William B. Fuckley
@opinionhaver.bsky.social
Endowed chair of the Tocqueville-Rand Freedom Enterprise Markets Innovation Center (disputed). Bound but not protected, I lie but I do not pretend. 🚰 🏗
Thinks about the last time she did anything risky and how that turned out. Thinks about the elders slowly grinding to death out here until someone buries them in their yard and takes the useful things from their house. About immigration lawyers and visas and tuition fees. Looks at the code sheet.
December 2, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Thinks about the last time she did anything risky and how that turned out. Thinks about the elders slowly grinding to death out here until someone buries them in their yard and takes the useful things from their house. About immigration lawyers and visas and tuition fees. Looks at the code sheet.
She thinks about how she'd planned to be a doctor by now. Thinks about the CalAID doctor losing his temper and telling Mr. Alvarez that 50 miles away people don't have to die from this. Thinks about Sgt. Reyes, a man who has been involved in things that end up with people dissolving in the street.
December 2, 2025 at 6:02 AM
She thinks about how she'd planned to be a doctor by now. Thinks about the CalAID doctor losing his temper and telling Mr. Alvarez that 50 miles away people don't have to die from this. Thinks about Sgt. Reyes, a man who has been involved in things that end up with people dissolving in the street.
A month ago she was hanging out with some of them at The Grey Goo, she told one of them having issues where one of the few mechanics out here was, and a tipsy 23 yr old giggled and called her their "wise old woman of the desert". She didn't mean anything by it. But the words have hung in her mind.
December 2, 2025 at 5:58 AM
A month ago she was hanging out with some of them at The Grey Goo, she told one of them having issues where one of the few mechanics out here was, and a tipsy 23 yr old giggled and called her their "wise old woman of the desert". She didn't mean anything by it. But the words have hung in her mind.
Her 30th birthday is in 3 weeks. Some of her Cali artist friends are going to throw her a party at the glow field. Before some go back because it's the start of the semester, or grad school application season, or just time to go back to real life & leave their time being interesting behind.
December 2, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Her 30th birthday is in 3 weeks. Some of her Cali artist friends are going to throw her a party at the glow field. Before some go back because it's the start of the semester, or grad school application season, or just time to go back to real life & leave their time being interesting behind.
It means other things too. Despite her sunny nature, she's getting tired of living in The Glass. It was a good couple of years at first, a place she needed to feel like herself again after what happened back home. A place where no one expects anything and you can be anything.
December 2, 2025 at 5:36 AM
It means other things too. Despite her sunny nature, she's getting tired of living in The Glass. It was a good couple of years at first, a place she needed to feel like herself again after what happened back home. A place where no one expects anything and you can be anything.
Sgt. Reyes has always been decent at letting her walk away from things, never pushed. And whatever an unmarked convoy with escorts and tires that cost more than she makes in five years entails, it isn't trivial. Might not be the kind of thing you can walk away from, further down the path.
December 2, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Sgt. Reyes has always been decent at letting her walk away from things, never pushed. And whatever an unmarked convoy with escorts and tires that cost more than she makes in five years entails, it isn't trivial. Might not be the kind of thing you can walk away from, further down the path.
They seem sort of absurd honestly, but Sgt. Reyes isn't the type to be silly with these things. So she looks at the sheet, types a message in the strange pidgin, communicating what she saw. Sits in the car, wondering if she wants to get deeper into this. She's done what's asked. She could walk away
December 2, 2025 at 5:33 AM
They seem sort of absurd honestly, but Sgt. Reyes isn't the type to be silly with these things. So she looks at the sheet, types a message in the strange pidgin, communicating what she saw. Sits in the car, wondering if she wants to get deeper into this. She's done what's asked. She could walk away
She's glad she doesn't, because a few minutes later the dim headlights she'd noticed behind her the last few miles in the dusk turn around as well. Same model of car. Some kind support, both in front and back. She pulls over a few minutes. Pulls out the sheet with the phrases Sgt. Reyes gave her.
December 2, 2025 at 5:33 AM
She's glad she doesn't, because a few minutes later the dim headlights she'd noticed behind her the last few miles in the dusk turn around as well. Same model of car. Some kind support, both in front and back. She pulls over a few minutes. Pulls out the sheet with the phrases Sgt. Reyes gave her.
They're near where the tribes have their solar farm when it reaches what must be the end of its circuit and turns around. It passes by her as she keeps going north. She doesn't turn around, might not be a pro at this but knows you don't do that. A dusty late model SUV precedes it by a few minutes.
