Sycamore (Near-Future Dystopia) by Falconer Craig A

Author:Falconer, Craig A. [Falconer, Craig A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Falcon Star Press
Published: 2013-12-18T08:00:00+00:00

10

188,662,491.

To Kurt’s conflicted amazement, the second week of seeding far outpaced the first. Sycamore’s aggressive promotions and no-questions-asked credit had worked wonders to the extent that week two defied even Amos’s expectations.

Kurt had paid little attention to the world of Sycamore since Amos’s warning eight days earlier and nor had he left his new house, preferring to order in whatever food and flavour of Lexington he needed as the days passed. This bright Monday morning, however, brought reason to get up. It was Kurt’s 24th birthday — hardly an occasion worth getting dressed for — but it coincided with Sabrina’s 10th, which absolutely was.

Birthday messages flooded in from Kurt’s tens of millions of Forest friends but he didn’t read any; even before the bizarre warning from Amos his intention had been to take some time off from thinking about Sycamore. For the most part, the week had been a surprising success in that regard. Kurt spent his days catching up with old shows he used to follow before developing The Seed had consumed his life, and his nights usually involved playing chess online with Randy.

He missed Amos’s grand gesture on Tuesday which saw a huge convoy of trucks drive to California and dump 20 million smartphones in front of his main rival’s headquarters, like half-eaten apples left to rot in the sun. It was low but it was brilliant, and Sycamore would gladly pay the clean-up costs because the visual image of so many rejected devices was priceless — a Consumer Relations mauling from which the hipsters would never recover.

A few minutes of excitement came on Wednesday afternoon when a universal announcement encouraged everyone to step outside and look to the sky for some breaking news. Kurt wondered why Amos would go to the trouble of putting news in the sky when he could deliver it directly to everyone’s Lenses, and this curiosity carried him outside. He walked to the end of his driveway and found the street busier than he had ever seen it. All of his neighbours were out at their doorsteps, looking up to the sky for answers. Answers from Sycamore. Now he understood.

A virtual screen appeared in the sky and a newsreader explained that exceptional circumstances demanded an exceptional report. She then relaid the story of a kidnapped 4-year-old who had been tracked down and rescued thanks to his Seed. Kurt’s neighbours applauded the announcement. He knew Amos too well to believe a word of it.

Kurt watched the regular SycaNews bulletin that night to pay closer attention to the rescue story. Fact or fiction, the incident was a CR home-run. Reports showed parents rushing to Tasmarts around the country to have their preschoolers seeded en masse to protect them from kidnappers. Queues coiled around street corners like hydras once more.

Footage looped of a SycaNews reporter being confronted outside a store in Chicago by a young mother, babe-in-arms, apoplectic that her 9-week-old son would have to wait another seven days to be seeded as per Sycamore’s Sapling policy.

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