I think that some stories are written to frighten. This is a frightening story. It is not a horror story full of monsters. This story’s monster is much bigger, government big.The story takes place in world where senators have their own black-opts division and directly employ more than 20,000 people, a world where the USA constitution has been superseded by NAFTA, a world where people can be pupated by rogue AI.
However, in this world of political strife, there are forgotten zones where people live off the Tax grid. Where bartering is the rule and money is useless. A world where a simple bike-mechanic named Lyle is trying to make a living.
Lyle is a true anti-hero. He is a slacker to the outside world that has forgotten him, evolved beyond him and his shop where he fixes flats and adjusts chains. However, he has a legitimate non-tech business. Lyle makes a little extra on the side by renting out a small room in the back of his shop. The last squatter has long since departed, but every once in awhile has mail sent to Lyle’s shop. Like today, when a bike messenger drops off a package containing a black box, an old analogue TV set.
The fun in this story is how Lyle and a bunch of his friends are able to stop and apprehend a certain senator’s thief-assassin. It is nice to know, in a world where the digital govern, that community is still alive and well. A government only has as much power as its people give it. Over all, this is a very hopeful story. One that asks the question, are you watching?
Sterling, Bruce. “Bicycle Repairman.” Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology. Ed. James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. San Francisco: Tachyon Publications, 2007. p 3 - 35
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