December 2, 2025 at 5:05 AM
They're near where the tribes have their solar farm when it reaches what must be the end of its circuit and turns around. It passes by her as she keeps going north. She doesn't turn around, might not be a pro at this but knows you don't do that. A dusty late model SUV precedes it by a few minutes.
She follows the truck for a few miles. This is one of the bigger roads, it's not that strange to see other cars out here. She has her med bag, is in her clinic uniform. Anyone asks, she's going north to make sure that Mrs. Perez is taking her pills (someone *should* really do that, actually)
December 2, 2025 at 4:41 AM
She follows the truck for a few miles. This is one of the bigger roads, it's not that strange to see other cars out here. She has her med bag, is in her clinic uniform. Anyone asks, she's going north to make sure that Mrs. Perez is taking her pills (someone *should* really do that, actually)
They'd buried him in his yard, next to her. The CalAID doctor was quiet for the next couple of weeks and went home soon after. Not cut out to practice medicine out here, in Casey's estimation. But he didn't say anything when Casey took the Glock and some other small things he wanted her to have.
December 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
They'd buried him in his yard, next to her. The CalAID doctor was quiet for the next couple of weeks and went home soon after. Not cut out to practice medicine out here, in Casey's estimation. But he didn't say anything when Casey took the Glock and some other small things he wanted her to have.
He *had* said she could have it, thought to be fair he sometimes called her by the name of his wife who died back in the day, when that one group put out the bad insulin. The CalAID doctor kept trying to get him to apply for a medical visa and get a those new treatments, but he was too stubborn.
December 2, 2025 at 3:42 AM
He *had* said she could have it, thought to be fair he sometimes called her by the name of his wife who died back in the day, when that one group put out the bad insulin. The CalAID doctor kept trying to get him to apply for a medical visa and get a those new treatments, but he was too stubborn.
Still, getting mixed up in something like this is risky, and that's why she makes sure to reach out and open her glove compartment when she sees the truck, to make sure she can reach the thing she took from Mr. Alavrez's place when he passed and didn't need it anymore.
December 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Still, getting mixed up in something like this is risky, and that's why she makes sure to reach out and open her glove compartment when she sees the truck, to make sure she can reach the thing she took from Mr. Alavrez's place when he passed and didn't need it anymore.
But overall they're pretty nice and 'The Republic' seems like a decent place to live. The thing that caused her to drive from Tulsa in the middle of the night and keep driving until she thought she would crash, and then again from Houston when they made calls, that doesn't seem to happen out there.
December 2, 2025 at 2:24 AM
But overall they're pretty nice and 'The Republic' seems like a decent place to live. The thing that caused her to drive from Tulsa in the middle of the night and keep driving until she thought she would crash, and then again from Houston when they made calls, that doesn't seem to happen out there.
They are a bit weird though. Even the ones out here, by definition selected on being generally free-spirited. Despite their secularism remind her of the megachurch types from back home sometimes, the way that there's those slogans they all know & repeat, sometimes ironically sometimes not.
December 2, 2025 at 2:15 AM
They are a bit weird though. Even the ones out here, by definition selected on being generally free-spirited. Despite their secularism remind her of the megachurch types from back home sometimes, the way that there's those slogans they all know & repeat, sometimes ironically sometimes not.
Won't shed any tears for them, some of her chattier patients had told her stories on long drives to drop them off. Could be a coincidence. But she doubts it. Doesn't bother her that much, she doesn't mind the Calis. Was never naive enough to believe everything they said about them back home.
December 2, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Won't shed any tears for them, some of her chattier patients had told her stories on long drives to drop them off. Could be a coincidence. But she doubts it. Doesn't bother her that much, she doesn't mind the Calis. Was never naive enough to believe everything they said about them back home.
He's hooked in with the Calis somehow, she thinks. Right before he wasn't a cop she'd heard he'd gotten in serious trouble with Mr. Beltran's people. Then one day *all* of Beltran's crew stagger screaming into the street leaving trails of themselves sloughing off behind, & he had a new job.
December 2, 2025 at 1:57 AM
He's hooked in with the Calis somehow, she thinks. Right before he wasn't a cop she'd heard he'd gotten in serious trouble with Mr. Beltran's people. Then one day *all* of Beltran's crew stagger screaming into the street leaving trails of themselves sloughing off behind, & he had a new job.
