This is Rom from the Packrat Sprawl, making waves and coming to you live and direct from the Lafayette stop on the subway line in the Echelons. There is an unrest here today, as it is the end of the month and you know what that means – round up.
The Zone Police are going around and rounding up psychics to send them to experimentation and work camps in the kedek mines. The Packrats are out in force trying to take them down. My job today is a spotter. Come with me as we go out on patrol with my trusty knife, and my handheld. I have some pepper spray with me as well as a pair of binoculars. Lets go spy on the Zone Police, shall we.
Rom ran up the stairs at the underground subway stop and came out into the open air. Rom’s handheld beeped at him. He engaged it. There was a reading of high radiation in this area. Rom pulled up the hood of his black sweatshirt he was wearing under his long tan trench coat. The hoodie was protective clothing made by the SenseNet. It would not afford him much protection but it made him feel better. He ran down the street and went around the corner onto the street. He was making his way to the Shizuoko Ghetto where most of the raids would take place. That area was very vulnerable as it was relatively lawless. The people looked out for themselves but crime was high and there were drug addicts, smugglers, dealers, and order sellers all roaming around the area looking for their cut. Rom needed to get to the Ghetto and get to higher ground.
The walk to the Ghetto took him about 45 minutes. Lafayette was the closest stop to Shizuoko but there was only one more stop on the subway line that usually was not running. That station had been abandoned long ago due to the radiation levels in the area from when the Dionysis Effect nuclear bomb was dropped on the Zone in the Pacific Territories by the Atlantea Federation.
Rom came to the sign for The Maze in the Shizuoko Ghetto. He was finally where he needed to be. He burst around the corner, past the sign and entered a 3 story building through a blown out door. He started climbing the stairs. He went up to the roof and closed the door behind him. He went to the corner of the roof and pulled the pair of binoculars out of his pocket. He brought them up and looked out from his vantage.
There were three sets of Zone Police out on the street and a Zone Police van. He watched the patrols for a moment. There were multiple people around. The round up would start with the Zone Police sounding a high pitched whistle and the subliminal messaging would be sent throughout the airwaves, networks and TV stations which were pervasive in the Echelons.
The interesting thing about the televisions was that there was no off switch. You couldn’t turn TVs off without violating a law in the Echelons. They were always on. Everywhere. There was rumor that the Packrats had created an off-switch. That Acolyte had tampered with a TV deck and created one but that was kept quiet hoping the government wouldn’t come after them.
There was a noise coming from the other side of the roof. Rom went over to look. It was a group of homeless people plugged into a television. Rom watched for a second trying to deem if they were a threat and backed off. They were glued to the TV.
Rom looked through the binoculars again and then went back to street level. The Zone Police were at the end of the block still hidden from the residents who were on the street staring at televisions, roaming around, chasing rats for dinner, shooting up drugs.
Rom ran out of the building as the whistle rang out. The Zone Police were coming. Rom started screaming to people to move.
“Get out of here the Zone Police are coming!” shouted Rom. Some people looked up but did not react, they went back to their televisions.
Rom ran close to someone and took his handheld out of his pocket and ran the new Packrat app. The app took over the television signal of the deck closest to him and broadcast a message on the TV screen.
“Zone Police are coming. The Raids are in Effect. Get out of Here. Take your TV. Hide! Programming will resume once you are safe.”
This woke the people in front of the TV up. They picked up the deck and went running as a group down the street disappearing into a building. Rom ran to the next person with a TV and did the same thing, the app’s signal took over the screen. Rom ran down the street. The person got up taking his TV. The Zone Police came onto the street as well. Rom started shouting but no one heeded him unless his app affected their TV viewing. The Zone Police stormed onto the street. Some of the people looked and disengaged from their TV for a moment. They saw Rom running and screaming and saw the Zone Police taking TVs. The people panicked and started to pick up and run with their TV sets.
“Get out of here!” screamed Rom as a Zone Police officer approached him. Rom pulled a can of pepper spray out of his pocket as the Zone Police officer tried to grab him. He sprayed the officer in the face and ran down the street.
Rom ducked around the corner and looked back. The street was clear. He had done his job for the day. He better get out of there before he got caught. He took one more quick glance and then vanished teleporting back to the Packrat Sprawl. That would be a few less people that would be sent to the work camps for today.
All Hail the Packrat code!