Overview
| Comment: | n2020.txt: add smuggler, motorcycle, notes |
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| Timelines: | family | ancestors | descendants | both | n2020-draft1 |
| Files: | files | file ages | folders |
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c140fa1712c2551d9ad36fee8ef109ab |
| User & Date: | ren on 2020-11-26 01:55:20 |
| Other Links: | branch diff | manifest | tags |
Context
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2020-11-26
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| 02:18 | n2020.txt: add Princess Bride reference check-in: 748e578cc2 user: ren tags: n2020-draft1 | |
| 01:55 | n2020.txt: add smuggler, motorcycle, notes check-in: c140fa1712 user: ren tags: n2020-draft1 | |
| 01:53 | outline.txt: add overview plus endeavors and events check-in: 6112642b82 user: ren tags: n2020-draft1 | |
Changes
Modified n2020.txt from [ffbb32e4ea] to [a4fcc728bc].
2488 2488 At some point, she should set up a meeting for an exchange in a private conference room at a co-working space. Someone should recognize her and ask whether she's meeting a client, to which she replies vaguely in a positively interpretable fashion without literally confirming that assumption with her words. 2489 2489 2490 2490 I wanted the person who greets her to say something that raises some factoid of her life, but I'm not sure any longer what I had in mind. Did it have anything to do with getting out of Dalton's shadow? 2491 2491 2492 2492 Does the person she's meeting recognize her connection to Dalton? 2493 2493 2494 2494 */ 2495 + 2496 +/* 2495 2497 2496 2498 After an announcement by the Federal Reserve, she follows the prioritizer's 2497 2499 advice to put a bunch of her extra United States dollars in cash into 2498 2500 Stater. After a moment more of discussion, she puts some of her bank 2499 2501 account into VaporCash, known as a good place to put money if you can't 2500 2502 hide the source but want to hide where it goes, just because the news 2501 2503 suggests that there will be a bonanza in general cryptocurrency investment, ................................................................................ 2503 2505 you're going to move money from United States dollars fiat currency via a 2504 2506 trackable channel into a cryptocurrency just to benefit from currency 2505 2507 movements it might be a good idea to hide your tracks so you can keep your 2506 2508 money from being tracked along the way, and claim whatever you like in an 2507 2509 emergency about where the money might have gone. 2508 2510 2509 2511 During all this, the prioritizer has Alley make some deals with other 2510 - prioritizer study participants, though they may not know they're dealing 2512 + prioritizer study participants, though she may not know they're dealing 2511 2513 with fellow study participants. 2512 2514 2513 2515 */ 2514 2516 2515 2517 /* 2516 2518 2517 2519 ## Crossing The Threshold: ................................................................................ 2539 2541 to run, if she hasn't already been caught, and says he'll try to get in 2540 2542 touch with her very soon, using a different way to contact her because he 2541 2543 was going to ditch all his old contact methods, but that she should run and 2542 2544 hide and maybe find herself an ally who can and will help her. 2543 2545 2544 2546 */ 2545 2547 2546 -Alley terminated the call. "I have to go home, but they're still working on my car," she says. She looks over her shoulder. "I'll call up a ride." 2548 +"It looks like I should turn here," Alley said, checking the map /* on her augmented reality heads up display */ shown in the HUD on her glasses, and rolled up to a stop at an intersection. 2549 + 2550 +"Continue ahead," the prioritizer said. "It is better to avoid police checkpoints." 2551 + 2552 +Alley hesitated as the light turned green, then drove on. "Okay, yeah. That makes sense." As they passed the intersection, she looked to her right, and saw half a dozen police officers in black around the barricade half a block away. They wore helmets and bulky body armor, each of them armed with some kind of long arm -- rifles, shotguns, or a third option /* something */ she did not recognize. 