Forever Yours
52
Ask Alice
“WELL, HOW GOES the start of a new year?” Henry asked his development managers when they all returned to the office after the first. “Nathan?”
“We’re ready to deploy a perimeter around Page Services,” the retired general said. “The ISP hosts over 1,000 clients now and those clients are subject to as many as one hundred attempts to invade each day. So far, we’ve used Delphos installed on all servers to reject the attempts, but we only use the zero degree response. And we don’t use a strong counterattack. We simply disable the computer’s ability to access the box it has attacked.”
“What will the difference be when you deploy a perimeter?” Conrad asked.
“One of the reasons Delphos is set to such a low level of response is consideration for the companies being hosted. It is part of a basic tier service package and is a selling point for the ISP since it’s included with any hosting package. But the people at Page Services have to monitor all the boxes 24/7. That’s a huge commitment of personnel. With the perimeter guard posted, the attacks should never reach the servers. It will stop attacks outside the farm and require fewer people to monitor.”
“So, we’ll be putting how many people out of work?” Henry asked.
“We hope to not put any out of work. We’ll keep the service at the ISP, but move some of the personnel to the perimeter. As we deploy additional perimeter guards monitoring different companies, we’ll transfer existing personnel to the new system. The functionality is close enough to the same that we should be able to make transfers with minimal losses,” Nathan said. “The new system should stop attacks before they are ever detected by Delphos.”
“I’ll run it past the board for final approval at our meeting tomorrow,” Henry said. “We’ll plan on launching Monday. Conrad?”
“You created quite a wave with your ideas for limiting Forever Yours,” he said. “We’ve been brainstorming ideas every day and think we have a way scoped out that will work. The guys want to run a couple of sample tests and will be ready to float the whole plan to you Friday.”
“That’s good news. I’ll look forward to seeing it Friday. Include Nathan and Dale on the invitation. How about updates to the search and optimization tools?” Henry asked.
“Will do. For S and O, the upgrades should be ready on schedule near the first of March. They include better modularization of the pieces, so we won’t need to upgrade the entire package each time we have a new virus to combat. The AIs are doing a reasonable job of scrubbing new threats, but eventually, we need to give them better tools to work with. You’ve all seen the spec.”
“Okay. I’m good with this. Questions, anyone?” Henry asked, then moved the meeting along. He was of the opinion that the less time spent in meetings, the more productive his team would be. “Dale?” He turned to his former college advisor.
“The road paver project is proceeding as fast as we can expect it to at this stage. Right now, we’re focused on turning requirements into specifications. Even the developers and fabricators are getting impatient to start building instead of writing. The number of detailed drawings that need to be made to hand off to machinists is staggering. We’re preparing to create a mini version of the paver by printing the parts in 3D. I’m not talking about something as large as a sidewalk paver. This would simply follow instructions to pave a path about a foot wide. It’s too lightweight to cut through old pavement and reuse the materials, so it will need to be fed as it goes. It will be a good test of the requirements for the whole project. Still, that’s not going to be ready much before summer. By that time, we should also have a power cell that can fuel the miniature device. Negotiations on that front are going well and we’ve coordinated the design of the cell.”
“Are we testing the early development with an entry into the robotics race at the university?” Henry asked.
“Definitely. We’d love to enter the paver, but we’ll have an entry that follows the route and does minor alterations as it races.”
“Sounds like fun. Anything else?”
“One thing. The informal get-togethers we had over the past couple of months revealed some other possibilities. It’s having the desired effect of getting the software guys in synch with the hardware guys. One of the people on our software team found out about an experimental tech one of the designers at ARDC was working on. This isn’t protected IP,” Dale said. “It’s a garage project and we could do much worse than simply hiring the two guys to do the creation in-house here.”
“What are we talking about?”
“A kind of AI powered hologram. Farrel Scott is our developer and he started working with a brilliant guy from the ARDC team named Jason Wilson. Frankly, I think they’d both be more valuable working on this new project—completely housed under Open Cloak—than working on the joint paving project,” Dale said.
“Have the two of them prepare a proposal for next week. We’ll say Wednesday,” Henry said. “Be clear that they are presenting for possible acquisition, not a joint venture.”
“Will do. I think you’ll be amazed.”
