"The Day The Music Died"

The Kingdom of Fine Arts and the Presidio, yin-and-yang at the northwestern corner of Saint Francisco, just below the Golden Gate strait. The Kingdom was an extravagant Roman villa, a gigantic courtyard of well-manicured grass in the center, forming a huge rectangle, with marble structures on the sides, orange-tiled roofs, connecting at the back of the courtyard in a giant cathedral, emerald dome and spires. Behind that was the Presidio, dark Gothic fortress of black A-Polymer, heavily militarized, guarded by war-bots of the Home Division; they studied the Do-Nothing Popular Front occupying the Kingdom with blank eyes.

Occupying. That’s a word that made Zipper nervous, because she was comparing this concert to the one in Big Dig. Before the riots, that concert featured a beautiful sunset, a grand festival atmosphere. In contrast, the Kingdom concert featured hundreds of thousands of Do-Nothings who had been camped here for weeks, protesting outside the Presidio, helping block Lawrence's access to it. A lot of cigarette-passing and drinking, sure - but lots of beret-clad Do-Nothings armed with paintball-submachine-guns prowling the premises, too. Even up here, on the grand stage before the cathedral, armed Do-Nothings provided security, everyone dressed with trenchcoats over the suits-and-ties.

Zipper, Sue, Nat, Azuki, Kaede, and Kyoko had gotten to the stage early that day, with the latter two directing the defenses. The crowd roared - and what a roar three-hundred-thousand people could make! - when a VTOL carrying Joe Weeze and the Do-Nothings landed. At the sight of those mop-topped fools, Zipper couldn’t help but grin.

Security helped the band onto the stage. Azuki, of course, was the first to move, pulling Joe into a tight hug. Zipper sighed, but ain’t that just the way? He was still her friend, and seeing an old chum is always good.

Joe looked uncomfortable at the sight of Kaede and the guns. “Uh, Mizz Chairman, is all this really necessary?”

Kaede, wearing aviator shades with a toothpick sticking out of her mouth, adjusted her beret. “Of course. You're symbols of the whole movement. Lawrence and the Polymermen would love to get their grubby little mitts on you. I mean, just look beyond the edge of the courtyard.”

At the far end, beyond chain fences and makeshift barricades assembled by the camped Do-Nothings, Polymermen gathered. They marched in circles, holding up anti-Martian and anti-Do-Nothing signs, the Apollo 11 eagle screaming across fluttering banners. They must’ve been equal in size to the Do-Nothings, and just over the horizon, you could see more arriving, armed with pie-guns.

Rango finished up his hugs with the girls, then glanced at the crowd. “We should perform soon, fellas. This looks like it could get ugly.”

Joe sighed. “Well, I ‘sposed we knew that coming in. Let’s get ready.”

He still looked unsure, so Zipper gave him two thumbs up. He ran a hand through his moptop, then smiled a smile that was as confident as it could’ve been under the circumstances.

Kaede led the girls below the stage, at the front of the crowd, guarded by the watchful eye of security. Zipper frowned. This wasn’t like Big Dig at all. People here weren’t anticipating music - they were anticipating action, anticipating violence, wanting violence perhaps, ideology mixed with a decent amount of beer, itchy trigger fingers, stormy seas and gray skies and long shadows, bottle-capped lightning ready to surge and scar the Roman columns…

The concert got started up soon enough, the crowd mesmerized into long cheers.

“Uh, hullo,” Joe said into the microphone, guitar slung around his shoulders. “We’ve organized this concert today as a symbol of unity, yah, of how we all want this useless war to end. Brother has turned against brother and all that. As Do-Nothings, we don’t condone violence-”

Boos rang out, especially from the Marsist-Leninists.

Joe tugged on his collar. “Right, right…well, we’re here for a good time. Care, but keep cool, dig?”

The music began flowing from guitar, bass, keyboard, drums. It was far better than their performance at Big Dig, but that didn’t matter no more. Zipper could only watch as hippies got into feuds with security, beer bottles got flung, furries yanked out of their costumes. Several fights broke out, ripping up the now-dying grass.

“Hey, be cool down there!” Joe adlibbed, before going back to his music.

Kaede stared in disbelief at the growing chaos. “I really thought we could’ve made a new order, us Do-Nothings. Grassroots communities where we didn’t need The Man…but look at us.”

Zipper crouched, preferring to stare at legs than angry faces. She just felt…so small. As if the trends of the world were outside of her control, the past so long gone, the present a blur and the future uncertain. Her vision quest seemed so important, but it got swept along in the tide of history currently unfolding at the moment.

I really am just a cog in the wheel of history, I ‘spose…rising societal tides, dragging me from the shore. Some days I don’t even know what the hell’s going on anymore. Maybe I should've just stayed home…ain't it better to live as a thoughtless, happy sheep than endure days like today?

“Ah, nuts,” said Sue, tapping on her temple. “My livestream just got cut out…no, it got blocked. By the military?”

She wasn't the only one who noticed. Murmurs began to spread across the crowd.

Nat pointed at the sky. Zipper felt uneasy. All the usual delivery drones had disappeared.

This only added to the crowd's anxiety. Fights continued to erupt with even more intensity, drunken brawls spilling over. Security tightened, many just looking for an excuse to begin firing. Zipper glanced at Kaede. She exuded confidence still, but her face was starting to grow pale.

Then Kaede went as white as a sheet when a lone livestream made it through the military blockade. The rowdy crowd projected it from their Eye Implants, creating thousands of fractal images showing Lawrence in a VTOL, wind whipping at his grizzled face, the city beneath him.

“First came the attempt on my life one month ago in Tokyo,” proclaimed Lawrence. “Then came the events of just mere minutes ago. Kajanas and the Martians have attempted a coup! The President’s whereabouts are unknown. But don’t fear. Don’t panic. I am in control here. With you at my side, we can restore peace and stability to humanity.”

The Polymermen at the barricades grew even louder.

Lawrence narrowed his eyes. “Let it be known that I, Amadeus Lawrence, having assumed emergency powers to thwart a Martian coup, hereby do declare - MARTIAL LAW!”