For a better viewpoint, Kari took control of one of the drones nearest to the cheetah that was running on the right of David’s family. She pulled up the schematics of the cheetahs that the drones had been using for targeting. She scanned them, searching for a weakness that the drones hadn’t identified. There! She ordered all the drones to focus on the point where the front-right leg connected to the body. She also ordered them to ram the cheetahs with their stingers and release all energy on impact. I don’t have time to win this fight the clean way.
Kari used her new command drone to look over at David’s family. Both his parents were simultaneously carrying a daughter and shielding her from danger. David was running alongside another boy who was years younger than he was but shared a strong resemblance. They looked desperate and scared as drones continued to explode protectively around them. Kari could make out several burn marks from where pieces of exploding drones had made contact, but nothing was serious enough to stop them from running as fast as they could.
Several impacts and detonations occurred on the front leg of one of the cheetahs just as Kari switched her view back to the command drone located above the house. The field had two distinct trails of fire tracing where David’s family had been running. The first cheetah slammed into the ground and rolled over itself, throwing dust, dirt, and plants into the air. David’s little brother looked over to see what had happened and tripped and fell to the ground. David stopped and picked him up while his parents ran onward. The drones continued to attack the fallen cheetah in a swarm to make ensure that it wouldn’t be able to fire any other attack at the Pratts. The other cheetah was able to take a few more shots at David’s parents before it joined the other cheetah on the ground. Some of the drones continued to attack the downed cheetahs, but most of the remaining drones followed along next to the Pratts as flying guardians.
“Yes!” Kari roared in victory before remembering the battle in front of the house. She ordered her command drone above the house to move back to the front of the house. The yard was littered with destroyed drones and crawlers. Several fires had started in the grass, and sparks were still flying from several destroyed crawlers. The enforcement vehicles were spewing smoke, as was the house. Kari’s drones buzzed around the vehicles, attacking what they determined to be weak points, even though the vehicles could not retaliate. Groups of disarmed enforcement officers were retreating down the street, many of them carrying their injured comrades.
It’s over.
Kari wasn’t sure whether to be happy or devastated. She had roughly thirty drones left under her command; the battle had been fierce, fast, and costly. It had happened so quickly that the mechanical carnage hardly seemed appropriate. Kari had helped David’s family avoid arrest for now, but she had also used illegal drones to attack heavily armed law enforcement in what was essentially wartime.
It sounds worse when I say it like that.
A notification alerted her that David was trying to call her.
“Kari?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” Kari said.
“Kari, where are we supposed to go?” David asked. His voice was rushed as he continued to catch his breath. Kari switched her perspective to the camera feed from a drone close to David’s family. They were making their way across the field, limping more now than running.
“Get to the Middle States, where you will be safe,” Kari said.
“How? We don’t have a vehicle, and my parents doubt an auto-auto is going to respond to our order.” David was panting, and she could hear his parents trying to catch their breath as well.
How could you not think of this part?
“I’m not sure, David,” Kari said. She felt like she was betraying him. “Give me a second to think about it.”
“She doesn’t know,” David told her parents. Kari winced at his admission.
“Doesn’t know? She just made us fugitives, and she doesn’t know?” Kari could hear the angered voice of David’s father. She looked down to the floor, ashamed. You saved them, only to have them be stranded. Wait.
“David, I’m going to send you a program that you can run to override the software of an auto-auto if you can get close enough. Once you do that, you can order it to drive you wherever you want.” Kari recalled another piece of work she had done for a client. The problem was that there was no way to hide that record from enforcement. They could see where a person was and where he or she had been.
“How?” David asked. “Where did you get all this stuff?”
“I wrote it. Look, David, they’ve closed the borders, so you’ll have to find a small side street or get close to the border and walk across. Either way, you’ll have to be fast.” Kari pulled up the auto-auto hacking software and sent it to him.
“So you wrote all of it. Huh,” David said. To Kari’s shock, he didn’t look the least bit surprised. Instead, she got the same look he had given her the other day, the one that hinted he knew her better than she knew herself. Oh, come on! There’s no way you saw this coming. The communication line fuzzed for a moment before regaining its quality. It’s about time.
“They’re on the line now,” she said. “They know what I did to help you, but they might not know what the plan is. Good luck, David.” She tried to smile despite knowing that enforcement officers had hacked into the call and were likely already on their way to her house.
“What do you mean she has no plan, David?” Kari heard David’s dad yell again. David looked over, embarrassed, for just a second and then returned his attention to Kari.
“Thank you,” he said. He smiled, and his eyes gleamed. It was the most genuine thing Kari had ever heard. If Kari weren’t so close to being arrested, she would have enjoyed the moment just a little more. “I guess you’ll have to let me know about homecoming later,” he added.
The program transfer finished, and the call ended before Kari could respond, which was good because she had no idea what to say. Her feed from the drones dropped as well. Enforcement must have dropped a communication bubble around the house. It would keep her from communicating with anything or anyone outside the bubble.
