Blogbuster: A Sci-Fi Thriller

by Mars Dorian

  “You’re on the ground, bleeding to death, and you care about the damn views? Bam, your life’s on the line.”

  “The ambulance…is coming, right?” he said.

  “Right,” she said.

  “Then all is good. Need to look good for the fans. They’re everything.”

  Her face twitched. She knelt down next to him and was now only a breath away. Looked at his battered body and tried to find something useful to do. Like fixing wounds and stopping the blood fountain from bursting out, but where to begin? His body was a crater of injuries.

  “I don’t know, I don’t know how I can help you.”

  Shiver in her voice. She sounded actually concerned. Kind of cute, Bam thought. First sign of affection, finally.

  “Let me get a first-aid kit or something,” Violet said.

  Bam grabbed her arm.

  “Stay, it’s all going to be okay. I think I hear the sirens already.”

  Violet cranked out a disturbed expression.

  “How did it come to this?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Bam said.

  It seemed to matter to her.

  “For what, Bam? The fans, really? To have a bunch of ADDs get a hard-on seeing you bleed on the asphalt while they’re watching J-porn and cats fart on four other browser windows? To have them click on the next video as soon as yours is over? Fans are important, you need them, I need them, but come on. This is your life. You’re more important than a viral video.”

  Pause.

  Violet raged into a rant.

  “This shouldn’t have happened. It’s sick. To hell with Stax. To hell with this show. We’re vloggers, not view whores.”

  She looked at the Vorb above and flipped it off.

  “Don’t,” Bam said.

  He grabbed her middle-finger posing arm and tried to put it down. She gnarled. Violet focused her attention back to Bam and and ripped his clothes apart. Used the rags as DIY bandages, pressing her palms against them to stop the bleeding.

  Bam wanted to say something smart, something meaningful, but his mouth revolted and regurgitated animal-ish noise effects instead.

  Bam focused.

  “Vwz,” he said again.

  Violet shook her head.

  “What? Stay awake.”

  “VWZ,” Bam said.

  Violet ignored him and continued to play the nurse.

  “What are the views?” he said and spat blood drops at her face.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Views, please.”

  She wiped the blood spatters away and looked at her eScroll. The live Blogbuster feed showed up.

  “223,544,123 live viewers,” she said through clutched teeth.

  Bam smiled and swallowed the blood he wasn’t able to spit out. A thick, liquid cream with the taste of metal. Meh.

  He grabbed her eScroll and pulled it closer to him to see the numbers. It was true. Not only was the viewership skyrocketing, but Bam’s hashtag also ranked number one worldwide. Which meant at this very moment in online history, he was the most popular vlogger of them all.

  Most

  Popular

  Of

  Dem

  All

  He coughed up more blood and looked at the Vorb.

  Did one last Bam pose as he heard Violet shouting.

  High-pitched syllables and words that Bam forgot the meaning of.

  Her sweet voice faded out.

  Her sweet face faded out.

  Bam faded out.

  He closed his eyes and smiled within. Ignored the omnipresent pain and pictured his promised land. He dreamed of paid videos and interviews praising him as the new vlogger star on the online horizon. Dreamed of exploding subscriber counts, fanmail overload and girls storming his flat, asking him to Bam into them.

  About time, considering the sacrifices he made for the world, it was finally giving back. And soon, he was going to fetch the fruits from his web conquest, but first, he had to take a break.

  Lull back into lala land.

  Just for a while, come on.

  Because, burnout.

  And now : blackout.

  130

  Vorbs.

  Vorbs on the street.

  Vorbs in conference centers.

  Vorbs in bed rooms.

  Vorbs in offices.

  Vorbs in parks.

  Vorbs inside the Blogbuster Building.

  Dropped from the air like birds that forgot how to fly. Splashed just as loud. Sparks and shreds spread in all directions. In less than a minute, the Vorbs were no more than slick, yet overpriced broken snowballs lying around. The people who owned them wondered what the heck was going on. And for a while, it was bad.

  Somewhere in the city, a girl cried so hard she threw her dead Vorb against the wall and made it blow up into a hundred ‘made in China’ pieces.

  “Worst day ever.”

  She shouted every curse word under the Vorb-less sky, and hugged her incoming daddy. Grabbed his legs and sobbed into them. Her father did the only reasonable thing a middle-class father could do in such a moment.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie, tomorrow, I’m going to buy you a new eScroll.”

  The girl released her monkey grab and wiped the bubble-sized tears from her face.

  “Really?”

  “Of course. Tell me which one you like and I’ll get it for you.”

  Because, everything for his lil princess.

  The girl radiated with childlike rapture. Ran back to her room and dug up her crappy, half-a-year old second generation eScroll to go online. Wiped through the newest models and grinned. The next day was going to be her best one ever.

  131

  Elli Mental ran to her room to grab her belongings. On the way, she saw dozens of Vorbs lying around the ground like Easter eggs. She wondered why they lay still. But frankly, she didn’t care. She was done with this stupid show, done with getting humiliated in front of hundreds of million viewers.

