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Progress? SOT2023 Writer

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posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 07:49 AM
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The buzzing was like someone hitting him behind the eyeballs with some dentist drill from last century...God how he hated it and the alarm was coming from the far side of the room so by the time Johnny stumbled over to it he was wide awake .

“Atta boy! Rise and shine, gotta meet the new day head on Son!”
“Hey Gramps” Johnny acknowledged the greeting automatically, not even thinking that his Grandfather died when he was barely two years old.

Johnny didn't have much that he truly cared about, but the soul chip with his Grandfather's consciousness on it was the one thing her truly valued.

Plugged right into his own skull, Gramps was there whenever Johnny was awake. The old man practically brought him up since his mum and dad had gone down to the opiate epidemic of the late 2080s. It had gotten so that Johnny felt like he had become an extension of the old man's will somehow.

Stepping out of the shower, Johnny paused while hot air played over him drying his body and what little hair he had on his head following the latest encounter with the clippers he borrowed off Marty downstairs.

He stepped into the 3d printed jeans and shapeless yellow T shirt that acted like a big, neon sign which said “Too poor to buy his own clothes” pulled on his boots and opened the door , ready to head for the benefit centre for an 8 hour stint of applying for jobs he didn't want and which wouldn't employ him just to keep his government money coming in.

A bright light brought him crashing to his knees as his body froze...Arrayed around the door were six of the big, beefy raid cops about to smash in his door with their big red key...Instead the lead cop pulsed the light gun right in Johnny's face paralysing him as his optic nerves were so overloaded his brain began to shut down.

Five of the cops burst into his flat as number six used plastic ties to secure his wrists and ankles so tightly his hands and feet immediately started to ache as the blood pounded in his veins.

He had no memory of how long this took but came to hearing the sound of smashing and crashing coming from inside as the police guys finished trashing his place, in some sort of revenge for not having what it was they seemed to be looking for.

“Bloody Nazis!” Gramps growled as Johnny came back to, then he was lifted up onto his feet, the ties were cut off him and a cop smacked a form into his chest growling “We were acting on a tip off that you were in possession of items or materials prohibited under law. As such you have no automatic right to restitution for any damage done in the lawful execution of our duty. This form explains your rights and responsibilities, good day.”

It all happened so fast that Johnny's head was spinning as he stumbled back into his flat. The breakfast bar now smashed in half, the two dining chairs in splinters of fibre and resin,,,His books not just torn off the shelf but actually torn apart and...worst of all, The jar of beach sand that was all his mum had left him and the only thing he truly valued was smashed and the sand scattered around on the floor, trodden about by police issue size 12 boots.

“Ah, dammit Gramps, I'm sorry, they got your little bit of Cornwall.” Johnny breathed in frustration.
“Nah, nothing fer you ta be sorry about kid.” came Gramps' reply “Damned Rozzers...its them oughta be sorry.”
Johnny spent the next half hour getting a mental inventory of all his possessions, that weren't broken by the cops...A pair of gloves and the stuff he was wearing was it, they even took his cred chips the thieves...not that he had much anyway, the result of a lifetime hustling at the bottom of the food chain barely enough for a couple of nights in one of the cheaper hotels down town.

He kicked at the smashed remains of the jar and an idea seemed to come to him “Lets go get that sand replaced Gramps!” he breathed smiling now as he turned for the door and strode out without even soi much as a bag on his back.

He never bothered going to the benefit place, they weren't interested in excuses so he knew he would be getting nothing from the government now. Instead he cracked a few weak systems on his way down the tower block to street level, by the time he got to the station, he was feeling pretty cool about stuff again and his cred stack was fatter than it had been in tears....He knew that he would get traced but was beyond caring for now, he had lived a law abiding existence for the past couple of years and the cops still showed up and trashed his life anyway.

“£300 for a bloody train ticket!” Gramps complained an hour later as Johnny leaned back in his seat sipping at a mango flavoured energy drink...”Ah, easy Gramps, inflation don't ya know? You been dead twenty years and there have been 2 more corpo wars in that time, stuff gets expensive when your government spends zillions on rockets and bombs!”

2 hours later he was stepping off the train in Penzance...pausing at the security terminal while he got scanned then he was through, breathing deep on the ozone rich air by the sea. “Now then boy, this is the place, look over there, you can see St Michaels mount, its almost a twin of Mont St Michel in Normandy. Immediately a red reticle formed around the cone shaped island in Johnny's vision, followed in seconds by a pale, translucent overlay of a top down view of the English Channel

Johnny paused outside the station checking the availability of the little, electric, self driving cabs that had replaced private motor vehicles back before he was born. While he was booking one, he took the chance to scalp a few grand off the well to do looking group just entering the station. Why people couldn't secure their own comms, he would never understand.

