"You say your insurance guarantees that my family will never be the victim of an extremist attack?"
She was well dressed and well maintained. Her hair had that telltale iridescent shimmer of chromatic threading, salon-grade augmentation that shifted from amber to copper as she moved her head. Her nails were similarly enhanced, each one displaying a subtle looping animation that pulsed in time with her heartbeat. She wore a corporate thermal suit that looked expensive even by Remus standards.
Working mom. Our target demographic.
But there were circles under her eyes that her augs didn't conceal and she looked relieved at the chance to get off her feet and sit in my kiosk chair, tucked in the back corner of the Celestia Promenade's commercial level. Through the transparent wall behind her, I could see the mall's central atrium, with delivery drones weaving between levels, a cleaning mech polishing the luminescent floor panels, and a family of four gliding past on a motion path, their bodies leaning slightly as the smart surface propelled them toward the entertainment district. A massive holographic advertisement for Neuropa's newest residential towers rotated above the fountain, each apartment unit rendered in perfect detail.
"Thanks for coming in today, Ms. Danvers. That's exactly right. Like I told you when we spoke earlier, our Freedom Insurance guarantees the most protection of any policy on the market today against acts of terror, violence, and identitheft."
She squinted. "How is that possible? The Judiciary doesn't predict or thwart all attacks."
I smiled. "To clarify, the Judiciary has premier intelligence and is able to detect and disrupt most threats. But for security purposes, you don't hear about a lot of what they find out—and disrupt. Additionally, as a private Judiciary subcontractor, we at Freedelity have additional information not available to any federal or interplanetary agency."
She swiveled and some of the stiffness in her shoulders dissipated. Outside, an autonomous cargo transport hummed past on its designated lane, its sides displaying rotating ads for various off-world destinations. One showed Cranarr's famous Lava-fall, the molten cascade glowing against alien skies.
I continued. "While it may not be possible to predict every act of violence, particularly from solitary bad actors, we're confident enough to offer a 99.99% guarantee that you and your immediate family will not be the victim of a terrorist incident. And if we're wrong, we'll compensate you better than any term or whole life policy payout."
I gestured toward the interface floating between us, and with a flick of my wrist, brought up three sample policies. They materialized in translucent blue panels, each one rotating slowly to display coverage tiers, benefit structures, and compensation matrices.
"We have three options depending on your privacy preferences. Starter tier includes basic threat monitoring and limited protections," I explained, highlighting the first panel.
"Standard adds predictive alerts. But Platinum—"
I enlarged the third panel until the numbers glowed impressively.
"Platinum gives you what hardworking moms like you deserve: full-spectrum protection for you and your children with our highest compensation guarantee. Ten million for any breach of our promise."
"Hmmm," she responded, visibly impressed. "Ok, that's great. But the Vigilant bombing last month at the transit hub. There were victims. And—"
"None of them had Freedom Insurance."
"And if one of the victims did?"
I cleared my throat. Prospects always asked this.
"If someone had Freedom Insurance, they wouldn't have been there. Our proprietary quantum-parallel threat matrix—running on distributed Heisenberg processors across twelve orbital stations—analyzes trillions of data intersections per microsecond. When we cross-reference individual behavioral signatures against our system-wide threat topology, the predictive convergence is remarkable. We can model cascading risk patterns across multi-world nets and local planetary systems to identify probability spikes with enough temporal buffers to alert our customers before they enter a threat vector."
She nodded, very slowly.
"So you really can predict the future."
"I wouldn't say that, it's really more behavioral quantum science but anyone with a high likelihood convergence with a threat vector who has Freedom Platinum will receive an emergency warning at least two hours before the attack window."
"But…"
"Yes, Ms. Danvers?"
"Mom!"
We were interrupted by a lanky teenage boy entering my kiosk. He had multiple earrings and a septum ring, and the telltale phosphorescent glow of a subcutaneous comm implant pulsing faintly at his temple.
"Josh," the woman responded, a barely perceptible edge in her voice.
"How much longer will this be? I'm supposed to meet Sara." His expression was sullen and petulant.
Her face reddened, the chromatic threads in her hair flickering slightly with her stress response. "Mr. Smith, I apologize. My son—"
"I understand," I said. "Please, Josh, is it? Sit down. We won't be much longer. Ten minutes."
Josh opened his mouth to respond but a stern look from his mother silenced him and he begrudgingly sat down. He pulled a SMartocle from his jacket pocket—one of those sleek monocular displays that were in fashion this season among teens—and fitted it over his right eye. Within seconds, he was immersed in whatever feed he was watching, his fingers twitching slightly as he navigated the interface only he could see. The faint audio leak carried the roar of a stadium crowd and the sharp crack of something striking hard. Probably the football game, Remus hosting Neuropa.
