done some foolish things.”

  As Samantha continued to apologize, it was hard for Becca to remain cold. It took energy to stay angry. Becca wanted that energy for more positive things. Her heart warmed. Since Jerusalem, Becca found it easier to forgive—once she put her mind to it.

  “Samantha, I’ve never been a CEO. As I’ve been with Josh, I’ve seen some of the pressures up close. But, you really hurt my feelings. I was crushed by how it all went down.”