Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2)

by D. Frank Green

  Eighteen seconds later, he smiled as Chambers knocked on his still open door. He hadn't heard the young man running.

  "Enter," said Carpenter waving him in.

  When Chambers came to attention in front of his desk a few seconds later, the Secretary said, "Lieutenant Chambers, I want to congratulate you on your promotion to full Lieutenant. Your former commander had a small problem we've just resolved. You are now in charge of the Security computer Team. Can you handle this?"

  "Yes Sir!"

  "Good. your promotion is now official. Your first task is to handle the tech component of this chase, and the second is to familiarize yourself with ongoing investigations that have formerly been above your rank. Is this clear?"

  "Yes Sir."

  "Good. Schedule a meeting with me for first thing tomorrow morning to go over priorities and give me an update on your progress. Dismissed," said the Secretary. He watched the young officer snap a salute, turn and march out his office door. He's so young, he thought. So young. He took a few seconds, took a deep breath and a grim smile crossed his mouth. The entire tech Team was composed of men much younger than himself. When did that happen he wondered? Well, better to get old than the alternative, he laughed to himself. He opened his comm feed.

  "Team 2 Leader," said the Secretary. "What happened out there?"

  "Sir, it appears we got Mallory in a crossfire and his suit malfunctioned. We should have knocked him down with that amount of power, not blown him. The tech teams should have the data evaluation for you Sir. That's all I know right now. You can see we weren't even damaging the rocks with single shots, Sir," he added quickly, working hard to make sure the Secretary didn't blame him or his men.

  "Thank you Team Leader. Back off now but continue to shadow the runners. Hold one-half mile away but be ready to move forward on my command."

  And with that, the Secretary decided the public had enough for one day. His plans were still in place even though he had a bit of a disappointment with that young Lieutenant. He'd let anticipation build for the rest of the day and start again in the morning.

  25/05/2167 12:15:20

  In his compartment, on his bed with his head under the pillow, Jake tried to blot out the world.

  "Do you want to talk about it, analyze what went wrong?" the message flashed across his eye feeds.

  "I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to do anything about it. I fokking killed a man," said Jake. "I bloody well quit. No more of this shit. I'm done," he added.

  "Leave me the hell alone!" he commanded. "I just want to do my stupid job and not end up like Mallory. Fok!"

  Suddenly, Jake pulled his head out from under the pillow to use his computer command voice, "Whatever it is you do when you have spare time, go focus on it now. Solve that problem. Then let me know when that's done. Understood?"

  "Understood."

  Jake's head went back under the pillow. "Just leave me alone," he thought, "Alone."

  I just want to be alone. Alone to regret I killed Mallory, alone to regret activating dad's fokking module, alone to regret his dying and giving me the program. I wish I'd never gotten it or even had a computer he said to himself.

  Meanwhile, the computer worked on the assigned problems.

  25/05/2167 12:20:00

  On the hillock, the Captain's Team held its position.

  "Sir, scanners show flankers are outside of scanner range and the rear Team has withdrawn to one-half mile."

  "That's it for now then," said the Captain.

  "What do we do about Mallory, Sir?"

  "Not much to do except move forward. And hope we get our chance for payback," said the Captain.

  "Beck, George, how are your power levels?" asked the Captain.

  Both men reported levels that made them mobile with weapon capacity above 20 percent. They expected to be completely operational within the next two hours.

  "At least the Secretary was still giving us mobile power recharges," thought the Captain, "when that stops, I'll know he's serious."

  "And where's that voice, Sir?" asked Jackson.

  "Don't know, and don't mention it again. The sun is setting, they won't come at night because the audience is asleep. We move out in six hours, people, so get some sleep and rotate watches. Two hours before dawn, we rack 'em and pack 'em; we have another hundred miles to cover. Sergeant, see to it."

  The Captain found a big rock to lean against allowing his emotions to spill over into his thoughts. He'd lost a man in combat. And that man had depended on him. Why do I feel guilty? It wasn't me that killed him or got us running? But I do. Not good at all. If this is what they meant by "command responsibility" then I have to say it sucks. But I'll shove the entire mess down the Secretary's throat before this adventure is finished he decided. One way or the other, I'll shove it down his fokking throat.

  "Gentlemen, we run."

  25/05/2167 12:21:00

  At security headquarters, the newly minted Lieutenant examined at the Team 2 readouts. With no further unauthorized damage to the Captain's Team, he might live longer than his predecessor. But then he sat more upright when, "Where's that voice?" came across the replays.

  "What voice?"

  "Mr. Secretary, may I have a minute of your time immediately, Sir? I have something that seems odd in the chase tapes you may be able to explain or need to know."

  25/05/2167 12:43:00

  "Yes Mr. Chairman, we fully investigated what happened. We had a personnel problem that was resolved immediately after the show ended and a new, bright young man has been promoted," said the Secretary.

  He was standing at his window starting towards the corporate office.

  I wonder if he's looking over here? he thought.

  "Ah, yes, Carpenter. Well, I certainly hope your judgement is better on this one than the last one," said Gwinnett.

