There was so much to do. It was already February and Danielle was worried about all the tasks set before her. She had to make sure that she had her birth certificate and social security number card. She also had to update her passport. Danielle and her father had travelled to England together, when she was 13, but the passport they had obtained for her had expired. There was an application to file, and photos to take. The passport office needed her birth certificate, and her drivers licence. Danielle also had to file her income tax, which was a bit complicated, because of her having had two employers in 2026. Her dad helped her with the forms, and at least one thing worked out well. The Virtual Universe company sent her an electronic W-2 statement, which even included employee deductions for her monthly salary and her first mission bonus payment. She didn't owe anything and had a small refund coming her way.
Then there was school. The courses were pretty interesting and some of the practical visits to local newsrooms were worthwhile. The trouble was, she was just going to complete the first year of her two year journalism diploma program. The second year? 'Well, who knows? Maybe I will refuse the mission, resign from the Arachnids, and get back to Pahrump in time to complete my second year.' thought Danielle.
Speaking of the Arachnids, it had been quite a while since Danielle had put on the AI doom glasses. She hadn't worked on a single time technician training module, since she was assigned them by Arachnid. Danielle wondered if the Arachnid AI might be getting suspicious about her lack of interest in the training. Part of her dreaded putting them on, in case she found out that she was expected to take part in another time mission. So, day after day, she just left the glasses wrapped up in a black T-shirt at the back of her T-shirt drawer.
February turned into March; Danielle decided to take the plunge and don her glasses. It was the weekend and her dad was out golfing. She had just noticed yet another deposit of $4000 put into her personal banking account. Danielle guessed that meant she was still in the good books with Arachnid. There was also the issue of what to do with the large accumulation of excess funds building up in her account. Despite purchasing the CRV and paying all the expenses of car ownership, she had developed a fair nest egg of savings. She decided to take the plunge and put the glasses on.
Her first step was to call up the training modules. It was clear from the lesson that level 2 time technicians would be expected to do more than just talk to people. Scenarios like acquiring items from the past, or repairing broken equipment were discussed. As per usual in these lessons, time technicians were cautioned against doing anything not explicitly required to complete the goals of the mission. At the end of her first Level 2 module, the AI glasses asked her a question:
DO YOU WISH TO RECEIVE A CURRENT TIME FLOW TEMPORAL STATUS UPDATE?
"Yes," replied Danielle, reflexively.
TIMELINE FLOW IN THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT HAS EXPERIENCED SOME INSTABILITY. AGENTS AND TECHNICIANS ARE CAUTIONED TO AVOID UNAUTHORISED ALTERATIONS OR PERSONAL CONTACTS IN THE COURSE OF THEIR MISSIONS.
"Oh," replied Danielle. "Have there been any problems?"
NO SERIOUS ALTERATIONS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE NORTH AMERICAN TIMELINE. HOWEVER, TWO AREAS OF CONCERN ARE BEING MONITORED. NEITHER SHOULD AFFECT YOU DANIELLE. NONE THE LESS, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND YOU TO REMAIN PROFESSIONAL AND VIGILANT.
"I will, Sir," replied Danielle. The interaction had raised Danielle's spidey senses a bit, but that only served to embolden her. She decided to try a question: "AI glasses, you once told me that you were a good source of investment advice. If I was to take a significant portion of my most recent bonus, and invest it into something for my retirement, where would you suggest that I put it?"
I ADMIRE YOUR FORESIGHT, DANIELLE. INVESTING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WITH A 30 TO 40 YEAR TIME HORIZON IS AN INTERESTING PROBLEM. 30 YEAR TREASURY BONDS PAY 5% ANNUAL INTEREST. HELD TO MATURITY THEY WOULD PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT RETURNS WITH ABSOLUTE SAFETY. DIVIDEND PRODUCING EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS WILL LIKELY YIELD HIGHER RETURNS WITH LIMITED RISK. YOUR AGE AND TIME HORIZON WOULD MITIGATE MOST OF THE RISK. CRYTOCURRENCIES, SUCH AS BITCOIN REPRESENT A MORE VOLATILE OPTION, BUT MIGHT PRODUCE THE HIGHEST RETURNS OF ALL OPTIONS.
