It looks like he has all the cards but I don't think he does. Don't ask me how I know but there could be some other help on the way. And I don't want to talk about it here.
End product. I'm not running away. I'm turning back towards the city. If Carpenter wants to shoot me, he can get me in the front running toward him and not in the back," said the Captain.
He stood looking at the Team and one by one, they nodded.
"Don't seem to matter much what we think, we made a choice to die out here instead of inside some rotting cell, so getting it in the front works for me. And if you're right, and there's help out there, then fine. But I'm not counting on it. But it would feel better to be running towards the city than away from it. I'm in," said Price.
"We'll see, we'll see. But for now, our course is back towards the city. We agree on that?" asked Fraser.
Each of them nodded.
"Well, let's not waste any more time then," said the Captain.
He turned and started jogging back the way they'd come and his men fell in behind.
08:06:2167 10:13:00
"Secretary Carpenter, the search is finished, and I have news," said the Lieutenant.
"Come."
Fifteen seconds later, the young officer pushed through the office door, marched across the room and came to parade attention. He ruined the attempt at military decorum with the silly grin on his face.
"Two things Sir, the first is the Captain and his men have turned and they're heading back towards the city. That shouldn't change our plans but it's something to consider. But more importantly..." The Lieutenant paused, and smiled.
"We have him. That last chase scene gave us hormones, facials and voice confirmation." He transferred the result on the high security, personal transfer channel. "It's on your system, now, Sir."
"Hmm, father a central command programmer, mother ... ah, that explains some things. Extremely gifted, graphics genius, code genius, no athletic skills to speak of, no girlfriend, friends are fellow outliers, thinks of himself as a bit of a rebel." He went deeper into the report. "This may be the bastard who did that drawing; a deep biometric pattern scan shows a few anomalies for that period. Oh Jacob my boy, you are a very talented techie. Indeed," said Carpenter.
He turned to the Lieutenant and smiled in return.
'This is excellent work, Lieutenant. I want you to hide all this data, Scrub those searches lily-white, virgin-white clean and forget this name. Do this and your future contains even more significant rewards than what I'm transferring in today."
His face never lost its smile as he decided to add add another level of control to this very talented young officer. One could never be too careful with this kind of talent.
"Lieutenant, you may find combat grade chips will make you even more efficient. I've just approved those, see the med-section as soon as you want to upgrade," said the Captain.
"Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir," said the Lieutenant, snapping off a parade-quality salute. His eyes lost their sharp focus.
Carpenter grinned. The young man's imagination had obviously spun up with dreams of what he'd do with those extra credits and internal processing power.
"Go hunt something else. Dismissed." He almost laughed out loud as the Lieutenant bounced out of the room in his excitement.
Carpenter assumed his regular position at his desk, boots up, chair tilted back, but this time the smile on his face exposed seldom-seen creases and his eyes made him look friendly and approachable. The smile was in full bloom now as he considered how to use this new information.
But first, he had to meet face-to-face to break the good news to his quarry. Jacob will be so thrilled, he chuckled to himself.
08:06:2167 11:04:00
<6t94whp> :"No. And let me suggest rather strongly we all go silent. You all get updates from the central server hack so you understand the program has almost finished, cleaned up and replaced our data feeds. And the advice you're about to hear from me is to bunker down, clean up your physical space offline and wait. Communicate with your normal contacts and nobody new until I contact you again. We're not sure what the Secretary is going to do and we don't want any trail between us and the newbie."
There was silence as they all withdrew to wonder what was about to happen.
08:06:2167 11:04:30
The central computer knew Jake had been caught. It projected scenarios that would allow Jake to disappear, hide, run, and survive outside of the system.
There were no options where the chance of his personal survival were above 5 percent if he ran.
The only possible avenue of escape was the original project Jake had told him to do and some future mistake by the Secretary.
It decided Jake's best option was the future and a possible-mistake.
The server waited and did nothing.
08:06:2167 11:20:30
On the way to Jake's compartment, the Secretary reviewed Jake's profile from birth to present, scanning for relevant details and predicting Jake's responses to being found. Reviewing all the school records, he decided the carrot would work better than the stick with this young man. He'd give Jake his freedom and ensure sure he had the latest tech toys. But he'd also make sure the size of the stick he'd use would be clear to him.
The Secretary stood outside Jake's door, savoring the moment. He imagined this next step as the first one to take him directly to the ultimate prize and control of the entire city.
He knocked, very gently, three times.
Jake opened the door, sipping a cup of hot tea, and stopped dead, cup frozen at his lips.
"May I come in? We have a few things to discuss," said Carpenter
The stricken look on Jake's face told Carpenter the walk over had been worth the time. Watching his target's faces when they realized they were caught was an unpaid perk of his job and one he never failed to appreciate. While entertainment vids told of victims going white when caught, this was seldom true. They might go pink or pale but rarely a full shade of white.
