DRONES (SPECTRAL FUTURES) Read Free Page A

operational command, “this is still a few hours away from completion … perhaps five or six.”
    “There you go,” says one operator with a grin.
    “Send in the clean-up team,” recommends Kacey as she moves across to a collection of unmasked canisters and conducts an analysis of their specifications. Her robot also swipes its left hand just above them, gaining a low-level reading on the Geiger counter display on the broad-view screen of her helmet. “Okay, well, that confirms it. Let’s get out of here.” She places the robots under automated navigation and disengages from the operator unit, holding her helmet by her side as she waits for the other two on the team to step out of their own units.
    Meanwhile, the robots begin their retreat from the building. Once outside, they walk down the empty street to the intersection, where they wait for the arrival of the approaching helicopter designated to take them back to the local hardware holding center. They ignore the seven trucks that roll past them and stop in front of the warehouse, allowing the team of ten clean-up robots on board to be deployed with their equipment and begin their work.
     
    Gordon, a team member, looks at Kacey with a smile as he steps out of his operator unit. “At least we got there in time.”
    “See what you think when we do that a hundred more times,” responds Kacey.
    Gordon nods quietly, attempting to temper his mild expression of satisfaction.
    Stephanie, the third team member, walks towards them and says, “This is just the start of something bigger … much bigger, isn’t it? What was that?”
    Kacey shrugs her shoulders. “Obviously, that’s not our business, but I do sympathise with the speculations. It can’t bode well for … well, any of us.”
    “The captain looked nervous in the briefing, quite frankly,” reflects Stephanie.
    “I’m gonna go speak to him now,” says Kacey. “But I wouldn’t expect anything to clear up too quickly, if I were you. We’re not exactly in the loop on a whole range of things.” She turns, heads to the door, exits and glides down the hallway towards the elevator.
     
    The captain stands looking out of his seventeenth floor office across at the sprawling suburbs beyond. “Send her in,” he says to his robotic secretary just outside the door.
    He hears the door slide open and shut, followed by soft footsteps walking towards him. He notices Kacey’s reflection in the window just over that of his left shoulder.
    She stops next to him and tracks his gaze into the distance. “What can you tell us about what’s going on here, Captain?” she asks.
    The captain shakes his head. “Not much, Kacey. We have another operation just like yours underway in New Jersey right now. I dare say things will start making sense later in the day as events unfold and go more or less public.”
    Kacey looks at the wrinkles deepening around his eyes. “When did you give up?”
    The captain looks at her briefly, then turns away. “You of all people should know the answer to that.”
    “Yeah, I do, but you’ve been in this game for a lot longer than I have.”
    “We didn’t have adequate resources in the past; we still don’t now. Nothing’s changed. Let’s put it that way.”
    Kacey glances at him. “It seems to me like a lot’s changed.”
    “You may be right. But the essence … for a while it looked promising, and I even fell for it … maybe for just a few moments. But then, it became apparent, quietly at first, then like a hammer. This was never going to end nicely. It just became a matter of when and how … and that agonising task of tracking its path and waiting … no matter how well we do our jobs. It’s not about competence. It’s not even about resources anymore … although it gets operationalised as such. What it’s about and always has been is the psychotic, hyper-competitive arms race to promote and support dominance — that inexorable path of opportunity that’ll be taken by