“It's all a conspiracy!”
Over the roar of the crowded intersection, Taylor Porter could barely hear the bearded man rambling across the street while holding a poster board with THE GOVERNMENT IS CONTROLLING US scribbled in crude letters. It looked like it had been days since the man last changed his clothes and longer since his last bath, and he shouted with firm confidence, “Video games! TV Shows! Even your favorite snacks! The government is using all of them to control us! Control you!” Taylor thought that the man had singled him out with a finger but then realized that he was only pointing in his general direction. Taylor averted his eyes and held his hooded head low in the thick crowd.
Where he walked, fewer than two years ago, this intersection was the archetype for the city's decayed state: cracked infrastructure, the most common cars being police cruisers, and gangs and drug dealers setting up bases within the alleyways. Now with its refurbished structures festooned with monitors showcasing colorful ads, its plethora of honking cars (few of which were police cruisers), and its currents of law-abiding citizens, this intersection was a site triumphed only by Times Square. Taylor, even after all this time, still couldn't believe the rapid metamorphosis and couldn't help but to gawk at the electronic billboards advertising products that were once luxuries.
Goofy Pop, the beverage that “makes life a little bit sweeter.”
Heroes United Online, the “first government funded free-to-play MMORPG too addicting to put down.”
Everyday there's an Eclipse, the television series described by critics as “thrilling,” “stirring,” and “the best show this century.”
“Are you looking for a new TV show to watch?” shouted a government-paid man from the midst of the crowd in the center walkway. He held in his hand a tablet and wore a brick red vest with the word RECOMMENDER stitched into the back. Hooked around his ear was an ear piece, and strapped around his waist was a metallic fanny pack containing blank disks. “Want something to watch but don't know what? Let me assist you!”
Some distance away on either side of the Recommender were Recommender Terminals, which looked like phone booths that three people could use at once. Instead of pay phones, they had computer monitors that suggested a list of shows, video games, movies, or books for an individual based on the answers given for a questionnaire. They could also scan a person's brain and compile a more accurate list. Then for a small fee, a customer could purchase or rent whatever was on the list or download it to their tablet or phone. Whenever Taylor passed one of the terminals on the street, he always saw at least one person using them. The ones here were occupied, with the shortest line consisting of three people.
“Excited for this year's upcoming game, War's Break III?” Another Recommender shouted, and managed to steal Taylor's attention. “Looking to pass the time until it comes out? Then try out Marching Fire!”
Taylor averted his gaze and adjusted his hood to ensure that none of the Recommenders could see his face. For whatever reason for the last week, Recommenders had stopped him wherever he went, whether it was to the convenience store down the street or to his job a couple of blocks over. If they weren't known for stopping random citizens and hassling them to search for a new TV show to watch or video game to play, Taylor would've sworn up and down that they were targeting him specifically. He had managed to slip away from them this week so far, but he wasn't willing to try his luck again.
The traffic of vehicles and pedestrians thinned the farther he stepped from the intersection, and Recommenders and the Terminals were dotted randomly along the streets. He kept his head low and hurried away when he suspected a Recommender was shouting to him and walked paths that brought him out of sight of any. Where the crowds of pedestrians thinned to a dribble of the occasional person, only the Terminals were to be found. Taylor thought he was safe to remove his hood but kept it donned as a barrier from the chilly air. He didn't remove it until he entered the apartment building where his pal Marcus lived.
The lighting within was dim, and the color scheme did little to brighten up the place. But as far as Taylor knew, the apartment was looking better than ever. His sneakers trotted on a carpet that was once spattered with stains and litter and food crumbs. His hand slid against a metal railing whose paint once flaked to reveal the rust below. And walls surrounding the stairway up were once torn with cracks resembling a dried-up riverbed. He heard the laughter of folks or the muffled script of the afternoon television programming from some of the apartments, many of which were once vacant.
Taylor knocked on the door to Marcus's apartment. He heard footsteps suppressed from within, followed by, “I'm coming!” The footsteps grew louder until they stopped and the door opened, revealing Marcus dressed in a white t-shirt and sweatpants.
Marcus gave Taylor a confused look, which mutated to shock, and he covered his mouth with his spread fingers. “Oh—” He brushed his hand over his hair. “I'm sorry, man. I completely forgot about today.”
