The Cynical 90s (1990s) had Saturday morning cartoons, the Sleepy 90s (2090s) had the archaic internet's virtual reality, and the boys in No Man's Land had earthplexus pockets.
In No Man's Land the earthplexus servers were sparse and often broke. When humans and talking animals knew little about them they were often stolen in hopes they could be pawned, but the equipment held no value on their own. It was more profitable to control the areas where they worked and sell an entrance fee for beings to enter.
However, this was not a concern for Joaquim, Gabe, and Farouq, as they discovered an unguarded and rich earthplexus leyline. They were ecstatic. They cheered so loud that their screams echoed across the empty city they were in.
The most they could do in a weak vein was imagine the book or wiki page they wanted to read, and have a hologram manifest in front of them with the content. Sometimes they could manifest a picture or a notepad application. All 3 boys have read a book or two out of sheer boredom at some point in their lives, but they never have and never will admit it to each other.
It's how Joaquim would create his hologram mask as required by Alkrezian girls and women, and Prophet Ameen made sure that it could be manifested in even the weakest of leylines.
But in a rich vein...
The latest mainstream battle shounen from the Japan Confederation.
The most streamed Hip Opera songs. Joaquim, Gabe, and Farouq would be the first to correct anyone that pronounced it wrong. If the song or album in question had more opera influences, one needed to say the 'Hip' syllable quickly to emphasize the 'Opera.' If it had more rap influences, emphasis needed to be given to the first two syllables, almost as if one was saying 'Hip Hopera.' If it had more pop influeces, one would pop the 'Pop' in the pronounciation, as if one was saying 'hiPOPera.'
Do not forget porn.
Also, it was a guarantee that Farouq would not bully them for a night. He was almost pleasant to be around in an earthplexus pocket night.
Joaquim was the only one who would spend all that time watching space videos. He would love nothing more than to be rich enough to explore space, or be a part of 0 platoon and explore space with them.
"Ah, I was wondering which one of you two was the space dork," Farouq said. He brought a large suitcase with him. After he opened it, Visard came down to scan the inside, then Farouq took out a turntable.
"You brought all that with you?" Gabe asked.
"Yea?" Farouq retorted as if it was obvious. "Y'all know you ain't coming back right?"
"What do you mean?" Joaquim asked.
"Once we get to the spot tomorrow morning, we will be teleported to Ember Tree City. We'll either be back down here in two months, get arrested, or end up dead."
Gabe gulped.
"On that topic, I need to test something. I need to reveal my influx powers to you two," Farouq said.
"What are you?" Gabe asked.
"I'm an esper," Farouq said.
"No way," Gabe said.
Can you guys hear me? Farouq said.
"Oh shit, I just heard your voice in my head," Gabe said, grasping his temples.
Joaquim looked up to Farouq, but Farouq already noticed that Joaquim's mouth dropped in awe.
"Okay, looks like we're set for tomorrow. Anyways, I had something to say before Gabe changed topics," Farouq said.
"Sorry," Gabe said.
"Why did you apologize? There was no reason to. Aw, I've made you my little bitch haven't I?" Farouq said, slapping his face.
Gabe frowned and stared at the floor.
"That was unnecessary," Joaquim said, rushing forward to give Farouq a strong shove.
"Stop! Stop! I was joking!" Farouq yelled. He leaped to the other side of the sidewalk, causing Joaquim to fall forward. He was now shoving the air instead.
Joaquim caught himself by digging in his running shoes into the concrete.
"I brought you something Naomi," Farouq said, pulling out a vinyl.
"Wow, I haven't heard anything on vinyl for a minute," Gabe said.
With digital music no longer being a guarantee, vinyl became more widely used.
"I have the song that Earth sent to space in hopes that it would be found. The one found by the arak colonizers," Farouq said. "Wanna hear it?"
Joaquim's face beamed, already giving away the answer to Visard.
Vinyl sounded fresh to everyone who would come across it, so even the wealthy in the sky would use it to be more likeable. Even Joaquim would agree, as his heart soared along with the vinyl Farouq played, that whoever had vinyl would instantly be the coolest person.
It seemed books had a new rival as vinyl was going strong centuries later. Even TV and movies still took turns being relevant.
"What's the song called Farouq?" Joaquim asked.
"Dark was the night, cold was the ground," Farouq said.
Gabe opened his bag and released his fireflies, letting them dance around while Blind Willie Johnson hummed. It was as if time stood still for a moment.