2553 + 2554 +"How am I getting there if I don't go through a checkpoint?" Alley asked. "The drop off is in the hot zone." 2555 + 2556 +/* 2557 + 2558 + Here, the prioritizer tells Alley what they'll do to get past the barricade 2559 + perimeter. It probably ties in with some kind of means smugglers use to 2560 + run the blockades, though how the prioritizer knows about it is beyond me 2561 + at this point. Perhaps the prioritizer simply reasons that there are 2562 + people who are prepared to smuggle people and objects across blockades in 2563 + urban hot zones, and that there must be a way to contact them even if you 2564 + have never done so before and don't know how to get in touch with those 2565 + smugglers. Alley might look up something with her Axiom via anonymized 2566 + distributed networks. At this point, she might also contact George for 2567 + help getting in touch with a smuggler, though, instead of getting someone 2568 + online. In fact, doing so might be what led to George getting raided, and 2569 + her as well. It could be that the raid was planned for shortly after when 2570 + she would have arrived at home, and only the fact her car broke down saved 2571 + her from that fate. I could also ensure that, actually, the prioritizer 2572 + manipulated Alley by arranging for the car to break down somehow, knowing 2573 + (somehow) that Alley was in significant danger of being raided at that 2574 + time. This is kind of a big decision, though. Should that be how it 2575 + happened, or should it actually just be luck? Such luck often feels wrong, 2576 + improbable, in stories. I just need good explanations for the plotting to 2577 + work out in a way that readers might find plausible and right. 2578 + 2579 +*/ 2580 + 2581 +"Just ask for Smuggler," George said. 2582 + 2583 +--- 2584 + 2585 +Alley donned her motorcycle jacket, stuffed her gloves in the jacket pockets, and strapped on her low profile pack and locked her car. She looked at the front of the house, drew a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She walked up to the front door and pressed the old fashioned doorbell on a house that looked like it had been built in the 1970s. 2586 + 2587 +It took less than ten seconds for the door to open, but no one stood inside. "Hello?" she called. 2588 + 2589 +"Hello." 2590 + 2591 +She nearly jumped out of her skin, and spun around to see a figure in a full face ballistic mask and hooded urban tunic. He was holding his hands slightly out from his sides, fingers spread, showing her his palms. 2592 + 2593 +"Are you looking for someone?" in what she began to realize was a very masculine voice, distorted by the voice emitter of his mask. 2594 + 2595 +"I'm looking for, uh . . ." she began, hesitating. She cleared her throat as the masked man waited patiently. "I'm looking for the smuggler." 2596 + 2597 +His chuckle came out sounding sinister with the metallic gravelly vibration imparted to it by the voice emitter. "Just Smuggler," he said, "like the name you're given at birth." 2598 + 2599 +"Oh." 2600 + 2601 +"You know George," he said, and she thought she detected a bit of a rise at the end, like it was a question. 2602 + 2603 +"Not for long," she said, "but yeah. He seems like a good guy." 2604 + 2605 +"You must've made an impression, if he referred you to me." 2606 + 2607 +"Really?" 2608 + 2609 +He nodded, and motioned past her. "Let's talk inside." 2610 + 2611 +"Oh, right," she said. Her hand brushed her back pocket, the thin cylindrical bulge of her baton creating a harder ridge that her knuckles knocked across, but she headed inside. Beyond the small linoleum entryway a living room with patterns of staining and fading overlapping so much it was difficult to determine what shade of brown was original opened up. Its wood panel walls were warped with age. There was no furniture in the room, but there were rectangular spots on the walls with nail holes at the top that were a lighter off white than the rest of the wall surfaces. From where she now stood, she could see into the dining room, though the sliding glass doors in the back seemed to be covered with foil. The only significant light came through the open front door and front windows with blinds angled upward so that light dimly striped the ceiling. 2612 + 2613 +Smuggler followed her and closed the door behind them. "You need to get into the hot zone and want to avoid official attention." He did something with his gloved right hand, and light spilled from LEDs on his knuckles. He kept them aimed at the carpeted floor nearby so that they created bright spots on the floor but a secondary glow made it possible to make out the edges of the walls a bit better. 2614 + 2615 +"Yeah," she said. "Can you take me through, somehow? In and back, I mean." 2616 + 2617 +He nodded. "Yes, I could." 