gripped his rifle and jumped over a car bonnet. He knocked an oncoming rioter to the ground and kicked their gun away.
The rioter punched and clawed at Lucas’ face as he wrestled his arms to the ground. He pulled out a device and forced it onto the rioter’s thumb. The rioter looked at him then rolled away and ran off.
Lucas’ men picked him up and they ran and cornered a group of five rioters with nothing but steel poles as weapons. One swung at Lucas’ troops. They dodged the attack and ripped the pole from his hands, forced him to the ground and scanned his thumb.
“Give him back to us!” shouted the woman of the group. She and two others ran at Lucas and the men beside him.
Lucas ran at them head on, knocking two of them backwards onto their backs. The other one grappled with one of the officers and was also knocked down. They scanned them.
The captain stood and disarmed the final man and pinned him to the pavement. “Who do you serve?”
“No one!” replied the man.
Lucas pulled out the scanning device and pressed it against the man’s thumb. The green light shone. “I’ll ask again, who do you serve?”
The man rubbed his eye. “President Grimmleif.”
Lucas released the man. “You go home quickly, or you’ll be killed. Just let the police deal with it.”
----- X -----
Grimmleif was standing on his balcony when Ohlin arrived beside him. “Have you solved the problem?” Grimmleif sipped some brandy.
“Yes. The exploit of our coding is over and we have strengthened it to reduce the chance of another rebellion. Everyone is loyal to you once their wallet updates. They won’t rebel anymore.”
“I don’t care if they do rebel again. They’re not the ones with artillery and command of the army.”
----- X -----
Vans, trucks, jeeps, armoured cars, and tanks all drove off through the streets. Police, Black-Coats and soldiers retreated, hobbling with their injuries.
Emergency medical services arrived and were aiding and treating the wounded.
The rioters went back home or began opening up shop, treating it as though everything was some sort of natural disaster.
Firemen extinguished building fires and vehicle fires.
Undertakers loaded the corpses into trucks.
Cleaners walked out onto the streets and began clearing up the glass, bullets and debris.
----- X -----
Rachel rubbed her temples and slouched against a low wall. “Ugh, hungry. I have no wallet and I need to buy food.” She looked out onto the streets. “I guess my only option is to get a new chip.”
“That’s not your only option,” suggested Ekko. “I've managed to survive twelve years since I cut my chip out, you could easily live like I do.”
“I’m sorry, Ekko, but although your lifestyles seem free, it also always seems to be connected with crime. I don’t feel right stealing food to survive. I don’t feel right having to hide from the authorities.”
“We gave the government a bloody nose, though. For once, people stood up against oppression and government control.”
“But was all this destruction and pain worth it? This anarchy? Who knows the total death count?”
“No... Obviously it wasn't, I never intended to have it go this way. All I wanted was a small diversion so we could try and make this city a better...”
“...But it didn’t work!” Rachel interrupted. “I wager hundreds died, all because your ‘hacker republic’ friends thought that it was a perfect opportunity to start a widespread riot. And the only reason that happened is because of my stupid, faulty wallet chip, which I should’ve got replaced from the beginning. You can’t fight them.”
“We have been fighting them though.”
“And you’ve had no success. I became an enemy of the state. One of my best friends was killed. Living a life in which you fight against the government constantly is too dangerous, regardless of how free it is or not.”
“So you’ve made your choice then?” Ekko scratched his chin.
“Yes,” replied Rachel.
“We’re coming with you, Rachel,” said Pyppi and Sebastian. They followed Rachel down the fire escape ladder.
----- X -----
Rachel touched her neck where the wallet chip was. They were outside the Metro-Credit bank. “You don’t have to do this,” Pyppi said. “You’re already out from it and I’m seriously considering cutting out my wallet, too.”
“Me too,” Sebastian added.
“You might think it’s good, but it’s not. What do you do when you run out of food? If you have no wallet, how can you pay for your next meal? Also, look at Ekko and the others. They don’t have wallet chips and they’re forced to live as criminals.” Rachel entered the bank and joined the queue.
“How can I help?” the cashier asked.
“My wallet chip malfunctioned and I had to cut it out. I have no wallet right now.”
