A Glibertarians Exclusive: Breaking Out, Part II
0200, the Maintenance levels, Thunberg-121
Brietta U-626 (she/her) proved to be cautious enough; she had copied the plans for the city’s maintenance levels onto a large piece of paper, which she now took from her coverall pocket, unfolded, and examined. She didn’t explain where she had actually found the paper, and her compatriots didn’t ask. Denver had asked where she found the plans for the Maintenance spaces. “We four,” Brietta had replied, “…aren’t the only ones unhappy with the way things are in the Modern Cities.”
Now, she studied the plans. “This way,” she said after a few moments.
The maintenance shaft – it was too narrow to call it a corridor – was dark, hot, and uncomfortable, especially to four young people dragging bags loaded with food, water, and protective equipment.
Denver G-126 and Helena R-223 walked behind Brietta U-626 and Romano H-988 (he/him). The co-conspirators were making their way through the maintenance spaces underneath the lower level of the Modern City of Thunberg-121, where all four of them had been born and where they had lived all their lives. Now, they were risking everything to get out of that city.
Romano H-988 was still scowling. He had been furious when they had met near an access hatch on Level 2. An hour earlier, he had burst out with the news to the others the moment after they had disabled all their personal electronics: “I got two demerits on my Social Credit Score!”
“How?”
Romano looked at Denver. “How? I’ll tell you. I was in an Approved Vendor buying some snacks.” He had been augmenting their rations for the undertaking, but he left that part out. “I gave my name and pronouns so the vendor could debit my Social Standing Credits, and three non-binaries and an otherkin started yelling at me, claiming my pronouns were artifacts of the heteropatriarchal past, and that I was ignoring the pain and suffering they suffered from hearing those hateful pronouns used. I told them to leave me alone, I had the right to name my own pronouns, but a Monitor overheard the whole thing. I got two demerits for inadequate remorse for my representation of the racist, sexist, heteropatriarchal past.”
“That’s not right,” Brietta said. “I mean, we’ve all taken heat for our traditional orientations and pronouns, but I never heard of anyone getting demerits for it.”
“Yeah,” Denver agreed. “They’re getting worse.”
“Oh, yeah,” Helena said. “Didn’t you hear? The term ‘traditional’ is now problematic, as it normalizes past injustices. We’re supposed to use ‘archaic’ now.”
“Oh, great,” Romano snapped. “Just great.”
“Come on,” Denver urged. “Let’s get going.”
Brietta had somehow obtained the code for the access hatch. After one last look to make sure no one was watching and that no Eyes were operating nearby, the four young people crawled into the hatch and pulled it closed behind them.
“We’ve got maybe twelve hours before someone notices our quarters have been empty and we haven’t popped up on any facial recognition cams.”
“Hold up,” Brietta whispered. There was a flickering light ahead.
“What is it?”
“Don’t know. There shouldn’t be anyone working down here now. It’s not a Designated Work Week, and it’s the middle of the night.”
“Let’s look. Stay quiet.”
They crept ahead, slowly. A few paces ahead, the maintenance shaft intersected a long room, over twenty meters tall, with a row of odd-looking devices in each one. A blinking indicator on a control panel near the maintenance shaft was the source of the light.
“What are those things?” Romano asked.
“I think they’re transformers,” Brietta said. “They step down electricity from the big transmission lines to a level where we can use it for our electronics, heating, that kind of thing.”
“Why are they all the way down here? Our electricity comes from the solar panels and windmills on the top of the dome. That’s what we were all taught, right?”
“I don’t know. None of this is on the plans I got from Maintenance. Oh, hey – look back here.” Brietta pointed. “Look at those big transmission lines. They aren’t coming from above. They’re coming from the same direction we’re going. Why?”
“We’re already going that way – maybe we’ll find out.” Denver took one last look around the big, puzzling space. “Let’s keep moving. Keep a look out. If this stuff is down here, there may be other things we aren’t expecting.”
