Karina Corona

The bright green light scanned Karina’s face and took her temperature before allowing her into the building’s antechamber. She stepped in. A fine mist containing fuck-knows-what descended on her, and then a tray slid out of the wall to her right. She loaded it up with the hamburger and chips. Back in it went. Another successful delivery. Another day, (and quite literally) another dollar.

As Karina walked out of the building she looked at the HUD display inside her goggles and waited for the customers' feedback. 5 stars. It was taking an eternity to grind her way back up from the 1 star she received the time she kneed a guy in the balls over a heated dispute about pineapples as a pizza topping.

It was a quiet night, though that was normally the case. Ever since the virus had pushed everyone into ‘districts’ - this was the Gamma District for instance, as residents had developed a herd immunity to that particular strain of the COVID-32 virus - delivery drivers were the only people that could be seen on the streets. The rest of civilization stayed inside either in virtual conference rooms, or watching any of the endless streams of garbage on Shamazon Prime channels that streamed into their homes through crippled broadband networks that resembled LA freeways.

As Karina checked over her bike, the heart-shaped locket around her neck provided some haptic feedback to let her know that she was dangerously close to the outskirts of the Gamma District. The locket had been one of Emperor Pezos’ philanthropic endeavours - handed out to the world's citizens after many failed attempts at virus contact tracing apps, and a grim reminder of death if one were to ever travel outside of their district. This pushed everyone inside, and now it was the age of the delivery person!

Karina loved her bike. It wasn’t the most modern-looking thing but it looked cool and got her places. The bike had a dirty secret - it was electric. When the Emperor had banned electric vehicles after buying PHB and dissolving TeZla - rather than start shelling out for petrol Karina set to work disguising her bicycle by adding a fuel tank and exhaust, with a sound system that earnestly coughed and sputtered like any good fossil fuel engine should. It looked like every other fuel hungry motorbike on the road and could manage an earnest 70 miles per hour - She’d also painted it a really deep purple, and put a sticker on it that read “don’t tread on me”.

She hopped on the bike and nodded twice, this gesture told her goggles to let HQ know that she was ready for another order. After a couple of seconds passed, the order came in. SHIT. Shit. This order was for Lambda District. This had never happened before. A wave of emotions flooded her goggles as she began to tear up. She was fucked. If she knocked back the order she would be penalised harshly and wouldn’t have any work for months, if she took the order she would face a deadly journey from Gamma, through Omicron and all the way to Lambda.

Karina sucked up the tears and decided it was better to risk her life delivering this package into the unknown, than the other option of living off packet noodles for months on end. She cracked her fingers, and then cracked her neck to the left which conveniently also started the bike's engine (which then earnestly coughed and sputtered).

Karina worked for Dingo Deliveries which had been bought up by Schuber Eats, which Shamazon had eventually snapped up in its campaign of delivery-company-corporate-raiding in the early 30’s. Karina had worked her way up to driver from assistant driver, then junior driver. She knew it was fruitless to daydream, but she did it anyway and dreamed of one day climbing the ranks all the way to assistant manager. If she was assistant manager she could stop sharing a room with the seven climate refugees and get her own 20 x 10 place.

As she pulled up to the dispatch window of Dingo Deliveries, Wally’s bony arm came out, shaking a little more than normal and holding a small box for delivery.

“Far out man, delivery for Lambda? Whatcha gonna do?”

Karina looked through the window into Wally’s tired eyes and said, “I’m going to make the fucking delivery, that’s what I’m going to do.”

“No way dude. No one has ever delivered out of the district before.”

“I don’t have much of a choice do I Wally... it’s not like I’m on Dispatcher money.”

“It’s not all about the bread muchacha, you think those corporate drones in Lambda are happy? Think again. You just need to breathe in and slow down man.”

“Save me that hippy shit.’ Karina said as she strapped the package down to the back of her bike.

“Alright, alright. Just be safe. Here, you’ll need this.”

Wally handed Karina a gas mask.

“It’s the ultimate in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defence. Fell off the back of a truck.”

“You’re the best, Wally.”

“Don’t go changing.”

Karina donned the gas mask, checked her HUD to see how much time she had (29:59), hit the ‘on’ button on her bike and whizzed over the horizon on her way to Lambda.

She approached the Gamma/Omicron border with caution. The heart shaped locket buzzed more and more intensely every inch she moved forward. She stopped her bike and tried to turn it off. It was starting to get really fucking annoying, so she tossed it on the ground and crushed it with the heel of her boot.

