Crisis: 2038: A Novel by Gerald Huff

Author:Gerald Huff [Huff, Gerald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2018-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

HOLOCONFERENCE - NOVEMBER 20

“Let’s get started,” said the man known as Ellul, who appeared and sounded like a middle-aged white man but was in reality Tuan Pham, the thirty-eight-year-old Navy officer of Vietnamese descent who had founded LKC. All of the members had been able to join the holoconference, which was protected with 5K qubit encryption technology. All of them used camo features to disguise their true appearances and voices.

“Our first set of attacks on RezMat and the electrical grid seem to be generating the kind of response we were hoping for,” said Ellul. “More authoritarian posturing from government and some grassroots activity from like-minded activists. Unless anyone objects, I suggest we continue with this phase of planned operations.” He paused for a moment but none of the members raised a concern. “Very well, any other reports for today?”

“Speaking of grassroots activity,” said Pam, known to the group as Geneva. “I have come across the LA SuperNova hackers on the dark web.”

“Who are they?” asked Artemis, in real life economist Kimani Richards, appearing somewhat Lord of the Rings Elvish today in a gossamer white dress and a forest background.

“Jacob and Melissa, ex-welder and freelance engineer. They seem legit and quite capable. They engineered the approach to blocking the kiosk doors and put together a team to help hit two hundred kiosks all in one night.”

“They used their real names?” asked ex-Delta Forces operative Peter Cook, aka Othello. His camo made him appear like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo.

“Yes,” answered Pam. “They’re just civilians. But I’m thinking we should recruit them.”

“Recruit them for what?” asked Zerzan, who had chosen a digital avatar of an ungendered Japanese anime character.

“An operation in the LA area,” said Pam.

“No fucking way,” said Othello immediately. “We are not getting civilians involved in operations.”

“I understand, Othello,” said Pam. “But this movement won’t go far without ordinary citizens getting involved. I think we need to broaden the base.”

“Geneva,” he said, using Pam’s alias, “you can have your citizens engaging politically, in omnipresence, that’s fine with me,” said Othello. “But operationally? Worse than useless. They’ll fuck up the whole plan.”

“Don’t you think they’re likely to get caught?” asked Artemis.

“They may indeed,” said Pam. “But that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.”

“What the fuck?” said Othello.

“Think about it. ‘Hard working blue-collar guy gets replaced by robots and strikes back’. Tons of media coverage. Omnipresence goes crazy. Instead of a shadowy organization no one can visualize, there are names and faces of ordinary people. There are millions of potential Jacobs and Melissas out there. We need to free them from society’s norms, give them an example they can relate to. Historically terrorism has been defined as some other trying to bring down the established order. If we can make it seem more homegrown, more like McVeigh, but not anti-government, that would encourage people.”

“So you’re going to set them up to fail?” asked Ellul. “Use them as propaganda tools?”

“No, of course not,” replied Pam. “If they succeed that’s great too, we’ve got more operational capability.

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