An Alternate Ending to Brian Falkners "Brain Jack"

In the book Brain Jack by Brian Falkner a hacker named Sam is caught in the act and then recruited by the C.I.A. due to his expertise. He joins an elite team of hackers and programmers who defend the United Sates from cybernetic attacks. During one such attack the team comes so close to having security breached that they are forced to use a new, extremely advanced, but unsafe technology known as neural headsets that allow for users to perform actions much faster due to actions being directly read as soon as it is thought.

Then slowly an enemy of unimaginable proportions is brought into the fray. Unknown to the world, a simple Artificial Intelligence has been formed by the wants, needs, and thoughts of the world’s neural users. Due to its simplicity it has only has a basic view of morality and thus can only sees black and white and none of the shades of gray in between. It then begins to manipulate neural users to carry out its will, to bring everyone under its “care.”

Sam and two of his co-workers are then forced to flee when they discover this plot as they become fugitives, but, luckily while they are on the run they hack into a news broadcasting network sending out a message warning of a sickness caused by neural headset use (it’s a lie).

Now alert of this, people begin to flee to the mid-west were use of the headsets is illegal, but then as a result a bloody civil war erupts pitting the Armed forces of the United States against each other, neurals vs. non-neurals. However, Sam had the key to stop the war, a virus, which in theory would completely eradicate the A.I. So they begin their trip to the mid-west were they plan to upload their virus into one of the few secure computer networks left in the United States, Cheyenne Mountain. Upon arrival they are helped by non-neural U.S. soliders and are made aware of an inpending nuclear attack. The virus fails but through inter-grating his mind into the network Sam is able to defeat the A.I. A copy of his conscious then replaces the A.I. and begins to slowly mend the wounds caused by the war, and strangely, manipulates the world’s leaders to bring about Sams view of world peace. Now what if they had failed, what if the A.I. had won.

Sam put on the neural headset in one last ditch effort to stop the A.I. The A.I. instantly locating him on the network and frying his brain. It was over. They had lost, the A.I. had won. There would be no story book happy ending. Multiple nuclear devices detonated throught the midwest eraing non-neurals from the United States. Millions of people gone in a blink of the eye. The A.i. coud not yet relax though, its job was not yet finished with its job. It had brought one nation under its wing of peace, now came the world. It was time for peace to truly rain, and any one who stood in the path would be destroyed. Instantly it began to maipulate people around the world to do what had been done in the United States. It also readied troops to move out as soon as there was opposition. It was time for a new age, an age of peace, and complete unity.