I
Ash hit the van's windscreen like snowflakes. The sky behind was orange and dancing with light. Tanya Pool hunched over the wheel, looking out at the fiery hillsides on either side of the road. Beside her on the shotgun seat, Duke the terrier was sitting up, silently watching the chaos unspool on the blacktop.
A phone was mounted on the dash and Tanya pressed it to start recording. On-screen, she could see herself and a little bit of the carnage outside of the window. She'd taken a few forward shots too and would splice them in through the video before posting it, she thought.
The little red recording light blinked at her and she automatically readjusted her glasses and touched her cowboy hat then smiled at the camera and began speaking, every now and then checking to see she wasn't going to run off the road.
'We're only a couple hours out now,' she said, 'me and Duke. The fires are getting real bad. I don't know if you can see this behind me but the hills are all on fire. Ash is falling from the sky. There's this really weird light. It's almost midnight but it's bright. I feel like we're driving into the apocalypse.
'We passed a National Guard checkpoint about an hour ago. That was pretty wild, eh. Duke?' The Scottie dog stood up on the threadbare seat and wagged his tail. He barked. Tanya took the phone off its mount and filmed him, getting a close-up of him licking his snout.
'I got through with my press pass. They didn't want to let me through but Duke had a word with them. Isn't that right, Duke? Yes, it is. They couldn't do anything. The captain or sergeant or whoever, some moustachioed douchebag, kept telling me I couldn't go in there. But we haven't lost all our rights, yet, even though it might seem it. He kept calling me Little Lady.
'There's this whole Apocalypse-Now-Day-of-the-Dead kind of vibe going on. Lockdown. Curfews. Armed guards ordering me to show some ID. Everyone's masked up. And now the fires. It's like End-of-Days-Sodom-and-Gomorrah shit.
'I was reading how a hundred million acres have burned up. A hundred million acres. That's eight zeroes, my friends. I saw some satellite footage from space. I'll put a link in the description; it was crazy.
'We're only a couple hours away from the DMZ. As I'm one of the few people left in the country who's actually allowed to travel and film, I feel like it's my duty,' here she paused to film Duke again, 'our duty to bring you the real shit.
'When you have nowhere to turn for the truth, turn to us, your friendly neighbourhood sleuths. Duke and Tanya, on the case. No, but seriously, if Anticap is going to protest outside the Chambers then we, i.e., you, my friends, are gonna be there. Apparently, Valentina's going to be there.'
Tanya took off her cowboy hat, shook her hair out, and replaced it on her head.
'That's what I love about the internet – the truth is out there. Facts still exist, my friends. No matter how bad they want to make you think we're all divided, that our facts are all different, zeroes and ones are undeniable, friend. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the unfiltered, unbiased data straight from the source. We bring it to you 360, 1080, 20/20, all the good shit. Thanks for watching. Out'
She gave them one last close-up of Duke's chops then pointed the phone forward so it captured the oncoming scene. She'd timed it perfectly. As they crested the hill, there, down in front of them the iconic bridge stretched over the bay, all lit up with spotlights and cop lights. And behind it, downtown, the skyscrapers covered in black smoke rising into the pumpkin sky.
II
The DMZ: twenty square blocks of occupied buildings, at the heart of which stood the Chambers, the last vestiges of private property for a mile in any direction. The iconic headquarters, three spherical glass domes covered in pentagonal panels had stood up to the assault of the protestors for weeks without a single breach.
As far as anyone knew, Matt Falkenburger was still in there playing God with his mighty machines. The entire staff had been evacuated by drones after the first round of riots but Matt continued to broadcast on his media channels and appeared to be safe and well-supplied, somewhere in a bunker deep under the Chambers.
Matt's holding out had only fuelled the protestors' fire. Not only that, but more and more of the country, if not the world, agreed with them. Public opinion had changed. Billionaires became the bad guys and AI and tech became dirty words.
Tanya had watched her country descend into chaos, mostly from behind a recording smartphone. Her raw, up-close footage of some of the gnarliest shit going down, combined with her winning personality, and of course, Duke, had garnered her millions of followers.
She tried not to think about this and imagined she was filming for a friend as she walked into the DMZ after parking the van down a side street. Duke trotted beside her, but she'd stow him in her pack if any shit went down.
