The International Writers Magazine:Futures

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Cyber Cynic • Tom Nation A full moon adorned the night sky above the city, ducking and diving silently behind grey clouds of pollution. Her gaze penetrated the steel and concrete lattice of streets below and illuminated the body of a male who identified himself only as "Archos"

Archos strode across a cracked and uneven asphalt pavement and analysed the rhythms created by the satisfying thud each of his new boots made with each step. He was bored again. He activated his psychonetic computer chips that were hard wired directly into his brain and accessed their on board encyclopaedia by thinking vocal commands.
Local history, southern new UK urban sprawl. Summary.

Archos felt his voice, his own endless internal monologue being seized by an electro-chemical jolt deep in the icy catacomb of his mind.
Humans in this region are technologically well into what is known colloquially as the "Silicon Age" although computer processors are now in the main constructed from Buckminster- Fullerene.
His voice sped up and changed pitch to add a footnote. blink twice for independent article.
Nanotechnology is well out of its infancy with market segments such as cyber-netics, the convergence of body and machine.
Blink twice for separate article.
And psycho-netics, the convergence of mind and machine.
Blink twice for separate article.
Progressing exponentially into perpetual adolescence.
Blink thrice to access list of indepen-
Archos gritted his teeth. Pause. Gotta stop It interrupting me with that blink twice thingy.
Archos brought up a semi transparent menu which flickered beneath his normal vision and selected no footnotes.
Continue
This level of technological development is notably unusual for a society that has experienced such a major social and economic upheaval as the destruction of the Bank of England and the Houses of Parliament by the flooding of the river Thames , probably in large part due to global warming. This removal of central government created anarchy which was only appeased to a habitable level by big business providing law enforcement for a suitable fee. The end of central government also terminated planning regulations and green belt restrictions. The British isles are currently covered in a giant urban sprawl, a piece of green and pleasant land owned by nobody is scarce.
End of article.
Note: This article was written in 2118 in part by members of the public. As such United Information Systems inc accepts no responsibility for inaccuracies and cannot guarantee neutrality.

The mental jolt ceased and his mind was liberated. and that disclaimer has to go as well!. It was weird enough hearing voices in your head but ones that you couldn’t turn off or control was a nightmare! Archos gnawed gently on the inside of his lower lip.

Archos continued to walk with increased irritation and haste down a commercial street. He was bathed in halogen from street lamps towering above and was anonymous in the crowd of thousands. To his left was a bar openly selling chemicals to make the unregulated energy of the city and the neon glow emanating from shop windows even more intense and euphoric. To his right mechanical implants and compact sonic weapons bedecked a disturbingly lifelike and fashionable mannequin. Further along was his target, an unmarked building constructed of sharp and angular geometry, jet black and burnished ,perhaps containing darker things still.

© Tom Nation October 2007
tomnation@bluebottle.com

If you want to give Tom pointers as to where his story should go. Email him with suggestions (or just blink twice)

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