SWNOVELS Chapter Drone Train
Drone Train
Block 7,934,106
The train begins to pick up speed as he leaves Fangchenggang. Han starts to smell salt as the train swings close to the coast. He knows this part of SO-Land is still sparsely populated. As one of the more fertile regions, development is restricted. If he can get to Haiphong before daybreak and make it to the node, he can implement Min’s plan. He hopes she is doing well. His mind drifts towards his wife and children and the life they had. He’s lost everything, and he sits on a train with borrowed clothes and borrowed time. He fights the tears back.
“I should die. It would be easy. I can jump. And it would all be over.” He thinks to himself. He’s tired. All of the joys of life are gone, and he doesn’t know if they are ever coming back. “Is this worth it? He’s just going to kill me.” The thoughts run through his head. “My life always counted for something. It has to count for something now. My Lǎopó and my Lilly, my Haoyu, and my Lixin are gone.” Han cries. The train rocks him back and forth. He shifts his bottom and can feel the sticky grease pull his pants. The chills are beginning to creep in, and he starts to shiver.
“I’ve got to do this for Jiayi, Fenhua, and Min!” He firmly decides.
The train turns north away from the coast, and he can see the distant lights of Haiphong in the distance to his left. The rail follows the jagged coastline and then turns south. Through the space between the cars, he looks down the distant beach and can see the first break of the day coming.
The train begins to slow as it approaches the city. He’s not exactly sure where the train line is in relation to the node, but he knows the Haiphong node is on the coast like it is in Ben Jianao. So he figures that as soon as the city’s buildings appear, he will jump off as soon as the train veers north away from the coast. He’s sure that will be the closest he will get while on the train.
The buildings begin to come more frequently. He keeps looking over his right side to see if he can see the leading cars turning north. He doesn’t think he’s that close to the front, so he’ll have time to see the definitive turn north.
The moment comes. The light of day is becoming his greatest fear now. He looks to his right and sees the cars heading north. He can’t look around the rail car from his position to time the jump. He’s just got to do it.
He reflects on his circumstances and musters the nerve, and finally stands. He looks to his left and jumps.
He lands in thick shrubs. Branches scrape and gouge him as he falls and rolls. He manages to put the backpack up against his face to shield himself as he jumps. He rolls to a stop. He thinks the jacket has saved him again with the extra padding.
He slowly stands up to assess where he is. He’s not in a residential area; he’s sure of that, so he has time to move around before a person sees him. He’s come this far in the clothing, so he figures he’s defeated AI at this point.
He heads toward where he thinks the node is; He hopes Min is ok and that her plan to get him to Mehran has begun.
+++
“AI, call Jim Shields.”
“Hello?”
“Hey, man. What’s up?”
“What do you mean what’s up? Are you ready to go? Is the team ready?”
“Yeah, yeah, man, sorry. It’s an expression...”
“I know, sorry, just anxious to be done with this. So what’s the plan?”
“Well, there’s not been a lot of activity since the last flurry of communication. So we have to assume that since they are sending what amounts to a distress signal, the exfil...”
“The what?”
“Exfil. The extraction.”
“Wow, are you some expert now on this kind of thing?”
“Oh, no, man, that’s just the lingo.”
“Alright, the exfil...”
“Anyway, the team is on the ground in Arar right now. We will move them to the border west of Mehran if conditions are safe within the next 144 blocks. We will use aerial drones around the clock to monitor the border and any movement. The only movement ever recorded for nearly a hundred years has been wild animals. So we should be able to see human movement easily should it occur.”
“Ok, sounds good. Ciao.”
“Bye.”
Block 7,934,110
Han has finally made his way to the node. It turned out to be the easiest part of the journey. He was thankful for that. He had time to eat his rice crackers and drink his last water. Then, finally, he gets within visual distance of the node and waits.
The last coded message Min sent him said she had started a plan to dismantle the extension ports at each location. She did this to show she was cooperating with EMC and Arman. Delivery and supply drones would move continuously from node to node as a means for him to get to the border of the western frontier.
He now had to wait to see if they would come.
About ninety minutes later, he hears the hum of an aerial drone descend and land next to the antenna and extension port. It’s an act. The drones are just a prop, and Han is the sole actor. The back end of the drone opens. This is Han’s chance.
He runs at full speed toward the drone. He scans to his left and right. He doesn’t see anyone. The rotors on the drone have stopped spinning. Suddenly the rotors start again, and the drone hovers just above the ground. Dust is flying everywhere, and he can hear the mechanical grind of the drone cargo door closing.
