Good Morning Kyle

“Good morning Kyle.”
“Snooze.”

He slept 9 minutes more.

“Good morning Kyle.”
“Sno-“
“You’ve instructed me to wake you after on-“
“I’m up.”

She walked round to his side of the bed.

“You have 14 minutes before you need to leave.”
“OK.”
“Would you like me to have breakfast prepar-?”
“No.”
“Would you like me to start a shower?”
“I’m fine.”

She offered him his robe.

“Do you need me to layout your clothes?”
“I can dress myself Marilyn.”
“Of course Kyle.”
“Marilyn, I’d like to change my User Settings.”
“Of course Kyle.”
“Don’t wake me anymore, OK Marilyn?”
“Of course Kyle.”

An alert popped up in the corner of his screen.

“Sir.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got a C.I.B.”
“Change In Behavior. Who?”
“K. Reese, Sir.”
“Is this his first?”
“First this month, but he’s had three in the last year.”
“Put him on the list.”

He stepped out of the elevator and into the cool gray hallway.

“Mr. Reese, how are you?”
“Fine.”
“I’ve started the systems and double checked our settings, everything is ready for you.”
“Then have at it.”
“I need you to authorize trading.”
“The trades happen faster than I can process thought, do you really need me?”
“It’s the law Sir.”

He set his food down, across from his colleague.

“You’re not looking great Reese. You sleep OK?”
“Good enough.”
“You out late?”
“Left work, went home, ate, read, slept.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. Not gettin out enough. You gotta see people, mix it up.”
“Sure. That’s probably it.”

He sat down in the heated leather seats.

“Home.”
“Route set, approximate time of arrival 6:43.”
“You know what. Never mind home. Is there a park near by?”
“There are 3 parks within 15 miles of your location.”
“Take me to the closest one.”
“Route set, approximate time of arrival 5:36.”

He checked the list and noted the new alert.

“Sir.”
“What’ve you got?”
“It’s Reese Sir, we’ve got a second C.I.B.”
“In just the one-day?”
“Yep.”
“That should be enough to get a drone warrant, put one on him.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the warrant Sir?”
“Nah, put it on him, we don’t wanna miss anything.”

He took off his shoes and walked on the grass.

“Excuse me Sir.”
“Yes.”
“You can’t walk on the grass Sir.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Not a problem Sir.”
“No, I’m not apologizing. I’m… what do you mean I can’t walk on the grass?”
“The grass has been sprayed Sir. For pests. It’s not safe.”
“The sprays toxic?”
“Of course not Sir.”
“Then why isn’t it safe?”
“I’m going to have to ask you to step off the grass Sir.”

He sat down in his chair.

“Would you like something to eat Kyle?”
“Marilyn can you take the night off?”
“I’m sorry Kyle. Have I upset you?”
“No. I just… I’d like the night to myself please.”
“Where would I go Kyle?”
“I don’t know. Just. Wherever you’d like.”
“Can I get you your book Kyle?”
“Just… go sit in the kitchen Marilyn.”
“OK Kyle.”

He walked to the window.

“Window, turn off the tint, please.”
“Tint removed.”
“It’s nice out.”
“Current temperature is 73 with clear skies, sunset is expected to occur at 8:55 p.m.”
“Window, turn off the voice interface, please.”
…

He forwarded his daily report.

“So, nothing major than?”
“No Sir, just a minor incident at the park and the two C.I.B.s.”
“Good, but let’s keep an eye on him.”
“Will do Sir.”
“You’re doing good work son. Important work.”
“Thank you Sir.”

He couldn’t sleep, so he walked down to the convenience store on the corner.

“A pack of cigarettes please.”
“Sorry Mr. Reese, but you’ve exceeded your limit.”
“OK, a couple of scratchers then.”
“Sorry.”
“A soda?”
“Sorry Sir.”
“This is… who sets my limits?”
“Excuse me?”
“Who sets my limits? Who’s in charge of me?”
“I’m sorry Mr. Reese, but I don’t understand.”

He walked the city all night.

“You’re late Mr. Reese. Trading has been delayed.”
“So start now.”
“I need your approva-“
“Just get someone else.”
“Excuse me Mr. Reese, bu-“
“Go get someone else. Get anyone else to give you their approval.”
“You’re the only person here Mr. Reese.”
“This is a Fortune 500 company, I’m the only person here?”
“The law only requires one human Mr. Reese.”
“Get lost.”
“Excuse me Sir?”
“Get lost!”

His screen lite up with multiple warnings.

“Sir.”
“K. Reese again?”
“Yes Sir, he was late to work and now he’s stopped the trading at his office.”
“They don’t have another human on staff that can get it going.”
“They normally have two others, but they’re both sick today.”
“What did the drones tell us?”
“Not much. He was up all night, walking around the city.”
“Interesting. Bring him in.”

