The Day the Sky Fell!
ISBN: 9781068353802
1: A New Dawn
“Come on in, John. Sit yourself down. You look quite flustered. Take a few deep breaths and then tell me what’s on your mind”.
“Thanks, Jim, I…”
“Pardon?”
“Sorry, sir. Thank you, sir”.
“I have told you about that before, haven’t I? You can call me Jim in public, when it’s appropriate, but not in private, and definitely not in my office. Familiarity breeds contempt, my dear old father used to say, and I agree with him, but it is good PR, say I. Nevertheless, that’s all it is – PR”.
Jim made a point of looking out of the huge picture window behind him, clicked a remote handset and waited for the drinks trolley to motor over to him. He poured two shots of Martell Chanteloup XXO and pushed one across his desk
“My youngest daughter, Jeannie, bought me this for my last birthday. Cute, eh? It works on GPS. It homes in on the location of the remote but stops two feet away from it. I love gadgets, don’t you? Anyway, the sun’s almost over the yard arm”, he said not needing an excuse since he was the CEO, president and sole remaining founder of the world’s largest online media retailer – My Media. He had been in the top three of the richest people in world for a decade.
“Come on, man, spit it out”, he said pouring another tot for each of them.
“Yes, sorry, sir. You are computer literate, but er…”
“There’s no need to flatter me, John – just get to the point!”
“Yes, sir… well, have you heard of AI?” John looked up to see his boss nodding with a certain amount of irritation on his face.
“All computers employ a form of AI. ‘If… then’ flip-flops are a form of AI, aren’t they?”
“Er, yes, sir, those flip-flop circuits are a very primitive form of AI, but there are rumours of secret projects working on super-advanced AI… the likes of which very few people have thought achievable during this decade. These systems could be using a range of advanced techniques such as neural networks, probabilistic reasoning, and reinforcement learning that go beyond simple logic gates and memory circuits”.
“You have my full attention, John. If this new AI impresses my Chief of Research and Development, then I am all ears. Tell me what you’ve got, son!”
“It’s not much, to be honest, sir”, he replied hesitantly. He was worried. His news was having the opposite effect on his boss than he had expected. Jim topped them both up again.
“This latest iteration of AI is so powerful that you can have meaningful conversations with it on any subject, and if it has a blind spot, it will absorb all the data on that subject that is available on the Internet, and remember it for next time. Not only that, but it remembers conversations, so that the inquisitor can go away, act on the information, and return several days later to pick up the conversation where it left off, even if there have been dozens of queries in the meantime…”
Jim had taken the significance of this conversation in immediately. “That must be very worrying for the search engines. The guys at Google must be passing bricks!” A broad grin spread across his face as he poured more drinks. “Unless they are in on it… Are they?” He was becoming rapidly more serious.
“We don’t know, sir. I heard news of this new generation of AI 45 mins ago – literally”, he said looking at his solid gold Rolex.
Jim’s eyes followed those of his employee down to his wrist. “So, what you are telling me is that some of the top firms in the Internet/computer world have probably beaten us to a technology that could be the next giant leap forward in our sphere of influence”.
“We just don’t know, sir. My guess is that the US military complex is behind it, but it could just as easily be the Europeans, The Russians or the Chinese… It would have military applications, as well as commercial uses… It could also be that Microsoft and Google have bought up some minnow companies to do this research for them so as to stay beneath the radar”.
“Great! So, now you’re telling me that a couple of shrimps or a bunch of squadies know more about the next generation of technology than we do?!”
John chose to study the surface of the large, highly-polished, mahogany desk rather than give his boss an answer.
“Tell me, John. Do you consider that I pay you enough”. Jim was looking at John’s watch which was just poking out from under his jacket sleeve.
“Yes, sir. I am very happy with my remuneration package”.
“Yes… do you think that you earn it all?”
“I like to think that I give good service, sir”.
“Mmm, well, maybe you do earn your wage, but an employer likes to make a profit on everything and everyone, and I’m not sure that I’m making anything on you, after what you just told me. So, you are a researcher, I want you to work out what you are worth to me, and then reduce it by 10%. That will be your new wage. Have your recommendation on my desk before I get in in the morning.
“Also, organise an emergency meeting in the boardroom for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Inform all the relevant bodies. Oh, and it is hush-hush, so don’t go through the secretaries, and make sure that everyone knows what you just told me… move, man!” John didn’t need to be told twice. He was glad to be getting out of there.
Jim walked him to the door, and as John opened it, he said, “Well, thanks for dropping by, John. That was most informative. I’ll see you in the morning”. John looked at his boss rather nervously. Jim nodded almost imperceptibly and blinked.
“OK, Jim. Thanks for the drink. See you tomorrow”. Jim nodded, smiled and allowed the door to close itself.
When he was seated, Jim poured himself a triple, and span his chair around to look out of his window over the vast sprawling city.
He was already deep in thought, but thumbing his phone rhythmically.
∞
“Hello. Is that Seeker?”
“Who’s speaking?”
“This is Gentleman Jim. I come bearing gifts”.
“Are you alone?”
“I am suitably cloaked”.
“This is Seeker. I too am suitably cloaked. How may I be of assistance Gentleman Jim?”
“I need information. I have been told that some of the biggest I.T. organisations in the world are building giant AI models that are tipped to be the next leap forward in the world of computing. Do you know anything about this?”
“I have heard rumblings, and I have already put out feelers, but I don’t feel confident enough to say much more than that at the moment”.
“Damn! Watch out will you!”
“Pardon?”
“No, not you, Seeker. I was talking to the driver. I’m in a car and the driver seems to be testing the depth of every pothole in the road. Sorry, please continue, Seeker”.
