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Chapter 4 - The Mayor's Trials

Chapter 4 – The Mayor's Trials

Vertigo Town
Arlington County, VA
Wednesday, April 29, 2076
10:06 EST GMT-5

After being given clearance to see Mayor Jack Wheeler, I got up, and me and my friends went inside his office. We looked and saw the mayor, sitting at his desk, working, and putting some data in his computer, a holographic, transparent tablet, attached to a keyboard. He was a Caucasian looking red-neck type of person, wearing T-shirt, jeans, had a locket and a brown sleeveless vest. Looked well in his mid-to-late-40s.

"Have a seat!" said Wheeler. "I'll be with you, shortly. I got some work to finish and a quick email to shoot."

"Thank you!" I expressed delight.

The mayor said nothing, and the nearest I figured he wasn't too interested in helping us, or even having us in his office. We then sat there, keeping. While Aurora just decided to look through her phone in the meantime, and Ranger just folded his arm, to keep himself composed and looked down at his shoes; I just took the opportunity to check the office out. The office looked modern, but more sophisticated. It seemed like some futuristic setting in a sci-fi flick, but also gave some retro vibes, in the sense that it had some supplies, which were commonly used during the 2010s and 2020s, along with how there was a blade fan, encases in a cage. Something which people stopped using sixty years ago, in favor of bladeless fans. It was then Wheeler looked up from his computer, towards us.

"From what I've understood, you three have been in hibernation for the past four decades, and now you want to live in our time, because obviously, you've nowhere to go now? Probably don't even have jobs, lost your posts to robots, and now need a purpose?" asked Wheeler, with a stern expression, then he chuckled. "Well now that you are out of hibernation, your lives are safe with us, if it's of any use at all."

"Hey!" said Ranger, with a disappointed look. "That sounds like a bad deal."

"You're in no position to deal. Unlike you, I was born in 2032, and I've never been in hibernation. So, I'm the same age on print, unlike you." Wheeler said, sounding more serious. "Yes, I am forty-three, turning forty-four soon. And in this city, everything and everyone is either useful, or dead weight. Prove yourselves worthy, or the desert will be your grave."

"You need to work on making people who are new, feel more welcome to your city, than to scorn them." I couldn't help it, I had to say it.

"In this wasteland, we value strength, survival, hard work, honesty, integrity, determination, and excellence, above all!" chuckled Wheeler. "That's not to say, we don't value respect, treating people equally, stopping racism and preventing crimes. The latter is especially important to us. It is, however, worth mentioning that if you have been in hibernation for decades, like other people, and not living like normal people, who never went thought that; then you'll have people who'll unfortunately be judgmental and contemptible towards you. So, before I can do anything for you, the three of you must go to the bank nearby and get processed. We'll start paying you in cryptocurrency, say about equivalent to two thousand dollars per week, as universal basic income."

"Wow, I mean that's more than my years of service would've paid me." I was shocked hearing this. "Way above my pay grade."

"Y'think?" laughed Wheeler. "It may seem much, but not in today's economic climate. You can imagine what that meteor's harmful radiation did to this Godforsaken economy. You couldn't even buy food with that anymore, let alone pay half a month's rent utility bill. Which leaves you three relics to find jobs, to make more money. You'd be lucky if you find one giving you twenty-four hours per week. That's our new full-time work policy. And you will work over the course of four days, six-hour days. The work schedule? You get to pick. Pretty much it'll be online. But once you're done with the bank, y'all will need to upgrade your smartphones, and get holophones from the electronics store nearby. Believe me, you'll need it. We're finally dismantling some legacy 6G, 7G and 8G mobile network infrastructure for good. So, your current devices will be rendered useless. Then head to the combat arena, it's right between Shelley's Bar and Javier's Casino. I'll meet you there, shortly."

"Thank you, for that information." I got up and shook his hand. "We'll see you then!"

"Good luck, and Welcome to Vertigo Town!" said Wheeler. "Let's see how long you last here."