“Straight ahead,” Brietta directed. “We should come to a four-way junction. When we do, go straight ahead. About three hundred meters and we’ll hit a T junction; take a right, and it’s about another hundred to the egress hatch.”
“Good,” Romano said. “Let’s get out of this place. We’re never gonna get another chance.”
Ten minutes later they were at the egress hatch. “OK, it’s time,” Denver told the others. “Let’s get our protective gear on. It’s going to be nasty out there.”
“We think it’s going to be nasty out there,” Helena corrected him. “One of the reasons we want out is to find out how much of what the City government tells us is true.”
“Better safe,” Brietta said, “than sorry. Let’s get the gear on.”
The four struggled in the right confines of the maintenance space to put on their protective gear: Heavy, coated coveralls, respirator masks, rubberized gloves and boots.
Finally, it was done. “OK,” Brietta said, her voice muffled by the mask. “This is it.” The egress hatch was not locked; it was presumed no unauthorized people would be down in these levels. Only a simple steel wheel hatch closed the port. Brietta spun the wheel and swung the hatch outwards.
“Shit! Close your eyes!” A bright, white light was streaming in through the port, blocked partly by Brietta as she looked outside.
Denver spoke up. “Is it bad?”
Brietta squinted, stuck her head outside, looked around. Then she looked back over her shoulder. “No. It’s beautiful.”
One by one, they climbed out.
The vista that greeted them was unbelievable. A gentle breeze waved knee-high grasses, which stretched away from the city down a gentle slope to where a line of trees grew along a small stream. In the distance lay gentle, rolling hills, covered in green. The sun shone brightly in the eastern sky.
“Should the sun be up?” Romano looked at his timepiece. “It’s only 0256.”
“They’ve been lying to us,” Denver said. “They lied about the conditions outside. Why not lie about the time? Do you think there is anything they weren’t lying about?”
Slowly, he unfastened this mask and removed it. He took a deep breath.
“The air,” he marveled. “It smells so good.”
“Look,” Helena pointed. “Over there. Electrical lines.” A line of metal pylons supported several heavy cables, running off into the hills. “They aren’t coming from any solar panels, or windmills, either.”
Denver thought about that. “More lies,” he said. “Forget that for now. We need to get moving. They may be looking for us.”
“At least we can get rid of this gear,” Romano said. He started removing his heavy coverall.
“Wait.” Denver looked back into the hatch, then closed it. There was no way to seal it from outside; to anyone that looked, it would be obvious that someone had left. “We can take it off, but we should take a ways from here before we dump it. Otherwise, they’ll know for sure we came this way.”
The other three nodded. “Makes sense,” Romano agreed.
They removed their protective gear, stuck it back in their carrying bags. Then they struck off into the grass.
Helena walked beside Denver. As they walked away, through the tall grass, through the brilliant sunshine, she reached out and took Denver’s hand.
Denver smiled at Helena. “Hey,” he said. “We haven’t filled out a Social Interactions Permission form.”
“To hell with Social Interactions Permission forms. We’re free now. Free to do as we please – not as the City government approves.”
Denver smiled and squeezed her hand. We have to let people in the City know about this, he thought. We must tell them the truth. We must bring this system down. It has to change – all of it.
***
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’
Brietta might be a Fed.
That is a painful realization for some.
At least the kids are adjusting quickly to their reality. Hope they make it.
Maybe she’s a Cylon.
Everyone seemed to be a frakkin’ Cylon by the end. Lazy ass writers.
“Statement: It appears that our infiltration mission was too successful. There were no humans on the vessel after our agents were on board.”
Everyone’s a Fed.
Hope any trackers the City has are as incompetent as the rest of their society — I doubt they’re masking their trail very well in tall grass.
Betting those power lines run to either icky coal plants (just for the extra FYTW) or nukes. And expecting either the wanna-be elites are enjoying 95% of the planet all to themselves while the proles are locked up in the cities or the rest of the world just built One Damned Big Asylum. We’ll see where Animal wants to take this.
Enjoying as always, our Ursine Scribe!
Hopefully they are walking away from the power lines. That will just lead to more trouble. Run, people!
