The Gift (4 page)

The program had terminated with a single file sitting in the designated output directory. Sam opened it in a hex editor, read it for a moment before turning to Jack. “It’s a complete ELF header. Can’t tell you if it’s a complete program. It’s a pretty small file so it may not be, but it could be. We should run it.”

“You will do no such thing. What we will do is inform Colonel Web of what we’ve found. Come with me.” Jack really hadn’t gotten it through his head that Sam was no longer military, or that when he had been, they were peers.

When they arrived at Web’s office, he was on the phone, but motioned them into the room and directed them to sit while he wrapped up the call. “Send me the new projections as soon as you have them.” Web hung up the phone and turned his attention to them, “I hope you’re bringing good news.”

“Actually…” Sam started to reply before being interrupted by Jack.

“We have news. It’s unclear if it’s good or bad.”

“Well, make it as clear as you can. I don’t have to remind you that we are running out of time.”

“We’ve found at least a fragment of a computer program within the data stream coming from the anomalies. There is a possibility that the program could be executed on one of the servers in the analysis cluster. We do not know what the program would do if executed and we do not have enough time to determine what it would do through analysis by other means before the objects will impact. Bottom line: we can run it blind or not run it at all.” Jack did a very credible job of appearing to understand what he’d just said. It was a talent, Sam supposed. Not one he cared to acquire, but a talent, nonetheless.

Web closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Jack and Sam waited. Several seconds passed before Web opened his eyes and asked Sam, “What are the risks if we try to run this program?”

“That’s not an easy question to answer,” Sam started. “Chang’s team has done everything they know how to do, and they are among the best at this, to isolate the systems we are using to analyze the visitor’s message, but we cannot be sure that there aren’t holes in their containment strategy. It is possible that executing this program could result in a propagation of whatever payload it contains, but that seems unlikely.”

“Why unlikely?” Web asked.

“Because they made it hard. Why make us figure it out if they can just do it? We started this conversation. It looks like they’re trying to continue it. If they wanted to hurt us, what, exactly could we do to stop that from happening? We’d be like monkeys fiercely dancing on a rock, waving sticks over our heads, at best. No, that’s too generous," Sam paused for a moment before continuing, “We’d be like ants trying to protect our ant hill from a farmer’s tractor. So, Occam’s razor: if they could have accomplished the same end without requiring our assistance, why bother acquiring it?”

Jack saw an opportunity, “But you and Dan both believe the message contains multiple ways in which a recipient might understand it. Doesn’t that align with a strategy that would pursue multiple points of entry into our networks?”

Sam reluctantly revised Jack’s IQ up by a point or two. He was feeling generous. “Yes, Jack, it does. The question is, are they trying multiple methods of communication or attack? I can’t answer that question directly, none of us can, but I go back to my primary point: with the technical capabilities they’ve demonstrated, why bother being sneaky?”

“I see your point, Sam, but I think you’re missing Jack’s. Our military has overwhelming superiority compared to most countries in the world, but we still have bombing runs for weeks or months at a time before we attack with ground forces. It disorganizes and demoralizes the enemy, in addition to reducing their physical ability to fight. We do that so that we’ll lose fewer ground forces when we finally do send them in. What if this program were to be hostile and breached containment? You are the one who explained the STUXNET worm to me. I haven’t seen a nationwide replacement of our vulnerable controllers at power plants, factories, or on the grid. Have you?” Web continued without waiting for a response, “They may not need to shut down our factories and power plants to defeat us, but it sure wouldn’t hurt their cause if they mean us harm.”

Sam paused before responding. He was losing the argument and he knew it.

“I acknowledge Jack’s point and you are right about the advantages they could gain by damaging our infrastructure. I agree with you that a truly effective cyber attack would be devastating on a scale the world has never seen before. It’s why I do what I do. My argument is that if they possess the capabilities to launch such an attack, and your argument presupposes that they do, they don’t need our help to launch it. There are any number of easier ways to get such a payload onto not just the Internet, but also every other network that uses satellites to communicate, directly or indirectly, and that is nearly every network on Earth, including SIPRNet, NIPRNet, GPS and all telecommunications networks. They have physical access to the world’s satellites. They can disrupt, corrupt or repurpose them as they wish and we can’t stop them.

