A thicket of evergreen branches and twigs passed by the window as

  the bus trudged along a snow dusted road. Mary had spent the hours

  mostly listening to music while watching the scenery change around

  them from the moment they left the town. From the river receding

  behind them, lakes coming and going, and sparse housing giving way to

  unbridled wilderness. John hadn’t bothered her the entire time,

  instead he spent his attention checking spreadsheets, writing emails

  to be sent later, and finally, to reading a book on his phone. Only

  now did he shift in his seat, put his phone away, and stand to check

  the progress. He sat back down and nudged Mary’s shoulder,

  “We’re almost there, I now you’ve been glued to the window,

  but keep an eye out, it might be a little hard to see.” Mary looked

  back at him by focusing on his reflection. He had a slight smile

  while looking out the window above her head.

  “What am I looking for?” She returned her eyes to the scenery

  and saw nothing but unending trunks and needles.

  “It’s technically a mall, but you’ll see what I mean when I

  say that’s an awful way to describe it. Any minute now you’ll see

  a clearing, it’ll be near the tree line.” They waited for a some

  time and Mary was getting annoyed when the trees parted into a large,

  hilly field. Mary scanned the far edge of the field, looking for a

  large building sticking out from the landscape, something she thought

  would be obvious. Nothing of the like came into view, she was giving

  up and scanning the tree line when the bus turned causing her to look

  at the same spot in a new way. What she originally thought was a snow

  covered tree, was in fact a vertical turbine, spinning atop a

  shallowly sloping roof that blended almost invisibly within the

  landscape. This sudden shift in perspective gave her the ability to

  spot the entire outline of the structure which blended perfectly with

  the surrounding hills and trees to make it seem as if it had formed

  naturally.

  “What the hell?” Mary was busy scanning every entrance that had

  suddenly appeared, a small parking lot for the bus and other

  vehicles, terrace spaces, and even a playground.

  “We wanted to make it hard to spot considering we’re an

  underground ‘domestic terrorist’ organization. But it still has

  to be well designed and we wanted it to not disrupt the wildlife too

  much once the construction was over. We don’t know how long we’ll

  need it, but it should be sound for a long time once we’re gone.”

  Mary had finally turned to face John who was still looking out the

  window.

  “Why’d you say it was a mall?” He finally tore his eyes from

  the window, still smiling all the while.

  “That’s how we classified it with the local government. We know

  the local governor, but he’s a proud Canadian who’s not too happy

  with the annexation. Getting support to mess with the federal

  government was easy once we found our local allies. There’s

  housing, stores, business spaces, and government offices all rolled

  into one building.”

  “Government offices? Like, running your own country?” John

  chuckled lightly.

  “More like running our own town, which is much more appropriate to

  the scale and our expertise. We’ve got a little more than four

  hundred people living here at the moment.”

  “Why? From the news I’ve seen, it seemed like you were doing

  fine before. Doesn’t this just make it easier to find you?” She

  had returned to the window and was watching as the building grew in

  her field of view.

  “In a way, it does, but it also gives us a home base to operate

  from. It’s also a nice way to test our ideas about how the

  government could work when people actually care.”

  “Testing ideas? Like what?” She could see John’s smile widen

  from ear to ear.

  “let’s not spoil the fun, there’s a whole town to explore; we

  can talk as we go.”

  “Tease,” She pouted somewhat and could hear a throaty laugh

  emanate behind her. The bus continued down the road as it approached

  the station. John got up as the bus came to a full stop and shoved

  Mary’s stowed bag into her lap, clearly trying to get out first.

  “Whoa, what’s the rush?” He didn’t even bother turning back

  before walking out of the bus after passing an envelope to the bus

  driver. Mary rushed after him when she noticed the rest of the

  passengers were moving too.

