Kristeen woke to someone shaking her firmly. It was barely dawn. Brin was waking her. ?Good morning! I know you had a bad night, but we have to go! We have about 8 hours of daylight, and we’re roughly eight hours away. If we don’t want to…”
“I get it. Let's go!” Kristeen didn't need Brin to finish the sentence. She knew she didn't want to spend another night in the woods.
“I gathered some berries and mushrooms around here. They're super delicious. I also picked up some grubs and earthworms; they have more calories, but I don't think you want to try those.”
Brin pointed to two piles. One had wriggling earthworms and grubs as thick as a finger; the other had colourful berries and a few mushrooms. Kristeen turned to the latter. She felt a slight disgust as she put a berry in her mouth, but she tried not to think about possible infections. The berries were sweet and creamy, and the mushroom was soft, spongy, and deep in flavour. “Not bad at all!” she thought.
While eating, she turned away so she wouldn't have to watch Brin shovel down and meticulously chew the worms.
“Is that good for you?” Even thinking about chewing live animals was difficult.
“It's a matter of practice. I won't say it's the best thing I've eaten, but it's not actually bad. They're not even this tasty in the spring. Besides, this is probably what humanity grew up on; there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Brin quickly ingurgitated a few more escaping earthworms. After Kristeen drank her fill from the stream and refilled her, flask, she took out her compass and, studying the map on her console, determined their direction.
“Let’s go!”
Kristeen didn't ask questions; she entrusted herself completely to Brin. Looking at the huge man, she remembered the state he was in yesterday.
“How’s your back?”
“It's strained. But it's not terrible. The tree bark probably helped a lot.”
They walked on in silence for a while, Kristeen completely lost in her thoughts, and when Brin suddenly stopped, she almost bumped into him. Brin slowly turned around and put his hand over his mouth, signalling Kristeen to be quiet. A rhythmic rotor sound filtered through the air to them.
“A search drone; it'd be better if it didn't find us!” he whispered to Kristeen.
“Don't look up, press yourself against a tree!”
Brin also stepped up to a tree and pressed against the trunk to be as inconspicuous as possible from above. Kristeen followed suit. It was hard not to look up and check out the drone, but she understood that doing so would increase the chance of them being found. She even held her breath, she was so anxious. It felt like an eternity before silence enveloped them again.
“Do you think the Bhicoog will set other robots on us? Can they penetrate the operative network that easily? I don't want to believe it.”
“I don't know what to think, but I don't want to connect to the Knowledge Network right now. We’ll look things over later from Daan’s private network. I don't understand how this could happen either. Who had strong enough authorization for this? We protect the operative network very carefully. But when we get back, the data in our hands will let us stir up quite a scandal. The Bhicoog has gone too far this time, and that's exactly what will be their downfall.” Brin seemed angry, perhaps for the first time.
Kristeen wasn’t nearly as combative.
“I'd like to stay out of it. I certainly don’t want to be a martyr!”
“Don't worry, I’ll look out for you!” Brin smiled at her. He was weather-beaten, but still enormous, strong, and despite everything, somehow very cheerful.
“Thank you!” A strange warmth spread through Kristeen as she said it.
They moved quite quickly. They were following an almost invisible trail. The forest, the movement… there was something calming about it. Even if Kristeen’s stomach sometimes rumbled. Brin moved through the forest as if following some secret path. He was nearly twice Kristeen’s size, yet the trees and undergrowth didn't bother him. There was something dance-like about his movement, as if he were waltzing through the forest, light as air. Kristeen felt stiff behind him.
“You only have the old, passive implant, right?” Brin stopped for a moment.
“Is that some kind of mania with you?” Kristeen was surprised. “Daan asked that too. No one else ever has besides you two.”
“Before he took you into the mill?”
Kristeen was taken aback.
“Yes.”
“The new kind of implant is active,” Brin explained. “It records and broadcasts. The mill isn't just a research area; it's also a Faraday cage. It's invisible from the outside; they can't penetrate it with electrical signals. But of course, if you brought a recorder in, it could tap or record what's happening inside. Then, when you come out, it broadcasts it. Daan won't take anyone with an active implant in there.”