Love it.
Thanks, Animal!
Welp, I’m invested.
Another fun one to read. It’s a bit alarming that none of this sounds far-fetched. We’ve already gotten to the point where our government no longer sees itself as serving the people, they are there to manage the population.
One giant Department of Human Resources?
You are a subject not a citizen.
I’m gonna be on the road next week. Will have to wait two weeks to see where this is going.
This is really great. I hope those kids get away and thrive. Lots to figure out when your whole life was a lie.
From the dead thread, I see powerlifting is now forced to allow biological men to compete as women. This is one of my hobbyhorses. Mrs. TOK competed in a few powerlifting competitions, and has a few state records in smaller lifting federations. This ruling is going to destroy women’s powerlifting. If you look at the records, the male records in every case are MUCH higher than women’s records. A few biological men can set every record out of reach of any woman forever. They aren’t being inclusive, they’re erasing women from society.
The trans movement is eradicating decades worth of women’s rights and gay rights advancements almost overnight.
Agreed. The fight for gay rights was always about being accepted as equals in society. They had to fight stereotypes of gay people being sick perverted pedophiles. And now we have drag story hour and explicit books made for children. Sadly it’s easy to tear down things that have taken decades or longer to build.
The fight for gay rights was always about being accepted as equals in society.
That was much of it. But there was always a vein running through it of in your face outrage and celebration of breaking mores.
Some gays were that way. I haven’t met any of them personally.
All of the gays/lesbians that I know just want to live normal lives.
The activist groups didn’t know how or want to quit the grift, so the goalposts got moved and the rational actors left while the nutbags took over.
Fuck.
Which federation? There is more than one federation.
Can’t remember, it was one in Illinois. I have a bench press record for my age and weight too.
The dystopian backstory to this story. Antifa mob breaks into construction site for new ‘Cop City’ site in Atlanta and torches vehicles and throws Molotov cocktails at cops.
Is this stuff even making the news? If it was done by white-supremacists protecting a Confederate statue, the media would be creaming themselves while a thousand storm troopers killed them.
Top of Google News — The NY Times
Protesters Damage Property at Site of Planned Police Center in Atlanta
The disturbance grew out of a demonstration among hundreds of activists in a forest being developed into a training center.
Not exactly truthful though.
Reuters
Fires broke out at the construction site of an Atlanta police training center on Sunday after a demonstration at the property led to clashes between police and protesters and 35 people were arrested, police said.
Molotov doesn’t appear till the fourth paragraph.
“Fires broke out at”
I hate when they randomly generate.
“activists”
Talk about burying the lede.
But it sounds truthy.
I have seen this everywhere, but then again I read tinfoil hat sites. So I went to the front page of AP News. No, I am not going to click on any of their crap and look deeper. Front page has a link to it right under the giant-sized “bot” story about Trump.
https://apnews.com/
They need to get construction starting so it would be Antifa/BLM v Unions/Mafia.
I’d watch that.
Pay per view. I’m in.
Kyle Dunnigan as Dr Fauci meeting Chris Hansen (with Chris Hansen) on Adam Carolla.
https://youtu.be/BqhfPCyMy2M?t=3076
Fires broke out
Spontaneous combustion is real!
The fight for gay rights was always about being accepted as equals in society.
I could be completely full of shit, but it seems to me a giant part of the gay rights movement involved people wanting to be ignored, not “celebrated”.
That ship sailed a while ago.
It looked kind of like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFH5WeJfQJ4
“Oh my god, I’ve got the exact same blouse!”
What a terrific show.
And that was the opening scene for the entire series. I don’t think I can come up with a TV show that started off stronger.
Agreed. Usually it takes awhile to get rolling. They did, however, fuck up by dragging it on too long.
Very few good shows don’t do that.
Babylon 5 and, ummm, Babylon 5.
And stuff that got cancelled too early.
The Prisoner.
Opening scene of Buffy?
It made it really clear upfront that cliches were going to be subverted.
Long ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_the_Church
Some people don’t want to be left alone. They want validation.
