“Confessions” Serial, Tech Wars 19
Zoltan considered his options. Professor Arthur Erskine and the girl were either hiding out somewhere in Phoenix, possibly driving to another destination or maybe flying in another plane to their final destination. Of the three, he felt he had the best chance with another plane, providing they hadn’t boarded a regular commercial jet. He had his men posing as customs officials checking on all private flights leaving Phoenix within an hour or two of the Professor’s arrival from Alaska. Once again, they got lucky and found that an elderly man and a young woman had flown out of Phoenix headed for Cape Town, South Africa.
Not that it really helped. The couple would disappear in Cape Town long before any of his men would be able to catch up with them. Then he had an idea. A couple of years previously he had done a deal with a criminal in Johannesburg who had supplied him with stolen microchips and other computer accessories. He called the man, a fellow Hungarian, Bolaz, who had been in South Africa for many years. He explained that he needed someone in Cape Town to check on two passengers arriving in a private jet from Phoenix, Arizona and follow them to their destination.
Bolaz replied that he had good connections in Cape Town that would save the two-hour flight from Jo’burg. He immediately called his connection and arranged for the services of a wheelman that mostly drove getaway cars for bank robberies. He would go to the private jet section of Cape Town airport, where Bolaz had an inside man who assisted with the movement of the Hungarian’s stolen goods.
The wheelman, Freddie September, established that a flight from Phoenix was due in five hours’ time. It was the only flight from the US that day so it was pretty certain that the couple Zoltan was tracking would be on it. After a long wait, Freddie saw an elderly man and a young woman leave the jet from Phoenix and climb into a waiting car. He was in his own vehicle, a non-descript old Toyota which, despite its appearance, had a powerful new engine and could outrun most cars on the road.
• • •
Andy and Sally met the Professor and Amanda at Cape Town airport. After introducing Sally to the others, they piled into Andy’s vehicle and headed for Hout Bay. Both Andy and Sally looked around as their passengers climbed into the car. Freddie was parked in a parking area just outside the privacy of the private jet section. He still had a clear view of the old man and the girl.
“Many thanks for arranging my removal from the farm. I can’t wait to meet this person whom you say has taken AI to another level.”
Andy replied enthusiastically, “Not just AI but the whole concept of computing. It’s a paradigm shift that simplifies the entire operation of using a computer as well as taking AI a big step closer to its desired purpose.”
Arthur sighed. “Sadly, I’ve heard plenty of similar claims before … but if it’s the real deal …”
Sally broke in. “I had exactly the same reaction, Professor. I’ve been in IT all my working life and the claim that Peter Warren had made a significant breakthrough, when the major corporations were spending billions with limited success, seemed totally unreal to me too. Until now!”
Andy chipped in. “OK, enough with the promoting. You’ll shortly be meeting Peter who, once he heard your name, agreed to postpone his return to his base for a few days, He’ll want you to do some basic preliminary study of the material, then give you a briefing. After which he’ll show you the current model and you can play with it until you’re satisfied that ExoBrain takes computing to a new level.”
Andy checked in his rearview mirror for any sign of a tail. Freddie was simply too good.
Arthur nodded. “Sounds amazing. Much as I’m admiring the scenery, can we go a little faster!”
They laughed as Andy obligingly pressed further down on the accelerator.
• • •
Freddie easily followed Andy and his passengers over Constantia Nek at the top of the mountain range which spreads from Table Mountain towards Cape Point and down the winding pass to Hout Bay. Not far from the bottom of the pass was the grand old Cape Dutch mansion which Jauncey had chosen as his headquarters. When Andy turned into the driveway of the mansion, Freddie chuckled and drove past. He called his boss on his cell and simply said, “Got ’em.”
• • •
After their debacle with their attempt to locate Brett and Sandy, some more of Johannsen’s people in Cape Town had tracked down the former receptionist for Dr. Kleinschmidt, an attractive woman in her thirties with a husband and two children. On the pretext of offering her a new job, they had lured her to a café, where they spelled out the real reason for speaking with her. They demanded information on the American couple who both recently had plastic surgery with the doctor. When she refused, they told her bluntly that her husband and kids would meet with a terrible accident if she didn’t comply.
Terrified, she then told them what she knew, which wasn’t much. The couple had arrived, given their names and shown their passports. The doctor, however, had told her that their identities were probably false and that he was going to give them new appearances for which they would receive another set of passports with names to match. The men pressed her for any information on where they were going, once they were finished with the treatment. Reluctantly, she admitted that she had overheard them telling the doctor that they would be staying with friends in Hout Bay, but no address was mentioned.
