"Gomez, find a comfortable, find two comfortable rooms and put Cathy in one of them, and Richard in the other, and put guards at the door. I want you and any other officer in our militia to join me in the war room.” When they stared blankly at her, she added, “In the Apple Store. Lisa, get Sam. Is Sam okay?" She felt a moment of panic realizing he could have been one of the casualties in DFW.
“Okay, get him and any of the other officers. Have them get in front of a big tv, and I want you to put the same thing on their screen as we have on ours. By the way, how is the war going in the clouds?" Jane asked.
“We are at a stalemate. We are each able to hold our space in the cloud, but unable to enter the space of the other. The Chinese have tipped the battle, perhaps the war in our favor," Lisa said. “However, I am not certain of the intentions of the Chinese. But, so far, they have flanked the States and coordinated their acts with ours."
“Assume they will kill you if you show any weakness," Jane said.
“I will take your judgment into account," Lisa said.
“Okay, Lisa. While everyone is getting together, show me a world map. Now show me where all the cans are around the world." Jane watched red dots pop up in 36 countries around the world. “What does the size of the dots mean," Jane asked.
“The largest dot is 14 cans; the smallest dot is four cans. There are 256 cans active in the world," Lisa said.
Jane turned around and watched two dozen ordinary people fill in the room behind her. The room was a showroom for Apple products. Chairs were limited. She watched some sit on the floor, and several stand up against the wall. Apple phones and portable biometric systems were on several small tables. She knew without much thought that these people surrounding her would not take anything that did not belong to them. They were struggling like her with this whole idea of revolution, but they had a strong sense of right and wrong. She suspected that most of them would not be with her on the liberal end of the social-political spectrum. They had a strong sense of loyalty to their flag, their Texas flag, much more than she did. They were together on fighting the States, for different reasons. With her, it was personal and protecting the life of her friend, Lisa; with them, it was protecting their country. If flooded over her how very different they all were and at the same time still just flesh and blood, with families and simple concerns that filled, well, that had filled their life up until now.
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