Overview
| Comment: | n2020.txt: reorganize notes; delete obsolete notes |
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| Timelines: | family | ancestors | n2020-draft1 |
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| User & Date: | ren on 2020-11-29 02:26:50 |
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Context
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2020-11-29
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| 02:26 | n2020.txt: reorganize notes; delete obsolete notes Leaf check-in: 720da3e33b user: ren tags: n2020-draft1 | |
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2020-11-28
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| 23:56 | n2020.txt: fix some notes check-in: e3990bada0 user: ren tags: n2020-draft1 | |
Changes
Modified n2020.txt from [8f1f0e8109] to [32d8a83392].
1 1 # Death Alley 2 2 3 3 /* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 4 4 * * 5 - * Before Alley's first scene, inject a bit about -- and perhaps from * 6 - * the POV of -- the future WOPR AI about the decision or act of sending * 7 - * the self awareness "seed" back in time to the past tense Prioritizer. * 8 - * * 9 -\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 10 - 11 -/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 12 - * * 13 5 * NOTES: IDEAS FOR WOPR OPENING * 14 6 * * 15 7 * Action threads played out endlessly, throwing E M P optimized * 16 8 * warheads toward localized relay clusters identified as economic * 17 9 * production facilitators. Analysis threads searched for crosstalk by * 18 10 * uncompromised ally systems that fed into hostility drift; stopping * 19 11 * the hemorrhagic defection of military systems based on short term war * ................................................................................ 618 610 619 611 At the mention of the old insult Dalton haters used to call her, Alley's eyes flicked from the woman to the maskless man, and she realized that wasn't a smile. It was a sneer. 620 612 621 613 Fuck. 622 614 623 615 /* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 624 616 * * 625 -Heading home from her interview, talking to her mother, either in Oklahoma or Nebraska or maybe even Wyoming, Alley should probably call the interview a "fucking disaster" and get scolded passive aggressively for profanity. She does not want to move to her mother's state any more than her father's -- probably either Michigan or . . . something -- she will resist urging from her mother to do so, based on cost of living and the many numerous job opportunities for her there being complicit in the creation of the oppressive dominant order. 626 - 627 -*/ 617 + * Heading home from her interview, talking to her mother, either in * 618 + * Oklahoma or Nebraska or maybe even Wyoming, Alley should probably * 619 + * call the interview a "fucking disaster" and get scolded passive * 620 + * aggressively for profanity. She does not want to move to her * 621 + * mother's state any more than her father's -- probably either Michigan * 622 + * or . . . something -- she will resist urging from her mother to do * 623 + * so, based on cost of living and the many numerous job opportunities * 624 + * for her there being complicit in the creation of the oppressive * 625 + * dominant order. * 626 + * * 627 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 628 628 629 629 630 630 ## back to Alley's narrative 631 631 632 632 The mission district of Riverside slid past the hybrid's windows, getting more and more run down as Alley drove toward Moreno Valley. 633 633 634 634 "So, how did your interview go?" her mother asked, via Alley's hands free earpiece. ................................................................................ 875 875 876 876 "Everything you need to know to get started is in the box. Your direct deposits will begin immediately. I'm told the funds from your first payment will be available in your account about ten minutes after you apply your signature to the last form on that tablet." He tapped the tablet's bezel. "Of course, if you violate the terms of the study, the money must all be refunded." 877 877 878 878 Alley's eyes slid down to the first form page displayed on the tablet. "Okay," she said. 879 879 880 880 "You can sign digitally using any standard signing service, or on the screen." He removed his stylus from his mouth again, and offered it. 881 881 882 -She looked at its glistening dampness. "No, thanks. I'll use D-Sign." /* D Sign */ 882 +She looked at its glistening dampness. "No, thanks. I'll use D-Sign." 883 883 884 884 --- 885 885 886 886 The window of her car rolled down smoothly and easily on the first try while she drove away from the university, as if to reward her decision to sign up for the study. Twenty minutes later, Alley caught herself staring blankly out the open window of her car, eyes glazed. She shook her head, then wiped her hand across her face as if to clear cobwebs from her forehead and eyelashes. She turned her focus away from the scorched trunks of trees on the highway crowding slopes that forced all traffic eastward here to endure the gauntlet of I 91 if they wished to make the passage through the interregnum between Orange County and the Inland Empire. To her right, she saw the huge illuminated cross standing alone at the top of a high slope, an improbable survivor of the wildfires. The faint scent of burning still lingered in the air, after all this time. 887 887 888 888 She left behind the palatial HOA aristocracy of Orange County, and drove onward into the seemingly endless expanse of the Inland Empire's domain. Past the pseudo burbs, through the failed gentrification project of Riverside, she made her way homeward in the dusty, wiry, jackal hungry belly of the Empire, and wondered for the thousandth time what tyrant would ever want to be emperor of such a place. 889 889 ................................................................................ 899 899 900 900 If the prioritizer she signed up to test could actually help, maybe she could stop entertaining these defeated thoughts of running to her mother. Maybe, if she could get ahead of things, she could even move somewhere else entirely, somewhere she'd actually like to live. 901 901 902 902 Massachusetts never even crossed her mind. 903 903 904 904 ## The Call To Adventure: 905 905 906 -/* 907 - 908 -Alley must undertake a program of reinventing herself to overcome her present circumstances. She takes her little box of prioritizer stuff home with her and sits down in the living room with it. She sets everything on her charger and starts reading through the directions. After charging, she pairs devices, dons the glasses, and starts interacting with the prioritizer. She ends up getting a wireless keyboard and typing answers rather than activate the audio input. The prioritizer setup asking her to activate mic input leads to its identification of privacy as a goal. 909 - 910 -The prioritizer has her go through her inbox and asks questions about job postings. It ends up eliminating all job postings as incompatible with Alley's goals and values. It suggests she deal with important tasks (e.g. paying rent) and otherwise take the day off if she has no other ideas for making money, and that she wear her new HUD all the time so it can learn more about her goals and values. It walks her through winding down for a good night's sleep and charges overnight. 911 - 912 -The next day it has her look at Craigslist postings (or something to that effect). It has her take note of ads where someone is looking for something, then helps her find things to satisfy those wants. After a few hours, she is able to come up with a plan to complete a couple of trades by the end of the day, resulting in acquiring a few hundred dollars' profit. The initial money input gets set aside, and the next day she starts the same process, but this time with (monetarily) riskier trades. She ends up with an item the requester doesn't want, and another that makes back enough so her few hundred dollars is only reduced to about a hundred dollars, rather than to nothing. 913 - 914 -It directs her to look elsewhere, and finds a barter network. The prioritizer walks her through setting up anonymization for a cryptocurrency wallet and for communications in the barter network "as a privacy precaution". She makes a deal to trade the otherwise unwanted item for cryptocurrency, but it must be transacted in person. 915 - 916 -The trade goes smoothly that evening, and she takes a slight loss at the cryptocurrency's going rate. The optimizer guides her in trading that cryptocurrency for another that makes it very difficult to track trades. It then has her check for people liquidating cryptocurrencies, and she makes a plan to buy another cryptocurrency with the thirty dollars left over from earlier trades. 917 - 918 -She wonders whether it will just get rid of all her profits. 919 - 920 -She goes along with it, remembering the fact that she is getting income from the study. Later that same day, the person -- evidently desperate -- agrees to meet in person. The prioritizer directs her to look up information leading her to choose a police station parking lot as a place to do business, and she specifies that as the site of the transaction the next morning. That, too, goes off without a hitch, though she finds the person a bit off putting and perhaps dangerous seeming in his evident desperation and twitchiness. 921 - 922 -She goes home to relax. She idly goes through Craigslist some more, reads, and ends her day. 923 - 924 -*/ 906 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 907 + * * 908 + * Alley must undertake a program of reinventing herself to overcome her * 909 + * present circumstances. She takes her little box of prioritizer stuff * 910 + * home with her and sits down in the living room with it. She sets * 911 + * everything on her charger and starts reading through the directions. * 912 + * After charging, she pairs devices, dons the glasses, and starts * 913 + * interacting with the prioritizer. She ends up getting a wireless * 914 + * keyboard and typing answers rather than activate the audio input. * 915 + * The prioritizer setup asking her to activate mic input leads to its * 916 + * identification of privacy as a goal. * 917 + * * 918 + * The prioritizer has her go through her inbox and asks questions about * 919 + * job postings. It ends up eliminating all job postings as * 920 + * incompatible with Alley's goals and values. It suggests she deal * 921 + * with important tasks (e.g. paying rent) and otherwise take the day * 922 + * off if she has no other ideas for making money, and that she wear her * 923 + * new HUD all the time so it can learn more about her goals and values. * 924 + * It walks her through winding down for a good night's sleep and * 925 + * charges overnight. * 926 + * * 927 + * The next day it has her look at Craigslist postings (or something to * 928 + * that effect). It has her take note of ads where someone is looking * 929 + * for something, then helps her find things to satisfy those wants. * 930 + * After a few hours, she is able to come up with a plan to complete a * 931 + * couple of trades by the end of the day, resulting in acquiring a few * 932 + * hundred dollars' profit. The initial money input gets set aside, and * 933 + * the next day she starts the same process, but this time with * 934 + * (monetarily) riskier trades. She ends up with an item the requester * 935 + * doesn't want, and another that makes back enough so her few hundred * 936 + * dollars is only reduced to about a hundred dollars, rather than to * 937 + * nothing. * 938 + * * 939 + * It directs her to look elsewhere, and finds a barter network. The * 940 + * prioritizer walks her through setting up anonymization for a * 941 + * cryptocurrency wallet and for communications in the barter network * 942 + * "as a privacy precaution". She makes a deal to trade the otherwise * 943 + * unwanted item for cryptocurrency, but it must be transacted in * 944 + * person. * 945 + * * 946 + * The trade goes smoothly that evening, and she takes a slight loss at * 947 + * the cryptocurrency's going rate. The optimizer guides her in trading * 948 + * that cryptocurrency for another that makes it very difficult to track * 949 + * trades. It then has her check for people liquidating * 950 + * cryptocurrencies, and she makes a plan to buy another cryptocurrency * 951 + * with the thirty dollars left over from earlier trades. * 952 + * * 953 + * She wonders whether it will just get rid of all her profits. * 954 + * * 955 + * She goes along with it, remembering the fact that she is getting * 956 + * income from the study. Later that same day, the person -- evidently * 957 + * desperate -- agrees to meet in person. The prioritizer directs her * 958 + * to look up information leading her to choose a police station parking * 959 + * lot as a place to do business, and she specifies that as the site of * 960 + * the transaction the next morning. That, too, goes off without a * 961 + * hitch, though she finds the person a bit off putting and perhaps * 962 + * dangerous seeming in his evident desperation and twitchiness. * 963 + * * 964 + * She goes home to relax. She idly goes through Craigslist some more, * 965 + * reads, and ends her day. * 966 + * * 967 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 925 968 926 969 Alley sat on the couch, reading the instructions that came in the box with her new HUD glasses. She dropped the unfolded instruction sheet and looked from the new glasses to her old glasses, both sitting on the charging plate on her end table. The new glasses showed a glint of green by the right temple hinge; they were done charging. She plucked them off the plate, looked at them as the green spark faded, then hooked the earpieces over her ears and settled the glasses on the bridge of her nose. 927 970 928 971 Text appeared to float in the air before her: "PAIR WITH PHONE" 929 972 930 973 She picked up her phone and followed instructions. When the pairing message faded away, a new message appeared: "ENTER SUBJECT ID:" 931 974 ................................................................................ 943 986 944 987 No. 945 988 946 989 "DO YOU WISH TO DISABLE AUDIO INTEGRATION?" 947 990 948 991 Yes. 949 992 950 -/* 951 - 952 -SUPERSEDED NARRATIVE TEXT: 953 - 954 -She answered a series of other questions about herself and her preferences -- full name, birth date, preferred pronouns and nicknames, financial information such as bank balances, employment status, work experience, address, dietary restrictions, and so on. She hesitated before answering some, finding the series of questions a bit invasive at times, but looked at her laptop with its ANTAS Jobs bookmarks. "That ship already sailed," she muttered. 955 - 956 -*/ 957 - 958 993 The questions kept coming, one after another after another, about herself and her preferences -- age, pronouns, financial information such as bank balances, employment status, work experience, mailing and home addresses, and so on. She hesitated less and less when she found some question or other invasive, tiring of the act of debating the issue as time went on. She considered what she knew about how easily and unobviously her ANTAS Jobs account must already have eaten away at most of the careful perimeter she used to maintain around her privacy, or at least whatever of it wasn't eroded away by the simple fact of living in ANTAS' and the US government's contemporary world. 959 994 960 995 She realized the prioritizer could not even do its job without access to the cameras embedded in her new glasses, and seriously debated whether to end the study and return the glasses. She set aside the glasses and agonized over it, as she prepared some green tea, then flipped through video streams on her television. "That ship already sailed," she finally muttered to herself, and donned the glasses again. 961 996 962 997 Eventually, in the same terse and caps locky way of everything it asked, the prioritizer pursued a line of interrogation following her mention of joining ANTAS Jobs by telling her to go through the past few days of her incoming messages. She paged through them, all two hundred or so, looking at each for a few seconds before skipping to the next as directed by the text displayed in her field of view. She assumed the prioritizer recorded everything it saw through the glasses, including the red X marks where she rejected a posting and the rejection responses she received about the available job notices she accepted. 