The rain hit her cheeks as Rose walked out of the church, which was still humming with excitement. She unfolded a peculiarly shaped see-through umbrella and attached it to a system on her backpack that kept it overhead without her needing to sacrifice a hand to carry it.
Instead of getting on the public transport to her apartment, she decided a longish walk was what she needed. She had to start making sense of what had happened in the past few days, not least how she felt about her group potentially aiding a runaway AI.
What the entity and Maelcum had said hadn’t explained why the Department of Technology had become so hyperfocused on her. Yes, she was an important member of the Path to Sunrise, especially in the technological branch, which was of greatest interest to the Department of Technology. But other than the usual forms of harassment and political trickery, they had never actually resorted to showing up at her doorstep, making vague threats, or forcing their way into her apartment while she was unable to resist.
The Department always acted out of preservation for the big companies, and only made life difficult when what the Path was working on conflicted with those companies’ strategies or products. The Path was in a constant war with them, but it had always been a silent, behind-the-scenes war. One in which bullets had been cease-and-desist letters, and Path broadcasts exposing the common people’s freedoms that were at risk if the Department and the companies they backed had their way. So far, the Path had been more victorious than not, but was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the amount of freedom the populace would gladly offer up in exchange for being numb and catered to.
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As she pondered the philosophical state of the nation, Rose’s Noesis user interface popped up, obscuring her vision for a split second — as if she had just put on the halo. Startled, her boots came to a grinding halt midstep. But before she could issue a diagnostic to find out what had happened, she realized she couldn’t move and fell forward, stiff as a board, into a puddle that had accumulated in the sagging sidewalk. Bystanders looked briefly but, like a mirage, saw only the vanishing figure of a woman who had been lying on the ground, and continued on their way.
A black Mercedes van pulled up to the sidewalk. Rose remained fully aware and instantly recognized the face of the figure who emerged from the electric van’s silent sliding door. It was Twitchface, who grinned as he shoved his forearms under her armpits to drag her into the van.
“Didn’t I tell you we could do this the easy way or the hard way?” he mocked. “Gotta admit, kinda glad you chose this way. It’s so much more fun for me.”
The inside of the van housed a fully mobile mainframe setup. It looked like something the Path would envy.
She was hoisted onto a car seat and strapped in. There was no sense in tying her down as she was already immobile, trapped in her own body. Rose understood now that this was no coincidence or glitch, but a technique the Department of Technology had developed and perfected.
“Now, while we were okay with you seeing our van and our faces and whatnot, I’m afraid my employers…they’re not so keen on you seeing where we’re going. Now, you would think that we’d just put a bag over your head and be done with it, but we can never be too sure with you people now, can we? You might have prototype lenses or whatever, so what we’re gonna do, we’re just going to shut your eyes off. For a truly awesome experience, I’m taking the liberty of shutting down your hearing as well. Have fun with your thoughts!” Twitchface announced. And with his button click, Rose’s world went dark and silent.
