Rebels of the Future: Phase 3

riskdebonair (67)in #fiction • 7 years ago

“What makes an adventure is not knowing how or when it is going to end… or even begin”

Phase 3: Scrap Paper and Scrap Metal

Chet was 24. He didn’t know what age Duke was. They had met on the open road outside the walls of any ho-deck.
It all began five years ago…

Five years ago

The Duke3000 flashed forward through the open road. Duke was testing out improvements. There were many thousands of miles of solitary open road; they were maintained only for the purpose of old school transport for those who wished to travel so. Duke had travelled hundreds of thousands of miles. He felt the wind as it flashed by. He swore he could witness the movement of photons. Riding faster and faster into infinity drove Duke. He had to get to the end. On his endless quest to reach the end of infinity he had passed by many sights and wonders, but only one thing truly caught his eye.

Duke flashed past a young man on a motorcycle which was not a strange sight in itself, but it was the fact that the Duke3000 failed to detect a quantic orb on the young man that roused Duke’s curiosity. This young man was hundreds of miles away from civilisation. Duke had never seen anyone stray so far from civilisation without a quantic orb. Quantic orbs provided food, transport, shelter, communication, and many other things. In fact most people carried their own quantic orb around with them at all times.
Duke turned his holocycle around. He stopped and waved the young man down, but the young man just kept riding forward…
The fact that the young man did not stop intrigued Duke further.
What is he doing out here? Duke asked himself.
Duke noticed himself smiling. He had to know who this person was.
Duke had time. Duke had eternity.
Several hours later after travelling to his destination, making several adjustments to the Duke3000, catching up with an old friend, and planting a tree, he flew back down the same route looking out for the young man on the motorcycle.

Duke checked his scanner. If Duke wasn’t on the Duke3000 he would have never found the young man. The scanner picked him up. He was off-road, in a wilderness zone. It was relatively close to a Nano Free Zone (NFZ). The Duke3000 had never been tested off-road except in simulations. Duke couldn’t resist. He gave chase.
Within minutes he was approaching the young man on the motorcycle. Duke slowed down. The young man was travelling parallel to a deep great chasm. Up ahead was a bridge. Across the chasm was the NFZ. There was nothing but trees, flora, and all sorts of fauna in the distance.
Where is he going? Duke wondered.
Perhaps he was going to brave it in the NFZ for some reason. It would be a risky move for any human with such limited supplies. Inside the NFZ Nanos are somewhat suppressed. Humans become more mortal…
Duke rarely went out to the Nano Free Zones, but only because he feared that the absolute solitude and isolation would be too perfect and that he would eventually yield to the tranquillity and never leave.
Without warning the young man veered to the side and accelerated full throttle towards the chasm.
“What is this person?” Duke said out loud to himself.
“The name’s Chet Heartcake!” blasted out from the Duke3000’s radio transceiver.
Up until now Duke had only heard the radio transceiver during testing. No one used radio anymore.
Duke responded over the transceiver “You know you’re about to…”
Chet Heartcake was riding full throttle towards the chasm. Duke questioned for a second whether he should intervene. It was a question he would often ask himself. His answer was to always just watch and see what happens. Interfering in human affairs was not his business.
“Take the bridge and I’ll see you on the other side” Chet Heartcake coolly transmitted.
Chet took the chasm full throttle. His motorcycle lifted up into the air. It was a miraculous site for Duke to see that something so technologically old was capable of such feats. The sunglasses, the leather jacket, the motorbike, the chasm; it was a scene for Duke who in all his eternity had never witnessed something so absurdly brilliant.
Is this what it has all been about? Duke asked himself, pondering over one of life’s many mysteries.
As Chet neared the other side, he let go of the handlebars seemingly to grab something from his leather jacket. Then a few moments later…
With a loud roar the motorcycle crashed.
Chet’s body flipped off the motorcycle after impact. The motorcycle screeched as it slid against the ground.

