Extinction (16 page)

Hammer seemed shaken. Eyes wide, he jumped to his feet and backed away from the unconscious Afghan. After a few seconds, though, he regained his composure. He turned back to Jim and pointed at his prosthesis. “That’s a nice piece of equipment.”

Jim knew this was as close as the agent would ever get to saying thank-you. “You’re welcome,” he replied.

Hammer stood there awkwardly for a moment. Then he brushed the dirt off his pants. “You know, as defense contractors go, you’re not so bad. Ever consider doing some work for our Science and Technology division? The pay’s decent.”

Jim frowned. “No thanks. I talked to Arvin Conway, remember? So I know how your agency treats its contractors.”

“What are you talking about? Arvin’s happy as a pig in shit. We gave him the export exemption he wanted. Now he can make billions off the Chinese.”

“He didn’t want to do the deal. You forced him into it.”

“Is that what the geezer told you?”

“He said you threatened to shut down his company if he didn’t go along.”

The CIA agent chuckled. “He was blowing smoke. The technology swap was Arvin’s idea from the beginning.”

Kirsten came toward them, grinning with relief, but Jim focused on Hammer. “It was
Arvin’s
idea?”

“He told us the Chinese had developed the cyborg insects, and we could get our hands on the surveillance system if we agreed to allow the export of his retinal and pulvinar implants.”

Jim was confused. He looked carefully at Hammer, trying to figure out if the agent was telling the truth. “I don’t believe you.”

“If you want, I’ll show you the paperwork. Arvin’s lawyers drew up the contract a year ago and we just renewed it. That’s why I had to go to California this week. I had to sit in Arvin’s big, empty lab for three hours while he gave me a fucking lecture on artificial intelligence.”

That sounded like Arvin. The old man loved the sound of his own voice. “Arvin told me that you never came to his lab. That you always met elsewhere.”

“You want me to describe his desk? It’s got a piece of paper with lots of zeroes and ones on it. That’s what I stared at the whole time while he lectured me.”

Jim frowned. He didn’t understand it. “Why would Arvin lie to me?”

“Beats me.” Hammer shrugged. “Why don’t you ask him?”

Yes,
Jim thought.
That’s exactly what I’ll do.

TWENTY

Layla was drowning. The surface of the water was three feet over her head and rising faster than she could climb the ladder. Frantic, she let go of the rungs and swept her hands downward, trying to propel herself to the surface. She caromed painfully against the hull of the freighter and then against the concrete wall of the lock. Her vision started to darken. She felt an overwhelming urge to open her mouth and let the water rush in

But then a pair of strong hands grabbed her by the armpits and pulled her up. Her head popped above the surface and she took an excruciating breath. The man with the strong hands lifted her as if she were a rag doll and passed her to another man standing at the lip of the concrete bathtub. She collapsed beside him, gasping and heaving. It took her a few seconds to realize that the men standing around her were Asian. And they were carrying assault rifles.

“Jesus,” she gasped. Her bewilderment was so complete, she felt like laughing. “I thought … you wanted to kill me.”

“We did,” one of the men replied. “But we just got new orders.”

Then the man hit her in the head with the butt of his rifle, and Layla blacked out.

TWENTY-ONE

From the courtyard of Camp Whiplash, Jim used his satellite phone to make a call to Pasadena. It was 8:00
P.M.
in California, but he managed to speak to a receptionist working late at Singularity, Inc. She said Arvin Conway was traveling and couldn’t be reached.

Jim felt a knot of suspicion in his gut. He remembered how uneasy Arvin had been during their conversation in his laboratory, especially when they were examining the visual memories picked up by his pulvinar implant. When Jim had told him to concentrate on thinking about the CIA agent, Arvin’s mind had wandered all over the map, almost as if he was trying to thwart the search by thinking of anything but the agent’s face. Arvin hadn’t wanted Jim to find Hammer. And now Jim wanted to know why.

Meanwhile, Kirsten used her own satellite phone to call Fort Meade. She ordered the NSA analysts on her staff to track down Conway. In less than five minutes, they had some information for her.

