“Field work?”
“That and some clever tools I’ll show you shortly. But all of this is only part of our jobs here. We’re also part of the international team that is responsible for enforcing the Internet Information Protection Act or IIPA.”
“We’re involved with that piece of crap? Things were so much easier before that came in a few years ago. Christ we now need to have our own RFID chip to just surf the net, everything is tracked and good luck accessing stuff in different countries.”
“Hey! I helped in its design and we needed it! As terrorist groups like CURE become more organized, the flow of information needs to be monitored and controlled. The IIPA allows that and prevents access to any data movement without proper authorization It also ensures that copyright laws are enforced, bandwidth is properly paid for, and it filters things like child pornography. Besides, you don’t have to use your personal RFID key, you can always use a temporary burn chip.”
“Sure you could do that but the burn chips give you even less access,” Spencer lamented. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be personal about this, but I am not a fan at all of IIPA. Is it true that it can force servers to shut down automatically?”
“Of course it can. It wouldn’t be much good if it didn’t have teeth. If there is any unauthorized activity detected, the IIPA server sends a signal that will shut down the source server which can only be brought back up again after manual verification. Hey, did you get notified that your RFID code has been updated for your new clearance that you will need here?”
“Yes, though I haven’t noticed any big difference in access.”
Sue smiled and walked over to his workstation. “Click on this,” she said, pointing to an icon on his monitor that resembled a poorly drawn vampire.
A simple screen appeared that looked like any other Internet search engine screen with the exception of the vampire logo at the top.
“Now type in something to search for—something interesting, like black-market music downloads.”
He entered the words, pressed Return, and was surprised when the screen instantly displayed links and summaries, most of which had a small vampire icon beside them. The bottom of the page showed an indication of several billion matching hits.
“What kind of a search engine is this?”
“This will be your best new toy. As you may have guessed, this isn’t a normal search engine. The links without the vampire are normal search returns. But the links with the icon are from the dark web, the part of the Internet that’s not returned by standard search engines and thousands of times bigger than the regular web. If there’s a web page or document out there, even password protected, unlinked, on a corporate intranet, or with some kind of hardware protection on it, our dark-web engine probably has it indexed.”
“Holy Crap!”
“Now for the good and bad news. With your new RFID chip clearance and tools like this, you’ll be able to access a lot more than before, and the longer you work for the DIR your clearance level rises as well. But because you have this increased access, they’ll be watching you more closely now.”
“They?”
“The security team here at the DIR. They’re going to be watching you all of the time. Your home, vehicles, and cell phones will be bugged, they’ll monitor your behavior, watch your friends, and will keep close track of your financial transactions.”
“They can’t do that! Nobody said anything about this.”
“You won’t find it written anywhere, but that’s the way it is. We’re in charge of information. We need a great deal of access to data and, hence, the super-search capabilities. But these could be easily misused, which is why everyone of us is under surveillance all the time. Do you still want this job? It’s not too late to leave.”
Spencer paused before answering. “I’ve worked too hard to get here, and I’d be a fool to turn it down.”
“It is a pretty cool job. You’ll see things here that you’d never see anywhere else and find out about things you’ll wish you never knew. And over time you’ll learn that the phrase “ignorance is bliss” can sometimes be true. But I think that’s enough doom and gloom. Let’s get you working on something easy—something that will introduce you to how things work around here, and then I’ll get you involved in some of the work I’m doing.”
“What do you want me to start on?”
“I’ve been working on a routine report that we compile every few months on Asia’s factory capacity. You can start on that, and I want you to read through the white paper that led to creation of this department. It outlines the importance of what we do and the integrity that we must maintain.”
“That factory capacity stuff doesn’t sound too difficult. Isn’t that information on the Internet?”
“Governments in Asia want people to believe the information seen on the Internet, but our job is to post what’s really happening. We have hundreds of people across Asia monitoring things like trucks entering and leaving factories and warehouses, counts of critical raw parts, and factory start-ups and closures. They all report back to us, and then my job, or actually yours, is to put together all the pieces to show an accurate figure. I’ll send you the data and tell you where I’m at with it.”
“So you’re using spies to get your data? Can’t this vampire tool find it?”
“We can use the Dark Web search engine to verify data, but there’s nothing like having it come directly from the field. We do have information gatherers everywhere, or spies, as you so crudely put it. We’ve been suspecting for quite a while that Asian governments are onto our little vampire friend and are posting invalid data on their own internal networks. Part of this exercise is to see whether that’s true or not.”
“Okay, I’ll start on the factory stuff first and then read through that publication,” he said. “What are you working on?”
“I’m looking up information on The Pleasant Belief Foundation and checking to see if they have any ties to CURE.”
