Ytterbium Fires by Bill Kandiliotis (ebook reader with highlighter .TXT) 📖

Gateway Bridge grew in the distance. They were heading north along Ocean Drive, away from the bluezone.

Ransom?

The possibility crossed his mind.

Statistically, and traditionally it was the sport for amateurs.

Statistically, and traditionally these affairs usually ended in grief for both parties. He hoped these weren’t the regular garden variety gangsters.

Tucker looked past the brute, at the passenger, dressed exactly the same.

A woman!

The body shape and the short blond hair protruding from the ski mask implied that it was, though he couldn’t tell for sure. Among the body odour and gunaline oil, he detected a faint jasmine aroma.

Or witch hazel.

The woman thumbed away at an old style touchy.

Who uses a touchy these days?

Maybe they don’t trust zoids?

What the hell do these people want?

His brain exploded with questions. The sooner he found out the answer to these the quicker he could formulate a response. If he let them carry out their plans, unopposed, Tucker knew, from all the newsfeeder spawned statistics that he’ll most likely wind up dead.

He needed to press the issue a little, so he decided to provoke them.

“Listen, I get the message. There is no need to take this any further. Give me a figure and we can work something out. How does that sound?”

A third goon in the driver’s seat, also in black overalls and ski mask, looked at him with cold, youthful eyes.

A young adult? A kid? What the fuck?

Driving?

Who drives?

Tucker concluded these goons had an aversion to using virtual intelligent agents. It made sense in a way. The fakes were notoriously unreliable. Sure, they navigated vehicles, operated machinery, managed offices, controlled data systems, regulated every aspect of human life safely and efficiently, but they also possessed a mind of their own.

Never proven whether the zoids were advanced algorithms or truly sentient this factor alone unnerved most people. For others, the simple fact that these virtual creatures owed no allegiance to any human was another cause for concern. Zoids either did what was asked of them or they didn’t. Some even went rogue, hence the trouble with hypergoblins.

Still, the technology spread everywhere.

Why do something when a zoid can do it for you.

With one hand holding the small piece of artillery fixed at Tucker’s face the brute used his other hand to take the touchy from the woman.

He shoved it into Tucker’s belly. “You are gonna to contact your broker.” said the brute, with a calm yet menacing voice. “You are going to buy a particular stock. If you deviate from any of my instructions…”

He pointed towards the rear of the van, “…we will throw you into the path of an oncoming freight truck for the entire world to see.”

Tucker looked towards the rear and felt the rumbling of the road. He’d seen a number of snuff victims on DisasterCaster. The waves were full

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Publication Date: 08-13-2018

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