Chapter 8: Chapter 7: Committed

June 25th, 2038, Buffalo History Museum, Buffalo, NY

Since we met with Duce the other night all I’ve been asking myself is “are we really going to do this?” I remember Terrance’s warning when we started this, but then I also remember all the people who got injured at the Holding Center action, and the fact that things are going to keep spiraling out of control, AND the only way to stop it...maybe... is for us to get our hands on this weapon so we can expose the government. It's not the fireballs I truly dread, but the uncertainty that risking taking one to the chest might be for nothing. But doubt isn’t good for any movement. I know what needs to be done, and so I’ll swallow and mask the fear like I’ve been doing with my autism my whole life. It’s not healthy but it’ll get me through the day.

With a big sigh I finally attend to the beeping of the scanner telling me to turn the page of the book I’m digitizing. My scanning assignments for today is a whole ‘nother brand of torture because they’re a bunch of propaganda pamphlets passed around by the Buffalo chapter of the Patriotic Front Party back in the 20’s. Buffalo was one of the first cities to elect a PF member as mayor and even today serves as one of the strongest bases of support for the party in the northeast. I always find it funny that it was Democrats, not Republicans who were the first to turn full fascist out of fear of China and Russia. They painted the Left as agents of foreign interference and eventually justified joining with the Right to “protect America.” The joining of the “soft fascists” and Democrats is what gave us the Patriotic Front, DHIS, the Blue Lives Matter Statue, and the sanctions on the African Federation after its formation. It’s why I was so pissy with the settler activists a few days ago. They owe us a lot more than good wishes.

As the beep tells me to turn the page again, I turn to a page depicting Antifa as foreign spies looking to destabilize the US by engaging in violence against “reasonable Americans” who just so happened to want to expand concentration camps for immigrants during that time. This is the part of being an archivist that I hate; The constant reminders about how today is just as bad as yesterday and reading stories that you already know the shitty endings of. I mean we do have victories here and there, but they couldn’t prevent this world—the one we are currently suffering—from happening. But I stick with this shit cause maybe knowing all the ways we failed before will give us a path for success now. As the scan finishes, I decide that I need to take a break from working and take a walk or some shit.

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As I walk outside the museum into the park that surrounds it, I try and take in the gentle breeze of the trees around me and the random birds and animals scurrying about. I should appreciate how nice the park is considering it probably shouldn’t exist with the erratic weather and blistering summers we’ve had here since I was a kid. Even with the relative peace around me, I can’t shake that question Terrance asked me when we were arguing about including Duce.

“Have you even thought about all the death that’s bout to come from us doing this?”

While I know he was only thinking about how I would feel about taking someone’s life, I can’t help but think more broadly about the consequences of stealing this tech. Will it end up like the Waterfront where all our people will get punished because some unknown Cootas attacked some cops? Will it start a war that we can’t win even if I tried to turn it on them rather than just exposing them? Who’s going to have to suffer because I decided *for them* that now was the time for an escalation? Ancestors! I really don’t know but I—

RINGGGGG

My HUD lights up…its Onyeka…she must have gotten in contact with her hacker friends. I start to give the command to answer but I hesitate. The words won’t leave my lips. I know if I answer this call that I’m committed, no turning back.

I stare forward as her name continues to blink in my line of sight, wind blowing leaves across the park in the background.

I suck in a huge breath of air.

“HUD answer.”

Onyeka’s voice comes through the HUD loud and serious.

“Amina! My guys are in, but they said that in order to hack the drones that we need to do it today…as in the next two to three hours or so. You need to leave work and come to Cheektowaga asap.”

“Wait why two hours?! I can’t just leave work like that. They’ll be suspicious.” I start to breathe deeply and flex my fingers back and forth.

“Sis, we about to commit a whole felony that will get us killed if we get caught. We’re way past the point of caring about work write ups. I’m sure your job isn’t gonna report your absence to DHIS. Anyways I’ll explain the rest when you get over here. Just hurry up aight?”

“Yea, yea I know…it’s just. Never mind. I’m on my way.”

