Binary code: Mystery number one

– Good afternoon, Yuri Vasilyevich!" Alexander Ivanovich greeted him.

– Oh-oh, what people! Good afternoon, Alexander Ivanovich! I've been waiting for you, waiting for you," he said, coming up to him, and they embraced, shaking hands firmly. – Sit down.

On the wall of the office was a huge panel on which cells showed images from surveillance cameras, including the entire path that Rutra and Alexander Ivanovich had traveled, several guard posts with similar screens, and a wide variety of surface views, from offices and building facades to areas of forest, tundra, and space.

– Here, meet him," said Alexander Ivanovich and pointed at Rutra. – Rutra Tigrovich Paskhov, that's him.

Yuri Vasilyevich smiled, looked intently at Rutra and said:

– What, was it illegal?

– I was," Ruthra replied.

– Under what last name? Or did you like that one and decided to keep it? Same first name, middle name?

Ruthra was silent. He had learned a lot over the years, namely that the system he was in was not what ordinary citizens thought of it, nor what they thought of the intelligence services. He was in a system where you had to hide the truth even from yourself. Sometimes he was so into the role that it seemed to him that he was the man whose legend he wore. Yuri Vasilyevich was still a stranger to him. Besides, this whole incident could have been another test.

Ruthra made a surprised face as if he didn't know what he was talking about.

– I realize you're keeping your mouth shut for security reasons. I realize it's the name that doesn't match, I've got an eye for it. It's clear that it doesn't match your origins. But why take a middle name like that? – Yuri Vasilyevich either inquired or questioned.

Rutra was surprised.

– That's the first time I've ever heard that.

– I see, school. The fact that you're here says a lot, but I'm afraid to disappoint you. You think you're gonna do here what you did there?

– Clearly not.

– That task is no less important now.

– What did I do before? – Ruthra asked bravely, though he was afraid in his heart.

It was the same as saying that Yuri Vasilyevich was not in command of the situation. Yuri Vasilyevich had the rank of colonel, which was clear from the photograph hanging on the wall. On it he was standing in an embrace with the president, which spoke of his high status. Alexander Ivanovich defused the situation:

– Why don't we have tea, Yuri Vasilyevich? He's a little "stuck"… I'll tell you all about it later.

Yuri Vasilyevich stood up, opened the safe, disguised by a photograph, and took out a bottle of cognac with Churchill's picture on it. "To drink tea" in the circle of especially gifted specialists meant to drink something stronger.

In another photo, Yuri Vasilyevich was young. He was sitting at a table in the company of border guards. Rutra's experienced eye noticed that they were photographed against the background of a map of Transcaucasia.

Yuri Vasilyevich took out a plate of sliced sausage and pickles, olives, and several bottles of Silver Key mineral water from the refrigerator.

– What you like," he said and showed the bottles to Alexander Ivanovich.

– Was it a present from him? – Alexander Ivanovich asked.

– From himself!

Rutra did not understand who they meant, but judging by their meaningful look, the cognac was given either by Churchill himself or by the man in the photo. Yuri Vasilyevich uncorked the bottle, poured it into crystal shot glasses, raised his own and said:

– Well, just our way.

They clinked glasses and drank. "Cleanly our way" meant that they drank cognac like vodka – no one was going to be ceremonious with the glasses.

They talked about the various operations they had participated in, but Rutra knew only the name of the places and the names of foreign and domestic officials. He was knowledgeable enough to keep up a conversation, which was what the older generation liked. A lot of things were new to him, though.

After the third Alexander Ivanovich said with a smile that he had had enough and that now Rutra would drink for him. Rutra didn't know what secret meaning he put into these words, but he realized that the old man obviously didn't mean the feast.

Yuri Vasilyevich held out the bottle and said:

– Come on, dose up! One more and I'll tell you about your new role.

After thinking for a bit, Ruthra said:

– It's hard for me to know whether to accept or refuse. After all, I have been invited to serve.

