Freelancer

by Jake Lingwall

  Enforcement! Of course! Kari was about to live-link to the police and demand assistance, but then she stopped herself. They’d realize I was out here. What if they think I’m a Middle Stater? What if they saw my drones? This would have to be an anonymous call. Kari changed the screens in her mind and quickly set up a highly secure connection that would be fully untraceable. She sent an urgent request to enforcement through their desperation text line. The odds were that they were already aware of the abnormal auto-auto activity and that a simple plea would be plenty to bring a response. They should be here in a few minutes. I hope that’s soon enough.

  Kari refocused in on the camera feed from the drones; they were within range of the house now, although they were at a high altitude to remain out of sight. The camera reception from the drones was good enough, but it wasn’t like seeing in person, especially at night. Remind me to build infrared cameras into my next models. From what Kari could see, a dozen people were crowded in front of David’s house. Some of the figures appeared to be holding makeshift weapons, and others were holding up lights.

  A few of the strangers’ drones buzzed in the air around the mob as well. These drones were much larger than Kari’s but were programmed for little more than self-defense and monitoring. They were the kind of drones people took with them while running at night or sent to follow their kids as they walked to school. Kari had identified the class of drone easily enough, but there was a wide spectrum of how effective certain drones were at their jobs. Several of the mob members had lit torches and were waving them at the house. In front of the mob was the ringleader, who apparently was the only one brave enough to make it to the porch. He was leading the outcry, daring David and his family to come out and meet them. Kari could hear the yells from several minutes down the road.

  She felt sick. How can people do this? It seemed impossible that people could be so awful to each other. Kari’s drones hovered above the crowd, waiting for orders. Maybe they’re going to try to scare them out of town or something like that. A sudden cheer from the crowd gave her chills. Or not. The mob started to move in on the house.

  Here we go.

  Chapter Ten

  Before the mob could take two steps, Kari sent her drones into action. She ordered two of them to strike down the opposing drones and sent the others for the two people holding the torches. She kept her command drone in a position that allowed her to survey the entire scene at once.

  If they think they’re going to burn down David’s house, they’re going to be very, very disappointed.

  A couple of flashes indicated that a few of the opposing drones had been unable to react to Kari’s attack drones in time. One hit from her drones’ electrical stingers was more than enough to overload the electrical system of a typical personal drone. The torchbearers half dropped, half threw their fiery clubs as Kari’s drones stung them. Kari heard their painful screams clearly. They should be thankful the drones toned down their attack; otherwise, they might not have hands anymore. It was hard not to smile at the mob’s bewilderment. A second earlier, they had been surging forward unopposed to burn down a house. Now, they were being attacked by an invisible enemy.

  Another flash meant that the last of the mob’s drones had been destroyed. Maybe they should have asked David if they could borrow his drones. They would have put up a better fight.

  A mob member moved quickly for one of the torches, but a drone stung him in the elbow. His muscles locked, and he fell to the ground in agony. Kari was reminded of a video she once saw of a man being Tasered by the police; he had dropped to floor the instant the electricity hit his body. From the looks of it, her drones were even more effective at disabling people than official police tasers. The remains of the mob’s drones lay smoking on the ground next to the abandoned torches.

  The ringleader apparently didn’t care about the torches or the drones and was attempting to kick the door down all by himself. Given what Kari knew about David’s family, she thought it would probably be best for the ringleader’s sake that he wasn’t successful. Middle Staters were fond of their guns. It was illegal for civilians to own guns in North Carolina, but Kari didn’t doubt they had several. Many citizens, even coastal supporters, still owned unregistered guns.

  If David’s family uses them, they will be done for. Enforcement would lock them away for it. What good is saving the house if they get hauled away?

  Kari reassigned one of her drones to attack the ringleader. She thought that a couple of shocks would render him less combative. A few of the mob members pulled shock sticks from their pockets. Aside from drones, they were the favored form of personal defense. The mob members were waving the long, thin, metal wands around wildly as they tried to strike Kari’s drones out of the air, but the drones dodged the attacks effortlessly. I designed them to dodge bullets and energy blasts. Good luck hitting them with your shock sticks.

  The small mob looked like children flailing wildly at bees. Kari assigned the drones to disperse the crowd. After a few stinger flashes, the mob was scrambling back to their auto-autos in a full sprint. Their ringleader, who had been so eager moments before, was leading the retreat. And here I thought he was the brave one.

  A few of them clutched various limbs or parts of their body where they had been strung. Kari had ordered the drones to attack the people with a much weaker shock than they were capable of, but she wouldn’t be surprised if it had still been powerful enough to leave a significant burn. She hoped it would leave a mark long enough to discourage them from ever trying this again.

  Kari slowly started to breathe at a normal pace again as the auto-autos pulled away from David’s house and headed toward town. She ordered the drones to find places in the nearby trees where they could view the house and act as guardians. She would leave them there to monitor the house in case the mob decided to make a return. I’ll probably need to add more. If the mob comes back, there will be more of them, and they’ll likely be much better prepared to fight.