I hang up the call and look up at the sky before grabbing my bookbag. I guess this is it. We really bout to do this. Ancestors protect us.

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As I walk into the shed of the abandoned house that we agreed to meet at, I see Terrance, Onyeka, Duce, Rome, and two new people. Both of them who I assume are men are wearing masks and black hoodies and sweats.

“Hey there!” the one guy shouts to me all happy like from under the mask. I’m glad he’s happy cause I’m creeped out.

I turn to Onyeka with a who the hell are these guys look waiting for an answer. “So….?” I say, letting the obvious questions go unasked.

Onyeka smiles and puts her hands on the other guy’s shoulder while our guys clue in to listen. “These are the hackers I told y’all about. Ignore the masks, cause we’re about to put ours on too. Amina, I brought you a change of clothes. I made sure they’re smooth ones without tags.” She gives me a quick smile.

The same hacker that said hi to me steps forward into the little half circle we’ve created. “So um yea basically this is what’s up. We’ve had a backdoor into the SafteyAI system for a while. While in their system we found a document that identified an unaddressed hardware bug in the drones that the city uses that allows us to use an ultrasonic signal to set off their alarm, and if we turn it up high enough, disables the sensor/connectivity stack completely without it falling out of the sky. The hack will likely last for a few minutes but the reason why we must do it now is that the same document mentions that the firmware for the drones will be updated this afternoon giving us about 2 hours to do the thing. I have no idea if we’ll have another opportunity to disable them completely in this way again.”

The hacker’s voice fades away in my head as I’m filled with the thought “this is how Cootas get killed, rushing into things.” We were supposed to have more time. I look across the faces of everyone there and they all look nervous even Terrance whose usually irreverent about these things.

As I’m thinking about him, Terrance pipes up. “I don’t think we should do this. This janky even for my tastes. We should find another way.”

“Nah T,” Onyeka retorts.

“What you mean nah? We literally don’t where the cops are in the area right now. I don’t think you ge-”

“Fam don’t condescend to me. I know that I just a regular woman, but did you hear what he just said? We don’t have a choice cause we won’t get another chance to disable the drones. When I said I was all in, I meant that shit. What about you?” Onyeka leans in towards Terrance with her hand spread out demanding an answer.

Terrance looks taken aback by Onyeka. “I just don’t want y’all to get hurt or worse by us rushing” he replies still confused at her stance.

“I know T, and that’s your problem. Amina and I and the rest of us aren’t in this for you to try and shield us from the shit. We know the risks, and we good with it.” But am I though?

Just as the doubt starts to creep back in, Duce clears his throat loudly. “Umm yea niggas, if y’all done we got shit to do. I’m not scared so let’s go.” Terrance sneers at Duce but otherwise says nothing.

Duce uses his silence as an excuse to continue. “Aight cool…so I did some recon since we met in the park and I know where we can go to ambush a cop…ehhh mostly without exposing ourselves. There’s a few short apartment buildings on Walden that have alleyways between them and I’ve seen DHIS folks stick their vehicles there so they’re not exposed on the street all the time. If we can catch one of them as they’re coming back to their truck, we good.”

“I’m down for it,” I chime in. “If you hackers can set off an alarm on one of the drones a mile or two down the road, it’ll draw folks away from the area while prompting whoever's closest to the truck to come get it to go to the scene. We’ll rob them right then and there. I don’t know if that makes sense to everyone.”

“Yea that makes sense,” the other hacker says. The others nod in agreement. “We need to be on a rooftop to do the hack and then we need to immediately dip before the drones turn back on so y’all won’t see us after you complete the job….just FYI.”

“Got it. Thank y’all again for helping us with this. Are y’all part of some revolutionary organization or…?” I let the question float for a second.

“Umm just thank your friend Onyeka and no I can’t say. We're wearing masks for a reason,” the first hacker responds.

“Gotcha…” I reply, still uneasy about not knowing who these guys are but putting so much trust in them, but then again what choice do we have? If Onyeka trusts them then I’m good.

