“I din’t pat this woman down. Can you pat her down an’ then cuff her?”
“Yes ‘um.”
Susan yelled, “I didn’t agree to be cuffed. You said I could leave and nobody gets hurt.”
“I did and you will. Don’t git yer panties in a wad.”
John Deere nodded to the second one who pat Susan down for weapons. She found a knife in an ankle holster and took it off her.
“Clean,” the second hunter said.
“Cuff her. And give me that knife, will ya?” John Deere said.
A high-tech pair of cuffs was brought out. The woman brusquely took Susan’s hands behind her back and used the first cuffs on her. Then she forced her to sit on the ground in front of her car, with her back to the side of the car. She cuffed her ankles.
“The cuffs can be unlocked by me with a phone call. Once ever-body is in thay proper places, I’ll make the call. You may be here a while though.” John Deere said.
“How long is a while?” Susan asked.
John Deere looked at the other woman. “Whatcha think?”
“I dunno. Four hours if she’s lucky. Maybe eight. No more ‘an twelve, though. Won’t be no more ‘an twelve, right?” she asked, spitting on the ground.
“Sounds ‘bout right.” John Deere replied.
“Please. I’m leaving. I’m not coming after you. Please let me go earlier,” Susan pleaded.
“I’ll take it under advisement,” JD said and started walking back. “Can you guard her while I collect the captive she took?”
“Yes ‘em.”
“Much obliged.”
78
THOMAS COULDN’T believe his luck. Just as the mystery camouflage woman walked away with the mystery interrogator, Julia came running up to him with some kind of blade.
“I got it off the peach farm bot,” she said, cutting the netting near his feet.
“I love you, Julia,” he said.
“What did that awful woman ask you? Did she hurt you?”
Julia was struggling to get the blade to cut and frantically digging into the netting.
“She stabbed me with a needle. Besides that, she seemed pretty nice.”
“Are you okay? You sound weird.”
“I feel really high actually. I’m on cloud nine. I would give you a big ol’ hug if I wasn’t in this net.”
“OK, I just cut through part of it. I think this will work. It may take a few minutes though.” She was frenetically rubbing her hands against the material like she was lighting a fire with two pieces of wood.
“Who was that woman?” Thomas asked.
“The first woman had to be involved with the drone attack. The second woman I think was Leslie’s sister, the police chief around here.”
“My hero.”
“Yeah, mine too.”
“We should use that truth serum on the bad woman,” Thomas said.
“What do you mean? Truth serum?”
“I mean, she stuck me with a needle with this stuff and then asked me a bunch of questions, and I couldn’t lie to her.”
Julia stopped cutting for a moment. “Is that why you sound so weird? She gave you some drug?”
“Yep. I feel great.”
Julia resumed cutting. “Do you know what the drug is?”
“She said it was some secret formula the government made.”
“Do you remember what it looked like? Was it in her briefcase? Could you identify it?”
“I think so.”
Julia started opening the bottom netting. “I think this hole is big enough for your foot. See if you can get your foot through here.”
Thomas moved his foot as she guided it through the small opening.
“Great,” she said. “One down.”
She started cutting again. Thomas looked at her.
“I feel dizzy. I’m not sure how good I can walk.”
“We need to get you out of here. If you stumble, that’s okay. I can guide you. The cameras will be on soon.”
Thomas looked around. The morning sun illuminated the farm.
“The robots usually start around 9 am. The farm tries to use all the solar power it can. What time is it?”
“I don’t know,” Julia said. “But it’s probably close to 9 am. What about cameras and drones? When do those come on?”
Thomas thought about his answer, trying to remember his experiences doing surveillance on the farm.
“I worked whatever schedule I wanted, so it’s hard to think about when the drones came on because they were always on when I logged in. But I don’t think I ever used them before 9 am, and I know they shut off at 5 pm or around then because we didn’t use infrared, only visible light. I think they come after the robots are working, because we checked to make sure that every bot was active. It wouldn’t make sense to start at the same time, since the platforms need a few minutes to move into place.”
“So probably the surveillance will start after nine?” she asked.
“Very likely. Also, if you took a blade from one of the robots, that platform won’t even move. It will detect the missing piece when it wakes up and send signals for repair. A drone will go to look at it first thing.”
“So you’re saying the first location the drone will come to is where we are?” she asked.
“Not where we are now, but wherever you took the blade.”
“That’s very close to here.”
“Then we need to hurry,” he said. “As soon as the robotic platform wakes up, it will send the signal and at least one drone will come check out the area. They will also notify the repair engineer.”
Julia moved quickly. “I don’t know if I can cut any faster.”
“Just focus on the cutting,” he replied. “Don’t bother talking. Just tell me when I can move my foot.”
It took a few more minutes before she said, “OK, give me your right foot.”
He slipped it through, with her hands guiding him. Once done, he maneuvered to his knees. Julia untied the rope that attached the netting to the nearest tree, and then she helped lift him to his feet.
“Can you try to walk a few steps?” she asked.
“Yeah. Please hold the net. This is really awkward.”
