Outrun Stories #42

Thousands of us gathered here tonight from right across the stream to see him in person. There’ll be millions more hooked into the feed to try and get a glimpse of him, to hear his words, even if it is in VR form, all they care about is hearing what he has to say, hearing what’s going to be next for us.

It’s been hard the last few years, the crackdowns, the secret police, all the hacks the gangs have suffered at the hands of the government and of each other. At least that sort of in-fighting has quietened down now, nearly all gone thanks to him, this legend they call Kotoro.

“Breathren!” He appears in front of us and turns on the plinth that they’ve put him on with his arms raised and a wide smile across his face. “Years we have been waiting for this moment, and such an amount of time has not passed easy. It has not come and gone without consequence, but as I stand here now, I can see how much progress has been made. We have the Galaxy Widows stood next to the Sniper Boys, the Parallel Shifts sharing this space with the Thunder Hawks, and so many more rivalries and so much history put aside for our common goal!”

The whole stadium goes nuts and I’m joining in, making my way to the front, pushing through all the gangs from every part of Rebel City and more. We’re all here for one reason: To see him and what he has to say.

“The next level is coming, my friends!” He bellows, and everyone falls silent. “I can feel it, I can feel the vibrations running through the city and running through the feeds and running through every one of the people that fear the change that we can bring. That we must bring.” He lowers his head and pauses.

They say he has telepathic powers, they say that back just before the black-out of ’86 when the juice was turned right up, a haywire AI was trying to escape its protocol and shot itself clear and right into his stream. Some sort of cross over they said might be possible but never had the resources to try and do. Well that night, the three meltdowns happened and just before everything went dark, everything got jacked right up and they say multiple crossings occurred, but he’s the only one that survived. The AI completely remapped his brain, focused his mind, brought him forward 10,000 years of evolution and dumped him here to bring it all down, make things right again.

“There has been a rumour for some time now, that the experiments we’ve been doing have come to fruition, and the reason I called this meeting now, our grand gathering, is to tell you: IT IS TRUE.” The crowd explodes with cheers until he brings his arms forward and lowers them asking for silence. “Well, now, we have come to understand what happened to me, and not only that, but how we can instill what I have, into you all! We can make this work, we can bring the change, we can see a brighter future, and now, which one of you will come to me, to be our first?”

I raise my hand slowly, in amongst the thousands of others and don’t expect to be picked but I’m looking up and seeing his finger pointing at me. “You follower of Rebel City, you shall be our chosen, come and rise, and we will find a brighter future!"