"I'm sorry," she said. "Where were we?"
"I believe you were asking about our predictive capabilities."
"Yes, you said you alert people. Before the attacks?"
"Correct."
Her expression darkened. "Hey, wait a minute."
"What's that?"
"If you can predict an attack for some people, you can help stop all the violence. How come the attacks still happen then? Don't you share what you know with the Judiciary?"
The expected counter and the key portion of the scripted sales pitch.
"Ms. Danvers, I assure you, as citizens of the solar system and defenders of freedom, Freedelity shares all credible threats with the Judiciary and we partner with them to do everything we can so they may act on this information. You'll find on their portal that we are listed as a Silver Partner, fourth consecutive year."
I gestured toward the small crystalline plaque on my desk—a seemingly decorative piece that suddenly illuminated from within, its surface shifting from transparent to brilliant silver. The Judiciary seal rotated in three dimensions above it, accompanied by scrolling text:
Freedelity Corporation
Silver Partnership Tier
2170, 2171, 2172, 2173, 2174
Small icons materialized around the seal: a shield, a network of connected nodes, a clock counting upward to show continuous monitoring duration. The display pulsed once more before fading back to dormancy, leaving just the silver gleam.
I paused and for the first time shifted my confident smile to a militaristic straight line.
"However, because we would do anything to protect our customers who we really think of as family, we ask them to provide us with detailed information to help us threat model and protect them. With this critical data access, we're able to cross reference their augmentations, behavior, movements, network topologies, patterns, subscriptions, and risk footprint against a full range of threats."
She was listening intently, focused. I had her full attention.
"With 99.99% accuracy, our Platinum threat tracking allows us to provide you with prediction guarantees and customized, priority threat alerts, so you can change plans when we suspect imminent danger. We really wish we could provide this service to everyone, but we are a private organization and this technology isn't cheap and it's not free."
"Has anyone with Freedom Insurance ever been the victim of an extremist attack?"
I stared at her without responding.
"Well?" she pressed.
I continued staring and she finally averted her eyes. "Yes, there have been a handful of cases when Freedom Insurance policy holders ignored our priority alerts and continued to destinations we warned them to avoid. By doing so, they forfeited their compensation claims, unfortunately."
I paused and then spoke slowly. "Ms. Danvers?"
"Yes?"
"It is true that sometimes attacks do not occur after we have issued an alert. But there has never—" I paused. "Never been a confirmed attack which we did not know about in sufficient time to alert our customers. We are of course not responsible for the inactions of our customers and what happens to them if they don't act."
She nodded. Relief and submission evident in her features.
"Why not 100% then?" She was half-smiling though, getting more comfortable.
I cleared my throat. "There is pending litigation that I can't discuss, but let me assure you no
"All right. I'm convinced. What does it cost? Is it a monthly or yearly subscription, annual commit? We're planning to relocate to Neuropa next year, and I want to make sure Josh and I are covered during the transition."
I smiled. "FreeBot just sent all the information to you and will be available soon for installation on your mobile. FreeBot will help you complete the policy, but the great thing about Freedom Insurance is there's no cost. We just need your consent to be included in our database and permission for Freedelity and the Judiciary to track all of your activity."
"What? You mean my mobile and travel? Don't you do that already?"
I smiled. "We're not data brokers, Ms. Danvers. But, to answer your question, everything, really. Starting with genome and profile with full detail, and all your data."
"Wait—" she paused. "That will give you–"
"Yes, it will give us everything. The only way we can guarantee safety from a terror act is if we have all of your information. This consent extends to anyone in your household under eighteen as well as any new children conceived while you are under contract. That includes complete biometric profiles—genetic sequences, augmentation specifications and logs, metabolic data, neural pathway mapping if you've had any cognitive enhancements. We'll need root access to any implanted technology or biological modifications. Full medical histories, pharmaceutical records, therapeutic interventions. Essentially, we need a complete picture of who you are, biologically and digitally."
Her mouth widened and she looked over at her son, who continued to focus through his SMartocle, his hand swiping through the air repeatedly, completely immersed in the experience.
"And the Judiciary would have access to this information as well? All of it? My genetic code? Josh's augmentation data?"
"Yes. But, I'm sure you agree," I continued. "It's worth sacrificing some privacy and freedom if we can guarantee safety. For you—and your son Josh."
Even at the mention of his name, the boy did not stir. Through the transparent wall, a promotion hologram flickered to life—a smiling family stepping off a transport at Neuropa's gleaming spaceport, the promise of a better life rendered in perfect, luminous detail.