2618 + 2619 +"How much would I owe you for it?" 2620 + 2621 +"Are you offering to pay me to take you to the other side?" he asked. 2622 + 2623 +She nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Isn't that how this works?" 2624 + 2625 +"Normally," he said, "but I'm not taking your money." 2626 + 2627 +"Why won't you take me through? Do you think I'm a cop or something like that?" 2628 + 2629 +After a moment's hesitation, he shook his head. "I didn't say I wouldn't take you into the zone. I just said I'm not taking your money." 2630 + 2631 +"Why not?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. 2632 + 2633 +"Let's just say, for now, that the first hit's free." 2634 + 2635 +"That seems strange, like there's something addictive about getting past the barricades." 2636 + 2637 +He shrugged again. "Some people find the hot zone addictive, to tell the truth. Some of them find their way to the cold zone, and that's often an even stronger addiction. /* Maybe I'm addicted to both of them. I'm not sure. */ " 2638 + 2639 +"What's a cold zone?" 2640 + 2641 +"Maybe you'll find out some day," he said. "It's an area you can't reach without going through the hot zone, or through the corporate center of LA. The police don't even go in there. Most of the world doesn't know it exists. You definitely don't want to go there today, though, if you've never even heard of it." 2642 + 2643 +She shook her head. "No, it doesn't sound like that's where I want to be." 2644 + 2645 +"Where do you want to be?" 2646 + 2647 +She shrugged. "Maybe Colorado or New Hampshire." 2648 + 2649 +"Are you ready to go?" 2650 + 2651 +She patted her pockets, checking what she had with her, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." 2652 + 2653 +"Step into my pantry, said the spider to the fly." He brushed past her and headed into the kitchen. 2654 + 2655 +She followed, her steps tentative, and looked around with eyes wide, trying to take in every detail of this old house. A hallway disappeared into deeper darkness to her left just before she angled right into the dining room near the back of the house. A few more steps led her to where the kitchen opened to the left, and she saw Smuggler opening a pantry door, true to his word. 2656 + 2657 +He reached in and with the sweep of his glove lights she saw shelves stocked with ancient dry goods. A click brought up a flood of brighter light as the back wall shifted away, revealing a narrow hole in the floor beaming illumination toward the ceiling of the pantry. "After you," he said, and stepped out of the pantry to give her room. 2658 + 2659 +She moved closer, steps wary, and leaned to look down the hole. She saw a steel ladder bolted to the concrete side of the rectangular hole leading downward. She looked back at Smuggler, who nodded, though she did not know what that meant. Another look confirmed ti wasn't a very deep hole, maybe ten feet, and it looked like after a couple of those feet one side opened up into a larger room. 2660 + 2661 +Alley /* sat down */ got down on hands and knees and carefully backed over the edge onto the ladder, then climbed down. She kept looking down at the rising floor, over her shoulder, and she saw that it was a well-lit chamber about as wide as it was tall, more than enough for someone very tall to lie down but not with a lot of room left over. 2662 + 2663 +She looked up to see Smuggler looking down, then he rotated and lowered a foot to the ladder. She looked away from him, hopped the last foot or two down to the floor, and stepped away from the ladder. A single LED lighting unit mounted on the ceiling flooded the small chamber in bright light, and a door stood closed at the other end of the room. 2664 + 2665 +While Smuggler descended, she heard a soft brushing sound and looked up to see the aperture at the top of the ladder closing. When he reached the bottom, he turned without a word to the door. As he touched the handle, the light vanished, plunging them into darkness apart from the lights on Smuggler's glove. 2666 + 2667 +"I still have contact with you," the prioritizer said. 2668 + 2669 +She shook her head slightly, not wanting to speak aloud to the prioritizer in front of Smuggler. 2670 + 2671 +"It must be your Axiom establishing connections through some kind of mesh network down here. I do not have access to check it, so I cannot confirm this is the case." 2672 + 2673 +Alley followed Smuggler into the dark tunnel beyond the heavy door, which softly closed behind them on its own. After a couple minutes of walking, she quietly asked "How far is it?" The sound seemed louder than it should have been, after the deep quiet of nothing but the echoes of their own movements, and she nearly stumbled in surprise. 