Porcupine Perimeter Defense launched its first installation at Page Services on Monday. Attacks on the server farm clients dropped to zero at once. The new cyber defense system picked up the burden and they soon saw a reduction in the overall number of attacks directed at the server farm.
“What happened?” Henry asked Nathan when they spoke on the phone. Nathan was at the San Jose facility.
“Since the PPD is not attached to any of the ISP servers and does not reflect directly on any of its clients, we felt confident in increasing the level of severity of our response and bumping it to one degree of separation. As you know, that is typically enough to affect around ten or maybe a dozen connected computers in an attack,” Nathan said. “We saw that neutralizing any one attack on the perimeter would take out multiple attacks at the same time. We’d theorized that multiple servers were being attacked by the same group of hackers and they were getting back online soon after they were repelled because the level of response was light. PPD is eliminating all the attached computers in a single counterattack and it is taking much longer to get back online as they need to reconstruct their entire directory systems.”
“So, it not only consolidates the defense, but consolidates the counterattack as well!” Henry said. “Well done!”
“As soon as I’m back, I want to get a perimeter around all our in-house networks. I think we might face a new wave of hacking attacks because of the success of PPD.”
“I hear you. I’d like to rest a little easier at night.”
“I’ll stay out here a few days to monitor the system and record any fine tuning I think we need,” Nathan said. “Leanne is running diagnostics on traffic into the utility company. It looks like their company leaks like a sieve. It’s amazing how much consumer data is bled out of it. The sooner we get a wall around that company, the better.”
“Do you think other utility companies are as bad?” Henry asked.
“I fear the worst.”
“Well, let’s make getting this one inside a fortress a priority,” Henry said. “I’ll see you next week.”
On Wednesday, the board of directors met in the large conference room on the second floor, instead of in Luke’s office. The main order of business was to look at the proposed AI powered hologram. Farrel Scott introduced his co-developer, Jason Wilson.
“Okay, Farrel. The floor is yours. Show us what you’ve got,” Henry said. In addition to the board, Conrad, Darrel, and a couple of other senior developers were invited to the presentation.
“Thank you, boss. You all know Jason and I have been working on the paving team, but we discovered a common interest in holography. Currently, holograms are strictly recordings that are played back using a light interference pattern on a projection surface. The highest quality holograms are recorded and projected using lasers. What we have developed, using the same basic AI that drives Pythia Speaks, is a live hologram. It is not recorded, though for our research purposes, we’ve been recording interactions so we can review them later.
“Pythia Speaks is an AI service that handles over two million queries each day, worldwide. But Pythia lacks a visual presence for her oracular sayings. We’re not suggesting that should change. We recognize the decisions that went into that limitation. I’m only using her as an example of a service that does not depend on any physical contact with objects or people and which could have a visual and audio component.
“I’d like to introduce you to Alice,” Farrel said pointing to a mesh screen at the end of the conference table. A hologram of a woman’s head appeared there. “Say hello to the people, Alice.”
“Hello. I’m Alice: version alpha of an interactive hologram.”
“How old are you, Alice?” Farrel asked.
“I have not been assigned an age in human terms,” she said. “I was initially activated on December 22, 2029.”
“Alice, I’m going to let others ask you some questions. You won’t recognize the voices, so just continue to respond to the questions.”
“Okay, Farrel.”
“Henry? Would you like to interact with Alice?”
“Alice, whose face are we looking at?” Henry asked.
“I do not share your perspective in order to verify what you are looking at. If you are asking about me, I was created from recordings of Alice Scott, Farrel’s wife,” the hologram replied.
“What data are you accessing?” Henry asked.
“I was trained on the same wall as Pythia Speaks, but I can access additional data added by my creators.”
“What should I name my baby?” Isobel blurted out. She was in her eighth month now and just a week from her twenty-second birthday. There was always a note of panic in her voice.
“Names are very personal,” Alice said. “Perhaps you should ask yourself what you want your child’s name to mean and look up possibilities from there. Something will resonate with you.”
Isobel sat back unhappily. She and Luke had been discussing the naming issue at length.
“Alice, what good are you?” Chastity asked, causing Isobel to brighten a little.
“The good we do is often forgotten,” Alice said. “We don’t do good to be remembered. It is what we are.”
“That sounded like Pythia,” Chastity chuckled.
