“But Daddy, why can't I say that?”

Harrison asked. “Because it's illegal and they can hear you, they can hear and see everything you do,” I replied. Harrison began crying out “I swear I didn't mean to be bad! Are we going to be repurposed?” “No, but don't ever say anything bad about the blockchain again, you understand?” I replied.

He looked at me and sadly and said “Uh huh… But Daddy, can they hear my thoughts too” “No, you can think what you like, you just can't...” But then the feeling hit me like a ton of bricks and I froze, just staring at him. Then I said the same words that I say to my son every night “Aren't you dead?” “No Daddy I'm right here.” he responded, but I insisted “I have seen your subchain hundreds of times and it ended, how are you here?”

Before he could answer I awoke to screams

as a junkie was punching a woman in the mouth and voices in the dark were yelling “Shut the fuck up.” I quickly looked around for Harrison, but then remembered that he was repurposed eight years ago. I pulled out my cattle prod and gave the junkie a shot to the neck and the old decommissioned sewer lit up like a strobe light revealing all the sleeping refugees.

Many of these unwanted souls had mental issues and escaped the blockchain to live underground, others were activists and criminals, I am not exactly sure where I fit in because I was suffering from all three afflictions.

I quickly grabbed the junkie and demanded “Give it to me!”

“What?” he replied. “I want everything you've got or you will take a shot to the nuts!” I insisted. I let go of the junkie after he removed his shoes and then I proceeded to rob the unconscious woman. The woman had some mods for something stashed in her bra, so I took them hoping they had some value and ran over to Bob.

“Bob get up!” I said while giving his foot a shock. Bob screamed in agony and said “What? You fucker!” I grabbed Bob by his shirt and said “Help me sell this stuff so we can get high,” while pulling him with me.

Bob was one of those guys that knew everything about the city

and his true intentions were always shrouded in charisma and forked tongue that could get him out of any jam. He once got caught robbing a wealthy home and the homeowner ended up giving him more stuff to take, now he spends every Blockchain Day at that house with the man's family. Having a guy like Bob around was essential for me, since I had failed at being father and a husband and was in desperate need of anything to help me forget.

After my son was flagged at preschool

they suspended my whole family's subchains for review and we were picked up by the moderators. They later found that my wife and child had many infractions hidden within their subchains and they were both repurposed. I was released a week later as a broken man, every time I ate a meal or saw a tree I wondered if my family fertilized it and it was driving me into madness.

So I turned to drugs and Bob was my source, after a few months I was no longer allowed to have any contact with my circle of friends and was then forced to only associate with Level 2 Mentals. So I forked my subchain by inserting my eyetag on to a stray dog and I went to live with the other blockchain rejects.

“Let me get my stuff!”

Bob protested as I pulled him, so I let go of him and heard someone yelling in the dark “Shut up!” I couldn't figure out who said it, so I gave a quick shock to three people that were sleeping at my feet. They woke up screaming and I yelled “Deal with that you pussy!” As we walked out of the tunnel we were blinded by the morning sunlight and I asked “Can we get four bags for these shoes?”

Bob looked at them and said “We will be lucky if we get three.” I knew he was ripping me off but that was the cost of doing business with Bob. I had learned not to ever trust Bob with anything, over the years I asked him how he ended up outside the blockchain over a dozen times and each time he told a completely different story. I couldn't tell if he was a pathological liar or if he just couldn't bring himself to face the past, so I had to ensure that his agenda was always aligned with mine by dangling a carrot in front of him at all times.

When we arrived at the tiny recycling center Bob asked the man that was separating circuit boards for some food. The man saw that we were not wearing eyetags and quickly got up and said “I don't want any trouble,” while running into the building. But we knew this was code, because he wasn't wearing a displacer and we were now recorded on his subchain.

The man came back out and began scolding Bob “Why the fuck can't you follow simple instructions? Flip the fucking sign next time and come back when I have my displacer ready!" He paused for a moment and then said "I will give you half a gram for that.” I handed the shoes over and took the silver as the man said “You forced me to alert the moderators, so you better run!” As we ran away I heard him yelling in jovial manner “It's better you than me fellas!”

---

This is a Pilot chapter to a story that I may or may not continue.

---

Links

---

The Death of a Hitchhiker – Part One
The Death of a Hitchhiker – Part Two
The Death of a Hitchhiker – Part Three
The Death of a Hitchhiker – Part Four
The Death of a Hitchhiker – Part Five

When a High Pressure Salesman Shakes Hands with a Lunatic in Disguise