Free The Unseen by Jake Lingwall Page B

compete against one another, some brilliant ideas come to the surface.” Joseth led her up a few flights of stairs to the top floor, which was a part of Valhalla that they hadn’t visited on her tour.
    “So how’d they get it?” Kari said, insistent on getting an answer. She wasn’t usually so demanding, but her mood still had room to improve.
    “We sold it to them, of course,” Joseth said.
    “What?” Kari stopped following him. “You sold that to the Middle States’ military?” Joseth turned and tilted his head while he studied her.
    “I did, and I would do it again.”
    Kari shook her head as she tried to find words for her disappointment.
    “I didn’t realize this was a government research facility.”
    “Don’t be silly, Kari. You of all people, Freelancer, should understand the relationship we have with our clients. We’re builders, creators, artists, and engineers. We’re not farmers or miners—we need money to survive. We need money for our sanctuary and for continuing to save innocent people like yourself from being targeted by those with power.” Joseth closed the gap between them slowly while he spoke. His passion shone through every word, and by the time he finished, Kari had goose bumps.
    “But, couldn’t you find any other clients?”
    “Yes, but none that would pay so well,” Joseth said.
    His answer made sense, but Kari didn’t like it. Selling to the government, either of them, just felt wrong. Joseth grabbed her lightly by the shoulder.
    “I promise you, I didn’t do it without deep consideration first. We’ll license the technology to other organizations that can benefit from it and keep a close eye on whether it’s being abused or not, but we can’t control all our clients. Just like you can’t control yours. Besides, they have had access to EMP bombs for a long time; we just put that in a small, controllable format.”
    Good point. It’s unlikely all of my clients were reputable or had honest intentions. But that was before . . .
    “I see,” Kari said, still trying to process the new information. None of this should be a surprise; someone had to pay for Valhalla.
    They paused as a hacker wearing hover boots flew by them, desperately trying to stabilize herself as she glided, laughing, down the hall.
    “I hope that Valhalla will be financially independent soon. I work every day so that we won’t have to be at the mercy of anyone but ourselves. It’s a subject that is of particular importance to me.” Joseth squeezed her shoulder again and let go. He shrugged, quirked his mouth, and waited for her to respond. Kari sighed.
    “So, is Valhalla treating you well?” Joseth asked.
    “Yeah, it’s been incredible so far, except for getting smashed in that capture-the-flag game.”
    “You’ll get better. The trick with the EMP guns is that they have a limited range. If you can stay a few feet away, they are practically useless.”
    “I don’t know,” Kari said. “I’m not sure I will get better—that game isn’t really my scene.”
    “What do you mean?” Joseth asked as he scooted an inch closer to her.
    “I’m just not that into fighting and weapons. I used to do simulations like that all the time and work on projects that could hurt people, but I’m not that person anymore.”
    “I see,” Joseth said. Kari fought emotion from surfacing. She didn’t want to come off as a damaged person to Oedipus, but she was committed to being a different person. The prison escape had been traumatic, perhaps more than she even wanted to admit.
    “Maybe we’ll talk about it sometime.” Joseth said.
    “Yeah . . . another time.”
    “Of course. Well it’s sort of the unofficial game of the Unseen, so don’t be surprised if you have to explain that a few times. But you’ll find that there are endless ways to stay entertained here while still being productive,” Joseth said. He put his arm around Kari’s shoulder and squeezed her in a half hug.
    Truthfully, it