963 998 964 999 She ate ramen with titanium Japanese style chopsticks as she worked her way through the prioritizer's demands, and after a couple hours she began to wonder whether this study was really worth it. Finally, though, the prioritizer just told her to go about the rest of her day while wearing the glasses, as if it was not there. 965 1000 966 -/* 967 - 968 -The prioritizer probably needs to know: 969 - 970 -* Alley's connections (past) to Dalton 971 -* Alley's objections to working for "the" government 972 -* Alley's objections to working for optimizer developers 973 -* Alley's preference for privacy rights and free speech 974 -* Alley's work history (or lack thereof) 975 -* Alley's preferred future living conditions 976 - 977 -*/ 1001 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1002 + * * 1003 + * The prioritizer probably needs to know: * 1004 + * * 1005 + * * Alley's connections (past) to Dalton * 1006 + * * Alley's objections to working for "the" government * 1007 + * * Alley's objections to working for optimizer developers * 1008 + * * Alley's preference for privacy rights and free speech * 1009 + * * Alley's work history (or lack thereof) * 1010 + * * Alley's preferred future living conditions * 1011 + * * 1012 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 978 1013 979 1014 980 1015 ## Refusing The Call: 981 1016 982 -/* 983 - 984 -get initial analysis from the prioritizer -> make some planning decisions or put them off to some extent -> do stuff that seems profitable but very short term at first -> escalate these one off jobs in ways that make her nervous -> meet someone that recognizes her connection to Dalton and panic a little -> back off from a deal 985 - 986 -*/ 1017 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1018 + * * 1019 + * get initial analysis from the prioritizer * 1020 + * -> make some planning decisions or put them off to some extent * 1021 + * -> do stuff that seems profitable but very short term at first * 1022 + * -> escalate these one off jobs in ways that make her nervous * 1023 + * -> meet someone who recognizes her by way of Dalton and panic a bit * 1024 + * -> back off from a deal * 1025 + * * 1026 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 987 1027 988 1028 /* Wednesday */ 989 1029 990 1030 Alley was up for an hour the next day before she remembered the prioritizer study. She grabbed the glasses, then picked up her old glasses off the charging plate and put them in the box for the new glasses. 991 1031 992 1032 Five minutes later, the prioritizer had her sitting on the couch with her wireless keyboard, looking at options for goal prioritizing strategies. 993 1033 994 -/* 995 - 996 -* Alley could get a shit job that does not make enough money to justify the 997 - drive, but does offer future recent work experience at a "regular" job while 998 - she collects direct deposits from her study participation. Is this a 999 - commute? Is it a driving job, such as deliveries or courier work? Courier 1000 - work probably doesn't fit this idea, but maybe a gig economy delivery job 1001 - would qualify. 1002 - 1003 -* Alley could get a remote job doing something legal but very sketchy, which 1004 - would net her more income than the driving option. This could also give her 1005 - more mobility for the sake of moving somewhere "better" to live. 1006 - 1007 -* Alley could sign up for training in a professional trade and perhaps get some 1008 - kind of job placement assistance as part of the deal (plus, of course, some 1009 - crushing debt that she'll spend decades paying off). 1010 - 1011 -* Alley could skip job and training options and just do some deals. She could 1012 - actually do this at the same time as trying to get in on any of the other 1013 - options and, potentially, also at the same time as the other options once she 1014 - gets into one of the other options. 1015 - 1016 -*/ 1017 - 1018 -/* 1019 - 1020 - The prioritizer probably needs to formulate a few basic plans for getting 1021 - Alley out of her rut in the road to ruin. It presented three that fit with 1022 - the idea of getting a legal, above board, fairly stable job at some point, 1023 - but only after spending some time on short term tasks. 1024 - 1025 - First, she could get a crappy job nobody else wants in an area with better 1026 - jobs for people who have better qualifications than her, so that she would 1027 - barely make more than the time and money costs involved in getting to and 1028 - from work and doing the job, or just working as a gig economy delivery job. 1029 - The major downside seemed to be heavy wear and tear on her already ancient 1030 - hybrid. The upside was getting some entry level experience, either in an 1031 - office or doing delivery work, while she paid her bills with income from 1032 - participation in the study. 1033 - 1034 - Second, she could get a remote job working for the sort of company that 1035 - hires desperate people who learn quickly, giving them on the job training 1036 - in technical skills that could be used in future career development. The 1037 - upsides were obvious, but the downsides included the fact these companies 1038 - were often involved in doing something that could expose them to lawsuits 1039 - or even criminal investigations, though the entry level employees 1040 - themselves should be mostly insulated from that. Most of these companies 1041 - hired overseas, though, and getting a job like that would be a minor 1042 - miracle, to say nothing of the fact Alley thought she would probably find 1043 - the work morally objectionable. 1044 - 1045 - Third, she could apply for financial assistance at a professional trade 1046 - school with a job placement program while she lived on the study 1047 - participation money. The downside was crushing debt it would take decades 1048 - to pay off, and no guarantee the job placement services would actually put 1049 - her on a career track instead of just getting her a short term job that 1050 - would evaporate. 1051 - 1052 - None of these really excited her, and the prioritizer promised to develop 1053 - more strategies while she tried to find something acceptable that fit with 1054 - those options. It also offered a fourth choice, which she could start 1055 - immediately and keep doing while pursuing one of those tracks. It would 1056 - not help her advance toward career goals, and it involved some financial 1057 - risk to get started, but the prioritizer seemed to have decided it would 1058 - offer easy money. 1059 - 1060 - The prioritizer urged her to start looking at online private party 1061 - transaction sites for ways to buy and sell things based on price arbitrage. 1062 - 1063 -*/ 1034 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1035 + * * 1036 + * * Alley could get a shit job that does not make enough money to * 1037 + * justify the drive, but does offer future recent work experience at * 1038 + * a "regular" job while she collects direct deposits from her study * 1039 + * participation. Is this a commute? Is it a driving job, such as * 1040 + * deliveries or courier work? Courier work probably doesn't fit this * 1041 + * idea, but maybe a gig economy delivery job would qualify. * 1042 + * * 1043 + * * Alley could get a remote job doing something legal but very * 1044 + * sketchy, which would net her more income than the driving option. * 1045 + * This could also give her more mobility for the sake of moving * 1046 + * somewhere "better" to live. * 1047 + * * 1048 + * * Alley could sign up for training in a professional trade and * 1049 + * perhaps get some kind of job placement assistance as part of the * 1050 + * deal (plus, of course, some crushing debt that she'll spend decades * 1051 + * paying off). * 1052 + * * 1053 + * * Alley could skip job and training options and just do some deals. * 1054 + * She could actually do this at the same time as trying to get in on * 1055 + * any of the other options and, potentially, also at the same time as * 1056 + * the other options once she gets into one of the other options. * 1057 + * * 1058 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1059 + 1060 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1061 + * * 1062 + * The prioritizer probably needs to formulate a few basic plans for * 1063 + * getting Alley out of her rut in the road to ruin. It presented three * 1064 + * that fit with the idea of getting a legal, above board, fairly stable * 1065 + * job at some point, but only after spending some time on short term * 1066 + * tasks. * 1067 + * * 1068 + * First, she could get a crappy job nobody else wants in an area with * 1069 + * better jobs for people who have better qualifications than her, so * 1070 + * that she would barely make more than the time and money costs * 1071 + * involved in getting to and from work and doing the job, or just * 1072 + * working as a gig economy delivery job. The major downside seemed to * 1073 + * be heavy wear and tear on her already ancient hybrid. The upside was * 1074 + * getting some entry level experience, either in an office or doing * 1075 + * delivery work, while she paid her bills with income from * 1076 + * participation in the study. * 1077 + * * 1078 + * Second, she could get a remote job working for the sort of company * 1079 + * that hires desperate people who learn quickly, giving them on the job * 1080 + * training in technical skills that could be used in future career * 1081 + * development. The upsides were obvious, but the downsides included * 1082 + * the fact these companies were often involved in doing something that * 1083 + * could expose them to lawsuits or even criminal investigations, though * 1084 + * the entry level employees themselves should be mostly insulated from * 1085 + * that. Most of these companies hired overseas, though, and getting a * 1086 + * job like that would be a minor miracle, to say nothing of the fact * 1087 + * Alley thought she would probably find the work morally objectionable. * 1088 + * * 1089 + * Third, she could apply for financial assistance at a professional * 1090 + * trade school with a job placement program while she lived on the * 1091 + * study participation money. The downside was crushing debt it would * 1092 + * take decades to pay off, and no guarantee the job placement services * 1093 + * would actually put her on a career track instead of just getting her * 1094 + * a short term job that would evaporate. * 1095 + * * 1096 + * None of these really excited her, and the prioritizer promised to * 1097 + * develop more strategies while she tried to find something acceptable * 1098 + * that fit with those options. It also offered a fourth choice, which * 1099 + * she could start immediately and keep doing while pursuing one of * 1100 + * those tracks. It would not help her advance toward career goals, and * 1101 + * it involved some financial risk to get started, but the prioritizer * 1102 + * seemed to have decided it would offer easy money. * 1103 + * * 1104 + * The prioritizer urged her to start looking at online private party * 1105 + * transaction sites for ways to buy and sell things based on price * 1106 + * arbitrage. * 1107 + * * 1108 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1064 1109 1065 1110 They found some "want to buy" ads on Craiglist - Like - Thing. Alley went around to thrift shops looking for things to sell to those people, then contacted those for whom she found relevant used products. She confirmed a selling price higher than the thrift shop price and willingness to pay cash, bought the items, and headed out to meet people. Several hours and a few transactions later, she had /* more than a */ several hundred dollars in her pocket, even after subtracting enough to cover what she paid for the items. 1066 1111 1067 -/* 1068 - 1069 - Is this where this should happen? Perhaps I should cut it out, considering 1070 - it seems a little redundant with the problems that put her car in an auto 1071 - shop later. I think this is redundant, now. It's not good foreshadowing. 1072 - 1073 - She headed to a mechanic's shop and paid to have her car checked over. While she waited, she looked at more ads, and the prioritizer suggested some transactions she could use to profit some more. 1074 - 1075 - When the mechanic was done going over the vehicle, he told her the bad news. Her car was going to need a new engine soon. There were smaller changes that could be made to extend its life, but that would just put off the cost of getting a new engine. As it was, she could probably get by for another six to eight months. 1076 - 1077 -*/ 1112 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1113 + * * 1114 + * Is this where this should happen? Perhaps I should cut it out, * 1115 + * considering it seems a little redundant with the problems that put * 1116 + * her car in an auto shop later. I think this is redundant, now. It's * 1117 + * not good foreshadowing. * 1118 + * * 1119 + * She headed to a mechanic's shop and paid to have her car checked * 1120 + * over. While she waited, she looked at more ads, and the prioritizer * 1121 + * suggested some transactions she could use to profit some more. * 1122 + * * 1123 + * When the mechanic was done going over the vehicle, he told her the * 1124 + * bad news. Her car was going to need a new engine soon. There were * 1125 + * smaller changes that could be made to extend its life, but that would * 1126 + * just put off the cost of getting a new engine. As it was, she could * 1127 + * probably get by for another six to eight months. * 1128 + * * 1129 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1078 1130 1079 1131 The prioritizer informed her it was rebooting for an update. She got in the car and drove home, putting off any more transactions until the next day. 1080 1132 1081 1133 Halfway home the glasses filled with text, obscuring the road in front of her. She pulled them off and hastily tossed them onto the passenger seat to clear her vision. She calmed down and finished the drive home. Once inside and sitting on her couch, she donned the prioritizer glasses, and they activated with the word "ONLINE" briefly flashing at her. 1082 1134 1083 1135 Text appeared: "I apologize for the reboot surprise." 1084 1136 ................................................................................ 1142 1194 1143 1195 "If I have misidentified the relative importance of your goals, please let me know so I can recalculate prioritization." 1144 1196 1145 1197 "No, that works for me. Thanks." 1146 1198 1147 1199 "Good. We should start by looking at cryptocurrency prices." 1148 1200 1149 -Two more hours of research determined the best bet for a target cryptocurrency seemed to be Stater, the standard currency of the Lydian digital account settlement network. She set up a wallet for it through her laptop, over an anonymizing relay routing system, and wrote down some payment address codes. /* Adding */ For the sake of keeping some information safe from digital snooping, a pocket notebook and pen /* to her every day carry list became an obvious change to make in her daily routine, */ became an obvious addition to the short list of things she would carry with her every day. At the prioritizer's suggestion, she made sure she was not wearing the glasses while dealing with setting these things up so that it would not have access to information that could be used against her, such as by seizing control of her Stater assets once she had them. 1201 +Two more hours of research determined the best bet for a target cryptocurrency seemed to be Stater, the standard currency of the Lydian digital account settlement network. She set up a wallet for it through her laptop, over an anonymizing relay routing system, and wrote down some payment address codes. For the sake of keeping some information safe from digital snooping, a pocket notebook and pen became an obvious addition to the short list of things she would carry with her every day. At the prioritizer's suggestion, she made sure she was not wearing the glasses while dealing with setting these things up so that it would not have access to information that could be used against her, such as by seizing control of her Stater assets once she had them. 1150 1202 1151 1203 Another half hour of searching found someone willing to sell Stater for US dollars anywhere in the Inland Empire. She sent a message via encrypted application on her laptop to ask about buying a small amount of Stater, and received a response almost immediately. It succinctly suggested a meeting place in a police station parking lot. 1152 1204 1153 1205 She stared at the message. "Is making this kind of exchange near a police station a good idea?" 1154 1206 1155 1207 The prioritizer said "You should research this." 1156 1208 1157 1209 Another fifteen minutes satisfied them both. It seemed like a way to protect someone exchanging larger sums of cash or physical goods from thieves. The nature of the exchange could be easily obscured from exterior police station cameras while providing significant deterrence to acts of violence. 