Cyber Mage

Evileye

Chapter 5: Ray Dawn

Ray Dawn entered the courtyard under the glare of the Gau City sun. He tugged on the noose like collar of his formal police uniform and allowed his neck a moment to breathe. Why the hell they tapered captain uniforms so tight was one of the greatest mysteries of his life.

He advanced on the main building within the police station so the foot traffic had become quite boisterous.

‘As if the heat wasn’t enough. It’s crowded as well.’

In his uniform, with the golden cybermage badge pinned to his chest he stood out like a sore thumb.

The clatter of panicked feet swelled to alarming volumes as the sea of people parted for him. Countless jittery eyeballs trained on him as civilians fast marched to escape his path.

Despite cybermages being the protectors of the federation law, many civilians continued to fear them.

Too many rumours of mages being able to brainwash and manipulate people or how they doggedly hunted hackers and No-chips or how ruthlessly they interrogated and broke the minds of witnesses who got in their way.

They moved out of his way like they had encountered a walking plague and he sneered at their attention as he made his way past.

‘They should check out my case completion rate before they judge me like this. Rafinya too, a day hasn’t even passed since we returned from the waterworks and he’s already summoned us to be debriefed. Can’t he at least give one of his best units a little leeway? I barely had enough time to recuperate.’

His dampened mood coupled with his slouched form seemed to trigger even more wariness from the crowd. He advanced through them like a lion through a herd of jumpy antelope.

The Gau City Police Department stood at 200 storeys high and not only did it reach into the heavens it was as wide as a four football fields.

“Hmm.” Ray Dawn perked up at the sound of incoherent chanting.

“Being force chipped is inhumane!”

“My body my choice!”

A group of two dozen or so union protesters chanted at the base of the stairs. They marched around an enlarged virtual projection of the union chairperson giving a speech.

“…Comrades, chipping should be a choice. Don’t let the federation law and the greedy corporations control you. Fight for your rights to privacy…”

An old recording, back when Safaree Nelsons was new to the job and actually believed she could amend things.

‘27.’ Ray Dawn counted them. 

There were fewer and fewer protestors each month.

‘And these poor saps are setting themselves up without realizing.’

Their chip IPs would be flagged and they’d be plagued by a series of unfortunate incidents. Ranging from inexplicable interest hikes, bad credit, sudden depreciation of assets, cyber bullying, multiple harassment charges etc.

‘Retaliation in its pettiest form but quite effective against the common person.'

Ma had once told him, there was a time when union protestors gathered in their thousands to riot against chipping laws.

No more.

‘It’s a pointless endeavour.’

The majority of the citizens had come to accept getting chipped. The federation had presented them with too much evidence to suggest No-chips wanted privacy for the purpose of committing crimes and spreading anarchy. Talk of how the banished No-chips lived as lawless barbarians in the Scorchedlands also helped.