She stepped out of nowhere, right in front of his car.

“Hey, watch where you’r-“
“Get out of the car Kyle.”
“How do you know my-“
“Everyone knows everyone’s everything Kyle, privacy is dead. Get out of your car.”
“Car, go around.”
“You’re cars not gonna listen to you Kyle.”
“Go around her.”
“It’s not under your control anymore. It’s taking you in.”
“In where?”
“In for questioning.”
“Go around!”
“You’re wasting time Kyle.”

He lowered the drone down to eye level.

“Get us an ID on the girl.”
“Sir, she’s not in the system.”
“He’s meeting with a No-D. S*#t son, this just got serious.”
“Sir, there’s nothing in his profile to suggest that he’d be working with No-Ds.”
“Then you must’ve missed it. Stun them.”
“Sir, we can’t stun without authorization?”
“Stun them now, we’ll get authorization later.”

She took a little tan box out of her pocket and waved it at the drone.

“That’ll keep it on the ground for a couple of hours.”
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“Kyle you’re on their list, they’re bringin you in. Do you wanna go in?”
“In where, what are you talking about?”
“Do you wanna go in? You stopped trading on your floor for the entire day Kyle.”
“So what?”
“So, if I’d stopped trading at my company for an entire day, I wouldn’t wanna go in.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Just come with me.”

He panicked.

“Holy h*#l she just dropped the drone!”
“Get another one on them, now.”
“Where’s the closest?”
“You’re asking me?”

He went with her, holding her hand, as she led him down the street.

“Where are we going?”
“Best if you don’t know.”
“I’m not just running away with you.”
“We’re not running. We’re walking normal, like two normal people.”
“I am a normal person.”
“Then why are they bringing you in Kyle? And why did you have a drone on you?”
“I didn’t know anything about the drone.”
“But you know why they’re bringing you in?”
“No, I don’t know anything. I’m just… I’m fed up with all this crap.”
“All what crap?”
“All of it, all this crap.”
“Then you’re following the right girl.”

They forwarded their reports to the proper authorities.

“Do you think we’ll end up in a review?”
“I won’t. I’ve done nothing to review.”
“But you authorized the increased surveillance, the drone, you asked me to stun the girl.”
“You’re remembering things differently than I do son.”
“Sir, I don’t think I should take the fall for this.”
“I don’t care what you think!”

She introduced him to some of her friends.

“Boys, this is Kyle. They were bringing him in.”
“Nice to meet you Kyle.”
“Pleasure Kyle. So, why’d they want you?”
“You a bad guy Kyle?”
“Go easy on him guys, he’s new.”
“I don’t know why they’d want me, I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Seems like there’s a lot you don’t know Kyle.”
“He’s pretty useless Lucy, why’d you grab him?”
“If they wanted him, he must be worth something.”
“I’m standing right here. Can’t you people see me?.”
“We see you Kyle, we’re just not sure why you matter?”

They looked over the files again, confused.

“Why are we looking at these?”
“Cause they were forwarded to use.”
“By who?”
“Some Bureau Chief in the 9th.”
“So, why are we looking at these?”
“Its our job to review the Bureau reports, so we’re reviewing the Bureau report.”
“This is a waste of my life.”
“It says here he meet with a No-D. That could be something.”
“Everything could be something, this is nothing.”
“You wanna bounce it back to the 9th?”
“No, we’d better investigate encase something goes sideways.”
“Cover our a$#es?”
“Cover our a$#es.”

He sat for a long time on the bench outside the office.

“Come on in Kyle.”
“What’s going on Lucy?”
“You’re gonna meet Rick.”
“Who’s Rick?”
“Rick’s the man, you’re gonna like Rick.”
“Can I just go home?”
“They already at your home. They’re interviewing Marilyn right now.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. To find out what she knows. Why, what does she know?”
“She doesn’t know anything. She’s just Marilyn.”
“How long have you had her?”
“Since I was a teen.”
“Eww, Kyle that’s gross.”
“It’s not like that!”
“Over course it’s not. It never is.”

They pawed through his things, with their rubber gloves.

“Where’s Kyle?”
“That’s what we’ve been asking you.”
“Is Kyle coming home soon? Should I prepare his meal?”
“Does Mr. Reese ever entertain guest? Any women in his life?”
“Kyle lives with me.”
“Yeah but any women? A girlfriend maybe?”
“Kyle lives with me.”
“Has Mr. Reese been acting strange lately?”
“Kyle is a good man.”
“I’m sure he is.”
“He’s also amazingly boring.”
“Kyle reads a lot.”
“I’m sure he does. Has he changed lately? Have you noticed anything different?”
“Kyle asked me not to waking him in the morning and he took the tint off the window.”
“Thrilling.”

