“The customary 1,000 monthly credits have been deposited on your bracelet. My analysis tells me you have fourteen songs by Lady Ga-Ga, six songs by The Black Eyed Peas, and four songs by Prince. You will get an additional 100 credits for each song. If it is determined that any of the 24 songs contain magic, you will be paid handsomely based on their power? Chances are you will be a great deal wealthier soon; there are already numerous magical spawns of these artists. The magic of these artists is highly sought after. What have you been told about the economy in Suffragette City?”
“That it’s based first on social interaction and second on labor.”
“Yes, that is correct. A word of advice, if you are generous in your social interactions, people will be generous with you.”
“Thank you. Which way to Uptown?”
“Right behind us,” responds the head sentinel.
“Thank you,” I reply.
Suffragette City has no skyscrapers. The tallest building may have ten to fifteen stories. How large is the city? It seems to be endless. What is the population? It is surely more populous than any city on Earth.
I stand on the corner of Alphabet Street and Seventh Avenue in Uptown. It is the part of town where followers of Prince converge.
It was late in the day when I arrived. It is now night and the entire city is bathed in the bright lights and the neon that seems to be a hallmark of this strange city.
I need to find a room to stay.
Three of the four corners of the intersection contain a bed and breakfast: Crabtree The First, Crabtree The Second, and Crabtree The Third. The other corner contains a restaurant called Starfish and Coffee. Behind Crabtree The Third is an 18-hole putt-putt golf course.
Crabtree The Third has the most elaborate craftsmanship and it is the largest of the three Crabtrees with four floors rather than two.
I wait for the light to change and I cross the street. The car traffic is still pretty heavy and there are people on the sidewalks going about their business.
All three of the Crabtree’s are purple of course. Crabtree The Third has quite a few waterfalls. The masonry work is unparalleled. The welding of the metal work on the fence, awnings, and balconies is artistic and very imaginative. I look down Alphabet Street. Anotherloverholeinyohead will be my first stop in the morning. It is where you go if you murder the love of your life. A sorceress works there who has the ability to help me through the issues concerning me and Chantay.
Next to Anotherloverholeinyohead is Power Fantastic—a place for meditation and contemplation. The last establishment on the block is Housequake—one of the hottest nightclubs in the city. Housequake is huge and people are already flocking to get into the party.
On the other side of the street is Sign O’ the Times, an establishment that has a very powerful oracle; U Got The Look, a clothing store with three in-house tailors, and, The Gold Experience, a shop with a spiritual alchemist.
Up the street there are two more clubs: Joy Unto the Rave Fantastic and Joint 2 Joint.
I walk into Crabtree The Third and the light scent of incense hits me. I vaguely remember this being called Purple Passion back on earth. Go figure.
“Hi,” says a cheerful light skinned black woman who is in her early twenties. “Welcome to Crabtree the Third. My name is Camille.”
“Camille… Cool,” I say remembering Prince’s Sign of the Times album.
“And yes, my Muse is associated with Prince.”
She has on a sheer see-through white dress. She has on matching pair of revealing but tasteful white panties and a bra.
“I would like a room please.”
“Sure,” she says cheerfully. “Is it just you?”
“Yes.”
“Would you like a companion for the evening. We cater to all tastes: men, women, blended individuals.”
“What are blended individuals?”
“A woman with a penis or a muscular man with a vagina. Or it could be—”
“Never mind. Forget I asked,” I say quickly. “I choose to be alone for the night. That may change at some point during my stay, but for now, it’ll just be me.”
“Well, here is one of our menus,” she says handing me a pamphlet. “We offer straight, gay, bi, threesomes and various forms of S & M.”
“Thank you. I will look through the menu when I get a chance.”
“Good. Our rates are 250 credits a night. If that is too expensive, Crabtree the First and Second charge 100 credits a night.”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“How many nights will you be staying?”
“I’m not sure, yet,” I reply as I extend my bracelet to the establishment bracelet on the counter. “Let’s start with one night.”
“One night,” she says talking to the establishment bracelet. There is a beep and I can feel my bracelet vibrate on my wrist.
“By the way. You are very professional and you have a great smile.”
“Thank you,” she says smiling even bigger. “Bracelet please.”
I extend my arm.
“Let’s see,” she says with a look that is both quizzical and mischievous. “That is probably worth 50 credits.” She touches her bracelet to mine.
“Do you like my outfit?” she says as she does a slow 360-degree twirl.
“Of course. What heterosexual man or lesbian would not?”
“Fiffffty more credits,” she sings as our bracelets click and the transaction registers.
“And the body? From one to ten, how would you rate it?”
She doesn’t have much of a butt and her breasts a rather small, but the rest of her is smoking hot.
“8.5,” I reply.
“I have no butt and no breasts to speak of. I appreciate your honesty. 50 for the nice grade. 50 for your honesty.”
Our bracelets click again.
“Now if you do decide to take a companion, who will be first on your list? I always have a taste for dark chocolate.”
“You, of course.”
“Good answer, good answer, Mr. Handsome. That deserves 150 credits.”
We tap our bracelets again.