“Ok so I’ll be a lookout on the street along with Onyeka while Rome, Amina, and Duce sneak up to the truck to set the ambush. I’ll HUD ping y’all when the cop is about to turn into the alleyway. Obviously y’all taze they ass, take the device off their suit, and we all meet back at the house. Let’s do this.” Terrance gives us a nod and we all silently give one back. I just hope we all get through this.

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Given the amount of danger we’re putting ourselves in, crouching behind a stank dumpster watching a DHIS van feels almost comical. My only thought right now is that these pigs better hurry up cause my knees are killing me.

Over an encrypted HUD channel, the hackers ping us. “Ok we’re about to fire the signal. In about 5 seconds you should hear a drone about 4 blocks down Walden go off and the others should turn off. If you hear nothing, abort and get out of here cause it’ll likely mean the update already happened and we’re fucked.”

I let out a big sigh and start counting down. I look back at Rome and Duce who are behind another dumpster in the alleyway. Both of them look just as nervous as I probably do. After both of them give me a nod I turn back towards the street, gripping the taser in my hand tightly, and start counting.

5,4,3,2,1……

When nothing happens at 1, my body immediately jumps a little fearful of what’s going to come next and then I hear it—two seconds late but immediately recognizable.

WERNNNNNNNNNN!

A drone a ways away begins going off.

We all begin tensing up as we wait to see if someone is going to come to the DHIS van who…and I can’t believe I’m even thinking this shit…I’m hoping is carrying one of those devices.

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Just then Terrance comes over the coms.

“I see two of them coming! One of them looks like a regular DHIS agent and the other is wearing one of those jumpsuits that all the device operators we’ve seen so far use. They’ll be there in like 10 seconds.”

Right after he stops talking, I realize that we fucked up! We’re hiding BEHIND the van when we should be in front of it so we can get them before they get in the van. Damnit!

“Y’all we’re hiding on the wrong side of the van! Shit we need to do something” I whisper yell into my HUD.

“Yall need to abort then! They’ll shoot you before you can get close!” Onyeka yells.

My mind begins racing. I only have a few seconds to decide what to do cause we won’t get a second chance at this, Maybe if I just stand in the middle of the alley they’ll try and arrest me and the guys can-

I see movement to my right and its Rome standing up and walking into the middle of the alley! Before Duce or I could tell him to go back and hide the DHIS agents hit the corner. My heart skips a beat, and I instinctively shrink behind the dumpster. My hand grips the taser tightly as I remember how insignificant of a weapon it is in comparison to the fire abilities of the man walking towards us. Like what’s a taser gonna do if we don’t get him first?

I look up at Rome and he’s standing very still looking directly at the agents who have stopped walking upon seeing him. They look like they’re trying to figure out what’s happening.

A moment passes and the jump suited cop starts stepping forward, walking past the van.

“What are you doing there?!” He yells, sounding like a parent chastising their kid.

“Ummm…ummm nothing!” Rome stutters. I know he’s both playing but also dead ass serious with the fear. The other cop pulls his gun out while the jump suit pulls open a Velcro bit on the forearm of his sleeve. It’s the device…

AND HE’S ABOUT TO USE IT!

The jump suit smashes his hand on the device which lets out a blinding but momentary flash. It’s the same one I saw on Juneteenth and at the Ferry. He sticks out his hand and while continuing walking forward yells “Take off the fucking mask and get down on the ground before I turn you to ash!”

I think both me and Duce instinctively realize that this is the moment and without any thought or hesitation I throw myself out from behind the dumpster as soon as both cops begin to walk past my dumpster. I don’t stick my left hand with the taser out quick enough, and I end up slamming into the jump suit with the full force of my shoulder and body. We start to go down as the other cop begins falling from his buddy’s body falling into him. As we hit the ground, I see Duce running forward past Rome to kick the jump suit in the face but…jump suit sticks up his hand ready to fire right in his face. I quickly roll my body so my left hand, with taser still in it, falls into contact with the body of the jump suit who’s laying right next to me. As my taser contacts his shoulder, I feel a momentary surge of heat come from his body as he convulses. Next thing I see is Rome foot connecting with the other agent’s face, knocking him out.

We did it.