“Oh, and let’s not forget we are unlikely to be the only team having this discussion. The Russians and Chinese will find what we’ve found, if they haven’t done so already. Other countries are probably in the game as well. If one of them executes a program they’ve decoded and it’s hostile, we’ll still suffer, but if they run it and it’s not hostile, we may not benefit. What if it’s a test? What if the program determines who the visitors will communicate with if they prove not to be hostile? There’s a downside to inaction."

Web’s phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and then answered it, “What do you have Rui?” He listened for a moment then said, “I’ll be right there. I’m bringing Jack and Sam. Get Dan, Camilla and Chang and meet us in the West conference room.”

“We’ll have to finish this conversation later. The anomalies have changed course again. Rui’s team just recalculated the projected impact sites. You may change your mind about the possibility of them being friendly, Sam.”

C
HAPTER
F
OUR

Rui, Chang and Camilla were in the conference room when Web arrived with Jack and Sam. Rui was connecting his laptop to the overhead projector. He glanced at Web as he entered and said, “Dan is on his way.”

The West conference room was, unsurprisingly, a mirror image of the East. Roughly 40’x30’, it contained a table long enough to seat a dozen people comfortably, nearly twice that if no one cared about being able to move much. It was overkill for the seven of them, but it served its primary purpose. It was secure and silent.

Dan walked in as Rui finished testing his laptop’s connection. He was carrying a small cardboard box, open at the top and filled with drinks and snacks. He set it down on the table before taking a seat, “I figured everyone has been too busy to stay hydrated and fed. This won’t make anyone’s doctor happy, but it is food, of a sort," he said in a self-deprecating tone.

“Thanks, Dan. Good thinking," Web said, as he reached for a large bottle of water. “If you haven’t taken the time to get something to drink in a couple of hours, grab something now.” Everyone did. Dan waited until the group had taken what they wanted, then retrieved a bottle of water and a pack of pretzels for himself.

“I’ve asked you all to take a break from what you’re working on to review and discuss some new tracking information Rui’s team has come up with. Please hold your questions until Rui has had a chance to brief us on what he’s learned. Rui, please proceed.”

“As you all know, at 4:49 this morning the anomaly reformed into 18 objects, with 17 of them continuing along roughly the same vector as the original anomaly. A little over 10 minutes ago, at 12:15, all 17 of them changed vectors. We’ve plotted their new projected impact points. The results are disturbing.” With that, he pulled up a map projection of the Earth.

“There is one impact site in the US, just outside of Lebanon, Kansas. It is the only impact site in North America. There is one impact site in South America: Brazil, and one in Australia. There are two impact sites in Africa: Ethiopia and Nigeria. There are four impacts sites in Europe: Germany, France, Turkey and the UK. There are eight impact sites in Asia: China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan and Indonesia.” As he spoke, he highlighted the countries he was listing. “With two exceptions, each of the impact sites appears to be targeted at the geographic center of the country in question. In the case of the United States, the geographic center of the contiguous states is the projected point of impact. In the case of Indonesia, the impact site appears to be at the center of Central Kalimantan. We have formed no theories as to why these sites were chosen, although I have a few thoughts of my own, but I will point out that these countries represent about two-thirds of the world’s human population.”

Rui turned away from the screen and looked at Web. “Those are the facts. We will advise you immediately if they change, of course, but I don’t think they will.”

“Why not?” Web asked.

“The anomaly changed twice. Both times the change was precise and seemingly complete. This change did not result in courses that will impact somewhere inside each of these countries, but, as I said, in the precise geographic center of most of them. There were no intermediate corrections leading up to the change so I would not anticipate a wholesale change, or even a single sphere retargeting prior to impact. They have demonstrated the ability to ignore inertia, so it is possible they will not impact with the force we would normally assume from the speeds they are traveling relative to Earth. They may slow, but I would expect them to do so in a way that will result in their arrival at the points I’ve illustrated. This is all based on conjecture, of course. We have very little to go on.”