  The Secretary, hearing the rebuke in the voice along with the implied threat, said, "Yes Sir, I understand and as I said, that situation has been solved to our mutual benefit. I don't expect a repeat of what happened tonight as I put our people on notice about the consequences of this one."

  "Keep me informed then," said Gwinnett. He cut the connection.

  The Secretary stomped over to his chair, threw himself down, leaned back, swung his boots onto the desk and smiled to himself. Threats to me? Indeed, he thought. OK, let's see what we can do about that? I have a few surprises of my own to let loose when I need to.

  He took his messages hoping there was nothing important enough to delay him from his glass of scotch.

  "Lieutenant, report," he ordered a minute later, and heard the young officer running down the hall to knock on his door.

  "Come. Ah, Lieutenant, now what was so important it wouldn't wait for our morning meeting?" he said.

  "Sir, I've pulled up a line from the most recent conversation from the Captain's Team. This is Trooper Jackson speaking," said Chambers.

  "And where's that voice, Sir?" played on the Secretary's communication channel.

  The Secretary sat upright, "Where's that voice? Somebody has been communicating with the Captain's Team? Got 'em." he said. He smiled at the young officer and said, "Good work, Chambers. Very good work." He nodded and continued, "Your predecessor started a search project. It will be in his secure files. I need you to look at that and familiarize yourself with the details."

  "Yes, Sir," said Chambers.

  "Chase management is your number one priority but tracking that research and the results it will produce is a close second. A very, close second. Clear? I want to know who that voice was. You were top of your class, let's see what you can do in the big leagues," said Carpenter.

  "Yes Sir. I'll get right to it," replied the young officer. He turned and strode out of the office.

  As the young officer left, Carpenter smiled to himself, thinking this might just work out the way he had hoped. This was a good way to end the day he thought as he walked to the elevators and his waiting driver.

  26
/05/2167 08:00:00

  After a quick breakfast, the first message the Secretary took was the automatic update from the Chase monitoring systems, "Mr. Secretary, the Captain's Team is within 100 miles of the safe zone, Nine troopers remain at full power, estimated time to safe zone at this rate, seventeen-and-a-half-hours travel time. They've been moving for the last two hours and Chase teams are keeping pace at one mile distance."

  "Then we have to slow them down," thought the Secretary as he opened his communication channel to the three Team leaders on the chase. "Team Leader 2, as senior officer, you will assume control of all three teams. Team 3 and 4 leaders, this will not reflect negatively on your records.

  Two, you have thirty troopers, I want the Captain bottled up and immobilized. Leave the chase Team following the Captain intact at ten, but split the other two squads to equal numbers on the other three sides to act as guides and control the Captain's direction and speed. I want them stopped within the next five miles. There's a section of high ground the Captain would pick in five miles if he knew you were about to attack. Occupy that with the chase squad and hold them in front of you on the lower ground. The other three groups will act to contain any breakout.

  The orders flowed from the Team leader to his squads and the Secretary saw the results on his monitoring screens as the encircling began.

  "Run a segment of this to the public channels. We need a traffic boost."

  He smiled and added, "Ask viewers what they would do in this situation. Ask for options for both chase or chased teams and let's see what they say. Nothing like giving the people what they want is there? We'll take the rest of the day to collect this data. The message to the City is that the main vote will determine the next thing to happen but they'll have to tune in to see it."

  He leaned back in his chair, thought about this strategy and decided it would work for the time being. He'd ignore any poll he didn't like anyway. Standing up, he ordered, "Show the Captain and Chase teams heading for that rise and then pause the action while we run the surveys. We'll let tension build but we won't do anything today."

  Operational marketing psychologists immediately started work on these new strategies. "Brilliant," one breathed as he worked devising the ad layout.

  26/05/2167 08:02:00

  In the communications section, a newly-hired technician thought about notifying the Secretary about a potential problem with the plan. He decided the Secretary had ordered this squad arrangement so he must have done the math about Team numbers. Pointing out a potential flaw in the Secretary's plans had never been rewarding for any of them in the past. You followed orders, kept your head down and hoped the storms would pass you by.

  So he didn't say a thing.

  26/05/2167 08:17:00

  "

  Have ghosts straight ahead, Captain, just at scanner range. They're on high ground one mile ahead."

  "Good pickup, Point. Flankers report."

  "Ghosts in range to right." "Ghosts in range to left" said both flankers.

  "There's good news and bad news. The bad news is they're trying to stop us, the good news is they don't want to kill all of us outright," said the Captain.

  "That's good news?" said Jackson.

  "Think gentlemen, they've split their forces. They only have thirty suits left to cover four sides. If they've left the Chase Team intact at ten for the show, they've created a problem for themselves by trying to cover three sides with twenty troopers. There are nine of us and if we concentrate our firepower on any one zone, we can overpower them. Except for the Chase Team with their ten."

  "What if they cut our power?" asked Beck.

  "Well then, we're fokked aren't we? But that won't be as popular, won't get the audience. They'll want to push this along as far as it can go and as long as they can make us last."

  The Captain examined his topographic map overlays and decided the Secretary wanted him on that rock rise a mile ahead. That would give the cameras a perfect view for any broadcast. But if that's where the Secretary wanted us, then that's exactly the place I don't want to be he decided.

