Ping!
“It’s almost time for the speech! You two need to go and check on the stage to make sure everything is ready,” said Azistant quickly before ending the call.
As Arron and Kix stepped away from the door the delegates all stopped talking and turned to them.
“Where are you going?” “When can we get a meeting with Mr. Boomer?”
“We don’t know!” was all Kix said as he smiled and waved to the delegates as he passed them.
They found a nearby Mag-shoot and headed to the ground floor and out the front door to a spacious area in front of the college where the speech would be given.
Several worker bots were still busy hammering and screwing in the last parts of a ramp that started at the front doors and led up to a large platform. Its height would allow it to tower over all those that came to listen to the speech.
The white opaque privacy screens were only 100 ft away from the stage and were still blocking everyone outside from seeing or hearing what was going on inside.
As Arron and Kix stepped onto the ramp a transparent holo-screen appeared on each side of the ramp and followed them all the way to the stage where three transparent screens covered both the sides and the front of the stage.
“Taking security to the max I see,” said Kix.
“With these screens, he won’t be able to hear the crowd and they won’t be able to hear him without external speakers,” said Arron. He started looking around for the speakers and found several floating drones in the air that had large speakers embedded into their bodies.
On the ground below the stage, there was a long line of holographic tape constantly streaming the words, [DO NOT PASS]. The holographic tape boxed off the area around the stage creating a wide kill zone.
Ping!
“Start letting in the guests. Again, your job is to make sure they don’t pass the holo-tape,” said Azistant.
A second white opaque privacy screen appeared behind the stage making sure that the entire building was covered. When it was fully erected the larger privacy screen that had been blocking everyone’s view slowly started to disappear revealing Arron and Kix standing on the stage.
“Crap,” said Kix. He threw down the P.L.E. Metal case and activated it.
While Kix was equipping the light exoskeleton Arron ran down the ramp and onto the ground towards the Holo-tape.
The small crowd that had been waiting a short time ago when they had first arrived had grown to several tens of thousands of people.
When they saw the opaque privacy screens start to disappear they all stared at the stage for a second before a tidal wave of humans started rushing towards the now open ground around the stage.
Everyone wanted to get a front-row spot closest to the stage! Maybe Party member Buck Boomer would look at them and remember them later!”
Kix jumped off the stage now fully encased in the light exoskeleton. He joined Arron who had just arrived at the Holo-tape.
Several tens of people had already passed the do not pass holo-tape either from being pushed forward by the wave of human bodies or of their own will.
“I’ll take the right, you take the left,” said Arron.
The two went down the line and pushed the people back behind the holo-tape into the growing crowd. Sometimes they had to use extra force as words did not work with these crazed people.
Arron got the short end of the stick with this task while Kix had an easier time.
Several dozen hover drones that had been waiting outside the privacy screen flew forward and started recording the rowdy crowd as well as the two M1 Officers that were there to keep order.
Arron had been listening to the KNN broadcast on a low volume to pass the time earlier and now he could hear both Kommy and Fela perk up as stuff started to happen.
“Look at that energetic crowd. They just can’t wait to see Mr. Boomer. It looks like the crowd is full of young teens to people in their early 30s. Mr. Boomer seems to be popular with the young people,” said Fella.
“What’s this? It seems that the crowd is only being held back by two special M1 officers,” said Kommy in feigned shock.
“What is the chief of the Special M1 thinking only sending two officers! Do they even care for the safety of Mr. Boomer?” asked a cross Fella.
“I have no clue why they have not sent at least a dozen people to control that crowd.”
“Oh look! A few security drones just exited the building and look to be coming to their aid!”
With a swipe of his hand, Arron ended the news broadcast on his visor to block out all other distractions.
With the help of the security drones that zapped anyone they saw crossing the holo-tape Arron and Kix were able to stop the crowd from getting close to the stage.
Ping!
“We are coming out now. If anyone passes the holo-tape, shoot them,” said Azistant.