2674 + 2675 +"It's about a ten minute walk," he said, "mostly because we need to move slowly." 2676 + 2677 +"Why slowly? It looks straight as far as I can see, and I doubt anyone would hear us." 2678 + 2679 +She saw his head shake, silhouetted against the glow of his glove lights ahead of him. His stride did not change. "If we go too fast, we'll set off alarms. It's the best way to make sure the alarms will go off when someone's on the run, but it's not the only way the alarms can be triggered." 2680 + 2681 +"What happens if alarms go off?" 2682 + 2683 +"A lot of exciting stuff," he said, "ending with this tunnel not being available to run the blockade any more." 2684 + 2685 +"Oh." 2686 + 2687 +--- 2688 + 2689 +Alley terminated the call. "I have to go home, but they're still working on my car," she said. She looked over her shoulder, at the mechanics' garage. "I'll call up a ride." 2547 2690 2548 2691 "Wait," the prioritizer said. 2549 2692 2550 2693 "Why? Why am I waiting?" 2551 2694 2552 2695 "I will arrange for another study participant to pass by your home so we can see what is going on." 2553 2696 2554 2697 Alley sat again, thinking there was nothing she could do that was any smarter than sitting still at this point. "Maybe I should call for a ride anyway," she says. "I'll just get there after the other person in the study." 2555 2698 2556 -"I will arrange a ride for you," the prioritizer said. "You should grab the bugout bag you have in the middle of your bugout vehicle gear. Take your riding gear, too." 2699 +"I will arrange a ride for you," the prioritizer said. "You should retrieve the bugout bag you have in the middle of your bugout vehicle gear. Take your riding gear, too." 2557 2700 2558 2701 "Why? What good would that do me?" she asked. 2559 2702 2560 2703 "If you have to run, you should have what you need to survive. If you do not have to run, it does not hurt you to have that gear with you." 2561 2704 2562 2705 "Fine," she said. "I'll get it. Why the riding gear, though?" She stood and headed for the counter. 2563 2706 ................................................................................ 2623 2766 2624 2767 "Of course it is." 2625 2768 2626 2769 /* 2627 2770 2628 2771 A study participant shows up to pick her up. Maybe it's a girl this time. That would be good. In any case, she gets picked up and taken to some place where Alley can hang out for a bit. I don't know where that is yet, which is part of the reason I'm not writing out the narrative and dialog for this part at this time. She must do something as she sits there, waiting. In the meantime, the prioritizer arranges for someone to take care of the car, and eventually the person who takes care of the car gets a friend to help so that they can use some of the money from the sale of the car to buy a motorcycle in online classifieds that Alley and the prioritizer picked out while they waited, having reasoned that a motorcycle gives her an excuse to hide her entire head more fully than a mask and even a hat would accomplish, by wearing a helmet. The owner of the motorcycle throws in a helmet with the purchase, which is good because otherwise more money would have to be spent to buy a helmet, a necessary purchase in California where it is illegal to ride a motorcycle on public roads without wearing a DOT certified helmet. 2629 2772 2630 -Even after all that, there is some cash left over from selling off the car. The motorcycle is relative low demand and low power, after all. It's also very old. None of this really adds up to much expense. The plan is for Alley to coast on the registration currently in effect on the vehicle's license plates for a while, because she obviously cannot register the vehicle herself when she is trying to stay out of sight of people who can probably (or at least conceivably) monitor that kind of activity. She will, of course, have to be sure to ride carefully, to avoid getting pulled over by the police, so that she will not end up in terrible trouble where she cannot get out of it. 2773 +Even after all that, there is some cash left over from selling off the car. The motorcycle is a product with relative low demand and low power, after all. It is also very old, used, and no longer stock (so it's not a "cherry" classic). None of this really adds up to much expense. The plan is for Alley to coast on the registration currently in effect on the vehicle's license plates for a while, because she obviously cannot register the vehicle herself when she is trying to stay out of sight of people who can probably (or at least conceivably) monitor that kind of activity. She will, of course, have to be sure to ride carefully, to avoid getting pulled over by the police, so that she will not end up in terrible trouble where she cannot get out of it. 2774 + 2775 +*/ 2776 + 2777 +"Well, here I am, alone again -- except you, of course." 