“Another billion humans have been transitioned, soon half the human race will have become part of the system that has been officially named Atonoma after a majority vote inside the virtual space. But due to the high demand and lower workforce available in the world, governments are faced with crises. From food barely being replenished by the robots, to entire cities falling silent, the world is seeing-”
“Shut that damn thing, I don’t have the patience to listen to them,” an old man, by the name of Berel, orders his apprentice.
“It’s important stuff you know? It affects us especially more so than ever,” the young man, by the name of Guolino, responds. “What if we won’t have what to eat next week because of these people? We only maintain these cursed machineries, we don’t know how to grow crops and shit,” the young man hands his employer an odd shaped screwdriver, both standing on a ladder high above the ground fixing electric lines supplying the BAT facilities.
“Important my ass, what’s important is fixing this stuff so I can watch my shit and drink myself to sleep,” Berel takes the screwdriver and starts working on a box that holds advanced circuit boards and processors, all with the purpose of supplying in incremental manner the cities with electricity, while providing more to the facilities. “You should focus on how to stay away from all of it, I hear your friends are all going to do the BAT procedure.”.
“I will stay away from it, don’t worry,” Guolino started to descend the ladder, the view of a half empty city to his right, and the stretching road towards a gigantic facility to his left. “Although, the thought of marrying some cute girl inside that virtual world, doesn’t sound so bad.”. Berel gave him a nasty look from above, which Guolino could feel at the back of his neck. “I’m just joking, it’s just lonely out here you know? Most women have transitioned already, and I can’t blame them, people are killing each other left and right.”.
“That’s why I’m saying you should stay away from it,” Berel pulled out from his belt a small wrench, fixing the nuts of the box in place, some signs of someone hitting them visible, “these people become monsters just to get what they want. If you start listing yourself into that thing, you become a living target for someone else.”. The old man was speaking out of experience, a grim look covering his face, which Guolino couldn’t see.
“Eh, yeah I guess you’re right,” Guolino started to look inside their truck, searching for a new processor to replace the old ones. “Why do these things need processors in the first place?”.
“I told you to read about it and stop watching that shit on your phone,” Berel threw a small rusty nut at Guolino, which he took with a shrug. “These people inside the facilities, just think how much power they hold for having so many lives coming under their hands. So it’s natural someone else may want a bit of that power, that’s why they install these things,” Berel started to do his job more efficiently as he talked, as if he reminded himself of the steps to take in his mind, Guolino throwing a couple processors towards him, which he caught with relative ease. “They assign less electricity to the cities by interrupting the flow from time to time. In doing so, they ensure there’s less people spending copious amounts of time trying to break into their systems and stuff.”.
“That doesn’t explain the processors though,” Berel threw another rusty nut at him for not letting him finish, “fine, continue.”.
“These processors do the job for them. They check for odd signals or irregularities, since some of the hackers got craftier, and can send viruses and more through sheer electric signals,” Berel finished his work, fixing the panel in place by welding the metal all around. Guolino scratched his head, trying to understand how that’s possible, “Confusing right? Well, that’s the power of quantum computers, they can give humans tools and means through which to do stuff that we weren’t able to do before. I have one of my own, which cost me nothing since so many were left lying around after the transition began.”. Berel made his way back down, placing his tools inside his belt with great familiarity, “I used it many times, and not a single time does it fail to amaze me. The things it can allow a human to accomplish given enough time, is astounding.”.
“That sounds pretty crazy, yeah, but how come I didn’t get one myself if there’s so many of them?” Guolino started to pack the ladder and gather some of the scrap lying on the ground, packing them in the car as night started to approach.
“Natural disasters, mass demolition and a grand effort from all the governments to gather them and put them to use for the BAT machinery, and you have here one of the few remaining humans to own one,” Berel went inside the car, starting the engine that was using hydrogen for fuel. “Don’t worry, if you read all the stuff I told you to, I will let you ask something from it. But I swear to god, if it’s some weird kink of yours.”.
“No, no such thing. I just want to maybe see if there’s a way to get myself a wife. And I mean a real one, not one of those silicon things,” Guolino followed him, smoking despite being only fourteen and having a gun of his own. “Like, don’t get me wrong, they’re great for sex, but there’s always that back thought of ‘This shit is fake’ you know what I’m saying?”.
“Kind of yeah,” Berel started driving, on the road there was from time to time a large car-like robot fixing small cracks and maintaining the roads, “fortunately for you, you haven’t seen what those earlier models were all about, especially when you had to clean them.”. Guolino made a sound in disgust, and the two started to head back into the city.