He had been through so many different tests so many times that he had developed a reflex, and so he decided to act openly.

– I realize that you've been abroad for a long time. I can't forget myself when I was in that situation, but remember: if a man doesn't drink even a shot, he's either an alcoholic or a traitor," Yuri smirked. – So take your pick.

Rutra liked brandy. He raised his shot glass.

After "tea" Yuri Vasilyevich invited them to the hall. On the way, Alexander Ivanovich said to Rutra:

– I helped you because I have plans for you.

He said this very sadly; it was obvious that he was having a hard time. Judging by the fact that Alexander Ivanovich was already quite old, Rutra realized that he would need some help.

– Goodbye, I'll go," said Alexander Ivanovich.

They shook hands, hugged Yuri Vasilyevich, and he went to the door, but not the one they had entered. Rutra watched him until Yuri Vasilyevich called out to him:

– Rutra Tigrovich, since we have met, I will explain one rule adopted in the center: the head of the center can address his subordinates as "you". The staff – only "you". Among ourselves – as the relationship develops. We have to get used to the servant attitude, so as not to give ourselves away among civilians. Although we're supposed to be a civilian service, just like the CIA. I hope you know what I mean.

– It's clear," Ruthra replied calmly.

– Come on then, I'll show your post.

He took him to the upper tier, where there was one office, all glass, from which the entire hall was visible. It was higher than the hall, and from there everyone could be monitored. Ruthra noticed that the sparse screens were showing some sort of images. Mostly they had similar diagrams on them. Ruthra took a closer look. Most of the computers in the room did indeed have diagrams on them. There were a few similar screens in his office, with diagrams on them as well.

– What is it? – Ruthra asked.

– What's the point of the world right now, you know? The world is not the same anymore, and you know very well that nobody wants to kill anybody. Everybody wants peace, everybody wants to be rich, enjoy life. Everyone has realized that there is no point in bombing and destroying each other, because, firstly, it will be worse for yourself, secondly, there is no guarantee that you will destroy someone, and you will remain intact, and thirdly, no one wants to take risks. Even if there's solid intel. Fourth, even if you destroy someone, you destroy a potential client. Everyone wants to do business, go out, get drunk, enjoy life, so now the war is here! – And he poked at the monitor.

– What is it? – Ruthra asked.

– This, my dear, is the pulse of the planet.

– What's the pulse of the planet?

– This chart shows what is happening, where and when, and most importantly, for how much. This is one of the main parts of our center's purpose – to keep track of not only who, what and where is doing or intending to do what, but also what is being done. Really doing. Where and from where finances, raw materials, materials and, most importantly, intellectual capital flow. Our center receives information from all resources that collect data. All the intelligence agencies, all over the world. We're interested in everything. Including personal data of social network users, basic financial and economic indicators of firms, corporations, countries as a whole. Also the usual spy data, which has always been of interest to spies, information of special importance. As you know, of course, information of special importance should include information in the field of military, foreign policy, economic, scientific and technical, intelligence and operational and investigative activities. We are interested not only in hidden, secret transactions, but also in open ones, for example, stock exchange transactions. As you realized, there are stock exchange terminals here. Are you surprised? You thought this was some kind of secret center you imagined? That's the thing, insider information is that kind of secret information. Well, for example, let's say a ship carrying a highly toxic chemical material is hijacked by terrorists and is headed to, say, the UK. It's a three-stage operation. The first is an intelligence and counterintelligence operation, which means knowing about it in advance. The second is infiltrate and capture. But you'll be working on the third stage. That is to deal with the consequences of such events yourself.

– I don't get it," Ruthra said, raising his eyebrows upward.

