Freedom Incorporated by Peter Tylee (me reader .txt) 📖

for the only door they knew they could bypass. It was made entirely of glass, straight from the ’40s.

Jen plopped the rucksack onto the ground and took Cookie’s GT-field-jammer in both hands, not yet convinced it would work. Samantha nodded encouragement and she held it to each of the four alarm plates until the red LED flashed green. Then she pulled the handle, expecting an alarm to shriek. The glass was heavy, but the door opened quietly with a gust of outbound air that smelled like stale chewing gum.

They ducked inside, the anxiety of the moment wiring their mouths shut. Jen cast one furtive glance across the quadrangle, her eyes lingering on their target. The massive plasma screen showed a proud father smiling at his son who stood receiving his degree from the Chancellor of the University. It oozed majesty, and delight, and profound happiness, and made Jen’s stomach churn in disgust. The graduate held a portable computer in his other hand and the words underneath read, “Would you trust an education not earned on a Global Integrated System?” It was one from a series of ads designed to strengthen their stranglehold on society.

“Are you coming?” Samantha didn’t want to stay in dangerous territory any longer than necessary.

“Yeah.” It sounded dreamy until she snapped fully out of her trance. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

They weaved through the maze of corridors until they’d crossed to the far side of the quadrangle, immediately behind the electronic billboard on the second floor.

“That must be it.” Jen stabbed a finger at the small panel mounted chest-height on the wall. A plethora of green lights indicated the system was functioning optimally. Overkill if you ask me, Jen thought.The previous model was a synch - remove the old image-board and insert the new one. Global Integrated Systems had spent millions developing this system, which they’d boldly announced was hack-proof. Jen remembered the leer on Cookie’s face when he’d heard the announcement. Foolish. They must’ve known they were throwing down a gauntlet. It was like a red rag to a bull for everyone in the adjamming business. Jen couldn’t be sure how many other jammers had found a way to circumvent the security on the new billboards, she hadn’t heard any reports. But then she rarely did, Global Integrated Systems didn’t appreciate word of that nature spreading. It had taken Cookie two weeks of circuit analysis and testing to come up with an idea and another two weeks to build devices capable of breaching the system.

“It’s a shame Cookie couldn’t be here.” Jen felt another wave of doubt crushing her breath.

“We’ll be fine,” Samantha replied, the spot of her flashlight dancing across the room. “He tested it thoroughly.”

Jen reached into the rucksack and plucked a screwdriver set from the jostling equipment. She handed it to Samantha who immediately began unscrewing the outer case. Jen did her part by periodically squirting a blast of chill-be-quick around the edges. Cookie had warned them about that - a sensor would trigger an alarm if they removed the case, but they could render it inoperable by freezing it.

There was a protesting groan of cold, hard plastic as Samantha peeled the case from the wall and Jen immediately sprayed more chill-be-quick across the circuits, something else Cookie had recommended.

They goggled at the jungle of wires and circuits, dumbstruck for a short time by the apparent complexity. “Right, to work then.” Jen mustered her courage and testing the voltage across the key segments of the circuit. It was necessary groundwork in case Global Integrated Systems had hidden an individual code inside every unit. Cookie had doubted it, but hadn’t wanted to take the chance. Jen pressed the sensors gingerly to the metal tracks while Samantha read the voltage and checked it against the printed sheet Cookie had given them.

“Three to go.” Jen was sweating inside her black jacket. “Ground… and the junction between the scaling-circuit and the projector.”

“Exactly five volts.” Samantha scrolled her fingernail down the sheet. “Perfect,” she said, and gave it a tick with her pencil.

It was dangerous work. Ever since ‘59 and the big push against social dissidents the lawmakers had sought to make an example of jammers. Hefty jail terms, massive fines, years of repaying their debt to society - and the distinct possibility of a terrorism conviction.

“That’s it.” Jen wiped her forehead with a sleeve.

“My turn.” Samantha heated the soldering iron and worked to fuse Cookie’s custom circuit - a bird’s nest of colourful plastic-coated wires - with the control circuit. She liked to chat while she worked, keeping her mind occupied by something other than the threadlike tracks. The harder Samantha concentrated on keeping her hands steady, the more they trembled. It was a recipe for disaster when working on such a tiny scale. “So is that the last time you’ll trust Cookie’s judgement in men?”

“I didn’t really trust it before.” A shudder ran the length of Jen’s spine. She made an expression as if she’d tasted something particularly sour. “He should stick to circuits and stay well clear of my love-life.”

Samantha pulled the soldering iron away to laugh. “You should’ve seen him when we first started dating.”

Jen snickered. “I did. I was there, remember?”

Samantha laughed again. Her vivacious appetite for laughter was why people always thought she was merry. “Yeah, but you should’ve seen how sweet he was. He means well, he really does. He just doesn’t have a clue what his friends are like. You can’t blame him really, he spends more time with them online than he does in real life. Have you seen the way he talks to them? They’re all nuts.”

“Yeah well Russell had an implant.”

Samantha stopped work for long enough to gape. “No!”

