Cli-Fi
John J. Falco
Intro version 2: Is it any better? I had a lot more backstory to all this new stuff, but I cut out most of the history because that's just backstory in my head that can be filled in later.
Chapter One:
As soon as Daphne Perry heard someone walking through the tall weeds behind her she quickly smashed the wireless router onto the pavement and made sure that no goons saw her tampering with the black box. Then she raced through the field away from the smoldering ashes of the school bus that she had torched for protection.
Even though, she had lost her ride back home, the goons from the registrar were now at least stalled, by the roaring flames of the bus fire. The flames were going high now thanks to the unkempt land around the well-hidden university and they were burning everything in sight. She looked back with glee and big smile formed upon her lips. “No way, they’d want to cross that lake of fire!”
She told herself that she did good. She had gotten the wireless router to turn on by hijacking one of the bus’ USB chargers and some nifty wire splitting, and with limited exposure too, but now it was back to real-life. No more dreaming of the miracle of Wi-Fi. It was a luxury she could barely afford, and one she realized the world may not yet be ready for.
She used her sword to chop her way through the tall grass that surrounded the University Campus protecting the students from Anti-tech government forces. As she was going, she suddenly stubbed her toe on something shiny, but grimy. She cleared the brush and weeds away but, as she clawed her way through the rubble of branches her heart sunk as she realized what she had discovered. It was the long lost treasure of MAT University. The one she had hoped would never be found.
As Daphne cleared away the last of the vines she bent down to brush the yellow straw that lay at the base of her mother’s memorial statue. Careful not to stain her stockings, she threw the weeds away from it, and she saw the rumored golden plaque with that infamous warning to the world on it. She knew it had said something about Peggy’s Law, and as Daphne laid her eyes on it for the first time, she tried everything not to chuckle out loud because, her mom’s name was Lucy. “The Board would never believe this.” She said.
The ten-foot-tall faded green copper statue of the greater than life, Lucy Perry holding as many as four large textbooks with her big 1980s style hairstyle and large nerdy glasses stared down at Daphne in that menacing look that she knew too well.
“You saw this sh*t coming, mom. Now, why didn’t you come up with the solution?” She spoke to her inner demons and as she kicked her heeled boot at the statue, she was too laser focused on egging on her mother’s ghost to notice that something fell out from behind the plaque.
“Oh Stop it! You just cared about being right!” Daphne yelled at her copper mother, as it screamed at her with invisible insults. It was as if she was a little girl who was dreaming about programming the next big thing and her seemingly anti-tech mother didn’t understand.
Daphne and all her friends thought they were going to change the world, with all of their forward-thinking subscription, cloud based applications that catered to society’s every need. Boy how wrong they were, Daphne thought as she smelled the burning gasoline from a school bus.
“The Techy is over there past the bus, over there through that opening.” Daphne sighed as she instantly recognized that raspy voice even at a distance, and as she peered over the tall grass her suspicions of who that voice belonged to were confirmed. She looked up at the sky and said, “I’m living in your hell mom. See this sh*t?” She cursed the registrar as she picked up her sword, not feeling the little note that clung to it, in her tight leather open fingered gloves.
Figuring she was at a safe distance from the fat man that voice belonged to she teased, “Another Year, another chase, eh Cankles? I hope you don’t burn too badly. No way you’ll reach me in time.” She spoke loud enough so that the inbred could hear her.
“Kronk, Clank get her!” Cankles barked at his two skinny little underlings.
As Cankles and his little band of misfits Kronk and Clank gained on Daphne, she saw what was on the ends of the golden chains dangling half way down Cankles' fat belly. She stared in horror as she realized that in place of where a dollar sign or a crucifix might have been there were old smartphones that had been penetrated by the iron.
Daphne could not for the life of her understand how he was able to wear such a dazzling display of these devices without getting his brains turned to mush...
Chapter One:
As soon as Daphne Perry heard someone walking through the tall weeds behind her she quickly smashed the wireless router onto the pavement and made sure that no goons saw her tampering with the black box. Then she raced through the field away from the smoldering ashes of the school bus that she had torched for protection.
Even though, she had lost her ride back home, the goons from the registrar were now at least stalled, by the roaring flames of the bus fire. The flames were going high now thanks to the unkempt land around the well-hidden university and they were burning everything in sight. She looked back with glee and big smile formed upon her lips. “No way, they’d want to cross that lake of fire!”
She told herself that she did good. She had gotten the wireless router to turn on by hijacking one of the bus’ USB chargers and some nifty wire splitting, and with limited exposure too, but now it was back to real-life. No more dreaming of the miracle of Wi-Fi. It was a luxury she could barely afford, and one she realized the world may not yet be ready for.
She used her sword to chop her way through the tall grass that surrounded the University Campus protecting the students from Anti-tech government forces. As she was going, she suddenly stubbed her toe on something shiny, but grimy. She cleared the brush and weeds away but, as she clawed her way through the rubble of branches her heart sunk as she realized what she had discovered. It was the long lost treasure of MAT University. The one she had hoped would never be found.
As Daphne cleared away the last of the vines she bent down to brush the yellow straw that lay at the base of her mother’s memorial statue. Careful not to stain her stockings, she threw the weeds away from it, and she saw the rumored golden plaque with that infamous warning to the world on it. She knew it had said something about Peggy’s Law, and as Daphne laid her eyes on it for the first time, she tried everything not to chuckle out loud because, her mom’s name was Lucy. “The Board would never believe this.” She said.
The ten-foot-tall faded green copper statue of the greater than life, Lucy Perry holding as many as four large textbooks with her big 1980s style hairstyle and large nerdy glasses stared down at Daphne in that menacing look that she knew too well.
“You saw this sh*t coming, mom. Now, why didn’t you come up with the solution?” She spoke to her inner demons and as she kicked her heeled boot at the statue, she was too laser focused on egging on her mother’s ghost to notice that something fell out from behind the plaque.
“Oh Stop it! You just cared about being right!” Daphne yelled at her copper mother, as it screamed at her with invisible insults. It was as if she was a little girl who was dreaming about programming the next big thing and her seemingly anti-tech mother didn’t understand.
Daphne and all her friends thought they were going to change the world, with all of their forward-thinking subscription, cloud based applications that catered to society’s every need. Boy how wrong they were, Daphne thought as she smelled the burning gasoline from a school bus.
“The Techy is over there past the bus, over there through that opening.” Daphne sighed as she instantly recognized that raspy voice even at a distance, and as she peered over the tall grass her suspicions of who that voice belonged to were confirmed. She looked up at the sky and said, “I’m living in your hell mom. See this sh*t?” She cursed the registrar as she picked up her sword, not feeling the little note that clung to it, in her tight leather open fingered gloves.
Figuring she was at a safe distance from the fat man that voice belonged to she teased, “Another Year, another chase, eh Cankles? I hope you don’t burn too badly. No way you’ll reach me in time.” She spoke loud enough so that the inbred could hear her.
“Kronk, Clank get her!” Cankles barked at his two skinny little underlings.
As Cankles and his little band of misfits Kronk and Clank gained on Daphne, she saw what was on the ends of the golden chains dangling half way down Cankles' fat belly. She stared in horror as she realized that in place of where a dollar sign or a crucifix might have been there were old smartphones that had been penetrated by the iron.
Daphne could not for the life of her understand how he was able to wear such a dazzling display of these devices without getting his brains turned to mush...