There was no way they would sleep when there was an earthplexus vein to be exploited, so they instead went to sleep in the magnetic pick up truck that came to their designated spot several hours later.
Whether it was due to the fun they had or it was some kind of force beyond understanding... time accelerated and the sky shapeshifted.
With how much fun the boys had, it was almost as if time accelerated and the sky shapeshifted [https://img.wattpad.com/0a80f0e1a4d4c32b6c5de50701fb7a44a434c48d/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f753973374b5a4f34635f624879513d3d2d313336323636383439372e313737316539613261626532653937333738353232393733333633332e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
The smog on the eastern edge of the sky glowed orange. The warm light caressed Joaquim's face, and in front of him was Prophet Ameen observing the view. He wore a black robe this time, and it rippled like a stream of ink when he spun around to face his inquisitors and initiates. They stood on top of an abandoned warehouse in a putrid city which was enveloped in darkness and moss. The streets were scarce with people.
One inquisitor already looked too happy to be in one of the most feared groups in No Man's Land. He had a fresh buzz cut and goatee, and the neon orange smog highlighted his sepia eyes and skin. He had a small round nose and full lips with sides that could not climb any higher.
Prophet Ameen did a quick scan. "Alright fo-"
Gabe bolted to the edge of the roof. Joaquim chased behind.
"You forgot your bag!" Joaquim shouted, stumbling over one foot in a dozed run.
Joaquim babysat Gabe the entire ride. The nice inquisitor that revealed his identity, Camilo, was kind enough to help Joaquim with bags. Farouq was too tired to bully them during the ride, so Joaquim kept his focus on Gabe. They were also lucky that the ride was in a magnetic truck, as driving over potholes in a terrestrial car was as good as placing two fingers to the back of Gabe's throat.
Joaquim heard the new accumulated vomit hit the ground floor. Bodily functions from his brother did not gross out Joaquim anymore. Sharing the same limited water for bathing and laundry, sleeping in the same bed in shelters, and popping in displaced knuckles for each other does that.
"Are you alright?" Prophet Ameen asked.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Joaquim had a mint candy ready in his palm while Gabe wiped his mouth.
"Who cares. He's gonna blow his cover and die on the first day," Farouq said.
"Now I am alright," Gabe said, taking the mint and throwing it into his mouth.
"Excellent. Farouq, I suggest learning to get along with Gabe and Naomi as you will need them," Prophet Ameen said. "Help them in any way you can."
Farouq put up that smug smile he would have before teasing someone and turned his head to Gabe. He paused for a moment, then moved his head back towards Prophet Ameen.
"Yes sir, please pardon my insolence," Farouq said, holding back his laughter.
"Alright, are we ready to continue? This is quite an important day," Prophet Ameen said.
Gabe and Joaquim came closer to Prophet Ameen.
"The Ember Tree army recruits new supersoldiers here," Prophet Ameen said. "The Party of Love has been putting pressure on the army to insert affirmative action policies. They were ignored until their numbers weren't enough to stay competitive, so corporations saw an opportunity to appease dissent and make a profit."
Joaquim raised his hand.
"You don't have to raise your hand, just ask away," Prophet Ameen said.
"Dissent? Aren't most citizens sedated to not seek out information? How would they get information for any kind of dissent? Aren't legitimate news media basically nonexistent in these gigacities?" Joaquim barraged.
Prophet Ameen took steps towards Joaquim with an eyebrow raised.
"How do you know so much?" Prophet Ameen asked.
"I have a really old cellphone that I had since I was a kid that has access to old servers from the internet," Joaquim said. "The internet is basically the same thing as the earthplexus we have now, but instead of needing to be physically close to an influx hub, you needed some sort of screen to access it."
"I know. I was alive when the internet was widely used," Prophet Ameen said. "Needing a screen was rather inconvenient at the time, but now we can summon hologram screens and audio from the earthplexus with just a thought. However, be careful with that cellphone, something like that would be worth a lot of r0cbytes."
Once Prophet Ameen said r0cbytes, the bored frown on Farouq softened and he stood on his toes to glance at Joaquim's empty hands. Prophet Ameen raised his palm, and a hologram of a woman explaining the earthplexus appeared in front of him. "It looks like Ember Tree's earthplexus hubs reach all the way down here."
"Naomi always wanted to sell the cellphone, but I knew we could use the information on it for good use," Gabe said. "We even got people to pay us for intel."