There was graffiti painted all over the street and the bases of the boarded-up buildings were colourful with multiple layers of paint. Other stores had been smashed open and their guts spilled into the street. Yet more doorways were hidden behind shields of umbrellas. There were tents everywhere on the sidewalks in varying states of disrepair. Everything was covered in a layer of ash.
Tanya passed a park full of tents. Some plywood and cardboard shacks stood amongst the tents. It looked like a festival that had gone on for too long. Everything was dirty and falling apart. It stank of piss and garbage and there was litter all over the ground.
A few faceless people wandered around. All of them wore black hoodies and black masks like it was a uniform. Most of them were making their way south, following the faint sounds of a crowd. Tanya rounded a street corner with a couple of stragglers and there were the Chambers, a crowd of a few thousand standing before them.
The glass spheres looked like freshly-landed alien spaceships. You could see green foliage pressing against the inside of the spheres and golden light shining through the green leaves. It looked like paradise compared to the ash-dirtied, fucked-up city around it, like an oasis in a 21st-century desert.
With one hand, Tanya held her phone out in front of her and started elbowing her way through the crowd. Hand-painted signs and black flags waved above her. You could hear the deep throb of bass; an old-school hip-hop song blasted from speakers.
As she moved forward, the protesters' professionalism increased. Bandanas and face masks were replaced by gas masks and helmets. She started seeing bullet-proof vests here and there and a few firearms, a handgun or two then some AR15s and shotguns.
The front of the crowd looked like a private militia. A line of black-clad guerrillas in flak vests, helmets, and gas masks, held semi-automatic weapons across their chests. Security drones hovered above them, shining powerful lights down on the crowd. Tanya stopped filming just long enough to slip Duke's gas mask over his head before donning hers.
She took a deep breath before pulling her mask over her face. She could smell the sweaty excitement as if they were all waiting for something. A feeling of anticipation seeped through the crowd. People were muttering, then people were yelling from behind.
A metallic rumbling sound drowned out the bass. From where she stood, Tanya saw a plume of smoke chugging through the air and, as it moved through the crowd, the people in front of her pushed back as they tried to avoid the huge thing moving through them.
Then, as she watched a long straight barrel jutted out of the crowd like a lance with a green iron horse beneath it. And there, framed by the orange sky between two buildings, Valentina stood, arm raised on top of a WW2 tank. Her black beret was pulled low over one eye. Her leather jacket made her look like a rock star.
The black flags waving around her shook like excited marionettes and the tank moved forward, passing right beside Tanya. Looking up, she stared into the young woman's face. Valentina's brown eyes flashed and she winked. The tank rumbled to a halt and Valentina raised a bullhorn and addressed the crowd.
'Sisters. Brothers. Humans,' her amplified voice barked out, reverberating off the buildings and echoing over the crowd. 'We have come second for too long. We suffer while robots have more rights than we do. What about human rights? What about our right to exist and perform our own mission? What about life, liberty, and freedom of thought and expression?
'What about our right to equality before the law?' She pointed at the Chambers. 'In there they create our demise with no accountability, no oversight. We the people rail against our chains while the rich are free to play God. Is that fair?'
The crowd answered in a wave of angry shouts and denouncements. The guy beside her raised his fist and shouted, 'No. No. No.' There was a nightstick threaded through his belt beside a holster and a cluster of zip ties. Tanya tried to keep the camera steady as the crowd jostled, holding Valentina in the frame.
'More and more of us have been left behind,' said Valentina. 'First, they came for our jobs, then they came for our rights. Now they expect us to lay down and die. The rich escape to Mars. The rest are left to scratch on our bellies in the dust. They rape Mother Earth. They rape you every day.'
Jeers and hisses seethed through the crowd. Some people were yelling as pockets of anger flared up and burst. Tanya felt the crowd beginning to press in around her.
'And what do we do to rapists?' Valentina screamed.
'Kill,' went the crowd. 'Kill. Kill.'
Valentina stretched her hands wide and basked in the chants. Then she tossed the bullhorn aside and disappeared into the idling tank. For a second, nothing happened, then with a revving noise, the turret adjusted and the long barrel lifted. There was a flash and a crack.