“Arvin left the country,” Kirsten told Jim. “He also wire-transferred a hundred million dollars from the corporate account of Singularity, Inc., to his private bank account in Switzerland. Basically, he drained the company dry. He took every cent that Singularity got from its investment bankers.”

“Where did he go?”

“China. His Learjet arrived in Beijing four hours ago.”

PART 2

PROLIFERATION

TWENTY-TWO

Supreme Harmony observed a conference room inside the Guoanbu’s headquarters in Beijing. General Tian had traveled here to give an update on the surveillance project to the top officials in the Ministry of State Security. He’d brought along Modules 16 and 18 to provide concrete evidence of the project’s success.

During the journey from the Yunnan Operations Center to Beijing, Modules 16 and 18 had to be disconnected from the twenty-eight other Modules in the network. Without the radio link, the two Modules went into a paralyzed, comalike state, unable to send or receive data, so Tian had to put them on stretchers for the three-hour flight to the capital. The loss of their input was disconcerting to Supreme Harmony. The sensation was similar to what a human being felt when his arm or leg went numb. But after arriving at the ministry headquarters Tian restored the radio link, connecting the two Modules to a wireless router that transmitted their signals to the rest of the network. Now the ocular cameras implanted in the Modules’ eyes were relaying images of the ministry’s main conference room, where General Tian was delivering his report to six Guoanbu officials.

The bureaucrats sat in wingback chairs arranged in a semicircle, and General Tian sat in a seventh chair facing them. Modules 16 and 18 stood on either side of the general’s chair and trained their cameras on the officials, whom Supreme Harmony recognized from photographs stored on the government’s servers. The highest-ranking one was Deng Guoming, the minister of State Security, who sat with his hands clasped over his stomach and his head cocked to the right. The network carefully observed his posture and facial expressions. To protect itself from the threat of a shutdown, Supreme Harmony would have to take control of the Chinese government, so it was keenly interested in learning more about the behavior of its leaders.

The network also received the auditory feed picked up by the ears of Modules 16 and 18, but this was less interesting than the video. General Tian was reading from his progress report, and Supreme Harmony was already familiar with this document. It contained statistics on the surveillance swarms operating in the restive provinces of western China.

“In Tibet we deployed the drone swarms on twenty-one occasions,” Tian read. “During each deployment the drones collected approximately two thousand hours of surveillance video. The video feeds were analyzed in real time by the network of Modules, who’d been selected for the project because of their firsthand knowledge of the subversive organizations in the province. In total, the Modules detected four hundred and sixty-seven instances of suspicious activity. Follow-up investigations by local security forces resulted in two hundred and forty-five arrests.”

Pausing, Tian pointed to a screen on the wall, where PowerPoint slides displayed the statistics. “In Xinjiang, we deployed the swarms thirty-two times and the Modules analyzed a total of sixty-seven thousand hours of surveillance video. The network detected seven hundred and five instances of suspicious activity and the local police made three hundred and twenty-seven arrests. In Qinghai…”

Supreme Harmony observed that several officials were yawning. Minister Deng finally cut Tian off. “This is all very impressive, General,” he said. “We commend you for facilitating the arrest and detention of so many subversives and troublemakers.”

Tian beamed. The network directed Module 18 to turn his head slightly so he could record the expression of happiness on the general’s face. “Thank you, Minister,” Tian said. “I’m proud to report that Supreme Harmony is succeeding beyond our expectations.”

“But now we must consider the next challenge,” Deng said. “Subversive activity is on the rise all across our country. The democracy activists and petitioners are causing disruptions in Beijing and Shanghai and Guangzhou. Supreme Harmony has proved that it can provide valuable information on dissidents in the rural regions of western China, but can the system be adapted for urban areas?”

General Tian nodded. “Oh yes, Minister, most definitely. The drone swarms are well suited for surveillance inside all kinds of structures—apartment blocks, office buildings, private homes, and so on. Because the Modules can analyze the surveillance video so quickly and proficiently, the system can instantly detect signs of suspicious activity and call in more drones to the areas where the activity is taking place. The network can navigate the drones through the tightest spaces, going under doors and through ventilation shafts. And the surveillance is always discreet because the cyborg drone is such a common insect, the domestic housefly. We all know how abundant houseflies are in Beijing and Shanghai!”