Elon brings the lolz.
That bear is getting a little paws-y, have to say.
Still, she seems into it.
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2023/03/lets-brew-1897-fullers-ipa.html
Its been a while since I posted one.
I liked this line: “Where it overshoots the maximum by quite a margin.”
Yeah, 88 IBU is high for an American IPA, much less a British one.
The Brits knew how to make beer at the turn of the century (the previous one).
Infernal British Users?
International Bittering Units.
Awful name.
IPAs are for times long ago when good beer couldn’t be shipped far.
Except the Brits stopped shipping it far and drank it at home fresh instead.
Although not in this case, this one was aged for a year, probably.
Troops in India didn’t have access to good beer and acquired the taste. They brought it home. We don’t have to settle.
Let the IPA guys have their beers.
Let the sour guys have their beers.
Let the bourbon-barrel imperial stout guys have their beers.
Let everyone enjoy whatever it is they enjoy.
^^ THIS!! ^^
#DontBeABeerKaren
“Never!” *Brandishes Hatchet*
/Carrie Nation
No more orange mead for UnCiv
Mead you say?
Mead you look.
Let everyone enjoy whatever it is they enjoy.
Hawaiian deep dish?
Except for American Wheat guys.
Fuck them. Learn to love Hefe yeast.
That is not remotely what happened.
And they did have access to good beer in India. I don’t remember the details, but lots of Porter/Stout were being shipped to India also. Everything shipped to India had the shit hopped out of it.
The story, also false, is that a ship bound for India wrecked, the beer washed ashore, and the locals enjoyed it so much that the brewers started making IPA for home distribution.
The truth is more boring than either — the brewers just started making IPA for home distribution.
Hops came to England in the 1400s.
By the late 1500s, they were making very high alcohol, very high hops beers that could be cellared for years. This was long before pale ales and india pale ales were being brewed.
Unhopped ales were shipped all over northern Europe during the middle ages.
1) They were very high alcohol.
2) They were only shipped in winter.
Fullers is quite underwhelming.
You have had their 1897 IPA?
Also, Fuller’s ESB is one of my favorite beers. London Pride is also very good.
(IMHO) London Pride sucks. I more of a Sammy Smith type guy.
Nearly all of Sam Smith’s stuff is top notch – but since covid started, a lot harder to get some of their good fruit stuff over here.
I like them too, their Nut Brown is excellent.
“To hell with Social Interactions Permission forms. We’re free now. Free to do as we please – not as the City government approves.”
🙂
This is fine.
I’m sure he’s just having a bad day.
They did a brain scan and it came back negative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIPad7cRqOQ
Brainscan
I doubt they had to take the top of his head off to discover that. Just let him ramble for a couple minutes is all it would take.
Shake his head and listen to the rattle. It would be like an old seed inside of a dry gourd.
Some fucking doctor examined him and proclaimed that he is mentally fit.
I can’t believe that.
I can. They’ve redefined major ideas in science, even the term “science” itself, to fit their political narrative. Finding a doctor to lie about an exam seems like small potatoes at this point.
No shit. Docs for the past 3 years either exposed their incompetence to medicine or their willingness to sell out.
https://twitter.com/Freakoutery/status/1632826924627009538/photo/1
https://twitter.com/Freakoutery/status/1632724163495354374?cxt=HHwWjICz1bz-zKgtAAAA
Tempting.
Lol.
He’s a great follow, by the way.
Covid was blatant, but still “plausible” in some way.
Biden’s brain is mush and is on display nearly daily.
The doctor saying he is OK, seems to be a big step up in dishonesty.
The role of the President’s physician has had “willingness to lie” as a job requirement for a very long time. This isn’t new, it’s just more extreme.
It’s the Cabinet that pisses me off. The 25th exists for a reason and they don’t use it because a brain-addled meatpuppet in the Oval Office allows them to run rampant with no supervision. It’s dangerous.
He’s mixing up his Steve Martin movie histories.
Instead of his usual “I was born a poor black child” he’s gone to screw-top cranium.
