We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

Book 2: Chapter 21: Attacks Continue

Book 2: Chapter 21: Attacks Continue

Riker

December 2174

Sol

“We lost a cargo drone,” Charles said, popping into VR. “There was an explosive package waiting where it landed. As soon it touched down, the bomb went off.”

He sat down and accepted a coffee from Jeeves. “It was a supply delivery to Vancouver Island. They’ve still got enough of a fishery that they’re not facing immediate starvation, but the loss of equipment and resources is still painful.”

I looked up and muttered a few choice expletives. “I take it we lost the entire food shipment?”

Charles nodded. “I thought we had the landing area completely secured. VEHEMENT has already claimed responsibility. They’re getting trickier.”

A light blinked on my console. Not surprisingly, it was Premier Grady. I accepted the call.

“We seem to have lost our delivery,” he said without preamble. “I saw the announcement. I do not blame you for this—you could just as soon blame me. However, the problem remains of hungry mouths to feed. What can be done?”

“Short term, sir, I’m going to put together another delivery. Homer is in your area, so he’ll arrange a time and place over a short-range laser link. No chance of intercepting the communication that way.” I turned to look at Homer. He nodded and disappeared.

I thought for a second, then turned back to the video call. “Meanwhile, I think that VEHEMENT has graduated to major threat. They’re not going to go away, and they’re no longer just a nuisance.”

I talked to Grady for a few more moments, going over some backlogged items. Then he looked to his right and announced that he was receiving the connection from Homer. His eyes moved across the video screen for a few moments, then he turned back to me and nodded.

After he disconnected, Charles said, “We also have the issue of the Florianópolis attacks.”

“I know, Charles. A lot of people still blame Brazil for the war. I guess they’re taking out their frustrations and getting some revenge. We have a task force going on that already. I just don’t know how hard they’re working on it. There seems to be a lot of sympathy for those terrorist attacks.”

“Less so for the supply chain attacks, even though fewer lives are lost.” Charles shrugged. “Hits closer to home, I guess.”

* * *

There had been sabotage on one of the donuts. Some chemicals had been introduced into the irrigation system and had killed three sections of kudzu before the automated systems caught on and shut everything down for inspection.

This VEHEMENT group was good. The only people that had legitimate access to the space farms were the Bobs. Since VEHEMENT demonstrably was able to gain access, we had to consider all other means. Ideas for how they might have done it included fake drones controlled by VEHEMENT, stealth devices piggy-backing up from Earth on returning delivery vehicles, or even hacking of our legitimate drones. None of those alternatives really seemed realistic, but then that was the thing about being a good hacker. If people saw it coming, you wouldn’t be able to get away with it.

I set my AMI monitors to reviewing all traffic for the last month. Even if they found nothing, I was at least eliminating possibilities. I was archiving everything, though, in case I got inspired at some later date. Somewhere in all the communications around Earth, there had to be exchanges between VEHEMENT members.

I went back to review, yet again, everything in the libraries about cryptography.