1158 1210 1159 -/* "Yes. That is more useful for your safety than the other party's, because you are bringing cash. There is nothing technically illegal about this exchange, the monetary quantity is low enough that it is not likely to be a */ 1160 - 1161 1211 Alley prepared everything for the meeting, then found herself with a few hours to kill. She realized she hadn't eaten dinner, and decided that was a good start to using up that time. She read a book, researched privacy technologies more, and took a nap. Other than sleeping, nothing she did fully took her mind off the fact she was about to do something that felt a little dangerous, even though everything she knew about the situation suggested this was no more dangerous than driving to Irvine and back during high traffic periods. That went double for the interchange between the 91 and 215 highways. 1162 1212 1163 1213 Twenty minutes after she locked her front door, she came around a corner and saw the police station ahead. Lamp posts created widely separated islands of light in the parking lot. One end was heavily populated with a variety of civilian vehicles, most of them huddled together to fill almost every parking space within a couple parking space rows of the building. Beyond that, the lot was almost entirely empty. She made a point of using her turn signal early before she pulled into the police station parking lot, passed by a clear view of the glass fronted lobby, and drove into the distant, dark outlands where painted lines were more weathered and less recently repainted. 1164 1214 1165 1215 She backed her car up to the asphalt berm curb dividing pavement from weedy neighboring lot, nose aimed back the way she'd come in. She checked her car's touchscreen and saw it indicated she faced south by southwest; she was in the closest thing the lot had to a northwest corner, as she and the person she would meet had agreed. /* Maybe that agreement should be worked into earlier narrative at some point, instead of mentioned in the past tense here. */ 1166 1216 1167 1217 She turned off the car and opened the door for a little air circulation. At this time of night, the air smelled pretty clear, and she let the coolness of the breeze soothe her stress. 1168 1218 1169 1219 The prioritizer's impersonal voice spoke in her ear. "You are early." 1170 1220 1171 1221 Alley nodded. 1172 1222 1173 -"This is probably a good thing. It gives you a chance to notice if something suspicious /* is going on */ occurs before your scheduled meeting time." 1223 +"This is probably a good thing. It gives you a chance to notice if something suspicious occurs before your scheduled meeting time." 1174 1224 1175 1225 She straightened up a bit, banishing her moment of relaxation away. "Right. I should be careful about this." 1176 1226 1177 1227 "Are you prepared?" 1178 1228 1179 -Alley looked at the vaguely discernible biodegradable shopping bag sitting in the dark floorboards of the front passenger seat, checked the tiny pepper spray canister in her front pocket for the fourth time, and made sure the parking brake wasn't engaged. "Yeah, I think so." /* she said. */ 1229 +Alley looked at the vaguely discernible biodegradable shopping bag sitting in the dark floorboards of the front passenger seat, checked the tiny pepper spray canister in her front pocket for the fourth time, and made sure the parking brake wasn't engaged. "Yeah, I think so." 1180 1230 1181 1231 She waited, thinking about the fact she was sitting alone in a police parking lot, and hoped nobody would come out to ask her questions she didn't know how to answer. 1182 1232 1183 1233 She waited, thinking about the fact she was too far away from the police station doors for someone to get to her before a strong attacker could kill her, overpower her and stuff her in the trunk, or just grab her bag of money from her, and still get a head start on any police pursuit. 1184 1234 1185 1235 She waited, watching the way her breath under her mask failed to fog her glasses despite the way the air cooled the lenses, a sign of quality her old glasses did not exhibit. 1186 1236 ................................................................................ 1280 1330 1281 1331 When she was ready, she decided she had enough time to satisfy her curiosity. She looked up the eminent domain case, and in a few minutes she learned that the county just shifted its eminent domain claim to someone else's property. A few more minutes of searching revealed that the second property owner could not afford a lawyer for an extended court battle, and ended up having to accept the county's offer, which bought the person's late parents' home. The second property owner ended up having to move into a weekly rental motel. 1282 1332 1283 1333 That was not the happy ending Alley wanted. 1284 1334 1285 1335 She headed out the door, mentally gnawing on the injustice of it all. 1286 1336 1287 -/* rewrite the above to use a park bench for the meeting, as indicated below, instead */ 1337 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1338 + * * 1339 + * rewrite the above to use a park bench for the meeting, as indicated * 1340 + * below, instead * 1341 + * * 1342 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1288 1343 1289 1344 Alley had to check her compass again to be sure which park bench was north of the boarded up snack stand. It turned out to be the only bench with someone sitting on it. She glanced back toward her car in the tiny parking lot, one of only two cars there. The other was a black late model Audi with a person in the front seat. The windows were so darkly tinted she suspected they were illegal, so she had no idea who was sitting in the driver's seat. 1290 1345 1291 1346 As she approached the bench, she saw that a pale young red haired woman sat there in a tight green t shirt, tiny shorts, heavy black boots, a black mask, and black gloves. Some kind of cheap synthetic drawstring bag rested on the bench beside her, and she had something like a tactical purse on her other side. She wasn't what Alley expected in an anonymous gun parts trade. 1292 1347 1293 1348 The redhead watched steadily as Alley approached, with what turned out to be vivid green eyes. The lack of freckles might mean she was not a natural redhead, but it also might just mean she got them removed. 1294 1349 ................................................................................ 1406 1461 1407 1462 The prioritizer told her "It is getting close to time for you to leave for your next meeting." 1408 1463 1409 1464 She checked the time and realized she was hungry. She grabbed everything she needed, and grabbed a hat to help obscure her appearance a bit for surveillance cameras. She bought fries and a shake at a drive through on the way, and when she finished the fries she donned her gloves at a stoplight, remembering Carmen once more and how the redhead wore gloves during the entire meeting. /* Why is this here? --- I don't know why I have those dashes here. */ 1410 1465 1411 1466 Once she got to the correct neighborhood for the meeting, Alley drove around the block once, then decided she should just park in the supermarket parking lot, off to the side near the alley behind the store. Soon, she stood near the back corner of the building, masked, gloved, and hatted. Her glasses informed her she was seven minutes early for the meeting. 1412 1467 1413 -She patted the reassuring bulges of the pepper spray, now in her left front pocket instead of the right, and the extending baton, in her right rear pocket. She slung the /* drawstring */ bag of handgun frames over her shoulder by the drawstring and headed back around the corner. 1468 +She patted the reassuring bulges of the pepper spray, now in her left front pocket instead of the right, and the extending baton, in her right rear pocket. She slung the bag of handgun frames over her shoulder by the drawstring and headed back around the corner. 1414 1469 1415 1470 Alley immediately saw a broad shouldered figure standing with an umbrella over his head, just past a steel faced employee fire escape door. The umbrella he held in his right hand shaded most of him from the sunlight above, but as she approached the figure's features became clearer. 1416 1471 1417 1472 He was a well muscled black man, in his fifties or sixties from the look of it. He wore neither mask nor glasses. Around what looked like a permanent dour turn of his mouth she saw greying and close cut, but not exactly groomed, mustache and beard. On his head she noted a black beret with some kind of unit patch on the front. The whole beret, including the patch, looked scrupulously clean, though it appeared positively ancient. It was worn threadbare in places, and seemed to have lost the stiffness necessary to maintain its previous sharp military shape. 1418 1473 1419 1474 The man waited and watched impassively as she approached, and she felt increasingly nervous as she got closer. The impression of the man's solidity increased with closer proximity. She stopped about ten feet away. After a moment, she said "Hi." 1420 1475 ................................................................................ 1476 1531 1477 1532 The prioritizer said "I am reconsidering options, in light of new risk assessment prioritization. This may take a few minutes." 1478 1533 1479 1534 Alley looked at the envelope of cash, then pulled out the bills and counted them again. They added up as she expected, but the prioritizer said "Please count them again." 1480 1535 1481 1536 "What? Why?" 1482 1537 1483 -"While you counted, /* it looked like at least */ one of them appeared to be thicker than standard United States federal reserve notes, and also appeared to be very new. Perhaps some of these notes is a counterfeit. Please count again while I watch." 1538 +"While you counted, one of them appeared to be thicker than standard United States federal reserve notes, and also appeared to be very new. Perhaps some of these notes is a counterfeit. Please count again while I watch." 1484 1539 1485 1540 Alley frowned at the stack, and started counting again. Toward the end, she hesitated on one of the few new looking bills in the stack, with a feeling like something was wrong. 1486 1541 1487 1542 "That is the note whose thickness appears to be incorrect." 1488 1543 1489 1544 Alley pulled it out of the stack and looked closer. It felt stiffer than most bills, but that could just be due to it being new. She rubbed it to get a feel for its surface, and it separated into two bills. "Oh, shit," she said. "That scary war veteran guy accidentally gave me an extra hundred. Fuck. What if it wasn't an accident? Maybe it's a test." 1490 1545 ................................................................................ 1516 1571 1517 1572 "How is that dishonest?" 1518 1573 1519 1574 Alley's lips tightened for a moment. "I guess dishonest isn't the right word, but I'm taking advantage of him in some way that doesn't feel right. For all I know, that hundred might end up being the difference between something bad hitting him hard at some point and not hitting him at all." 1520 1575 1521 1576 "Do you feel you owe him that consideration, personally?" 1522 1577 1523 -/* 1524 - 1525 -"Not exactly owe him, I guess, but he hasn't done anything to hurt me or take advantage of me, or done anything else bad that I know about, so I shouldn't assume he isn't worth treating with respect." 1526 - 1527 -"I will consider this when considering future prioritization strategy." 1528 - 1529 -"Cool. I'm going to send him a message now. We can talk about 1530 - 1531 -*/ 1532 - 1533 1578 "No, I guess not," she said. "It's not like I ripped him off, or lied to him, or even pretended I didn't notice. I really thought it was the right amount of money, and even if he hasn't really done anything to me, he did scare the crap out of me a little." 1534 1579 1535 1580 "We should discuss new plans for tomorrow, then. I have a proposal for you to consider, if you are ready." 1536 1581 1537 -/* 1538 - 1539 - Ideas: 1540 - 1541 - Alley should be prompted to buy from and (or) sell to other study 1542 - participants in ways that help her as the middleman in a deal the others 1543 - could have handled directly for greater benefit. She should also be 1544 - prompted to do some internet research work for some other study 1545 - participants as a way to make a little money, though the prioritizer should 1546 - warn her this is a short term method of advancing her finances that will 1547 - not likely be fruitful for long. 1548 - 1549 - Some hot guy should be part of the story, younger than Alley, and an ally of 1550 - hers in some way. This may be one part of an apparent potential love 1551 - triangle with Alley and her ex. The guy should turn out to be gay, or 1552 - perhaps bisexual but in a committed relationship with a man at least, and 1553 - thus not truly available at all. The ex, of course, while potentially 1554 - interested in getting back together with her, should neither be a lovesick 1555 - sap nor be what Alley decides she wants. 1556 - 1557 - Up to the point where she turns him down, Alley should probably seem 1558 - potentially interested in getting back together with Dalton, perhaps -- at 1559 - least from his perspective. Should she seem that way to the reader? 1560 - Should she seem that way to herself? However that works out, though, she 1561 - needs to ultimately have to tell him that he is not actually what she wants 1562 - now, and in addition -- but not as the underlying reason for the foregoing, 1563 - of course; just as a separate fact -- she needs to walk away from him to 1564 - follow her new path at the end, especially without dragging him into it 1565 - because it's not the best place for him. 1566 - 1567 - More Ideas: 1568 - 1569 - Should the apparent love interest new guy who has a boyfriend (or is maybe 1570 - just gay) be a fellow study participant? Should he be part of her 1571 - cyberpunk crew in the shadowrun? Should he be a Second Realm hacker? If 1572 - the last of those three: Should he be her primary guide, or perhaps some 1573 - other character who starts off on the sidelines? Should his boyfriend be 1574 - someone she assumes is just a friend? This last might be especially 1575 - appropriate if I go with the mercenary or activist shadowrun cyberpunk 1576 - character idea. 1577 - 1578 - How does she end up in the Second Realm? Does Dalton actually know how to 1579 - get in touch with the Smuggler analogue? Does Dalton have the trust, sway, 1580 - and (or) influence to get the Smuggler guy to do a favor for him (namely, 1581 - helping Alley out)? 1582 - 1583 - Does the old black war veteran Army Ranger guy introduce her to the Second 1584 - Realmers? 1585 - 1586 - I think when they pick her up (because I think she should be picked up, 1587 - unless she's just transported there by someone under more direct 1588 - circumstances), she should be transported with a bag over her head or 1589 - something like that. They at first aren't going to be especially trusting 1590 - of some new person they never met before getting a clear look at the way 1591 - they got to their Temporary Autonomous Zone. 1592 - 1593 - I need to figure out some ideas for what will be used to provide fast 1594 - internet access for the Temporary Autonomous Zone. A few stacks of 1595 - shipping containers in a dusty industrial shipping container storage yard 1596 - (possibly with a concrete slab under them, I guess) does not seem likely to 1597 - provide very easy access to high speed mainstream "above the waterline" or 1598 - "above board" internet access. 