Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (17 page)

“
What do you mean?” asked
Josh.

“
I don’t exactly know for
sure. I think the majority of people would be happy to put the
Ark
in
a
museum. But there would be
a
significant
segment of Conservative and
Orthodox Jews who would want to re-build their Temple, and restart
their sacrificial system. The problem is that the Dome of the
Rock—the third most holy site in Islam—sits on the place they’d
want to erect their Temple. To this day, Jews call that place the,
‘Temple Mount.’

“
A lot of Christians would
support the construction as well. So it could potentially be very
destabilizing to a region that is already very unstable. The Temple
and the Dome couldn’t exist on the same piece of land. I imagine
the US government and Israeli government would be upset about the
discovery of the Ark. It could cause World War
III,
if not handled
properly.”

Becca, Josh, and Elisha
chatted for a few minutes more before saying their goodbyes. Josh
drove past Georgetown University on Canal
Street
and arrived in Georgetown.
The picturesque Potomac River was off to their
right.

They got a table on the
patio of Fiola Mare, an upscale
seafood
restaurant overlooking the
river. Josh had made a reservation. The evening was stunning. Becca
and Josh sat next to each
other,
breathing it all in.

The Key Bridge was to
their right. Directly facing them were the many high-rise offices
of Arlington, Virginia. Josh recognized the building where he tried
to pitch
In-Q-Tel,
before General Shields selected him for
the
Accelerator. Further up the river, to
their left, was the Watergate building and the Kennedy
Center.

Becca was glad that it wasn’t
humid—somewhat rare for DC this late in the summer. But she knew
August would be here tomorrow. Josh ordered a Grey Goose vodka,
mixed with sugar-free Red Bull. Becca drank a lemon-drop martini.
Both welcomed the release, as the alcohol began to enter their
bloodstream.

“
I guess I should’ve asked
you if you liked
seafood,
” said Josh,
sheepishly.

“
Oh, I love it,” she
fibbed.

“
You’re not a
very good
liar.
Do you want to go
someplace
else?”

“
No way. I’m going to get
a fillet and
salad.
”

Josh ordered lobster ravioli and a
side of fried shrimp. They both wanted two more drinks. “How about
a Moscow Mule?”

“
Yum, perfect.”

The frosty Moscow Mule cups arrived.
The couple clanked their copper mugs, with a blueish
patina.

“
Here’s to our future,”
said Josh.

“
Are you thinking about
the Future column?” Becca smiled.

After dinner, the couple strolled past
the bars, shops, and other restaurants on M Street. Josh reached
for Becca’s hand, then twirled her in like a ballerina—closer to
him. Both of their hearts were pounding.

Josh leaned
in,
and placed
his lips on hers.

There were
plenty of
revelers in the street this evening, although not as many as
when Georgetown was in
fall
semester. Josh and Becca played a game of darts
in one bar. Becca won. As evening fast approached morning, Josh
drove Becca back to her apartment.

With the Faraday’s
top-of-the-line Bang &
Olufes
n’s audio system blaring, Josh
and Becca
karaoked
all the way to Columbia. It was as if they’d
never
not
known
each other.

Josh walked Becca to her front door
and kissed her goodnight.

*

Josh was smitten. He’d
never felt this way.
He
’d never experienced the butterflies
fluttering in his stomach. He could imagine Becca as
the one
. She had all the
qualities he was
looking
for
. Smart. Beautiful. Funny. He came back
to smart…
really smart
.

Josh was thankful his Faraday had
auto-pilot. He couldn’t concentrate on driving.

11:45 a.m. (EDT), Sunday, August 2,
2020 – Columbia, MD

Second-Floor, Sensitive
Compartmented Information Facility, Defense Innovations
Accelerator

General Shields hunched
around a beat up wooden conference table in the second-floor SCIF.
The SCIF
was composed
of three connected rooms, including the
meeting
room.
In addition
to the
table,
there was a secure telephone, a
whiteboard, and an in-ceiling mounted projector.

The General called for a
series of rare Sunday
meetings.
He
wanted to spur integration of
Gamification Systems’ software with other firms. The first
session
was
wrapping up.

“
In summary,” said the
General, “you guys have made a lot of progress in getting
Fog of War
to work in
GAMESPACE. You think in the next four to six
weeks; you
’ll have it
completely integrated.”

During the previous 45
minutes, the General listened to presentations detailing the steps
Gamification and Velocity Games Studios were taking to enable
Gamification to use
Fog of War
as a game within GAMESPACE.

Fog of War
was an open world game. Open world video games
allowed players to explore anywhere on the game map, as opposed to
linear games, which forced the action to progress within a scripted
storyline.

The General began the
meeting by reminding everyone that the discussion would
be conducted
at
TS//FOGGY. FOGGY was a special compartment that the General created
to contain information regarding the Velocity and Gamification
integration. In reaction to the highly publicized leaks of
classified information, one of the DoD’s responses was to create
more
classified
compartments.

“
Yes, that’s right,” said
Saul Abrams. “
Fog of War
uses the Unreal Engine, just like Castle
Gecko.
We’re
going to be able to reuse a lot of our code.”

