Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 37

Doug sat behind Thor's desk, impatiently picking at his fingernails. He knew the current situation called for patience, and that events would unfold at their own pace. But patience seemed to be an increasingly rare commodity these days.

He had hoped to hear by now that Phillip was dead and that Luna had debugged Gaia. But he knew from experience that plans rarely went as smoothly as intended. He thought about his dad. His father hadn't been patient enough, and he'd paid the ultimate price for it. Doug wasn't going to be like his dad. Humans were all just a bunch of pre-programmed ants running around, doing their jobs for a short amount of time, and then they always died. Doug's father had taken it all too seriously, and that was his downfall. The anthill was what it was, and one couldn't take it personally. No one ant was responsible. Humans were all just minor players contributing to their small lot in life.

Doug felt more confident of his role than ever before. In every society, everyone had special roles to play. Some people were scouting ants, searching for new sources of food. Some were fighting ants. Doug was the architect ant. He had a deep understanding of society's fabric and what needed to happen to fix it. He could see the shortcomings of his past so clearly now. He had tried, on several different occasions, to eliminate the government by orchestrating the deaths of as many government officials as possible. None of his previous attempts had brought the hoped-for fruits. But now he understood why. It was all so clear to him.

Doug knew that his ego and lack of imagination had gotten in the way of his own success. For years, he thought too much like those who came before him. Too far inside the box. He used to plan big flashy attacks on well-protected officials. No wonder they didn't work.

But he'd learned from his mistakes. He could see them as mistakes now.

Doug fancied himself as having a knack for finding the right tools for the job. Like CryptoBit before Ancien, life had a way of presenting him with the right tool at the right moment. And every time it happened, it only re-enforced that he was on the right track. This time, life had handed him the perfect tool at the perfect moment, and he wasn't about to let the opportunity slip past.

After all, if life didn't want him doing this job—if the anthill didn't need to be re-sculpted and re-architected—why were the pieces of the puzzle coming together so elegantly? Doug was sure this was bigger than him. He was merely the one ant on the hill that was prepared to do the job no other ant could. He was going to save the colony from itself.

Doug thought of a phrase from the Bible. The meek shall inherit the earth. He wasn't a religious man, but to him, this was more evidence in support of his actions. His strong will wasn't what would inherit the earth, like he'd initially thought. He had to be more humble. It was the only way to succeed in committing the greatest genocide in human history. He needed to act meek in order to be strong. Like Lao-Tzu once said, nothing's softer or more yielding than water. And yet to compel the hard and unyielding, it has no equal. Doug needed to be more like water.

This insight had come to him in a flash at his last company. System, Inc. had been the largest provider of security and encryption technology for corporations and governments around the world. Everyone depended on his code for securing communications. There, Doug had learned what amazing power a person could hold just by being able to hear everything.

But with Ancien now available to him, his reach was exponentially expanded. System Inc. had been like read-only mode to the world. He could listen, but it was passive. At Ancien, he could affect change without risking getting caught. Ancien was read-write mode. So much of the world's most sensitive information was stored inside of Ancien. And with Gaia, Doug could command the world to do his bidding. It was the perfect plan.

Except, with Gaia not working, he was back to read-only mode. And Doug was sick of read-only mode. He needed to be in control. He didn't care that he could never take credit for it. He wasn't interested in the glory. The meek shall inherit the earth. It had been pre-ordained by powers that even Doug didn't understand. He didn't need to, though. He just needed to do his one little ant job. The anthill of humanity needed to be torn down so a new one could be built in its place. It was his humble duty.

The only thing standing in his way now was Luna Valencia. She was a professional. Not like some of the startup idiots he had dealt with before. She was someone Doug could respect. He'd been watching her carefully ever since joining the board, and she was not just a good CEO, she was technical enough to actually understand what she had built. That was very rare these days. Only a few high-tech CEOs possessed that skill.

Which was part of the reason why he got her replaced. If she ever got a whiff of the true purpose of the Gaia Project, she would stop at nothing to shut it down. So far, Doug had been able to keep the Gaia Project a secret, but things had spun out of control with Taye. If Luna could just get Gaia working again, he could quietly get rid of her and everything would be back on track.

Thor walked into his office, balking at the sight of Doug sitting there, looking so casual.

"So?" Doug asked. "Is it done?"

"They wouldn't let me in. There were police crawling all over the place. I'm the first person they'll call when he wakes up, though."

"You fucking idiot," Doug yelled. "Don't you realize how suspicious that will look? The cops will remember that you came by, so eager to see him, asking to be the first call they make when he wakes up. Who do you think will be at the top of their list of suspects when he dies? Shit. You probably just made yourself their prime suspect in the shooting. They're probably looking into your background as we speak."

"I have an alibi."

"Of course you have an alibi. They probably think you hired the job out. Which you did. You fucking idiot. You've created such a mess."

"You're overreacting. I was just a concerned boss trying to check on an injured employee. I'm sure the cops think it's nothing more than that."

"We'll see about that. People get caught for being far less sloppy than this. We'll need to brainstorm ways to clean up your mess. In the meantime, I think it's time you switch up strategies with Luna downstairs. I've been watching closely as she's been 'fixing' Gaia. I got her off the computer before she stumbled onto something important. So you need to go down to the basement and incentivize her to focus on actually fixing Gaia. She's spending far too much time trying to figure out what it does. We can't have her doing that now. Then take care of her. Too many loose ends."