Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (61 page)

Specifically, the General
wanted eM for 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.”

“
Becca, if I had to do it
all over again, I would have fought harder. At the very least, I
should’ve told you the truth. I’ve committed a lot of sins, but the
worst was trying to convince you that you were crazy. I was afraid
of the General and what he could do to Gamification…to all of
us.”

Samantha and Becca hugged. It was a
start.

*

The General and Lin exited
his office
suite,
and walked down the gray and blue hallways of the
Top Deck of the NSA headquarters building.

“
The crypto-geeks think
their lattice-based cryptographic algorithms are bullet-proof. They
guarantee me that they’re truly quantum resistant. I’m anxious to
switch out the crypto-keys in the Swarmbots and get them
re-deployed. I want to track
Rahmati
and see if the Swarmbots can
help us locate his quantum computer. Fischer says that the 5Gen
Swarmbots are almost ready, just another week or so. Josh is
getting closer to enabling eM to function as the Swarmbot’s
AI.

“
All of this should help
us to manage Rahmati. We also have a promising lead. We’re working
to develop an asset. He says he’s a part of Rahmati’s inner circle.
Even if all the spy gave us
was
the location of the quantum
computer, we’d be in a better place than we are now.”

“
And how are you,
General?” asked Lin. “From the looks of it, you’ve been sleeping in
your office for the past few weeks.”

“
How can you
tell?”

“
Because I’m female. And
your toothbrush is
on
your wet bar.”

“
I’ve been better. I
hurt
the
most important person in my life. I’m a success to everyone
from the outside-in. From the inside-out, I know I’m not. I used my
moral compass to stir my scotch.”

10:00 p.m. (EDT), Saturday, August 21,
2021 – Memphis, TN

Elisha Robert’s
House

Becca flew to Memphis for
a quick weekend visit with her dad. She wanted to catch up. It was
the first time she’d seen him
since
the events in
Jerusalem.

Elisha served Becca
breakfast. After grace, Becca dug into the bacon. She loved her
dad’s
crisply cooked
bacon. It was nice to talk
with
him without worrying
about whether the NSA was eavesdropping.

“
I don’t understand why
General Shields hasn’t told anyone about what Rahmati did to the
Professor and the others?” said Elisha.

“
I’m pretty sure it’s
because he doesn’t want to talk about the Swarmbots,” answered
Becca. “He’s certainly made everyone aware of Rahmati’s hack of our
encryption.”

“
The press is eating
Rahmati up. It makes me sick to my stomach,” said Elisha.
“Professor McMillan’s death hit our church hard. Rahmati is a thief
and a murderer.”

“
That he is, Dad. But he’s
uniting Sunni and Shiites. He’s altering the history of the Middle
East. And, he’s probably the most transformational international
politician of our generation, maybe longer. I can’t tell you
everything I know, but I can
say
that it’s all incredibly
scary.

“
Dad, something happened
to me when I grabbed that menorah. Josh and I were going to end up
just like the Professor. We were seconds away from death. Then, it
was like someone whispered—right in my ear.”

Elisha smiled. “In my opinion, I’d say
that was the Holy Spirit, or maybe an angel.”

“
I
hadn't
heard that voice
since I was a little
girl
…before mom died. Through the
stress of leaving Gamification, hiding from the NSA, digging for
the Ark, the murders—all I could do was trust God.
The pressure was so intense.
The stakes were so high.
I couldn’t handle it on my own.”

“
My dear, that’s a
powerful testimony. You should preach the sermon tomorrow.” Elisha
and Becca giggled in unison. For the first time, in a long time,
Becca and her father were going to attend church
together.

Becca hadn’t felt this at
ease with her
dad,
since
the
ovarian
cancer ravaged her mom. Elisha
told Becca that he was preaching at four different services on
Sunday due to the massive growth in church attendance. The press
had dubbed the spiritual revival in the US as the ‘New Great
Awakening.’

“
That’s exciting,
Dad.
But it must be so
tiring!
How’s the quantum faith sermon
coming?”

“
It’s a book,” replied
Elisha.

“
Well,
how’s the book coming?”

“
Slow. The minute I write
a word, I can’t tell what chapter I’m in.”

“
Dad,
really
? Quantum humor will never catch
on.”

Jared laughed. “The book
is
good
.
I'll
let you read my third draft. How’s Josh doing?”

“
He’s well. I’m
extremely
proud
of him. We’ve become very
close.
H
e’s very special to me.”

