Read Online An Armageddon Duology by Erec Stebbins - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Erec Stebbins
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behind.”
“Which is?”
“Lots of really nasty code. The thing is injecting subroutines and entire programs into existing software or between two pieces of software and handshaking them. Gave itself away when large sums of money started to funnel through the infected systems into offshore accounts.”
“How much money?”
“I don’t know. Billions. Maybe more. But that’s one thing. Billions from the derivative market isn’t going to be missed, really. But recent findings are looking a lot more scary. Your machines, your trading algorithms that run the damn exchanges, they are all compromised.”
The older man narrowed his eyes harshly. “Compromised? How?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out! We’d need full access to your machines, today , to get to the meat of it quickly. We can’t lock this down with you running the programs. You’re going to have to halt trading.”
“Out of the question! We aren’t going to shut down the London Exchange so Interpol can go rummaging through our systems.”
“You don’t get it! This is preliminary, but if it’s verified, if what we’re seeing is real or even looks like it might harm the exchanges, Downing will pull the plug on the exchanges anyway! A stop in trading on purpose is better than a system meltdown.”
“There isn’t going to be a system meltdown!”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Every few years you fools cry wolf over some Millennium bug, Heartbleed this, or Shellshock that, and all manner of bloody apocalypse is about to descend on us. Every time the markets kept going just fine and the only thing hurt has been your reputations.”
“You know, most of the time the money you guys send my way is all I need for motivation to talk to you. And I’ve more than paid for myself in the information I’ve delivered. But this is different! I’m scared shitless right now by this thing, and so are half the people in my division. The Americans are scrambling and the Asian markets as well.”
“And I don’t see them shutting down in panic, do you?” The programmer said nothing, but stared toward the other end of the tunnel, exhaling a cloud of vapor. “Look, we’ll do a complete IT sweep, antivirus everything. We’ve handled these types of things before.”
“I’m telling you, this isn’t like—”
“Bring me back something concrete , with concrete effects and predictions, and then I can make a financial assessment of how much is to be lost from the thing as compared to the absolutely huge losses that we'll be sure to take for shutting down the exchange. Shut down is the panic button. The fail-safe. Bring me real data, not doomsday maybes. Understand?” He fired a harsh gaze toward the programmer and stormed off into the park.
The man remaining in the tunnel shook his head and lit a cigarette. He smoked it under the walkway for several minutes before leaving, spacing his exit with that of his contact at the exchange. He also needed to clear his head and calm down. It was always like this, he told himself. Investors had profit on the brain and a foresight of a goldfish. All that mattered were next quarter’s returns.
I could be wrong. The truth was that they really didn’t know what this thing was yet or what it would do. He hoped they were all wrong about the dangers. He dropped the bud on the concrete and crushed it out with his shoe, turning up his lapels and entering the chaos of children’s shouts.
A boy stared toward the man as he exited, his gaze focused slightly above him and the bridge under which he had stood for the last half hour. He tugged on his mother’s arm and pointed into the sky. A small, blurred ball danced in the air above the park.
“Look, mummy. It’s a helicopter! It’s remote control!”
His mother nodded her head and tapped onto her smartphone. “Yes, dear, that’s nice.”
The boy continued tracking the object as it moved away from the bridge. “Herman has one. It’s
“Which is?”
“Lots of really nasty code. The thing is injecting subroutines and entire programs into existing software or between two pieces of software and handshaking them. Gave itself away when large sums of money started to funnel through the infected systems into offshore accounts.”
“How much money?”
“I don’t know. Billions. Maybe more. But that’s one thing. Billions from the derivative market isn’t going to be missed, really. But recent findings are looking a lot more scary. Your machines, your trading algorithms that run the damn exchanges, they are all compromised.”
The older man narrowed his eyes harshly. “Compromised? How?”
“We’re still trying to figure that out! We’d need full access to your machines, today , to get to the meat of it quickly. We can’t lock this down with you running the programs. You’re going to have to halt trading.”
“Out of the question! We aren’t going to shut down the London Exchange so Interpol can go rummaging through our systems.”
“You don’t get it! This is preliminary, but if it’s verified, if what we’re seeing is real or even looks like it might harm the exchanges, Downing will pull the plug on the exchanges anyway! A stop in trading on purpose is better than a system meltdown.”
“There isn’t going to be a system meltdown!”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Every few years you fools cry wolf over some Millennium bug, Heartbleed this, or Shellshock that, and all manner of bloody apocalypse is about to descend on us. Every time the markets kept going just fine and the only thing hurt has been your reputations.”
“You know, most of the time the money you guys send my way is all I need for motivation to talk to you. And I’ve more than paid for myself in the information I’ve delivered. But this is different! I’m scared shitless right now by this thing, and so are half the people in my division. The Americans are scrambling and the Asian markets as well.”
“And I don’t see them shutting down in panic, do you?” The programmer said nothing, but stared toward the other end of the tunnel, exhaling a cloud of vapor. “Look, we’ll do a complete IT sweep, antivirus everything. We’ve handled these types of things before.”
“I’m telling you, this isn’t like—”
“Bring me back something concrete , with concrete effects and predictions, and then I can make a financial assessment of how much is to be lost from the thing as compared to the absolutely huge losses that we'll be sure to take for shutting down the exchange. Shut down is the panic button. The fail-safe. Bring me real data, not doomsday maybes. Understand?” He fired a harsh gaze toward the programmer and stormed off into the park.
The man remaining in the tunnel shook his head and lit a cigarette. He smoked it under the walkway for several minutes before leaving, spacing his exit with that of his contact at the exchange. He also needed to clear his head and calm down. It was always like this, he told himself. Investors had profit on the brain and a foresight of a goldfish. All that mattered were next quarter’s returns.
I could be wrong. The truth was that they really didn’t know what this thing was yet or what it would do. He hoped they were all wrong about the dangers. He dropped the bud on the concrete and crushed it out with his shoe, turning up his lapels and entering the chaos of children’s shouts.
A boy stared toward the man as he exited, his gaze focused slightly above him and the bridge under which he had stood for the last half hour. He tugged on his mother’s arm and pointed into the sky. A small, blurred ball danced in the air above the park.
“Look, mummy. It’s a helicopter! It’s remote control!”
His mother nodded her head and tapped onto her smartphone. “Yes, dear, that’s nice.”
The boy continued tracking the object as it moved away from the bridge. “Herman has one. It’s
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