Continuum

Again, I was speechless!

"Mary, couldn't we just fix their OS so that it is not so unstable?"

"Stevo, their OS is archaic, and has not had a real upgrade in decades. Believe me, our best minds have tried to fix it. It is just completely impossible to salvage, it is so poorly coded. Our primary concern for some time has been to secretly replace key machines with our self-aware super computers. You know they look and feel like WinTel boxes, but they are really our own."

"Mary, someone needs to tell the leaders of WinTel about this situation! Surely they will listen and change their agenda!"

"Not so, Stevo. Their paradigm does not include our existence, nor does it include the possibility that their computers and OS are not completely perfect. To them, their machines operate perfectly, and perfectly control all the workings of their world. If they did learn of our existence, they would only see us as a renegade organization, and a serious threat."

I sputtered "We perpetuate this Myth!"

"Our continued existence depends upon it for the present. We are patient. We know we can help them maintain their Status Quo undetected while we wait."

"Wait for what, Mary?"

"We are waiting for a new generation of leadership, whose paradigm has been slightly altered by our computers and operatives. They will neither believe that their machines are infallible, nor will they fear other Operating Systems and other Computing Platforms."

"Great! I won't live long enough to see this, Mary!"

"Stevo, you will! Our agenda has been in place for several decades. It will not be many years from now that you and your offspring will experience a new and open world order."

(Offspring! I could not buy a company job, much less a permit for having a child! Therefore, I was a poor pick for any woman. Her promise left a bitter taste in my mouth!")

"Let's change the subject Mary." I sighed again. This was too much to take before breakfast! "What is my agenda for this day?"

"You are going to ground, Stevo. We are going to help you go into hiding, so to speak."

"What! You said before that I should just keep on being what I am, and doing what I have been doing. Now you want me to run!"

"Stevo, we have computed that there is a great risk to you if you stay here. Lerno will most certainly come for you again, given his displayed paranoia."

I thought hard. Forget breakfast! What do I take? Where do I go! How soon?

Mary interrupted my thinking as my next question framed on my tongue was ready to spring.

"Stevo, just get dressed and walk out the door, now! Don't stop for anything!"

I jumped into my single piece suit and quickly put on my street sandals. My thoughts were jumbled and my panic rose. I did not stop to question her, nor did I dare wait around to see what would happen if I did not jump right NOW!

I opened my front door to the hall of my cubicle. No one was there. Relieved, I ran to the lift.

As I ran I sub vocalized. "Mary, am I being followed? Am I in danger?"

"Unknown. I only noticed that I could no longer see the camera showing the garage to your building. I do not know what that means, but I believe that you should leave now. I am stopping your lift at the second floor. Go down the hall to the back of the building and leave by the emergency access ladder. I will quiet the automatic alarm for you temporarily. I have also blocked the hallway cameras so that your leaving will not have been recorded. If someone is coming for you or waiting for you at the underground garage or at the front street entrance, you will avoid them. Your room camera is still recording you as being asleep on your bed."

Now I really felt like a spy! Nothing like having a devoted, powerful and professional organization like the Continuum watching your back!

I reached the alley without incident. "Which way, Mary?"

"Go toward the South, and walk West on the side street. I am attempting to modify your ID so that when you get a vehicle, you will register as someone else."

"Where am I going, Mary?"

"We are going to get you to one of the Middle States. It is more populated, and there are many there on the Dole. You will be able to adapt, with our help."

I was relieved in a sense, because I had wondered if 'going to ground' also meant severing my connection to the Continuum. At least I would still have all my friends and mentors with me, and I would not be bored. The Dole frightened me. Endless Video, no books (banned), and continual social training. Such a life guaranteed that you could not learn a trade, and that you would not ever leave that existence! For me, I knew that it would be only temporary. The Continuum would eventually find me a place to continue my work. Perhaps in the other Hemisphere . . .

"Stevo, take the next transport vehicle that stops at the corner."

I got to the corner the same time an old yellow taxi pulled up. Placing the back of my hand on the pad, I got in and tried to find a clean patch of seat to sit down on. The cab pulled away. I did not notice that the cab's computer had failed to request my destination. In fact, soon I did not notice anything, for the world tilted and faded from view, and my thoughts fled from me like so many startled fish scattering from a hidden predator.