{"id":3163,"date":"2014-03-01T11:58:36","date_gmt":"2014-03-01T03:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/?p=3163"},"modified":"2014-03-01T11:58:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-01T03:58:36","slug":"twelve-month-challenge-n3s1-outbreak-february-14-2147","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/2014\/03\/twelve-month-challenge-n3s1-outbreak-february-14-2147\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twelve Month Challenge: N3S1 Outbreak: February 14, 2147"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s month two of the Twelve Month Writing Challenge<\/a>. After two months, I’ve figured out a couple of things. One, writing to deadline is both hard and inspiring. Two, when I made the rule that there would be no major editing of the stories after the month was over, I didn’t really think through the ramifications. Not only is taking some time away from a story an extremely helpful part of the editing process, but if I intend the finished collection to be a showcase for my work, then it needs to be the absolute best it can be. Therefore, I will be reediting all the stories next January before I publish the collection as an e-book.<\/p>\n

This month’s story was a bit of an experiment. I wanted to write a story from the perspective of one of the characters, but at the same time not reveal anything about that character through the narration. I don’t even let on to the narrator’s gender. It was quite a challenge, but I hope you find it interesting.<\/p>\n

As always, comments, edits, and constructive criticism is strongly encouraged. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"februaryoutbreak\"<\/p>\n

N3S1 Outbreak: February 14, 2147
\n<\/strong>
\nThe plaza is quiet, like a residential block the day after carnival, or a launch pad an hour after takeoff. All the stalls are empty, a few of them tipped over. The recycling bots have already combed the area. What has been left behind\u2014nothing more than broken detritus\u2014is truly useless. The complete lack of activity is unnatural.<\/p>\n

Strangely, a pile of flowering plants has been swept into the ring in the middle of the plaza. The pots are cracked and the red soil has left streaks along the floor. The petals, a full spectrum of attractive colors, have not yet begun to wilt, though they\u2019ve been bent and crushed and torn apart. Flowering plants are too valuable to be discarded in this way, even if they are damaged.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs someone coming to clean them up?\u201d The man, Sebastian Kwak, shrugs in response. He is a licensed vendor of luxury items, though he generally deals in illegal imports from the States. He\u2019s right about the plants. They don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you explain what happened here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the corporates’ fault. They shoulda known better than to send riot bots and tear gas. Most people were just trying to get out of the way, but it was so crowded, you could barely move. The medics couldn\u2019t get through to the ones who were sick. Eventually, the crowd turned violent. This was the result.\u201d He is referring to the riot, which left nine people injured and resulted in 113 citations. He doesn\u2019t say so, but based on the bruises on his arms and face, there is a 79% likelihood Mr. Kwak was involved in the riots himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Company was trying to contain the fever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like they say. The cure can be worse than the problem, you know what I mean? We\u2019re used to outbreaks. They happen all the time and the Company doesn\u2019t seem to care. So why is it different this time? Just because a few people are dying? That never mattered before.\u201d He spits on the floor, as if to reinforce his disdain. \u201cNo, you\u2019re after something and we know it.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWere you here when it happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean was I exposed? You don\u2019t have to worry, I\u2019ve been tested. I\u2019m negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean did you see anything strange, besides the riot?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook buddy, you live long enough, and there ain\u2019t nothing strange anymore. Now you better get out of here before people start talking. They\u2019re still plenty angry, and if you want my opinion, it\u2019s pretty stupid of you to come here without an escort. The last thing I want is an excuse for them to send their security forces back in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can take care of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever you say.”<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

