Chapter Three
“Can I get you something to drink?” Kari offered as she held the door to her office open for Christina and John, two of the richest and most well-known people in the world.
“Is the water safe to drink?” John said.
“Don’t be ridiculous, of course the water would meet the minimum safety regulations,” Christina said. “At least the local regulations.”
John and Christina looked around for a seat and apparently didn’t find anything to their standards, so they stood while Kari circled around her desk to sit in her office chair. Motorcad leaned up against the door he had closed behind himself. Kari’s office was on the ground floor, which had allowed them to avoid the students directly, but from the sounds upstairs they knew exactly who was visiting their school.
“To what do—”
“Don’t you have any windows in here?” Christina cut in.
“I—”
“It’s rustic,” John said.
“It’s something,” Christina said.
“Can I he—”
“We’re busy people,” Christina said. “So let us get straight to it so we can get . . . be on our way.”
“Good,” Motorcad said.
Kari shot him an angry look, but he just shrugged.
Just because we were both thinking it doesn’t mean you needed to say it.
Vision was an incredibly well-respected company by the hacker community, but Kari had long lost her ability to be starstruck.
Didn’t work out so well last time.
“You’re going to come work for us for a few months,” John said.
“I’m afraid that—”
“In exchange, we’re willing to provide an endowment for this . . . institution that will allow it to run for centuries,” John said.
“And upgrade the facilities,” Christina added. “Not that it would take much.”
Kari looked at them to make sure they were finished talking before saying another word. She was already losing her cool after being cut off over and over.
“No, thank you,” Kari said. “I don’t do well with bosses.”
“Oh no, no, no,” Motorcad said. He moved from his post near the door in a flash and was next to Kari. “She’s kidding. She’s great with bosses. When does she start?”
“Motorcad!”
“Right now,” Christina said. “We’ve had some trouble tracking you down, so we’re behind schedule.”
“Not that behind,” John said.
“Behind,” Christina repeated.
It was well known that the two founders of Vision had a combative relationship that they used to drive the company forward, but Kari hadn’t expected it to be so immediately obvious.
But I guess they don’t think they have any reason to put on their nice faces here.
“What would I be doing for you?”
“Can’t tell you until you sign your NDA,” John said.
“Does it matter?” Christina asked with a laugh. “We’re willing to make this dump the premiere private school in the western United States.”
“It does matter,” Kari said. “I have some questions.”
“Like how much is the deposit?” Motorcad asked.
“Twenty million,” John said.
“Thirty if we can get out of this godforsaken place in the next couple of minutes,” Christina said.
“I—”
“Done. Transfer or cash?” Motorcad asked.
“No,” Kari said. “Not yet. Why me?”
“You have to be kidding me,” Christina said.
“Because we want to make a splash when we reveal our latest invention. And being able to say we’ve worked directly with the most infamous hacker in the world, directly, defying the US government on what could be the most profitable invention in the history of the planet, would be quite the splash,” John said.
“Most profitable?” Kari said.
“I don’t have time for this,” Christina said. “We’re leaving in five minutes, either with you or with our thirty million dollars. Your choice.”
She left the room with no hint of anger or frustration, just a cold sense of apathy. Motorcad whistled a falling tone, apparently not concerned that one of the most powerful people in the world could hear him.
“There’s a reason she’s the most efficient person on the planet,” John said. “Maybe in history. I had to convince her to come out here in the first place.”
“What would I be doing?” Kari asked.
“Some design work on a physical product. Not anything we couldn’t do ourselves, but as she said, we’d like to attach your brand to it for marketing purposes. Also, to be frank, as a way to satisfy certain investors who think you are out to get us after the website hack a few years ago.”
“Oh, that—”
“Good idea,” Motorcad said. He looked at her sternly.
I guess there’s no point in telling them that it was Oedipus that hacked them and not me. Doesn’t make a difference at this point.
“All right,” Kari said. “I’ll do it. Two months, that’s it.”
“That’s fine,” John said. “Take a few minutes to gather whatever you need, we’ll wait for you. But I would take it as a huge personal favor if you would hurry.” He smiled and left the room.
They both seemed like horrible human beings, but it was obvious which one Kari liked better.
That’s not saying much, though. I’d rather go back to high school and spend a few days being mocked by Sarah than have them spit on our work here.