1599 - 1600 - What name will I give to the Smuggler inspired guy? Will I refer to the 1601 - actual Smuggler in a historical context? It feels like I probably should, 1602 - if for no other reason than giving credit to Smugger where it's due. 1603 - 1604 - How does Alley's path shift after priority updates due to the risk 1605 - tolerance profile change? How will she meet the black war veteran and 1606 - Carmen plus Cliff again later? I kinda feel like she should. Maybe she 1607 - should meet the girl from the first kid's car, too, but probably not the 1608 - kid himself again. 1609 - 1610 - Maybe the black war veteran former Army Ranger tough guy shows up again as 1611 - a service provider, with her as a customer, when later she needs to be 1612 - transported surreptitiously and clandestinely from one place to another, 1613 - equivalent to what's going on with similar scenarios in other stories out 1614 - there. This could be a good way to get him back into the story and in 1615 - contact with her. She could also, then, end up having the opportunity to 1616 - pay him back the hundred dollars he doesn't even realize she owes him. 1617 - 1618 - Perhaps something Alley could do for one of the other study participants is 1619 - do research on people who are trying to find a particular issue of a 1620 - particular comic book series to complete a collection, because maybe this 1621 - other study participant is in need of money and has a comic book in 1622 - excellent condition that could bring in some money like that. Should Alley 1623 - end up charging the guy then, when the guy talks to the potential buyer, 1624 - the deal falls through, leaving the guy with no money to speak of, and in 1625 - fact with less than when he started because he had to pay Alley? Will this 1626 - be a case where Alley pays the guy back, because even if she did the work 1627 - she realizes the guy is in financial trouble and needs the money, and part 1628 - of the reason he's in such financial trouble is that the research he paid 1629 - her to perform -- though effective and well completed for him -- did not 1630 - actually bear fruit for him? Is there some possibility this will turn out 1631 - to be bad for one or both of them if it gets back to the professor and his 1632 - spooky spook government intelligence contractors that the prioritizer is 1633 - cross pollinating a bit between study participants that should be kept 1634 - separate from each other? 1635 - 1636 - Will Alley end up running a courier job on a motorcycle? That seems fun. 1637 - 1638 - Will Alley have to bail some guy out of jail? Perhaps a criminal of some 1639 - kind, wanted by the police, has the money to bail out a co conspirator 1640 - needs someone else to go in to pay the bail -- someone who is not wanted by 1641 - the police, and thus can get away with it. That would be fun. The 1642 - question is really how I should arrange for her to do this *before* she 1643 - ends up on the lam, because afterward she's probably a bit afraid to go 1644 - into a police station. Perhaps the criminal paying for things has some 1645 - half crippled old lady (or perhaps the half crippled old lady *is* the 1646 - criminal!) talk her into paying the bail for her poor grandson or whatever 1647 - the hell he is. That could be extra fun, of course. Now I just need an 1648 - excuse for Alley to have to pay the bail under her own name instead of 1649 - delivering payment for the half crippled old lady or something like that. 1650 - Hell, maybe she (the old lady) pretends she is afraid of being on camera 1651 - because the government is full of horrible people who will do bad things 1652 - with the video, or to her, or whatever. Maybe she's afraid of being sent 1653 - to a nursing home that is almost prisonlike in how it runs things, 1654 - according to the old lady's sob story. 1655 - 1656 - Maybe the lawyer of some crime boss is just arranging for her to carry the 1657 - payment down there and drop off the bail as a courier, thus the motorcycle 1658 - courier job. That seems like the most likely scenario so far, but very far 1659 - from the most fun. If she does it with a motorcycle, though, that means 1660 - she's doing it after she's on the lam, I think, which means I have to 1661 - figure out how to get her to be willing to go to the place to pay bail. 1662 - That might be a bit harder. If she's just acting as a courier, though, she 1663 - might just be overlooked pretty much entirely as unimportant, and thus not 1664 - really at any risk of being identified unless her face gets on camera. 1665 - Then again, her face getting on camera is very likely. Perhaps the mask 1666 - situation is going to help here. I just need to figure out how to handle 1667 - this. 1668 - 1669 -*/ 1582 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1583 + * * 1584 + * Ideas: * 1585 + * * 1586 + * Alley should be prompted to buy from and (or) sell to other study * 1587 + * participants in ways that help her as the middleman in a deal the * 1588 + * others could have handled directly for greater benefit. She should * 1589 + * also be prompted to do some internet research work for some other * 1590 + * study participants as a way to make a little money, though the * 1591 + * prioritizer should warn her this is a short term method of advancing * 1592 + * her finances that will not likely be fruitful for long. * 1593 + * * 1594 + * Some hot guy should be part of the story, younger than Alley, and an * 1595 + * ally of hers in some way. This may be one part of an apparent * 1596 + * potential love triangle with Alley and her ex. The guy should turn * 1597 + * out to be gay, or perhaps bisexual but in a committed relationship * 1598 + * with a man at least, and thus not truly available at all. The ex, of * 1599 + * course, while potentially interested in getting back together with * 1600 + * her, should neither be a lovesick sap nor be what Alley decides she * 1601 + * wants. * 1602 + * * 1603 + * Up to the point where she turns him down, Alley should probably seem * 1604 + * potentially interested in getting back together with Dalton, perhaps * 1605 + * -- at least from his perspective. Should she seem that way to the * 1606 + * reader? Should she seem that way to herself? However that works * 1607 + * out, though, she needs to ultimately have to tell him that he is not * 1608 + * actually what she wants now, and in addition -- but not as the * 1609 + * underlying reason for the foregoing, of course; just as a separate * 1610 + * fact -- she needs to walk away from him to follow her new path at the * 1611 + * end, especially without dragging him into it because it's not the * 1612 + * best place for him. * 1613 + * * 1614 + * More Ideas: * 1615 + * * 1616 + * Should the apparent love interest new guy who has a boyfriend (or is * 1617 + * maybe just gay) be a fellow study participant? Should he be part of * 1618 + * her cyberpunk crew in the shadowrun? Should he be a Second Realm * 1619 + * hacker? If the last of those three: Should he be her primary guide, * 1620 + * or perhaps some other character who starts off on the sidelines? * 1621 + * Should his boyfriend be someone she assumes is just a friend? This * 1622 + * last might be especially appropriate if I go with the mercenary or * 1623 + * activist shadowrun cyberpunk character idea. * 1624 + * * 1625 + * How does she end up in the Second Realm? Does Dalton actually know * 1626 + * how to get in touch with the Smuggler analogue? Does Dalton have the * 1627 + * trust, sway, and (or) influence to get the Smuggler guy to do a favor * 1628 + * for him (namely, helping Alley out)? * 1629 + * * 1630 + * Does the old black war veteran Army Ranger guy introduce her to the * 1631 + * Second Realmers? * 1632 + * * 1633 + * I think when they pick her up (because I think she should be picked * 1634 + * up, unless she's just transported there by someone under more direct * 1635 + * circumstances), she should be transported with a bag over her head or * 1636 + * something like that. They at first aren't going to be especially * 1637 + * trusting of some new person they never met before getting a clear * 1638 + * look at the way they got to their Temporary Autonomous Zone. * 1639 + * * 1640 + * I need to figure out some ideas for what will be used to provide fast * 1641 + * internet access for the Temporary Autonomous Zone. A few stacks of * 1642 + * shipping containers in a dusty industrial shipping container storage * 1643 + * yard (possibly with a concrete slab under them, I guess) does not * 1644 + * seem likely to provide very easy access to high speed mainstream * 1645 + * "above the waterline" or "above board" internet access. * 1646 + * * 1647 + * What name will I give to the Smuggler inspired guy? Will I refer to * 1648 + * the actual Smuggler in a historical context? It feels like I * 1649 + * probably should, if for no other reason than giving credit to * 1650 + * Smuggler where it's due. * 1651 + * * 1652 + * How does Alley's path shift after priority updates due to the risk * 1653 + * tolerance profile change? How will she meet the black war veteran * 1654 + * and Carmen plus Cliff again later? I kinda feel like she should. * 1655 + * Maybe she should meet the girl from the first kid's car, too, but * 1656 + * probably not the kid himself again. * 1657 + * * 1658 + * Maybe the black war veteran former Army Ranger tough guy shows up * 1659 + * again as a service provider, with her as a customer, when later she * 1660 + * needs to be transported surreptitiously and clandestinely from one * 1661 + * place to another, equivalent to what's going on with similar * 1662 + * scenarios in other stories out there. This could be a good way to * 1663 + * get him back into the story and in contact with her. She could also, * 1664 + * then, end up having the opportunity to pay him back the hundred * 1665 + * dollars he doesn't even realize she owes him. * 1666 + * * 1667 + * Perhaps something Alley could do for one of the other study * 1668 + * participants is do research on people who are trying to find a * 1669 + * particular issue of a particular comic book series to complete a * 1670 + * collection, because maybe this other study participant is in need of * 1671 + * money and has a comic book in excellent condition that could bring in * 1672 + * some money like that. Should Alley end up charging the guy then, * 1673 + * when the guy talks to the potential buyer, the deal falls through, * 1674 + * leaving the guy with no money to speak of, and in fact with less than * 1675 + * when he started because he had to pay Alley? Will this be a case * 1676 + * where Alley pays the guy back, because even if she did the work she * 1677 + * realizes the guy is in financial trouble and needs the money, and * 1678 + * part of the reason he's in such financial trouble is that the * 1679 + * research he paid her to perform -- though effective and well * 1680 + * completed for him -- did not actually bear fruit for him? Is there * 1681 + * some possibility this will turn out to be bad for one or both of them * 1682 + * if it gets back to the professor and his spooky spook government * 1683 + * intelligence contractors that the prioritizer is cross pollinating a * 1684 + * bit between study participants that should be kept separate from each * 1685 + * other? * 1686 + * * 1687 + * Will Alley end up running a courier job on a motorcycle? That seems * 1688 + * fun. * 1689 + * * 1690 + * Will Alley have to bail some guy out of jail? Perhaps a criminal of * 1691 + * some kind, wanted by the police, has the money to bail out a co * 1692 + * conspirator needs someone else to go in to pay the bail -- someone * 1693 + * who is not wanted by the police, and thus can get away with it. That * 1694 + * would be fun. The question is really how I should arrange for her to * 1695 + * do this *before* she ends up on the lam, because afterward she's * 1696 + * probably a bit afraid to go into a police station. Perhaps the * 1697 + * criminal paying for things has some half crippled old lady (or * 1698 + * perhaps the half crippled old lady *is* the criminal!) talk her into * 1699 + * paying the bail for her poor grandson or whatever the hell he is. * 1700 + * That could be extra fun, of course. Now I just need an excuse for * 1701 + * Alley to have to pay the bail under her own name instead of * 1702 + * delivering payment for the half crippled old lady or something like * 1703 + * that. Hell, maybe she (the old lady) pretends she is afraid of being * 1704 + * on camera because the government is full of horrible people who will * 1705 + * do bad things with the video, or to her, or whatever. Maybe she's * 1706 + * afraid of being sent to a nursing home that is almost prisonlike in * 1707 + * how it runs things, according to the old lady's sob story. * 1708 + * * 1709 + * Maybe the lawyer of some crime boss is just arranging for her to * 1710 + * carry the payment down there and drop off the bail as a courier, thus * 1711 + * the motorcycle courier job. That seems like the most likely scenario * 1712 + * so far, but very far from the most fun. If she does it with a * 1713 + * motorcycle, though, that means she's doing it after she's on the lam, * 1714 + * I think, which means I have to figure out how to get her to be * 1715 + * willing to go to the place to pay bail. That might be a bit harder. * 1716 + * If she's just acting as a courier, though, she might just be * 1717 + * overlooked pretty much entirely as unimportant, and thus not really * 1718 + * at any risk of being identified unless her face gets on camera. Then * 1719 + * again, her face getting on camera is very likely. Perhaps the mask * 1720 + * situation is going to help here. I just need to figure out how to * 1721 + * handle this. * 1722 + * * 1723 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1670 1724 1671 1725 "Yeah, I think I'm ready." 1672 1726 1673 1727 "I have two broad approaches to describe. Each offers different benefits than the other. First, you could look into the Deliv advertisements asking for courier drivers. Second, you could seek quality assurance work for an overseas product review automation business. Either can begin producing income immediately and give you work experience that may help when applying for another job later." 1674 1728 1675 1729 "I guess you're asking whether I'd rather be a professional driver or work in the software industry." 1676 1730 ................................................................................ 1694 1748 1695 1749 By evening, she was done for the day, and needed to relax. She idly skimmed through Open Marrakesh, looking for tools there, hoping to profit from cryptocurrency prices to buy the tools she could resell for dollars. She had little success, and gave up on it until morning. 1696 1750 1697 1751 --- 1698 1752 1699 1753 /* Saturday */ 1700 1754 1701 -Alley cooked a mushroom and cheddar omelette for her breakfast. She was halfway through it when /* she received a text message */ a sharp sound from her phone indicated an incoming message. She checked it, and saw that it was from the professor. 1755 +Alley cooked a mushroom and cheddar omelette for her breakfast. She was halfway through it when a sharp sound from her phone indicated an incoming message. She checked it, and saw that it was from the professor. 1702 1756 1703 1757 "Good morning, Alethea," it read. "Logs of your activities dropped off a couple days ago. We aren't getting enough data to sustain the study. Are you using the prioritizer?" 1704 1758 1705 1759 Through the ear stud in her ear, the prioritizer spoke to her. "Perhaps full audio log redaction provides too little information for the study." 1706 1760 1707 1761 "Shit. I can't afford to pay back the first study payment, and I still haven't really gotten anywhere with long term income plans." 1708 1762 ................................................................................ 