The hospitals outside the Company are all the same. The same overworked facilities, with equipment decades out of date, the same submissive dispositions in the patients, who have had their spirits crushed by a level of bureaucracy that would have shocked Orwell and Kafka. For these people, words like efficiency and best practices are obscenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quarantine won\u2019t be lifted for a full week, not unless we get the okay from the lab before then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to speak with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s going to tell you anything you don\u2019t already know. The Company isn\u2019t very popular right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still need to speak with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administrator sighs. \u201cI\u2019ll see what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes close to an hour, and three separate credential checks, but an interview is finally arranged inside what many years ago was a research laboratory. Now it\u2019s a pharmacy, but the human personnel have been removed and it\u2019s only the bots and the two patients behind a protective layer of glass.<\/p>\n

The pair\u2014a man and a woman, both showing signs of age you rarely see inside the Company\u2014are seated on the other side of the intercom. They are wearing blue hospital gowns, like in the old medical programs from the last century.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease tell me what you know about the N3S1 patients who disappeared from the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man, Edgar Ni, a 64-year-old singer, answers first. His parents once worked for the Company, but they were made redundant in the late nineties. Edgar didn\u2019t pass the tests for university admission, nor did he show much inclination for research. Once upon a time, he was one of the top pop artists in New China, but for the last decade, his concerts have been poorly attended and dwindling in number.<\/p>\n

He was exposed to the virus at the Cow Hollow incident. He\u2019s been held in quarantine for the past 48 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t notice anyone in particular, with so many patients being interviewed. If anyone showed symptoms of having the fever, they were immediately separated into the other unit.\u201d Mr. Ni might know more, but seems disinclined to share.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a good glimpse of one of the children.\u201d The woman\u2019s name is Rene\u00e9 Herawati, a 70-year-old hostess of a popular daily talk show. She has complained vociferously about her need to be allowed back to work. She emigrated to the Bay Area with her mother a decade after separation. She\u2019s been married three times to Corporates, none of which lasted longer than two years. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s been held in quarantine for more than a day, since the riots outside the FD.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe girl was already starting to sweat and her skin had an orange tinge. I felt really sorry for her, because I figured she wasn\u2019t going to make it. But when I asked the Network, she said the girl was missing. I thought that kind of thing wasn\u2019t supposed to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not. That\u2019s why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think they\u2019re dead?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t.”<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard they just got up and walked out,\u201d adds Mr. Ni. \u201cThey decided if they were going to die, they weren\u2019t going to die trapped in this hellhole, so they went outside. And I don\u2019t mean outside the Company, but completely off-grid. Rene\u00e9, did you know that outside used to mean you were touching the Earth\u2019s actual atmosphere, not this artificially maintained environment. Can you imagine? What I wouldn\u2019t give to touch real air.”<\/p>\n

Ms. Herawati, however, isn\u2019t paying attention to Mr. Ni\u2019s dreams of adventure. \u201cWell, that\u2019s certainly not fair. That girl was sick and she was able to leave. Meanwhile, I\u2019m healthy as a Corporate and I can\u2019t even use the bathroom without being monitored.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid either of you see one of the patients exit the unit?\u201d<\/p>\n

They both deny having done so. Since scanning outsiders without consent violated every one of the privacy conventions, and because something had caused the hospital surveillance cameras to cut out, their account would be impossible to verify. They were most likely lying, but it seemed all outsiders were addicted to lying.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re free to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean leave the hospital?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

The scent of dried blood cannot be compared to any other scent. There is a tinge of salt, a bouquet of sugar and protein, the overpowering aroma of dead cells and plasma. Only the most advanced scent receptors can distinguish between species, so at the waste management facilities between Freemont and Newark City, the mixture of blood types from the slaughtered pets and stray animals blends into an unpleasant cocktail not easily ignored.<\/p>\n

Pets have never been allowed inside the Company. It\u2019s difficult enough to administer public health without multiplying the number of species that must be vaccinated, mapped, tagged, and researched. There have been isolated cased of animals being smuggled inside, usually glow-in-the-dark frogs or crickets, but for the most part, corporates are not interested in animal husbandry. If they require companionship, there are plenty of constructs programed to provide it. <\/p>\n

