(Chapter 4) Rob Johnson

The following interview was transcribed verbatim from a recorded session and written alongside several personal observations.

The next guest on my list is similar to the previous candidates, although I am interviewing him alone as he specialises in a specific skill set. Stands at around five-eleven or six foot, well built, retains a slight girth, long hair going just past the ears and a smattering of facial hair. Seems to spend a lot of time indoors from initial observations, which isn't surprising considering what it is he does.

AA - Good afternoon, thanks for being able to join me on such short notice.

(I gesture to the seat and he sits down with a nod.)

RJ - Ah, thanks. Yeah, no worries, a lot of what I'm doing right now is fairly automated anyway.

AA - And that leads nicely into my first question, would you please introduce yourself for the record?

RJ - What kind of record?

AA - Lovely, now-wait, come again?

(RJ shrugs.)

RJ - Just curious as to what kind of record you'll be holding this on, or what it's for.

AA - Well, a fair question. I aim to travel the globe, hopefully finding more settlements like this one, and gather information from the people who take up residence therein.

RJ - Yeah but, like, why?

AA - Someone should.

(He seems to consider this before acquiescing.)

RJ - Fair fair, sorry, not trying to be a dick but I was always...touchy about how my data would be used. Suppose there's no one left to sell it to anymore at least.

AA - Capitalism finds a way, Mister?...

RJ - Oh, uhm, Rob, Rob Johnson.

AA - Ah yes, now the introduction if you'd be so kind?

RJ - Oh sure sure, my name is Rob Johnson, male, uhm…

AA - That'll do nicely, for now, thank you. So, Rob, if I can call you Rob?

(He nods.)

AA - Excellent, so Rob, what is it you do for the town?

RJ - I'm currently focussing on creating a digital infrastructure for the town to use.

AA - You make it sound so nonchalant.

RJ - It's not all that difficult, to be honest, Chief asked if we could start working on digitising the history of the town so I got to it.

AA - Just like that?

(He nods again.)

RJ - To be honest, yeah. All of the bits are there, they just need putting together. We still have plenty of computers and servers, just need to connect them all up and start working on building an actual system that we can use.

AA - Again, you make it seem so easy but it is a monumental task. Are you working on it alone?

RJ - For the most part, yeah. James & Sam lend a hand where they can, they're good with the hardware, but the coding is mostly falling to me.

AA - How do you intend on connecting them up?

RJ - How do you mean?

AA - Well, I assume you don't want the town to be a mess of cables.

RJ - Don't get me wrong, it's going to start very small. Maybe have a room or a building dedicated to its operation at first, nothing too complex. Always start easy.

AA - And when the town begins to expand?

RJ - Well, if that happens, the internet is still floating around up there somewhere, I'm sure we'll find a way to tap into it. If the hub wasn't destroyed that is.

AA - Destroyed?

(He tilts his head slightly.)

RJ - You know, the whole war thing?

AA - I'm a little fuzzy on the details, would you be so good as to remind me?

RJ - Fuzzy on the...what? It was a war, World War 3 by all accounts, the thing that destroyed civilisation as we know it? I would've thought that stuck in someone's head.

AA - It's...complicated. Like everyone, I suffer from a certain amount of...amnesia when it comes to our previous lives.

RJ - Yeah but, I mean, everyone remembers that scary shit like it was yesterday! Bombs dropping out of the sky man, people dying everywhere?

AA - Let's just act like I'm someone who doesn't know anything about the war, for the record only, could you elaborate for us?

(He still seems hesitant.)

RJ - Well, I guess for the record. Still though...well so we had this thing called money, and money makes people dumb but it also gives them power, so all the dumb rich people were in charge and then, not surprisingly, the world ended.

AA - …

(Admittedly, I stare blankly for a few moments while RJ has something of an inquisitorial expression on his face like I was the one who just summed up the end of humanity in a handful of words.)

AA - Is that all?

RJ - Well, that was the TLDR version.

AA - I see-wait, no, the what?

RJ - The short version.

AA - Oh, well would you be so good as to elaborate for us?

RJ - That's fair, but I promise by the end of it you'll see what I meant. So, I guess it began in the US, across the sea there, when they re-elected an absolute tool to the presidency, can't remember his name now but I know he closely resembled a cheese puff ball with some processed cheese on top.