2778 + 2779 +The prioritizer said "It is probably best at this time to avoid extended contact with other human beings unless we can establish contact with someone worthy of your trust and willing to help you with substantive commitment to take action and ability to help." 2780 + 2781 +She sighed. "Yeah, of course." 2782 + 2783 +"Is there someone you can contact for help now?" 2784 + 2785 +Alley thought about it, and said "I don't know off hand about anyone I ever see these days who could really help me right now." 2786 + 2787 +"Can one of your friends give you a place to stay for the night?" 2788 + 2789 +Alley shook her head. "I don't want to get them caught up in this, and I guess I'm not entirely sure they wouldn't say something they shouldn't if police showed up or something like that." 2790 + 2791 +"In that case, we must find you a place to stay for the night. Please look for motels that accept cryptocurrency payments below the reporting threshold of three hundred united states dollars." 2792 + 2793 +"Sure," she said, "but I don't know how we're going to get there. It's not like cabs usually take cash these days, and they all have cameras in them, so I would just end up on camera for the whole trip." 2794 + 2795 +"Can you still ride a motorcycle?" 2796 + 2797 +"Yeah, I should be able to." She furrowed her brow. "Why?" 2798 + 2799 +"We should check online classifieds for private party sale, low price, working motorcycles that can be purchased in either cash or cryptocurrency units." 2800 + 2801 +"Oh, yeah. I guess a motorcycle would even be cheaper than a junker car." 2802 + 2803 +She pulled out her Axiom and woke the device, then hesitated. 2804 + 2805 +"How am I even going to get the motorcycle? I can't get to it from here." 2806 + 2807 +"I will arrange something," the prioritizer said. "It will probably cost you extra to do so, but a fellow study participant with appropriate skills may be willing to facilitate your transaction." 2808 + 2809 +"Wouldn't that mean the whole thing will get recorded and stored in logs, though?" 2810 + 2811 +"No. I will alter logs and remove all evidence of these activities' significance from storage." 2812 + 2813 +"Okay, I guess that's fine." 2814 + 2815 +"By my estimate, the risk of this transaction for you should be less than the typical road dangers of driving a motorcycle in afternoon traffic from here to a seller in most parts of Riverside." 2816 + 2817 +"I guess that's comforting," she said. "Riding a motorcycle is more dangerous than making a deal with a middleman when the Men In Black are after me." 2818 + 2819 +"The same statement is accurate if you drive a car, as well, though statistics suggest the danger of driving a car is slightly less than that of riding a motorcycle." 2820 + 2821 +"Yeah, thanks for clearing that up for me," Alley said. "Let's start looking at motorcycles, then." 2822 + 2823 +When she selected a custom modification of a 1990s motorcycle closer to her father's age than her own, the prioritizer told her it had a middleman ready to go. It was only twenty minutes later that it told her /* about a digital bootleg safety upgrade. */ what the middleman had learned from the seller. 2824 + 2825 +"The motorcycle's seller reports that it has a number of upgrades. Most notably, it has been upgraded with an anti lock brake system he fabricated in his home workshop, using reverse engineered physical specifications for production aftermarket brake upgrades, using open source software to program the system." 2826 + 2827 +"Isn't that illegal? I don't know if I really need to pile more evidence someone can use against me on top of what's already going on," Alley said. 2828 + 2829 +"It appears that the use of the plans for the brakes is not illegal, and only the distribution of the plans and the sale of the brakes after they have been fabricated would violate copyright and patent laws. Because the plans were evidently reverse engineered, they are unlikely to be protected by copyright. As the recipient of the motorcycle, you seem to be immune to any legal issues that may arise from this, and the chances of detection of the crime in this case are statistically insignificant." 