Outside, however, people are excessively attached to their pets. Dogs and cats are still the most popular, along with birds, rats, and walking fish. Too many residents spend the majority of their bandwidth on their animals, often to the detriment of their own welfare.<\/p>\n

Thus it was that the decision, however justified in the wake of the latest flu outbreak, to slaughter all household animals in the Bay Area Quadrant was a provocative one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been resistance like this since the rebellion. I can\u2019t believe you wanted to come here alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCaptain Chen, your escort is completely unnecessary. You know I\u2019m perfectly safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to follow orders. Still, they\u2019d have torn you apart by now if we weren\u2019t here to hold the perimeter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The perimeter Captain Chen is referring to is about 30 meters out, along the outskirts of the entrance hall to the facility. It is a cavernous space, with several tunnels leaving the semi-circle shaped pavilion, some that lead to industrial airlocks for transporting waste off-grid, others that are transportation channels. Waste management requires the coordination of HR personnel, security agents, vehicles and transports, and thousands upon thousands of bots.<\/p>\n

Although everything outside the main entrance is technically considered public space, humans rarely visit. At the moment, however, there are hundreds of outsiders gathering in the pavilion, with the number increasing by the hour. They are here to protest the extermination that took place late last night. The crowd is presently being warded off by a squadron of security bots. This seems only to incite the humans more. There\u2019s nothing outsiders hate more than being marshaled around by machines.<\/p>\n

The investigation has led here, and it is necessary to speak with the HR representative, Giacamo Laurel, who administers the facility. Something in his video testimony has raised a flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does last night\u2019s culling have to do with tracking the disease?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not tracking the disease. I want you to tell me what you didn\u2019t say when you were questioned this morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d Dealing with outsiders is the main part of Mr. Laurel\u2019s job, as supervising the facility is fully automated. He\u2019s been at the Newark facility for the past ten years, and according to his service record, he\u2019s been cited for code violations on two separate occasions. No wonder he hasn\u2019t been promoted.<\/p>\n

But his time spent outside has accustomed him to being off-network. He\u2019s forgotten that every word he speaks to a corporate will be scanned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re lying, Mr. Laurel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hell I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne more citation, and your status with the Company will come under review. How would your wife feel about having to move outside permanently?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do that to us. She needs constant therapy for her condition. She\u2019d never survive outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHaven\u2019t you noticed, Mr. Laurel? That\u2019s all anyone is able to do outside. Just survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The combination of threats and derision manages to secure Mr. Laurel\u2019s compliance. \u201cLook, I didn\u2019t want to say anything, but there was a break in last night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t the alarm sound?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a malfunction of some kind. Surveillance went offline. Someone entered the facility and made off with a dog that was meant to be culled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne dog?”<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, a mixed breed of some sort. I figured that reporting the incident was unnecessary since the only damage was to two security bots that were disconnected and wiped clean and one missing dog. I didn\u2019t need the headache of filling out any reports. Then the riot happened and Corporate was swarming all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait a minute. Two bots were wiped clean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are they now?\u201d<\/p>\n

“In IT. They\u2019re trying to get them back online. There\u2019s no physical damage to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

An inspection of the bots confirms Mr. Laurel\u2019s account. The bots are undamaged except for the fact that their hard drives have been erased and their OS deleted. The surveillance records from the time and location of the break-in has also been wiped. There is absolutely no evidence of the intruder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a lot of trouble to go through just for some dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it does.”<\/p>\n

There is only one plausible explanation. Whoever broke into the facility used magic.<\/p>\n

Two alerts sound at the same time. One is for Mr. Laurel, informing him that some waste transports have come under attack in one of the tunnels. The protestors are rioting again. <\/p>\n

The second is for Captain Chen. \u201cMy squadron has engaged the rioters, but I need to confirm that they continue. What do you want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPull back. I\u2019m leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait,\u201d Mr. Laurel pleads. \u201cWho\u2019s going to protect the facility? We don\u2019t have enough security to stop so big a crowd. Look at all the damage they did last night. They almost broke through to the administrative offices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not my problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019ll just leave me here to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re anxiety is unwarranted, Mr. Laurel. My simulators say there\u2019s only a 13% chance of you being killed.”<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

