Chapter 13: Tent City

Location: Newstock, Montana, North American Coalition, Earth
Era: Tuesday, 14th April 2246CE

Mark kept firm control of the vehicle as he navigated the uneven rocky track down the slope towards the sea of multi-colored tents. Since he had woken up from virtual reality the colours had been so bright, especially since they had left the snow behind. The clarity and detail of the world scraped his nerves raw. The thousands of different shades of green distinguished the vegetation. White and yellow wild flowers speckled the hillside and the riot of color that was the tents screamed at him. He could see aircraft moving over the campground. They looked like giant drones. Many seemed to have a payload suspended underneath.

"Would you say that you are good at following rules?" asked Fury snuggling close to him. He closed his eyes shutting out the sensory overload and plugged himself into the ute's lidar. The lidar made it easier to see the dips and bumps in the road anyway.

"Not really, I tend to either ignore or creatively get around rules that are inconvenient to me." replied Mark. Closing his eyes also helped him appreciate the dusky scent of her skin and the warmth and softness of her body. It was distracting as he split his attention between driving, luxuriating in her closeness, and listening to her conversation, doing none of those activities well.

"Exploitation of rules is kinda my signature move so I am no better," she admitted. "We both need to follow the rules here, or at the very least learn to break them in ways different from what we are used to. Reputation and status are everything here. This place is run on a gift economy. Money is a dirty word here. Even barter is frowned upon. These people blame money and greed for the bad times of the 2220s and the 2230s. It was a little more complicated than that of course. Society was hit by a perfect storm of several extremely disruptive social changes at once. Greed and arrogance prevented the commercial and government sectors from realizing how far the balance of power had shifted. The government managed to make things worse and they got blamed for everything, even those circumstances beyond their control. Anyway, here in Newstock, government, authority, secrecy, competition, and capitalism are considered evil. Community, cooperation, consensus, openness, and generosity are considered good. People here are probably more open and friendly than you're used to. Just don't be shy, be friendly back and take your lead from other people."

"Gift economy? Is that where people give away things in order to show how rich and powerful they are?" Asked Mark.

"In this case it is more like how community minded, cooperative, and generous they are. Remember almost everyone here has dropped out of the labor market. They are not rich and powerful in the traditional sense, but the payout for gifting is the same - status."

"Doesn't gift economies show up when resources are not scarce? I seem to remember something about some traditional Pacific Island societies working that way," he asked as he maneuvered around part of the track that had been washed away by a small stream.

"Part of the scarcity problem was solved by the development of survival tarka. Free open content tarka allows anyone to survive on any organic matter such as leaves or grass, plus water. No clothes or shelter are needed. The tarka takes care of medical needs and as well as communication, education, and entertainment. For a more comfortable life, nano-weave tents and food printers similar to the ones I showed you at the camp are fairly cheap and are a one-time cost. The fact you can live comfortably at no ongoing cost is one of those disruptive social changes I mentioned. Many of these developments were motivated by the trauma cause by the collapse of civilization during the sequestration wars in the 2150s. People wanted to make sure that if civilization collapsed again they would be able to survive, but it also meant that people could opt out of main stream civilization and join the alternative civilization of the Big Drop Out."

"What's the Big Drop Out?" he asked, half of his mind on Fury's lecture and half on keeping the ute out of the ditch.

"It started with the disenfranchised and the unemployed, then grew into a widespread social movement. Communities sprang up in the reclamation parks and people withdrew from the labor market and commercialism. At its height, 28% of the Earth's population dropped out completely with a further 44% percent partially dropping out by engaging with both the mainstream economy and the alternative economy simultaneously. It was mainly an Earth phenomenon with little offworld participation," she paused, then continued. "There was already systemwide financial contraction going on. The wide spread layoffs was one of the factor's driving the first wave of drop outs. Many governments were having problems with tax revenue. You can imagine the effect on the economy of such a large scale reduction in participation. Some governments tried to reassert control by taxing the gift economy or by making survivor tarka illegal." Mark let the history lesson wash over him. He had made an attempt to learn some of the history that had happened after his time, but a big chunk of history had happened in those 283 years. Though it was only 230 years' worth of history looking from the point of view of this era. He realized that much of the history he had learned from the 2299 mesh snap shot had not happened yet and he would need to be careful about mentioning future events to the people native to this era. He refocused his attention on his companion realizing that he had missed some of what she had said.