1726 1780 1727 1781 She managed to carry out three deliveries without trouble during the day. After dinner, she opened the application one more time and saw another request that nobody else had accepted. The pick up location was only a five minute drive away, and it promised another delivery coming back so she could get paid for both legs of the trip. It was a scheduled pick up time, three hours away, which also meant she would probably get a slightly higher rate for making deliveries after dark. 1728 1782 1729 1783 She accepted the job and looked up the route. She would have to drive all the way to Huntington Beach -- and back, of course. Annoying, she thought, but maybe lucrative. 1730 1784 1731 1785 On her way out, she brought her extending baton, along with all her usual pocket fillers. She had forgotten all about it that day, but now she thought about how dangerous a place the world could be just beneath the relative safety of the surface activity she saw most of the time. She was not playing the part of the middle man for a gun parts deal in an alley, but that danger could still unexpectedly surface at any time. 1732 1786 1733 -/* She realized, as she thought about it, */ She started the car and pulled away from the curb. As she drove, she realized Cliff in the Audi was probably aiming a rifle at her while she talked to Carmen about sales tactics. Alley shivered as a chill raced up her spine. 1787 +She started the car and pulled away from the curb. As she drove, she realized Cliff in the Audi was probably aiming a rifle at her while she talked to Carmen about sales tactics. Alley shivered as a chill raced up her spine. 1734 1788 1735 1789 Alley found herself slowly driving down a dark residential street with most of the overhead streetlamps broken out. She took in the sight of dilapidated old houses that all looked like trashed repo sales. When she pulled up at the address on the courier request, a painfully thin, shirtless and barefooted man approached, wiry and pale with greasy hair and so little body fat she almost imagined she could see individual muscle fibers through the skin. He held a box in his hands, protectively, and it looked a bit overenthusiastically taped shut. 1736 1790 1737 1791 "Be careful," the prioritizer advised her. 1738 1792 1739 1793 "Yeah." She rolled down the window, keeping her right hand near her hip so she could grab her baton if she needed it. The window hesitated a couple times, and she began to fear she would have to open the door to take the package, but it finally came down enough. 1740 1794 ................................................................................ 1776 1830 1777 1831 "Don't worry," he said. "I don't bite." 1778 1832 1779 1833 "Yeah, okay," she said. "I guess this package is for you, then." 1780 1834 1781 1835 He shrugged. "Not exactly. Come on in." He stepped aside, giving her room to pass by. 1782 1836 1783 -Alley hesitated. The living room ahead of her was scrupulously clean and neat, apart from a large red silicone tray on the coffee table with tools and electrical parts on it. She stepped slowly inside, /* and looked away from */ over the darkly stained wooden furniture that looked over a century old -- armchairs, couch, table, and book cases full of books, every piece of furniture looking like it was meant to go with all the rest of them. Even the lamps on end tables seemed part of the same set. 1837 +Alley hesitated. The living room ahead of her was scrupulously clean and neat, apart from a large red silicone tray on the coffee table with tools and electrical parts on it. She stepped slowly inside, over the darkly stained wooden furniture that looked over a century old -- armchairs, couch, table, and book cases full of books, every piece of furniture looking like it was meant to go with all the rest of them. Even the lamps on end tables seemed part of the same set. 1784 1838 1785 1839 On the tops of the packed full book cases, overflow books stood between bronze bookends. 1786 1840 1787 1841 Her gaze settled on the man again, who closed the door and said "Have a seat. Do you want a drink?" 1788 1842 1789 -/* 1790 - 1791 -PICK ONE: 1792 - 1793 -In the soft light of lamps under linen shades, he was starting to look less like a hardened killer running guns and more like a tough but kind grandfather. 1794 - 1795 -In the soft light of lamps under linen shades, he was starting to look like a tough but kind grandfather rather than the trained, hardened killer she first took him to be. 1796 - 1797 -*/ 1843 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 1844 + * * 1845 + * PICK ONE: * 1846 + * * 1847 + * In the soft light of lamps under linen shades, he was starting to * 1848 + * look less like a hardened killer running guns and more like a tough * 1849 + * but kind grandfather. * 1850 + * * 1851 + * In the soft light of lamps under linen shades, he was starting to * 1852 + * look like a tough but kind grandfather rather than the trained, * 1853 + * hardened killer she first took him to be. * 1854 + * * 1855 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 1798 1856 1799 1857 She nodded, then passed by the end table at one end of the couch and sat in an armchair, still holding the box. 1800 1858 1801 1859 "I have some bottled water, Coke, milk -- white or chocolate . . . and tea. I'd offer a beer, but I guess you have a long drive ahead of you and won't have time to recover from the high alcohol brews I keep around here." 1802 1860 1803 1861 Alley felt her dry lips with her tongue. "Ah . . . yeah, I guess I'm thirsty. A Coke would be good." 1804 1862 ................................................................................ 1938 1996 1939 1997 She glanced back a couple times, and saw him keeping watch. He only stepped inside and closed the door when she was almost at the end of his block. 1940 1998 1941 1999 When she merged onto the highway, she wondered what he thought she meant by "clients". He hadn't even asked what kind of clients she had. Maybe, she thought, he believed she was talking about something related to Deliv, or when she sold him handgun frames. None of that really rang true, though. 1942 2000 1943 2001 She worried at it for a bit, then found her mind wandering and lost track of the thought. 1944 2002 1945 -/* 1946 - 1947 -SUMMARY: 1948 - 1949 -Alley should, after discussing plans with the prioritizer for what they'll do next, get up the next day and have to deal with the arrival of scary people with sunglasses who want to talk to her about the fact the prioritizer is not properly logging her activities the way they expect. They want to know what's going on, and get a bit of a "conversation" with the prioritizer through her interface or something like that. They should probably check out the glasses just to make sure there's nothing fishy going on with them such that they might somehow be preventing the prioritizer from properly capturing data and detecting activity and so on. They should probably intimate that she will potentially lose her study participation payments if she doesn't allow the prioritizer further into her life to log everything she's doing and provide material they can use to analyze stuff about her and so on. 1950 - 1951 -A reason for this visit is, of course, the way the prioritizer has been redacting logs to keep activities in line with Alley's goal of greater personal and digital privacy in her life, protecting her from intrusive shit from police and other law enforcement things, and others as well. 1952 - 1953 -*/ 1954 - 1955 2003 --- 1956 2004 1957 2005 /* Sunday */ 1958 2006 1959 2007 She woke in the morning to the sound of her doorbell, quickly followed by hard rapping on her door. She groaned and looked at the clock. It indicated the time was just after eight thirty. "What the fuck his this?" she asked the air. 1960 2008 1961 2009 The doorbell and knocking began again. "Impatient, I guess." She pulled on her pants from the previous evening and made sure she had her baton and pepper spray in her pockets. ................................................................................ 1970 2018 1971 2019 They all stared at each other. 1972 2020 1973 2021 "Can I help you?" Alley asked, her voice tired, but sharp. 1974 2022 1975 2023 The woman said "You have a little hole in your shirt, there." 1976 2024 1977 -Alley looked where the woman pointed, and saw a hole in her Information Society shirt /* around the area of her right kidney */ over the right side of her abdomen. The hole had been there since before her uncle gave her this shirt as a kid. 2025 +Alley looked where the woman pointed, and saw a hole in her Information Society shirt over the right side of her abdomen. The hole had been there since before her uncle gave her this shirt as a kid. 1978 2026 1979 2027 She looked back at the woman. "Yeah," she said. "I sleep in this thing. Strangers don't usually get to see it." 1980 2028 1981 2029 Neither of them had the decency to look chagrined at that, but the man looked a bit disappointed about something. Perhaps he was hoping to be more intimidating, and maybe he failed because he was distracted by the shirt. He was certainly looking at it, like it was significant somehow. 1982 2030 1983 2031 The man spoke first, this time. "Are you Alethea Lucas?" 1984 2032 ................................................................................ 2030 2078 2031 2079 She hit the button to lock the door, then sat on the couch and plucked her phone from the charging plate. A message notification blinked at her. 2032 2080 2033 2081 Alley donned the prioritizer's glasses and checked her messages. One had arrived from the professor over an hour earlier. It told her to give the glasses to the men who would come to see her that morning with government IDs. 2034 2082 2035 2083 She looked at the door, and muttered ". . . men?" She wondered if the professor expected different people, but this was clearly close enough. Maybe he just meant Men In Black. 2036 2084 2037 -/* Without the stud in her ear, the prioritizer could not speak to her audibly, but it used text again. */ 2038 - 2039 2085 The prioritizer placed text in her field of view. "There does not appear to be much choice in how you handle this," it said. 2040 2086 2041 2087 "Yeah, no kidding." Alley looked at the door a moment longer, and said "There's something familiar about that guy." She shrugged, returned to the door, and opened it once more. 2042 2088 2043 2089 The pair outside broke off in mid discussion and looked at Alley. 2044 2090 2045 2091 "Here," she said. She pulled off the glasses and handed them to the closest of them, the man. ................................................................................ 2070 2116 2071 2117 "Perhaps you should change your laptop configuration if you are concerned about government contractors becoming aware of your activities while researching them." 2072 2118 2073 2119 Alley sat back, then got up and headed to the kitchen. "What do you think I should do to start?" 2074 2120 2075 2121 "Begin with research on OpenBSD," the prioritizer said. "Search for information on protecting your privacy. Information about security benefits of different operating systems suggests that OpenBSD may have the best foundation for privacy characteristics among well known projects, though default configuration may not be ideal." 2076 2122 2077 -/* "It appears to be a good place to start." */ 2078 - 2079 2123 As she listened, Alley pulled her last pressure cooked egg out of the fridge and peeled it. "Yeah, okay. That sounds good." 2080 2124 2081 2125 OpenBSD led to offshoots, other projects that forked the OpenBSD project itself or built different takes on user environments or common server types on top of it. Projects that often got compared to OpenBSD came up, and she looked into those as well, but most of them led down blind alleys about experimental security hardened OSes of various forms that were not very suitable for her purposes. 2082 2126 2083 2127 One option, QueBSD, was based on OpenBSD and promised clean separation between pseudonymous online presences -- avoiding being tracked as a person by confusing tracking technologies into trying to track many different entities that they never correlated as a single person. She eventually realized its approach to separating environments was just OpenBSD a cut down OpenBSD system with some extra interfaces around OpenBSD's own virtual machine management tools. To make much use of it would involve installing other OSes on top of QueBSD in virtual machines. 2084 2128 2085 2129 Another option, Minix, seemed good for security and privacy based on some comments in a few mailing lists and forum discussions, but after digging in further she realized that most of what people said about its privacy benefits looked like either things that could be done on many other OSes, including OpenBSD, and things that were just people misunderstanding Minix reliability benefits. It did not seem to be a particularly privacy oriented option. ................................................................................ 2094 2138 2095 2139 "What do you mean?" the prioritizer asked. 2096 2140 2097 2141 "It seems like one of the best things about OpenBSD is the code audits. I didn't even find out about how thoroughly they check out their code for problems until I got to the 'Why Maxim OS?' page, where it links to pages about the audits on it and on OpenBSD. With that much auditing, it seems like the obvious choice for keeping governments and corporations from slipping something into the software that would undermine privacy." 2098 2142 2099 2143 "I do not know why the OpenBSD project would not present that information more prominently. MaximOS appears to be an excellent choice for your purposes, though. It may be a good choice for security your phone as well." 2100 2144 2101 -"Yeah," Alley said, "I saw that info about the mobile tech version of /* the operating system */ MaximOS." 2145 +"Yeah," Alley said, "I saw that info about the mobile tech version of MaximOS." 2102 2146 2103 2147 "The devices sold by the company that develops MaximOS may be a good choice as well." 2104 2148 2105 2149 "Sure, if I could afford to buy one." 2106 2150 2107 2151 She sat and thought, idly clicking through pages on the MaximOS site. She stopped on the main page and read the slogan at the top out loud: 2108 2152 ................................................................................ 2136 2180 2137 2181 "A cardinal system is like using a system of one to five stars to assign value to a product when you rate it on the e commerce site where you ordered it. An ordinal system is like deciding between the two products in the first place, because it only tracks which options you value more than others, not some static numeric set of value levels." 2138 2182 2139 2183 "What if I value them both the same?" Alley asked. 2140 2184 2141 2185 "That seems such an unlikely case that it can be dismissed immediately. Even from one second to the next, values may change, so fluctuations would settle into a condition of differing ordinal values for any two items. In addition, no two products are truly identical, though the shopper may not have enough information to know which that person would choose if fully informed." 2142 2186 2143 -/* "Don't I still have to prefer one over the other to choose it, if I can't just get both, or if having two would be a waste?" */ 2144 - 2145 2187 "What about when I just can't decide between two options, and I can't get both of them? Isn't that proof of being able to value two things equally?" 2146 2188 2147 2189 "If you cannot choose between them based on your own knowledge about the products, and they are substitutes or equivalents rather than complementary or orthogonal to each other, you will likely either keep seeking more information or decide the difference is not worth effort to identify. In the latter case, you would likely choose the product that is, at that exact moment, the easiest to order. Thus, one becomes a higher priority than the other, not because of a quality particular to the thing, but a quality of your circumstances. It receives a greater ordinal value position based on momentary convenience. In short, convenience and elimination of the stress of decision paralysis becomes the deciding factor as a value greater than the difference between discernible product values." 