“Oh, I’ve seen some of the foundation’s ads! They’re really funny but make you think. I read somewhere that they’re involved in the colony experiment and in funding part of the Mars mission too. How long have they been around?”
“About four years—and came out of nowhere, but are well organized and very well-funded. You’re right about their ability in reaching out to people effectively. They’ve been so effective that they’re now getting the attention of corporations, unions, and governments. I’ve been tasked to look into them and see if there are any ties with CURE. Should be quite routine given the tools we have at our disposal,” Sue said. Her years of experience triggered a warning signal. Something doesn’t smell right here. The director should have assigned this to a junior member. Why did he pick me?
3 - Suspicions
Olivia’s eyes snapped open following neither a slow nor calm transition from the weightless world of sleep. She found herself breathing hard and feeling panicked. Could I be the reason that my friend was murdered? The dream that she had just awoken from had been a replay of the last time that she had spoken to him. They were having their normal weekly video conference call and were discussing recent breakthroughs in microbiology, their shared field of interest. Immediately before awakening, she remembered having accidently mentioned Virtuesh, the name of the top-secret virus she was currently working on. As she sat on the edge of the bed, she thought about it again. Could that have done it?
Olivia had known the risks of her current job before accepting it. She understood that a simple mistake could kill her, or others and that all the work she would be doing was highly illegal. She had never considered, though, the lengths that would be taken to keep it secret.
The initial job posting she had applied for did not outline the dangers involved. It was a simple ad from the Pleasant Belief Foundation looking to hire many people with many different skills, including researchers like herself. Like many others concerned about the current state of the planet, she had seen the fo
undation as a breath of fresh air. Although it had started only a few years before, it had been particularly effective in getting its message out. Simply put, people had to consume less and strengthen the basic components that held society together. She felt compelled to help and responded to the ad.
A month later she received an e-mail inviting her to spend a week at the foundation’s headquarters where she joined a large group of people who went through a battery of tests and interviews. At the end of the week, the majority of the group were sent home and the remainder were asked to attend an orientation meeting, except for Oliva, who was singled out and escorted to a small but lavishly furnished room. It was in this room where she first met Richard, the founder of the foundation.
At nearly sixty the ultra-rich philanthropist’s outward appearance, bald head, shorter than most and slightly overweight, did not give the first impression of the founder of several of the largest corporations on the planet. She had heard that he possessed an uncanny ability to weave together current and past events and understand years before anyone else where they would lead. He attributed this foresight to the power of concentration and his rigorous meditation schedule but she had heard rumors that none of this was true and that he had paranormal powers or could time travel to see into the future.
He introduced himself and told her that as his wealth grew, his data gathering resources increased and provided him with studies, trends, and insider knowledge of government, corporation, and financial institution agendas. While he used this information to his own corporation’s advantage, he also started to piece together a dark future for the human race. One where the planet was near, or had already passed, a tipping point in the areas of pollution, resource consumption, economics, as well as in the fabric that held society together.
He was certain that some type of correction was imminent though not sure of its magnitude. He felt that the size of it would depend highly on the actions, or inaction, taken over the next few decades by the world’s population and would range from a minor disruption to people’s lives to a catastrophic breakdown.
He said that he was so concerned that he had formed the foundation, which had two divisions. The first was the public front whose focus was to prevent a collapse, and the second was the research division, geared towards preparations for a major collapse. With no restraint on spending, these two divisions went to work on several fronts, hiring the best and not caring much about regulations and laws in achieving their goals.
Richard told he that she had done well in the tests and though she could choose from several positions being offered there was one in particular that he would like her to consider.
He described a long-term experiment that the research division was working on; one that he hoped would last hundreds of years. Four small villages were being set up around the globe. They would be isolated from the outside world and their inhabitants would live under very strict rules that hopefully would result in a sustainable outcome. There would be no weapons created in the villages except those needed for hunting and protection from wildlife. This would work as long as the land that surrounded them was protected by the local government. However, if there were a catastrophic societal collapse, and the government could no longer protect the space, the villages would be left defenseless.
They would need a weapon so powerful that no one would try to overwhelm them, and the best defense that Richard could think of was a lethal virus. Until that moment, she had been keenly interested in the experiment but now was in a state of shock after hearing Richard’s plan to use a biological weapon.
She remembered the moment in the interview when he had pressed a button on his phone and asked for Mikhail to be sent in. He introduced her, explaining that Mikhail was in charge of the research division and that he would be explaining the details of the job he had in mind for her. Then he left them alone.
She had noticed that Mikhail was more direct than Richard and not as friendly. He told her that Richard had hired him because he wanted to keep some of the projects in total secrecy and for this to happen, rules needed to be bent, bribes made, and people threatened in order to get the job done. Areas in which he excelled. He told her that based on her psychological profile he was reasonably convinced she would not tell anyone about the virus or anything else. If, for any reason, she did talk about it, there would be consequences, and she clearly understood what he meant.