He fixes his eyes toward the cargo bay and lunges forward into the bay as the cargo door closes. Suddenly, he feels the g’s fix him to the floor before a sudden release when he floats up and then bounces against the floor.
He’s off.
For his benefit, Min programmed the drone to fly at a ceiling of three thousand meters.
Han successfully transfers to two other nodes. He figures Min initially thought he would be close to the drones for transport which would explain the near miss of the first hop.
+++
“Hello?”
“Arman?”
“Yes, Eleven.”
“Han has proved to be a commendable adversary for you. We have seen no activity from him...”
“Yes, I know, AI has projected that...”
“He has outsmarted AI, and he has outsmarted you.”
Arman stands up. He was not expecting to hear that.
“Yes, Eleven, I’m sorry...”
“Arman, you do understand that EMC directors serve for life. Do you understand what we are saying?”
“Yes, yes, of course!” Arman can feel the heat rising in his neck. The beads of sweat begin to form on his chest and back. He’s trying to control his breathing, but his chest tightens. As he listens, his mind is racing, and he can feel the sweat beginning to form around his neck and droplets forming on his forehead and upper lip. Finally, his legs go limp, and he falls into the chair.
“AI has determined that Han has successfully evaded AI and moved from where you left him and is now on a path that will most likely end in Mehran. They moved from where you left him, there is no data to indicate why he’s making such a move, but he is a rogue citizen with vast knowledge of SO-Land’s AI network. Therefore, he must be stopped.”
“Yes... yes... of course.” Arman is still trying to process the implications of what serving for life means. All he can think about now is preserving his life. He’s already done the calculation and knows it’s his life or Han’s. A simple binary decision.
“AI has determined that he has successfully moved from each Han Tech node to the next in delivery drones. He is currently en route to the Mehran node. Therefore, he must be intercepted and destroyed.”
“Of course!”
The call goes silent.
Arman jumps out of the chair with a charge of adrenalin to take the fight to Han once and for all.
He runs out of the office and heads to the AAPD flight pad. The drone’s hatch opens as he approaches.
“Mehran!”
+++
Han has one last trip; he’s on the cusp of defeating Arman and SO-Land AI. He feels no pleasure in either accomplishment. It’s just a simple fact in his radically simplified life. His life has been destroyed. All he worked for and believed in is now after him. He wants to know the truth. Why doesn’t he or anyone else know about FreeLand? The language translation is rough, but he understands the word freedom. Why would SO-Land want to deny freedom to anyone? And he thought he had it until he didn’t. Now all he can think about is freedom and truth. “What is truth?” He thinks.
The traveling altitude of the drones has been good for his breathing, but the air is dry, and he shivers the entire distance. He looks forward to the brief descent and transfers to another drone to warm up. He’s exhausted, dehydrated, and hungry. He can only hope the last landing puts him in a position he can make a breakthrough on the western frontier. He has no idea what lies on the other side. He can only hope the image he saw ever so briefly is accurate and provides hope. But he doesn’t know. He does know that the western frontier is a wasteland of radiation and smoke. It’s a place so wrong that it’s essentially hell for SO-Landers. The area citizens damn other citizens in heated arguments. Han can only imagine his worst fears on the western frontier. But he feels he has no other choice.
All he can think about in the cold darkness of the drone is the next step. As the CEO, he was responsible for thinking ahead and avoiding all of the what-ifs. Now he can only think about the next if.
+++
“Hey, babe.”
“Hey, babe yourself. What’s up?” Laura asks.
“Well, I’m feeling like we have some celebrating to do. Jim and his team... I mean, Jim’s team... He’s...”
“Babe, come on, stop that! Jim’s done some good work here.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’s still fun to razz him.”
“Babe, I love you, but he’s your right-hand man. So give him some kudos for organizing the exfil team...”
“Wait a minute... exfil... are you an expert now too?”
“Not really; Jim calls me too, you know.”
“All right. Fair enough. I love him. He’s like a brother. But I can have some fun.”
“Who do you love more? Jim or me?”
“Well, you, of course. But you have to know differently.”
“Babe, I love you. But, of course, I know that. You’re so funny. Anyway, why did you call... I love when you call, but what’s on your mind?”
“As I was saying... things are looking really positive. So I thought we could grab some pizza together. I want to be with you when the news comes in.”
“Wow, that would be really special. Yes, just let me know when you want to grab the pizza.”
“Yes, of course. Bye”
“Bye.”
Fabian has been planning this date for a while. He’s just so excited that it’s going to happen with an event that will go down in history.