Duke flew round using the bridge. He could have just flown over the chasm, but something compelled him otherwise.
He pulled the Duke3000 up to the scene of the crash and dismounted. Chet was lying on his back looking up to the sky. His battered body was sprawled across the ground in a relaxed manner. Between his fingers was a fat cigar. It had just been lit. Loosely sitting in his other hand was the lighter. Chet somewhat grunted as he held back the pain he was feeling as he lifted his arm to take a puff of the cigar. He looked cool. Then he began to cough, aggravating his wounds.
Chet nonchalantly shouted “OUCH! YEP! THAT IS A SORE ONE!”
Duke approached. He sat down on a rock that the injured Chet Heartcake had been close to shattering upon.
“What are you doing out here?” Duke asked the somewhat injured Chet.
Chet’s energy and focus seemed to be on posing like a cool cat basking under the sun.
“Looking for adventure” Chet coolly responded.
“Where were you going?” Duke questioned further.
“Nowhere… fast” Chet coolly responded.
“So travelling for pleasure?” Duke pressed.
“No” Chet bluntly replied.
“So why then?” Duke demanded, needing to know.
“No reason” Chet lied.
“Oh ojay… I understand you.”
“No you don’t” Chet coolly protested as he lay motionless on the ground.
“So you came all the way out here for adventure for no reason… and without any supplies?” Duke said crossing his arms.
“I got all I need in the future’s saddlebag” Chet said extending a finger towards his crashed motorcycle.
The contents of the saddlebag had been thrown every which way.
“The future? That’s an interesting name for something from the past” Duke mused.
“What do you call yours?” Chet asked.
“The Duke3000.”
“So you must be Duke?”
“I am always preceded by my own reputation as an engineer” Duke said with mixed emotions as he uncrossed his arms.
“What?” Chet questioned confusedly.
“Oh! I am sorry. I am just used to being recognised. The Duke3000 is the most technologically advanced holocycle known to man. I am often interviewed by…”
Chet cut Duke short “Cut the crap! You’re on!”
“What?” Duke said somewhat confused.
“You like to talk the big talk, but let’s see how this Duke3000 compares to the future in an anything goes race!” Chet coolly proclaimed with a shout.
“A holocycle versus an antique? There would be no contest” Duke candidly stated.
“I will make you eat those words” Chet retorted.
“Ha! If you say so kiddo!” Duke said with a chuckle.
“If the future wasn’t so totalled I’d show you!” Chet said still lying down, motionless apart from his head.
“What about you?” Duke questioned.
“I’m cool…” Chet said grunting once more as he lifted his arm to take another puff of the cigar.
He puffed and once more began to cough, aggravating his wounds again.
Chet nonchalantly shouted as he intermittently coughed “YOU KNOW I AM BEGINNING TO THINK I DON’T EVEN LIKE CIGARS!”
“How long did it take you to come to that conclusion?” Duke jested.
“TWO!” Chet began to cough before continuing “PUFFS!” he coughed some more as if clearing his throat and then said “It was half way across the chasm when I thought to myself; this would be a great time to try that cigar…”
Chet threw the cigar to the side and then asked “Can you get something from my saddlebag?”
“Sure, what do you want?” Duke responded.
“Pop.”
“Pop?”
“Yeah, pop. You know… it comes in drink form” Chet explained.
“Pop?” Duke questioned again while shaking his head and smiling before continuing “Want me to quanticate you one instead?”
“Saddlebag pop will be fine” Chet retorted somewhat indignantly.
“Ojay!” Duke said still smiling.
Chet although currently incapacitated was stirring feelings in Duke. The feelings were neither sexual nor to do with love. In all of Duke’s relatively short time on earth, Chet was the first person to truly surprise him. It felt good to be surprised. Most people were predictable to a certain point, but Chet Heartcake was some sort of bizarre unpredictable idiot. At least that is what Duke thought at first. Duke was a good judge of character. As he walked towards the saddlebag to retrieve some pop that is when he changed his opinion of Chet to that of some sort of genius beyond definition. Then he looked in the saddlebag…
“Yeah, about your pop… your saddlebag is empty. I think everything has spilled out!” Duke shouted back to Chet.
“Have a look around. That pop couldn’t have gone far!” Chet shouted back.
What am I doing? Getting someone pop? Duke questioned to himself. Duke always knew what he was doing, but now he was looking around for pop.
“There should be quite a few bottles about. Blue and red with a star on it!” Chet shouted at Duke.
The first bottle of pop Duke discovered to his dismay was sticky. Its contents had spilled and Duke’s gloves had been caked its sticky syrup. The second bottle had a crack, but it had not been breached. He brought the pop to Chet.
“Here you go!” he said as he handed the pop to Chet.
“Thanks!” Chet said as he opened the pop.
The contents fizzed up over Chet who tried desperately to drink it down faster than it could foam.
“So it’s carbonated… What makes it so sticky?” Duke questioned as he removed his now sticky gloves.
