Firmware: Proxy

36  We rode the train through the blizzard until we passed underground.... 

35  We stumbled through the snow, the numbness in my feet turned to pain.... 

33  We slipped out the door into the hallway beyond....   34  We passed from the industrial dimness of the Amosov Catfish Farm into the blinding white of a snowstorm....  

32  I woke to a foul smell under my nose.  I gasped, torn between sleeping and waking.... 

31  I dozed for a few hours. A dreamless sleep, wordless and empty, enveloped me....  

30  I woke to the sight of Fatima’s burqa blocking my view of the room.... 

29  Things were moving fast as I finished my call to Kote Kazbegi’s parents, Nona’s paternal grandparents.... 

27  I checked the clock.  It was closing rapidly on two....  28  It was time to shit or get off the pot.... 

26  I stared at the table. The unappetizing, yet delicious food sat before me....  

25  I woke with a splitting headache. A spear of sunlight fell upon my table, highlighting my breakfast....  

24  I rested; sleeping lightly, never quite relaxing until evening was upon me.... 

Nona was on her feet before he hit the floor....  

22  Nightmares wrapped me in bonds as tight as the sheets I twisted in mockery of my dreams....   23  Rama contacted me while I was watching Nona sleep off the effects of a taser.... 

21  I must have drifted off.  The sheets wrapped around my hands as they were most times I slept....  

19  I rested for an hour, my hands idly navigating me through the brotherhood archives....   20  With Leo, David, and five random guys’ phones tapped, there was little for me to do but wait....  

18  I now knew how to keep the aphasia shark at bay.... 

17  The world is carpeted in circuitry.... 

15  Fatima held a small device to one of my interface ports. “Your implants report usage. Have you been using them?” ...  16  Visions of Leo came to me at all hours....  

“How much of the network is compromised?” Rama asked.... 

14  The alarm on the Opemipo-null scattered a fever dream of rooftops under a darkened sky with Leo pursuing me endlessly from hiding spot to hiding spot....