Chapter 3: #17, Highway of the People, Shanghai, China

Colonel Sun of the People's Army looked at the printouts for the twentieth time this morning.

"You are sure of this?" he asked Fa Lao-Sung Fa, the project leader on the artificial intelligence project, code named Chaing.

"Oh yes, Colonel. He will be ready for release into the internet by February." Chaing was close to completion. He needed only a few minor tweaks in his error handling routines – those that would reset his 'thinking' after an unexpected development. The Chaing project was already a 'he.' It was interesting to 'talk' to him on the mainframe.

"Your first test will be... ?" asked the Colonel.

"As discussed," said Fa. "The Americans still do not have adequate protection of their power grid. The Canadians even more so. We will shut down the Niagara electric generating company. It will be staged to coincide with an electrical storm. We will have to wait for that event. Simultaneously, we will shut down the electrical system from Montreal to Detroit to Boston to Washington, D.C. It will take them at least a week to recover."

"And our investment in American bonds and securities will suffer, yes?" This was addressed to Ms. Xeng Dun-Wa, the leader of the financial element of this attack.

"Yes, we estimate short term losses of over two billion dollars," she explained. "However, we will be completely hedged. A hedge is insurance, in effect, covering all those investments, even the bonds. Those hedges will be closed out within the month, and then we let the underlying investments return to previous levels. We make a short term profit, probably exceeding our losses, and then the losses disappear as the U.S. economy reverses its setback. Nothing happens to us, while the U.S. suffers." She was proud of the outcome.

"Can we do nothing to avenge the losses we suffered in 2007 when the largest American banks swindled us?" asked Colonel Sun.

"We can turn loose Chaing on their computers; forcing them to buy as the prices fall, and then forcing them to sell at the market's lowest point," said Ms. Xeng, with a trace of a smile. "That will cost them heavily. Perhaps it will cause the largest of them all, America Bank, to be forced out of business. The losses to them all will be catastrophic."

"Good," he said. "Do so. See that you do not fail, in this. This is an important blow for the People."

"Yes, sir," said Ms. Xeng.

"Yes, sir," said Mr. Fa.