“Yes!” Motorcad said. “Problems solved!”
“At least the bills will be paid for a while,” Kari said. “If you don’t burn the place down while I’m gone.”
“Wouldn’t matter, we’ll just build a new one. From the sound of it, we’ll have enough money to build whatever we want, even after my sizeable bonus.”
“Why would you get a bonus?”
Why do I let him lead me into asking questions like that? It’s exactly what he wants.
Kari checked the time and breathed in deeply.
“Because I’m the one who closed the contract. And I’m a fifty percent owner of this fine institution. And the whole saving you from becoming a sewer rat situation . . .”
Motorcad was still talking, but Kari was already down the hall. David was standing next to the door, looking out the glass opening.
“That was quick,” David said.
“Unfortunately,” Kari said. She turned up the stairs and David followed next to her. “I’m going with them.”
“What?” David said. “Going with them? Why?”
“Because they are going to fund the Academy for the rest of our lives.”
“Really? Wow! That’s incredible news.”
Kari made it upstairs where all her students were gathered near the windows. Lars was the only one who noticed her. He came running over as happily as ever despite his formal costume change that dressed him up in a sharp-looking tuxedo.
When did they even have time to change his outfit?
“Professor! What’s going on?” Jared asked.
His question drew everyone’s attention back to Kari just as she was picking up her bag that she had left on the floor when Lars first greeted her. It had everything she needed for a trip, which wasn’t much. She would just print everything she needed to live when she made it to her destination.
The students rushed from the windows and gathered around her, expecting details even though Kari didn’t have many to give them.
“Share the wealth,” Ruth said.
“Fine,” Kari said. “I’m going to work for Vision for a few months. I’m going to help them with a special project and they are going to help pay some of the bills around here.”
“What project?”
“Bills?”
“Will you be back for graduation?”
The questions came from all directions and all at the same time.
“That’s it, that’s all I know.”
“Probably the second version of their trashy sim,” Chad said. He was a younger boy, but he was already the captain of Motorcad’s video game team. It was the only competition the school competed in and so far they had never lost.
“I really don’t know what I’ll be doing for them, but I’ll try to stay in touch. Motorcad is going to be taking care of things while I am gone. Please be good for him.”
“Oh, we will,” Ruth said. “You can trust us.”
Yeah, right. Motorcad lets them get away with anything. It’s going to be madness around here.
For a second her resolve wavered. The Academy needed her here.
But we need the money.
David rubbed her back, which reminded her that she was in a hurry. She looked around at her group of misfits that she had assembled over the last couple of years and smiled at each them.
She pushed forward without another word and David followed by her side.
“I was hoping we’d get to spend a little more time together . . .” David said.
“I know, but—”
“But this is an amazing opportunity, and we’ll stay in touch.”
Kari stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at her boyfriend. They had been dating for a long time now. Years, but it still felt like a new relationship.
“Exactly.” She kissed him again for the last time. “Thanks again for helping out.”
“Have fun,” David said.
Kari took a deep breath and left her school behind. She checked the time to make sure she still qualified for the ten million dollar bonus for leaving so quickly and was relieved to find that she had time to walk over to the auto-copter. The stairs were still lowered, so she walked up them and blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the dim light in the luxury helicopter.
Christina and John were both seated, with remarkably better posture than Kari had expected, on opposite sides of the single room aircraft. They didn’t look up, or open their eyes as she entered. Kari sat down on a seat near the door and set her bag next to her. The door closed behind her and the engines to the auto-copter revved as it prepared for takeoff.
She tried to get comfortable, but she just couldn’t manage to do it. If she relaxed she felt out of place and if she sat up straight it didn’t feel natural.
Oh well, hopefully this thing is fast. Shouldn’t take us long to get to the Bay Area anyway.
Kari overrode her vision and started to scan the news by reflex. There wasn’t anything too exciting. The news of Rosewood’s fall was already stale. The friction between the states had slowly melted away and had left the country largely as it had been before. Minus the change in government structure, more state rights, a few dozen smaller states, and the incredible damage to the economy, it was just like the country she had known when she was a child.
She closed the news and didn’t feel like working on feedback for student projects.
I had actually been looking forward to taking a break for a few days. I guess I won’t get that now.