"As tensions rose and protest rallies proliferated, it became clear that people were not going to return to the mainstream economy or give up their survival tarka without a fight. As the crisis point was reached, System's governments caved in. At least the vast majority of them did."

"For the people below us the crisis has past. They believe they have won. The next few years will be the golden age of the drop out culture. However over the next few decades, workplace reforms, IP law reforms, streamlining of the red-tape impeding small businesses, incentives for education, training, and incentives for entrepreneurs and a host of other factors lured many people back into the mainstream economy. In 2299 there will only be about 8% of the adult population who are not participating in the mainstream economy. Government regulations will make it increasingly difficult to offer free open content tarka. Most employers will mandate use of a specific set of tarka."

"The first half of those changes sound like improvements to me," he said.

"They are, but the cost has been – will be limitations on tarka. You know what a difference high level tarka can make to your life. What would you do if someone tried to take away your tarka?"

"Over my dead body or better yet theirs."

"Darren!!" she exclaimed.

Mark was confused for moment then remembered that he was supposed to be called Darren now. He also remembered that Fury was a Buddhist and what her views on killing were. Except it was Saffron now not Fury or Var. He just knew he was going call her the wrong name at the wrong time. He needed to think of her as Saffron. Thankfully her changed appearance made it was easier to think of her as Saffron. "Sorry. Over my dead body it is then."

"No, I am sorry. We should be focused on this era. I shouldn't be ranting about what is going to happen in the future," she said. "How are you feeling?" She sounded concerned.

"Fine," he said.

"That was not polite small talk. You are cut off from your friends and family. You're in a strange land. Your brain has been rewired, your body rebuilt, your system is flooded with high levels of hormones and neurotransmitters and overloaded with sensations and information. You are about enter a crowded place after spending the last few weeks with only me as company. Now tell me the truth. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good. I feel a sense of euphoria, a buzz, like I am on something. I feel confident, strong, and focused."

"Then why do you have your eyes closed?" she asked.

"The brightness was bothering my eyes."

"Open them now," she demanded.

Mark opened his eyes cautiously. Pain flared at the back of his skull. He slammed on the brakes stopping the ute.

"Your brain is trying to process too much sensory information. You need to practice selective attention. Here!"

Suddenly the world seemed a dimmer darker more depressing place.

"Whoa! That is a little too dark," he exclaimed.

"You need to control this yourself. Open yourself up like this."

Mark experimented with controlling the amount of information he was receiving from this eyes until he was comfortable. Then he noticed that he had other senses that were turned off. "What are these?" he asked, sending her his impressions of the extra senses.

"I gave you a manual on those extra senses. Remember? You were asking about the temperature and I told you that you had built in temperature sensors and other sensors as well."

"Sorry. Yes. I remember, but I have so much reading on my backlog, I don't think that I will ever get through them at this rate."

"In that case you better have a look at these speed reading techniques," she suggested.

Mark groaned as she passed him a token that added a speed reading book to his backlog.

"You should add that to the head of your backlog rather than the tail."

Mark studied the wall of multi-colored tent fabric. It wasn't that much further. He could see that the drones were transporting cargo that was suspended underneath them by cables. They were setting down and picking up their loads from several locations within the campground. Mark started up the ute again and they resumed their progress towards the tents.

"If your head starts to ache or you feel dizzy or anxious tell me straight away," she cautioned him.

"Yes, Mother."

As they approached the sea of tents, Saffron indicated an area on the outskirts where a robotic pile driver was installing footings and foundations. Mark drove the ute up to one the foundations that was near the edge of the tents.

Saffron passed him a shoulder bag like hers. It contained some muesli bars and a collection of plastic knickknacks.