  “Sorry about that, There’s an actual tour going on for the

  newcomers, best we get ahead of them.” John turned back to Mary and

  smiled. Mary shrugged and walked by as John waived at the man

  standing nearby with a table laden with a stack of paper that looked

  like government forms. She pushed through the revolving door into an

  enormous hall filled with dozens of tables and chairs. The small

  skylight above was over a small tree growing in the center of the

  hall, casting an ever so slightly shifting shadow of the leaves

  below. She looked around and saw a restaurant and a few fast food

  stands just opening up for lunch service as a few people gathered

  nearby. Throughout her field of view, the hall was lined either with

  open shops or various signs saying that a certain business was

  “opening soon” and a few spots entirely open.

  “Holy cow.” Mary was about to say something else when John spoke

  out from an information booth she hadn’t noticed at first.

  “Hey, I need you to come finish this form before we keep going.”

  He pulled a sheet of folded paper from his jacket pocket and waived

  it at her before unfolding and placing it on the desk. He grabbed a

  nearby pen and placed it on top before chatting with the

  receptionist. Mary walked up and took the pen and paper in her hand

  and scanned it. It was a citizenship form, having already been filled

  with a lot of her information when it had been printed.

  “Ok, creepy. How did you get all this?” The document had a few

  too many personal details for her comfort, although none of it was

  something she would have objected to handing over if asked.

  “Sorry again. Robin forced our hand a little when she met you, so

  I rushed our normal vetting process. Normally I, or one of our

  friends, would have done it with you.”

  “What else did you find? Should I be worried?” She filled out

  the remaining boxes.

  “Considering how you’ve made it this far, the answer to that

  should be obvious.” He grinned at her as she handed the sheet to

  the woman across the desk. She took the document feed it to a

  document scanner and hummed while checking the monitor.

  “Everything looks good, we should get that card sent out as soon.”

  She smiled sweetly at Mary and handed her a temporary card. Mary took

  it, saw a bar code, magnetic strip, and a QR code. She turned it over

  and saw that is was plastered in plain black text saying: TEMPORARY

  CARD.

  “The new card should be at the house later tonight if not tomorrow

  morning.” He pulled out his own card to show her, the front look

  like any driver’s license or national ID She had seen with the

  important details: height, weight, eye color, even blood type. He

  turned it over in his hand. The back looked exactly the same as

  Mary’s, the same codes and strip.

  “So … what does it do?” He stowed his card and pointed at her

  own.

  “A lot. That gives you access to the commissary, library, a

  computer, and later we can use it to set up a card for payments.

  Until then, you’re on my dime, which means…” He lifted his

  finger and pointed it over to the most popular food stand. It was a

  simple kitchen behind a display and register setup.

  “Cheapest thing?” She couldn’t hold back a little distrust.

  “Cheapest but the best. They were the first ones to be setup and

  even do take out, like we’re doing. Let’s go find out what dinner

  is.” And with that, he was off again. Mary thanked the clerk and

  followed after her guide. John got in line and starting chatting with

  the others about their days and work to come. Mary looked past the

  glass at the food behind. A small number of side dishes made from

  rice, beans, vegetables, and cheese and meat surrounded a pan filled

  with a beef stew.

  “What is it?”

  “Uh,” He thought for a moment “I think we’ve had this

  before, Vaca something.” He was looking to the man loading another

  customers plate.

  “Vaca Atolada, Brazilian beef rib stew.” The man responded and

  passed the tray he was working on to the cashier “What can I get

  you?”

  “Two of the Vaca Atolada to go,” John paused looking at the side

  dishes. “and some fried cassava.” He turned to Mary “They’re

  good with the sauce provided, or with clarified butter.” Mary

  watched as the worker dropped a base of rice into two single serving

  containers before topping each with the thick stew and closing the

  lid. He loaded the two servings into a bag along with a serving of

  long, skinny, layered sticks that looked like odd french fries. John

  tapped a bank card against the payment terminal and took the bag

  before saying farewell to the staff. Again, Mary followed as John

  walked along towards the hall leading out from the food court. “If

  for some reason you don’t have money, you can go to them free meal

  by scanning your card. No one goes hungry here.” They passed by one

  table after another. A few of them with people on their breaks and

  chatting with one another.

