RoboNomics

Chapter 48 - 2016

Other voices join his. 

"Don't do it; don't go in there. You'll regret it!" 

They call from every side of the square. People standing in front of me look back with confused expressions, but the crowd doesn't stop moving forward.

The growl of a motor comes from somewhere down the street. The car drives down Dundas Street and stops just short of the crowd. 

People on the edge of the mob shout in protest. From the passenger's side of the vehicle climbs a figure in black with a black ski mask. He looks just like the guy Austin and I saw on television.

It's Chris. He climbs on the hood of the car and looks out into the crowd.

I turn my head away. I try to burrow into my thin clothes, but it doesn't work. As I cower, I realize how much Chris has affected me. 

Usually, I think about everything that happened between us as if it all happened to someone else. Working in the Group's headquarters feels like something I did years ago. 

But when I see his eyes skimming the crowd's faces, my stomach feels all twisted up. Despite what he did, I still feel something for the man I knew before the day of the riot. 

But it's not attraction, and it's not affection. 

I realize with a start that I am revolted by the sight of him.

"Andrea?" Austin asks. "What are you doing? What is it?"

"It's him," I whisper. "It's Chris."

"Who?"

"Chris. You know: the Protest Group leader."

"How do you know?" 

He looks at the man on top of the car.

"I just know, okay?"

"Okay. But why are you hiding from him?"

I open my mouth to answer, but I'm interrupted by Chris. He raises a megaphone to his mouth and shouts through it.

"They will promise you food, inoculations against disease, and jobs. But if you go into the Relief Center you'll get more than that." 

Everyone is looking in his direction except for me. 

"They will track you. This is just another way to control you. Do you really think the government cares about you? After they took away your career and your right to fight for a living wage, do you really think they care whether or not you starve? This is not a center for providing needed services to the citizens of Toronto. This is a center for controlling the citizens of Toronto."

I'm the only one facing towards the entrance of the tent so I'm the only one who notices that the police bots have not made a move to apprehend the Anti-Robotists. 

And I'm also the only one who knows why. It's because Chris is working with them. But I can't tell anyone, not even Austin.

"They'll rely more and more on automated control of us. If we don't fall in line, we'll be as disposable as our jobs were."

An Anti-Robotist in front of me slips something from her pocket. She looks up and into my eyes. Her mouth is covered but I can see the smile as it creates crow's feet around her eyes. 

I can also see the long dreadlocks, interlaced with red strings. It's Elizabeth. I gasp. As she draws the object back, I realize what it is.

"Elizabeth, no," I shout. 

It's too late. Gas streams through the air as the projectile enters the tent opening. She turns immediately and grabs my hand.

"Don't say my name again." 

I can barely hear her over the din of the screaming, fleeing crowd. People fly out of the tent and clutch their faces. The bots snap to life, as do the tasers they wield.

"Come with me," Elizabeth leads me through the crowd. 

I turn back to Austin, who is pushed in another direction by the crowd.

"Andrea!" He calls to me.

"Austin, follow me!" I call back. 

Elizabeth and I scramble through the crush of people and run to the side of the thick canvas wall of the tent. She turns to me.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing with them? With him? He betrayed us, remember? You hate him, remember?"

"But he's not a liar, Andrea. He didn't betray us. He's playing them – he's playing RoboNomics."

"Is he? Or are they playing him?"

"Even if they are, what other choice do I have? Stay at a shelter? Or go to some bullshit government food bank? I've lost my home, now, Andrea -- just like you. At least this way I won't end up on the street."

"Elizabeth, they're dangerous. You could wind up in jail."

"Well, I'm one of them now. I guess that means I'm dangerous, too. And besides, jail is better than being out here alone with nowhere to go. At least in jail, I'd know where my next meal is coming from. What about you? How are you going to survive through all this? You should join us."

"Are you kidding? I have Austin to think about." 

I look around us as I realize that Austin didn't follow us. 

"Where is he?" 

I don't wait for an answer. I run back around the tent. But there's no one there. He's disappeared. 

(Continued in Chapter 49...)

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