MapleSAP Special: Hackers
Part 11: An Uncertain Future

Alysha Erickson was taken to the Yazhou County Hospital for a medical check. All new hackers are required
by municipal law to go through monthly check-ups.
The doctor, Dr. Mang, was checking her blood pressure. Malon, and Mrs. Pei were in the room too.
Dr. Mang asked in Mandarin, “Take a deep breath please,” as he grabbed the stethescope.
Mrs. Pei repeated his request in English.
Alysha did so, grunting as the icy metal thing touched her back.
“Take a deep breath,”
She did so.

“Xie xie,” he said. Next came some weird massage thing where the doc pressed his fingers on the muscles in Alysha’s arms, neck, back, and jaws.
“What’s this for?” she asked.
“He’s testing to see if you have lost any muscle mass. Many hackers lose some of their mass in the first thre months.” Mrs. Pei said.
“Oh,” Alysha said as the doc pressed his fingers around her neck. “Tell him not to get any perverted ideas.”

Next the doctor looked closely at the black spots on her neck. Alysha hated when people touched those areas, because the skin was really sensetive. Then the doc looked over her blond hair. Part of it had black stains on it. As hackium energy and particles are spread throughout the body, particles are often found in the hair, staining it with a tint of black.

The medical exam included Alysha moving her ankles, feet, talking a straight line, holding weights, reflex tests, eye sight, and hearing tests.
“What is this?” Dr. Mang asked, pointing to a chart with Chinese letters on it. “These represent numbers, what is the one i am pointing at?”
Alysha stared at the chart. “Uhhh…wu?”
“Good. and this one?”
“San?”
“Good.”

“The child has been here three months?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Pei answered. “This is now her fourth month.”
“And how is she in rehabilitation?”
“She’s doing well. Her fly hack keeps growing, so she is there five days a week training on it.”
“Okay.” the doc said. “She has lost some muscle and body mass; her metabolism has increased somewhat. To maintain herself, she must eat more food. She has too much energy in her body, so she needs to eat fruits, and drink plenty of water. Fruit and water contain small amounts of magic energy that will help to break down the excess hackium.
I am going to prescribe some days at the treatment clinic- it’s a massage facility where they will stimulate muscle growth.
She must also take a magic-water bath there every two days for a week, then once a week after.”
Everyone nodded.
“As for the scars on her neck, go and pick up some vitamin-M cream. it will break down the excess hackium on her neck.”

“Thank you,” Alysha said as she was led out of the room by Mrs. Pei and Malon. As the three reached the elevator, Alysha ran into the woman- the hacker cleric who got her on the field.
“Hey, how are you?” the cleric asked.
“Screw you!” Alysha shouted back. I’s because of YOU i’m a hacker!”
“Alysha!” Mrs. Pei snapped.
The cleric woman was pissed. “How can you say that?! I saved your life, lah!”
“No, you destroyed me! Everyone wants me dead! I lost my family because of you! If you people stayed away, the real medics would have came!”
“You bleeding to death! You be dead by time they come! You should bow down and thank me for saving your life!”
“F### YOU!” Alysha screamed; tears streaming down her face.
She screamed at the cleric about a bunch of stuff, then the cleric woman wouldn’t have any more of it; reached back, and slapped Alysha in the face.
“Hey! No more! No more!” Mrs. Pei shouted. The argument went on for a few more minutes.
“Nini, please! She reacted to seeing you! she didn’t mean it!”
Alysha was crying. All of her hard feelings surfaced and made her go insane when she saw the cleric. She was just upset because the cleric popped her in the face.

“I’m so sorry” the cleric said, hugging the girl. “I was not thinking about making you a hacker, honest! I just didn’t want you to die! Blood was spilling out like a fountain!”
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Despite the cleric’s best intent, Alysha, like any other new hacker was traumatized over the transformation she was forced through, and now like many of these hackers, she, too, faces an uncertain, or perhaps, unstable future.

The politcal landscape in the Kerning region is changing rapidly. As the religious conservatives are vying to regain power, there is no doubt what they intend to do to the policies that have kept the civilian hackers safe.
One religious zealot, Pastor Chuck Smithe from the church in Henesys, is calling for the safety zone to be negated, and like everyone else, he is calling for the destruction of all hackers.
Violence has increased 10-fold as the rate of incidents of attacks, bombings, hit-n-runs, and other forms of assault and terror escalate between the magician-hacker community and the region’s hate groups. They pledge that Kerning City will not see peace until they get their way.

In Orbis, the safety zone is always at question, as are the 2xp tickets; two topics that have stirred up major controversy in this country.
Outside Kerning City, the hackers are always hunted, and always on the run. Critics suggest that hacker attacks on legits are the backlash of the government and public policy of hate towards hackers.
The Victoria Census report for 2006 has shown that hacker numbers have decreased over the last 5 years; as the GMs continue their campaign of erradication, hackers are also dying from the extreme cold of winter and other natural causes. They lie completely exposed to the elements without any access to shelter, food, or supplies.

This is their story; the tale of thousands of hackers who never presented a danger to you or me, and yet they are hunted. No matter where they are, hackers live in fear, and some have hopes that society will evolve enough to tolerate them as fellow humans too.
So if you hear warnings on TV or the radio about hackers, ignore them. If it’s a killer hacker killing people, thats understandable, but if you see a hacker on the bus or anywhere, feel free to walk up and say ‘Hi,”
There is no need to be afraid of them. They are just as afraid of you me as we are of them.

Hackers are our brethren, and theyre here to stay, and while their legal existance hangs in the air, you can make a difference, eventually if we all do this, we will all have a profound effect on their uncertain future.

++ Jim Budweiser, MapleSAP
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and so ends the hacker series, hope u liked it.
I WANT A COOKIE