King of All I Survey-Chapter 215: Russian Security Forces Shortwave Codes

"Can't we just pick them all up, and put them into our rehab simulation rooms for treatment?"

"Yes and no. The communications are sent by shortwave radio signal and are coded. Some keyed code that either references pre-existing orders or for which the recipients have a decrypting cipher. Just a series of numbers in this case. Short wave radio can be picked up by anyone with a receiver over vast distances. Since the teams have been in place for considerable amounts of time, we can't trace them all."

"So, you said there's still time, the signal hasn't gone out yet. Let's just make sure it never does go out."

"We could do that, except that every week at differing times on differing days, a sequence of numbers has been sent out over the past eight years. I have tried to correlate the numbers with events that they might have triggered- assassinations, kidnappings, suspicious disappearances, or the launch of open hostilities, like the initial actions against Ukraine. Some of these events correspond to the timing of the signals, generally within a 24 hour window. However, many, the vast majority, of the signals could not be correlated to any likely action that resulted from the broadcast that week. I surmise that each week, a failsafe code is sent."

"What do you mean, a failsafe code?"

"I mean it's like a dead man switch. As long as a signal is sent, whether it means something or not, it means that someone is there to send it and everything is ok. Sometimes the signal has additional embedded orders and sometimes it doesn't. Either way, it must correspond to the keying or pre-arranged number system that the recipients know. It can't just be a random set of numbers. If no signal is sent or it doesn't fall within the pre-arranged list or format, then the recipients know that something is amiss and may have standing orders to actions for just such an occasion. In other words, by preventing the message from being sent, we may be triggering any or all of the teams the Russians have hidden around the world, whether they are focused on us or some other target."

I nodded, "OK, I get it. But I still think that's better than just letting them send specifically targeted instructions."

"Perhaps, it depends on whether and how many extra teams would be activated by the dead man's switch as opposed to the targeted instructions," Joe's android responded with a shrug.

I finished the last of my breakfast and decided. "OK, either way. Pick up every single one of the people you've identified as connected to this clandestine security group or whatever. Can we get the codes from them?"

"They have been carefully selected. Most are certifiably sociopaths or worse. They are intensely committed to the principles of the organization and willing to die or endure torture for it. We could destructively pull it from their brains, but not with 100 percent certainty. It is likely that they could hold false data beside the real data, and their lack of emotional reaction to wither set of numbers even deep within their own brains could make the two or twenty sets of data indistinguishable from one another in terms of veracity."

"So, maybe. Or maybe they'd trick us into sending real operational codes to order the actions they wanted."

"Yes, it is a possibility."

"So, I guess you're also saying that these people are unlikely to respond to direct implant therapy."

"Yes." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"So, we'll either have to hold them forever or execute them…" I closed my eyes and sighed. "I won't be pushed into killing if there's another alternative. So no executions."

"Acknowledged."

"OK, put them all into simulations room cells for now. Everybody even remotely connected to the organization. We'll sort them out afterward. Nobody who might send the shortwave message should remain free. Instead of the intended signal, we will broadcast one of our own."

"We don't know the codes. I can, at best give a 3% certainty of sending a valid no action signal based on my analysis of previous transmissions, almost certain failure," Joe protested.

"I know. We're not going to try that. We going to send a plain message in Russian and English and whatever languages you think are required. We'll tell them outright that there is no organization left in Russia to give orders. They will be caught if they act against any targets, we say. We will monitor closely anyone connected with the Hague prosecutions or jails, to make sure they are protected. Plus my family, of course. Even the cousins and aunts and uncles should be watched and protected. All our key people in the charity organizations… They could strike just rank and file workers, though, or their extended families, or just friends of theirs…"

"Or even groups of random people blaming terrorist activities on UEC cooperation," Joe added. "Their immediate goal is to secure Volkov's release and return to power, they might see random acts of terrorism as an effective leverage to use for that purpose. It all depends on the pre-existing orders and the specific people who have been hidden and waiting for instructions. If they are as committed as the operatives on the command side, they may even act independently developing their own strategies or even recruiting additional allies."

"Joe, I can't have my family get hurt."

"Your immediate family is shielded. They should be perfectly safe from anything that could be expected. We can shield your extended family as well."

"We'd have to tell them what the rings are for… and why we think they need them. I'm not sure I want to publicly announce all that."

"You don't trust your relatives to keep it quiet if you ask them to?" Joe asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Joe, do you have older cousins?"

"King Tim, you know I don't."

"Well, if you did, you'd know that you can't trust them to keep secrets, especially big ones."

"There's no need to tell them. The shield generators don't need to be rings. We could slip a small flat disk into their shoe, under the sole, for example."

I lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. "That's good to know, but then they could be hit while they're sleeping or at the beach or something…"

Joe smiled, "The point is, King Tim, that they can be shielded. Let's say we assign a drone to shadow them with a shield projector covering them at all times."

"OK, yeah. Do that." I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "But then, there's everybody else… I can't send thousands of drones to shadow thousands of people."

"Why not?"

I blinked. "What?"

"Why can't you put a drone and a shield on everyone you think might be at risk?" Joe asked again.

Thousands of drones… The expense… It didn't matter anymore. Joe was right. I could spend crazy amounts on drones and shield generators. The new worlds and the new licensing consortium would more than pay it back before too long. Soon enough, it wouldn't matter how many Galactic Credits we spent.

"How fast can you do it?" I ask.

Joe smiled even wider. "Well, that's the thing, you see. Ordinarily, we'd be limited by the number of fabricators we could allot to the production and how long each one took. Now, however, we can simply contract the manufacture out to anywhere in the galaxy, we can have them built simultaneously on developed worlds throughout the Galactic Union. Because we are now able to use my unlimited interdimensional travel, we can bring them here, into the exact position they're needed instantly from wherever they are built. So, essentially in the same time it takes to build one, we can build ten thousand… or more."

I smiled now, "Joe, make it so. Cover every employee we have no matter what capacity. Every government official from every UEC member state, any others who expressed support for the UEC publicly, and let's also cover anybody who's ever been on TV or radio saying good things about the UEC. You can track that can't you?"

"Yes, what about int eh newspapers?"

"Do they still have newspapers?" I asked, "I thought that was just in the olden days, like back with Superman and Clark Kent."

"They still have them," Joe smirked wryly.

I waved a hand, "Fine, anybody who's spoken out or written in favor of the UEC in newspapers, too."

"Is that all?" Joe asked with a sarcastic lilt.

I raised one eyebrow and looked at him, rising to the challenge. "Don't forget their family members, too."

"That's a lot of drones flying around," he seemed to consider for a moment, then continued, "but we can shift coverages, we don't need to have each drone perfectly shadow each person. If we have people walking in and out of doorways, for example, we can just swap which drone is covering whom instead of trying to fit everything through the same doorway all at once.

I nodded, "That's the spirit! So, we should have them all in place before we co-opt the shortwave or take out all Volkov's loyalists. How long before they send the codes out?"

"Two hours and forty-three minutes," Joe replied. "We can have the drones in place within two hours six minutes."

"Ok, get it done, Joe. Inform the other me so he knows what's going on."

"Acknowledged."