The auto-copter hummed along through the air now, flying her away from the school she had worked so hard to create.
I never asked how they found me. So far I’ve managed to keep the government guessing about my whereabouts, but they managed to track me down.
She lingered on that thought for a while, but eventually her mind drifted to the more exciting question.
What are they going to have me work on?
Vision had the talent and the budget that allowed for endless possibilities.
Whatever it is, this should be interesting.
Chapter Four
This isn’t the Bay Area.
Kari stepped out of the auto-copter and into the thin air. Mountains loomed all around them and for a second Kari thought she was back at Valhalla. She checked her location on her mind chip and found she was in Colorado, not far from Boulder.
A slick, black auto-auto waited a few feet away from where the stairs ended. John and Christina didn’t hesitate as they entered the vehicle. Kari followed after them wordlessly.
Kari tracked their location as the auto-auto drove toward the mountains, up winding roads deeper into the Rockies.
We have to be there soon, there’s nowhere else to go.
The maps she was using showed the road ending not far from where they were now, miles from the city.
The auto-auto slowed to a stop and the founders of Vision led the way out of the vehicle as soon as the doors slid open.
Not a very talkative bunch.
Kari stepped out into the sunlight again and found a thick cement wall directly in front of them. A handful of armed guards were manning an outpost a few feet off the road. Kari followed Christina and John through the small, twisting security checkpoint. On the far side of the wall, the road continued higher into the heavily wooded mountain.
Another black auto-auto was waiting for them and Kari joined two of the wealthiest people in the history of mankind inside of the car. Despite the conditions of the road, the ride was surprisingly smooth. The tinted widows prevented her from seeing much outside, but what little light had been seeping though was suddenly cut off.
We just went underground, or into a tunnel. Where are they taking me?
“We’re here,” John said as soon as the auto-auto stopped again.
“Finally,” Christina said. “Let’s make this as efficient as possible.”
“Of course,” John responded.
They talked as if Kari wasn’t accompanying them, which Kari wasn’t sure if she appreciated or not.
Better than them trying to make small talk with me.
When the doors opened again, Kari stepped out into the well-lit cave. It looked like an entrance to a fancy hotel, with glass walls and light furniture, but behind them the road circled back into darkness. Inside the glass lobby Kari could see dozens of security guards carrying traditional energy weapons.
They aren’t messing around.
The white tile and light granite walls reminded her of Henderson’s prison, but her curiosity far outweighed any concerns. The guards didn’t slow them down as they passed through a series of scanners. They reached a solid metallic wall and stopped. A wall slide closed behind them, locking them in the room.
A familiar deep buzzing noise sounded just before a wave of blue light washed over them. Kari jumped, despite wanting to play it cool as the EMP filled the room, destroying any electronics within its reach, including the processing unit behind their ears.
A little warning would have been nice.
The wall in front of them slid open a second later and another group of security officers were waiting on the far side, next to a table with new processing units.
Kari followed Christina’s lead as she picked up a fresh processing unit and replaced the now fried one that was resting behind her ear. Once she had a functioning processing unit connected to her mind chip, Kari was able to focus on where she was. A wide hallway led deeper into the mountain. Several drones buzzed around the air in different directions and the same security doors she had hacked at Rosewood’s office lined the walls.
“Welcome to Vision’s Research and Development Lab,” John said.
“Seems nice,” Kari said.
I mean, if you’re into partially buried R&D labs, that is. Personally, I prefer my old factory. Just as unexpected and a tad less nuclear winter shelter.
“This will be your home for the duration of the engagement,” Christina said. “You’ll find everything you need here to live comfortably and complete your task.”
Kari nodded, mostly because Christina had a way of making every sentence sound like the end of a conversation. John waved her forward and they moved down the hallway.
“We have a number of labs across the world, but this is the one that has produced the money maker,” John said.
“Soon-to-be money maker,” Christina said. “We haven’t realized any gains from it yet.”
“Right,” Kari said. “You’ve gone to great lengths to secure this place . . .”
“When you have a potential trillion-dollar project on your hands, there is no measure of security that is appropriate. I’d double it if I could,” John said.
What are you going to do? Find another mountain to drop on top of this one?
“That’s because you only profess to love money,” Christina said. “You’d spend us into oblivion without properly monetizing our developments.”