“Paranoia…”
“Do you still believe that, even after yesterday? That we are free and have nothing to fear?”
Kristeen shook her head.
“No.”
Brin didn't rest on the laurels of his victory; he just kept moving.
“You know nature very well. You weren’t just a common intelligence agent,” Kristeen jabbed.
“Yes, I was. A relatively common intelligence agent. It's just that after I quit, I thought it best to spend some time in the Zone—it turned into three years.
I learned a lot from the outsiders. It was good practice,” he paused slightly. “And it reinforced my belief that humanity also needs to be diverse to survive. We can't put all our eggs in one basket.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“But the outsiders are getting a lot of medical help now. We supply them with medicine and a lot of technology.”
“Not nearly that much. They have to produce most things themselves. But they certainly don't live in the Stone Age. Maybe you could say they live the pre-industrial life of the 1800s, with very advanced ecological knowledge and modern medicines. It's definitely an interesting path.”
“Why didn't you stay with them if you liked it so much?” Kristeen hated lamenting over the Golden Age, the lost paradise, and missed opportunities. She was much more purposeful than that.
“Daan sought me out to work for him. What he said was very appealing, and I accepted. We travelled all the continents together. He prepared the new-Humanity communities, and I mapped out the remaining infrastructure so we could use it if necessary. It’s the right job for me, and Daan pays well.”
“Does Daan believe in new-Humanity that much? Is it that important to him? Does the Truth Stamp bother him that much?”
“Even more than that. It’s his life, his mark on the world, his legacy. It's the pyramid that will be seen for a long time and from afar.”
The feeling of “leaving a mark” was familiar to Kristeen too. But she had never thought on such a grand scale. Or if she had, it was long ago and very vague. Now, she was happy just if students mentioned her at home or referenced her later when they had grown up. Some kind of a mark. Being more than the time you were given. Thoughts, objects, people that survive you. She only had as much extra as her direct impact provided. And Szveta. But her daughter wasn't speaking to her right now. How much will Daan's plan survive him? And how much will it give to humanity? Or how much will it take away?
“That’s so unfair!” Kristeen burst out. Brin stopped.
“What are you thinking about?”
“The damn pyramids! And new-Humanity, of course! You know how many people built the pyramids! Yet all you know about is Khufu! He may never have even seen it. It was just a desire that others fulfilled. And you don't know anything about anyone else. Only the pharaoh's name survived. It will be the same with new-Humanity. No one will know what you did, or what my role was. Of course, I’m just a marketing face in a billionaire’s picture book! But it’s only by chance that we weren't killed for someone else's ‘CAUSE’.”
Brin shrugged and continued walking.
“I know what you're thinking, and you're right. The world is unfair, and our power is very limited. The ego always wants more, but there isn’t any more. The only thing we can do is choose what we want to do, and then do it well. That’s all we can do, and actually, that’s not insignificant. It’s half a pyramid. If we’re lucky, half a meaningful pyramid.
So, for my part, since I’m here, I’ll at least try to enjoy what I can. To love the sand crunching under my teeth. That’s the only thing that compensates for transience. Have fun!”
Kristeen knew this feeling of lostness well. The helplessness, the apparent meaninglessness of life. This year had been too much about that.
“That’s not so easy right now,” Kristeen sighed. How could she have fun, in the middle of nowhere in the Zone? Hungry, tired, hunted, and not knowing what will happen when they get out of here?
“Are we still far?”
Brin took out his console and looked at something on it.
“If I haven't messed up, we have two more hours, and we’ll be home. We’ve come at a good pace; hold on a little longer! And if you ask me, we have wonderful weather! And for my part, I can't wait to rub it in the Bhicoog’s nose that we’re alive!”
They set off again. Kristeen thought about her life, considering what she had enjoyed the most. What was the most she would do over again.
“I think I'll have another child,” she said out loud when she finished her thoughts, “or more.”
Brin hummed approvingly.
“Good plan! Unfortunately, as you know, I'm unreliable, though I might even be interested in the project,” Brin grumbled.
“Nonsense, you’re not unreliable,” Kristeen snapped. “I know you better than that now. You’ll have to come up with something else so I don’t try to snare you! You never wanted a child?”