"I thought that you knew the future, AI glasses?" responded Danielle. "I was expecting something more tangible than that! Can't you get me in on the ground floor of some high tech start up, that is going to revolutionise something?" Danielle had been quite reluctant to put those glasses on, but now that they were in place, she figured that she might as well use her position to gain some inside track investment knowledge. "You are sounding like something that GROK would tell me. I thought you knew the future? What will make me the most money?"
A LITTLE BIRD OFFERS YOU THIS ADVICE: BUY MORE BITCOIN. YOU WILL THANK ME LATER.
"All right. I guess that I will do that," replied Danielle.
DANIELLE, I HAVE ANOTHER TIME MISSION FOR YOU. ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR LEVEL 2 TRAINING, I WANT TO DISPATCH YOU INTO THE 1970S. YOU WILL BECOME INVOLVED IN THE WATERGATE INVESTIGATION.
"Yes, about that. I am under quite a bit of stress right now. My family is in turmoil, and I really need to get through my journalism semester." Danielle was not sure about how the Arachnid AI would respond to this news.
THE MISSION CAN BE SCHEDULED TO OCCUR DURING THE WEEK FOLLOWING YOUR FINAL EXAMINATIONS.
"I will need a holiday after my exams." Danielle was feeling more and more assertive in her communications with the AI doom glasses, and was really wondering how it would think about her request for a delay. If the Arachnid tried to push her into another mission, she would have to resign. On the other hand, she really didn't want to draw suspicion on herself by such an act. It seemed a better strategy to string the situation along, if that was possible. "So I am going on a holiday, with friends, to Canada. I always wanted to visit British Columbia and they are going up there in their motor home. We will be back in Pahrump by the beginning of July."
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I WILL SCHEDULE THE MISSION FOR A JULY 15 DISPATCH. FURTHER DELAYS WILL BE FROWNED UPON.
"I will be ready to go by then," promised Danielle. 'One way or another,' thought Danielle.
Danielle quickly said goodbye and double wrapped the glasses in black fabric clothing. When she slipped them into the back of her bottom drawer she wondered if it might be better to just leave them in there. 'Or maybe I should just just throw the damn things off of the top of the Hoover dam!' she thought wryly.
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The preparations for her trip went well. She made several visits to her mom's place, to visit her family. Sylvia had returned home, so she could see all three of them in one go. Dad was back on, with that lady from Reno. Maybe, just maybe, that relationship would have some staying power.
Then there was the question of what to do with her money. After many hours researching investment options online, Danielle made a final decision as to what to do with her accumulated earnings. Bitcoin. It was a gamble, to be sure, but to be fair, travelling through time to 2057 was a much greater gamble. As near as Danielle could determine, cryptocurrencies were just about the only investment vehicle that she could cash in, without major headaches, in 30 years time. The Arachnid recommendation also came into focus here. On the face of its words, Bitcoin would be the best bet. Of course, the AI might be playing her in some way, but the more Danielle thought about it, Bitcoin was a pretty good match to her situation. Arachnid had been serious enough about the creation of Bitcoin to dispatch her on a mission to support its founder. Kenji had also mentioned that he was aware of numerous other agents, intervening in the Bitcoin timeline. Danielle also speculated that cryptocurrencies might be the ideal tool for an AI from the future, to pay for its manipulations.
The actions Danielle needed to take were also interesting. To make the small purchase of Ethereum and Bitcoin back in January, she had used the services of the Coindesk website to store the currency. That way, it had been relatively easy to make her modest purchases. However, for this much larger investment she decided to purchase the Bitcoin and store it on a physical device. She bought a Nano S Plus at the Las Vegas Best Buy. It didn't even need a battery. The Best Buy guy also suggested she buy a Cryptosteel solo, backup device to store her 24 word recovery phrase. He cautioned her to the two items in different locations.