  “So its not a Utopia, you do have some poverty.” John stopped

  with his back still turned to Mary.

  “Good point, let’s hit the first stop. The employment office.”

  They walked for a short distance across the hall towards a large

  inviting entrance leading into a waiting room with a reception desk

  with a someone behind typing away while referencing a document.

  “Like with anything that can be strongly argued as

  ‘infrastructure’, We’ve decided to pull the private sector away

  to limit the amount of middle men trying to take excess value. We

  offer the service for free considering we only profit from more

  people having better paying jobs.” Mary looked around and saw a

  couple people waiting, either filling out forms or checking their

  phones.

  “Ok but doesn’t every government do something like this.” John

  waived at the receptionist who waived back and let them pass by

  undisturbed.

  “Sure, for many of the same reasons, the difference is the amount

  we spend on it. Imagine the efficiency we achieve considering we

  already collect the tax data from every business and educational

  history of everyone here. We know what sectors need employment, we

  work with each person to help them feel like they are happy with

  their jobs. We’re even experimenting with a communal workshop to

  help people work on novel ideas and inventions when they don’t have

  access to tools. The ultimate goal is full employment.” Mary

  couldn’t help but scoff at the ludicrous objective.

  “In the age of AI? How do you think you’ll manage that?” They

  continued to a bunch of open desks along with a few empty cubicles

  and self contained work spaces. A number of people were working on

  documents, making phone calls, or writing emails.

  “We actually plan on using AI to sort of solve the problem.” He

  stopped near one of the cubicles and turned on the terminal and

  swiped his ID through a reader. “Do you remember that big AI

  breakthrough some time ago?” Mary nodded. Someone had managed to

  create an AI that most considered true AGI. The cost was that the AI

  went through two training steps. The first was a major dump that

  every AI goes through at creation to give it a working LLM and basic

  functionality. The second was a more costly and continuous event,

  requiring it to be fed new examples of the work over and over.

  Eventually, with enough time and data, supposedly the program would

  achieve accuracy surpassing any human work. “We got lucky, It was a

  buddy of ours who got that patent before someone else. Days ahead,

  what a nail biter that was. Anyways,” He snapped back to the topic

  at hand while opening and closing several programs on the computer as

  went through the boot process. “Every documentation or information

  sector we control is using that AI. Virtually everything passes

  through human hands before the final result, which is also screened

  by a human. It allows us to both train humans on jobs that need to

  get done, along with the AI, which slowly takes over more of the

  tedious work, allowing more free time to the humans employed. All

  government workers are already on six hour work days.”

  “And what about creatives, a lot of people can’t find work in

  fields like advertising because of the simplification.”

  “We don’t have many big sectors yet, obviously, but there are

  laws in place about disclosure of use of generative AI. And it’s

  like I said, We are spending a fair amount on helping people find

  work, even if that doesn’t include a factory. Every one likes to

  have art in their homes after all. With everyone having more free

  time, they can engage in more creative processes, and can spend time

  enjoying more. Happiness and enjoyment lead to creativity and

  productivity, which in turn allows for more of the former. It’s a

  neat snowball effect if steered properly. Hand me your card please.”

  He held out his hand and Mary brought the plastic rectangle out and

  placed it on his palm. “Watch this.” He swiped the card through

  the same reader and asked a question aloud. “Jane, I need a

  recommendation for what position to place Mary here in,” He turned

  and whispered to Mary while returning the card “Everything is

  siloed as much as possible. That card acts as the passcode that

  allows the systems to speak with each other, and only in a limited

  capacity.” A female voice spoke from the terminal a moment later.

  “Well, she’s college educated, Economics BSc from University

  College London, moved to America three years ago. Ooh, naughty girl,

  look at that reading list, treasonous. Better keep her close to the

  movement. Although after, a recommendation for continued education

  and further discussions.”

  “Sounds like a plan, Thanks, Jane.” He closed the program. “Hear

  that, you’re stuck with me and Robin.” They both chuckled.

  “Robin’s not a problem, but I’m sold on you yet.” The

  ribbing was taken as such and they continued the tour as they walked

  out.