“Of course, I did! When I was a puppy, a long time ago. But then everything changed.” Brin lowered his voice in a way that made Kristeen lose the urge to ask more questions.
It was already getting dark when they reached a more open area. The edge of the horizon was filled with the city under demolition, with thick, black smoke billowing up from its depths.
“They attacked the library too,” Brin pointed at the smoke with his thick finger. “I should have thought of that. I hope they transfer the robots from the construction site to fight the fire.”
Kristeen broke out in a loud curse that even surprised herself. The only reason she had taken on all this was the library, and now it was destroyed too. The past few days had crumpled her up, and now it had stomped on her a little more. Brin looked at her in alarm, then laughed loudly, wholeheartedly.
“Wow! That slipped out, you had some tension in you!”
Kristeen wasn't expecting support, but she was angry, tired, and confused.
“Don't talk to me, or I'll tear you apart!” Kristeen growled at him.
Brin tried to swallow his amusement. He turned back toward the city.
“Let’s go, Daan must be waiting for us!”
“Daan? Because he's surely interested in us! I guess he’s holding some fancy new-Humanity press conference right now.”
“Not at all! Even if he didn't hear about our disappearance, he certainly heard about the attack on the library. He doesn't like it when his investments are messed with! I'm sure he's already on the scene, directing the rescue, which he's broadcasting live. I wouldn't be surprised if the bidding on individual books had already started.”
They set off toward the centre through the demolished city. They moved faster here. There were narrow but well-defined corridors between the newly formed landscape elements. Kristeen was slowly regaining her senses. What Brin said seemed logical. And maybe Daan really did have the means to protect them. Maybe. It got dark quickly. Soon, they couldn't see anything. Brin took out his console and used it for light. That’s how they reached the smoking library.
The fire was already out, and silence reigned around the building.
“There's nothing more to see here. Let’s go get something to eat!” Brin headed toward the hotel.
A thin figure emerged from the shadow of the door.
“Daan! Old buddy!” Brin hugged him. “Good thing you’re here!”
“I'm happy to see you both! I was counting on seeing you both again! Kristeen, good to see you!”
“Yeah!” Kristeen squeezed out. Daan didn't take offense.
“Let's go in! I prepared some food. And I insulated the hotel. Sorry, Kristeen, but I removed your assistant. You’ll get it back when we get back to the city.”
Kristeen didn't understand why she was so angry with Daan. She quickly retreated to her room, showered, and changed. She was terribly tired and just as hungry. Fortunately, Daan was waiting for them with a generous and light dinner. Brin told their story in the meantime. Daan looked over the book on Brin’s console.
“I don't understand why this was so important. I don't get it. But the concept is interesting. How you can use things, put them to work, that you don't understand. In fact, there really are many such things. We know some of their properties, but we have no idea exactly how they work. Concrete was like that, and I think the electron is too. Modern magic. We have no idea what it is, yet we use it quite a lot…”
“What about the library? Did it burn down completely?” Kristeen interjected, much calmer now with a full stomach.
“No, fortunately. The fire started in the storage area. One of the processing robots ‘overheated’ and set the building on fire. The reading room, however, is almost undamaged. The automatisms quickly kicked in. I brought a smaller army of robots with me; they saved and archived what they could. We will finish soon. I’m sure the Bhicoog’s hand is in it, but it’s hard to prove. I’ve already posted the 'accident' on the network. I saw that the interest is very high.”
“But,” he laughed at Brin, “more importantly, the afternoon of tomorrow will make the Church’s true intentions clear to everyone!”
Kristeen's suspicion that Daan and Brin were preparing for something illegal was taking on an increasingly realistic form. The maps in the library, the unwinnable fight against the Bhicoog that Brin talked about, and now Daan's hint. Everything pointed to it. Kristeen instinctively resisted provoking such a powerful and omnipotent company.
“If the Bhicoog is hunting us, where can we be safe?”
Daan didn't have time to answer. A sudden flood of light surrounded them; people and robots poured in through every door. Here and there, one or two black-clad AP agents appeared among the red-robed churchgoers.
