SWNOVELS Chapter Haiphong or Bust
Haiphong or Bust
Block 7,934,157
“Mr. Tan... Han... are you there?” Jiayi whispers while she and Fenhua are crouching and walking slowly in the early evening dusk to where they left Han.
“Mr. Tan? Are you there?”
“Look, Jiayi,” Fenhua taps her on the shoulder and points to his right, “There, I think that’s him.”
They walk up to Han. He’s asleep. He’s moved a little from the original position. This position gave him cover from the trail and the view from the lake. They gently shake him, and he looks up at them with a smile. Fenhua hands him a bottle of water and some rice wrapped in a handkerchief with pieces of dried fish. Han reaches for them and gingerly begins drinking water and eating the rice and fish.
“Thank you,” Han says in a dry, raspy voice. His lips have cracked more since this morning.
“Kids, I need to get to Haiphong. Is there any way you can get me there?”
Jiayi begins, “I think so. Our circle status doesn’t allow us to use AAPDs, but we have access to AVs. And we haven’t had any issues lately,” she looks at Fenhua and rolls her eyes, “So it should be possible. But we will have to stop more frequently for charges on the AV.”
“The only problem will be AI facial, body, and gait analysis,” Fenhua adds.
“I know something about how to defeat AI,” Han says with a smile.
“Really?” Fenhua asks with excitement. It’s an idea that is foreign to any citizen of SO-Land. The ever-present SO-Land AI is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. All citizens learn this from an early age.
“Yeah, as the CEO of Han Tech, I take pride in being able to work a little smarter than AI. Of course, it’s not always possible, but I’ve done it enough times to know it’s not foolproof?”
Jiayi and Fenhua look at each other and gasp, “What?”
Fenhua looks at Jiayi and says, “Fuckin A!”
Jiayi just rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, if you’ve been around long enough with the type of work I have done for my entire life, you learn about the chinks in the armor. Fenhua, you’re a little bigger than me, so I can put on some of your clothes, and AI won’t accurately calculate my body mass index. I’ve been injured, so I know I won’t walk properly, and AI has not seen my gait since the injury. I can keep my hair messed up and turn the collar up on a heavy jacket. And I can use this to communicate without verbal identification.” He reaches into his satchel and pulls out his notepad and pencil.
Jiayi and Fenhua look at each other.
“Woah... what are those?”
“Well, it’s a pad of paper and a pencil.”
Jiayi and Fenhua still look confused.
Han opens the notebook and shows them his notes and drawings that he’s taken over the last fifteen years. He then turns to the last several pages and shows them the capsule’s message and the western frontier’s drawing. He then reaches into the satchel, retrieves the capsule, and hands it to Fenhua. His eyes widen as he holds the capsule. Next, he flips it over and reads the lettering.
“Twist it open,” Han says.
Fenhua opens it up and sees the beat data device.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a prototype of this.” Han points at a drawing of the data device in his notepad. “That’s what started this. It has encoded data that is connected to the FreeLands. So we used our AI at Han Tech to decode what it was, and the people in FreeLand started communicating with us.”
“How’d they do that?” Jiayi asks.
Well, it’s a little complicated; maybe we can discuss it on the way to Haiphong.
“Sure!”
“The device that was inside is still connected to the Han Tech AI network in Ben Jianao. So unless EMC finds it, it will stay connected to the network and be a permanent record of what’s happened. It’s been pushed out to all of our nodes on the Spider Works network, but I’m sure as soon as SO-Land AI figures out how to remove it from the network, they will, but that little device will keep doing its thing.”
“Rock on, man... that’s cool,” Fenhua says with a smile.
Han finishes his water, rice, and fish. They’ve brought him a change of clothes that are about his size. He asks the kids to turn around so he can change.
“All right, kids, let’s get to Haiphong.”
“Ok, Han, we live several hundred meters from here. Let’s go back to our apartment and have Fenhua change into something that would be good at concealing you and bring a backpack so you can put your stuff in it. It probably makes sense to get rid of your satchel. And since I’m the oldest,” she smiles condescendingly toward Fenhua, “I should be the one to go with you to Haiphong. Fenhua and you can change places. This way, ’Fenhua,’” she raises her fingers in air quotes, “and I am traveling to Haiphong. He can hang out here until I come back to get him. That way, AI doesn’t see ‘two’ of him.”
“Sis?”
“What?”
“I have to hang here until you get back?”
“Yep, it’ll be like you are camping, just like you always wanted to!”
“Fantastic!” Fenhua says with rolling eyes and a sarcastic tone.
“Look, Fenhua, take the capsule as your payment.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Han presses Fenhua’s hands around the capsule. “Just be careful never to expose that to AI.”
“Absolutely!”
“All right, give us about thirty minutes to get everything set up, and we will be back,” Jiayi says.
+++
“Ok, Han, we are ready. Fenhua is going to undress, and you can put his clothes on.”
Jiayi opens the backpack, takes out a blanket, and lays it on the ground for Fenhua.
“He’s still my baby brother.” She says with a smile.
Fenhua and Han exchange clothes. Fenhua sits on the blanket and looks up at Han and Jiayi, “Good luck!”
“Well, I don’t believe in luck. We have to outsmart AI!” Han says with confidence.
Jiayi and Han exit the wood line after ensuring no one is coming. They take a right down the trail and follow it to the nearby street. Jiayi hails an AV.
“Come on, Fenhua, get in so we can get to Haiphong.”
Jiayi and Han get into the AV.
“AI, Haiphong!” Jiayi commands.
“Ok, brother, sit back, relax, and get some rest. This will be a long ride.”
Han sits down and swings the backpack around, and opens the zipper. He pulls out the notebook and writes:
“When we get to Haiphong, we need to go to the Haiphong Han Tech Node or get as close to it as possible.”
Jiayi nods.