I rolled out of bed; well at least I thought I rolled out of bed. My bed was a small uncomfortable futon on the floor of my small grungy apartment in a small town somewhere on the east coast. I couldn’t even remember what they called the place anymore; I hadn’t left in so long, as far as I was concerned it was home, whatever that means. Ever since I was a kid I had no clue what home was supposed to mean, I always had a house that we all called home, but that never meant any great deal to me. Once my grandmother said home is where the heart is, I guess my real home is on the net then.
I sat up and looked at the large panel monitors that covered the entire sidewall of my room. It was a one-room apartment just above the local Chinese Japanese restaurant, the only place worth eating in town. The real name is lost to me now, its faded away with the old sign that is still rotting out back, its one of the only things I could see through my window. I left one window uncovered, something my mother used to tell me when I was younger… something about how sunshine always brightened your life or something. Sunshine didn’t really matter; it hadn’t mattered in years now, even when I heard my mother say those words… I think the room was dark.
I never saw my mother when the sun was up anyway, so I don’t remember why she was complaining so much about it. Mother was never around, I think that’s one of the reasons I couldn’t understand my grandmother when she always tried to explain home to me, old people were always trying to explain stuff like that to us all the time. Mom always said she loved me very much, I remember that part, and she always worked. The family never saw my mother again after my twentieth birthday, at least I didn’t, my brother always told me how she looked, or what she was up too. I just hammered away my days in the office and my nights at one of my random part time jobs.
I glanced out the window at the long forgotten name, the place had a franchise name now, not that it meant anything, but nowadays if you weren’t affiliated with a franchise you couldn’t survive financially in the world. Everything was a franchise now, it was just the way things worked out, I heard some time later in graduate school it had a lot to do with the world economy or something. The economy had been horrible, after the fall of the Japanese, and swift following of the Americans the world fell into ruin. Well that’s what they teach the kids in school these days, I was around for it, nothing was different that I could tell. Just a lot of people died in foreign countries. That’s when the world franchise corporations rose up.
I think it was about then people realized government had no real power, everything was just corporations. There was a war, it lasted a whole week. Corporate power versus existing government, no one cared who was in charge anyway, America was already a corporate power, so we just shrugged and went about our daily lives, nothing changed. So everything was corporate, just like it always was, and everyone felt safe. Familiarity does that to people, just slap the name Pepsi on the side of a tank, and for some reason you just can’t shoot at it, that’s what all the veterans say, the ones that beg on the corners without legs and what not.
I looked down at my modem, the hard line was cut, I vaguely remembered last night. I had to cut the line, they almost got me, some people gave them names, I just knew to avoid them. I ran the net at night, the “wired” some people called it. It really just depended on where you were from, online I mean, it didn’t matter where you were in the real world. What mattered is what you called home online. I was a net runner, I had no home, and we were like the ninjas of the wired. We had no honor, and we would take any job, as long as you could pay the money. Hacking was a serious business in the world, and your allegiances shifted daily. One day I was ghosting my way through Coca-Cola databases looking for some file or another to do with their new ad campaigns, and the next Coke’s tech departments got me on the line asking me to do a little job for them.
Well my hard access to the wired was cut, so I figured I would go get cleaned up. My stomach stated growling, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since some time last night. Dinner for me was usually from downstairs, the people there had gotten used to me, and happily brought food to my room if I asked them for it, I tried to get out as much as I could though. I never was one to be cooped up all day, and sometimes you just couldn’t make a run on the wired, like today. Besides I had to run out and buy a new cable.
I looked around my room, organized to the exact detail. One wall was my display, eight foot high fifteen foot long, the usual in my business. My VR helmet was resting on its stand, something akin to a coat rack, in the corner. I didn’t like to use it that much, I felt like I was lost in all the stimuli, it was something that was trendy for a while, so I picked one up, not really a big advantage in my business, but you know how It is. My Futon was haphazardly thrown in the middle, in front of my chair. All laid out in front was my usual set up, projected 3d hologram interface keyboards, four whole square feet of them, the pride and joy of my set up.
I had an illegal box, the “government”, if you could call it that anymore, recalled all computers sometime in oh-five. It had a lot to do with the whole Napster thing from the early years. Then we were all given the same exact government made computer, designed so you could only install certain software with certain access codes, and only go to certain sites on the net. You get the idea I’m sure, good thing I kept my old P4 in my closet, so I had been a fugitive since the start, we all had, until the government started to arrest us.
I had built the monster that was in my room now, I didn’t even have a closet, it was all components. She was called “Konpyuuta-chan” don’t ask me why, it was a whim, and it was a phrase she wouldn’t get confused with any normal words for her voice interface. That and I majored in Japanese in college, which actually helps out quite a bit when your ordering parts from China, but really didn’t get me anywhere in “the real world” as my Dad always used to call it. Dad was an officer in the Navy, I stress was. Dad caught a Microsoft manufactured rocket in the chest. Mom kept Dad in a little jar on her desk now, that’s what my brother told me at least.
