Nic

Tech-smithy / Hacktivist

They/Them

Age 19 T-T / 38 E-E

(Nic leans back relaxed in their chair and adds an additive pod to their handheld oxygen.)

CN: Name?

N: Nic.

CN: Nic?

N: Just, Nic.

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen.)

CN: Profession?

N: Tech-smithy and hacktivist.

CN: Preferred pronouns?

N: They, them.

CN: Age and by which planetary standards?

N: Nineteen years by Earth, and thirty-eight by Eas-Enerang.

CN: What does a tech-smithy do?

N: I guess the best way to describe what I do is like, small-scale, general-purpose cybernetic and electronic manufacturing and repairs. I can run maintenance on a cyber appendage, make small gadgets, and fix common computers among several other things. Can do more than a neo-dabbler, but less than a cybermechist, and nothing in comparison to a technimancer.

CN: I am sorry, but the definitions of those other professions have no meaning to me.

N: Don’t worry, they function more to reflect one’s skill than the names of real professions. They hold more mystique than just being known as a ‘computer contractor’ or ‘engineer’. You can still use them as a professional title, like how I prefer to be called a ‘tech-smithy’ since ‘freelance electronics technician’ doesn’t pack the same gravitas.

CN: What about a hacktivist? What does that entail? What made you decide to be one?

(Nic sits up properly in their chair.)

N: It’s activism by way of breaking encryptions, and exposing information kept from public knowledge. I wanted to become a hacktivist, ever since I was inspired by the written account of Wong Kyong’s visit to comfort Rhett Orkhan’s fathers. One of them told her a story you might have heard of called, the ‘Society of Googly Eyes’. It played a part in what inspired her ‘Reclamation or Extinction’ speech. I credit her and that story for making me who I am today. You have time to hear it? It isn’t long.

CN: Maybe later if we have time left.

N: Alright, so yeah, I saw being a hacktivist as quite the honorable calling. Hacktivism was how the Big Break happened; freed cyberspace and began what we now know as the Datum Sprawl. Unfortunately, numbers of former hacktivists turned to the dark side and sold out to the Apiary after the Grand Pushback.

Like there’s this one scumbag, who became a full-blown botch and created this massive communications platform called Chitter-Chatter. It was pitched to humans and huwaty as a network to rival that of the Anuh-Kaj hivemind, and it seemed to deliver on that at first. People were able to hear voices that were easily ignored before, promote needed backing for projects, broadcast the abuses by authorities, coordinate events, and educate others about the little known or previously unknown facts. We were able to do a lot of good stuff. However, it eventually morphed into an incredibly toxic place as its number of users grew. The concept of nuance, critical thinking, and thoughtfulness in expression disappeared, and opted to instead reward attention to frequency, phony heartfelt concernment, and uninspired drivel. People were able to hear voices that were easily ignored before, struggling projects were drowned out by more well-backed ones with preestablished audiences, and there were many harassment and bullying campaigns formed.

Sadly, people claiming to be members of marginalized communities or their allies – who share similar ideologies to mine – have been known to engage in these campaigns. They target the unexpecting and each other over even the most piddling perceived offense. They do this not necessarily to champion a greater cause, but to pretend they are for an easy win to stroke their ego. Down to chastising others for using words that allude to societal crises and aren’t necessarily derogatory, which only masks the crisis’s severity on all people effected.

Even when not taking part in such things – I don’t know if it’s due to anxiety or exhaustion from repeating themselves – PROHU activists have the bad habit of coming off as rude, condescending, overreactive, or overbearing; myself included at times if I must regrettably admit. Those who are anti-human take advantage of the environment already present on the platform. The public is comfortable with being accustomed to the Apiary hegemony’s idealized physique and thought standards as the only acceptable existence, so not much has to be done to sound convincing. They can just speak softly using intellectual-sounding words, passing off support of the Apiary and their perpetuation of anti-human sentiments as somehow not being so. Anyone not a member of the hegemony, immediately has themselves at a handicap and must work harder to even equal the exposure of those siding with the status quo.

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen.)

CN: Can you give an example of an issue that you and your allies might clash over on this platform.

N: Here’s one that I and Jamal tend to argue over. He believes there should be more diverse identities represented in media. That’s fine and all, but he feels making it a higher or equal priority to direct action could help bring about revolutionary changes in society. He has a point in where there are issues that affect marginalized demographics differently than others. Addressing the contrasts and comparisons could help customize solutions to those specific problems, but folks instead tend to get lost in the weeds when it comes to the special interests of identity. Progress gets bogged down and we get no closer to taking down the system.