“
Do you think
y’all
will get
married?” asked Elisha.

“
I love him a lot. We do
need to work through how we’d raise kids. He seems open to my
faith, but he’s still working through Judaism. The quest for the
Ark
definitely
made him hungry for spiritual things.”

“
Becca, that’s a very
mature approach. I think most people forget that Jesus was an
observant Jew. I believe when He returns, it won’t be any
different.

“
I think his primary
language will be Hebrew. He’ll keep the Jewish feasts, holidays,
and calendar. And he’ll reign from Israel. We’re not going to look
to Washington D.C. when Jesus comes back; we’re going to look to
Jerusalem.”

“
Dad, do you think that
day is close?”

Tuesday, September 7, 2021 – Babylon,
Iraq

Prime Minister’s
Palace

Dusk fell upon on Babylon.

Hadi Hadari walked into
Rahmati’s office
overlooking
the sparkling Euphrates
River. The Euphrates River and Tree of Life were the only
geographic features
nam
ed in the
first
and last books
of the Christian Bible—Genesis
and Revelation.

Rahmati peered into the receding red
sun. “There will be a new moon tonight. That means a new Islamic
month.”

Hadi grinned. “Muhammad, you’re on top
of the world. You’ve established yourself as the voice of the
Middle East. There hasn’t been a ruler as strong as you, since the
Ottoman Empire.”

Rahmati sighed. “The Ottoman Empire
was the last recognized Islamic Caliphate. But they didn’t adapt to
the times, and the West slowly consumed their rotten flesh—like the
buzzards that they are. We must avoid that fate. I’d rather die
than be another Ataturk.”

“
The same thing is
happening in Saudi Arabia,” said Hadi.

“
Yes, the monarchy will
collapse in a matter of days. They’ve called for elections. They’ve
lost the military. Right now, inertia is the only thing holding up
the House of Saud. I’m going to turn up the heat on the King. I’ll
announce that Saudi citizens will share in oil
revenue,
when Ghawar Field
and Mecca fall.

“
With the instability in
the
region,
and the Shiite workers’
strike on the
Saudi oil fields, oil hit
$325 a barrel today. Gas is over $11 a gallon in the US, and nearly
double that in Europe. Gold is going
crazy;
it closed at $6500 an
ounce.

“
It’s like we have a
license to print money. Petrodollars are pouring into Iraq and
Persia. You know it’s
good
when even the Russians are
ecstatic. With the price of oil, their economy is
booming.

“
We’ve
frozen
Saudi oil out of the market. The
American’s are still trying to fix their fracking infrastructure.
When we confiscate the Saudi fields, we’ll be the largest oil
supplier in the world.
Bahrain is
now under our protectorate. We’ve got complete surveillance of the
5
^th
Fleet base, and could bottle them up, if
needed.
All of our plans are
working.”

Like Saddam Hussein,
Rahmati began to restate Iraq’s historic territorial claim to
Kuwait. Rahmati’s proxy war, pitting the Kurds
against
Turkey, was also
advancing.

“
With all this oil money,
I can invest in the future of this region. I’m implementing a trial
program in Babylon.
To
receive next quarter’s oil dividend check, all
residents of Babylon must agree to implant a microchip into their
hand. After
we work the kinks out
of this
trial program, I want to spread
the system to all of
Iraq
.”

“
What will the chip do?”
asked Hadari. “I don’t understand.”

“
The chip will handle all
payments. We need to be able to identify and track all citizens.
That’ll help reduce the threat of terrorism. The Caliphate may be
dead, but its Jihadist ideology is still very dangerous. The
microchip will include a unique identification code for every man,
woman, and child. We can tie this identifier to the Blockchain, so
everyone’s purchases will be recorded and protected. Iraq will then
possess one of the most advanced and efficient financial systems in
the world.”

*

An hour behind Babylon, Jews in
Jerusalem, and all over the world, readied themselves to attend
synagogue. They would celebrate the holiday of Rosh
Hashanah.

In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah
meant
,
‘head of the year.’ Both Jewish and Islamic calendars
were based
upon
phases of the moon.

Rosh Hosanna began this
evening, at
first
sight of the new moon.

The Hebrew Bible
referred
to the
holiday as Yom Teruah, the day of
blowing
or shouting of a battle
cry.
This was
because a shofar, a
ram's
horn,
was blown
during the holiday. In
fact, the
festival
was also known as the Feast of
Trumpets.