When I Woke Up I Realised That I Have Nothing To Dream About From digitalization To material again I am awake Enhanced, recharged Just don't expect me To feel better My life comes in Many versions And all of them are dull These streets have Many shops but Inspiration's not for sale This city features Apartments galore Obelisks of gray Flatten with their shadow I am crushed In this killer metropolis Me and the city keep Dragging eachother Through countless mornings Disintegrating Having Break fast for two Comment: I wrote this one quite a while ago, and wanted this to have an "urban" feel. Please excuse the long title.
I think Americans are better qualified and better equipped to reply to the rest of your post, but this is something I, as a non-American who reads his papers, can know to be false. The vast majority of European governments are far more content with Obama in the Oval Office than they would have been with Romney (not that they would openly admit it, but you'd be a fool not to notice). We respect you for not choosing the puppet of family values gung-hos and conservative business cats. Congratulations for choosing wisely, America. I wish you all the best.
Your poems are a tad lenghty, but persevering pays off. Your poetry thread deserves more comments: your work is quite good. I love the way you let emotions evolve in your work, and when you use repetition, you usually do it well. Love the font you chose for the first few poems.
Finding solace in the lesser of two evils demonstrates just how intense the fear and loathing of and against human beings can be. This was a very powerful poem, and I'm glad you decided to post all your poems in one thread.
This was a fine piece of poetry, and I like it even better than your previous one. My favourite lines are:[ Stay classy.
I have no one I hate, or hold a grudge to. I suppose I could be vengeful given the right incentive but it has never come that far, fortunately.
(Don't know who I'm still updating this for but what the heck...) === Cyberia. The place that made the improbable certain. The theme park that housed a plethora of emotional rollercoasters. My love for it, as it turned out, was reciprocated. At the exact moment that despair swept all my other sentiment away, an explosion of glass and booze startled friend and foe alike. The shelved bottles behind J.J.’s bar exploded, first one at a time, then several at once. His rage. His revenge. All eyes were turned to the spectacle. Telda and Ordy burst out of the Interface, panicking. “What the fuck?!”, I vaguely heard Teka curse through my removed PSA. I quickly grabbed the device, shouting: “Ransack? What happened?”, but receiving no response. I looked around to see terrified party-goers make a dash for the exits, only to be blocked by security. The sound of a gunshot closeby made my heart stop. The entrance keeping bouncers had trouble keeping the flood of ravers in tow before, but after the shot, their priorities had switched from assuming control to not being trampled. Although not quite as heroic as before, the crowd once again turned the tables to our advantage. There was indeed something to be said for the usefulness of the masses, I gave the government that much. Rei was in fact very much alive, and from that moment on, armed and dangerous. The same couldn’t be said for Teka, whose brain had been blown to stew courtesy of an anything but panicking Telda. She was trembling like a blade of reed in a gust, but seeing Rei pick up Teka’s gun had given her a second boost of courage. We were on top of the game again. I turned off the music, seeing as no one was in a dancing mood anymore.
Against better judgement, I tried the door. Locked, as I should have known. Vance wouldn’t let us go before he had assumed command of Cyberia. Fortunately, Rei came to our rescue and opened the door for us: she too had heard the code. I wanted to ask her how she evaded the bouncer usually guarding the door, but a finger on her lips reminded me to be silent. My goal was crystal clear, but I didn’t quite know what to suggest to the others. Some master plan I had... Rei, however, confidently moved back into the mass of ravers, apparently knowing perfectly well how she should keep herself occupied. Ransack, on the other hand, chose to stay behind and work out J.J.’s controls. He was in a natural position of power, more so because of Vance’s relative tech blindness (a fact that, in retrospect, could have given him away as the odd man out). There wasn’t much to be seen in the darkness of Cyberia, let alone a bouncer. I didn’t quite know how much hostility I’d meet along the way. Regardless, I snuck behind the bar and smashed a full bottle of whiskey in order to arm myself with a half. This hardly interested anyone; perhaps the barflies weze still puzzled over J.J.’s sudden disappearance act. My impaired vision made it difficult to confirm, but I knew that J.J.’s projected image was indeed gone. People had most likely seen him vanish into thin air, and it could well have been the killing blow for Cyberia as we know it. Or who knows, maybe it would just add to the mystery? The thought was both thrilling and unnerving. Shortly after unleashing my fury on a poor defenseless whiskey bottle, I heard Vance addressing me: “Styx, what was that sound? Where are you? Are you outside of the control room?”, he thundered. His nervous cluster bomb of questions was amusing for a nanosecond, before realizing that I had no answer at the ready. Did I slip up after coming this far? “Vance, you’re not gonna like hearing