Then he outlined the position. The virus, nicknamed Virtuesh, and its corresponding vaccine had already been bioengineered in Asia. She was to work out a method for storing it safely in the villages until needed, developing instructions for making and administering the vaccine, and engaging with a few other engineers on creating more of the virus along with a good dispersal method. He gave her a day to make up her mind.
She weighed the pros and cons of getting involved and finally decided to accept the offer. Her reasoning was that they would go ahead with the plan with or without her. At least, if she were involved, she could make sure the lethal virus would be handled and stored as safely as possible. She also thought that if circumstances became too hazardous, she could contact the proper authorities.
It was these two conversations, with Richard and Mikhail, that took place over a year ago that she recalled when she awoke and wondered how far Mikhail would go to protect the secret of Virtuesh. She also thought about whether she was really so closely monitored that just saying the word “Virtuesh” would be enough to get a man killed. The video chat to her friend was on an encrypted connection so that should not have been monitored. She spent several minutes examining her jewelry and various items in her handbag to see if she could find a bug but found nothing. Still worried, and not knowing what to do, or whom she could trust, she decided there was little choice but to get up and get ready for another day in the lab.
The choice of clothes for the day always made her feel better. She loved high-end fashion and since graduating five years ago she was able to get a position with a salary that allowed her to build up an enviable collection. She finally decided on a new blouse and skirt then selected the perfect pair of high-heeled shoes. As a last indulgence, she stopped at the local café for a latte and croissant before heading towards the foundation complex.
It took fifteen minutes to pass through several security checks and enter her state-of-the-art lab. As she suited up to enter the biohazard level-four lab, where samples of the virus were housed, her early-morning concerns were replaced by the need for intense concentration on the immediate work at hand. On this day, she would perform some of the final steps in the creation of a new batch of Virtuesh. As she ran through a mental checklist of the next steps, an unexpected voice erupted in her helmet. She came close to dropping the sealed vial she had just picked up.
“Good morning, Olivia,” Mikhail said.
“Good morning, Mikhail. What brings you to my neck of the woods?” she asked as calmly as she could. She was glad to be in her suit. The helmet would make it hard for him to see the anxiety she imagined that showed on her face, and the microphone covered any tension that may have been heard in her voice.
“Just checking in,” he said. “I wanted to see how you were coming along with the new Virtuesh sample. Today is the day it should be ready, isn’t it?”
With his doctorate in microbiology, she knew he had a full understanding of her work. She also felt that as the head of the research division, he should have more important things to do than spend as much time as he did in her lab. “Yes, today is the day. I was about to take a look at a sample. Give me a few minutes, and you can view it as well on your screen.”
She went to a small chamber, placed the vial inside, and sealed it. With skilled precision, she operated the mechanical hands inside the chamber and placed a drop of liquid from the vial onto the sample plate of the electron microscope. After a few minor adjustments, she could see several of the viruses on the screen. She flipped a switch that turned on the monitor outside of the containment area.
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“What do you think?” she asked.
There was a pause as Mikhail studied the monitor. “You do good work, doctor. We’ll need to perform the standard set of tests on this batch, but visually, they look identical to the original sample.”
“Yes, I think so too,” she replied. Although replicating the virus from the instructions given to her was a risky process, it was something any graduate student in microbiology could perform. The tough part was the original bioengineering of the virus and she marveled at the work done there.
Virtuesh was a derivative of the H1N5 virus enhanced for both length of survival without a host and for its lethalness. Calculations had shown that it could probably survive two hundred years or more if stored properly, and out in the open, would still be contractible after a few weeks. She was thankful that this strain was not transmittable through the air as that would have made it a human species killer.
“If this batch checks out ok, you’ll only have to make one more, and then we’ll have enough to stock the villages. After that you’ll be able to say good bye to that spacesuit,” Mikhail said.
“I’ll be glad about that too. The rest of the work will be related to the vaccine and that’s not nearly as dangerous. I have assistants working on that now on the other side of the lab if you want to see how it’s coming along.”
“Okay, I can take a hint and will leave you alone. When you’re done in there, have me paged; I want to discuss something with you.”
All the fears from the morning rushed back to her. “Why don’t we meet in the cafeteria for lunch? I should be there around noon.”
She stood back from the window for a moment to ensure he was gone and before she allowed herself to breathe normally again and resume working.
The rest of the morning went by faster than she wanted it to and soon found herself entering the small cafeteria that catered only to the in-house engineers and scientists, she reminded herself that she needed to act as if everything were normal.
The chef behind the counter greeted her. “The usual?”