SINGULARITY

FIFTH SEQUENCE

Cavil stopped there, as he noticed Zaccaheus's irritated facial expression. He changed the subject promptly, "Ok then. Well, the police force around here isn't going to be helping us track him down. He's not done anything illegal."

He took another puff of his cigar before continuing, "There is an organisation here though, illegal of course, but everyone knows about it. Its a group of mercenaries and bounty hunters, hired guns essentially. They have eyes and ears all over the city. They essentially run the place. All we gotta do is pay them, and they'll track him down for us, they can even put out a bounty for him if we want, and anyone who wants to can find him for us. "

"Sounds easy then."

Cavil chuckled, "These people are volatile Zac. Thats how they control the place. Everyone fears them. And believe it or not, a while back I took on a few of the free for all bounties they've put up for myself, for a spot of fun," Zaccaheus raised an eyebrow as Cavil said this, "And I'll have you know I've been quite successful with some of them. So they might be lenient with us. If they recognise me of course."

Zaccaheus laughed, "You, bounty hunting?! Cavil you treat everything in the AR as if it were expendable, some kind of game. And what about the peaceful things, like fishing?"

"Look, its a free world in here Zac. I can be whoever I want and do what I want. If I want some peace, I'll go some place quite. If I'm looking for excitement, I'll come some place like this. But of course when I do it, I don't run around looking like this. God damn it, I forgot about this! There's no way they'll recognise me."

Cavil threw his cigar to the ground and stomped on it aggressively, "If they see us like this, they'll probably refuse us; think we're there to make fun of 'em."

Zaccaheus sighed, "I'll deal with that if we have to..."

Cavil leaned up from the wall, "Come on then. Lets head to their nearest branch."

The two of them walked back over to the busy sidewalk, and began to snake their way through the crowds, Zaccaheus trailing slightly behind Cavil. People laughed and mocked them as they pushed their way through, the wide smiles on people's faces unsettling as they laughed under the orange and gold hues. A slender woman wearing a fur coat bumped herself forcefully into Zaccaheus as she walked past, causing him to stagger. She turned around to shriek at him, smirking as she did so, "What the hell do you think you're doing, old man?!"

Cavil snarled under his breath, "Keep walking Zaccaheus."

Zaccaheus hissed back in frustration, "Do you think I'm stupid or something? I'm not gonna pick a fight here..."

"We'll have to catch a ride there. We can't keep walking around like this."

The two of them continued on, ignoring the threats hurled in their direction. Nearby bystanders joined in with the woman; perhaps in a pathetic attempt to impress her. The abuses continued on for a few seconds more before they were interrupted by a trio of policemen who came running across the road, one of them shouting, "Thats enough! Leave 'em alone and let them be on their way. Don't let this get out of hand here..."

Zaccaheus and Cavil kept on walking, the voice of the woman arguing with the police men fading away into the background noise of the city as they moved further away. Cavil stopped by a car bay, a sign next to him reading, "TAXIS ONLY." There were numerous taxis in sight, and the nearest one pulled up along side them.

Cavil wrenched open the door in frustration and the two of them clambered in, slamming the door behind them, wanting to avoid the attention of anymore trouble in the area.

Cavil leant forward to speak to their driver, "Take us to the Chinatown District."

The driver simply nodded, and then sped off down the street. He put on a Beethoven piece; Moonlight Sonata, muttering something about, 'liking classical so deal with it'. Zaccaheus slumped back in his seat, and looked out the window at the orange and golden lights flying by, the people lining the streets, pouring into and out of the shops... The extravagance and decadence. When me envisaged his old life; the one he missed, this wasn't how he remembered it. Perhaps the miserable state of the world now had made him forget how nad things reall once were. The frantic sights flying past, accompanied by the rather soothing homophony of the piece playing in the background, served to generate a surreal feeling. He admired the beauty of the piece; near-perfection crafted by mans hands, and not a machines. In many ways it was the pursuit of improvement, perfection, that had driven the human race. But when it was finally handed to us by the AI's, there was nothing left to aspire for.