  “That’s a package deal, so you’ll have to get used to me.

  Let’s hit the apartment so we can drop off your stuff and eat

  dinner. We can pass one more spot along the way.” They left the

  office and stepped out into the hall, which was growing busier as the

  day progressed. Mary could hear the tour guide corralling new comers

  by the information kiosk. He was saying something about taking them

  to the museum.

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  “You have a museum?” She was curious now.

  “Yeah we can go back another time, I wasn’t sure there was

  enough before the assembly tonight. It’s honestly just a way to get

  a large group to hear the tenants of our system. A constitution based

  off the lessons of the US and other modern democracies. Lots of

  commentary about how the laws should be written, including about how

  laws are to be written to be readable to the average citizen. It also

  confirms our commitment to our key ideals. Everyone gets food,

  shelter, medicine, education, and a job. Worker protections, security

  to civil liberties, and setting basic examples of restricted

  behavior, such as advocating for dangerous ideologies like fascism.”

  “OK,” She hesitated before continuing but found some confidence

  nonetheless. “that sounds nice, but it also sounds like–” John

  held his hand up.

  “Yeah, it does. But we also try to avoid labels, people on both

  sides will just start arguing if you get too loud about it. We like

  to focus our efforts on building a better world for these people here

  and now, rather than trying to build some perfect world. We’ll let

  our betters in the future decry us for not going far enough, but we

  just want to keep as many bellies full as possible today.” They

  continued on for some time in silence until they both noticed,

  unknowingly to Mary, their next subject.

  “Speaking of things that make people uncomfortable. You weren’t

  kidding when you said this isn’t perfect.” John understood the

  sentiment but crowed somewhat despite it.

  “Just wait. These ones wont be all bad. We spent a lot of time in

  that constitution on this very subject.” The walked forward

  together and approached.

  “Afternoon Officer Moore, Anything to report?” Moore stood in a

  variation of the stereotypical blue police uniform found in many

  countries. He was equipped with much of the same equipment, taser,

  gun, notepad, handcuffs, body camera. Mary couldn’t see much of a

  difference yet, although the man’s attitude wasn’t as firm as

  many of the American police she had encountered since moving.

  “All quiet today, sir. Pete’s just off getting us some coffee.

  Anything I should know about for tonight?” He pointed to a man not

  far off at a stall nearby. He appeared to be in a uniform closer to

  that of EMS rather than a cop.

  “Standard fair tonight although we’ve got some exciting news. We

  have another tour coming through once they pass through the museum.

  Oh, and this is Mary, our newest rebel to the cause.” Moore looked

  down at Mary’s face and smiled while inclining his head.

  “Afternoon, ma’am”

  “Afternoon” Moore could hear the hesitation in her voice and

  acted on it.

  “I can understand being concerned, having worked within the

  American system myself. Bad officers going unpunished, or if they are

  its a slap on the wrist and they change states to avoid stigma.

  Qualified immunity and a culture that prioritizes police fraternity

  over keeping the public safe from dangerous men with badges. But rest

  assured, that’s not what me, or any of the other officers wanted

  when we signed up. We actually believe in upholding the law. We

  aren’t perfect, and we expect the system to hold us accountable

  when we mess up.”

  “And we promise to learn from our lessons and improve the system

  as we go.” The other man had returned with two cups, one of which

  he handed to Moore. He too was equipped with a similar tool belt and

  equipment, although he also had a small bag with medical supplies

  sticking out. “I’m still in training to be considered a full

  officer, but I am a trained EMT with a background in mental health

  services. Call me Pete.” A curious expression raised one of Mary’s

  eyebrows, and John decided to step in and relieve the curiosity.

  “Officers are expected to go through longer training processes,

  about three thousand hours, along with more available to earn more in

  return. We also offer a program that allows people like Pete here to

  become part time officers, where they are paired with regulars cops

  to help reduce unnecessary violence when possible.” Moore picked up

  Where John left off.

