Oberon sat on a rooftop and watched the chaos spreading out on the ground below. Oberon liked the rooftops, surveying The City as traffic passed this way and that, cataloging the cars and the data signatures as they sped through the network. He didn’t know why he liked it. His simple AI mind was that of a cat watching traffic and chasing bugs. But the data all fed back someplace that even he didn’t know. Suddenly, he felt hands wrap around himself and lift him from the ground. He hissed at the girl.
“What do we have here?” she smiled.
The City 088: Oberon
January 28, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Oberon, The Cheshires, The City Leave a comment
The City: 087: Faiza
January 27, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Faiza, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Faiza had a long day. The train had been late, her office had been a madhouse, the train had been late again. There were weird rumors circulating, and cops everyplace. Even virtually, the police eyed her hijab as though she could somehow suicide bomb a server from the inside. Now, all she wanted to do was logout and rest her eyes. Her City apartment was at the very top of one of the Bayside towers. Once she climbed the stairs, she found the door to her apartment was locked. All the doors were locked. She heard growling down the hallway.
The City: 086: Trevor
January 26, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Midas Corp, News, The City, Trevor Leave a comment
“Good evening, I’m Trevor Hollingsworth.” He looked into the camera and made his grave face. “Public health officials are warning users to refrain from logging in to popular computer program “The City,” as rumors of widespread ‘Boot Syndrome’ are sweeping the globe. Midas Corporation, the owners of The City have yet to issue a statement. The virtual environment software is used by billions of people worldwide, and is used for everything from virtual chatting to finance to virtual reality office environments. The program has been plagued with errors since former CEO Augustus Sizemore announced his sale of Midas stock shares.”
The City: 085: Alba
January 23, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Alba, Drabble, Midas Corp, The City, The Robbery Leave a comment
Alba watched the gunman from her window, and wondered if a boot gun could shoot through glass. She watched the rest of the people in coats cover the other exits and pull their own boot guns.
“Listen up, this is a robbery!” She almost laughed. No one had ever pulled off an ARMED robbery in The City. How could you? The money wasn’t even real, just the a representation. Couldn’t Midas just erase their whole take? Or were they there for something else, and the robbery was just a cover? She put up her hands and waited to find out.
The City: 080: Taddeo
January 16, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Midas Corp, Norm, Taddeo, The City, The Robbery Leave a comment
While his coworker Matilda sat gaping at the ruined tower, Taddeo was busy tapping out texts into his messenger, all cyphered and encrypted of course. The Cops weren’t letting them text, but he had a special hack from Renee. It let him text without sending any signals to his avatar, so he could type away while its hands were still.
TOWER ON LOCKDOWN. ABORT THE MISSION!
Norm was quick to reply.
ACKNOWLEDGED. MOVING TO SECONDARY TARGET.
Taddeo wanted to hit something. They were going ahead with the robbery at a branch location, which made him culpable, but with no cut.
The City: 079: Matilda
January 15, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Matilda, Midas Corp, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Matilda sat huddled with the car park with the other Midas Corp evacuees. The police weren’t letting them go yet, but wether this was for investigative reasons, or merely a show of power had yet to be seen. The building was sealed off, but she could see the zombies, avatars, whatever they were, banging on the doors. The blast had triggered some kind of AI virus, hijacking the avatars and putting them under a single control. They weren’t very smart or agile, but at least they knew enough to avoid the blasted out windows. The ones that fell stayed dead.
The City: 078: Peng
January 14, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Peng, The City, Zombies Leave a comment
Peng walked as much as he could in The City. He had gotten a special treadmill for it and everything, which his husband had rolled his eyes at. He had called it a waste of money, but three months of daily exercise outside of the smog had really improved his heath.
He heard the moans and growls before he saw them. They were avatars, but violent and moving erratically, like wild beasts. He turned and ran, hearing his treadmill motor whine with unexpected stress. The zombies followed. He was only a mile from his login house. He almost made it.
The City: 077: Blanca
January 13, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Blanca, CPD, Drabble, The City, Traffic Leave a comment
Blanca directed the flow of digital traffic and felt a pang of regret for her decision to study Criminal Law over Medicine. Usually, she loved her job, hunting down hackers in The City as well as the physical world was a thrilling puzzle. But with the sudden set of crises today, everyone was working double shifts doing grunt work to keep up. She wished she had drawn something a bit more interesting than traffic duty. She waved a blue sports car past, and heard a scream from a few blocks away. She should have been careful what she wished for.
The City: 076: Phil
January 12, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Drabble, Phil, The City, Traffic Leave a comment
Phil sat in traffic and waited. The day had been a complete mess. A river of red taillights spread out ahead of him, mirroring the color of the slowly sinking City Sun. It was usually sunny, and inclement weather was rare in The City. Rain you couldn’t feel took away from the illusion and freaked people out. Finally, traffic began to move. There was a cop directing things somewhere ahead of him, manipulating a pair of giant glowing sticks like an air traffic controller. Finally. Phil had places to be. He needed to log out and pick up his kids.
The City: 075: Erin
January 9, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, CPD, Drabble, Erin, Midas Corp, The City Leave a comment
Erin stood in the crowd that ringed the barriers, and hoped her record function was getting all of this. The crowd was full of Citizens and Daytrippers. In a disaster, class was irrelevant. She was a reporter, and this was her moment. The fire and smoke had cleared away, leaving half the building ruined and sooty. The glass had vanished rather than shattered. The top few floors were gone as well, as though they were never there. In their place, there was a tear in the sky, pulsating violet and black. It was like staring into the face of God.
