Freedom TM

out to the darknet, flagged
maximum priority
. Then he and Philips stared into space for several moments in silence, her hand over her mouth in horror.
    Philips spoke first. “They’re going to deliberately invoke the Destroy function against everyone else. And in the chaos, they’ll seize control.”
    Philips just held her head in her hands.
    “We can still do something, Natalie. People know about this now.” She stood up and walked through a pair of French doors to get some fresh air. There was a patio just off the bedroom on the second floor, and it overlooked the grassy plain leading up to the huge main house in the distance. It was lit up like Cape Canaveral. Baroque music could be heard coming softly from the mansion, Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons,
and she could see shadows of party guests moving about on the terraces among ornamental lights.
    Ross followed her outside, and they both stood at the railing.
    Philips spoke matter-of-factly. “The Weyburn Labs team is preparing to hijack what’s left of the Daemon. They’re going to use it as a means to control people—just like Sobol did. Only this time, for their personal benefit.”
    “Nat—”
    “Even if we stop their plan, they’ll still seize control of the Daemon.”
    The music in the background didn’t match the grimness of their predicament.
    Ross gazed at the distant party. “The plutocrat’s ball.”
    She nodded. “Celebrating their victory.”
    Philips turned to see Ross come up alongside her and put a hand on her shoulder.
    She shook her head. “I gave it to them, Jon. We cracked Sobol’s code, and I gave it to the plutocrats. The same API they’ll use as a weapon against the world. How many generations will be reduced to slavery because of me?”
    “You couldn’t have known.”
    “I’m supposed to be able to find the real message in the noise, Jon. That was my gift.”
    “You had faith in democracy, Natalie. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    Tears started to roll down her face. “Not you, though. You were the smart one. You never had faith in anyone but yourself.”
    He grimaced. “You know that’s not true.” He leaned against the stone wall, his back to the distant soiree. His eyes settled on her.
    Philips shook her head. “It all seems so clear now. Corporate intrusion into public institutions. Corporate domination of culture and media. It happened in plain view, with us cheering on their success as if it reflected well on us. As if it
was
us.”
    “By now millions of people know the truth. In a couple of hours, we’ll have enough people mobilized to stop them. We can still beat them, Nat.”
    She laughed ruefully. “
How
, Jon? They own everything. They’re not a stupid computer program. They can’t be hacked. And the Daemon
can
be hacked.”
    She felt ashamed imagining the gargantuan social, financial, and commercial networks arrayed against them. Their opponents were so numerous. So powerful. “We can’t beat them.”
    They sat in silence for a few moments, the music providing a backdrop.
    He sighed. “You always wanted to know my real name.”
    She looked up at him in surprise.
    “If you want to know my name, I’ll tell you.…”
    “Jon, I—”
    “I am Ivan Borovich. My father was Aleksey Borovich. He died on October fourth, 1993, after Boris Yeltsin dissolved our democratically elected legislature. My father went to defend it, but he was killed when tanks shelled the Russian White House and Yeltsin’s troops stormed in shooting. Media in the West called my father a ‘communist holdout.’ But he laid down his life for democracy. Not for himself—but for
me
, and my brothers and sisters. And his countrymen.”
    Philips moved closer to him as he spoke. “Jon …”
    “They may beat us, Natalie, but as long as there’s another generation, there will always be hope.”
    She kissed him tenderly, forgetting for the moment her anguish and doubt.

Chapter 36: // Downtime
    Darknet Top-rated Posts +1,695,383↑
    Loki Stormbringer has been spotted in south Texas at a place called Sky Ranch—where Unnamed_1 was recently rescued. Loki has summoned nearly every AutoM8 and razorback in the central United States. That any one person has the points to do that should worry us all.
    Hamlein_2****/ 2,051 18th-level Scout
    In the Sky Ranch Ops Center, Weyburn Labs network analysts calmly spoke instructions into headsets while the chief operating officer of Korr Military Solutions, General Andrew Connelly, and