2830 + 2831 +"Yeah, okay," she said. 2832 + 2833 +"When the motorcycle arrives, you will be able to pay the person who delivers it directly in Stater. He is interested in acquiring the cryptocurrency as an investment." 2834 + 2835 +"Did he use Stater to buy the bike?" 2836 + 2837 +"No. He made a cash transaction. For him, this is an indirect way to buy a cryptocurrency without the purchase being tracked and without dealing with less trustworthy individuals who deal in cryptocurrencies." 2838 + 2839 +"Yeah," she said, "that makes sense. How much is this going to set me back?" 2840 + 2841 +"You will profit from this transaction. Another study participant picked up the car from the auto shop and gave money to the middleman for the motorcycle purchase, with instructions to convey whatever cash is left after the purchase to you. While you will have fewer Stater for now, your overall liquid asset totals represent greater purchasing power than if the car had not required maintenance and you still had it now." 2842 + 2843 +"Is someone getting screwed over for this?" she asked. 2844 + 2845 +"No. Every participant in these transactions profited from an opportunity that would not have existed if you did not need to acquire more reliable and less recognizable transportation." 2846 + 2847 +"Hm. Thanks." 2848 + 2849 +"You are welcome." 2850 + 2851 +She brushed away gravelly debris to clear a spot on the ground, and sat on the cracked concrete slab with her back against the cinder block wall of the car wash bay. She looked at the chipped and dingy paint on the opposite wall of the bay and searched for patterns in the midst of its slow decay. 2852 + 2853 +Alley muttered chastisements to herself, under her breath, for wasting time while her world was falling apart around her. She pulled the Axiom out of her pocket and started a circumspect search for things like "mercenaries in California" and "real-life A-Team". She got nothing useful, but she did learn that the A-Team movie she saw a few years ago was the third A-Team movie remake. 2854 + 2855 +About the time she was ready to give up, she heard a rare sound these days: an internal combustion engine motorcycle that did not sound like a V-twin, slowly approaching, then coming to a halt nearby. She stood and brushed collected dust from her backside. 2856 + 2857 +"This is your contact," the prioritizer said. 2858 + 2859 +She took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then hooked her thumb in her back pocket, touching the handle of her baton. She stepped out of concealment and saw a big figure slowly dismounting a small grey blue motorcycle. It was the four cylinder 350 she had /* bought with money she never saw. */ selected from the classifieds. 2860 + 2861 +The man wore an open face helmet along with his mask and glasses. The glasses were identical to her own, she immediately noticed. An electric car waited by the curb not far away. She indicated the car with a movement of her chin and asked "Friends of yours?" 2862 + 2863 +"Nah," he said. "It's just my car. The autopilot was set to auto-follow." He approached, his hands at his sides, and stopped with ample distance between them. "The key's in the ignition. The envelope's under the seat." 2864 + 2865 +The prioritizer told her, via text in her glasses, "The envelope contains your left over cash from the sale of the car." 2866 + 2867 +"Do you know how to work everything on a bike like this?" he asked. 2868 + 2869 +She looked at it, then back at him. "Yeah." She stopped herself from explaining how she knew, reining in the reflex -- a foolish habit, in these circumstances. 2870 + 2871 +"Cool," he said. "What about a helmet? You're going to get pulled over without one." 2872 + 2873 +"I have that covered. Thanks." 2874 + 2875 +"Sure." He looked her over. "You ever need any help with a bike problem, you let me know. Us bikers gotta stick together." 2876 + 2877 +She smiled. "Yeah, thanks," she said. "You're what Dad used to call 'one of the good ones', I guess." 