Information

There was a time information flowed reasonably freely and privacy was like a thing of one’s virginity.

Then there was the time information flooded freely and privacy was like a thing of casual sex.

Anonymity exist with the benefit of the doubt. Anonymity extinct with the benefit of the governance.

The world forfeited every last privacy law protecting the made up right of the netizen, claiming that it was originally set up to control the Internet that was still in development. Seeing that it was set up with its own set of parameter in recent years, everyone agreed that if one wished to be online, they should be cautious about their own action, like it should be in real life.

They made it under the pressure of so called freedom, and so was their plan to continue their monitor on the citizen without violating, conflicting, contradicting with their own rules.

And that was the mockery to those who craved for freedom so much.

So of course a lot more fake identities were on the web, a lot more convenience to the marketing department, a lot more easier to be an identity thief, and a lot more autonomy of being whoever you wish to be on the net.

Information of you, the real you or the fake you, worth not a dime/cent/yen/buck/dollar/nickel to anyone.

Uphill

The rim of the mountain was covered in brilliant white clouds, where the snow looked soft and puffy, which also added to the chilling sensation one would felt when absorbed to this scenery. It must be cold uphill.

Not far down below, rocks of different shapes and sizes took to their formation many years ago and created the unique slope of the hill, for it was steep and tough to conquer. Up there, no tree, or grass, or plant of any sort could have survived, only a kind of Lichen spread far and wide on the stones, nurtured by the fresh flowing air and the warmth of the sun. They expected no visitors and shan't be for thousands of years since their overtaking.

Going deeper, gravels filled the lower half of the mountain, whereas wild grass grew over them and a few tree stood far apart from each other. Imagine when the thunder clashed onto the rocks above and broke some of it with its almighty force of concentrated power, you could understand why trees were scarce down here. Grass though, made no attempt to acknowledge the rubble going on top of them, because eventually they would outgrew the pile of crushed stones and shown the greenness within them.

Close to the bottom of the hill, tree stood in alliances and made a fence around, they are the nature’s protector and the guardians of the animals. They dedicated their life to the surroundings asking for only one things, death, so that they could recycle the energy of the finite that relied on them, and turn over a new leaf, to continue their seemingly infinite task.

Civilization came. They chopped trees, killed animals, moved rubble, conquered hills.

The snow melted and went back being a cloud; lichens cried because of the smoke contaminated their precious air; grasses and other lesser plant leisurely took over the hills and greedily sucked every last drop of the energy stored in the ground.

There was a great fire, wild and untamed. It consumed everything along its way: it engulfed the whole village of people, it punished the grasses on the bottom of the hill, it terrorized the lichens up in the clouds and animals down in the surrounding woods.

Then there was a mild rain, caressed the earth and stroke the fire. It stopped till the heat was gone.

Years passed, and the dark markings left behind were no where to be seen. The forest recovered slowly, the grasses grew wildly, animals went away in hope of a better place. And the lichens almost saw the end of themselves.

The rim had a little white cap on, snow was gathering and making a comeback.

In due time. Hitherto.

Ship R class Royal Cruiser ‘The Lady’

AKA ‘Dragonfly’

Captain Kurtis King

Crew: Engineer Nina Mckee

Secondary Eng. Shawn Cobb

Secondary Eng. Douglas Young

Pilot Barry Ross

Secondary Pilot Alexa Booker

Weapon Gaston Kurtz

Secondary Wep. Ashley Kurtz

Doctor Amanda Ashford

Chef Victor Goldman

Sub Ingrid So

Character Info

Captain Kurtis King

New and Novice Captain for the new ship, a R class Royal Cruiser (Display the wealth and techno. advancement of the Acting Galactic Government, like an AD), He is a very pleasant but rather clumsy guy. Straight out of the Academy, was promoted to Captain immediately following his good result and relationship with the representative.

Engineer Nina Mckee

Came from the slum area, Nina is a very determined and stubborn person, though her skills in engineering excess any male in her class. She doesn’t talk much, but if she’s talking, you did better listen.

Secondary Eng. Shawn Cobb and Douglas Young

Best friend since they were born, Shawn Cobb and Douglas Young were the duo you have always wanted. The fact that they knew each other well increased their working efficiency. But if they were separated, the situation could go worse in the most desperate time.

Pilot Barry Ross

Born in a pilot family, Barry knew how to fly when he was in the belly. He could perform the most unrealistic movement and get out of the situation safely, he’s the one everyone’s be betting on. Although his twin brother, Kevin Ross, was even better than him and were currently serving the A class Battle Cruiser - Eliminator

Secondary Pilot Alexa Booker

Alexa Booker, she got picked into the crew for the new ship because her father was a senator. She had the basic training on piloting and the result was quite good. Her father didn’t want her to waste her time on the planet partying, so decided to let her join the crew.

Weapon and Secondary Weapon Gaston Kurtz and Ashley Kurtz

The brother and sister, Gaston Kurtz and Ashley Kurtz join the Academy of Weaponry and both graduated with a distinction. They were from a normal family of four and get along like other brothers and sisters. They cared for each others and looked after each other. They are willing to do anything to help the other.

Doctor Amanda Ashford

Doctor Amanda Ashford was recommended by the Planetary Medical Department to the Royal Cruiser, and were picked by the council in charge of the ship. Amanda is a calm and caring person, but being in the medical room for so long, her color had started to fade, her life seemed to be floating away.

Chef Victor Goldman

Just joined the Royal Chamber Kitchen, Victor Goldman one of the new chef. But before he cooked anything there, he was assigned to the ship and cook normal food for the crew mates. It didn’t went to well for him at first.

Sub Ingrid So

Her information was not in the database. But she surely is a spy for someone. She pretended to be a gentle and sexy women, and used her femininity to gain access to the ship’s data. Tricky and talked people out for information.

NaNoWriMo Outline

Below is the basic outline I had drafted for NaNoWriMo, it might seem to you a bit lacking, but to me, it was everything I had to expand it into a 50,000 words novel in 14 days.

Chapter One: Novice Captain Kurtis King meet his new crew and a whole new ship. -Background

Chapter Two: The First Flight -Characters, Style, Intro

Chapter Three: First Encounter o sth -Detail, Importance

Chapter Four: The Errand.

