KYRA IN TOKIBA

The year is 2236 and Kyra finds herself in the middle of the third major AI invasion in Earth's recorded history. This event will later become known as: "The Attack on Tokiba".

Kyra - a reclusive public figure, brilliant inventor, and the owner of a successful technology company - will have no choice but to come out of her comfort zone, and be met with a destiny like no other.

A tangerine mist in the auburn evening. My head aches with the sting of magnetic pulses, like time reverberating through my neurons. I feel it, as night sets in, the past, the present and the future will collide at once. I can only hope that I get a nice view of it all.




7:00pm - The Arkaid




Kyra has just begun her evening at the local arcade, a retro themed, neon haven in the black city. She is playing the newest game release: "Zorbiton Patrol" a week later than she would have liked. Finally she can claim her position at the top of the high score chart like she has done in every other game here.

After transferring a couple of Polygons for a bucket-load of coins she is focused and ready to slay the simulation. She stands at the machine with her forearms resting on the angled frame below the screen as it lights up, bright blue and red: "Buckle Up Buddy! Zorbiton Needs You!". Deep into the back of her hood she scans over the current high scores: "GARY". She's seen this name several times here before but it doesn't phase her, not when she is locked into her dead-eyed zone of confidence. The name fades as an oddly timed thought comes to her:

'I'll smash out this game with a few coins then spend the rest on Raddésh Bites and a movie.'







There she is. Through walls I see the youth I've known for millennia. I am someone new to you but I haven't changed my dear. You have encased yourself in iron so that you may be my eternal prize.

A few minutes later and with a new high score loading onto the screen, Kyra punches in the letters for her achievement:

"L-E-..."

'Blip'

The picture quickly minimises until it is nothing but a matte black.

Kyra slams the side of the arcade cabinet with an open palm.

'What the hell!'

People in the arcade turn to look at her.

(Collective mumbling)

'Hey, is that the inventor from Sudoku?'

Suddenly a green message appears on the game screen: "error". Hundreds of numbers stream through and around the word, Kyra leans in, trying to follow them as an eerie sensation rushes through her body.











I feel a tingle in my left eye, the kind I used to get when I would contract pink eye. But now my eye and sight are only red and infrared. I'm like the terminator mixed with a Somalian pirate and a super villain. You can't change the future my dear, I am your future, destiny has led you this far and it will lead us into time itself. There is so much to see.

The floor begins to rumble, slowly but forcefully as if a massive earthquake shook the world from far away. Kyra snaps out of her trance and spins around to see people standing, frozen in a curious fear. The rumbling intensifies fast like the mouth of a volcano ready to erupt, people begin rushing out of the arcade, screaming and taking cover under whatever solid structure they can find.

'Hrrrrrrraaaaa!'

Kyra kicks and dents the solid metal contraption.

'MY HIGH SCORE!'

She is moving now and picking up momentum, fast. She punches open an emergency exit leading into the backstreets, the door almost shatters off of its hinges from the recoil. Two people behind her hiding under a pinball machine are crushed by a large slate which had fallen through the roof.

(Various pinball sounds, dings and boings. The small polished steel ball rolls through blood, leaving a trail away from the rubble and limbs, a fleeing person slips on it and breaks their neck.)

Sweet deliverance it has begun. I must away, like a shadow in the night I will vanish only to return into the biblical tomes of history.


…


BANG


...


Let it be known that I made a toupee of the man's scalp who witnessed me.

The streets are filled with chaos, people running and crying for help as structures fall and the neon lights flicker. Robots, (of which some look like her own make) robotic organisms and a variety of hellish creatures are wreaking havoc upon the city.

'GRRRRRR.'

Kyra's hair goes from pale white to fluorescent pink as she leaps onto a nearby rooftop with a single bound. She pulls back her leg to boot a trash can when it suddenly springs to life, it is one of the city's many trash bots. A simple yet wonderful invention to further aid the laziness of humans. But this trash bot is malfunctioning, it rolls straight towards Kyra with its clamp-like arms outstretched as it repeats:


'Cleaning trash, cleaning trash.'


The slums, I like it here. The subtle smell of sulphur fills my nostrils, rising up from beneath the earth. Reminds me of shared accommodation refrigerators during uni years. Frozen Duck. Some people here still remember me, like a scar that has almost healed and when they recognise me that piece of flesh rips open once more... I always remember them. No matter how different they look, they still remain the same. Empty vessels seeking consumption. Well I will lead them to it. The deliverance of blood for batteries.

Kyra kicks and punches the oversized magnet in a furious flurry of rage. Bits of scrap, metal and green battery liquid fly in all directions as she takes apart the broken bin back to its factory settings. She breathes heavily while she admires her handy work but her attention quickly diverts to a large sign on the rooftop: "Undercity, Powering Our Future!". She now knows that she will find the solution to all of this down in Undercity.

She steps into a conveniently located elevator as it lights up and gives a warm ding upon her entrance. The screaming from the streets fades out into static background noise.










'Welcome citizen! Have a pleasant journey.'

Music plays from within the blue-lit steel box as she descends... It is surprisingly pleasant.