Keeper of the algorithm.., p.1
Keeper of the Algorithm (The Keeper Saga Book 1), page 1
Keeper of the Algorithm
H. Peter Alesso
Novels by
H. Peter Alesso
THE KEEPER SAGA
Keeper of the Algorithm © 2023
Keeper of the Secret © 2023
Keeper of the Truth © 2023
THE HENRY GALLANT SAGA
Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space © 2013
Lieutenant Henry Gallant © 2014
Henry Gallant and the Warrior © 2015
Commander Gallant © 2016
Captain Henry Gallant © 2019
Commodore Henry Gallant © 2020
Henry Gallant and the Great Ship © 2020
Rear Admiral Henry Gallant © 2021
Midshipman Henry Gallant at the Academy © 2022
Other Novels
Captain Hawkins © 2016
Dark Genius © 2017
Youngblood © 2018
Short Story Collection
All Androids Lie © 2022
KEEPER OF THE ALGORITHM
H. Peter Alesso
hpeteralesso.com
© 2023 H. Peter Alesso
This is a work of fiction. All characters, dialog, and events
portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance
to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means without prior permission in writing from
VSL Publications
Pleasanton, CA 94566
ISBN-13
Edition 1.00
∞
Deus ex Machina
versus
Diabolus ex Machina
SYNOPSIS
Once a misfit dropout, Mike now controls the fate of man versus machine
In a world where the boundaries between man and machine blur, your thoughts, emotions, and yearnings are no longer private. The confluence of biotech and infotech has given birth to the Algorithm—a force that predicts your every move and has the power to shape your deepest desire.
But when the Algorithm starts undermining human worth, many find themselves obsolete. Grappling with their waning relevance, they find solace in a new realm. They master the skills of a surreal virtual world that requires neither gravity nor light.
As technology's grip tightens, a haunting question emerges: Does anyone hold the reins of the omnipotent Algorithm?
Enter an unlikely hero—an aimless dropout who unwittingly finds himself at the nexus of power. Tall and lean, Mike has deep-set hazel eyes that often reflect his internal conflicts and dilemmas. His past is riddled with disappointment and insecurity.
Assuming another student’s ID in a crowded exam room, Mike's journey takes an unexpected turn when a stern figure declares, "I am Jacob Winters. Welcome to the AI career placement test. Today, we will discover which of you represents the pinnacle of human genius."
Delve into Keeper of the Algorithm to discover a future where destiny is written in code and domination is the ultimate prize.
For serious AI enthusiasts only!
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Outlier
Chapter 2 Twin
Chapter 3 Keeper
Chapter 4 Guise
Chapter 5 Assignment
Chapter 6 Clear Sailing
Chapter 7 Invisible Hand
Chapter 8 Implementation
Chapter 9 WormAI
Chapter 10 Clueless
Chapter 11 Cha-cha
Chapter 12 Breach
Chapter 13 Deep Dive
Chapter 14 Downhill
Chapter 15 Suspicion
Chapter 16 Covert Ops
Chapter 17 Surgery
Chapter 18 Ex Machina
Chapter 19 Shadows
Chapter 20 Crunch
Chapter 21 Healing
Chapter 22 Money
Chapter 23 Silk Road
Chapter 24 Firewall
Chapter 25 Mole
Chapter 26 Truth
Chapter 27 Enough
Chapter 28 Dangling Ove the Edge
Chapter 29 Diabolus ex Machina
Chapter 30 Dev Con II
Chapter 31 War Games
Chapter 32 Night Out
Chapter 33 Return Fire
Chapter 34 Hammer
Chapter 35 Dynamo
Chapter 36 Only Human
Chapter 37 Winner Takes All
Chapter 38 Bedfellows
Chapter 39 Keeper of the Secret
Chapter 40 Bewildering
From the Author
Coming Soon
Chapter 1
Outlier
Mike arrived early on a frosty Saturday morning in April to take an exam using another student’s ID, testifying to both his ability and flawed life choices.
He didn’t know Michael Stewart, nor did he care why he couldn’t take the test. Michael would get his desired 720 score, and Mike would bank his digital payment.
While he didn’t like cheating, it was a necessary source of income since he had burned his own career chances last year.
Tall and lean, Mike had deep-set hazel eyes that often reflected his internal thoughts and dilemmas. His hair was long and brown, and a lock often fell across his forehead. His tousled manner highlighted his youthful energy. He wore casual clothes, distinguishing him from the two hundred more polished students taking their seats.
A crisp bell rang.
Ting!
Inside the vast, echoing chamber of the exam room, there was an aura of palpable tension, a sensation of electricity in the air. The walls were adorned with timeworn wooden panels and faded photographs that seemed to tell the stories of past geniuses. Shafts of soft sunlight streamed through tall, arched windows, illuminating motes of dust dancing in the air.
Rows and rows of desks stretched across the room, each holding a prodigy. They sat, statues of concentration. Poised before their computer screens, the weight of their collective intellect pressed on the room.