The cashier motioned to the thumb scanner. “What’s your name?”
“Rachel Alexis,” she said as she offered her thumbprint. The machine beeped.
The cashier smiled. “Yes, that’s confirmed, if you go to that lady on the left she’ll install a new wallet for you.”
Rachel shuffled across the floor towards the chip insertion section. What she couldn’t see was her name had flagged on the cashier’s computer and the cashier was already making the telephone call to report her location.
“Hello, do you need a new wallet?”
Rachel nodded. “Yes.”
“Follow me,” said the bank clerk. Rachel followed the clerk to the chip installation machine and took a seat whilst the lady fumbled with the technology. “Terrible these riots. So many people killed. We could hear the fighting all night long, I hardly slept because it was so loud and terrifying; I really hope that something like this doesn't happen again. Ah, here we are.” The clerk started setting something on a touchscreen computer monitor. “It’s peaceful now, thanks to President Grimmleif's clear guidance and protection. If it wasn’t for him it could have been much worse. Can you imagine that?”
Rachel nodded and gritted her teeth. The moment of truth. Was it worth it? Should she go back to being a controlled puppet with regulated hormones and stress levels, or should she live free like Ekko but trapped in poverty and surviving on her wits?
“This may be a little bit painful.”
“Yes, go ahead,” Rachel said. The clerk pressed a button bringing the robot arms down. One brushed against her neck and shot a slight stinging pain into her body. The other arm followed to dab the blood away.
“Now, can you place your thumb on here to update your wallet software and you’ll be all done.”
PLEASE WAIT :
BIOMETRIC-WALLET SOFTWARE UPDATING...
A big green thumbs-up sign illuminated the display. Rachel looked around the bank and scratched her head. She turned towards the bank clerk and smiled. It was done. She walked to the door and back to Pyppi and Sebastian, when she was stopped by two tall Black-Coats. The first one grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall, the second came at her with handcuffs. “What’s going on? What are you doing?” She kicked her legs behind her at the Black-Coat’s shins and shook her arms forcefully. The Black-Coat grabbed her by the cuff of her jacket to hold her still. “You can’t do this to me! Let go of me!”
“Control, this is four-seven,” the Black-Coat said into his radio. “Suspect apprehended, Alexis, Rachel.” As he spoke a black van showed by the door and began to unload five more Black-Coats. One of them was clearly in charge and paced towards her with big strides.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I am Senior Commander Kaufman,” he said. “And you, Rachel Alexis, are under arrest...”
“I’ve done nothing wrong!” she continued to struggle with the cuffs as they dug into her skin.
“Rachel Alexis, you have been charged with the incitement of the widespread riot last night,
the hacking of police intranets and of citizen’s wallet chips, the withholding of evidence from authorities, the murder of Captain Espedal an officer of ours and the murders of several others. You will also be found liable for all civilian deaths and property damage caused by your little insurrection. How do you plead?”
“Plead? We’re not in court and I didn’t do anything.”
Kaufman grimaced. “And when you are in court, nobody will care if you did anything or not. You’re the public face of last night’s carnage. And you’re damn well going to be held responsible.”
“You can’t do that!” Pyppi ran to try and break the Black-Coat’s grip.
“Step back. Or we will arrest you too!”
Pyppi was thrown back by one of the Black-Coats. She stumbled and fell, Sebastian caught her.
“Pyppi, just go!” Rachel shouted
“No, we won’t leave you Rachel! This is bullshit!”
“Enough of your socialising,” said Kaufman. “Now, I repeat, how do you plead?”
“Innocent!” Rachel gritted her teeth and burst into tears. Her body shook. She fell onto her knees with her head faced down. Through muffled croaks she said, “But I… I am innocent…”
Kaufman smiled. “And you’ll have the rest of your life in prison to keep telling yourself that.”
“No… You can’t do this! You bastards!”
“Yes, we can. We can do anything. Put her in the van.” The Black-Coat holding Rachel dragged her out.
Rachel was tossed inside, sobbing, as the doors slammed behind her.
“Why do you need her? What are you going to do with her?” Pyppi asked.
“Restore