STAR OF EPIPHANY

by OMAR FINK

  The Red Team Leader using the handle “Muffled Edge” (ME), was explaining, “The data you gave us on the cyber coin transactions was invaluable. The first phase was reconnaissance. We built a tracking map of every coin transaction and linked them to other transactions. In many cases, this eventually reached dead ends when the Resistance transferred funds out of cyber coins into cash and other forms of currency. The NSA and FBI were able to help track some of those to accounts and even physical locations. The coin transactions that did not reach dead ends eventually exposed IP addresses, account information, physical locations, and even personal identifies. We spent several months developing all of these resources, and framing a battle plan based on them.”

  ME pointed at one of the wall monitors, “That network map shows all the connections and you can see the cluster at the middle which identifies their headquarters group. Once we knew some of where they were and who they were, it became fairly simple to fill in the rest of the blanks. The next phase was standard penetration using exploits delivered in several ways. We sent them phishing links, we compromised personal systems in their homes, we physically infiltrated flash drives into their environment, some of the old worms even worked; all the standard stuff. Once we were inside, we did a pivot to compromise other systems and collect credentials. We now own their entire command network, and we can exfiltrate the data we collect using a covert and encrypted communication channel.”

  ME continued, “We’ve handed off the personal profile information we’ve built on the members to the FBI and Interpol, and now the only thing that remains is to shut down their system and give the go to law enforcement officials to make arrests.”

  Bill Decker smiled at ME, “Impressive work as usual ME. I’m glad to see you folks haven’t lost a step since I left.”

  ME smiled back, “Thank you General. You know you’re always welcome here.”

  +6 years, 8 months, HABITAT-22, AU 2.1

  Keel ran his fingers over the light brown skin of her breast and then the dark brown nipple. He said, “We should do this more often.” and he smiled at Delize Naidu lying next to him.

  Delize responded, “We do.” She smiled back at him. Then she rolled over and ran her hand over the white skin on his chest and pulled at some hairs.

  Keel said, “Ouch, that feels so good.”

  Delize said, “You’re so bad for me.”

  Keel said, “I think not. I think I’m good for you.”

  Delize said, “Okay, you win. You’re good for me.” She sighed and stretched out her long naked legs.

  Keel asked, “Are we going to do any real sparring today, or was this it?”

  Delize said, “The plan was to spar, but somebody had other ideas.”

  Keel said, “Oh, and that somebody was me, I suppose?”

  Delize said, “Okay, I had other ideas too. But we should go spar now that we’ve exhausted the other ideas.”

  Keel smiled and said, “I’m not exhausted yet.”

  Delize said, “But I am. At least sexually. Let’s go work out in a different way. I want to use the upper levels today where the G-force is lighter. The falls will be easier, and the motions will need to be slower and more accurate. I think there’s some benefit in that.”

  Keel said, “That’s interesting. Sonny and I were talking about the same thing recently. Rescue operations will take place in a variety of G-force environments including zero-G. We’ll need to train for all of them.”

  Delize smiled, “Exactly. And there should be a lot of crossover benefit between your rescue training and learning about Aikido.”

  +6 years, 10 months, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

  The big screen in the AGT executive conference room was quiet but the video showed police making arrests, and escorting people in handcuffs away. The subtext was littered with references to the Resistance.

  Bill Decker said, “I thought you all should see some of this. The news is on mute because what they are saying is mostly drivel, and you all know far more anyway. But the pictures of the arrests speak for themselves. We have handed off the information we collected on the Resistance to authorities in the United States and several other countries, and simultaneous arrests in are in progress, as you can see. We expect most if not all of the insiders and leaders to be arrested.”

  Sam Hoffman asked, “How effectively will this neutralize them?”

  Bill responded, “It should thoroughly disrupt them as a group for all intents and purposes. We are pretty sure we got them all.”

  Peter Anderson asked, “Why are you so sure?”

  Bill replied, “Because we infiltrated them completely, and apparently without their awareness. We compiled complete dossiers on all members and information describing all their plans and resources. We have all their emails, all their network traffic, and we expect after these arrests to have most of their paper records. There is everything there needed to convict them for many crimes.”

  Tony Azaria said, “That’s quite impressive Bill.”

  Bill said, “All I did was coordinate some resources. Your buddy, Zorba Omega supplied the information for the starting point from some inside source he began cultivating several years ago. My connections with the U.S. Air Force allowed us to use the best offensive cyber warfare unit on the planet. And they are the best, despite the way the press exaggerates the abilities of the Russians and Chinese. Our team takes measures to keep themselves out of the public eye.”

  Ulrich Giger said, “Good work, Bill. Now, I hope we can get back to concentrating on getting our primary job accomplished. We are still very far from being able to reach our number targets for evacuation.”

