The energy in the room was electric. Their first real mission. Sol looked around the apartment — Dex had nicknamed it “The Bunker” — and grinned. Guys were singing, joking around, bragging about their big plans. Despite the lack of space and the covered windows, it was cozy. Almost warm. The floor was littered here and there with their things, bundles of sleeping bags, and whatever people had managed to grab from home before staking out here. The walls were covered with hand-drawn posters that the guys had made, all advertising and predicting a better future. One that got back to the essentials. One that threw off the chains of AI dependence. One that made things matter again.

Sol wasn’t entirely sure why, but everything made sense when Dex explained it. You had to wake people up. Not everybody had the benefit of realizing how weird and off-kilter everything was, like everyone who worked with Dex had done. They had to be shown. And the best way to do that, Dex explained, was to disrupt the systems that were already in place. Sure, people would be mad at first. Furious that they couldn’t get the latest AI updates with the factory shut down, upgrade their hardware, do any of that. But as time passed, they would realize how much better everything had become.

Plus, once they really got things moving, Dex and the others would be there to help them transition to a better life.

“You joined at a good time,” Travis said. He and Sol were sorting medical supplies into packets. Things could go wrong, and Dex always wanted them to be prepared. “I’ve been here for two years and it’s just been planning, planning, planning. Then you show up and get to go on your first mission like the next day.”

Sol laughed. “I’ve still had to wait. But I don’t know how you’ve been so patient. Or Dex. He seems raring to go whenever he talks to us.”

“That’s why he’s in charge,” Travis said, passing over a packet of bandages. “He knows that we have to plan everything out exactly. You can’t make a move like this at the spur of the moment. And he needed enough people to pull it off.”

“You’d think more people would get it,” Sol sighed.

“If more people got it, we wouldn’t be needed at all,” Travis replied. “I’ll miss this place, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was talking to Dex this morning. He’s going to make an announcement at the meeting this evening, but we’re going to have to find a new place once we pull this off. There’s too much of a chance of the cops tracking us down here. I have a feeling that’s going to happen a lot more after we’ve made ourselves known.”

Sol felt a twinge of anxiety. He knew it was going to take quite a few missions, a lot of disruption before they were able to sway people towards their cause. It wouldn’t be a one-and-done deal. That was something Dex had emphasized time and time again. You weren’t even given information about what the plans actually were until he felt like you could stick it out for the long haul. And he had trusted Sol to stick around and had finally laid out everything for him the week before. If Dex believed him capable of handling the upcoming struggle…well, that had to mean something. But it didn’t stop Sol from feeling anxious about a life on the run, undercover. He had brought the group to thirty-two members. That wasn’t large, but it did seem like a lot of people to keep safe.

“Hey.” Travis poked him. “You still here with me?”

“Sorry.” Sol shook his head. “Guess it’s been a lot to get used to.”

“Give it two more months. Everything gets normal after three. That’s science.”

“If you say so,” Sol shrugged, “Do you have any stitch-gel? I can’t find any in this bin.”

“Yeah, I stacked a couple up.” Travis passed them over. “So,” he lowered his voice, “What are you going to miss in the new world?”

“Nothing, I don’t think,” Sol said with a shrug. “If there was anything good to miss, I wouldn’t be doing this, right?”

“Alright, alright,” Travis said. “A true believer.”

“What about you?” Sol asked.

“Nothing,” Travis answered as he tied off a completed medic pack. “It was a test. You passed! Congratulations.”

Travis stood up to carry the completed packs to the supply table. Sol watched him go. Was it a test? Had Dex put him up to it? He wouldn’t be surprised if Dex was really checking in with all of them before they kicked things off. Or was Travis covering for himself?

“Everyone!” Dex strode into the room, already dressed for action. He had shed his civilian clothes for army surplus, some of which he had apparently inherited from his grandfather, who had served in the military when the integration was a newer tech and hadn’t fully replaced inter-country negotiations — or largely eliminated the excuses for warfare. When an all-powerful, all-reasonable AI can calculate the optimal way to divide resources, land, even sort out conflict — the excuses to keep beating other humans over the head in order to assert a winner, fell away faster and faster. Sol’s dad had said it was always prudent to think about a country’s leaders like you thought about businessmen. You could do a hostile takeover, sure. But if there was a way that wasted less money, and went a lot smoother, and got good press? You would do that. So, they had, and the military had fallen away. His left arm was bound in a heavy flak protection to keep his integration from becoming damaged during the upcoming incursion.

