Rise and shine
Vrmm, beep beep, vrmm, click. “Goood morning Terranite base level, it’s seven in the morning. You better get that go juice brewing.” Announcer man cheerily proclaims from the radio. “Mph, grr.” An arm exits the mass of blankets, swinging blindly at the radio which remained maddeningly out of reach continuing to spout the days happening loudly. “Today’s weather will be mild and sunny, uh except for you poor saps over in district twenty-four the sky screens in that area are still out, but they should be on their way as long as they don’t get caught up in another customs struggle ha-ha.” Announcer man's laugh is obviously fake.
The mass of blankets begins to thrash more wildly. “We will be right back after this message from our sponsor ‘Medicae Optimum – We make your health the best.” An ethereal sound scape begins to play with a female voice narrating “ Medicae Optimum, We enhance, Medicae Optimum, We repair, Medicae…Optimum…We make your health the best.” Another woman voice begins after the music stops “Remember new parents, if you want your child to have the best chance at life you need to get them an identification one A.C.E registry so they can be placed in the best classification for them.”
Announcer man comes back on the radio, “A reminder for everyone on base level the ‘WASH’ is going to be taking place in three days, so remember to seal your doors and windows, there will be no insurance payouts for ‘WASH’ related damages.” A loud growl escapes from the mass of blankets “Grr, enough of you!” a young man explodes from the blankets slamming his hand down on the radio. The young man groans and begins to rub his face and eyes clearly still exhausted.
The young man slowly gets up from his bed hitting a button on the wall causing the bed to rise into a slot in the wall making more room in the small apartment. Slowly walking to his bathroom, grumbling low like a zombie from a crappy low-cost movie. Leaning over the sink he splashes cold water, clearly trying to wake up. Looking up into the mirror a young boyish face stares back at him, light blue eyes with slightly dark bags under them tell a story of someone who is intelligent and quick witted, reaching up to his light brown hair he brushes a hand through it “mm, need to get a haircut this is getting too long.”
Standing from the sink and stretching the young man enters the shower, “AHH, dammit all. Where the hell is my hot water, that damn landlord said it was fixed yesterday!” Washing himself in the cold water the young man grumbles and curses, most likely taking the quickest shower of his life. Grabbing a towel, he heads back in the main room “screen on” a mechanical voice responds, “screen on, who is currently watching?” The young man stops “What?” The mechanical voice responds, “Who is currently watching?” “Grr, I am watching you stupid machine, who else would be?” “There is no I am as a registered user, please respond clearly.” Hanging his head looking defeated “Maxwell, I am going to kick you right in the dick for this.” Sighing dramatically “Rabbit is watching.” With a cheerful chime the mechanical voice responds, “Thank you for watching, Rabbit.”
Heading over to his dresser Rabbit asks for his recent messages to play “Hello, Mr. Brown this Ashely from Terranite Spiritual Solutions, your name was given.” “Skip” a pause and then a rough male voice begins “Heey Rabbit, its Maxwell. I have a job for you, good pay. Head on over to the warehouse when you crawl out your den.” Another pause then a sultry female voice begins, “Hey Alex, its Hannah. I know things didn’t go well between us, but I was hoping you would be willing to help me out.” “Skip, erase.” Slamming his hand against the wall “I can’t believe she would ask me for help, after how she humiliated me the last time we saw each other.” “There are no more messages.” Finishing getting dressed Rabbit looks at himself in the mirror, a young man, fit but rather short standing at five foot three inches, with a smooth face his age would be hard to guess, being twenty-nine years old but often mistaken for a teenager has been a constant irritation for him. Shaking his head, Rabbit gathers up his belongings, the most important of which are his A.R glasses, without them he would be cut off from most interactions in Terranite.
Stepping out of his apartment and into the cramped hallway, Rabbit steps lightly around the various bits of trash and detritus that littered the hallway to the elevator. “Ugh, I swear people a gross, it’s not like the garbage shoots are so far away. Hell, those are the only things that work regularly in this damn building.” Rabbit said to himself. Putting his glasses on as he approached the elevator, a digital display popped up ‘elevator access is five credits, please scan your chip or ID card’ taking out his ID Rabbit scans it and a deduction of five credits is made ‘Thank you for using MechLoco elevators please leave a rating and review of your experience.’ Entering the elevator a mechanical voice chimes “Which floor do you wish to travel too?” Leaning against the wall of the elevator “Ground floor.” “Thank you, please keep your body and limbs within the carriage do not try to use the upper exit while to the elevator is in motion.”