Chapter Five: Maybe Alien

Chapter Six: Living, Life, People, Thoughts

Chapter Seven: Pirates! First Fight

Chapter Eight: Distress Beacon

Chapter Nine: Happy Birthday

Chapter Ten: Sickness

Chapter Eleven: Romance -Hint throughout the previous chapters

Chapter Twelve: Day Off

Chapter Thirteen: New Crew

Chapter Fourteen: The Hidden Bug -Conspiracy

Chapter Fifteen: Take over

Chapter Sixteen: Intervention

Chapter Seventeen: Condemned

NaNoWriMo First Year Winner

This is my first time writing 50,000 words in a month, which took 14 days of actually writing it.

The writing from the start to end came smoothly and very quickly. I didn’t really set a standard word count or follow the minimum words to be written per day. I just wrote as much as I could think of.

I started off small, the first day with around 2,500 words and then steadily producing 3,000+ words everyday that followed. On the best day I had written over 6,000 words, which is not even unpleasant to my mind or fingers.

I crossed the standard finish line on 17th November, it took me 14 days of writing. (Two days were spent travelling in Singapore, and a day for the Graduation Ceremony) I am really happy that I could actually win it.

I was a bit skeptical at first to tell you the least, I’ve never managed to be focused enough to write more than a thousand or so words a day and suddenly I skyrocketed to 2000+, it was quite a change.

Luckily, I loved my ideas for the novel and had a great time writing it, there’s still a lot to be improved and edited (REWRITE), but overall I enjoyed it.

The community here in Hong Kong is active, there’s no lack of write-ins or chat, people were getting their works done. They have a day job but was willing to dedicate their off-time to the writing which I think is the biggest sacrifice, cuz’ I know the pain and how worn off one could be after a day of work. I couldn’t possibly think about how I would be able to write a page after work. Lucky I don’t have one.

It’s inspiring nonetheless, seeing so many people writing with a goal, I will definitely try this again next year, assuming I am still alive because there’s no catastrophe event (lol).

Commute

Jerry got up everyday at 6, he would then wash up and had some cereal for breakfast and went out wearing a navy blue t-shirt, brown pants and grey shoe for the summer, dark blue hoodie with the navy blue t-shirt, brown pants and grey shoe for the winter.

He would take a three minutes walk and get to the subway station at 6:30 sharp. He would get on the earliest arrived train and get off at the last station of the line. He would then board the train and travel back to the other end of the line.

He would finally get off at the last station and exit the subway area and wander to a bridge ten minutes away. He would find there were people living under that bridge and he would find a slot to sit down and meditate for the whole morning.

He would feel the need to lunch when a clock struck twelve somewhere in that place. He would get up and went to a local charity station to claim foods. He would say hi to the afternoon crew who he knew. He would occasionally see new faces, but it soon turned old.

He would take the food back to the place he stayed that day and eat them with haste and resume his meditation. When the clock struck six, he would get up and walk to the subway station. He would get on the train and travel to the last stop. He would get off and wait for another train to arrive. He would board that train and travel back to the station where his home is. He would walk three minutes back to his place and sleep.

He would find his place dirty, cramped, filthy. There’s flies everywhere, a stench of the landfill. He would struggle to sleep and eventually wake up and sleep and wake up and sleep again, till the morning arrive.

WRC

Hear the engine roars or watch the car crashes or rolls

Kicking up dirt, rolling up dirt, spinning up dirt

burning rubber, pumping gas, overcoming obstacles

Rainy, wet, moist, humid, slippery, glue, pool, sticky, splash, wipers

Sunny, dry, dust, scattered, fog, smog, sand

Rush, turn, brake, handbrake, lever, gear, adjust, adapt, accommodate

Winner, podium finish, catching up

Unexpected, unsurprisingly, unfortunately, irreversible, inevitable, formidable, champion, consecutive, legend, classic, display, show, champagne, retirement, predecessor

Split time, stage time, round

RALLY

Walking

I came to the street where the market was in a weekday afternoon. It was raining lightly and the sky was bright gray, where the sun struggled to shine through even a slightest crack in between the heavy clouds. Sweat dripped down my chin under the hot and stuffy weather as My black runner shoes stepped on the wet and uneven rocky ground, I navigated myself through the path.

The street was crowded with people trying to find the right ingredient for the next meal. It was not easy to advance forward or look backward. People stopped in front of a tent and that temporarily paused a flow. I walked slowly, following the unmarked line while trying to get a look of everything put on display.

Shops were setup under a small, dark green tent. However, the cubical space was packed with products: fresh flowers, different vegetables and fruits, dried seafood and meats, and many more.

The eye-catching red orange light bulbs shown on the racks gave life to the products on sales. Especially for the vegetables and fruits, they looked even better as the rain dropped on them and reflected the vibrant colors on them. The red of the apple became fuller, the green of the vegetables became richer, the purple of the eggplant became a darker version of the grapes resting besides them.

The market, too, was thrived with life.

The old folks either sat on their little crappy plastic chair, or on a worn bamboo made chair that stayed with them in many difficult times. They would each held a big yellow brown hand fan or sat under an electric fan and listen to the ambient noise in the background. The younger one, though, stood with their arms crossed, glancing at the passing by, and shouted what they had to offer occasionally to get the customer poking into their establishment.

There was also shops behind these tents, those are bigger, normal shop under the concrete building. Many were closed, only a handful was open.

There was a shop selling fresh seafood. Fish, clam, crab, oyster, anything that people would like to eat. Those separated small tanks of water housed every kind of seafood, the space was cramped, not comfortable at all. I could see there were several fishes turning to their sides or bellies, grasping for air while trying to find a spot to stay. The competition ended when they were dead, or sold.

The slowly stroll on this particular street made me think of scenes from movies, games and TV shows. There was a scent, a trace of that cinematic effect at the moment, at that time. I could feel it right there. I could have captured it, and I did, in my mind. Now I turned it into words.

The atmosphere, the crowd, the products, the tents, the weather, the light bulbs, the wet road, the crowded street, the flow, the vibe, the surroundings, the ambient noise, the position I was standing.