Taylor growled. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, and I'm really sorry. You see”—he fidgeted about, his eyes making sparse contact with Taylor's—“I was out walking the other day to the store when one of those Recommender guys stopped me. I tried to ignore him, but then he asked me if I played video games, and I told him yeah. So he recommended to me this game called Heroes United Online. He gave me a code to play my first week for free, and I didn't want it to go to waste, so I tried it out, and—”
“Forget it,” Taylor said as he stepped into Marcus's apartment. “I take it Camuel forgot as well?”
Marcus shut the door while saying, “Guess so. I haven't heard from him today.”
“Just great,” Taylor growled.
As Taylor fished his phone out his pocket, Marcus asked, “Do you want me to call him?
“No, I'll do it,” Taylor said as he brought up Camuel's name from his contacts list. He selected his number and held his phone to his ear.
After two rings, Taylor heard, “Hello?”
“What the hell, Camuel?!”
“Ah! Geez, man, you really gotta yell into the phone like that?”
“I do when not only you but Marcus forgets that we were supposed to meet up at his place today.”
“We were? What for—Oh! Oh man, I forgot about that.”
Taylor sighed as he plopped onto Marcus's couch in the living room.
“Are you at Marcus's place right now?” Camuel asked.
“What do you think?”
“You want me to come over? I can be there in ten minutes if I book it.”
“Forget it,” Taylor said. “I'm not in the mood to discuss anything now.”
“Are we doing this another day, then?”
“I have no idea.” Taylor ran his hand through his hair, with his head laying against the top of the back pillow.
“Can't we do it tomorrow? Or Thursday?”
“Marcus works tomorrow, and I work Thursday.”
“Right, right,” Camuel mumbled.
Taylor slid his hand over his face, his fingers stretching out his skin. “I'm not sure if we'll be able to do this now. Not before the store sells out of the collector's edition of War's Break III.”
“Damn. Listen, I'm really sorry, man.”
“What were you even doing that you forgot about today?”
“I've been watching Everyday there's an Eclipse.”
“Whatever happened to, 'That show looks stupid'?” Taylor asked. His eyes wandered to the red light of the game console accessory sitting atop the television it was connected to.
“I thought so, too, but then a Recommender gave me a code to watch the first three episodes for free, so I thought I might as well give it a shot.”
“You've been watching a TV show all day?”
“Since Sunday, actually,” Camuel corrected.
“Oh my God,” Taylor groaned.
“You should give it a try. It's surprisingly good. Also, for every season I complete, I get a code redeemable for half off from any one DVD.”
Taylor's face fell into one palm. “I'm never going to hear from this guy again, am I?” he mumbled to himself.
“So, what's the game plan about meeting up?”
“I have to think about it, but I'll let you know.”
“All right. Sounds good.”
“Yeah. See ya.” Taylor didn't wait for a response before hanging up.
“What did he have to say?” Marcus asked from his computer desk in the corner behind the couch.
“The exact same thing you had to say,” Taylor said, his shoulders sliding down the couch. “He's another victim of the Recommenders.”
“You do have to admit that they recommend some good stuff.”
“I don't want to hear it.”
“So when do you think we're going to be able to meet up to plan the break-in?” Marcus asked.
“I honestly don't think we're going to have time,” Taylor said, his tone thick with discouragement. He rubbed his face with his hands while saying to himself, “God, I wanted those weapons and armor, too.”
“What if we went over the plan right before you went to work?” Marcus suggested.
“Because Camuel's still at work around the time I go in, and I doubt either of you is willing to wake up before the crack of dawn.”
“You're right about that,” Marcus commented. “Why doesn't he call out?”
“To hear that boy talk, just losing an hour's pay will put him on the street,” Taylor said.
“Aren't we all like that?”
“Touché,” Taylor said, wagging a finger at Marcus.
“We really can't go over this on the phone?”
“I'm not risking the government wiretapping us.”
“What if we talked in code?” Marcus suggested.
“That's a great way to cause a misunderstanding,” Taylor said.
Marcus groaned, sat without a word for a long moment, then said, “I'm really sorry about this.”
“Apologizing over and over isn't going to change the situation.”
Some squeaks escaped from Marcus's chair, and he mumbled some noises before asking, “While you're here, you want to play some online multiplayer?”
“Sure,” Taylor answered unenthusiastically.
“Power on,” Marcus commanded. The red light beside the camera lens of the accessory turned blue, and both the television and the game console beneath powered on.
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