AA - Ah, a cheesy fellow?

RJ - Yeah, but without the good taste, you know? So he got elected against all predictions for the second time and he hated everyone, wanted to go to war with everyone, except his puppet master of course.

AA - This doesn't sound like a conspiracy theory at all.

RJ - It's the facts my dude, plain and simple.

(He shrugs it off again.)

RJ - So, that happened and it pissed off the whole world. Then our little island here decided to leave the Union and elect an equally clown-like bumbling, racist moron to lead us.

AA - You don't seem bias at all.

RJ - Maybe I am, maybe just wanting the world to work as easily as we can make it makes me just plain stupid.

AA - I see your point, please continue.

RJ - So that happened, then everything else started falling apart. Admittedly it's becoming more hazy as I think about it, the Middle East, which was always a hotbed of peace and level-thinking -

(Sarcasm from his tone of voice and facial expression.)

RJ - went to war with itself, but it always was really. The US tried to step in but began taking more and more...liberties with their actions. Bombing towns and cities at will, without heed for the civilian population. As far as they were concerned, everyone living there was a viable target and the populous agreed for the most part.

AA - Sounds like quite the mess.

RJ - Oh boy, that's just the start! Without going into too much detail, the US devolved into civil war for the second time in history. Well, they had access to a very large amount of incredibly dangerous weapons that would have destroyed the world multiple times over.

AA - Why had they not been used already?

RJ - The main problem was that every powerful country in the world has them, so if one used theirs, the rest would've followed.

AA - What an utterly terrifying situation to live with, how long did this go on?

RJ - Oh, those weapons had existed for decades, it's one of those things you either learn not to dwell on, or go insane and kill yourself.

(Another shrug.)

RJ - That was just life.

AA - As morbid as it sounds, I can't say I'm entirely surprised the world ended.

RJ - I'm still surprised it took them this long to push that button.

AA - Well, we're still here to what else happened?

RJ - At the height of their civil war, the US was entirely annexed by its neighbour country Canada, which, if you knew the stereotypes surrounding that country, you'd find hilarious.

AA - So why invade?

RJ - Their president, a sound guy by all accounts, was just sick of the war across the border. He was also doing the world a favour by taking control of the place before it got the rest of us in trouble. Some good that did in the end really.

AA - Yes, clearly your problems were solved.

RJ - Yeah, well, with everything else going on the situation rapidly spiralled downhill once again. Fingers were being pointed and words were being thrown around, didn't take long for fingers to turn to guns and words to turn to highly explosive weapons of mass destruction.

AA - Just like that?

RJ - To be honest? Essentially, yes. I'll let someone else tell you all about the other problems the world was facing at the time.

AA - Yes, the two men before you mentioned something about zombies, mutants and the like.

RJ - Mainly our fault again, just a symptom of the disease that is humanity.

AA - At least you keep a positive outlook.

RJ - In all honesty, I'm almost glad this happened. The previous world wasn't too worth living in, but now? Now we have a chance to make an actual difference. The power of hindsight is a wonderful thing in a situation like this. No politics to get in the way, just good people working together.

AA - Do you think it will be enough?

RJ - I hope so, but worst case scenario we can start to pinpoint the exact point when things start to go wrong. See what changes and try to get ahead of it.

AA - Do you really think you can prevent something like this from happening again?

RJ - Well, we can only wait and see.

AA - I suppose that's all anyone can hope for.

RJ - Yeah. But you never mentioned where you came from, by the way, I know the town was just happy to see another living human but you seem to gloss over the subject.

AA - It's...really not important to be honest. I'm just another survivor, but my curiosity drives me on.

(He seems unconvinced.)

AA - Yes, well, I think I have everything I need to move on from here, thank you for taking the time to provide another piece to my puzzle.

RJ - Anytime, if you know anything about coding give me a shout. Could always use another monkey.

AA - Unfortunately, I'm all thumbs with that kind of stuff.

RJ - Ah well, more's the pity. Catch you later.

(END)

This one was...different. I find it tough to explain it in more clear details than that. Smarter than he looks, not to be underestimated, I have no doubt he'll be back to ask the questions just like he promised.

It will be good for this town to have one semblance of technology restored to them. If other colonies have formed out there as we hoped, and they have also come to the same conclusion, we should be in for some interesting development.