SumFought: BBC America - Orphan Black 2013 Season 1

BBC America’s Orphan Black was truly the dark horse of the year.

It came to the audience so suddenly that people were taken away by it. If you like seeing one actress being multiply characters at once in a show, then you will love Orphan Black for it magnificent actress Tatiana Maslany.

I like science fiction shows, and this one involved clones to the max. Never before had I seen such performance done by one in a show, and it completely blew me away as well as the others.(the next one is you, stop reading this and check it out)

The story is solid. It started off as one, then expanded into two, then as it progress, more characters were introduced for good purposes. It was a clever decision to include those character with different style, it differentiated each clone from the others, and also added more fun to the show itself.

There’s unusual character settings and the story’s not dead serious, it’s funny and living and energetic, sometimes it gets dark and bloody with a layer of sweet revealed later in the show.

Well, most of all, the style of the characters defined the show, either a punk girl, a soccer mom, a German? And many more are interesting enough to keep you from not watching.

Be warned, the clone club is expanding next April.

Sadly, it's BLACK enough that there's no legal way to watch it for free online. But you can find it on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play with a small price.

SumFought: NBC - The Blacklist 2013 Season 1

NBC The Blacklist started off easy and tricky.

Every episode is a criminal apprehended, a crime/case solved(a name on the list crossed), and combined with the brilliant performance of a great cast, adding the characters’ struggle and mind games and clues planted at times, it's pretty much what the Blacklist presented itself for now.

If you are coming for special effect and big, dramatic scene, it will disappoint you utterly. I don’t understand why couldn't they push the post-production a little bit harder but hell, it was just a few seconds in some episodes. (Budget gone to the mega cast?)

Much like other shows presented in a ‘case-of-the-week’ format, like ABC’s Castle, every week was a fresh start, you can just drop in and drop out without knowing much of the main plot(character story for the whole show) or side plot(character story for that episode).

But the thing is, when the list ran out of names to fill, would it be the end? Or would it try to pull another stunt like that in the first episode and bring surprise to us?

So far, the crime in every episode was the highlight of the show, nothing ordinary about it there, the details and revealing process were done exceptionally well. It’s more serious than Castle but still, entertaining at its own premises. More doing, less juggling.
It’s mysterious, it’s brilliant, it’s surprising.

It’s my kind of show.

You can catch the latest episode for free on Hulu and NBC.

Electronic Overkill

Video transcript

B: Is it working? (B looked into the camera and was shaking it a little bit)

A: Yes, it is. Now stop fiddling with it, let’s get back to work. (A stepped in to the scene, which is in a lab setting place.)

B: Okay, hi everyone, this is Doctor Albert Nolan, and I am Doctor Burton Mitchell, this is a demonstration of a testing phase for our latest invention, which hopefully could provide a massive area coverage for remote charging. Our small scale test was a success, but as we are increasing the output and coverage area, we are expecting to see some interesting result. Shall we process Albert?

A: (Nodded)

B: Okay. (A pushed a few buttons on a panel) Let’s see how this goes. Our expected range is 10 kilometer.

A: (Take up a communication device from the desk) 50 meter, how’s it going?

50M: Device is charging.

A: 100 meter.

100M: Device is charging.

A: 250 meter.

250M: Device is charging.

A: 500 meter.

500M: Device is charging.

A: 1 kilometer.

1KM: Device is charging.

A: 3 kilometer.

3KM: Device is charging.

A: 5 kilometer.

5KM: Device is charging.

A: 7 kilometer.

7KM: Device is charging.

A: (Grinned at B) 10 kilometer.

10KM: Device is charging.

(A and B exchanged a few inaudible words in the backgroud)

B: Okay, let it run for a few more minutes and let’s see- (The light in the room flickered and three seconds later, the video recording stopped)

***

A massive electric field engulfed the whole planet at an incredible rate, it swiped the whole continent slower than lights but faster than jets. It also emitted countless electrons and spreaded in a devastating speed.

Almost every single life on earth were taken, every piece of electronic was deep fried, and anyone who was near an electronic product was killed instantly. Those who stayed away in the countryside, with no electronic was spared to live a pathetic life a little long, three minutes.

Those who made it out alive, were mostly African. The rest of the world had less than a dozen alive, ten thousand below.

Animals were killed much like the way the human were, and some survived like the human were.

But there was something strange happening, the plants didn’t die, none had died except a few recent species raised by scientifically giving birth to.

Plants didn’t die but were stronger than ever. They grew bigger, tougher, more fruits, more flowers, more life within them. Their coverage soon extended toward the city and overtook many places as their home.

The living survived because of theses weird looking tree. Tree that grew so large, with so many branches and too many leaves.

Shelters were built around them, life were gathered beside them.

None had the time to find out what caused the almost extinction of human and animals, and the knowledge soon were forgotten and gone with the dead.

Years passed, life evolved around trees, people settled for a place of their own, but dangers were lurking around them.

(Something like Revolution + The Last of Us + Tokyo Jungle + Enslaved: Odyssey to the West + I am Legend)

Docking Permission

The team stepped out of the airlock and was confronted by the gunman on the side. Commander Colson stood in the middle between them.

“Lieutenant, I am afraid I can’t let you and your squad aboard.” said the commander.

“What-”

“Listen to me. The captain and I had a chat before you came back and we have reached a conclusion that, your squad should not be granted aboard before we found out what happened on the other ship.”

“But-”

“Is for the whole crew, lieutenant.” and he walked away.

The squad looked lifeless through the decontamination room, Nolan kept hitting on the glass yelling for help.

“Get yourself together, Nolan.” The privates dragged him back and tried to comfort him.

Doctor Megan Louis walked down the hallway holding a report in her hand. It listed all the scanning result on the other ship, but nothing special turned up. She reached the airlock and called for Keen.

“How are you and your people holding up?” asked Megan.

“We are doing fine, but can you please tell me you’ve got something, anything that could let us out of here.”

“I-” She gave a disappointed look and they both fell into a silence.

“Whatever happened on that ship isn’t caused by any contagious stuff, right?”

“We haven’t ruled out that possibility yet. There were rumours that some kind of engineered bacteria could eat up human flesh and cleaned up the place, like really clean.”

