Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 26

We made a rocky landing at the San José Airport, and outside, the sky was still dark. Even though our flight had left New York at midnight, because of the difference in time zones, it was still only five in the morning in San José. Alex said San José would be a safer bet than going directly to San Francisco, where the cops might be waiting for us. Of course, if they were really looking for us, they could easily just pull up flight records or check our credit card statements, but I wasn't about to say anything. I knew Alex was trying to comfort me, and I was going to let him try.

We hadn't talked much during the flight. The only things we wanted to discuss were things we didn't want overheard. So I tinkered on my computer and charged my phone. But once we were in the taxi, the conversation flowed like a river.

"So how does it feel?" asked Alex.

"Weird. I've never done anything like this before in my life. I'm kind of shocked, really. It seems like at any moment, someone is going to handcuff me or something. You know?"

"Yeah, it's weird for me too. This is the first time I'm technically aiding and abetting."

I hadn't thought of that. At this point, Alex was as much a fugitive as I was. We were in this together. I decided that if it came down to it, I would push him away and claim that I did everything on my own, without anyone's help. Maybe I could get him out of trouble when the time came.

The taxi was driving up 101 toward Ancien headquarters in Palo Alto. Traffic wasn't bad, and the weather was beautiful. I was glad to be home.

I didn't know what more to say on the subject, so I changed tack. "I was thinking about Gaia on the plane, and I have a theory."

"Oh?" said Alex.

"So, you asked me if a mediocre hacker could become the world's best hacker, right?"

"Yeah." Alex smiled softly, like Yoda looking at a young Luke.

"Gaia's just a tool. It can understand and improve computer code, or it can find bad code. But it's not an artificial intelligence. It can't think on its own. Whether it does good things or bad things is dependent on who's running Gaia."

"Right."

"From what we can tell, Taye wrote the initial code, used Gaia on itself to improve its own programming, and then lost control of Gaia to someone else. That's why he came to me. He thought I could help him get control of it again."

"Yes, I've been working under that assumption for a while now."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" I asked.

"I basically did, you just weren't listening."

I laughed. This nontechnical ex-cop was quicker than I'd given him credit for.

"So the big question is: who's controlling Gaia?"

This time, it was Alex who laughed.

"I think we both know the answer to that by now."

"Well, fine," I said in exasperation. "If you've got it all figured out, why don't you just tell me what's going on?"

"So, you're not in charge of Ancien anymore, right?"

"You think I'd be sitting here with you if I was?"

"Well, then, whoever's in charge of Ancien is controlling Gaia."

"Thor Massino," I said.

"Sure," he said.

"Hey, you missed the turnoff," I yelled to the cabbie. "You were supposed to take exit 402."

"That way is full of traffic. This way is faster," said the cabbie. He was a burly old Italian with white hair.

"Traffic this early in the morning?" I asked. He didn't reply. I turned back to Alex. "But why would Thor be using Gaia to hack into other computers? And how does that lead to the increase in the death rate?"

"Trying to guess motive at this point is fruitless. We need more information. But you should have connected the dots on the increased death rate by now."

"Oh?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said Alex.

I shrugged.

"From what I understand, Ancien is a platform that runs the machine learning code for many of the world's biggest applications."

I nodded.

"Let's take the two biggest killers: cancer and heart disease. It's safe to say that doctors and hospitals are now entirely dependent on software."

"Yes, hospitals were some of the slowest to adopt the Ancien platform, but once they saw how well neural networks could diagnose diseases when trained by millions of real-life interactions, they signed on. Since then, pharmaceutical companies have trained deep learning machines to help administer drugs in a way that will minimize side effects—a notoriously difficult challenge for humans to manage."

"So with Ancien in the middle of everything, it's safe to say that if a master hacker were to influence the diagnosis and treatment of major illnesses, he could essentially make people sicker. It would be delaying diagnosis or under-prescribing medicine."

"Like net neutrality," I said.

"What?"

"The Internet and wireless providers serve all the data and videos you watch. Net neutrality seeks to make it illegal for providers to meddle in the delivery of that data and those videos. For instance, making them faster or slower depending on whether or not the content maker pays what amounts to a bribe for a service that should already be paid for."

"Yeah, I guess."

"The problem is," I continued, "not even a master hacker could influence a neural network. Humans don't understand how they work. Neural networks don't use regular logic. They use fuzzy logic."

"Which is precisely what makes such good cover. It doesn't look like murder. It looks like a good guess that turned out wrong. Plus, you yourself said that Gaia is the most sophisticated code you've ever seen. Just because humans can't influence a neural network doesn't mean a machine couldn't figure it out."

I couldn't believe it. Alex and I had arrived at the same conclusion.

"What I can't figure out," said Alex, "is what about accidental deaths? Or deaths by lions or sharks? How are those on the rise, too?"

"Besides car crashes, there are so few that they're statistical anomalies. They're unlikely to be related to whatever's going on with the manipulatable deaths."

I looked out the window. The sun was starting to come up. It was beautiful, pink and orange. But we were nowhere near Ancien headquarters. Suddenly, the cabbie pulled over into an empty Kmart parking lot.

"Hey," I yelled again. "What's going on?"

This time the cabbie turned around and pointed a gun at my face.

"Get out of the car," he yelled.

I reached for the door handle.

"No, not you," he shouted. "You." He pointed the gun at Alex. "Get out."

I bent over in my seat and threw up. I hadn't eaten much over the last few days, so it was mostly just yellow bile. It came out like water from a hose.

"Ah, shit," yelled the driver. "Come on, get out, get out. Get out now."

Alex looked over at me. I was still throwing up. I reached out my hand to give him something before another heave overwhelmed my body.

"Don't worry, Luna. Just do what he says. I'll find you."

Alex opened his door, and before he could close it, the cab shot off so fast the back door closed itself.