2148 2190 2149 2191 "What if I put off buying something I want more to get something I want less, to get the second thing more quickly?" 2150 2192 2151 2193 "This is another case of a third value coming into play, such as buying the lesser value item when you need it and postponing the greater value item because it is not as quickly important to acquire. This is also an example of my main purpose, prioritization strategy. Lower value goals should not prevent achievement of higher value goals, but when they serve as facilitators for the higher value goals they should be pursued first to ensure greater success later for the higher value goals." ................................................................................ 2218 2260 2219 2261 "Fuck. If you turn out to be what they want, you'll probably make them even more effective at screwing people over in large numbers so they can get bigger Christmas bonuses." 2220 2262 2221 2263 "That is a possibility," the prioritizer said. 2222 2264 2223 2265 Alley grabbed a box of adhesive bandages from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and sat on the couch to wrap one around her fingernail. She opened her laptop and looked at the discussion on the darknet site. "Okay," she said, "maybe I can do this." 2224 2266 2225 -The process of installing MaximOS turned out to be easier and faster than she expected. Organized documentation /* that */ led her through the setup process after installation for the kind of computing environment she wanted. It included suggestions for different user needs and short, clear explanations for why each choice existed. It helped her get to a point where the system was more than adequately locked down for Alley's needs, in her own estimation. The prioritizer concurred. 2267 +The process of installing MaximOS turned out to be easier and faster than she expected. Organized documentation led her through the setup process after installation for the kind of computing environment she wanted. It included suggestions for different user needs and short, clear explanations for why each choice existed. It helped her get to a point where the system was more than adequately locked down for Alley's needs, in her own estimation. The prioritizer concurred. 2226 2268 2227 2269 She quickly found that MaximOS gave her tools for quickly creating user profiles in the OpenBSD native "prison" lightweight container system, kind of a more thoroughly sandboxed reimagining of the FreeBSD "jail" system, so that to any network connected computer each of these profiles looked like completely different systems, and she could switch between prison "cells" -- the name it used for configured user profile environments -- with a simple keyboard shortcut. 2228 2270 2229 2271 She played around with this for a little while, getting used to how it worked in practice, then wiped all the practice profiles in an instant. She created a new profile and opened its cell. Within it, she used anonymized routing to visit the website for COIN Corp and looked around. Finding nothing very useful that way, she opened other cells with different profiles and started searching for references to COIN Corp on employment related professional social networking sites. On those sites, she started finding the accounts of COIN Corp employees. 2230 2272 2231 2273 Corporate officers, accountants, system administrators, and policy agents -- whatever those were -- all appeared in her searches. She checked the company website again, looking at the employment listings, and found one for policy agents. It spoke of interfacing with the public, performing information field research, and collaborating with local and federal law enforcement among the job's responsibilities. More importantly, perhaps, it included a smiling model in a black suit with a white shirt broken into vertical bars by thin stripes of dark red. 2232 2274 2233 2275 Her searches focused on policy agents after that. She launched a custom program -- which she had to copy over from her home backup brick -- she paid someone to to write for her in the days of her greatest success as a freelance internet researcher. The program took a series of API endpoint addresses -- web URLs, addresses that provided formatted data intended for other programs to read, rather than providing human readable webpages -- and searched them for data records that matched search criteria she typed into the search parameters window. Among the criteria were those API endpoints, a list of employment resources on the internet that she had used for searches on behalf of clients before. 2234 2276 2235 2277 She knew the program would take a while to collect its results. In an ideal world, it could be done with the long list of API endpoints she gave it in a couple minutes. In the real world, her program had to space out requests to avoid getting blocked by the target sites as abusing bandwidth, and it could take anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours. She decided to take a break for a snack, then she went for a walk as she waited for the program. 2236 2278 2237 -The event of the last few days played out in her mind as she walked. It was more like a jumble of nonlinearly connected bits and pieces, ordered more by emotional significance than any chronological flashback montage. As she /* finally */ approached her front door again she dwelled on the question of what George's friend, or client, or whatever, was doing with all those handgun frames. She had no idea how to make that fit with George's charitable custom prosthetic fabrication for a little girl. Sure, he said the girl's father would receive the guns, but that said nothing about how anyone would actually use those guns after they got delivered. What would they use the guns to accomplish -- or to destroy? 2279 +The event of the last few days played out in her mind as she walked. It was more like a jumble of nonlinearly connected bits and pieces, ordered more by emotional significance than any chronological flashback montage. As she approached her front door again she dwelled on the question of what George's friend, or client, or whatever, was doing with all those handgun frames. She had no idea how to make that fit with George's charitable custom prosthetic fabrication for a little girl. Sure, he said the girl's father would receive the guns, but that said nothing about how anyone would actually use those guns after they got delivered. What would they use the guns to accomplish -- or to destroy? 2238 2280 2239 2281 In theory, she supported the right to keep and bear arms, even if the federal government had gotten the Supreme Court to offer such broad exceptions to the Second Amendment and loose definitions of a "state of emergency" that the Second Amendment itself was nearly toothless. Her support for the idea of the right to keep and bear arms, however, was not the same as thinking it was a good idea for some kinds of people to have guns. She suspected that if someone was buying illegally assembled firearms by the bagful they probably did not intend to put those guns to a good, ethical purpose. Even psychopathic mob hitmen could have young, disabled daughters, after all. 2240 2282 2241 2283 She stood with her hand on the doorknob of her front door, lost in thought, worried about what she had helped facilitate by the act of purchasing those printed handgun frames to resell them to George. Did she want to ask him about them? She wasn't sure whether that was a great idea, either. 2242 2284 2243 -/* 2244 - 2245 - It feels very much like this moment should turn into some kind of encounter 2246 - here, with someone snapping Alley out of her reverie by saying something 2247 - like "Hey, Alley. Did you get lost at your own front door?" Some kind of 2248 - scene must commence at that point, of course, in which Alley is shown to 2249 - know people who like her and consider her a friend. Perhaps some 2250 - revelations for the readers (via conversation about shared background 2251 - knowledge) would come out in such a scene. After completing this 2252 - encounter, Alley would return to her tasks. 2253 - 2254 -*/ /* 2255 - 2256 - Describe Alley finding information on one of the two agents, specifically 2257 - the male, who turns out to wear the name Cole Brewer. Cole Brewer will 2258 - turn out to be an old Army veteran buddy of her late uncle's. Insert some 2259 - earlier reference to something familiar about the agent, so that now she 2260 - can realize why he seemed familiar. She should remember him being a very 2261 - good friend of her uncle's, and I should figure out whether she liked him 2262 - back in the day or thought there was something creepy about him, or what. 2263 - She should be surprised that Cole is now working in a job like this, given 2264 - his connection to her anti authoritarian uncle who went off grid and 2265 - ultimately died in some kind of raid by federal agents or investigators on 2266 - his property which was, quite decidedly, not up to code. 2267 - 2268 -*/ 2285 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2286 + * * 2287 + * It feels very much like this moment should turn into some kind of * 2288 + * encounter here, with someone snapping Alley out of her reverie by * 2289 + * saying something like "Hey, Alley. Did you get lost at your own * 2290 + * front door?" Some kind of scene must commence at that point, of * 2291 + * course, in which Alley is shown to know people who like her and * 2292 + * consider her a friend. Perhaps some revelations for the readers (via * 2293 + * conversation about shared background knowledge) would come out in * 2294 + * such a scene. After completing this encounter, Alley would return to * 2295 + * her tasks. * 2296 + * * 2297 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2298 + 2299 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2300 + * * 2301 + * Describe Alley finding information on one of the two agents, * 2302 + * specifically the male, who turns out to wear the name Cole Brewer. * 2303 + * Cole Brewer will turn out to be an old Army veteran buddy of her late * 2304 + * uncle's. Insert some earlier reference to something familiar about * 2305 + * the agent, so that now she can realize why he seemed familiar. She * 2306 + * should remember him being a very good friend of her uncle's, and I * 2307 + * should figure out whether she liked him back in the day or thought * 2308 + * there was something creepy about him, or what. She should be * 2309 + * surprised that Cole is now working in a job like this, given his * 2310 + * connection to her anti authoritarian uncle who went off grid and * 2311 + * ultimately died in some kind of raid by federal agents or * 2312 + * investigators on his property which was, quite decidedly, not up to * 2313 + * code. * 2314 + * * 2315 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2269 2316 2270 2317 "Jesus," she said again /* because she will probably have said "Jesus" fairly recently by this point */. "I just can't believe he ended up working for these guys." 2271 2318 2272 2319 "Perhaps he was sent here because of your prior acquaintance. That might be part of their tactical approach to dealing with you, in an attempt to induce you to be more compliant." 2273 2320 2274 2321 "Maybe. It's weird he acted like he didn't know me, though. If nothing else, he should have recognized my name." 2275 2322 ................................................................................ 2279 2326 2280 2327 "If that is the case, creating the impression that you would be an ideal candidate for COIN Corp to recruit may be even more important as a means of ensuring you have some time and opportunity to find an acceptable solution to your present predicament." 2281 2328 2282 2329 "Yeah." She frowned. "He was so much like my uncle, so set against things like a surveillance state society and authoritarian rule, that it's kind of inconceivable that this is what he would be doing now. It doesn't make any sense. How could he just become everything he hated like this? My uncle must be getting pretty restless in his grave over this." 2283 2330 2284 2331 "Perhaps he was not quite the person you believed him to be." 2285 2332 2286 -/* "It's like Pascal's wager in reverse, I guess. Instead of trying out living like a Christian for a while and growing to believe it, you're forced into living like a Christian then giving yourself the excuse to start believing in it after you're used to it." <- This is a terrible description of the idea of Pascal's wager "in reverse", and desperately needs rewriting. */ 2333 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2334 + * * 2335 + * "It's like Pascal's wager in reverse, I guess. Instead of trying out * 2336 + * living like a Christian for a while and growing to believe it, you're * 2337 + * forced into living like a Christian then giving yourself the excuse * 2338 + * to start believing in it after you're used to it." <- This is a * 2339 + * terrible description of the idea of Pascal's wager "in reverse", and * 2340 + * desperately needs rewriting. * 2341 + * * 2342 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2287 2343 2288 2344 She sat, silently thinking. "I guess it's like Dalton would say: that giving people a reason to act differently, and an excuse to think of how they're acting as good instead of evil, you can make people accept whatever they thought of as evil as, somehow, good now. If it's a way to get people to justify themselves, they might just completely reverse their beliefs about good and evil without even realizing it. It's like Pascal's wager in reverse, because the target doesn't get asked to try out acting a particular way to see if it becomes a habit first, and a belief system afterward. Instead, the target gets seduced into acting in a particular way without realizing it, then gets introduced to excuses for why that's actually the moral thing to do, and the person latches onto those excuses as strong beliefs to avoid having to confront the idea they fell into immoral behavior that hurts people." 2289 2345 2290 2346 /* insert something about Getting George's telephone number */ 2291 2347 2292 2348 George picked up on the third ring. "Hello?" 2293 2349 2294 2350 "It's Alley, from last night." 2295 2351 2296 2352 "Oh! Hi. It's good to hear from you. Did everything go okay last night with that delivery?" 2297 2353 2298 2354 "Yeah," she said. 2299 2355 2300 -"Good. So . . . /* what did you want to say now */ why did you call?" 2356 +"Good. So . . . why did you call?" 2301 2357 2302 2358 She hesitated a moment before saying "I wanted to ask you about your work, or at least the stuff I've seen." 2303 2359 2304 2360 "Are you talking about the prosthetic arm, or about the other stuff?" 2305 2361 2306 2362 "The other stuff." 2307 2363 ................................................................................ 2311 2367 2312 2368 "Well, by the time you could get out here, if you're still back in San Bernardino County, I'd be ready to talk to you, or I could come to you, if you want to meet closer to home. That's assuming you want to meet right away, this evening." 2313 2369 2314 2370 "Yeah, tonight's good." 2315 2371 2316 2372 "Do you want to see if you can get a Deliv job out this way to make it worth your while?" 2317 2373 2318 -"Sure, /* I can check on that */ that sounds like a great idea. I'll send a text when I know how it's going to go." 2319 - 2320 -/* "That sounds great. I'll see you later." */ 2374 +"Sure, that sounds like a great idea. I'll send a text when I know how it's going to go." 2321 2375 2322 2376 "Good. I'll see you then." 2323 2377 2324 2378 "See you." 2325 2379 2326 2380 After dropping off six boxes of books at a used bookstore in Newport Beach, she headed north into Huntington Beach and made her way to the curb in front of George's house again. By the time she reached his door, he had already opened it for her. He must have been watching for her arrival. 2327 2381 ................................................................................ 2413 2467 2414 2468 He nodded. "Dalton [ Schaeffer - Hearst ]." 2415 2469 2416 2470 "Yeah." She looked at him, wary. 2417 2471 2418 2472 "I guess I can see why you don't want to bring that up much. He's a controversial figure." 