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t teaches itself based on human and computer interactions and learns how to find and exploit weaknesses in systems.”
The Vice President narrows his eyes. “You mean it’s just a computer virus?”
The man speaking looks around the table nervously. “Damocles is to a computer virus what we are to chimpanzees. A computer virus—even the best and most well-designed one—is a bulky, unwieldy tool compared to Damocles. The power of Damocles is that it constantly alters itself depending on the system it attacks. It can change and alter itself to attack… well, as I said, sir. Anything.”
“Why, exactly, was a private entity developing such a thing?”
More nervous looks. “Damocles didn’t start out as a weapon, per se. The NSA bought out the project, classified it and then went to work with the CIA under the umbrella of a new project called Cerberus. They turned Damocles into… well, Damocles.”
“Christ. So the spooks created this? For what purpose?”
Another man, farther up the table, answers. “For the protection of our country, sir.”
“Well it doesn’t look like that went all that well, now does it?!” The Vice President explodes, slamming his palms down on the table. “We’re not going to have a country left if this shit keeps going on! How did this thing get loose anyway?”
“There was a break-in. A virtual break-in. A system in the Cerberus network was compromised. That system happened to be linked to the development systems where Damocles was being tested and the source code was housed. The code was downloaded and then we believe it was compiled and inadvertently activated by whomever broke into the system.”
“And that let this thing run rampant?”
“The code was in a testing state at the time. Under normal circumstances its capabilities would have been severely limited. Whoever broke in did so at the moment in time when the capabilities were all unlocked by default. That’s why it’s infecting every system it can without any discrimination.”
The Vice President sits down in his chair, his shoulders sagging as he rubs the bridge of his nose. He turns back and forth in the chair for a moment, trying to process the information he’s just been given. “You developed the most advanced cyber-weapon imaginable. Left it unlocked, on a system that was connected to the outside world. Someone broke in and stole the weapon and then turned it on.” He looks up at the man who was speaking a moment earlier. “Is that about right?”
“Yes sir.”
“And now we and everybody else in the world who’re not in the stone age is undergoing a total societal collapse.” The Vice President shakes his head and claps his hands together slowly in a mocking fashion. “Well done to you all. Well fucking done.”
An awkward silence fills the room and everyone avoids eye contact with the Vice President until he speaks again. “So what do we do now? Wipe this thing from our systems and reboot? Is that a thing? Can we do that?”
More nervous glances bounce between the people at the table before the man farther down the table speaks again. “That’s… not really possible, sir. Damocles has replicated itself across the globe. It’s infected every system there is. If we clean a system but it touches an infected system it’ll simply become infected again. We’ve tried getting in touch with the Cerberus team but they were in an area that was extremely hard hit.”
“Are they the most likely ones to know how to stop this?”
“Unless we can locate Dr. Evans, yes.”
“The one on Air Force One?”
“Yes, sir.”
The Vice President shakes his head and speaks to a man in a military uniform. “General, I want soldiers scouring the Cerberus facility. Work with these eggheads and do what they tell you. Find the people, computers, documents or whatever else we need.” He turns and looks at the man near the end of the table. “There are millions of people dying across the globe and we’re the ones responsible. You figure out how to stop this thing. I don’t care how. Figure it out, tell the General what you need and his men will get it for you.”
The Vice President stands up and turns to walk out of the room. “The rest of you figure out how we can salvage this country before it’s too far gone to do so. And find the President for God’s sake!”
Chapter 10
The Waters’ Homestead
Outside Ellisville, VA
When morning came and Mark went downstairs, Dianne was already down at the barns feeding the animals and finding the spare lumber, nails and a couple of hammers. The tablet was perched on a shelf near the door to the barn with the motion alarm for the camera in front of the house turned to its highest setting. The tablet was nearly out of range of the wireless signal in the house but enough data came through that Dianne could see the view on the camera change every few seconds.
Once the animals were taken care of and Dianne picked out enough boards to cover all of the windows on the bottom floor she headed back to the house, musing about the one weakness left that she wasn’t sure how to deal with. The sliding back door was all glass and while she initially thought about closing it off completely she realized that would cut off one of the three doors into the house that she and the kids might need in case of an emergency. Plus, she thought, it’d be nice to still have a good view of the property from the living room.
Dianne stood on the back porch for a few minutes before going inside, mulling over various options in her mind before coming to one that she found reasonably acceptable. Nailing boards over the stationary side of the door would cover up half of it and if she created a rudimentary door with more boards she could attach it to the others to create a makeshift door. Locking it would be solved by attaching a thick rope or piece of chain to the wood and threading it to something inside to keep it secure. It wouldn’t be pretty but it would allow them to retain the functionality of the back door.
Dianne headed back inside to find Mark in the kitchen cleaning up the table while Josie and Jacob finished the last few bites of their breakfast. Since the chickens were still producing more than enough eggs the go-to breakfast meal had become eggs, crackers and a can of fruit. Mark pulled a plate from the oven and put it on the table for Dianne and spooned out a couple slices of peaches that were sitting in the bottom of one of the cans. “I saved this for you.”
“Thanks, kiddo!” Dianne smiled and sat down. After quickly devouring her food she helped Mark finish cleaning up before sending Josie and Jacob to clean the upstairs of dirty clothes and toys. Once they were distracted she sat down with Mark and went over her plan with him.
