“Welcome back to News Focus, I’m your host Nigel Smythe. Today’s topic is “The City: virtual paradise, or secret health risk?” With me today is Dr. Ophira Notingham, an expert in what is called ‘Boot Syndrome,’ futurist Jonathan Isaacs, from America Starla Roberts, and BBC Tech Corespondent Douglas Pine. Thank you all for being here.” Nigel turned to the table of panelists. He had been against the topic. He could barely use his laptop, and now he had to sit as four nerds sat debated the health effects of eye strain. He smiled warmly. “Doctor, let me start with you…”
The City: 056: Nigel
December 15, 2014
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The City: 055: Mina
December 12, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Ingmar, Mina, Renee, The City, Warren Leave a comment
Frank whistled, but the others just stared at them, as though Warren had released a deadly snake in the two room apartment. Mina eyed him suspiciously. “How did you get so many clean guns?” She asked.
“CPD headquarters has been going nuts all day. It was easy to sneak down to the supply terminal, fake my boss’s access, and grab them. We’ll hit the bank and be gone before he knows they were fabricated.”
“But how will we bond with them?” Ingmar, the youngest of the group, asked. “We don’t have clearance for that.”
“Leave that to me,” Renee said.
The City: 054: Warren
December 11, 2014
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In a quieter part of The City, Warren knocked on the door of a shoebox apartment. The others were already inside. Renee peered out from behind the chained door, then let him in. There were seven of them in total. Not a big crew, but large enough that there could be complications. He didn’t know most of them.
“Do you have them?” Norm asked from his seat at the head of the card table. Warren recalled his inventory and pulled out a bag. He upended it onto the table.
“Seven boot guns,” he said. “stripped and ready for avatar bonding.”
The City: 053: Tina
December 10, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Loraine, Mario, Midas Corp, The City, The Smiling Man, Tina Leave a comment
Tina shot Lorraine a smug look as Mario knocked on the towering mahogany obelisk. She’d been after Loraine’s spot on the Executive Security Team, and now it was practically her’s! Unless the cops downstairs did something stupid like try and occupy the building or invoke Emergency Powers. A Coup would ruin everything.
Mario opened the door and went in.
“I’m Sorry to disturb you, ladies and gentlemen, but there is a security situation, and we may have to ask you to evacuate.” Twelve smiling faces turned at once to look at them.
“We’re just about done here anyway,” Babbage said.
The City: 052: Mario
December 9, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Lorraine, Mario, Midas Corp, The City, Tina Leave a comment
Mario glared at Lorraine. There was a goddam riot going on downstairs, with City Police no less, and here she was raving about magic and disappearing doors. He did not have time to deal with her stupidity.
“You can’t change the physical reality of The City. It’s one of The Rules,” he said.
“Rules set by Sizemore. What if this guy got past Sizemore to get to the board?”
“A billionaire assassin? Well, I have to report the riot anyway. Let’s go. Lopez, you come with us.” The door was perfectly visible when the three of them got there. “See?”
The City: 051: Cynthia
December 8, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, CPD, Cynthia, Drabble, Midas Corp, The City Leave a comment
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: 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: 047: Emma
December 2, 2014
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Emma, Midas Corp, The City, The Smiling Man Leave a comment
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.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 