Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Underground


The Underground
                Si carefully walked into the subterranean room and sat down at a table. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked around. Several other teenagers gathered and exchanged discs. Si guessed that on each disc was some powerful software or maybe some illegal music or literature. He was fully aware of what transpires here, the clandestine meeting place of many outcasts and malcontents.  
                Local kids flock to the underground to exchange illegal goods, outlawed by the megacorporations governing and policing the city. They had to be careful though, the metal cops would be breaking up their get together and confiscate their goods if they loitered too long.
                As Si waited for his contact he saw someone enter the room. It was her, the girl with the electric fingers! He has only heard stories about her; that she can short circuit a cop with the delicate flick of her fingers. She had an expensive operation to have little voltage outlets installed in her finger tips. Si was speechless, his mouth ajar.
                At the local police station the cyborg chief barks orders to his underlings. “We need to step up surveillance of the nearby hangouts in which degenerates frequent. We have been making progress in the apprehension of repeat offenders and with capturing illegal material. But the next step forward would be to stop the flow of this material into the city in the first place. I’ll leave it up to your quick, computerized, brains to make a plan, you can run it by me to get my input.” The officers came up with a plan, they needed to stop the underground movement of material. They knew right where to go…
                Si met with his contact and scored the goods. He pocketed the disc and stood up from his chair just as five metal officers came through the door. Most of the inhabitants ran out the back exit. Si tried to run but he was too close to the front door, the cops will have him for sure. A cop reached out for him but was stopped. The girl danced in front of Si and touched the cop, frying his CPU. She moved like a ballet dancer, quickly brushing the cops with her delicate fingers. Si had an opportunity to flee but he wanted to watch. The cops didn’t even have a chance to reach for their batons, she was too quick. They all fell in steaming heaps of metal.
                Si caught his breath and spoke to her: “Hi, I’m Si. What’s your name?”
                “You can call me Lightning.” She said.
                “How did you do that? They just fell like they were nothing.” Said Si.
                “I’ve had lots of practice. Now, let’s get out of here before more show up.” Said Lightning.
                They left the room and went out into the drab, rainy night. Taxi cruisers whistled overhead as they noticed the police cruisers parked outside. They decided to leave them as they continued walking with no rush to their steps.  

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