Free 2022 by Ken Kroes Page A

would be
expected at the site if she agreed to go.
    “Most people would have had a few weeks to
prepare before leaving,” Gordon told her. “In your case, you’d have
to leave right away. There’s a group of people going this afternoon
in a helicopter, and you could ride with them.”
    “No, I can’t leave that quickly, and I’m
certainly not going to leave my RV here.”
    “Maybe you’re not getting it. You’ll never be
using it again. This is a one-way trip.”
    “I still need time to get ready. I have
people to call and business to clear up.” She knew that she had
already made up her mind to join. “How about I drive up there
myself? I could be there tomorrow, and that would give me time to
straighten out my affairs.”
    He picked up the phone on his desk, waited a
few seconds, and explained the situation. He listened to the
response and then hung up, watching her as if trying to see
something.
    “Well?” she said, breaking the silence.
    “You must have made quite an impression on
Mario,” he said. “There are dozens of people I could bring in now
for these few open positions, and none of the candidates have yet
been allowed to drive themselves out there, but in your case, it
seems they’re making an exception. So—are you in or out?”
    She absentmindedly bit her lip as she weighed
his words. She had no intention of doing this for the rest of her
life, but she wanted to find out more, and this seemed the only way
to do it. She laughed inside at the foundation’s “threat” to those
who decided to leave. She was accustomed to living by her own rules
so none of this would leave any significant impact on her. If she
drove up on her own, she would have an easy way to get out and
would have her possessions as well.
    “In—if you give me directions or a GPS
coordinate, I’ll be there by tomorrow morning.”
    Gordon had given her directions and printed
out a badge and paperwork. “Once you get there you’ll need to give
these papers to security. They insist that you wear this badge for
the first six months at least. After that, no more badge and no
more last name.”
    “What? I don’t recall reading anything about
that.”
    “I’m not sure why, but once the village is up
and running, nobody will have a last name anymore.”
    “That’s kind of strange.” She thanked him and
wasted no time getting her RV out onto the highway.
    ********************
    Mikhail was a bit leery when he found out
that Mario had allowed Diane to drive up to the village site, but
he didn’t want to alarm her in any way so he let it go.. If she
didn’t show up, he reasoned, they would find her quickly through
the locator he had put on her RV.
    Later that afternoon, he headed to the
helipad and was happy to see his two passengers and Richard already
waiting to depart.
    “I take it, Richard, that you’ve met
Hope?”
    “We were just getting acquainted,” Richard
said. “She’s been telling me how she is going to be working on
helping Olivia set up the laboratory.”
    This was the idea that Mikhail had discussed
with Hope that morning. It was a good cover idea as she could keep
a close eye on Olivia to see if she were the source of the leaked
information. If so, Hope would arrange accidents for Olivia and
Diane.
    The takeoff was delayed by a few minutes as
the pilot wanted to inspect Olivia’s luggage which consisted of a
small suitcase and a sealed box with a hazardous goods sticker on
it. Olivia let him look through her suitcase but stopped him from
opening the box.
    “I have to inspect everything,” the pilot
said, “I am responsible for making sure that no contraband is
brought in.”
    Olivia leaned over to Mikhail and whispered,
“Virtuesh.”
    Mikhail nodded and then said to the pilot,
“You can skip the box. I’ll take responsibility for it.”
    The pilot just shrugged his shoulders and put
the box in the small cargo area of the helicopter. The trip to
Percipience was quiet, and after they landed,