“It’s the real deal. Pure refined sugar” Chet said with a smile.
“Any good?”
“Not really. The refined sugar fad was to make up for lack of flavour. It’s overly sweet and would be toxic in high volume to someone without nanos. I’m thinking of quitting pop. It isn’t all I thought it would be” Chet confessed.
“When did you start?” Duke asked.
“Just now, but I think I will stay clear of it in the future” Chet said seriously.
Duke had to concentrate to hold back the laughter.
“You are very amusing” Duke said with a laugh.
“Thank you” Chet responded stoically.
“Why don’t you have a quantic orb by the way?”
Chet’s cool smile faded as he said “I don’t need one, and I get by just fine.”
Duke retorted “If your motorcycle was a quanticant you could just re-quanticate it, but it looks like it will have to be towed back… or.”
Chet humphed “What makes an adventure is not knowing how or when it is going to end… or even begin. If the future was a quanticant I wouldn’t have gotten this experience.”
“What?” Duke asked, not understanding Chet’s meaning.
“This! Right now! What is happening right now. I could have played it safe, and who knows where I would have been, but I know one thing. I wouldn’t have ended up lying on my back and the future wouldn’t be totalled.”
“So you revel in the chaos?”
“Ha! I just revel in the moment. It is what it is” Chet said staring up at the deep blue sky.
Duke smiled. Chet Heartcake intrigued him. Revelling in the moment is something Duke aspired to, but it was an aspiration he could never reach. He revelled in the infinity, and there was no escape.
“You ready to get up?” Duke asked, extending his hand.
“I’ve always been ready” Chet said tuffing his leather jacket effortlessly before adding “I was just enjoying the clouds.”
It was a cloudless sky. Chet grabbed Duke’s hand and Duke pulled him to his feet. When Chet was standing he took several slow deliberate steps to test out his legs. He then stretched his arms, and after he was sure his body was fully operational, he tuffed his leather jacket.
Duke had to know “So why did you jump the chasm?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me” Duke implored.
“I rebel” Chet said with a cool tuff of his jacket.
“Against what?”
Chet looked like he was going to say something but then he suddenly became lost for words. He took a second to recompose himself before tuffing his leather jacket some more and saying “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe… maybe not. So what sort of things do you do to rebel?”
“Well I jumped that chasm. I rebelled against taking that bridge” Chet said triumphantly.
“And before you jumped the chasm?” Duke said with an involuntary grin on his face.
“I’ve littered before… of course the day after I went back and cleaned it up, but I also proved that I could do it.”
“You call that rebelling?” Duke said as he burst out laughing.
“Being a rebel is more of a state of mind” Chet said as he coolly tuffed his leather jacket.
“Well rebel kiddo, you got off lucky with only minor fractures and lacerations” Duke noted.
“Luck has nothing to do with it, when it comes to crashing I am an expert” Chet coolly boasted.
“You shouldn’t rely on nanos as a safety net.”
“I don’t” Chet Heartcake said as he tuffed his leather jacket before segueing the conversation “I couldn’t help but notice but… how do you have a scar?”
Duke knew what Chet was getting at. He looked down at his gloveless left hand. It had been a while since he had been caught gloveless. The scar…
“I…” Duke struggled.
Chet coolly snapped “Fine then! How about you tell me after I beat you with the future?”
“You’re joking?”
“That is some serious trash talk! I’m going to make you eat those words!” Chet coolly blasted.
“If you say so kiddo.”
“I do” Chet coolly proclaimed as he paraded around in circles while tuffing his leather jacket and taking in the scene of the crash.
Although Duke knew Chet could never best the Duke3000 with the future he against his best judgement decided to agree. A feeling compelled him.
Duke declared out loud “Fine… we can race next month. If you beat me I will tell you how I got this scar, but you do know it will be an impossible race for you?”
“I hope your engineering skills can make something that will aid in your digestion as you eat your own words” Chet said confidently as he tuffed his leather jacket.
Duke laughed “Ha ha! Why do you ride around on the future?”
Chet with cool said seriously “I’ll tell you when I beat you.”
Duke chuckled. Chet ignored the chuckle and inspected the Duke3000. Chet had yet to inspect the future. He was not ready to witness the carnage.
“What’s with the thunderbolt and diamond?” Chet asked in regards to the decal design on the Duke3000.
The Duke3000 was black and red with a deep blue colour for the lightning bolt and the diamond.
“The thunderbolt represents an irresistible force and the diamond represents an indestructible object.”
“So the thunderbolt has struck the diamond? It is an irresistible force hitting an indestructible object. So what gives way?” Chet asked.
“I’ll let you know when I find out” Duke said with a friendly fiendish smile.
