Truth & Code: The Future is Black and White

Pizza Day

Block 7,934,256

“Hello?”

“Jim?”

“Yep, the exfil team is in place. Now it’s a matter of waiting and watching. But the entire border is monitored from just above Mehran to just south of Kut. So we have to wait and hope at this point.”

“Love it! Bitcoin has always been about hope. Good job, Jim. Keep me posted. I’m picking Laura up shortly for a date.”

“You got it. Love you, bro.”

“You too.”

“Thrux to Laura Cortez home.”

Jim is looking forward to his date with Laura. They’ve spent much time together, and this will be a memorable evening. He pulls up, and as usual, Laura is waiting for him.

“Babe, you look stunning tonight!”

“Thank you, my dear.”

Laura is wearing tight-fitting white crop pants with black stiletto heels. She has a short black jean jacket buttoned just below her breasts with a white silk low-cut tee shirt underneath. As usual, she’s put on her ruby-red lipstick. However, tonight she decides to go without the helmet so her wavy red hair can flow with the wind.

She walks up to Fabian and opens his visor to kiss him on the lips, placing her right foot on the riding peg and swinging her left leg over Thrux.

Fabian turns his head to his right to keep the kiss.

“Wow, that was a kiss!”

Laura grabs Fabian’s waist, squeezes her thighs around him, and pulls in closely. She twists her head down to Fabian’s neck to smell him. She can smell a mix of his cologne and the smell of the city that he’s absorbed on his way.

“Yeah, well, you deserve it. VAMOS!” She whispers.

Fabian lowers the visor.

“Volcán de Conchagua.”

+++

Han is finally making his way to the last node. He’s done this route many times before, but counterclockwise. Finally, it’s the final movement of the hour hand, and he will be free. Unfortunately, the last several drone landings haven’t given him as much freedom from the cold. The nodes have been at higher altitudes. He curls up, shivering in the black cargo bay of the drones. Dehydration and hunger are his only companions, but he doesn’t care. He wants to be free.

The drone begins a rapid descent, and before he knows it, he’s on the ground.

“Yes, Yes!” He screams.

The drone hatch opens, and Han jumps out. Arman is directly in front of him, landing in the EMC drone; the hatch is beginning to open. Arman intercepted the delivery drone just before the Mehran node and forced it down.

Han is completely disoriented and doesn’t know where he is. He never explored beyond the perimeters of nodes except at Ben Jianao, let alone a node on the western frontier. The morning sun is in his eyes and keeps him from fully seeing Arman. But he knows he’s not at the Mehran node site. The hairs on his neck stand up. He knows he’s in danger, and he only has one choice.

He turns his back against the morning sun and runs west.

Arman immediately pursues. He’s confident that with his rest and ability, Han will be no match for him. He can already see the disheveled appearance of Han and his limping as he runs.

Han takes the backpack off and drops it. He doesn’t want anything to impede his escape. He then unzips the jacket. The wind pushes it open, and he begins to pull it off. As he slips the left sleeve off, he feels a tug on his collar. Arman has firmly grabbed the collar and is pulling him towards him, twisting him.

Han sees Arman’s left fist coming from his left and lifts his left forearm to block the blow, but it’s not enough. The force of the impact pushes Han’s forearm into his head, and he stumbles.

Arman pushes him away as he stumbles.

Han finds himself on his back. One arm is still in the jacket.

“You mother fucker. I got you. You thought you could outsmart SO-Land and me. Well, you’re going to pay just like your lieutenant paid.” Arman screams at the top of his lungs. The sunlight behind him accentuates his movements, and Han can see the sputum spewing from his mouth. Unlike Han, Arman is dressed in perfectly fitting, pressed pants, custom-fitted shoes, and a flowing black silk shirt. His hair is slicked back. He’s dressed for a quick dispatch of Han.

Han makes the immediate connection that Arman has likely killed Min.

“Fuck you! Fuck SO-Land!”

