borders between the coasts and their own territory with military roadblocks on all major roads and highways. Flights were cancelled, and the high-speed trains were closed. The news was ablaze with stories of protests and stranded citizens on both sides of the new borders. Thankfully, no bombings or official fighting had started—yet.
The networks gave nonofficial reports of small riots erupting in newly designated border towns. Kari was concerned because a new border with Tennessee, a freshly minted Middle State, was only about fifty miles from her home. For the first time, she realized that she essentially lived in a border town now. The expected protests and demonstrations had been popping up locally, but nothing had gotten out of hand.
Nothing’s happening too close to home.
Kari had also checked her client messages, which turned out to be a mistake. Her clients were really concerned about future projects, which she hadn’t agreed to build for them because of the current political situation. There were also a large number of new requests looking for advanced solutions to common war problems. She’d spent several minutes letting all her clients know she wouldn’t be starting any new projects until she had a better understanding of how the secession of the Middle States would affect her. She had spent most of the week working on adjustments to her swarm of drones and had fallen behind her projected schedule for client work again, something she had promised herself she wouldn’t let happen. But she didn’t regret it; one of the perks of being a freelancer was that she could work at her own pace, and she had needed a break after having to deal with her last client.
Kari packed a few of the drones she had printed last week in her bag to take with her, despite the fact that they were now grossly outdated after a week of work on their design. Just in case . She had made a large number of enhancements to the drones since last week, but she hadn’t had the opportunity to go to her factory to print any new ones since then. She felt silly putting the drones in her bag, but she felt a little anxious about being so close to the border. I guess I’ve always been a little paranoid.
Today, that paranoia was slightly more justified.Kari ordered an auto-auto and was pleasantly surprised when she was notified that one was only a minute away. She breathed in deeply and recommitted herself to taking care of this apology despite an urge to forget about it. She could be doing a thousand other things that would be a better investment of her time, but she was tired of feeling guilty.
It’s time to get this over with.
David’s house was farther from the center of town than was Kari’s factory. Kari had discovered this only after she’d hacked the school’s website to access the student directory to find David’s address. It doesn’t help the conspiracies that he lives so far away from anyone or anything. Who has their address unlisted these days? The long drive gave her plenty of time to order a new round of updated drone prototypes to be printed at her factory and to review some code from last night.
When the auto-auto finally came to a stop, Kari had to force herself to leave the self-driving car behind. At least it’s not raining. The weather was so nice that she took off her jacket—the opposite of how it had been a week ago. Plenty of trees were around, and the long path leading up to David’s home wasn’t paved. The whole scene felt a bit rustic, almost as if it were a setting for an old painting. A wood fence that was desperate for a fresh layer of paint lined the edge of the yard.
The gravel crunched under her shoes as she slowly made her way up the path toward David’s door. His house was surprisingly large but the architecture was much older than was popular in the city. Solar panels had been installed on the roof, which was a sign that the house was old. All the houses these days had roofs composed entirely
The networks gave nonofficial reports of small riots erupting in newly designated border towns. Kari was concerned because a new border with Tennessee, a freshly minted Middle State, was only about fifty miles from her home. For the first time, she realized that she essentially lived in a border town now. The expected protests and demonstrations had been popping up locally, but nothing had gotten out of hand.
Nothing’s happening too close to home.
Kari had also checked her client messages, which turned out to be a mistake. Her clients were really concerned about future projects, which she hadn’t agreed to build for them because of the current political situation. There were also a large number of new requests looking for advanced solutions to common war problems. She’d spent several minutes letting all her clients know she wouldn’t be starting any new projects until she had a better understanding of how the secession of the Middle States would affect her. She had spent most of the week working on adjustments to her swarm of drones and had fallen behind her projected schedule for client work again, something she had promised herself she wouldn’t let happen. But she didn’t regret it; one of the perks of being a freelancer was that she could work at her own pace, and she had needed a break after having to deal with her last client.
Kari packed a few of the drones she had printed last week in her bag to take with her, despite the fact that they were now grossly outdated after a week of work on their design. Just in case . She had made a large number of enhancements to the drones since last week, but she hadn’t had the opportunity to go to her factory to print any new ones since then. She felt silly putting the drones in her bag, but she felt a little anxious about being so close to the border. I guess I’ve always been a little paranoid.
Today, that paranoia was slightly more justified.Kari ordered an auto-auto and was pleasantly surprised when she was notified that one was only a minute away. She breathed in deeply and recommitted herself to taking care of this apology despite an urge to forget about it. She could be doing a thousand other things that would be a better investment of her time, but she was tired of feeling guilty.
It’s time to get this over with.
David’s house was farther from the center of town than was Kari’s factory. Kari had discovered this only after she’d hacked the school’s website to access the student directory to find David’s address. It doesn’t help the conspiracies that he lives so far away from anyone or anything. Who has their address unlisted these days? The long drive gave her plenty of time to order a new round of updated drone prototypes to be printed at her factory and to review some code from last night.
When the auto-auto finally came to a stop, Kari had to force herself to leave the self-driving car behind. At least it’s not raining. The weather was so nice that she took off her jacket—the opposite of how it had been a week ago. Plenty of trees were around, and the long path leading up to David’s home wasn’t paved. The whole scene felt a bit rustic, almost as if it were a setting for an old painting. A wood fence that was desperate for a fresh layer of paint lined the edge of the yard.
The gravel crunched under her shoes as she slowly made her way up the path toward David’s door. His house was surprisingly large but the architecture was much older than was popular in the city. Solar panels had been installed on the roof, which was a sign that the house was old. All the houses these days had roofs composed entirely
Similar Books