this.”, Ransack interfered. “What’s it this time?”, he snapped. Vance had lost it... Perfect. “I keep getting an error message. You’ll have to disable your firewall or at least enable alien connections until the transfer is complete.” I never suggested him to do this or even hinted at it; Ransack was improvising on the spot. My respect for the guy skyrocketed as a feeling of camaraderie sprouted. Vance’s grunts and curses were the icing on the cake. I slid my prescription card through the reader after carefully maneuvering in Vance’s blind spot. I barged in briskly, swiftly fended off what I hoped was his gun arm with my free hand and stabbed him with the bottle. The painful sensation of the wound was amplified by the lingering alcohol that once housed it, turning the struggle in my favor pretty quickly, especially after he dropped his handgun. I pressed his face against his DJ equipment and dared a look through the dark cubicle window, where the reason for my smooth progress revealed itself. The joint was drenched in chaos, and several probably Rei-approved micro-incidents demanded the bouncers’ attention. The goons were hindered in every passive way possible. What a girl, and what a crowd... The feeling of comradeship only grew. Telda and Ordy were cramped in the back of the Interface cubicle, and it required a closer look to see that they both their hands and feet were cuffed and that they were gagged. I gave them an apologetic look. “I’ll get you loose as soon as possible.”, I promised. I turned my attention to the agent again, knowing that he was still too dangerous to drop your guard around. “You’re not accessing us, Vance.”, I said, realizing that he too, was after that one multifaced commodity. The apprehended DJ suddenly started giggling like a loon. “There will be others very much like it, hero. Cyberia is a nothing but a pilot project.” “Then it’s a failed project.”, I countered, annoyed with his inabilty to admit defeat. “Is it? J.J.’s haven of antipathy is no more, and we’ll learn from our mistakes. Cyberia was a zero-sum at worst.”, he gloated. This aggravated me even more, only this time what irked me was the amount of sense he was making. I hadn’t thought it through before, but my sense of realism forced me to conclude that Cyberia was done for. No more prescriptions, no more tips on how to one-up life from J.J., no more tripping through impossibly spectacular dimensions. It was the end of an era. And what, in the long run, did we accomplish? Plucking a single feather won’t rob a bird of its flight. Was our victory really so hollow? Did we besiege a castle of air? “Ransack, reboot J.J. Let’s see what he has to say.”, I tried. This decision made Vance giggle even louder, and even more irritatingly. I whacked him on the head with the bottle, knocking him unconscious. The lights turned on again, which was a blessing since I was sick and tired of not finding the cuffs’ keyholes and consequently feeling like a moron. “Thanks. So is this a regular night at Cyberia?”,Telda sneered. “Not quite.”, I replied awkwardly. I got the two of them into a world of trouble and had basically been toying with their lives the whole time. A wry taste vexed my tongue. I got them safe though; I had accomplished that at least. I couldn’t help staring at the bar. J.J.’s projection had re-appeared, talking vividly with the ravers in his immediate presence. I couldn’t begin to guess what they were talking about. Maybe he was trying to explain his sudden disappearance and how he got back, maybe he was telling them the whole truth, or maybe he inconspicuously carried on with his usual duties. “Ransack, what’s J.J.’s frequency? We have some things to discuss with him, don’t we?” “No can do, Styx. Sorry.”, was Ransack’s surprising retort. “What?!” So that was it then? I had put everyone in danger only for us to stumble at the final hurdle. “That’ll do, Styx. You were close but no cigar. My buddy is applying some acute pressure to Ransack as we speak. As for you, I’d like you to remove your PSA. Comply without trying anything funny, or she dies. I’m watching your every move. Take it off and lay it in front of you.”, another familiar voice had commanded. I obeyed while looking for the source of the threat. There it was. In the middle of the still crowded dance floor, Teka was holding Rei at gunpoint. Her PSA had already been ripped off, but even so she tried shouting at me, to no avail. “Can you still hear me? Nod if you do.”, Teka continued. I confirmed, seeing as his voice was the only sound making it through the sound-dimming cubicle. “Good. I could have easily killed you outright, but I’m a decent guy. Sit tight and remember we’re in control of the situation. You will all take a trip to the neural scanner when this is over.”, he briefed us. Rather than believing he gave a **** about our well-being, I imagined that he still hoped for us to find our way to Cyberia once again, only to be spied on and knead in a shape of their liking by an obedient supercomputer. If only the government could have been so parsimonious when it had mattered... My hands were tied. The bouncers were blocking all the exits, basically holding everyone in Cyberia hostage. The ravers were understandably stunned by fear, making our power by numbers meaningless. Ransack was probably being threatened to reprogram J.J. according to plan, or else format him entirely. Telda and Ordy were too scared to even speak, the former being close to hyperventilating. And I, I couldn’t even twitch without arousing suspicion. All had been lost.