  “The station is also attached to the only shooting range and gun

  shop. We help run local firearm courses, get people properly

  registered to own a firearm, even work with the local militia.”

  “You have a militia?” John looked at her in a bewildered fashion

  in response to the question.

  “We are ‘domestic terrorists,’ that’s kind of a given, no?”

  She tilted her head for a moment before nodding in acceptance.

  “How does that work? Who decides who gets in, and who can activate

  it?”

  “Anyone who has a license to carry is currently required to

  participate, that’s how we found Pete here.” Pete nodded in

  response. “The militia activates in three situations. The first, is

  based on standing orders of emergencies, like the town being found

  and invaded. The second is under the mayor with workers’ council

  approval. The third and final reason is under unanimous consent of

  the militia leaders. We only allow the last one because all gun

  owners go through mental health evaluation, with the militia leaders

  required to do it even more often.”

  “Man, you just love dropping new words in the middle of stuff

  huh.” John noiselessly chuckled and walked away from the officers

  with a wave. Mary waived as well and followed, with the two men

  nodding after her before returning to their own work and

  conversation.

  “Workers’ council? Yeah, rather than having a panel of community

  elected representatives, we decided the city should primarily be

  governed by the different businesses.” He began climbing a set of

  stairs to Mary’s right, but continued without pausing the thought.

  “Each business elects one representative, whether that be the

  owner, the leader of the union or co-op, or just some employee that

  best represents the company and workers.” He paused now, a few

  steps beyond the stairway, and almost caused Mary to run into his

  back. “I should say, while we do allow private ownership of

  businesses, it’s heavily regulated to ensure the workers aren’t

  abused. And never in anything vital.” He turned around and grinned

  at her, “Gotta make sure that profit incentive doesn’t make

  people crazy.” He continued down the second floor balcony, passing

  by front doors, window gardens, and patio furniture that all made the

  space feel like they were actually outside walking through a

  neighborhood.

  They continued walking for a minute until they nearly reached the

  end of the hall, at which point, John pulled out a key ring. He

  fumbled one handed for a moment while he found the correct key. He

  was stopped before a completely untouched door with no decorations,

  not even a welcome mat.

  “You two sure aren’t fond of leaving an impact.” She gave a

  single heartless “heh” at her own joke, although it amused John

  much more.

  “Call it an occupational habit and hazard. For one, Robin and I

  are barely in the same room for long now, too much work to be done.

  Secondly, we are the back end that keeps this whole place running,

  not to mention the entire resistance. Again, so much work to be

  done.” He unlocked the door and turned the handle to open it. He

  walked in with Mary close behind. The interior was as sparsely

  decorated as the exterior. There was a sofa, TV, kitchen table, and

  all other required necessities of occupation, but there was nothing

  else to note human habitation within. John dropped the bag of food on

  the table and walked to one of the three doors that didn’t lead

  outside. The one set in the corner, Mary guessed was a bathroom, and

  John opened his door to a small bedroom with a queen size bed and

  little other furniture. He dropped his bag on the bed and took his

  coat off to place in a closet Mary couldn’t see.

  “Where should I…” The question hung for a second while John

  slowly realized the ending.

  “Oh yeah, sorry. The other room is all yours. Robin and I will

  share this room. We don’t mind sharing a bed after living together

  for so long, and like I said, We’re usually too busy to sleep at

  the same time. If not, well the sofa has a pull out.” Mary mumbled

  and assent to the statement before opening the other door and finding

  what must have been an exact mirror of the one John stood within. She

  closed the door most of the way for privacy and began changing into

  some of the fresh clothes she had in her bag.

  “Are all the apartments like this one?”

  “No, there are bigger ones, but obviously we didn’t need one. We

  have a few families here with kids enrolled in our school.”

  “Are they guinea pigs too?” A harsh laugh came from the other

  room, with the response following out the door and into the main

  room.

