Boot guns work on a simple principle. Normally, a person can only exit or enter The City from a house that they have access to. Some allowances are made for access interruptions such as computer failure and power outages, but improper logouts are considered criminal offenses. This was because beta users developed ‘Dropout Syndrome.’ Midas created user houses and covered up the damage. But they made Boot Guns to drop problem users. Which is why Cynthia was surpassed to find her gun had no effect on the man groaning and thrashing in the street. He lunged at her and howled.
The City: 051: Cynthia
December 8, 2014
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The City: 050: Rosencrantz
December 5, 2014
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Rozencrantz the cat was hunting his digital prey, mostly interesting shadows and blowing leaves, as there were very few mice or insects to catch in The City. He began to notice the humans acting strangely. They stood very still, often in the middle of the street, an action he barely understood to mean their attention was elsewhere. Then, they began to change, to slump or growl, to move in unnatural ways and behave oddly. Rosencrantz didn’t understand what a ‘zombie’ was, but as panic erupted throughout The City, he slunk back into the shadows. Shakespeare would know what to do.
The City: 049: Loraine
December 4, 2014
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Loraine watched the boardroom from her monitor. Something funny was going on. It wasn’t her job as security guard to meddle, but Mr. Constantino hadn’t moved for a solid two minutes. She was sure the new CEO had done something to him. The board was in danger. She pinged the boardroom, but got no answer. She patched herself into the audio feed.
“King? I want nothing so small. Sizemore had so much access, so much control that he never utilized. Myself? I will be a god!” She had to get the board out. But the conference room door had vanished.
The City: 048: Jake
December 3, 2014
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On the other side of the city, Jake, a data entry clerk for one of Midas’s competitors, took his fifteen minute break. He couldn’t fully log out of the system, which made getting up to use the restroom a challenge, but at least he could check his email. There was a message from Midasoft announcing a new patch. It was a verified download, but the content just had a vague message about performance and stability upgrades. He wasn’t supposed to download during hours, but he was on break, so Damn The Man. He skipped through the EULA and hit ‘Install.’
The City: 047: Emma
December 2, 2014
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Something was happening in front of the building. Emma tried to check her feeds, something she had added for herself when she built the system. She couldn’t read them. Babbage looked at her. He knew! How could he know? And what had he done to Roberto?
“You’ve hacked The City! I didn’t think it was possible.” The rest of the board watched in horror.
“Hacking is such an inelegant word for what I’ve done. I almost needed to make a new City myself. Sizemore’s access was the last hurdle.”
“What are you going to do? Crown yourself king?” Babbage laughed.
The City: 046: Tyrone
December 1, 2014
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Downstairs, the situation was getting tense between City Police and the Midas Private Security. Commissioner Jenkins had practically fought his way inside, and all available security was converging to stop him from entering the building. The problem was, nearly all the cops were unbootable and unbanable, which made Tyrone’s weapon useless. But if the cops’ were, so were the security guards’. They were at an impasse. Some twit, a suit low enough on the ladder to get thrown to the wolves, identified as Abner Lanning, appealed for calm as the meeting continued on Mount Olympus. He was bootable. Tyrone fired.
The City: 045: Raine
November 28, 2014
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“An explanation? Of course.” Babbage practically oozed unctuous charm. Raine considered the confrontation with interest. The whole board did, but they weren’t going to get involved. There was a time to get your hands dirty, and a time to keep them clean. Most of them knew which was which. “I believe you’ll find a document in your folders which explains the situation quite clearly.” Roberto ripped out the paper in question and held it up.
“This doesn’t tell me a goddam thing!” Holding the paper, Roberto’s avatar suddenly glitched and froze in place. Babbage smiled.
“Now, we can truly begin.”
The City: 044: Roberto
November 27, 2014
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For Roberto, the stock sale was the final insult. He had never been a loyal soldier to Midas Corp. Their takeover of his company had been all but openly hostile, but the price had been too good to pass up, and The City needed his translation algorithms and messaging capability to become what it could be. Sizemore had never trusted him, and he admitted it was probably with good reason. But to sell his shares without consulting the board, Roberto included, was unconscionable. He banged his fist on the table. “I demand an explanation,” he shouted to the grinning idiot.
The City: 043: Dani
November 26, 2014
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Dani watched the rest of the board, waiting for the resentment to break the surface. She wondered who would crack first. Would it be Victoria, Sizemore’s able second in command? How much did she know about this deal? Or would it be Raine, the angel investor who kept Midas afloat when it was the whipping boy of a phalanx of international justice probes? Or would it be Trey and Linda, the venture capitalists that got The City off the ground without knowing what it was? It turned out to Roberto, the Brazilian social media wunderkind, who threw the first punch.
The City: 042: Sam
November 25, 2014
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Sam was an oil baron. His daddy had been an oil baron. His son, if he didn’t bankrupt the company or buy a baseball team or some damn thing, would be one too. Sam knew there was a lot going on in this, room. It wasn’t a real space, but with his gloves and goggles on, it might as well have been. Everything else was fake, too. The smiles, the platitudes. The board was a nest of vipers, but this new guy, Babbage, he was different. His frozen face just as fake, but he wore it openly. Sam liked that.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 