Despite my complete and total respect for boundaries and laws and such, I may have a small record of infractions in the Capellan system databases. Very small. It seems that they may have taken badly to some of my completely above-board shipments, delivery schedules, and locations. They may have even used the word “smuggler” a few times. I prefer “freelance, customs-free, rapid delivery service.” For some reason they aren’t impressed with that title.
Jane 4.0 was America’s rush job Artificial Intelligence, thrown together by a hastily assembled team of government and civilian coders and technicians. The first thing they did was throw out the approved designed standard as utterly unworkable. The second thing they did was to start with an earlier version of the Jane 3.0 code that one of the computer techs had taken home years ago. They updated her code and called her Jane 4.0. The politicians never suspected a thing.
Prohibition during the Roaring Twenties quickly went from being wildly popular to amazingly irrelevant in a matter of years. The rich had purchased stockpiles of liquor before the ban went into effect, and the mafias operated undercover bars where everybody could flaunt the law. Police forces and federal agencies unprepared for the rise of organized crime were unable to stem the tide of violent crime linked to the smuggling of alcohol.
I know I put on airs that Capella is a dangerous place to go. It really isn’t for most people though. The Chinese just don’t want to go another round with us after last time. So they’ve revived the venerable traditions of Old Hong Kong and set aside areas where foreigners are allowed. Of course some people like to push those boundaries. Not me of course. I totally respect boundaries of all kinds and would never dream of violating them…
The loss of Jane 3.0 was a severe setback in American computer warfare capabilities. Civilian AIs took up the slack, but they weren’t designed for international electronic warfare. They still somehow stopped our enemies from performing large-scale incursions into the American data networks. But they were never truly alone. Some of Jane 3.0’s technicians survived the attack you see. They were very busy as the Second Great Depression came upon us all.
Forge of War on Amazon
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Angel War on Amazon
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