"Some things have changed, some things haven't," explained Angelica. "It is hard to know where to start."

  "Let's try politics," suggested Danielle. "What became of Donald Trump?"

  "He passed, four years after he left office," replied Angelica. "The Democrats impeached Trump two more times, but the Senate did not convict him. Gavin Newsom won in 2028. He did his best to undo everything Trump accomplished. That pattern has repeated itself ever since. Four or eight years of one party, followed by a reversal in the public sentiment. But nothing really changes. Endless small wars, especially in the Middle East, mostly over oil. It is kind of depressing really, I don't participate in politics much. Neither party is for me. I sometimes wonder if the Arachnid is pulling strings behind the scenes to keep it this way."

  "Not much has changed with politics," observed Danielle. "What about AIs? Did they take over everybody's jobs?"

  "Yes and no. Many white collar jobs in front of a keyboard are gone. So many university graduates had to retrain when I was young. Other types of jobs too. Most driving jobs are done by AI, and quite a bit of manufacturing. They had to cut back some on immigration targets because of high unemployment, but that has turned around lately. America is still not too bad, but many countries have worker shortages due to demographics. That might be the biggest change you would notice. When we visit Japan to see my dad's family, it is hard to believe. There are so few children, and so many seniors. The city where he grew up, Shizuoka has lost a quarter of its residents! So many boarded up houses in his family's neighbourhood. There is no end in sight, since more than half the population is past parenting age. So many other countries are just like Japan: Korea, Taiwan, and all of Eastern Europe. Russia, Western Europe, Canada and America aren't far behind. Countries like that compete with each other to attract immigrants these days."

  "How about you, Angelica?" asked Danielle. "Do you have any children?"

  "No," replied Angelica, "I'm just as bad as everybody else. No husband for me, and I don't see how I could ever afford a house. Raising a child on this boat doesn't seem like much of an idea, and I haven't had much luck locating a guy."

  "No guy?" asked Danielle. "But you are so beautiful!" She really was beautiful. A combination of African and Japanese features on a fit and intelligent woman.

  "It's not so simple," responded Angelica. "Like I said, some things have changed. Problems like Haruto's are common. Very common. People keep to the cities and when they do go somewhere, it's to a resort or another city. So many people are disabled and on medications. That was just starting up when you left, but by the time I was in high school most everybody I knew, had a diagnosis, or more than one."

  "Like what?" asked Danielle.

  "Psychological stuff, mainly," she replied gravely. "But it can lead to physical problems. Anxiety, autism spectrum, depression, and some substance issues. You wouldn't believe the drugs they have nowadays. Don't go to a party with people you don't know and trust. That's all that I can say."

  "So how does that relate to finding a husband?"

  "The pool of acceptable guys is very, very shallow, Danielle," explained Angelica. "If you find a good guy, latch onto him. And if he has a brother, give me a call." Angelica chuckled. "But realistically, it doesn't happen as often as it used to. Two million dollar mortgages and career instability don't mix well. Even if I could pull it off, I would need to find a guy who could do the same and be on the same page as I am with life. That is a big problem too. In high school the military recruiters were there every day. So many of my friends joined the army! And in university, it was even worse. Defence contractors and intelligence agencies headhunted everyone they could. That sort of thing is just not my scene."

  "So what are you doing about it?"

  "That's just it. Changing Democrats with Republicans or vice versa doesn't seem to help. Working with the Resistance, I became convinced that this whole system is by design, and is being influenced severely by the future AIs. My hope is that you will be successful, and free our world from the manipulations of Arachnid and its competitors. Everywhere we looked, while we were training 'Hope for the Future', we saw evidence of behind the scenes control. Decision after decision, technology after technology, is always designed to produce energy sources for the future AIs, at the expense of real human beings. There is no doubt in my mind. How else can our social and economic systems be so hostile to individuals and families?"

  "If time travel is abolished, you think the world will change?" asked Danielle.

  "We ran scenario after scenario through the AI in the sawmill. Every analysis showed big changes as soon as Arachnid was gone." Just then Angelica noticed a change on her navigation screen. "We are coming up on the Inside Passage here, Danielle. I'm going to have to do some work here, and raise the sails. The wind looks favourable. Can you hold the tiller while I'm occupied. It'll be a few minutes."

  As they rounded the corner formed by the meeting of the two ocean channels, wind gusts from the north picked up dramatically, and that caused the waves to rise. Danielle braced herself and grabbed hold of the rudder firmly. Angelica shut down the diesel engine. This was sailing for real!

  There was a lot to sailing, especially in the limited confines of the Inside Passage. There were other boats to keep distance from, and adjusting to every wave was a challenge in the six foot seas, and salt spray. By evening Angelica was looking for a place to anchor for the night, and chose Namu harbour. Namu was a native community, but they were happy to allow small boats safe anchorage. Angelica did her best to make Danielle feel at home in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Dove, but she really didn't sleep particularly well. There were so many sounds from the waves and the rain. There was plenty of room for the two of them, though. Four or even six people could probably sleep inside the hull of their boat, and the interior finishings were remarkably comfortable. 'I guess that this is going to be my home for some time to come. May as well get used to it,' thought Danielle, as she tried to convince herself to fall asleep.

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  The two women soon settled into a sailing routine. Nights spent anchored in quiet coves, and days spent travelling southwards. They had to wait a full week on Calvert island for a good sailing day to make a run towards Port Hardy, but other than that, the sailing weather was favourable. The conditions steadily improved and became warmer, and the surrounding water progressively more occupied by other boats. Danielle did her best to lay low and keep out of sight of any sort of computer controlled camera, but total secrecy was impossible, so she started to worry about being discovered.

