Amazon
The Horton Library
Amazon
Createspace
Category:
Action/Thriller
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
ISBN-10: 1938961579
Copyright: 2013
ISBN-13: 9781938961571
Price: $3.99 (eBook)
Nick Reynolds must find whatever means he can, even alien technology, to prevent a massive cyber attack that will cripple the United States, and trigger an apocalypse.
CYBERSP.CE is a fast-paced, sci-fi espionage story, with ingredients of international intrigue, artificial intelligence, action, suspense, and romance. Set mostly in the Nevada desert, Cybersp.ce includes cyber warfare between nation states, the fantastic virtual world of an alien computer, and the hunt for one of the world's greatest spies.
From inside their home located outside the small town of Corona, New Mexico in 1947, a young boy and his parents, while watching a freak lightning storm, hear a loud crash, after young Henry Summers witnesses an alien spacecraft falling from the sky.
Many years later, Nick Reynolds is appointed as the head of a Cyber Command taskforce established to deal with the increasing cyber warfare threat from China. Soon afterwards a new, disturbing type of cyber attack emerges, just as Nick learns that an imminent massive Chinese cyber attack against the United States infrastructure might be imminent. When the evidence suggests that the threat is real and that the attack will kill millions of people, Nick discovers that his team will not have enough time or the technical resources to stop the incredibly advanced attack when it comes.
Nick soon learns of another top-secret project, however, one which might offer a way to stop the attack and spare the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Dr. Henry Summers works with his scientist daughter, Kate, inside Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. After years of trying to reverse-engineer an alien spacecraft, the team has a breakthrough when they discover how to interface with an alien ship's computer, by using a cybernetic helmet to enter a fantastic, virtual world.
Excerpt
Prologue
July 2, 1947-Corona, New Mexico
It was a storm that would forever change the course of human destiny. The small, curly-haired boy sat in anticipation on the edge of an old, olive-colored, chair. From his seat in front of a large, living room window, he peered out into the night, gazing in awe at the fierce displays of lightning, which frequently appeared in stark contrast to the blackness of the dark, western sky. Many of the vengeful flashes reached for the ground, while other, multi-forked lightning bolts stretched across the sinister sky as far as the eye could see. Henry's parents had long ago abandoned any hope of keeping the curious boy away from the window completely during such storms, so they had struck a compromise…the six-year old would sit in a chair well away from the window, yet close enough that he still maintained a commanding view.
While Henry took in the fabulous fireworks that lit up the night sky outside their home, his parents went about their daily routine, seemingly oblivious to the commotion outside. His father sat back in his recliner and quietly read War of the Worlds, while his mother busily worked to finish a sweater she’d been knitting for over a month.
“Wow!” Henry yelled out, pointing towards the window. “That one had like five forks, and it was huge!” The boy’s eyes lit up, wide with wonder as a thunderous boom reverberated throughout the house. Jake Summers looked at his son and smiled, fondly remembering a time when, many years earlier, he had been the little boy sitting by a window, wondering at the awesome, raw power of nature on display.
The flashes of lightning and the booming thunder continued to intensify as Henry watched the ferocious storm come closer and closer. Two hundred yards away from the house, several trees stood on top of a tall hill. The boy watched closely in anticipation, expecting that the lightning would at any moment strike one of them.
Suddenly, he saw it; an object, lit up by the abundant lightning that surrounded it, that seemed to be floating quietly above the tree line. In the brief seconds during which it had been illuminated, the object had appeared to be a round, metallic craft of some sort. The lightning quickly disappeared, however, immediately plunging the sky back into darkness so that he could not be certain what he had seen. He continued looking toward the tree line, hoping to catch another glimpse of the object during the next flash of lightning.
Suddenly, there was another huge flash. BANG! The loud noise sounded like a small explosion. All three of them had heard it, and Jake Summers wasted no time getting over to the window, followed closely by his wife. By the time he arrived next to little Henry, however, the darkness had once more enveloped everything.
“Henry, what happened? Did you see anything?”
“Yes, sir! I was watching, waiting to see if the lightning was going to strike any of them trees on that hill over there, when the lightning lit up the sky all around, and I saw something over the tops of the trees. I was trying to see it better when lightning struck again and hit it! I was—”
BOOM. A second explosion suddenly echoed through the night, except this one shook the house violently.
