PETE NICHOLLS
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Here is where Pete Nicholls posts the first drafts of whatever he's working on and feels like making public. Currently, it's chapters from "New Earth City", a novel about the fall of a futuristic society set in a ring of space stations around the sun. Sometimes, drafts from other projects will appear here. Check out ThePeteNicholls.com for more.

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Friday, January 09, 2009

4 January

After Emi vanished again, I decided to head home. How did she know that old man? Why did that old man want me to meet him at Future Park? What was he going to tell me about what ever theVidi was?

Obviously I couldn't know.

So, I waited for the A mono and went home.

The apartment seemed colder than usual. I suppose it always felt colder when I knew Ande wasn't around.

As I crawled into bed by myself, I realized I Emi hadn't said what time I would be meeting Bush.

I told my smartBox to wake me at 8. I decided that I'd just have to hang around the Park all day.

If I had a job, I'd feel differently, but I don't.

So, I closed my eyes.

***

I woke to the sound of Ande's voice.

"I'll be home in a few hours, honey. I love you!"

It was an old message she had sent me, letting me know she was on her way home from the market.

I turned my head to look at the smartBox that had shaped itself to look like her face. Smaller than the real thing and probably a little younger looking, but it was still her avatar.

...

Ande and I had been together for a long time--close to ten years. Even though I was used to us not always being together thanks to jobs or just long commute times (the West Quad is known for it's extreme travel-time), I always missed her just the same. I'm glad I had told my smartBox to wake me that morning with her old message.

...

At 8:15 I got out of bed, bathed and, before 9, stepped aboard the A mono back downtown. By 9:45 I was at the platform Emi had mentioned the night before. Since it was Holiday, the city was pretty dead.

Bad choice of words.

There were people around, after all--businesses were still open and people were going about their business. By midday Future Park would be mad with activity.

Future Park was built to resemble an Old Earth park--trees, grass, even a lake--all of it artificial, of course. But it's stunning--especially at midday when the shudders are open to the sun.

However, before 10 in the morning, it was quiet. As I stepped off the A mono, I could only see ten or fifteen people within the confines of the park, itself. It's small, rolling hills could have hid anyone sitting or lying down, I suppose, but it was a fairly private place to have a secret meeting.

I imagined the old man would have to get there before the crowds did in order to keep the meeting private. For all I knew he was there already.

From anywhere in the park I could easily see the platform, so I went for a walk.

As I crossed the square at the center of trees, I heard a voice.

"Glad you could make it, kid."

It was Van Bush, of course. I turned to see him approach me from the same direction I'd just come from.

"How could I not show up, Mr., uh, Bush?"

"Just call me Van. Look, kid. You're a reporter--right?"

"Uh, yes." I ignored his use of the antiquated term "reporter."

"Go to the main offices of the truthFeed. Do you know that feed?"

"Yeah, one of the biggest inFeeds there is."

"Find a reporter called Cho, Stanley Cho. Tell him the Vidi is a surveillance system. Turns out someone knows Latin in the UER government. Go figure."

"Go, what?" His slang was foreign to me.

"Just find Cho. Tell him what I just told you."

"Latin?"

"It's an old language. Doesn't matter. I have to leave now. Go to truthFeed, find Cho."

"And just tell him that the Vidi is a surveillance system? That's it?"

"That's all I know, kid! And keep it down, willya?"

"Why can't you tell him?"

"They're watching him. They won't recognize you. Take care, kid." He turned and started to walk away.

"Wait--why are you telling me to do this?" He didn't stop walking, but he did look back at me.

"You're a reporter--this'll be the biggest story you ever break--just make sure Cho shares his byline with you!"

I watched Van walk all the way back to the mono platform and then climb onto a mono that just happened to be waiting for him.

I took a deep breath as I considered what he had told me.

It would be almost no effort at all to visit this man Cho. TruthFeed is famous--every NECer knows where they're offices are--not too far from Tree Plaza. I turned to continue on to the other side of the park where the B-mono platform was. The B travels across town, right past Tree Plaza.

However, before I reached the platform, I heard another voice.

"Mr. Contant."

Instinctively I stopped and looked to see who was calling my name. "Yes?"

"Please don't talk to Mr. Cho," the man said. He wore a long overcoat that was slightly transparent, like the one Emi wore the night before, underneath which was a suit. He was around my age--a bit older--he had a bland face. I couldn't identify it if I saw it again.

"See, if you talk to Mr. Cho about what Mr. Bush told you, I'm afraid something horrible would have to happen."

"What are you talking about, Mr...?"

He didn't answer my question, but he approached me.

"Please."

"What is the big issue, here?" I asked.

"If you go to the feeds with this, something horrible will happen."

"Yes, I heard you. Are you threatening me?"

"The information you now possess has the potential to disrupt the very fabric of society."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a transport passby overhead--outside the ring, of course. It was a transport from the West Quad, dropping people off at the nearby spaceport. It looked beautiful against the sun.

"Yes, it is beautiful, isnt it?" the man said.

"Yes, it is," I said, turning away from him.

"Are you going to the feeds, Mr. Contant?"

"Of course."

"If you do, please come back to this spot tomorrow, but I beg of you, please don't. I'm not authorized to kill you and I can't kill your friend for other reasons. If you do this, there will be hell to pay."

I ignored him and kept walking.

-Jim

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