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The elevator jolted into motion beginning to descend from the twentieth floor where Rabbit resided. Using his A.R glasses Rabbit began to scan through the various news feeds looking for anything interesting to pop out at him. After a few floors the elevator jolted and came to a sudden stop, “Oh, what the hell is going on now.” Scanning through for a notice from MechLoco he found a note saying: The elevator you are in has malfunctioned. Do not worry we are currently resetting the elevator, and it will begin travelling shortly’ “Malfunction, what kind of malfunction. Is this death trap going to drop to the bottom!” Rabbit said out loud beginning to panic.
The elevator jolted again and began to descend then stopped shook and let out a loud squealing sound “Oh, hell I’m going to die, I am going to be turned into paste.” A mechanical voiced chimed “We are sorry for the wait; the elevator has been reset. We will need to ascend to the top floor and descend from there to ensure the elevator is properly reset. Thank you for your patience.” Staring up at the ceiling of the elevator dumbstruck “wait, what? You mean it’s going all the way to the top! You have got to be shitting me!” Sliding down and sitting on the elevators floor, a loud growl coming from his stomach “Today is turning out to be a crap day.”
While waiting for the elevator to do its thing Rabbit continued scrolling through his news feeds, “those rumors of monsters appearing in district twenty-four are really starting to take off,” scoffing in disbelief “I am sure it's just some gang members trying to take territory. Either way I will not be running any jobs out that way, I don’t care how much the pay is.” A large pop-up appeared in front of Rabbits face ‘You are missing out on amazing features by not having the A.C.E registry chip. If you stop by your nearest Medicae Optimum facility they can install your A.C.E chip with no upfront charge and if you mention this alert, you will be given a ten percent discount on all transactions using the A.C.E chip’. Grunting Rabbit dismissed the pop-up “like I would let you guys into my head, no thank you.”
‘Ding’ The elevator chimed out, looking up at the floor number Rabbit sighed only floor sixty-six. A woman in a business suit followed by two young children a boy and a girl enter the elevator. The mother was a serious looking woman, with blond hair that she shared with her two children, both had her stamp all over them even the serious expression their mother had. Trying not to draw attention to himself, Rabbit continued browsing his feed, nothing to interesting springing out, a lot of people complained about the ‘WASH’ coming up, especially since the drains were still not fully repaired which would leave parts of the base under water for good week or more.
Looking down while thinking about how the upper levels never seem to take the base levels condition into consideration when they make choices like doing the ‘WASH’, startled the business lady’s daughter was staring up at him. Giving the small girl a wave “Hello”. Staring at him for an awkward moment the girl finally asks, “can you run and jump really well?” “Uhm, yes, I can do that well. I must do those things for my job.” Nodding thoughtfully the girl says, “That’s good you will need to very good at it, oh and also no matter what do not open the box.” Shocked Rabbit quickly asks “What do you mean? What box?” Suddenly her mother grabs the girl’s hand “Sherry what did I tell you. Don’t talk to strangers, you never know who they are.” Looking up at Rabbit the woman gives him a tight smile “I am sorry she tends to be curious, don’t mind anything she said.” Nodding “sure, no problem” Rabbit replied.
Deciding to keep to himself for the rest of the elevator ride he couldn’t keep what that little girl Sherry said to him. More people entered the elevator as it descended the building, all keeping to themselves. A chime rang in Rabbits ear ‘Hey Rabbit, you plan on stopping by today for a job or what? Maxwell’ reading the text Rabbit begins to send his reply ‘Yeah, I will be stopping by the damned elevator decided to have a malfunction today. I had to take it all the way to the top, almost down to the ground floor. Alex’. ‘Still resisting the nickname, I see lol. You should just give in; everybody already calls you that more than your real name. I even get requests for you by Rabbit for deliveries. Maxwell’ ‘I really hate that you started the nickname. Come on Rabbit is a stupid nickname, how am I supposed to be taken seriously with a name like that. Alex’ ‘Oh, come on it fits you to well. You run and jump like a rabbit, plus you are just as adorable as one ha-ha. Maxwell’ ‘You know what screw you. It has already been a shit day; I don’t need you to add to it. I’ll talk to you when I get to the warehouse. Alex.’
Ignoring the rest of Maxwells texts, Rabbit began to look at his bank account. The amount was growing, he has been saving for a set of Gripper boots. Checking the page for them for the hundredth time ‘Falling from a building? Slipping on ice head toward a cliff with no way to stop? Need to climb any surface you could imagine? THEN YOU NEED A PAIR OF GRIPPERS! The only set of footwear you will ever need. Using propriety technology from Trac Co. These are the most recommended boots for those who need to ascend into areas most machinery can’t reach.’ Looking at the price of fifteen thousand credits, they are worth it. Rabbit spent the rest of the elevator ride daydreaming about owning a pair of Grippers, running through the base level jumping from the road to the side of buildings without stopping. He could see himself waving at the stupid gangers who try and steal courier packages while he ran up and down buildings leaving them in his dust.
