Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 56

"Did you hear? They got her," Thor said proudly.

"I wanted her gone."

"We'll be able to take care of her much more easily now."

The two men strode through an aviation hanger. It reminded Doug of a big-box store, except instead of furniture and electronics, this place was full of airplane parts.

Doug had invited himself to the Boeing meeting. The hanger they were walking through reminded Doug of his work at System Inc. His old project and its failure to achieve what he had now accomplished with Ancien. And the fact that he had gotten so close, only for it to fall apart at the last minute. The devil's always in the details. And Luna was one detail that needed dealing with—quickly. Or Ancien could fall apart just as rapidly as System had.

"I'm losing confidence," said Doug.

Thor sighed loudly. "Give it time. The more we interfere, the more likely this thing will be traced back to us. With deep-learning systems, even the programmers don't know how it works. The program makes decisions in strange ways. You just have to relax and be patient."

Doug wondered when Gaia's Wrath would take Thor out. It had made the flight to Seattle absolutely thrilling. The thought that maybe Gaia's Wrath would somehow take down the plane right then and there. Doug would have been ready, too. He knew where to find the emergency parachutes. Doug knew which exit door he would use. He ran through the whole event in his head. But the flight went smoothly. Had Gaia's Wrath not worked? Did its strange mind somehow come to the conclusion that this way was not quite undetectable enough? Or did it not yet know how to take down a plane? Doug was going to have to talk to the engineers once Thor was out of the way.

"I'm sure you're right."

Even standing near Thor was a thrill. Doug wondered in what form death would come for him. Not only was Thor becoming too big of a liability with his incessant talk of partnership, coupled with that ego that was too big, but Doug longed to see Gaia in action again. He remembered watching the first time he had seen Gaia at work. But that had been a lucky accident at a shipyard. He wanted to see what the world's most powerful and secret killing machine could do. He wanted to be there again. He had to see it again.

Man's ego had created the world's biggest threat ever: overpopulation. Humans kept multiplying like rabbits. And how could it be stopped? Humans had already tried making more food, but while they were creating food in higher quantities, it tasted like cardboard. Doug couldn't stand eating vegetables grown in the United States anymore. And soon, it wouldn't just be the United States. It would be the entire world. He wasn't alone, either. Americans didn't like eating that cardboard, so they just filled themselves with worse things: sugar, salt, and fat.

To Doug, there was no question what had caused the rapid rise in obesity and cancer. It wasn't McDonald's fault. It wasn't Coke. It was humanity's insatiable need to fornicate and reproduce. They created too many babies. That was the root of their problem. The food that was good for them didn't taste good anymore, and that drove the demand for the crappy food.

If Doug were president, he would require citizens to obtain licenses to reproduce. He would make sure prospective parents had enough money to afford the number of children they wanted to raise. Even then, he would need to turn down many requests. The problem had been going on for too long. There were already too many people here. There would need to be a massive population reduction before any new babies could be born.

But Doug knew he wasn't going to become president. At least, he knew he didn't want to try to run for president. Not just yet. And this solution was so much more elegant and efficient. He didn't need anyone's permission. He could manufacture the same outcome without having to jump through any of the hoops.

And all he had to do was let go of his ego. The meek shall inherit the earth. Thor wasn't meek. He wasn't going to inherit a fucking dime.

"Watch out," came a voice from behind them.

A huge box of propellers came crashing down with a thundering noise. Tons of metal scraping, bending in on its own weight against the concrete. Was this it? Doug wondered. Was it happening? His heart fluttered. For about thirty seconds, he and Thor tumbled wildly toward the ground, like two young brothers wrestling. He looked over at Thor, who was lying flat on the floor.

"You okay?"

Please be no. Please be no.

"Yes," said Thor. "I'm fine. That was close." He pushed himself up and brushed himself off.

"Wasn't it?"

"Come on, old man. We're going to be late."