Although she knew she’d be arrested, she breathed for the first time in what felt like fifteen minutes. All her uncertainty was gone. She had chosen to fight to keep David’s family together, and now she knew the consequences. So that’s it, then. David’s family had better make it. I guess this makes us even. He saved me from Sarah once, and now I’ve saved him from even bigger bullies.
Kari walked into the kitchen and ordered a hamburger from the printer. Not a word. I’ve earned this one. She walked over to the kitchen table and turned it on, causing its screen to spring to life. She tapped the drawing-board app, which turned the entire table into a giant canvas. Table screens weren’t too popular anymore, but her family enjoyed playing games on it. Kari quickly scribbled out a small message to her parents.
“I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I guess there are a few things I haven’t told you. I was just doing what I believed I needed to do. Love you. -Kari”
She signed her good-bye with a flourish, hoping for the chance to explain more than that simple note someday. The hamburger finished printing, and she admired it for a moment before picking it up. In the distance, she could hear the enforcement sirens.
Chapter Eighteen
The cloaking device!
Kari set her hamburger down and ran into her room. She tossed the cloaking and decoy devices into the recycler. The recycler immediately activated and started breaking down the electronics to be reprinted into other objects in the future. Kari looked over her room for anything else she didn’t want the government to know about. She grabbed a few little projects and tossed in her diary as well. We’re not that close of friends, Henderson.
The sirens were louder now. They must be just about here. Gonna get me some Henderson time. I can’t keep putting that off. We are friends, after all. Kari frowned as she picked up the helmet she had printed to ride the auto-cycle back from the factor
y. I’ve assaulted enforcement officers; why not make a run for it? It wouldn’t make it any worse, would it?
Good-bye, room. Kari took one last look at the place where she had grown up and then ran out to the backyard. The chair she had moved last night to jump the fence was still there, so she used it and landed on top of her auto-cycle. The sirens were blaring in front of her house, and more sirens sounded like they were only a few minutes away. Kari ordered the auto-cycle to take her across town at the speed setting she had named “posthaste.”
Kari leaned over the bike and clung to it tightly as it whizzed past several enforcement auto-autos. She didn’t have to worry about driving it, which was nice; however, it wasn’t easy to hold on at top speeds. She felt like she was in one of those old action movies she enjoyed so much. I need to add a one-liner here. See you later? I won’t be back? Nothing felt right.
Where am I going? What am I going to do when I get there? She didn’t want to go the Middle States; she would get in even more trouble there, fighting a government she agreed with even less. I could run from the government for the rest of my life, or at least try. They’d eventually corner me. I could do something actually worth going to jail for. She briefly thought about ordering her auto-cycle to go to Sarah’s house. What’s an assault charge on top of what I’ve already done? She smiled, thinking about slapping Sarah across the face on her doorstep mere moments before the police arrived to lock Kari away for good.
But that would just add to the things they’re going to tell Mom about. Kari frowned. Would they let me see her again? Kari had written the note, but she hardly felt that was enough. Maybe I’ll give myself a chance to say good-bye.
Kari ordered the bike to drive to the office where her mother worked. Now that she thought about it, this was what she needed to do; her indecisiveness from a moment ago was now replaced with determination. She would apologize to her mother in person and explain to her why she had chosen to protect David’s family. The auto-cycle took a hard turn, causing its wheels to squeal and smoke. It then sprinted toward its new destination.
They aren’t supposed to be here.
Outside the Social Security office where Kari’s mother worked, a dozen enforcement vehicles were parked with their lights flashing. Kari stared at the display of police force in disbelief. They either knew I was coming here, or they’re here for my family. How dare they! Kari squeezed the auto-cycle as hard as she could to keep herself from running to attack them with nothing but her helmet and teeth. She didn’t think that would go over well, so she forced herself to stay on the bike. She tried to call her parents, but the calls went unanswered.
Kari reached out over the Internet and found the connection to the remaining drones at David’s house. She was able to find just twenty-seven of them now. Most were following her last-given orders to patrol the house and look for targets in case they came back. She called the drones to her. They would take at least ten minutes to get here. Many of them had hardly enough energy left to make the journey, let alone fight another battle. The drone body was composed entirely of batteries, but the stinger attacks were expensive on their electrical reservoir. Remind me to work on their battery capacity when I get the chance.
Ten minutes would be too long; enforcement would likely be updated to her current position within a few seconds—that is, if they didn’t know she was here already. Regardless, Kari ordered the drones to her. It can’t make things any worse.
Some motion at the front of the building caused Kari to refocus her attention on the scene before her. A few enforcement officers opened the doors for a larger group that was following them out of the large, reflective building. Kari could see Henderson in the center of the group leading the way. Behind him, several officers were escorting a woman out of the building to one of their unmarked, armored vans.
