Warren Ellis' Strange Machine Challenge: Futurity

Revolution

by Red Wolf

The mahogany skinned woman stepped out of the oppressive summer heat into the climate-controlled station. Blinking rapidly as the photochromic filters in her eyes adjusted, the colour bleeding from her skin now that it was no longer needed to protect her from the UV outside.

She eyed the air monitors in the corridor suspiciously. It was the latest rage in citizen profiling, sniffing passersby and matching them against a database of scents.

The woman fingered the heavy rainbow band tattooed around her wrist, she idly considered programming in the aroma of a warthog in heat, but settled for generic businessman instead. No point calling attention to herself. The tattoo paled as it altered her scent.

As always, the trains were late and she was forced to wait, but it gave her the chance to check her news feeds. Headlines overlaid her vision, one caught her attention and she called up the article.

Someone had taken out the Prime Minister, it was the third one this year. According to security sensors, the man was killed by a hormonally unbalanced llama.

The woman smiled to herself. Revolution was in the air and the government hadn't seen it coming. Some things never changed.