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A quote: “Men become accustomed to poison by degrees.” ~~ Victor Hugo
I’ll start with a story …
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Rain. Perfect. Who pays attention to umbrellas in the rain?
I felt the buzz, took out the burner cell and flicked it into the filling storm drain. Heads down, watching screens, they never even noticed.
Sloppy. The target had enough money to hire better. Pity.
And armored SUVs only work when you are inside and have control of the tech.
They pulled from the curb, accelerating down the road off bridge and into the river. I stowed the film camera, using another burner to signal for pick up.
Between greed and caution, greed wins every time. Makes my job easier.
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Now, it’s your turn.
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. featured image, cropped, Adobe Stock standard license.
Navig8r says: At the airport she gave me an address and said she was visiting her uncle. I was relieved that it was in a low crime neighborhood, rumored to be so because mafia capos lived there. At the bottom of the cul-de-sac she tipped me generously and said she wanted to walk the last little way for old times’ sake, but would I please drop her luggage at the house. Then the blue lights erupted and I knew she would be opting for a hotel instead. A figure darted out of the shadows, they embraced, and they both jumped in. DRIVE!
Dupin says: A lovely night for a walk, though barely a drizzle now and a bit on the cool side. It really doesn’t matter. It started early, which has spoiled my plans. I’ll check the forecast. Maybe more is expected.
If the rain comes, I will be prepared. My raincoat, if needed, for modesty should a late-night walker stroll through the park. Otherwise, bare feet wet in the squishy grass, raindrops coursing down the rest of me. Not many fey to call in these barely sylvan surroundings, but a few animals are about. What’s a nymph to do in the big city?
Cameron says: The rain washes the smell and sounds of the city away. She’s waiting in the middle of the road for me. I touch her shoulder and she turns to me with that impish smile.
“Been waiting long?”
She shook her head. “Only just got here.”
We made small talk as the rain fell gently around us. But I knew it would be done soon.
A flash of light and I’m back in the real world, staring at the file that stores one of the few memories of my wife before she died. VR or not, I still smell the jasmine.
Most of us have a pretty good idea of what it looks like when a dictator takes over your country. One morning you wake up to tanks in the streets, goons kicking down doors and hauling people out of their homes, long lists of rules and restrictions with super-harsh punishments for breaking them. Stuff like that.
Except that’s all movie shorthand, scenes that establish the situation in minutes so we can move right along to the fight for freedom. In reality, unless you’re actually invaded, it’s more like a slow slip-slide away from freedom. Sometimes the dictator’s even welcomed as a savior, if things get chaotic enough.
I’m old enough to remember when President Reagan went on TV to tell us that yes, the Federal government not only had known about the Soviet cloning and human genetic engineering programs from their beginning, but had established its own mirror programs. It’s been long enough now that I can’t even tell you whether it was before or after the Miracle of the Lightning Bolt over in Russia, but I still remembered the shock, the uncomfortable whispers, the questions that were clearly based upon cartoonish media portrayal of cloning.
After the initial shock, it seemed like people were accepting the situation. Most of us were just glad the Cold War was over, without the total thermonuclear war we’d been led to believe to be the only way of bringing down the Soviet Union. Maybe some people thought it would’ve been better if post-Soviet Russia had been a republic, if the various ethnic union republics had been free to go their own way — but who could argue with the divine answer to Lanakhidze’s “God, give these people a Tsar.”
Except our newfound peace didn’t last long. What was supposed to be a quick intervention to liberate an invaded country turned into a five-year slog which ended with the first use of nuclear weapons since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Who would’ve thought that unseating a tyrant would’ve destabilized the entire Middle East? And who would’ve thought that the emergency measures against the endless terrorist attacks on the home front would do long-term damage to our liberties?
For one thing, the damage took some time to become obvious. Most of us were just glad to get back to our regular lives, so we didn’t really notice how much wasn’t going back to normal. Or how openly some people were talking about how it had been a mistake to let “those clones” mix with regular people like they were just as good as us, that someone needed to teach them their place.
All it took was one very public incident, and people were calling for formal restrictions on clones and other “Sharps.” Require distinguishing marks on their drivers’ licenses so they couldn’t pass themselves off as normal human beings. Restrict their ability to work and own property to keep them lowly. You can see where this is going.
Of course they didn’t exactly take it quietly. California’s always been the place every loose screw ends up, so it’s not surprising the Golden State was chock full of people who were going to have a sharp sign on their licenses. And with all the clones of Al Shepard that NASA ran up, the Granite State had a lot of families with a dog in this fight — and a state motto of “Live free or die.”
So the Administration cracks down, and the Resistance fights back, and pretty soon you’ve got a vicious cycle.
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