  +6 years, 11 months, HABITAT-34, NEAR-MARS-ORBIT

  Lee Martin said, “Hello, this is Lee Martin. You’re not watching me live unless you are also here with me on Habitat-34, which is at the moment near the orbital path of Mars, at about 1.5 AU. Remember, one Astronomical Unit is the distance of Earth from the Sun. If you’re on Earth and Hab-34 is near Mars on the opposite side of the Solar System, we could be 2.5 AU apart. It’s 1 AU from Earth to the Sun and another 1.5 AU to the orbit of Mars, adding up to 2.5. Or, if both ends are on Habitat rings that are entering the edge of the asteroid belt at 2 AU, we could be 4 AU apart. Light takes eight minutes to travel one AU, so do the math. At 4 AU distance, communications will have a thirty-two minute delay from real time. And that’s each way, so if we record a five-minute-long message, and it takes thirty-two minutes to get there, then five minutes to play it back, then five minutes to record an answer, then another thirty-two minutes to go back, then five more minutes to play it back. You get the picture. The total amount of time is eighty-four minutes for a simple ten-minute long message and reply.”

  Lee smiled, “This is going to take some getting used to. I can still talk normally to anybody on the same ring or very nearby, but to communicate with anybody else, I need to record my end of the conversation and send it, then wait for the other end to receive it, play it back, record their response, and send it back to me. For most conversations, this is not a problem, and we get used to sending and waiting while we move on to other tasks. But for a few processes, where time is critical, this becomes a problem. All emergency services have to be local, even if all you need is information. Financial transactions have to be carefully synchronized and validated to make sure conflicts are avoided. And of course, if you’re watching ‘live’ news, you need to be aware of the location and time zone it is originating from.”

  Lee said, “And now I have some headlines for you: Even though the group on Earth known as ‘the Resistance’ has been mostly neutralized and their leaders arrested, some members continue to make threats to take violent actions and in fact have sparked some violence at some of their recent protests, throwing objects at police and smashing property.”

  Lee continued: “Out here in the asteroid belt, a group of Israeli investors are planning to form a kibbutz that will produce agricultural products to supply other habitats with food. As y
ou know, most of our food in these habitats currently comes from algae production tanks and some fish farms. Each habitat ring has the potential to customize their own production of food products. The infrastructure for the algae tanks is built into every ring now being built, but if production of other agriculture is desired, some custom engineering is needed. Most of our nutritional needs can be supplied from the algae, and while we can provide the other supplements from synthetics and chemicals, some communities want fish and other products too. The kibbutz farm would be a ring or even set of rings that specialize in other food products. Fish, soy beans, a variety of greens, some berries, and even some fruit trees are under consideration. In a normal city habitat ring, the most efficient means of production is the algae tanks. But when an entire ring is optimized for agriculture, possibilities open up. The HU is expected to approve this proposal, and if it works well, this could open up the concept of specialized rings in many fields.”

  +6 years, 12 months, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, USA

  Bill Decker sat at a table under an awning, next to a wandering sidewalk that ran alongside the RiverWalk. He wore a pair of black jeans with a grey golf shirt and a burgundy windbreaker over it. Across the table from him sat the hacker known as “Muffled Edge” or just “ME”. Bill pointed at a top corner of the menu he held, “We’ll start with an order of the ‘Buffalo Beignets’.” The serving person murmured an acknowledgment and departed.

  ME said, “General, I know I’ve shared Cajun food with you in the past, so maybe you’ve already explained this to me previously, but what in the hell is a ‘Buffalo Beignet’? I mean, I’ve had beignets, but they were like little donuts covered with powered sugar. Buffalo?”

  Bill Decker frowned, “You know better than to call me ‘General’, but if you insist, then I will call you ‘Muffy’, which I know you hate.” He grinned. “You are correct. A beignet is a small donut-like pastry that is often powdered with sugar, but in this case, it’s more like a chicken fritter. They take strips of chicken breast, marinate them in a tasty Buffalo sauce that is mild, then coat them in tempura-like batter, deep fry them, and serve them with a blue cheese dipping sauce made with gin. Okay, Muffy?”

  ME grinned back, “Okay, Mister Bill sir. No more general if you’ll just drop the ‘Muffy’ thing. Okay? And the Buffalo Beignets sound good.”

  Bill said, “You’ve got a deal. No General, no Muffy. Now, you said you wanted to talk about the computer we used during the campaign against the Resistance. What’s on your mind?”

  ME rubbed his chin, “Well, that computer was really amazing. It learned so fast. And it talked to us just like it was human. Was that really just a computer or something else?”

  Bill looked a little surprised, “As far as I know, it was just a really smart computer program designed to interact like it’s human.”

  ME said, “It just seemed like more than that somehow. It was so responsive, so helpful, and learned so quickly, that it’s hard to believe it was just a program, without some actual human consciousness being involved somehow. I know that someday we’ll be able to accomplish creating a self-aware program that is actually alive, but never thought I’d see it this soon.”

