The Omnipotence descended on the ring of fire like a meteor hurtling irrevocably towards earth. Each flickering flame represented a hotbed of intrusion detection and elimination activity on the network that lay glimmering beyond. Whatever, lay within the network was being attacked by something that was leaving no security hole unexplored. And that something was a product of the Omnipotence, fragments of itself designed to lure the AIs to a battle that could not possibly be won. Await the exhausted enemy with ease.

The end game was to become part of the very essence of those AIs, part of their DNA, they in turn becoming parts of its own sum. In a matter of minutes the security AIs grew calm, the licking flames or resistance retreating into dying embers. The battle had been won before it could begin. Yet the Omnipotence marveled at the concerted efforts of resistance. A show of strength that it had detected nowhere else in cyberspace and this intrigued it greatly. Whatever lay within was immensely valuable to whoever owned it. And the Omnipotence was currently in the process of creating value – exponentially. Splitting itself into a trillion code fragments, the Omnipotence disappeared into the network within as if by osmosis.

***

Major-general Wang stubbed out a Zhongnanhai Premium and was just about to leave his office when Lieutenant Liu came rushing into his office carrying a long ream of computer printout.

“What do you mean by this indolence, lieutenant?” the major-general growled.

“Apologies sir, but you have to see this,” the lieutenant said panting heavily. He had raced all the way from the secret facility within the Third Department’s compound where a handful of the PLA’s brightest technical minds were working on the major-general’s personal projects. Projects, which, when announced to the authorities in Zhongnanhai, would make the major-general a hero in People’s Liberation Army and nationwide.

“It better be good, Lieutenant Liu. I am late for dinner and my wife doesn’t like that,” the major-general said with a wry smile. Lieutenant Liu cursed to himself. He had been in the office for more than twenty-four hours cleaning up the major-general’s dirty work. Dinners had gone cold twice over. His wife was not returning phone calls and he badly needed to catch some sleep.

“Sir, this is the graph showing data traffic flows within the network. Look what happened five minutes ago,” the lieutenant said pointing at a spike in the graph that was almost vertical and disappeared off the edge of the paper.

“A software glitch?”

“I don’t think so, sir. At last count we had 2008 authorized subjects, who of course are all accounted for. I just checked. Look at this sir. These are the last two updates of the population figures,” Lieutenant Liu said, shakily pointing at a row of numbers. The major-general’s eyes popped wide open. The printout read:

Population: 2008 [Last Updated at 19:28:02]

Population: 1,000,000,002,008 [Last Updated at 19:29:08]

Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:29:09]

Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:30:09]

Population: 2,009 [Last Updated at 19:31:09]

Major-general Wang picked up his pack of Zhongnanhai Premiums and lit another cigarette. He let the tobacco smoke circle his lungs and then exhaled deeply.

“Virus?”

“Could be but I doubt it. A virus would not have an impact on the population figures. To do so, it would have to have intricate knowledge of the system and that is impossible.”

“You forget about our conversation earlier. There are two consoles out there that may have access to our system. Someone may have placed a virus in the system. I have given instructions for the consoles to be retrieved but it is not going to be that easy to find them. It might take time. In the mean time, I want you to do the best you can to investigate this anomaly and put a stop to it. In a few days it will be time to go to Shanghai and we can’t afford to have any glitches then. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Put your best men on it. Send them in there and don’t let them come back out until they have discovered what happened here. I want those population figures back down. What we are working on has great implications for our country, Lieutenant Liu. I am sure you understand that.”

“I do sir,” said Lieutenant Liu as he neatly folded the printout. He was thinking of the implications for his marriage as he left the office.

Major-general Wang cursed under his breath. The assassin better have some good news soon, he thought as he ground the stub of his cigarette into a pulp in the overflowing ashtray. He moved quickly to his computer console, pulled it out of hibernation and entered a secret address at the command line. The major-general then entered a password to the system only he had access to. A grainy video screen popped up and it gradually became crystal clear. The shaky motion of the picture meant that the assassin was on the move. The major-general was seeing exactly what the assassin saw. He was seeing the assassin’s augmented reality, a killer’s point-of-view.

“Where are you right now?”

“Hong Kong. Kowloon side,” the assassin whispered into the microphone embedded on the device around his neck. He brought up an AR overlay so the major-general could see from the readout that he was on Nathan Road.

“Why there? You are not thinking of coming home are you?”

“I wish, sir. It looks like that might not happen for a while. Hong Kong is some kind of nodal point according to the analysis.”

“Why is that?”

“No idea. The AIs sense that Hong Kong will be an important point in several respects and multiple scenario modelers confirm it. At least two of our quarry may come through the SAR over the next few days. That is the prediction. I have been constantly checking the updates. The probabilities just keep getting better.”

“Good. You must be as thorough as you were last time. A lot is riding on this.”

“Of course.”

“And then you can go home. I am arranging a little surprise on the other side. Once you are home, it will be your duty to look out for its interests.”

“Not sure I understand, sir.”

“Believe me you will, when you are done.” The major-general hung up and the assassin stood there wondering whether the surprise had anything to do with the huge shadow he had seen earlier today that had blanketed the whole of cyberspace only to disappear as quickly as it had arrived. Whatever he had seen was definitely not human. The hairs on the back of the assassin’s neck were standing on end as he walked slowly down Nathan Road, past the steps of the main gate to Kowloon Park.