For residents within the Company, life on the outside can seem shockingly harsh. Rationed medical care, limits on network access, no gene therapy, these are all inconceivable hardships for anyone who\u2019s spent their entire life as a corporate. But perhaps nothing comes as such a shock as the cramped living quarters.<\/p>\n

The Pahlawan family lives in residence block 852-C, a small tower in West Portal that\u2019s surrounded on three sides by Company structures. Thrice in the past decade it\u2019s been slated for demolition, but political infighting and shifting priorities has spared it each time. From the looks of the shoddy steelwork, 852-C would not survive another quake.<\/p>\n

Mr. and Mrs. Pahlawan both work on the periphery of the city\u2019s entertainment industry. He is an editing supervisor, currently contracted to a daily food show; she runs sound for a private news group that\u2019s sponsored by a grant from the Company. They are young parents, not yet in their forties. Nora Pahlawan is their 8-year-old daughter. Their son was killed by falling ceiling panels when he was five years old.<\/p>\n

Two days ago, Nora Pahlawan was checked into Mercy Hospital\u2019s DC Unit with stage 3 symptoms of N3S1 influenza. Yesterday, she left the facility under mysterious circumstances. This morning she was seen by neighbors being carried into her residence at 852-C.<\/p>\n

Mr. Pahlawan reluctantly opens the door. It slides open to reveal a tightly packed living room the size of a utility closet. \u201cHow can I help you, Sir?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to interview Nora.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not here.\u201d A scan is unnecessary to recognize that Mr. Pahlawan is lying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m three percentage points away from having reasonable cause to enter your home. I highly recommend your cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pahlawans exchange frightened looks before nodding to each other and stepping back from the entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you know she was here?\u201d asks Mrs. Pahlawan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to speak with your daughter, please. Am I right in assuming she\u2019s no longer showing symptoms of the virus?\u201d<\/p>\n

The parents look at each other again, neither willing to answer. Their home, as small as it it is, is comfortably furnished and fully connected. They have a full-panel screen that\u2019s currently playing a children\u2019s program, but Nora is nowhere to be seen. A vase in one corner is flush with rainbow-colored flowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelax. I\u2019m not here to take your daughter into custody. You have a dog, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease. You can\u2019t take our dog. Nora loves that dog, and after what happened to Ernie, it would devastate her.\u201d A quick scan reveals Ernie was their son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have every right to seize the dog, under the Public Security provisions of the Corporate Tenancy act. All animals have been deemed an emergency health threat. But I\u2019m not a Public Security officer. I just need to know who returned her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fear on the parents\u2019 faces becomes more manifest, yet they continue to hesitate. It\u2019s unclear whether they are protecting someone or are scared to reveal their secret benefactor. This is why interrogating the girl will be the most efficient course of action.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. and Mrs. Pahlawan, I\u2019ve surpassed the legal threshold for probable cause to enter and search your premises. I\u2019ve transmitted the warrant to you just now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, wait, you don\u2019t have to talk to Nora.\u201d Mrs. Pahlawan lets out a sob, but her husband is firm now that\u2019s he\u2019s made up his mind. \u201cWe have to cooperate, for her sake. She was brought here by a woman. I don\u2019t know her name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same woman who returned your dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this woman is a cr\u00e6ftor?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course she is. Who else could have rescued our daughter? But I swear I don\u2019t know who she is. I\u2019ve never seen her before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe you. But you have to tell me everything you know about this woman, Mr. Pahlawan. If I believe you\u2019re cooperating. I\u2019ll leave here and you\u2019ll never hear from me again. Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Protocol states that leaving the Environment should only be done in extreme circumstances. To qualify as an emergency, 3,423,711 variables on a scale of more than 5 million must be met. This situation passed the threshold by more than 10,000. Still, it will be dangerous.<\/p>\n