  She pressed her clothes into her suitcase, zipped it up and dragged it back to the floor. Crew members, fans and other folks ran around screaming. The Blogbuster Building turned into a madhouse. Time to leave. Elli realized taking the elevator was a bad idea. She opted for the staircase instead. She picked up a ‘dead’ Vorb from the ground in case another man was going to threaten her. It was heavier than she thought — almost like a mini bowling ball. She clutched it with her tiny hand and inspected it up close, right when HE arrived at her floor.

  The one and only,

  Whizzard.

  “Elli,” he said.

  “Whizzard,” she said.

  Awkward pause followed.

  She looked at the Vorb in her hands. Saw how Whizzard looked at her, then at the Vorb. Then she looked at him, and he looked back.

  “Please, let me explain,” Whizzard said, “I know what I’m going to say sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. I only hit you because it was part of the plan.”

  Elli hesitated.

  “Plan?”

  Whizzard nodded.

  “Listen, there’s a conspiracy. The whole Blogbuster show is just a set-up. Roman Stax never intended to hire a vlogger for his content position, he used us as promotional pawns for his Vorb distribution. He’s got some kind deal with the government to turn every Vorb customer into a clueless surveillance puppet.”

  Elli’s face froze. What kind of BS was Whizzard trying to sell her on? She didn’t know how to react, but she still clutched the Vorb in her right hand. Whizzard continued, his voice sounded more like whining at this point.

  “Don’t you get it? The Vorbs are a surveillance mechanism disguised as a consumer mobile device. That’s why he chose us video bloggers — because of our huge, video-friendly fanbases. He wanted to sell the Vorb to our audiences.”

  Elli stood still. Listened. Paused. Pondered.

  “So your entire hate-filled behavior was just an act?”

  Whizzard nodded.

  “Me and Trigger work for an orga
nization that wanted to expose Stax’ plan. But we needed proof so we participated in the Blogbuster disguised as our vlogger personalities. Think of us as undercover agents. Everything you think you know about me is fake.”

  He put his fingers into his mouth and pulled on his teeth. And then he took them off.

  “See? The crooked teeth are fake. It’s just part of my disguise. I was supposed to play the most-hated vlogger as a means of distraction. Just like when I hit you. I was supposed to cause a lot of fuzz so Trigger and his team could launch their surprise attack to take down Roman Stax and disable the Vorbs in the media room. It worked.”

  Elli nodded.

  Thought about her next sentence long and hard.

  “You did a pretty good job. I really thought you were a chauvinist pig with anger issues.”

  “Heh, thanks, guess I’m a great actor.”

  They stared at each other in silence. Whizzard wiped the sweat from his face.

  “Do you mind putting that Vorb down?”

  “Sure.”

  She lowered the metal snowball. Whizzard sighed in relief.

  “Thanks, now let’s get out of here.”

  He ran down the stairs, motioned Elli to follow him.

  “Everything is going to be okay from now on,” he said.

  Elli nodded. Stared at his shoulder and swung the Vorb into the back of Whizzard’s head. He shouted, stumbled around his feet and tumbled down the stairs till his head crashed into the wall. His body lay motionless on the floor ground. Blood leaked from his nose and flooded his shirt. Elli tiptoed down the stairs and stopped in front of him.

  Kicked him in the ribcage. Since Whizzard was either unconscious or dead, he didn’t seem to mind. Elli smiled.

  “You’re never going to hit a girl in your life again.”

  132

  The official Blogbuster presence disappeared from the servers.

  Maybe it just went offline, maybe a hacker group took it down.

  Nobody really cared, because the show’s videos were already pirated and distributed around the world, enjoying an ever-increasing fanbase. Some veteran viewers shared their unsolicited opinions.

  ActShinJax wrote.

  Sitting with my mom re-watching the showdown. And she thought my ego-shooter video games were brutal, with all the heads blowing up under my scattergun fire. Yeah right. Anyways, mom really enjoyed it. She asked if there were any fan signings from the surviving vloggers? She bought Elli Mental and Violet Gear merch and she wants to have it signed.

  SocialJusticeWanda wrote.

  Let this be a lesson to all you greedy media people. Exploiting your participants for profits and views DOES NOT work. It is not only morally reprehensible, but also not the sustainable way to go. The world doesn’t need vicious people bringing more violence to the screen. The world needs progressive people who share love, love, and even more love.

  #weneedabetterworldnow

  How about creating a more socially-conscious show next time?

  If you want some inspiration, message me at SocialJusticeWanda(at)eQuality(dot)com.

  I have essential topics about the gender gap, underaged lesbian minority-migrant workers slaving in coal mines across Third World countries and disturbing, bi-racial discrepancies defying TARA — the Trans-Animal Rights Act. If you have a CARING heart, you would message me RIGHT now.

  YourMomLastNight wrote.

