“Our involvement is trite. There’s no concern for our plight.” The leader continued, “What killed the woman we adore?
“We must not ignore the government’s core.”
Then the entire group chanted, “Alceon Fudore! Alceon Fudore!”
The guys were amused with the chants. Parker even halfheartedly yelled Alceon Fudore in the group’s final rant. Dunc and Cad both gave a lighthearted look of bewilderment when Parker chimed in. Parker looked to Cad and Dunc and put his palms up, “What’s that saying – when in Rome, right?”
“Yeah, except Rome didn’t have drone police and they weren’t able to key in on everything you’re saying,” Cad said.
“It’s not illegal to do this,” Parker said.
“You don’t need to give them any reasons to question your patriotism,” Dunc said.
“To say this isn’t patriotic you are ignoring our country’s past,” Parker said.
“Yeah, but I think you know what I mean, we all have a file with lots of information in it. I’m sure a lot of people out here are going to get tickets for stuff. Look at all the people stopping traffic and wandering in the streets, they’ll be identified and ticketed. I’m just saying be careful who you identify with,” Dunc said.
“That’s what lawyers are for, right?” Parker said.
Cadmus pointed to a small drone hovering over the street. He then pointed down a block at another drone hovering over an intersection. The police drones were out in full force. Cad pointed up beyond the skyline, towards the open space above the park to the mother drone. It hovered close to the open air space next to the Space Needle and played dispatcher to all the drones. It was a giant, saucer shaped ship with four wings that had thruster turbines keeping it afloat. There were several hatches on the ship opening and closing, coinciding with flashing red, green and yellow lights. Drones were either flying in or out. The guys looked in astonishment and Cad said, “The visible eye in the sky.”
A short nervous laughter came over the guys. They were amazed at the spectacle of the drone mother ship and wary of it as well. The guys had been walking for quite a while. It was hard to tell how long they’d been in the streets but the length of the walk started dragging the guys down. The density of the crowd seemed to dissipate. People took turns down different streets and made their way into establishments or set up makeshift stages to pontificate. There seemed to be no central theme of the protest.
The guys were getting close to the city center – the edge of the park was near. They could see the base of the Space Needle and the belly of the mother ship. The guys came up on a crosswalk directly under one of the smaller drones. As they got nearer each of the guys glimpsed at the drone. The small drone looked much larger up close, the guys weren’t staring but it seemed big enough to have people inside. They knew there wasn’t anybody inside, but didn’t realize how big drones were up close. The short wings with thrusters seemed to have deployable weapons and the belly of the drone had a downward pointing turret cannon.
Parker looked down as they walked under the drone, his blood pressure shooting up at least 30 points. His heart was racing, he focused on walking straight. The drone was spooky to be close to. He didn’t realize they had so many weapons on them. It made him wonder about the video game cop behind the screen. As he walked under the drone he wondered if the cop flying the drone was looking at him and he was doing his best to look normal walking. The drone was sobering.
The crowd thinned as people dispersed to different areas around the park. The guys walked towards the Space Needle and occasionally glanced up at the drone mother ship. “Well, what now?” Cad asked.
“Let’s see what this is about,” Parker said as he pointed at an emerging circle of people. They were gathering around a handful of tall white picket signs. The guys walked closer to see what the commotion was about.
The people were converging around a drably dressed family. Cad started maneuvering around people to get close enough to see what was happening. Parker and Dunc followed. Once they got within a few people back from the front they could see what all the commotion was about. The family was dressed in their traditional religious clothes and they were picketing signs. There was a fully clothed pregnant woman with a masked face, two adolescent boys and a young girl all holding signs. The elderly father held one that read, Thank God for Zeek.
The young girl had a sign that looked like she made it herself, it read, Will you be my guardian angel, Zeek?
Parker thought it was deplorable to parade around a child like that, and definitely dangerous. He didn’t think the child even understood what Zeek did, or how awful it is to chop off someone’s head. The crowd of people forming around the family didn’t find their views tasteful either. People were yelling at them to drop their signs. Other people were yelling to leave them alone and that they had freedom of speech. The anger over the signs out grew the crowd’s ideals. The calls to rip off her mask, and drop those signs persisted. A half full beer can flew out of the crowd and hit the covered women in her pregnant stomach. The crowd sighed in disapproval.
