Sleep State Interrupt

by Ted Weber

  Pel exited the bus, stun gun in shaking hand. Shakti poked her head above the rim of her hammock.

  Waylee sprinted into the bus and shook Charles until his eyes opened.

  “Wha?”

  “Someone’s coming. Can you upload all our video to a Collective site?”

  He blinked. “Are you kidding? This connection, it’ll take hours.”

  She should have known that. “I’ve gotta hide it then.” Pel had been backing everything up—he always did that—but where did he keep the data cubes? They weren’t hooked up to the computers. He must have put them away somewhere. She dashed back outside. “Pel. Where’s—”

  The truck pulled into their campground site, the headlights blinding her like twin suns. Her fists clenched.

  Peter approached it, feet moving in slow motion. Pel hung back. Maybe he had a good hiding place for the data.

  The engine stopped but the lights stayed on. Someone hopped out, silhouette of a girl in a trenchcoat, details drowned by the backlight. Waylee blocked the lights with her hand, but still couldn’t see.

  “Pel? Waylee, is that you?” Kiyoko’s voice.

  Waylee ran toward the silhouette. It brightened into her sister, red-eyed but smiling, wearing a golden wig.

  She squeezed Kiyoko to her chest, wanting never to let go. She smelled like faint sweat and alcohol, no hint of the cherry blossom perfume she loved.

  “Good to see you too,” Kiyoko said, and hugged her back.

  Still entwined, Waylee gazed in her sister’s eyes, just inches away. So much behind them. “Last time I saw you… I didn’t mean what I said. You’re not a deluded little girl.”

  “Thank you.” Kiyoko kissed her cheek. And you know I don’t hate you. I love you.”

  Tears blurred Waylee’s vision.

  “You’ve always been there for me,” Kiyoko said, “the only one. That’s why I’m here for you.”

  Waylee brushed the tears out of her eyes. “What do you—?”

  Pel thrust his face in her periphery and addressed her sister. “Can you turn those damn lights off?”

  Kiyoko let go. “Sure.” She climbed back into the truck cab. The lights shut off, leaving floating bright glows in their wake.

  When she exited again, Pel asked, “Why are you here? How’d you know where to find us?”

  “You’re not glad to see her?” Waylee said.

  “I am, but she’s probably been followed, and they’ll be on us any second.”

  “I’m not being followed. We - M-pat and I - planned this carefully.”

  “How, how do you know? You have no idea how good Homeland is at finding people, the resources they have. Not to mention how tempting a $3 million bounty is. You can’t trust anyone.”

  “You’ve sure turned paranoid.”

  “That’s because people really are out to get me.”

  “Oh, quit harassing her,” Waylee said. She introduced Peter and summarized their saga since they fled the band house.

  Kiyoko nodded. “Charles has been filling me in.” She turned to Shakti. “I saw Dingo. He was actually nice to me.”

  Shakti bounced on her feet. “How’s he doing? Did he say anything about me?”

  “I think he misses you. He said no one else can compare, more or less.”

  The campsite began to brighten. Sunrise.

  “That truck’s gotta be out of the state forest before the staff arrive,” Peter said. He examined his comlink. “Early birds could be here in half an hour.”

  “Well let’s go, then,” Kiyoko said. “We drive to Vermont, then we cross into Canada.”

  Shakti smiled. “So I guess this is it. I have relatives in Toronto. They’d be happy to put us up for a while. Dingo can meet us there.”

  “Can someone else drive first shift? I was up all night and I’m about to pass out.” She did look less animated than usual.

  Waylee waved her arms. “Hold on. Let’s discuss this first. Charles contacted someone who’ll help us take over the Super Bowl feed. It’s too big an opportunity to pass up, but we have to do it from MediaCorp’s broadcast center in Virginia.”

  Kiyoko’s jaw dropped. “I thought… Are you crazy? Sorry, I mean…”

  “We can do it,” Waylee said.

  “Won’t be long before the FBI starts looking for me.”

  Peter made a “T” gesture with his hands, one of those football things. “Whoa there. We can talk about this later. We gotta get that truck out of here, pronto. I gotta place on the farm we can stash it. Kiyoko, that’s your name?”