Mike nervously swiped a lock of hair out of his eyes and sat awkwardly in his chair. His disheveled appearance differed from the room’s gravitas. But his bright, eager eyes revealed a deep passion and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He could feel over two hundred sets of eyes searching the room—an unspoken competitiveness among them. Each one knew the sacrifices, the late nights, and the insurmountable challenges they had overcome to get here.
There was an almost haunting silence, interrupted only by the occasional shuffle of feet or the barely audible sigh of anxiety. The room’s stillness was a testament to the magnitude of the moment—the calm before the storm of mental prowess that was about to be unleashed.
A stern-faced man stood at the front of the room. His voice resonated with a deep timbre, filling every crevice of the cavernous space.
“I am Jacob Winters, and I wish to congratulate you on competing in the Turing Institute’s AI Career Placement Examination.”
Jacob Winters exuded an aura of power, charisma, and sophistication. His sartorial choices reflected his personality—a sharp, tailored suit paired with a designer tie. In his late forties, he had a chiseled jawline, piercing grey eyes, and dark, immaculately groomed hair combed back. His entire physical demeanor screamed authority. He was acutely aware of the impression he made, using it to his advantage.
He said, “You are the most elite AI talent in the world. The top AI organizations are searching for their next Algorithm Keeper. Microsoft, Amazon, and Anthropoid, among others, have their sights set on you.”
Mike felt a rush of adrenaline mixed with anxiety and exhilaration. This was the crucible, the proving ground where futures were forged.
Whispers erupted. “I’ve got Google in the bag,” boasted a voice to Mike’s left.
His neighbor quipped, “Start-ups are the future. That’s where I’m heading.”
Though Mike had taken myriad exams under different identities, the weight of this one felt different. The world’s brightest were here, yet he felt an unshakable confidence. After all, he was good at what he did.
Winters resumed, “You have three hours. While you may employ any AI to aid you, I’d advise you to remain consistent. Mixing and matching—Bard, GPT, Llama—might muddy your answers.”
Mike planned to use DeepMind IV. It boasted the most recent neural net upgrades.
Winter’s final words echoed, “And beware! Your partnership with AI is under scrutiny as much as your prowess.”
Mike took a moment and closed his eyes. He allowed memories to cascade through his mind. The image of him being expelled from MIT for cheating emerged. Ironically, he hadn’t cheated. A student had approached him in the study hall and asked for help with a few questions. Mike reluctantly obliged. Later, when Mike realized the questions had turned up on the final exam, he said nothing. However, a teacher recognized that the student’s answers were similar to Mike’s and accused them of cheating.
The other student confessed but said that Mike was the one who stole the test.
Mike was expelled.
That he survived as an undesirable outcast was a testament to his resilience.
A bell interrupted him.
Ting!
Winters said, “You may begin.”
Mike felt a smile tug at the corner of his lips.
&
Mike opened the provided laptop and tapped Michael Stewart’s ID authentication pin against the touch screen. It automatically signed him in.
The first few questions were easy enough for him to rely on his eidetic memory. But soon, he became hesitant as more complex questions appeared. He put on his AI virtual glasses to meld with DeepMind and buckled down to solve the more intricate problems.
The glasses seamlessly synced with the laptop.
By shifting his eye’s focus and blinking, he could select options from the glasses’ virtual hologram.
He wanted to get Michael Stewart a top grade to receive his payment. However, he was encountering more difficulty as the test progressed.
He became stuck on one issue for a long time, but slowly, he coaxed DeepMind into developing a reasonable solution. Still, he wasn’t sure if it was right.
Over the next half hour, he began picking up speed. He was fascinated by the exam because it was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Yet he made good progress, restoring his confidence, until he hit a second complication. This question was so weird that he could not recall a single fact relating to solving it, even with his eidetic memory.
Again, he worked feverishly with his AI until a potential solution emerged.
Sighing, he continued.
Unfortunately, he encountered another perplexing problem that addressed extending NP-completeness. He saw failure looming ahead.
This might ruin Stewart’s chances and cost me my payment.
He tried multiple methods and procedures, but they all failed. Finally, he had an insight and began a solution, hoping for partial credit. With only seconds left, he took a wild guess and finished.
Mike put his glasses in his pocket. He wanted to leave, knowing that he not only cheated but might have also failed. But before he could move, he noticed security guards entering the room and taking positions around the area.
Winters said, “All students are to remain seated while the exam is scored.”
They received their grades, starting with the lowest. Each student touched their ID pin to the computer screen one by one, transferring the score. Their career assignment was included, and they were to report to work the next day.
Soon, all two hundred students stood up and left until Mike was the only one remaining.
Finally, Winters approached Mike and said, “Please come with me.”
As they walked, the luxury of the main room gave way to a more intimate corridor. Exquisite art pieces and relics punctuated it. It led them to a small alcove room, starkly contrasting the grandiosity outside. This room, however, had its charm—minimalist yet warm. The walls were a soft shade of cream. The subtle glow of a single table lamp casts a gentle shadow, creating a sense of discreet confidentiality. Despite its comforts, the room seemed charged with urgency and expectation.