“Anyone else want to pose a question to Alice?” Farrel asked.
“Alice, would you go out with me this evening?” Ari asked. He was being quite entertained by the demonstration.
“I’m sorry. I am unable to grant wishes. I’m not a fairy godmother.”
The room exploded in laughter and the image of Alice disappeared as Jason turned off the projector. He removed the screen and made adjustments to his other equipment at that end of the room.
“It’s clever, Farrel. I can see possibilities, though not for Pythia. As Ari demonstrated, having an oracle that has an attractive face could result in all kinds of inappropriate questions,” Henry said. “We’ll talk over how this might or might not fit in our company plans.”
“If I may, boss,” Farrel interrupted, “Alice is only one aspect of what Jason and I have been working on. She is a light-based hologram. As you can see, we’ve removed the screen required for such a hologram. We have found a way to project a dimensional image without a screen.”
“That’s impossible,” Conrad said. “Light requires a focal point.”
“Exactly,” Farrel agreed. “We’d like to introduce you to a new concept in spatial holography.”
Jason flipped a couple of switches and gradually the shape of a floating cube took shape at the end of the room. It slowly rotated. Aside from its slightly blue cast, and a degree of transparency, it looked almost like a physical object floating above the table.
“No way,” Conrad said, leaning forward.
“It’s just a cube,” Isobel said.
“What you are seeing…” Farrel began.
“Sorry to interrupt, Farrel,” Henry said. “Please turn off the projection. Do not reveal any more details of this project. If you are legitimately showing what you appear to be showing, I want our patent attorney in the room and no other disclosure until we have it filed. I’d like the board to remain in the room with you as we discuss what it will take to acquire and fund this project. All other non-board members may leave. Please assume what you have seen falls under your non-disclosure agreement, even within the company. Do not discuss it.”
The other developers and managers left the room. Luke, Isobel, Chastity, Dale, and Henry were left to discuss the details with Farrel and Jason.
Henry had seen more in the flick of the switch than most of the people in the room had realized. He didn’t think this was part of what Farrel and Jason had revealed to Dale. Luke, Isobel, and Chastity were in the dark and still thinking about the hologram of Alice.
“I want to emphasize that non-disclosure of this extends to everyone remaining in this room,” Henry said. “Farrel, you just showed us what appeared to be a projection without a screen. In twenty words or less, please summarize the technology.”
“Uh… Focused microwave technology is being used to excite air particles instead of using light on a screen. The air itself takes on the programmed shape.”
“Twenty-five words, but we’ll accept it. I’ll be frank with you all. I want this technology in our company. Luke, we need patents on this and then we need to raise another $250 million—no, $500 million—in capital. It’s time for the company to go public.”
“What is it you see, Henry?” Luke asked.
“We’re entering an age of science fiction. With enough of these projectors, this could yield the holodeck experience you’ve seen in sci-fi movies. There has always been a screen of some sort between a hologram and the viewer. This technology creates an image you could walk around. Combined with our AI, we could have virtual assistants giving tours, selling tickets, even directing traffic.”
“You get it!” Farrel said.
“I want it. Farrel and Jason, we are going to make an offer that will make you multi-millionaires by the time this project is completed. How long do you think it will take to have a commercial version?” Henry asked.
“This is just what Jason and I have done in the garage,” Farrel said. “The AI powered hologram could be a reality in a few months. Training for the task is the major issue there. For the full spatial holography with the same capabilities, I’d say three years if we ramp up rapidly and devote the resources to it.”
“It sounds like you are fully committed, Henry,” Luke said. “Dale, you’re the other technical genius at the table. What do you think?”
“I’m still trying to get myself back to earth,” Jacoby answered. “I have to tell you that we should keep Argos out of this one. If there’s any way to self-fund it, we need to go for it.”
“Chastity?”
“I don’t understand it as well as these guys,” Chastity said. “I can feel the excitement and I trust Henry’s judgment.”
“Isobel?”
“If it will help me get through these last two months, I’m all for it,” she sighed. “Seriously, I’ve had Rachel working on our prospectus. We’ve anticipated going public this year. Our profit and business valuation are good. We’ve needed something to set the hook. We’ve done fine with just venture capital, but new investors need something that shows the future. There’s no reason we can’t raise the funds.”