“Why are those assholes on my porch?”
“Those aren’t assholes, they’re azaleas.”
Welp. Got XY’s taxes done. Took 2 rejects to deal with their nitpickery and it took me a while to figure out what I did wrong. Just flag it in red before submission, asshats.
Does your software not flag? I switched from TT to HRBlock software a couple years ago. It’ll flag anything that doesn’t seem right or if something required is missing.
We’ve got this year and next for a CPA cause of the business. After that, probably back to doing it ourselves unless one of us decides to start up another business.
I’ve told this story before. The first year I had my business was also the first year I was married. I took my stuff to a tax dude. He totted up a $2,000 tax bill. We were like DAFUQ?! So my then-new husband said, “Let’s take it to my boss’s tax guy.” Okay. He totted up a slightly higher tax bill AND filed it electronically without asking us. I was livid. I happened to be whining to my aunt about it as a tangent off some other conversation and she gave me the schedule C facts of life. I got out a paper instruction booklet and went through that fucker line by line and practically memorized it. I gathered up all my receipts and went to town. After that was all done, I filed an amended return.
The IRS forgave the 41¢ I still owed per an error in my calculations.
We could have, its not overly complicated our business taxes. But ~$500 and audit protection and near $0 tax liability give peace of mind.
Yeah, kinda a hassle since I know I’m getting a refund – but still one less hassle to worry about for about $300. If I was only doing fed and no state – I might try it on my own. Maybe in a few years if my status stays the same.
Oh, I used the IRS’s little form. It does not flag. It just gives you a computerese error message as to what you messed up/forgot, and then you have to try to parse it out from there exactly what’s wrong.
HRBlock Deluxe Fed and State is usually on sale for ~$20 in Nov/Dec. Might be worth checking out.
Even if you know what you’re doing and don’t need the walkthrough guidance, I think the $20 is worth it just for the time-savings from using the software to fill out the forms and flag errors as needed. The included audit protection is another plus.
Getting AARP junk mail in my 40s was annoying. Now I’m getting hearing aid junk mail. At what age should I expect large print junk mail?
Never. It starts getting smaller as the scam factor increases.
Is DC pulling a NY?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/judge-denies-non-violent-january-6th-defendant-time-to-review-new-evidence-obtained-by-speaker-mccarthy-trial-for-nypd-retired-policewoman-starts-today-despite-her-public-defenders-plea-for/
Nice story – the Feds withholding evidence being backed up by the Judge. Federal charges for shaking a tambourine. Ratted out by a family member (I assume because of political differences).
Now there’s a legal standard for you.
. . . . . .and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Don’t you dare come to my house and make noise.
Go burn a few Targets in the slums. Steal a TV while you’re at it.
And that is willful naivete.
They never follow that rule.
Anyone with low blood pressure, I recommend Michael Malice’s The White Pill: A Tale of Good and Evil.
So far, it’s very informative and enraging at the same time. Right now, he is going through Walter Duranty and the famine.
I see no optimism yet, but I highly recommend it.
I’ll second this. It’s a fantastic (sometimes grueling) book. One of the best I’ve read lately.
I think (without reading it) that the white pill is that communism fell, when no one had any expectation that it would.
I was debating buying it, maybe I can convince the local library into purchasing it… Hm.
We at that pill 30 years ago. It has worn off.
If it happened then it could happen now.
You mean Eastern Bloc Communism fell. Cuban communism (with Bolivarian communism in Venezuela) is still here. Also China, Laos, Vietnam, and North Korea.
Sorry, I forgot the US Universities.
“Denver smiled and squeezed her hand. We have to let people in the City know about this, he thought. We must tell them the truth. We must bring this system down. It has to change – all of it.”
That is way too optimistic, no one will believe you, and the people in power have no incentive to support you.
Yeah. Just GTFO and live your best life. Going back there would be a death sentence.
Blair White has some thoughts.
Good thread.
I wonder why the Antifa fucks were actually charged in Atlanta? Are the useful idiots done being useful?
Money. Someone important wants the project to go forward.