Dirt and data
Fighting for Utopia, Chapter Six
“Who the hell are you?”
Zara had had a lot of time to think about this moment while lying in the truck bed, but she still froze as she stared up at the square-jawed man looking down at her.
“I, I, my name’s Zara,” she sputtered out.
The man grabbed her by the shoulders, “well, Zara. What the hell are you doing in the back of our truck?”
“I… I” was all she could get out before the middle-aged woman, the leader, was next to the man, pushing him aside as he released her shoulder.
“Darren, enough!”
She turned to Zara. “Don’t mind him Zara, honey, but you do have an awful lot of explaining to do. I’m Georgina, come with me” she said, beginning to guide Zara away from the truck.
I’m writing Fighting for Utopia as a serial on Substack. You’ve landed on chapter six of this sci-fi short novel about a young hero who finds a solarpunk commune within a cyberpunk world but is not content to enjoy the peace there.
Georgina turned quickly and said, “Darren, Silvia, Jake, unload the truck, I’ll be in the office.”
The young man, Zara thought he couldn’t be more than 14 or 15, more boy still than man, began to protest, but Georgina just shot him a glare and he stopped. Darren held Georgina’s gaze for a moment, then nodded his head slightly and began directing the other two to unload the truck into odd-looking carts.
As Georgina began guiding her away from the truck, Zara had her first chance to look around.
Bay City hadn’t prepared her for this, for open air, for silence broken by unfamiliar bird calls, for green everywhere she looked.
The whole place was a confusing jumble of sights, sounds, and smells to her city dweller senses.
As Georgina led her into the town she gazed about in amazement, trying to piece together what she was experiencing. The hums of solar panels and machines she’d never seen before, looked like they were custom made. There were smells she couldn’t place, things she’d never smelled in her life, but she guessed from old books were things like earth, manure, and water. The buildings were beautiful, utilitarian, but covered in plants and bright paint, not like Bay City. There was no neon here.
As she walked through the commune, Georgina said, “Zara, this is where we live, this is our home, our sanctuary. Darren can be a bit rough around the edges, but he’s only being protective.” She glanced at Zara over her shoulder, “I see something in you. I’ll hear you out.”
Georgina led Zara into a small building on the edge of the town square adjacent to one of the apartment buildings. “Welcome to the admin building”, she said. We don’t have much of a government structure or hierarchy here, we’re pretty against that kind of thing, hence the whole commune setup, but the people here keep acting like I’m in charge, and we have to have somewhere to keep some records, run a few internal servers, and whatnot, so welcome to commune central. Come this way, here’s the office they all act like is mine.”
They stepped into a cozy office space filled with plants and artwork on the walls. An old wooden desk with a computer on it took up one side. The hardware looked ancient, but the screen showed a sleek interface. A fuzzy couch and matching armchair sat on the other side of the room.
Georgina motioned Zara to sit on the couch, which Zara did. Georgina sat in the armchair, crossing her legs and just looked at Zara and waited.
Zara said, “I’ve been watching you guys at the market in Bay City and I jumped into the truck on a whim, I can’t really explain it”.
Georgina exhaled slowly, squinting at Zara, still not saying anything…
“I’m not crazy. I just… my life right now, my dad… I don’t know where to start.”
“How about the beginning, honey. It’s usually best to begin at the beginning of a story,” Georgina said.
Zara took a deep breath and launched into her story, it all came pouring out of her. Georgina had a matronly air about her, a quiet power, but understanding, and Zara felt safe with her. She told Georgina of growing up in Bay City, and mother and Benji, his fights, her job at the arena, her mom saving money. Her dad, him being a techno-elite, his family, her longing, the ball, the attempted mugging, her betrayal by her dad, her afternoons at the cafe in a malaise. It all came pouring out.
Georgina, was mostly quiet, like a therapist just there to listen and nod, an occasional prod of a question, but just listening.
Zara finished her story, teary-eyed but clear headed. She sighed and leaned back.
“Why have you come here?”
Zara blinked at the direct question, she wiped her eyes and sat up.
Why am I here, Zara thought. What do I want from these people? What is it about them? Even before I saw the commune, which was curious, intriguing, why was drawn to them. Why?
They didn’t seem rich or powerful like her dad. They just seemed different, she liked different, she needed something different.
“I don’t know… maybe I just wanted to see if you guys were real,” Zara replied.
Georgina cocked an eyebrow and snorted, “Real? What did you think, we were mythical creatures?”
“No, I just. I don’t really know. It feels like in Bay City there’s only the techno elite and then the rest of us. But you guys, you stuck out to me. I sat and watched you guys from a terrace of a cafe in the market 3 different times and you walked around with a confidence that I can’t describe. Not techno-elite, not regular citizens, but something different and I had to see.”
Georgina had pretty much decided to let Zara in the moment she’d laid eyes on the girl in the truck bed, call it a mother’s instinct. Hearing Zara’s reply now though convinced her.
“Well, you’re probably not fucking techno-elite secret police, so I will let you stay on three conditions.
One, you can tell no one of our existence, you can notify your mother only to tell her you’re safe and won’t be back right away. Two, you will work, and work harder than you have ever worked before to be part of this group. Three, you will approach us with an open-mind, a willingness to learn, and to deprogram yourself from a lifetime of indoctrination into the techno-elite’s scheme. Can you do that?”
Zara nodded.
“Good, now go find Darren, tell him I’ve allowed you to stay. You will be given a bed in a shared housing unit and assigned an initial job. Find Jake too, he’ll show you how to securely message your mom. When you have your room, a change of clothes, and have sent out your message, find me again, I’ll give you the tour.”
Zara stood, grinning. “Thank you, I won’t let you down” and she bolted for the door.
“Zara….”
Zara turned to look back at the woman, still sitting in the armchair in the cozy room full of plants, a small smile at the corner of her mouth.
“Welcome to the commune.”
If you enjoyed that, let me know in replies or comments. I’ll get some newsletters out soon on technology trends, there’s a lot happening that’s interesting and I’m doing my best to navigate it for my company and personally.
Till next time!
Zara!!