I stand up and just stare blankly at Rome and Duce as they too stare back at me. I think we’re in shock that none of us are dead right now. I look down at Jump Suit and the device on his arm. All of this just to get that.

“Y’all ok!?” I hear one of the hackers yell over the HUD.

“Yea we’re good, we about to take the device now,” I reply proudly.

“Thank god” both Terrance and Onyeka say simultaneously.

I bend down and pull up the sleeve of the now limp agent and when I see it, I gasp.

The device isn’t an attachment. It’s a fucking implant! On top of the grey domed oval device is a few buttons and what looks like a door/hatch. At the top of the device there is a collection of wires that lead from uses for his wheelchair controls.

“There’s a problem y’all. It’s an implant. T, it looks like the wheelchair implants you have.” I say somberly over the HUD, all victory draining from my voice.

Duce and Rome bend down next to me to look at the thing. “Yeah we’re gonna have to take the whole arm.” Duce says flatly.

“You serious man?” Rome replies incredulously.

“Yea that’s what we gonna have to do,” Terrance chimes in over the HUD.

“Umm y’all agreeing on something?” Onyeka adds with a chuckle.

“We’re leaving but be careful cause if y’all miss some of the internal circuits when…um…procuring the arm you won’t get the implant to work again or be able to figure out how it works,” one of the hackers say. Immediately after saying this the hacker’s HUD lines go dead.

“Amina what you think?” Onyeka asks me.

We’re really out here discussing taking off someone’s arm? What the fuck…

“I don't know…” is all I can muster. Duce and Rome squint at me obviously expecting more well-formed opinion.

“Shit!” Terrance exclaims.

“What is it now!?” I ask.

“Ummm there’s cops walking up the block…towards y’all position. Y’all need to get out of there asap cause they only two blocks away.”

As we all stand up and look at each other with the same fear we had earlier before Jump Suit and his buddy showed up, Duce grabs Rome and my shoulders.

“Whose going to cut off the arm? Duce says.

“But we can’t. You heard what the hackers said, if we cut it at the wrong point, we’ll have a useless device. Implant wires can go all the way up to the brain and we don’t have time to figure out where to cut. Also we’re not fucking barbarians. We don’t need to take the guy’s arm.” I say.

“You’re right about the first part but that’ll mean we have to…wait…oh hell no...” Rome trails off looking at me wild.

“What? Are y’all…nah we can’t sis. I don’t care how much you don’t wanna hurt the guy. Fuck that cop.” Terrance says.

Onyeka adds in a mmhmm following Terrance.

“Amina, listen to me. They just got on your block. You have like a minute before they get there. Cut it and let’s go!” Terrance barks this to me with deep worry in his voice at the same time.

I have no idea what to do and I feel like we’re back at the waterfront when Terrance told us to run and I stopped them to ask about warning people. That’s how we got caught in the blast, my hesitation. I feel like it’s happening again. But I can’t just turn off the part of me that thinks that casually cutting off someone’s limb is deeply fucked up.

Duce’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “You taking too long. Fuck it, I’m cutting this shit. Ancestors pray I get it right.” He pulls out a short machete blade we bought along just in case. And just as he’s swinging his hand, mines swing up to his wrist stopping it.

“No. We’re taking him.” I say flatly to Duce, looking straight into his eyes as uncomfortable as that is. I gotta stop letting my overthinking fuck me over. My gut says we should take him for intel and because we can safely remove the device. That’s what’s gonna happen.

“Yo liste-“ Duce tries to say but I cut him off.

“No. We’re taking him. We can interrogate him for intel on DHIS movements, make sure we can carefully remove the device, force him to tell us how it works, and ask about the false flag operation from Juneteenth. Also, we’re not gonna sit here and decapitate limbs. Grab a hand and we can drag him to the car. Y’all with it T and Onyeka?” I yell into the HUD. No room for hesitation.

“Yep I guess we are,” Onyeka say back without much protest.

“Rome can you go run ahead and grab the car,” I ask.

As Duce and I lift and begin to drag Jump Suit’s body down the alley, I start muttering quietly to myself like a mantra “I’m committed.”

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