  “Harsh way to put it, but technically yes. We pushed the teachers

  to try a Khan academy style teaching, where the kids watch videos

  individually and then get graded over time based on progress. Yet

  again, we’re mixing in the new AI system, but we also made sure

  that there are never more than ten students per teacher. This should

  provide a more individualistic approach to education, but still have

  enough teachers to ensure the students are keeping up. We let the

  teachers pick the curriculum that goes into the system, and have

  enough authority to totally drop the AI system should it start

  creating problems.” She could hear the sound of John pulling out

  his meal before pulling silverware from a drawer and seating himself

  on the coach. Mary finished getting dressed and joined him. “Anything

  else you want to ask about?” Mary thought for a moment before

  remembering something John had said earlier.

  “You said the card lets me access a computer, and you used your to

  access the one in the office. So I can’t use one without it?”

  John swallowed his mouthful after a chewing.

  “Only the publicly available ones. We create a personal profile

  for you to use at any station that is accessed at the swipe of your

  card. Private computers have no lock.” He was about to take another

  bite when he remembered something of his own. “Remind me to help

  you set up your social media account later.”

  “I’ll need help?”

  “No, but we run our own network. We operate publicly owned

  versions of many of the same networks you’re used to, but we do

  require ID to use it. It’s how we keep AI off the platform.

  Technically, anyone in the globe can sign up, and anyone here can use

  the other popular social media networks at anytime. Ours is just

  nearly completely free of AI systems, and run by a small board of

  elected officials that preside over it. You actually get to vote for

  them from within the network itself the moment you log in. The board

  is responsible when they fail to uphold our laws, but they maintain

  ultimate authority over the space otherwise.” The conversation

  continued in this fashion until Mary was satisfied in both hunger and

  curiosity. John checked his phone for the time. He got up and

  motioned for Mary to join him and they left the apartment.

  It had grown dark, which at this latitude said little about how late

  in the day it was. They walked back to the same entrance hall they

  had started at, but Mary noticed a small stage had been placed

  between them and the seating area. Mary noticed Robin standing near

  the stage with her phone out. After a moment of scrolling, She

  finally looked up and noticed the two. She smiled and greeted them

  both, holding her hand out to shake Mary’s, who had misread the

  move and gone for a hug instead. They stopped, swapped positions, and

  stood there for a silent moment before laughing at each other and

  finishing the hug. She turned to John now, getting to business.

  “Anything I should care about tonight?”

  “Nope, scroll away.” She looked entirely too gleeful at being

  able to apparently relax for the first time in a while.

  “How was the trip and how do you like it so far?” Robin let the

  phone hang by her side while talking to Mary. John stepped away to

  peak around the stage.

  “It was a long drive, but this place looks great. I learned so

  much already my head feels like it’s about to pop.” Robin

  giggled.

  “I’m guessing you didn’t even get to take the welcome tour.

  Tomorrow before I head out we can go exploring while John works.

  Tonight you just have to sit there, I’ll make sure to send you some

  good memes.” Mary laughed but had no intention of simply scrolling.

  John returned before they could continue the chatter

  “Ok, you two, show time.” They walked around the stage and Mary

  was hit with the sight of three hundred complete strangers all

  looking in her direction. She tried not to shake from the new

  uncomfortable situation, and followed Robin and John as they walked

  up the stairs and took their place in seats off to the side, away

  from the microphone which sat front and center.

  After a slightly embarrassing moment moment where the speaker

  acknowledged Mary and her new position. She moved on from the moment,

  before sitting through the next hour which was tedious and boring. It

  made Mary want to pull out her phone and join Robin at every second.

  She, however, forced herself to listen to every presented measure and

  initiative, the calls of the crowd as they assented or dissented

  accordingly. The night seemed to go fairly well until the very end.

  One of the council members presented the plan to build a new rail

  line that would go along the same road Mary had rid the bus along.

  One woman got up, the bus driver’s wife apparently, and began

  shouting down the stage.

  “You can’t just take our jobs. What is my husband supposed to do

  if this train replaces the bus?” A man got up and joined her in

  similar fashion.

  “Yeah what does this mean for my delivery service? Will the train

  be taking cargo too? What am I supposed to do with my truck drivers?”

