“Where the hell did you get a boot gun?” Dawn asked. Ingmar blushed and couldn’t meet her stare. Aiguo came to his rescue.
“It doesn’t matter how he got it. If he can fire it, we have a chance of stopping this guy. We just need to find him and shoot first.”
“With the tower destroyed, Underwood will likely retreat to the beach house until things are settled.”
“But there is a city full of zombies between here and the bay.”
“I can get you there,” Dorothy said. “I specialize in unlikely accidents, and I’ve been clearing routes all day.”
The City: 124: Aiguo
March 19, 2015
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The City: 123: Neva
March 18, 2015
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“His motive is to take down Midas and let the world go with it,” Neva said. “The question remains, how do we stop him?”
“Underwood is only in control of the situation as long as he remains logged in. If we can disconnect him from the system and shut the City down, the backups will restore most of the damage he’s caused.”
“If he’s in control, isn’t he invincible, though?”
“Not from a boot gun.” Ingmar slid down the embankment and into the hidden section of the park. Renee and Dorothy followed. “Get me a shot, and I’ll boot him.”
The City: 122: Idris
March 17, 2015
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“Wait,” Idris said. “are you saying that this guy will have that much control over the economy of the entire world?”
“For a start,” The Cat Lady said. “The City intersects with every major computer system on the planet in some way. Given enough time, he’ll be able to hold every man, woman, and child on Earth hostage.”
“But this will destroy Midas. Why’s he doing it?” Dawn asked.
“To show the world he’s done it. Or perhaps revenge. Babbage’s real name is Simon Underwood He was a security consultant about the time I quit. Midas fired him shortly afterwards.”
The City: 121: Jemma
March 16, 2015
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The Daytrippers were talking in circles. Even if they did have a good idea of what Babbage was doing to The City, thanks to The Cat Lady, they didn’t know how to stop it. If the virus even could be stopped. It had already spread so far throughout the system.
“Do we even need to stop him? Let’s just find a way to escape!” Jemma said. The Cat Lady scowled at her.
“In addition to the massive amounts of fraud and data mining he’s already committed, Babbage is making himself the sole proprietor of a fifth of the world’s economy.”
The City: 100: Darien
February 13, 2015
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“Have any of you tried to log out today?” The Cat Lady asked. Darien raised his hand.
“The door to my apartment was locked. There’s no public space anymore either. It’s like we’re trapped in here.”
“I thought so. He’s trying to maximize the number of infections and overload the system. That’s what the hole in the sky is. An overload. And it will happen again.”
“But why? What’s his end game?”
“His virus is malware stolen from my AI cats. They observe The City and learn. His zombies are slow, but learning, and soon The City will be theirs.”
The City: 099: The Cat Lady
February 12, 2015
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“Because they’re building something else.” The old woman appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the group of teens and twenty-somethings. “The virus overwrites an Avatar, boots the user, and replaces it with a massive AI module.”
“What happens to the user?” Paulo asked
“Forced to log out, but it’s an unsafe boot. Somewhere between ten and fifty percent will suffer acute Boot Syndrome. Midas hushed up the figures about the problem. It’s why I quit in the first place.”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Nora asked.
“I’m The Cat Lady, and I believe you have something of mine.”
The City: 098: Michio
February 11, 2015
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“We’re getting distracted,” Dawn said. She was only fifteen, but determined to take charge, as usual. “We’re safe here from the Zombies for now, but we need to figure out what’s going on here before we can stop it.”
“From my data a virus was released into the system on corporate channels at three PM City Local.” Michio said. He was one of Hiro’s buddies. “About an hour later, a second vector spread the virus in the from of a programmed explosion, that also created the rip in the sky above Midas Tower.”
“So Midas is the source, but why?”
The City: 097: Sibeal
February 10, 2015
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Xue cracked her knuckles and bit back a scream of frustration. The large group gathered in a hidden spot in the park. Over forty people had answered, but not Ingmar They had the manpower, but what they didn’t have was a plan.
“What’s wrong,” Sibeal asked. She was one of Aoife’s friends.
“I can’t reach Ingmar. We were hoping to get his input.”
“On what?”
“This.” Nora set a green collar down on a picnic table. He examined it.
“Where did you find this?”
“On a cat, of course.”
“Cats aren’t a part of The City’s programming. Who made this?”
The City: 089: Aoife
January 29, 2015
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“You shouldn’t be logged in,” Aoife said when her younger sister called. She was inside The City. Hadn’t she seen the news? The software was glitching like mad, and there Nora was merrily meeting with her team of international hackers, or whatever they did all day. Hang out, she supposed. That’s what she did, when she was that age. But she did that in a proper coffee shop, not a trillion euro VR playground.
“I know. Things are weird, but I need a favor.”
“Of course.”
“I don’t think this is a glitch. It’s a takeover.”
“What do you need?”
The City: 070: Zidane
January 2, 2015
Free Fiction, The City 140 Characters, Dawn, Drabble, Kaboom, Midas Corp, Mildred, The City, The Daytrippers, Zidane Leave a comment
Summoned by the CEO, Zidane muscled his way into the office. His own physical size was impressive. He found that he intimidated even here in The City, where such things were of no consequence. There was no inherent value in his strength in the digital environment, it was merely an accurate representation of his stature. But it made people nervous, and it made them forget how smart he actually was. The interviewer girl looked suitably impressed, certainly.
“Ma’am?”
“Ms. Evans was just leaving.” Dawn began to protest, but stopped. Together they watched the top of Midas tower erupt in flames.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 