“Henry, listen to me, this is important. This ‘object’ you saw, was it an airplane? If it was, that sound we heard just now could have been the plane crashing; somebody could have been hurt! Was it an airplane, son?”
“No—maybe—I’m not sure, Dad. Whatever it was, it was big, really, really, big! It didn’t really look like an airplane though; it looked more like one of those flying saucer things the guy in the papers said he saw last week.”
“Okay, son, thank you.” Jake then turned to his wife. “I’ve got to go see if anyone’s hurt, sweetheart, in case it was a plane. I should be back in a little while.”
“Please don’t go out there, Jake!” his wife pleaded. “That’s a terrible storm out there tonight. It’s one of the worst that we’ve had in years!” Jake stood next to the window for several moments and looked out, saying nothing for several minutes.
“Look out there, you see?" he asked finally. "The storm’s already passed over us.” Another flash of lightning flashed in the distance, followed several seconds later by distant thunder. “Well, almost. Listen, Liz, I’ll be fine. If anyone survived the crash, we need to try to help them.”
Elizabeth Summers looked out the window and listened for several moments before replying. “Okay, Jake, I think you might be right. It sounds like the storm’s nearly passed.”
Jake picked up his keys and walked towards the door, with little Henry following close behind.
“Take me with you, Daddy, please! I’ve never seen an airplane up close before, please!”
“No, Henry. If a plane has crashed and people are hurt, I don’t want you to see anything bad.”
“Please, Daddy, please!” Jake and Elizabeth exchanged glances, knowing that Jake was right; they had no idea what to expect out there. Yet, the boy was getting older and Jake might need his help. Besides, he wanted to try to find a way to appease the boy’s excitement.
“Tell you what, Henry, why don’t you and your mother both come with me? If someone is injured out there, maybe her training as a nurse will come in handy. But I insist that regardless of what we find, you stay put in the truck and do exactly what we tell you. Can you do that, Henry?”
“Yes, sir, I will, I promise!” Henry turned to his mother, preparing his most pitiful, pleading face, the one with the really sad eyes. “Can we go Mommy, please?” She looked at her husband with a grimace, before looking back at Henry. She let out a sigh and smiled.
“Yeah, okay, Henry. It sounds like the lightning’s stopped completely now. Let’s go check it out. Remember though, you must stay in the truck like your father said, and you will do exactly as we tell you, no complaining or whining, understood?”
“Yes, ma’am!” answered Henry, already bouncing toward the door.
The small family had a difficult time finding the spot where the craft had crashed to the Earth. They drove all around the hill with the trees, but it was still dark out, and the rain made visibility poor. They circled the area several times and were about to give up their search when they suddenly spotted a series of flashing, multi-colored lights off in the distance, coming from behind another hill. The location was several miles from where Henry had seen something just before it was struck by lightning.
As they made their way toward the lights, the object slowly came into view. Two things soon became evident to Jake Summers. First, whatever the thing was that had crashed near his home, it was enormous, much larger than he had expected. He had thought Henry might be exaggerating, but he could now see that his son had not told the half of it. Second, the craft was definitely not an airplane, but more like what Henry had described; one of the flying saucers he had recently read about in the newspaper.
Jake decided to try to find a better vantage point, and to look for survivors. He suspected that the craft could be an experimental, military aircraft of some sort. After a few minutes, they finally arrived at a spot that overlooked the large field where the craft had crashed. Jake drove up to the edge of the field where they could get the best view. All three of them sat there, speechless. They were surprised to see that not one craft, but two, had crashed in the large field. The larger craft, the one they had seen first, appeared to be out of commission, but still mostly intact. The second, smaller craft had sustained heavy damage and now lay in many pieces. Before them, spread out over the landscape as far as the eye could see, was metallic-looking wreckage. A large section of the smaller, badly damaged craft lay intact in the field a hundred yards from them. Brush was burning in orange flames all around the crash site. About that time the clouds began to part and a full moon revealed itself, bathing the entire scene with enough light that they could now clearly see the reflective, metallic substance, which was strewn all over the field.
“We’ve got to get back to the house and call the army base in Roswell,” Jake said, pointing to something on the ground close by. Henry looked around on the ground, following his father’s finger until he saw it. His eyes widened when he saw, less than twenty-five yards from them, what appeared to be a small, dead person lying lifeless on the ground. What caused the most excitement, however, was the fact that once he'd drawn closer to it, he could see clearly that it wasn’t human.
