Stand Against Infinity by Aaron K. Redshaw Read Free Book Online

fever.
She shook her head, seeming preoccupied, and said she would tell
his boss.
    U2258 was free.
     

Chapter 20
    Samuel. He had thought about it last night
and decided that instead of H662, he would call himself Samuel. He
got up and took nothing but the few tools he would need. Nothing
here would go with him. His old life was dead and now he looked for
a new life. Where could he go except to the outcasts? Those thought
too lazy to contribute to society. He hoped it wasn’t true.
    The sky was still dark. In fact he would have
some time before the light arose, but that was okay. He knew if he
was going to escape, he didn’t want to do it alone.
    Outside his place he hailed a pod. One of the
newer versions. He let it go and summoned another. This, too, was
one of the new models. He hoped they hadn’t gotten rid of it. He
tried again and this third time he was happy to see the older model
he had used earlier. He stepped inside and pronounced a
destination. He was headed back to work. As the pod raced off, he
began his real work or rewiring, essentially breaking the old model
to his will.
    Opening up the panel by the front of the pod,
he quickly found the wires that led to the dispatch channel module.
This he carefully disconnected and rewired so that the relay could
not be lost. Then, directing all controls to the emergency
controls, he gave himself full control of the vehicle just as it
pulled up to his old work building. And there, sitting on the steps
of the building, just as the sun was cresting the horizon, sat his
old foreman. The very man he hoped to find.
    He stepped out of the pod. “Sir?”
    His foreman looked up, his hair disheveled,
and with alcohol on his breath. “He’s dead,” he said. “And
nothing’s going to bring him back.”
    “I know. Do you want to get away from all
this?”
    “Are you kidding? I’m trying to get back in.
This place gives me purpose. I know I’ve let them down, but if work
had been higher on my priorities, the death of my son never would
have affected me so much.” He was shocked at his foreman’s
response. He expected him to be of a mind to escape with him.
    “I understand, sir,” said Samuel.
    “H662, are you leaving?”
    “I am. I do not believe they have the
answer.”
    “But I want to be part of the solution, not
the problem. A part of the answer.”
    “I believe,” said Samuel, “that they have the
wrong answer.”
    His boss just looked at him blankly for a
moment, and then his gaze dropped back to his bottle. “I’m going to
wait for them to take me back.”
    “Okay. The best of luck to you, sir.”
    Samuel turned the pod around in a three point
turn and on the third turn, a man stood in the way. He stopped,
rolled down his window and yelled, “What are you doing in the
middle of the street?”
    The man paused, then said, “What are you
doing with a hijacked pod?” A shock of fear ran through Samuel. How
did the man know? He quickly backed away. Perhaps this man would
turn him in. “Wait!” yelled the man. “I want to go with you. You
are going to the outcasts, no?”
    How could he know that? Hesitantly, Samuel
said in a quieter voice, “Yes. Hurry, get inside.” The man opened
the other side of the pod and stepped inside, sitting in the seat
beside Samuel.
    “U2258 is my ID.”
    “H662, but I will go by Samuel from here on
out.”
    “Yes, I should come up with a name as well.
It is what I hear the Outcasts do.”
    “It’s up to you,” said Samuel. “How did you
find out about the pod?”
    The man paused before speaking, “It is a
rare, in fact unheard of thing, that a pod would remain stationary
for a lengthy period of time for a man to have a conversation, and
not go to its next dispatch. Therefore, the pod is hijacked.”
    “Then why would you want to get a lift from a
hijacked pod?” asked Samuel.
    “Because you are going where I want to
go.”
    “How do you know where I am going?”
    “You just hijacked a pod. People who wish