“Shouldn’t we be heading out as well?” David asked.
“Not yet,” Kari said. “We need to print some scrubbers and have the flat thoroughly cleaned. And we need a few other items as well.”
“What for?”
“It’s going to be a little more difficult making it back to America than it was leaving it.”
“Didn’t feel that easy leaving . . .” David said.
“Exactly.”
Automated airport security systems were one thing that Kari had little to no exposure to. They hadn’t traveled much as a family when she was younger, which was uncommon. As printing goods on demand had dramatically lowered the cost of living, tourism had skyrocketed around the globe. They had made one trip out to Japan when she was twelve, but she didn’t remember much from the trip besides how crowded it had been and how strange it was that people actually enjoyed eating raw fish.
Her parents didn’t like to travel and that had always suited Kari fine. She had seen the world through her mind chip many times. For many places, it was actually better to visit them virtually. There were never lines of smelly people crowding locations when you toured them in your mind.
Luckily, Motorcad had been friends with a hacker at Valhalla who went by the handle Red Fury, who had done extensive work on testing the very systems that the public airports in the United Kingdom utilized. Red Fury had been one of the unaffiliated hackers who had been lucky enough to escape capture when fleeing the Unseen.
One call to Motorcad and twenty minutes later she had all the designs she needed to get past the automated systems. Many people assumed hackers were self-centered and angry people, but in her experience, they had always been more than willing to help one another in times of need. It was part of the reason she had fallen for the lure of Valhalla when she had first arrived.
“That all seemed too easy,” David said softly.
They were seated next to the window near the back of a commercial flight bound for Mexico City. The plane wasn’t full and most people overrode their senses on flights, but there were enough people around that there was reason to whisper if they were going to be talking about sensitive information.
“It’s nice when things go smoothly,” Kari said. “It’s never happened before, so we better savor this one.”
After ensuring that her parents’ old apartment had been left with no signs of human life, they had taken all the electronics they could carry down to the local print shop in order to recycle their materials to be printed into new objects. The only printers her parents had owned were designed to print clothing and food. As those hadn’t been of particular use to them, they had spent a few hours printing the identity masking devices that Red Fury had sent them.
Kari had worn a scarf and large hat to obscure her face from cameras, only removing them when she needed to pass through the airport security. The devices that Red Fury sent them detected when certain security protocols were running and used a number of different strategies to mask or alter their appearance and readings.
She had been nervous trusting Red Fury’s work as she hadn’t been able to go over the designs in detail before she was forced to use them. But it had worked out and now they were thousands of feet over the ocean flying for a city that hopefully Henderson was not watching closely.
“So how do you think . . .” David said slowly, as if he wasn’t sure they should be talking. But after another check of their surroundings, he continued. “They knew we were in London? Fai seemed shocked.”
“I’m not sure . . .” Kari said. I hoped we would be able to stay there much longer. “But Fai’s pretty young. She’s made mistakes before. She almost got us jumped by Vision people after the research lab because she used John’s credentials to order an auto-auto.”
“Really? Wow. Seems like an obvious mistake.”
“I don’t think she would have repeated something like that, but who knows. I mean, it could be as simple as they had tracked my parents there years ago and just guessed that’s where we would go. Or maybe, I underestimated their data or processing capabilities.”
“It would have been quite the bluff if he was just guessing,” David said. “Fai said she could detect extra security at every nearby airport.”
“Yeah . . . but that could have been from the mess we made of their flight registry. It’s just hard to know. There are too many moving pieces.”
“Well,” David said. “To me it feels like they knew we were in London. My only question is why would he tell you that he knew we were in London? I mean, it doesn’t make any sense. Why give us a heads up?”
“Maybe he was trying to flush us out?” It didn’t feel like his style, and given how many times he’d failed to capture her, she doubted he would take a chance if he felt like he had good odds of trapping her this time.
“No, that’s not it,” Kari said, before David could respond. “He was accepting our deal. He thinks Christina did it as well, and he must believe that we can get him the proof he would need.”
“Why wouldn’t he just accept it, then?”
“Because he won’t stop chasing me,” Kari said. “He knows we don’t have the evidence yet, so there’s no reason for him to stop chasing us. But if we’re going to be running, we might as well be doing something that benefits him while we’re running.”
“Hmmm . . .”
David considered her theory while a host walked by. The commercial flight was fully automated, but the airlines were still required to have a host on the flight.
“So the rest of the plan is still intact?” David asked.
“As long as Fai will still speak to us when we land, then yes,” Kari said.
“She was pretty upset about getting put in that shipping container, wasn’t she?”
David laughed and Kari joined him. It wasn’t immediately obvious that Fai didn’t want to be packed into a container and shipped over the ocean, but the nature of her questions as to why it was important betrayed her displeasure. It had been so polite and subtle that she hadn’t noticed it until after they had boxed Fai up.