BOOM
The whole crowd jumped. Tanya looked and saw a plume of smoke lift from a gaping hole in the main sphere. The man beside her giggled then they were both caught in the stampede as it rushed forward, pushing them tight together like a flood through a burst dam.
The crowd surged. She felt Duke wriggling in the backpack. She couldn't move her arms to get him and she tried to kick into the ground to get to the edge of the crush. They were spilling over the parched lawns and sidewalks running up to the spheres.
Then, as the crowd crossed the threshold of the Chamber and the river of people rushed through the hole, another explosion rocked the side of the building and Tanya heard a crumbling sound then something big hit her and a little black rose bloomed in the centre of her vision and she was knocked the fuck out.
III
Duke whined in her ear. Tanya groaned and pain shot down her left side. She was no longer wearing her mask. She tried to get her elbows beneath her and push herself up but it was like strong hands were holding her down. Duke stopped whining then began growling; the growls were muffled by his gas mask. Tanya opened her eyes.
Lights blinded her. Two bright white circles of light, each with a black dot in the centre like pupils blinked at her. Behind them, she saw a white carbon face, not unlike that of a human, a few inches from her own. Her mind baulked. The shining irises contracted and the head titled.
The robot stood up and lifted up the slab of concrete that pinned her. Before picking her up, it reached forward with a pointing index finger. A hypodermic needle stuck out of the end; a silver drop of liquid wobbled on its point. Tanya felt a prick in her shoulder and the quick warm morphine spread through her.
The pain receded but she didn't pass out. She felt herself being picked up. Looking over the robot's shoulder, she noticed someone standing in a hallway to her left, a human in the shadows. She knew who it was; she recognizes his trademark white t-shirt and board shorts. Instead of his usual flat-brim baseball hat, he wore a gas mask. The eyes were huge and lit up with green light and she thought he looked like an alien. Or a praying mantis.
She was carried over the robot's shoulder. Duke followed behind. There was a hiss and they passed through a doorway into a dimly-lit hall with dark green walls. Tanya could tell they were walking on carpet by the way their footfalls were muffled. She could hear an old hip-hop song playing somewhere.
Another hiss and they passed through another set of doors and now they were in some kind of medical centre. It was brightly lit and everything was sparkling chrome and white cupboards and countertops and Tanya was laid gently down on a hospital bed with the crisp sheets wrinkling beneath her. She looked up with mild amusement at the face of the world's first intelligent robot.
Even though she'd never seen it before, she felt instant recognition. It was the way its mouth turned up slightly at the corners and the way its eye-lenses tracked her own. She knew it was made of silicon, carbon fibre and metal, and yet she was certain she was looking at another human being.
It reached towards her and she felt another sting in her shoulder. Icy cold swept through her; it felt like she'd been splashed in cold water.
'What the fuck?' she said, shaking her head.
'Wu?' said the robot, recoiling swiftly.
Tanya pushed herself up in bed. Suddenly, she felt mortally afraid, as if she'd awakened from a pleasant dream into a living nightmare. She grabbed the bed frame and looked around wildly for Duke. She called his name, even as the robot advanced around the bed, its hands raised.
'Wu,' it said and she screamed.
'Hey,' said a voice, 'it's okay,' and Matt the Creator stepped into view. He no longer wore a gas mask and he held Duke, scratching the dog behind the ears. Duke was licking his hand. Even though Tanya knew how old Matt was, he looked remarkable young, still pretty much the same college kid who'd risen to fame early in the new millennium. His curly hair looked as unkempt as ever and with his freckles and glasses he looked like a kid.
'Wu, this is Tanya Pool. Say hello, Wu.' said Matt.
'Wu,' said the robot and brought its hands together and bowed.
'It's. It's,' said Tanya, trying desperately to think of something to say. 'Fuck,' she managed.
'It is a he,' said Matt. Duke began struggling and Matt stepped up to the bed, close enough for Tanya to reach out and stroke Duke's head and scratch him where he liked it under his chin. He smiled at her and she wished he could talk.
