It is an alternate America. The wealthy have used credit cards to enslave the middle class. The prison and justice systems have been completely privatized and civil rights have become a joke.
However, there is still hope. A lone hacker/cyborg has appeared. He uses the alias “Robin Hood.” He has been emptying bank accounts and made the funds available to all people. Tonight he is planning to open the prisons.
Two guards fall to the ground, stunned and senseless. Pointy feet step over the limp bodies. Cyborg Robin Hood has taken the northeast guard tower. He has already hacked into the alarm and camera systems. The hood pulls a metal arrow out of his quiver and attaches a hair thin cable to it.. Using a scope and laser he secures a line between the tower and the central structure. He attaches an air powered rope with handles and footholds to it and slides onto the window sill of the main structure. Once inside he takes out a few more guards. Within a few minutes all of the prisoners have been evacuated to the northeast tower. As the Hood and the newly freed prisoners make their escape laser pistols start to fire. Several fall. The Hood activates his pain input in repentance. Under his hood, behind his augmented goggles, tired human eyes wince. Data begins to blur.
This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. He may have freed a few thousand people, but the costs were too high. Even with the new ID chips, most of them would probably be arrested again in due time. Of course, there was always the other way. It would take time, but there were no other alternatives.
Corpses began to disappear from freezers and even graveyards. Scrap yards vanished overnight. Furthermore, strange seismic activity was being reported. Soon the government was able to trace the shock-waves to a source. Military units were dispatched and drilling began immediately. They discovered a series of tunnels. Three squads were sent in on foot. Two did not return. As the last squad scrambles out of the labyrinth, a geyser of earth and rock spews up from the ground. A tank is popped into the air. Out of the hole spews a sea of handmade robots. They quickly leech onto the surrounding vehicles and disable them. Lasers from pistols bounce off of the robot chassis and into the air. Most of the soldiers scatter.
While these drones distract the main government forces, a sentient zombie army overwhelms the prison system. Somewhere among them lurks the original Robin Hood. It is not long before the people are free and aiding in the revolt. There are no recorded civilian casualties. The new government will be overly afraid of capitalism as the last had been of socialism.
Robin Hood’s army is granted full citizenship, but they choose not to accept it. Or rather the army of Robin Hoods. The reason why they were able to multiply so quickly is this: The original Hood copied his brain and made nearly identical synthetic copies of it. He put these into newly repaired and augmented bodies. These clones in created more clones of themselves, thus they expanded exponentially.
Afraid that that over time they will be too great a burden on the fledgling American nation, Robin Hood and his Hoodies retire to space. With the wealthy under control, plenty of forfeitured private vessels are wanting for use. Cyborg Robin Hood soon becomes the most powerful cyborg space pirate to sail the Milky Way.
The Lunar Fox Press 