Gabe looked at Farouq. "You better not think about stealing it, but I do wish you good luck trying to though."
"Whatever. I'm gonna out-earn you doing missions in Ember Tree anyway," Farouq said with his chin raised up.
Farouq ran to Joaquim to smack the side of his head.
"Hey!" Joaquim said.
Farouq slid to Gabe. Gabe raised his elbows to guard himself, but Farouq managed to shove a slap on the side of Gabe's face.
"Speaking about Ember Tree," Prophet Ameen said with a stern voice.
Farouq gulped and ran back.
Prophet Ameen cleared his throat. "This is currently the spot where their recruiters are looking for children that have the capability to become supersoldiers. You three will be going into Ember Tree with Camilo, as he is already a sergeant in the military. It is important that you express interest in doing the accelerated test as soon as you get there."
"The accelerated test?" Gabe asked.
Camilo nodded and took a step forward. His flesh distorted, at first as if colonies of ants were crawling under his skin, and then like boiling plastic. His skin and flesh split apart without a drop of blood leaking out. His black sweater and pants split apart into strings of fabric, changed colors and materials, and sewed itself back together into Ember Tree's supersoldier uniform.
The uniform had a camouflage design using white, black, and gray squares, and his shoulder hub manifested and projected a hologram of two chevrons with a star. Camilo's skin settled, and he morphed into a female-presenting human that appeared to be a few years older than Gabe. His chin got thinner and pointed outwards, and his eye lashes grew into the length of kitten whiskers. He had black wool-like hair in a bun, a custom for anyone in the Ember Tree army with long hair.
"I have been given the mission to seek new soldiers to join the army," Camilo said, his once deep voice was now high and gentle. "They are especially looking for children that are part of any kind of minority group due to pressure from the Party of Love, so it is a fantastic opportunity to get some of our followers to get into the gigacity. Your priority now is to think of a good lie as to why you wanted to join the Ember Tree army, and ask for the accelerated test as Prophet Ameen said. There are more missions than soldiers, so they are desperate to fill their ranks."
"Is that clear?" Prophet Ameen asked.
The teenagers nodded, but Joaquim was certain that Gabe didn't understand anything.
"Before I leave you with Camilo, there is one more thing I must do," Prophet Ameen said.
Prophet Ameen raised his two palms as if he was going to meditate, and specks of green light danced into a dome-shaped tornado. The specks inched closer into his palms until a seed formed in each hand. Warmth touched Joaquim's forehead, and he realized that a glowing circle was on his forehead and Gabe's. Prophet Ameen twisted his palms into a pushing motion, and the seeds in his hands darted into the glowing circles.
"Wha-what just happened?" Gabe asked.
"Those are angel seeds, they will help you be successful inside Ember Tree," Prophet Ameen said. "Camilo, I will let you carry on from here. We will be on our way now. I don't want the jaunter to see us."
One of the inquisitors covered his head with multiple Arab scarves that were sown together, while the other inquisitor wore a niqab. The niqab-wearing inquisitor rubbed her hands together to make a piece of chalk in her hands, and she drew a circle on the outside wall of the elevator engine room. The other inquisitor went inside the white magnetic truck, turned it on, then spun it to face the circle.
"We will teleport back," Prophet Ameen said.
The chalk circle radiated a bright white light, then the center faded until it showed the mosque that the group was at yesterday. The edges of the circle did not fade, letting a white ring encircle the view of the mosque. Prophet Ameen and the niqab-wearing inquisitor stepped through, then the masked inquisitor drove the truck through the circle. Joaquim peered into the circle to see them all outside of the mosque. The circle shrank and disappeared.
"Jaunter?" Gabe asked.
"Jaunters are supersoldiers that have the power to teleport," Camilo said. "The jaunter that is on the mission with me will meet us a few blocks away from here. She will teleport us to the Ember Tree base. Please call me Sergeant Alaoui from now on, or Dalia."
After coming down from the warehouse and walking past a few blocks, Joaquim saw an Ember Tree supersoldier leaning on a wall by a street corner. She had two chevrons in her rank hologram.
"Corporal Woo," Camilo said.
Corporal Woo had tear-shaped eyes, and the bun on her hair pulled her pale skinned face. Her sharp irises shifted to look at Camilo.
"Dalia, you made it," Corporal Woo said, pushing herself off the wall to take a better look at Gabe and Joaquim. "You two can call me Corporal Woo. What would be your names?"
