The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) by Brian Terenna (motivational books for women TXT) 📕

fire something so big, but it’s cool to hold one. “This is amazing. I’ve never been good with sniper rifles.”

His green eyes light up. “Oh. You shoot?” he asks, excitement thick in his voice.

I look down, embarrassed. “Umm. Not really.”

“What do you mean?”

“I played this first-person shooter a lot.”

“FPSs are actually decent training,” he says. “But if you ever want to be an expert marksman, I’ll teach you. I’m kind of a big deal around here.”

I smile at his ridiculousness. But it’s a nice offer and would be a valuable skill in my current situation.

“I overheard you talking about leaving. Are you going to?”

I shake my head with a sigh. “I don’t know.”

He stares at me, an eyebrow raised. “There’s a war going on. You could be killed in your attempt to leave.”

“Good point.”

“It will be a lot safer with us until the war is over. Or at least until we start fighting. But even then, you could stay back.”

I imagine running through the streets to flee the war and a stray rocket incinerating Sunny and me. My shoulders sag. I don’t like the sound of that. At least here, we’re inside a secure building with an armed militia. Besides, it would be nice to have more time with Nav. I sigh. “I’ll stay for now.”

“Great.” He holds out his closed fist.

I look at it and then back to him.

“Bump it,” he says.

I shake my head, and he shrugs.

“What’s the deal with Americus? Is he always like this?”

Alexander laughs. “He’s usually not as coarse. He hasn’t been sleeping much since Naveha contacted us about the Evo. He’s a great motivator and teacher. He’s taught us hand-to-hand combat, battle strategy, tactics…you name it. And no one knows more about the deposed old American government or the revolution. I admire him.”

He sounds all right. “It’s interesting that he has the same type of pet that Navin did.”

“Ron Paul is awesome. He even talks sometimes.”

“Really?”

“You’ll hear him eventually. Americus also trained him to deliver messages, just like Navin’s did.”

“His raven did that?”

“You never heard the story?” asks Alexander. “General Briggs was pinned down, his communications jammed. He was doomed. Then he sent his raven with a message to his reserve force. They arrived just in time and turned the battle.”

I purse my lips. Impressive. If I’m going to be stuck with a bunch of government lovers, maybe I should learn a bit. “Were things really so bad before the revolution?”

He chuckles. “Didn’t pay attention in class?”

I shrug.

“Things were bad for a while, but after America adopted the social credit system, it became unbearable for people. The government tracked everything you did, everywhere you went, everyone you talked to, everything you bought, and everything you read. They said it was to keep us safe, but really, it was for control. If you had unapproved ideas or spoke out against the government, you’d receive a low rating, which would increase your taxes. If it got too low, they’d take away your universal basic income, healthcare, and ability to travel.”

I shuffle my feet. “That’s crazy that the government even paid for those things, but I can see how that system would be abused. That would have been the end of free speech, right?”

He nods gravely. “Yes, and President Toscano says it best when she quotes Benjamin Franklin, ‘Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom…and…’ wait, how does it go? Oh, yeah. ‘And no such thing as liberty without freedom of speech.’”

“How did people let that happen?”

“When you make changes slowly, people get used to them and don’t realize they’re being trapped. It’s like that boiling frog thing,” he says, meeting my eyes.

I look away and pull at one of my curls. Boiling frog? What is he talking about? “I imagine it got worse after that.”

He picks a piece of fuzz off his military shirt and blows on it to send it flying. “After they had complete control, the real tragedies began. There are so many stories I could tell you, but this one always inspired me to protect our freedom. When Navin and the liberty movement began to take off, the totalitarian regime got scared and wanted to put a quick end to the problem. Do you know what a false flag is?”

I shake my head.

“One of the intelligence agencies, we don’t know which, dressed as liberty movement supporters and attacked a big bank in New York. They killed all twenty-seven people inside, then spray painted, ‘End the Fed’ on the walls.”

I gasp. “The government did this to their own people?”

“You can see why people rose up. The trick would have worked too if Navin’s contacts didn’t find proof that it was staged. That revelation turned public opinion heavily toward liberty.”

Hell. “That sounds like a movie. How horrible for those people.”

“If you think that’s wild, I’ll tell you some other true conspiracies that will shake your faith in humanity. Meet me in the training room at ten tomorrow morning. I’ll show you around, then we’ll see how good of a shot we can make you.”

  CHAPTER 9

A SICKENING REALIZATION

“And those are just a few of the times that the government staged violent riots in order to crack down,” says Alexander.

Hell, sounds like people had it bad.

“Now prepare yourself. Your mind is about to be blown.” I follow him to the parking bay, and he motions to a dump truck with a flourish. “Check this out.”

“I’ve seen dump trucks.” Does he really think I’m that sheltered?

“Caesar,” he says into his all-black q-link, “drop the vehicle hologram.”

I squint and then inwardly laugh at his q-link’s name.

The hologram melts away, and the vehicle grows longer and wider with thick metal armor. The