The target is holed up inside a ramshackle structure that once served as an entrance post to the Bay Area\u2019s largest industrial recycling facility. Her presence would have gone unnoticed except that she was spotted by the camera unit of one of the cargo bots and the Network flagged it as out of the ordinary. The Network has been searching for days for any signs of the cr\u00e6ftor. While this is not a confirmed sighting, its probability rating is over 74%.<\/p>\n

Even with a filter, the air outside is wretched to breathe, a noxious blend of sulpher, rust, and organic refuse that can be tasted through the mask. Exposed skin begins to burn within 20 minutes. Then there\u2019s the heat, the smog, the precipitation. It\u2019s not illegal to leave the Environment and enter this miasma of decay, but no one can return without authorization. The target has found a way to move back and forth freely. That will be another topic for her interrogation.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no need to move silently. The noise from the heavy machinery unloading the waste and directing it to the incinerators could hide an entire army of heavy mechs. With the use of infrared, the girl is visible inside. She\u2019s not moving but awake.<\/p>\n

She jumps to attention as soon as the door, a hinged steel affair, the kind that went out of fashion a century ago, bursts open. She jumps to her feet, but there\u2019s no option for escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems this place works better as a holding cell than a shelter.\u201d She\u2019s not eager for conversation, instead screeching at a high pitch and launching herself at the door, before the Network\u2019s able to ascertain her identity.<\/p>\n

It takes less than twenty-nine seconds to restrain her and deposit her back on the hard bench she\u2019d been reclined on moments earlier. If she\u2019s able to use magic, she\u2019s keeping that a secret.<\/p>\n

The girl is not yet mature, perhaps sixteen years old. She\u2019s wearing a mask, but nothing else to protect her from the elements, though there\u2019s a wet overcoat hanging on the wall that\u2019s probably hers as well. Her hair is matted and clumpy, her skin caked with dirt and grease, and her clothing–tattered in places, blackened all over\u2014is obviously scavenged. She\u2019s off-grid, and she\u2019ll require a full examination to ascertain whether she has been her entire life or if her chips were turked.<\/p>\n

As drably as she\u2019s dressed, she\u2019s got a single, yellow chrysanthemum pinned to her shirt.<\/p>\n

The room, more of an enclosure that uses tarp and foam to cover the otherwise vacant windows and openings, is cluttered with patched together appliances that must be decades old, yet is dominated by the 1.7-meters-long flexiscreen on the far wall. The girl had been watching the countdown to the CGA championships. There are tins on the floor and cans on the lone table with half-consumed edibles, and a stack of bottled water in the corner. Whether the girl has been here long or not, this has probably been a safe house for a long time. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not the cr\u00e6ftor, are you.\u201d It is more of a statement than a question, but it\u2019s met by defiant silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not, but I think you know where she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll die before I tell you anything,\u201d she spits across the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect your loyalty. Unfortunately, you\u2019ve already told me a great deal. The cornflower pants you\u2019re wearing came from a Company-funded center, which, when combined with your age and present condition, mean that you are most likely an orphan, probably a clone.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the mention of the word clone, the girl throws herself against her restraints again, but all she can manage is to hurl several insults. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I would never judge someone for being a clone. The fact that you\u2019re off-grid means that you\u2019re being helped, because if you were once staying at a center, you\u2019d be registered. Someone brought you here, which suggests you were being abused. That theory is corroborated by your poor health, your anger issues, and your loyalty to our mutual friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGank you. She\u2019s no friend of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot formally, no. But I think that your cr\u00e6ftor and I have a lot in common. When I was restraining you, I noticed you have a cannula inserted into your forearm. That means your replication is still incomplete. That\u2019s probably why you\u2019re holed up here. You have to wait for someone to bring your treatments. How much longer do you have?\u201d<\/p>\n