“We are going to activate the plan tomorrow!” Dex said, thrusting his fist in the air. Excited babble rose around the room, and he waved his hand, quieting everyone. “I know this was sooner than we had anticipated, but some of our sources have indicated that nearly all security will be removed from the northern integration factory tomorrow as they prepare for renovations. It will be a skeleton crew, which should be more than easy enough to slip past and carry out our work. We’ll have three teams of ten or so each. The primary team will scout in front and establish our path past what guard patrols remain. The secondary team will set up the explosives. The final team will act as cover for the second team as they do their work, with the assistance of the first. We will exit the space in the same order and carry out detonation as soon as we are clear. I have already chosen the team leaders. They will be making assignments now.”

Dex left the room as quickly as he had come, and Sol tried to focus on his work as more and more of the men around him were pulled aside. He knew he wouldn’t be put on the second team. There were guys who had been specifically recruited for their engineering knowledge, who had been working on designing the explosives for far longer than he had even been a member. The northern integration factor was one of the largest in the city, and was responsible for manufacturing all of the parts that were actually implanted into the citizens. Hi-tech, incredibly valuable, and the perfect target. If it went down, there would be months of delays in fabrication, and a whole slew of children would be born without being able to receive the initial implants that would prep their bodies for later upgrades. If Sol and the rest of the resistance could keep the factory down, the delays could extend for years. Children would spend the earliest part of their formation free from the insidious integration. He looked down at his arm and smiled. The future starts tomorrow.

“Sol!” Travis tapped his shoulder. “I’m the first team leader. Are you willing to be on the scouts?”

“Yes!” Sol jumped up. “Yes, absolutely.”

“Good. Come on, and we’ll get you set up.”

Travis led him through the throng to a side room. Sol had never been in here — it was normally barred off, and Sol only vaguely knew it contained protective gear and the equipment the engineering guys used. It was shelved on all sides, the carefully labeled tech and equipment nearly overflowing. Travis stepped to the back of the room, returning with a compact gun.

Sol stared at it, uncomprehending.

“Here you go,” Travis said as he handed it over. “We’re doing target practice tonight before we head out. Have you ever used one of these?”

“I’ve dabbled some,” Sol replied. “Down at the ranges. But none of those use live rounds.”

“Well, we’ll be packing.” Travis handed him an ammo box. “Though don’t load it up until we brush up tonight. They’ve all got safety, but you don’t want to be hanging around with a loaded weapon.”

“Why do we need a gun?”

Travis laughed. “What do you mean? It’s just for emergencies.”

“But we’re not attacking anyone. We’re only targeting the production line.”

“Right. Which they don’t want us to do,” Travis explained. “And it’s just for emergencies, in case we need to defend ourselves. Dex has planned this out. It’s a skeleton crew. We shouldn’t run into any problems as long as we get the timing right, okay? So, don’t worry about it, but keep it on you.”

Sol nodded, and Travis slapped him on the back, ushering him out so he could prep the next member of the team. Sol went back to his station and tried to focus on the medkits, but his mind kept drifting. It seemed obvious, now. The need for guns. Why hadn’t he expected it? It was just for emergencies, he repeated to himself. Just for emergencies. They’d likely never need to use it. But if they did? Sol tried not to look at it. He wouldn’t need to. It was all planned out. But if it did go wrong…

He stared down at the gleaming metal. It had been well-cleaned, properly taken care of. Why go through all the effort if they weren’t going to need it? Had Dex been keeping that room blocked off to keep the supplies safe, or so they wouldn’t realize what they were getting into until it was too late? A little sabotage, sure. The chance to break things up, to make people notice what was really going on in the world, that he could get behind. Everyone was so stuck in the way they were thinking. You had to do a paradigm shift. But violence didn’t have to be a part of that, he was sure. How could they be the good guys, then?

Sol felt the dizzying vagueness that had plagued him for so long creeping up on him again. He tried to force it down, but he couldn’t shake the thought. Was anything worth this? He looked down at the gun. What were they doing?