She heard a rumbling in the distance and looked over to find a horde of people doing their best impression of Mad Max extras - scantily clad and dressed in junkyard trinkets. Karina had heard of these folk - they were panic buyers who had thrown their life savings down on hand sanitiser, face masks and toilet paper and were now doomed to roam the Earth salvaging whatever loot they could get their hands on. They charged down the hill in front of her.

She accelerated towards them and pulled out a chain she kept coiled under her feet. As she gained momentum up the hill she took a wild swing at a man using a trash can lid as a helmet and shattered his femur. Next was a woman wearing an upside down STOP sign as a breastplate - the chain whipped her right across the sign and sent her tumbling down the hill.

These guys aren’t very organised Karina thought as she drove over the top of a man in a gimp mask scrambling to get away. She pulled the gas mask over her face and drove down into the Omicron valley.

18:36. There was a few hundred feet of darkness from where the light of Gamma ended and the light of Omicron started. As Karina gently rolled into Omicron she began to see how different it was to Gamma. The delivery person was a minority here, people were out walking in the street, and they didn’t seem to be in abject terror about dying from a virus.

Just then she was blind sided by another bike.

She slammed into a wall so hard her bike probably would have exploded if it wasn’t electric. A Rider dressed in black leathers and black helmet, face concealed, approached her and started beating her viciously. Karina felt a rib crack.

“Who the fuck do you think you are trying to make deliveries in this district?”

The beating continued. Thud after thud landed into her body. Karina desperately tried to get up on her feet, but the Rider suddenly ripped the mask from her face. She gasped for air, started clutching at her throat and then began to black out. But she didn’t.

The Rider saw the incredulous look on her face and then started laughing, “You think a virus is going to kill you? There is no virus, you Gamma scum.”

Karina let out a guttural howl, and kneed the Rider in the balls. He crumpled over and she jumped up and got his bike. Disillusioned, she carried on.

***

Arriving in Lambda, Karina headed towards the bleep on the HUD that indicated she had almost arrived at her destination. She looked up at the grand building. Shamazon.

The lobby of the building was like nothing she had ever seen. A huge waterfall came out of the heavens and crashed into a beautiful Koi-filled pond. As she looked around at the bonsai trees and tea sets, she could see that the Emperor had a (somewhat tacky) penchant for Japanese zen gardens.

“Excuse me ma’am you are standing in our stone garden.”

“Oh shit… sorry.”

Karina turned around to face a (surprise, surprise) Geisha who was holding a tray of refreshments.

“I believe you are making a delivery to level 161. Follow me please.”

Karina grabbed a glass of sparkling water and slammed it down while she followed the Geisha over to the elevator.

“Step in please.”

The elevator moved silently, effortlessly and Karina turned to face its window and watch the world grow small. As she got higher she could see Lambda bleed into Omicron, and finally Gamma. She watched as a future she’d never dreamed of bled into middle-class mediocrity and finally the sprawling ghetto of Gamma, her home. Shiny turned to grey, turned to black. She looked at her HUD and saw that she had 3 minutes and 21 seconds to wrap this shit up.

Ding. That was the elevator telling her to get out. She stepped into a vast room with more of that Japanese-chic: Tatami mats, ornate silk screens, more fucking bonsais…

“You made it, I’m very impressed.”

The voice was all around her, transmitted through thousands of tiny speakers that had been imperceptibly installed in the ceilings, furniture (and probably the bonsais).

“It was very brave of you to leave Gamma.”

“Who are you?” Karina asked.

“I would like to ask you the same question” the voice said, “Who is it that you would like to…”

“Look bud, I’d love to hang around and answer vexing questions but this delivery needs to be marked complete in the next 93 seconds or I am seriously fucked.”

Karina advanced toward the back of the room and yanked back a row of silk screens, revealing a truly horrendous site - the naked, mangled body of and old man floating around a big fish tank in some kind of pulsing suspension gel, and an impressive array of gadgets that assumedly monitored his vitals. The top of his skull had been completely removed and a number of wires were coming out of his cerebrum. Karina recognised the face. It was Emperor Pezos.

5 stars. Job complete. The floating corpse had finalised the deal. A wave of relief came over Karina.

“Not who you were expecting?” asked Emperor Pezos.

Karina was speechless.

“My body was blown to pieces after my maiden flight into space failed in 2021 - despite what you may have learnt in school. It was a blessing though really, it allowed me to bring sentience to the Prime network. I can see everything, control everything, and I have been watching you. I still need people like you Karina - strong people that can keep the wheels turning.

Karina tried to channel Wally: “This is bullshit man, you can’t do this to people!”

She started to back away.

“Aren’t you curious what you delivered, Karina? Just have a look and I’ll let you walk out of here.”

She opened the box. Stopped in her tracks. It was a name tag. Assistant manager.