Han manages to get the other arm out of the jacket, pushes it towards Arman, twists around to push off the ground, and starts running.

“Run all you want! You have nowhere to hide!” He can hear Arman yelling behind him.

Han keeps running west and notices a dip in the ground. He can hear Arman behind him shouting profanities. He suddenly comes up on an opening on the desert floor. It’s an opening to the Zingan gorge. He has no choice; he jumps. He reaches for the other side but fails. He falls and lands on a ledge about 3 meters below the surface on the opposite side. He manages to land on his feet, but the shelf has an incline, and his feet slip, and he falls. He tries to cling to anything he can, but the cold stone surface gives him nothing. He falls another five meters down to the floor of the gorge. He manages to land on his feet but, on impact, collapses down to the cold sandy floor on his back.

He looks up and sees Arman on the edge, looking down. Arman scans the gorge and does the calculations in his mind. Then, he suddenly turns around and disappears.

Han gasps for air, manages to stand up and begins running in the direction he faces. There’s no sense of where he is or what direction he is going. With every step, he feels pain in his right ankle. He’s sure it’s broken or at least sprained. Either way, he’s no match for Arman. He has to run.

Behind and above him, he can hear a grunt and then another. He figures Arman has jumped down the ledge rather than falling. He can’t look back; he’s got to run.

Arman then begins to scream profanities at Han. The sound reverberates off of the walls. He sounds like he is getting closer, and Han sees no way out.

Suddenly he sees a crack to his right and jumps in. The sun is still low, so he’s in the shadows. He quickly turns around and holds his breath. His heart is pounding, and he can feel it in his ears. He fights his need for oxygen as he tries to listen. He can hear Arman’s footsteps getting closer and closer. Han sees a flash of movement to his left, instantly jumps out, and pushes Arman to the ground. Arman is confused for a moment, and Han rushes at him again and pushes him against the cavern’s rock. Han bends down, scoops up some sand, throws it into Arman’s face, and runs in the same direction.

He can hear Arman coughing and gagging behind him. Then, finally, he sees a daylight opening in the gorge and runs toward it. The sun’s bright light momentarily arrests him, but he turns and runs against the sun. The desert has opened up and is littered with large boulders. Han runs. He can hear Han yelling behind him. The echo within the crevasse ends when Arman emerges in the boulder field.

Han keeps running against the sun and into the black smoke of the shamal. The boulders give way to smaller rocks, and he can see a vast desert in front of him. There is no sign of the dome with the moon on top. Instead, he sees a vast desert full of dark clouds. There’s no turning back. He doesn’t look back. He knows Arman is closing in on him.

+++

“Alpha one, Alpha one. Do you copy?”

“Roger, Alpha one, copy.”

“AI sensors have picked up activity one click to the east.”

“Roger.”

Hal turns on the sensors and scans the desert terrain. The shamal has picked up. Sand and smoke fill the sky. With the sensors, though, he can see two heat signatures emerge from the border of SO-Land.

“GO, GO, GO.” He commands.

The AAPD lifts off and hovers just above the desert floor. The AI sensors are recreating the event for the exfil team. He commands the drone to land as they approach within one hundred meters. The hatch opens. Hal and his team exit and are ready to complete the mission.

“Sit, rep?” Hal commands.

“Unclear on this end. We see two potential ex-fils waiting. Deploy decon drone.”

+++

Han looks west and sees two drones coming his way. The sand pushes away from the props like the wings of a bird. But they don’t look like drones he’s ever seen before.

“Am I still in SO-Land or FreeLands?” He thinks.

He keeps running west. He turns to look back and sees Arman about five meters behind him.

“If the drones are SO-Land, why aren’t they helping Arman? If they are FreeLands, why aren’t they helping...” he thinks, then he stumbles. With a quick turn of the head to check on Arman, he couldn’t avoid the rocks littering the path.