“What?” asked Arron, surprised.
“This is a direct order from Mr. Boomer. You will obey his order or you will be sent to the Office of Reason to be investigated for disobeying a direct order from a party member.”
The crowd that had calmed down just moments before erupted into a frenzy once again as Buck Boomer appeared on the end of the ramp and started walking towards the stage. Six of the red exoskeleton guards walked on either side of Buck Boomer with their weapons drawn, making sure that nothing could get close enough to harm him.
The dozen or so news drones flew towards the ramp where they started to follow Buck Boomer as he walked. The news drones zoomed in on Buck Boomer making sure to crop out the menacing red exoskeletons.
Buck Boomer in his gray factory uniform slowly walked to the edge of the stage and began waving to all the people in the crowd. He wore a large smile on his face that made him look like a friendly grandfather.
“Is that him?” “I don’t know, never seen him before.” “I hear he wants to give us something!” “Really? I wonder what it is?” “I was told that it was something expensive.”
Instead of the entire crowd cheering for him, around half of the people were chatting about similar things.
Arron paid close attention to the holo-tape but saw no one crossing the line with their entire body. A few people were reaching out with their hands but Arron slapped them back.
Buck Boomer walked to the center of the stage and with a large smile he held up a meaty hand silently calling for the crowd to calm and quiet down.
“My fellow citizens of the First Level… Hello!” said Buck Boomer, still smiling and waving.
His voice boomed out of the hovering speaker drones. It was so loud that Arron thought even a deaf man could hear it.
“Today, I bring you great news from Mother who sends her greetings to all of you!”
“It is a special day today. Not only because of the unveiling of a new building that will change millions of lives! But because of the special festival, we are currently celebrating!”
“Separatists… the scum of society. Worse than even those with SCS of a D rank. They are the enemy of Mother and Father! That is why this week was set aside to make a large effort to root out all separatists from the Megacity!” Buck Boomer’s smiling face had done a 180. He was now staring out at the crowd with an iron gaze filled with conviction.
“You must remember that you have to do your part as well to help Mother and Father keep everyone safe! It is not enough to not be a separatist! You must be Anti-separatist and publicly show your support for Mother and Father as well as the other member states of WHO.”
“With that in mind allow me to introduce the newest and maybe in the future, the greatest college on the first level…”
Several murmurs exploded as he said this.
“… Everpreen college!” shouted Buck Boomer, his hands pointing towards the building behind him.
Like a waterfall, the opaque privacy screen rushed down to the ground and disappeared revealing the large one hundred story paraconcrete building that covered several mega-city blocks.
The crowd went wild! Everyone started to talk among themselves while the news drones could be heard clicking and clacking as they took thousands of holo pics trying to best capture the new building.
“With this new college, the citizens of the first level will be allowed to learn many new courses set up by Mother and Father! Of course… registration is only for those with a C rank SCS.”
“You can expect such classes as, [History 101: Mother and Fathers fight against Separatists]. Where you will learn about the history and dangers of separatists. You will also learn how to spot and fight back against separatism! There are also classes such as [Learn To Code 101]. A major field that is beneficial to every citizen in the megacity because of the heavy use of AI and the fast-paced advancement of technology we are all blessed to take part in.”
“All of this sounds great right!? But it gets even better! The standard one-year course is free!” said Buck Boomer looking away from the crowd and towards the news drones as he said this.
The majority of the crowd clapped enthusiastically after hearing this.
… and so Buck Boomer spent another hour explaining why everyone should come and register to take the FREE one-year course.
“The best thing yet, is that all of you who have come here to listen to my speech will be sent applications after this speech is over! You will be the first allowed to join!”
The crowd that had been pumped up by the hour-long speech cheered wildly as they waved their hands shouting Buck Boomers’ name trying to get his attention.
“Remember! With Liberation! Inclusion! And Normalization! Nothing can stand in our way! Thank you for coming!” said Buck Boomer, as he waved at the crowd with a big smile.