  The auto-autos shot past where she was hidden in the bushes. She didn’t dare pull herself from her cover yet, but she did disconnect herself from the drones after ordering them to alert her if they detected anything out of the ordinary. She blinked, noticing for the first time how uncomfortable she was with branches stabbing into her in various places where a person would typically not want a branch. Why didn’t I just lie down in the grass instead? It’s not like they would have been looking for me.

  Kari carefully escaped the bushes, trying her hardest to avoid more scratches. Hopefully, I’ll have only emotional scars from this visit. It had been her first time being involved in any sort of real-life conflict. It hadn’t felt any different from her simulations, which bothered her a little. I don’t like violence. I should be more bothered by this! Maybe it hasn’t hit me yet.

  A notification light blinked in the top-right corner of Kari’s vision. The auto-auto she ordered before the whole ordeal started was now available and heading her way. Oh no. Kari cancelled the request as quickly as she could. The auto-auto records will show I was here. Just then, she heard the distant sound of enforcement vehicles coming. Because I called police, they’ll look up the records of who made the requests to bring auto-autos here. If they gather information about what happened, they’ll come to ask me questions about the drones.

  Kari’s mind raced for solutions. She would need to talk with David, but she didn’t dare call him now. Enforcement would probably look at the communications record; if they saw a call from her to him right after the fight had ended, it would be another link. She would need to make it look as if she had left long before anything had happened and that she’d never looked back, and that would require a long walk home. For some reason, the thought of doing the exercise she knew she needed wasn’t as motivating or as consoling as she hoped it would be.

  Chapter Eleven

  For the first time in a while at school, Kari’s primary worry wasn’t that Thomas might call on her to participate. It had been a
late night walking home. She was lucky that her father was still on a work trip and her mother had worked all night at the Social Security office. It hasn’t been a great few days if that’s the best luck I’ve had in a while.

  Kari arrived at school earlier than usual, hoping to catch David and gather more details about what happened last night after enforcement had arrived, but he hadn’t come today. She understood but was disappointed; she needed to talk with him. She had sent him some secure requests to talk via the networks, but he hadn’t responded to anything, which wasn’t unheard of. She had sent them anonymously to avoid being tracked by the government, and anonymous messages were usually nothing but spam.

  Kari used all her concentration to stay awake at her desk. She hadn’t slept much after getting home late, and her body was still tired from last night’s adventures. She wasn’t used to walking that far; in fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had walked that distance. It had been many people’s life missions to provide a superior form of transportation, and Kari thought the least she could do to honor their memory was to avoid walking if at all possible.

  She had stayed awake as long as she could, trying to hack into the auto-auto records in order to remove her orders, a venture in which she had been surprisingly unsuccessful. There weren’t many systems she couldn’t hack into immediately, but this apparently was one of the few systems that would require days of effort to crack.

  The news this morning hadn’t been encouraging, either. The situation seemed to be escalating. Overnight, the protests had turned violent on both sides of the border. The US Congress announced a trade embargo on the Middle States, and the airspace over the Gulf of Mexico was now restricted. It would solve a lot of my problems if the Middle States would stop being idiots and solve their problems with the federal government like adults. At least there hasn’t been any terrible news yet.

  Kari had expected to hear that David’s family had fought with enforcement last night and had been arrested. Even worse, she was convinced it was only a matter of time until enforcement arrested her for using advanced technology to assault humans. It wasn’t a trivial accusation; as technology had grown more advanced, the punishment for using it against another human had also grown. I’d probably lose the case, too. It would be hard to claim that I was self-defending others.

  The classroom door opened, and Kari jerked around to see who it was. It was Jack, who had left a few minutes earlier to go to the bathroom.

  “A little on edge today, Kari?” Thomas asked.

  “No more than usual,” Kari said. Thomas seemed to take it easy on people who tried to pull a self-deprecating excuse.

  “She’s worried about her crazy boyfriend David,” Sarah said.

  Thomas smirked. “Sarah, please.”

  “Sorry, Learning Leader. I’m all out of sorts with all the traumatizing news lately.” Sarah didn’t bother to sound as if she believed what she was saying.

  “I know, I know. We all are,” Thomas said.

  “Do you think David was arrested because he hates America?” Sarah asked.

  “David is out today because he is not feeling well,” Thomas responded.

  “The only one who believes that is Kari,” Sarah said, turning to look at her.

  Did I attack you with a drone last night or something?

  “What’s your problem?” Kari asked her. She instantly regretted responding.

  “That’s quite enough, Kari and Sarah,” Thomas said. “If you two can’t play nice, then you’ll both be excused.”

  That’s supposed to be a punishment?

  “Sorry. Like Sarah said, I’m just a little on edge today,” Kari said.

  Thomas went on leading the discussion about the week’s material on musical theory. Kari had no inclination to learn that subject, and she hadn’t spent any time studying it over the past week. She wasn’t sure what the activity portion of class was; however, after her disappointing victory last week, she figured she could afford a bad showing or two to reset expectations.