Personally, I see the push for inclusive representation in today’s media as a waste of time and an inadvertent legitimization of an abusive system. We must be rid of the corrupting influence first before we can fix the damage it created. Revolution should always take precedent over making the oppressive body more inclusive. A boot on your neck is a boot on your neck, no matter who is wearing it.

You’ll get to speak to Jamal, and I’m sure he’ll tell you about his own views on the whole thing. Either way when we discuss these intricacies, we always do it in person to each other’s face. There’s something from in-person interaction that gets taken away on Chitter-Chatter conversations. It ends up makes people more hostile and unwilling to understand the individual on the other end. The anonymity certainly doesn’t help but then again, it’s there to begin with because you don’t know who’s watching.

CN: Do people still use this Chitter-Chatter?

N: Yes.

CN: Why? It sounds like a horrible failure.

N: That’s the thing…it didn’t fail. It later became clear that the whole site was built as a scheme to mainly attract as many people as possible to then sell off their users’ private data to corporate and governing interests.

Part of their strategy in increasing user numbers and making the platform more attractive to the ruling powers, involved lenient management over misinformation and propaganda when it’s pro-Apiary or anti-human in nature. Whether in support or opposition to the posts, it attracts loads of traffic.

So many people are angry and frustrated that we fought so hard for a better future, only to end up on an alien planet, with little progress achieved, and arguably less tools at our disposal to do anything about it. They need an outlet of low effort, so they go to Chitter-Chatter to read posts that feed into what stresses them or misconstrue the otherwise innocuous, until they run into something that can then be easily singled out. Whatever they find goads them into attacking, thus increasing the overall toxicity of the place. It’s like it gives everyone an almost underlying perverse sense of satisfaction that they are the center of attention. Like what they do actually matters for once.

That’s one of the most insidious things about mass communication platforms like Chitter-Chatter. They give a sense of reward – not to critical thought and understanding – but self-absorbed knee-jerk reaction and tribalism. They’re magnets that convert all anger of the less fortunate into impotent rage, rather than channeling into something constructive and effective in the real world.

CN: Is there a platform equivalent that is not for profit, focuses on boosting causes, and mitigates personal squabbles posing as larger issues? At least a free interpersonal communications and stress management class for activists? Anything like that?

N: None that I know about.

CN: Why not?

N: Partly because I don’t think anyone has thought of a way to make it a viable enough alternative yet, but mostly because the Apiary enacted a bunch of legal measures to make it very difficult to establish a rival platform. It’s like how the colonial administration and corporations back on Earth ensure all manufacturing facilities and modes of transportation under them or their allies’ authority, produce a pollutive byproduct to further terraforming efforts. A better alternative can still be done illegally, but the negative ramifications are so many that it makes it not worth the trouble.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

A communications and stress management class does sound like a good idea. I’d try to begin something like that if I had experience teaching or knew someone who did. Must confess, if there was suddenly a class for PROHU activists, I’d be suspicious and probably wouldn’t join.

CN: Is this because of what Chitter-Chatter turned out to be?

N: Yeah. All these botherations grind any substantial activism and social progress to a halt, and how things are now is how those in charge and benefiting from the nonsense want it. I question everything. Well, when it comes to opposing the Apiary as it could be a trap. Not if it’s been settled by most experts who did meaningful research and have nothing to gain from lying. Questioning everything is not always something that needs to be done just for the sake of questioning. Doing so is not helpful and only serves to obscure reality, and ambiguity is a liar’s most powerful weapon.

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen.)

N: You familiar with the Va’ists?

CN: Somewhat. Like how they were founded by one of the last living Abrahamics and their acts of terrorism since. Other than that, I am not all too familiar with their other possible details, like their beliefs or whatnot.

N: Not much to their beliefs. It’s made up of every bigoted or absurd conspiracy theory you can think up, suicidal fervor for apocalyptic martyrdom, and a little bit of pro-Apiary chauvinism. Cishet, unmodified, loyal to the Apiary, and with no non-human DNA, is what they look for in their members and race. They used to require light skin color, but they had to abandon that once they noticed there weren’t as many people as they originally thought joining. Anyone who doesn’t fit what’s seen as “purely human,” becomes an automatic target for their violent hatred; except for former Colonial Overseer Va, who they see as their religious figurehead and savior for some strange reason.