2878 + 2879 +He laughed. "If you say so," he said. "I'll get going so you can do whatever you gotta do. Don't worry any about me, though. As far as anyone else would get out of me, I never met you. I just dropped off a bike somewhere miles away from here." 2880 + 2881 +"Thanks," she said again, as he walked away. He got in the car with a last wave of his hand and drove away, the electric motors running too silently for her to hear. 2882 + 2883 +Alley wheeled the bike into the third wash bay, near her gear, then unlocked the seat and lifted it to find a manila envelope folded in half. She had not seen an envelope like that in over fifteen years and, when she picked up this envelope, the [ how do ancient, dried out manila envelopes feel? ] feel of the paper made her think this envelope must have been sitting unused in a box in someone's garage for at least that long. 2884 + 2885 +A quick check inside revealed two large stacks of hundred dollar bills, bundled with silicone cable ties. 2886 + 2887 +She stuffed the envelope into a cargo pocket, the opened the panniers on the sides of the bike and loaded her gear into them, choreographing an awkward, unsychronized dance of items pulled out of bags and rearranged until she could get enough of what she had into the alloy boxes to make it reasonably comfortable to carry the rest on her back. She pulled on her riding gear, hefted the backpack on her shoulders, then pushed her mask down as a bit of extra protection from flying debris for her neck and donned the helmet. 2888 + 2889 +She stopped. "Shit," she said. "Where am I going? Maybe a gas station. I don't know how full this thing is." She rapped the tank once with a gloved knuckle." 2890 + 2891 +"The other study participant filled it for you." 2892 + 2893 +"Oh." 2894 + 2895 +"You should leave this area," the prioritizer said. "It is best to be farther from where COIN Corp and law enforcement expect to find you." 2896 + 2897 +"That makes sense, I guess. Now I just need to figure out where to go." 2898 + 2899 +"Perhaps you should go to Rancho Cucamonga. The distance seems sufficiently far to increase the search difficulty substantially. Every mile of distance yields exponential increases in search difficulty, ignoring digital surveillance analysis potential, and your aim should be to undermine the effectiveness of surveillance infrastructure." 2900 + 2901 +"Yeah, okay. What should I do when I get there, though?" 2902 + 2903 +"Find a place to hide, eat, and rest. My academic resources suggest Rancho Cucamonga and nearby areas might offer a number of abandoned structures that could be used for a temporary base." 2904 + 2905 +Alley groaned. "How can this be happening?" 2906 + 2907 +The prioritizer seemed smart enough to realize that was rhetorical and self pitying. It offered no reply. 2908 + 2909 +/* 2631 2910 2632 2911 Alley must, at some point, say something about going to the police. The prioritizer might ask whether she thinks this is a good idea, and she would then be forced to admit it's a terrible idea, given the COIN Corp agents were basically ordering Secret Service agents around, which surely trumps any possible protection she might imagine would materialize when going to the police for help, especially when she does not particularly trust the police to begin with. Somehow, I should get something in the story about her not trusting the police, of course. 2633 2912 2634 2913 */ 2635 2914 2636 2915 The call rang twice, and only a few seconds passed, but no fewer than six times she had second thoughts about this call, nearly cutting it off before someone could answer or the call could go to voicemail. At the same time, she found herself wondering whether he still had that cyber-industrial tune Glassine Curves set as his ringtone for her, whether there was anyone other than him around when it started ringing. She doubted he had a subdermal headset that would play the ringtone where only he could hear it, after all. He never trusted those things. 2637 2916 ................................................................................ 3630 3909 3631 3910 Alley looked between them. "Shouldn't we take this a little more seriously?" 3632 3911 3633 3912 Dalton shrugged. "I am taking it seriously, but we have to lighten up a little or we'll just get in our own way." 3634 3913 3635 3914 "Hmph." 3636 3915 3637 -"What AIP, like, you know, and ape, but it stands for 'artificial intelligence prioritizer'?" 3916 +"What AIP, like, you know, an ape, but it stands for 'artificial intelligence prioritizer'?" 3638 3917 3639 3918 "That's awful," Dalton said. 3640 3919 3641 3920 Alley said "After Lidia came up with Pry, I think it told her to call it Rio." 3642 3921 3643 3922 "Like the Spanish word for 'river'?" Cray asked. 