"It gaddam time. Every other halfways decent crew in this city has a gaddam bus by now. They driving pass us, hoots and hollerin', givin' us the run by and shakin us out cause we ain't fast nuff to get aways. I'm tired and the rests is too. Ain't no two steppin or goin sideways bout it. You been good to us Jer, keepin us'uns safe but it ain't safe no ta have a bus anymore. Look them, tatters and feet are torn up by this ole asphalt. It burns and it cuts and sure them buses can be stinking with rottin old grandmas who was tryin to defend gains the crews but if we had a bus to call our own we could clean 'er up shipshape like the old days. Collects us some rainswater when the season comes. Lill elbow musclizin to teach the youngers some work ethics. We gots to get one before the next shake out. Don't have much foods left in the gunnysacks. Gash Jer, even the youngerest younger cain dam near lift the heftiest gunnysack." S'am turned to the others for confirmation. Several of the crew nodded solemnly. "Alrights S'am, I sees yous have yer pointy cliff. Don't run yer tongue right off it. I didn't get this crew together to be like the Ole Redflags and march yous around all whipped 'er nothin. I happens ta gree with yous on the bus front. Wheel set er selfs down right here fer a quick rest, then git huntin. I'll take the first watchin." (All sleep, no incidents) "Alrights crew, git yous rumps a shaking. Stir yous sternums sos to speak." Jer bellowed at the sleeping pile of bodies. Mustily, the group scrambled up off the ground and assembled into a rough circle. They threw their arms over each other's shoulder and leaned in, reminiscent of the huddle formation part of the ancient game football. (Buses are of course one of the best modes of transport for people in the 31st century city of Victioa. The only problem being that the last time there was a government (a terrible idea, agreed everyone the echt-anarchists didn't kill for thinking otherwise) who were making public transport regulations it was decided that only people with disabilities and those who were over the age of 65 could ride the buses to combat obesity and relieve underfunding. It was determined whether you met qualifications using a simple bio scanner. To prevent the driver from becoming liable to collecting bribes in exchange for tricking the bio scanner it was decided to replace all of them with robots instead. The robots are fitted with nearly impenetrable armour and are each powered by small fusion reactor. The robot is integrated with the bus and can make any repairs on the fly. By the mid 3020's people had figured out that there is a small programming loophole within the driver robots. Because people who have been exposed to carodine have an officially classed disability of being only ever able to run, never walk, bus drivers had to slow to match the persons speed and send a long range bioscan to decide whether to open the doors. To reassure the potential patron the robot plays a short message on specially fitted speakers. (Greetings human, continue at present speed. Your results will be in shortly!) Unfortunately for the humble drivers, it takes up the majority of their public relations software to handle this monumental task. The drivers were not designed to be personable, and the programmers never did figure out how some of the drivers warped the message to sound extra sarcastic. The point is, people figured out that if five or six people ran in from different directions with in a four second interval at the same speed, the driver would get confused and think they were all the same person that was fragmenting in time (all robots have a terrible fear of the non linear). This would temporarily overload the circuits and allow the people to board the bus. From there on out they would reset the bioscanner to only allow those in their crew to board. Further tweaks could allow the crew to override the route settings on the bus and drive it themselves. It hardly needs to be said that this feat is hard to pull off, but the relative safety of public transport is very attractive.) "Go!" Jer shouted at the gangly teen who was in for first dash. His name was Ren and he was a dependable steady type, despite his appearance. "Greetings human, contin-" the metallic twang of the robots signalled the second runner. "Greetings human, con-" "Greetings human, c-" "Greetings-" "Gree-SCREECH" the bus skidded to a stop, the doors opened and Ren leapt in triumphantly. He barely cleared the door jam before the bus violently reversed, careening backwards down the street. The terrified teen clung to the robots cranium-like upper dome. The bus speakers were now emitting the kind of wail best described as teakettle, despite the fact that the concept of tea is beyond living memory. The rest of this kids crew meanwhile was freaking out. They were running, but the bus was much faster and they were losing it. Taking advantage of the mass panic and general distraction of the crew, a Stranger slipped into their ranks. The gangly teen, having the aforementioned traits of being steady and reliable, was busily probing into the bus drivers control panel. He couldn't turn the whole thing off, it wouldn't ever start again. The crew had already missed two busses. This had to be their bus. He was sweating and swearing into the panel. His fingers couldn't work fast enough. But he knew what he had to do. He had sworn never to use... But there was no other way. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath... And let his Framework take over. The crew had stopped a few blocks back. They simply didn't have the energy to run for what they considered a lost cause. It wasn't common, but all of them had heard about "runner" busses. The older ones seemed especially prone to it, having had more time to develop a semblance of sentience and self preserving instinct. They just about fell over backwards when the bus calmly ambled up to where they had collapsed dejectedly onto the ground. The doors opened and Jer and the rest were so dumbfounded they didn't even move. "All en?" Asked Ren tentatively. "Bio scanner is set up ta r'meber ya." (All board, including Stranger who trails in at the back sneakily) As the Stranger walked by, the teen grabbed his arm and inhaled deeply. The others are too busy rejoicing in the back to notice. "I smell the Other on you," hisses the teen in a voice he's never heard before. The stranger grins cheekily. "I have no idea what you are talking about, human."
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