“Yep.” Jen nodded, eyes wide. “He tried to comb over it for the date but you can tell.”

Samantha giggled again. “I wonder if Cookie knows. He probably hasn’t seen the guy for months. Was it recent?”

“Dunno. It’s hard to tell. They do a neat job these days - have it done Friday and be back at work Monday kind of thing. More chill-be-quick?” Jen offered the bottle.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Jen squirted another blast around the edge of the box, making sure the sensor would stay frozen while Samantha finished soldering the new circuit.

Samantha dabbed the iron to the circuit and the smell of burning resin tickling her nose. She loved that smell, it reminded her of Cookie in his workshop and the time they’d made love on the bench, surrounded by the seductive haze of solder resin.

“Suction.”

Jen handed her a tube that vacuumed the molten solder from the board. It had a mechanical plunger, which squeaked when Samantha used it. Then she lifted the small board clear of the circuit and the plasma screen went dark mid-commercial.

“Now we’ve gotta hurry.” Jen blasted a final jet of chill-be-quick across the circuit and Samantha commenced work on the final piece of the puzzle.

With the billboard off, security was sure to notice. Jen figured they had 20 minutes as the best-case scenario, less than five as the worst. She got the screwdrivers ready while a wallop of adrenaline tingled her kidneys.

Samantha made a sloppy connection on the final node and the jammed ads appeared on the plasma screen, or so she imagined. “Go for it.” Jen stuffed some protruding wires back into place and eased the case on as fast as she dared. They worked with a screwdriver each, turning the screws so fast their forearms and wrists began to seize up.

“Hold it you two!” The gruff voice sounded like the crunch of footsteps on gravel.

Jen snapped her head around, fear dilating her pupils and making the whites of her eyes large. He was coming from their planned escape route, a great brute of a man. He was close enough for her to see his moustache and the thick stubble on his chin. The guard was barrel-chested, more gorilla than man. His enormous hands hefted a nightstick in an offensive position as he lumbered toward them.

Samantha and Jen abandoned the final two screws and sprinted for the far end of the hall, Jen’s rucksack flailing at her back.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she darted down two flights of stairs, taking them three at a time. They’d reached the basement. It was dank and airless and an eerie quiet perforated the dark. Samantha’s breathing was heavy with fear and Jen pulled on her elbow to make her follow into the gloom. They shuffled forward as fast as they dared with arms outstretched, probing the darkness ahead.

“Where are we?” Samantha’s whispered, unable to keep the hint of terror from her tone.

Jen shrugged, a useless gesture in the dark. “Dunno, I’ve never been down here before.” She scraped her fingers along the wall. Rough concrete. They were in the janitor’s realm, an intricate network of dead-ends and loop-backs where more than a handful of wayward students had become lost and disorientated in the past. She quietened her heaving breath and strained her hearing to the limit.

Nothing.

Did we lose him already? Jen doubted it; the guard would have difficulty explaining to a supervisor how they’d escaped. He therefore had ample interest in finding them and would probably search until dawn.

“This way.” Jen trailed her fingers along the wall and penetrated deeper into the dark.

Their footfalls echoed down the corridor, deafening them with chills of panic. They both understood the consequences if the guard caught them. He may be big but that doesn’t mean he’s fast, Jen thought. Maybe we can stay ahead of him… as long as we know where he is. Another shiver stung her spine. He’s calling backup. And that changed the game. They couldn’t hide in the maze beneath the University and wait for the resumption of normal activity the next day. Within the hour, the campus would be swarming with guards. All looking for us. Jen had difficulty swallowing.

She groped in the dark until she felt Samantha and drew her close enough to whisper in her ear, “We need to find a way out of here. Fast. Any ideas?”

A frown creased Samantha’s brow but the darkness shrouded it. “I know there’s an exit at the back of 6b.” She smiled despite their predicament. “James went down there once to see what it was.”

“That’ll do,” Jen said. “We’ll be close enough to reception to try and get out there. Except that’s the first place they’ll station extra guards.” It was decision time. Jen weighed up the risks of staying hidden against the risks of slinking out now. Neither was the obvious choice, neither looked appealing. She shuddered at the thought of remaining in the dark all night, but then realised the guards would turn on the lights as soon as they found the switch. That made hiding somewhat pointless. “All right, let’s go.”

“Which way?” The turning in the stairwell and the pitch black had shattered Samantha’s sense of direction.

“I think we’re under the Faculty of Applied Science.”

Samantha sounded dubious. “What makes you think that?”

“This tunnel curves to the right.” Jen had been thinking about that while they’d been stumbling through the dark. At first she thought the zero visibility had distorted her sense of direction, but she eventually came to trust her judgement - the tunnel curved. “If we keep going this way we should be near 6b.”

“Uh huh.”

“Ballpark anyway.” Jen shuffled forward, her paces shortened by the uncertainty of each footfall.

They’d been walking for several minutes when the first wave of flickering tickled the fluorescent lights above. Samantha and Jen squinted to protect their eyes. After two more flickers, a searing light flooded the tunnel and briefly blinded them.

They found the switch. Jen wired her mouth shut in case they