– Nobody knows how they do it. I mean, some homegrown terrorists could not, for example, organize serious terrorist attacks. You understand that for the average person they can bypass our service, but only a highly organized special service can really stand up to us. And so people live, work, rest, plan something and at some point they learn that a ship has been seized and is carrying chemical weapons. Let's say the ship arrived in port today. What will start happening there when people learn that there is a threat of explosion and contamination? Fuss, panic, flight of capital, flight of people. What happens to the stock market in this country? It will start to fall, the economy will collapse. What are the consequences? The country will become poorer, will not be able, for example, to finance scientific research and, as a consequence, in ten years it will fall hopelessly behind. And if someone prepared in advance, i.e. organized to make the shares get cheaper, then he can buy up half of the country. I'm exaggerating a little bit. But you know what I mean, don't you? There used to be total opposition. If a country's power was undermined, it was by direct "undermining." Simply put, it used to be a real bomb, now it's an information bomb. Of course, I am exaggerating a bit, but the general mechanism is as follows. But the most interesting and the most secret is not this information, not how it is obtained, not even the center itself and its existence at all!

Yuri Vasilyevich fell silent and looked at Rutra carefully.

– Why? – Ruthra asked, running through a hundred options in his head.

Yuri Vasilyevich took Rutra by the edge of his collar and quietly, as if it were an incantation, said:

– All this information comes here officially, openly. We don't spy on anyone, we don't infiltrate anywhere, we don't bribe anyone, we don't break ciphers and codes, we don't steal anything. Everything is handed over to us voluntarily. This is a center for tracking those who are tracking everyone according to their structural purpose. In this center, all intelligence and intelligence agencies are united. Only they don't know it themselves. They don't know that the information they gather comes here. They do not know that there is a center where information from all the world's services is processed, whether they are secret spy services or official civilian services. As our German colleague likes to say, "from the maternity hospital to the funeral parlor." Everything, everything, everything. You see why no one can know about us? And I'll tell you something else. This will come as a surprise to you.

The colonel fell silent again.

– What?" Ruthra asked quietly.

– We are supranational. We are not subordinate to the Russian government. We are not subordinate to anyone at all and could be in any country. Everyone is subordinate to us. Our center is the control center of all significant intelligence services, globally, and through them all governments. All the top leaders of intelligence agencies and secret governments are one group. The center has many branches and representative offices. The main ones are the official secret agencies of the countries themselves. That, my friend, is how our glorious world works now. Information no longer has to be mined and stolen. You can just negotiate. And someone's already done it.

– And who is this "someone"?

– You will learn a lot more. You'll realize what kind of world we live in," Vasilyevich answered, shaking his head. – Now tell me, whose family are you going to be?

– From who?

– The information about your appointment came a long time ago, but your background is vague. I can't check it, there's no authorization. If I did it myself, it would raise suspicion. Here you have access to the deepest secrets – even the control codes of enemy satellites, or the trust accounts of the secret services, or the DNA of the president's children. But if you pry unnecessarily, the system will flag you as "suspicious. If you don't justify yourself, you're dead. No one's gonna take any chances. The latest technology, with which you will become very familiar, will make it clear that it is impossible to hide anything. Besides, everything here is mixed up. Those you thought were enemies are comrades and friends, well, or partners. Fighting, feuding, it's a contract, a performance. If everything you find out, tell anyone, they won't believe you, and if they do, the world will turn upside down. We have to live as a family here, to trust each other, otherwise – you can go crazy. The family that's out there becomes something mundane…

Vasilievich jabbed his index finger upward.

– You can't and have no right to even stutter about what you do. Forget everything you know. It's a world of its own, its own culture, its own concepts. Although your spouse has a clearance level, she's being considered for administrator. In that, you may be lucky.

Ruthra was silent, listening.

– You and your wife must have met in the system?

– Why would you say that?

– Here, as in many intelligence agencies, most marry by decree, to a "local". I got married that way the first time too, and my current wife has no idea where I go. Your spouse has been served papers on you too, which is why I'm wondering whose you're from. It's rare for that to happen.

– Whose? I don't know, I got her involved somehow. The system approved it, even though she still only has administrative clearance.