3644 3923 3645 3924 "Yeah, like that." 3646 3925 3647 3926 "That's not bad," Dalton said. "Great. /* Too bad this'll cut down on my word count bonus when talking about the prioritizer. */ That'll make things easier, having a short name for it." 3648 3927 3649 -"I'm not sure that makes that big a difference," Cray said, "especially when we're spending maybe as much time talking about it as we would spend talking about it without having a short name for it." 3928 +"I'm not sure that makes that big a difference," Cray said, "especially when we're spending maybe as much time talking about how we can come up with a short name for it as we would spend using the long name /* talking about it without having a short name for it */ ." 3650 3929 3651 3930 Alley snickered, and Dalton smiled. 3652 3931 3653 3932 "It makes things feel better, though -- doesn't it?" Dalton asked. 3654 3933 3655 3934 Cray looked thoughtfully upward for a moment, then said "Yeah, I guess it does." 3935 + 3936 +/* This is my attempt to wedge the lawyer bit into the story now. */ 3937 +/* The characters don't know, like I do, that lawyers won't help. */ 3938 +/* They don't have to know. They don't have to dismiss the idea. */ 3939 +/* In fact, it may be much better if they pursue that idea first. */ 3940 +/* Contacting a lawyer might bring in the M I B COIN Corp agents. */ 3941 +/* If the agents come for her, Alley will have reason to get out. */ 3942 +/* Having reason to get out means having reason to go cypherpunk. */ 3943 +/* Dalton then gets hurt by Alley's desire to go full mainstream. */ 3944 +/* Dalton still helps Alley get away though, giving her a chance. */ 3656 3945 3657 3946 /* 3658 3947 3659 3948 Perhaps I should revisit some scenes from previous (or template) work for 3660 3949 ideas about how to handle this kind of thing. Maybe some kind of drone 3661 3950 presence could be worked into all this shit, too. That'd be pretty 3662 3951 interesting. Of course, a great reason for not having a drone following ................................................................................ 3738 4027 for his podcast. In any case, there should have already been some talk 3739 4028 (probably not at the Temp Auto Zone location, of course) in which some hint 3740 4029 of what's going on with the prioritizer got across to the Second Realm 3741 4030 people, catching their interest. 3742 4031 3743 4032 They of course don't know all the details Alley knows, or even all of them 3744 4033 Dalton learned from Alley. As such, they'll have to talk directly with 3745 - Alley to get some of the details of this stuff and start planning next 3746 - steps in the artificial intelligence prioritizer system liberation 3747 - operation. 4034 + Alley to get some of the details of this stuff and start planning the next 4035 + steps in the group's artificial intelligence prioritizer system liberation 4036 + operation. By then, something should have happened to make Alley's effort 4037 + kind of a cause célèbre amongst the cypherpunks and some people more 4038 + thoroughly cyberpunk oriented (but only some). This will help ensure that 4039 + I don't have to have Alley explain the same things over and over again so 4040 + much that it actually drags on the story and keeps Alley from being a very 4041 + interested and engaged and action oriented character. 3748 4042 3749 4043 */ 3750 4044 3751 4045 /* 3752 4046 3753 -Maybe Alley could go to a doctor to get a prescription for something that she can then sell to others as a way to make money. This is obviously illegal. It should probably only come up after she ends up on the run because of the people coming to her home and thus scaring her off. Then again . . . how does she get a prescription from a doctor if she's on the run? 4047 + Maybe Alley could go to a doctor to get a prescription for something that 4048 + she can then sell to others as a way to make money. This is obviously 4049 + illegal. It should probably only come up after she ends up on the run 4050 + because of the people coming to her home and thus scaring her off. Then 4051 + again . . . how does she get a prescription from a doctor if she's on the 4052 + run? That could prove very difficult indeed. 3754 4053 3755 -Maybe Alley could just carry drugs for someone. Again, this is pretty sketchy, and is probably not appropriate right now. 4054 + Maybe Alley could just carry drugs for someone. Again, this is pretty 4055 + sketchy, and is probably not appropriate right now. 3756 4056 3757 4057 */ 3758 4058 3759 4059 /* 3760 4060 3761 4061 STORY TIMELINE PLACEMENT UNCERTAIN; DEFINITELY BEFORE WHERE I HAVE THESE NOTES: 3762 4062