  She curtsied.

  He grinned. “Follow me.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Everyone else on the bus. Leave the tent and all, I’ll come back for it.”

  * * *

  St. Mary’s County

  Peter stopped the bus outside a dilapidated wooden barn on Friendship Farm and hopped out. He pulled open the barn’s double doors and waved Kiyoko forward. Her truck barely cleared the doorway.

  Kiyoko strolled out of the barn, cat in her arms. Peter closed the doors, ushered her onto the bus, and followed her on.

  Waylee, Pel, and Shakti faced each other on the short couches in the front, computer gear covering the table. Charles sat in one of the two chairs across the aisle.

  Kiyoko took the chair opposite Charles. They smiled at each other.

  Peter stood next to the driver’s seat. “You can’t stay here at the farm, obviously. So we head back to Cedarville or you hop in Kiyoko’s truck and we say goodbye.”

  Waylee slid out of her couch and stood in the aisle, scanning the others’ eyes. “We can worry about leaving the country later. Right now, we’ve got a chance to finish our mission.”

  Pel’s mouth opened, but Waylee continued. “Betty Battleaxe stood up to Luxmore and yesterday the Board of Directors impeached her. Even the elite can’t stray from the script.”

  Eyes widened.

  “…And elections, insiders have an overwhelming advantage. Rand’s not even worried. Same thing with information. MediaCorp’s made it impossible for people like me to reach a significant audience. Like I said when we started this, we can’t win a fixed game. Nothing’s changed. We’ve gotta kick over the table.” Her fist smacked against the table top.

  “Jeez, careful,” Pel said, eyes on the computers.

  They’re fine. “And even if no one wants to help, I’m doing it.”

  Pel threw up his hands. “Waylee…”

  She stared in his tense eyes. “What? What happened to you? When’d you turn so scared of everything?”

  He half rose from his seat. “What? Smart is more like it.”

  Her stomach tightened. “Look, we got Charles out and we collected some great material in the most exclusive gathering of the decade. We can do this, too.”

  Pel shook his head. “That’s just your manic phase talking. Just because you think you can take on the world doesn’t mean you actually can.”

  Domineering asshole…

  She thrust a finger toward him. “Fuck you, Pel. You’re a real prick sometimes.”

  He leapt up. “After all I’ve done for you? Thrown my whole life away? How dare you! Well, crash and burn on your own.” He stormed toward the door.

  Waylee straddled the aisle with arms out, blocking his exit. “No way are you running off.”

  He thrust his face inches from hers. “Out of my way.” His eyes promised murder.

  “Go ahead, hit me,” she said. “Try it. I’ll beat your fucking ass, coward, and you know it.”

  Kiyoko jumped up and clapped her hands over her ears. The cat dove under the table. “Stop it! Stop it! What’s wrong with you two?”

  Waylee stared at her sister. An alarm rang beneath the waves of fury. “Sorry. I didn’t mean what I said. My stupid brain…” She shut her eyes and started playing “Home” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros in her head, the happiest love song she could come up with at the moment.

  “What are you doing?” Pel said beyond the darkn
ess, his voice still edgy.

  The song continued.

  I’m not thinking straight either,” he muttered. “Maybe no one does, they just think they do.” He spoke louder. “How long did you say before the feds start looking for you?”

  “A day or two, I’d guess,” Kiyoko said. “We can be in Vermont by then, maybe Canada.”

  Waylee opened her eyes. Everyone was sitting. “Will it make a difference if we wait?”

  Kiyoko pulled her cat from its hiding spot. “What if they put extra patrols on the border?”

  “They’re probably already there,” Waylee said. “In case Pel and I show up. We might be better off waiting to try it. There’s gonna be less heat up there if we wait.”

  Pel pursed his lips. “Maybe.”

  She addressed Charles. “Do you think we can get into the MediaCorp complex?”

  He glanced at Pel. “Don’t know enough yet.”

  “Then let’s look at the plans,” she said, “get some help, and see what we can do.”