With Julia’s help, Thomas was able to walk a few steps and get accustomed to walking in the netting. It was going to be a very slow walk.
“Let’s start heading back,” she told him. “My stuff is in that direction.”
She pointed toward the hill where she had left her backpack and gun. Thomas looked at the ground.
“Julia, pick up the gun and holster the woman left. We may need it.”
Julia did as requested.
Thomas continued, “Let’s follow the direction where Leslie’s sister went. We need a car and one of them must have one.”
“I don’t know Thomas. We don’t know who those people are. On the hill, I can use the scope and see what’s going on.”
“How far is the hill from here?”
“Maybe a mile.”
“I can’t walk a mile in this netting. It will take me an hour.”
“I can’t leave you again.”
“What if we find someplace to hide me? We can go where we tried to sleep. It’s close to here and far enough away from the robot platform. I can stay there until you figure out if the second woman is a friend or foe.”
Julia thought for a second. “OK. That’s a better idea. Let’s go.”
They began walking.
IT TOOK THEM nearly ten minutes to get Thomas into position under the Holly trees. He decided it was best to stand and lean against a tree. Julia kissed him through the netting, as best she could.
Then she took off, looking for the two mystery women. It wasn’t long before she heard someone yelling her name.
“Julia!”
It was a woman’s voice. Not Thomas. A muted scream, like someone who wanted to be loud but not too loud. A directional yell.
Julia hid behind a tree and spied for
the voice. The call came again, and she realized the location. The woman was walking back from the direction of the cars. She heard leaves rustling under boot steps and then saw the camouflage.
“Julia, it’s Sam. Leslie’s sister,” the voice called.
“Thank God,” Julia thought, and walked out from behind the tree. “I’m here Sam.”
The two woman looked at each other.
“Where’s your man?” Sam asked.
“I can take you to him, but he can’t walk very fast,” Julia replied.
“Take me to him,” Sam replied. “I got a knife we can use to cut that net.”
The two women walked briskly to Thomas and Sam used the knife to get him out. Sam then led the group back toward her car.
“I’m gonna take you two to Leslie. We need to leave immediately. Too many cameras on this farm.”
Thomas asked, “Do you know who the woman in black is?”
“Gotta be a Fed,” Sam replied.
“She has a truth serum,” Thomas said. “We can use it on her and find out who she is.”
Sam looked at him, “No time for that. You two are wanted and all over the international news.”
Julia thought about it and said, “We’ll never have a better chance to find out who did this.”
Thomas followed up: “Can’t we take her with us? We can question her in the car.”
“Let’s get to my car first,” Sam replied. “We can consider other options once you are safe.”
Julia said, “The stuff in her briefcase would be very useful for my group.”
“No kidding. Mine too,” Sam responded.
“If you want it, take it,” Thomas said to Sam. “But let’s at least use the truth serum on the woman. Find out why she did this.”
Sam relented: “OK, let’s get you in the car. If there is one Fed out here, there must be others waiting for her to check in. We have to get you out of here while we have the chance. I don’t mess around with Feds. Come on now, let’s pick up the pace.”
Sam sprinted. Thomas and Julia ran to keep pace. The car came into sight, and the doors opened on Sam’s voice command. All three poured in.
“My phone,” Julia said. “It’s in my backpack on the hill.”
“We’ll git it,” Sam replied.
The car began moving. Sam told Julia and Thomas to both lay on the floor board. She made a phone call to Leslie.
“I’m in route, sis. Bring your van and I’ll put the package in the back. Let’s meet behind the old Baptist church.”
Sam disconnected and looked at Thomas. “If she used truth serum on ya, what’d ya tell her? Does she know about Leslie? Or me?”
Thomas replied, “I don’t think so. It happened pretty quickly, but I think I only told her about the grid camp, and about Julia.”
Julia was shocked, “What does she know? Does she know about Cuba?”
Thomas said, “I think I only told her your name. I don’t think I said Cuba.”
Sam looked at them both. “Then we’ll have to use the serum on her. Find out what she knows. I don’t want to kill her, but I can’t let her go if she knows too much.”
Thomas replied, “Why don’t you want to kill her? She destroyed the site in Jasper. She killed everyone there. And she’ll do it again, I’m sure.”
Sam said calmly, “She’s a federal agent. If she dies, there will be a huge investigation right here in my backyard. We cain’t have that.”
Julia said to both, “I think there has been enough killing.”
Sam’s next call was to Dawn, who answered immediately.
“D, put the woman and her briefcase and everything else in her car. Drive it out to the old Baptist church. You know which one I mean? Exactly. I’ll meet you there in ten minutes.”
Clicking off, she then placed her third and final call to Shirley.
“S, you came with D in the same car, right? Great. Listen, I’m sending her to the old Baptist church in the woman’s car. There is a hill near where her car is. On the hill is some stuff. I’m gonna put you on the phone with my friend to tell you where the hill is and what stuff to bring. Get it all as quickly as you can and meet me at the church. You know which one? Great.”
Sam handed the phone to Julia who did her best to explain how to find the hill and what she had left behind. After a couple minutes, they had finished all of the phone calls.
