Prologue Olivia
“You have nothing to worry about. A limitless tomorrow awaits.”
– Generative AI
when asked about the future of humanity
“Any last words?”
Maria’s hand hovered over the execute button. It’d always been risky to send bursts of information to their network of hackers. The news recently had turned for the worse. Raids, arrests, executions. The government had been cracking down on anyone not toeing the line of legality.
Olivia smiled at her wife. The kid was asleep, and the two of them had continued to dare their dream of hitting reset on the world. It’d been Olivia’s dream, her mission, her Cause. She’d never hoped to share it with someone, and here Maria was.
“Go ahead. I’ll get us some tea. Perhaps we have not reached the end of our night?”
Maria’s face glowed with a dashing smile. Dimples peeked out from her otherwise hawkish face. Olivia headed to the small kitchen, rummaging through the cabinet for a tin of potent tea, one of her prized possessions.
“Hitting in three. One. Two. Three.”
Usually, the power dimmed as the burst swept through their equipment. Olivia waited for the spike of anxiety to pass.
Their lighting dimmed momentarily and flared with an intensity that quickly had bulbs popping.
Olivia gave a quick scream as the light bulb in the kitchen blew, sprinkling her with glass and filament. Rose started crying from her bedroom.
Olivia’s parenting instincts set in before she even knew what was happening. She ran to Rose’s bedroom, quickly glancing at Maria, who was frantically hitting buttons on her keyboard.
“Hey, little bird, it’s okay,” she brought the child to her chest. The nine-year-olds birthday was coming soon, but she wasn’t yet out of the kid stage.
Maria swore from the other room.
Olivia made soothing sounds as panic rose in her chest.
“You have to go,” Maria was suddenly at the door with their coats, “You have to go, now.”
Olivia stood, reacting to the order by putting the coat on Rose. She wanted to ask why, but Maria had already started removing the air vent cover. Olivia had insisted on a residence that had a secondary exit. In their line of work, one couldn’t be too careful.
“What about Terminus?” she couldn’t help to ask as she pushed Rose into the vent.
“It’s gone. They starburst us,” the light exploding made sense. As did the acrid smell of burnt electronics.
Olivia’s heart sank. Her life’s work was gone. She handed Rose a flashlight.
“Go on. You know the drill. We’ll be right behind you.” The girl’s face drew resolute as she turned down the small corridor.
Maria pushed her towards the vent, “You’ll be right behind her. I’ve got to stay. They’ve got to find someone.”
Olivia shook her head adamantly, “If someone has to stay, it should be me.”
“I love you. You know they wouldn’t believe you were a singular actor. Go.”
Noise could be heard from their front door. Olivia was out of time, and Rose needed someone. She turned and began her journey down the vent that exited into the complex's basement. It wasn’t guaranteed that they wouldn’t be caught, either. Maria replaced the vent cover.
She could vaguely hear, moments later, the front door breaking and Maria’s raised voice demanding an explanation.
Olivia and Rose had spent the evening in the basement of the apartment complex doing a bag of laundry they’d hidden for just such a reason. The military police had popped down briefly, flashlight evaluating them as non-threatening, and left.
Olivia was shaken. She didn’t dare return to their apartment. It was probably under surveillance.
“Come on, love. We’re going to get a hotel for the night.”
“What about Mama?”
Olivia didn’t respond. Maria was dead to them both.
The next morning was rough. Crying for a bit of the night hadn’t done her much good outside of waking up with a headache and crusty eyes. She ordered room service and tried to decide what to do.
They’d been planning Terminus together for years. The program that would save humanity. Olivia had not thought it was possible until she met Maria.
The woman was a once-in-a-century genius regarding Network infiltration and artificial intelligence. Olivia realized what she had on her hands when she’d tried to pin her down to recruit her for the Cause ten years prior.
At that point, they were just a tiny hacktivist group with vision, politics, and a little skill. It’d taken the entire team to track Maria down, and the only reason the woman had let them approach was because she was interested in Olivia.
They were a match made to change the world. Except Maria was in prison, likely on the list for treason. Olivia petted Rose’s hair as she thought about the future.
She’d known for a long time that though Terminus was her dream, Maria was the only one capable of executing it. She brought up her backup augmented reality office space and tapped some commands on the workspace keyboard.
“You called?” they’d created a revolutionary AI personality a few years back.
“Hey, love. We’ve been compromised. Are you clean?”
Time passed. The food was delivered to the room, and Rose happily munched artificial pancakes. Olivia watched as her kid ate the nutrient paste printed to look like old-fashioned pancakes.
“Confirmed. They starburst Maria’s lab to find her. They had not infiltrated our systems. I am on the beta-three backup terminal.”
Small miracles.
“Do you have data on Maria?”
“Affirmative. She’s being held in District 3, in a retention cell on death row for those who have committed treason.”
Even expected, it still made Olivia’s heart clench.
“We’ve got to change her sentencing.”
The AI paused in its response. Olivia knew there were a few variables to process. She brought up the virtual representation of the prison tracking system on her interface.
“The likelihood of this succeeding without you being caught is minimal.”
Olivia knew. This wasn’t a save-the-day scenario. This was a hard swap. She’d trade her life for Maria’s. She hugged Rose for a moment. She regretted her insistence on having a kid. Life was not going to be easy for the child.
“I know. We need Maria free.”
They worked for the next three weeks on the plan. The execution. The attempt to hide from authorities. None of the planning mattered. Once they’d infiltrated the prison system, a tracer had been attached to their location. The AI could melt into the Network and disappear to their delta site. Olivia was all too real, all too human.
They’d hauled her off with one last message bleeding into her earpiece. It was in the AI’s voice, just a whisper.
“It worked.”
Olivia’s dreams of revolution had steeled her to the possibility of execution. Of not being able to see the reality she’d been working her whole life to create. She could die with the knowledge that it was still possible. That Maria was still in the world. That Rose wasn’t alone.
Her heart beat loudly in her chest as the man strapped her into the chair. Her eyes looked forward, unwilling to acknowledge the circumstance. She kept her mouth shut, refusing to respond when the question was asked.
“Any last words?”