The hostility persisted. The uncomfortable angst of knowing the status quo would not last much longer made Parker nervous. He forgot all about the assassination at that point and time. It seemed something else horrible could happen.
One person emerged from the crowd. He stumbled up wielding a bat and was making his way towards the covered woman. The family stood frozen in shock. The man with the bat looked to be dangerous. The family began to pray. The crowd was yelling at the man to stop. He held up his bat and took a practice swing.
The crowd gasped.
The man yelled at the family. “People like you are what make this world a dangerous place to live in.”
The family stood together and did not waver.
“How dare you openly support the killing of an innocent woman?” The man yelled as he took another swing.
Cadmus pushed his way to the open space around the family and started sprinting at the man with the bat. The man wound up to take a swing at the woman. Just as he brought the bat forward, the man was shot by a drone pulse cannon. Before the man hit the ground Cad planted his shoulder in the guy’s chest running full speed. It was a clean hit and knocked the batter clear off his feet. The crowd erupted in cheers when Cad got on his feet.
The drone made its way closer to the crowd and flipped on a flashing red and blue light. The man that was shot with the pulse cannon, and then trucked by Cadmus, was still on the ground, unconscious. The drone shined a spotlight on Cad and scanned him. The drone flashed a green light and a loud speaker from the drone said, “Move along.” The video game cop was cutting Cad a break.
Cad saluted the drone.
The loud speaker from the drone said, “I can handle this guy from here.” The loud siren on the drone sounded, followed by a computer voice that repeated, “Vacate the area. Vacate the area. Vacate the area.” Cad made his way into the crowd which began to disperse. People were patting Cad on the back and slapping hands with him, but for the most part everybody was walking away from the crime scene. The drone hovered over the man that had the bat and acted as a beacon for ground
troops to make an arrest.
Parker waved his hand to get Cad’s attention. The guys met up and agreed to jump in a trolley and get off the streets. The trolley ride to Dunc’s rig took a long time. Traffic was slow, but they didn’t care, they were glad to be off their feet. The guys were in a strange energized melancholy mood, depressed about the assassination and ecstatic about the drone cop showdown with Cad. Cad had a glow and was talking with moxie.
“So I think you won,” Parker said.
“I guess I did. What’d I win?” Cad said.
“The bet, our craziest stunt in a big city bet. Looks like you pulled one off in the real world,” Parker said.
“I guess I did,” Cad said as he smiled.
C H A P T E R 2 0
Becky was heartbroken over the assassination. She
heard the news after she got out of the bath and wept for a long time. She was filled with emotion and initially unsure of how to act. But in a matter of days after the assassination she was more determined than ever before to work for the UAN. She no longer questioned what was next in her life, she knew. Her life seemed to have a renewed purpose and she was determined to see the reproduction research project through. Alceon Fudore became a martyr of sorts to the community and for the reproduction research cause.
The weeks following Alceon’s assassination and burial ceremony were busy for North Mountain Academy. Class was still in session, but nothing around campus was the same. Some students went home and many others were focused on finishing the spring semester.
Dr. Celsus gave a moving eulogy that brought tears to many in attendance. He shared their final moments together, how close they’d come and how he wanted to hold on to that forever. He said Alceon Fudore was the most influential person in his life and that she died for a cause. He made no mention of the tragic final moment he had with her.
He finished his eulogy with news that people born in the Cloud would be able to live forever and it was Alceon’s dream to see the project through. This news of Cloud children immortality in culmination with Alceon’s death brought an overwhelming amount of public support for reproduction research.
Within a month of the assassination the first child of the Cloud had a conscious due date, January 21st 2082. There was a young eager couple living at the Sandpoint hive that had been married for three years; they had been living in the Cloud for the past two. They volunteered to have the first child. They were transferred from the Sandpoint hive to the one in North Mountain Academy’s research facility. There was already space for twenty five families. The couple was dubbed Adam and Eve by the media. They moved into their new long term pods, which were right next to each other with an empty pod slightly below. The empty pod between the two parents’ pod was for their child.