But she won\u2019t answer now. She\u2019s given up struggling and is resorting to complete non-compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least you can tell me your name. No? Well that\u2019s too bad. I could help you, you know. I could make sure you finish your treatment. I could even upgrade you. Whatever you want. Increased metabolism, higher brain functions, bolstered resistance. That would come in handy out here, of course. You\u2019re particularly vulnerable right now. Or I could make sure you get better treatment at the center. I have that kind of\u2014\u201c<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m never going back to the center!\u201d She begins struggling again, screaming, spitting up. Her anger is quite the sight as she grows increasingly more frustrated. When she can\u2019t squirm loose, the girl gives up trying to slip her restraints and instead begins shrieking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know she\u2019s been here. She\u2019s been quite careful covering her tracks. The surveillance interruptions occur throughout the district, not just here, and they\u2019re short enough to go unnoticed most of the time. It\u2019s your fault of course that we found this place. Oh, I\u2019m sorry, but it\u2019s the truth. You don\u2019t need to read my scans to trust me. I wouldn\u2019t lie.\u201d By continuing to talk, more information on the girl\u2019s reactions can be gathered, and the optimal approach for securing her cooperation can be determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that flower. The one you\u2019re wearing. I know it came from her.”<\/p>\n

Her anger is suddenly spent and the girl begins to cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really have abused you. I wish you\u2019d let me help you. I hate when people take advantage of clones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence, except for the tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you think the cr\u00e6ftor is helping you, but look at the way you\u2019re living. You\u2019re barely surviving as a third class citizen, just because you were cloned for someone and then discarded. If she really cared, wouldn\u2019t she have gotten you a better place to live?”<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t listen to your lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incapable of lying. You know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up. Lies. LiesI LIES!\u201d She\u2019s struggling again, to the point that she could do damage to herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s another reason why I know she was here. I can feel the traces of her magic. They\u2019re faint, several hours old, but they\u2019re all around you. She wanted you quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was trying to calm me down, you monster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me where she is and I\u2019ll allow you to give full vent to your emotions. You\u2019ll no longer have to pretend to be something, someone, you\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t answer, but the way she looks at the video screen is clue enough as to the cr\u00e6ftor\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s at the championships, isn\u2019t she?\u201d The fear that crosses the girl\u2019s face is confirms the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou won\u2019t catch her. And if you do, she\u2019ll destroy you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be fascinating, but, I fear, unlikely.”<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 5 days since the outbreak. That hasn\u2019t stopped the Dome from filling up hours before boot up. <\/p>\n

The Dome. Everyone in New China knows the Dome, probably everyone period. It\u2019s the most famous venue for the world\u2019s most popular sporting event. The CGA championships, held every ninety-nine days, is invariably the highest rated live programming event of the season. It attracts 200,000 onsite participants and over 1 billion home viewers, in an era when fragmented networks and nano-niches means that programs that qualify as hits might draw as few as 10,000 followers. The championship has become such a phenomenon, a growing number of Corporates have begun applying for exit visas to attend. <\/p>\n

The cr\u00e6ftor is among them. Above them, actually. Her magic has left a trail leading to the rafters of the Dome, a mesh of wire and steel that hangs nearly 150 meters above the floor. She\u2019s perched on a small platform behind one of the immense lighting arrays\u2014the temperature must be unbearable for anyone without protection. If the magical residue weren\u2019t enough to identify her, she has a yellow chrysanthemum pinned to her chest. <\/p>\n

The pre-tournament entertainment at the Dome includes indoor fireworks, a prospect that makes holing up in the rafters a dangerous proposition. Yet she seems unworried about anything, whether it\u2019s melting in the extreme heat, being struck by intermittent pyrotechnics, or being followed. Her presence at the region\u2019s largest sporting event poses a severe security risk. The broadcast of the last championship had been interrupted for 17 minutes by an unknown saboteur. She most likely intends to repeat her subversion.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, the Network hasn\u2019t alerted any of their security bots. There are a number of options for permanently neutralizing the cr\u00e6ftor as a threat before she\u2019s aware that she\u2019s been discovered, but the simulations still paint capture as the most desirable outcome.<\/p>\n

