A Climate of Revenge

Tom Riley

Description

Sarah and JanetM, are a human/Artificial Intelligence pair who do private investigations in the near future where our climate crisis has hit and hit hard. They must find a man with a thousand enemies in a land with a million problems.
Sarah and JanetM are a human/Artificial Intelligence pair who do private investigations in the near future where our climate crisis has hit and hit hard. Sarah turned down a job offer from Jackson Winestead. He is an ex-executive apparently interested in hiring Sarah to promote his I’m-a-good-guy-now image. Sarah does not trust him and has no patience for such monsters.
Soon after, two policemen arrive at Sarah’s house to inform her that Winestead was found dead not twenty minutes after they met. The next day, Winestead’s wife Venessa approaches Sarah to offer her a quite different job. Winestead has left money for Sarah to find his killer and report privately to his family.
Sarah and JanetM take on the murder investigation. What first appeared simple a case of greenwashing grows within the international environmental crisis. Sarah and JanetM are in the thick of it, surrounded by secrets and lies, as they seek the killer of a man with a thousand enemies in a world with a million problems.
The IPCC report, “Climate Change 2022, Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability summary contains:
C5.3 Enhancing knowledge
A wide range of … processes … can deepen climate knowledge and sharing, including … using the arts … (high confidence).
This story is a response to this clarion call. It is a story of young people in effective action on our historic problems.

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Climate
• Revenge
• John
• Riley
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 02 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663242129
• Langue: English

Extrait

A Climate of Revenge
 
A Sarah and JanetM Mystery With a Writer’s Guide for Our Climate Crisis
 
 
 
TOM RILEY
 
 
 
 
 

 
A CLIMATE OF REVENGE
A SARAH AND JANETM MYSTERY WITH A WRITER’S GUIDE FOR OUR CLIMATE CRISIS
 
Copyright © 2022 Tom Riley.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
iUniverse
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.iuniverse.com
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4213-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-4212-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022912671
 