“Mom!” Kari screamed. Without thinking, she ordered the auto-cycle forward to the entrance. It dodged through the landscape in front of the office as Kari struggled to hold on. She heard her mom scream. Kari looked up in time to see officers dropping crawlers onto the ground and reaching for their weapons. The auto-cycle slowed and swerved abruptly as an officer jumped out at her. The bike’s software refused to make contact with anyone it considered to be a pedestrian.
“Kari!” her mom yelled again.
An electrical restraining band bounced off the auto-cycle with a loud, sharp crack. Kari shrank away from the noise as she slid off the auto-cycle and onto the ground behind it, rolling several times before coming to a stop. She felt another restraining band fly just over her head. She ordered her drones to attack the crawlers once they arrived, but she knew it would be too late by then.
“Mom, I’m sorry!” Kari yelled out again. She saw a crawler scatter to the side of the auto-cycle and launch a restraining band directly for her. She tried to cry out but was unable to do so as the metallic band slammed into her stomach and wrapped around her. The restraining band released an electrical charge that sent a burning sensation racing up and down her body. Her muscles spasmed. She lost control of her limbs before everything went black.
Chapter Nineteen
My head hurts. No, my whole body hurts.
It was a petty thing to complain about, considering her circumstances. Kari had been awake for what felt like hours, locked inside a solid-white holding room. The lack of amenities didn’t bother her; in fact, there was something about the minimalist, white design that she appreciated. It was the fact that the agents had removed the processing unit that connected to her mind chip, rendering the entire thing useless. It was driving her crazy. What did people do back in the day?
Kari felt powerless without the small computer that connected her to the world of technology. It had been years since she hadn’t been able to instantly check the time or interact with devices around her. Without the numberless distractions that the fully connected mind chip provided, she was left with nothing to take her attention away from the unpleasant facts that she had sustained a bothersome head injury and been arrested for assaulting enforcement forces.
Kari replayed the last events she remembered again in her mind. Mom looked horrified, like she had no idea who I was. Kari would never forget that look, one lacking any sort of understanding. It was as if her mom’s grasp of who Kari was had been destroyed in a heartbeat. That hurt worse than the stupid crawler did. At least I won’t have to be there to see the look on Dad’s face. She didn’t remember anything else. They don’t have to arrest my parents now; it should be obvious I acted without their knowledge or aid. That thought was comforting.
I wonder if the guys who built this place ever got stuck inside. There was no interior door handle, which Kari found to be fascinating. Newer buildings were all printed today. From what Kari had gathered about this room, however, the building was too old to have been printed. It was the only thing she could think about that wasn’t related to her parents, her incarceration, or David. It wasn’t much.
The door opened without a sound. Is it truly a door without a handle? Or is it just a wall that opens? Kari tried to play it cool and refused to look at whoever had just stepped into the room. She listened to a couple of heavy steps followed by the distinct sound of a chair being placed on the floor. So he came to me this time. I guess that’s the courtesy one can expect from a friend.
“You know, Henderson,” she said, “for a friend, you haven’t been in touch too much the past several days. I was beginning to worry.”
“I’m glad you realize I’m still on your side,” Henderson responded in an eerily friendly voice. Kari rolled over and sat up on the bed in a single motion to look at Henderson directly in the face. He hadn’t aged in the past week, which was strange; Kari felt like she had aged ten years.
“Of course, only a friend would afford me the luxury of such a fine guest room,” Kari said.
“It is one of our finest,” Henderson said. His face was smug. Kari assumed he was playing along with her to make her feel less rebellious. He conti
nued. “But, let me just add that if I weren’t your friend, you would be dead right now.”
“Are you sure I couldn’t say the same thing?” Kari said. For some reason, she didn’t feel as bold as she had sounded.
“I’m nearly sure you could, Miss Tahe. But because I’m not dead and neither are you, let’s talk about what we are going to do, now that we find ourselves together again.”
Kari knew she wasn’t going to like where this was going.
“I have found myself with an even deeper appreciation of your talents after the events of yesterday. You defeated a dozen heavily armed officers and a SWAT team that had heavy robotic support, not to mention the little parting gift that showed up after we apprehended you.”
So it’s been an entire day since then.
“There are those who believe your abilities to be a threat. I had to do a lot of convincing to persuade them not to have that threat removed from the equation. However, I have led them to believe that you will be of far greater value working with us as an ally.”
So that’s your game.
“I won’t do it,” Kari said flatly. I’m not going to help you round people up and rip them away from their lives.
“Miss Tahe, as your friend, I want what is best for you. I really do.” Henderson’s sincerity was painful. “So believe me when I tell you that the best thing for you to do is to cooperate.” It was a threat, but Kari wasn’t quite sure how.
“Or else?” Kari asked after failing to think of a wittier way to respond. Henderson winced at the directness of her question.
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