She doesn't know what this is about, but she's not stupid. The truck looks like it cost serious money, and she's being paid relatively well, her wallet full of green & red bear bucks, a 'pocket full of Christmas' like that one song she likes puts it. Whatever Sgt. Reyes is into out here, it's real.
December 2, 2025 at 1:50 AM
She doesn't know what this is about, but she's not stupid. The truck looks like it cost serious money, and she's being paid relatively well, her wallet full of green & red bear bucks, a 'pocket full of Christmas' like that one song she likes puts it. Whatever Sgt. Reyes is into out here, it's real.
It has those big fat tires, the ones that she's seen on some of the nicer cars that the richer Cali kids bring out here. The ones that can deform and change as the landscape does. It's not going to be going up any mountains still, but it can probably handle rougher terrain due to them.
December 2, 2025 at 1:47 AM
It has those big fat tires, the ones that she's seen on some of the nicer cars that the richer Cali kids bring out here. The ones that can deform and change as the landscape does. It's not going to be going up any mountains still, but it can probably handle rougher terrain due to them.
She finds it on the old highway that runs roughly parallel to the border, in the stretch near the high speed rail boneyard, the sun slowly bleaching all of the cheerful advertisements on their sides for new stations coming soon. She realizes why it was harder to find when she sees it.
December 2, 2025 at 1:44 AM
She finds it on the old highway that runs roughly parallel to the border, in the stretch near the high speed rail boneyard, the sun slowly bleaching all of the cheerful advertisements on their sides for new stations coming soon. She realizes why it was harder to find when she sees it.
***
Casey finds the truck on her third day of looking for it. Longer than she thought, there are only so many roads that can handle a vehicle of that size, and though The Glass can feel endless and sprawling at times, an limitless space where anything at all can happen, it is in fact finite.
Casey finds the truck on her third day of looking for it. Longer than she thought, there are only so many roads that can handle a vehicle of that size, and though The Glass can feel endless and sprawling at times, an limitless space where anything at all can happen, it is in fact finite.
December 1, 2025 at 11:48 PM
***
Casey finds the truck on her third day of looking for it. Longer than she thought, there are only so many roads that can handle a vehicle of that size, and though The Glass can feel endless and sprawling at times, an limitless space where anything at all can happen, it is in fact finite.
Casey finds the truck on her third day of looking for it. Longer than she thought, there are only so many roads that can handle a vehicle of that size, and though The Glass can feel endless and sprawling at times, an limitless space where anything at all can happen, it is in fact finite.
A couple of blank FCQ field fatigues, desert pattern. Marco finds it fairly strange that FCQ has desert patterns but takes the gift, they're modern and in good shape. Anything that makes the truck crew realize these are not dabblers and makes them reconsider doing anything heroic for their pay.
December 1, 2025 at 11:20 PM
A couple of blank FCQ field fatigues, desert pattern. Marco finds it fairly strange that FCQ has desert patterns but takes the gift, they're modern and in good shape. Anything that makes the truck crew realize these are not dabblers and makes them reconsider doing anything heroic for their pay.
Marco doesn't really like the entire thing hinging on one device he doesn't understand, but he did get paid upfront, & Albert seemed confident enough. Russ will be paid well to move it in, bring it to them, & be incurious, which is why he's happy about the whole deal. Even throws in goodwill extras
December 1, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Marco doesn't really like the entire thing hinging on one device he doesn't understand, but he did get paid upfront, & Albert seemed confident enough. Russ will be paid well to move it in, bring it to them, & be incurious, which is why he's happy about the whole deal. Even throws in goodwill extras
But he knows enough. Between physical access to the server, the credentials of it's minders, & something the box gets from listening to transmissions for a few days beforehand, it will be able to breach what encryption remains, rapidly decide what to take, & irreversibly compromise the backups.
December 1, 2025 at 11:12 PM
But he knows enough. Between physical access to the server, the credentials of it's minders, & something the box gets from listening to transmissions for a few days beforehand, it will be able to breach what encryption remains, rapidly decide what to take, & irreversibly compromise the backups.
But there will likely be some encryption even with their acesss. Which is very the box comes in. Something military, illegal most places, and expensive everywhere. If Marco was capable of fully understanding the specifics he wouldn't have to make his living this way, in this place.
December 1, 2025 at 10:53 PM
But there will likely be some encryption even with their acesss. Which is very the box comes in. Something military, illegal most places, and expensive everywhere. If Marco was capable of fully understanding the specifics he wouldn't have to make his living this way, in this place.