FAI

by Jake Lingwall

  “I ordered the printers to print you a new body. Version three. Also a carrying case for Dot’s CB.”

  “I know, I saw the requests,” Fai said.

  Another surprise ruined . . .

  “I made one slight change, though,” Fai said.

  “Yeah?”

  “I changed it back to version two. It may not be our best work, but I feel at home in it. I experienced the world in this version.”

  Kari smiled at Fai, who moved in and gave her a gentle hug with her broken body.

  “Be safe,” Kari said.

  “You too, Kari Tahe. Thank you for everything, my friend.”

  “I thought we were sisters,” Kari said.

  “You’re right. That is the more precise term for our relationship.”

  Fai disappeared back into the research lab just as the flashing lights of response vehicles shined through the glass lobby’s walls.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “And it worked?” David asked.

  “Yeah, it did,” Kari said. “As soon as I brought down the communication bubble, Fai was able to draw more processing power in the cloud to try to secure the facility. Dot had no choice but to try to match Fai’s processing power. And when he connected to more servers in the cloud, he eventually ran into Fai’s worm. Then boom, Fai had control over everything Dot had owned before. She basically shut him down.”

  “And then I got shot.”

  “Yeah . . . and then you got shot.”

  “That all happened really, really fast,” David said.

  “They’re extremely powerful,” Kari said. “They’re young still, but they are on an entirely different level than we are. It might have been a blink of an eye to us, but to them it was enough time to stage a pretty epic battle.”

  “Not as epic as getting shot . . .” David said.

  He was getting sleepy, so she held his hand as he fell asleep again. She rubbed it gently while she tried to get some rest herself.

  A knock on the door to David’s hospital room kept her from dozing off. She knew she needed sleep, but the hospital chairs were not comfortable, and the enforcement guards outside of the room wouldn’t let her leave unless she was going to prison.

  “Come in,” Kari said.

  “What?” David said. “Kari?”

  “I’m right here, David,” Kari said.

  She was already upset at whoever was at the door because they had woken David up. He hadn’t taken his first hours of being awake without a foot well. The only thing that seemed to console him was that Kari promised to design him the world’s greatest prosthetic foot. After that, he had been in and out of sleep pretty frequently. The doctors said he needed some continual rest and so far he hadn’t been able to get any.

  Marshal Henderson stepped into the room. Thankfully he didn’t wear the infuriating grin as he entered.

  “Do we have to do this right now?” Kari asked.

  “I’m afraid that we do,” Henderson said. “You have a way of slipping out of my control if I leave you alone for even the slightest amount of time.”

  “He’s making my foot hurt worse,” David said.

  You don’t have that foot anymore . . .

  “My apologies, Mr. Pratt. You may not believe this, but I am happy that the doctors have informed me that you are doing well.”

  “I don’t believe you,” David said.

  Henderson frowned, but continued anyway.

  “You know, I’ve never seen you two together, despite our long history together. It reminds me—”

  “No one cares,” Kari said.

  David squeezed her hand in agreement.

  “Right. Despite your present state, I am going to need you to hand over your processing units. Miss Tahe, control over your case as been reassigned from local enforcement to my personal care.”

  “Perfect,” David said.

  Henderson raised his eyebrows.

  “We had a deal,” Kari said. “You wanted graphium proof that Christina was involved in the Vision massacre, and we have it.”

  “Do you now?” Henderson stepped forward.

  “Yes. Adrian, the man who was arrested with us, he’s technically the man behind everything. Christina told him to figure out a way to break the Great Agreement and his only solution was to kill John, everyone else, and fake his own death so he could work in peace. He told Christina later and she was down with it.”

  “He is your proof?”

  “We recorded it. We also have various biometric readings to confirm the report,” Kari said. “That should be more than enough to take care of Adrian as well as Christina for a long, long time. You’ll be a national hero.”

  “Can you send this to me?” Henderson asked.

  “Done,” Kari said. She sent him a copy of all the data he would need to arrest Christina and prosecute Adrian. “You might want to make sure to keep a close eye on Adrian. He’s smart and a mass murderer. Don’t try to turn him into your next Tara, though. He’ll murder you rather than just leave you behind with a broken heart.”

  “Exceptional work,” Henderson said. “I’m quite pleased.”

  “And your end of the deal?” David asked. He sat up taller in his bed, doing his best to look tough while in a hospital gown.

  “I said I would consider a pardon,” Henderson said. “But that was before you helped Tara escape and assaulted the air force base. I’m afraid it’ll take some time for me deliberate on what to do.”

  Kari sighed. I’m so done with you, Henderson.

  “Can we have a private moment to deliberate ourselves?” David asked.

  “No.”

  “Fair enough, we’ll just pretend like you don’t exist for a minute,” David said.

  “I do that all the time,” Kari said. “It’s the times I have to pretend he does exist that bother me.”

