In the city of darkness, one corner of the city still shone bright: New Hollywood. JT walked down the streets of New Hollywood. Many new high-rise units lined the area, mixing with some familiar landmarks. The Hollywood sign was now a flashing billboard. It displayed, "Welcome to New Hollywood. Let your fantasies run wild. Pose with your favorite celebrity hologram at the Hologram Museum. Hollywood Bowl concert tonight. Oldies but the goodies series. 65 year old legendary singer Justin Berberer appearing Live!" As you walked past the famous Chinese Theatre the stars on the sidewalk lit up. They were all digital now; no marble stone stars remained. Movie star names flashed on the digital stars with short video clips highlighting their careers. As JT walked in one direction, Jennifer approached him from the other. When they met, Jennifer blurted out, “JT, burrrr. It's cold out tonight.” You could see Jennifer's breath in the cold air as she talked to JT.
JT said, “This town never gets old.” Jennifer grabbed his arm and replied, “You’re right. Even in these dark times Hollywood still has a little bit of glam and glitter.”
The lights, signs, and billboards on the upper parts of the buildings illuminated New Hollywood's dark streets.
JT started to get hungry and asked, “Chinese okay?” Suddenly, a snapping sound could be heard down the street and the street the lights started to flash and then went dark. The lights in the city were flickering on and off.
Jennifer said, “Not again!” Then, all the power went back on. She said, “Wow! Glad we didn’t get hit with another outage.”
JT asked, “Did you have any trouble getting here?”
Jennifer replied, “No I had a skycab drop me off.”
More popping noises could be heard. Once again, the street lights started to turn off. This time the power shut off completely, one block at a time. It moved from one end of the city to the other. In a period of a couple minutes, the whole city was dark. Once the lights had gone out, people avoided the traffic signals on the ground and crashed into each other. The same thing happened with the flying since the drivers couldn’t see buildings in front of them until it was too late. It was complete havoc. JT knew they had to get off the streets fast and yelled, “Run!”
Jenifer agreed and said, “Oh my god.”
JT grabbed Jennifer’s hand and told her, “Follow me! We have to get off the streets.”
JT and Jennifer jogged between the panicked crowds. As the crowd ran, screamed, pushed, and punched each other JT, and Jennifer pushed their way through.
Structure fires were started from the impact of skycars as they flew into the sides’ buildings. JT and Jennifer ran through the door of Chong’s Chinese Food Restaurant. Inside a Chinese female waitress said, “You. Gooo.”
JT wasn’t going anywhere. He told her, “Were coming in.”
The waitress then said it again, “Uuu get out pwease.”
The Chinese owner then said, “Weave. You weave now.”
JT pushed his way in towards the booths and told the owner, “Lock the door. It's going to be a few hours.” JT showed his badge and the gun on his belt.
The owner saw that he was a cop and replied, “Okay mizter. You stay. You can stay.” The waitress also told JT, “I lock door. I lock door, you sit ovair there.”
Someone else tried to push by the Chinese waitress as she locked the door. JT charged the guy, punched him in the face, and knocked him back out the door. The waitress managed to lock the door. Security doors closed to protect the windows as rioters outside started to smash store windows.
Owner Tang Wong told JT, “You sit. You sit po-wece man. I bring you tea.”
Tang then gave instructions to his waitress, “Hong Sing, bring po-wece man tea.”
JT and Jennifer sat down at an open table. The restaurant was mostly empty. With the exception of a few other people eating at the tables. You could hear the muffled noise of the rioting outside as things were being thrown against the walls. The inside was decorated with Chinese paintings. A gold painted Buddha sat on a stand at the front. Near the entrance, there was a large fish tank filled with robotic fish. Green, bright pink, and multicolor robotic fish of all sizes filled the tank. They were a dazzling sight to see in motion.
Jennifer started to talk about the blackout, “The blackouts are getting more frequent.”
JT replied, “Looks like a bad one. Hang on for a sec.”
The local news was on the s.v. (stream vision) and it showed a male newscaster. The Newscaster commented, “We have breaking news. Another blackout appears to be under way here in Los Angeles. Authorities are asking that you stay inside until the power is restored.”
JT wanted an update, “Cella. Any additional information on the whereabouts of the BMIs?”
Cella advised, “No. I will continue scanning for activity.”
JT then asked if Cella had more information on the blackout, “How about the expected duration of the blackout?”
Cella said, “Will look into it.”
JT replied, “Thanks, Cella.”
Back on the s.v. news screen, two newscasters conversed with each other, “Maria, the blackouts seem to be getting worse.”
The other newscaster replied, “Yes, I agree. Over ten thousand people were killed in the last black out. Every time it happens, it’s disastrous.”
The other newscaster replied, “You’re right, Stan. Every time it seems to get worse and longer.”
JT and Jennifer sat at their booth. They continued to talk as the street was set ablaze by the out of control rioters. JT said, “The BMIs have targeted Cybernotics. They kidnapped one of your scientists, Slade. You know ‘um?”
Jennifer covered her mouth with the palm of her hand in dismay and said, “Yes, Slade. They took ‘um. Why?”
JT replied, “Don't know. Was hoping you did.”
Jennifer answered, “He was one of the original designers that worked on the BMIs. He knows just about everything about them. The only person that probably knows more about them is my father. My father know why they took him. You should ask him.”
JT said, “Didn't get the impression your father would cooperate.”
JT lit up a cigar and started smoke. He looked directly at Jennifer's face. She had very sharp, crystal blue eyes. It was like looking back in time when the waters of the Caribbean were still clear blue.
Jennifer explained, “Maybe not. He has been different for many years. Distant and cold. I love him, but we just don't connect anymore. Cybernotics has also changed. Most of the human employees have been replaced by androids and STRs (single task robots).”
JT continued with his questioning, “You said you felt like Cybernotics was different, eerie. Exactly how has it changed?”
Jennifer replied, “My father, the board of directors. They keep secrets. They're cold as steel. It wasn't like that years ago.”
JT asked, “We're going to need to get inside Cybernotics to find out what's going on there. Can you get me in?” Jennifer said, “Yeah, I should be able to.”
JT inquired, “Cella, please display exterior view of New Hollywood.”
Cella displayed the current conditions outside in the air in front of them: Rioting, shootings, stabbings and people killing each other on the surface streets. The androids all stood against the walls and let the humans fight. Not even the security androids were trying to put a stop to the violence.
JT stated, “Everytime we have one of these, thousands die.” Jennifer was saddened by the blackout and said, “It's awful.” JT asked, “Do you think the BMIs are behind this?” “No. No I don't,” answered Jennifer.
Cella gave JT another update, “I located the BMIs. Transferring location information.”
JT was ready to leave and advised Cella, “Have Renlo meet us on the roof of Wong’s Chinese.”