Online Revolution

Online Revolution

By Ian Benke

         

         The lawns are all unkept, grass grows wild and trees grow into defunct phone lines. It’s an urban mess. The air smells dirty and dusty and the buildings are boarded up. Dogs run wild on the deserted streets and they’re the most difficult thing about my job. They come in packs and try to get whatever food I might have. They’re a real pain in the ass. I’m driving down a street in some suburb and it reminds me of this movie I saw as a kid. Some movie about a virus that kills everyone, back when viruses were something to be scared of. The survivors roam the remains of the world and the whole movie is filled with scenes like the one I’m in now.

Empty and deserted.

Boarded up and forgotten about.

It was the end of the world and right now, in this dusty and dirty place I’m wondering what the difference is.

It’s just aesthetics.

It just looks like the end of the world, only it isn’t,  because all the people are still here. Hidden in buildings and living in dreams more beautiful than this mess. This place where it all the started, the feared and loathsome real world.

         My truck comes to a stop and the GPS on my dash lets me know I’m at my first stop.  I move my legs and they’re sore, my whole body is sore. My boots crunch on gravel and dead leafs and in front of me is a really expensive house. It’s hardly noticeable at first, just a cement closest really but I’ve seen places like this before. I grab the gear out of the truck and march over to the metal door.

There’s a quick flash and the door unlocks.

It’s an elevator descending down into the earth.

It stops and a the door slides open revealing a family. They’re all in their own pods with a couple of computers each.

Lucky kids.

At my own place I have one outdated computer that can’t even run some of the newer programs. As soon as walk out of the elevator lights flash on and a camera turns it’s electrical eye towards me.

         Without a doubt someone is watching me as I change over the feeding station and empty the waste bins. You always hear stories about maintenance people raping someone or some shit like that. I’m sure it’s probably happened once or twice, but really people are freaked out by everything.

Let them watch.

I’m not up to anything, just trying to make a couple bucks.

After I’m done switching everything over I take a look at the family. The kids are about ten and twelve I would guess. It’s crazy to think that these kids have been online since they were born. When I was kid only the super rich people could afford the equipment and computers to go online. Now the whole continent is. Its a good thing really, I’ve only been offline for a few days and I already hate the real world.

         I’m driving to the next stop and I pass through what used to be a downtown. There’s graffiti everywhere.

Symbols stained onto glass and steel.

Against one building someone has spray painted a giant box with an x inside of it. The symbol of the naturalists, another thing people think they should be scared of. Just like in every revolution there are people too stubborn and stupid to accept progress. When everyone started going online these nut cases were bombing factories and dumping computer viruses all over the internet. They got stomped out though, our technology is too great.

Satellites in the sky.

Remote vehicles and troopers on the streets.

They didn’t stand a chance.

Now they’re just a bunch of tree hugging hippies living like swine in the forests. This is what people don’t get, the second someone not plugged in walks into a city there are snakes everywhere feeding the data back. Guaranteed I’m being watched by countless eyes streaming it into the digital world. Trust me, I had a gig in a security firm. These guys have turned the real world into some sort of archaic video game.

Point and shoot.

         I’m at my next stop and this chick doesn’t have even a fraction of the money as that last family. It’s a shitty bachelor pad in the downtown. She’s tucked in a bed covered in a isolation tent. This gear is even worse than my own, it’s at least a decade old. There’s no cameras in this place, this chick isn’t watching me so I take my time. There’s a coffee table and a couch. If she has furniture than she probably has to do maintenance work herself. There’s even a half smoked joint on the coffee table and a couple of cigarettes.

I help myself and in a few minutes I’m kinda of dizzy.

The weed program effect is much better than the real thing.

Same with cigarettes.

They both taste like smokey shit in the real world and I wonder how I did it as a teenager. Even weirder is this chick has a bookshelf, with books! I haven’t seen a real book since I was kid. This chick is living in the past and I can’t help but wonder what program she is running.

         I put out the cigarette and walk over to her station and take a look inside. She’s in her mid twenties I would guess, just a bit younger than myself. Her waste bin and feeding station are right beside each other just outside the tent.

I’m not even that broke.

I do the feeding station first, it’s cold as always, and I drop the sealed packets of nutrients into the station. Next is the waste bin and hers doesn’t even have a good seal anymore cause the whole place smells like shit.

That’s one big plus for being online, you never ever have to smell shit.

Before I can even to start to pump her waste bin gives an unhealthy chug and starts to overflow.

It makes me sick to the stomach.

Then the realization hits me like a brick.

I clean up peoples shit, this is what I do for a living.