The conversation had just gone over her head to some argument she wasn’t a part of. Oddly enough, the way they looked down on her served to make her indifferent to listening to their personal squabbles. John cleared his throat and ignored Christina.
“Your personal quarters will be down this hall,” John said, pointing to a door as they passed it. “Everything has already been configured, and you should find all you need to live comfortably for the next few months.”
The door opened just as they walked by and a woman in a white laboratory coat walked out. She looked startled to see John and Christina.
“Of course, you’ll have to share the lab here with our other scientists,” John said. “Roughly two hundred scientists live here full time on any given day.”
“Two hundred? Here?” Kari asked.
“You’re sure this is the Freelancer?” Christina said.
“It just seemed like a lot for down here . . .”
Good thing you’re insanely rich, otherwise you wouldn’t have many friends.
The last door on the right opened before they reached it. Inside, a giant room spread before them. White tiled floor and glass separators extended out nearly as far as she could see. People dressed in white lab coats were intermixed with crawlers and drones throughout the lab floor. They strode into the room passing scientists laid back in their chairs working on projects or others scribbling madly in the air.
“Everyone here is a world-renowned specialist in their respective field,” John said.
“Or they would be if they ever left this place,” Christina said. “Bunch of pathetic geniuses.”
“That isn’t nice,” Kari said.
I’ve had enough of her. This is one reason why I hate bosses so much. They think they are so much better than their employees, when they don’t actually do any of the hard work.
“Oh, they are fully aware of their situation. They love it for some reason,” Christina said.
“We call them our cave trolls,” John said. “Strangest group of people you’ll ever meet.”
“Speaking of our cave trolls, I’m going to meet with Adrian. Can you be finished with the girl by the top of the hour?”
“Of course,” John said.
Christina peeled off to the right, heading down an isle of glass cubicles to the center of the room.
“Is she always like that?” Kari asked.
“This is a good day for her,” John said. “She’s the bad cop, I’m the good cop. It’s a dynamic that can require some acclimatizing. But trust me, her bark is far worse than her bite. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Who’s Adrian?” Kari said. There was so much to see and take in, but that was the question that surfaced to her mouth first.
“Head of development,” John said.
“Here, or for all of Vision?”
“On the planet, really,” John said. They were finally nearing the far wall of the giant lab floor. A single secured door rested in the center of the back wall.
“Here, you test your credentials,” John said.
Kari stepped up to the door and stood in front it as it monitored her. It didn’t give her any indications, but she knew it was checking her vital signs, weight, eyes, mind chip, and a dozen other parameters to verify her identity. How they had all that information on her already was a question she decided to worry about later.
The door slid open to a small white cubical room. A wooden table rested in the middle with two simple chairs.
This is it?
Kari took a seat at one of the chairs and John sat next to her.
“Now for your nondisclosure agreement,” John said. “If you leak any information about this lab, what you worked on, or anything else we just don’t like, we’ll put a bullet in your head. How’s that for a simple NDA?”
Kari didn’t respond at first.
I guess I should have expected that. You don’t build a place like this and not play for keeps. Man, I hate bosses.
“I get it,” she responded.
“Good!” John said.
He acts like he didn’t just threaten to kill me. At least Christina is up-front about her true personality.
“Now that we have that out of the way, shall we get down to business?”
“Please,” Kari said. The entire procession to this room had served to build her anticipation. Her anxiety at being forced to work for Vision in a secret lab where they promised to kill her if she leaked information was overcome by her need to know what she was going to design for them.
Vision has thousands, tens of thousands, of the smartest people on the planet on their payroll. Whatever this is, it’s going to be big.
“Fay,” John said. “Introduce yourself to our guest.”
A thousand tiny beams of light shot from the sides of the walls and converged on a single spot in the air. The light formed a ball in midair that quavered as a voice filled the room.
“Hello, Kari Tahe. I am pleased to meet you,” the voice said.
Kari looked to John and then back to the ball of light. Then back to John.
No.
“Hello Fay,” Kari said. “John hasn’t explained to me who you are. Do you mind filling me in?”
“You used the term ‘who’ instead of ‘what,’” Fay said. “Why?”
Kari looked to John again who was sitting smugly in his chair.