“Do you think that’s what it is?” said Keen.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before.”

“Are we dying?”

Megan turned back and suppressed her tear from running down.

“No, you are not dying, I won’t let you.” said Megan and she ran away.

In the Center Control, Captain Monokol had established the connection to a nearby Acting Galactic Government Patrol Fleet and through their official permission, contacted the Star Admiral Quentin Ocasso.

“Admiral, this is Captain Monokol from the Sixth Battalion. I have contacted you because our ship have came across a rather awkward situation.”

“What is it?”

“We may have found a lost ship that belonged to the missing Captain John Maison. And the whole crew went missing but the ships intact and clean.”

“John Maison. Are you sure it is his ship?”

“We have crew members searched the ship and found his personal effects. But admiral, I think we have also found out the reason why the entire crew went missing.”
“Go on.”

“We are still looking at other possible reason, and many speculated that the it was some kind of engineered human flesh eating bacteria.”

“Are you kidding me Captain Monokol, that was just some rumour from the street. If you have no more information on that ship, just sent me what you have to the relay, and excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”

The connection ended abruptly.

Ghost Ship

As the team dug deep into the ship, they discovered the identity of the crew that was previously serving on this vessel.

Keen and Sealon searched around the captain’s quarter, and they found something worth reporting back to the mother ship.

“Commander, this is Sealon. Keen and I have been inside the captain’s quarter and found something that might interest you. The captain of this ship, was John Maison. He was a member of the higher council in the starfleet but went missing for years. I think that was like three or four years ago.”

“John Maison, I remember him, I knew him. We met at the academy, he was two grades higher than me, but he looked after me like he did to everyone else. Did you find anything that could explain this abandoned ship situation?”

“Sir,” Keen joined the conversation. “I don’t think this is an abandoned ship, nor were they kidnapped.”

“Then what is it?”

“Frankly, I think they simply vanished. I mean the jets are all intact and parked in the rear hatch, the interior is clean and organized. It doesn’t look like someone intruded the ship, or they were super clean at it.”

“But how could they simply vanished from the ship, it isn’t possible.”

“We are looking for clues, but currently, it’s still a big mystery.

In the crew quarters, the three of them were finding nothing but a pile of clothes and some stashed coins. Nolan came across a picture of a young lady pilot once but was seized by Bernard. They took anything that might be useful and proceed to the kitchen.

The foods were spoiled, even those that were kept in the refrigerator grew an ugly layer of bacteria. They did, however, found some kitchenware of use and packed them in a box.

They gathered at the command center again while Keen checked the system log.

“It has been running on itself for more than three years now, 1280 days to be exact, that matched the time when captain John Maison went missing. It’s related. We got to figure out how this happened, I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

“But we saw nothing out of order throughout the ship. It’s clean, it’s running.” said Nolan.

“How would you explain this then, where are the crew of this ship?”

“Keen,” Sealon stepped up and pulled Keen backward. “Calm down, we will figure this out, but first we got to report back to the ship.” Sealon called back to their ship and they floated back once again.

Commander Colson was standing outside of the airlock when they came out.

Battle Station

“Battle Station, Battle Station. Priority One alert -” the voice of captain Monokol blasted from the central broadcast system to all part of the ship, and the red emergency lights were blinking.

The crews rushed back to their posts and received the updated situation report from their commander.

“We have just got visual confirmation on an unresponsive battleship, the initial system scan detected a fully functional engine, but the life scanner picked up nothing, not a breath,” commander Colson paused, “We are approaching the ship at half speed and lieutenant Keen will lead a squad of five to scout and secure the ship. We will use the heat signature detector as soon as we are in range.” Colson turned back and exchanged a few words with captain Monokol.

“Everyone, this is a simple and easy mission, but we should not let our guards down. The objective is to secure the ship and find out what happened. I doubt it is an abandoned ship, so stand your post, we are not taking any chance.” remarked captain Monokol.

Lieutenant Keen stepped forward and hand picked four squad mate to go along with him.

Private Bernard, Hillary and Vincent were chosen because of their own battle experience; Specialist Nolan was picked because of his scouting expertise; Lieutenant Sealon was assigned by the commander to assist and oversee the actions.

“Commander, we are closing in to the vessel, heat signature scanner indicator no life form aboard, sir.” reported specialist Lelia controlling the dashboard.

“Okay soldiers, it’s time to move in.” announced Colson.

Lieutenant Keen and his squad wore the combat suit and each equipped with an LP6 Laser pistol and a LR36 Laser Rifle. Specialist Nolan also carried a portable life signature scanner for closer inspection.

Their ship drifted five hundred meters next to the vessel, from there the team ejected from the air hatch and floated across the field of stars. They reached the rear entrance to the jet hatch and found those intact and accounted for, based on the slots painted on the deck.

They quickly divided into two groups, with the two lieutenants in each group. The scouting was smooth and quick and trouble-less. They regrouped at the command center and reported to Keen.

“East wing and North wing are clear, sir. Everything seems to be in order except no one is present.”

“West wing and South wing are also clear, sir. Nothing suspicious, no signs of struggle, no nothing. It was like the entire crew just, vanished.”

“Yes, we have noticed that, too.” said Keen as he triggered the intercomm. “Commander, the ship is clear, we are going to find anything useful and bring it back to the ship, but I think we need to further investigate this after our return.”

“As it should be, captain Keen. Return as soon as you and your team have the supply and we will discuss about the other matter when you return.”

The team split into two groups again and searched for supply that could be useful from the crew’s quarter and the gathering area, as well as the kitchen and the captain’s quarter.

Butterfly Effect

A butterfly flapped its wing in Miami a few weeks ago and a hurricane formed outside New York City because of it.

New York City, New York

Neal woke up to the sound of thunderstorm inside his apartment in 160 West and 24th Street, it was said a hurricane would arrive on the morning or the afternoon, along with heavy rain and possible flooding in some lower areas. He snatched his tank top on the floor and dressed up before brushing.

The room was dark grey, nothing seemed cheerful when the lights were gone, it was like life couldn’t continue without light. He turned on the light in the study area, where a large milky vertical panel resided. The glossy surface reflected the light into his eye when he approached it, but at the press of his hand, it went away and was replaced by a colorful display. He scrolled the through the news reports, daily updates, mails and took notes of the extreme weather warning.