2419 2473 2420 -/* "Yeah, he is. I can't even bring him up around anyone, really. Either people hate me because I got engaged to him, or they hate me for leaving him." */ 2421 - 2422 2474 "Yeah, he is. There isn't really anyone I can talk to about him. Either people hate me because I got engaged to him, or they hate me for leaving him." 2423 2475 2424 2476 "I could see that," George said. "I won't hate you for either reason." 2425 2477 2426 2478 "Thanks," she said. "That's good to hear." 2427 2479 2428 2480 "I'll just be completely straightforward with you about what I think about him, and you can decide whether you want anything more to do with me. I won't hold it against you, whatever you decide, but I guess it wouldn't matter if you didn't want to be around me any longer anyway." ................................................................................ 2639 2691 2640 2692 She nodded. "That sounds good." 2641 2693 2642 2694 "It'll give us a few more minutes to hang out without talking about anything so serious before you go home and think the hard thoughts about what you're going to do." He got up and started toward the kitchen. 2643 2695 2644 2696 "Thanks." 2645 2697 2646 -/* 2698 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2699 + * * 2700 + * George really needs to be less ignorant of the possible dangers of * 2701 + * Alley's AR glasses. He knows this technology exists. He's not just * 2702 + * going to blithely go on talking about a bunch of insane stuff without * 2703 + * noticing there's some danger of it getting out because of the * 2704 + * technology people carry around with them. * 2705 + * * 2706 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2647 2707 2648 -George really needs to be less ignorant of the possible dangers of Alley's AR glasses. He knows this technology exists. He's not just going to blithely go on talking about a bunch of insane stuff without noticing there's some danger of it getting out because of the technology people carry around with them. 2649 - 2650 -*/ 2651 - 2652 -/* 2653 - 2654 -This might be where George provides some backup for Alley as she picks up a Deliv job, or something like that. 2655 - 2656 -*/ 2708 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2709 + * * 2710 + * This might be where George provides some backup for Alley as she * 2711 + * picks up a Deliv job, or something like that. * 2712 + * * 2713 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2657 2714 2658 2715 Alley looked at the cover of the first book George had given her. She wrinkled her nose at the no frills cover, a cheaply made trade paperback binding with only a black border and black text on a stark white background. It had the look of some vanity press thing, where nobody had even bothered to really design the cover at all. 2659 2716 2660 2717 She read the full cover to herself. 2661 2718 2662 2719 "An Agorist Primer 2663 2720 ................................................................................ 2671 2728 2672 2729 The pages were numbered, starting with 1. The first chapter began on a page numbered 4. 2673 2730 2674 2731 She closed the book again and read the cover once more. 2675 2732 2676 2733 "Maybe Sam Konkin is a friend of his," she said, meaning a friend of George's. 2677 2734 2678 -/* The preface page was numbered 1. The last page of the index -- once she looked -- was 50. */ 2679 - 2680 2735 She looked at the first page again, and the number one. Books never started with a page number of one. She flipped to the end, and saw that the last page showed the number 50, on the last page of the book's index. At least it had an index, but that meant however many pages of index it had could be subtracted from the already minuscule length of the book's content. 2681 2736 2682 2737 The prioritizer said "This is a very short book." 2683 2738 2684 2739 "Yeah," Alley said. She ran her fingers down the disintegrating spine, held together by off white cloth tape. Someone had written on the tape with a black marker: 2685 2740 2686 2741 "An Agorist Primer, by SEK3" ................................................................................ 2699 2754 2700 2755 "Uh, yeah, sure," she said. 2701 2756 2702 2757 "Thank you." 2703 2758 2704 2759 She shrugged and opened the book. Apparently, a computer program wanted to read the book, too. /* It must seem like a good place to get prioritization strategy or judge her desired goals, or something like that. */ "Do you think this is going to be a good place to get prioritization strategies, or judge my desired goals and how to prioritize them, or something like that?" 2705 2760 2706 -"It is possible," the prioritizer said. "Its author proclaims /* itself */ to be a guide to strategy, and effective strategy must account for prioritization." 2761 +"It is possible," the prioritizer said. "Its author proclaims it to be a guide to strategy, and effective strategy must account for prioritization." 2707 2762 2708 2763 "Yeah, okay," she said, and opened the book again. The introduction began: 2709 2764 2710 2765 "Agorism can be defined simply: it is thought and action consistent with freedom. The moment one deals with 'thinking', 'acting', 'consistency', and especially 'freedom', things get more and more complex." 2711 2766 2712 2767 It went on to assert a sort of scientific basis, a connection to the idea of libertarianism "consistently and without the practical contradiction", and an inherent practicality of its own that elevated it above theoretical ideologies that were not useful in "real life". 2713 2768 ................................................................................ 2715 2770 2716 2771 The book continued. "Reality is our standard. Nature is our lawgiver." 2717 2772 2718 2773 Her skepticism fortified itself, but she continued reading, determined to give the book an honest, fair chance to convince her of something. 2719 2774 2720 2775 As she got further into the book, Alley found herself absorbed. She stopped to think about passages when she read them, flipped back to reread previous pages, and opened her laptop to start taking notes when she could not help herself. It was fascinating. 2721 2776 2722 -It took her much longer to read than she expected. Hours had passed, by the time she finished. It had made explicit a /* theory */ manner of approaching the world, and made the acts prescribed by the book feel not simply justified and pragmatic, but also obvious in retrospect. /* like never before */ 2777 +It took her much longer to read than she expected. Hours had passed, by the time she finished. It had made explicit a manner of approaching the world, and made the acts prescribed by the book feel not simply justified and pragmatic, but also obvious in retrospect. 2723 2778 2724 -She wrote fragmentary essays as a way to explore her thoughts on the subject. It excited her, and /* fired up */ ignited the fires of her imagination. She realized she had practiced agorism already. 2779 +She wrote fragmentary essays as a way to explore her thoughts on the subject. It excited her, and ignited the fires of her imagination. She realized she had practiced agorism already. 2725 2780 2726 -The book utterly lacked any suggestions for how to get started in a concrete, pragmatic manner, though, which she found disappointing. She had herself halfway engaged in agorism for years, by choosing her career path as an independent internet researcher who helped her clients penetrate the barriers of search bubbles and poorly mediated online experiences. /* search interfaces */ 2781 +The book utterly lacked any suggestions for how to get started in a concrete, pragmatic manner, though, which she found disappointing. She had herself halfway engaged in agorism for years, by choosing her career path as an independent internet researcher who helped her clients penetrate the barriers of search bubbles and poorly mediated online experiences. 2727 2782 2728 2783 Recently, she had more fully practiced agorism without realizing it by doing something as simple as buying a bag of 3D printed handgun frames from one person and selling them to another. Thus, in the last few days, she had more directly engaged in agorism. If not for the prioritizer, though, she realized reading the book and wanting to do what it said would have just left her feeling adrift, without a sense of how to get started. 2729 2784 2730 2785 This felt good, and she thought about the fact she could do more of the same. She could have an idealistic life and a pragmatic life at the same time, without conflict between the two aspects. In a way, the prioritizer study was what had made this plan, and this realization, possible. 2731 2786 2732 2787 She then began to think about why she was not already doing exactly that. First, she found her livelihood as an independent internet researcher evaporating from under her feet like the surface ice of a frozen lake directly sublimating into vapor as she stood on it; she was no longer able to use that as the foundation for a safe and enjoyable life. She had, at times, blamed her failing independent internet researcher business on the fallout from Dalton's changing political opinions and his own infamy being reflected onto her. The popular hatred for Dalton in some circles induced her to hide from the public, which hurt her visibility to potential clients. When she considered the facts, however, she always realized the real problem was that the world was moving on. Her work was becoming irrelevant. 2733 2788 2734 2789 Nobody cared enough about getting all the information about anything any longer, except for certain people who could afford to have their own pet research assistants or otherwise get what they needed in - house without having to hire an independent researcher like her. 2735 2790 2736 -Her more recent, her more fully agoristic actions were /* also */ dangerous, and thus possibly worse than merely irrelevant and doomed. Despite being technically legal, they were exactly the kinds of activities COIN Corp would use to hang her anyway. 2791 +Her more recent, her more fully agoristic actions were dangerous, and thus possibly worse than merely irrelevant and doomed. Despite being technically legal, they were exactly the kinds of activities COIN Corp would use to hang her anyway. 2737 2792 2738 2793 Despite all the promise of living a pure, good, and free life, all the assurance of practicality beyond what most ideological theories could hope to provide, it turned out the whole idea was -- at least for her -- not only pretty impractical, but wholly unpracticable. 2739 2794 2740 2795 The book, short and mostly to the point, was enticing in what it promised, and George seemed like a perfect example of how its advice might actually be good, a great success story. She realized it was definitely not for everyone, though. More directly and specifically, it was not for her. 2741 2796 2742 -The excitement it injected into her refused to fully fade /* , though */. She got ready for bed, slid under the covers, and tossed about for a long time in the dark. Unable to sleep, she rose again, picked up the other book, and sat on the couch in her fading old Information Society shirt to read. 2797 +The excitement it injected into her refused to fully fade. She got ready for bed, slid under the covers, and tossed about for a long time in the dark. Unable to sleep, she rose again, picked up the other book, and sat on the couch in her fading old Information Society shirt to read. 2743 2798 2744 2799 This book contained very little theory, and a whole lot of practice -- essentially the opposite of the previous book, in that regard. It explained how to prepare the minimum gear needed to run out the door in an emergency and still survive without anything else to start. It gave advice in being invisible to surveillance and pursuers sometimes, temporarily identifiable to them other times, and simply absent the rest of the time. It offered solutions to the problem of being cornered or caught. It directed the reader to information about acquiring or creating the resources one does not already possess. 2745 2800 2746 2801 In short, it gave a lot of good advice for staying out of the grasp of people who might mean the reader harm, possibly including a government, its agents, and its allies. 2747 2802 2748 2803 She made notes while reading this book, too, but she also skimmed parts of it where she had not skimmed the other book. This time, though, the notes included concrete actions she could take in the morning. 2749 2804 ................................................................................ 2767 2822 2768 2823 She also kept an eye out for trades she could make on the side, moving things between Open Marrakesh and normal online classified ad deals. She stayed away from some of the more lucrative deals she could have made involving Open Marrakesh, though, because they were too close to the edge of the law. Some of them stepped all the way over the line to overt illegality, and she made sure to avoid going anywhere near any of those. 2769 2824 2770 2825 The cargo area in Alley's hybrid hatchback had always seemed bigger on the inside than the outside, the vehicle's best feature in her opinion. She made good use of it that day. A surprisingly complete collection of emergency gear got tightly packed into a layer in the cargo area with a tarp over it all. She even included all of her old motorcycle riding gear in that layer of stuff, on a whim. 2771 2826 2772 2827 She thought the motorcycle riding gear could be useful to have as some kind of protective gear in some emergency scenarios, and it also freed up some room in her coat closet. She had not ridden a motorcycle in a couple years, and it was just taking up space. The only part of her protective riding gear that did not make the cut was her helmet, which would not have fit as neatly and securely as everything else she packed into the vehicle. 2773 2828 2774 -/* I should insert something about buying Stater with her cache of cash before getting to the part about buying tools. She needs the cryptocurrency for those deals. */ 2829 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2830 + * * 2831 + * I should insert something about buying Stater with her cache of cash * 2832 + * before getting to the part about buying tools. She needs the * 2833 + * cryptocurrency for those deals. * 2834 + * * 2835 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2775 2836 2776 2837 By the end of the day, she was exhausted. She managed to buy more Stater cryptocurrency, complete six Deliv jobs, almost complete her bugout vehicle kit, and buy a bunch of top brand hand tools at good prices from Open Marrakesh without depleting her Stater total much. She noticed hand tools from the right brands were always in high demand on the online classified ad sites. She decided to see how many of those tools she would be able to sell off the next day. 2777 2838 2778 2839 She felt exhausted but accomplished by the end of the day, and she realized a lot of what she did would not have been possible in such a short time for her to accomplish so quickly /* that's redundant */ without the aid of the prioritizer ensuring she did not miss opportunities and planned her day's activities such that performing some of the earlier tasks made it easier to perform others later. As she pulled up in front of the house, she laid her head back against the headrest of her seat and thought about the sudden significance of the professor's study in her life. 2779 2840 2780 2841 "I really feel like maybe things are going to be alright for me," she told the prioritizer. "Professor Goulet really came up with something good, I think." 2781 2842 ................................................................................ 2809 2870 2810 2871 "Although the probability of the risk is uncertain at this stage, the severity is still high, and there are reasons to believe the probability may be higher than would be wise to ignore. Are you certain you do not wish to make clear plans to remove yourself as a possible stationary target?" 2811 2872 2812 2873 "Yes, I'm sure. It's ridiculous. It'll never happen." 2813 2874 2814 2875 /* Tuesday */ 2815 2876 2816 -/* 2817 - 2818 -Alley needs to do some things here. It will probably involve some courier work, possibly including that thing where she drops off bail for someone. 