365 story - part 5

*note: change in plans - an entry a day did not work. I'm far too unorganized and afraid of commitment for that. But, I've decided not to give up on the story. I will post randomly, when I feel like it.

I had noticed that the birds were gone. There used to be birds around here - pigeons, crows, those cute little sparrows. I haven't seen or heard one for a while. I'm not sure where they went, or what caused them to leave. Maybe it's got something to do with all the building going on. Since the government started erecting all the defense systems, the environment has definitely taken a back seat.

I remember when computers were just something to surf the web on. I know - I'm old as fuck. Nostalgia, oh god! Yeah - computers were for email, meeting chicks on social networks, playing video games, and most of all - porn. Those were the days. Everything was free and clear. You could actually get onto the internet anonymously. I think it was all that shit with downloading music that started it. The big record companies didn't like the idea of people getting something and not paying for it. They weren't losing money - they just couldn't stand the idea. So they started hassling everyone, got all the host companies involved, and of course the government.

Eventually, every single thing you did online got recorded. It happened pretty quick. The internet went from a hacker's wild west to communist Russia, all in a matter of a few years. Of course a few people knew how to get around it. Most notably was Bill Gates. The guy had been famous for starting a big software company, but his real claim to fame was fighting the powers that be - he became the most powerful hacker in the world, the leader of a hidden group whose numbers were unknown and who moved about 'outside the matrix' (I wonder where that saying came from. It is such an old expression, but I've never really thought about it's meaning).

Anyway, Gates and company led the revolution until it died. I guess they did, too. You never know what happens to people when they get caught now - they just disappear. But, they're gone now, and the only freedom fighters left are us - if that is how you want to see us. But we are just slackers. We don't really fight the system as much as we just don't play along. I do what I have to do to keep out of trouble, but I have enough analogue activity to be considered an outlaw. The only way to get away with anything these days is to disconnect. Most people can't do it, but since I've been there since the beginning, and was involved in the roll out of the new system, I know some secrets.

But we just use it to explore, man. I have no hopes of defeating the system. The government has finally done it. They have gained control of our thoughts, our innermost secrets. They have won. The only freedom we have comes from the fact that there are just too damn many of us with too damn many stupid and meaningless thoughts. I don't know how they planned to keep up with it all, but each person thinks something like 20 random thoughts a minute - most of them utterly unimportant. How does a world government keep up with that many thoughts in 22.5 billion heads every minute?

They don't. They just filter for certain brain wave patterns, and certain key images and words. I have a list of them somewhere - that is how I stay unnoticed most of the time. I have deleted those key search patterns from my subconscious. How? Well that's funny. I was a student of Zen Buddhism and I knew a lot about meditation and controlling my mind. I just permanently put a big X over all those thoughts in my subconscious. I self censor, man. But, I also devised myself a code for thinking about those banned subjects. I linked neutral emotions, images, and words to the Watchlist topics. For me, "laughing in the spring rain" means something completely different from what it sounds like. Here, I can't say it of course, but I can write it on this scrap of paper.

Now DON'T you DARE read this out in your mind, ok? Just look at the words and accept it without thinking about it - that is how we communicate, see? If you go and think about it, it is going to set off that Watchlist filter. Think you can do that? Ok. Here's what "laughing in the spring rain" means in code:

decompressing 132-bit encryption file

Neat, huh?

365 story - part four

There's Elroy over there - see the guy with the Statue of Liberty Mohawk? Right. How could you not? It's red today. It was neon green last time.

You know how we all got different side effects from the implants? Elroy can see inside people. Not their bones and guts, but their inner emotions. It's kind of like mind reading, but he said it's just flashes. Fuck - let's go. I'll let him explain.

"Yeah bo," Elroy shouted, his deep southern drawl distinct even above the roar of the crowd. "I see shit people are thinking, bo.

"Not awull the time - jus' when ya get uh sudden, loud," his eyes had the tell-tale glossy look of a strong inebriation, "a loud emotion, ya know. Uh feelun. I - Uh feelun, bo. I jus' see it, ya know. They all got colors. Feeluns, I meyun.