Ever since being forced to resign, Va has been living in exile on the Earth’s moon at a private luxury habitat. From there – with a team of sycophants of anuh-kaj and botches – have been orchestrating a large-scale misinformation, disinformation, fraud, and stochastic terror operation. Its goal is to undercut both, the Apiary to make the Overlord Council meet Va’s various demands, and the independent human territories left on Tir-Torzor out of unbridled spite. The disseminated information ranges from half-truths to fully deranged fabrications, making baseless accusations and denying everything down to what should be self-evident.

No one except of the Va’ists believes any of it and unquestionably question all unless it scrutinizes the cult somehow. They’ve been harming everyone based on this mess, not even second-guessing ideas of sabotaging environmental research, skirting health safety precautions, or finding ways to bring the Surts to Eas-Enerang.

CN: Why is there no crackdown on Va or the Va’ists? The are obviously extremely dangerous.

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen.)

N: You just answered your own question. The Overlord Council doesn’t want to acknowledge it outside of their membership, but they’re afraid of Va because of the Va’ists, which is made worse from the ties between those cultists and one-too-many cetaceans. They’re not fond of each other, but the all-but out-in-the-open relationship between them is undeniably symbiotic.

(Nic leans forward.)

N: There’s something you need to know about me. I’m a descendant of a long lineage of folks, persecuted by many cultures throughout countless years. We learned how to survive over time usually either by running, hiding, or assimilating into another culture. When it came to my direct ancestors, the first thing we had to do is to look out for warning signs of trouble brewing. One of the things we learned to look out for was when a regime was about change, since what’s acceptable can quickly go from people shooting you dirty looks to people trying to shoot you. Those with the authority focus so much on PROHU activism yet refuse to do much of anything against Va and the Va’ists. I wouldn’t mind the system being overthrown with something completely new and better than the Apiary being pursued, but the only ones passionately attempting to do so with the backing support currently are the Va’ists. I feel that it’ll be only a matter of time before Va’s demands are met, or the cult does something that kills us all. It’s because of this, PROHU activists have been placed in a difficult situation. We now must protect the system to hopefully get the chance to rid ourselves of it eventually.

CN: Sounds perplexingly paradoxical.

N: Very.

(Nic sits back in their chair properly.)

N: Luckily, there’s been a growing number of people who are taking these shitstains head on.

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen.)

CN: How so?

N: A few try kidnapping and deprogramming to undo the brainwashing, but most hunt these cultists down and either kill them or make them disappear. Other than themselves, Cetaceans will come after you hard for targeting their allies. We’ll only have to worry about surviving the chlithes-nok’s reproductive rut if we make a big enough dent in the Va’ists. That’s a whole other problem all in itself.

CN: Are migrant worker issues related to the impending rut any different from those of the Apiary’s subjects?

N: That’s an understatement. Though the migrant worker communities are referred to as an enclave, we’re not really encased within the cities but surrounding them. This is thanks to racist urban planning that oh-so conveniently settled every non-subject human and huwaty on the outskirts, where we’ll be the first to gamble with absorption when the three days begin should the defenses fail – which, according to the Anuh-Kaj – seems to have happened to nearly every city through the history of the Apiary for one unforeseen circumstance or another. We could evacuate back to Earth and wait out the rut when it nears, but those of us who do so before our alien allowance’s session is set to expire, are at high risk being prevented to return to Eas-Enerang. If the chlithes-nok don’t take everything from them, their extended stay at the colony will. Last I checked the quality of life for non-subject humans and huwaty on Earth is rather abysmal in comparison to how we live here on this planet, thanks to the problems brought on by the new ice age, homicidal A.I., and the Surts, and that’s considering how awful everything is here. If they finally happen to get back to Eas-Enerang and all they had didn’t get destroyed, they likely still lost their home from missing a payment, lost their job or a crucial medical appointment from not showing up, or their medication from not being able to call it in. We won’t have to worry about another rut for another two thousand years on this planet afterwards, but right now we’re holding the subject’s money purse.

CN: Pardon?

N: It’s a figure of speech, playing on the fact that Apiary subjects aren’t reliant on a monetarily based economy. There’s no money purse because there’s no money to be had to begin with. We’re fucked.