“Here’s your room key,” she says as she reaches into a drawer and hands me a card key. Enjoy your stay. And please do think of me if you get lonely. We could make some nice music together.”
“Thank you. I will,” I say as I take the key.
I am in my fourth floor room looking out the window taking in the scene on the streets below. “Sexy Dancer” is blaring from Housequake and it soon fades out to “Hot Wit U.”
This is a very odd place. Octavia did tell me the economy here is socially based rather than labor based. Everything in The City is built by robots or computers making work unnecessary. I can do all right here. I know how to give compliments and I can help strangers. I can be quite charming when I want. I think I will do just fine here.
The other shops on Alphabet Street and throughout Uptown have closed for the evening.
I look into the distance and see the two hills that stand above the city. Uptown is on the south side of downtown. Farther to the north and to the west stands the Hotel California. I like Al B. Sure’s version but prefer the original version by The Eagles. To paraphrase the song, you can check in but you can’t leave. The Hotel California is the entry point for most people into Suffragette City.
In the center of The City sits a hill with the House of Rising Sun on top. The lights of the House of the Rising Sun are even brighter and more dazzling than the rest of the city. The House of the Rising Sun is where one goes to exit The City. The song by Eric Burdon and The Animals plays in my head. It is a haunting yet epic song. I guess it is quite fitting that power in a city called Suffragette City would revolve around the House of the Rising Sun.
I am not able to see some of the famous spiritual establishments of the city; The Temple of Syrinx which is inspired by Rush, the Lady Ga Ga fueled Electric Chapel and Aerosmith’s Avant Garden. They all seem very interesting places and I hop
e to visit them all before I leave. Octavia told me many of these establishments populate Salvation Road, a place that anyone can go for spiritual healing.
Another interesting place is based on the 1980s funk band Mtume and is called The New Face Deli. A person can go to this shop and get all kinds of plastic surgery done. They can also get their mind re-arranged by getting their brain re-wired. The New Face Deli specializes in re-wiring the brain by manipulating your outer body with cosmetic changes. The theory is if you are at peace with your outer self, your inner self will have peace. It is a controversial theory in The City. Many believe it promotes superficial healing by changing one’s God-given physical attributes. Some believe people should make peace with their God-given attributes rather than change them but this is Suffragette City and anything goes. The New Face Deli is also on Salvation Road.
I am tired. There is a lot to take in and learn. My room is large. It has an almost regal feel to it. The walls are cream and purple. Almost everything in this place is purple from the carpets to the bar soap in the shower. There is a tad of black, white, red and pink but purple is the dominant color. There is a prominent 100-inch TV in the room. I want to turn it on and watch the happenings in The City but I am too tired. My education will have to continue in the morning.
I am finally up. I did not bother programming a wake-up call because I am on my body’s schedule while in Suffragette City, at least for now.
I turn on the TV and the names of the top bounty hunters and their lifetime earnings scroll on the bottom of the screen.
This represents the most disturbing aspect of Suffragette City that Octavia told me about, the bounty system. How does the bounty system work? In Suffragette City, the robotic sentinels respond to initial disturbances and crimes of passion. In The City, serious disagreements are settled by issuing bounties. A person states how he or she has been wronged and puts up credits for that person to be killed. If the target of the bounty has wronged others or is disliked by others, they can add some of their credits to the bounty. Anyone can collect on bounties. The person who posts a bounty cannot do it anomalously so there is transparency. The person who has been targeted can publicly defend his or herself by offering an explanation and issue a counter bounty.
Here is where it gets interesting. Organizations or groups can hire a magical based bounty hunter to exact revenge on another organization. The organization that is targeted will find their own super-powered bounty hunter and an epic battle will ensue.
Super-powered bounty hunters are forbidden from collecting bounties against regular citizens. If they violate this rule, The Muse will strip them of their supernatural powers and issue an obscenely high bounty on the offender’s head.
Peacekeepers work for The Knights of the Sound Table (KST) and are commissioned by the KST to take down powerful criminal organizations. The Peacekeepers are allowed by The KST to fight other supernaturals and regular human beings. The Knights of the Sound Table are named after a 1981 album by the funk band Cameo.
For minor offenses, the two parties in the dispute will enter their sides of the story into a computer program along with any evidence that supports their position and the computer program will render a verdict. Parties in a dispute can also go to Salvation Road and have a mediator settle their dispute.
They are showing replays from last night’s two battles.
The Kiss inspired Peacekeeper, 100,000 Years, attacked a warehouse belonging to the Murphy Street Crime Syndicate. According to the news report, 12 were killed and 20 were wounded. I watch the video and I can’t believe my eyes. 100,000 Years has a face that is painted white with black shooting stars falling down his face. He is dressed in black leather. He shoots what appears to be flaming stars from his hands. Maxine Silvercrest gave me a detailed crash course on Kiss songs. Maybe Flaming Youth would be a better name for this powerful Peacekeeper. 100,000 Years is brutal and efficient. He had the entire warehouse on fire very quickly. He also set a few of the thugs working for the The Murphy Street crew on fire as well.
