Sammy nodded sympathetically. The guy with the funny eyebrow put in an
appearance from behind the heavy black curtains. "Send through two
more," he said, and grabbed Sammy, tugging him in.
Behind the curtain, it was dim and spotlit, almost identical to
Florida, and half a dozen vehicles waited. Sammy slid into one and let
the spiel wash over him.
THERE WAS A TIME WHEN AMERICA HELD OUT THE PROMISE OF A NEW WAY OF
LIVING AND WORKING. THE NEW WORK BOOM OF THE TEENS WAS A PERIOD OF
UNPARALLELED INVENTION, A CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION OF CREATIVITY NOT SEEN
SINCE THE TIME OF EDISON -- AND UNLIKE EDISON, THE PEOPLE WHO INVENTED
THE NEW WORK REVOLUTION WEREN'T RIP-OFF ARTISTS AND FRAUDS.
The layout was slightly different due to the support pillars, but as
similar to the Florida version as geography allowed. Robots humped
underfoot moving objects, keeping them in sync with the changes in
Florida. He'd read on the message boards that Florida would stay open
late so that the riders could collaborate with the attendees at the
Boston premiere, tweeting back and forth to one another.
The other chairs in the ride crawled around each exhibit, reversing
and turning slowly. Riders brought their chairs up alongside one
another and conferred in low voices, over the narration from the
scenery. He thought he saw a couple making out -- a common enough
occurrence in dark rides that he'd even exploited a few times when
planning out rides that would be likely to attract amorous
teenagers. They had a key demographic: too young to leave home, old
enough to pay practically anything for a private spot to score some
nookie.
The air smelled of three-d printer, the cheap smell of truck-stops
where vending machines outputted cheap kids' toys. Here it wasn't
cheap, though: here it smelled futuristic, like the first time someone
had handed him a printed prop for one of his rides -- it had been a
head for an updated Small World ride. Then it had smelled like
something foreign and new and exciting and frightening, like the first
days of a different world.
Smelling that again, remembering the crowds outside waiting to get in,
Sammy started to get a sick feeling, the kebab rebounding on
him. Moving as if in a dream, he reached down into his lap and drew
out a small utility knife. There would be infrared cameras, but he
knew from experience that they couldn't see through ride vehicles.
Slowly, he fingered the access panel's underside until he found a
loose corner. He snicked out the knife's little blade -- he'd brought
an entire suitcase just so he could have a checked bag to store this
in -- and tugged at the cables inside. He sawed at them with small
movements, feeling the copper wires inside the insulation give way one
strand at a time. The chair moved jerkily, then not at all. He snipped
a few more wires just to be sure, then tucked them all away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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