The sound of birds fill the atmosphere, singing the song of nature. Far away from civilization.
Their song is suddenly cut off, a sound far from nature. A rather loud lawnmower-like rumble, and a consistent creak that shouldn't be there.
The tires cry in ways they shouldn't do as the rumbling car follows the bumpy road ahead.
The dirt road is old, as the car. It was built before Neo-California was even a thought in its funder's mind.
This 60 year old Honda relic had seen better days. Yet the driver stubbornly chose to drive it to Neo-Cali
[Inside the car]
I look over to the left, I thought I saw a deer. It must've been my imagination.
Since some bored millionaire had given a donation to PETA back in 2028, the road-invading Bambi was a thing of the past.
Back then, when the radio announced it, my father clearly showed his dislike for change. He was riding this same car
At the thought of the radio, I extend my hand over to the Bluetooth button on the module installed 40 years ago.
"Aiden, turn on Bluetooth and connect with the car"
My phone makes a ding and an annoyingly organic voice speaks
{"Done. When will you buy a new car? Bluetooth is obsolete"}
I sigh, I did not ask for AIs to engage in conversation. Neither for them to sound human
They just come this way now. Sometimes it's fine. Sometimes it pisses the fuck out of me. Like right now.
I try my best not to swear at it.
"Aiden, reproduce 'American Pie'"
{"Sir, that song is 89 years old"}
I open my mouth, then bite my tongue, hesitating. Before I realise its organic voice was making me sympathetic.
"Do I look like I give a fuck? People still listen to Mozart, so why would I care about how old American Pie is?"
{Understood.}
"Now, shut up"
It seems to actually shut up this time, which allows me to calm down and listen to this masterpiece.
The first notes flow from the speakers, and I allow myself to smile slightly.
A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music
Used to make me smile
I remember listening to this song with my father every time we went on a roadtrip, no matter where we went, it was always on.
I tap my fingers on the wheel at the rhythm of the melody, immersed in the nostalgic feelings of the notes and the lyrics.
It was something that my father did, and as I grew up and ended up driving, I copied his habit
But February made me shiver
I gently turn the wheel slightly, focusing on the road as it starts to arc to the left, then the right, and then the left again.
The music does not stop as I focus on something else, neither does time. It never did.
For the last thirty years, I've been hearing news about how they were making progress in investigations regarding time travel and time manipulation.
Bullshit.
They haven't made jack shit, if they had, they would have given it to the public. Or else, used it as a military weapon.
They've mentioned multiple times the ironic sentence that to invent this kind of stuff, it takes time.
You don't need to be a genius to put together that if they made any progress, they'd speed up the process.
I turn back my attention towards the music. I can notice the chorus is about to start.
So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry
And them good ol' boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin', 'this'll be the day that I die
This'll be the day that I die'
Once again, the music gives me an excuse to show a smile, and I decide to sing along.
"And do you have faith in God above"
"If the Bible tells you so?"
"Now, do you believe in rock 'n' roll?"
"Can music save your mortal soul?"
"And can you teach me how to dance real slow?"
I always loved this song, the longer I live the harder it hits. There's something about memories linking to every sentence.
These kinds of connections have made this song feel more personal, to the point that I would consider it part of me now.
I remember the first line I sang. 'And do you have faith in God above, if the Bible tells you so?'
In this technological world no one gives a fuck about stuff like God. They think it is 'obsolete', that kinda rubs me the wrong way... It's not like God is just a 'thing' like Bluetooth.
I have faith in God, yet I'm a detective. It sounds more ironic the more I think about it.
In this world people are too immersed in the meta-world. Everyone is under some kind of drug.
I, refused to take any cybernetic upgrades and kept my whole life away from drugs, I didn't enter the meta-world so I could keep myself in contact with reality.
Yet, and I wasn't drunk, I had a vision from God himself.
It came on a dream, a murder of crows flying to the left. Remembering some tales from Ancient Rome and speculations from the past, I remembered that birds flying to the left often meant bad omen.
It was stupid, I had never been into superstitions. Yet, pulled by the only thing I could trust, my instinct, I canceled my express train ticket, and spent the day at home.
That day, the train I was supposed to take was assaulted by some thieves, and out of the thirty passengers, twenty were murdered.
That same day, the building I was supposed to attend a meeting at was destroyed by a bomb, from a terrorist group called Devil's Hand. A bunch of fanatics that said to follow the word of the devil.
Not chance, probably more than a coincidence. The clues are obvious.
I feel pity for those that say God is just a pigment of my imagination, for I once thought the same. And even then, God did not let me die.
Again, I turn back to the music.
Oh and while the king was looking down
"The jester stole his thorny crown"
"The courtroom was adjourned"
"No verdict was returned"
That line hits pretty hard, actually. It's... Painfully true, infuriating.
I lost the count of how many times I caught someone and greed made them non guilty.
Clues are useless if you don't listen to them
Sadly, I need to turn off the music. The car stops lightly bouncing from the pebbles in the old road as I enter a cemented road.
I'm now about twenty seconds from entering Neo-Cali.
I'd keep the song on, but driving in Neo-Cali with music is impossible. One single distraction could end up in an accident... At least, that's what I heard driving there is like.
Like goddamn fucking hell.
"Aiden, what hour is it?"
{"16th of May, 2060. 6:37 pm"}
"I did not need the whole date..."
Annoyed, Raymond enters Neo-Cali. A futuristic city where skyscrapers under the clouds are rarer than ones scrapping through them. One where practically every building could be qualified as a skyscraper.
Neo-Cali is everything California was and could have been. The people who live here built it from the ground up, far away from California... Or what remained of it.