A sudden eruption of variegated sparks, accompanied by a thunderous roar from the audience, makes vision impossible in the rafters. In the seconds that it takes the light and smoke to clear, the cr\u00e6ftor has disappeared. A quick calculation estimates her most likely trajectories, and\u2014\u201c<\/p>\n

___________<\/p>\n

Consciousness slowly returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you awake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are we?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s only response is a kick to the midsection. <\/p>\n

They are no longer in the Dome, nor are they stationed high above the ground. The sounds of the crowd, music, and explosions have been replaced by a soft buzz, punctuated by the occasional whirr or beep. Instead of the sheen of metal beams and brilliant luminescence, everything is green. The gunpowder aroma has been exchanged for a natural perfume that is rarely found either inside or outside the Company.<\/p>\n

They are in a greenhouse. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you follow me?\u201d She unleashes another kick when she doesn\u2019t get an answer. \u201cTell me! Has the Company developed the technology to detect magic?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said the same thing about teleportation and FTL.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to transfer an electron across the galaxy is one of the least practical technologies the Company is working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another kick. \u201cStop being a smart ass. How\u2019d they do it? Is it a wireless scanner of some sort?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to believe me, but I\u2019m telling you it\u2019s impossible.\u201d She grows quiet as she contemplates whether she can trust what she\u2019s hearing. The greenhouse is tall, approximately 35 meters, enough room to accommodate entire trees. The clear ceiling is a sight few people see anymore. True windows have been prohibited ever since Separation. This facility is clearly an industrial operation, growing flowering plants for sale, some as tall as a person, others small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, as well as farming fast-growing grasses and ivy in order to bottle natural oxygen. <\/p>\n

The greenhouse almost certainly restricts access to all humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you realize I\u2019m incapable of telling a lie?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOr maybe that\u2019s just Company propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve as you wish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman is 1.75 meters tall, with dark hair and eyes, of indeterminate heritage. She\u2019s clad in the dark grays of urban camouflage, with a knife strapped to her belt. There\u2019s no sign that she\u2019s carrying any electronics and it\u2019s 97% certain that she\u2019s off-grid. She appears fully mature, and if she\u2019s suffered from environmental stressors or other factors of aging, they don\u2019t show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is the Company even wasting its time with me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unauthorized used of magic is forbidden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Company was supposed to protect us. Look after us. Provide us everything we could ever want. That\u2019s what the songs always say anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does do all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the Company cares about is maintaining control. Do you know how many people died in the latest virus? 60,000, in three days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if the Company didn\u2019t step in, more would have died.\u201d<\/p>\n

“But I could have saved them.”<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many could you have saved? Ten? Thirty? A hundred.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter that than not to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

An analysis of probable outcomes makes it 56% likely she will not allow anyone with ties to the Company who has come into close contact with her to live. There\u2019s a 33% chance she will flee. No other outcome has more than a 1% likelihood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas the girl, the clone, was she sick?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know about her?\u201d the woman demands. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how I found you.\u201d She draws out the knife at her wrist. At the same time, the light in the greenhouse suddenly dims, as if a cloud were passing overhead and blocking the sun. Except, there has been constant cloud cover for the last seventy years. <\/p>\n

\u201cDid you hurt her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s still at the incinerator. It is you I am after.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s just a girl. You have no idea what the scientists at the center did to her. It\u2019s awful. And they were about to shut her off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe she would have been better off.\u201d As the woman lets out a scream, she holds up the knife in her hand. The light completely disappears, as if the Earth\u2019s power switch had been pressed suddenly. In the next instant, a flash of brilliant light comes flying from the knife.<\/p>\n