“One thing still irks me though.”, I started. “Why the fuck would the government partake in a project like Cyberia?” It was an honest question that had been on my mind since Vance’s reveal as an official. It also happened to serve as a diversion. Even if everything went according to plan, if Vance decided to tune in to J.J.’s frequency even once, all could have been lost. Vance played along better than I expected; he must have been bored from merely observing. “It wasn’t meant to be the Cyberia you know, at least not for this long.”, he explained. “J.J.’s broken moral compass turned it into the cesspool it is today.” Everything he said angered me to no end, but I had to be calm and collected if I could hold on to any hopes for this to work. “And yet you took up position in the Interface, night after night.”, I sneered. “Because I was convinced an opportunity would arise.”, Vance argued. “And I was right. Patience is a virtue. Besides, it would have been a waste to abandon such a project.” “Ah, I see...So it was a matter of pride.” “Pride and duty, Styx. It is a wonderful feeling when the two coincide!” Meanwhile I saw Ransack hack into J.J.’s mainframe. By the looks of it he met with little to no resistance, which means that Rei did her job remarkably well. Of course, I vaguely overheard her in the PSA, and she was indeed doing one hell of a job. I only hoped that she had some inspiration left for the sidequest I had non-verbally burdened her with. “Forgive me my ignorance.”, I went on, “but I fail to see how playing obsolete bullshit in night clubs would help the government.” “Hahaha, you’d be right about that!”, Vance laughed. “The music was supposed to be only one part of the project though. It was planned to cover all aspects of the Cyberia phenomenon. We’d gradually skimp on the shticks without you even noticing, but J.J. saw things differently, so the only thing we could alter was the music, which was wired to a separate circuit that J.J. wasn’t connected to. Too bad the first taste of old-school happened to be so traumatizing. You’re worse off than we thought...” “It wasn’t exactly the best period in history to be reminded of!”, I hissed, letting my anger get the better of me. “You have yourselves to thank for the traumas we suffer.”, I accusingly added. “We made choices, you prick! We all had to make them!” “Wrong choices! Selfish choices!”, I roared. “Anyone can make dumbass decisions like that! That’s not what we pay taxes for!” “Careful, mate...”, Vance threatened. “Your friends could be paying the price for your insolence.” He was being serious. I decided against bickering any further. “None.”, was Vance’s flat reply. “I’m not letting you out of my hearing range by removing my PSA.” An unfortunate decision, well played on his part. It didn’t make or break my plan though, and I only intented to check up on our machinations’ progress. I didn’t insist; Vance sounded dangerously ill-mannered as it was. Our little debate a few minutes earlier was most likely to blame. Suddenly, I heard the government agent cursing heavily. “What might we be doing, Ransack? I have the students at point-blank range. Do you think a little darkness will have me miss?”, Vance hissed. “It’s got nothing to do with that, Vance. I relieved J.J.’s mainframe of command over the electrical grid, but it won’t simply let me switch to manual controls. I’ll have to transfer control to your computer now.”, Marcus lied. “Get to it then!”, an pleasingly irritated Vance barked. “How long will it take?” “About fifteen minutes.”, the whiz estimated. A generous and credible time limit, but I knew better. The bouncers would surely be savvy enough to try and turn on the lights manually, which would put me in full view again. I had to hurry.
