The Chip
a draft of fiction for entertainment purposes
It is a world where information is transparent and accessible to anyone.
All of it.
"You're an anarchist. You're fired."
"How did you...?"
"I hacked your chip, the one under your SecureSkin on your hand (expensive choice may I say but then again) so it doesn't look Orwellian and creepy. Facebook fully complies with government requests for information. All the technology controllable by your chip is at this point considered sequestered and you are under arrest for promoting terrorism."
On realization,
"Then what does firing me matter?!"
This statement was ignored.
"Your virtual reality contacts are now US Corporation property, and you will be jailed without parole, in a life sentence.
At your request, a suicide liquid can be administered causing near-instant death.
The security of this is top notch, which is kind of pointless anyway.
Story short, we own your soul and this is the memo about it. You can't say we didn't tell you. If I hear that one more goddamn time..."
The instantaneous death of 500,000 Americans occurs at this point (to the surprise of none yet, all the dead being in the immediate vicinity of awareness at all points) as a hacker finds the code for the suicide liquid. The reason it is only 500,000 is that there was ... strange code... preventing anything over 500,000.
And there's a counter.
It reads 2:59:34.