Kill Switch: Chapter 56
Deathbeam
After his viral dance, Supervisor Zed sits down. Icon 75 listens to the whispers of The Board.
A Trance advertisement plays on the screen.
After the advertisement, Icon 75 bangs his gavel.
I brace myself for the inevitable.
Icon 75’s synth floats sonorously over the hushed crowd.
“The Board has come to a decision. After weighing all the evidence against the defendant, we have decided that, for the sake of Efficiency, Vonn 19 must die. His execution will be livestreamed tomorrow night at seven, after the season finale of The Real Simuls of Pod 109. Thanks to our sponsor, Trance. Remember kids: don’t forget to take a chance, and have a dance, and take your Trance today.”
The Board dissipates.
The crowd cheers as I’m led out of the boardroom.
I’m tossed back inside the waiting room, where I fall into Yide’s arms.
Soon after, a security guard leads X into the boardroom, then Bunnfield, and then Claudette. I watch the hearings on the big screen. Unlike me, X and Bunnfield receive positive performance reviews from their supervisors, but the reviews make absolutely no difference, given that both of them openly admit to being accomplices in Operation Digital Disruption, so naturally The Board convicts them of vibekilling and sentences them to death by deathbeam. Claudette and Yide’s hearings are quicker, given that they’re both unemployed. They too are convicted of vibekilling and sentenced to death.
After that, we’re all asked to sign NDAs, which we do, naturally, because why not?
The next day we watch the hours tick by before a button pusher steps into the waiting room and tells us that it’s time. The crowd is waiting. The deathbeam is primed. The season finale of The Real Simuls of Pod 109 has ended.
I stand, my knees wobbly, and follow the buttonpusher into the arena.
My pale avatar is projected onto the megatron. A DJ spins “Hunt Without, Without the Hunter,” the bass pumping. I recognize the DJ but can’t random access his name. The crowd is cheering, their avatars viral dancing.
In the center of the arena are five silver tables. It’s all very efficient and professional, this execution. A button pusher grabs my elbow and leads me to the table, where I’m strapped down. All I can see is the bottom of the megatron. I’m glassed so that viewers can watch my gaze. A blaster, connected to two silver rods, buzzes into view. It hovers above me, the muzzle flashing orange. Yide takes a deep breath beside me. I want very badly to reach out and hold her hand, but my hands are quite literally tied.
“I love you,” I say.
She turns her head. “What’s that?”
“I love you,” I say. “You know, like The Withouters say.”
She smiles, her eyes sad. “I love you too, Vonn 19.”
“Hey, what about me?” X asks.
“Don’t worry, X. I love you too. Just in a different way.”
“Good,” X says. “You should. I’m about to die because of you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Yide says. “You did plenty to get yourself killed.”
X purses his lips. “I guess I am pretty awesome like that.”
I turn toward Bunnfield and Claudette. “It was nice knowing you two. Hope to see you on the other side.”
“Is there another side?” Bunnfield asks.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I guess I haven’t thought much about death. Too distracted. Too much to do. Too much homework. Too many notifications. Too many posts to like and vids to gaze. Too many emails to unsubscribe from. Too many resumes to send. Too many accounts to optimize. Too many rungs of the corporate ladder to climb. Maybe, during my next life, I’ll give death more thought.”
“So you think there’s another life then?” Yide asks.
“We’re about to find out,” I say. “If there is another life, I’d like to live it decently, you know. Be a decent sort of fella. Be kind. Be generous. Be compassionate. You know what I mean?”
“No,” X says. “You’re talking rubbish. Me, if I live another life, I want to be rich, because money can solve all your problems. Like right now, if I had more money, I bet I could buy my way out of this mess.”
“X, you’re a piece of work,” Yide says. “Even in the face of death, you somehow find a way to sound like a douchebag.”
The laser gun lowers until the orange muzzle touches my forehead.
The DJ stops spinning, a hush falls over the crowd.
Mr. Vonn Senior’s synth rumbles through the speakers. “By the power invested in me by The Board of Vonn Industries, I now pronounce the five of you vibekills. May Efficiency have mercy on your resumes.”
A generator buzzes. Comments stream down the side of my ocular: can’t wait to see this vibekill get it straight to the dome…I had so many emails to catch up on because of this asshole…
A DM dings. I blink to open the message. All five of us are included in a group chat with Cosmo.
In ten seconds, run.
I blink twice, switching my gaze to the DJ. And that’s when I see it: the glitch over the arm, the exact place where I tore my jumpsuit.
The DJ is wearing my old jumpsuit…
The DJ is Cosmo…
I take a deep breath, staring down the muzzle.
“Get on with it already!” Mr. Vonn Senior yells. “What are you waiting on?”
Cosmo taps on his laptop. I hear my shackles disengage. The laser gun sucks up, then buzzes a few yards before turning to Mr. Vonn Senior’s box.
“What the fuck!” he yells.
The laser beams start flying, lighting up the arena.
“Run!” I yell.
The five of us rise from the tables.
“This way!” Bunnfield points toward an arched exit.
Laser beams are blasting every which way.
A middle manager runs toward us. A laser beam bounces off the ground and ricochets into his thigh. He falls to the ground.
Bunnfield grabs my arm. “Now!” he yells.
I look around for Yide. She’s running toward the middle manager.
“No!” I yell.
She kneels, takes the laser gun off his belt. Then she stands and runs toward me. “Come on,” she says. “What are you waiting for?” She points at the archway. Bunnfield, X, and Claudette are already halfway there.
I turn and run.
“Stop those vibekills!” Mr. Vonn Senior yells.
“Goo Me, Goo Me” starts blasting on the overhead speakers, sending a wave of viral dancing undulating through the crowd.
A laser beam zaps by my heel, caroms off the plastic siding of the arena, and curls back toward my head. I duck, trip, fall. I hear something behind me, a scurrying, and turn my head. The laserless middle manager is darting toward me. His boot is nearing my head.
Yide jerks my wrist, dragging me through the arch.
X hits a button, closing the panel.
“Let’s go,” Bunnfield says. “This way.”
“Which way?” I ask, getting to my feet, brushing off my jumpsuit.
“Toward the elevator,” Bunnfield says. “It’s the only way out.”
“How are we going to get through security?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Bunnfield says. “You got a better idea?”
“No,” I say. “But there has to be an easier way out. Isn’t there, like, an entry point somewhere?”
Bunnfield shakes his head. “They’ve all been compromised.”
Yide taps the side of her blaster. “We’ll blast our way through. No other way.”
“She’s right,” X says. “It’s a suicide mission, but we’re living on borrowed time anyway. We should have been dead ten minutes ago.”
“What about Cosmo?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t worry about Cosmo,” Bunnfield says. “I’m sure he has a plan.”
“Alright,” I say. “Which way is the elevator?”
“This way,” Bunnfield says, pointing down an empty corridor.
And that’s when I hear it, the pounding of boots against plastic, and I know, for certain, that a horde of middle managers is moving toward us, ready for a fight.