“Konpyuuta-chan, lights on” the lights flickered on in the room. My eyes took a second to adjust to the brightness. I large Anime face appeared on the wall display, she always looked way too happy in the morning. The screen zoomed back and she stood a full five feet something on the wall and greeted me with some overly happy Japanese. I just yawned away and she started telling me what my itinerary was for the day, then she paused, and informed me that her net connection was severed. I just nodded, and she went through a quick warm up. I walked out into the hall, closing the door behind me.
I wandered over to the shower we all shared, me and all the other people living there, everyone else working in the restaurant downstairs. It was pretty big, quite a few people used it so it had to be, I stumbled into the shower, turning it on and letting the water heat up. I heard a couple of inaudible beeps in the back of my head, my left eye flickered, then I saw Konpyuuta-chan standing in front of me. I was still wearing my glasses; the image was being projected right onto my retina. I guess her wireless connections weren’t damaged. She asked if I wanted my usual morning drink. I suddenly realized why it was I couldn’t wake up, I told her yes, and she smiled and vanished. I took my glasses off and lost myself to a nice hot thirty-minute shower.
By the time I got back to my room Konpyuuta-chan had disappeared, probably doing some maintenance, They almost got into my main line last night, sent me a few punters, but my system blocked them. I figured she was assessing the damage to her software. I rummaged through my dresser, I found some clothes, I had the same shirts I had in college, I couldn’t stand all the new stuff people kept coming up with these days, so I pulled one of my old Anime shirts over my head and put on a pair or jeans. There was a knock on my door, one of the waitresses form downstairs was outside holding up a small can of an old favorite of mine in her hands, I checked on the security cameras every time someone knocked on the door. I opened the door and she handed it to me with a little smile, I downed the whole can in one gulp, she seemed pleased and walked off down the hall. I watched her for a minute, and then slowly closed the door.
Reality was starting to become sharp; the caffeine was working its way into my system. I pulled my black Kawasaki riding armor jacket over my shoulders, the helmet was in its usual place, leaning on its side near the door, it was black too; I always had a thing for black. I called out for Konpyuuta-chan, she came walking onto the screen from some invisible space to the left, she was wearing a pair of glasses, and her long hair was tied up in knot on her head, just as I thought, she was running system checks, standard stuff from the looks of it. I let her know I was going out to get a new fiber optic cable for the hard line, she smiled and nodded, I walked out of the room and downstairs.
I came out onto the street entrance; it let me out in the front, by the main door to the restaurant. I walked inside and my usual breakfast was sitting on the counter where I always sat. I flopped down into the chair laying my helmet on the counter next to me, I didn’t realize how early it was, there weren’t but three people in the entire place. I ate my rice, and the waitress walked by and took it away, saying something in Chinese to me about putting my dirty things on the table, I wasn’t paying attention. Oh yeah, I also picked up some Chinese in school too, glad I did, otherwise I’d have no idea what half of the people I meet on the wired were saying.
I wandered out the back entrance to where I left my bike, just behind the utility shed against the side of the building. I slid the cover off of it, its shiny black exterior glinting in the morning sun. My pride and joy, a 2005 Kawasaki Ninja EX-15R, she was amazing, parked next to her was my first bike, a used Kawasaki 500R, just about a third of the power, and ten times the mileage. I sat down on my EX and strapped on my helmet, the display panel inside hummed to life and the bike started up, I slid her out of the back lot and into the alley, she shot off and cruised onto the streets. The handling on these new bikes was amazing; they were all built with some amazingly complex machinery and computer systems I couldn’t even begin to understand.
I rode her out of town at somewhere around a hundred and fifty miles per hour. She ran it like a dream. I pulled up to the usual place where I bought my hardware, picked up a simple fifty-dollar cable, and meandered outside. The sun was getting higher in the sky now; the display flashing on my retina said it was exactly eleven forty-five. Konpyuuta-chan flashed into view sitting on the back of my bike, she looked serious and informed me that her hard line was still out, and it was getting late, I held up the cable, but when I looked down I had a can of Coke in my hand. I paused, in the other was the fiber optic cable.
I turned around and looked down at the small can in my hand, Konpyuuta-chan asked me something, but I wasn’t paying attention. I weighed the can in my hand, and contemplated it for a minute, and then I chucked it against the nearby shops wall. It exploded into a wall of fizz and hissed violently. I zipped up the cable into my Jacket and got back on my bike, Konpyuuta-chan climbed on behind me, wrapping weightless arms around my waist, I flipped down my visor and took off on my bike tearing down the worn highway at over two hundred miles per hour.
That’s just how it is nowadays, you’ll never find yourself without a Coke, and you’ll never be able to look down without finding a shirt on you with some stupid company slogan emblazoned on it. Its not like I can help it, none of us can, we’ve been brainwashed like the rest of the world. It’s in our subconscious now. Sometimes its hard to sort out who you are from what they’ve put into your head; and you can’t always tell if what your doing is your own choice, or one of the programs they put there for you. Either way, its not like you care, you were already doing it, now it’s just a little more obvious. I told Konpyuuta-chan to make sure there was a Mountain Dew and an Amp waiting for me when I got home, she vanished from behind the bike. I like Mountain Dew… I think.
Post a Comment