  “That sounds reasonable,” Shakti said, facing Pel.

  “You always side with Waylee,” Pel replied.

  Anger poked tentacles through Waylee’s brain. She closed her eyes again and resumed playing “Home,” but wrote new lyrics on the fly. Home. We lost our home. But I’ll always have a home when I’m with you…

  “Even if we can get in,” Pel’s voice said, “the bully boys will come down hard. How would we get out?”

  Waylee stopped her internal song and opened her eyes. “All part of the planning.” She caught her friends’ eyes. “So do we have consensus, to at least spend a few days putting a plan together?” Go quiet into Luxmore’s night? Never!

  “What about Canada?” Kiyoko said.

  Shakti leaned forward. “Waylee had a good point. Homeland’s probably already watching the border.”

  “They always watch the border,” Waylee said. “But they want us pretty bad, so they’ll wait in force. And there’s that $3 million motivation for so-called friends to turn us in.”

  Kiyoko looked distressed. “Then what do we do? Are we stuck here ‘til they find us?”

  Waylee crouched next to her sister. “We’ll figure that out too.”

  Kiyoko ran fingers through her rainbow-streaked hair. “I want to know what Pel thinks.” She cast pleading eyes at him. “What should we do?”

  Waylee stood and stared at him.

  “I’m tempted to turn myself in,” he said. “See if Francis can get me a decent plea bargain.”

  “No!” Waylee reached over and grabbed him by the shirt. “No, you can’t do that!”

  Pel knocked her hands aside. “Then Canada. Or go somewhere by boat.”

  “Let’s compromise,” she said.

  Heads tilted and eyebrows raised.

  She looked from face to face. “Have some faith in me, and I’ll have faith in you. Let’s look at our options. If you honestly think we can’t get into MediaCorp, I’ll respect that.”

  Pel sat silently for a while, then returned her gaze. “Even if you don’t always make the best decisions, you can see opportunities like no one else.”

  That’s progress, I suppose.

  “I don’t know how we can pull it off and escape,” he said, “and I don’t trust this engineer. But like Charles said, we haven’t really looked into it yet.”

  Peter crossed his arms. “Sounds like you’re not ready to take off yet. Back to Cedarville, then?”

  “If that’s what we’re doing,” Kiyoko shouted, “I need my stuff out of the truck.”

  “Of course.”

  She lowered her voice. “And will the truck be safe there?”

  Peter smiled. “I have a padlock. And no one uses that barn but me; that’s why I had you park there.”

  Waylee peered through the windshield at Peter’s cabin just beyond. It was small, but he lived by himself.

  “Do you have high speed Comnet access?” she asked him. “Like they have at the main house?”

  Peter narrowed his eyes. “Yeah. Why?”

  Waylee paused to edit her thoughts. “If we kept a low profile, it would be a lot easier researching our options with a decent link.”

  Charles leaned out of his chair. “Yeah. Props to Pel for making that 4G antenna and all, but it’s as slow as my old gym teacher’s brain.”

  Peter chuckled. “You kids are just spoiled. Back in my day—”

  Everyone groaned and looked away.

  He kept going. “—there wasn’t even an Internet. If you wanted information, you had to go to a library. And use a thing called a card catalog. No mobile phones either. Telephones had to be plugged into the wall, weighed a ton, with rotary dials…” He finally noticed the lack of interest. “Anyway, you can’t stay on the farm. Remember we decided you should leave?”

  “No one will know…” She stopped, seeing frustration build on Peter’s face. He’d done so much for them, so had the other residents, and here she was disrespecting their will, trying to exploit them just like a Bob Luxmore would do. She threw up her hands. “You’re right.”

  Charles scowled.

  “You made your decision,” she said, “and it’s not for me to undermine it. I’m an outsider here.”

  Shakti nodded.

  Waylee asked Pel, “Can you research from the campsite?”

  He looked at Charles, whose mouth drooped.

  “Everything will take longer,” Pel said. “But we can deal with it.” His eyes widened. “We’ll have to upload all our video and data at some point, which isn’t really feasible on 4G. Should have done that before we left the farm. I just was busy and didn’t think of it.”