The country was excited about the possibilities of the Cloud child that would be able to live forever. People were already wondering if the child would be a messiah.
The government vowed to do a better job keeping people safe and showed it by stepping up security support at UAN facilities. The government said that the country needed to respect religious people and that religious people needed to respect the UAN. They held arbitration between UAN and ROG officials. It was clear though that there was a long road ahead for the two sides to ever get along.
The threat of terrorism still felt real to a great deal of people. ROG continued to organize and promised that God intended them to win the war.
As for the guys, they were doing fine. Dunc never missed a day of work and continued to seek out a good time on his weekends. He hung out with Cad frequently in the Cloud. Dunc was also awarded a pay
increase as the cargo he was hauling was deemed hazardous. Dunc got a rush out of being an important piece in the workings of the UAN.
Cad decided it was his nature to build and that he was going to become a Cloud architect. With graduation coming up he was going to climb the virtual ladder. He was going to build his HomeBase into an attraction. Cad said he would make enough money working on it to be happy, even if people didn’t come to visit. He was going to be able to afford a life that he yearned for.
Parker learned a lot about himself in the weeks following the assassination. He began to believe that the children inside the Cloud would have a chance to change the world. He became a vehement supporter of the UAN and believed whole heartedly that humans born and raised in the Cloud were a way for a more sustainable life on earth. He began to realize that not everybody was like him and wanted a life in the real world. But people like him were going to be crucial for the advancement of the UAN.
Parker was invited to interview for a special position with the UAN. Following Alceon’s death, the young woman he met on Whiskey Rock called him for an interview. Parker wasn’t surprised to hear he did well on the career placement exam, but he was surprised to hear he was in the top percent of his class. He was also happy to meet with Becky. The job Becky explained sounded perfect for Parker, he knew he would never be happy chumming away in the Cloud like Cad or working a routine job like Dunc. Parker felt like he would enjoy working with a young woman like Becky as well. He was nervous when she called him back for a second interview and thrilled when he was brought in for a third interview. The more he heard about the job the more he got excited in hope that he would get it. The team Becky was assembling was for Dr. Celsus. It was for a new department at the UAN, the Education Department.
Dr. Celsus put Becky in charge of personnel. Technically he took over as headmaster, but he looked to Becky to keep the ship moving. She did not lose a beat and was happy to let Parker know he would get the job.
It would be a challenge, but Parker liked the opportunity to be a part of something that seemed so substantial. His position was to work with a team of educators and ensure that UAN intelligence quotas were met. Dr. Celsus explained it would be crucial to design a curriculum specifically for the child raised in the Cloud. He explained the importance of making sure the children were properly educated and that there would be unforeseen challenges. These children were capable of being the smartest humans on the planet and they would be blessed with the option to live forever. The children were going to have the answers humanity needed. Modern Man was growing in a pod and set to change mankind forever.
A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S
This book would not have been possible without the support of my close friends and family. A special thanks to my mother Sydney Schultz who provided me with numerous edits and constructive feedback after several rewrites; she also continued to believe I really had something. My grandmother Elizabeth Plastino deserves special thanks for her meticulous editing and reassurance that I was doing pretty well. My other grandmother Sally Alex has supported me through the entire process and I will be forever grateful. My brother Marco Plastino had the heart to answer numerous late-night phone calls to go over creative ideas. My crazy uncle Joe would answer the phone too when I needed somebody to bounce ideas off of. My friends Joe Candelario, Max Lindsey-Thorsen and Adam Skaardal provided me with constructive insight and patiently listened to me as I talked through themes, it’s great to have friends like them to talk with. My friend and photographer, Ryan Zimmer took my author photo where I wrote the heart of the book, in the boathouse at the lake. Other professionals were involved too. Andrew Donkin provided an outstanding edit, which will help me not look like somebody that got a D in 8th grade English class (thanks for letting me still play basketball Mr. Gordon). Derek Murphy really came through in the end process, by formatting the book, and using an illustration from Mayank Nagor and Sagar Kinkar, to design a brilliant cover.
The first novel, I’ve read is toughest just to finish, well I can check it off the list. I know now it takes a lot of support to realize the dream and see it through to the end.
Dawn of Modern Man Page 16