Cab ordered, he walked towards the little white bubble with the roof blinking red as Gramps went on one about how “if you were coming to Cornwall you should only do it on your bike!”
“But Gramps, they're illegal now, like every private vehicle.”

All Gramps could do was grumble about how awful the modern world was as they approached Trethewey, about the closest anyone not in a Spacetek vehicle could ever get to Porthcurno now it had been taken over by the rocket company for their launch site.

Turning away from the cab and heading into the village proper, Johnny felt his stomach rumble and realised he hadn't eaten today, his breakfast having been interrupted by the police operation.
“Used to be a good chippy down 'ere” gramps remarked as they walked down a street of identical box shaped dwellings made of some sort of metal or concrete or possibly both,

Of course, there were no chippies anywhere any more, the fish bing way too expensive for mere mortals to afford and the fried potato being deemed unhealthy by a government struggling to cope with a society devoid of all hope,

Johnny squeezed the last of the strawberry sludge from the tube and gulped it down, he had never tasted a strawberry so as Gramps reminded him, it could taste of anything else and he wouldn't know. Something Johnny agreed with as every single flavour he had ever tried was oily and chalky tasting.

TBC
edit on 22pFri, 02 Jun 2023 08:00:22 -050020232023-06-02T08:00:22-05:00kAmerica/Chicago30000000k by SprocketUK because: spelling



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 07:50 AM
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About half a mile further on, they came to the gate, manned by a couple of Ais “No entry unless permitted”
“Hmmph” Johnny exhaled, seeing no way through there.
“Easy now son, I know a way, lets go back up the road a bit then head right into the hills.”
There was no doubting Gramps when it came to Cornwall or “Kernow” as he sometimes jokingly referred to it, recalling bumper stickers on cars that Johnny had never seen.

Gramps was right though, they crested a hill and could see the launch complex in the distance, amid the glittering of the sea, the tall towers and squat, fat tanks dominating the landscape now as Gramps cursed and told Johnny how the transatlantic cables used to come ashore there, right on the beach.

He also told him about how people used to surf there and how the waves were the wrong ones for anyone who wasn't already good at it.

Johnny just took his word for it, never having even been in the sea, let alone surfed outside of a sim.

The chattering of a helicopter sounded in the sky, reverberating off the hills around him and Johnny scurried down the slope towards a little shack that looked like it could hide him from the helicopter.

When he got to it, he found the door secured by a state of the art electro lock...clearly the owners wanted no one getting inside, though they had failed to foresee someone with Johnny's cracking ability wanting entry and he was inside in seconds, eyes widening at the spinning, shining steel contraption before him.
He took a couple more seconds to strip the databases out of the computers around the room and gasped as he told Gramps “This is only a bloody time machine!...And they don't make nay money from launching satellites into orbit, they make money by getting paid to go back and change things!”
Gramps growled a long string of his most favoured expletives as he too read what Johnny had and then, like alight going off, Johnny had an idea.
“Hey Gramps, lets go back and ...stop this, huh?”
Gramps was in full agreement, “Right on son, I only wish I had a body and could help you, there's people back then needs killing.”

Half an hour later, Johnny was sitting in the machine waiting for the countdown to finish

An explosion of light, like every colour Johnny could imagine and he was sitting on a small mound of grass, the air tasting subtly different, the sounds quieter now.

A couple of breaths and he rose, looking around, no sign of the rocket complex or any other intrusive modernism, he checked his feed, the em spectrum was more sparse than he had ever seen it as he tried to sniff out some packets of data...Gramps was there though still in his head “Well well well, looks like it mighta worked my boy.” He stated and then mused “Shoulda downloaded some of the racing results before we left coulda made a fortune!”

“If this isn't some sort of alternate reality old man!”

They walked back up the hill and into the small town, barely more than a village really and at Gramps' urging, Johnny went into an arcade, all booming bass and flashing lights. Gramps explained how some of the machines were for gambling and stuffed with cash, it took a few goes but Johnny soon got the hang and it wasn't long before his pockets were bulging with one and two pound coins.

Further up the street was the chippy of course and Johnny almost cried at the flavours of the fish, the texture of the crunchy batter, the minted mushy peas and the salt and vinegar over it all.
“Told ya didn't I?” Gramps reminded him as Johnny leant back in the chair, both hands around his distended belly.
“I have never eaten like that Gramps, ever” Johnny said to accompanied laughter from the old man.

A little further up the road, he say outside an internet cafe with a can of some fizzy orange drink that tasted again, like nothing he was ever used to.

Gramps talked him through how to search companies house for information about Spacetek
while it hadn't been formed yet, some of the directors were listed as members of other company boards and Johnny was able to surf the web about them too.
It only took about another hour and they had a clear picture of how Spacetek would come to be born in the next 12 to 18 months,

A name that kept cropping up was one Dr Bentham... a physicist from UCL in London.

“I say we go there, find him and kill the piece of...”
“Whoa Gramps we cant just go round killing folks!” Johnny complained..