(Things get a little...wild from here. Any of the following entries could make the story fall flat on its face. I hope all goes well. Feedback is appreciated.) === “What?! Who?”, Rei asked, looking understandably puzzled. Before I could decode my epiphany into words, however, a familiar voice crept through my PSA. “Paracelsus, Styx, Ransack...Can you hear me?”, a man transmitted. “Loud and clear, Vance.”, I growled. We hadn’t tuned in to his frequency, but apparently that was no longer necessary. “You were close to unmasking me. I hope you don’t mind keeping the honours to myself.” “Go ahead. You have some explaining to do anyway.”, I mumbled. “What the ****, Vance? What’s going on here? Is this a personalized frequency?”, Rei asked. Cyberia’s DJ let out a brief chuckle. “More or less. Only the three of you can hear me. I figured this makes talking easier.” Ransack’s look betrayed that among the three of us, he had the least idea of what was going on. “So these PSAs Teka gave us were just so we could communicate with you?”, he asked. “Because Teka and the others are in on this too.”, I hissed, cursing under my breath. “That’s correct.”, Vance confirmed. “So what do you want from us, Vance? Why the charade?” “I have a request. Do you want the short version or the long version?” “The short version, please.”, Rei chose. “Very well: I want you to kill J.J.” The three of us were taken off guard, but I managed the sanity for a request of my own. “Never mind. Give us the long version.” “As you wish, Styx.”, Vance complied smugly. “It will give you some time to expel the chemicals coursing through your bodies. I’ll want your senses and wit to be sharp as a razor when you carry out the task; it won’t be an easy one. Be discreet in the meantime.” His voice turned a few tones stricter as he continued: “The other ravers mustn’t be made aware. Remember that I can see everything from here.” “What makes you think we’ll carry out your task?”, Rei wanted to know. Good question. “I have two convincing arguments on my side by the names of Luxy and Razgriz.” “Who are they?”, Ransack growled. “The newbies we brought with us.”, I responded. “Damn it!” “Anyway, you wanted the long version.”, Vance went on. “You see, the rumour about me having a second job is true, more or less. I am actually a government official. I am charged with the Cyberia project, along with J.J. and the bouncers. J.J. however...regrettably switched sides.” “Why don’t you kill him then? You outnumber him!”, Ransack bellowed. “I don’t have the know-how. No one here has but you, Ransack. You see, J.J. isn’t what you’d call a normal person.” “So J.J. is like a robot or something?”, Rei questioned the guy. She turned her head over to him and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just him taking orders, pouring drinks, exchanging information with his customers. He’d be missed. “Not quite. The J.J. you see is a detailed hologram projected by artificial intelligence that developed a bothersome sense of sentience.” “How is that even possible?”, Rei roared. “We’ve seen him grab bottles and pour drinks!” “An elaborate interplay of electromagnetic and gravitational forces, nothing more.”, Vance expounded. “And we’re supposed to shut him down?”, Ransack snapped. “If you must, but I’d rather you reprogram him so the show can go on.” “What would you have him do?”, the informaticist asked. The timbre of his voice did all but blatantly betray that he had already submitted to his fate. “Let him transmit the data he gathered on you, for one. Then write him out of Cyberia’s circuits. Make sure he doesn’t have the power to shut Cyberia down anymore.” Ransack chuckled mockingly. “So you’re gonna shut everything down manually like in the good old days?” “Only tonight.”, Vance clarified, his smirk oozing through our PSA systems, “I will contact the ministry to send some people over to transfer the power to me.” “Why didn’t you send them over to shut J.J. down in the first place?”, I remarked. My question was met with a wheezy laugh on the other side of the line. “Because J.J. doesn’t like to be tangled with, and their lives are worth more to us than yours.” Our mission had been clear: reprogram J.J.’s main computer in the back room. Ransack had requested Vance to allow me to join him, to beguile J.J. into leaving us to our devices. Vance had complied, on the condition that we didn’t remove our PSAs. We had to keep in touch, lest he killed Telda and Ordy. Another complication to add to the pile. It wasn’t J.J., however, who I intended to distract. I had other prospects in mind than letting Vance get away with his deception. The plan, if we could call it that, had so many uncertain variables that it was bound to fail, but the way I saw it, failure was no worse than giving up outright. Rei’s task was to distract the J.J. hologram in the main dance hall. J.J. had to divide his (funny how I refrain from calling him “it”) consciousness between his hologram self and the mainframe in the back room: he almost literally had eyes on his back. The catch was to take his mind off his rear self and bomb his hologram with questions and small talk. Right before I followed Ransack to the code locked back door (Vance had given us the passcode), I shot Rei a glance worth more than a million words. My entire half-baked plan and the role she’d have to play were enclosed in that one exchange of eye, a sense of desperation and my feelings for her added for extra flavor. She wasn’t who I was worried about though. I was almost certain that not only did she understand everything I meant to tell her, but that she was planning to do the exact same thing anyway. She’s a wonderful woman; words fall short to describe what she means to me. My greatest concern was the role Ransack would play in this monkey business. After passing through the bouncer-guarded back room, I lipped instructions that were significantly different from what Vance had ordered him to do. He didn’t seem to respond at all, making Marcus Ransack an even greater key point in this gambit than he already was. Success or failure depended on whether he believed the battle was already lost.