  The door opened again. Kari controlled herself and looked toward the door in a slightly more natural, nonparanoid manner. Standing in the doorway was a large enforcement officer. His skin was dark, but his mood was even darker. He was clearly here on business. Behind him were the outlines of several other enforcement officers, barely visible through the frosted glass door to the hallway.

  Shoot.

  Kari felt a brief urge to throw up, which she suppressed solely out of pride.

  “We need Kari Tahe to come with us immediately,” the officer said. His voice was the most serious sound that Kari had ever heard. She stood up and walked to the door, thinking how the situation felt more like a simulation than real life. I’m being arrested. This is actually happening. She felt more at home looking through the eyes of drone in a simulation than she did in her own body right now.

  “About time,” Sarah said. Sarah’s friends laughed, but everyone else responded with respectful disapproval.

  “Shove it, Sarah,” Kari said as she turned back toward the class. “I’m not crazy, and David’s not crazy. We’re all just people.”

  “And some people get arrested,” Sarah said.

  “That’s enough!” Thomas said. Kari had never heard Thomas shout so loudly.

  Kari turned and walked to the officers, who looked like they had zero patience for high school drama. You and me both.

  “At least she’ll be reunited with David and the rest of her Middle Stater friends,” Sarah said, her voice venomous. She just couldn’t leave it alone, could she?

  Kari started to turn back around, ready to get things started for real with Sarah, but the enforcement officer caught her arm in a powerful grasp. Kari tried to scream out a response as the officer forcefully ushered her out the door, but nothing managed to come out except a halfhearted growl.

  What’s her deal? I’ve never done anything to her! Kari steamed about how much she hated Sarah halfway to the principal’s office before remembering what was going on. Four heavily armed enforcement officers were escorting her down the hall.

  What have I gotten myself into now? Actually, I know exactly what. Mom is going to kill me, and Dad is going to ban me from the Internet for life.

  The enforcement officers formed a square around her, with the officer who had come into the classroom at the front-left corner. Well, at least they take me seriously. The guards led her down the hallway toward the principal’s office at a steady march. The sound of their boots stepping down the abandoned hall made Kari feel desperate. This isn’t going to end well.

  Once they reached the principal’s office, they opened the door for her to enter without a word. Kari took a long look outside before stepping in, hoping it wasn’t her last meaningful look at the outside free world.

  “Please, have a seat, Miss Tahe,” a man dressed in a suit said invitingly while gesturing to the chair across the desk from him. Kari studied him for a moment before taking the seat. His skin was darker than that of the enforcement officer who had summoned her from class, but it wasn’t as dark as her own. His hair was graying, but his face didn’t seem old enough to match his hair. If he hadn’t had her arrested, Kari supposed she would have thought of him as a nice man at first glance.

  “I believe you know why I asked you here,” he said, his voice calm and reassuring, as if this were all simply a formality.

  Kari wanted to act innocent but couldn’t find the heart for it. Instead, she just nodded, keeping a high amount of emotion contained inside herself.

  “Well, good,” he said with a smile. “Then let me introduce myself. I am Marshal Henderson of the US government.” Hardly united anymore, though. “I’m not here to arrest you, Kari.” He smiled. Kari tried not to show a visible reaction but instantly felt a rush of relief. His smile widened a little.

  “However, given the events of last night and the unstable nature of the times, I need to ask you to be smart. Please don’t involve yourself in matters in which you do
not belong.” Henderson’s voice was amiable as his mouth curled at the edges as if he were talking about something slightly unpleasant.

  Why escort me down the hall with four enforcement officers for this? Something didn’t add up in Kari’s mind.

  “Perhaps if enforcement were able to respond in a timely fashion to events, then citizens might not be inclined to become involved,” Kari said. What are you doing? You practically admitted to everything from last night.

  “Enforcement can’t be everywhere at once. Given the current situation, we have found it difficult to respond to all requests.”

  Kari wanted to trust him. “Given your resources, you should have been able to stop anything that might have happened last night before it even occurred. I didn’t see any news about other problems here locally on the networks.” Her confidence was rising despite the objections in her mind.

  Henderson raised an eyebrow and studied her for a moment. Kari would have been more comfortable if enforcement mechs had locked on to her position with their arm cannons.

  “Kari, you are a very talented person.” Henderson was still jolly in appearance, but his voice had a dangerous edge to it now. “I would be lying if I were to tell you that I haven’t been watching you closely over the past year. Since we both seem aware of my resources and of your unique abilities, let us speak frankly to each other.”

  Kari nodded her approval. He’s been watching me for a year? What does he know? The thought gave her chills.

  “We have made a decision to allocate our resources where they best serve the loyal citizens of this country. We do not feel justified in spending time or money on those who would not be thankful for our service or who would likely reject it.”

  So that’s it. It’s because they’re Middle Staters. Kari felt a surge of anger, and this time she wasn’t able to control it.