– Our service is a service of control over everything and anything, as well as planning and forecasting. That's why you don't get here by blat, by acquaintance, or for the merits of your parents.

– What are you talking about?

– I'm trying to figure out which mafia.

– Mafia?

Ruthra even smiled.

– Just kidding.

Vasilyevich's face became serious. Rutra became serious, too. He realized that this wasn't entirely a joke. The two burning gazes locked into each other, trying to siphon off all the information they could.

– What kind of mafia is there? – Ruthra asked with a smile.

– Some with a bayonet, some with a pencil.

– Who are these people?

– With bayonet – military or ex-military, the ranks here are nominal. This organization is special, the ranks here are of a special level.

– And "with a pencil"?

– These are men of science, scientists.

– Why, could they be dangerous?

Vasilievich hummed

– As for the military, you may know what they want and, more importantly, can do, but with scientists, it's always a mystery. What do they have in mind, what have they come up with? And most importantly, they can come up with something with which they can seize power over the human brain. Suddenly they have figured out how to control a person imperceptibly and make sure that the person thinks that he is free in his choice? What then?

He looked intently at Ruthra and added quietly:

– The most powerful mafia is the mafia of scientists.

Ruthra didn't know what to answer.

– I don't even know what to say to you. Consider me neutral.

– Neutrals can only be those who know the field of warfare intimately and have a high degree in the exact sciences. Do you have one of those?

Vasilievich said the last one sarcastically.

– I don't know, I mean, it's kind of a secret around here.

– All right, let's go. I'll introduce you to the center's departments, but don't forget my words. If we don't trust each other, we won't look for enemies elsewhere, we'll look for them here. We must be one family, one mafia. The basis of our work is the collection, analysis and systematization of information. Our difference from similar structures is that we are part of a special international structure, which is a supranational organization of controlling organizations. Therefore, what for others is spy-intelligence activity, for us is cooperation within the same structure. It's hard for you to understand this yet, but soon you'll understand everything. Think of us as a special service of the world government control organization.

– Just like that?

– I'll tell you what structure we integrated from when we realized that it was foolish to aim for mutual destruction. It's better to unite to control the opposing forces without them knowing. Divide and conquer, as they say. So, our center appeared after the merger of SOUD and Echelon structures.

– Are these the ones?

– Yeah. Electronic intelligence. You were part of the system of outdoor, visual surveillance and analysis of what the electronic intelligence found. And now you'll get most of your information from her, but in the open. I need to see what you know about her.

– Should I?

– Imagine, we've been waiting for you. So start your "report."

Rutra had the kind of excellent memory required of a man of his caliber, and he memorized it by heart:

– Radio-electronic reconnaissance is a discipline of intelligence gathering based on the reception and analysis of electromagnetic radiation. Radioelectronic reconnaissance uses both intercepted signals from communication channels between people and technical means, as well as signals from operating radars, REB stations and similar devices. The most important part of this system is the JIRS. SOUD, or the System of Joint Data Recording on the enemy – a classified system of information interception, created back in the days of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries to conduct global electronic intelligence. It was controlled by the 16th KGB Directorate and the 6th GRU Directorate. SOUD united all means of electronic and space reconnaissance of the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, GDR, Vietnam, Mongolia and Cuba. The collected information was sent for analysis and processing to two main computer centers. The first is still located in Moscow and the second was located in the GDR. After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the Stasi computer center was taken over by the West German intelligence agency BND, depriving JICD of half of its data processing capabilities.

Ruthra fell silent, going over the technical data in his head. He had a question he couldn't help but ask.

– The Warsaw Pact apparatus, as far as I know, has been removed. Isn't that right?