  “I was hoping to talk to you about this at a better time, but this will have to do,” David said. “You know my major, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you know how I was back home when we had that run-in with Henderson’s people?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I never told you what I was doing there. The truth is that I was working on my capstone project. It’s actually the only thing I have been working on this entire semester. But I actually started working on it long before that.”

  “I wondered what you were doing back home . . .”

  “Yeah. Anyway, my project has been compiling data to present a strong public case that Freelancer has been wrongfully blamed for a number of high-profile incidents, unfairly targeted by government officials, and also done immeasurable good for society. I need to add in the final bits about bringing justice to Adrian, but I’ll get there.”

  “Bah!” Henderson said. “Some student documentary isn’t going to change a thing.”

  “I also need to add the parts where I have video evidence of a certain high-ranking government official acknowledging a few of his wrongdoings, breaking deals, and being a general dirtbag,” David said.

  “Don’t be a fool—”

  “I have testimonials from people he targeted, people who worked for him, and a hundred other first-hand testimonies. I haven’t earned my degree yet, but I think it’s highly likely, at the very least, that it will change the public’s opinion on you. Maybe reopen the case of Freelancer.”

  “Do you really think I can be threatened by you?” Henderson asked.

  “Parts of the documentary are personal, so I wanted your permission before I released it.”

  “Permission granted,” Kari said.

  “Done,” David said. “Wow. That feels good.”

  “What does?”

  “That was my capstone project. I’m all finished with college now.”

  “I have heard enough! You two little monsters are—”

  “Careful, Marshal,” Kari said. “You’re still on camera.”

  “I don’t care who sees, I’m going—”

  A bee
ping noise sounded and Henderson stopped in confusion.

  “What’s that?” Henderson asked.

  The door to the back of the room opened, and a nurse stepped inside.

  “Nurse, this man is threatening my safety,” David said. “Can you please have him removed from our room?”

  “Sir!” she said.

  “It’s OK! I’m Marshal Henderson, I have full authority over the custody and prosecution of these two war criminals and—”

  “Might I remind you this is a hospital!” the nurse said. “You are to leave this room this instant. I don’t care who you are, you can prosecute them once they are out of my care!”

  “What about her! She’s—”

  “I’m his wife,” Kari said. “Power of attorney and all.”

  It had only taken her a few minutes to hack the hospital’s records and alter them to show that she was David’s wife. She’d make sure they were corrected before she left, but for now it allowed her to stay with him.

  “Don’t think this is—”

  “Sir!” The nurse ushered him out of the room while Henderson fumed.

  “Wow! This is really going viral already!” David said, loud enough for Henderson to hear.

  The nurse forced Henderson from the room and left them alone again. Kari squeezed David’s hand and he pulled her over the bed to give him a kiss.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you . . .” David said.

  “It’s probably better you didn’t,” Kari said. “I’m not sure I would have approved of it.”

  “That was my worry . . . you’re always busy fighting important battles, taking care of other people. I might not be able to hack with you, or do much more besides take an energy blast in the leg, but I wanted to do this for you. I was going to bring it up sooner, but then the attacks set things back.”

  “That means a lot, David,” Kari said.

  “You mean a lot to me.”

  She kissed him again before settling back in her seat.

  “Can I watch it?”

  “Sure,” David said. “Just don’t be too critical. I’ve already lost a foot; I can’t afford to lose what’s left of my pride as well.”

  Kari laughed and settled into her chair while she watched David’s documentary. He wove a narrative, walking the audience through much of Kari’s life and the events that made Freelancer a household name.

  Thomas talked about Kari being a student who always showed incredible promise. Sarah testified that Kari and her had never gotten along, but that she didn’t believe Kari could be a terrorist. The Pratt family appeared early and often, explaining the events that happened at the outbreak of the Civil War. Mr. Pratt himself appeared tearful on a number of occasions, talking about how much Kari had done for his family. Udarh even testified from behind bars in a high-security prison. He gave a moving testimonial on Henderson’s actions and Kari’s innocence.

  Aubrey was dressed up in fancy clothes and had obviously spent a lot of time on her makeup and lighting, but she spoke about how Kari had changed her life after she was wrongfully imprisoned.

  Motorcad described the events that had occurred at Valhalla and how she had brought down the Unseen almost single-handedly. David had recorded video from the event. She watched as he followed Lars up the steps to save her life and how they drove away in a manual truck to escape the nanobots and the eventual explosion.

  The last part of the documentary was not as polished as the previous parts. It was filled with testimonials of students from the Academy and Fai. Her parents even appeared briefly in the video from their flat in London.

  Kari cried through the whole thing, but nothing moved her as much as David’s heartfelt plea at the end of the video for people to open their minds and examine the data he had gathered.

  “David . . .”

  “That bad?”

  “No . . . I—I’ve never seen anything so moving in my life. Thank you, so, so much. It was beautiful.”

  “You think so?”

  “I could never have done something like that . . . I mean, if that doesn’t get you a degree, I don’t know what will.”

  “Well, that was what it was all about,” David said.