He arranged a meeting with a client at 10, before that, he prepared himself in the ‘presentation mode’, in which he chose a clean and white background overriding the existing over stuff cloth piles in a single basket. He also attached himself with a presentable shirt and tie. Everything would be formal and respectable when the meeting began.

In the meantime, Neal poured himself a cup of hot green tea and read an article about things happening in the South East Asia. He took his time, not over thinking himself with the meeting.

A ringtone notified him to attend the meeting on time, he eased into the study area and seated on the chair, pulled up the preset mode and made the connection with the client.

The invitation for the meeting was interrupted, some network error. He tried to initiate the contact some more times but were denied all the same. No signal in, no signal out. He stared at the display and sighed.

Miami, Florida

Peter landed in front of his own less sophisticated and much economic display, waiting for Neal to start the meeting at scheduled time, but it never came. He waited some more. Still nothing. Ten minutes passed.

The sunny weather was summoning him, he couldn’t just sit here and wasted the day. He stepped outside, and checked up on the butterflies he attracted by his own excellent gardening work. All the plants and flowers were their favourite. He smiled and walked between them, enjoying the day like he had been for weeks.

He remembered seeing the first butterfly flapping its wings, it was soft and strong at the same time as he felt a breeze blew past him.

Little did he know, that could cause a hurricane weeks later in New York.

Dimension

Jessica sat down on the long bench waiting for the bus to arrive, it was late at night and the whole block was quiet. A man sat quietly next to him, apparently dipping in the book he was read. She initiated the chat talking about the day’s weather.

“Pretty hot today huh?”

The man shrugged, “Sure.”

then she waited for him, like he would say something else. But he didn’t add anything to the conversation.

“What are you reading?” asked Jessica.

“A book called ‘The Manhattan Project’ by some guy living in the upper east side.” said the man plainly.

“Interesting?”

“Quite boring, just the usual stuff about how to live a better life, that sort of stuff.”

“Oh.”

She looked up to the sky and said, “The moon’s pretty full today.”

“Really?” the man put his hand on the page he was reading and turned to the moon.

“How long have been waiting for the car?” Jessica checked the time.

“I am not waiting for any car, I am just here reading.”

“Oh” What a Weirdo, Jessica thought. “Do you know when the bus will be here then?”

“It’s coming, three minutes top on its current speed.”

This is getting weirder. “And how do you, er, know?”

“I just know.”

Jessica approached the man and reached for his shoulder. Her hand went through it but she didn’t feel anything solid.

“What are you?” Jessica retrieved her hand from him, or it.

“I am the city’s transport guidance system representative in a holographic display.”

“So you are an A.I.?”

“Not exactly.” The sound of a high pitch feedback emitted from the man, or the model, then came a voice livelier than it. “Hi there, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, who is this?” asked Jessica.

“Hi, I am Jason from the TGS control center, the man or the model you are seeing right now is just an manually controlled virtual representative manipulated by me.”

“So, you are saying it’s not an A.I. then?”

“Right, the things he said and the movement he had was pre-scripted. It had limited lines and movements so that’s why I had to take over the voice and speak to you. Our lips are synced, though.”

“I have read about this somewhere but I didn’t know it was already implemented.”

“That’s because this is just an experiment we are still running at night, the department is working on running it in the city as soon as the mayor gives the signal.”

The bus was approaching.

“Looks like your bus is here.”

“Yeah, This is quite awesome,” said Jessica “a little bit creepy too.”

“Well, you will have to adjust, that’s for sure.”

Jessica boarded the bus, the last shift of the day. She turned to look at the bench through the windows, the man flickered and was gone.

The Vibe

Depressed thoughts sparked violent vibe

Maintained the state from collapsing

Hindered by practical measures

Crumbled unto release

Target in the mist

Direction unknown

Diminished was hope

Recreate the false sensation

Wasted precious

Run along

Tasted the defeat

Gore in dark purple

Shaped as the void

No ends

Prepare for thy return

Wild Fire

The construction in the lower Manhattan area paused for days because of a fire started from one of the deconstructing building. Sources indicated a gas leak under the foundation, most likely from the sewage pipe, that incinerated with a cigarette. The flame caught up very quickly and spread to its surrounding buildings, which escalated the whole situation under an hour.

The firefighters all over the five boroughs were called for duty. However, the fire was not put out three days later. The city evacuated the nearby neighborhood and restricted the access to the area as a precaution, though not everyone was happy with the temporary reallocation to the Bronx.

Six buildings were torched during the fire with only one of them, a just started building collapsed. The other five survived the burn but left much to clear and rebuilt. Officials estimated the fire would stalled the project for another three months, pulled back the finish date to as soon as 2026.

After the fire, the city cancelled all restriction and evacuation order. And some strange things happened during that three days. Besides some of them had filed stolen properties to the police department, three bodies were found in an alleyway close to where the fire started.

The police had not identified the three bodies yet and had no clue in the petty theft around the neighborhood.

Since the roads were closed down and the people who could access were the firefighter and the police, the public turned to them and suspected some of them committed the crime during down time. Aerial footage captured by drones controlled by both news media and private bodies during that three days were released online, many had spent weeks searching for suspicious activities but found nothing concrete.

Almost four weeks later, the police confirmed the three bodies found in the restricted zone to be the construction workers working in that site. The police suspected at least one of them were smoking and caused the fire, and the cause of death was possibly by the wild fire.

The police also arrested several people suspected of break-in and theft during the fire. They were suspected of selling items on the Internet that matched the list of stolen properties reported.

With the construction back into track, the city also raised its bar on the safety standard of the construction sites.

Hedgehog

In a quiet and relax environment, Nick lay on the soft massage pad facing down. Someone opened the door and closed it carefully. The person put on the music, slowly, simple, instrumental music. Nick felt the touch of that person working on his shoulder to his legs. It felt so good when the person massaged his legs.

The constantly dripping cold droplets from the morning leaves woke him up, he found himself leaning against a tree, in a forest awakening in dark green. He wiped off the water on his face with both hands and stood up uneasily. His legs still sore from the days of walking and his stomach protested with a loud groan. Nick opened his yellow backpack and took a bite on the packaged cracker and sipped enough water to moisten his throat.

