DRONES (SPECTRAL FUTURES) Read Free Page B

someone if you don’t take it first.”
    Kacey stares down at the neat flow of traffic in the streets below. “There’s a certain smokescreen involved in all of this with domestic issues getting hopelessly wrapped up in international ones. They essentially look the same at times. For example, is it the imploding of domestic values that’s creating a hostile, self-motivated agent within the country, or is it a deliberate hit from an international location of one kind or another? I’ve often wondered about that with these incidences: the hacking of equipment from a distance, the planting of false data trails, and so on. It’s easy to do. Sometimes, I’ve felt paranoiac thinking is the right orientation, yet I still see myself feeling confident when making judgments like that one last night, for instance.”
    “Speaking of that, you may like to have a look at the interrogation video. I’ve provided you temporary authorisation … considering your …”
    “My what? Special interest?”
    The captain shakes his head. “I wasn’t going to say that. Your long-standing involvement in solving these cases is what I was wanting to mention, and also that this guy had quite a bit to say. I thought you may find it … well, informative.”
    Kacey nods. “Thanks, Captain. I appreciate your support.”
    “You know I understand our situation better than most, right?”
    “I know.”
    “One day,” begins the captain, “one day there’s going to be a majority. And then they’ll understand. They won’t be able to avoid it. Until then, we just have to …”
    “Dealing with entropy has always been ultimately futile. That hasn’t been a surprise to me for a long time.”
    The captain looks at her. “I was going to say ‘continue to go through the motions.’”
    Kacey stares at him, then turns and heads towards the door. “You could put it that way.”
    The captain looks at her reflection as she exists.
     
    Kacey sits in her officer watching the interrogation video of the apprehended suspect.
    The interrogating office stares into the eyes of Steven, a clean-cut and well-dressed young man. “So now … tell me a little bit about your rationale for your actions.”
    Steven smiles. “I’m sure I’m not the first one to tell you this, but there’s a certain asinine quality to all of this, to everything that’s happened over the past few decades. It doesn’t matter anymore. I was just trying to make things matter again.”
    “How do you figure your actions would ever have any hope of achieving that, Steven?” The officer takes a sip of his coffee and waits patiently for the answer.
    Steven leans forward in his chair, rests his forearms on his legs, and looks the officer straight in the eye. “People in a society, a world like this, always need their complacency upset … interrupted. They need to feel uncomfortable. If a certain level of discomfort doesn’t work, then just give them more. Eventually, they’ll have to deal with it directly; they won’t be able to suppress it any longer. The dissonance will need to be resolved head on. I’m just part of a movement. Sometimes, you need to take things to a darker place in order for things to turn around, to shift and start going down a different path, a wildly divergent path. My cohort and I are taking the responsibility to foster that.” He nods to himself while grinning patronisingly at the officer.
    “You really think that you’re … ‘helping’ … helping us to make a better world?” asks the officer with just a hint of contempt.
    “Of course. In the end, we all want to be part of something worthwhile. What you guys do is hopeless. Those supposedly in charge know it. You know it even.”
    “Don’t tell me what I do and don’t know.”
    Steven grins and continues. “Okay … but the fact remains, it’s global now. It’s everywhere. It’s in our backyard and over our roofs, not just every day, but all day … all day long … and so is the threat.