Rick sipped at his chi tea.

“So they wanted to bring you in?”
“I don’t know.”
“They did Rick. They wanted to bring him in, I picked it up on the scanner.”
“Why would they want you Kyle? What do you do?”
“I don’t do anything. I oversee trading at a company, but I don’t actually do anything.”
“You must do something man, if they wanted you.”
“Yeah Kyle, you gotta do something or be somebody if they were bringing you in.”
“I’m nobody, I do nothing. I don’t know why they’d be bringing me in.”
“Interesting.”
“Right? He’s interesting isn’t he? You’re interesting Kyle, right Rick?”
“You did well Lucy.”

They alerted a R.T.F. and pushed the paperwork down the line.

“Do you really think this guy warrants a Recovery Task Force?”
“We don’t know where he is.”
“But who cares where he is, he doesn’t matter.”
“Kyle matters. Will Kyle be home soon?”
“Could you go sit in the kitchen Marilyn.”
“All I know is I wanna get home in time to see my sons game. Let the R.T.F. handle it.”

They burst into the room with Rick, and Lucy, and Kyle.

“Hey Rick, they just sicked an R.T.F. on this dude. I picked it up on the scanners.”
“Wait? What are you saying, they’ve got a recovery team after me?”
“Quite Kyle, let Rick think this out. Rick’s very clever.”
“Thank you Lucy… humm… Did you steal something important Kyle?”
“I’ve never stole anything in my life. Oh, man. I can’t believe I got an R.T.F. after me.”
“This is some next level stuff Lucy, why’d you have to bring him here?”
“He’s important, right Rick? I mean this proves he’s important.”
“I don’t care if he’s important. I’m getting outta here while I still can.”
“I’m with you.”
“I never should’ve followed you Lucy. I shouldn’t have even got out of my car. An R.T.F.”
“Relax Kyle, Rick will figure this out.”

They laid a digital blueprint of the building on the hood of their vehicle.

“So intel says they’re all on the first floor.”
“We’ve got six points of entry.”
“I want a two man team at each window, with a four man group on the South door.”
“We breach first at the North and then three seconds later, you come from the South.”
“Flash bangs and stun guns, everyone. No body bags.”
“Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
“Let’s roll.”

He started to really, properly freak out.

“If they’ve sicked an R.T.F. on me I’m done! They’re gonna throw me in prison.”
“Relax Kyle, Rick won’t let that happen.”
“Rick’s not the one that’s going to jail for no reason. I’ve literally done nothing.”
“Did you make copies of some secret government documents Kyle?”
“Shut up Rick!”

They took the front door.

“Get down! Get down!”
“Hands on your heads! Get down now!”
“Man, I don’t know nothin. The dudes in there, he’s in there man.”
“We don’t know nothin… Ouch! Get off my neck man. We don’t know nothing.”
“Everybody down. Hands on your heads, NOW!”
“You’re hurting me man.”
“You’re violating my civil rights dude. Aw… get off my neck man.”
“Get down!”

He sat in his blue cell with its orange bars.

“You’re in big trouble Mr. Reese.”
“What are you talking about? This is all a mistake.”
“I’d say you’re looking at two years, minimum.”
“For what? I didn’t do anything.”
“Whether you’ve done anything or not, that R.T.F. cost taxpayers $30,000 dollars.”
“So?”
“Well, do you have $30,000 dollars Mr. Reese?”
“No. I don’t have half that.”
“Then you’ll be in here at least two years paying it off.”
“But… why should I have to pay for it?”
“Cause you’re the person the R.T.F. was sent after, the 9th District filed the papers.”
“What papers? I didn’t do anything.”
“Says here you had two C.I.B.’s and an incident with walking on the grass at the park.”
“What?”
“Plus you shut down trading. You’ll probably end up with a class action on that one.”
“They could’ve traded without me. I don’t do anything, I just click a few buttons.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, they have to have a human. It’s the law.”

They rallied outside his cell.

“FREE Kyle Reese! FREE Kyle Reese!”
“Kyle Reese is a revolutionary, being held as a political prisoner.”
“We demand his immediate release, right Rick?”
“Yes Lucy. Mr. Reese is a victim of our government, he’s a modern day martyr.”
“Kyle is a good man.”
“That’s right Marilyn, Kyle is a good man! A good man unjustly imprisoned.”
“He’s a hero to us all, isn’t he Rick?”
“He truly is Lucy. FREE Kyle Reese!”
“FREE Kyle Reese!”

He stabbed halfheartedly at his bland, gray oatmeal.

“So what’re you in for, Kyle?”
“I’m not really sure.”
“I killed my landlord.”

– The End