You can't think when you're in free fall.
The disconnection between my body and this situation was surreal. My limbs floated in the slowest of slow motion while everything around me sped by so fast I only picked up faint details.
Stars, then clouds, then night sky, then a neon grid whose squares grew bigger with alarming speed. An awareness dawned that I should brace for a landing. Maybe sooner than later.
The fall felt endless but the landing happened quickly: I hit ground of some kind and rolled a few times. It was far from graceful but at least I was still alive.
I took stock of my surroundings as I picked myself up off the neon grid: I was in some sort of strange city, dimly lit by streetlights. Futuristic structures alternated with rusted-out ancient ones. There was no rhyme or reason to its layout.
"Looks like we got some unprotected data," hissed a voice nearby. Suddenly, a quartet of beings emerged from the shadows between two buildings.
They were patchwork digital creatures, made from pieces of stolen properties haphazardly stitched together. They shambled toward me with menacing glares.
Their leader growled a threat: "Prepare to be hacked."
Enjoy the next entry #9:
Post Soundtrack: Race Of Doom - Devo
In the author’s mind: I grew up with Devo on the radio and MTV. I was drawn to their offbeat futurism and wild videos as a kid and appreciated the social critique woven into their work as I got older. All those elements appear in this gem from their New Traditionalists album: the driving groove pushes it along but the off-kilter synths add an edge that gives it an intense, grim atmosphere. That suits the lyrical scenario, which portrays dating rituals in paranoid sci-fi language. It's perfect music to use as a backdrop for Hekonai getting thrown into the deep end of a new high-tech world full of dangers.
The Hekonai's Journal is an ongoing meta-narrative. If you want to learn how it came to be, check out the introduction post by clicking here. If you want to read the prior journal entry, click here.
Into the Hekonai Journal is a hub aggregating all the published entries for your convenience. You may access this hub by clicking here.
For new posts, latest updates, and discussions, please follow us on Twitter and join our Discord.