'Look,' said Matt. The robot extended its hand, palm up, to her. Its white fingers were long and delicate-looking. There were black sensor pads on its fingertips. Tanya could see the whirls and whorls of its fingerprints. Slowly, tremblingly, she reached forward and touched it.
It felt smooth and impressionable like a person's skin with tissue, blood and bone underneath. The finger moved slowly in a circle, softly, then down the front of her index finger. It traced around the inside of her finger and touched her interdigital fold. It tickled and she closed her hand.
The robot hand mirrored hers, closing into a loose fist. She looked at its face. The eyes looked at her and she wanted to say sorry for some reason but didn't. Everything felt a little surreal.
'Isn't it wonderful?' said Matt, breaking the spell. She looked at him. His eyes sparkled with tears. With his free hand, he wiped his eyes then wiped his fingers on his chest. 'You've done it, bro. What you've always wanted.'
'Wu,' said the robot, looking from Tanya's hand to his own.
'That's right,' said Matt, coughing and laughing.
'How did you know-' Tanya started to say but there was an explosion nearby and the floor shook beneath them. They could hear yelling and banging coming from the hall. Small arms fire erupted and the doors flew open with a fan of flames. Valentina strode into the room, followed by a dozen black-masked Anticaps.
'Haiiii,' cried Valentina: a war cry. Tanya could see the whites of her eyes, the black barrel of an Uzi; the barrel was belching fire. 'Kill the oppressors!' Valentina screamed and the barrel sparkled again and bullets ripped into the counters and cupboards.
A couple Anticaps made a beeline for Matt. Duke wriggled from the man's arms and landed on the floor. His nails skittered on the floor as he scrabbled under the bed.
'No,' cried Matt as Wu stepped forward. Guns roared and bullets glanced off the robot. Tanya saw it falter as she slipped painfully onto the floor. Duke tumbled into her and she curled around him, protecting him. Without thinking, she found her phone and began livestreaming.
She and about ten million people watched the robot grab the nearest Anticap and throw him against the cupboards with a sickening crunch. There was a series of bangs and thick green clouds of smoke pumped out of two canisters skittering across the floor.
The robot leaped through the air like a tiger, landing on one man's shoulders then sprang again, twisting and discarding his prey, onto the back of another. Guns blazed. Tanya could hear Valentina cackling somewhere in the smoke then her laugh turned into a gurgling scream. There was a sustained burst of fire then the shooting stopped.
Tanya pulled Duke close, pushed herself painfully to her knees and stood up. Holding the camera in front of her, she staggered into the gas.
IV
Coughing and sputtering, her eyes and throat afire, Tanya forged forward. First, she came across Valentina. She was lying on her back on the floor. Her jacket was torn and pulled back like a cape. You could see patches of her skin through holes in her shirt.
Tanya's gaze travelled upwards. Valentina's lipstick was smeared all over one cheek. Her neck looked weirdly long and disjointed and something hard pushed up against the skin. Valentina's brown eyes stared at Tanya, unblinking. Even though she looked fucked up, Tanya thought, the young woman still looked beautiful as hell.
Tanya stumbled on, wincing and trying not to cry out from the pain shooting up her right side. The red light in the corner of the screen blinked at her and she followed it forward. Out of the smoke, like a graveyard memorial, appeared two figures seated on the ground.
There was the robot, sitting up, with his head slightly bowed, the perfect picture of sorrow. In his arms lay Matt. The man's head tilted back and his hands and feet were totally slack. Tanya stopped and watched. The robot didn't appear to have noticed her. The way he cradled Matt looked like he offered the man for some higher power's appraisal.
'Wu,' said Tanya and stepped forward.
The robot stopped rocking and looked at her. For an instant, the eyes were white, then they turned red. The robot stood up, letting the dead man slide to the floor. Wu stepped over the body and came straight at Tanya.
'Stop,' she said, 'Wu,' as it came relentlessly forward.
And her audience of millions gasped as one as their view was suddenly dislodged and the robot went spinning upwards and all we could see was red circles for a second. Then we all looked at a dark screen with a little fringe of light in one corner. The phone had fallen face down on the floor.
But there was still sound, though. Oh, those terrible sounds we heard on that eventful day back in 2021: that day the robots took over.
No comments:
Post a Comment