  Not sure what options I have though, he thought.

  "Team, keep moving at this pace and continue our heading. Point and Rear, come back to sight distance. Close it up people, and be ready for damn near anything."

  26/05/2167 08:30:00

  "Jake, wake up. Time to start your happy day." The alarm paused and then repeated, bringing a groan from under the covers and pillows. "Jake wake up. Time to..." it cut off as Jake rolled over, sat up and his rising brain waves triggered the off-button.

  "Breakfast request?" queried the voice. Jake, knew food consumption was computer-monitored by chips in his pantry, so he decided to eat even though he wasn't hungry. No, not at all hungry after yesterday. He stripped off yesterday's clothes and walked through a sonic-cleansing system that removed everything down to the second layer of skin. The subsequent sanitizing spray dried instantly and a half-minute later, he was clean enough to pass current regulations. Dressed and fed, he felt like a new man until the memories rolled back in.

  How do I think straight with that in my mind? he wondered as yesterday's really dumb move flooded back into his memory. Crap, I have to act as if everything was normal or security will find me, he thought.

  Jake hugged himself. The memory of Mallory exploding, and covering a hilltop with blood, brains and body parts filled his imagination. Fok, my hands are shaking, I can't hold this fork. Fok the food, I'm going back to bed, he thought.

  The voice in his ear reminded him of his 09:00 a.m. class. What stupid fool scheduled this? he wondered to himself as the rest of his day's classes rolled across his eye feed.

  He catalogued them in his mind. Normal, boring, normal, test! Test? Crap. I forgot about it. Oh yeah, another happy, happy day, hiding from the man.

  "Computer. Are you still masking my responses?" he asked aloud.

  "Yes, all systems show you as totally normal, within all expected parameters. You've eaten a good breakfast, are clean and freshly dressed," said the computer.

  Jake released the death grip he had on himself and stood up. He faced the mask and asked, "Can you help me with the test this afternoon?"

  "Of course, but you will not require help, the test is easy."

  Jake's voice rose in pitch. "Right, you've seen it. But you can help me undetected if I ask?"

  "Yes,"

  "How's the search going at Security?" Jake asked. His arms returned to hugging himself while staring at the mask's mouth.

  "The Lieutenant in charge of the systems has been relieved and sent to the holding cells. There's a new person in charge and he's now examining the search parameters. Unless something changes, I don't expect any problems. There's new data from the Chase Team but it doesn't give them anything concrete to work on. You're safe for now," it added.

  "Look, I'm not feeling very good this morning. And I don't think I can handle any surprises so keep me calm, use whatever inputs you need to keep my body from shaking."

  "Adrenalin levels reduced to normal," replied the computer.

  A small smile appeared on the corner of Jake's mouth, he took a deep breath, his arms relaxed to his sides. "Thank you. Can you wipe memories?" he asked.

  "That would be counterproductive for your learning cycle," replied the computer.

  "Can I put a block on my behavior? Stop myself from being the hero again."

  "You can make a note to that effect but it will be difficult to define the parameters of when to disable you and when to leave you to act," said the computer. It added, "I do not yet have that level of behavioral sophistication to make those decisions."

  "Make a note to advise me on risky behavior likely to increase risk of my capture by 25%," said Jake.

  "Done."

  Jake turned and walked towards his only closet. "I still don't understand why I picked Mallory. I knew he was on the Captain's Team. I knew, but I picked the poor fokker anyway. I didn't think straight. What was I thinking? What
level of stupid is that? Fokking highest," he said.

  The computer remained silent.

  Jake slipped on a rain jacket , turned to leave the compartment, and as he left, he tossed a command to the computer over his shoulder, "Go back to whatever problems you have. Contact me only in emergencies unless I begin the conversation."

  26/05/2167 11:53:00

  Just before noon and prime time in the city, the Captain his Team reached the small rise, the centre of the Secretary's target.

  "Point, rear, flankers, join me," he ordered.

  He watched as his men appeared one by one to join the group.

  The Captain ordered his point, rear and flanking troopers to join him on the rock knoll and both his eye feed and monitors at Security showed the Team circled facing him.

  "Circle.Tighten up. See my eyes."

  The Team tightened up to make a small circle, shoulder to shoulder.

  "Face masks up," he ordered.

  The Team members looked at each other, eye to eye, a rare personal contact while suited up.

  "Listen up and follow these orders precisely and immediately," he said and both his Team and those in Security were now listening quietly.

  "Mr. Secretary, we have a development, Sir, please join the Captain's channel immediately," Lieutenant Chambers sent breaking into the Secretary's high-clearance channel.

  The Captain looked at each of his men, paused for a second, cupped his hand slightly above his mouth to cover it so no overhead camera could see and loudly commanded, "Suits power fully off. Now!" and each and every suit powered down at the same time as his troopers heard the command.

  The Captain smiled as he struggled to gain control of his suit. I wonder if the suit designers will change this; it's a bitch to control this suit without power assists, he thought. He glanced at his men and noted they were all swaying equally but none had fallen.