I'm glad you didn't follow the rules of rhyme as religiously as some poets do; you held on to a certain kind of freedom and it was obviously a commendable choice. Great poem; I enjoyed reading it, heavy theme notwithstanding.
I don't believe in selfless acts, and thus not in good, and thus not in evil. Everyone, without exception, acts in a way that will give them satisfaction on some level. Jack The Ripper and Mother Theresa both did what they did because it made them feel good in some way. Satisfaction is the universal currency, but the means by which you can achieve such satisfaction can fit anywhere in the constructive-destructive spectrum.
I don't think you can be too old for KH-Vids (or any forum like it for that matter). Too busy perhaps, but not too old.
In the Belgian parliament, one particular politician goes by the full name of Hermes Sanctorum. No suit deserves a name that awesome.
I tried it on my username and it works, guys!
“All right, guys... This oughtn’t be happening.”, Teka moaned. “You have how many prescriptions now?” We were in a back room used solely for cooling off hotheads and settling disputes in a quiet environment. It was so cramped that they left Marcus’ friends behind; they’d get penalized later, no doubt. “54 each.”, I answered. “52. Quality over quantity.”, Ransack sneered. “Right. Point is you’ve been around since forever. I can’t even imagine Cyberia without you lot. And then this happens. So what’s the story?”, Teka sighed. “They attacked me! They attacked me out of ****ing nowhere!”, Marcus Ransack rambled. “What were you on?”, Teka asked the two of us. Rei had chosen for diversity that night and listed Eden’s Elevator, Wealth & Taste and Institutionalizer as her choices. I had stuck to a Skull & Crossbones the entire time, having promised myself to lift it from its underrated status. Neither of our combinations had the reputation of being dangerous. In fact, they were rather wishy-washy compared to what we usually guzzle down. We still had two newbies to keep an eye on, not that they were missing us. “So why the knuckle sandwiches?”, Teka wondered. Ransack was about to whine again but the bouncer cut him off with a hand gesture. “We have reason to believe that Marcus here is responsible for allowing the troll into the Interface three weeks ago.”, I explained, trying my damnest to keep cool. “His friends stood guard at the emergency exit and we think Ransack escaped through it after the guy was caught.” Marcus started laughing uneasily, then burst out into a waterfall of laughter. “Oh, is that what this is about?”, he asked mockingly. When he came to, after wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes, he continued: “Alright, I confess: I did use the emergency exit. You know why? Because your No Boundaries piss made me sick, that’s why. I added some DD to it because it tasted like crap and before I knew it your cocktail, if we may call it that, had me puking. I barged out of the emergency exit to empty my stomach. Thanks for that by the way. ”, he accused, pointing a finger to me and all everything. Theatrical, sure, but plausible enough. And stupid. “There’s already Diamond Dust in it, you fuckwit! Adding any more will make you sick! Do you even read the recipes before you select prescriptions?”, I hissed. At that point I sounded angrier than I really was, at least with Marcus. “Why didn’t you just use the bathroom then?”, Rei pointed out. Ransack merely shrugged. “The exit was closer. I don’t think I would have made the bathroom.” “Ransack came back later to say goodbye to his friends.”, another bouncer interfered. I recognized him as the emergency exit guard from last time. “Right.”, Teka concluded, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “The two of you will be penalized for offensive aggression. Expect a loss of five prescriptions.” “There goes my permission to access Interface.”, I complained, though I knew I had no right to. Marcus smirked: he knew his penalty would be milder since he didn’t start the fight. “Ransack...”, Teka continued, “You’ll be penalized for defensive aggression and for unauthorized use of the emergency exit. I’d wipe that smug look off your face if I were you; you’re in for a five prescription penalty yourself.” I enjoyed Ransack’s discontent grumbling more than I should, even forgetting that we let down Cyberia for the first time. We were its apostles, we were part of it, and we let our grip on that feeling slip tonight. Before we were allowed back into the ravers’ hive, Teka had an announcement to make. “Since you all seem to be so interested in what happened three weeks ago, I regret to tell you that we are still looking for the veteran who let that rat slip into the Interface. Random accusations aren’t helping anyone though.” “It was an honest mistake.”, Rei hissed. She hadn’t spoken much since we’d been escorted to this room. “I admit that we went out of line though. We acted rashly and won’t do it again.”, she quickly added. Feeling the exact same way, I had nothing to add. “I’m ruling out the three of you, but there still plenty of other candidates: Jade, Sulear, Ozone-“ “Ozone suffered a stroke. He was hospitalized at the time.”, I interrupted. “No surprises there, if you knew the booze he favored. Could have lent the troll his prescription card though.”, Ransack countered. Teka shook his head. “No, that wasn’t the case. We searched him a few times over, and yet he was carrying nothing. Nothing at all. Didn’t find anything in the cubicle either. That’s why it’s been so hard to track who’s behind this.” That explanation served to shut Marcus up, but for some reason it remained glued to my thoughts. Couldn’t exactly find out why; the cocktails were disrupting my cognitive processes. ****ing Skull & Crossbones... “Listen guys, we all know you’re concerned about Cyberia’s prosperity. You mean well.