Freelancer
Page 19
“That’s a good question. I thought I would start with tracking down those people who you said lived there—the ones who you said would be able to stand me. I haven’t had any luck yet with any of the people I’ve talked with so far,” David said.
“It’s a good thing I’ve recently decided to take up residence in the Middle States when they let me go,” Kari said. She blushed; it was about as direct as she had ever been. They had reached the corner of the camp and had turned around, heading back toward David’s family’s tent.
“So you can stand me now?” David asked.
“You could say that.”
“I see,” David said, his voice timid. “Is there anything else you could say? I mean, about us.”
Kari didn’t know what to say. You basically dared a general to try to control you, but you can’t think of what to say to a seventeen-year-old boy?
“We did hold hands . . .” David said softly. Kari laughed because she didn’t know what else to do. I should figure out a way to simulate these situations so I can be better prepared.
“I guess I don’t know,” Kari said finally. “I think it’s something I’ve got to take some time to figure out. But, right now, I know I’m really glad to have gotten to know you, even if it required me to break a few dozen laws.” Kari mustered the strength to look at David and gave him a warm smile. He smiled back thoughtfully.
“I guess that’s good news,” David said. “I have more faith in your ability to figure things out than just about anything else on the planet.” They walked in silence together for a few minutes, slowly and unsteadily because of Kari’s slight limp. Eventually, they reached the tent where David’s family had been staying.
“Well,” Kari said.
“Well,” David said. They looked at each other for a second before David kissed her on the cheek. Kari had no idea how to react, so she remained frozen.
“Stay in touch,” David said. He hurried away toward his parents, leaving Kari alone and confused. A couple of months ago, I could hardly stand the kid. Now I’m standing here dazed by a peck on the cheek from him? It seemed illogical to her. She wandered back to her room in the temporary command center. She was going to be released soon, but the general had wanted to keep her close to persuade her to join the cause. It wouldn’t work.
Kari knew she would, at some point, need to figure out exactly how she felt about David; however, she wanted to tackle easy problems. She still needed to hack the firewall that kept her from accessing the Internet outside the Middle States; it was the only way she would be able to contact her parents securely. For now, she logged in to her development environment. She needed to create; it had been too long since she had written any code.
Kari floated in the void that was her development environment, enjoying the solitude before pulling up her hacking-drone code. The electronic beat of music filled the space in her mind as she went to work. She had no plan to use the hacking drones any time soon, but she had noticed a few ways she could improve them. She didn’t like to leave projects in need of obvious improvements; it wasn’t in her nature. Kari was a freelancer. She programmed at no one’s orders but her own. That was true now more than ever.
The End