A Surprising Journey into Darkness – Hopeful Dystopian Sci-fi
Monochromatic steel-blue skyscrapers rose overhead, blocking the sky and casting gloomy shadows on the cavernous corridor. Like giant sentinels, they guarded the streets below with empty gazes.
Not all of them were even in use nowadays, ever since the population collapse of the last hundred years. Turns out super-intelligent computers couldn’t fix what happens when systems grow too large for anyone to be responsible for them anymore.
This time of day they blocked most of the light.
Dav Crane trudged through the corridor, reading the foot traffic the way he read a blade — looking for where people pooled, where they slowed down. He was a tall man of slight build, but not too thin with dark hair, and the serious expression born of long experience. He was nearing the end of his journey, at least for the day.
Finally he stopped at a small restaurant and approached the large Asian woman behind the counter. “Need any knives sharpened? I hone a fine blade for a good price.”
She looked at him intently. “I have a set that needs quite a bit of help. Stay here.” She disappeared into the back of her shop and returned moments later holding a set of a dozen knives set in a block. She was a dedicated cook, then.
“These haven’t been sharpened in two years. Nobody knows how to do it properly anymore.” She handed him a knife. “Show me what you can do.”
“Need any knives sharpened? I hone a fine blade for a good price.”
Dav took it and felt the blade, looked down the edge and said, “Let me get my stones ready.” He unslung a common looking backpack and unzipped it, reaching inside. He pulled out a leather satchel and looked around. He pointed at one of the many tables in front of the restaurant. “Can I sit there?”
“Might as well, eh?” she chuckled.
He grinned and moved towards the table. “Usually I like to do this standing up, but today I will compromise. It pays to stay active though.”
Fifteen minutes later Dav presented the knife to her in both hands with a small bow.
She touched the blade. “Like new!” She looked up at him. “You are a true craftsman!” She motioned towards her other blades. “How much for the rest?”
He gave her a fair price and she agreed without hesitation. Two hours later he was finished, eleven blades laid out in a row, each one sharp enough to see yourself in.
“Where did you learn to sharpen knives like this?” she queried.
“Not everything can be done by the Daemons after all.” He said smugly.
“Right you are, son.” she said with a short bark of a laugh.
They exchanged payment and she fed him a warm meal before they shook hands and he was on his way again. Another set of knives sharpened for a good price.
He had been walking for three days when a stranger in a transit hub mentioned Theo Vass in passing.
Theo was an unimpressive man — overweight, black-haired, always squinting through wire-rimmed glasses in the dim evening light coming in the window. You’d never know he was an expert computer hacker, programmer, and AI systems whisperer. Maybe his collection of no less than six flatscreens around his keyboard would clue you in.
“I’ll give it a try, but I can’t promise I’ll find her. She’s not exactly trying to be found.” he said. His hands flew over the keyboard like a thing on fire. “There, she pinged a security camera outside the Metro station on Broadway St. Vancouver, a thousand miles north of here. Are you sure you can do this?”
“She’s all I have left.” Dav said.
“Well then, let me see what I can do.” Theo said. Ten minutes later he gave Dav an address. “She’s last seen outside a hotel in The Downtown Eastside. That’s all I can give you.”
“Thank you.” Dav said. “How much do I owe you?”
“No charge. I have plenty and it looks like you are down on your luck. I’ve been there.”
Dav seems slightly stunned, then recovered. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“She’s all I have left.”
Theo chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry about it! Just doing my part to help a brother in need.” He looked at the ceiling with a self-amused air. “Would you like to stay for dinner? You have a long road ahead of you and I’ve been missing the company lately.”
A half hour later they were seated crossed legs at a low table eating a simple meal of Ramen noodles with bok choy and boiled eggs and a little bit of pork for variety. Traditional Japanese screens added a curious addition to the room.
“Who is your sister?” Theo asks, curious.
“She wasn’t always like this.” Dav gave a long sigh. “She used to be a gifted musician, but she could never earn enough to stay afloat. So when the wrong man came at the wrong time, she went with him. Last I heard she was running drugs for people she couldn’t say no to.”
Theo nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that. Way too easy to fall into the wrong crowd these days.”
“I just wish she had come to me for help instead.” Dav sighed again.
“I learned coding and AI systems on my own as a teenager. My parents thought it was a waste of time, but it turned into a lucrative career for me. Not many people can read the Daemons anymore.”
Dav nodded and remained silent.
Theo looked at him for a moment before he spoke. “Do you need a place to stay tonight?”
Dav looked at him. “Sure. I could use a warm bed.”
Theo smiled warmly and stood.. “Let me get the guest room ready. I’ll only be ten minutes.”
That night as Dav lay in bed he scrutinized the patterns of electric blue light thrown on the ceiling through the blinds, from the LED street lights below.
Something seemed off to him. Not that Theo had helped him find his sister, but something else entirely. Why keep him around longer than necessary? Why give him a warm bed when directions to the nearest hotel would have done fine?
He turned over on his side and stared into the darkness in the corner of the room to no avail. Not even that, but Theo seemed too involved. It wasn’t his sister in trouble.
Ten minutes of tossing and turning later he finally got out of bed and gathered his belongings. He wasn’t going to make a mistake this time. He crept out of the apartment through the dimly lit hallway and carefully opened the front door, paused, and stepped through.
Ten minutes again and he was heading off towards the twinkling city lights in the distance down the long dark corridor. Hope felt fresh in his breast.
Just before dawn he passed a Bart rail station but quickly decided against it in case the cameras there would catch his face or poll his gait and reveal his whereabouts. He trudged on, moving with purpose despite his slow pace.
The morning light found Dav trekking the Golden Gate Bridge by foot, heading north. He paused and considered the high red-orange pylons overhead, before looking down at the water swirling around the gigantic bridge foundations below.
His phone buzzed. He pulled it out and squinted at the screen.
Dav, I know you’re long gone by now. I let the cops know you were here last night and you would have been caught if you had stayed till morning. But something must have warned you, maybe my overgenerosity. If you receive this message you are in the clear now. I’m sorry. I hope this redeems me somehow. Safe travels my friend.
He took a deep breath and looked up at the brilliant azure sky overhead, and then headed north again. One foot in front of the other.
Timothy Grindall is a writer and computer programmer among other things. I write for fun and pleasure, but every draft brings me closer to being something more.
This was an experiment in rewriting something Claude.ai had already written for me based on my own story and structure. The original can be found at https://medium.com/@timgrindall/honest-edge-165542d8628c.