Just as suddenly, the light dissipates. The woman stares down at her knife, wondering what when wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d She looks down, as comprehension fills her. \u201cYou\u2019re a cr\u00e6ftor, too. That\u2019s how you tracked me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly magic is able to detect magic. It\u2019s one of the fundamental laws.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you work for them? You\u2019re a prisoner too, you must be.\u201d The likelihood of her resorting to lethal violence has dropped to less than 8%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Network is the one who taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, but I can help you escape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can I trust you? You\u2019re a ronin. You don\u2019t have to obey any of the conventions. I don\u2019t even know your name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Loretta. You can trust me the same way all humans trust each other, because we need something to believe in. Come with me and we\u2019ll fight them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomewhere inside of you, there must be something that\u2019s still human. You\u2019re a clone, just like April. You must have some empathy for her, they can\u2019t have programmed it all out of you. She\u2019s as much human as anyone else, but they treated her like a machine. Not even animals are treated so cruelly anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid you\u2019re mistaken about something. I\u2019m not a clone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen how could they do this to you? Turn you into one of them? It\u2019s against their own laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI volunteered.\u201d A look of horror crosses Loretta\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean? You wanted this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course. You understand only your own sentience, but I\u2019ve been jacked into the Network. I can be everywhere at once. I\u2019m allowed to use as much magic as I want. You can\u2019t believe how powerful I am now. You\u2019re worried about fighting this week\u2019s virus, but N3S1 is only one of a dozen strains of deadly influenza currently active somewhere in the world. You fight to save at most a few dozen people at a time, while we\u2019re fighting to make life better for the entire region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loretta is stunned. The likelihood of an attack has abruptly jumped to 84%. \u201cYou\u2019re a traitor to all of us,\u201d she hisses.<\/p>\n

She pulls something from her pocket, a small trinket shaped like a coin. It\u2019s a cache, but without knowing the material, it could hold anything. What she does next with it will reveal a great deal about her intent.<\/p>\n

She throws the cache to the floor in front of her. She\u2019s stored energy inside of it, and if there\u2019s enough, the sudden release will be fatal. But rather than explode, the energy is quickly diverted, burning up a row of nearby orchids. <\/p>\n

The sudden display of magic has an overwhelming likelihood of frightening the woman, causing her either to freeze in shock or, more likely, to flee. Instead, she just stands there with a smile on her face. This is not the reaction you would expect from someone who is scared.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not as powerful as I would have expected. It will take more than one of you to bring me in.\u201d With that, she blinks out of existence. Whatever just happened, it\u2019s not a magic the Network has ever heard of before. If she were invisible, there\u2019d be a magical trace. Same as if she’d shrunk down to a minuscule size, as dangerous as that might be, or if she sped away. However, there is no trace at all. She has literally disappeared.<\/p>\n

All that\u2019s left is the yellow carnation, singed black at its tips. <\/p>\n

The mission has been a failure. That was not to be unexpected. There was an 11% chance of an undesired outcome. But only if the cr\u00e6ftor couldn\u2019t be located. There was no scenario in which the cr\u00e6ftor was encountered and allowed to escape. Either she was apprehended and brought back to the Company for possible assimilation, or she was exterminated.<\/p>\n

The Network is going to have to reevaluate its outcome predication techniques. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s month two of the Twelve Month Writing Challenge. After two months, I’ve figured out a couple of things. One, writing to deadline is both hard and inspiring. Two, when I made the rule that there would be no major editing of the stories after the month was over, I didn’t really think through the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[648],"tags":[2702,1668,2703,73,79,2701,2680,2633],"class_list":["post-3163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short_stories","tag-clone","tag-flowers","tag-magic","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-future","tag-the-sleepers","tag-twelve-month-writing-challenge","tag-twelve-months"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3165,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163\/revisions\/3165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/entropy2.com\/chaosfactory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}