Seated at a glass table was a young woman. Her presence contrasted with the room’s simplicity. Her poised demeanor showed strength, yet her eyes held a spark of spirit.
“This is my special assistant, Amber Hearst,” Winters introduced, his tone hinting at pride. Amber beamed with calm reassurance. The room seemed to brighten. But behind Amber’s composure, Mike could sense an underlying tension—a weight of responsibility she bore.
Amber said, “Congratulations, Michael Stewart, your score was five standard deviations from the mean. That makes you a 1 in a billion outlier.”
She smiled and offered her hand to congratulate him.
As he shook her hand, Mike squirmed and thought,
The only problem is . . . I’m not Michael Stewart.
Amber explained, “There were three Easter Eggs hidden within the exam. Two were formidable but known challenges. The third one I slipped in as a playful jest while drafting the test. I thought it was an unsolvable enigma, a mere diversion. But you’ve shattered that assumption.”
Winters’s stern visage broke into a radiant smile, his eyes twinkling with excitement. “Michael, your talents have impressed us and shown a rare promise. The Turing Institute will undoubtedly benefit from having you on board.”
Mike furrowed his brow as he processed the weight of their words. He looked nervously at the security guard. His voice was barely more than a whisper, “This is . . . overwhelming.”
Despite Mike’s protests, Amber swiftly initiated an identity verification procedure. The cold scanner grazed his retina, the pads captured the whorls of his palm, and the soft swab brushed his inner cheek. Within moments, the data was synthesized into a Turing Institute ID pin with Michael Stewart’s name.
As she replaced Mike’s old pin with the new Turing pin, Amber remarked with finality, “Your credentials have been updated into the mainframe. Starting tomorrow, you’ll wear a wrist monitor. It will continuously sync your biological information, creating a Digital Twin. It will follow you wherever you go to maintain a record in the government’s Human ID Database.”
Winters said, “The pin and the monitor will allow you to access every element of the Turing Institute’s research for the Algorithm.”
As the enormity of the situation began to dawn on him, Mike felt a cold shiver run down his spine. But before he could fully react, Winters’ firm handshake pulled him back to reality. “Welcome aboard, Michael. Tomorrow marks the beginning of your new journey.”
As Winters departed, Amber lingered, her eyes assessing Mike with curiosity and skepticism. “You might have fooled Winters and the system, but you don’t fool me,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Mike’s heart raced.
Does she know?
She continued, “Your knowledge . . . your abilities . . . it’s not just the result of academic study and an eidetic memory. There’s something exceptional and unique about you. I’ve seen it before.”
“In a mirror, perhaps?” he guessed.
She smiled. “I’ll be watching you as someone who knows what it’s like to walk on the edge.”
Their dynamic had now changed into a dance of possibility and caution.
As he exited the Institute, Mike thought,
I’ve outsmarted situations before, but this... have I ensnared myself in an irreversible trap?
The need to hack into the impregnable Human ID Database and erase everything raced through his mind.
That’s impossible!
Chapter 2
Twin
The door yielded to a gentle push, revealing an apartment awash in soft, dim amber light. The space felt like a realm caught between the old and the new. The high ceilings with ornate moldings whispered of a bygone era while state-of-the-art tech gadgets dotted the room. The walls were adorned with art—some abstract, some hauntingly realistic. Overflowing with a mélange of tomes, bookshelves stood like silent sentinels on either side of the room.
The sounds of a classical piano sonata floated through the air, contrasting with a faint hum and beep from a computer.
As Mike’s gaze swept across the room, it landed on Michael Stewart, a silhouette framed before a piano. He was seated in a sleek, modern wheelchair. The metallic sheen was coldly clinical against the warm, textured fabrics of the apartment. The sight was unexpected and disorienting.
Stewart's face showed signs of a tough life, even in the dim light. His deep-set eyes bore into Mike, reflecting perception and perhaps a hint of concern. His lips curled into a faint, welcoming smile, but the softening of the lines on his face revealed a vulnerability.
There was a pause, a heartbeat, and then Mike broke the silence.
"I didn’t know," he uttered, his voice laden with genuine surprise and a twinge of guilt.
With a grace that defied his physical constraints, Stewart maneuvered his wheelchair forward. "Many things aren’t evident over pixels and text," he responded.
Mike's initial shock began to ebb, replaced by a rising tide of curiosity and compassion.
Stewart’s voice conveyed his predicament. “I had a car accident and broke my spine, but I couldn’t get proper medical treatment without premium medical insurance. That’s why I needed you to take my place and pass the exam with top grades.”
Mike took a moment to process. He noticed a red envelope lying on the piano marked ‘final notice.’ He said, “I see. So, if you secured a job offer, it would grant you the necessary medical coverage. Later, you could fabricate an accident scenario to qualify for the required surgery."