Joaquim and Gabe introduced themselves with their first names.
"Last names. You have to introduce yourselves with your last names," Corporal Woo said. "Dalia and I hang out outside of work and we joined around the same time, so it's different for us, but you two will call me Corporal Woo. Is that clear?"
Silence followed.
"Say 'yes ma'am' you two," Camilo said.
"Yes ma'am!"
Corporal Woo's deadpan expression changed to a dim smile.
"Alright. I'm warning you now that you are being teleported," Corporal Woo said. "I did it without saying anything last time and ended up sending a kid into a panic attack. It's weird at first getting used to it, but once you are in a platoon it will be like a car ride. I am going to get security to turn down the anti-influx around the base. Are we ready to go?"
"Is there such thing as teleportation sickness? Will I get it?" Gabe asked.
"If you do, just don't throw up on me," Corporal Woo said.
Gabe nodded.
"Very well. Make sure you are holding onto me one way or the other, and we'll be in the base," Corporal Woo said. "Dalia are there any more people?"
Camilo shook his head.
"I have been learning to manage my influx better for teleporting, so I can teleport a lot more times with one or two people," Corporal Woo said. "See if anyone else brought more influx sensitive people."
Camilo nodded and turned around to walk.
Corporal Woo extended both her hands, then Joaquim and Gabe grabbed the ones that were pointed to them. The teleportation itself did not cause any sensations or produce any visual effects. It was instantaneous.
The enrollment location of the base resembled a school gym, and the fresh air inside gave Joaquim's lungs a serene massage. Joaquim was never aware of how bad the air was in No Man's Land until now. Tears welled in his eyes.
Joaquim rubbed his eyes, and he opened them to find bevy of police robots floating above him. The difference the robots in the base had from the ones in No Man's Land was the absence of their legs, and two of them floated to him and his brother. Joaquim's body tensed up at the same time Gabe stiffened his shoulders and tightened his fists. Once Joaquim felt the warmth of their scanner lights, he calmed down.
There were rows of chairs for organisms and robots to wait for their butterfly drones, but the chairs were empty. The secretaries were fully automated robots, and Joaquim's eyes were right on them. They had a simple design - their exterior was a hard plastic white in a shape of a female-presenting human - as their AI was the primary focus of the manufacturers.
"Gabe, did you see the new models of human management robots?" Joaquim asked.
"Holy shit Naomi, look at those butterfly drones," Gabe said immediately after Joaquim stopped talking.
"Those drones are also in No Man's Land," Joaquim said.
"Really? I never seen them," Gabe said. Joaquim shook his head and almost rolled his eyes.
"When we had enough money to go to the grocery store outside of Fornia, one of them would follow us to notify us when it was our turn to pay," Joaquim said.
"What a lie," Gabe said.
"All these years we would go there and you were too airheaded to notice?" Joaquim said.
"Alright go ahead by yourselves," Corporal Woo said. "They will take you through the process. I kind of like you guys, I hope you two end up in two platoon."
Corporal Woo disappeared.
Gabe went first to the human management robots. Joaquim stayed back to give Gabe privacy while he interacted with the machines. He spoke to the robot like any other human being; they did not appeal to a bug enthusiast like fireflies and butterfly drones.
Afterwards, Joaquim went up when Gabe was done talking. Gabe took a few steps behind Joaquim, but it was not enough space for Joaquim. His hands trembled.
"Please provide your full name," the robot said.
"Can you give me more room?" Joaquim asked while glancing back at Gabe.
"Why?" Gabe asked.
"Please take off your holographic mask and provide your name. Teleported personnel must authenticate as soon as possible," the robot said.
Joaquim willed his mask away.
"Nao-" Joaquim said, and when the syllable slipped from his lips, he looked around the area once more.
"No?" the robot asked.
"Joaquim Wami."
"Thank you," the robot said.
Joaquim glanced back to see Gabe's dropped jaw. Joaquim looked up at Gabe's eyes for a brief second and turned away, too shaken to look at him.
"What did you say?" Gabe asked.
"Forget I said anything," Joaquim said as the police levitated away.
"Is it part of the plan? I suspected things-" Gabe said, stopping himself from speaking any further. Once Joaquim sensed that Gabe stopped staring at him, he looked back to see his brother's widened eyes and lowered lips.
The pair of police robots stopped a few meters away from them. "Please follow us."