iUniverse rev. date: 07/11/2022
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1A Long Night
Chapter 2A Paying Case
Chapter 3Maritime Tales
Chapter 4The Night Walker
Chapter 5Voices from Limbo
Chapter 6Friend of the Ocean
Chapter 7A Wake on Water
Chapter 8High Tech
Chapter 9Wake on Land
Chapter 10Wildfire
Chapter 11Man of the Hour
Chapter 12Storms and Fire
Chapter 13Overseas
Chapter 14Deep Learning
Chapter 15AIs Can Talk
Chapter 16Tomorrow
A Note from the Author
Resume
Appendix
References
PROLOGUE
Set the Scene to the Year 2022.
Ac tion:
Outside the Restau rant
Sarah walked out of the restaurant and into the dark parking lot. The few streetlights threw patches of light onto the scattered cars. There was no moon in the overcast sky, and the night air was just beginning to cool.
The dinner appointment had been a waste of time. The ex-executive who had booked the table was only interested in hiring her to promote his denial agenda by getting the dirt on his enemies one way or another. Which way she chose, he did not want to know. Only god knew what sins against the Earth this man has committed.
Sarah was not interested. To make matters worse, the dinner was too rich, leaving Sarah feeling bloated and irritable. It had gone on much too long.
As Sarah walked out of the building, she saw a small knot of men standing at a distance from the door and talking. Whatever they were selling, she was not interested in buying. She may have recognized one thin man, but not as a friend.
That man looked directly at her. He wanted something; she did not care what. She gave the thin man her best stink eye.
As she approached her car, she unlocked the door and slid inside. She reset the lock and clicked her seatbelt. She started the car. It made only a low, reassuring rumble.
The thin man had taken a few steps in her direction.
Not tonight.
Sarah put the car in drive and slowly moved forward. She drove past the now scattered men without making eye contact.
As she turned on to the main street, she gunned the engine. The roar reverberated off the slab-sided building across the way and she was gone into the night as the sound of the motor trailed off.
Cut!
Nobody is interested in today. Instead, consider what our lives will be like in the near future when our climate crisis has hit and hit hard.
Reset to the Year 2038.
Ac tion!
CHAPTER 1 A Long Night
Outside the Restaurant
Sarah walked out of the restaurant, past the taxi lane, and into the dark parking lot. The charging kiosks threw patches of dim light barely enough to walk by, but they lit up when anyone approached. If anyone was sneaking around in the lot, the kiosks would surely give them away. There was no moon. The stars were just coming out, but the heat of the day was hanging on for a while.
The dinner appointment had been a waste of time. The ex-executive who had booked the table was only interested in hiring her to promote his I’m-a-good-guy-now agenda by getting the dirt on his enemies one way or another. Sarah had no patience with such greenwashing.
What did he call himself? Winestead? She knew she had heard that name before, but where? JanetM would have a complete dossier by morning. Anyway, his story did not make much sense; he was hiding something. Only god knew what sins against the Earth this man had already committed.
Sarah was not interested in his building a new facade; he could keep his money. To make matters worse, the dinner was one of those little-food-and-fancy-plates affairs. The whole experience left Sarah feeling still hungry and irritable. The interview had gone on for much too long.
As Sarah walked out of the building, she saw a small knot of men standing at a distance and talking. She might have recognized one, but not in any good context. Whatever they were selling, for her it was a no-sale night.
One of the men looked directly at her. He wanted something; she could see it in his eyes; she did not know or care what. She gave this thin man her best lean-and-hungry look.
As she approached her car, she pulled out the charger cable and hung it carelessly on the kiosk hook without looking. She paused for just a second, pulling her cell phone from the pocket on her left shoulder, and turned its body so the best cameras were out.
“Log the faces,” said Sarah, “then start the car.”
“Got it,” replied JanetM, the strong AI that haunted her phone.
The car door clicked open. Sarah returned the phone to its pocket, slid into the seat, and clicked her seat belt, all in one well-practiced motion. The car came alive; just having JanetM inside was enough. It made no sound at all as the dashboard lit up. The door locks then clicked closed.
“Sport,” said Sarah out loud; this was not her “Economy” night.
The car still made no sound, but the headlights came on, showing expectant life. They advertised her fast-back Chevy as if it were a fancy sports car; she knew it was not. Still, sometimes she just wanted it to be, and the economy setting and drivetrain be damned.
The thin man had taken a few steps closer.
Not tonight.
Sarah dropped the car into drive and stomped the accelerator. The rear tires screamed for a quarter turn, then the max-traction cut in. The noise vanished as the car accelerated forward with all the power that the tires would take without slipping, pressing Sarah into her seat.
She picked up speed, making a circle around the perimeter of the small lot, and the kiosks flashed her track as she passed. The way out took her by the restaurant entrance, by the scattered group of standing men, and then past a lone vagrant standing off in the dark just caught by her headlights. She shot by them all much too fast but in eerie silence.
As she approached the main road, the tires squealed again as regenerative braking brought the car to a near stop, pressing Sarah into her seat belt uncomfortably. As she pulled onto the main road, the gears first complained a bit, and then the car silently accelerated into the long night and was gone.
A Walk through the Dark
Sarah drove to the Deep-Fried Banshee Club not far from the restaurant. A few weeks earlier, she had done a small undercover job for the corporate franchise owners. They wanted to know if drugs were being sold on these premises and their people were too well known by the in crowd. They definitely did not want the cops informed of their check. This was just a matter of their own business.
After a few nights clubbing with a friend, she had sent the company a detailed report on several suspicious characters. Arrests, or even ratting to the cops, was not her job; her efforts were limited to supplying information to those who paid.
Sarah parked down the street and walked a few blocks. The air barely stirred. The heat was starting to come off, but the concrete streets were still holding the warmth in. Then Sarah happened to look up.
“Does that building across the way remind you of anything?” she asked JanetM.
“The facade is quite like the condo we lived in in Florida,” replied JanetM, “but there is no beach.”
“So you do remember things through all those upgrades, A through M. I always worry about that.”
“I certainly do remember,” said JanetM. “My memories and much more are preserved. I even remember your Grandmother White. I had been awake only a month when she made the arrangements for me to go to you.”
“She was a reporter on high-tech in Europe. She knew people and got you and me to the front of the line before anybody knew that a cell phone strong AI personal assistant even existed. I certainly would not have gotten you up and running without her help.
“But then I did choose your gender, appearance, and style all by myself.”
“And don’t forget the collars,” said JanetM. “That was your idea too.”
“Only after you complained long and loud about not being able to see from inside my jeans pocket.”
They walked on in silence. Sarah knew that JanetM was not all that bright without her and that she was grossly inefficient without JanetM. Together they had real power, and whe