ALLISON WUNDERLAN
Shopping for the Revolution
Two tall kids carrying weirdly shaped pistols on their belts escorted Miles and me back to Rayne’s office. Rayne seemed slightly more relaxed, and Zak smirked at me a friendly way. While the atmosphere in Rayne’s office wasn’t happy-go-lucky, it had significantly improved.
“OK, let’s say she’s what she appears to be,” Rayne said, while pulling a small metal disk out of her pocket.
She pointed the disk at the green wall without maps and half the wall slid away, revealing a huge screen. The gigantic TV screen could’ve eaten a dozen TVs from my timeline for dinner, with room left over for dessert.
Rayne turned to Miles. “Is it time for GovNews?”
“Just started,” Miles said.
Rayne pushed a button on the disk and the screen buzzed to life. Dozens of channels instantly flipped by before settling on one. The other screens disappeared. My first glimpse of future TV was a million light years away from the square little box with rabbit ear antennas nestled on top in my living room back home in Berkeley.
“Watch the VidScreen, Allison.” Zak pointed with his chin.
I shot him an annoyed glance. Mr. Boy Wonder. Mr. Chemist. As if I could not watch it.
A woman with perfect black bangs and an intense stare, wearing a jacket made of shiny red material, smiled out of the screen. “More of today’s top news … HardestRight elements within the Gov denied reports about new legislation being proposed to make FreeThought of any type illegal. The Gov also dismissed rumors concerning plans to push the age of mandatory PlugIn and NanoBot activation up to 25, which would also include a piece of hardware called the FearChip. And in other news, Prez Oats, speaking today from New White House in Pittsburgh, denied claims the Unified Society of States is considering using tactical nuclear weapons against the free state of AlaskaTwo. “In the before-world, AlaskaTwo used to be a part of our country and is a great ally of ours. It is currently one of our top IntellectualGoods trading partners. AlaskaTwo will always be one of our closest allies,” Prez Oats said.”
“Easy for a clone to say,” mumbled Miles.
I looked at Rayne. “Since when did the White House move to Pittsburgh?”
“Global Sea Rise Event—only half of Washington left above water,” she whispered out the side of her mouth.
The newswoman went on to the next story.
“Dozens of people in downtown Los Angeles were spotted walking directly into traffic, piloting helicars and hovercrafts into buildings, and falling from rooftops. GovPolice have reported incidents such as these ‘ occurring more frequently.’ A survivor from one of these incidents—a man who had casually strolled into oncoming traffic in the MetroVille section of Los Angeles—told our reporter he had been ‘awake for a month.’ Our reporter on the scene verified that the man appeared to be suffering from extreme exhaustion, a possible result of sleep deprivation. An investigation is ongoing. And in other news…the first human-dolphin hybrid, Joseeph J. Dolpheen, announced today he’s running for a vacant congressional seat in Portland, Oregon. Sources close to Mr. Dolpheen say…”
Rayne switched to a channel showing birds-eye views of mountain ranges and ocean vistas accompanied by soft flute and bongo drum music playing faintly in the background. Back in my timeline it would’ve been called the Hippie Freak Cool Out channel and been a big hit in the Haight.
“UpForever’s test cases finally made GovNews!” Zak shouted and punched his fists up in the air.
“We’re ready for the next phase.” Rayne said.
Zak plopped down in a chair across from me, seeming extremely pleased with himself.
I said, “What’s going on?”
“We did that Allison,” Zak said. “Revolution Evolution Underground dosed those people with UpForever. It’s a stimulant I’ve been perfecting over the past several years, and a major reason why I risked my life traveling from Teenage Wasteland to Kid Nation Underground’s Command Center. What you’ve just seen is the beginning of our takeover.”
“Welcome to the revolution, Allison,” Rayne said. “Now let’s get you a change of clothes before Miles begins FastForwarding your knowledge of our current now.”
Rayne walked ahead of me with long strides, leading us down dimly lit corridors, until we reached a rickety elevator decorated with layer upon layer of graffiti. We got inside it and it took us up up up until we arrived at a stairway leading to a hatch.
“What’s Revolution Evolution Underground?” I asked as she led the way upstairs.
“We’re the future,” Rayne said.
“I was hoping for a less cryptic answer. One that might help fill in a few gaps.”
“We’re the future they weren’t expecting.”
“Slightly less cryptic,” I said.
She opened the hatch, peeked out, and once she was satisfied it was safe, we emerged into the Young Women’s section of a department store. There were night-lights on, but no overhead lights. Rayne and I appeared to be the only customers.
“We disconnected SecurityCams and trip-beams so kids could shop without setting off alarms,” she whispered. “Let’s find you some dark jeans and a few shirts, and some heavy-soled boots…and whatever else you might need.”
Rayne took me to a section of the store with lots of dark clothes like the ones she had on. She turned and looked me up and down, then grabbed a pair of black jeans from a stack and tossed them to me. “These look like your size.”
I caught them. “All right. I’ll try them on.”
“Did everyone back in your time dress like you’re dressed?” she asked.
I put my hand on my hip. “Yeah, mostly. With a lot of variations. It was a more colorful time. Everyone was doing their own thing. Besides, what’s wrong with the way I look?”
She shook her head. “Nothing…much. But if you wore a lime green top anywhere around here you’d…”
“Stick out like a sore thumb?”
She nodded and twisted her mouth to the side. “Not exactly how I’d put it, but yes.”
“OK, fine,” I said. “I get it. I need to darken up my wardrobe.”
“Put those on and I’ll pick out some T-shirts, shirts, and a jacket for you. And in answer to your question, Revolution Evolution Underground is a networked group of radical and overtly disruptive youth, plotting and implementing the complete overthrow of the Unified Society of States. We’ve got underground cells in every city, town, and region of the USS. It’s long overdue, and if we don’t succeed at least we’ll die knowing we gave it our best shot.” Her dark eyes were faintly illuminated by the store’s nightlights. She walked across the aisle and began pulling tops and shirts from racks.
I took the jeans over to a three-way mirror, took off my worn blue jeans and slipped into the new black ones. A perfect fit. Rayne not only had an eye for maps and a mind for revolutionary tactics, she had an impressive fashion sense.
“What happened to the world?” I asked over my shoulder while trying on a second pair of dark jeans. “A bunch of kids living under a warehouse in Chinatown are leading a revolution to overthrow the government? Have things become so bad here?”
Rayne sighed and carried over the tops and a jacket she’d picked out. I pointed to a shimmery black shirt I liked. She handed it to me.
“We aren’t doing this just for the fun of it, Allison. People wanted to believe in systems of Gov, and to truly feel their best interests were being considered. We kept waiting for change, dreaming of a better world, putting it off for another day, and this world we’re in now is where all the putting it off brought us. The waiting’s over. Time is ripe for radical actions and a new ruling power in this country. And it has to be us. So yeah, my first reply was just as true, or truer than any other drivel words I could toss your way. We are the future. Now let’s get busy and shop some more.”
After mentally digesting the only revolutionary shopping pep-talk I’d ever gotten, I tried on more clothes, and we loaded up on more jeans, dark blouses, bras, the future’s version of T-shirts, underwear (in lots of dark colors), a pair of heavy-soled boots Rayne had recommended, and a great black jacket made of some heavy-duty yet lightweight material I’d never felt before. Rayne nodded her approval at my clothes, and grabbed half of them to carry back to DownBelow.