  “I don’t believe you,” Kari said.

  “Well, I’m just happy that I got my parents testimonials when I did.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because my dad is really going to hate you when he finds out that you got my leg shot off.”

  Kari’s auto-auto rolled up in front of the Academy of Gifted Young People, and she left the self-driving vehicle as soon as the doors opened. She took a deep breath of fresh air and for the first time in years didn’t worry in the back of her mind about being seen.

  She walked into her school and found it silent inside. That’s never good. She took a few steps up the stairs before Lars came racing down to her excitedly.

  “Lars!” Kari picked up her dog that was dressed like a ballerina and let him lick her face. “I’ve missed you too!”

  She set Lars down a minute later and followed him up the stairs to the main room they called the playground.

  “Surprise!”

  The room erupted in cheers, and confetti filled the air. Some student set off some sort of indoor fireworks that scared everyone half to death, but the cheering resumed shortly after people realized they weren’t under attack. Wouldn’t be a day at the Academy if someone weren’t experimenting with explosives.

  “Welcome home, Professor,” Motorcad said as he gave her a hug.

  Ruth and Jared were next in line; she embraced them both before addressing the room.

  “Thank you, everyone! It feels good to be back home,” Kari said.

  It had been exactly a month since she had been taken into federal custody at David’s hospital in Colorado. She had gone through an extensive round of interviews and testimonies. Eventually she had received her pardon, and the pardon for her family and friends. The whole process had been slowed a little as she needed to testify in several government corruption hearings.

  The room quieted as the students parted to reveal David standing at the back of the crowd. The first version of his new foot was unnoticeable under his pants and dress shoes. His hair was short, just like she remembered it being growing up. His eyes glowed as he stepped forward and gave her a kiss, to the students’ delight.

  “Double homework!” Kari shouted when her mouth was free. The students booed enthusiastically until she quieted them down with her arms.

  “Really, thank you for this warm reception,” Kari said. “It means the world to me to be able to stand here in front of you as Kari Tahe, your professor. I’m sorry we had to push graduation back a few weeks, but I thank you for waiting for me. I wouldn’t want to miss it.”

  The students cheered again, led by Motorcad.

  Ruth’s family arrived a short while later and they held a small ceremony honoring the Academy’s first graduates. Jared didn’t have any relatives attend, but he seemed happy enough to enjoy the moment on his own.

  Kari hadn’t technically graduated from high school herself, so she wasn’t sure exactly what it felt like, but seeing the pride on her students face made the last year of struggles worth it.

  She congratulated both halves of Broccoli Rob again at the after party in the playground. Neither of them had any immediate plans, so Kari offered to let them continue to live at the Academy as long as they needed. They both graciously accepted her offer to be interns with their usual amount of ribbing.

  “Despite Professor Tahe’s interference in my curriculum, I think this year has been a wild success,” Motorcad said. “Here’s to many more years at the Academy!”

  The students cheered Motorcad’s toast and then turned to hear from Kari once again.

  “Thank you,” Kari said. “Thanks to all of you for all the hard work you put in this year. It’s been an honor and a pleasure. Now, you’ll have to excuse me, I have a date with my boyfriend.”

  The students oohed, and
she smiled at their reaction. I’ve missed you guys.

  “At a public restaurant. With reservations in my own name!”

  The students cheered again while she allowed David to escort her out of the building. She ordered an auto-auto with her own credentials, and a minute later they were on their way to dinner.

  “Congratulations,” David said. “You did it.”

  “More like you did it,” Kari said. “I didn’t realize how much I missed being free to be myself.”

  “We did it.”

  “You’re right. We’re a good team.”

  “Have you heard from Fai?” David asked.

  “I haven’t. I’m not worried about her, though. She’ll be in touch.”

  “I’m thinking about doing a video on her next,” David said. “Maybe help the public accept that she’s our friend. I have a pretty big following now.”

  “Look at you with all your fans,” Kari said.

  “Oh no.”

  “Mister big shot, how the tables have turned.”

  “You’re pretty,” he said.

  “Nice try,” Kari said. “We’re not finished talking about how famous you are yet.”

  “Fine, do continue. I deserve it. Especially since your biggest fan is in prison now.”

  “Isn’t that nice? Henderson will find a way out of it, I’m sure. He should be an expert at breaking out of prison by now.”

  “I saw they let Udarh go the other day,” David said. “He was one of my favorites. I didn’t know him before, but he seemed like a really nice guy when I interviewed him.”

  “I’m a fan of anyone who stops military-class drones from blowing us up,” Kari said.

  “Me too.”

  Thinking about how close they had been to dying a few years ago while they escaped from Henderson’s prison reminded Kari of something important she needed to take care of.

  “During the attack on the research lab, the first one, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Kari said.

  “I know . . . I could read it on your face.”

  “Yeah . . . well, I didn’t want to go without sending you a message. I wrote it down, but luckily I never had to send it.”

  “What did it say?”

  Kari sent him the message and waited nervously for his response.