Chet sombrely turned away from the Duke3000. It was time for him to find out the fate of the future. He walked with his hands in his jacket pockets. He kicked some dust into the air. His head hung low. He gave the future a kick. It clanked a metallic clunk.
“Sounds alright” Chet coolly said.
The front wheel had crumpled, and the handlebars were bent. A plant penetrated out from beneath the wrecked motorcycle. It just so happened to be the herb Chet had come here for. He felt a numb pain as he crouched, lifting the motorcycle slightly, as he uprooted the plant. The nanos were still hard at work fixing him from the inside out. Chet placed the plant into his saddlebag and then walked back over to Duke.
“I could give it a quick fix if you want?” Duke propositioned.
With Duke being the world’s topmost engineer, repairing the future with the help of a quantic orb would be easy. But as Duke suspected…
Chet declined explaining that he would rather work on it himself back in his garage, which would give him time to improve the suspension (because he believed it was the suspension’s fault for his failed landing). The idea of quanticated parts merging with Chet’s handcrafted artefact was also unappealing. Chet Heartcake was a purist when it came to the future.
“Whatever suits you kiddo! But if I’m giving you a tow back to civ we better start cleaning up now. The Duke3000 picked up some strange reading. Some energy fluctuations occurred within the chasm midway through your jump.”
“Some jumps are just too potent” Chet Heartcake dreamily said as he stared up at the cloudless sky.
“Well anyway… the Duke3000 is now picking up increased tectonic activity. It seems like a potent earthquake is coming. We only have thirty minutes to nine months and six days to get out of here” Duke half-jokingly warned.
“Earthquakes don’t scare me” Chet boasted before continuing “But you’re right. Let’s clean.”
Chet had caused quite a mess with his crash. It wasn’t much of a mess, but being so close to a NFZ, Chet couldn’t help but worry that any leftover rubbish would be linked back to him. He did not want people to think he was a litterer. It would devastate what he was trying to achieve. Chet had big plans.
Duke took care with help from the Duke3000 of any parts which had broken off the future. Chet refilled his spilled saddlebag. Duke was finished in no time, but Chet was still looking around frantically searching for something. Everything seemed delittered to Duke.
“What’s the matter?” Duke asked.
“A bottle of pop is lost out there in the wild.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell on your littering. I know it wasn’t on purpose” Duke said teasingly.
“Hey! Littering is serious! I mean stop to look for a second…” Chet said recomposing his cool before continuing “We are a stone’s throw away from that forest. I remember when this area was barren…” memories of Chet’s childhood raced through his mind “I‘ve been here before. I can’t see it now because of the forest, but a research lab used to exist not so far from here. TCSE…” he wistfully trailed off.
“Tea see ess ee??”
Chet smiled as he said “It was the Temperature Climate Systems Equilibrium lab”
Duke raised a suspicious eyebrow as he checked the Duke3000’s interface
“No. There is nothing there as far as the Duke3000 is concerned, unless someone is shielding it with recent tech which I doubt” Duke said unemotionally.
Chet continued his wistful recollection ignoring Duke’s comment “Nothing but rock and mountains… Now it’s a thriving ecosystem. I feel almost sorry witnessing this. Knowing that my generation will be the last to witness the spread of the wilderness. No more can it grow…”
“What about infinite growth?” Duke supposed.
“What?”
“Humans seeding the stars. Infinite expansion. Infinite growth.”
“Meh!” Chet contested.
Chet did not care much for the universe other than for this planet. Earth was all there ever was to him. He had been to the moon before, but the moon is like an appendage of the earth. So in essence he had never left earth. He planned to one day, but he had something he had to do first.
“Well, let’s get out of here” Duke said as he quanticated a sidecar for the Duke3000.
“A sidecar!” Chet protested.
Duke shrugged. Chet shook his head.
“For your trouble” Chet coolly said as he slapped some paper and metal into Duke’s hand.
Duke looked at the paper and metal.
“What is this for?” he asked.
“Oh, I thought you knew…” Chet said tuffing his leather jacket before continuing “People used to give each other paper and metal in the past.”
“Yeah… that was money. This is just scrap paper and scrap metal…”
“What’s the difference?” Chet asked seriously as he coolly tilted his head.
“I suppose nothing” Duke confessed with laughter.
Duke had known money. He was glad it was gone.
“Let’s blow this joint” Chet coolly said after hopping into the sidecar.
Duke activated his visor helmet and then they flashed out of there, narrowly avoiding the earthquake by six months.

…

They met up again shortly after for the race. After losing, Chet demanded a rematch. It soon became a monthly event between the two. With each race their friendship grew.