He continued along the wet and darker path to his next check point. The muddy road frustrated him even more after last night’s rain, he slowed down his pace further and felt like the mud intended to drag him down. From dusk to noon, he only rested briefly once for five minutes. That was all he need, he didn’t want to be the last one crossing the finish line and be the ‘turtle of the match’.

Sweat slid down his forehead, he wiped them away with the back of his hand before it got into his eyes. He crossed meadows, climbed over or ducked under fallen tree trunks, pushed away any obstacle and rushed in the same direction till the legs could walk no further.

He was racing with the sun, he ran toward him and as time shifted, he found himself way ahead of the it, the cycle repeated itself every day, and he could win it any time.

The night crept on his back when he was assembling a small camp to rest for the day, the nearly full moon shone down on the forest, the light so bright and white, it was almost artificial. Nick started a small fire with a lighter and cooked some cereal in a tiny pan with two cracked crackers and little water. It tasted plain and raw.

Crickets sang in distant, Nick was about to fall asleep when he heard the rumbling nearby. He listened to the direction where the sound was. Another rumble. He got up and prepared his knife from the bag; he walked toward the origin of the disturbance in a steady pace. Under the moonlight, a hedgehog showed its spikes and turned up its rumbling volume even more.

It reminded him of his hedgehog, Gizmo, at home. He wondered what it was doing with his sister.

Nick bent down and studied it. The hedgehog was rolled into a defensive curl like a ball and hissing at him. He was curious how a wild, untamed hedgehog would react to his hold. He expected it would try to escape and hiss louder, longer.

Nick slipped his hands under the the hedgehog slowly and carefully, and with caution he hold it off ground. It remained in its curl, but not running away. He caressed the hedgehog and waited for it to decide its fate.

Gradually the hedgehog stopped hissing and uncurled itself, it started to sniff and move around his hand, curious about the stranger who was holding him. It probably had never encountered with human before, it licked and tasted the scent of Nick, and seemed like he was to its favour.

Hurricane Poker Night

Ali and three other friends seated in the center of the room, with the windows closed and the fire burning, Light was off because of suspended electricity supply in extreme weather condition. So the candles in reserve were lit around the Ali’s tiny apartment. The sound of rain hitting on the glass and the charcoal bumping in the fireplace and the occasional distant thunder clashing, made it the perfect night to Poker.

Poker is better with friends. Erik, Steve and Dean sat quietly in their seats, waiting for Ali to make his move. The candle flame flickered on the middle of the table, their shadows cast on the wall distorted and struggled, but soon returned to its true host. Ali invited the three loners over to his place because he knew they would be doing nothing on their own anyway.

Ali rubbed his cards and at once raised five bucks with a smirk at Erik. The round proceeded as the rest called to the five dollars, The fourth card was shown, a demanding bloody heart Queen. They checked their cards together. Steve rubbed his stub and let out a tiresome groan while the others remained silence. Ali sipped from the Whiskey bottle, and checked.

The other two complied except Erik who apparently not in his right mind, raised another five bucks, even when his facial expression and body language displayed his frustration in plain sight. Others gladly followed for but remain skeptical.

The fifth card was dealt and a mad black club Ace was shown.

“Come on,” sighed Dean. “This is bullshit.”

“Chill out there, cowboy, what have you got.” asked Ali.

“None of your fucking business is what I've got.” said Dean.

“Fine.”

Steve checked the hand and so did the others.

Ali came up with a pair of Ace, Erik a pair of Queen, Steve a two pairs of Queen and Two, and Dean got nothing much than an Ace High.

Steve hugged his victory chips and pushed them toward his own stash.

“Damn it, you are a real cunning one you know that. Why aren't you going to the undercover and let me be the detective?” remarked Dean.

“It’s just me, or is there something buzzing in the room?” laughed Steve.

Erik picked up the cards and shuffled them in silence. Ali stood up and checked the fireplace.

“Are you guys warm enough?” said Ali.

“It’s all good here.”

Ali poked the charcoal with a crumpled and twisted newspaper and sent it to the heart. He returned to his seat and offered the fellows a refill.

Steve shook his head. “Nah, another few fingers of that and I am going to lose all my baby chips.”

Ali poured the Whiskey into Erik and Dean’s cup, and gave them some more ice into the mix.

“So, Dean, two weeks and you will be in the deep, right?” Erik eyed him.

“Like I said, none of your fucking business either. Captain Reynolds.” Dean swallowed a finger of whiskey with the ice lingering in his mouth.

“Hey, all right, into your character already, I like that.” commented Erik.

“Just deal the hand.”

Erik flipped the cards in his hand and shuffled twice more.

The new hands wasn't any better to Dean, a pair of Two.

Ali got an Eight with the bloody heart Queen haunting him.

Erik peeked at his hands, a Diamond Knight and a Three.

A pair of Ace grinned at Steve.

Steve checked his hands and the other called to the blind of two bucks.

The Flop consisted of a pair of Three and a Seven.

Steve, Dean and Ali checked again, only Erik raised three bucks for his hand. They called.

The Turn turned out to be a Two.

Steve again, held his ground. Dean raised two bucks and Ali called but Erik raised another three bucks. Steve called, Dean called, Ali Folded.

“Damn son, seriously, this is the worst hand tonight.” cried Ali, and he moved away to the the windows looking out at the city’s scattered candle lights.

Erik flipped out the River, a classic Ace.

The three of them smiled at their cards. Steve raised ten bucks and Dean added another ten, Erik and Steve called.

Just as they were about to show their hands, Ali opened the window and a gust of wind rushed through the room, the burning charcoal jumped everywhere and the cards on the table flowed on the floor. Ali quickly banged close the window.

“Damn it, Ali. What the hell do you think you are doing?” barked Dean.

“Yeah, what the hell is that about?” said Steve.

“Nothing, just taking some fresh air.” Ali walked to the fireplace and fixed the charcoal back to their position.

The three of them picked up the cards and the four of them seated down once again for the game.