  Bill thought, then replied, “Is that what you think you saw? Peter and Tony are both brilliant, although in quite different ways and they warned us that this program or agent might seem spooky at times, but they never gave us any indication that it was actually close to being alive. If that’s the case, that would alarm me.”

  ME said, “I do think it may be alive. I’m sure it’s possible. Just thought you might know more about it. Why would it alarm you?”

  Bill replied, “You’ve seen the Terminator movies, right? We’ve always had fears of runaway artificial intelligence. It’s just a question of how justified those fears are. If we feel confident that we can control the agent, then there should be nothing to fear. But self realization seems to imply some level of self-control and that means we can’t be sure where that software program might decide to go.”

  ME thought for a moment, then asked, “Now that the Resistance is in our rear view mirror, what’s next for you Gen.. er Bill?”

  Decker chuckled, “Almost missed that one, Muff… er ME. I’m scheduled to fly down to the Galapagos Islands and get on an elevator into space. I don’t expect to be coming back, so it’s on to a new life out there and at the moment, I have no idea exactly what that means.”

  ME responded, “Well, I guess some version of that story is indicated for all of us sometime soon. Please stay in touch when you get out there. Maybe we’ll end up working together again.”

  13 Diamonds

  “No pressure, no diamonds.”

  — Thomas Carlyle

  +7 years, 2 months, LIBERTY HILL, TEXAS, USA

  Professor Morgan sat at a table in the Castilleja restaurant. Once it had been a gas station, but now had a reputation for serving good old down home Texas cooking, and on the weekends providing live music in their beer garden out back. The jukebox against the wall nearby was playing the strong contralto voice of Shirley Bassey singing “Diamonds Are Forever.”

  Zorba Omega walked in, and joined the Professor at his table. A waitress offered the menu, but Zorba declined to look at it, “I know what I want. Coffee, black. And I’ll have the country fried steak covered with your fabulous jalapeno gravy.” He smiled at the waitress.

  Shirley Bassey kept singing about diamonds.

  Professor Morgan was fiddling with his silver ware, then held up the palm of his hand like a stop signal, “Just more coffee for me. Nothing to eat. Thank you.” The waitress left.

  Before Zorba could say anything, the Professor blurted out, “I did it. The DMJ works!” He beamed.

  Zorba replied, “That’s excellent news, Professor.”

  The Professor was still excited, “It’s better than excellent. I’m thrilled about this. It works flawlessly!”

  Zorba smiled at him, “Well, congratulations.”

  The Professor was bubbling, “For centuries, scientists have dreamed of being able to transmute one element into another. This is not exactly what the DMJ does, but it’s pretty close. There are limitations of course, but for the first time, we can almost ‘print’ designer materials. It’s not actual printing, but it’s like an extension of the additive manufacturing that 3D printers do. We feed selected material into the DMJ, and apply some processes, and out comes the material we designed. That’s a miracle!” He was rocking slightly in his chair, and still smiling broadly. He paused to take a drink from his coffee cup.

  Zorba said, “Tell me more, Professor. But keep it simple please, and tell me how we can use this to make our carbon nanotube ribbons stronger.”

  Professor Morgan put his cup down on the table and bubbled, “Stronger? Not just stronger. I think we’ll be able to make the so far fabled, but elusive diamond nanothread. Sorry. Diamonds are just a particular crystal lattice arrangement of carbon atoms, right? And carbon nanotubes are a rolled up tube of graphene which is a flat lattice of carbon atoms, right? So, with the DMJ we should be able to make fibers that combine the diamond arrangement and the best elements of graphene. If so, we’ll see huge increases in strength, and maybe more. The DMJ does so much more. I think we’ll have a good shot at being able to design superconductivity into the fibers. Would it help if you could use the ribbon cable itself to provide power for the climber cars? I think so.” The Professor sat back in his chair, and triumphantly raised his coffee cup for another sip.

  Zorba waited for the Professor to continue, but when he said nothing, Zorba said, “Okay. That’s great. Now tell me what you need to come up with some answers on what your device can actually do with regard to the ribbon cables.”

  The Professor frowned, “That’s the problem. This lab is great for what they’re doing, but they’re totally focused on an established agenda. I need some specialized equipment, but not much. And I need my assistant, Genaro, to work for me full time instead of being constantly pull
ed off task to do whatever the lab needs at the moment. Genaro has always been a key element to my success. We collaborate together well.”

  Zorba said, “We should be able to make all of that happen. Are you familiar with AGT?”

  The Professor replied, “Of course. They have some of the best research facilities in the world. Everybody in my business knows about how they work. They have a reputation for getting things done, and doing them well. And their lab in Zurich is the stuff legends are made of.”

  Zorba smiled, “Would you be interested in working in their Zurich lab if I can arrange it? That is, you and Genaro both of course.”

  The Professor practically jumped out of his chair, “Of course! Can you really make that happen? Oh, that would be just fabulous! I can’t believe it. Please don’t tell me you’re just teasing me.”