"Zow - jus' like that bo! You jus' gots a liddle, ha ha huh, a lil' bit a' green on ya. You's feelin' uncomf-terbul dude? Ha ha ha! Lolzies - I make you nervous, bo? Das' rich man! Hey - you notice all da birds a gone? Dey gone man, gaaaawn!"

365 story - part three

Let's put it this way - Elroy is in his own world. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he just lives by different rules. No one ever knows what he will do next. Last time I saw him he was buzzing around, talking non stop about birds. About how different the birds were now. How the birds didn't come around anymore, that you never see them flying.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a bird, man. No, I'm sure I have. Why would the birds disappear after they put the chips in our heads? What does that have to do with birds, anyway? Elroy's crazy. But he's good crazy. You'll see what I mean. You never know what to expect. You'll see....

365 story - part two

I was right. She was naked underneath the goo! I guess that's why they call her the vortex slut, because she really didn't seem like a slut at all. In fact, she is a pretty cool chick.

She said the whole naked thing has something to do with her mode of travel. Like how the invisible man had to take off all of his clothes to really be invisible. You know, 'cause otherwise people would see the clothes walking around without a person in them. When she jumps from one place and time to another only she goes - her stuff can't come with. She said she's gotten used to all of the rude comments. I guess the goop is some kind of inter-dimensional residue or something. I still don't understand the whole alternate universes theory.

Besides - she's not even really there. She's actually more like a hologram. But since she's in our brains we can see her and touch her, although she wasn't too crazy about me putting my hands on her. You would think a naked chick would be used to getting that from guys. Really, if you don't want some guy grabbing your ass, put some clothes on already! Some people.

Oh, and her name isn't vortex slut. It's actually Veronica. How very retro.

Anyway, she dropped by to check out the scene. Turns out Veronica is into the movement - way up there in the movement, actually. She's friends with Smarty and Midnight and all those cats.

I asked her if she could teach me how to do the time warp thing, but the answer was no. I think she was still mad about the ass grabbing thing. Just as well. No one needs to see me naked.

It's going to be time to jet soon, my friend. I'm sure the authorities will be showing up soon to break up our little rally. You know word's gotten out through the network, and they won't put up with our crap for long, even if we are a bunch of street kids. This bar sucks anyway. Too many dudes in here. Besides, we still have to meet Elroy at the Carnival.

I did tell you about Elroy, didn't I? No? Oh, you'll love Elroy. There's something really special about this kid. Let's roll. I'll tell you about it on the way...

365 story - part one

Everything turned dark purple and got really dark, like someone had doused the lights and turned on a blacklight. That's when she first appeared, all covered in gunk.

I hadn't seen her before, but lately I had been hearing a lot of talk about a girl they called the "vortex slut" who materialized out of thin air.

Things had gotten weird since they put the implants in. We weren't quite used to them yet, and no one really knew what to expect. I had a long history of psychotropic drug abuse, so hallucinations didn't phase me quite as much as most folks, but this was still some strange shit.

Pogo had stolen some ChapterOne diskettes a while back and shared them with me. When we were exploring the disks, we came across some references to dimension-tripping people, but I had never expected to meet one, and definitely not here. But like I said, all rules were off now that the Corporation had hacked our brains (at least that was how we saw it). They never expected the revolution that followed. I think they planned on some kind of mass subconscious control over the population, but with all the freaks out there they got a little more than they bargained for, opening up all those weird psyches and patching them together all at once.

Well, hold my beer. I've got to go talk to this vortex slut. I'll come back to you in a while.

Hang on, is she naked under all that slop? Cool...

365 story - intro

This is an idea I just had. I'm going to tell a story, one day at a time. I'm just going to log into this blog and write part of the story each day. It may be a page, a paragraph, a line, or just one word - but I'm going to try really hard to add something every day. If I go camping or something, I reserve the right to catch up later (but I'll try to avoid that).

We'll see how long my interest lasts! I'll start today.

Turns out that this is not a new idea at all. "Blog Fiction" is a pretty popular form of publishing fiction these days. Hey, I'm only a few years behind the curve!

Easiest way to read this story is to start here, and just keep hitting "newer post" - that way you can read the story from the beginning, in chronological order.