  The poor man at the microphone was not prepared for such a rush of

  distaste for the project. He tried a number of times to answer the

  questions posed and quell the swelling anger, but to no avail.

  Mary heard John speak up to her left as he stood, “I guess it’s

  my turn.” Mary turned to Robin who was still absorbed in her phone,

  but apparently had enough presence of mind to waive of any concern at

  the growing volume in the room. John stood before the microphone

  after the council member felt a hand on his shoulder and stepped

  back. His presence alone had been enough to quiet a good portion of

  the noise and was able to staunch the rest with nearly the exact same

  answers the previous man had tried. Nearly everyone had settled,

  except for the original woman who was still upset.

  “And why weren’t we clued into this before tonight? I thought we

  all had a say in this.” John’s response came calm and collected.

  “We already talked with your husband, but asked him to keep it

  secret until tonight. We wanted to make sure we got enough demand

  before committing. He got full confirmation earlier today and will

  start the training to be our first engineer tomorrow morning. It

  should come with a nice pay bump too.” The woman found no response

  for a moment before growing flush and sitting down in silence. “I

  want to use this opportunity to remind everyone here of one important

  thing. Shame may be a good temporary measure to keep people behaving

  responsibly, it will only separate them in the long run. When we have

  these issues, I want to make sure everyone stays supportive, and

  remembers that we are one community working together to make a better

  world.” He ended the speech there and let the other members

  continue with the rest of the night. When the meeting was over, John

  was the first to stand and made sure to spend a moment with each

  person who had stood in opposition to the train, especially so with

  the first woman. He returned to Robin and Mary, who had stayed on the

  platform chatting and sharing jokes. They walked back to the

  apartment in silence. Robin didn’t sleep and instead left them to

  work on something over the night.

  Mary woke the next morning and found Robin taking a cat nap on the

  couch with the only pillow beneath her head. Robin woke at the sound

  of Mary closing the door and was immediately ready for action. Mary

  was rushed out to explore, Robin explaining she would be leaving town

  with the noon bus. They ate breakfast, burritos, made from the same

  stall as the Vaca Atolada. They explored the museum, took a lap

  outside, bought Mary new clothes, visited the growing number of other

  stores, and even picked up lunches for Robin, Mary, and John before

  going their separate ways.

  Mary stood at the door and realized she didn’t have a key, and

  knocked awkwardly at her own door. John opened it and grabbed the bag

  of food from her when he noticed the bags of clothes she was

  carrying. She took the clothes to her room and dropped it all on her

  bed before returning to couch. John handed her the tray of food with

  a napkin and smiled at her.

  “That girl doesn’t stop, does she?” Mary took the plate and

  placed it on her lap with a sigh.

  “Not since I’ve met her. But that’s how you know she likes

  you, she slows down.” They both burst at the statement.

  “You call that slowing down? Jeez, we didn’t sit down once.”

  They ate in silence for a moment before Mary stopped to ask a

  question but held back, partly in fear partly in uncertainty. John

  noticed the change in attitude and spoke first.

  “What’s up? Something wrong with the food? We can take it back.”

  The concern was real, which scared Mary even more.

  “No, no. The food is delicious. I just…” John waited in

  silence while she found the words. “This is nice, but there’s no

  such thing as a free meal. I’m just worried about what you all

  expect me to do. I’m not some gunslinger or cat burglar. What do

  you all want from me? Your computer said to keep me close, but you

  still haven’t told me what my job is.” John dropped the plate on

  the arm of the sofa and leaned back.

  “I was hoping to have this conversation in a couple days, but here

  we are.” He was choosing his words carefully. “You are still new,

  and it’s not that we distrust you…”

  “You just want to be sure, so what do I have to do?”

  “We have a job in mind, and remember you can decline. If you do,

  it’ll take us some more time to come up with what to do, but

  honestly, we think you could make a nice addition. You know, help

  Robin and I by taking some of the load.”

  “You’re avoiding something.” John dropped his head and sighed,

  having nothing else but the direct truth.

  “Would you be willing to become a political prisoner?”