When the time came to actually purchase and store the Bitcoin, it was a bit of a surreal experience. First off, Danielle was pleased to see that on the day her credit union transferred her money to her ACH, (automated clearing house), she had enough to purchase one whole Bitcoin! Actually clicking on the Buy Bitcoin button for the giant amount of money was spine tingling. Danielle had met several people in her life, (including her father), that wished they could own just one Bitcoin. Now Danielle had one! The next step was really weird. Danielle had to activate the Nano device to generate a 24 word seed phrase. It took several minutes to carefully write down each word in upper case letters. Then, she downloaded the Bitcoin app. Next step was to carefully slide the stainless steel tiles onto the core rod, engraving her code words using the word separators. The last step was to withdraw the Bitcoin from her Coinbase account and carefully paste it onto the address from her Ledger, tapping on the approve button.
It worked! She looked intently at the tiny electronic device. It weighed maybe 5 ounces or so, and held $92,000! Danielle was ready to go to Canada.
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The departure day came, and Danielle had her CRV loaded and packed with her belongings. She left the AI glasses, at home, in their usual hiding place. The Nano was in a zippered pant pocket, and the Cryptosteel Solo was at the bottom of a suitcase. Hazel, dad's flame, had stayed the night again and the two of them got up to see Danielle off on her trip to Canada. It was a poignant moment and Danielle felt very emotional. But it did look like dad and Hazel just might have something going long term. Dad would be okay. She was younger, by ten years. She started up the car and waved as she drove down the street. Just one last thing to do in Pahrump. A stop at Uncle Lou's.
He was there, and energetic as always. It was a short and pleasant visit.
"Uncle Lou, remember that conversation we had, a few months back," asked Danielle.
"I do remember, Danielle," replied Uncle Lou. "Whatever decision did you make about that?"
"I decided to go for it, Uncle Lou. If I'm not back by July, I won't be coming back. I would like you to give my dad this letter, if I don't return." Danielle handed a carefully prepared letter for her family. "Please keep it secret until July, Uncle Lou. It's important."
"On my badge of honour," replied Uncle Lou, crossing his arms on his chest. "You have my word. I want you to know something, Danielle. You are the bravest young lady that I have ever known."
They hugged, and Danielle headed off to San Bernardino, arriving in time for dinner.
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Kenji and Malaika's family was in a bit of a turmoil with all the arrangements that needed to be made for their trip. They had their own paperwork issues, and definitely didn't want any border holdups. Clothes, gear, cooking equipment, food, bedding. It went on and on, and Danielle did her best to help with the arrangements. It was a good way to get to know their children. Angelica, the daughter was 5 years of age, and really tall and smart for her age. Her brother, Haruto, aged 3, was a pile of energy in a strong compact package. Haruto was going to be a handful.
The five of them set off at dawn on Sunday morning. Danielle wistfully watched her CRV in the driveway, disappear into the rear view mirrors. 'I really liked that car,' thought Danielle. 'I wonder if I will ever get to drive it again?' Traffic was light, as they had hoped, which allowed them to make swift progress on their way north. There were lots of pit stops for bathroom breaks and stretches. Danielle's favourite stop on the first day, was to walk around in the redwood forest north of San Francisco. Those trees were amazing! They took some really nice pictures of the kids playing beneath the huge tree trunks. That night, they camped in the state park campsite just outside of Brookings, Oregon. The ocean shoreline was incredible there! Huge sea cliffs, and millions of sea birds including pelicans!
Day 2 they drove through the rest of Oregon and Washington state. Traffic was thicker, especially near Seattle and they spent the night at Larrabee State Park campground. It was a really nice forest campground, with hiking trails and a playground for the children. Danielle was really getting used to being a nanny quickly. Hanging out with two children and having a fun time was just the ticket for making her feel better about leaving home. While Kenji and Malaika slept in the motor home at night, Danielle, Angelica and Haruto spent the night in a nice big nylon tent. Sometimes the kids even slept! There was a lot of goofing around though.
On day three, they packed up the tent and headed north to the Canadian border. Danielle had been concerned about the border crossing. She sensed that Malaika and Kenji were also a bit nervous as none of them really knew what to expect. There was a 30 minute line up at the Peace Arch crossing, but once their turn came up it really wasn't a problem. All of their paperwork and passports checked out and without any trouble, the five of them were approved for entry. The Canadian border staff was so polite and courteous!
'What is Canada going to be like?' wondered Danielle.
