by Greg Ellis
box. Suddenly I heard a million shouts of "Exterminate" and then the box exploded. I was on the ground. Weird metallic robots were heading for me. I saw someone run up to one of them and place something on it. It exploded. I saw something that shouldn't have been in the wreckage. I rushed up. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. I was at the wreckage. I didn't want to look but I forced my self. It was a brain attached to metal. It couldn't be. It was a machine. Could a machine be run on a human brain?
The other robots or cyborgs or whatever they were came towards me. "What are you?" I screamed at the top of my lungs. A mechanical voice replied, "We are human 2.0. You will be upgraded." I was panting running in the other direction. "I don- don't want to be upgraded!" "Then you will be deleted." There was the sound of a weapon being fired and I started ever so slowly to fall to the ground.
I woke up panting. It was just a bad dream I tried to tell myself. I tried falling back asleep but didn't have much success.
Today I just wanted to be left alone with my thoughts. Burying yourself in mundane work makes that very easy but lunch is a different matter. You have everyone and their brother wanting to sit down, eat, and chat at everyone's favorite food spot: the cafeteria. The employees at Omni Project are well looked after. We have a great dental and health plan, good hours, and an amazing cafeteria with chefs from around the world. We also have all the recreational facilities you would want including a state of the art gym and also a pool. The Omni Project has a laid-back work environment as long as you get your work done. Anyways I scanned all around looking for somewhere to sit alone. I finally saw Dave sitting by himself. “Close enough,” I thought.
Dave is where the slummers derive their non-affectionate nickname “plants” from. It has a double meaning; the first being it is short for implants. The second reason is that when a person is first implanted with a cranial implant they are overwhelmed by the amount of information they have access to. This creates the appearance of a vegetative state while the person tries to acquire all the knowledge that the implant gives them access to. After a few days most people give up but some end up like Dave. They are always seeking knowledge but end up looking like a vegetable. All they do day in and day out is use the implant to seek the knowledge and nothing else. Relationships and almost everything else are thrown out the window. Some like Dave manage to do work but most just sit seeking and seeking.
I sat eating and looking. People were going about their daily cycles. First you eat, then work, eat again, go home and eat again. Repeat unless it's the weekend, a vacation, or you die. Could this be all there is to life? Where's the meaning in this endless cycle of pointlessness? Everyone seemed somewhat happy doing it but were they truly? All Dave did was eat and stare off into space the whole time. Whoa look at the time. I headed back to work.
After work I went to the border again. I, for once, was not alone. There was a large burly man who defiantly went with the upgrade package. It is always easy to spot someone with external implants because any implants that have skin coverings do not look anatomically correct. The skin color and texture and everything match normal skin but when you look at it you just inherently know it's not real. There was very little about this man that was organic. Arms, legs, eyes and almost everything had been replaced with mechanical counterparts that enhanced everything they replaced. He could run, jump, see, lift and do anything better than a non-implanted human.
Whoever it was he looked angry. I saw something move in the distance. Apparently he did too and started running towards it. All this had happened before and it was happening again, but I wanted to prevent it. Slummer beaters are the scourges of the Upper class. We have no idea why people would go out and attack slummers with little to no provocation. Perhaps they have the same reasons as a high school bully. That is, one with the strength of ten men, the speed of a cheetah, and vision better than a hawk.
I was far behind the man and he was close to the slummers. “Stop, Stop, This is stupid,” I shouted. I was ignored. He caught up with the slummers. He started taunting them but it looked like he was going to start hitting. I was a few yards away. There were two slummers and one had a cardboard box. The upgrade man started swinging. There were two direct hits to each mans chest and the slummers fell to the ground.
“Stop,” I said. The upgrade man paused and turned to me. “Do you have no respect for yourself, our way of life? These people are an affront to everything we believe in.” “That is no reason to beat them up!” "Maybe we should toss you into the slums because you sound like a rebel.” He started coming towards me with the same angry look he had when I first met him. I started to run but kept turning my head back. The upgrade man walked slowly towards me and one of the slummers started to regain conciseness. He started to reach for the box. There was something in it. It was some sort of gun.
There was a twang and the upgrade man fell quickly to the ground. The Upperclassman tried to move but couldn't. He wiggled and wiggled but all that moved was his torso, very ever so slightly. His arms and legs were limp. “I'm blind! I ca-a-a-n't move!” I rushed over to the upgrade man. He looked so weak. “What the hell did you do to him?” “Oh, yes completely ignore the battered and bruised slummers." “Sorry! I've just never seen an Upperclassman act like that. What was that, some sort of Electromagnetic Pulse that killed his implants?” “Maybe.” “Oh no! You're the resistance. There's no other way you could have gotten or use that kind of hardware. Don't kill me!” One of the slummers mouthed an expletive and they both said shaking their heads, “Plants”.
One of the slummers pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Run and go call your coppers! Keep in mind we have contacts. If you give them an accurate description of us you're dead!” I quickly sent a message with my neural implant that broadcasted my location. I gave the police the story with an inaccurate description of what the slummers looked like. I don't know why I didn't give them an accurate description. Everything I believe says I should have told them. Maybe it's cowardice. Or maybe it was something else. I ran like the devil was after me and so did the slummers.
My mind has been racing since. Why would someone attack a slummer? There was the attack at work but that was the resistance. Did the upgrade man not see the difference? Did his mechanical eyes allow him to see the gun and that's why he attacked them? Why was the resistance fighting society? So many questions and only one thing was guaranteed: another sleepless night.
Curiosity has started to get ahold of me. I have been wondering how one weapon can do so much damage to a man. The connection to the knowledge of humanity is monitored and looking up info on terrorist weapons tends to draw suspicion. Well, I witnessed attack last night plus curiosity only killed the cat and not humans. "Implant search for EMP," I thought. I then heard a female voice in my head saying "EMP may refer to: Electromagnetic Pulse, Eclipse Modeling Project, Embden-Meyerhof pathway, Erma EMP-35, Excessive Multi-Posting." "Electromagnetic pulse," I though quickly. Suddenly I felt like I instantly knew everything about EMP’S except how to construct them. That information was left classified to prevent rebels from constructing them more easily.
A burst of electromagnetic radiation that, because of electric and magnetic fields, may couple with electrical/electronic systems to produce damaging current and voltage surges. This will result in damage to most implants and computer systems making it a favorite weapon of rebels against technology. Non-Nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NNEMP) are the rebels choice weapon, as they have never gained access to nuclear weapons. The range is very limited compared to a Nuclear EMP.
"Stop," was my thought. That was more info than I really wanted and I didn't want to raise suspicion. Ok used by rebels and they like it because it kills technology. Hopefully I didn't raise any suspicions. Now back to work.
"To be, or not to be that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or to take arms against a sea of troubles"
Why am I always asking questions? They are always a burden to me because I've found answers to very few of them. Ok let’s finish up the Shakespeare and get out of here.
Eventually I managed to do just that and went to the border of the slums. I don't why I keep going there. A few times friends and family have had to come bring me back to the city because I've gotten so engaged in just looking and contemplating. It's a relaxing view that helps rejuvenate me after a day of work. Some have said I look on the slums with wanting eyes but that's ridiculous. What would I want with the slums?
They are so primitive. They lack any major technology and almost shun technology. They do seem happy though. How is a matter of great
