The whole world had been oppressed and ruined. Enslaved by the One World Order or something. I think there was New Legislation enacted which forced everyone to return to the place of their birth-- meant to combat terrorists on American soil, I guess, but it had the effect of making me return to Merced. Er, despite the fact that I wasn't born there. I dunno. I don't make this stuff up.
Anyway, I was in Merced and some rebels gave me some books. Technical manuals, mostly.
I worked for Christine (my manager's boss) and Tom Cruise. I think they were married. They were like Super Oppressor Cop-Agents, and I was a roving troubleshooter of sorts. Our headquarters was more or less where my friend Jason's house used to be on Stretch Road.
They dispatched me into the field to find out about the rebels. They didn't know I was already in contact with, and sympathetic to, the rebellion. I hid what I knew, which was that the rebellion headquarters were to the northeast of town.
Then something turned me into a sort of hunchback armored rat-person. I think it was part of my job duties as a roving troubleshooter, that I was required to be an armored rat-person.
I set out on foot and wandered to my old elementary school. The geography of Merced remained surprisingly consistent with reality. I was trying to find a way to disguise my trail so that I could break off and go meet with the rebellion again, without any way for my bosses to follow me.
Then I met a black market guy who gave me a videotape of a movie that explained the rebels and their leadership structure. I think it was part of the overall process of me becoming one of them. Our conversation was interrupted, however, when a police squad raided the bar where we were meeting. Fleeing, I took the videotape back to headquarters to watch it because I knew my Super Oppressor bosses were out.
But Tom Cruise came back unexpectedly, to get his motorcycle. I hid inside the HQ while he put on his helmet and started up the powerbike.
Then, while I was watching the movie, Christine also came back unexpectedly. She was pissed that I was sitting there watching a movie instead of being out in the field doing my assignment. I was scared as hell that she'd realize what I was looking at-- rebel propoganda that actually showed the faces of their leadership! Fortunately, she'd never actually seen any real rebels, so I sat there and let her yell at me for my laziness until she was tired of it.
Then she asked what I'd learned. I made up a thing about there being a contact guy on the west side. I didn't think she'd believe me. But then another faceless cop dude said he'd heard the same. Whew! So she told us to borrow a two-man police skimmer to go look for this guy together.
Then a huge storm of rain broke out and Christine was upset, because Tom was out there in that horrible weather on his bike.
Me and the other guy drove out a little ways. Then we stopped somewhere to eat a quick meal. I sat on the curb as I ate-- pizza or something. While I was eating, there was an earthquake. Not a strong one, but a long one-- long enough that while everyone else was still scattering for cover, I was running home. Not back to HQ, but home-home, because I knew C would be worried about my safety.
When I got home, she was sitting in the bathroom. Water had spilled everywhere from somewhere. Indeed, she'd been worried about me. As soon as it was clear I was home safe, she looked at all the spilled water and suddenly noticed a good leather belt of hers that had gotten soaked and was now ruined.
I hoped that the earthquake would adequately cover my tracks.