“You think this church will be safe?” Julia asked.
“Wouldn’t take you there unless I did,” Sam replied. “It’s all fallen apart and isolated. Ain’t no chance of runnin’ into nobody there.”
79
MARK WAS SITTING in an aisle seat on a commercial flight from Rome to Mexico City, in route to Havana, Cuba. The safety briefing had finished and he had electronically ordered his meals, drinks and sleep preferences.
His seat could recline quite a bit, but he kept it upright and plugged his headset into the electrical socket. The socket would both power his goggles for the entire flight as well as give him grid connectivity through the multiple onboard satellite modems. Mark put the goggles on and put the noise canceling headphones over his ears. The window seat next to him was empty, and he directed his face toward it, so the other passengers wouldn’t hear his talking. Since most of them had on goggles, it was unlikely that anyone would hear him anyway.
His platform was the ancient city of Athens, Greece, with the Parthenon just behind him. Unlike most platforms, Mark didn’t use multiple screens. He had no screens at all. Instead, a select group of famous people wandered around the city. The team, mostly men, walked through the town square within shouting distance.
“Zeus,” he said, and the Greek God appeared before him in a flash of light.
“Yes, Mark,” Zeus replied.
“Can you see if you can get Veronica to join me here?”
“Sir, the connection speed is not very fast right now. Satellite, you know. The voice quality could be okay, with a half-second lag, but anything more might be glitchy.”
“That’s fine.”
“Yes, sir,” Zeus said and partially knelt before shooting up into the sky as a bolt of lightning.
Mark smiled. The Zeus gopher was his favorite search engine and digital assistant.
Mark looked at an old man and waved for him to walk over. The whole crew was close by: philosophers, religious leaders, famous authors. Mark had been assembling a cabinet of advisors for years, finding the best AI software he could that emulated great thinkers. Socrates, Aristotle, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, Descartes, and so many others were all available to him in his little Greek town. Even The Dude, Jeffrey Lebowski, was abiding in the town square, chatting with King Solomon.
There’s only one man I want advice from right now.
Years ago, Mark had purchased an AI software package that would emulate anyone you wanted. The trick was: you had to feed the AI the correct raw materials. Mark’s father, Jacob, had passed away years before, and Mark gave Jacob’s library of books to the AI. The software consumed the knowledge from the books and then learned the fields of theology and neuroscience, where Jacob had PhD’s. It even absorbed Jacob’s course work from elementary school to graduate school, after Mark found the data archived in a safe in the old man’s office.
Once the raw materials had been digested, Mark played with the AI daily to refine it. He conversed with it for hours, correcting behaviors that didn’t sound like his dad. As the final step, a realistic avatar face and body was created of the man in his prime, using old video footage. The avatar even dressed like Jacob.
The simulated being that Mark had lovingly created was walking his way.
“You need something, son?” his avatar father asked, sitting down on a stone bench in front of the ampitheater.
“Dad, I’m afraid I really failed you this time.”
“Impossible. You know how proud I am of you, Mark. My son, the Cardinal. You’ve been a success your whole life.”
“Well, dad, that’s the thing. I’m
not a cardinal as of today, and I’m no longer at the Vatican. I have resigned in disgrace. I failed you, dad. I failed myself and everyone.”
Mark wanted to hug him, to feel his embrace, but he wasn’t wearing any tactile feedback mechanisms. Plus, he was sitting on the plane and was effectively immobile from a sensory perspective. He could move his avatar or cause it to hug, but without the VR sensations, it was just a reminder of its artificiality.
He looked at his father. He was as real as ever.
What is reality anyway?
Throughout history, people have prayed to loved ones who passed away. What response did they get from the grave?
His father looked at him and responded. “Mark, you’ll always be a success to me. I don’t believe for a second that you resigned in disgrace. There’s something you’re not telling me here, something that happened, some reasonable explanation for all of this. Tell me, son. I’ve got nothing but time.”
Mark started to tear up in the goggles and had to take them off momentarily to wipe his eyes with his shirt.
“I love you, dad,” was all he could get out.
“Tell your father the truth. Unburden yourself.”
“OK, OK. I will. I’ve been working with a small group in Cuba for several years now. They are helping Americans who fight for men’s rights, trying to change the course of Washington. One of them got caught in the States and she is being blamed for killing nearly a hundred people. Innocent people, dad.”
“Did she do it?”
“I don’t believe so, but the Vatican can’t take any chances. The US government is too powerful.”
“I remember a time when the Catholic church was considered too powerful. Power has a way of corrupting, even those who start with the noblest of ideas. Have you let the power corrupt you, son?”
“I don’t believe so. I think that I am fighting on the side of truth.”
“Then how can you say that you have failed? It takes a strong person to stand up for what is right when all the powers are against him.”
A flash of lightning struck behind them, minus the thunder. Mark had programmed Zeus to strike silently.
“Thank you, dad. That’s why I’m going to Cuba. I have to make sure that what I’m doing is the right thing.”
Escape The Grid: Volume 1 Page 34