  He turned to Peter. “Could we at least do that, as long as we’re here?”

  “How long will it take?”

  He shrugged. “Gonna have to find good homes for it all, and make lots of copies. Probably a while.”

  “Are we close enough for Wi-Fi?” Waylee asked. “We could do it from the bus.”

  Pel nodded. “Yes, yes. Not as fast as their landline, but a lot faster than cell.”

  Peter agreed and wrote his code on a piece of paper.

  “Don’t worry,” Pel said, “we’ll cover our tracks.”

  30

  January 15

  Cedarville State Forest

  Charles

  Kiyoko sat next to Charles on the forward couch, staring at the Canadian border on his interface screen and nibbling strawberry Pocky she’d brought from B’more. She wore a denim jacket, a scary looking Dwarf Eats Hippo T-shirt, and baggy jeans at least two sizes too big. Goodwill gifts from Dingo, she’d explained. Not very Princess-like, but why bother dressing up when they were hiding in the sticks?

  Last night he watched Kiyoko walk to the campground bath house. He’d imagined her stepping inside the shower stall, closing the plastic curtain, then stripping off her clothes, first that trenchcoat, then her shoes and stockings, her yellow wig and dress, finally her bra and underwear. She’d fold them neatly on the wooden bench inside the stall, and enter the shower, her naked body the most beautiful thing in creation. She’d run water through her rainbow streaked hair, then take the soap and lather her upturned breasts and pointy nipples, then move down her firm stomach and circle her thighs. Then she’d slip her fingers between her thighs and start rubbing…

  Charles suddenly felt uncomfortable. He had a severe stiffy. Kiyoko was practically touching him—she’d know for sure. And Pel and Waylee sat right across from them, busy on their computers. Waylee got rabid sometimes, and might freak if she thought he was hitting on her sister.

  No privacy on this bus. Peter hung outside, but the rest were stuck in here most of the day. “Can’t wait to get out of here,” he said to Kiyoko.

  She cast those exotic eyes on him. “Think of it as a vacation.”

  “What, on a bus in the woods? BetterWorld’s way more interesting.”

  Kiyoko nodded. “True, but you need a fast connection. My immersion gear won’t w
ork at all here.” She frowned. “I can’t use my account anyway, with the FBI looking for me.”

  Waylee glared at them. “I can’t believe you two. BetterWorld’s just a distraction from real life, from making the real world a better place. Worse, MediaCorp’s using it to take over the global economy, and then we might as well anoint Bob Luxmore as the One True God.”

  Maybe she’s right. Besides, Kiyoko was sitting next to him, their legs touching now. Who needed BetterWorld? Charles looked back at his screen and searched for blog entries about surveillance drones on the Vermont-Canada border.

  “Do you miss your grandma?” Kiyoko said.

  Charles thought about it. “Maybe a little. But I doubt she notices I’m gone, what with all them kids and drunk-ass aunt and all the other people that hang out there.”

  Kiyoko poked him in the side. “Of course she’d notice. You’re not exactly an average person.”

  Charles poked her back. She giggled.

  “I was in juvie for months,” he said. “They weren’t expecting me out for another year.”

  Pel unclipped Big Red’s monitor screen from its stand and rolled it up. “Some of us are trying to work.” He rolled up the keyboard next, unplugged everything, and marched to the back of the bus, pushing through the curtain to the bunks.

  Charles stared at the curtain. Maybe he could clear the room. Shakti was out wandering, so only one left.

  “Hey Waylee,” he said.

  She looked up from her computer screen. “Yeah?”

  “Something up with Pel? Maybe you should go check on him.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “He’s stressed. But he’s right that we have work to do. I thought you two were helping.”

  “We are, just…”

  “Well alright then.” She returned to her screen.

  That didn’t work. I’ll just wait for her to use the bathroom or something.

  Kiyoko pointed at one of the articles she’d been reading. “There’s cameras and motion detectors all along the border.” She moved her finger to a blog entry. “And people are saying there’s a lot more drones and Homeland agents from Maine to New York than usual.”

  “You said you knew people who could get us across?”