The second clip features The Ice-T inspired Squeeze the Trigger fighting Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Saturday Night Special. This fight took place in the dead of night in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Squeeze the Trigger was a dark skinned black man who had on dark midnight blue pants and sleeveless blue shirt of the same shade with black stripes on the side. He had two large assault rifles surgically attached to his arms. Saturday Night Special is a white man with long brown hair. His outfit is maroon and black and he has similar assault rifles surgically mounted on his arms. He also has a black leather mask on his face.
I can’t believe the size of the assault rifles rigged into their bodies. And when I say rigged in I mean attached with screws and cables. These rifles look like they would shot the equivalent of 50. caliber rounds. These two dudes have huge muscles. They have to. Those guns strapped to their bodies are heavy and they both have steel lined ammo backpacks with belt fed rounds leading into the assault rifles. Both men also have some sort of metal skeleton melded to their bodies. Muscles alone aren’t enough to support all of their firepower.
Those guns are spitting out an amazing number of rounds a minute. They both take multiple hits and keep going. The regular human participants of the aligned gangs join in the fight. The fight may have lasted fifteen minutes. 6 members of the Saturday Night Special affiliated Wayward Warriors were killed. 12 were wounded. The Squeeze the Trigger aligned The Way of The Dead lost 9 members and had 16 wounded. Members of each rival gang carried off their injured super bounty hunter. Both bounty hunters are believed to be alive and recuperating from their injuries.
What a wild place Suffragette City is, you have all kinds of different churches and spiritual places juxtaposed with killing and mayhem. You have magically empowered killing machines along with magically endowed healers. This is going to be an interesting trip.
And then it happens. There was a slight sharp pain in my head when I woke up. The pain has now gained in its intensity. This should motivate me to hit the pavement and find some answers. Maxine did a great job of disabling the technology in my head. We both knew there was no guarantee her work would hold up. She could not definitively see the tech inside of my head other than through her mind’s eye. She could have only done a partial shutdown. In addition, if the tech inside of me is a smart system, it could have re-initiated control over my brain. I need answers. This cannot continue. I can’t afford any mistakes in a crazy place like Suffragette City.
Starfish and Coffee is a small bistro with eight small tables. I am waiting on a Monte Cristo sandwich with orange juice and a salad. I am sitting at the counter facing the cook. The bistro is empty except for me and the cook. It is around 11:00 AM. The streets of Uptown are fairly empty.
“Yer ain’t from around here are you?” asks the heavy-set scruffy white male with big bushy brown hair. He has on blue pants and a white button down short-sleeved shirt. “You’re from the old world aren’t cha. You have the ability to have a foot in both worlds.”
“Yeah, something like that,” I respond.
“Fascinating. It’s rare someone like you shows up here in Suffragette City. What brings you here? Are you running from something or trying to find something?”
“A little bit of both,” I respond. “Is the weather always this nice around here?”
“Yep. That is one of the advantages of living here in The City.”
I have on a pair of dark blue jeans and a red long sleeved t-shirt. Maybe I should have worn shorts.
“Does it ever snow here?”
“Nope. And it only rains early in the morning. There is beautiful weather here I tell ya.”
“Where is everybody?”
“At home asleep probably. The City revolves around nighttime activities. The shops usually open at noon.”
“Interesting. What else should I know about this place?”
“Be careful, watch yourself. People don’t trust outsiders like you who live in both w
orlds.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Don’t mention it,” he replies as he wipes his hands on his dirty white apron. He washes his hands and brings over my food.
I walk into Anotherloverholeinyohead. Nobody is here. I go and sit on an old leather black couch. The couch has cracks in the leather. The waiting room has old, worn, gray carpeting. A TV is attached to the wall and is showing the latest news from around The City. Despite the old furnishings, the waiting area is clean.
There is still a dull throbbing in my head.
A young white woman sticks her head out from behind the purple curtain, “I will be with you in one minute, sir,” she says.
“No, worries. Take your time,” I respond.
There is a single shelf about 1/3 the way up the wall near the door. Two purple candles burn. I think they are scented with lavender.
Purple. I love Prince but everything is purple or purple related around here. This people are obsessed with all things Prince.
The young white woman walks out from behind the curtain. She is an attractive tall lanky blond. She has on a khaki dress pants and a white button down dress blouse.
“Hi, my name is April,” she says as she walks toward me. When she gets to the couch she extends her hand in greeting. I rise off of the couch and shake her hand.
“I’m Ripley Greer.”
“You are not of this world. You’re a visitor.”
“Yes, I am.”
“What brings you here?” she asks.
“I need to make amends with my ex-girlfriend. I’ve been told she is here in Suffragette City. A tragedy has occurred. I have some explaining to do.”
“I see. Let me see if Marva is free. Follow me.”
I follow her behind the curtain. The room behind the curtain is large and has an elaborate water structure running throughout the room. There are numerous channels of water that snake through the room. There are also two fairly large pools of water one to the far right of the door and the other to my immediate left. The floor that exists has a gray slate tile. To my immediate left are two blue couches that face each other on some sort of large island. A short bridge leads to the island. A bridge leads from the door in which I stand to a door at the rear of the room. The bridge is a straight line.
Salvation Road: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Page 3