“Why didn’t they take these courses when the anomaly first transformed?” Jack asked.

“We have no way of knowing. It is possible they needed to observe us before selecting their targets," Rui answered.

“Has anyone on your team tried to correlate the impact sites with other biological populations, aside from human?” Asked Doctor Camilla Parkington, the team’s (exo)biologist. In her mid-fifties, Camilla was the oldest member of the team. Her years on Earth were reflected in her calm, consistent demeanor and her generous spirit; they were not yet reflected in her clear green eyes or her melodious voice. She was an Irish beauty growing older as gracefully as she conducted herself each day.

“I’m afraid what I’ve briefed is pretty much all the new information we have, Camilla. I was hoping to start more of a discussion than a Q&A.” Rui’s smile softened his comment.

“A bit of wishful thinking on my part, Rui. I’ll get my team on it while we discuss the implications. Please forward me a link to the data.”

“I’ll forward it to the entire team right now.” Rui took a moment to do so while the rest of the team considered the map of impact sites.

“This pattern does result in solid coverage of humanity’s most populous countries and regions, but it doesn’t cover as much as it could have, at least not by population," Sam observed. Something about the pattern bothered him.

“You’re right. For whatever reason, the anomalies seem intent on having a presence on every populated continent," Rui responded.

“Not quite, Rui. There’s no impact site on either of the poles. Of course the human presence on those landmasses is negligible. Perhaps they had a floor…” Camilla drifted off in thought.

“Do you have the population data on that laptop?” Sam asked Rui.

“Yes. We didn’t have much time, but we did put a basic table showing population by country, continent and as a percentage of the world total. If no one minds, I’ll bring that up on big screen.” Hearing no objections, Rui did so.

“Could you add another column showing the distribution of the anomalies by continent?” Sam waited a moment for Rui to populate the column and then observed that the distribution did not map as would be expected if the intent was to achieve minimal coverage on all populated landmasses and then distribute them evenly by each continent’s percentage of the world’s population. “Africa and the Americas are about right; within a half a unit or so, but the real outliers, if we accept the minimum of one per populated continent and exclude Australia from consideration, are Europe and Asia. In Europe, four countries are targeted when it only warrants two by population and Asia should have at least ten, but has only eight.”

“I noticed that too, though I think part of it might be our somewhat arbitrary inclusion of Turkey in Europe rather than Asia. It really could be counted in either," Dan commented.

“The disparity could be due to the populations of other animals in those areas. For all we know, it could include insects or even plants. We have no reason to believe they are targeting based solely on human life," Camilla added.

“You’re right, of course, but I’m inclined toward another explanation based on two factors," Sam started, cautiously. This was not his area of expertise, but he had an idea and he had difficulty keeping his ideas to himself. “I think we can conclude that they are in fact targeting based on human population density and not the density of life.”

Camilla had been staring intently at Sam as he spoke, clearly thinking about the problem and his point. As he finished his first point she said, “You're right. I should have seen it immediately.”

“What?” Jack asked.

Sam gestured to Camilla, offering her the floor. She declined, “You saw it first, Sam.”

“If they were targeting life in general, wouldn’t there be some impact sites in the oceans? If I recall they make up over 90 percent of the Earth’s living space.”

“Nearly 99 percent, actually," Camilla corrected, somewhat chagrined.

“What’s your second point, Sam?” Dan asked.

“Well, this would be less tenuous a point if there was an impact site on Greenland, but I still think it works. Pull up the map again, please?” Sam waited a moment for Rui to do so then continued, “The Americas are clearly distinct continents, as is Australia. Africa not so much, but far more so than Europe. It is our political considerations that lead us to make a distinction between Europe and Asia, which is why we had some ambiguity about Turkey. Just looking at a map without those considerations, an outsider wouldn’t see a difference between the two, not from a geographic perspective. Going with that logic, we don’t have an imbalance. There are 12 impact sites in Eurasia, just as we would expect based on the numbers.”