  “Blogbuster = boombastic. The showdown was like a story from this fat fantasy author who kills all his main characters. Only yours died for real. When’s the second season coming out?”

  133

  A day later.

  Violet back at her studio.

  She relaxed on her couch, slurped a lassi, watched her assistant X install a new, double-armored door with better voice recognition.

  Because, protection.

  She glanced through her eScroll media feed. Saw breaking news exploding on the channels, all of which included the Blogbuster in one way or another. The attack on the BBB, the fan hysteria, the whole chaos.

  Traditional and blog media were basically pleading for eyeballs with their clickbait headlines.

  “Why the Blogbuster Building turned into a battlezone.”

  “World War III breaks out around the BBB. The reasons might amaze you.”

  But one headline broke through the clutter like a laser cutter. It was titled,

  “Breaking news — Roman Stax revealed the true intentions behind his Blogbuster show in this leaked video. The answer will shock you.”

  It attracted already over twenty-five million views. It showed Stax on his knees, revealing his involvement with the government. He admitted using the Blogbuster show as a promotional tool to mass market his Vorb, which was intended as a surveillance device disguised as a consumer product. There was another voice in the video, talking and asking Stax questions, but it was distorted. It sounded like a robot villain from a children’s movie. Violet sighed. So what Trigger said was true after all — the vloggers were just promotional pawns in a conspiracy. Merde. She closed her eyes and took a deeeep breath.

  She thought about how desperate she was wanting to return to the BBB, despite the surveillance revelation. Felt a bit of self-shame for selling out.

  Thought how Bam sacrificed himself for the views.

  For what?

  The fame?

  The recognition?

  Meh.

  Violet checked her inbox, over three thousand new messages and counting. Fan and troll mail alike, nothing new on that front. But a dozen or so were requests from reputable people. One commission, the mother of all commissions, stood out like a flare in the night.

  It came from Gloomy and the Fangbangs.

  Like, what?

  Gloomy, the indie music star, Gloomy, one of Violet idols.

  She wanted a custom set of Violet Gear for her next show.

  A little bit of Gothic dark but with pseudo-military sport-style.

  And the price she offered was insane. Like, insano in the membrano.

  Enough to pay the lawyers, enough to be debt-free.

  Violet leaned into her coach pillow and released a satisfied sigh.

  For all the terror the Blogbuster caused, it also spacerocketed her fame beyond the blogosphere. When luminaries like Gloomy called, Violet was one step away from the doorframe of mass indie success.

  Triple-très-bien.

  “Good news, X.”

  The poor schmuck was still slaving away at the door, making it super safe.

  “You’re going to give me bonus pay?”

  “We’re going to party like it’s 1999,” she said.

  “I wasn’t even born back then.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “What’s up with the celebratory mood?” X asked.

  “I’m leveling up in life.”

  He smiled.

  Violet wrote the confirmation mail to Gloomy and ordered some take-home-goodness from the gluten-free, Paleo-powered veggie Vietnamese.

  Because, reward.

  Because, calm before the creative storm.

  After a chillaxed night or two, Violet would go back to her techwear business. Answer the rest of her requests and start working with Gloomy, while keeping her ever-growing community updated through her vlog.

  But this time, she’d change her approach. No more sucking up to authority. No more view whoring and character bending. This time, she was going to play the vlogging game based on the only rules that mattered.

  Hers.

  Stay tuned for my upcoming sci-fi books…

  Be one of the first to know when my next sci-fi book comes out.

  (You will also get to see proofread versions, my story-related artwork

  and other goodies)

  Click here to get to my bookletter

  Heya, I’m Mars Dorian.

  Thanks for reading my first book.

  It took me a lot of sweat and fears, and I hope it was worth your time. It was originally plann
ed as a two-book story and I’m looking forward to conclude the story if demand exists. The idea of Blogbuster sprang from my blogging career, and the year-long ‘desperation’ to stand out and grab ATTENTION online. I wondered how far I’d go to stand out. Thankfully, I didn’t need to break anyone’s leg or even crash into cars.

  Whew.

  The ideas for the characters came from my childhood. I was an Anime-loving, Internet-obeying comic book artist who always had more imagination than friends. After surviving high school I traveled the world and lived in kick-ass countries such as Australia, Mexico, Japan and the States. I collected experiences like Pokémon and started my illustration career once I returned home. As of now, I’m still illustrating for a living. My ‘leisure’ time is spent on writing sci-fi / thrillers stories.

  I also want to thank my editor and proofreader Colleen Conger for her amazing work in bringing my writing to the next level.

  If you want to get notified about my upcoming books and learn more about my work, check out my website :

  http://www.marsdorian.com

  One last thing…

  As an indie author, I welcome your review on Amazon.com. It increases the book’s discoverability and leads to sales, which allow me to write more stories for you. It doesn’t have to be long, 1 − 2 lines can be enough. Thank you.

  Click here to get directly to the Amazon review page