CN: Ahh.

(Nic sits quietly for a moment, looking away as they rub their arm in discomfort.)

CN: There is some time left before I must move on to the next interviewee. You can tell me about that story about the society if you want.

(Nic leans forward looking at me.)

N: You mean the ‘Society of Googly Eyes’?

CN: Yes, that one.

(Nic sits back in their chair properly, looking noticeably less agitated.)

N: Okay, so it goes like this: A stranger from a distant land arrives at a town, and it’s surrounded by a wall that is surrounded by a shantytown. The stranger knocks on the wall’s entry gate and a guard wearing googly eyes opens the viewport to answer.

CN: Excuse me – before you continue, I meant to ask – what are “googly eyes”?

N: They’re fake eyes that jiggle around when you move them.

CN: Oh, okay. You were saying?

N: Right, so the guard asks, “What you want, stranger?”

The stranger says, “I was told that I could have a better life here. How do I gain my citizenship?”

The guard points at these ridiculous googly eyes on the helmet and says, “You need googly eyes to become a fellow googlier. The more you have, the better off you’ll be.”

CN: Sorry to interrupt again but, googlier?

N: The nom de jure of the town citizens.

CN: The…

N: Citizens’ denomination.

CN: Okay, okay, I am good now.

N: Uhh, so the stranger asks, “Why? How do I get them? What good does it do?”

The guard yells at the stranger before slamming the viewport close, “You have two choices, get yourself googly eyes, or go back to where you came from!”

The stranger lost everything to get here and knew they couldn’t go back because of it, so they stayed in the surrounding shantytown with all the other people without googly eyes. Everyone in the shantytown lived miserable lives and worked miserable jobs for credits, which could be saved up to buy googly eyes from a vendor that visited from time to time, but no one could buy any because the necessities they needed cost so much. For the next few years, the stranger worked and tried saving up enough credits for googly eyes, all the while they made friends, fell in love, and became part of a community. Soon, the stranger came up with an idea, in where everyone can combine any credits leftover after purchasing necessities to get google eyes for one person, who can then gain citizenship and help the others gain theirs. The stranger tells their community of the plan, the vendor comes over one day, the community buys a set of googly eyes and gives them to the stranger. Moved by the gesture, the stranger promises to help the others once he gains citizenship. The stranger speaks to the guard at the gate and is let into town as a new googlier. Upon being let in, the new fellow googlier asks the guard, “Can I bring the others of my community in too?”

“No, you may not!” the guard says, “They need googly eyes to become googliers!”

The googlier says defiantly, “Why do you have to look so ridiculous to live better? That’s stupid!”

“Too bad,” says the guard, “I have more googly eyes than you so what I say goes!”

The googlier says, “Well, I’ll get just as many googly eyes as you and take your job, and once I get it, I’ll let the others in.”

The guard laughs and says, “I’d like to see you try.”

Afterwards, the googlier gets a new job, makes enough credits to buy as many googly eyes as the guard, and takes over as the gate guard. Right when the new guard is about to open the gate, the captain of the guards orders them not to let anyone outside into the town. As with before, the captain had more googly eyes, so the guard saved up, bought more googly eyes, and then took over the captain’s job. Again, the new captain is about to open the gate when the local magistrate orders them not to let anyone outside into the town. This continued happening. Someone with more googly eyes would stop the other shantytown people from entering, the stranger would save up and buy more googly eyes and replace the impedance only for someone else with more googly eyes to become the new obstruction. Over time however, the stranger forgot about their old community and was just replacing higher-ups out of habit. Years later, they had achieved the highest position in the town as President of the Googliers. Standing in front of the parliament, by some miracle the stranger suddenly remembers the shantytown and the promise made to them. The stranger says, “As president of this town and the one with the most googly eyes here, I propose that we repeal the rule that only people with googly eyes can gain access to a better life here.”

The parliament bursts into deafening laughter, before the prime minister stands up and says to the stranger, “Why should anyone take you seriously? Look at how ridiculous you look covered in all those googly eyes!”

(Nic inhales from their handheld oxygen, then notices my slightly befuddled expression.)

N: You look a little lost but that’s fine. I got to share a story that resonated with Wong as it did with me, and that’s what matters to me. Thanks for letting me tell you.

CN: Thank you for contributing to my research.

- End of Recorded Interview -