Revolt; Pt. 1

As soon as the tent flap swung open, Cirice had officially joined Angus in the revolution. Having worked with friends on the other side of the portal, there was a scheduled weapon drop scheduled for 1:00 AM. Guards at the bottom of the portal on the night shift were in on the plan and helped to facilitate the drop. Angus and many others gathered hundreds of rifles that rained down from the sky.

Fortunately, all of them had the safety on, so only a couple of them shot when they hit the ground. Before PlunderCorp soldiers came to question the guards, the SCOP R-3000s had already been stored under the vacant tent. These were chosen over the R-4000s for a specific reason; they were viewed as outdated by PlunderCorp. Thus, the company didn’t care as much to keep track of them as R-4000s. While the shockwaves that the R-3000s fired were powerful and invisible, the guns were quite loud. Most of the noise came from the impact of the “bullets” rather than the firing mechanism, however.

The plan was pretty simple. Start by killing the commanders, then escape through the portal and take over the headquarters. Few of the soldiers would be enthusiastic about joining Cirice, so most of them would be left in the world they were trying to colonize. To get back to the United World of America, they would cut bags meant for flour and ride them back up. Once inside PlunderCorp’s regional headquarters, Vanessa would disable the security systems, kill the guards, and then they would shoot their way through the building until they assumed complete control of it. Angus noticed that some of the steps were a little vague.

“Okay, I get that we have enough firepower to take over the regional headquarters, but there are two problems?”

“What are they?”

“Well first, when we’re in there, how do we make sure we don’t shoot your friends who are trying to help us out?”

“We have that covered. After completing their roles, they’re going to hide in a bathroom.”

“What’s a bathroom?”

“That’s right, middle ages. Bathrooms are like latrines but inside. Also you can wash your hands before you leave. That’s pretty important.”

“Inside? Wouldn’t that smell bad?”

“Believe it or not, we have a solution for that, too. Next problem.”

“Okay, when we take over this headquarters, how do we make sure that people don’t know about it? I assume that would be like treason.”

“It would. There are two possible paths for us afterwards. One would be to act like nothing happened. The other is a little more radical.”

“If we acted like nothing happened, wouldn’t people who buy stuff from PlunderCorp realize something was going on?”

Angus’s background working in a store was paying off.

“Well, yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe we can start by locking the place down and sending out a memo making it look like the situation is being handled. Then we can have a little more time to plan our next move.”

“Okay, but then what after that?”

“That’s sort of where the plan ends, unless we take the radical route.”

“The radical route?”

“Yes. There are hundreds of other places just like this that do this exact same thing. It’s kind of how our entire world is functioning right now. If we keep fighting and take over other locations, people will begin to get the message and change the way that they live.”

“What’s wrong with how they live?”

“It’s wasteful. They make stuff, some of it gets bought, and then all of it gets thrown away and never fully disappears. People used to at least know that this kind of living couldn’t go on forever, but now with this company and these portals, it can. When the portals are gone, people will wake up and see that they have to change to survive.”

“Do you think they’ll change?”

Cirice thought about it.

“I believe that humanity is a virus that will never be destroyed. They will change if they have to. If they don’t, we’ll find another dimension of people who will.”

“Good answer.”

Cirice and Angus spread the general plan to the group. At night, they practiced shooting the rifles, making sure to aim the bullets far away to lessen noise. Over time, the group grew, and even Mary Easton was in on the plan. Being older and tougher, PlunderCorp thought she would be more valuable as a farmer than as a prostitute, and thus she was never sold in the UWA. Their plan for attack was a couple of days after the next weapon drop. Cirice just had to sneak back into the portal and deliver the message.

As part of testing the plan, that night Cirice attached herself to the hooked chain in an open flour sack. As it raised, the air began to get cold and then she became quite dizzy. Cirice lowered herself into the sack as it entered the wormhole, violently swaying from side to side. On the other end was Oscar, a portal guard on the outside tasked with waiting for Cirice’s signal. As she exited the wormhole, she struggled to get out of the bag and nearly vomited on the floor. She looked up at Oscar.

“Two days.”

“Huh?”

“The plan’s in two days. I have to do that shit again in two days.”

Oscar chuckled.

“Thanks for the heads up, I’ll tell the others. They’re still trying to fix the security cameras in this room.”

“Tell Vanessa I said thanks.”

Oscar handed her a parachute.

“No problem, now get out of here before they notice you!”

“Oh yeah-”

And then she jumped backwards into the portal, falling from the sky and deploying the parachute. The landing wasn’t exactly graceful, but the chute kept her from getting any major injuries. At last, everything was in place. They were going to go through with the plan in a couple of days no matter what happened.