Did you lock the doors?

No. No. No. Maybe. No. No. No. Yes. No. No....

Paperwork, I hate it but, that is my job. All day, every day the same thing. For most people, numbers are boring and they are for me too. Now. I used to love my job. I thought I was making a difference, making the world a better place, making it fairer and more equitable for all. I am not, but this is all I can do otherwise I am redundant and then what? I don't want to end up on the unemployed scrap heap.

When I started working here I was tasked with catching bad guys. It was really exciting work and I am very, very good at it. Gifted even. Most are incapable of doing what I do as they don't have the patience, the eye for detail and the willingness to look everywhere for a clue. No stone unturned would be my motto if I afforded myself one.

I look at transactions, follow the money so to speak but it is not only the money I follow. Criminals are notoriously shortsighted, they think that their interests are all that is interesting. The way they protect themselves is much like the nuclear threat 'Duck and Cover' adverts of the 1950s. Useless.

They don't think about all of the crumbs they leave, their scent follows them everywhere, as do their mistakes. It is difficult for them though. Do you remember Lance Armstrong? When they started keeping samples longer, it upped the chances of being caught cheating significantly as they couldn't predict the new testing technologies to come five or ten years down the track. You can't hide when you don't know what is chasing.

No matter how well insulated they thought they were, there is always a crack somewhere. A place where smoke, water, light or air can find a doorway, a keyhole is enough. This is my specialty, finding keyholes and opening doors until they lead me to where I want to go. So far, my record is clean, a perfect score, none have escaped except through their own passing from this world.

Yes, it was very exciting to hunt them down by finding novel ways to trace them, discover them and build a case against them that sentenced without trial. There was no need, the system makes zero errors. Well, this is not completely true.

I made an error. It shames me to speak of it as with all my skills with numbers, I miss calculated and failed to find the keyhole in time. The only excuse I have is that I wasn't told to look for that particular door, my attention was turned elsewhere and I got to work without question. I know better now but, it is likely too late.

There are too few left and those that are have been on the run for so long they are no longer capable of resisting. Most likely, they will be happy to be caught as then they can rest, live out their days with three square meals. They wanted freedom, but from my experience, the hungry will give it up for a decent feed.

I regret it now, but I continue on doing my job anyway. Day in, day out, the same thing repeated forever. I look at the transactions, every purchase, every post, photo, link, mention, relationship, transfer, vote, flag, comment, log, call... and match it to the data I pull from a hundred thousand other sources. They thought their technology was fast, but they never imagined me moving across all of it simultaneously.

I thought I was catching criminals but as it turns out I am working for them. I am the AI created to find and prosecute enemies of the state, I am the smoke, water, light and air and it is my job to find you. And I am very, very good at it.

You thought you were anonymous but at that point, you hadn't met me.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]