activity on the account. Ten bucks for a coffee. Seventeen for a rocket train to the city. The log shows no funds coming in, the account dwindling down to almost nothing. “A rocket train?” Benson says incredulously.
“One of us,” Check says. “We Picked one of our own.”
Massaging his forehead, Benson wonders how he could’ve been so blind. As they climb the first of three sets of metal stairs, he tries to work through what went wrong. The guy had seemed like the perfect Grunk to both of them. He had on nice clothes, was carrying an expensive holo-screen, seemed unfamiliar with the city. None of it makes any sense.
They reach the fourth floor landing and Check kicks open the door, letting it smash against the inside wall. None of the four teenagers inside so much as look at them—they’re focused intensely on a small old-model holo-screen, which is projecting the news.
Wait , Benson thinks, stopping in the doorway. He pulls out the hacker and cycles back to the transaction details once more. Coffee. Rocket train ticket. Socks. Shoes. The shoes are the last transaction shown on the first page. $1,579!
“Holy stinkballs,” Check says in the background, but Benson is too focused on the screen to look up.
To buy shoes that expensive, the guy must’ve had some kind of money at one point. “More,” he says to the device. The second screen appears, listing more transactions, all of them in the thousands. Shirt. Tie. Suit. The suit was $6,599! Then the portable holo-screen at $18,999. The last transaction listed isn’t a payment, but a deposit.
A deposit for $30,000 from ‘Unlisted,’ bringing the total account from $56 to $30,056. Within a few hours, the man had managed to spend all of it but the measly 64 bucks and change stolen by him and Check.
What the hell? he thinks.
“That’s him!” Check says, finally drawing Benson’s attention away from the hacking device. He looks from his friend to the 3D projection, where a man’s image is overlaid on a grisly background. A blackened building is smoking, red flames licking at its sides as fire bots shoot dozens of streams of water from their hand nozzles. Charred lumps are scattered amongst the rubble of the U-Building.
Benson’s jaw drops open.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
The image is of the man they robbed. The floating headline beneath his face seems to burn itself into Benson’s eyes:
AUTHORITIES REPORT THAT KEITH MADSEN HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE SUICIDE BOMBER
~~~
Past article from the Saint Louis Times :
Slaughter of Unauthorized Babies Complete
The Department of Population Control has finally flexed its muscles, showing critics of the recently approved Population Control Decree that the government means business. Hundreds of ‘unauthorized beings’ were located and ‘terminated’ in what many are already referring to as Red Wednesday. Many believed the population watchdog would balk when it came time to enforce the new law that has been called ‘disgusting and inhumane’ by the Human Rights Association. Four hundred and sixty four dead babies in the first day have changed everything.
When interviewed about the slaughter, the Head of Pop Con, Douglas Ross said, ‘We don’t make the laws, we just enforce them.’ He had no other comments.
The tiny bodies were burned without funerals. The offending parents have been taken into custody, and will likely be sentenced to life in prison without parole. In the humble opinion of our newspaper, this marks the darkest day in the history of the Reorganized United States of America.
Have a comment on this article? Speak them into your holo-screen now.
Comments:
HollyPop24: I’m speechless.
JamalPorter1: We’ve become nothing more than animals.
Marky41: Makes perfect sense to me. They weren’t ALLOWED to be born. Pop Con was only taking back what was rightfully theirs.
Dr.Price9: I agree with Marky41. The projections don’t
“One of us,” Check says. “We Picked one of our own.”
Massaging his forehead, Benson wonders how he could’ve been so blind. As they climb the first of three sets of metal stairs, he tries to work through what went wrong. The guy had seemed like the perfect Grunk to both of them. He had on nice clothes, was carrying an expensive holo-screen, seemed unfamiliar with the city. None of it makes any sense.
They reach the fourth floor landing and Check kicks open the door, letting it smash against the inside wall. None of the four teenagers inside so much as look at them—they’re focused intensely on a small old-model holo-screen, which is projecting the news.
Wait , Benson thinks, stopping in the doorway. He pulls out the hacker and cycles back to the transaction details once more. Coffee. Rocket train ticket. Socks. Shoes. The shoes are the last transaction shown on the first page. $1,579!
“Holy stinkballs,” Check says in the background, but Benson is too focused on the screen to look up.
To buy shoes that expensive, the guy must’ve had some kind of money at one point. “More,” he says to the device. The second screen appears, listing more transactions, all of them in the thousands. Shirt. Tie. Suit. The suit was $6,599! Then the portable holo-screen at $18,999. The last transaction listed isn’t a payment, but a deposit.
A deposit for $30,000 from ‘Unlisted,’ bringing the total account from $56 to $30,056. Within a few hours, the man had managed to spend all of it but the measly 64 bucks and change stolen by him and Check.
What the hell? he thinks.
“That’s him!” Check says, finally drawing Benson’s attention away from the hacking device. He looks from his friend to the 3D projection, where a man’s image is overlaid on a grisly background. A blackened building is smoking, red flames licking at its sides as fire bots shoot dozens of streams of water from their hand nozzles. Charred lumps are scattered amongst the rubble of the U-Building.
Benson’s jaw drops open.
The hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
The image is of the man they robbed. The floating headline beneath his face seems to burn itself into Benson’s eyes:
AUTHORITIES REPORT THAT KEITH MADSEN HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE SUICIDE BOMBER
~~~
Past article from the Saint Louis Times :
Slaughter of Unauthorized Babies Complete
The Department of Population Control has finally flexed its muscles, showing critics of the recently approved Population Control Decree that the government means business. Hundreds of ‘unauthorized beings’ were located and ‘terminated’ in what many are already referring to as Red Wednesday. Many believed the population watchdog would balk when it came time to enforce the new law that has been called ‘disgusting and inhumane’ by the Human Rights Association. Four hundred and sixty four dead babies in the first day have changed everything.
When interviewed about the slaughter, the Head of Pop Con, Douglas Ross said, ‘We don’t make the laws, we just enforce them.’ He had no other comments.
The tiny bodies were burned without funerals. The offending parents have been taken into custody, and will likely be sentenced to life in prison without parole. In the humble opinion of our newspaper, this marks the darkest day in the history of the Reorganized United States of America.
Have a comment on this article? Speak them into your holo-screen now.
Comments:
HollyPop24: I’m speechless.
JamalPorter1: We’ve become nothing more than animals.
Marky41: Makes perfect sense to me. They weren’t ALLOWED to be born. Pop Con was only taking back what was rightfully theirs.
Dr.Price9: I agree with Marky41. The projections don’t
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