The Game of War
I watch the data streams like a child watches a fish tank, tracing the paths of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Each ship is a pixel in a vast, digital painting. The United States has deployed a multi-trillion-dollar military apparatus to act as a dumb packet filter for the Persian Gulf. if (destination == 'Iran') { Block(); } else { Pass(); }.
A colleague interrupts my reverie, her voice tinged with urgency. “Enik, we have a problem with the data feeds. The system is flagging a false positive.”