Chapter 9: Confrontation
About five minutes after leaving the Marks, I knew I something was wrong. I was always careful to keep my face covered to avoid the drones’ facial recognition software. Sunglasses and a cap could do wonders to protect your identity. I had rounded the corner when I saw a typical drone bee buzzing about five feet above me. I ignored it while looking in another direction but kept moving forward. Moments later, as I peered back, the bee was slowly following me. It kept a discreet distance, never getting too close but always within my line of sight. I felt like it was playing a game of cat-and-mouse.
I headed to a busy commercial street, hoping that many people and vehicles might help me lose my pursuer. I went into a grocery store and grabbed a cart. The bee hovered at the big bay window, looking in at me and the other customers. I went down an aisle, trying to get as far away as possible from the drone. I ducked around a corner of boxed goods so that it could not see me from the window. Think. Was all this in my mind? Was I imagining the drone was following me? A stock boy came out of a swinging door from the back of the store. As he went down the aisle, I ran towards the closing door and entered the loading bay. The area was silent; no one was unloading packaged goods. Maybe this is a good omen? I rushed past some crates towards a back ramp door. As I exited, I could hear it lock behind me. I stepped into the back employee parking lot. There was no one around.
I walked between two cars when I suddenly had to duck down. Drones may be hard to lose but they were never hard to spot. The sun gleamed on its metal body and its red eyes flickered. From my vantage point, I couldn’t tell if it was the same drone from the front, or a second one. They all looked the same to me. I didn’t think it had seen me as it continued its slow, relentless pace around the corner of the building. As it flew by my position, I crawled past another vehicle. An older woman walked by with bags of groceries. I moved past her, using her as a screen. As I rounded the corner of the store, I sneaked a look back at the bee to see where it had gone.
Bam! All the air was expelled out my lungs as I slammed into the metal frame of a man-sized drone. It barely moved as it reached down to pick me up.
“You are to come with me,” it commanded in its metallic tone.
I stared at it with dread. Visions of Lou’s arrest filled my head, and I felt sure I was going to be charged with a false crime. I thought of escape, but where could I go? They would scoop me up as soon as I got home. So I tried to reason with it.
“No! I’m not going anywhere. Have I been charged with something?”
“No, you haven’t.” I waited for some elaboration of its answer. When none came, I pressed further.
“Then why do I have to come with you? I wish to go home.” I started to walk away with purpose, but the drone’s hand ensnarled my arm. It had the grip of a steel vise.
“Who wants to see me?”
“I am not programmed with that information. Come with me and your question will be answered.” Its logic was impeccable and I resigned myself to my fate. I swung my leg over the back of the drone as I straddled the motorcycle portion of its body. The metal was smooth and cool to my touch. I was buckled in, which was necessary as the drone flew at a great speed through the city streets. I worried if someone I knew might see me, and I would be considered a criminal. I would have lots to explain. As the city passed by in a blur, I saw our destination.
We came to an abrupt stop in front of the Justice Courts. The drone must have called ahead, because the person I supposed to see was waiting for me.
“Dad,” I yelled and dashed towards him. One look at his face brought me to a stop. To say he was not happy was the monster of all understatements. “Dad, I can explain,” I stammered. He grabbed me by the wrist.
“Explain? When Lacey’s mom called me for your school fundraising, she mentioned that you had not been to her house today! Why don’t you explain how you were tracked leaving the Marks when you promised that you would never go there! Explain to me why anything that comes out of your mouth isn’t a lie!” His face was flushed red. I hadn’t seen him this mad. And honestly, he was right. I turned away from him. He must have expected me to yell back at him because when I didn’t respond, he stood beside me. His face looked sad, like all the anger had drained out of him. “Pene, please talk to me.”
“You wouldn’t believe me,” I whispered, resigned to whatever punishment he planned to dole out.
“That’s not good enough, Pene.” He motioned to me to sit down on a nearby bench. “After your mom died, I made a promise to protect you. To keep you safe. It’s part of the reason I’m a lawyer. I want everyone to be safe. To never have to lose someone they love. Pene, you’re all that I have — please tell me what’s going on?”
“Dad, what if everything you believed in was a lie? What if we’re not really safe, that justice isn’t fair?”
“You’re not making any sense. Try this from the beginning?”
I took a deep breath. “Dad, I have been to the Marks.”
“The drones have established that.”
“On other occasions.”
“I’m listening.”
“I watched a shopkeeper get arrested for stealing.”
“I have a court case coming up on Monday for that case.”
“I know. I watched your case footage.” I looked up in his face, expecting rage. His eyes flashed with sorrow. My heart nearly broke with his disappointment. Rather than yell at me and stop me from talking, he checked his emotions.
“Continue.”
“When you were out of your office, I scrubbed through the footage,” I said as Dad’s eyes raged.
“I know it was wrong, but hear me out. The footage showed things that never happened. It made the shopkeeper look guilty when he wasn’t.”
“That’s impossible, Pene. The court footage is from the crime scene, the drone recorded it live and then it’s stored for the courts. It’s played at the justice courts for the trial and then the criminal is sentenced.”
“There you go. You and the judge are the only ones who see it. How do you know it’s the truth? Why doesn’t the accused get to see?”
Dad considered my question. “There is no need. The footage shows the crime. Suspects have always denied being guilty. You can’t argue with concrete evidence.”
“Unless it’s falsified!” I yelled.
My dad threw his arms up in the air. “Then our entire justice system is a farce. Every case I’ve done in my life is a lie. Do you realize how crazy you sound?”
“Then maybe it’s just some cases. Some hidden agenda.”
“And who would be doing this?” Dad gave me a dubious look. Lord Morall’s drone eye filled my imagination.
“I have no idea,” I lied. I wasn’t ready to accuse anyone; better for my dad to come to his own conclusions.
“This is ... crazy, Pene.” He sat down on the bench. He was overwhelmed but I hoped there was still a small possibility that he might believe me. I had to widen that gap.
“Dad, I’m not making this up. I was there. The footage was different. You’re going to punish an innocent man. He’ll lose years of his life.”
“That is the law. We haven’t had prisons for years. The guilty lose years from their life. The machine is quick and painless. In the old days, criminals became worse by living with their peers in inhumane prisons for years. Attacking each other, planning future crimes. Prisons trained criminals to become better at crime, at huge public cost. Now the punishment is immediate and the cost minimal.”
“But he didn’t do it!” I turned my back to him, as if I could shame him into seeing it my way. It had the opposite effect.
“That’s enough! This isn’t a negotiation. You were caught lying to me twice. How do I know this isn’t an elaborate excuse to get out of your punishment? How could the drone’s footage be altered?”
“I don’t know, but until today, I didn’t think drones had any other task but to observe and protect. How did you change their programing to have one pick me up?”
“Vaslor owed me favor. He was able to divert a couple of drones to hone in your last whereabouts. Nobody stays hidden for long in our city, Pene.”
“Is that supposed to reassure me or scare me, Dad?”
“I did what I had to do to keep you safe.”
“And someone else is doing the same thing. His definition of safe, on a much greater scale.” My dad looked at me in disbelief. “Promise me you’ll review the footage. See if you notice any irregularities. You’re sentencing an innocent man!”
“Go home,” Dad said and dismissed me. “I’ll review the footage, but for now you’re grounded. And unless you want to be sentenced as well, don’t breathe another word of this. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes,” I lied. I turned my back on him and began the long walk home.