I leave all my gear and storm out of the apartment.

         Maintenance work is a bottom of the barrel job. I can’t believe I’ve ended up doing this, but then again I really don’t have anyone to blame but myself. I start the truck up and aim it in the direction of my apartment.

I need to go online and get out of this place.

Most people just find jobs online, and the really smart people get jobs working on programs. I used to be able to get jobs online, mostly watching cameras for security firms, but I get so distracted. The last job I had online was watching cameras for maintenance workers, the people who were watching me earlier. Well there was this really awesome boarding program that I got really into. It was like snowboarding, something I’ve never done in the real world, except the mountain was made out of water. You could get so much air and they ran the best scent program I’ve smelt yet. The water smelled fresh and inviting, it was exciting, watching video feed wasn’t. So I ran a side program while I was supposed to be watching video feed and some dumb ass maintenance worker slipped and broke his hip. This guy was only twenty three but had been online since the early days.

Brittle bones and scrawny muscles.

He laid for three hours before I noticed.

So ya, they fired me and now I clean up shit until I can pay the power bill again.

         On my way home I stop at a terminal and type in my login info. My payment for the week just went through and I transfer it to the power company. By the time I get home the power should be back on, time to go back online. I race home with my stomach doing hurdles. I can just taste the air, smell the freshness, see the difference in my mind between the digital and the real.

Oh god let this truck go faster I cannot wait to be out of this crappy place.

I think about the older generation that was so hesitant with adapting to the revolution. The world sounded like such a mess. There wasn’t enough oil, there wasn’t enough farmland, there wasn’t enough water, there wasn’t enough of everything. Well the revolution started and it became so apparent that it was going to save the world. All we need power for now is a small room instead of a house. No one drives, we eat the bare minimum in the real world yet eat feasts in the digital. Suddenly there was enough of everything so long as we gave into the revolution.

I sure did.

Once the corporations worked together and came up with an all encompassing internet model of the economy, one where programmers and security firms could employ everyone, profit and fix the world, who wouldn’t sign on? The naturalist said it was the end when the government dissolved, but they just didn’t understand that an automated world and governing system was fail proof. The greatest thing we ever came up with as a species was being able to live in our own dreams, anyone who thinks different is crazy.

         Finally I park the truck and half run up the stairs. The heavy breathing is uncomfortable and I can feel sweat form under my arms. All the more reason to go online. I enter my apartment and my eyes go right to my pod. An older model but it still gets the job done. I turn the computer on and wait until the green light blinks, my signal to go online. The light blinks and I strip down to my undies and crawl into the pod. A buzz fills my ears as the cap comes down and everything goes black.

The operating system’s logo flashes in front of my eyes and suddenly it’s warm.

I can smell warm fresh air blowing against my face and I open my eyes, and like always, I am awestruck. I’m standing on my patio and the weather is perfect. Plants bloom into vibrant colors all around me and send sweet smells into the air.

I take a deep breathe in.

It feels amazing, I feel so alive.

I walk into my house and my giant kitchen beckons. I like to make my own food and experiment but I’m too hungry right now.

I think about a delicious steak, cooked medium rare, with some small potatoes cooked in lots of butter and garlic.

I can smell it so clearly and it’s right in front of me now. I dig in and as always it’s just perfect. I know in the real world that some disgusting gruel is being pumped into stomach but I really don’t care.

This steak is perfect.          

         After I eat I think about sending my resume out and confirm the thought. I wonder how long until someone gets back to me? I hope not too soon because after a few days in the real world I could really use some time to relax. I think and confirm about opening a navigation panel and glowing icons appear in front of me. With a wave of my hand I scroll through all the programs I’ve bought. I stop at the icon for a zombie one I bought a few years ago. It was a good time for awhile. You would get some friends together, or meet new ones who wanted to play, and try to survive a zombie apocalypse in a pre-revolution world. It could get really intense.

I need something more relaxing and keep scrolling.

I stop at my tropical getaway icon and scroll through the options. Do I want to try and find a girl, a digital girl at least, that’s online or run the girlfriend program? Do I want to party in an online community or go solo in the programmed getaway cove? I pick the hermit option, girlfriend program in an private session. Maybe I’ll invite some friends later, who knows. To be honest I don’t want people to know I was offline, it’s always so looked down on.

I close my eyes.

I can feel warm sand on my feet.

The oceans smells wonderful.

I open my eyes and a crystal clear blue ocean spreads out in front of me. A beautiful brunette, my dream girl I spent a week customizing, is laying on a towel beside me.

“Hey hun” She says in her perfect voice.

This is the life.