He trips with the injured foot, tumbling down with a twist, and falls with his back against the desert floor. His head misses a rock, but his right shoulder is impaled. He yells in agony. Arman is almost on top of him. He tries to get up but can’t. He falls flat against the desert floor again.

Arman seeing that his prey is wounded, slows his pace and saunters up to Han; the sun is to his back and now just behind his head. All Han can see is a dark image of the sun’s rays behind him. The swirling dust behind him creates a mystical appearance. The wind billows under his black silk shirt.

Han desperately tries to crawl away while on his back. But his left shoulder and foot don’t provide any force or leverage for him to right himself. He tries to push Arman away with his legs, but he’s too tired. Arman pushes Han’s extended legs to the side and lunges down on top of him. Arman straddles Han’s waist pinning him to the desert floor.

Han is now looking Arman in the face. His eyes are wild. He has the stupid grin of conceit. Arman has bested his foe. He feels more satisfaction at this moment than he has ever had on the soccer field. This is not a team sport. Arman has bested Han one-on-one. He relishes the moment.

“You fucking bastard. You thought you could get away...”

Arman is unaware of the audience. The wind has picked up and created a cloud around him and Han. Han wiggles underneath the weight of Arman with his arms outstretched.

Arman lifts his right hand to land Han a punch to the face. Han desperately tries to free himself and pushes his arms into the sand.

Finally, he feels it. He picks a stone up from the desert floor with his left hand and, with every ounce of strength he can muster, slams the stone into Arman’s right temple, screaming with pain from the shoulder while twisting his upper body for maximal force. It lands just as Arman’s fist passes the plane of impact, narrowly avoiding a direct blow to Han’s face.

Instantly, Arman falls limp and collapses on top of Han. Han hears a loud gasp of air and then nothing.

Han falls back down on his back. Arman is lying dead on top of him with his head over Han’s right chest. Han lies there. All he can hear is his breathing and the wind.

He finally pushes Arman off and stands to face west. He starts slowly running with a limp toward the drones with his hand over his left shoulder. He doesn’t know what he faces. He hopes it’s freedom.

Hal runs forward when he sees only one figure stand.

Hal meets him, and Han collapses into his arms.

+++

“Hello?”

“Hey, Fabian,” Jim says in an exhausted voice, “We got him. We got him.”

“Thanks, mate. Great job. It’s a good day for freedom.”

“Yes, it is, Ciao!”

Fabian hangs up with Jim and looks at Laura with a deeply satisfying smile.

“We saved a person, babe, from darkness.”

“I’m proud of you!”

Fabian smiles. He raises his hand and looks over his shoulder, “Camarero, por favor traiga la pizza.”

“I’m famished; let’s eat.”

“Sure?” Laura says with a quizzical look.

Fabian has brought Laura to the restaurant on Volcán de Conchagua. The same one he and Jim had watched the rocket launch so many months before. They are out on the patio with a warm breeze coming off the pacific ocean. Terrace lights swing in the breeze above them, and the candle on the table flickers. The sounds of the jungle around them have quieted down for the night, but the chirp of the occasional torogoz interrupts the sound of muffled music coming from inside the restaurant.

The waiter brings the pizza over. It’s in a delivery box. Laura looks at it and says, “I thought we were eating here?”

Fabian grabs Laura’s hand and gets down on one knee.

She looks at him and begins to blush and cry—her blue eyes well with tears.

“Laura, would you open the pizza box?”

“What?” She cries and laughs.

“Trust me, open the pizza box.”

She opens the pizza box and in the middle of the pizza is a ring. Fabian reaches for it, places it on Laura’s left ring finger, and looks at her.

“Laura, will you marry me?”

Laura gets off the chair and kneels with him on the floor, and looks him in the eyes.

“Fabian, how long will you love me?”

“Forever, Laura, forever.”

“Then, yes, I will marry you.”

Fabian leans forward to kiss Laura.

The patrons in the restaurant begin to clap.

They hug and kiss each other and sit down to eat pizza.