“Keep it down you schmucks,” Keven said as she motioned for everyone to stop near the fence. She turned and whispered, “You’re up Andy.” A large man with a small case waddled up to the front of the group. He clipped some cables to the fence and attached a small tablet. His face lit up from the glow of the screen. Everyone could see the concentration on his face. BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEEEP. Keven frantically waved. “Sound off, Andy. Sound off!!” The night got quiet again. The gate ahead of them clicked and opened. Keven slapped Andy on the back. “Nice job. Let’s go.”
They quickly moved through the fence and moved toward the parking lot. There ahead of them was the largest fleet of automated vehicles in the city. They came in all different shapes and styles. Busses, cars, trucks. They stopped at the first one the came up on. No need to be picky. It was your basic gray metal four door sedan. A commuter. Keven grabbed a long metal device from his pocket. She attached it to the data port on the side of the vehicle. Pop. The doors opened.
People didn’t drive cars anymore. But, they hadn’t really gotten rid of the things manual driven cars had. Power petal, brakes, steering column. No one really knows why. It’s not like those items were needed anymore. Maybe it was to make us feel safe. Maybe the car companies couldn’t remove the humanity from their creations? Who knows. Andy attached his screen and after a few moments he said, “She’s good to go.” He slid out of the drivers seat and Keven slid in. She attached a small steering wheel to the car.
Keven won the dice roll. She would drive first. She revved the electric motor. And punched it. “Hold on to your balls, my brothers.” The car sped out of the lot on onto the road way. She pushed it as hard as she could as they moved closer to the city. Driving was different now. There were no stop signs. No traffic lights. No signs. Computers don’t care about these things. All the other cars on the road were connected.It wouldn’t be long before the automated police cars would get word of the erratic driving. Until then, they took turns driving around the city.
They were free. They were alive. They were out for a Sunday drive.