“//End User”
(from the collection Gristle & Bone)
Duncan Ralston
Genre: Apocalypse
Sub-genre: Techno-apoc
Novel, novella, short story: short story
Serial or stand alone: from the author’s collection Gristle & Bone
Setting: urban, non-specific
Characters: Mason, “Jenna”
Synopsis: Mason is a skeptic. Not the religious kind, no, his skepticism is to things human. Big things, government things hidden in deep bunkers. When he starts to receive strange emails sent from his own account, he figures it is those nefarious, shadowy agencies announcing his theories were no longer appreciated. However, the messages are much more than a government protected its secrets.
Excerpt: “The final message from Mason’s mysterious Spammer was a link. He didn’t want to see what this person—or persons—had to show him, but curiosity trumped logic yet again. Logic wasn’t having a very good day.
Squinching his eyes shut, Mason clicked it.
He heard the rumble and screech of a subway train.
No, his mind screamed. No, no, NO!
But his eyes confirmed the answer was indeed yes. Yes, it was College Station. Yes, the timecode was just about the time of the suicide—or murder—and yes, he was more than a little terrified. His heart leapt like a cat in a cage as he muted the sound.
The train entered a crowded station. Passengers filed out, passengers filed in. The doors closed, and the train rolled on. The security camera had a good view of the Designated Waiting Area, looking down on the benches and waste cans, the suicide hotline phone—diplomatically (as was Canadian custom) referred to as the “Crisis Link”—and the yawning black mouth of the exit tunnel.
A few riders were left on the platform, one of whom was a man in a trench coat who stood on the yellow line, much too close to the tracks. A few more people filed in: a woman with an overly large stroller (what Mason liked to call a Baby Mobile Command Unit); a man walking while staring at his tablet; a gaggle of teenage girls laughing and acting generally annoying; and a man with a bushy beard and stained coveralls, who looked like he could have been homeless.
Suddenly a huge spark of electricity zapped out from the covered cables on the wall. Tablet Man, who’d been leaning against the wall to read, jumped out of the way, his large feet kicking out comically as he backed into Trenchcoat. Trenchcoat stumbled, still much too close to the tracks. He swung his arms in a circular motion to regain his balance, the tail of his coat whipping out behind him like an actor in a John Woo movie.
Too late. Trenchcoat disappeared behind the ledge. Smoke began to rise, presumably from the third rail, as a crowd gathered. The homeless-looking man ran for the edge and reached out. A charred hand came up from the tracks, grasping at it….
The homeless man jerked a look to the left. He jumped to his feet and waved his arms frantically.
Bystanders leapt back in terror as the train rushed in, filling the void, wincing as the train crushed the man in the trench coat to death.”
Thoughts: Ralston’s Gristle & Bone was the first thing I ever read on my Kindle. That was back in March. I’ve read many works since then. And even after all those words written by many talented writers, “//End User” is still my favorite apocalyptic story. The ending really funny. The ironical humor reminded me of scenes from Shute’s On the Beach. Technology gone awry is a fascinating apocalyptic sub-genre. Here it is done with wit and human intelligence. Though the AI is remarkably “well-developed.”
About the author: In addition to Gristle & Bone, Duncan has also published the collection Sweat & Blood. His full length novel, Salvage, was released in 2015. He lives in Toronto with his girlfriend and dog. Duncan is also slated to be the first contributor (outside of myself) to Poets of the Dead Society.
Links
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Gristle-Bone-Duncan-Ralston-ebook/dp/B011HOABNS/
Website: http://duncanralston.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/userbits
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