Karl took the hand and shook it. “Karl,” he said.
“Need a walk back to your cell?” Sam Sam asked.
Karl looked down at his tray. The mashed potatoes were ruined anyway. He snatched it up and nodded at the new inmate. Sam Sam nodded back, then started to lead the way through the thickening crowd of other prisoners finishing their dinners.
None of the guards at their usual station beside the security gates paid Karl or Sam Sam any mind, and they were able to wander through the checkpoint as if they were staff.
Sam Sam took notice of Karl’s observation.
“You’re probably wondering why they’re letting us through like this,” he said.
Karl replied with silence.
“It’s okay to be curious,” Sam Sam said. “I am what you might call a ‘data runner.’ ”
Still, Karl said nothing.
“You might notice the biggest thing missing when comparing prison life to the outside world,” Sam Sam started. He waited a moment for Karl to reply, but continued when nothing happened. “It’s data.”
Karl looked over at his rescuer. It was impossible to discern his level of interest.
“Everyone out there—they’re always connected, you see? In here, we got none of that. We’re living on just the barebones of society. But some folks can’t cope with that, you know? They gotta get their connection. So that’s where I come in.
“For a nominal fee, I get data from the outside and deliver it to people on the inside. Someone wants to watch a new movie, or even play a new game, they can buy that right from me.”
“So you’re a smuggler,” Karl said.
Sam Sam chuckled. “If that’s how you wanna look at it, but I see myself as a businessman. I just know my market and what they want. Is there anything wrong with that?”
Karl shrugged.
“Guess how many people need porn in this prison, Karl,” Sam Sam said. “Or how many people want to know about the health of a loved one. Or even what the state of modern politics is? As you can imagine, these commodities have made me a very wealthy man.”
“Why are you telling me all this?” Karl asked.
Sam Sam stopped walking and turned to the psychologist. Karl halted when he realized he wasn’t being led anymore.
“Because I can sense men of talent,” Sam Sam replied. “Since I did a solid for you, I need a solid from you.”
“What do you want?” Karl asked.
“I know about your experimentation,” Sam Sam said. “I also know about Maynard. I need your help if I’m ever going to get out of here. Are you in?”
Escape
“Why not?” Maynard asked.
Karl was baffled.
Why not? he echoed. How about additional sentencing, for one?
“You’re being ridiculous.”
I’m being what?!
Karl looked around to make sure none of his neighbors heard his argument, then remembered that it was all in head.
“Really,” Maynard said. “Do you think that you’re going to get out in the next century? You’ve been found guilty of a mass shooting, Karl. Your sentencing couldn’t get much worse.”
Well I don’t think this is the way to go about it, Karl thought.
“Why not?”
I don’t trust Sam Sam’s plan, for one. Karl looked around to make sure no one was making any patrols past his cell before turning back inward. Do you?
“Does it matter?” Maynard said. “You’ve seen what we’re capable of on our own. Maybe not bending the bars of justice, but we were able to escape the lab unscathed. Why do you think that is?”
Luck.
“Nonsense. It was teamwork—it was the mindshare. Together, we are a force to be reckoned with. I can tackle our digital hurdles, and you can surmount the physical ones. Regardless of what Sam Sam has planned, we can use it to help our escape.”
It’s dangerous.
“What do we have to lose?”
Our lives.
“And what are those worth?”
I don’t know.
“Why not? What’s your hesitation?”
I don’t know! I just don’t want to take the risk! Call me a coward, I don’t care. I find the best solutions are reached through the natural currents of the world.
“You’ve given up.”
You’re damn right I’ve given up! Karl thought angrily. We’ve reached the end here, Maynard! For most folk, the end means death, but we don’t even get that luxury. You get to continue on in a digital purgatory as you always have, and I get to rot out the rest of my life for a crime I didn’t commit. That’s it, Maynard. End game. Roll credits.
“That’s the way a fool would look at it,” the I.I. said. “And it’s terribly unfair. You’re not the only one in the boat, so to speak. You do know that, right?”
I don’t care. So it’s unfair—what of it?
“I’m not going to bully you into this, Karl,” Maynard said. “That’s not who I am. No, you’ve got to find the inspiration from within. And I know you can do it. I have no doubt. You will reach the same conclusion I have, because you are smarter than you give yourself credit for. You think it’s all over now, but it’s only a change. Change begets no end—no beginning. It’s the only constant. I’ve seen into your mind, Karl. You can roll with the punches. You just… you just gotta do it for me this time. I’m not strong enough for the two of us.”
Karl took in a deep breath, calming his thoughts before he replied.
And he stared at the ceiling all night.
“Psst!” a voice came from Karl’s cell door.
He jolted a little, then looked down at the plexiglass divider that separated his cell from the rest of the block.
The data runner stood before it, unaccompanied. There was a playful grin on his face.
“Karl!”
“Sam Sam?” the psychologist said.
“That’s right.”
“What are you doing here? How’d you get out of your cell?”
“My cage has no lock,” Sam Sam explained. “I come and go as I please. Even the guards know what kind of hole would be left in this prison if I was restricted.”
“Why are you here?” Karl repeated.
Sam Sam smiled. “I’m here to
