Traffic Jam (Janice)

(15 minutes later)

“To the Savo Building please.”

I close the door behind me as the car began to lift off the ground. I watched as the street below me shrink in size as I continued to climb. Gently, the car began to accelerate forward.

I looked out the window and gazed upon the city. My city. New Luna City. The artificial sun that beamed over head was waning. Fixing the afternoon sky in a gloomy, yet beautiful orange glow.

The outside lights around the city were beginning to light. Illuminating the “sun” kissed streets below me. The company buildings that surrounded me began shimmering as the lights within slowly came to life.

I watched as the buildings around me transformed. Bright screens filled with advertisements and other forms of entertainment pockmarked the walls. Holograms and other forms of virtual ecstasy lined the streets; throwing their persuasion of a good time left and right to those who seemed interested.

“New Luna City,” I whispered aloud, “The Stirring City of Memories.”

Indeed, this city was a melting pot for those stuck in the past. It was a city filled with those who couldn’t let go. A city that was on the verge of being a long forgotten memory.

I looked around out of my car windows. Other vehicles lined the skies along with me as my vehicle merged with traffic.

“Everyone’s is probably on there way home,” I thought.

Either that or on there way to work. I noticed that the road were more crowded than usual. More than likely because of one of the generators being downed.

Cars were crammed tight in the air… or as tight as they could be without being damaged from another cars repulsion discharge.

“Richard, I need an E.T.A. please,” I command.

Richard, my car’s Artificial Intelligence mainframe, pulled up a holo map display of the whole city. The city was large and circular in shape. It was sectioned into three areas.

Zen (Inner), Gatsby (Mid), and Crescent (Outer). Each section was bordered off by a security barrier implemented only for safety of sectors and the people within them.

Zen was the business sector of New Luna. Zen focused on the fundamentals of providing and adjusting power to the rest of the city. Meanwhile, also shipping out and in resources to neighboring civilizations.

Gatsby was more or less our entertainment sector. Providing all sorts of entertainment. Ranging from clubs, resorts, virtual escape lands, and other entertaining activities.

Crescent was the living quarters for most of the citizens of the city. With that being said, it’s was also our largest. The second largest being Zen. While, the smallest being Gatsby.

And in that area was Rapture. I paused. The sheer thought of Rapture gave me a head. Rapture was a small area within the discarded remains of the original Luna City. Only rats and other rodents could ever be seen in that area. People I can no longer view as actual people because they were less than that.

Rapture was the equivalent of a shit hole with new white paint. It was pretty. It still holds its beauty, but nothing good can come from it. I have security measures in place along the borders of Rapture to protect the people in that area. However, a snake eventually finds it way and I can’t perform an clean out of the area because of the risk of high casualties. So, we gatekeep. Keep them out away from others as best we can…. Which isn’t hard. They’re not stupid. They know their place.

New Luna was huge and bore many secrets. Some thought lost. Some just waiting to be found. All potentially dangerous. Especially, in the wrong hands.

I continued to examined the map in front of me.

“Damn,” I muttered.

I was currently near the bottom of the Zen sector. The Savo Building was dead in the middle where the roads were clogged with traffic. Every road, every bypass, every channel suffocating with cars that stretched for miles on end.

“E.T.A. in approximately 47 minutes,” Richard said.

I let out a deep moan. That’s gonna take too damn long. I eyed the map one more time before collapsing it with my hands. Closing my eyes, I let out a deep sigh.

“I need to get things under control and quickly,” I thought.

I needed to assess the damage. There was no telling how much damage was done to the city. There was definitely no telling how people were reacting.

“I have an idea though,” I said, “Richard, pull up today’s camera feed of the Savo Entrance, please.”

In an instant, the car windows dimmed around to pitch black shrouding the car in darkness. A holographic image of the front of a towering triangular building appeared before me. The building was without question huge, stretching for what seemed to be an eternity upward into the dark void of the sky.

The Savo Building was a facility that held 16 of the main generators that kept New Luna City together. It’s were the city gets 63.5% of its power. And for that reason, it of course is the most highly guarded facility in the city.

I continued to eye the hologram as it began to pan down.

“As I figured,” I thought to myself.

A large protest was now gather in front of the buildings security gate. Creatures of all variables of shapes and sizes thrashed around violently in an uproar as security tried to take hold of the situation without resulting to violence. In which, they were failing miserably.

Holographic signs were being waved around angrily as security guards tried to hold the perimeters of the gate. The mass was beginning to overwhelm them as security was beginning to lose to the crowd.

In the blind of an instant, one managed to break past security. I watched as a little girl, no more than 6 years old, make a break for the entrance door. She was tiny. A itty bitty lil thing. She had light pink skin and glowing yellow eyes.

Out of her head, there grew these small charming horns that matched her well. She wore a over sized tattered hoodie that draped past her kneecaps. Her sleeves were way too big for her.

I examined her closely. I could see a smile on her face. A grin that stretched ear to ear. I giddy laughter escaped her mini frame as she began to skip to the entrance door. She was completely oblivious to the world around her. She was adorable. A small playful devil with the world in the palm of her hand.

Then, she fell. Her small frame went limp as her body hit the pavement head first. The already violent crowd went into an uproar as a dark crimson pooled out from under her. A now large gaping hole now existed were her chest should be. She had been shot.

The now ultra-violent crowd was in a complete frenzy; however, security had had enough. I watched as several guards deployed a chemical agent into the crowd. Instantly, a non lethal neurotoxin began dispersing rapidly amongst the crowd; paralyzing dozen of citizens. Screaming and crying could be heard as protesters began to run away in fear.

I closed the hologram in disgust. A deep anger began to build up within me. An anger so strong that it shook my very being. An anger that I had thought I had buried. An anger as pure as they come. The headache was immense.

“ I hate the world I live in,” I muttered.

It was a statement and it was a statement I stood by very well at times like these.

I sat back into my seat pondering. Turning all the ideas around in my head as to why someone would blow up a generator. One of the very things keeping everyone alive. But, I couldn’t to any concrete conclusion. Nothing and no one should have a reason to attack others. However, now that I think about no one really needs a reason to do anything. Especially, in the world we live in.

I performed a deep sigh. My thoughts returned to the man in the box. A powerful being capable of so much hiding away from the world that created him.

I took him to a place we’re he would be safest from the Council’s eyes. A place that I would be able to go back to on a later date where he should be safe from harm. The red headed woman that runs the place…. I trust her. I do. We’ve been friends for along time. She won’t hurt him.He’s in safe hands.

“He can help,” I thought inside my head, “I just need to convince him.”

I hoped that he could. For the world around me’s sake. I lifted the tint off my windows with the sound of my voice. Curiously, I look out the window at the world around me. The “sun” now gone and the world now bleached in the man-made billboards and holo-projections surrounding me. I watched as civilians strolled the streets conversing and smiling with one another. Everyone was so well dressed and happy.

“It’s beautiful,” I thought.

”E.T.A is 5 minutes, Ms. Lee,” Richard announced.

“Good,” I said.

I just need to get past the issue at hand. Then, I’ll come for him. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.

That was where the real challenge was for right now.