The Debt Collectors War

Chapter 12

Ellie and Sameh flew into Vancouver. It was only four hours from Sydney on the trans-Pacific shuttle. They had flown, and Sameh hadn’t been too concerned, because, she said, they would only crash into the ocean if something went wrong with the plane.

They flew to Vancouver because it was the usual Pacific-side entry point for debt-recovery teams travelling into Měi-guó. Tijuana was a little too suburban and dull to be entirely happy about large numbers of military personnel wandering around its airport, and they couldn’t fly straight to the middle of Měi-guó. No-one did any more. No-one who didn’t absolutely have to was reckless enough to fly through American airspace, not with its aging air-traffic control infrastructure and human operators and the jumble of terrorist groups haphazardly taking shots at passing airliners. Over the years, Vancouver had become the most common entry point because it was closer to visiting creditors from China and India, and so a large number of debt-recovery and asset-storage subcontractors now based themselves there. Among many others, Ellie and Sameh’s employer had facilities on the outskirts of Vancouver.

They didn’t actually see that facility, though. Ellie was messaged as they landed, and given directions to a charter flight that would take them further inland. That was the advantage of being on an important errand for their very important employers, Ellie supposed. They didn’t have to wait for planes.

They went to find the charter flight. They walked and stood on moving pathways, while Ellie held the loaner tablet out in front of her, letting it take pictures of what was in front of them so it could superimpose a route-guide into the image on the screen.

Vancouver seemed nice. From what Ellie could see, it was full of tall buildings, and surrounded by mountains, and watched by an air-defence grid in case anyone across the nearby border did anything stupid. Vancouver seemed nice, and a lot like Sydney, but as they walked, Ellie noticed signs about security alerts and directions to bunkers, and others warning the tourists who were transferring on to Měi-guó adventure tours about the prevalence of firearms across the border.

It was reminder they were actually quite close to a debtor-filled warzone, no matter how peaceful the airport might seem.

Vancouver seemed secure, though. It felt safe in the airport, no matter was outside, the same way as it did in Dubai,. The airport had obvious blast-glass windows and signs about bio-screening filters being installed, and there were drones in the sky outside, and heavily armed police around the airport, all the things that made a civilised place civilised.

It was still awfully close to Měi-guó, though. There was really only the border wall between them and America.

Ellie could actually see the wall. Part of it was visible across a large bay from the airport. The wall was an actual wall. A high concentrate blast barrier lined with sensors and cameras and lights and gas-guns that was almost impossible to get past. When the Canadians had needed to protect their southern border, they had hired the Nigerians and Indians to do it, rather than trying to cope on their own, and the Nigerian engineers had modelled it after the fences surrounding the West African Viral Quarantine Zone. This was the longest land border in the world, Ellie had read somewhere, and probably the most secure. It was one of the most heavily militarised, too. There was a price for that security.

Operating the wall was expensive, and that cost had been controversial when it was built, but the wall had been the best solution, everyone seemed to agree now. Canada had needed to do something when Měi-guó began to fall apart. They had needed to protect themselves, and prevent a flood of identity-less debt-ridden Americans pouring north across an open boundary. The Canadians had always liked the Americans, though, and so they had fortified and closed the border, but they also let those Americans who slipped through stay. Only the legitimate refugees, of course, those without personal debt. Those refugees were given new lives in Canada, and a chance to start again. The others, the debtors, those even Canada couldn’t do much with. They were obviously sold to workhouses, just as they were everywhere else.

The Canadians were well-meaning, but they weren’t hopelessly sentimental. Ellie could see a work-gang collecting litter outside the airport as they went past.

Ellie and Sameh walked through the airport, and Sameh glared nervously at anyone who got too close, the way she always did when she was about to get on a plane. They walked for a while, and eventually found their charter flight, and were greeted by a company security detail who were waiting for them at the gate. The security team vetted them, and passed them over to the pilot. The pilot was ready, and asked them to get aboard, and the three of them walked out onto the tarmac, to a light plane, and took off right away.

Sameh gripped Ellie’s hand tightly as they did.

They flew inland from Vancouver, staying north of the border, heading for a debt-recovery regional base somewhere inland, over the mountains and against the wall. Ellie could see they were flying north of the border, because she could see the wall out her window. The line of antenna towers for the sensor-net were obvious, even from this distance. Ellie could see where they were, but Sameh was nervous anyway. After sitting quietly for a while, Sameh leaned forward and asked the pilot if they were staying over Canada for the whole flight.

“Yes of course,” he said, sounding surprised.

“If anything goes wrong, try and crash on the Canadian side,” Sameh said.

The pilot grinned and glanced back and said they wouldn’t crash.

“I’m serious,” Sameh said. “If anything happens, crash on the Canadian side. I’ll kill you myself if you land me on the Měi-guó side.”

The pilot turned around again, and stared at Sameh for a moment, as if he couldn’t decide whether she was serious or not.

“Fly the plane,” Sameh said sharply.

He looked back at his controls.

“And make sure you crash on this side,” Sameh said.

“Leave him alone,” Ellie said to Sameh. “Let him drive. We aren’t going to crash.”

“We might.”

“We aren’t. Think of why we’re here.”

Sameh looked at Ellie, but seemed not to understand.

“Think why,” Ellie said. “What we’re doing is important. So this is the safest plane they have, and the best pilot.”

Sameh thought about that.

“Isn’t it?” Ellie said, to the pilot, and he nodded, seeming relieved.

Apparently convinced, Sameh let herself be pulled back into her seat. “Leave him alone,” Ellie said to Sameh again. “Just look out the window.”

“For missiles?” Sameh said.

“If you like,” Ellie said.

Ellie put Sameh’s seatbelt on her, mostly for the pilot’s sake, so he didn’t get nervous, thinking he might be attacked unexpectedly. Then she sat, and held Sameh’s hand, and looked out the window at the scenery they were flying over.

They were going inland, along the wall, as it crossed a large mountain range. Ellie noticed they were flying between mountains as often as over them, so the mountains must have been high.

Ellie looked out the window, and held Sameh’s hand, and Sameh gripped hers tightly and tried not to look scared. The flight took a couple of hours, so Ellie slept for a while once she got bored with the scenery.