“, Teka appeased us. “You know we have to penalize offenders though. But hey, I’ll tell you what. Try out our new PSAs. It’s on the house. There’s a good chance yours got damaged anyway.” Surprised by Teka’s sudden generosity, we accepted the new systems (we had to take the old ones off during the interrogations). Rei frowned upon receiving hers. “There has been talk of these. Are these the ones that let you pick another song if you don’t like the one playing? I’m not a fan of that to be honest.”, she criticized. “There are several new functions for you to enjoy. Why don’t you go back into the fray and fool around with them a bit?” Sounded like a plan. My mind still refused to co-operate, choosing to be an indolent pain in the ass instead. After choosing the prescriptions we’d want to ditch, we still had to make an excuse for explaining our absence to Telda and Ordy. Maybe we ought to skip that part: their memories of tonight were to be erased anyway. I flipped through my prescriptions, encountering a drink I didn’t really care for, but which lifted my mood all the same: the Lonely Blue Planet. I had completely forgotten about it. It meant I had miscalculated, and that I still had 50 prescriptions left, thus retaining my chances to be DJ for a night. I was glad to notice that my improved mood also kicked my thinking gears back in motion, like sunbeams plowing through clouds. Nothing was found on the trespasser. Nothing at all… “I know who let the troll in!”, I blurted out.
As expected, the two unsuspecting college students were impressed with everything Cyberia threw at them, from the cozy sofas and spiffy video wall to the very existence of the PSA system. And of course, the booze. I recommended a Redshift for sweet Telda and a Taser Touch for bitter Ordy. The two starter prescriptions that every newcomer gets to choose will get you drinks that are nothing compared to the hardcore stuff, but will succeed in getting you hammered every time. It was no different this time. The only thing the two weren’t quite keen on (understandably so) was handing over thei cell phones to Teka before being allowed in. We mostly removed their suspicion by handing over ours as well, even though we were no longer required to. The cell phone rule has always been in effect for newbies; I hadn’t seen any new precautions being taken so far. I considered striking up a conversation with J.J. the next time I ordered a drink, but eventually decided against it. The conversation wouldn’t last long before I’d have to ask his personal opinion on the matter, and I knew how much he hated giving those. Whether he took measures or not, it would both contribute to J.J.’s air of mystery. Funny how that works. Meticulous trance algorhythms were sprinkled with the sound effect of fingers hitting computer keys. The next track combined celestial synths with an encouragingly pumping bass. I observed Telda and Ordy whilst plunging into the universe of beats and vibes myself, sipping cocktails and generally being excited to be here again. Telling me there was more to life at that point would have met with me calling you a liar. My moment of utter bliss was broken off by Rei pulling my sleeve and nudging to my right. “What is it?”, I asked, noticing that she had lowered the music’s volume even though she loved this track to death. “I spy with my little eye something that looks like a complete waste of oxygen over there.”, she snapped, her tone combative. The reason didn’t remain a mystery for long: the black-clad figure of Marcus Ransack stood amongst the crowd. Ever the shady appearance, using his own name instead of a code name (even Telda and Ordy had sworn by the aliases of Luxy and Razgriz), and an all-around unlikable personality were three of his most prominent characteristics. That being said, another one of his typical traits, or so I’d always believed, was his genuine love for Cyberia. I never deemed him to be up to something that would endanger its continued existence. It made me all the more furious. Having been lost in thought, at first I didn’t even notice that Rei was no longer standing beside me. Luckily my perception sharpened before long, but I couldn’t prevent the first punch from landing. Ransack staggered back while Rei rubbed her knuckles. “That one was for messing up a great set list with old-school ****!”, she roared. “The next few are for having the nerve to show up here again, and the ones after those are for being a shit-filled cunt!” But the next few and the ones after those didn’t connect; Ransack’s buddies were already on her. One of them took advantage of the opportunity to feel up Rei’s boobs while grabbing her, for which I busted him on the nose. Ransack himself returned the favor but only got as far as a punch to the cheek before the cavalry showed up. Teka and some of the indoor bouncers arrived at the scene to break up the fight. It was nothing new for them (some cocktail combinations did have the effect of making someone aggressive), but Teka was surprised to find us being the instigators of the brouhaha. I wasn’t too scared of getting my memory wiped this time, but I did risk a hefty loss of prescriptions.
