Free Technosis: The Kensington Virus by Morgan Bell Page A

and the officer who had been asking questions raised his hand.
    “Yes?”
    “Why did you discontinue development of that virus?”
    “Because it did everything we wanted it to do. We started focusing on developing variants. Which is why, we believe, the current virus was launched by one of the former developers either here, in the European Union, or Russia. We have had unprecedented levels of cooperation by foreign security services on this and they are running down their assets to determine who would have the capabilities to create this particular virus. Our own internal reviews suggest that there was a common developer who was involved in all three development groups.”
    “That’s impossible,” the general exploded, and the room filled with muttering.
    Assistant Director Morrison was silent until the uproar subsided. “Our country has, since President Bill Clinton, had a policy of open exchanges, sales and transfers for military technologies with our partners and our enemies. Prior to him, such exchanges occurred but away from public scrutiny. All agencies released limited security development notices to reduce the expense of maintaining mole assets in the others’ camps. But the teams themselves should not have a common member. What we are finding is that we, Russia and the EU each have a missing link in our development teams. While we are exploring the possibility, there were three such people who formed a cell group. Our Department of O.I. (Outrageous Improbabilities) suggests that one person could have been in all three departments. That they could have created profiles, achieved security clearance and then erased themselves from all records and from the individual memories of colleagues and superiors. As improbable as that may seem, our experience with O.I. predictions is that the more outrageous they are, the more likely they are correct.”
    The hand went up again. Director Morrison ignored it.
    “We know that based on lex parsimoniae, or Ockham’s Razor, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions and the greatest simplicity is the one we should test first. However, where it involves governments and technologies, we find O.I.’s premise of Q.I. (Quantum Irrationality) more accurately models the circumstances necessary to create these outcomes. Based on that we are, of course, pursuing both theories. We are looking for three suspects and one suspect who engineered the present virus.”
    “What is the CIA’s public side planning to do?” the general asked.
    Assistant Director Morrison cleared his throat and his voice hit some very disconcerting notes when he next spoke. “We are following the administration’s policy of obfuscation, outright lies and show trials. We expect to make half a dozen indiscriminate arrests over the next month, claim the virus was developed by a discontented member of the general public and that it has mutated from its intended form to its present virulent state. The president will make a series of bombastic and poorly informed public condemnations of the parties arrested. Most of them will be killed in prison and the one or two that survive the experience will clear their names after ten or twenty years, receive compensation and sell their story rights to entertainment companies. We believe this will be the policy in the EU and Russia as well.”
    “Side show operations aside, we have been working with the NSA to track down the one we believe to be all three and they have developed some intel that we believe may identify our suspect.”
    Assistant Director Morrison disconnected the microphone and handed it to the woman sitting to his left.
    The woman who stood up was tall, nearly half a head taller than Assistant Director Morrison, and was wearing a light blue turtle neck and khaki pants. She clipped the microphone to her turtle neck and stepped forward to address the assembled soldiers.
    “I’m Janelle Foster, Cyber Ops Director for the NSA. I’ve been working with all