Shipping physical products across the ocean on commercial flights was expensive and rare. With the availability of 3-D printers wherever you went, there was little reason to do anything but print what you wanted on demand, in the location you wanted.
“Maybe if you print her a new body, she’ll forgive us,” David said.
“That’ll have to wait awhile,” Kari said. “I don’t know if I’ll even have enough money left to print what we need for the rest of the plan.”
“Wait, you’re telling me you’re just as broke as I am?” David said. “I thought the bank of Tahe had an unlimited balance!”
“Running from the government isn’t cheap. Especially when you have to charter every private plane in Europe to fly to the United States just so you can sneak into Mexico.”
“That does sound pricey . . .” David said. The way his voice trailed off implied he had more to say.
“What?” Kari asked when he didn’t continue.
“Well, I’ve never thought about dating a non-millionaire before. You know, I guess I’m going to have to reevaluate things . . .”
David grinned at her and his eyes were full of the mischief that only came when he was teasing her. She hated that look. Luckily, a quick elbow to his rubs knocked it off of his face.
“Ouch!” he said, careful to keep his voice down.
“I’m going to have to reconsider paying for your flight.”
“Sorry, I don’t have the money,” David said. “It was a bad investment on your part.”
“Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your life in Mexico, then,” Kari said. “Because I’m not paying for you to come with me any longer.”
“I take it back!”
Kari ignored him as she looked out of the window into the thick, white clouds.
“We all know I never liked you for your money,” David said. “I’ve just been after a teaching job this whole time. You’re
still—”
Kari elbowed him again.
Chapter Eighteen
“Look, policy is policy,” the border agent said. He sounded completely disinterested in everything David had to say and it was starting to make Kari nervous.
“Her ID checks out, you have plenty of readings that tell you exactly how many people are in the vehicle, do you really have to wake her up?” David asked.
“Yes.”
“She’s been so sick lately . . .”
Kari winced. The more excuses that David tried the more it sounded like he was trying to smuggle a non-entrant into the United States. It’s a better excuse than this guy is using. Policy. What a joke. I’m half-inclined to just let them win and turn around and live the rest of my life in Mexico.
They hadn’t been in Mexico long, but she had enjoyed their time in the country. The people they had been forced to interact with had been gracious and unassuming. Their hotel had been pleasant at a reasonable price, and even though access to the high-quality printers had cost her three times as much as it would have in the States, she was happy to the pay the money. Comes with less government surveillance down there.
As dramatic as the 3-D printing revolution had been in the United States, it had an even greater impact in poorer countries. There had been a near revolution in Mexico when the factories closed and countless unskilled workers were put out of work. But eventually their economy had adjusted and assembly line workers found work in the services industry or in the surging tourist economy.
In fact, it was hard to find a quality of life difference between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. Printers print the same designs no matter where you are on Earth. She wasn’t sure why, but even the printed food in Mexico was superior to even what her expensive food printers at the Academy were able to produce.
“Come on, kid, I’ve got to look inside and get a verbal confirmation from everyone that they are who they say they are and that they are entering the country of their own free will. It’s going to happen one way or another,” the guard said. “I don’t want to be here all day, and neither do you.”
“Do you want me to intervene?” Fai whispered to Kari.
“No,” Kari said. “We’ll figure something out.” She wasn’t sure she believed herself, but the last thing she wanted was for Fai to draw down the entire border control on them.
“Is there ANY way you can just let us roll through?” David asked.
“You trying to bribe me, kid?” The agent was growing frustrated.
He might just arrest David for being a pain in the butt if I don’t do something. Kari took a deep breath and hoped this was a better plan than it sounded.
“Something wrong?” Kari said, loud enough for David and the border patrol agent to hear.
“Yeah—”
“Look, she’s awake. Step aside, kid.”
“No, you—”
“It’s fine,” Kari said.
“All right,” David said. His voice was full of reluctance, but he stepped aside.
The face of a middle-aged man peered into the auto-auto where Kari was seated next to Fai. Piled on the floor in front of them were a dozen stinger drones, two stealth devices, a box full of microdrones, and three unassembled delivery drones, which made the auto-auto crowded and uncomfortable. Kari smiled at the stunned border agent and his eyes went wide.
“You’re . . .”
“Yes,” Kari said. She could sense that David and Fai were both preparing themselves to react in case he reached for the energy gun he carried at his side. “I am. My name is Kari Tahe and I’m known as Freelancer. This is Fai, the world’s first artificial intelligence. “
“I . . . I . . .” The agent had apparently forgotten how to speak, but thankfully he didn’t make a move for his gun.
“I certify that I am entering the country of my own free will and that I’m who I say I am. Would you mind letting us through now?”
“My God. It’s really Freelancer . . .”