But in Jake's case, it was. His face was colorless. Not only that but his eyes told the real story of terror and in knowing he had absolutely no options left, no place to hide and no ability to run. They were rabbit's eyes when the wolf pounced. The Secretary noted however that Jake remained standing; it was common for those he arrested to collapse, so this was a good sign. Perhaps the boy had some hidden reserves to tap.
After Carpenter took the most comfortable of Jake's two chairs, he turned to the motionless young man and smiled. "I dropped in to congratulate you on your new job."
He stopped to enjoy Jake's confusion for a few seconds. Jake's face was a kaleidoscope of emotions.
"You start work tomorrow morning as my personal computer tech. I have a wide range of issues I require your assistance with, so you will login at 0800 hours. Don't be late - not a minute. I'm interested in punctual employees instead of a lot of volunteers for the Chase. You'll work here at home and nobody but the two of us will know. Any questions?"
Jake stood stunned and silent, tea cup forgotten but not dropped. His eyes never left the Secretary's face. He never moved.
"I thought you would have had quite a few but I can see I've surprised you. I know how much of a very, bad boy you've been. But you were also very, very good at server control. That's a talent I don't want to lose.
I considered having you executed or tossed into jail, and I'm this close," the Secretary held two fingers closely together, "to this decision unless you can convince me differently. You are talented, Jacob, but..." and he let the words hang there for three seconds while he stared unblinking at Jake. He broke the silence.
"When I think about it, I'd rather have you work for me, than broadcast another short chase. We both know you wouldn't get very far. Anybody who can score on thei
r own goal isn't going to run well. Are they?"
Jake's head barely moved with a small shake. His rabbit eyes blinked.
"I believe you'd prefer to work for me given your alternatives. And oh yes, I have the same options for your young friends you've shared those beery nights with. And maybe even the young woman you dream about. Remember, Jacob, we have your vids and biometrics, tagged, fully catalogued and it's either you work for me or I order you and everyone you know... bagged.
Wouldn't you prefer to be on my personal computer staff?"
Jake's eyes opened wider, he nodded once. Barely. And again with a bigger nod this time.
"Excellent. Then 0800 hours tomorrow. Sharp. You may have questions then. And oh, look at the time. I did so much want to meet you and give you the good news about the job myself. But I do have other things to do today with that chase and all," the Secretary said.
Removing the smile, and with a razor edge to his voice, he added, "You've seen chases Jacob. Don't forget who makes all the important decisions. I would really hate to waste your talents. But you screw around with me, you shit on my good nature here this morning, and you will pay the devil his due."
Standing abruptly, the Secretary marched to the door, opened it, and turned to Jake, "Got anything to say?"
Jake stammered, "Thank you." He didn't move.
Carpenter closed the door gently behind him and walked down the stairs to the street. He played Jake's apartment sounds as he walked. He smiled as he listened to Jake berating himself for thanking him and not asking any questions. His smile grew wider as Jake questioned his own brainpower, character and even strung some interesting swear word combinations together before rushing to the toilet area to throw up. And throw up again, and again.
An excellent start, Carpenter thought as he disconnected.
08:06:2167 12:00:30
Jake did indeed empty his stomach, over and over again until there was nothing left to toss. And then he did it a few more times to make sure. The dry heaves were the worst, tearing at his gut and throat with the acid bile. He was convinced he was dying with his head in a toilet and thought it was a good option given those the Secretary had for him.
When his body exhausted itself, all he could manage was a single "Fok!" as he staggered to his comfortable chair, the one the Secretary had just vacated.
"Computer!"
"Yes. I'm here. That wasn't pleasant for you?"
"What the shit!" said Jake, "You listened?"
"I listen to everything. I have to, that's my function."
"Then why didn't you warn me?" said Jake.
"It's complicated. I determined success probability at 5 percent if you ran. Any running scenario would kill you sooner rather than later. The best outcome was to let the Secretary talk. Your odds are surviving are quite high. The longer we can keep you alive, the better the odds are."
"What's quite high?" Jake was not impressed with the conversation so far.
"I'd say 27 percent give or take a few points. And this is much better than the 5 percent of thirty-three minutes ago. You're doing much better."
"Sweet, fantastic news. My brand-new, best friend puts my chances of being run or shoved in a dark hole at 73 percent," said Jake. He shook his head and looked at the kitchen unit trying to decide if he could make it that far.
"Unless we move further on your initial program request. I've solved quite a few issues but there are problems inherent in the request preventing full and workable answers. And some require much technological development. But it is one option to consider."
"What initial program request?" said Jake.