“You are travelling? When will you arrive at your destination?”
Dodging the question, Jim replied, “I’ll be in a better position to chat in an hour”.
“That suits me fine. Call me back in an hour using the thirteenth number, Gentleman Jim”.
The phone went dead, and Jim turned to looking out of the smoked window of his chauffeur-driven, stretched Rolls-Royce Cullinan, which had been armoured and modified by Alpine Armoring. His biggest fear was that he or one of his family would be kidnapped and held for ransom, and he was wishing that he had taken the helicopter to work, as he often did.
Thirty minutes later, the Rolls Royce passed through the heavy gates that formed part of the protection of his palatial ‘house’ and entered the underground car park. The third guard post waved the limousine through. When it stopped, Jim jumped out in a spritely fashion to enter the lift, which would take him to the family’s living quarters.
“Good afternoon, Marion”, he said to his wife of thirty-three years, “is everything all right?” They exchanged pecks on the lips.
“Yes, my dear. How was your day?”
“Oh, pretty good… I think, but I’ve received some unsettling news… Nothing for you to worry about… just corporate stuff that I have to get to the bottom of. Have Marie send me up a roast beef and pickle sandwich and a pot of double-strength coffee to my office, will you, honey?” He was already starting to move off.
“Don’t forget that we’re going to the opera tonight with the Holloway’s!”
“Oh, shit!”
“Profanity!”
“Sorry. I had forgotten. Look, Marion… I’m really sorry, but I’m pretty sure that I won’t be able to go…”. He returned to face his wife and took her by the elbows. “Will you be able to go on your own, darling? Or take one of your girlfriends?”.
“Aww, Jim! I was so looking forward to tonight. It’s not often that we get to go anywhere together these days, and with great company too! The Holloway’s are flying back to Miami tomorrow”.
“There’s nothing I can do about it, my love. I have gotten wind that the competition is up to something big. They’ve sort of caught me on the hop, as far as I can tell, but the fact is that I don’t know much about it yet. I was told about it literally only an hour and forty-seven minutes ago…” he hesitated as he remembered John using the same phrase. “Look, I have a phone appointment in eleven minutes. I have to go…”
“How about dinner afterwards?”
“I’ll try, but I can’t promise”, he replied over his shoulder.
“That means ‘No’, then”. She sighed to herself as she so often had over the decades. She watched her husband get into his private lift which would take him to his observatory-cum- office on top of their mansion.
∞
Jim fell into his plush office chair, opened a draw, and took out a notebook. It was his private phone book. He flipped it open at ‘S’, ran his finger down a list of phone numbers until he reached the thirteenth one, and entered it into his encrypted satellite phone.
It was answered immediately.
“Hello. Is that Seeker?”
“Who’s speaking?”
“This is Gentleman Jim. I come bearing gifts”.
“Are you alone?”
“I am suitably cloaked”.
“This is Seeker. I too am suitably cloaked. How may I be of assistance Gentleman Jim?”
“We were talking earlier about a certain project…”
“Yes. I have something for you, but I will know much more in twelve hours’ time. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin…
A ping announced the arrival of the sandwich and coffee in the dumb waiter behind him, but if Jim heard it, he didn’t react. He only had ears for what his most trusted industrial spy had to say. It both fascinated, and scared him at the same time. When the Seeker had told his story and hung up after making an appointment for the following morning, Jim could do nothing for quite a few minutes more than lay back in his chair and gaze at the stars through his office’s glass dome roof.
∞
That night, there was a distinct hum on the encrypted airwaves linking the rich and the not so-rich, those in-the-know and those wanting to be in-the-know. Conversations flowed as rarely before between the exuberant, ultra-luxurious neighbourhoods known for their exclusivity, stunning views, and proximity to the heart of the tech industry such as Palo Alto, where Jim and his family lived, Woodside, Atherton and Los Altos Hills, and the perfectly acceptable, but definitely less salubrious working-class neighbourhoods such as San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Fremont and Mountain View.
Rarely, since the beginnings of Silicon Valley in the 1930’s had one man caused such a level of communication between rich and poor neighbours as Jim had that night. It was a veritable hornet’s nest, and confusion was the result.
Meanwhile, Jim was in his office gazing at the stars while listening to Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite.
When he was in happier moods, he liked to play the sixth movement ‘Uranus, the Magician’, because it was quirky and powerful. It suggested magic and unpredictability, which he thought could easily be applied in a description of his own life, since he had risen from lower middle class obscurity to the dizzy heights of where he was now. At other times, he favoured the seventh, ‘Neptune, the Mystic’, because he secretly fancied himself as a mysterious Druid with ethereal, otherworldly qualities – how else could he have achieved all that he had practically single-handed except for the constant and unfailing support of his Maid Marion?
However, he was not happy, and the first movement thundered out in his office. It was not his favourite part of the orchestral suite, but ‘Mars, the Bringer of War’ – was an intense, rhythmic movement, which symbolised aggression and conflict, and it seemed appropriate at times like this when he felt that he had been betrayed – shafted even – by the people whom he had paid handsomely to watch his back.
He was looking forward to the Board Meeting the next day, and if he didn’t get satisfaction in the way he was hoping for, then he would get it in another, and heads would roll.
He chuckled to himself. He wouldn’t get to see Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite that night, but he would play a rôle in a nutcracker suite of his own in twelve hours’ time. It was the not-so-secret nickname that the other board members used for the Board Room. They thought that he didn’t know, but there wasn’t much that went on for more than a few minutes in his firm that he didn’t know about.
The Stasi could have learned a lot from billionaire, entrepreneur-extraordinaire Jim Diamond.
Read more: The Bull at the Gate
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