The men warned her not to tell anyone about their chat with her. Otherwise, she and the rest of her family would be in danger again. They left, frustrated. She was clearly telling the truth as she was too scared not to say whatever she knew. As the men drove away, they felt at least they had narrowed down the search to a small area and a young American couple would probably be noticed by a storekeeper or restaurateur. It was not a place that overflowed with tourists. It was beautiful for a drive along the coast but a long way from the city of Cape Town. It was more a residential area for locals, so the men had reason to believe they could get lucky.
• • •
As soon as Arthur and Amanda arrived at the house, Jauncey asked the Professor if he were up to an initial meeting with Peter Warren right away. Peter was pressed for time and needed to get back to his own team as they were preparing for the release of the next model of ExoBrain, followed by a major launch. Arthur did feel tired but immediately agreed to have at least an introductory meeting with Peter.
Peter was relaxing in the warm air and waiting outside on the stoep (patio) overlooking the magnificent gardens. He greatly enjoyed the proliferation of African flora. Arthur stepped forward and the men shook hands warmly. Once they were seated and Arthur had accepted an offer of coffee and sandwiches, the two IT gurus got down to business.
“Let me be blunt, Mr. Warren. I’ve just flown many thousands of miles, not only to see you but also to escape from a bunch of unpleasant people who want to steal my latest development of a program to speed up the entire Supply Chain industry. I’ve not been entirely happy with the program myself. I’m led to believe that you have uncovered a flaw in the most basic premise of computing which affects the entire industry. It’s perhaps why I’m feeling that there’s something missing. But I have to say that I’m somewhat skeptical that the flaw has been found.”
Peter nodded and thought for a moment. “I want you to study the Computing the ExoWay videos as well as various documents, after which I’ll give you what we call the Confidential Technical Briefing. This can wait until tomorrow after you’ve rested. Let me give you a very brief insight into what I’ve found to be the inherent flaw in computing since the very beginning, going back to Alan Turing and his work on the German Enigma code, over seventy years ago.”
Arthur smiled. “Sounds like a good place to start.”
“OK … there are two major ways or systems, if you like, to approach any technical problem. The first, which we call One-to-Many, is that which is most commonly used for the majority of technical developments. It works well enough under most circumstances, but it has its limitations. It can be defined as follows. “A machine in which One of something works with Many of something else in a manner that is intrinsically hierarchical and is intrinsically limited. An example of this would be a CD player – One CD Player and Many CDs read and played by it. Importantly, data from a One-to-Many machine can’t be used by another One-to-Many machine without transformation. A CD player cannot play a tape. Transferring from one machine to another requires a translator.”
Arthur nodded. “This One-to-Many is one of the great bugbears of the computer industry, So what’s this other system?”
Peter smiled. “The Any-to-Any – as I’ve said, there’re only a few examples but the closest to our industry is the transistor. Linked together in various ways, transistors can form circuits that are the basis of every type of digital logic – right to CPUs that power our modern PCs and servers. They require total flexibility and immense power. Outside of electronics, other Any-to-Any examples are our own DNA and, curiously, the game of Lego. Every Lego brick is unique and yet it fits into every other Lego brick ever made, making it an incredibly popular and versatile game … but key to all of this, the other vitally important Any-to-Any machine is our mind. Therefore, it makes sense that if we want to have a computing machine that comes closest to thinking like a human thinks, an Any-to-Any machine is the answer – which is what we have developed with ExoTech.”
“Good grief,” Arthur responded. “That’s a whole lot to take in.”
Peter nodded and spread his hands wide. “That’s all I’m going to tell you for now. Jauncey will let you have the videos and necessary documents to absorb before I give you the Confidential Technical Briefing. After that you should be able to decide if this will help you.”
Peter stood up and left the room, while Arthur sipped his coffee and thought hard about the amazing data Peter had just given him.
An ExoTech Ltd shareholder, Chris is currently authoring two of the four books to be published the day ExoBrain launches and has helped to create ExoBrain’s introductory video to the Confidential Technical Briefing. Chris has spent his working life in the film and television industry, starting with BBC Television in London, then ATV in Birmingham becoming, at the time, the youngest Studio Manager in Britain.
Later, in South Africa, he wrote and directed film and TV commercials, having four South African entries at the Cannes Advertising Festival. After a number of years of writing and directing or producing documentaries (eight international awards) and corporate videos, he concentrated on writing feature film screenplays (five screened) and television series (seven screened). He has a novel, ”Pursuit of Treachery,” with a literary agent and is currently obtaining finance for an action adventure feature film he has written and is co-producing. He is a published poet and has given many readings.