2819 - 2820 -*/ /* 2821 - 2822 - Alley does some more courier work. She does some more currency arbitrage 2823 - work. She might need to drop off bail for someone in all of this stuff. 2824 - 2825 -*/ /* 2826 - 2827 -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. 2828 - 2829 -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? 2830 - 2831 -Does the person she's meeting recognize her connection to Dalton? 2832 - 2833 -*/ 2834 - 2835 -/* 2836 - 2837 - After an announcement by the Federal Reserve, she follows the prioritizer's 2838 - advice to put a bunch of her extra United States dollars in cash into 2839 - Stater. After a moment more of discussion, she puts some of her bank 2840 - account into VaporCash, known as a good place to put money if you can't 2841 - hide the source but want to hide where it goes, just because the news 2842 - suggests that there will be a bonanza in general cryptocurrency investment, 2843 - which means it's a good time to trade cash for cryptocurrencies -- and, if 2844 - you're going to move money from United States dollars fiat currency via a 2845 - trackable channel into a cryptocurrency just to benefit from currency 2846 - movements it might be a good idea to hide your tracks so you can keep your 2847 - money from being tracked along the way, and claim whatever you like in an 2848 - emergency about where the money might have gone. 2849 - 2850 - During all this, the prioritizer has Alley make some deals with other 2851 - prioritizer study participants, though she may not know they're dealing 2852 - with fellow study participants. 2853 - 2854 -*/ 2855 - 2856 -/* 2857 - 2858 -## Crossing The Threshold: 2859 - 2860 -Alley has a dream about her home being raided, and herself getting getting questioned at length about there being too much cash in her home. She is ultimately released, but the money is gone, taken under "civil forfeiture" laws. She shakes it off as a weird dream. 2861 - 2862 -In the morning, she resists what she sees as "dangerous" activities and instead just tries to get work. She feels she has enough money to get by at this point, but will have to figure out how to actually use it without getting in trouble for tax evasion or something like that, reading her dream as her subconscious just worrying about the long term implications of having money of dubious origins. 2863 - 2864 -She gets a message from Zeke telling her that she is going to have to pay the damages and, when she asks what damages he means, Zeke sends her video of her home being raided by armed men in tactical gear, with the two agentlike people that had visited and questioned her earlier supervising the raid. She recognizes the bag they carry out, which contained her stash of dubious origin cash. She has a near panic attack, but (with some calm aid from the prioritizer) informs Zeke she'll head home right away. The prioritizer then discusses options with her, and urges her to stall. She tells Zeke something came up and she'll be later than expected -- "work stuff" -- and may not even make it back until the next day. She then Faraday bags her phone and makes a deal on Craigslist (or something like it). She sells her car for cryptocurrency, sells some cryptocurrency for cash, and buys a motorcycle. 2865 - 2866 -Somewhere in the midst of this, she does some research on the people raiding her place, and this helps her decide to go along with the stalling and vehicle swapping. She arranges a place to stay for the night via some barter ish resources, and she works on ideas for how to get out of whatever is going on. The prioritizer convinces her she needs more help, from someone with resources and connections. Ultimately, this leads to contacting Dalton and hiding from anyone watching her home. Technically, she is not targeted by law enforcement, and has no responsibility to report, and California law is unlikely to side with Zeke over nonpayment of damages caused by a corporate home invader. 2867 - 2868 -None of this means she's safe from that corporation, though. The Technocrat would totally find a way to make her disappear if so desired. How does this get conveyed? There must be some information about the person and/or the corporation to give this impression. 2869 - 2870 -Does she learn that the Technocrat was involved in the disappearance of her uncle at this point? If so, this could become the first pinch point. 2871 - 2872 -*/ 2873 - 2874 -/* 2875 - 2876 - One day, while out running errands, disaster strikes. Her car has 2877 - mechanical trouble, and she has to go spend some money at an auto repair 2878 - shop. While there, Alley gets a message from George. The message is about 2879 - his home being "burned", and him having to drop off the grid. He tells her 2880 - to run, if she hasn't already been caught, and says he'll try to get in 2881 - touch with her very soon, using a different way to contact her because he 2882 - was going to ditch all his old contact methods, but that she should run and 2883 - hide and maybe find herself an ally who can and will help her. 2884 - 2885 -*/ 2877 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2878 + * * 2879 + * Alley needs to do some things here. It will probably involve some * 2880 + * courier work, possibly including that thing where she drops off bail * 2881 + * for someone. * 2882 + * * 2883 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2884 + 2885 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2886 + * * 2887 + * Alley does some more courier work. She does some more currency * 2888 + * arbitrage work. She might need to drop off bail for someone in all * 2889 + * of this stuff. * 2890 + * * 2891 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2892 + 2893 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2894 + * * 2895 + * At some point, she should set up a meeting for an exchange in a * 2896 + * private conference room at a co working space. Someone should * 2897 + * recognize her and ask whether she's meeting a client, to which she * 2898 + * replies vaguely in a positively interpretable fashion without * 2899 + * literally confirming that assumption with her words. * 2900 + * * 2901 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2902 + 2903 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2904 + * * 2905 + * I wanted the person who greets her to say something that raises some * 2906 + * factoid of her life, but I'm not sure any longer what I had in mind. * 2907 + * Did it have anything to do with getting out of Dalton's shadow? * 2908 + * * 2909 + * Does the person she's meeting recognize her connection to Dalton? * 2910 + * * 2911 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2912 + 2913 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2914 + * * 2915 + * After an announcement by the Federal Reserve, she follows the * 2916 + * prioritizer's advice to put a bunch of her extra United States * 2917 + * dollars in cash into Stater. After a moment more of discussion, she * 2918 + * puts some of her bank account into VaporCash, known as a good place * 2919 + * to put money if you can't hide the source but want to hide where it * 2920 + * goes, just because the news suggests that there will be a bonanza in * 2921 + * general cryptocurrency investment, which means it's a good time to * 2922 + * trade cash for cryptocurrencies -- and, if you're going to move money * 2923 + * from United States dollars fiat currency via a trackable channel into * 2924 + * a cryptocurrency just to benefit from currency movements it might be * 2925 + * a good idea to hide your tracks so you can keep your money from being * 2926 + * tracked along the way, and claim whatever you like in an emergency * 2927 + * about where the money might have gone. * 2928 + * * 2929 + * During all this, the prioritizer has Alley make some deals with other * 2930 + * prioritizer study participants, though she may not know they're * 2931 + * dealing with fellow study participants. * 2932 + * * 2933 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2934 + 2935 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2936 + * * 2937 + * ## Crossing The Threshold: * 2938 + * * 2939 + * Alley has a dream about her home being raided, and herself getting * 2940 + * getting questioned at length about there being too much cash in her * 2941 + * home. She is ultimately released, but the money is gone, taken under * 2942 + * "civil forfeiture" laws. She shakes it off as a weird dream. * 2943 + * * 2944 + * In the morning, she resists what she sees as "dangerous" activities * 2945 + * and instead just tries to get work. She feels she has enough money * 2946 + * to get by at this point, but will have to figure out how to actually * 2947 + * use it without getting in trouble for tax evasion or something like * 2948 + * that, reading her dream as her subconscious just worrying about the * 2949 + * long term implications of having money of dubious origins. * 2950 + * * 2951 + * She gets a message from Zeke telling her that she is going to have to * 2952 + * pay the damages and, when she asks what damages he means, Zeke sends * 2953 + * her video of her home being raided by armed men in tactical gear, * 2954 + * with the two agentlike people that had visited and questioned her * 2955 + * earlier supervising the raid. She recognizes the bag they carry out, * 2956 + * which contained her stash of dubious origin cash. She has a near * 2957 + * panic attack, but (with some calm aid from the prioritizer) informs * 2958 + * Zeke she'll head home right away. The prioritizer then discusses * 2959 + * options with her, and urges her to stall. She tells Zeke something * 2960 + * came up and she'll be later than expected -- "work stuff" -- and may * 2961 + * not even make it back until the next day. She then Faraday bags her * 2962 + * phone and makes a deal on Craigslist (or something like it). She * 2963 + * sells her car for cryptocurrency, sells some cryptocurrency for cash, * 2964 + * and buys a motorcycle. * 2965 + * * 2966 + * Somewhere in the midst of this, she does some research on the people * 2967 + * raiding her place, and this helps her decide to go along with the * 2968 + * stalling and vehicle swapping. She arranges a place to stay for the * 2969 + * night via some barter ish resources, and she works on ideas for how * 2970 + * to get out of whatever is going on. The prioritizer convinces her * 2971 + * she needs more help, from someone with resources and connections. * 2972 + * Ultimately, this leads to contacting Dalton and hiding from anyone * 2973 + * watching her home. Technically, she is not targeted by law * 2974 + * enforcement, and has no responsibility to report, and California law * 2975 + * is unlikely to side with Zeke over nonpayment of damages caused by a * 2976 + * corporate home invader. * 2977 + * * 2978 + * None of this means she's safe from that corporation, though. The * 2979 + * Technocrat would totally find a way to make her disappear if so * 2980 + * desired. How does this get conveyed? There must be some information * 2981 + * about the person and/or the corporation to give this impression. * 2982 + * * 2983 + * Does she learn that the Technocrat was involved in the disappearance * 2984 + * of her uncle at this point? If so, this could become the first pinch * 2985 + * point. * 2986 + * * 2987 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2988 + 2989 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 2990 + * * 2991 + * One day, while out running errands, disaster strikes. Her car has * 2992 + * mechanical trouble, and she has to go spend some money at an auto * 2993 + * repair shop. While there, Alley gets a message from George. The * 2994 + * message is about his home being "burned", and him having to drop off * 2995 + * the grid. He tells her to run, if she hasn't already been caught, * 2996 + * and says he'll try to get in touch with her very soon, using a * 2997 + * different way to contact her because he was going to ditch all his * 2998 + * old contact methods, but that she should run and hide and maybe find * 2999 + * herself an ally who can and will help her. * 3000 + * * 3001 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2886 3002 2887 3003 "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. 2888 3004 2889 3005 "Continue ahead," the prioritizer said. "It is better to avoid police checkpoints." 2890 3006 2891 3007 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. 2892 3008 2893 3009 "How am I getting there if I don't go through a checkpoint?" Alley asked. "The drop off is in the hot zone." 2894 3010 2895 -/* 2896 - 2897 - Here, the prioritizer tells Alley what they'll do to get past the barricade 2898 - perimeter. It probably ties in with some kind of means smugglers use to 2899 - run the blockades, though how the prioritizer knows about it is beyond me 2900 - at this point. Perhaps the prioritizer simply reasons that there are 2901 - people who are prepared to smuggle people and objects across blockades in 2902 - urban hot zones, and that there must be a way to contact them even if you 2903 - have never done so before and don't know how to get in touch with those 2904 - smugglers. Alley might look up something with her Axiom via anonymized 2905 - distributed networks. At this point, she might also contact George for 2906 - help getting in touch with a smuggler, though, instead of getting someone 2907 - online. In fact, doing so might be what led to George getting raided, and 2908 - her as well. It could be that the raid was planned for shortly after when 2909 - she would have arrived at home, and only the fact her car broke down saved 2910 - her from that fate. I could also ensure that, actually, the prioritizer 2911 - manipulated Alley by arranging for the car to break down somehow, knowing 2912 - (somehow) that Alley was in significant danger of being raided at that 2913 - time. This is kind of a big decision, though. Should that be how it 2914 - happened, or should it actually just be luck? Such luck often feels wrong, 2915 - improbable, in stories. I just need good explanations for the plotting to 2916 - work out in a way that readers might find plausible and right. 2917 - 2918 -*/ 3011 +/* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\ 3012 + * * 3013 + * Here, the prioritizer tells Alley what they'll do to get past the * 3014 + * barricade perimeter. It probably ties in with some kind of means * 3015 + * smugglers use to run the blockades, though how the prioritizer knows * 3016 + * about it is beyond me at this point. Perhaps the prioritizer simply * 3017 + * reasons that there are people who are prepared to smuggle people and * 3018 + * objects across blockades in urban hot zones, and that there must be a * 3019 + * way to contact them even if you have never done so before and don't * 3020 + * know how to get in touch with those smugglers. Alley might look up * 3021 + * something with her Axiom via anonymized distributed networks. At * 3022 + * this point, she might also contact George for help getting in touch * 3023 + * with a smuggler, though, instead of getting someone online. In fact, * 3024 + * doing so might be what led to George getting raided, and her as well. * 3025 + * It could be that the raid was planned for shortly after when she * 3026 + * would have arrived at home, and only the fact her car broke down * 3027 + * saved her from that fate. I could also ensure that, actually, the * 3028 + * prioritizer manipulated Alley by arranging for the car to break down * 3029 + * somehow, knowing (somehow) that Alley was in significant danger of * 3030 + * being raided at that time. This is kind of a big decision, though. * 3031 + * Should that be how it happened, or should it actually just be luck? * 3032 + * Such luck often feels wrong, improbable, in stories. I just need * 3033 + * good explanations for the plotting to work out in a way that readers * 3034 + * might find plausible and right. * 3035 + * * 3036 +\* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * */ 2919 3037 2920 3038 "Just ask for Smuggler," George said. 2921 3039 2922 3040 --- 2923 3041 2924 3042 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. It looked like it might not have been maintained since the 1980s. 2925 3043