“Farrel and Jason, let’s see if we can set a fair evaluation for your IP and then get you in front of a patent attorney,” Luke said.
Henry spoke up again. “Guys, I stopped you when you showed us your holographic projection for good reasons. Was there anything else you wanted to bring to us today?” Jason and Farrel looked at each other, then back to Henry, and made an empty-handed shrug. “That’s fine. I just didn’t want to leave anything else on the table. Great work!”
Henry’s quick action and removal of non-board members from the room, limited the disclosure of unpatented technology. His enthusiasm for the project gave Farrel and Jason an unprecedented stock investiture and a $500,000 signing bonus when they signed the new employment contract with Open Cloak.
“I don’t get it,” Chastity whispered to Henry that night. They’d chosen to have a little alone time in Chastity’s bed without Lisa, just so they could have this discussion. Lisa knew that Henry would cuddle up next to her in the middle of the night when Chastity threw him out of her room. “That’s more stock than you received for any one of your patents.”
“Two reasons,” Henry said as he gently petted her. “My patents may now appear to be undervalued, but the stock I received was only twelve cents a share. Even at the current evaluation of $1.50, they have a book value of almost $8 million. So, we gave each of these inventors a million dollars in stock and cash, but there will never be a transfer of patents. We will own them outright.”
“But is it really worth that much?”
“The idea of using microwaves as a possible means of 3D modeling has been around for a while, but like light, the lenses that focused the energy depended on a receiver surface. That’s how we get microwave transmission of cell phone data. The spatial holography is just the tip of the iceberg. Focused microwaves that don’t require a receiver could be used as weapons, advanced communication devices, internet access, and even data storage.”
“Weapons?”
“Ray guns,” Henry responded.
“You’re talking sci-fi.”
“Used to be. Regardless, I want this patent issued and protected before anyone discovers it. I’ll give those guys another bonus when the patents are issued and another when we get our first working app ready. I want them to be so rich they never ever suggest we didn’t treat them right.”
“Wow! What are we going to do with it?”
“Move on from Alice with an AI powered receptionist. I’d like you to start creating a detailed job description for everything that should occur in the reception area. Solicit any kind of question you can form based on our corporate policy and bylaws. And write out the answers. Have Nancy and Audrey also answer the questions and add to them from their experience. We need to build a training wall for a new AI.”
“Should I include things like ‘How old are you?’ and ‘Will you go to dinner with me tonight?’” she laughed.
“Might as well.”
Henry went to the office over the weekend when few people were there. Chastity had been reallocating space on the second floor for the new team and he wanted to check it out before he started moving people around on Monday. That was what he told Chastity and Lisa, who had decided to go out shopping for maternity clothes, even though Lisa really wasn’t showing yet. He called Germaine, who was happy to drive him to the office and just hang around all day if necessary.
“Germaine, who do you trust?” Henry asked her when they were in the office. He’d asked them to accompany him to his office.
“Um… You. Chastity. Miss Lisa. For some reason, I trust General Nathan, but I’m cautious because it might just be because he’s military and I believe he’s honorable,” Germaine answered thoughtfully.
“Not Luke or Isobel?” Henry asked.
“Um… Isobel is a little erratic and Luke follows her lead. Not in the business, but in general,” Germaine said. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s fine. What about the other staff and managers here at Open Cloak?”
“I don’t actively distrust them,” Germaine said. “I just wouldn’t depend on them in an emergency.”
“I see. How do you think our company security is overall?”
“Oh, I’m really just personal security for you and Chastity and Miss Lisa. I don’t know the guy who protects Mr. and Mrs. Riordan. As to the general office security, you saw the weekend guy at the front desk when we came in. He barely looked up from his book.”
“Well, we were identified as soon as we stepped into the elevator,” Henry chuckled. “We spend a lot of effort protecting the data on our computers from outside attacks, but I’m not so sure we’re protected from an inside attack. Are you on the network?”
“I don’t have a computer, sir. I get all my instructions and email on my phone.”
“Okay. Thank you for helping me think through this problem,” Henry said. “I’ll be a couple of hours if you need to go anyplace.”
“I’ll wait in the breakroom. Would you like coffee?”
“Thank you.” Henry had already turned to his computer and started scanning the corporate network.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