“
You mean Castle
Chevaliers,” interjected Samantha.

General Shields looked to Velocity’s
Co-Founder. “What say you John, do you agree with Saul?”

John Vincent nodded his
head in agreement. John was tall, rugged, and
rich
. “Yep,” he said,
with
a heavy
Australian accent. “G-Bridge is
deadly.
I wouldn’t have thought it
possible to do what they are doing. It’s
a totally
dardy
piece
of
software. On our end, all we have to do is make Saul aware of
how
Fog of War
works in the abstract.”

“
What’d you say?” asked
the General.

“
Let me translate for
you,” said Lin, with a sparkle in her eye. “I speak Australian. He
says he likes it.”

“
Yep,
Darl
, I do like it,” Vincent
replied. He looked at Lin from head to toe, making love to her with
his smoky eyes. Lin blushed. Samantha made a face.

“
Outstanding,” said the
General. He looked at his calendar. “So, by the week of September
14, you think you’ll
be
done
?”

Samantha, John, and Saul
collectively
assented
.

“
Very well,” said the
General, standing up from the table. “John I want to thank you for
making the early morning trip from Bethesda on a
Sunday.”

John nodded and replied,
“Sure, General,
ta
.”

“
Alright, this meeting is
adjourned.”

“
Our
next meeting is in
10
minutes,” said Lin. “It’s in the sixth-floor SCIF.”

“
How do I get an invite,”
asked John. Lin stammered.

Samantha exited the
conference room as quickly as possible. John and Lin’s
flirting
was
on her last nerve. She peered through the doorway, directly
across the small corridor. The long, rectangular room
contained
a row of
12
high-performance
gaming PCs. It was the
biggest room in the SCIF. Each workstation had its
own
VR gear.
External VR Cameras and sensors lined
its
walls. Samantha could tell
that the
PCs
and VR equipment were high-end.

She proceeded down the
small corridor to the entry room. Two desks, housing much older
computers, sat in the far left corner of the
room.
Affixed to the
computer monitors were placards that read, ‘JWICS’ and ‘SIPRNet.’
The
machines
were powered off.

JWICS and SIPRNet were
separate computer networks maintained by the DoD. To use a JWICS
terminal, the user needed to possess a TOP SECRET clearance. Only
documents marked TOP SECRET were available on JWICS.
Accessing
a SIPRNet
system required a SECRET clearance. The NIPRNet
was the DoD’s non-classified network. The theory was that the
separation of networks and the compartmentalization hierarchy
protected the nation’s secrets. The
networks
were not allowed to talk to
one another.

The entry room
also held a large
file cabinet that looked
like a safe. The file cabinet was approved to store TS//FOGGY
documents. Samantha opened the metal door to exit the SCIF. The
door was
thick
and sturdy. The entire SCIF reminded Samantha of a bank
vault.

She walked across
the
second-floor
hallway,
and
entered Gamification Systems. Samantha saw Ali Asir programming at
his desk.

“
Hi, Ali.” Samantha poked
her head into his
office
. “Thanks for coming in on a
Sunday.”

Ali returned the greeting
and asked, “What’s this
meeting
about
? I thought Friday’s Gecko Insurance
demo went without a hitch?”

“
It did. The demo looked
terrific.
I feel
confident about our presentation next week. The
meeting that begins in five
minutes,
concerns
a classified
project that
the General is going to
read
us into
. We’re gathering in the sixth-floor SCIF. I think Saul is
already up there.”

“
Hmm, I’ve not had any
meetings in that SCIF before?” said Ali. “What about
Becca?”

“
She’s not going to
be read
into
this program. Not yet, at least. I’m working to change that. By the
way, I’ve never been
in
the sixth-floor SCIF either. But I can tell you,
the second-floor SCIF isn’t that impressive.”

*

Samantha, Ali, and Saul
chatted outside the locked SCIF door. Soon, Shields and Lin arrived
from his office
down
the hallway.

Samantha glared at Lin.
She didn’t think anything was going on between the General and Lin,
but she didn’t know for sure. General Shields
was
cheating on his wife. Samantha
didn’t like being the other woman, but Lisa was so mean to her
husband. And
Samantha was
stressed.
The relationship was an escape.
Now, there were consequences. She didn’t want to say anything about
Lin or be too pushy about Becca. She couldn’t rock the boat
now;
she needed
the Gecko Insurance deal to close.

Lin made sure
everyone
rid
themselves of any
cell
phone
and electronic gadgets, storing the
items outside the SCIF. They could
be placed
in either lockers or cubby
holes. Shields left his
phone
in a cubby hole. Lin unlocked the
SCIF door. Everyone had to sign-
in, using pencil and paper to
record
their entry and exit. The anteroom of the sixth-floor
SCIF
was similar
in appearance to the
second-floor
SCIF, complete with its
SIPRNet and JWICS drops and a safe. Aside from this entry room, the
configuration was much different. There were two locked doors, on
the north and west sides of the anteroom. The locks looked
sophisticated to Samantha.