20 MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE.

The darkened dusty newsroom on the 40th floor of the Network XXIII building was bustling with activity. Controllers sat at ancient grimy video monitors directing their reporters to their destinations, scenes for potential news stories that will generate instant ratings. Max Headroom, the station's stuttering AI mascot, ranted on about the virtues of soft drinks between shows.

Monique, one of Network 23's star reporters, was sitting with Theora discussing a rumor that Security Systems was using its latest nano-technology to spy on its competitors.

"Monique!" Murray called out from across the room, interrupting her discussion with Theora.

"What now?" Monique muttered quietly to Theora.

"Get over here!" Murray shouted. "You too, Edison!" looking over at Edison Carter, the station's other star and senior reporter.

Edison was chatting with Bryce, the station's adolescent AI expert, through one of the decrepit monitors.

Edison sauntered over to Murray. "What's up, Murray?"

"Yeah, Murray, what's up?" Monique asked as she joined the clutch.

"I want you two to head up to Chicago and check out this story that we just got a tip on."

"You got to be kidding, Murray!" Edison and Monique said together.

"I'm on my way to see Blank Reg about the latest persecutions of the blanks."

"And what about Security Systems latest misconduct? That's guaranteed ratings!"

"This is bigger," Murray insisted as he handed them a copy of the newswire report.

"By the way, Monique, how do you feel?" Murray asked.

Monique knew Murray was asking about her experience last week while investigating a BDSM kink club in Chelsea. She almost got murdered by a sadistic Dom who "bought" her at the club's weekly slave auction. She would have been brutally tortured to death had her jock boyfriend not stormed into the place, practically bashing it to pieces moments before the sadist would have mutilated her genitals with a kitchen mixer. "I'm still a little sore, Murray, but I'll be okay," she answered calmly.

"Good, on your way then!"

Ten minutes later, they were in the air. The deep red Network XXIII helicopter had left the city and was flying westward over Jersey toward Pennsylvania and western New York, ultimately to arrive in Illinois by evening.

They were flying low and fast at about 1000' and the flight had been going uneventfully as Max made continuous wisecracks since they left.

Somewhere over monotonous farmland, Monique heard a rattling sound, almost like hail striking the helicopter.

"What was that noise?" Monique asked, somewhat in alarm.

"What noise?" Edison asked.

"N-N-Noise! Music to my ears!" Max interjected.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!

"That noise!" Monique insisted.

"I heard it that time. It sounded like hail or something. It came from the rear."

Edison leaned forward and spoke to the pilot, "Martinez! Is there something wrong?"

"I don't know," Martinez answered back. "Hold on."

"Maybe we should go back," Edison suggested.

"Sure," Martinez agreed.

As they chopper turned, Monique saw something below in the distance. She leaned forward to Martinez and said, "Head over to that farm down there. I want to see something."

"Sure," Martinez answered.

As they approached the farm from a distance, it appeared to be an ordinary dairy farm with barns, a farmhouse, and all. But when they got close, Monique grabbed Edison by the shoulder, pointed at the ground, and shouted, "Look at that!"

What she was pointing at was a meadow. The meadow was completely surrounded by chain-link fence topped with razor wire and set in a concrete base. The meadow was also inhabited by about 80 naked women.

"Holy-holy c-c-cow, cow!" Max interjected.

"Wait!" Monique shouted. She pointed to a smaller paddock enclosed by a similar fence, "Look over there!"

Edison's jaw dropped. He opened the sliding door and aimed the large telephoto camera at the impossible scene, then the infrared imaging camera. As the chopper drew ever closer, Edison hefted his camera-gun at the scene, as did Monique with hers.

Pulling his headphones on, Edison shouted, "Theora! Are you getting this? Go live now!"

Monique heard Theora answer through her headphones, "You're live, Edison."

Down below, a small group of naked women stood idly about in the fenced area. However, one naked woman was running away from a small barn wielding a shotgun. A second nude woman was also fumbling with another gun.

"Edison!" Martinez interrupted. "We're losing oil pressure. We got to get on the ground! Now!"

"Take us down over there, Martinez," Edison replied.

At that moment, a group of men in white bloody smocks, also armed with shotguns, came running out of the barn. One of them took aim at one of the armed women. Then the other armed women aimed and blew his head off. The other man then blew a hole through the woman's chest. Then the remaining armed woman pumped the gun and blew his head off too.

"What a war zone-zone!" Max commented.

"Shut up, Max! Not now!" Edison yelled into the monitor.

Suddenly, Murray came on the channel, "Edison! Monique! What's going on? The ratings are going through the roof!"

"We're on to something big, Murray!" Edison answered back. "Something really bizarre!"

"And grizzly!" Monique added.

Then Monique screamed in terror as the armed women hefted her shotgun, pointed it right at them, and fired. The telephoto camera between them burst into pieces as Monique screamed.

As the helicopter approached the ground, Edison said to the pilot, "Put us down by that farmhouse."

As the helicopter approached the ground, Theora spoke into their headsets, "The Metro Cops are on their way to your location now. They'll be there in 12 minutes."

The chopper landed in a field behind a stately gothic farmhouse. The two star reporters jumped out, camera-guns at the ready.

At the noise of the chopper, a group of men came running out of the house.