“And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sound the alarm about us passing through here. I’ve been targeted for crimes I did not commit, but I intend to bring those who did to justice.” She tried to sound as judicial and determined as she could, hoping it would appeal to the man’s sense of duty.
“Do you mind if I get a picture with you?” the agent asked.
It was Kari’s turn to be surprised.
“I—”
“My daughter is such a big fan. She really looks up to you. And we know you didn’t do anything they said you did. She’s going to be so excited that I met you!”
“Ummm . . . sure. It’s probably easier if you climb in here though, I don’t want to get you in trouble by being photographed outside, you know?”
“Of course. Wow. I mean really . . . Freelancer!”
The border patrol agent climbed inside the vehicle and awkwardly positioned himself next to Kari. The camera from his processing unit behind his ear buzzed around and took a picture of the two of them. He didn’t ask to take a picture with Fai, which Kari found to be crazy, but convenient.
“Thank you so much! I would invite you kids to stop by and meet her, but you look like you got some important projects or something to do.”
“Thanks,” David said as he climbed past the guard back into the auto-auto.
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No, you’ve done enough,” Kari said. “Thank you so much.”
“No, thank you, Freelancer! I mean . . . I can’t believe it.”
The guard shook his head and rubbed his hair as the door slid closed. David shook his head like he couldn’t believe what just happened and Kari didn’t blame him.
“That was an unanticipated series of events,” Fai said.
“I didn’t know you had so many fans,” David said.
“Don’t even start.”
“I mean, we joked about Henderson before, but that guy . . .”
The air above them was a superhighway of drones. Nowhere in the world had as many drones per capita as the Bay Area in Northern California, and despite visiting the area, which had long outgrown its title of Silicon Valley, on four previous occasions, Kari still found the sight breathtaking.
The Bay Area had one of the largest populations in the world, but it was hard to tell from overlooking the area. Popular architecture in Northern California had focused on incorporating nature into the core of the designs. The sprawling city looked more like a forest, with an endless stream of drones of all sizes flying in all directions above it.
Kari watched a bird fly from a tree sprouting from the top of an apartment building down the street and soar carelessly through the air. Drones darted out of the bird’s way, keeping a safe distance as to not harm the animal. A man walking on a small, flat, moving treadmill glided across the ground at a good pace. Another man wearing old-fashioned roller skates was being pulled in the other direction by a pair of drones. Both them flashed a quick disapproving glance to her auto-auto as they past.
Kari took a deep breath of air before closing the window to their auto-auto. As beautiful as the Bay Area was, there was also nowhere on earth that was as heavily monitored. Just getting a small breath of fresh air was dangerous with how closely the various layers of government and Vision monitored the city.
“Beautiful part of the country,” Kari said quietly.
This would seem like a utopia to the people in the past. I wonder what it will look like when I’m old. I’m sure I’ll look back and laugh at how primitive it is.
“As long as you hate freedom,” David said in response.
Or a dystopia to some, I guess.
She knew he was partly joking, but it was a reminder of their differing politics. They didn’t discuss that matter much, as it wasn’t really that important to having a good relationship. Neither of them had favored the war, but David was still more traditional in his concepts of government than she was.
“Should we get on with it?�
� Kari asked.
She didn’t want to respond to David’s comment, and she knew he didn’t want her to, either. They were both nervous for what was about to happen and they didn’t need to get into an argument. David nodded his approval, while Fai gave her a thumbs-up with her only hand.
The small camera buzzed in front of her, ready to broadcast her face across a secure line to Christina Wolfkin as soon as she answered.
It didn’t take long.
“I want to meet,” Kari said, before Christina could say anything.
“I’ve been waiting for you to arrive for weeks,” Christina said. Her voice was as crisp and pointed as ever. Her eyes were fiery and she didn’t look like she had a single fiber of patience in her soul.
“Don’t be crazy,” Kari said. “There’s no way I’m coming to your offices.”
“You will.”
“No, I won’t. You’ve been working closely with the government to track me down and capture me. I’m—”
“Can you blame us? You’ve stolen our property, killed our colleagues, and even had the gall to announce our work to the world. If you don’t get the death sentence for this, I’ll bury you so far under the ground with lawsuits, you won’t ever see the light of day again.”
“I want to meet you at a neutral site, alone. Just me and you.”
“No.”
“Then you’ll never get Fai back.”
“We’ll find you soon enough. No matter which country you run away to.”
“No, you won’t. I’ve been on the run for years. I’m the infamous Freelancer of Civil War ruin, remember?”
“Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are something more than you are, girl.”
OK, I’ve had had enough of this.
“You will come to the old Oakland International Airport in one hour. You will come alone and we will talk about how we are going to handle this situation. You will do this or you will never see Fai or me again and I will spend every minute, of every day, doing everything that a girl can do to tell the world what really happened.”
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