Historical Holograms From A Runaway Punk
Hologram Recording Transcript: August 28, 2098

This was something I just had to record, and it started with Zi-Yen earlier today. He jumped on me so that I would open the Mil-RAT and see the map again. I told Zi-Yen that I would open it only if Nami were with us. She knew a lot about Tech City, and I wanted her to see the hologram too. I realized that I could only open it because of my blood. But why? Why did I have the only key to unlock it? I didn’t understand that.

Earlier this evening, while Nami, Zi-Yen, and I were all gathered inside her place, I pricked my finger and smeared the blood on the outside of the Mil-RAT. It started vibrating, rising into the air, floating and hovering. A little flap opened up and shined a hologram in front of us. We saw a map of Tech City’s underground. But what Zi-Yen and I did not see before was that it led to a secret Army bunker that housed the main satellite control center, a defense weapon that created earthquakes. Nobody in Tech City has been able to get the satellites under control. The hologram shut off, but it wasn’t over yet. Another flap on the Mil-RAT opened up and lit a digital set of numbers: “120 hrs – 00 min – 00 sec.”

Nami was shocked, “That’s a timer.”

“A what?” I asked.

“A countdown, meaning something might happen when these numbers reach zero.”

Zi-Yen got excited, “Tech City! Come on, King.”

“Not without me,” said a strange voice from the entrance.

All three of us looked up and saw Ki-Yo standing there.

“How did you get here?” asked Nami as she confronted Ki-Yo, standing in front of her.

“Who that?” Zi-Yen asked me.

“That’s Ki-Yo, my mother, who is not my mother,” I said to Zi-Yen, refusing to look at her.

“No way! You two not alike.”

“I KNOW, Zi-Yen! She looks more like YOUR mom or something, or…whatever.”

Zi-Yen didn’t know what to say when he recognized that they had the same shaped eyes and same black type of hair as Ki-Yo.

“I hid that military remote access trojan in King’s tomb. Clover wasn’t supposed to get it until she got older,” said Ki-Yo.

“Mayor Sye had no idea what we were doing, and he especially didn’t know about you,” said Ki-Yo. She moved behind me and rested a hand on my shoulder.

“Ahhhh, so that Mil-RAT,” Zi-Yen said with a smile.

“I wanted you to grow up as a normal kid in Tech City,” said Ki-Yo.

“You should never have left,” I said.

“I had to figure out a way to finish…”

“He’s going to kill you when he replaces out,” Nami interrupted.

“I’m sure he will. But if Clover goes with me…”

“My name is not Clover; it’s King!” I told Ki-Yo.

“She sister, she not leaving!” said Zi-Yen.

“The timer has been triggered. If Clover, or King, or whatever name she wants, doesn’t get to Tech City in five days, then the rogue satellites will destroy the city. You have to go and get them under control, Clover.”

Nami gasped, “You’re a monster! Why?”

“If you knew the real intentions of Mayor Sye, then you would understand. I created Clover to save Tech City from that man. If she dies, so does everyone else,” explained Ki-Yo.

“Then why on Earth did you work for him?” asked Nami.

“I had no other choice. Besides, he’s an idiot. He knows nothing about science or technology or how the mind works.”

I felt a sharp pain suddenly hit my chest; all those people, all those minds and their memories, my tree suddenly destroyed.

“We go when we ready,” Zi-Yen told her.

“I’ll be waiting,” she said as she vanished out the doorway and into her Skypoe cruiser.

Nami saw me in pain and rushed over to help me sit down. I felt like I was at a crossroads; I wasn’t sure what to do next. Five days before Tech City would be destroyed?

Memories of the first city, Atlanta, and its great King flooded my mind. He was an ancient leader who fought for so many people. Why would Ki-Yo make it so that the city’s life would depend on my life? I mean, holy hash crap!