They argued like that for the rest of the afternoon, eventually ending only when Johnny agreed they would go to London and see if they could find this Doc at the university there.

It was a bit of a walk back to a bus stop and a long wait to get the bus back to Penzance for the train but Johnny was wide eyed at how everything seemed unspoiled by corporate advertising and security.
They got on the train, when it arrived and Johnny leant back in the seat, closing his eyes against the glare of the setting sun.
Hey might have looked asleep but he was reading all he could find about Doc Bentham...First name Sarah... a pretty blonde girl about his age with striking blue eyes and the figure of a sim star.

As the train pulled into Paddington Station, the roof beams still marked by decades of diesel smoke from countless trains pulling in and leaving Gramps piped up, “John, I know you are thinking about how pretty she is, but you really need to see her for the thereat she is son, she is like Hitler's daughter...She can't be left alone to go on.”

Johnny didn't even reply as he hopped into a black cab and said UCL please mate...about 20 minutes and 30 quid later, he hopped out, not quite jogging up to the main building through the quad. He paused to study some of the maps and then unerringly fought his way through the crush of eager young students towards the high energy physics lab.

Somehow Gramps had been silenced since he got in the cab and when he walked into the lab he was interested in, there she was, Doctor Sarah Bentham. He stood in the threshold of the door for a moment trying to not let his heart burst out of his chest and also trying and failing to not look weird.

She looked up at him and asked “Can I help you?”

Gramps was fighting back up trying to point out the scalpels, the long nosed pliers, the screwdrivers that Johnny could use to end this monster...all Johnny could do was think how much he wanted to take her to dinner...

The End...
edit on 49pFri, 02 Jun 2023 08:01:49 -050020232023-06-02T08:01:49-05:00kAmerica/Chicago30000000k by SprocketUK because: spelling



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 08:06 AM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

Very nice story.

Good luck



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 08:11 AM
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a reply to: Moon68

Thanks mate



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 09:03 AM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

Let's see... End freakin' dystopia, or... Um... Smeg, she's pretty. Lol
Thank you for your sci-fi, Sprocket.



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 09:14 AM
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a reply to: BeNotAfraid


C'mon you telling me it would be that easy for ya?


edit on 29pFri, 02 Jun 2023 09:14:29 -050020232023-06-02T09:14:29-05:00kAmerica/Chicago30000000k by SprocketUK because: spelling



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 10:11 AM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

When it's that hard, y'know, a man's gotta do. ... No, wait...
(Ahem, movie guy voice.)
"In a bleak future where all the birds look like freakin' LUH-3417... a 21st Century hardbody Barbie with a PhD in Forensic Ultratemporality can knock a time traveling man's focus off a deadly mission, and into the sludge of sexual stupidity."

Or something. I honestly cannot assume to guess what happens next! Good story though. Good luck!

edit on 622323 by BeNotAfraid because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 10:13 AM
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a reply to: BeNotAfraid
I reckon you could get a job doing them for Hollywood.



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 11:31 AM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

That was a long but gripping read, SprocketUK. I wish you had continued... very curious where this will go.

There was so much that brought back personal memories. In particular, the sand, very much like my mother had from a Pescara (Italy) Beach before her family emigrated to the U.S. in the late 60s.

The fish & chips brought back fond thoughts of my trips to Brighton, too. Much better than what I'd get in north London.




edit on 2/6/2023 by Encia22 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 12:01 PM
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a reply to: Encia22

Fish and chips is ALWAYS better at the seaside

Thanks glad you liked it!



posted on Jun, 2 2023 @ 04:54 PM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

Really excellent work.

You should continue the story.




posted on Jun, 3 2023 @ 12:17 AM
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a reply to: chr0naut


Thanks, but I think this is one of those stories that is better for not having any concrete resolution, kind of like how the Italian Job ends



posted on Jun, 3 2023 @ 03:14 AM
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Great story ! It is amazing what our mind creates out of sitting down to write.
edit on 727rdk23 by 727Sky because: (no reason given)



posted on Jun, 3 2023 @ 03:20 AM
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a reply to: 727Sky
Thanks and yeah it is crazy, when you can sit down without any preconception and later you have a whole new world in front of you...its one of the best.



posted on Jul, 7 2023 @ 12:57 PM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

Hi sprocket really enjoyed this. I actually read it twice. But this view of the future is much more optimistic than I think reality will be. And that £300 train ticket must have been a discount off-peak super saver!

I’m in somerset but I go on right move almost daily dreaming of moving to the cornish coast.



posted on Jul, 7 2023 @ 02:56 PM
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a reply to: merkins

Thanks for that and yeah it possibly might not be bad enough lol.
I love Cornwall, but Somerset is awesome too, had some great times there!



posted on Jul, 13 2023 @ 05:55 PM
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a reply to: SprocketUK

PM4U








 
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