Operating from the secured walls of the Pentagon’s Advanced Weapons Division, the military division overlooking the development at USN, Mike Ryan cruised through cyberspace with a freshly reloaded version of MPS-Ali, the expert system which had saved his hide not just in the virtual-reality world but at his home in Austin.
At my former home, he thought, remembering the charred remains of the house that Victoria had practically designed and built over the course of a year, picking out everything from the roof tiles to the floors and doorknobs while putting herself through the agonizing pain of dealing with the builder and his subcontractors to make sure they executed the plans down to the last detail while keeping to their budget.
Ryan focused on his current predicament: MPS-Ali had just alerted him of another Turing inhibitor Runner, this one sent from a communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit that had just gone out of service when its main booster propelled it out of range.
Weird, Ryan thought, convinced that if the AI system aboard the satellite was being attacked by the rogue military assembler, the breach would have been attempted in a different way than the previous time, thus preventing Ryan from tracking down the origin of the cyberstrike in the same manner in which he had done it at the Banca di Roma. That fact alone made Ryan wonder if the military AI was indeed learning from previous mistakes. Or perhaps it did learn and was now tricking Ryan into thinking that it had not.
Deciding to give the rogue AI the benefit of the doubt, Ryan followed MPS-Ali as they shot up in cyberspace, through a wireless channel that resembled a column of brilliant dust amidst the vast coldness of surrounding galaxies—his VR program’s interpretation of the nearby ISPs.
Armed with every master password issued by the U.S. military, MPS-Ali opened the orbital portal and penetrated into the guts of the runaway satellite.
A magenta bar on the left side of his field of view told Ryan the strength level of their current connection. It was at half power and dropping. Soon the system would be out of reach altogether, making it impossible for Ryan to learn anything about the perpetrator, though he had a darn good idea who—or more appropriately what—was behind this attack.
As programmed, MPS-Ali issued the master unlock sequence of the Turing inhibitor, and the AI governing the satellite became their slave.
Finding no sign of the intruder code, Ryan commanded his expert system to turn the satellite around, which MPS-Ali did, instructing the governing AI to momentarily halt the main booster thrust and fire the rotational rockets instead, forcing the large satellite to turn 180 degrees.
Then the main booster fired again, in the opposite direction, bleeding its orbital escape speed, but not at a fast enough rate.
The signal strength meter continued to drop as the satellite continued to drift away.
TWENTY %.
FIFTEEN %.
TEN %.
As it dropped below five percent, MPS-Ali reported that the primary booster had expended all of its available fuel. The satellite continued to flee into outer space. In the same instant MPS-Ali reported a digital DNA match between the remnants of the intruder—long gone by now—and the USN code for the missing military assembler.
Crap, Ryan thought, realizing the sheer brilliance of the attack. By sending the satellite out of range, the military rogue had not only achieved its primary objective—downing the communications of millions of users in North America—but had also gotten the evidence out of Ryan’s reach. It would take the concerted efforts of NASA to bring it back, though MPS-Ali reported that even such effort was in jeopardy because geosynchronous satellites operated far higher in space—twenty-four thousand miles high—than the typical operational orbit of shuttle crews, which averaged around three hundred miles high.
What a mess.
MPS-Ali then reported another Runner, this one coming from the Turing code of the AI managing the multiple Global Positioning System satellites, also in geosynchronous orbit.
Deciding to stop playing a reacting game, Ryan dispatched a clone version of MPS-Ali to go after this new contact while he rushed to tend to a previous task—the search for the fuel powering the CyberWerke machine: money. He had learned a long time ago that the best way to hurt criminal networks was by hitting their bank accounts, and Mike Ryan possessed the right tool to do just that.
According to a conversation Ryan had had with FBI Director Russell Meek, the German conglomerate was apparently able to tap into seemingly endless funds, and he had tasked Ryan with hacking his way into those funds and just outright snagging them.
Ryan snickered at the thought. The FBI had instructed Ryan once again to violate international law, which he had done successfully when assisting Karen Frost in bringing down a criminal network operating out of Austin, Texas, using a high-tech company and a local bank to launder their money. Ryan had used MPS-Ali back then to track down their accounts to the Cayman Islands, before he proceeded to drain the accounts.
Following his expert system across the vastness of cyberspace, as viewed through the green glow of a T1 high-speed Internet line, Ryan hopped ISPs in an apparently random sequence, avoiding those hit by the downed satellites, until reaching one of three ISPs servicing the Cayman Islands, where MPS-Ali had reported seeing activity between a South American shipping company owned by CyberWerke and one of the many banks in Grand Cayman.
The banking system in Grand Cayman was governed by an artificial intelligence engine that, like all registered AIs, had a Turing inhibitor.
Resembling a cloud layered by blue and green sheet lightning, the banking AI fed directly into the digital hearts of three dozen banks operating on the famous Caribbean island.
Ryan followed his expert system as they exited the T1 and hovered a respectful distance from this powerful AI, designed to fry the electronics of any user dumb enough to try to approach it without the right passwords.
MPS-Ali released a violet haze toward the AI. The mist, like a thin veil of digital data, closed the gap in a second, sizzling as it came in contact with the energy-rich layer of the AI.
An instant later MPS-Ali gained control of the Turing code governing the system, and a blue laser-like light shot out of the center of the AI, engulfing both MPS-Ali and Ryan.
In a flash millions of transactions per second flashed across Ryan’s field of view. MPS-Ali focused on those originating from the South American shipping company, taking just a few seconds to zero in on the account being used.
FUNDS AVAILABLE: $347,032,691.05.
Ryan smiled and directed MPS-Ali to order the banking AI to transfer the funds to a bank account in Miami, Florida, the number provided to him by Russell Meek.
The transaction took place in nanoseconds.
MPS-Ali then ordered the AI to alter the electronic log and show the funds being transferred to the account belonging to a Taiwanese cellular phone manufacturer—also a CyberWerke corporation.