Public Figures

“The protest continued in New York City while the city’s Mayor meet up with the major investors of the urban development. The opposing force demanded an open discussion and release the details on the city planning, which the city refused to do so in favor of the investors--”

James muted the screen and expanded another display on the side, the reports related to the news were presented. He browsed through several articles and stopped at the last one. He recognized the name - Amelia Garfield - an online handler of his.

The article was well received and slowly gaining its popularity on the Internet. Traffic frequented his ads filled website and brought him a good chunk of revenue for the day.

However, what the article was about, near got him killed.

At first he heard the knocks, then someone shouted his real name and asked him to open up. He was fat and not active so the walk took quite a while, but before he reached the doorknob, the squad outside had already broke the metal framed door down and landed directly on him.

They pulled him out of the broken door not very willingly and dragged him downstair. They drove him around while two men identified themselves as detective Jones and detective Cooper interrogated him in the back of the van.

“Mr. James Lunn, how did you get hold of those classified files? Those you used in your article?”

“Can I have a lawyer?”

“Answer the question, James.”

“Will you let me go if I told you?”

“Certainly.”

James was about to open up when the car suddenly stopped and jerked the three of them out of balance.

“What’s that about?” said James.

Someone patted on the back door, and said, “Detectives, we are to transfer the suspects to a secure location, please open the door.”

Opened the door they did and a CCC vehicle, a much bigger van from the Crime Control Center was idling on the sidewalk.

James ducked down and got out of the police van. Out of the frying pan, into the frying hell.

They put James into a standalone cell block not much bigger than his size and told him to be quiet. Nothing happened for a long time, no one came asking questions or checking up on him.

Later, when there was someone to see him, is the mayor itself.

“Mr. James Lunn, I assumed.”

“Mr. Mayor! or, Mayor.”

“Son, do you know what you did?”

“No sir, I did what I normally do.”

“And what were you thinking when you spread that kind of information around like its nothing.”

“I don’t know, freedom of press. And ads revenue?”

“James, the city, our city needs help from them. Otherwise we are going to be the next on the Fringe List.”

“Really, the Fringe List’s real? Are you telling me that the Congress was behind all this bullshit?”

“I am responsible to the city and I will do anything to keep it under our control. Unlike you, Mr. Lunn, you failed the city. Enjoy the alone time.”

Accomplice

“Daniel Watson, 31. Unemployed. Served five months in the Marine before he got a Dishonorable Discharge. The details are in the report,” Detective Erik Reynolds flashed the folder on his hand. “He lived alone, no close relative or associate. The neighbor said he kept it to himself pretty much all the time, not a fan of chit-chat I guess,” He chuckled. “We searched his house and came up with nothing but trash he collected from the street. Photos will be pinned to the board,” He pointed at the giant but thin screen mounted on the wall. “As with the ballistic, we have got confirmation that every single shot in the five deceased police officers matched to the weapon from our suspect,” Erik paused. “Gunshot residue was found all over Daniel Watson, our primary suspect. As well as Jonathan Kellein’s palm. We still should not rule out the possibility that the two were working together.” said Erik.

“Danny, I want you to check with the surveillance tape around that block. No, make it three, any camera that is within three blocks to the building. I want to know every single detail.” Stressed Erik.

“And you Kelly, I want you to go poke around the family of Jonathan Kellein, find out who they were and what they do, I trust your communication skills, so don’t let me down.”

Erik Reynolds flicked through the folder and stopped on a page. “Where is the autopsy report?”

“There’s been complication in the autopsy department, so it won’t come through until the day after tomorrow.” reported Jane Stellar.

“What kind of complication?”

“The Medical Examiner felt ill yesterday, something about a contamination from the dead body and there isn’t other available ME around the state. They said he should be able to return to work in a day.”

“Why, can’t the machine do it?”

“They said the machines wasn’t suppose to operate without the ME’s presence. Rules.” Said Jane.

“God damn it, how am I suppose to close this case fast with one of them in a coma that is probably going to die in the next 48 hours, and another one unattended in the freezer?” Erik threw the folder against his desk hard, everyone in the room was spooked.

“Boss, I--”

“I am sorry. Sorry guys.” Erik yelled.

His phone rang. “Hello.”

“Hi, Detective Reynolds, this is Claire Givens from Lenox Hill Hospital, Doctor Mary Harper asked me to tell you that she is sorry, but the patient emitted earlier was beyond our help.”

“Oh, well. Thanks for informing us, Claire.”

“You’re welcome.”

Erik went silence for a few seconds, then said “JFK is dead. Not that he had much to live for, but,” He paused again. “Sadly, the only accomplice is also dead now, that means we don’t have much of a case. Compile the paperwork, and Kelly, get the autopsy report as soon as you can, I believe the deceased’s family deserve an end to this brutal murder.”

Black Market

Juan Benjamin surveyed the warehouse from his office up the stairs in the center of the room, and chuckled.

The Sunday Midnight rush was the best. Products illegally obtained loaded in from around the city and landed right here for underground trading. Each items was tagged and put up on a website for everyone to bid on for just an hour, but the turnover rate was so great that most of the time the accumulated backup was put into sales as well. Before you know it, the things you bought were already packed and ready to ship.

Unlike retail sales, Juan got a cut of 30% for every successful transaction into his pocket just by running this business. Very simple but profitable.

However, not everyone could just walk in and put their goods on the rack, because the operation has to stay underground and anonymous in case of police raiding. You need a middleman, an agent, a contact from the inside. That middle man, an automated program moderated together by thousands of hackers and private detectives, worked better than the police department in your background check.

Every week, a new website would be put into use and it would maintain exactly an hour of work before going down. The team of hackers behind it would defend any attempts to shutdown the site. It was an dead drop, untraceable, variable, constantly changing location.

Even the warehouse was picked by the very last day before the sales went live. Trucks full of goods would cross the state border and unload thousands of stolen goods into the empty space until it filled up completely.

The massive trucks ran along the road together was not something never seen, it wasn’t easy to detect whether they were real or not.

The police had been on the tail of this activities for weeks, but thanks to the anonymity of the website and warehouse location, and the weekend traffic rush, little progress was made. The investigation was a state wide cooperation between the agencies, but because they could not organize a large raiding party since the location was not announced beforehand, the cooperation was meaningless except the intelligence. They knew there would be guarding party with heavy firearm, and a warehouse full of bulky trucks, the operation of such scale could not be easily cracked, let alone capturing the mastermind behind this.