It had been three weeks since we were last able to find our thrills in Cyberia, and we were in such a splendid mood that we decided to take two newbies with us. Both were college students like us, in-between friends and acquaintances. Their names were Ordy and Telda and they had been together for a year or so. Believing they’d humble us in the partying department, they boldly accepted our invitation to a venue they couldn’t imagine in their wildest dreams. Too bad they wouldn’t remember anything from the wild night they were about to have (nor did we the first two nights, courtesy of the neural scanner’s eraser function), but the memory of them being baffled with every sight, sound and taste would surely compensate for the lack of gloating. “So where is this place we’re going?”, Telda asked impatiently. I glanced at her in the backseat and for a brief moment, considered breaking our agreement of not prioritizing getting into the newbies’ pants (Rei lusted secretly after Ordy as well, so such an agreement was indeed in order). She looked great, albeit somewhat trashy. “Remember the old biscuit factory at the edge of town? The one that went broke six years ago?”, Rei returned the question. “Yeah, I do.” “It’s not there.”, she said flatly. “Well then, where is it?”, an annoyed Ordy wanted to know. Never quite understood why Rei wanted to bed him. She used to have better taste, but then again, she occasionally fucks me, so her standards aren’t too high. “It’s somewhere else.”, I sheepishly teased. “You’ll find out soon enough.” “I wonder if those new PSA versions will be for sale already.”, Rei thought aloud. “Doubt it. Three weeks seems a bit of a short notice, unless they were already fully developed three weeks ago. Last time’s incident may have sped up production though. And let’s not forget that it was just a rumour.”, I argumented. Ordy and Telda exchanged confused looks. Rei saw them through the rear-view mirror and loved their not knowing what the hell we were talking about...as did I. “Do you think Ransack would have the nerve to come back? I’m sure J.J. will have found out about his part in the incident by now.”, I said. “Probably not. Maybe J.J. had Teka and the others hunt him down?”, she hypothesized, getting her hopes up. It was a possibility, drastic as it may seem. Transgressors like Ransack are a danger to Cyberia’s underground policy. J.J. woud have taken appropriate measures...whatever those may have been. “So kids, do you like sweet, sour or bitter?”, Rei wanted to know. “Telda’s a sweet tooth, but I’m more of a bitter lover., Ordy answered. “Why?” He didn’t seem to like being called a kid, which was reason enough to call him one. Denying your inner child or refusing to give it space should be a cardinal sin. “Newcomers don’t have all the privileges Cyberia has to offer. You’ll have to cope with a limited selection. We’re not allowed to let you have more than a taste of the veteran-exclusive booze either. Sorry!”, I explained. Ordy and Telda were visibly disappointed, even after re-assuring them that they’ll still have plenty of choice. It’s all about access, for them as well as us.