Chapter 1
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes…”
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address
Present Day-Fort Meade, Maryland
“This is a special Cox News Alert. If you are just now joining us this morning, we have some important, late-breaking news this hour. Last night, Cox News learned from an anonymous source within the U.S. Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland that two major cyber attacks took place yesterday against the United States. Less than one hour ago, we contacted Cyber Command and they were able to confirm for Cox News that two attacks did indeed occur, although officials there refused to elaborate. Both cyber attacks are strongly suspected to have been state-sponsored attacks.
“According to the source, one of yesterday's assaults was launched against a specific group of computers at the United States Department of Defense. The DOD attack specifically targeted a electronic listing that contained the location of all intercontinental ballistic missile launch sites situated across the United States, along with a listing of all United States Navy ships that regularly carry nuclear armaments. This incursion has already been described by some, as the worst breach of military security since the Cold War
“In the second attack, which occurred at exactly the same time as the first, the attackers broke into a computer system at the U.S. Department of Energy and stole detailed data, plans, and schematics for the facilities and the computer systems at no fewer than fifty nuclear power plants scattered across the country. That means the intruders now have detailed information on nearly half of the hundred or so nuclear power plants built across the United States from Seattle down to Florida. With the data they stole, the people or entity responsible could conceivably shut down nuclear power plants, damage systems, trigger false alarms, and possibly even cause some or all of the reactors in a plant to melt down.
“While Cyber Command refused to provide any specifics about the attacks, our source told us that yesterday's cyber attacks against the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy were later traced back to locations inside of the People's Republic of China. While the Chinese government vehemently denies having anything to do with yesterday's attacks and offers to do what it can to help bring the perpetuators to justice, it seems clear to everyone at Cyber Command that these are only empty assurances.
“Indeed, yesterday's cyber attacks will be added to a long list of successful incursions against government and civilian agencies within the United States over the last decade that have been attributed to the Chinese. Recent cyber attacks have become increasingly effective, and sources within the intelligence community as well as the military have become very concerned about the possible theft of top secret data on subjects ranging from advanced weapons technologies and military battle plans, to data on the civilian power grid, water systems, and transportation systems.
“To add to the growing concern over yesterday's attacks, there has been a persistent rumor circulating around the Internet over recent months warning the United States that China's People’s Liberation Army’s agency for cyber warfare, the Online Blue Army, has been busy stealing sensitive U.S. military data for quite some time in preparation for what could be a massive, preemptive strike against the United States. The Online Blue Army has allegedly been seeking data related to high tech, cutting-edge weapons technology like the futuristic rail-gun and assorted particle beam weapons.
“According to the warning, the Online Blue Army recently began gathering intel on the U.S. civilian infrastructure as well so that in the event of a war between China and the United States, by crippling the U.S. civilian infrastructure, the Online Blue Army would make winning an all out war against America a much simpler task. When asked to speculate about whether the Chinese could indeed be preparing to launch a preemptive strike in an all-out military campaign against America, two military analysts we talked to suggested it would make sense for the Chinese to prepare such a plan, even if they never intended to implement it. The analysts pointed out that whether over the long-running dispute regarding Taiwan or the struggle for regional and global influence, particularly in the Pacific Rim, the United States and China often find themselves at odds with one another.
“Regardless of whether China is planning a preemptive attack or not, analysts have begun warning the government and the American people that any future conflicts with other nation states like China will be fought on two major fronts, on the battlefield and in cyber space.
“This is definitely something we will be keeping our eye on, and we will bring you breaking news as it happens.
“In other news… a tragic story this morning about a teenage boy, who was accidentally shot to death last night by his own father. The boy’s father, a Vietnamese immigrant, had been living in fear after hearing and reading about the growing violence and mayhem being committed in his neighborhood by Mexican gangs. As a precaution, he had positioned a shotgun next to his bed in the event of a home invasion. His son, who the father did not know had snuck out through a window earlier last night to see his girlfriend, had decided to re-enter through the front door after the parents had gone to bed. The boy inadvertently triggered the door alarm upon reentering the home. The father, awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of the alarm, heard someone entering the house and, fearing a home invasion, fired at the supposed intruder, instantly killing his son instead…” CLICK.
|