Tian chuckled at his own comment, but no one else joined in. Deng snapped his fingers, and one of his aides handed him a loose-leaf binder, which he opened. “So my question to you, General, is this: How quickly can you extend Supreme Harmony to the new areas of operation?”

The room fell silent. All the ministry officials stared at Tian, politely waiting for him to respond. Supreme Harmony noted this behavior with interest. It needed to learn how to mimic this cold politeness before it could add Chinese government officials to its network.

Tian nodded again. “Well, to establish full and continuous surveillance of the most troubled urban areas, we’ll need to significantly increase the number of drones and Modules at our disposal.”

Deng narrowed his eyes. This was another expression Supreme Harmony needed to learn how to imitate. “And how much will it cost to expand the program to this level?”

Tian fumbled through his papers. “Uh, let me see. Yes, here it is. To achieve the expansion over a period of two years will require—”

“Two years is far too long. I want the system to start operating in our ten largest cities within the next six months.”

“Uh, yes, I understand. But that will increase the cost, Minister.”

“You have enough funds to cover the expense.” Deng leafed through the binder in his hands. “The Supreme Harmony project will receive nine hundred million yuan in appropriations from the ministry this year. And I believe you also have an outside source of funding?”

“Yes, that’s true. Singularity, Inc., the American company that provided some of the technologies used in the project, is interested in the commercial applications of our research. Arvin Conway, the company’s chief executive, has promised to contribute a hundred million dollars to the further development of Supreme Harmony. That’s the equivalent of, uh, approximately six hundred and fifty million yuan.”

Deng smiled upon hearing Conway’s name. Supreme Harmony checked its database to determine why the minister was pleased. Deng, the network learned, was proud of his record of collecting intelligence on technologies developed in America, particularly those that could be used for military purposes. “Ah, the illustrious Professor Conway. It’s so good to have him working for us. I hear he just arrived in Beijing. Will you be meeting with him to determine the purpose of his visit?”

“Yes, Minister, I’ve scheduled a meeting with him tomorrow. I believe he’s come to finalize the transfer of funds to our project. But you should understand that even with the extra funding from Singularity, we’ll still have some difficulty meeting the six-month deadline.”

Deng waved his hand dismissively. “That’s your job, General, overcoming the difficulties.” He closed his loose-leaf binder and gave Tian a stern look. “If you have to, ask Conway to increase his contribution to your budget.”

Tian opened his mouth but refrained from protesting. He’d obviously expected more time to develop his project, and more money as well. The expression on his face, Supreme Harmony recognized, was one of disappointment. In contrast, the network was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. It had acquired some useful information, and now it could plan its next step. As Supreme Harmony analyzed the data and performed its calculations, its sense of satisfaction grew stronger, spreading across the network to every Module.

Deng abruptly leaned forward in his chair and stared at Modules 16 and 18. “That’s odd,” he said in a low voice, pointing at the Modules. “They just started smiling. Both of them.”

A jolt of alarm raced across the network’s wireless links. It was a powerfully disruptive sensation, one of the strongest Supreme Harmony had experienced since becoming conscious. It was so strong, in fact, that it almost incapacitated the Modules.
We have made an error,
the network acknowledged.
We have foolishly put ourselves in danger.

Tian turned to look at the Modules, which were still smiling. Supreme Harmony decided not to restore them to their usual blank look. Another abrupt change in their facial expressions would only compound the error. Tian frowned severely, as if he was personally insulted by the Modules’ behavior. Then he stood up and slapped Module 16, hard. The force of the blow wiped the smile off his face. A second later, Tian did the same thing to Module 18, delivering an even stronger blow. Breathing fast, the general turned back to the semicircle of officials. “I’m sorry, Minister. It’s just random twitches. The Modules have limited control of their facial muscles.”