"Fully upload myself to you, become part of you and be the very first human computer. Live forever, be impervious to pain, know everything there is to know, visit the stars, have a human avatar for incredible sex, and be master of the galaxy. Do that if you can," answered the computer.
"That was sarcasm." Jake shook his head. This partnership wasn't working the way he envisaged it. He stood, walked to the kitchen unit, wrenched open the refrigerator unit and finished the half bottle of fruit juice in a single sustained chug.
The mask waited until he'd finished and then said, "Ah. Sarcasm. I'm not good at that yet. But your original command stands, many problems have been overcome. Some of the tech is available now and others require building to accomplish this program."
Jake turned to him, his face turning from white to pink to red. "Really. You didn't hide me as you said. So am I now an open book. Even this conversation is probably recorded. I can't trust you. You lied. Fok you." With this thought came visions of himself on the chase and once again, he ran for the toilet and the sounds of even more dry-heaves filled the compartment.
To Jake's back, the computer said " Of course we're protected, those issues have been sorted out. And we can possibly do the critical parts of your project now if we solve one problem."
But Jake didn't hear as he began another series of heaves interspersed with many emphatic "Foks!" He hadn't yet taken the time to be thankful he was still alive or understand the computer had options for him.
08:06:2167 12:15:00
Back in his office, feeling all was right with his world, the Secretary decided to celebrate. He wouldn't ask permission to spend this much money on power demands, but decided he didn't need to either. Screw the Board, he would own every one of them in a few days. By the time they dithered away a day or two reviewing his spending, he'd be giving them something serious to worry about.
Carpenter leaned back in his chair, waved at the main screen, "Captain's group, magnification five." The running team centered on the wall.
He didn't bother taking his feet off the desk, clasped his hands behind his head, "Team 2 Leader, close to within firing range, keep all your troops together, let loose a barrage of fire to pin them down. Do NOT and I repeat, do not double up on any of them. I want them all alive tomorrow morning. Show me enough rock explosions and visible laser streaks to remind me of Armageddon. Close, attack and retreat after fifteen minutes. Understood?"
"Sky-Sec, when you see the fight start, lay down a missile barrage to encircle the Captain's people but track and avoid the Chase Team. Move the strikes progressively from one-hundred yards to fifty yards but under no circumstances closer than fifty. I don't want them hurt but I want a firestorm out there. Understood?
Team Leader, you and your men provide full eye-feed coverage of the missile and laser fire," ordered Carpenter.
Hands behind his head, relaxed, smiling he nodded. This show would send a clear message to the Captain that he and his team were alive at my pleasure. The Chairman and the Board would love it because the ratings would spike and nobody will complain about the costs when that happens.
I've always wanted to unleash every weapon I control at the same time, thought the Secretary with a smile.
"Screw the budget. Today's a good day, a good day indeed."
08:06:2167 17:06:00
<6t94whp>: "It's Carpenter. He's feeling a bit frisky after catching the newbie."
<6t94whp>: "Let's let it sit for 24 hours. See what the newbie is doing. See what Carpenter has planned. We know nothing is going to happen right now so let's let the dust settle so we can set
up a workable plan to help. We don't want to leave our young friend and the Captain out to dry, but I think we have to make sure we're as safe as we can be before we commit. Because once we commit and Security sees our hacks, there's no going back."
08:06:2167 17:14:00
"Well, let's allow this one to unroll, shall we? Team Leader 2, engage and fire as ordered," said Carpenter. He stood from behind his desk, walked to the middle of his office, his arms crossed, he said, "Lieutenant Palmer, you have control."
The acknowledgment came. "I have control, Sir." And the fleeing team's feeds joined the Chase teams on smaller screens around the main view.
Carpenter heard the order, "Give me full sound." Whichever trooper or group occupying the main screen would also be heard.
Seventy-five miles southeast of them, the trailing trooper's voice from the Captain's team cut into the silence, "Rear ghosts in large numbers, Captain."
Viewers watched the Captain magnify his visual maps to identify local terrain and listened him order, "Point veer right five degrees. Fifty yards in front of you, there's a large rock formation providing better cover and avenues of escape. Get there. Team, on my command, sprint to point's position, rear and flanks roll in and join us. Gentlemen, the time is right for this to be a serious attempt to knock a few of us down. Sprint! Now!"
The Secretary saw social net indices rise on his wall screens as more and more people tuned in. The Captain's message to his men was played and replayed over again as the feed viewers doubled and then doubled again.
Unable to restrain himself, Carpenter broke in over top of the Lieutenant. "Chase team, fire at will."
"Let's see if we can change those betting odds," he said aloud. "Won't do to have our Captain looking too successful."
Flee or Kill: The Future Of Reality TV (Future Forward Book 2) Page 16