Mark raised his eyebrows.

"You are going to need those," Saffron asserted.

They exited the vehicle and Mark helped Saffron pull a package of bright yellow nano-weave fabric off the back of the red ute. Mark repeated the Saffron name over and over silently in his head, trying to forget her other names less they escape his mouth at an inappropriate moment. The change in appearance helped.

Two black human-form bots unfolded themselves as they were uncovered by the nano-weave and climbed out of the ute's tray. They grabbed the other side of the nano-weave and helped position it over the foundation.

"I have not seen these before," said Mark nodding towards the bots.

"My era prefers more specialized bots, but in this era these type of bots are quite popular," Saffron replied.

Under Saffron's instructions the bots removed a black machine from the ute and attached it to the nano-weave tent. The mysterious device proved to be an air compressor and the tent slowly inflated.

"How are we going to get in without letting the air out," he asked.

"Once it's inflated I will command the braces and supports embedded into the tent wall to extend and stiffen. The air pressure will then no longer be needed to hold up the structure. The bots will then install additional supports to assist supporting the second story. Then the fixtures and furniture will be installed."

"So we are not roughing it?"

"I see no reason to do so. We will be making this our main base of operations for some time," she replied.

"Why will we need a second story?"

"It will contain our takeoff and landing areas for T-jumping plus a small sound proofed meeting room. You will need to memorize your legend." Saffron sent him a document detailing a fake history for their new identities.

"What is this about me being a princess?" he asked. The wind gusted carrying grit and dust with it. Mark turned and stepped into the lee of the tent as the wind picked up. The bright yellow tent fabric fluttered noisily in the wind, but the fastenings to the foundations held.

"The Princess generation covers people born from 2208 to 2227. They have a reputation for selfishness and self-entitlement." Saffron followed him around the side of the tent although it did not offer much, if any, shelter.

"Sounds charming. Any chance of bumping my age up a few years?"

"I would have to increase it by a couple of decades to get you into the 'Care Not' generation, which by the way, is believed to be cynical and resentful. You are not a good enough actor to pull it off. Besides if you make a mistake that someone from this era would not make, people will assume that it is because you are one of those useless idiot princesses," she commented.

"Charming! Shouldn't I be a prince rather than a princess?"

"No, princes are something quite different. Think Machiavelli. His book is very popular with the 'Care Not's."

"I noticed that you added 40 years on to your age," he observed.

"Well, I am that good of an actor. Making myself 67 was enough to make me part of the 'Renewal' generation, characterized by optimism and a strong work ethic. I am going to ask the Newstock council to bend a few rules for me and I need to be taken seriously."

"You don't really believe in that personality by generation bunk do you?"

"It does not matter what I believe in. The people in this era believe it," she stated. "And it looks like we have company,"

Mark turned and saw two naked teenagers approaching them. The girl was blond, Caucasian, pretty in an elf-like way. The boy was a dark haired Asian. Both were small, far shorter than Mark or Saffron, skinny in a well-toned and well-muscled manner. He squinted at them and their profiles came up in his visual cortex.

Name: Cloe York
Role: Newstock Welcoming Committee Member. Newstock Festival Organizing Committee Member.
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Sexually: Bisexual
Marital Status: Married (Open) Spouse: Iuppiter York

Name: Iuppiter ÒJupeÓ York
Role: Newstock Welcoming Committee Member. Newstock Festival Organizing Committee Member.
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Sexually: Bisexual
Marital Status: Married (Open) Spouse: Cloe York

Not teenagers then, although they looked 16 or 17. They glanced in his direction, then dismissed him and focused on Saffron. Saffron's posture, expression and body language had changed. She had become someone else, someone older, harder, more purposeful, more relaxed and at ease with herself. It was if all the fire, passion, and resolve that seemed to be a key part who Fury was, had become more refined, focused, and rendered down to a well-worn and comfortable essence.

<I will never get used to you doing that, > complained Mark.

<I have had lots of practice.> responded Saffron.