Jens Richard

DREAM LIGHT CITY 

Part 1

John’s story

Another dead young girl

I'm on my way to a crime scene of another dead young teen.

Another broken dream.

My deputies are already there to start our show. 

They must have planted the evidence by now. 

I don't care about evidence anymore. I want to close the case and move on. 

This is just another girl in the gutter in Mr. Bix's territory.

I show up as the good guy the citizens believe I am. 

The one to solve the puzzle. 

I play my part to keep the city in order, and I will find someone to blame for her death.

It should be easy because everyone here carries the biotech from Mr. Bix. 

The biotech drug that accesses your consciousness and memories.

I sit next to the body. 

Poor thing, such a beauty. 

I see no signs of struggle. This was not a fight. 

Could there be something wrong with her biotech implants? 

Who is she?

She's not one of Mr. Bix's. 

My deputies have not planted anything. What game is this?

The ambulance is here. I better check her ID chip on her neck.

Something's wrong?

She has none.

One of my deputies interrupts me. 

"We have already checked her chip and notified her parents." 

I'm about to ask too many questions now. 

Questions about how they could scan her when she has none? 

But they quickly repeat themselves. 

"The chip is scanned, sir!" 

Okay, I get it. 

We keep it in the dark. 

Keep everything in the dream. 

The show must go on, and I need to find someone to take the blame. 

I point out a drugged punk in the crowd, a young man with too many piercings. 

He tries to say something in defense as one of my deputies takes his pad up, pretending to write notes, but in reality, he connects to the punk's biotech. 

That's my clue.

"You," I lie, "You were her boyfriend. I saw you together last night."

I stand up tall.

I know how to play Alpha. 

The crowd is quiet now. Everyone is holding their breath.

The punk suddenly says he gave her some bad drugs, and she must have died from an overdose. 

He gives me some pills, and my deputies cuff him as he confes every lie we give him. 

I put the pills in a container and hand it to the people in the ambulance, together with a private credit chip with 1000 credits. 

They will make sure the autopsy matches the statement.

Case closed. 

Clear the street. 

The show's over.

Welcome to Dream Light City.