One of sensible solution was to monitor all the warehouse that was large enough for this kind of operation, which in the case of the whole US soil, were hundreds fitting the description on paper. But even if they did find the warehouse in action, the response time and manpower was still a headache.

Another solution they came up was to send undercover agents into the field and penetrate the organization from the bottom. Supposedly their would get in touch with some of the ‘associates’ they knew, thief, hacker, grifter, and assign them to made contact with the middle man. Once they get into the game, they could possibly gain more information before the party started again undisturbed.

But how could they trust them. Thief? Hacker? Grifter?

Urban Legend

Daniel Watson walked around the neighborhood cautiously, afraid to be seen by the cops. He reached inside his jacket to check if the 5mm pistol he just bought from dead drop was still in place. He looked around the quiet street on the Sunday morning, fasten his pace to hide behind an half completed building’s wall, and waited. A police vehicle pulled up next to the building later, responding to an emergency call to the 911, something about stealing construction materials.

Daniel loaded the gun a clip of bullets. When the police got out from their vehicle and approached the building, he jumped out behind the wall and delivered a headshot to one of the officer standing in front of the pack. The other three reacted to the shot and quickly got to cover, but one of them was too slowly and Daniel shot it on the leg and he went down crawling. Two more bullets and his live ended right there. Two left.

One of them called for backup to the command center and radio for nearby patrols support.

“Officer down, repeat, Officer DOWN. Request immediate backup to Archer street and Taylor Avenue in Bronx. Repeat, Archer street and Taylor Avenue, Bronx” said a deep voice in panic. “Suspect is armed and dangerous.”

“Requesting patrol officer assistance in Archer street and Taylor Avenue, please response. suspect is armed and dangerous.” said a younger voice.

Daniel heard one female officer responded to the call. He could saw the fatty and the older guy peering out from behind the pillars occasionally, sometime long enough he could make the shot.

Then they decided to try oral strategy.

“Surrender now, you have no where to go.” said the fatty.

Daniel kept his silence, and moved forward and hid behind a pillar before the duo looked up again.

He checked their location and aimed at the position where the old guy would stick his neck out. Boom, and he was gone.

The fatty returned fire but aiming at the far side of the wall, which indicated that he didn’t know where the shot was coming from and that gave Daniel another window to flank him and killed him without him noticing.

He checked their pulse. All dead.

Daniel busted out of the structure and ran on the street. People already were looking down from their windows when the first shot woke them up.

“Freeze. Drop your weapon.” said a female voice from behind.

Daniel turned around slowly and fire three consecutive shot in a blink of an eye, the officer dropped dead.

Unfortunate for him, she returned fire as well and hit him in the stomach. He dragged forward a few steps and threw the gun aside and slowly lying to the ground.

A man jogged past the street corner with his earphone set to a very loud volume and did not hear the gun being fired. He saw Daniel lying on the ground and rushed toward him, thought of helping him. When Daniel pointed his hand to the weapon lying on the ground not so far away with all his remaining energy, the man picked it up for him.

Right at this time, a police cruiser sped down the street and came to a sudden stop, two officers stepped out of the car and raised their weapon directly at the man.

He panicked and raised his hand with the gun in his hand, the officers didn’t perceive this as a surrender and innocent citizen but a cunning murderer seeking a way to escape from the authorities. They did not hesitated for a moment and each fired once as he raised his hand. Just because he is black, just like the one that was dead on the ground.

The man hit the ground hard and two men’s blood merged into a big pool.

The man had a name, his name is Jonathan Franklin Kellein, JFK. Maybe his parent thought giving him a name like this was something, but hell, neither one of the JFK lived and died of natural causes.

The police and news recognized him as a cold blooded murderer working together with Daniel Watson, but the people living in the hood respected both of them as the Urban Legend.

CK

The CK gang was one of the most influential organization in New York, infamous for its cruelty and high-profile. Their leader, Carl Kellein, was the one who defined the ruthless act and large-scale operation. He believed not only in self righteous, but also in the public’s right to know. He defend the criminals and provide protection to them, he was the one to count on.

The investigation on the gang started since its uprising in the year 2018. The organization rapidly expanded throughout the year and gathered power of the people greater than the police force. Small encounters with its members would inevitably escalated into faction warfare, even then the New York’s finest could not intervene with the matter but let it resolve itself.

Background information indicated that Carl Kellein and his brother, Chuck Kellein, were grew up in the Bronx together under the care of their father, Jonathan Franklin Kellein, the once public enemy and forever urban legend, who was allegedly involved in the a serial shooting of five police officers on patrol duty around the hood. The police report only included circumstantial evidence that put Mr. Kellein at the scene with a shooter, who assumed to be his partner. He was shot dead on sight by two police officers and the police later searched him and found a gun with the same caliber that murdered those cops, later the ballistic report turned out positive. Although only a slight gunshot residue was detected on his left palm, he was still recognized by the police as one of the killer.

CK and his brother were on their own, they picked up the street act and formed a little activist group that later became the CK gang. They were not freedom fighter, they were merely fighting for their fathers innocence. People had long disdained the hood, anything happened in the hood was a tragedy and misunderstanding. Not matter where, New York City, Chicago, Boston, Oakland, they were all the same. People still despise the black, not matter how comprehensive the law was, this generation would never change.

The gang had contacts that supported them inside the authorities, and their assistances were crucial to the rising of the movement. Besides beating up thugs and gaining control over the city, CK also maintain the money laundering business and firearm dealing. They also had skillful hackers and grifter that aided them in various operations.

When talking about the organization, it was thought to be loosely managed and there were many new faces claiming to be their members. Those who vandalised in the public and caused harm in the neighborhood all dropped the responsibility to the CK gang, it was like a church for unloading sins.

The day CK and some of its senior members were shot to death in their newly opened burger shop, was the day the power shifted in the city.

The shooter got away and the investigation was no way to begin, no facial feature or physical evidence, it was a hard case to crack.

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Captain Kurtis King

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