“Did anyone tell you who that guy was?”, Rei inquired. She took place behind the wheel, as she usually did. She likes driving more than I do, and is consequently a better driver too. “Nope. I was with you the whole time, remember?”, I reminded her. “He didn’t look familiar though.” “Not to me either. It was probably just some random troll.” “I don’t think so. Like I said, only people with at least 50 prescriptions can get in the Interface. I think you have to slide your card through a reader. A veteran must have let him in.”, I deducted. Rei scowled upon hearing this. “Oh wow, that narrows it down. In fact, that narrows it a lot. It just so happens to be that Ransack’s mates were guarding the emergency exit during the incident. I don’t know if you noticed, but Ransack was nowhere to be found after we came back.” “Really?”, I blurted out, and I caught myself scowling as well. “Wouldn’t it have been easier for him to just hack into Vance’s music database and replace his entire set list with archaic shite? I’m sure he could do it, being the master hacker he claims himself to be.” “Not if he wants to be counterhacked by J.J., boy.”, Rei retorted. “As much as I dislike Marcus Ransack, I do believe him when he says he’s a an ace hacker. I’m convinced J.J. would outwhiz him though. Remember how he taught us how to change our grades?” I couldn’t help turning my frown upside down after being reminded of that. Good times... Indeed, we didn’t leave immediately after the incident. We decided on one more drink to flush the unpleasant aftertaste of fear away, but it took us more than half an hour to finish it even though we didn’t order anything particularly wild. When coming to Cyberia, we played with the idea to stay until closing time and help J.J. for extra prescription cred, as we are wont to do. He knew he couldn’t count on us though (there have times when we were both hornier than dogs in heat, and wanted to go home ASAP), so we didn’t bother to say goodbye. He probably had other stuff on his mind today as well: J.J. couldn’t ignore the first dent in Cyberia’s bastion of protection. Neither of us felt the need to talk much more during the way home, or so I thought. Without turning her head though, Rei suddenly spoke: “You know...I was scared. Terrified, in fact. “, she confessed. “About Cyberia’s future?”, I asked, knowing that that wasn’t the only thing on her mind, if the thought had crossed her at all. Her angst somehow felt more profound than mine. “Yeah, well, that too. But that wasn’t what I was thinking of. You see, we’ve had our memories toyed with without knowing what kind of consequences it could have. We blindly trust someone we know so little about. Almost like...” I felt it coming: the R-word. “Almost like religion.”, we both finished simultaneously. She treated the realization as if it were a criminal offense to even compare the two, but what she said was true. Cyberia regulars and religious cultists show an unsettling amount of parallels, with its almost hierarchical structure, legal limbo of its very existence and status as forbidden subject for initiates. Perhaps I was just being a coward, but I didn’t like to mull over it at that time anymore. Perhaps when my head was clear after a good night’s sleep I’d pick up my ponderings once again. Or perhaps I just hoped to find an argument that satisfied me. “Good thing we had our PSAs to tune that hell noise out. I don’t know who ever thought it was a good idea to record a piece of **** like that, but it sounded like it got shoved out of a mule’s ass.”, I started. A change of subject would do me good. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be... “Hmm-hmmm.”, Rei nodded. “I’m worried though...Tonight I heard some ravers talk about a new version of the PSA. One that can play a song of your choosing if you don’t like the one the DJ’s playing.” Didn’t like the sound of that. It didn’t seem right at all. “I’m not a big fan of the idea, to say the least.”, Rei continued, ”If everyone dances do different music, you’d be hard pressed to find any kind of cohesion among the crowd. It sounds too individualistic for my taste. What’s the point of still going to Cyberia without the feeling that you’re a part of something?” Her observation was spot-on once again, reminding me for the millionth time why I loved being around her so much. Her honesty sounded blunt and uncaring, but I knew that it was filled to the brim with emotion. I decided to throw in what’s been eating me at her as well, come what may. “On one hand we want to be individuals, and set ourselves apart from society’s anonymous gears, the cattle that we both detest and feast on. And yet, on the other hand, we desire the company of kindred spirits. Maybe we want confirmation that we’re not nut jobs, that we’re a minority that actually matters. Or maby we just can’t decide. Maybe we’re suffering from the same indecisiveness that gets nothing done on a political scale.”, I cynically mused. I liberated a weary sigh that felt like it should have left my lungs hours ago. “Maybe we should strike, or riot. Maybe we should have a ***** fit of sizable proportions. We’re going out and getting drunk and high, we’re having fun but most of all we’re bottling up our anger. I wonder whether this is healthy, or whether it will continue to be.”, Rei contemplated. At this point she did turn her head, and our eye contact triggered both our faces into smiling, first wryly then heartily. There was still room to savor the immaculate synchronization between two people in a car at night, tired and tense though those people may have been.
Probably quality. Participating in a buttload of debates doesn't really make you a master if you end up being cornered every time. My vote goes to Makaze. He knows all the tricks of the trade.