– How about that. Control of the center hasn't really been lost. It's a bit of a wild-goose chase, but more on that later. I understand you have general information, within your clearance. Listen to me, then you tell me what you know, and then you ask questions. If there are any… In the 1990s, the remaining part of JIC was reorganized into a new Russian intelligence system, which at first united all the electronic intelligence complexes in Russia and some CIS countries, the Russian electronic center in Lourdes in Cuba, the radio interception base near the Cam Ranh airfield in Vietnam and special radio equipment in Russian consulates and embassies around the world. It was and is countered by the Echelon system, also known as UKUSA. "Echelon" is the common name for a global electronic intelligence system operating under the UK-USA Radio Technical and Intelligence Security Agreement. "Echelon" has the capability to intercept and analyze telephone conversations, faxes, emails and other information flows around the world by connecting to communication channels such as satellite communications, Internet networks and the like, the public telephone network, and microwave connections. Configuration and installation of the software in the US and UK was carried out by Lockheed Martin. At the time, the computer network itself was code-named "Echelon". Lockheed Martin referred to it as P415. The software was called SILKWORTH and SIRE. Not only radio surveillance stations and satellites served as means of interception. Special equipment was installed in embassies, placed on cables, including submarine cables, and many other technical means from the arsenal of intelligence services were used. Such actions are engaged in many government organizations in many countries, but the distinctive feature of "Echelon" was the global scale of the system: its action was spread over the entire globe. World War II left a legacy to the British government communications agency, which operates in parallel with the well-known services MI5 and MI6, a vast network of radio interception stations located throughout the British Empire, and powerful decoding technology. Added to these were thousands of surveillance posts set up by the US and its allies. The largest of the stations was in Eritrea, where the most sophisticated surveillance techniques were used, including the analysis of radio signals reflected from the surface of the moon. Pay special attention to this… The Echelon system, like the thermonuclear bomb, nuclear submarines and other projects of its time, was designed to gain a strategic advantage over a potential adversary. One of Echelon's greatest successes was finding codes to radio telephones in the limousines of the Soviet elite. The NSA listened to the conversations of Politburo members for several years until the KGB changed the equipment. Another NSA operation known today was the installation by submarine divers of listening devices on a military special communications cable laid on the bottom of the Sea of Okhotsk. It was discovered by accident. A fishing trawler snagged the cable and damaged it. Specialists arrived to repair the faults and discovered a wiretap on the cable, which was considered so reliable that the command of the Soviet Northern Fleet often received instructions from Moscow in unencrypted form. According to European experts, in roughly the same way the NSA tapped into the undersea cable between Europe and Africa in the Mediterranean Sea in the mid-1980s. The Echelon system is capable of reading data transmitted via satellite, radio relay, cellular and fiber-optic channels. One of the methods of intercepting information can be the installation of equipment in close proximity to routers of large fiber-optic highways, since most of the Internet traffic passes through them, and their number is relatively small. The system not only searches for and identifies terrorist bases, drug trafficking routes and political and diplomatic intelligence, which would be natural, but is also used for large-scale commercial theft, international commercial espionage and invasion of privacy using wind turbine technology developed by the German firm Enercon and speech recognition technology owned by the Belgian company Lernout & Hauspie. In 1994, Airbus lost a $6 billion contract with Saudi Arabia after the U.S. National Security Agency announced that Airbus executives had bribed Saudi officials to successfully support the contract.

Yuri Vasilyevich told the story without stopping, by heart. It was clear that it was not the first time. Rutra did not dare to interrupt, but there were many questions, and he raised his hand as if signaling that he wanted to ask a question. The chief was silent.

– I don't understand. You said it was opposed by the Echelon system," Ruthra said without a questioning tone, simply indicating his area of interest.

The lecturer thought for a moment, then answered:

– In the system of functioning of special services there is the first level, it is common knowledge, and the second level is us. The first level as it worked, so it still works, in the same spirit, for the development and control of the data received. For competition, so to speak, it is very important. The second level is unknown to the first. Unknown in the sense that they must not know that there is a secret cooperation agreement. Therefore, the second tier consists of employees of the first tier, but hides their association into a separate group. By habit they are called "Echelon 1" and "Echelon 2". Do you know how the NSA works to conceal its activities inside the country?