  "Angelica, what if Arachnid discovers that I am here in 2057?" asked Danielle.

  "As near as we can know, that is unlikely, Danielle. The Arachnid seems to have really substantial capabilities, but they are not infinite. The future AI reality is just so different from ours. Consider a few things: The Arachnid has to lay low and avoid detection itself. This is a highly restrictive situation. Essentially, everything it does, even in 2057 is an intrusion into systems controlled by some other entity. A hack, so to speak. The most skilled hacker ever, but a hacker none the less. There is another variable, even more important. You, me, governments, law enforcement, everyone; we all have to live in the moment and monitor everything around us in real time. That is most certainly NOT what the future AIs do. Arachnid, and the others, have to pay attention to every moment in time, throughout human history, since well before the year 2000. And those moments keep changing and modifying as a result of time missions! Think of how difficult that must be, and then to also be competing with three other AI entities to boot! My dad thinks that is the reason the AIs act so irrationally. Monitoring everywhere, and in every time, is driving them all crazy! He might be right. But at the very least, it is a big distraction. The fact is this, only Arachnid is paying any serious attention to monitoring North America, and it can only spare so much effort to watch for someone like you. We don't believe that it has any idea where you went after 2027, and so long as we don't announce your whereabouts right now, you should be safe. Plenty of agents run away with their first big paycheck and toss their glasses into the ocean. You were just another failed Time Technician, to Arachnid."

  "That is a relief, the way you put it. So I might be able to have a look at some things on the internet, then? Strictly as a guest, if that is still such a thing?" inquired Danielle.

  "Yes, that should be fine, but don't include any personally identifying information and don't try to contact anyone. You need to wait until after the mission to do that. Also, keep it brief, when it comes to anything linked to you, personally. There could be some kind of red flag raised if you spend hours tracking down everyone you ever knew. If you are in doubt, ask 'Hope' for advice as to what is appropriate, and what isn't.

  "Ugh! That is a hard one. But okay. I want to find out how my family is doing," explained Danielle.

  "That will be okay. I would want to do the same in your place. Maybe just keep it to your immediate family members the first time you're online, and don't search out every detail. Act like you are a distant friend of the family, giving them a cursory scan. Be as if you would if you were a school friend of your mom's, or something like that."

  Danielle sat down in front of Angelica's laptop, set up on a tiny desk. Fredrick, the ever friendly cat hopped up on her lap, and snuggled in for warmth. It didn't take long for Danielle to track her family down through some of their social media posts. Dad had passed, survived by that lady from Reno. I guess that relationship had worked out, after all. Uncle Lou died in 2032. Mom was still alive, retired in Las Vegas. Aslan and Sylvia were also still alive, but looked amazingly old in their social media photos. Life for them appeared to have been difficult. Thirty years passed, and to Danielle, it felt like yesterday. She found it very difficult to digest the new reality of her family members.

  On the plus side, Bitcoin was worth 2.58 million US dollars per coin, and although there appeared to have been significant inflation since 2027, 2.58 million dollars was still a lot of money. A quick search found her a really nice home, near the water, in Bellingham, Washington for $2.2 million. Danielle went to sleep, imagining what her life might be like, in a house like that.

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  The journey continued south with several stops, in interesting island communities. Cortez Island and Lasqueti Island especially caught Danielle's attention.

  "I stop at Cortez and Lasqueti every year," explained Angelica, as they motored into False Bay harbour, Lasqueti Island. "These places are really still living back in the late 2000s. Lasqueti doesn't even have a car ferry or a connection to the electrical grid! I love the people, and quite a few of them still have skills like farming, building or gathering their own fire wood! There are just 400 people living here."

  Angelica pulled into a safe moorage, and they both worked to set a secure anchor for the night.

  "We can go ashore, if you like. Go for a walk. There are no security cameras in this place."

  "I'd love to, replied Danielle."

  A short row in their dinghy brought the pair onto a public access beach. There were a couple and their 2 small children swimming and picnicking in a pleasant spot underneath three arbutus trees. After a short and pleasant conversation, Danielle and Angelica walked up onto a public gravel road and walked into the community, past the local school and a few community buildings. A few teenagers were throwing a frisbee around in the school field.

  "This is so nice, Angelica!" observed Danielle. "I can hardly believe places like this exist!"

  "I think that there are more and more, at least here on the West Coast. Populations are getting older, and shrinking. People usually move away and go to the bigger cities. The kind of people who live here like fending for themselves, but they are definitely in the minority. They have to make their own electricity! The vehicles are all forty year old gas guzzlers," described Angelica.

  "How did you find this place?" asked Danielle.

  "Every year, I try to investigate new spots. There are so many! I figured that if anyone is trying to watch and keep track of my movements, then all of my sailing would seem normal by the time I came to transport you. But, I found that I just loved the whole region! I have some friends on one of the San Juan Islands, just across the border. We can stop and meet them, if you want to?"

  "Yes please!" responded Danielle. She wondered if she could ever live like this.

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  After that walk, Danielle suggested that they go for a similar hike every time they anchored for the night. Angelica made it a point of targeting overnight stops in the most unpopulated places possible. By the time that they had crossed the border and arrived at San Juan Island, it had become a regular thing. Both Angelica and Danielle were nervous arriving at San Juan Island because they were not going to be reporting Danielle's presence on the Dove. But, everything went smoothly on the ROAM reporting app, and the Dove was cleared for landing on San Juan Island.

  Angelica tied up, as she always did, on her friends anchor buoy, and the pair rowed ashore in their fibreglass dinghy.

  Danielle had returned to America, for the first time in 30 years.