Going Dark: Cypherpunk Stories

By Steve Wire

Everyone knows the Sokolnikov Brothers, two geniuses who perfected driverless cars and transformed global transportation. Thanks to Mike and Sergei, highway travel around the world is cheap and safe.

But the Departments of State and Homeland Security have a lot to say about how, where, and for whom these autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate. Eventually, even the billionaire brothers are unable to prevent their inventions from becoming oppressive tools of surveillance and control.

And when the government makes a demand too horrifying to contemplate, Sergei takes a stand that could change society forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Wire
• Release date: Oct 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393843566

Steve Wire

Steve Wire writes science fiction about the battle between government and technology, authority and innovation. Read on for smart rebels and cool hacks.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Going Dark | a Cypherpunk Story | by Steve Wire

Going Dark

a Cypherpunk Story

by Steve Wire

MY BROTHER AND I WERE waiting for our lawyer to show up.

We sat at the oak-and-steel conference table on the executive floor above our customer experience center, in one of the more expensive neighborhoods in Silicon Valley. My brother wore a suit as always, perfectly tailored with a dazzling tie. I wore a suit as well, the only one I owned, which I kept for meetings like this.

My brother, Mikhail Yakovlevich Sokolnikov, owned more suits than he could count. I, Sergei Yakovlevich, would change back into jeans and a t-shirt as soon as this meeting was over.

Everyone knows the Sokolnikov brothers, the founders of SafeRide. Pick up any tech magazine and there's even odds we're on the cover again. We've been selling self-driving cars with Level 5 Autonomy for twenty years. Some of our original models are now roadshow classics.

Mike stood and faced the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Give me some bad news.

This was a game we played sometimes.  I swiped through statistics on the screen of my laptop. Car ownership is down again this month. The percentage of Americans who own cars is down to where it was in 1980.

Hah! Mike waved his hand dismissively. Our sales are higher than ever. People buy our cars and let them work as taxis when they're not needed. One car can support two households, maybe three. Everyone just rides around in other people's cars.  Come on, you can do better. What about unemployment?

I checked the latest figures.  Still below seven percent.

They said the robots would steal our jobs. Mike grinned at me, the San Francisco skyline behind him.  And the labor force?

Down to where it was in 1970, I said.  Americans just aren't looking for work.

They don't need to work. Transportation costs have sunk to the basement. That's made everything cheaper. The Consumer Price Index?

Down again this month.

Deflation! Mike clasped his hands